Reflective Essay

1. Explain one or two ways my writing has improved (or not). Include a few examples from my posts over time, with analysis and links to the original posts, to illustrate how the improvement(s) happened.
8. How do I like having a blog? How has blogging changed the way I write, the way I think, or the way I think about writing
9. Has blogging had any other effects on my life beyond strictly my "school life"? Explain.

Over the year playing around with blogger, I have improved my writing with different styles. From debates, to responses, free posts, to  book reviews, and even vignettes. All of these writing styles helped me to practice different styles instead of regular writing or formal writing. I have enjoyed doing these because it helped me to experience more. I now feel like an experienced writer.

Having a blogger for a year has been great. It helped me to experiment with new “widgets” in google like Google Reader and Docs. The main reason I like having a blog is freedom. I have the freedom to post anything, ANYTHING. Of course there are some restrictions because it is a school blog, but I can still post anything. But the type of freedom I am talking about is being able to post many different things as homework. Earlier in the year, we mainly did free post and response posts that helped out to get to know each other and share our opinions. By the second half of the school year or earlier, we began to make book reviews and posts relating to a book or books. These were good because I had never reviewed a book before (well I hardly ever read books).

Another type of freedom that we got from this is to write in any style. We can write with a certain attitude, like using fragments to put out a way to read it. This brought me to have an original style, I guess. An example of this is mainly in some of the response posts. One example that I thought that had a certain arguing style was the very early Debate Rebuttal. In this, I was rebutting against the Pro team of legalizing prostitution. But in this certain post, I read it like with an attitude it seems. Since it was a rebuttal, I was bashing the other team and this attitude came from this. Here is the quote,

Next, prostitutes are committing a crime. Prostitution is a crime, if you haven't realized, prostitution is illegal in many places. Only where prostitution is legal it is not a crime, but in other places it is a crime. What does prostitution from 2400 BC have to do with today’s prostitution. For all I know, i think prostitution has changed a lot since 2400 BC. Another, is there any statistics, facts, evidence stating that crime has reduced anywhere where prostitution has been legalized, no.

In this paragraph from the rebuttal, I was talking to the Pro team with attitude. In this though, I felt as if I needed to talk with an attitude to disprove them. The way I used punctuation really tells how I would say it. Like in the last sentence, I can really see myself actually saying it in that matter, no. But this attitude can sometimes be misread, which is really bad because people will think in a different ways. From this, people will get offended by reading it in a certain way, so it is not always so good writing in this style.
I noticed that many of my posts included something about Oakland, and me defending it. I think one of my goals in blogger was to defend Oakland because many people think it is a bad place. Many of my response posts were about Oakland, which I think were good. Here are just a few of them. In these posts, I was either going against people who think that Oakland is a bad place. Or agreeing with people that think Oakland is a good, but a dangerous place. This helped me to connect with people and make Oakland look good. I thought that some of these posts were good because they were meant to show somewhat how Oakland really is, at least in my neighborhood.

Blogging, I would say, is school life but different. It is school work because of course it is homework, but it’s different. Blogging as homework is not the same as regular homework, in a good way. Since we were able to have much freedom about what to write about and questions, it led me to be able to write prompts in very different ways. Just how everyone analyzed and wrote about different things in the vignettes of The House on Mango Street. An example of this is in my blog and also Bianca’s blog. We had the same assignment, but were able to choose whichever quotes and analyze them however we wanted to. In Blogger we have much freedom to choose our prompts, well also Sutherland allowed us. Blogger, on the other hand, does not feel like part of school life. I say this because specifically from one type of assignment. This assignment were the debates. The debates seemed like an argument with a friend instead of a homework assignment, it was more fun than work. It was fun to experience something like this.

As I look back very early into the year before, I noticed differences in my writing. I used to take the easy way out of doing assignments from blogger, I used to be slick (still am). What I am talking about is the amount of writing in my past blogs compared to now. Before, I wrote very little into the blogs, about 300 words. Seems usual like any other blog post from now right? Wrong. Before, I used one long concrete details, or quotes, in response posts. These long CD’s were bout 100 words from the 300 minimum words to get full points. So if you do the math, I only did about 200 words of commentary. Still seems a lot, wait until you hear this. For blog posts now, the minimum is 350 words. By this time, I used smaller CD’s or quotes. In total I used about two small quotes that added up to 50 words. S this means I now do about 300 words of commentary. A 100 word difference from before to present. This is important because it means I know or learned to write more commentary and am able to do so.

Not only the word count has changed, also how I analyzed quotes and CD’s. Before I pretty much just restated the quote and just wrote a bull response. I did not go into detail or re supported the quote, I just restated it. But now, I know how to analyze bits of quotes, sort of like breaking them down. I also now know how to keep the commentary going instead of writing bull. That is how I have improved. Here is a quote from one of my blog posts,

“When you leave you must remember to come back for the others. A circle, understand? You will always be Esperanza. You will always be Mango Street. You can’t erase what you know. You can’t forget who you are. (105)” In this quote there are many little clues that will say what Esperanza will do later on. The most significant one is one that Meriam pointed out in class. Meriam had said that Esperanza will come back to help others that were in the same cycle as Esperanza. This was made clear when I read, “A circle, understand.” I thought of the cycle because a cycle is a circle, so that is why I agree with Meriam. I am not very sure if it was meant this way but it would make sense. Another part of the quote is, “You will always be Mango Street.” This part of the quote shows that even after she leaves, she has the inspiration or identity of Mango Street. So when she leaves, she will take the Mango Street with her.

In this quote, I believe I analyzed a quote closely. I took parts of some of the quote in the book, and explained it part by part. I thought this was a good analyzing paragraph because I got to take out more information from the quote. This helps because it gets to see things we didn’t see before. I am proud of now being able to analyze like this because before I could hardly ever explain or commentate on quotes, and now I think I have improved and am good at it. This was a good analyzing post because as I said before, I got more information from the quote that helped with my point, and Mr. Sutherland also said it was good analyzing. From now on, I will begin to try and pull apart quotes to get more information.

Overall, I think I have grown into a better writer that I would not have thought I would have in about a year. Blogger has helped me a lot and taught me that sometimes homework is not as boring as it is (homework isn’t boring). The freedom that we had throughout the year was the best (I’m sorry if i am saying this too much). I will consider to keep on blogging, even if we don’t have to. Blogger has been a good experience that has taught me a lot, and it has been a unique experience that I may have not have received from something else. Thank you for allowing us to have to much freedom and writing on blogger, it was really fun, Mr. Sutherland.

Peer Review Comments

For Yen:
Write the questions you answered at the top before intro. In the introduction do TAGS and also summarize the whole book not just the second half of it. The whole essay seems like you are summarizing or saying the plot of the book. Also, talk more about the purpose of the book, because like I said before it seems like you summarized most of the book. Also it needs a conclusion. Good post though breh breh.


For Troy:
In the first question, address why this book would be better for young adults to read than younger kids. Why shouldn't younger kids read this book? etc. Also you need another CD/CM, but I think it still is good without another one. You should talk more about the plot because it is confusing of what you are talking about like "unwound." I thought you did good on the second question, pretty solid part of book review. Solid post overall, keep it up.


For Kathy:
Put the questions at the top before intro. The book review feels as if it is mostly summarizing, by the way summarize more in the intro. In the comparisons with the other books, make the differences more clear because it sort of just changes topic or difference. Use transitions from each difference. A rating of the book or recommendation would be nice (if you want to). Nice book review Katt Williams :).

Book Review: Fight Club

2. For what audience(s) is this book intended, and how can you tell? (In other words, for whom
would you recommend this book? this book intended, and how can you tell? (In other words, for
7. If you've read other books in this same genre, how does this one compare?
9. How should people with diseases or mental disorders be treated or cured?

The book that I chose to read is Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. Fight club is a satirical novel that is about a narrator (never actually introduces himself) that has insomnia, which is having a hard time sleeping or not being able to sleep at all. I choose this book because my sister had recommended it and I was curious to read because it has been in our stacks of books for a long time. By the beginning, the narrator meets a person who becomes a mentor to the narrator. Together they start the Fight Club which serves to help men with some problem. Throughout the book, it teaches how to make certain things, and also proposes on how some people should be cured or treated with illnesses or mental disorders.

So far, this book has been interesting. In the beginning, it starts off as a tangent beginning that seems like if it starts off in the ending like in movies, which I liked. It started as unclear, but after a while I started to begin to get it. I have to admit that it was sort of boring after the beginning, and I had to bear through some boring reading. But then it starts to pick up again after some events in the book.

I think this book is intended for high school students and higher until adults. I believe this because much of the book is confusing at times. Middle school students would be really puzzled, even I am confused at times. I think that middle school students would easily get distracted on the not so important context of the book. Also there is a lot of cussing and harsh vocabulary and there is also a lot of sexual references and context, which middle school parents might not like. But I do think that some middle school students can be able to read this. Overall, I think high school students should read this because it is hard to understand what is happening.

This book reminds me of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. It reminds me of it because it changes subject quickly. What I mean by this is that In The Curious Incident, the narrator switched from ideas or added unnecessary information. This also happens in Fight Club, but in Fight Club it is more irrelevant and confusing. Also in The Curious Incident, the narrator or kid has a thing called autism. While in Fight Club, the narrator has something called insomnia too. So both of these books have a character with an illness that contributes to the style of writing. This gave me a connection to both of the books because they both have some of the same factors like treatments and what the characters have in terms of conditions like diseases.

As I kept on reading Fight Club, I began to realize that a big question laid on it. Since Fight Club talks a lot about treatments or cures about people with diseases or who have mental disorders, I realized the question. “How should people with diseases or mental disorders be treated or cured?”

In Fight Club, it really suggests that fighting is the real way to cure and treat. But the book also bears that support groups help into curing someone, but the book mainly supports into fighting for treatment. The fights are very organized and have rules in the book. These rules keep the fight(s) controlled and are strict so it can actually be a cure or treatment for anything.

In my opinion, I think fighting would be a good way of treating things but not curing. I think it would be a good treatment because it releases adrenaline, something that does not come out from support groups. Fighting would also be helpful because it would take out their anger and this anger might be from anything, and would enlighten the fighters. Fighting would also bring a sense of trust and confidence. As it says in the book, “This guy trusts himself to handle anything. (51)”. This quote shows that people who fight get confidence and are not scare of anything. By this, it shows that fighting somewhat does treat people with confidence and trust. I think this would be very successful if it were organized like in Fight Club. If it were not to be organized, then I think it would not be as effective because some people would take it too far. This would affect all the people in fight club with breaking rules and etc.

Support groups also are good for treatment because it lets people come out of their comfort zone by telling others about their lives. It also allows people to cry comfortably, even if they were not expecting to cry. Also in the book the narrator admits, “At almost every meeting since then, Big Bob has made me cry. (22)”. This quote shows that even if the narrator did not want to cry, he somehow did in support groups with certain people, in this case Big Bob. The reason I think that support groups are very effective because there are always people who do not want to participate and share their thoughts so some people would be left out.

I enjoyed this book, it was a nice book. I thought it could have been better in some ways, but still is a good book. I really recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a real plot twisting ending, but who is a high school student. This book covers many different questions and could be used as a book for a whole class to read. I recommend this book because it is different from other books and it could also be used in class, like I said before. My score to give this book is maybe a 8 out of 10. If you can, go out and buy, borrow, read this book.

Fight Club #2

As I kept on reading Fight Club, I began to realize that a big question laid on it. Since Fight Club talks a lot about treatments or cures about people with diseases or who have mental disorders, I realized the question. “How should people with diseases or mental disorders be treated or cured?” In Fight Club, it really suggests that by fighting is the real way to cure. But the book also supports that support groups also help into curing someone. But the book mainly supports into fighting for treatment. The fights are very organized and have rules.

In my opinion, I think fighting would be a good way of treating things but not curing. I think it would be a good treatment because it releases adrenaline, something that does not come out from support groups. Fighting would also be helpful because it would take out their anger. This anger might be from anything, and would enlighten them, the fighters. Fighting would also bring a sense of trust and confidence. As it says in the book, “This guy trusts himself to handle anything. (51)”. This quote shows that people who fight get confidence and are not scare of anything. By this, it shows that fighting somewhat does treat people with confidence and trust. I think this would be very successful if it were organized like in Fight Club. If it were not to be organized, then I think it would not be as effective because some people would take it too far.

Support groups also are good for treatment. Support groups are good as well because it lets people come out of their comfort zone by telling others. It also allows people to cry comfortably, even if they were not expecting to cry. Also in the book, “At almost every meeting since then, Big Bob has made me cry. (22)”. This quote shows that even if the narrator did not want to cry, he somehow did in support groups with certain people, in this case Big Bob. By the way, I say narrator because it is not clear of who is the person talking, which is narrator.

I really recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a real plot twisting ending. Good book, could have been better.

Note to self: In next one, talk about how book could have been better.

Fight Club #1

*I did not use CD/CM because I still need some time to understand book more


The book that I chose to read is Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. I choose this book because my sister had recommended it and I was curious to read because it has been in our stacks of books for a long time. My sister warned me that it was a little confusing, but she said by the end I will get it. There is also the movie Fight Club which I am looking forward to seeing after reading the book.

So far, this book has been interesting. In the beginning, it starts off as a tangent beginning that seems like if it starts off in the ending like in movies, which I liked. It started as unclear, but after a while I started to begin to get it. I have to admit that it was sort of boring after the beginning, and I had to bear through some boring reading. But then it starts to pick up again after some events in the book.

I think this book is intended for high school students and higher until adults. I believe this because much of the book is confusing at times. Middle school students would be really puzzled, even I am confused at times. I think that middle school students would easily get distracted on the not so important context of the book. Also there is a lot of cussing and harsh vocabulary. There is also a lot of sexual references and context, which middle school parents might not like. Overall, I think high school students should read this because it is hard to understand what is happening.

This book reminds me of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. It reminds me of it because it changes subject quickly. In The Curious Incident, the narrator switched from ideas or added unnecessary information. This also happens in Fight Club, but in Fight Club it is more irrelevant and confusing. Also in Th Curious Incident, the narrator or kid has a thing called autism. While in Fight Club, the narrator has something called insomnia. SO both of these books have a character with an illness.

Vignette Project Review

I have been looking around reader to see different vignette projects and I can proudly say that all of them are great and original. All of them have things in similar, but mainly they are very unique. One certain topic that stood out to me were that some people wrote about who they hung out with, or their friends. Two people that did this were Saber and Lhadze. Saber wrote about “The Crew,” which I am proudly in, while Lhadze wrote about her friends.

Saber dedicated a whole vignette on The Crew. In this vignette, he mainly talks about how the crew functions. What I mean by this is like what the crew is for and what they do together, etc. Saber puts some examples of what the crew does which brings related thoughts because many young adults do the same things. “What i like about our crew is that we always have something to say to each other in a funny way. Also another thing is that we are never mad at each other unless its something really serious." In this quote, Saber is talking about something the crew does together which is make fun of each other. By this quote, I can tell that the crew is mainly about fun, no hard feelings, and somewhat being there for each other (I would know because I am in the crew).

Lhadze, on the other hand, wrote about her crew in a different way. The way she wrote about her crew was to show the differences between each member. She deeply describes every person which brings great imagery. Throughout the vignette, she writes as if she appreciates or admires each of her friends. Here is a quote, “As we escorted our bodies forward, I thought of the simple fact we were all alike yet so mismatched, like the socks I wore.” This quote to me was very significant because it says that they somewhat fit in with each other even if they are different, which is said as “mismatched, like the socks I wore.”

In conclusion, both vignette projects were great. I enjoyed reading them both, and also all the other vignettes I read. These two vignette projects were the same by the topic, but were different by how they wrote about the topic. Saber wrote about what his crew does, while Lhadze wrote the differences of her crew. I highly recommend other to read their vignette projects because both were good in their own ways.

Esperanza's Future

By the end of The House on Mango Street, many different inferences can be made. One of the questions that can be made with an inference is, “What’s next for Esperanza?” There are many answers for this question that could be supported by the book.

I believe that Esperanza is planning on leaving Mango Street. She is planning to leave and go receive a better education or better opportunity for it. This is made sure of in the following quote, “One day I will pack my bags of books and paper...Friends and neighbors will say, What Happened to that Esperanza? Where did she go with all those books and paper? (110)” This quote indicates to me that Esperanza will leave to go receive an education. I think this because she says that she is going to take “books and paper” to where she leaves to study or write. As a matter of fact, I believe that will specifically learn more about writing. As Sam said in class, maybe Esperanza’s way to help Mango Street is by writing the book.

Esperanza is determined to go back to Mango street after she leaves. She will come back to help the people that she left behind. The following quote takes place in the vignette The Three Sisters. “When you leave you must remember to come back for the others. A circle, understand? You will always be Esperanza. You will always be Mango Street. You can’t erase what you know. You can’t forget who you are. (105)” In this quote there are many little clues that will say what Esperanza will do later on. The most significant one is one that Meriam pointed out in class. Meriam had said that Esperanza will come back to help others that were in the same cycle as Esperanza. This was made clear when I read, “A circle, understand.” I thought of the cycle because a cycle is a circle, so that is why I agree with Meriam. I am not very sure if it was meant this way but it would make sense. Another part of the quote is, “You will always be Mango Street.” This part of the qoute shows that even after she leaves, she has the inspiration or identity of Mango Street. So when she leaves, she will take the Mango Street with her.

In summary, Esperanza in the future will leave the house on mango street. I think she will leave to get some education, mainly in writing. She then will come back to the house on mango street to help people that were or are in her position. While she leaves, she will also take mango street with her.

Teenage Boys and Girls

Some people think that treating people differently is unfair, but sometimes it is simply necessary. One example is in the question, “Should parents/guardians raise their teenage girls in the same way that they raise their teenage boys?” I believe that teenage boys and teenage girls should be raised differently. They should be raised differently in some ways , but they both should be taught the simple rules of manners and etc. They should all be raised in their own style, but be taught simple ways. Sandra Cisneros believes that they are both raised differently, and suggests they should be raised differently.

Sandra Cisneros explains a lot about the teenage girls in the neighborhood. Some are good friends or nice girls, and other come off as dirty or bad examples of girls. “And anyway, a woman’s place is sleeping so she can wake up early with the tortilla star, the one that appears early just in time to rise... (31)” This quote exhibits that the women are the ones that cook, and that have to wake up early to cook. So from this quote I think that Sandra Cisneros is trying to get to that teenage girls should be raised to be helpful, not necessarily in house work but overall. Another quote that is about girls is in the vignette Sally.“...and bit a hole in your arm and you looked as if you were going to cry and everyone was waiting and you didn’t, you didn’t...” (82) This quote shows that everyone was expecting her to cry, I believe just because she was a girl, but she did not cry. This indicates that girls should be raised to be strong, even when a girl looks weak. I think this is great because Sandra Cisneros is implying that girls should not only be raised to be girly, but also strong.

Sandra Cisneros puts little hints in the book about boys and men. I had to look hard to find some. “Nenny says that she won’t wait her whole life for a  husband to come and get her... (88)” What I get from this quote is that the men have to pursue the women. This means that the boys have to be raised in a men state of mind. What I mean by this is that they have to be raised to be like men and to pursue women. “My brothers for example. They’ve got plenty to say to me and Nenny inside the house. But outside they can’t be seen talking to girls. (8)” Prior to this quote was talking about the seclusion between boys and girls. This is how Sandra Cisneros sees how each of them should be raised, with each other’s gender. This brings me to think that they should be raised up separately.

The Bay

1. The Sirens Go Off
2. The Stash
3. Jingletown
4. Heat
5. Yummy in my Tummy
6. Their Advice
7. Strangers

The Sirens Go Off

The sun was starting to fall asleep as we were at the train tracks. Anthony was talking loudly on the phone with a female he met last week sitting on the blockade separating the train tracks and the street where there is a studio. He was blushing like a rose blooming talking to her. David and I were walking past the train farther and farther away from Anthony to find an empty spot on it. Nobody wants to listen to Anthony while he says cheesy lines. David walked with the backpack full of spray cans and I had the caps on all my pockets. We found a spot right in the middle of the train. We were nervous, we heard loud cars rumble pass on top of us. David and I were hesitant to be the first to start painting. We looked back and forth to each other and the train. David being a younger kid, suggested me too goo first. I nodded and grabbed a can from the backpack. I tested tips on the can, taking my time to not start spraying away. As I began, I shivered like if I had furious ants crawling all over me, bitting my skin making me feel cold. All of a sudden, a motorcycle engine just turned off. We ran. I looked back while running, across the train I could see red and blue lights on the floor and on the bridge on top of us. We heard a distant deep voice on a speaker. David and I dashed to Anthony, the cans in the backpack shaking furiously. He had already climbed the blockade and kept running, leaving us behind. I easily jumped over it, but David was having a hard time. I helped him get up, he then left the backpack by the blockade. we ran and ran. “Stop! Come here! Stop!” is all we heard. We never looked back.

The Stash

We were always good at hiding objects. It was easy to do so. We also collected many different stuff. We were very fond of one of our collections and hiding spots though. This was our best hiding spot we had ever found, it was secret. We decided to use this secret place usefully, with a good collection. So we decided to hide our very special spray cans. Our collection was small, but grew every week. There was a lane right by the fence and house that my parents never went to. Routinely me and Anthony would check our secret collection. We had to squeeze through bags of thrash and machine that my dad had put there.  We then climbed a ladder that was leaned towards our house. We then reached into the gutter to feel all the cans. Eventually we would spray them on the fence just to spell the strong stench of paint in the air. No one knew about our secret place. Only Anthony and I. We would not tell anyone, not even David. Ever since we found out David stole our cans at our old hiding spot, so we did not trust him anymore. No one would ever find our secret stash.

Jingletown

Many people ask me where I live. I always tell them Jingletown. There are two types of responses I get, Where or what is that, and oh. Jingletown is where the trees are alive. Where the main colors are black and yellow, even though no one here wears those ugly color combination besides the bumble bees roaming around. Where the old lady is sitting outside in the day and curious at night looking outside the window to our house. Where cars pass by with twenty inch sparkling silver rims and speakers sounding like a concert shaking the portraits on the wall. Where there is a liquor store in front of my house with a mean and stingy store owner and cashier who won’t even break a ten dollar bill. Where there is a church near by named Maria Auxiliadora and I go to church every Sunday and do some fun community service. It’s always fun, but in every good place there are bullies.

Heat

Shoes, shoes, shoes. All colors, all brands. As many people know from Jingletown, I have amounts of shoes. Jordans, Nikes, Vans, PF Flyers, Chuck Taylor’s, Supras, Creatives, Adidas, you name em’; I’ve had them. All colors to match shirts, outfits, and jeans.

I remember the first time I fell in love with shoes. It was in third grade. I went into a shoe store and some shoes caught my eye. I had never seen these weird shoes, with shiny materials and accents of blue. I stared at them, not touching them, just tared at its glory like it was a gift from God. I looked at its colors. The spoiler was like of a cars, and it had a design on its side panel that was new to me.  My dad came up to me and grabbed my shoulder, but somehow I knew it was him so I didn’t flinch. He looked at the shoes and grabbed them from the wall. I stared at his large hands being pulled toward his body and my head turning up. He asked, “You like these?” I nodded. He turned them and flipped them over and over. He called over a guy with a uniform and talked to him. The guy went through a door, and my dad told me to sit by him. We waited. A while later, the guy came out with a box. The box was silver with a design on top. He handed it to my dad, my dad sat it on his lap. He opened it and tangled through the paper like it was alive. He took out the left pair from the shoe. “Here, try it on,” he told me happily. I took off my left shoe. My dad untied the shoe laces and opened the shoe. He knelt and put it on my foot, he tied it. “Do they fit good?” I nodded. He pressed to where my toes reached. “They don’t hurt right?” “No,” I finally said. He took off the shoes and wrapped it within the paper into the box. We headed to a line that passed by fast. He payed, and we left. He let me hold the bag, I swung it around with joy throughout the mall. We went to the car and left home.

Later on in life I learned that they were the Jordan Dub-Zeros. After that, I loved shoes and had to buy them all. Now, I’m realizing I can’t buy all the shoes I want.

Yummy In Tummy

Everyone in our family love food. My Mom’s food has to be made by her. She don’t trust fast food much. Me, my food has to be somewhat healthy and sweet. My food also has to be different everyday, because I am0 picky. My sister, well hers has to be very healthy with happy green vegetables. One certain thing, our food preferably should be Mexican food or at least Mexican style.

But my dad, my dad loves his spicy food. You give him a bland taste, he goes over to the fridge and gets himself a jalapeno. He can withstand the bite of an angry fiery sun, or otherwise known as a jalapeno. Nothing is too spicy for my dad. He can pass the Hot Cheetos contest without shedding a single tear. He don’t need no glass of water or milk, all he needs is air. No spicy food to eat? He can cook himself a fresh bowl of hot soup that comes from the volcano. Like Dylan, my dad spits hot fire. Wasabi to him is like guacamole with little taste. At the end of the day his breath smells like fresh herbs and the spice cringes into your nose.

Their Advice

We walked left and right through the empty train lanes, looking at all the different artist and different styles. We came up to the train carts. We looked at all the signatures on the cart, all different and unique. Very far ahead of us were 2 people in the distance. Anthony and I looked at each other nervously. We decided to  gross in between the train carts to get to the other side. We kept walking. We suspected that the 2 people should be close near. The 2 people then crossed to our side of the train carts. We stopped walking. Only thing we could do i cross over to the other side again, so we did. We stood still for a second. We heard the rocks creek and move across the train. We kept walking. We heard someone yell “Hey!” We turned to the cart  met and met them up in between the the train cart. They looked at us strangely, they looked about at least 25 years old. They were big white men that looked ghetto or gangster. Both wore about the same thing, a large white t-shirt that was longer than their blank black hoodie. They introduced themselves to us, it was ___ and ___. We also introduced ourselves, but we used fake names for safety, Chris and Freddy. We told each other how long we have been “getting up.” They told us, ”Watch out, we’ve been seeing the po po walk around here, ya fell me. Stay low for now, aite.” Anthony responded, “Fosho’.” We shook hands and left home.

Strangers

It seemed as if every time we went, we met someone new. We would always randomly meet different people in the tracks. One time we met a drug dealer. He dressed in baggy jeans, LRG black sweatshirt, black Oaklans A’s fitted cap with his hoodie on top of it, and white and black jordans. We saw him walk up behind us while we walked. We just kept walking. We looked back and just waited for him, standing there in the windy breeze. He said, “I thought ya was funna’ run, but nah ya ain’t scary. Ya cool.” We stayed quiet for a while. All three of us walked together as if we were a gang. He reached into his pocket inside his coat. He took out a bag of weed. I began to get worried. Anthony and the stranger began to have a conversation.

“Ya smoke?” He nudged his head to the bag.

“Nope, we don’t smoke.”

“Ya do pills?”

“Nah.”

“I be selling clothes. I got that LRG, Ecko, Coogi, Edd Hardy and all that other stuff. I got them white tee’s, for cheap too. ”He paused, “Ya know, so ya can be fitted.”

“Nah, we good.”

“Ya be writting?” He moved his hand in a way of holding a can.

“Yeah, we just came to look around today though.”

“Ya got anythin painted around here.” He span around looking for something.

“Yeah, here we’ll show you,” we headed to some of our work we’ve done. We got up to one of the pieces that Anthony had made.

“That’s what’s up, ya got some bars tho,” he got closer to our work.

“Thanks.”

“Ya needa keep doin this, ya sick”

“Thanks man.”

“Aight, I’m funna go. Here’s my number, so ya hit me up when ya need something.”

“Can you get us some spray paint if we asked you though?”

“Yea, fosho. I get you anything you need.”

“Cool. We’ll hit you up one time then.” We never did call him back.

Falling Significance

The House on Mango Street has many different symbols that are important to understand throughout the vignettes.  One of the symbols it uses is falling. The symbolism of falling is somewhat important to Esperanza's attitude, it shapes a certain attitude for her. This symbolism would be hard to find if not read carefully because there are only little hints of it.

The following quote is from the vignette There Was an Old Woman She Had So Many Children She Didn't Know What to Do. In this vignette, it talks about a woman named Rosa Vargas who has too many kids and talks about how the kids act."...nobody looked up not once the day Angel Vargas learned to fly and dropped from the sky like sugar donut, just like a falling star, and exploded down to earth without even an Oh." (30) In this quote, Angel Vargas throws himself off a building thinking he can fly and dies. By the way I read this quote it seems as if no one cared or was surprised that he had jumped off the building

In the following, Esperanza is talking about Meme and his house. She also talks about a significant tree he has in his backyard. “This is the tree we chose for the First Annual Tarzan Jumping Contest. Meme won. And broke both arms.” (22) In this quote, Meme fell off the tree breaking his arms. Even if he won the contest, it was a failure because he had broken his arms, which changed his life.

Th following quote is from the vignette Marin and it is talking about Marin and how she lives. "Marin, under the streetlight, dancing by herself, is singing the same song somewhere. I know. Is waiting for a car to stop, a star to fall, someone to change her life." (27) This quote shows that Marin is waiting for a miracle or just waiting for something to happen. The most important part of the quote is this, "a star to fall, someone to change her life." This part of the quote seems as if Marin is hoping to see a shooting star for a wish so it could change her life.

In conclusion, I think that falling symbolizing a few thins. I think that it symbolizes change. I mean by this is that the falling of characters or objects, symbolizes that they want something to change their life. I also think it means failure or accidents. I think this because Angel accidentally thought he could fly. I think it means more to change though because all these falling accidents bring change to the community or other people like Esperanza. This all comes back to Esperanza who does not want to end up like the people who feel like falling.

Windows Significance

Today, we read a few vignettes  from the book The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. The vignettes we read were My Name, No Speak English, Rafaela Who Drinks Coconut & Papaya Juice on Tuesday, and Sally First of all, I would like to say that I am glad that we are reading this because it is based on a Latino family. Anyways, our assignment was to see the The following quote is from the vignette My Name. In this vignette it talks about Esperanza's name origin and how the grandma Esperanza was somewhat forced to marry. In this quote she talking about her grandmother Esperanza.

She looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow... I have inherit her name, but I don't want to inherit her place by the window. (11)

This quote shows that Ezperana the grandmother sits down by the window when she is sad. I am not sure sad from what, just sad. I think that she is like sad that she is somewhat locked into that life, when she wants something different. basically she is dreaming or wishing of a different life.

The following is from the vignette No Speak English. The vignette is about a neighbor bringing her girlfriend or wife to live with him, and it seems as if she can't talk English very much. This quote is describing the wife or girlfriend mamacita.

She sits all day by the window and plays Spanish radio show and sings all the homesick songs about her country in a voice that sounds like a seagull. (77)

This quote also shows about mamacita being sad and sitting by the window. In this example, it shows that she is missing something. Mamacita misses where she was, which I believe is Mexico. She listens to music which calms her down or reminds her of Mexico, or wherever she was from. basically, she is reflecting on her old place.


The next quote is from the next vignette which is Rafaela Who Drinks Coconut & Papaya Juice on Tuesdays.v In this vignette it mainly talks about Rafaela and how she looks outside the window and drinks a certain drink.

Rafaela leans out the window and leans on her elbow and dreams her hair is like Rapunzel's. On the corner there is music from the bar, and Rafaela wishes she could go there and dance before she gets old. (79)

This quote shows that Rafaela sits by the window wishing she was able to do something like go to the bar. In conclusion , the window signifies as a place to ponder or be sad wishing for something else. I think this because in all the the vignettes, it exemplifies all of them being sad looking outside the window. Or I also think of as the window being able to isolate yourself from everything and just ponder about stuff. Ponder about anything, past, present, future and etc.

Luis is My Name

My full name is Luis Alfredo Alba. My middle name is my dad's name, while my first name is from my dad's little brothers' name. Luis is a Spanish version of  Lewis in old German I believe. Luis means "famous warrior" which I guess is because of the generals or soldiers that were famous in war. I am not sure about where or how far back Alba goes. Alba is like a name for Scotland in a certain language or something.

I have a few nicknames. Some I like, some I do not mind, but others sometimes bother me at times. Many of my friends pronounce my name as Lewis which is okay but I prefer Luis. Here are some nicknames and little explanations: Louis Vuitton, Wicho (Cuban for Luis), Luis de Alba (Luis de Alba is and was a famous actor/comedian), Luigi, L.A. (my first and last initials), Freddy (random), Alba (last name). Wicho for me would be a personal name because mainly my family call me this. One name that I do not like is Louis. I do not like this name because a certain person kept on bothering me by repeating that name all day for about a week.

I do not really like my name. I do not like it because too many people have it. It is a very popular name within the Mexican or Spanish community. For example, in my old school (UPA) like about 10 different people had it. It is more common in schools where there is a wide population of Mexicans, which is my middle school. My middle school was like 85% Mexican, so there were a few Luis' there. Here at ASTI, I think no one besides me has Luis, so that is pretty good. On the contrary, I love my last name. I love Alba because a lot of people ask me if I am related to Jessica Alba. Just to mess with people I say I am and tell them, "She [Jessica Alba] is just stingy with her money." There are also many streets and famous people named after Alba, it's all good. My middle name Alfredo is egh, whatever. My family call me Alfredo when they are mad at me or if I am not listening. I don't like this much because I am used to people using it in a mean tense.

The Color Purple Compare and Contrast

            The Color Purple by Alice Walker is an epistolary novel about a girl named Celie and her sister Nettie. They both go through unfortunate events that begin to separate them. When they were young, their life was difficult because of their stepfather who was like a dictator to them; he would abuse them and make their decisions. Celie was then married to Albert and Nettie later ran away from their stepfather. I believe that Celie and Nettie have many more differences than similarities. Their differences are in freedom, roles, discrimination, and uses of God.
           

            One big factor that Celie and Nettie have in difference is the amount of freedom they have. What I mean by this is they are able to do certain things without consequences. For example, Nettie has a lot of freedom compared to Celie. Nettie can go anywhere she wants without receiving any consequences. Celie, however, has little to no freedom. She hardly has any freedom because of her husband and his kids. An example of having no freedom is that Celie was not able to choose whom to marry. In the following quote, Albert and the stepfather are talking about Albert marrying Nettie or Celie.“…I can’t let you have Nettie. She too young… But I can let you have Celie. She the oldest anyway. She ought to marry first.” (7) The stepfather suggested Albert to marry Celie instead of Nettie. Celie had no choice but to marry if Albert accepted, which he did later on. This means that she did not even have the freedom of choosing her own husband, while Nettie was able to choose whom to marry. Nettie married God, and became a missionary. This is essential because Nettie was able t chose whom to marry.
           

            Another difference is their roles in life. Nettie is a missionary for her religion and travels around the world. Celie on the other hand, just works hard in the household for her husband and his kids. She does not like her husband’s kids because they mistreat her. Here is a quote, “I spend my wedding day running from the oldest boy. He twelve. His mama died in his arms and he don’t want to hear nothing bout no new one. He pick up a rock and laid my head open. The blood run all down tween my breast.” (12) This quote shows that Albert’s kids, but more specifically the biggest boy from this quote mistreated her. She also does not like the kids because when she had her two kids with her stepfather and then he sold Celie’s kids away. Anyways, they both have different roles in society. Nettie chose to be a missionary, but Celie did not chose to be a wife, even if women are supposed to based on the society they live in.
           

            One factor that they both share is that they both go through discrimination. There are many types of discrimination; but what they go through would be gender inequality. An example is that Celie and Nettie both experience gender inequality, but they experience it differently. Celie is discriminated and abused by her husband. In the following quote, Harpo (one of Albert’s children) talks with Albert. “Harpo ast his daddy why he beat me. Mr___ say, Cause she my wife. Plus, she stubborn. All women good for- he don’t finish.” (22) This quote shows that Albert does not have any real reason why he beats Celie, he just says “all women good for.” From this quote you could infer that other men abuse their wives for no real reason. While Nettie is in Africa, she talks to a mother and is told about women. She is told that in that part of Africa, women are like nothing, only when they are married to someone they are something. “The Olinka do not believe girls should be educated. When I asked a mother why she thought this, she said: A girls is nothing to herself; only her husband can she become something.” (155) This quote shows that in Africa, the Olinka (which is an African tribe) do not believe women should be educated. Women only become something when they get married. This says that women are discriminated against in Africa because of the culture they have. While with Celie, it seems as if only some women are discriminated against because they are seemed as inferior and society before was more biased to men having the power.

            They are similar because they both pray or believe in God. Celie writes letters to God to tell her experience or her feelings, sort of like a diary. She does this to like let out her feelings and to tell someone, God. I think she began this because in the beginning she went through difficult times with her stepfather. He said, “You better not tell nobody but God. It’d kill your mammy.”(1) This quote shows that the stepfather threatened Celie to only tell God, so it is what she did. After some time when Celie finds Nettie’s letters, Celie starts writing to Celie instead of God. So I found this as Celie finding another person to tell her feelings or stories to instead of God. When Celie starts writing to Nettie, it seems as if she stops believing in God. I think that Celie did not really believe in God because she used God as a person to tell stuff to. Nettie on the other hand really believes in God and is a missionary. She sort of encourages Celie to believe in God, but she cannot make her.

           

            In conclusion, Celie and Nettie have more differences than similarities. They both go through the same things, but experience them differently. Celie’s experiences were more hands on and actually went though them. While Nettie’s were through culture and society, not hands on. They share experiences from religion, freedom, roles, and discrimination. Alice Walker’s point by this is that geography or locations have different perspectives on what women do in their society.