Change through Courage

 My take on "Stolen Education", and the importance of how it has effected our society today. 

In March of this year as a graduate assistant for the Office of Diversity & Inclusion at Tarleton State I was given the task to plan a culture excursion for the multicultural ambassadors, a group of students who value diversity and represent equality and inclusion in all forms and fashion. In searching for activities and events I came across a documentary screening on systematic discrimination in Texas schools. The documentary was called "Stolen Education", and it was going to be shown at the Institute of Texan Cultures on one of the days we would be in San Antonio, TX. The name itself spiked a lot of curiosity and I knew it was an event we had to attend.  "Stolen Education" documents the untold story of Mexican-American children who challenged discrimination in Texas in the 1950s. Hernandez vs. al. Driscoll Consolidated Independent School District, is one of the first post Brown desegregation court cases to be litigated or filed.

This year we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act in July 1964. It was discrimination case like this one that led to the major civil rights movement of the 1960s. “Stolen Education” depicts a story of a fight for equality and change. It is a story of the untold truth not found or discussed in many books that directly effects many in our community today. I cannot begin to stress how important our history is and the role it continues to play in our daily lives and decisions. It is in our history that allows us to see the struggles and triumphs of our ancestors. It is in understanding the past that we are better capable of understanding our present state and make better decisions for the future. It is in our history that we begin to value what we are fortunate to have because of those that lead the way and created change through courage.

 Till this day this documentary has been one of the most inspiring to me. Not only because of the courage demonstrated but because of how unaware I was of this vital part of history for many Hispanics. This documentary clearly addresses  discrimination that the Hispanic community went through which in return has caused a lost for the beautiful Spanish language in many families and a culture that is trying to be revived in our society. This discrimination has now turned into discrimination within our own Hispanic community. Where the new generation of Hispanics now suffer discrimination for looking Hispanic and having a Hispanic name and not knowing the language. No one truly knows the consequences of our actions. Those children that went through that difficult time in society had good intentions of protecting their children. Together as a society we shall not look at our neighbor and assume anything of them. Today, our society is so unique diversified by cultures and languages, that there is no room for hate. We should focus on Love for it does not know race, ethnicity or language, it is transparent.

~ Diana Esperanza Martinez

Letting Go

                                                              Follow me on Twitter: @dianamtz08 or Instagram @Lovely_diannna

In the spirit of the Disney movie "Frozen" and that awesome song "Let it Go" that we keep hearing over and over. I thought "Letting Go" was appropriate and needed to be talked about. It is something that I have in the past few weeks understood better than I have ever in my life. Letting go seems to be one of the hardest lessons in life. We go through situations in life that sometimes leave us well... with a bad taste in our mouth. Situations that cause us to act a certain way towards an individual or an experience like a bad break up or resentment towards someone for something they said or did. It is evident in our actions when people say things like "oh I don't like that because my ex used to do that" or when we assume things of others from past experiences without giving them a chance to prove themselves. We hold on to so much and sometimes just cannot seem to let it go. Do we mentally block ourselves from overcoming them? I really think we do. Maybe we fear facing our emotions and realizing that we are weak. When we hold on to something that usually means we are not strong enough to face reality. We would rather hold on to the hurt, anger, jealousy, bitterness, and resentment than learn to cope with our emotions and learn to forgive. Forgiving is tough because it requires us to put our pride aside and become vulnerable. Pride is the main vehicle that tells us that we should NOT be the first ones to apologize, that we should NOT be the first ones to talk about our emotions or how something makes us feel. As humans we both have good and bad qualities. People don't realize that just how you feed your body nutrients, you need to feed yourself spiritually also. 

What I mean is if you keep feeding "Pride", you will become more prideful. If we keep feeding those bad habits and that negative way of thinking we become more immersed by it. If you need to visually picture it think of someone who is obese spiritually. That means they are heavy with emotions carrying resentment, anger, bitterness, and they therefore become heavy with with all of these burdens. So heavy to the point where they feel down, lost and hopeless because they have piled and piled so much emotion. However, if we learn to LET GO of some of those feelings we spiritually become lighter and more spiritually fit (new term I think I just invented). Just like someone who is trying to get in shape they try to feed themselves the right nutrients, we need to feed ourselves the positive things in life. We should be conscience of what we are feeding ourselves spiritually with the choices we make just like with real food. For example, even though those Twinkies are delicious you, after you eat one or ten you consciously now feel guilty because you ate it. So I want to encourage you all to be more conscience of what you feed yourself spiritually day to day. Is it weighting you down or is it helping you get more spiritually fit? Forgiveness and letting go is such a beautiful and rewarding thing to do no matter what age or stage in your life you are in. Letting go of any hurt, pain, and even memories is not easy, but it is ever so freeing. Yes, we are meant to learn lessons from our mistakes, but we are not meant to dwell on them. Can you imagine how heavy those things weigh on us? Letting go ultimately means giving control away. By letting go you are setting yourself free of even some choices that you did not make for yourself. We did not have the choice of where we were born, or to be raised in a single parent house hold or to be short, tall, black, white, brown, gay, straight, rich or poor. We should not dwell on what we cannot control, we should embrace who we are, and more then anything let go of whatever is holding us back. Ultimately, letting go means letting God step in and let it be what he has planned it to be. 

Lastly, I want to share this amazing poem that was shared with me. Read it, and then reread it again and again and again. I also want you all to remember that travelers pack light, so they can travel further. So lets work on letting go of things that are just weighting us down, and not letting us be happy with who we are and where we are in life. 

Pack light my friends, we are going far! 

PS. I am sorry for my cheesiness, I couldn't help myself :)


"To Let Go Takes Love"

To let go does not mean to stop caring
It means I can't do it for someone else
To let go does not enable, but to allow
Learning from natural consequences.
To let go is to admit powerlessness, which
means the outcome is not in my hands.
To let go is not to care for, but to care ABOUT.
To let go is not to judge, but to allow another to be him or herself.
To let go is not to be in middle arranging all the outcomes
but to allow others to determine their own destinies.
To let go is not to be less protective, it is to permit another to face reality.
To let go is not to dominate but to be willing to let things happen.
To let go is not to betray the past, but to have faith in the future.
To let go means to fear less, and love more.

 By: Unknown author

The Hardest Part is Starting

Before I start my journey of blogging I want to introduce myself. My name is Diana Martinez, I was born in Mexico and raised in Texas. I am 24 years old and I am what I like to think a pretty average girl living in an extraordinary world. Not extraordinary like I am a millionaire and have everything I could possibly want, but because I choose to see the beauty of life even through our struggles. For some time now I have wanted to start a blog to tell my story. Not because I think my life is the greatest story, but because I belief that we each have a story to share and that we should share it. Also, I want to leave something for my future children to know how I was when I was younger. Along the way if I can help, educate, motivate, and encourage even just one person by sharing my journey then that would be the best blessing of all. As the years have passed and I've seen myself grow I have come to realize more and more each day that I am doing "okay" in life. It is important to stop and realize and even evaluate your life. If there is something you do not like, Change It! You have the power, its your life! It is important to recognize your struggles and triumphs and to look back at your life and see how far you have come. Maybe you have had some tough years recently, but look at where you are now? Are you at a better place than you were 2-3 years ago? I am proud to say that I am. The past few years have been tough from graduating college to filing for divorce at the same time. From job hunting to building relationships I had let fall through. Life is constant journey full of magic and wonder and that is how we should look at it. Don't let your problems define who you are. Live life like a child, full of Hope. Most importantly you are not alone in this world. We can do this together. I have not completely thought of what my blog would be like, but I have now just done the hardest part of doing anything, I "started". So here we go on this journey together. 

Follow me on Twitter: & Instagram @Lovely_diannna