Brainstorm 10 - Karen Velderrain-Lopez

The Ovarian Psycos organization helps to bring together healing and cycling as a form of resilience because they foster a community that recognizes certain injustices and they are able to use cycling as a means of release and a way to find strength amid these injustices. From their website, they talk about their 13 Principles of Struggle section where they have recognition of the struggles that they continue to face and how in their mission, they are able to practice resilience by acknowledging these pains and by including that they “will learn tactics, build strategy and in the process find [their] purpose..accepting that [they] may or may not ever heal” (OVAS). This goes to show that they are being strong in their resilience methods and are able to communicate that and demonstrate their resilience in part through their cycling. As mentioned in the film, these women are able to find solace and exhibit resilience through riding their bikes. They can show this resilience as taking back their bodies and acknowledging the hardships that they have had to face. As mentioned on their website under the Herstory section, they mention that they “choose the bicycle not only because it allows [them] to exercise [their] bodies...but also because [they’re] broke inner-city oppressed peoples and cycling is [their] only means of transportation (OVAS). They are recognizing that they are vulnerable and mistreated by society and are being resilient in their ways of empowering women with their bikes.

The Chicas Rockeras Rock Camp for Girls is a form of Chicanafuturism. They are able to use these different methods of self-exploration and resilience to express different forms of Chicana feminism and find empowerment through rock. As expressed in the Chicas Rockeras website, the camp is an experience that aims to “promote healing, growth, and confidence for girls through music education while building self-esteem” (Chicas Rockeras SELA). Music education is used as a way to encourage Chicanafuturism and allow these young girls to practice Chicana feminism with how they learn to express themselves, encourage healing, collaborate, and find resilience in groups, as well as find their voices and use them for the goal of empowerment.