At one of my college campuses, Spring Semester 2026 begins next week. For the first eight weeks, we will read a novel called The Secret Book of Frida Kahlo.  It reads like the title sounds.  The Mexican author F.G. Hagenbeck took Frida’s personal diary and fictionalized many of the entries. I know this because I myself have a copy of this same diary here on my shelves in Mexicali.   I’m not too sure if Frida every envisioned that her deepest thoughts and feelings would ever be accessible to public consumption, but I  guess that’s why the author calls this book “Secret.”

I’m hoping that my students enjoy and appreciate The Secret Book of Frida Kahlo as much as I do.   I’ve read it now four times.  TWICE in Spanish.  TWICE in English.  The novel celebrates the story behind the story of a LOVER, PAINTER, FASHIONISTA, and REBEL.  To complemnent our reading, I have planned an extensive Frida K research project.  Each of my students will be able to choose a research topic from our first-day discussion, like anything substantial and/or meaningful ranging from Frida’s BIRTH to DEATH.   We will sharpen our academic research skills by scouring the campus databases. Many if not most of the topics we consider for our writing will be covered in The Secret Book of Frida Kahlo.  I’m asking for a seven-page paper.

Frida’s childhood makes for an interesting research paper.  She grew up during the Mexican Revolution.  Jaja,  she often claimed she was born during the Revolution in 1910 to deepen her own mythology – to  make people think she was a child of the Revolution – when in fact she was born in 1907.  This part is true:  In the Coyoacán  neighborhood where she grew up, her family heard the gunshots and saw the blood spatter from the Zapatistas Rebels who came  to battle with the Mexican army.  As they advanced past her house, they chanted “Tierra y Libertad.”  From then on, Frida lived a life with a strong connection to her Mexico.  This chant of “Land and Freedom” is pervasive in her political views and artwork. (Will any of my students be inspired to research the causes and effects of the Mexican Revolution for this project?  STAY TUNED!)

This week, I myself am practicing my own assignments that I have posted on Canvas for this semster. I’m attempting to follow my own instructions! Somewhere in their papers, I will ask my students to define an important Frida K concept or idea they come across in their reading or research – IN THEIR OWN WORDS.  No dictionary definitions, PLEASE.  They might want to define the “Love” she maintained for Diego Rivera.  (Did you know that the phrase “Tierra y Libertad” is prominently included in one of his most famous murals, located in Las Bellas Artes palace in Mexico City? Well, that’s for my students to find out.) Some may want to share their understanding of “Surrealism” – an artistic style often used to describe Frida’s paintings, but a title she herself often rejected.  Why? We will read about in our novel. The definition can be very specific or it can be fairly general: “Identity,” “Disability,” “Mole”; but not only will they have to define the term, they will have to connect it to Frida. I expect that their definition will approach a paragraph of 400 words or more.

Yo? I’m painting Frida as a “Rebel.” A rebel is a person with the strength and courage to live his/her own life.  Rebels determine where they want to go and how they are going to get there. Maybe this is because they don’t care about what other people think or say of them.  Frida suffered through pain and injury for most of her life, but that never dampened her spirit.  No matter what obstacles were thrown her way, she maintained her beliefs and visions.  Rebels have the power to create their own stories and stick with them.  Frida’s high-school bus accident sentenced to her to a lifetime of pain, surgery, and trauma; but that couldn’t stop her from achieving her dreams.  Instead of dwelling on what the doctors told her – that she may never walk again or have babies – she focused on what she could do.  She painted.  While still confined to her bed, she spent endless hours painting on an easle that her parents set up next to her.  She also requested they bring her a mirror.  She couldn’t walk, but in the mirror, she could find the most interesting subject to paint:  herself.  She once said, “I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best.”

Today, I’m designing my project binder cover (see above – at top of this post).  By the way, I have already bought binders with plastic cover sleeves at Walmart to distribute in my classes.  Every other week or so, my students can anticipate Surprize Binder Checks so I can check the quality of their work and organization of their materials.  Why not?  After all, I paid for the binders!  The project binder cover, I’m calling this a Mind Map – it will become like  a Visual Outline to introduce readers what is to come in theese student essays. In the photo above, former English 105 student Cassandra Macias presents her research to a live student audience. We read a sixties novel and wrote sixties research papers. You can see her Mind Map of Charles Manson on the big screen behind her. Displayed on tables are the research binders and display boards of her classmates.

This Mind Map assignment will come about Week Seven or Eight after my students have completed their first drafts.  This semester, I used Canva.com to help me edit a Frida K poster I found online.   I filled a few bubbles/balloons with ideas from my MLA outline.  (That assignment comes in Week Five, I believe.) I require project cover designs for all my research papers. My students often appreciate the opportunity to express themselves in a CREATIVE WAY – I mean, we will do a lot of writing this semester.  The Mind Maps will help my students bring things together.  They see their project as a WHOLE. 

When I was the age that my students are now, I may not have had the maturity or experience to truly appreciate Frida Kahlo.  To me, her artwork would have seemed disjointed, chaotic, confusing.  A puzzle in each frame. I would have never dared to stand up in class before other students and discuss her artwork. I wouldn’t have known where to start or where to end. Today, I can see how a Mind Map for a research paper could have helped me to connect the dots between the painting and the artist.   All the work I have put into this project is coming to life before my eyes.  I still have so much to learn about Frida, but I can talk about her all day. I can say Frida has inspired me to speak with confidence.

For most of her lifetime, Frida’s art may not have been understood by the general public.  Her art is often regarded as surreal – it doesn’t follow any rules.   Frida was born in Mexico during revolutionary time.  The people she worshiped were the revolutionaries that fought for independence.  Rebels who never backed down to authority.  Until the very end Frida lived her life to the fullest.  One week before she died, the doctors told her not to move from her bed.  She was too weak.  Any additional tension or strenuous effort in her life could cause her body severe complications.  Frida didn’t listen to her doctors. She had her friends move her – still tucked away in her bed – in a truck to the Galeria Arte Contemporaneo where she would display her artwork among friends, mole, tamales and tequila.  Her final painting included the words, “Viva la Vida.” Remember: I have a copy of her diary here in my shelves in Mexicali.  Her last entry featured a green-winged angel with blackened legs rising to the heavens.  Frida was born a rebel and died a rebel. She lived her life the way she wanted to.