A Julia de Burgos: exquisite piece of bravery

“You are only the ponderous lady very lady;
not me; I am life, strength, woman.”

-     Julia de Burgos

Returning to Julia de Burgos, I would like to share what I have found: a precious poem made by her. This poem, entitled A Julia de Burgos, is a sophisticated piece of her mind in which she talks, in form of reproach, to herself. Here are two sides: 1. the side Julia shows to the society: a housewife, resigned, submissive and hypocrite; 2. the Julia she actually is, but in her mind: brave, courageous, with a sense of strength, freedom and justice. In this poem Julia seems to have a kind of discussion from that “Julia fighter” (the protagonist) against the “coward Julia” (the antagonist); only that she don’t have the answers from the antagonist. Regardless of the absence of the antagonist’s answer, the mission of the protagonist is to make a call of action; to make her own enter into conscience, and because of that, do a change. So, according to that, we can say that this is an optation.

Julia made a full use of stylistic figures in this poem, such as metaphors (Tú, flor de aristocracia; y yo la flor del pueblo); antithesis (Tú eres sólo la grave señora señorona;  yo no, yo soy la vida, la fuerza, la mujer); anaphors (Tú); reduplication (contra ti, y contra todo lo injusto y lo inhumano); hyperbole (que en todos mis poemas desnudo el corazón); personification (a mí me pinta el sol); simils (Tú eres como tu mundo, egoísta; yo no); and asíndeton (dama casera, resignada, sumisa). Also, this poem counts with a huge amount of images, for example: viril destello. Actually, there are more stylistic figures in the poem, but those are the most common.

On the other hand, we have to keep in mind that Julia wrote that poem in an era, not so different from ours. Male chauvinism; not equal opportunities at jobs, programs, politic area, and other ambits; more strong believing in catholic religion… these are some of the factors that influenced in the writings of Julia, and this poem is not the exception. Because she served as a member of the “Daughters of Freedom”, her believing are manifested in almost every poem she wrote. That was what she actually was: a strong, fighter, brave, advocated woman. And because of that, her spirit lives among all of us, through her literature and work.

Personally I love this poem because it actually represent not only a huge amount of women; but also a huge amount of men. Some women are joined with a man not because she loves him, but because of appearances. The same thing also occurs with men. The appearances have truly power on a lot of us… I include myself. Many of the time we are acting according with what people or society says, but not with what we actually want. We are not being free at all. And to proof if it is true, ask yourself: How many time do you dress as you really want? Are you happy with what you are doing: your job; your role at the family? Are you working according with your interest? Or is it because the society expect them (your interest) from you? What is the society expecting from you? Is that what you want? …This poem is like a revelation from Julia to Julia. We should do the same, and fight according our brave, advocated spirit.

The "Yal" thing

There is a new tendency of women, and also in men, in being Yal. This is the name that the puertorican society have attribute to those persons that have a really pour sense of education, regardless if they are or not. These peoples act like if they were vulgar persons, like if they do not have education. Most of the time, if you are walking through a street from Puerto Rico, pretty sure you are going to find a Yal. And this is because Yals are everywhere: wherever the government brings money aids or helps, these people will be there. Sometimes they are quiet violent, but most time they are not; it depends on the situation. But don’t worry, if you make friendship with them, you will have no problem. But make sure it is friendship.

Yals are not always people associated with bad conduct; they are also really nice. When they do not try to abuse from the government aids, we can get notice of a less dependent conduct. I’m not saying that they are independent, but they are paying more attention to other stuff, but not money. Here we can say, Yals are less interested, and because of that, more nice. But this do not always have to be completely true: there could be other factors to be considered. The point is, why always the society attribute this behavior or tag to women? Are women the only ones in being Yals? The answer is, obviously, not.

The origin of the word is from the reggaeton music, where the artists called Yals to all those women that do what they (reggaeton artist) want, especially in the sexual ambit. Yal is a country word, created by puertorican to call specifically woman, which I think is a kind of sexism because men also act in that way. But for men, the word is Caco, and its characteristic more important is the listening of reggaeton music.

How pretty those pants!

There was a moment when women could not use pants. It could be because of the reputation of the family; because of the social oppression of attributing this piece of cloth only to men; or it could be because of religious cause. Because there are a lot of religions that do not permit women to use pants, the impact of this practice has arrive to us, I mean, in our contemporary society. Religions as the Oneness Pentecostals; Orthodox Jews; or traditionally Catholics, prohibits the use of trousers because of many reasons: Biblical commands; the sacrament of leaving the space between legs clear; etc. But trousers (or pants) are indeed a piece of cloth without sex or gender predetermined. They were accepted time later the 19^th century, and by the time, women keep using it without any concern. But, how does this practice begun to be accepted by the society?

When the husbands of this women were in armed forces or in war, trousers begun to be a common habit among women which, when working in the outside or in the professional ambit, understood they (pants) could be useful. Specifically, later in the 20^th century it were considered as a piece for both sexes and as a fashion piece too. But there were always the controversy of this practice, especially from the religious sector (the opposition that had been dragged since that time until now). Knowing that, we should also have to know that there were women that fight against that opposition. In our island there was a woman very known by all of us: Luisa Capetillo. Known also as an anarchist, Capetillo used pants in public in many times, and because of that, she was arrested and then liberated (she was arrested because it was considered a crime). But globaly, she wasn’t the unique. Senators as Rebecca Morgan (the first senator to use pants in the U.S.); Barbara Mikulski; and Carol Moseley, were women in favor to the cause.

Lastly, trousers are not intended to be used only by men, although this is not part of the reality in today’s society. I think that religion is a prejudicial influence that go against the liberation of women in many aspect of their life. Religion arrest them in order to continue to be the submissive, without vision, homely women that have been for centuries. Religion should not be mixed with these facts, but sadly it is. Pants do not define how a woman should act or perceive things, nor in men do. This is because pants are just a piece of cloth that should not be adjudicated to only one sex and gender!

Discrimination in its spectrum

As a common practice of the human being, discrimination have been applied from the lowest to the highest level. It is not unknown that people tend to categorized other people, denning them from participate of any social practice or human right, just because of any prejudice. From age, caste, class, color, disability, genotype, height, hair, language, looks, mental type, ethnicity, rank, religion, size, species, weight; to sexuality, race or gender, we can find employed some discrimination. And this is not a joke or something not to worry about: because as serious as it is, it could lead even to the death of the victim. Here I focus on two types of discrimination that really bother me a lot: discrimination because of sexual orientation; and because of gender. It is not a surprise to find all spread in our society these two kinds of discrimination: they are totally alive. But let’s take a brief look on each one of them.

When talking about sexual orientation’s discrimination, we can say that it is unbearable the receiving of the different comments or actions coming from those people who think that homosexuality is a wrong practice. As it is said, maybe homosexuals will go to the hell, once they die. But actually, religions are not something that I get worried about, regardless of their strong influence in the society in order to eliminate or segregate those employers of the conduct. Religious people should expand their minds in order to accept homosexuality, otherwise they will also be segregated, from the homosexual side. But religion is not the only element to consider when talking about sexual orientation’s discrimination; the nationality of the person; the different health agencies; and in the different educational systems, discrimination is employed. For example, there are some nations that can’t accept it as a normal conduct, so they applies punishments to those who practice it. In Iran, Arabia Saudí, and Yemen in Asia; Mauritania, Sudán, andthe north regions of Nigeria and the south of Somalia in Africa, homosexualpractice is punished with the death penalty. On the other hand, there are some health agencies that employ discrimination because of the sexual orientation. For example the American RedCross practice it. I remember when I went to this agency, and because of my sexual orientation, I couldn’t donate any blood. Just because of my homosexuality! This was something really embarrassing at the moment, but now it is a factor that really inspire me to continue fighting, supporting our rights. But that’s not all, in educational systems, discrimination is also buzzing, and it is expressed as bulling. From elementary to secondary school, childrenand teenager tend to bully those victim of any “incapacity” as it could be consideredthe sexual orientation. So, overall, here we can see how sexual orientation’s discrimination cover huge areas of our society, as other kind of discrimination, as the one that state that black skin people are inferior than white people.

Woman has also a serious problem. They have been emarginated and considered inferior than men. Discrimination has taken place in this ambit, adjudicating some rolls to women and other to men. It is said that woman do not have the same capacity that men have; that women, because they are inferior than men, should stay at home, cooking, cleaning the house, managing baby issues, and washing the men’s clothes. On the other hand, the men are who have the power; who bring the money to the house; is considered the brain of the house. In other words, women belong to the private ambit, while men belong to the public one. This ideology is wrong, and clearly there’s discrimination on it. Women, because of their constant battle and sacrifice, now have some space in the society, but margination continue. For example, now we can found womanin politics rolls, when some years ago, they weren’t allowed. So, woman clearly are gaining their space in the society.

Finally, we can get notice that discrimination takes place in many different forms. Sometimes I ask myself: Why people continue practicing this conduct? Why do they feel so comfort employing it? Then the answer comes alone: it could be because of the ignorance they have about the issue; they feel as outsider of the field been discriminated, and because of that, these fields should not exist. Well, I really don’t know, but something what is really true, is that this could lead to a civil war. These wrong management of our differences could have fatal consequences. Not only to the victim of discrimination but also to those who employ it. I have to say that I will not be quite, meanwhile this practices continue.