Professor Catriona Esquibel has a vibrant, smart, and energetic group of students at
San Francisco State. And here they are in two poses. The first one is their "Hi--this
is us" pose. The second picture below this one is their "We are one tough bad class!"
"Hi--here we are!"
"We are one tough cool class!"
These students had great questions regarding Ruiz de Burton. They wanted to know what it meant to be Mexican American in the nineteenth century. We discussed how California lands were re-distributed after the California Land Commission was formed (post 1848). We also discussed creative writing.
Some of the students stayed after to talk more. One of them was Araceli Leyva, a junior political science major. She told me she has family in Lexington, Nebraska. Some of her family members live in Nebraska and work in the meat packing industry. We shared our stories regarding Nebraska. Small world indeed!
My conversation with Araceli made me think about all the interesting ways we are connected. For example, when the students introduced themselves and told me what major they were, I realized that in discussions of literature, each of those areas of study (political science, history, sociology, media studies, etc.) is braided into stories, into literary works. All these areas of study can be discussed through Ruiz de Burton's novels.
Araceli Leyva and Amelia Montes
Finally--a most sincere "thank you" to Professor Catriona Esquibel who is also celebrating her promotion to Associate Professor. Felicidades Catriona and thank you for inviting me to meet the students at San Francisco State! How lucky they are to have you!
Abrazos a todos ustedes!
Professor Catriona Esquibel (newly tenured!) and me.
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