Volume 6 (2023) CouRaGeouS Cuentos: A Journal of Counternarratives

Editors

Dr. Nancy Pérez

Dr. Marisol Ruiz

Managing Editor

Audriana Peñaloza

Student Editors

Xitlaly De La Torre Canchola

Noemi Gonzalez Maldonado

Chelsea Ríos Gómez

Art & Book Design

Esteban Langarica

Eduardo A. Moreno-Ortiz

Maria Citlalli Rodriguez

Social Media & Event Marketing

Dillon Avery Harp

Daniel Garcia

Brianna R. Juarez

Writing Fellow

Victoria Olsen

CouRaGeouS Cuentos is a library-based publishing journal and includes the creative writing of students in classes offered by the Department of Critical Race, Gender & Sexuality Studies. At this point, the works published in the journal are by students in the Ethnic Studies 107: Chican@/Latin@ Lives class since they initially envisioned the idea. They wanted to make their stories, their counternarratives, available to their families, their communities, and any other students who could relate to their stories. The scope of the journal may, in future issues, include CouRaGeouS counternarratives by students in other CRGS courses.

The journal is published annually with the creative work by students in the spring and fall semesters of each calendar year. The editing of the written works is a collective effort by peer editing by students in the class, the student Teacher Assistant(s) for those semesters, and the class instructor.

Every student in the class has the opportunity to publish their work on a voluntary basis. The students submit three pieces of writing and both the instructor and TA identify the strongest piece that each student may choose to include in the journal. The students, however, have the choice to publish up to two pieces, not including their reflection of their own writing

Artwork

The hieroglyph (glyphs) artwork was created by Michael Tjoelker, Humboldt State University student.

The glyphs used throughout this Journal were inspired by the Nahuatl hieroglyphs used by the Aztecs in Mesoamerica. The single glyph, tlatoa, denotes speech, important speech, speech spoken by individuals who hold social, political or religious positions of power and thus is worth writing.

This Journal reclaims the glyph to foreground the power of speech, of cuentos and knowledges that students have and further asserts that individual and community ways of knowing are valid and worthy of being written and published. We use two glyphs side by side to represent a dialogue. Orienting four glyphs towards a center is meant to be read as an important community dialogue and highlight the power of speech and conversations within community.