What is home?

To provide a narrative is to frame one’s experiences for an audience incapable of understanding the complexity of vulgar self-expression. The Latiné experience is one of many in an institution created from the destruction of a people. Our experiences are an extension of the vilification and disregard for cultural integration. As students of color, we are asked upon admission to stand and assimilate; to administer a dose of social adaptation in an effort to “belong.” We are left to dismantle and reform an institution which has spent its existence seeking to end our excellence. 

Through this project, I aim to tell the unheard, often overlooked story of the marginalized experience at the University of Denver. These individuals answer, what is home? 

Marie T.

Home is where children with different native tongues gather together, speaking about anything under the sun. It’s a place where creativity is needed to make memories because money is not available. It’s a place where doors are never locked and the closest house to the gathering is where dinner is held. It’s a place where friends become family, family becomes support, and support is what motivates you to achieve anything you can dream of. Home will always be the section 8 apartment in North San Antonio, Texas full of all the displaced immigrants from around the world.

Gabriela R.

Home is where children with different native tongues gather together, speaking about anything under the sun. It’s a place where creativity is needed to make memories because money is not available. It’s a place where doors are never locked and the closest house to the gathering is where dinner is held. It’s a place where friends become family, family becomes support, and support is what motivates you to achieve anything you can dream of. Home will always be the section 8 apartment in North San Antonio, Texas full of all the displaced immigrants from around the world.

Ashley S.

Home is the echa pa’lante my mom instilled in me when she migrated to the U.S.

It is a cafecito en las mañanas with the warm rhythm of salsa music to make the corazon feliz

Home is go get your education to be someone better 

And work a full-time job while trying to survive in a system not built for you

It’s celebrating the small victories para la comunidad of Biden as the 46th president 

And it’s knowing that the Trump admin was suffocating the dreams my mom had for me when she chose change

Home is a small country with a rich culture of unity and compassion 

It is a country that celebrates international trade through a canal 

Home is a safe environment that truly uplifts diversity and inclusion for all 

It promotes and inspires the idea that tu lucha es mi lucha

Home is a place of being constantly pushed down by white male supremacy and a broken system 

And it is still pushing forward to show that my people and I are more than just a mascot

Home is standing in solidarity with other oppressed ethnicities and communities 

It is knowing that I cannot be completely liberated while individuals are still in shackles

Home is knowing that change is needed 

And home is knowing that change won’t happen unless I carry it proudly en mis hombros con un sueño of something better.

Elizabeth G.

Down in the hood where strippers prowl, we are reminded of beginnings unknown. Forced into seclusion in a neighborhood which day after day becomes a bit more gentrified, I find myself waking up to delusions. A world where the striking line of poverty ends with the ripped lacing of my jeans. I was greeted with a world full of gilded promises, the only condition: leave everything behind. Here where the white man rules, we walk on our heels, no longer running, for the hustle continues. 

Kat Z.

Home is a feeling. Home is a characteristic. Home is always evolving. I have spent most of my time in Colorado for the past 4 years at the University of Denver, but DU was never home. Denver was. I learned how to assimilate across various groups, always having to integrate myself in these unknown spaces. Home is Union Station. Home is Mariscos El Rey. Home is my adoption into Mexican families. Home is happiness.

City Scenes

Rural Scenes

Nature Scenes