These Stories Are Not Silent

Rosario Jesús Treviño Yoson is a 2nd year majoring in Economics. They identify as a mixed queer transmasculine person, and plan to use their degree to address food insecurity. As a Diversity Center Advocate, you can find them in several virtual dCenter spaces, including International Identities and Topics, Thursday Study Hall, and Open dCenter hours.

Where am I in my DJS journey?

       I am at an overwhelming place in my current DJS journey. The more history I read, the clearer my perspective becomes. Without understanding where we come from, we don’t have a clear idea of where we are headed. As I learn more, my perspective has been shifting- achingly slowly from an American-centric worldview. My role has always been, and always will be that of a learner. In truth, I am at such an unsettling part of my DJS journey. I was reluctant to write this post- surely there are plenty of contributors that are more knowledgeable than I am.
        I am hungry for more knowledge, more history, to confront myself and others with the countless untold stories of horror and injustice in the United States.
       These stories are not silent. The people scream to be heard.
       Right now, my mind tells me I am never doing enough, and I feel largely hidden. That’s okay with me for now-I am at a strange time in my life. I am trans, and queer. I just started masculinizing hormone replacement therapy, and I still look feminine. I am growing more confident in my ethnic and racial identity- but I consistently hesitate. My proximity to whiteness is something so tangible, yet completely socially constructed. Even my family views being white, straight, and cisgender as something to strive for, as if reaching that standard will finally give them freedom. That is a profound and tragic lie, for I have not found more power and happiness than in my familial culture and my queer existence.
     Shortly before quarantine, I noticed my thinking drift toward self-centeredness. I was constantly questioning if I did something wrong, and not “what more can I do today?” The last 6 months of quarantine has given me the opportunity to really check myself. My purpose right now is to uplift the voices of others, and I’ll continue while I find my own voice.

Comments

Thank You DJS Leaders

Rosario Jesús Treviño Yoson is a 2nd year majoring in Economics. They identify as a mixed queer transmasculine person using he/they pronouns. He plans to use their degree to address food insecurity. You can find him in the Diversity Center, the library, or the student radio station in the Neeb building. Dear DJS Student Leaders, It has been an honor to organize your stories this year. When I started, I was a little lost. I hadn’t attempted something like this before. What I uncovered became larger than the website. In conversations I had with each of the writers, I sought to go deeper into their motivations, why they are committed to the work they do towards anti-racism; outside of school and sometimes unpaid. It is the right thing to do, but these students stepped farther, they took initiative and leadership in their own communities, rather than waiting for direction. I was encouraged after hearing from a few writers “this conversation help...

#WeAreOrlando

Devastated about what happened in Orlando last night. We are lucky to live in a country where we finally have equal legal rights, but the fight for acceptance and equality did not end with the Supreme Court decision last year. Homophobia continues to be a harmful and dangerous ideology that is taught - yes, taught - and passed on from one generation to the next. It is espoused by politicians in power, it is preached from the pulpit, and it's passed from parents to their children any time they tell them homosexuality is wrong, or think that depictions of gay couples in books or movies are inappropriate for children, or when they teach their kids to "love the sinner but hate the sin." This disguised insult perpetuates the idea that our families are wrong, dirty, and shameful. All for something we had no choice in and for loving someone of the same sex.

A View from the Middle

“What are you?” People of color have so much beef with this question and for good reason. At its heart it is an inquiry rooted in ignorance and misunderstanding of race, culture and the scope of human diversity. Regardless, it is a question that I have asked myself time and time again as a part of a long process of developing my identity as a mixed-race person. That being said, I am not mixed in that my parents are of different races. As I have thought about who I am, I have started to redefine what it means to be a mixed race person. Phenotypically I am brown skinned, black haired, and brown eyed; and while I lived in Ecuador as an exchange student, friends and family referred to me as “negrito” from time to time. By this standard I am a person of color without a doubt. People still ask me “what are you” or “where do you come from” because of my initial appearance and I have come to understand the implications of my being a POC as I navigate PLU. On the other hand, my...

A DJS Journey

Search This Blog