09 June 2014

Done Graduated: Introducing Dr. Cristina

             I can hardly believe it’s been a couple weeks since I’ve posted and a month since a more formal post on my dissertation.  Since submitting my dissertation for publication on May 3, so much has occurred. Where do I begin?
            Well, first, I’ve called the last few weeks since commencement as “Season of Celebration.”  Commencement weekend itself was its own transformation. A batek, a big party at Jill’s in Berkeley, and commencement itself.  Celebratory yes but also ceremonial intense.






            Getting away to Santa Cruz – Brighton State Beach – was a relaxing response to the prep and parties as was some time with family and on the central coast with my love.  Celebration season finished back down in Los Angeles for my final party at my family home in Whittier.  Just so great! Altogether, my parties brought so many precious loved ones together, and I’m grateful for the good folk who have been a part of my educational journey.
            Second,  I’m proud to share that I am the “owner” of a website: cristinagolondrina.com. For now, it really goes back to this blog at blogspot; however, I have high hopes for it to be a place to showcase my writing and artwork.  As I look for teaching and organizing work in the Autumn, I’m establishing myself as an independent writer-artist. 
            In part this is because my summer has developed into quite the artist-writer season.  Just this month includes my artwork in exhibits in L.A. and Berkeley, Filipina-Indigenous weekly dancing, and VONA’s creative writing workshop too!
            Indeed, the two projects taking the most energy right now are: 1. Prepping my blog formatted in such a way that I can submit it as a manuscript to work on at VONA workshop.  And 2. Revising and submitting my resume/cv out into the world with my sister network.

 CRISTINA ROSE SMITH, PhD

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND:
PhD, Women’s Spirituality, Philosophy and Religion, California Institute of Integral Studies.  Proposed Dissertation: “A Labyrinthine Altar to Integrative Solidarity: A Mestiza (Xicana, Filipina, and Euroamerican) Approach to Multiethnic Creative Texts.” 2014.

MA, English Literature, California State University, Long Beach.  Emphasis: Women’s Literature.  Thesis: “The Female Literary Tradition: Surrogate Mother-teachers in Mary Wollstonecraft's "Original Stories" and "Maria" and George Eliot's "The Mill on the Floss" and "Romola.” 2008.

BA, English Writing, Biola University, La Mirada, California.  Concentration: Classical Literature. 2002.

Academic Interests in Teaching and Research: Transformational Multiculturalism, Gender, Race, Multiethnic Pedagogy, Women’s Writing, Multiethnic Studies, Mestiza Consciousness and Gloria E. Anzaldua, Post-colonial Studies, Indigenization, Feminist/Womanist Studies, Decolonization, Multiethnic and Multicultural Literature, Ecofeminist, EcoMestiza Thought, Pedagogies of the Sacred


PUBLICATIONS
“Tita Tells Me,” Framing Our Stories: An Anthology of Inter-generational Writings. The Alvarado Project Press. San Francisco. Expected release date: end August, 2014
“Herstory of Creation,” Ofrendas of the Flesh. Mujeres de Maiz Press, Los Angeles. 2014.
“Dearest Lola Yolanda,” Verses Typhoon Yolanda: A Storm of Filipino Poets. Meritage Press, San Francisco. 2014.
"La Golondrina Ibon." Baybayin. Kabuay Press. San Francisco. 2013.

PAPER PRESENTATIONS
National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA), Puerto Rico. Paper Title: "Mestiza Daughters in Conversation: Spiritual-Feminist Examination of Mestiza Identity.” November 2014.

MALCS (Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social) Summer Institute, Northern New Mexico College.  Paper Title: “Embodied Mapping: A Mestiza (Xicana, Filipina, and Euroamerican) Approach to Home.” July 2014.

Gender and Women’s Studies Section, Western Social Science Conference (WSSA), Albuquerque, NM.  Paper Title: “Mestiza Xicanas and Mestiza Filipinas: Borderland and Diasporic Literary Mestizaje.” April 2014.

The Association for the Study of Women and Mythology (ASWM), San Antonio, TX. Paper Title: Finding Solidarity in Mutiethnic Creative Writing.” March 2014.

American Literature Association (ALA) Symposium, "The Latina/o Literary Landscape." San Antonio, TX. Paper Title: “Finding Solidarity in Transformational Multiethnic and Spiritual Creative Writing:  A (Xicana, Filipina, and Euroamerican) Mestiza Approach to Literary Critical Methodologies.” March 2014.

“El Mundo Zurdo,” Society for Gloria Anzaldua, San Antonio, TX.  Paper Title: “Xicana, Filipina, and Euroamerican Transformational Integration in Solidarity in Multiethnic Creative Writing.” November 2013.

American Academy of Religion Conference/ Western Region, Tempe AZ.  Women’s Caucus.  Paper Title: “Bioregionalism and Collaboration: Allies in the Ventura County Grassroots Community.” March 2013

9th Mindanao International Studies Society (MISS) Convention 2013, Zamboanga City, Philippines.  Presentation Title: “Multiethnic Goddesses.” February 2013.

American Academy of Religion/ National Conference, Chicago, IL.  Women of Color Scholarship, Teaching, and Activism. Paper Title: “Sacred Ecowoman: Naming and Reclaiming.” October 2012

American Academy of Religion Conference/ Western Region, Whittier, CA. Goddess Studies I: The Virgin Mary Across and Beyond the Americas:  Merging Cultural Realities and Emergent Manifestations.  Paper Title: “Embodied Restless, Mestiza- Feminist Spirituality, and the Divine Feminine.” March 2011. 

“(dis)junctions 2008: Where the Streets are Re-named” Conference, University of California, Riverside, CA.  Paper Title: “God’s Delight in Eve’s Dancing in ‘Mazes Intricate’: Labyrinths and A(Maze)ment in Milton’s Paradise Lost.” April 2008.

Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities, Honolulu, HI. Paper Title: “Extending the Female Literary Tradition: The Need for and Fulfillment of Surrogate Mother-Teacher Figures in the Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and George Eliot.” January 2008.


ART Exhibits
“Sacred Heart of Mango,” at "The Arrival of the 12th Poblador," The Pico House, El Pueblo Historical Monument, Los Angeles, May 9 - 25, 2014

 "Sacred Heart of Mango Xicana-Pinay" and "Sacred Heart and Mango with Roses and Fire," “IMPACT,” DISCLOSE and Worth Ryder Gallery, UC Berkeley, June 7-13, 2014