First Snow Day

I like to imagine all the smiling faces this morning. I was beaming and called Lorraine so that we could giggle with excitement together and let out all those sighs of relief. I had been up since 4am studying and had coffee, so going back to sleep wasn't going to happen and didn't until last night, which is why I'm posting this Saturday morning.

Snow Day was much needed, and I would say that is a truly universal feeling.
Over break I did a lot of reading and research for my Latin American Revolutions final paper; I started writing. It's on the casta paintings of colonial Mexico (and other places), which attempted to label every single mixture of race in order to show Spain that there is some order and control. There are more reasons for the paintings and it's popularity as a genre. I'm relating this focus on categorizing race and skin color to how Latinos, and more specifically Dominicans, define their own racially-mixed identity. This is SUPER interesting and I can relate to so much of what I'm reading about. Anyways, visually, there's a huge contrast.

Here's a visual for casta painting:

http://www.gc.maricopa.edu/laberinto/fall1997/graphics/pl7.jpg

And here is what I believe says a lot about how Dominicans feel about race in the United States. I had to specify ("in the U.S.") because the mentality is different in the Dominican Republic and more similar to the casta paintings in terms of skin color. This is a print from the exhibition at the Dominican Studies Institute that I dedicated a post to earlier this year:

http://theuptowner.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/miguel_print2.jpg

You see? All whole bunch of different people of different races and skin tones versus one person defined by all these different shades of color. It won't be easy, but I'm thankful for having been given the freedom to write a paper like this. Thanks to Ms. Morales and Profesora Keller for helping me with research materials.


I also went to the Met. I'm obsessed with the place and just like being there. It's weird. I need to explore other museums, and Anneliese (who I call "Joey".. don't ask. It's not even that interesting) is forcing me to. The MOMA is our next stop. At the Met, the John Baldessari: Pure Beauty was our favorite exhibition.

Then, I came home and watched Being John Malkovoch with my friends. Strange movie...

Now, I have tons of work for the weekend.

'Till Monday :)