Is This Real Life or is it Magical Realism?
What is Magical Realism and why is it so important to the Latinx narrative?
Please listen to my lecture on Soundcloud for more discussion.
Here's the article on Magical Realism from Vox
Here's the link to A Very Old Man w Enormous Wings
Here in the comments, please tell me a quick story that includes magical realism. 2 paragraphs max.
Please listen to my lecture on Soundcloud for more discussion.
Here's the article on Magical Realism from Vox
Here's the link to A Very Old Man w Enormous Wings
Here in the comments, please tell me a quick story that includes magical realism. 2 paragraphs max.
She hates planes. She hates how loud they are and how claustrophobic they are. She hates how they make her think that she’s going to die in a plane crash when they vigorously vibrate for no reason. She hates feeling like she’s suspended in the sky because she’s terrified of heights. If only she had known that the feeling of falling in love was just like being on a plane.
ReplyDeleteThe only difference now is that she loves being on the plane. She loves how loud his heartbeat is when she rests her head on his boney but muscular chest and how comfortingly claustrophobic she feels with his arms wrapped around her. She loves the vibrations of the music that comes from his fingertips. She wishes she could be suspended in the sky and feel this way forever. She’s not afraid of heights anymore because now she has him to catch her if she gets too close to the edge.
(Angelica Avila)
A buffet of food lay in front of him. His eyes darted from one dish to another. Each dish crying out to be eaten as if to put it out of its misery. He began with the pasta. The creamy sauce dribbled down his chin. A symphony of "thank you's" rang in his ear as the last butterfly was placed on his tongue. He moved onto the salad, a dish not as eager to be eaten as the others. Each leaf that moved closer to his lips criticized him with a "put me down you bear!" and a "I don't wish to become additional fat on your bones!" The boy threw the fork across the room, the leaves of the salad scurrying under the table for safety. He placed his head down and began to weep, the salty tears sliding their way onto a slice of German chocolate cake.
ReplyDelete"Don't cry dear boy," the cake hushed him with a smooth and soft voice. "I wish to be eaten by you. It would be my greatest pleasure!" The boy dried his hot tears with the sleeve of his sweater. "You do? No one wants to be eaten by me," the boy protested. "But I do! Oh please eat me! All I wish is to see you happy." Without another moment of thought, the boy picked up the fork from beneath his chair and scraped a piece of cake from the plate. Upon placing the rich chocolate into his mouth a grin spread across his face. The cake hugged his tongue and melted into a puddle of chocolate, it giggled on the way down his throat. "You're a beautiful boy, always remember that," the cake screamed before hitting the boy's stomach.
(Anel (Bell) Escalera)
I have to go, I will be late to work said Pili. Everyone was having breakfast. My mouth was watering from the amazing french toast my grandma had just made. Before being able to take the first bite I was interrupted by the stomps coming from upstairs. No one was upstairs. I had been the last one to leave. I was confused and asked if anyone else was home. My uncle believes in a very unique religion, they serve every saint real food daily. For the saints to consume with there spirits. My aunt simply continued to explain it may be the saints walking around which didn't make me feel any better. I simply wondered why they were stomping. I was scared to even go use the restroom on my own in a home I had just arrived to spend the rest of the summer in. I asked my cousin if she would go upstairs with me to grab some things. As we walked up the stairs we began to realize it was very smokey and as we opened the door we discovered everything on fire. We screamed running down the stairs. We began to pull buckets of water from the kitchen to contain the fire. After several attempts we were able to stop the fire from spreading. My uncle later arrived assuring the reason we were hearing so many stomps was because they were warning us about the candle that had been left on. Everything was shriveled up to nothing expect for the picture of the saints and my suitcase, which I couldn't believe as I thought I had lost everything. (Melendez)
ReplyDeleteIt was my cousin Erika's birthday party at my grandparents house. Our whole family was there and she invited a couple of her close friends. Two of her friends, who are a couple, have the power of feeling/ seeing things of a spiritual level. My grandparents house is known for being haunted. But we never knew by who exactly. That day, the girlfriend told her boyfriend that she had to use the bathroom. They head towards the bathroom at the end of the hall, and she sees a very old lady standing at the top of the staircase. She thinks to herself it might just be Erika's aunt. She proceeds to go inside the bathroom. Once she was in the bathroom, she looked into the mirror and the reflection of the mirror was towards the shower. As she looks up, she sees the old lady in the shower. She quickly gets out and tells her boyfriend what she saw. He had not seen the old lady at the top of the staircase.
ReplyDeleteA couple days later, the friend tells my cousin what she had experienced. The last thing she told my cousin was that the picture that was on the side of the staircase has to be thrown out. The lady in the image was very mad and would not leave unless the image was thrown out. They threw out the image, but months later, it appeared back in a box where my grandma stored things. To this day, the image finds its way back into the house and that was not the last time the old lady was seen…
In the early 1990s a couple of my mom's uncles bought a house together in San Jose, in the Seven Trees area. Since, there has said to be seen 'el nino', he likes to hang out with boys his age and is only seen by boys his age. When a young boy turns four he asks about a boy trying to play with him in the back of the house next to the basement by the nopales. That boy does not endanger other he just wants to play. My family began to get curious of this so said boy because there were no kids living in that house and asked for the history of the house. The story says that the boy was abused and locked up in the basement mistreated until he died.
ReplyDeleteAs a kid, I would always stay home alone most of the time because my parents would always be working and my brothers too. Is my house is haunted, I would ask myself because sometimes I would hear noises randomly which freaked me out. I remember getting home from school and warming up my food that my mom cooked which I have always loved because my mom is very passionate about cooking. Once I warmed up my food I sat in the living room and I would hear knocking noises by my door and I would check my door and there wouldn't be anyone. I remember telling my dad that I would hear weird noises and he told me that he also would hear weird noises which surprised me because I wasn't the only one going crazy. Before my parents bought the house an old white guy used to live in it and my dad always joked around that the old guy probably left money in the house and that's why we are hearing noises because he wants his money which freaked me out even more. Thankfully once I grew up I didn't have that fear anymore because I was much older, but as a kid, I was terrified. I believe magical realism is real because everyone has a spirit but some people freak out more than other people when they think about magical realism.
ReplyDelete(Francisco Gallardo)
As Maria was preparing the comida for the family cena, she overhears Jose yell at her name in a nagging tone. ‘Ay chingao’ she thought to herself, as she was just starting to get the chiles ready for the salsa. “Ay como jodes, Jose!” as she angrily throws a couple chiles in the blender. She continues to go back and forth with Jose. She throws in some diced tomatoes. “Y por que tu no lo haces?” she says as she blindly throws in some onions and cilantro. “Por que te hablas asi?” as she throws in a handful of chiles in the blender, again.
ReplyDeleteAt dinner, I was reaching for the vaso de salsa. I went in for a big scoop to pour over my plate of flautas. As I drizzled the deep red colored sauce, my mouth watered. I took a big bite and the next thing I knew I felt hot and me hizo mocos. I told my grandma, “Ay abuela ¿qué pusiste en la salsa
(Marisela Sotelo-Garza)
It was a nice day in Moyahua Zacatecas when my tia was getting ready to meet her Suegra for dinner. My tio Pepe accompanied her. As they arrived they discovered that my tia's suegra had tamales and capirotada. Mi tia was nervous about this meeting because she and her suegra were not close and barely talked. The day ended and my tia left home. Days later, my tia Suzana had gotten extremely ill. Places of her brain and body were hurting and she felt extremely weak. So much that one day she had to go to a hospital. The doctors at the hospital were unable to understand what was going on, and why she was so ill. Weeks passed and she remained ill with doctors not knowing an explanation. My tio Pepe and my tia Suzana spoke. They were unsure of what could have caused her illness. Suddenly my tio remembered that he knew a curandera from a family member that had seen her. My tio Pepe visited her and requested her help.
ReplyDeleteThe Curandera went to visit my tia in the hospital. The curandera had explained to my tia that she had been cursed. The curandera asked my tia what could have caused this. However, my tia did not know. Until she remembered that she did not get along with her suegra. Moreover, my tia explained if she had seen her recently. My tia explained that she had dinner at her home, and she was fed capirotada. However, the capirotada that she was fed was different. As it had nuts and seemed to have more ingredients on it. The curandera explained that my tia must have been cursed with the dessert. My tia was extremely shocked. Nonetheless, the curandera did not waste any time, and that same day, she returned to prepare a remedy for her in the form of herbs and tea. My tia took the curandera's healing herbal tea and was laid to rest. Days after, the doctors explained that my tia was no longer ill. My tia appeared as if she never got sick, to begin with. At that moment when she was able to return home, my tia knew that she most definitely was cursed by her suegra who used witchcraft on her. The story was shared with my mother, and to this day, I am still very cautious about who I take food from.
(Jose Luis Lopez)