About

Hello, Reader! My name is Lupe. I’m a California girl with a penchant for books, travel, fashion, and popular culture. As a proud graduate of UC Berkeley and Stanford, with a PhD in English and a B.A. in English and Political Science, I’m also an academic at heart so I might bring to the blog a bit of women of color feminism and a critically-minded perspective in general. I was a Michelle R. Clayman teaching fellow, have taught classes on the Contemporary U.S. Latino Novel, and now I currently work as a higher ed. professional in the field of diversity and inclusion, which I also write about.

Some of my favorite things that I like to do are dancing, discussing pop cultural trends and comedy, and having dinner parties with friends and family where I get to share my favorite Mexican dishes (Jalisco and Durango represent!). I also love wine and “nice things.” I know what you might be thinking, “Is she like a Latina Frasier“? As much as I love that 90s television show and would like to create a sitcom based on that premise, the answer is no (but if you’re a Hollywood producer, call me, I have ideas). I’d like to think that as a daughter of immigrants and growing up in California’s working-class neighborhoods, I’m a bit more conscious of the spaces of privilege that I’ve entered as an adult. I’m grateful for having the opportunities to enjoy some of these privileges and hope to not take them for granted. This blog will be about what it’s like to live between these two worlds and how I hope to utilize this perspective to bring some critical awareness to our our practices as travelers, beauty and fashion enthusiasts, and as media consumers. There is a specific type of cultural borderlands that one travels through when “moving on up” while also having knowledge of the struggles faced by immigrant and working-class class communities. Scholars have called these cultural meeting points, and the cultural change that it produces, as “contact zones” (Mary Louise Pratt, 1991) or “transculturation” (Fernando Ortiz, 1947). I explore these cultural intersections in the section “Mexin’ it Up,” which is my own way of describing the process of slowly changing mainstream culture by showing up in places where it’s harder to find traces of your own culture.

The name for this blog, “Critical Chic-a,” derives from a desire of wanting to understand how I can be a champion for social justice as a Mexican American woman living in today’s consumer culture—in other words, a woke 21st century Chicana. Can I care about finding the latest sustainable fashion trends and also care about the social-political structures that need to be changed for creating a more equitable society? The answer is absolutely yes! As a feminist who believes in the full equality of men and women, I also believe that we have the freedom to use our passions, resources, and talents for the social good in whatever form we see fit. Additionally, I would be remiss not to mention that one of the reasons why I love fashion and other forms of material culture is that it allows people to express themselves and create meaning in their own worlds. As cultural critic Roland Barthes once wrote, fashion has its own grammar, since “to dress” demonstrates “a strong form of meaning, it constitutes an intellectual, notifying relation between a wearer and their group.” (10)

I also started this blog to connect with other people— especially women—who are creating “a blog of one’s own” as a way to document some of the things that bring them joy in life. Yes, I use that Marie Kondo “Does it bring you joy?” litmus test on occasion. It’s inspiring to see other women doing their thing, expressing their voice, and not apologizing for it. Life has its ups and downs, so why not share what inspires you and also brings you fulfillment and connection with others?

Speaking of a Virginia Woolf reference, here is a quote of hers that I love from A Room of One’s Own:

“So long as you write what you wish to write, that is all that matters; and whether it matters for ages or only for hours, nobody can say.”

–Virginia Woolf

And since I promised women of color feminism, we also have the inimitable voice of Sandra Cisneros. Here is one of my favorite quotes where she describes what her young protagonist in The House on Mango Street wants as a self-fulfillment:

“Not a flat. Not an apartment in back. Not a man’s house. Not a daddy’s. A house all my own. With my porch and my pillow, my pretty purple petunias. My books and my stories. My two shoes waiting beside the bed. Nobody to shake a stick at. Nobody’s garbage to pick up after.

Only a house quiet as snow, a space for myself to go, clean as paper before the poem.”

–Sandra Cisneros

This passage struck me not only for Cisneros’ poetic language but also for her discussion of interior design, both in the HGTV sense (purple petunias do sound nice!) and also in the taking-stock-of-your-interior-life sense. While beautifying your home and creating a strong sense of self are two separate projects, there is a connection between the spaces we live in and the state of our inner worlds that Cisneros asks us to consider and that I hope to explore in this blog.

Thank you for choosing this space to visit. Welcome and enjoy! Or, as my Mexican mom likes to say, “Enyoy!” Please feel free to contribute to the comment section, especially if you would like to share some similar experiences or have any questions. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Abrazos, L