The Politics Of Nostalgia In Disneyland And Christine Sterling's Olvera Street

Chuck Klosterman, in the article “Nostalgia on Repeat,” there is two sides of nostalgia, how it can be good and bad for you. Klosterman, gives examples from both sides. Memories are the past, it is ok to remember them and think about them, maybe even smile from them, just don’t live there. Looking at the past can hinder growth, if a person cannot move on from it and wants to keep reliving that part of their life. The Authors purpose is to shine light on both sides of nostalgia, it is not all bad to remember the past and even flash back to it. However, trying to relive the past is not all good either. It stunts growth and keeps a person from living their life in the now. Chuck Klosterman, writes in a casual tone for those readers that are too

Nostalgia is the feeling of missing the past. In “Grape Sherbet” by Rita Dove, the speaker develops this feeling by using past-tense verbs. The speaker also uses family to show that she misses the past. Furthermore, the speaker indicates the fleeting nature of time by using themes of death. The speaker in “Grape Sherbet” by Rita Dove has an attitude of nostalgia.

//Nostalgia- the longing for the past; the current era does not have the same fascination.

“I didn’t think the Twinkie would thrill the way it used to, and it didn’t. But it tasted like memory” In this quote from “Goodbye to My Twinkie Days”, author Bich Minh Nguyen, is describing a sense of nostalgia. Nostalgia, as defined by the Cambridge English dictionary, is a feeling of pleasure and sometimes slight sadness at the same time as an individual thinks about things that happened in the past. This feeling can be evoked through old photographs, food, music, and even literature. Nostalgia provides a temporary relief of present times, which is why people actively seek a feeling of nostalgia.

In the midst of the Great Depression of the 1930s, Paseo de Los Angeles-later referred to as Olvera Street was created through the efforts of Christine Sterling and city boosters in the oldest section of the city. Olvera Street was an imagined Mexican culture rich street not unlike the renowned tourist districts of Mexican border cities (Arreola and Curtis 1993). The theme was "old Mexico," pitting a timeless, romantic, homogeneous Spanish-Mexican culture against industrialization, immigration, urban decay and modernity itself. You see a vibrant and colorful street with an authentic marketplace atmosphere. It’s packed with restaurants, shops, and vendors selling imports from Mexico such as, brightly colored piñatas, candles, maracas, blankets and clothing. As a constructed place, Olvera Street was the product of a social and economic agenda established by civic elites to transform downtown Los Angeles through the removal of undesirable residents. The opening of Olvera Street and the preservation of the old Plaza

n the early 19th century Olvera street was going to be destroyed along side with the Avila Adobe house . Until 1926 Chastina Rix better known as Christine Sterling came along and envisioned what the street can become . She believed that the street can become a tourist attraction and quickly began to campaign for the Avila Adobe home and the street itslef to be resotred . According to the L.A. Times, “during a fundraising BBQ held on the porch of the Avila Adobe, the tequila was flowing in spite of prohibition, and then Chief of Police Charlie "Two Guns" Davis was so moved by Sterling's call to action that he volunteered prison labor for Olvera's reconstruction” (“OlveraStreet: The Fabrication of L.A.'s Mexican Heritage”).

On Friday I had the honor to visit the historical Rancho Los Cerritos House; also known as Rancho Los Cerritos or Casa de los Cerritos, in Long Beach, California, it was the largest and most impressive adobe residence raised in southern California during the Mexican period. The structure of the house was built in 1844 by merchant Jonathan Temple, a Yankee pioneer who became a Mexican citizen. Los Cerritos means "the little hills" in English. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1970. I wasn’t lucky enough to visit this phenomenal and historical place until I took advantage of my history assignment and I decided to visit Rancho Los Cerritos with the company of some of my friends. On a Friday morning we took the chance and we

In the poem “Bully” by Martin Espada is explaining the time where a person has experienced someone bulling them. It is also explaining many different events that have went on in the past that might be able to tie together many different times where people have felt like they are being bullied. It talks about how the Puerto Rico had invaded Roosevelt with many Spanish speaking children in the hallways watching them. The children are scared for their lives and starting to go bazaar all over the school. In line 2-3 “the Theodore Roosevelt statue is nostalgic” stood out to be the theme because it is where the problem took place. The word “nostalgic” means in my own words to feel sad and viewing something to be sentimental. The things that took

During the late eighteen hundred there were many poor immigrant families who migrated to the United States to have a better opportunity. As a result, many poor families ended up working on really terrible jobs with terrible conditions (469). To escape from the cruel reality of their horrible jobs many big cities had Amusement Parks where the middle and working class family would go to enjoy shows and attractions like the famous “Trip to the moon” (463). Many other families realize that is was not like they had imagined it would be so in the night they would remember how their life was back in Europe (469). In the night many people would look up to the starts and fall sleep looking at the window from their tiny apartment (470). Even though these tactics of remembering the past, going out to Amusement Parks and star gazing did distracted the mind from their work it didn’t actually improved the working conditions on which they worked so they were highly ineffective.

Success! That’s what we feel when artist with roots from Mexico, Elizabeth Blancas, self-identified as a Xicana, expresses her mind on a relevant issue throughout an outstanding display of empowering and freedom in the piece “Women & Two Spirits Are The Backbone Of Every Tribe”, in the corner of Saint Marguerite with Saint-Antoine West streets. In her painting, the artist presents a sexual issue and the cultural role it has in the indigenous tribes. Although the artist expertise relies on serigraphy, she blooms in the mural world hand-brushing distinguished figures by giving voice to protesters against a US company pipeline construction site, near the Standing Dakota Indian Reservation, and in special Caro Gonzales and Lauren Howland.

In Iris H. W. Engstrand article, “Perception and Perfection: Picturing the Spanish and Mexican Coastal West,” I initially did not know what to expect of the article. I figured Engstrand would discuss multiple views and perspectives when moving to the Spanish and Mexican Coastal front. I found the thesis, after reading through the article as it was not outrightly stated, to be: “Artists and illustrators depicted the past -- or the observable present -- in pictorial documents that became the records of current events, journalism, of reportage, and of scientific exploration, discovery, and adventure.” I believe Engstrand’s purpose is to reveal to her readers the predominant primary sources of the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth century and how the art could be manipulated to please specific cultures or people.

Hispanic art, food, and entertainment all have a common theme; they are all fun, light-hearted, yet fulfilling and rich in cultural heritage. On one side, Mexican culture in particular loves to make fun of itself. There are many depictions in song and art of lazy Mexicans in large sombreros with thick mustaches eating burritos. On the other hand artists like Diego Rivera paint large murals depicting rich historical events like the revolution, in bold colors on controversial topics (This Old, n.d.).

To relate the topic of nostalgia with food to my life, I recall a cherished memory I have about making enchiladas with my grandma when I was nine. My mom’s father is hispanic, but her mother is not, so she learned how to make hispanic food just for him. I have always admired this, because she learned how to do this just to make my grandpa happy. She made us many hispanic dishes, but my favorite is still her enchiladas. I still remember the smell of the chicken and beef that my grandma had prepared

Admittedly, this is me romanticizing a bit. Well, not a bit, a lot. I long for the times of the past, not so much so that I travel to that time (maybe in my dreams, but not in reality), like Owen Wilson's character in Woody Allen’s Magic in the Moonlight (though, compared to me, I’d say the dear man had a mild case of nostalgia, while I have a severe and

People who are nostalgic about childhood, were obviously never children. Few people can remember the truth about adolescence. Their minds "censor" their memories; and have them believe that being a teenager was was one big party, free of cares and responsibilities. Well let me say this, you couldnOt be more wrong if you had a lobotomy. There aren't that many adults around who realise what adolescence was really like. The anguish, the fear, the anxiety, the stress. People don't remember those problems because they want to forget them.