As I traveled down I-10 East, making my way from El Paso, Texas, en route to Tarpon Springs, Florida, I came across several “welcoming” markers along the way. At a Mississippi welcome center, my eleven-year-old Mexican-American daughter and I took a quick picture next to the “welcome to Mississippi” sign.

For my current project with the Humanities Collaborative at EPCC-UTEP, I have been working with my two fellow team members, Faculty Fellow Professor Zoe Spiliotis and Undergraduate Research Fellow Ashley Garcia, to create a color palette representing El Paso, Texas.  Much of my research has focused on the indigenous groups that have lived in and around the El Paso area and the Borderland for centuries.

In the fall of 2019, I began training to become an advisor for the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) Department of English. Under the guidance of former Department of English student advisor and current Director of Rhetoric and Writing Studies Dr. Levi Martin, I was introduced to the many aspects of degree plans, policies, and software that I was expected to use and understand to help students

Responsible educators in the humanities occupy a precarious time. On May 25, 2020, the world heard George Floyd's plea, “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe” as a police officer dismissed the warning and continued to kneel on his neck until Mr. Floyd's death. In response, activism across the country intensified, advocating for classrooms to adopt "anti-racist" teaching instruction.

Our traditions are collections of practices and aesthetics that build on one another with each passing generation.  Whether the traditions are religious or secular, they often start with a specific intent and on a small scale, eventually growing over time and adding new practices and aesthetic elements as the surrounding culture changes, a process that can take centuries or a few years.