Womxn Who Rock Reflection

Getting to view the Womxn Who Rock conference was quite a treat, and it was very interesting to get a perspective of how important offrendas are to the Mexican culture. I feel like I was able to learn a lot from the panelists because going into this class I did not know very much about altars or offrendas. It was great to learn what an offrenda really means to the panelists. They shared it as being a remembrance of the great life that a person lived and not to dwell on their death. It gave me a new perspective on how to see death that I did not really think about before. When I think about someone dying I would imagine that I would be too caught up in grievance that I wouldn’t focus on the life that they lead and all the great things that they did. Now I understand why Dia de los Muertos is such a celebration to people of Mexican heritage even though it is a holiday all about people who have passed. I think that these panelists were very important to furthering our understanding of how remembering overlaps so closely with all forms of music. It is important not to forget the people who pioneered in certain parts of music because they led us to where we are today. Also because the people forgotten are often women or people of color like Sister Rosetta Thorpe, it is important to remember so not to contribute to the racist idea that only white are responsible much of the music we have today.