<p> 'Cornered' interrogates woman's relationship to the domestic space, themes of the gothic, and the haunting dependence that some women have with the home, historically and even in the present. To articulate this idea, Kat used her own writing combined with language from the diaries of the Bront&euml; sisters, as a lens through which to explore the woman whose home and most intimate surroundings are the very instruments of the imprisonment of her mind, body and personhood.</p><p> The Bront&euml; sisters wrote wildly imaginative stories, while their real lives were restricted and controlled by their father. How is this struggle towards duality represented in the secret spaces of the home, in the language of the walls, corners, doorways and other charged locations? By interrogating this relationship, Kat can use it as a metaphor to explore the line between public and private, where that line is, and when it is blurred. The Bront&euml;s frequently turned towards their intimate surroundings as a metaphor for emotions and feelings that they were forbidden to express outright in the home. Many aspects of the self are buried in this landscape. Kat is interested in excavating these sites, to uncover what is obstructed behind the fa&ccedil;ade, to remove the myth of an idealized home, and examine what lingers.</p>

<p> <i>Backpacking Through My Suburban Barrio: Eco-Latina Diaries</i> is a collection of poems and critical reflection written during my Master of Fine Arts for Creative Writing at California State University, Long Beach. The front matter examines the ways in which my poems dismantle socio-economic boundaries in order to reveal depictions of femininity, community, nature, and empowerment. The primary focus of this work rests upon the development and creation of these poems. Poems that offer renditions of suburban, urban, and natural landscapes in various ways that subvert and expose the fragility of boundaries&mdash;constantly urging the speaker and reader towards possible transcendental moments where freedom and universal unity are possible.</p>