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.

Social Networking Debate

I believe that social networking is mostly beneficial to use because you can get help from others and you get to know or learn new stuff. Yes, much time is wasted in social networking, but some of the time is used usefully. This is mainly based from Facebook since it is the most popular social networking site.

One way social networking is beneficial is you find out about current events or things that have happened around the community. This is helpful or beneficial because you get informed from what is happening around you. This would alarm you to try and stay safe if something bad has happened around you. This would also tell you about events you would like to attend some time. Here is a quote that states about posts,

More than 30 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each month.

This quote or static means a few things. This means that there are tons of new stories or current events published onto social networking sites. You can learn what has happened in different places. From the US, Germany, Italy, and so on. Also a few people link their blogs on Facebook so they can know about a few different things. This gives you many options to learn or know about.

Another way social networking is beneficial is you can get help from other people, friends. Sometimes people do not have each others numbers, what do you do. You add them on Facebook and ask them for help. I believe that help from Facebook or any social networking site is better than texting because it is more faster.

One supposed goal for Facebook is to unite the world as stated here,

Facebook's mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.

This quote states that the goal  for Facebook is to simply let people connect and share stuff each other. It also says "make the world more open" which I believe means as more tolerant or helpful. This goal seems like it has been reached because many many people have a Facebook. Many people stay connected and share stuff through Facebook. I also believe that the world could stay connected with each other because you can learn and talk to other people around the world.

Here is a bunch of facebook statistics. These statistics are about many things.