Anita Tijerina Revilla, PhD. Joteria and Muxerista Studies Scholar [Draft-Site still in progress]

I was raised on the Southside of San Antonio in a family where love and hardship coexisted. My mom raised three of us as a young widow at the age of 30. I am a first-generation student who came from poverty and made my way to elitist institutions like Princeton, Columbia, and UCLA. I carried my family and my community with me into those spaces, always believing education would help my family survive. The most transformative journey of my life has been becoming a parent.

When my sister became too ill to care for her children, she asked me to raise them. I became their tía Honey, caregiver, legal parent, and their everyday anchor. This was not a role I had planned for, but it became one of the most meaningful and defining parts of my life. Muxerista caregiving, as I live and understand it, is about loving deeply while also learning how to care for ourselves. It is about interrupting cycles of harm and codependency, moving beyond expectations of self-sacrifice, and building practices rooted in healing, dignity, accountability, and collective well-being. You will find my essays, articles, and creative work here. My work is grounded in the belief that our communities and students are the creators of transformative change they want to see in the world.

Muxerista and jotería frameworks are at the heart of what I share here. They emerge from activism, art, queer and feminist struggle, and the everyday work of surviving and dreaming. Muxerista-Jotería femtorship is one of the ways I practice this work. It is about walking with others across different stages of life, guiding and being guided, and building relationships rooted in care, trust, and shared growth. Muxerista-Jotería praxis is not limited to the classroom. It lives in community, organizing, storytelling, art, family, and everyday acts of resistance and care. My research on student activism has shown me that some of the most powerful learning happens when people create their own spaces of belonging and transformation.

I am a Scholar. Educator. Activist. Caregiver. Artist. Honey. All of it is connected. This space is for students, community, familia, colegas, collaborators, and anyone searching for connection, healing, or possibility.