How culturally aware are you? If you have that motivation to learn about other cultures, I encourage you to save this date: April 6th, 2018. My Fraternity-Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity, Inc. and I are hosting our 3rd Annual LatinX Fest here at Illinois State University (ISU). Sigma Lambda Beta will be collaborating with the University Programming Board. So, this event is not one that you want to miss. At this year's LatinX Fest, we will be having live performances, a Tacquero, games, and much more! So, I encourage you to come out, educate yourself and have some fun!

The history of Latino fest started on April 8th, 2016 at our previous house in our garage with minimal entertainment and food. Our attendance was about 20 people. Since then, we have been improving from all aspects. Our 2nd annual LatinX Fest was on April 20th, 2017 in Schroeder Plaza. We had a DJ, a Tamborazo (Ojo de Agua), and a Tacquero.The expected attendance was about 50 people; however, our expectations were incorrect. Over 300 people attend our 2nd annual Latino Fest. That was a huge difference compared to where we started.

People in the Latinx community are always facing struggles because our society is not educated about these subjects. Jessica Moreno-Caycho interviewed Camila Aranguiz-Allende and asked why the term, "Latinx", is important to her. She responded, "The term “Latinx” is important to me because it is a step towards decolonizing Latinidad. Gender is not only a social construct, but also a colonial construct that has been used throughout history to subjugate bipoc (black, indigenous and people of color) to the constraints of white supremacy. The binary gender system that we have today came directly from colonization."

The reason we put on this event is to educate the community about different LatinX cultures from Latin America. With ISU being a predominantly white university, many people are unaware of the different cultures that exist. For this year, we changed the name to LatinX Fest. Reason being the word is more gender neutral. Latinx is an alternative to Latino/Latina. The term extends toward all sexual orientations and preferences, such as transgender, queer, and agender, making it of popular use among activists. According to Tanisha Love Ramirez and Zeba Blay, "Using Latinx, in general, is a way to be more inclusive of identities that go beyond the everyday gender and racial norms that are rapidly shifting and being redefined in today’s culture"

What I need from my audience is to make an appearance at this event and bring your friends and family!