Email: skm9566@nyu.edu

Anzaldua’s poem: “Healing Wounds” struck me in a way that none of the other readings have. I felt so seen by the personification of the “soul” as a fractured part of self after an instance of deep wounding. The line “but the me that’s home has become alien without it” reminded me of traumatic times in my life and how I always felt a desperation to “find myself” again. After a great loss or assault or any other type of trauma, many of us want to find our old selves or simply feel like our old selves again. What this poem captures so beautifully is the impossibility of that concept, for our “self” is fractured and fragmented. It is very powerful to understand this fragmentation in a physical image, such as a soul wandering, separate from the body, desperate for reintegration.

In “Light In The Dark,” Anzaldua speaks about “concimiento” which prompts us to engage the spirit in confronting our social sickness. (21) I was interested in this concept because it pushes us to consider our humanity, empathy, and inner moral compass when making decisions surrounding social justice issues and politics. Spirituality may have religious connotations, but I believe living and thinking through one’s spirit can take many forms. Although for some it is ritualistic, prayerful, or cultural, some can act through their spirituality by engaging in deep empathy, compassion, and service for others or even themselves.

The piece of writing within “Light In The Dark” I found most applicable to my own life was the section entitled “Pregnant with Story.” Anzaldua recalls constant warnings from her mother and grandmother– not to go in the water at night because a snake would enter her vagina. She reflects and asserts that her mother was really saying that in going out late at night, a man would rape her. (26) This struck me because growing up as a girl into a young woman, I was constantly warned in similar ways, always alluding to rape but never plainly saying what was being warned against. There was a certain responsibility placed on me to not let this happen, as if anyone has any control over an act of violence. I also thought the snake metaphor in the warning was interesting given the biblical context of the the snake being the devil personified and tempting Eve into sin. Historically, there has been so much shame and taint surrounding the subject of rape– always with an undertone of a female bodied young person “not knowing better.”