“Encounter as Text”
Nakeia Martin of FIU at Florida International University, June 11, 2023
Arriving in Europe was like fighting into new territory and claiming land—in my case, claiming a seat on a plane. From delayed to canceled to a whole new location, I felt the true experience of being a spontaneous adventurer in Europe unintentionally. After experiencing the extreme in Italy, Switzerland, France, and Malta, entering Madrid felt more like home, not because of the beauty or people, but because of the density and the average level of cleanliness that reminded me of New York while riding the C1 train. While some may see that as an insult, Switzerland was so clean it felt like another utopian world, and while in Italy, particularly in Genoa, I felt like I entered a historic war zone.
Madrid feels like a city of contradictions, yet it balances itself so well with these parallels that it would collapse immediately if it were in the United States of America. The interest of the citizens as a community is a prominent aspect of Spain, to the point where they have a designated day to cancel all traffic and allow sheep to pass through the city and into the south, including the new law that they are implementing for free transportation in the city and the inclusive health care provided for the government. It’s very intriguing that the Spaniards that colonized regions in the Americas had strict laws that prohibited any freedom, especially of religion and its teaching, to the point of decimating cultures in the 1400s. And now in America, those ideas have left a permanent mark on the community, while Spain across the Atlantic Ocean is progressive in certain aspects of its government while still having a monarchy from the Civil War in 1936. The contradictions of Spain’s history and present do not relate solely to their laws; they are also within their culture. One of the main justifications for Spaniards destroying native communities is their “love” for God and spreading his word. They believed if they did not take over the natives, they would go to hell, so they had to be colonized. Now in Spain, I witness the open and proud sexuality of everyone within the city, which is different compared to Catholic beliefs of forgetting one’s body and focusing on the soul. This is why you need to cover up to enter any cathedral in the world, with respect to removing that sexual aspect from yourself.
Gran Via metro station is a major hub within Madrid, having a large mall in the vicinity where many people indulge in their capitalistic and mass-produced products. However, Spain never has only one side of the coin; within the twisted streets deeper into the area around the station, you confront many thrift stores and vintage shops that some attempt to modernize; however, many appear to have been there for a very long time as local shops. Surviving through the mass production of items across the Main Street of Gran Via The balance between the new Western world and old traditions is a shaky plate to be on, yet Spain is thriving in continuing events like the flea market near Sol metro station, where antiques and modern products emerge on stands down the street. You even see Roma people, whom I’ve never seen before even in Italy until this market experience.
Spain mixes the good and the bad of their culture to twist it to their liking; the attack on the Americas is seen as pulling a woman from the depths, like the statue in front of the Museo de America. viewing it in a positive light, although it is truly devastating to the cultures. It’s very interesting since no country is black and white, but Spain appears to be a stable gray, especially with its weather the first couple of days of our trip.
“Madrid as Text”
Nakeia Martin of FIU at Florida International University, June 15, 2023
The city will not be my favorite. However, Madrid has some hidden offers that increase the value of the city, because as a whole, with the architecture and dynamic of the people, it will not be a place I can see myself living in. No particular building struck such a chord with me within the city, but it was obvious within Madrid itself that they imitated many popular architectural styles from Italy and France to create their palaces within the city borders. For instance, I pointed out that the Palacio Real heavily drew inspiration from St. Peter’s Basilica and that, if the Queen Dowager’s dream about the statues falling and killing her didn’t happen, they would be a close replica of St. Peter’s Basilica. The palace indeed was beautiful; however, outside of the dressing room and some of the ceiling, it is clear there is no originality within the court of Spain; they could not even think of a unique name, leaving it as just Royal Palace. While there is no original architectural style outside of the Egyptian origins, Madrid in itself did not even attempt to apply new ideas to the ones given to them by other countries and appeared, in my view, to be stagnant compared to the other cities just 40 minutes away by train, like Toledo or Segovia.
Interestingly enough, the only Spanish quality I truly respected and enjoyed was Salvador Dali’s painting in particular, The Endless Enigma, as, as the title states, truly endless everything connects into another scene. This is heavily related to me because I imagined my brain as this enigma because I can look at one object and connect it to something that truly has no relation yet still makes sense to me. The visualization of an unhinged fluid brain and random pop-ups, like the red-headed woman’s face, disrupt the process of returning back into that cycle once again. I write down my dreams every night, and this may be the reason why I felt that scene to be me in an indirect way; it felt like how my secondary fantasy land would be if another person opened my head up.
The art collection within the city is amazing, from Las Meninas to the Garden of Earthly Delights. I’ve seen works of art that previously were only behind the screen for me in person. Each with a rich history and meaning from the artists within Spain, one particular artwork though is a statue of Emperor Hadrian and Antinous, and their story truly reminded me of the city itself. The openness of the relationship between them was not seen as cheating because it did not risk the Empress’s position of being queen with a lover boy. And I noticed this openness within Madrid as well, where being with whoever you want is so casual and normal here because, just like the queen, it doesn’t affect anyone else, so why would it be a problem? Connecting those points made me realize that this judging mentality in the United States should cease to exist because even Caesar had lovers of all genders.
“Toldeo as Text”
Nakeia Martin of FIU at Florida International University, June 25, 2023
When hearing about the mass evacuation of Toledo’s residents during 1492, resulting in a medieval city being practically abandoned; left a negative feeling in my heart about the city. Why would such a flourishing city one that was filled with artisans, scientists, and trade workers all up and leave? Because the Spanish are known for having no mercy, and no tolerance towards ideas, and cultures that oppose theirs. Thus, they start the inquisition, to spread the ideas that prevail and live within us today. Would many of my neighbors in Miami be catholic if it weren’t for them? Would any of them be there? The debate of cultures and understanding what was forced on the colonies and was truly from the region is conflicting, since nothing is original in the Americas anymore even though they were the continent isolated for the longest.
Toledo is a challenging city, even to enter the estate it’s clear the design was based on the need for water and life with a river surrounding the main gates; a use of defense and functionality like most medieval cities. Climbing into the main square isn’t the only challenge within the city that is apparent to visitors, the city’s history and current orientation are consistently fighting against each other yet still forced under the same name, Toledo. We arrived right after a religious festival, which from my perspective reminded me heavily of tradition in the Arabic community, incense, curtains from above, and colorful rugs. I asked what religion they would be celebrating and our amazing tour guide stated: Of course it’s catholic, we’re in Spain.
After the Inquisition Catholics from Spain conquered the Americas in the name of god within their twisted view. However, Toledo, a city built by the Romans and Moors before them, still leaves an impact on not just the architecture of Spain but the culture as well in my viewpoint. Why else would they hang lanterns on the street with incense when it comes from the Middle East, Africa, and India, definitely not from Europe. Walking along the roads we would see plaques on the ground written in Hebrew, this clearly shows how tolerant the Moors were beforehand as Toledo, was one of the largest Jewish communities in Spain with Seville having another large population as well. Although Seville is known to massacre their Jewish citizens within 100 years and in Toledo the Jews abandoned the city, leaving the city a ghost town for a period.
Where has all the history gone? And why within a city like Toledo were no mosques preserved, because of power and influence over the public. Not allowing another option and having control the Spanish believed they would reign for longer, however, Emperor Hadrian even warned the Roma of this problem, to allow people freedom of religion and culture or the Roma will fall. Thus, in the end, the empire within Spain began to crack and ended with nothing.
“Andalusia as Text”
Nakeia Martin of FIU at Florida International University, June 25, 2023
Destruction or Preservation? The merging of Islam and Catholicism in Andalusia is to many a marvel of entering the Islamic architectural culture without a plane ticket to the specific region that practices Islam. However, in my perspective, it will never compare to visiting a region with authentic undisturbed architecture, and many tourists relish not having to leave their European Standard Vacation route to a non-westernized country. Currently, because of the political climate, visitors are most likely not wanting to visit any beautiful Arabic or Islamic countries containing preserved architecture outside of the United Arab Emirates. The beauty is not just in the building but also in the meanings behind it. Why renovate in the name of God while truly portraying absolute disrespect for another’s culture and history? And why claim in the modern age that this is a great example of preserving architecture?
One of the monuments, the Mezquita, truly had me reflecting on what was better: objectifying the main goals, purpose, and pride of a structure with a random white marble gothic cathedral in the center or doing what the Spanish have done in many cities like Sevilla, Cordoba, and Granda: destroying all structures. Some mention that without this change, it would not exist, but is it truly worth witnessing a ruin have its natural beauty smothered under another’s culture? In my perspective, it’s similar to seeing the aqueduct ruins of the Romans; however, while walking along, you notice modernized concrete columns to continue the row. History is no longer prevalent because it is smothered in the era’s idealism. And witnessing such a tragedy leaves more disgust than amusement for the city as a whole.
Seville, while being one of my most treasured memories of the trip attending the BZRP concert, used the Plaza de España as the concert zone for the city, lighting the historical monument with LED lights to create a more dynamic atmosphere. This is also influenced by the era of the time when these additions were made, but during the day, the authentic appearance returns without harming the history or meaning of the structure. Why is it that Spaniards are capable of it for their architecture and not for buildings so beautiful that they influenced the Mudejar style of the Moors, who have been living in a tolerant state for over 800 years? In Cordoba, there is no excuse; the Spaniards loved the architecture and wanted to keep the building for their own religious use. However, why create a gaping hole in the middle instead of building a new cathedral on the side? The initial design is created for breezes and free access on all sides of the monument to allow light, air, and all people to come through. Gothic cathedrals are dark and filled with high ceilings, and birds plant their families in the ledges. How wonderful would it have been to see the open layout of the Mezquita without the density of the chapels that reside in the entrances today? Granda was the sole city within Spain that left most parts of the Alhambra intact, only because it was not a religious structure. Should I judge Seville on its slave-trading past, destructive attacks on the Sephardic Jews, and apparent appreciation of Islamic art while it destroys the all-lasting Mosques without mercy? It’s a question that is simple to answer. I have no resentment, but I can never claim a city as great if it cannot recognize its own horrifying history with even a small plaque.
Andalusia contradicts itself with its present and past; its major source of income within the city from the 1900s to now is the tourism of these Islamic architectural structures. However, in the past, because of a hive mentality and unjust methods to control the public’s minds, the Spaniards ruined most of them.
“Sitges as Text”
Nakeia Martin of FIU at Florida International University, July 5, 2023
Oddly enough while touring the city heavily sponsored by Charles Deering, every citizen basically reveres him as its founder while his presence was only there for a short period attempting to buy a local artists unit next door. Buying out the entire neighborhood populated with fishermen surrounding the residence, removing the very aspect of the city that inspired Rusinols still did not deter his resolve to not sell his seaside house to Charles Deering. Rusinols abode is extremely charming with works of art of every kind proudly displayed and shown to welcome new ideas and gifts out looking at the ocean. The house itself was a normal size yet with all the tight corners of art on the walls, the fountain that was never really a fountain in the center of the gathering area truly gave the appearance of the representation of a chaotic artist, which Santiago Rusinol might’ve been.
What has been removed from the city of Sitges is more than the little red fish that Vinyet, would watch in Rusinols house interior pond, their ancient artifacts were stolen, and yet it mentioned but not in a way of resentment just acceptance of the fact their history is forever displayed in Chicago across the Atlantic Ocean, living now with only replicas of the past. Should we feel sympathy for Stiges? I mean Spain has a history and is currently still taking Artifacts from Latin American countries, the golden statues in the Museum of America in Madrid, originally the representation more than 2000 years old of the chiefs within Columbia. The Spanish do it to the rest of the world, so I’m not surprised it happened back to them in an obscure and unpopular region of Catalunya at the time, as previously it was just a fisher town. Although, can we really judge Catalunya in the same way? They consider themselves to be an independent country and want nothing to do with the mainland of the Royal Crown. It’s conflicting yet still every piece of history unless rented out by the original country to temporarily be stationed elsewhere should stay where it was initially found.
Sitges was an amazing beach town, with a nice breeze and a view of the sea from almost every street we walked along. During our time we encountered the winery of Sitges with a history of being the best and being sabotaged. It’s a very interesting concept to me that a town can be defamed by other cities portraying themselves as malvasia of Sitges, even though it’s a lie people stopped purchasing and went with the lesser quality cheaper version of a unique wine that can only be found in Sitges. It truly was an amazing experience to taste a wine that only makes 10,000 bottles a year, and even see the exact presser that was used 10 years ago to make the wine in a traditional manner. The winery is unique not only because they experiment with new techniques of placing wine within the ocean for around a year, but also because it is a non-profit of the city founding the local nursing home for the elderly. Sitges was an amazing city, I truly felt as though I was welcomed as a whole and learned about every aspect of their citizens, history, goals, and glory.
“Barcelona as Text”
Nakeia Martin of FIU at Florida International University, July 5, 2023
What is unique and distinctive to Miami? In the end, as a whole, we could only provide Pitbull as an answer. It truly has me thinking, about what is the equivalent of me and my family’s country that can proudly proclaim a singular product that is solely from that region; in Barcelona, there were many entities that can be announced within that conversation besides Rosalia. Catalunya badly “Malamente” was to be detached from the royal region of Spain because of their cultural significance of being independent of the Moorish for many generations before the Spanish proclaimed themselves as king over them. And when the civil war bombing of their children occurred within Barcelona it struck a chord with all generations spreading like wildfire even today with a strong sense of defiance and identity of independence. The Catalan Flag has two versions, the original of the history with gold and bloody red stripes representing their seal as a strong group of people from a warrior, and a flag that resembles the Cuban flag as a symbol of rejection of the Crown in Madrid wanting to be an independent country.
This defiance is shown in more ways than one, other than presenting the spirit of rebellion replicating the Cuban flag, their language and art movements spawned out of pure will to be different. Catalan is not pig Latin, as one joke I’ve heard from Spanish tourists who are confused at the responses of Catalan instead of Castillo, it is a mixture of French and Spanish to create this unique culture of people bonded not by looks but by speech. The fact that even though the crown forced and segregated people who spoke Catalan during the 1940s civil war the language did not die out instead survived, and is used to show their lack of respect towards the Spaniards. Antoni Gaudí did exactly that after his efforts were recognized by a King he did not accept as his, and spoke solely to Alfonso XIII in Catalan. In fact, initially, Guadi was not even going to have an audience with the king because of his pure defiance of the crown, however, later used language to show his proud cultural significance.
Modernismo is colorful, free form and said to be the first of many things that influence art today. Trencadis, the Catalan way of recycled tiles broken and arranged into the fluid forms of Gaudi’s walls is why it was so memorable and unique, and maybe the inspiration of Piacasso to create a simple idea into a new one with the origin of the College. However, just as I debate if such a simple idea is truly the first or just the one labeled and named under a person, I believe while Gaudi’s architecture is beautiful I disagree he is the only person to think of such amazing design in such a way. I believe he was the first person to be fully funded and trusted to build whatever he wanted more than being an original. Especially, as he was funded with illegal money of Guells in laws that participated in the slave trade, not such a good reputation that is hidden away in every corner of the city. Solely because while studying the “Gardens of Earthly Delights,” by Hieronymus Bosch was painted in 1490- 1500 for 20 years with similar silhouettes to Gaudi’s design and that was hundred of years before the Casa Balto, Sagrada Familia, and Park Guell was designed in the late 1800s. I do respect his intelligence because regardless of his designs being solely Catalan, to plan and do the math for every corner of the building using strings and weighed bags to determine the construction of a building is more than most architects would ever be able to figure out in their lifetime.
Barcelona the capital of Catalunya, has an interesting history and truly rises the idea of wanting to find what is unique of me and my people, to create a bond that can’t even convince the younger generation of Catalan as the main option to never let themselves be cultured washed like most of South America somehow being farther away yet speaking more Spanish than a region within their borders.
“Miami Espana Vuelta as Text”
Nakeia Martin of FIU at Florida International University, July 9, 2023
Prior to this tour, the majority of people around the globe referred to the United States, France, and the United Kingdom as Western countries when discussing the countries of the Western world and their perspectives on culture, gender, and wealth. While Spain is in the western portion of Europe because of their influence over South America in religion and culture, I did not realize their views had developed as swiftly as they had compared to the nations they invaded throughout the period of their empire. The United States, as a world power, is constantly on display, which means that its ideas and decisions are shown to the rest of the world for many people to judge. It is common knowledge that France has always held radical viewpoints in comparison to the rest of the world, as they are well known for their demonstrations calling for change. Spain, on the other hand, does not have the same reputation as France or the same impact as the United States; in fact, when most people refer to Spain, they do so based on their previous acts and their prime in history; they are constantly under the shadow of their past. And their past is not one of grandeur but of misery, conflict, and ill use of wealth.
It was a mind-boggling realization to come to grips with the fact that the open culture of Spain with regard to gender has moved so quickly in terms of sexuality in comparison to the United States, especially in comparison to Miami. But, in other respects, their ideals towards the rebirth of culture and the country as a whole are still mired in the traditions of the past. How is it that Spain cannot respect the Islamic past of their own nation, defiling the monuments of the walls erected thousands of years ago or requiring multiple security screens in Granada only to view Moorish architecture out of concern that the people may harm the artifacts? Locals are the ones to fear—not tourists, but Spanish citizens. If they are so advanced when it comes to the freedom of love, then it begs the question of why they are not progressive when it comes to the release of religion and seeing their Moorish past as a beauty rather than a blemish.
The fact that I currently reside in Miami is what ties me to Spain since, before that point, they had no impact whatsoever on the course of my cultural history other than to let the world know that there are a couple of other continents. The influence that Spain formerly had on Miami is long gone; now, Latin America, and not Spain, is the primary source of Miami’s cultural identity. The city itself becomes a melting pot of several Latin American nations that are similar to one another. And the influence that is significant from Spain to Latin America is religion, where most Christian communities in Miami are Catholic because of this. Despite this, I have not been affected by it in any way because I am not Catholic. Drag performances are, oddly enough, the only kind of dance that is consistently performed as a form of entertainment inside the city. Everything else is interactive, but the connection to Spain comes from their flamenco shows, which entertain the public in a style that is comparable to how some of the performers for drag shows are skilled dancers, with the exception of singing and foot-stomping for added rhythm.
My time spent in Spain has taught me that the difference between Catalonia and the Royal Crown of Spain is not just a question of history and independence; instead, it goes much deeper than that, as even as a tourist, I am able to notice the tension that exists between the two regions. It was of far greater significance to actually be there and witness it than it was to simply read about it. The resurgence of Catalonia’s independence movement, which took inspiration from Cuba and Puerto Rico, and the use of the star emblem as a political symbol in the early 1900s are both examples of how the Americas have influenced Catalonia. Since it will forever be seen as the impactful event of their struggle for freedom, the impact of having an influence on the cultural identity of a political party is the single most significant exchange that may ever take place.
Spain as a country has changed in some ways and remained the same in others. Their dynamic relationship with their citizens is the most interesting I have ever seen since it is the first country I visited that still has an active monarchy in power. I learned that being influenced by countries has a lasting effect on multiple generations, and whether now or in the future, the impact of my trip around Spain will never be forgotten by me.
Miami in Miami 