For my research project novel, my goal was to broaden my horizons to something I would never typically choose. For my summer reading, I chose to read Doctor Sleep by Stephen King, very different from the book I chose to read now. Another option for the summer reading was The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. When I was choosing the book at the time, The Handmaid’s Tale looked very dull from the cover, and since it was a new start of the year I wanted something exciting so I ended up reading a Stephen King novel.

When this project was presented to us, the book which immediately came to mind was Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. It seemed to fit the criteria, and my mom has been raving about it ever since I can remember. She said it was the first book she read when she came to the states, and that it sparked her love for reading. I’ve always wanted to read it so that I could feel that connection and understand where she was coming from, so a few days after we were introduced to the project, I went down to Barnes and Noble to pick it up and check it out. I found it under the classics, and sat down to give it a preview.

Sadly, however, I found myself literally drifting off like 5 pages in. 

I really wanted to like this book like my mom (and the rest of the world) did, but I just didn’t. It wasn’t my style.

So I put it back and went to the fiction section, thinking I would quickly find another book that sparked my interest. I read the backs of many books, but I found myself too overwhelmed to choose one on the spot. 

I went back home and decided to do some research. I thought about the things I’m interested in, and I realized that something that has really captured my attention recently is the idea that life could be a simulation. While pondering this topic, I thought about the time I watched the movie Life of Pi. The whole movie to me was a mindf*** . After I watched it, I really didn’t understand what had happened and what it meant, or maybe I did understand it and I was scared of it.

On the morning of August 2, 1942, José Gallardo Díaz was discovered unconcious and dying near a swimming hole, known as the Sleepy Lagoon. Due to the setting of the crime, newspapers used this to create the moniker of, “the Sleepy Lagoon Murder”. Díaz was taken to Los Angeles County General Hospital where he died shortly afterwards. Now you’re probably asking, “Goodness! How could this have possibly happened?!”. His autopsy revealed that he had a fracture at the base of his skull, however the cause of his death still remains unknown to this day. The LAPD soon arrested 17 Mexican-American youths as suspects, and even with insufficient evidence, they were all held in prison without bail for murder (remember, this IS 1942, that happened A LOT). The trial ended on January 13, 1943, nine of the defendants were convicted of second-degree murder and were sentenced to San Quentin Prison, the rest were charged with lesser offences. The convictions were reversed on appeal in 1944, but it was too late, The Sleepy Lagoon Murder was already a precursor to the 1943 Zoot Suit Riots.

But wait?! What was the Sleepy Lagoon? What lead up to the events of the death?!

Sleepy Lagoon was a reservoir near the Los Angeles river, which was often frequented by Mexican-Americans. Side note, racial tensions weren’t that great in 1940′s LA, due to the Bracero Program, there was a rapid influx of laborers from Mexico and the population of Mexicans in LA rose at this time. The LA city council actually called this a “Mexican crime wave” oh, wow this pendejada is still going on! This murder was basically an excuse for the LAPD to racially profile Mexican-Americans (especially if they were wearing zoot suits). The police and press characterized all Mexican-American youths as, “pachuco hoodlums and baby gangsters”.

Remember, the zoot suit was very baggy and used a lot of fabric, contrast to the tight suits that were encouraged to ration fabric. The act of wearing the zoot suit at this time was seen as “Un-American”. June 3, 1943, 11 sailors got off a bus and started toward Downtown LA. Upon encountering Mexican youth in zoot suits, they got into a verbal argument. Later, the sailors told the LAPD that they were jumped and beaten by the gang. Officers went to the scene, “seeking to clean up Main Street from what they viewed as the loathsome influence of pachuco gangs”. Then an actual convoy of 200 sailors headed to East LA (basically the Mexican part of LA) and started to beat zoot suiters with clubs, stripped them, and burned the tattered clothes in a pile (And guess who got arrested? Hint: they weren’t the sailors). Media coverage of the incidents spread, and soon chaos and mayhem spread until the 8th. 

Luis Valdez is one of the most important figures in Chicano theatre and the greater Chicano movement as a whole. Growing up I already knew somewhat about Valdez and his work, particularly La Bamba (1987), the tragic biopic of Chicano rock and roll singer, Ritchie Valens who died at 17 in a plane crash alongside Buddy Holly and Big Bopper. Also looking at his Imdb page I found out he played Tío Berto in Coco and I’m still kinda fangirling about it. Throughout the Chicano movement of the 1960′s-1970′s, Valdez used the power of theatre to engage the masses, particularly the Chicano community. A zoot suit is a men’s suit with high-waisted, wide-legged, tight cuffed, trousers accompanied with a long coat with wide lapels and wide-padded shoulders (this look was also completed with a long chain). This was the Pachuco look that was highly popular with the Chicano youth at the time, and it looked like this:

December 27th, 2018

Browsing for the right book started out very difficult. I am usually interested in a wide variety of topics, but I don’t read as often anymore so I had to really scan for the right book. I went online but for some reason as I read summaries of books I was just losing more and more interest in what I wanted to read, so I decided to go physically look for a book. I ended up at Barnes & Nobles, where the atmosphere was perfect for reading. I was able to peacefully look through different books, reading a little bit of the introduction and first chapter. I came across many books, such as the Slaughterhouse-Five, the Da Vinci Code, Life of Pi, Fahrenheit 51, and many more. A worker noticed me browsing, and strongly recommended Frankenstein by Mary Shelly to me. I took the book and was suddenly deeply interested in the story line. I took the chair to a sofa, and just sat down and read for about 45 minutes. The mix of science in this sort of classical fiction really seemed to catch my eye, so I settled on this book. And thinking ahead, I knew Frankenstein would have plenty of criticism to be able to use within my project, because of how popular and accredited this story has always been. I felt like it was the perfect book.

The book has also been translated onto the big screen many times, which was iterated into the PG version for kids to enjoy. Frankenstein has even become a popular cultural symbol during Halloween. This all started from this story, so being able to explore the time line of how this book was able to turn into what it has become today brings a whole other side to my keen interest on picking this book. 

Coming into the semester I had no clue what book that I wanted to read. So my dad through up the suggestion of “Atlas Shrugged”. After seeing the ridiculously long book with words the size of food crumbs, I immediately tossed that idea to the side. As the first week of school started up again though, I became desperate. I decided to go with my dads 1 ton book and accepted the challenge that would await me in future endeavors.