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      From the comic Eternaut by Hector German Oesterheld comes a framed narrative of a man, his friends, and immediate family finding themselves stuck in the middle of an apocalypse. In the mass hysteria of nuclear war, Oesterheld confirms the world's greatest fear, and in doin so, reveals truths in human nature in the face of impossible odds and certain death.      Although I enjoy the prologue as it provided context of who the protagonist is (the collective), as it assists the tone of conflict throughout the comic. Instead of solely rooting for the "main character" we understand that in a nuclear fallout the strongest will survive regardless of who the narrative centers around. As the initial narrative of the story suggests, we as the audience know that the main character, the Eternaut has somehow survived, as he has lived to tell his story. The Eternaut's origin story self is in much a stark contrast to the self that sits in front of Oesterheld. He...

In this week's readings "Peruvian Punk as a Global Means of Underground Production", Shane Greene (2016) discusses the origins and intentions of punk music. He iterates the essence of punk as an intentionally underproduced subculture performed in retaliation to social norms and a mass society generated by global capital. I appreciated that Greene stressed the diversity found within punk culture despite the male centric spotlight shone by the global North. As someone whose brother has been in punk bands for many years, I have been to my share of DIY shows. I have heard the underproduction, raunchy vocals, and small-scale venues for myself. Although these shows weren’t held in stadium you could fill the room ten times over with the support from the crowd, often filled with members from other bands on the line up moshing, chatting, and head-banging. My brother’s dream is to open up his own venue to host shows at. He currently puts together a small festival in Dallas called...

  Galeano encapsulates the ultimate highs and lows of emotions that range around soccer. He uses romantic and dramatic imagery often religiously charged to convey just how important soccer is to Latin American culture. In his section regarding the history of soccer and the origin of the ball, it interests me to see that like architecture and food, the ball has appeared in many places around the world with materials from its environment. Galeano evokes a compelling argument that soccer is an incremental aspect of culture and the introduction of the British commodification of the game is reminiscent of colonization. The politicization of soccer, the introduction of the manager, and the strict control management has over individual players is alluded to owning people and being controlled over a singular master multiple times in the selection. With increasing merchandise, advertisement, and brand deals, it is understandable that Galeano describes this beautiful game as metamorphosized ...

 I was thankful this week that "Lucha Libre: Stories with no Time Limit" by Orellana et al was so comprehensive, as primary forms of entertainment serve a multitude of functions within culture. The paper reiterates that increasingly where there is representation of Latin culture there is also an idealization of the heightened emotions that seizes the senses. Voices cheering, jeering, yelling from all sides of the arena give way to costumes, intricate backstories, and a fight that at some times feels like dancing. Something from the paper that struck my attention is that (correct me if I am wrong), the loser is unmasked by the winner of the fight. To me the mask eludes to superhuman strength and a mission larger than identity. The fan culture surrounding Lucha Libre is filled with idolization of both the wearer and creator of these masks. Packaging entertainment and creating specialized paraphernalia for both various market age groups as well as for international/local audienc...

      T he readings this week were closely related and vastly interesting pieces of information that I had not been exposed to before this week, much like Shaylih Muehlmann's experience in "A Narco without a Corrido Doesn't Exist". Although I spent most of my life in Houston,Texas where cultures often mingle and are admired by a very diverse population, I wondered why I had never been taught this subculture in class. My knowledge gained of narco-corridos felt akin to looking at an optical illusion image of an old woman and a young woman at the same time (you may be more familiar with the one that shows black and white vases). It was often more difficult for me to find the second image in the optical illusion until someone pointed it out to me. Sometimes by seeing the negative of an image, or what is left in the abstract space of it, we can learn more about the whole image itself. So now that I see what the United States has taught me about narco culture (or therefor l...

I found that "Cooking Lesson" by Rosario Castellanos demonstrated the dual wielding consciousness of the woman of her internal wants and what people expect from her. The main character in this poem is a married woman preparing a meal for when her husband returns. In between her fumbles at culinary prowess, she reminisces on stages of her marriage. The memories of her marital strife mirror the feeble attempt of preparing her dinner.  Her flower metaphors congeal cohesively to convey that the suffocating role of women as wives permeates every aspect of their lives, especially ones expected of traditional housewives. The craft of cooking is a cultural practice that requires discipline, attention, and time. The main character with her fantasies playing out of actions she wishes she could take as well as the fear surrounding being a failing wife distracts her from her meal just as it distracts her from her loss of autonomy. It makes sense that Rosario Castellanos would feel foreig...