National Museum of Mexican Art - week 2

This week has been hectic because of multiple things that I’ve had to get done in and out of my internship. But as usual, any time I spent at my internship was certainly time that I enjoyed. As I continue to work with the summer program, I grow more and more fond of the staff and the kids.

Many of the activities that I have been doing with the kids this week are a continuation from the previous week. Yet as this week comes to an end, they continue to wrap up their sculptures of their loved ones and I must say that each of them has made great progress.

Aside from the sculpture, this week they continue to practice their baile flokórico but have begun learning jarabe tapatío and they are pretty fast learners too. Although all I hear are countless complaints, they don’t yet seem to really understand how beautiful and meaningful and dance like this can be. Whenever I watch them practice, I attempt to put myself in their shoes and I understand where their complaints come from. But me personally, as a kid I would have done anything to get the opportunity that they have been given. Their chance to become more conscious of the beautiful traditions of their culture is something that I hope to one day have a personal experience with. With an experience such as great as this one, I hope that the kids are able to take away a part of their culture and share it with others to one day become conscious leaders.

A new activity that they have begun has been creating their own Talavera’s which are originally from Puebla. They are beautifully glazed pottery meant to serve a purpose as tableware, tiles, decorative objects, and more. These talavera’s are a great representation of the multicultural encounters in North America. They contain influences of Spanish, Chinese, Italian, and indigenous culture. The kids were introduced to the activity and then taken on a tour of the exhibit to be able to observe and create an idea of some of the patterns that they could use for their talavera’s.

Basin with Chinese Figures made in the mid 18th century

Aside from my internship, Isabella and I went to Chicago Public Library, Archer Heights Branch and read Rosie Revere Engineer to a small group of kids. Although we had a small group, they were all willing to take part during story time and the activities. They each seemed to be very intrigued in the story and the message it told about how you only ever fail if you quit. In all honesty, this event was one that I was nervous about because although I have read books to my little sister before, I never had the responsibility of enlightening more than one kid. When it actually came time to start, the nerves went away and it was such a tranquil feeling knowing that I was giving these kids an enriching opportunity. I look back at when I was a kid and I don’t recall many memories of having someone take time out of their day to take me to a library and read a book to me, not including educational moments in school. For me to have the chance to give to these kids an experience that I never had felt wonderful.

As the week came to an end, I once again feel grateful for everything new that I have come to learn and experienced and I am beyond excited to see what the next two weeks have in store for me.