Category: Teresa Irene Gonzales

A Reflection on Death, Dying, and Illness

On By econnellIn Immigration, Population, Aging, and Demography, Popular Culture and Consumption, Teresa Irene Gonzales2 Comments

TigonzalesBy Teresa Irene Gonzales

In a recent conversation with colleagues, we talked about the various ways we describe age. Whether it’s young, old, middle-age, wise, or (im)mature. I realized that I’m somewhere between feeling not really young, but also not quite middle-aged. This conversation, coupled with some recent medical issues that I’ve been contending with, has gotten me thinking about time, death, and my own mortality.

For me, the two scariest parts of dying are 1) the thought of not existing anymore (this has kept me up at night for hours, particularly during bouts of insomnia and high stress) and 2) not knowing how everything turns out. Humans have pondered question 1 forever. What is death? What does it mean to cease existing? Is there an afterlife? Have I fully lived?

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The Impact of Place: Field Trips, Parks, and Farms

On By econnellIn Cities and Urbanization, Social Problems, Politics, and Social Change, Teresa Irene GonzalesLeave a comment

TigonzalesBy Teresa Irene Gonzales

I recently took my Sociology of Urban America and Community Engagements classes to a field trip to Chicago. We visited the Englewood Growing Home Wood Street Farm and went on a 2-hour Toxic Tour of Little Village with the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO). As part of this outing, students learned about innovative approaches to community engagement and resident-led development, workforce development, and public-private partnerships. They also learned about the impact of environmental and structural racism on urban communities of color.

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Racial (In)Equality in the U.S.

On By econnellIn Behind the Headlines, Class and Stratification, Popular Culture and Consumption, Race and Ethnicity, Social Psychology, Teresa Irene Gonzales3 Comments

TigonzalesBy Teresa Irene Gonzales

Aside from my Netflix marathons, there are only a handful of network television shows that I make time to actually watch. And the new Fox prime time show Empire is one of them. Like so many great shows, it includes moments of fantasy, joy, and struggle that oftentimes mirror very real social issues that are on the forefront of their viewers’ minds.

For instance, the season two premiere opened with a #FreeLucious concert that paid homage to the #BlackLivesMatter movement, and highlighted the overrepresented numbers of African-American men in our prison systems and their mistreatment by police. The imagery (particularly that of Cookie Lyon in a Gorilla suit and caged) and discourse used within that opening scene speaks to broader national issues. As highlighted by Gene Demby at NPR, however, these narratives are not common within prime time television.

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Girl Code and Heteronormativity in STEM Fields

On By econnellIn Race and Ethnicity, Sex and Gender, Social Institutions: Work, Education, and Medicine, Social Problems, Politics, and Social Change, Teresa Irene Gonzales1 Comment

TigonzalesBy Teresa Irene Gonzales

I was recently listening to an episode of The TakeAway on NPR; the host was interviewing Shirin Lao-Raz Salemnia on her commitment to fostering an interest in coding among young girls. This got me thinking about my own experiences as a young, female computer technician during my late teens and early twenties.

I began working in information technology when I was 19. I didn’t know many women who were also interested in mainframes, computer networking, hardware technologies, et cetera. In fact, I was both the youngest person and the only woman in my computer engineering courses, and at both of my tech-related jobs. I didn’t really know how to process the explicitly gendered and sexist, and implicitly racist comments and treatment that I received (I once had a VP pat me on the head and say he’d call one of the guys to help him out). At the time, social networking was in its infancy and I didn’t know how to connect with others who had similar interests and/or challenges as me.  

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More Sociology Please

On By econnellIn Social Institutions: Work, Education, and Medicine, Teresa Irene Gonzales3 Comments

TigonzalesBy Teresa Irene Gonzales

Two recent posts in our Ask a Sociologist section asked about enhancing their post-undergraduate knowledge of sociology.

There are a number of ways to increase your general sociological knowledge, whether you are interested in re-learning some basic concepts, are interested in learning more about sociology outside of a classroom, or have a desire to use knowledge to explore social change and/or social justice work.

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Empowerment Zones, Heritage Tourism, and Gentrification in Harlem

On By econnellIn Cities and Urbanization, Class and Stratification, Teresa Irene GonzalesLeave a comment

TigonzalesBy Teresa Irene Gonzales

A recent article in the Guardian discusses the ongoing gentrification of Central Harlem. As I mentioned in a previous post, gentrification in the United States is not only about one ethnic or racial group replacing another one. There is also a social class element, as higher-income residents displace lower-income residents. The active involvement of local city officials and real-estate developers make this happen, through targeted policies and investment.

So how does Harlem fit into this?

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Mexican Pointy Boots and Subcultural Theory

On By econnellIn Cities and Urbanization, Popular Culture and Consumption, Teresa Irene Gonzales, Theory1 Comment

TigonzalesBy Teresa Irene Gonzales

While looking for videos to share with my Urban Sociology course this past term, I came across a mini-documentary from 2012 on Vice that chronicles the rise of a cultural phenomenon that centers around extremely pointy boots.

Men from the rural town of Matehuala, in San Luis Potosi, Mexico began augmenting their boots to make them pointier with an up-curved slant. While the boots initially were only slightly pointier, the trend expanded and some points increased as high as six feet tall. According to the documentary, the boot trend coincided with the rise of Tribal Guarachero;  a mix of pre-hispanic, indigenous, and Afro-Caribbean sounds, and electronica. According to an NPR piece on the pointy boots, men from Matehuala use the boots in dance competitions and the phenomenon grew from there.

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A Super Sweet Quince Economy

On By econnellIn Cities and Urbanization, Popular Culture and Consumption, Teresa Irene Gonzales1 Comment

TigonzalesBy Teresa Irene Gonzales

Growing up in Chicago, there were parts of the city that we’d go to to buy certain products. If we needed shoes or clothing, we’d walk or take the bus over to Maxwell Street to shop at places like Chernin’s, Mike’s, or the open-air market. If we wanted pan dulce (a traditional Mexican sweet bread) we’d go to Eighteenth Street to check out one of the many panaderias located there.  If my parents were looking for a piece of jewelry as a present for someone, they’d head over to Jeweler’s Row in downtown Chicago on Wabash.  

As I got older and had a little bit of pocket money, my friends and I would walk over to Cermak and Western to check out one of the many trendy (and affordable) clothing shops in that area.  Even now, on my trips back home, I often stop by Eighteenth Street in Pilsen to check out vintage items at one of the many second-hand shops, and by Twenty-Sixth Street to pick-up some traditional Mexican food items that I can’t find in Galesburg.

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The “Boy Problem” of the Twenty-first Century

On By econnellIn Sex and Gender, Social Institutions: Work, Education, and Medicine, Teresa Irene Gonzales5 Comments

Tigonzales Angel Gonzales head shotBy Teresa Irene Gonzales and Angel Rubiel Gonzalez

Gonzalez holds a Ph.D. in Education from UC Berkeley and is currently a social studies teacher in New York City

In 2013, Christina Hoff Sommers wrote an op-ed for the New York Times which discussed the growing educational gap between boys and girls within the U.S. Sommers blames much of this gap on what she terms “misguided policies” that perpetuate an educational gender inequity that favors girls over boys. In order to create more boy-friendly classrooms, Sommers advocates for increased play time (recess), single-sex classrooms, and male teachers.

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Debates Surrounding Gentrification

On By econnellIn Cities and Urbanization, Class and Stratification, Teresa Irene Gonzales2 Comments

TigonzalesBy Teresa Irene Gonzales

Recently a friend asked me if gentrification is ever a good thing. The question arose from a conversation regarding the ongoing gentrification of the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago; a place where I grew up and where much of my family still lives. In answering the question, I realized that sociology helps to both make sense of this changing neighborhood and also consider how Pilsen relates to other communities across the U.S. that are also dealing with the effects of gentrification.

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