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February 04, 2019 - Image 3

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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Michigan in Color
Monday, February 4, 2018— 3A

Photo courtesy of the author

Photo courtesy of the author

Founded on the mission for
Latinx students to reclaim, uplift
and properly represent the Latinx
community, Latinidad is a new
magazine that is forging its ways
among the intersection of creative
expression and social justice.
LSA seniors Jacqueline Delgado
and Daniel Lopez developed the
vision of Latinidad after searching
through the University’ archives
for Latinx representation and
initiative. While Delgado and
Lopez knew that Latinx students
have
contributed
immensely
to crafting the legacy of the
University of Michigan, they also
knew that evidence of these efforts
were not as largely celebrated or
recognized.
Most of these efforts were
rooted in the Raza Art and Media
Collective in 1974, a publication
founded to spotlight and archive
Latinx
art
through
various
mediums. This was especially
revolutionary as it came about in a

particularly harsh political climate
and when Latinx voices were
largely silenced in the Midwest.
The
journal
only
published
four issues from 1976-1977, but
Latinidad has decided to pick up
the initiative in molding a space
for Latinx students to preserve

and culminate their experiences.
Latinidad
released
their
first issue, “On the Border of
Humanity,” in December 2018.
This
issue
reloved
around
individual
connections
to
humanizing
immigration,
the
experiences as diverse as the
vastness of Latin America. The
magazine featured an expansive
range of mediums, including
poetry, personal narratives, art
pieces, vignettes and photos.
Latinidad prides itself on its
collaborative
process,
which
prioritizes all contributor’s voices
in deciding each issue’s key theme.
Engineering
senior
Natalia
Madrigal Martinez is an artist
whose
work
is
featured
in
Latinidad.
In
Latinidad,
her
contribution is in the form of a
captivating painting, which she
gave the title “La Frontera” to
highlight the hypocrisies of the
political conflict regarding the
US-Mexico border.
When
asked
about
the
inspiration behind her piece, she
said, “I was born in Mexico. I felt
like I had to paint the division
between
our
two
countries
because originally, this was all one
land. The Mexicas and the Aztecs
controlled this land called Azland.

That
was
Mexican
territory
until the mid 1800s. So, I wanted
to paint the broad difference
between how Mexico and the US
before, these free lands,where
indigenous people were able to
roam
and
appreciate
nature.
Now, it’s just this ugly, gross, soul-

sucking border,” Martinez said.
LSA sophomore Ana María
Sánchez-Castillo
offered
a
reflection of her featured piece,
“Prophetic
Peregrination.”
In
addition to her position as an
editor
at
The
Daily,
Latinidad is
one of her
primary
outlets
for
self-
expression
and
creativity.
“To
me
Latiniada
means
community
and
the
concept
of
supporting
each
other
and
supporting
each other’s’
dreams and
ambitions
through that
support and
through this
support, we can accomplish things
in a system that wasn’t designed
for us,” Sanchez-Castillo said.
After
a
critically
received
first launch, Latinidad released
their second issue in January,
“Cultivacion:
Cultivating
our
Humanity,” revolving around the

distinct experiences within the
Latinx identity with future plans
to release a third edition.
Founder Jacqueline Delgado
had nothing but gratitude and high
energy to offer as she elaborated
on the outpour of community
support.
“I feel really proud. I’m at
the forefront of a big moment
happening,” Delgado said.
Latinidad,
by
its
very
existence,
is
a
revolutionary
platform.
Past
initiatives
to
highlight
Latinx
involvement
have struggled due to lack of
institutional support. However,
Latinidad is the accumulation
of generations worth of student,
faculty and community efforts
to archive, preserve and uplift
the diverse representations of
Latinx identities. Combined with
intentional intellectual, creative
and community investment, it is
clear that Latinidad is set for a path
of success and flourishing.
Latinidad is steadily building its
prominence, and the momentum
will not be stopping anytime
soon. Currently, content is bring
primarily produced electronically
with hopes to see every issue
have a print release. Latinidad
will continue their efforts with
an event titled “Latinx Journey
in College” on March 22. Anyone
interested in reading the issues
of Latinidad can do so on their
website.

Dearborn is like an Arab Bazaar,
filled with people from all walks of
life. There are people from Yemen,
Iraq, Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Syria
and more. However, every bazaar
has its issues. Sometimes, the
customers fight and the vendors
don’t get along. Ultimately, this leads
to the bazaar falling apart. Dearborn
is like this because of the prejudice
that clouds our eyes and judgment.
We get along well enough, but there
are underlying tensions straining
our relationships with one another.
I believe this to be the single most
important issue in my community
because it leaves us divided and
vulnerable. As a community filled
with minorities, we must unite, set
aside our differences, and learn
to love our fellow community
members. In this case, education is
the solution and great equalizer for
our people.
There are ethnic clashes between
the Lebanese, Yemenis, and Iraqis,
and I have yet to understand why.
Our cultures differ slightly, but that
does not stop the dirty looks that
these groups continue to give one
another. These looks can stop once
we educate ourselves on current
events. We can look at a news
broadcast and view the immensity
that one’s hateful actions has on the
people they encounter. Hate crimes
and vengefulness consume the
souls of our fellow human beings.
Wars encompass the Middle East,
and that leaves me wondering:
Does Dearborn really want to be as
divided as our origin countries? In
America, where we have just barely
started out, we cannot afford to be

divided. Education teaches us that
unification between people leads to
an era of peace, economic growth,
and overall prosperity. We need
only look towards the future and
not the past. Education encourages
innovation and new ideas, something
Dearborn needs to flourish.
Education
is
a
vehicle
for
change because all throughout my
educational career I have learned
and witnessed the consequences
of prejudice. It ignites genocide,
injustice, and senseless actions that
harm innocent people. However, this
hate-filled seed can only be planted
if people do not have faith and trust
in one another. Faith and trust seem
doable in Dearborn because everyone
is everyone’s long-lost cousin, but
at this point, our ethnicities don’t
mix, we look down on our Detroit
neighbors and we argue over what
is halal or haram. Education would
remedy this issue in many ways.
Speaking from personal experience,
learning alongside people that are
different from me makes me see that
we are all humans with different
exteriors. Intellectual conversations
and debates stimulate our minds
and form a sense of camaraderie
between us. We learn to not grow
up to become Hitler’s Germany or
Reconstruction Era America. Rather,
we aim to be a community fighting
for one another’s rights and equality
like the 1960’s Civil Rights era.
Dearborn is a safe haven for
us Middle Easterns, but we must
welcome
everyone
into
our
community no matter their race,
ethnicity, or religion. By educating
ourselves with the past, we can
embrace our differences in the
future.


I was miserable. Hot, sweaty,
feverish, and just about ready to
cry.
And I did.
“Do you think I could just sit
out of class today?” I croaked,
feeling the cold sweat squirm
down the base of my neck.
“If you really feel so bad, why
don’t you just go to the nurse
and then go home for the day?”
My gym instructor’s eyebrows
were raised in a condescending
arch as she stared at me with an
airy disdain.
“I--I can’t…” I said in a vague
manner. “I have to stay at school
for the day.”
By
some
extraordinary
capacity, my teacher’s eyebrows
bunched up even higher than
they were before. Short, stout,
and wary-looking, she cast her
eyes downwards on me with a
tiring suspicion.
“Is it because your mom is a
tiger mom?”
I paused my sniveling. Where
did that come from?
“Like does your mom not let
you come home from school
because you need to be present
in order to learn and get good
grades and all? You know?”
This time it was my eyebrows
performing
supernatural
physical feats.
“No. She’s not.” I said flatly.
I didn’t bother furthering my
plea to sit out anymore. I got up,
changed into my uniform, and
in a hazy exhaustion, completed
the physical activities with the

rest of my classmates.
Years later, I find myself
wondering whether she was
right. Was my mom a tiger mom?
How angry would my parents
have been if they found out that
I had left school on account of
being “sick”? I remember the
reason I insisted on staying at
school for the rest of the day:
my rebellious teenager pride
and fear of embarrassment.
I
hadn’t
listened
to
my
mom when she insisted that
wearing my new, Black Friday
“discounted”, semi-sheer long
sleeve from Hollister amidst
the negative wind chill ravaging
the outdoors that winter was
going to get me sick. And for
that, I had felt too foolish and
ashamed to go home.
Now, that wasn’t the first
time I had been asked “casually”
about my parents’ parenting
style. To my fourteen-year old
self, the phrase “tiger mom”
was nothing new. Neither was
hearing about how I must be
naturally smart, secretly eating
dog for dinner or aspiring to
become a doctor one day. What
was new to me that day in gym
class was that the conversation
came from an adult figure. For
the first, but most definitely
not last, time in my life, a fully
grown
individual
dropped
racially-charged questions on
me.
So,
today
I
want
to
deconstruct the “tiger mom.”
What it means, what it doesn’t
mean, and what it means to me.
A tiger mom is known to
be
aggressive.
Overbearing.
Unreasonably
strict.
She

is
pictured
hovering
above
her
daughter,
controlling
the tempo for little Jenny’s
piano practice session. She is
imagined micromanaging the
kids of the household, stowing
away
all
electronics
and
monitoring
homework
time.
She is envisioned restricting
her children from hanging out
with their friends and attending
social events. She is no fun. She
is too harsh. She is, in essence, a
Chinese woman.
So let me tell you a little bit
about my mom. Her name is
Zhuping, but she sometimes
goes by Virginia. She has the
sweetest smile, with these soft
laugh lines that can tell any
onlooker how much love she
has in her life. She has brown
eyes that twinkle in her joys and
baby moles that decorate her
face. She is beautiful, kind, and
most important of all, strong.
Don’t get me wrong though.
She can also be aggressive. If
I ever find myself in a verbal
argument with her, I know that
my best choice is to stay silent
because my mom can talk my
ear off for ages. She can be
overbearing too. Sometimes she
brings up so many questions,
to-do’s, things to give me, or
articles of clothing to make me
wear, that it makes my head
want to explode. And at times,
she can be oddly strict. Can I
open this chocolate cake from
Trader Joe’s? No. Not unless I
get an explicit go-ahead. But
I know that all of these are
because my mom has a loving
heart. It’s hard to understand
sometimes, but with time and

perspective, I have grown to
know how amazing of a person
she really is. Every now and
then, she yells at me without
end so that I can be the best
version of myself, so that I
can be the responsible, young
woman she raised me to be. She
asks me over and over if I want
this, or if I need to do this, or
if I would please wear this so I
won’t get sick, and I know she

hovers so often because she
cares about me. She tells me
not to eat the cake because she’s
actually saving it for someone
else, a family she’s going to visit
over the weekend. She has a
heart of gold. It manifests itself
in different ways -- it manifests
itself in tiger mom ways, but
they’re all really just a testimony
to how deep the love, care, and
generosity she has for others,
including her children, go.
But
what
parent
is
not
aggressive, overbearing, or strict
to a certain degree? Parents
take care of their children with
a ferocious love, just like a tiger
does with her cubs. Just like any
actual tiger mom.
My mom is a tiger. She is
a tiger because she is fierce.
She is a tiger because she has
never quit teaching me this
lifelong
lesson
of
strength,
independence,
power,
and
resilience. She is a tiger because
she encourages me to defy, to
push back against the world,
and to stand up for my own
being. This is what a tiger mom
really is. This is my tiger mom.
And I wouldn’t have it any other
way.

New Latinx student magazine creates a
revolutionary place in history for itself

An Arab bazaar Tiger Mom: Deconstructed

NA’KIA CHANNEY &
ANA MARIA SÁNCHEZ-
CASTILLO
Managing MiC Editor and Senior
MiC Editor

REEM ABURUKBA
MiC Columnist

JAKIN ZHANG
MiC Columnist

(Fair warning: I’ll be including
spoilers for previous seasons of Mr.
Robot from here on out.)
With the fourth season of Mr.
Robot coming up, I wanted to take
a critical look at how it’s done with
representation. In many ways, Mr.
Robot has been uncommonly good
at portraying diverse characters.
The protagonist Elliot Alderson
(played
by
Egyptian-American
actor Rami Malek) comes from a
multiracial family and navigates
mental illness through psychiatric
means. Even Elliot’s ragtag team
of anarchist hackers – aptly named
“fsociety” – is a racially diverse
group. However, the show also
has its failings, one of which its
portrayal of Chinese characters.
In order to engineer an economic
revolution, fsociety joins forces with
the Dark Army, a group of hackers
hailing from China. The leader of
the Dark Army is whiterose (played
by B.D. Wong), a transgender
woman who remains closeted,
choosing
to
publicly
present
herself as Zhang, the male Chinese
Minister of Defense.
Whiterose’s righthand man is
named Grant (played by Grant
Chang), and he is always by her
side, with the exception of when
he is doing her bidding. Grant and
whiterose also share a romantic
relationship that complements their
professional relationship.
And that’s where the problems
start.
Professionally, though he is her
subordinate, she treats him with
respect, even inquiring after his
opinion about how to proceed,
whether it is as the leader of the
Dark Army or as Minister Zhang.
Romantically, the atmosphere is a
far cry from this mutual respect.
She dominates him entirely. Though
she does feel for him, their power
dynamic even within the context of
the personal relationship appears to
be radically uneven.
As assistant to the chief of
the Dark Army, Grant’s status is
visually evident: his ever-present
business suits and the expensive
cars and bodyguards that follow
him everywhere. Yet Grant is
emasculated heavily, especially in
his last conversation with Irving
(played by Bobby Cannavale) in the
final episode of season three.
Though a long-time fixer for
the Dark Army, Irving decides to

suddenly quit. Grant confronts
him, but Irving shuts him down
by saying, “Tell me something.
She still making her spontaneous
overtures? She make you taste her
yet? Remember, doll face, I was you
years ago. And I’ve already done
my time. I think she’ll be good with
me.”
From this, we can tell that Grant
is only whiterose’s latest fancy. All
of his supposed power seems to
stems from his close relationship
and association with whiterose,
not his own merits. Worse yet,
whiterose’s advances have clearly
not all been consensual or at least,
at some point, ceased to be so in
Irving’s case. This portrays her as
a predator who turns subordinates
into her playthings in exchange for
promotions: a classic case of sexual
harassment in the workplace.
So what does all this have to do
with Grant and whiterose’s status
as Chinese characters?
The Chinese have long been
accused of “deviant” sexuality, in
no small part due to the history of
exoticism surrounding them. In
19th century America, Chinese
men were ousted from the physical
fields, and the law only allowed
them to take on work in areas that
had traditionally been considered
feminine, such as laundry. Through
their employment, they blurred
gender lines, with the predictable
result of coming to be considered
less masculine than other men.
Chinese
men
are
stereotyped
as submissives in relationships
– which is also one of two common
stereotypes that has been applied
to Chinese women, especially in
media.
The other stereotype of Chinese
women is as aggressive, dominant
women with mysterious sexual
charms. They’re considered to be
controlling and sly, so much so,
that this stereotype has earned
the name of “Dragon Lady”. In her
relationship with Grant, whiterose
epitomizes this stereotype with
her domineering behavior. While
the Dragon Lady can also positively
represent
Chinese
women
as
assertive and independent, in this
case, it only further emasculates
Chinese men.
Despite this, I’m looking forward
to seeing what Mr. Robot brings for
its final season. Hopefully, in terms
of the Dark Army and its Chinese
characters, it’ll be a departure from
outmoded stereotypes.

The dark problem with the
Dark Army in Mr. Robot

ELIZABETH HO
MiC Columnist

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