Thesis (M.F.A.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / This paper deals with the ideas involved in the work in the Masters of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition. The images and environments I create are basically functional objects, yet I utilize the metaphor of nature to bring into play much deeper and more complex meaning. The functional qualities signify human presence and human involvement, and set the stage for the ritualistic and ceremonial aspects of the work to come through. Images of nature speak of adaptation and conflict, growth and blossoming. Images of nature point to a basic sense of beauty and harmony that has gotten lost in our modern world. I hope, through my work, to make people take more time in looking at their surroundings, and to create out of common experiences such as a cup of tea, an aesthetic experience instead. / 2031-01-01

This paper traces La Llorona’s evolution from ancient Aztec cosmology to Trace Elements of Random Tea Parties, a contemporary novel by Felicia Luna Lemus. I argue that the protagonist’s entrenchment in her own Llorona myth ultimately inhibits the development of a queer community in collaboration with the community of her birth. While Trace Elements of Random Tea Parties leaves the tension between familial duty and personal desire unresolved, the constant narrative oscillation between past tea parties with Leti’s grandmothers and present tea parties with Leti’s chosen lesbian familia opens a space for new kinship structures to emerge, remapping the contours of the Mexican-American family and a woman’s role within it. / text