Reflection #3 TLS 412: Interview Week

• What were your personal impression about each interview? 

I started of with Dr. Curtis Acostas interview, and right away I loved the vibe of this interview and could tell I was going to be very into this interview and he was able to keep my attention very well. It was really sad to hear that he suffered and he did hate himself for being brown, he said because he was never represented in his educational experiences. Its reflections like these that help me to understand how important it is to incorporate a multicultural educational setting to have all students be included. He said that through the media there was many negative light toward his culture; this was challenging because he said in high school he just wanted to be like everyone else and conform to the way of his society. I thought it was really powerful how he pointed out that once he came to Tucson, that was the first place that he felt like he could be a chicano other than in his home. He said its in the air and the feel of this city. I would agree with him in that, and that is something I think is so special about Tucson also. 

Dr. Combs stood out to me when she explained how white people do not always realize racism is present because they are the ones being privilege or they are the ones being benefited by the structural inequalities. I also like how she pointed out that many teachers or people do not mean any harm by using the colorblindness method, but it is bad because it erases their identity. 

• Did you relate to either one of them or perhaps both on different levels? 

I identified with Dr. Acostas because his mother was European decent and so was some of my father, he is not fully european because he does have native american history, but our last name is a German last night so I identified with that. I really liked how he is from the Bay area in California, because I am from California also, but I am from more of the central and southern area. I loved how Dr. Acostas really talked about how Tucson community was very special for him because he felt like this was somewhere that he could feel like he was proud of his Mexican culture. I can relate to this because Tucson is also the first place that i have thought critically about my culture and who I am and I do think me being in the college setting, away from California, has helped me to explore my culture more also.  

Dr.Mary Combs does relate to me because she is a women. Color muteness is the purposeful avoidance of any issues of race. These are things we learn from a young age because we may be trying to be polite; and sometimes whiteness becomes a race without a culture. I really identified with this because I find myself feeling like I am without a culture or ethnicity because I am white; but that isn't the case, white people's culture is usually the normative or the majority. 

• Insight I gained from these interviews:

Dr. Acostas said that in his educational experience he never thought critically about what he was being taught, and I can understand that because it was not until recently in college that I have truly thought critically about what I was taught here at the University of Arizona. I am really thankful for that because I too hope to be a future educator so now I will make sure to be critical about the curriculum and teach my students to also be critical thinkers. I really liked how in the interview, there was the Mexican american study issue brought up because Dr. Acostas was a part of that experience. That was such a big impact here in Tucson and he mentioned humanizing his classroom was something he wanted to do. He mentioned that violence started to go down as these MAS classes were present, and that was a part of humanizing.  He brought up the idea that we do not like to talk about race and problems because we still believe in those structural educational systems, and in reality we need to question these hard topics of race because its uncomfortable; but it is good to do these critical reflections because these challenges make us better human beings in society.  

Dr. Combs did a really good job of defining critical race theory. I like how she identified how the historical context of white people having the privilege of land leases of land that was taken from Native Americans. This is a way in which we can see that white people have had different experiences from other people, and it is important to understand the different experiences that have taken place in different cultures. I also liked how she highlighted that usually the majority will only do things or make change for the minority if it is also benefitting the majority, which is known as interest convergence.