"At Home there had always been a chauffeur opening a car door or a gardener tipping his hat and a half dozen maids and nursemaids acting as if the health and wellbeing of the de la Torre-Garcia children were of wide public concern. Of course, it was usually the de la Torre boys, not the girls, who came in for special consideration. Still, as bearers of the de la Torre name, the girls were made to feel important" (174). El machismo is a very prevelant theme in How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent. In this instance, the speaker makes clear how boys are prioritized back on the island and the girls are only seen because of their relationship to the men in the family. In other words, their visibility is contingent upon their reproductive ability-- only if it birthed men. Value is assigned to female bodies that can carry the names of men.

In Pietri's "Puerto Rican Obituary" the speaker functions to interrogate how Juan, Miguel, Milagro, Olga and Manuel have produced, or reproduced, a narrative that ultimately goes against their own humanity. Although their experiences are similar-- misrecognition, poverty, social ostracization-- they have internalized their oppressor’s ideology of individualism. The poem speaker says, “If only they/ had kept their eyes open/at the funeral of their fellow employees” alluding to the need of building communities amongst each other in order to survive.

In Sandra Maria Estevez's "Autobiography of a Nyuorican" the poem speaker says, "The meaning of war defined her.
Gasping and innocent,
before she knew her mother,
before she discovered herself.
Barely alive.
Gathering weapons into her being
with each breath that filled her.
Growing stronger.
Determined to beat all the odds." The Nuyorican woman is a woman that is born out of risilience. She finds her way through the world-- even when there are people who dont want her there in the first place. Despite facing struggle after struggle, she pulls up and triumphs.

In "Queer Aztlan " Moraga says "Since lesbians and gay men have often been forced out of our blood families, and since our love and sexual desire are not housed within the traditional family, we are in a critical position to address those areas within our cultural family that need to change" Moraga is offering a critique to Chicano culture. When "El Plan Espirittual de Aztlan" was first created, it did not include lesbian and gay men as being part of the bronze continent. Moraga understands the need for queering Aztlan as a way to preserve Chicano culture-- holding up the mirror to homophobia, sexism, gender roles. As a lesbian, Moraga is aware of how our ideas of homosexuality is shaped by heterosexist culture and as a victim of this culture she is in the best position to critique it.

In Carmen Machado's "The Husband Stitch" the narrator says, " (If you read this story out loud, please use the following voices: Me: as a child, high pitched, forgettable; as a woman, the same. The boy who will grow into a man, and be my spouse: robust with his own good fortune.
My father: Like your father, or the man you wishh was your father.
My son: as a small child,gentle,rounded with the faintest of lisps; as a man, like my husband.
All other women:interchangeable with my own" Attitudes surrounding misogyny are prevelant in this quote. The woman narrator compares her self as being like a child even though she is a woman. She places women as being high pitched and forgettable. The instructions of voice prioritizes the perception of men-- that women all sound the same (for example when "nagging")

"Borders are set up to define the places that are safe and unsafe, to distinguish us from them. A border is a dividing line, a narrow strip along a steep edge. A borderland is a vague and undetermined place created by the emotional residue of an unnatural boundary. It is in a constant state of transition. The prohibited and forbidden are its inhabitants. Los atravesados live here" (25). Anzaldua concerns herself with not just the idea of spacial borders but borders between identities, culture, race, sexuality. and languages. The idea that she presents in this essay is that los atravesados-- as not belonging ni aqui, ni alla-- experience a constant clash. The clash results in a mestizaje, not belonging to one but to many at different times, and sometimes all at once--a stark representation of Latinx identities across the board. Latinx folk are not just one monolothic thing, we contain multitudes.

"The X In Latinx Is A Wound, Not A Trend"
by Alan Pelaez Lopz states, "My mother’s advice to “tener cuidado” and the death of a trans sister represent the wound that trans and gender-nonconforming Latin Americans wear as we navigate a Latinidad that has yet to love us. By “us” I refer to those who are too queer, too Black, too NDN, too femme, too angry to be Latin American. For this reason, an essay on what the “X” in Latinx really means is not only useful, but necessary." (1). Lopez is discussing the problem of transphobia within latinidad. Lopez doesnt want us to normalize "Latinx" for it doesnt confront the big "X" wound of settlement, anti-blackness, femicides, inarticulation. The "X" hopes to talk about all of the violence in order to help those who are actively facing that violence every day .

Emily Ferris' "My Favorite Thing Is Monsters" is a comic journal written by the character Karen. Karen is a young girl who draws herself as a werewolf-- to show how society views her (as a non-white queer kid) and how she views herself. As the comic unfolds, we realize Karen's feelings for her best friend Missy . One night they are watching Daughter of Dracula and become so intrigued when Countess Dracula is about to kiss another girl. Missy asks,“Do you think that a girl could become the bride of Dracula’s daughter?” and Karen responds, “If they love each other, why not?" Unfortunately, Missy's mom finds out and blames the behavior on class. This moment is reflective of the comics overall theme of queerness and the othering that comes with it.