Brianna's Hidden Depths

Hello! My name is Brianna Mazariegos. I was born and raised in Guatemala City, Guatemala. I’m a political science major and just finished my sophomore year. Although I may seem very shy and serious I actually love to talk and listen to people. I like talking about topics I’m passionate about. In my free time, I enjoy reading—no specific genre; if it draws my attention, I will read it. I am also a movie enthusiast; you name it, and I’ve probably seen it already. I recently discovered an appreciation for watching war history documentaries about the Cold War and the Vietnam War. And also, I like reading poems. Some great poems I recommend are: Rob Hayden’s “Those Winter Sundays,” Gary Soto’s “Oranges,” Jimmy Santiago Baca’s “Immigrants In Our Own Land”, and Judith Cofer’s “The Latin Deli: An Ars Poetica”. I also love all kinds of animals. I love spending time with my family and my close friends. Having them back in Guatemala has made life in New York a little hard to adjust to. However, I’m excited to see how this journey unfolds.

I would like to recommend a book that I recently read. It’s called Waiting to Be Arrested at Night by Tahir Hamut Izgil. It’s a memoir about an Uyghur poet who recounts his experiences in China. It offers an insight into the Chinese government’s genocide against the Muslim minority the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, culminating in his family’s escape to the US. I think it’s a great book to read because it brings awareness to Western readers of the bleak reality of the Uyghurs, while he is able to capture this suffering through a poetic lens. He mourns the loss of literary freedom and the mundane joys of Uyghur life.