Nithya’s Reflection
My final project for this class was a children’s book that explored different Latine cultures through the lens of food. The three foods that are explored are from Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Chilean culture; although I could not represent more cultural dishes, the goal was to make readers (regardless of their age despite the medium being a children’s style book) see themselves and their favorite food in the book. I tried to research what some of the most important ingredients were for each of the dishes so that people who may not know the dish could imagine what it is better. This project was a lot of fun for me to make because I got to be creative with how I formatted and presented all of the information. I made a children’s book because they usually consist of many illustrations, and my favorite way to convey information is through illustration. I enjoyed making all of the art for the book and think the story is easy to follow and hopefully enjoyable for all age groups.
I enjoyed this class very much and love the community that was fostered throughout the semester. My favorite class was the one where we watched the SpiderMan gameplay video and read someone’s essay on SpiderMan: Into the Spiderverse. Not only is the Spiderverse franchise one of my favorites, but I was also invested in the conversations about representation in media that came up. Representation has always been a very important issue to be and I’m a firm believer that everyone should be able to see people similar to them be successful. I would have loved if I was able to see myself more in the shows I watched as a child. Thankfully, positive representation in media has been at an all time high and I hope to see it grow. I tried implementing this into my book as well; I made Camila, the protagonist, a dark skinned girl because, unfortunately, people of lighter complexions tend to dominate main roles in media. The first neighbor that Camila meets is light skinned, because Latine people come in many shades.
Overall, this has been a very enjoyable and enriching course, and I’ll carry these lessons with me for the rest of my journey.