Friday, December 17, 2010

Speak Part Numero 3

In the final part to Speak, Melinda has branched out from everything that she was in the beginning. She finally found the voice that she had lost after her torturous experience, but it did take her a while to get there.

There was a case in which Melinda wrote about how woman back in the day called the suffragettes had fought for their rights. Melinda was told by her history teacher that she had to present her assignment in front of the class orally in order to get credit. Melinda refused and instead, she stood up in front of the class and wrote on the chalkboard stating stating that she would fight and stand up for herself in silence. She only did this because she had previously talked about how David Petrakis having to speak so eloquent through silence.

She began to speak up more when her former friend Heather cam back to ask for her help and she refused to. She turned her down cold-heartedly for everything that she had done to her and for not being there when she needed her the most. The old Melinda would have just went along with whatever Heather wanted her to do because she wanted to have one friend, but in the end, she really didn't care. Melinda didn't want a friend that she couldn't count on and that was Heather.

Melinda had finally admitted to someone that she was raped and that was to her former best friend Rachel. This was her attempt to speak up for herself, but it ended up blowing up in her face. When she admitted to Rachel that Andy Evans, the guy that Rachel was dating was the guy who had raped Melinda, she immediately called her a liar and that she was jealous that she was popular and that Melinda was a loner.

Finally, Melinda spoke up for herself when Andy Evan was angry at her for telling Rachel about the incident. He caught her in Melinda's closet at school and was once again trying to hurt her. Melinda screamed and that it when she finally demonstrated that she was beginning to move on to what happened to her in the past.

Image!

I am responding to Shiyun's post about image. 
  Does our image really matter that much in our lives? I think that we are too focused in our appearances rather than our who we really are. I started to realize that most of us care about being liked by others around us or wants to be praised for their looks.
I honestly think that image has become an obsession over the years for many people. They have become more and more self-conscious about how they appear to others. For instance, a teenage girl focuses and puts a lot of time and effort into what they look like and that turns into a daily routine for most.

As for myself, I like to look good, but I don't think that I'm obsessed with my image. Yes, I will not go out in public if I don't have my make-up on, but it isn't that big of a problem for me. I personally think that a good appearance ties together with a person being content with themselves. I don't think that I have an image issue, but I would prefer to look good rather than not and being called ugly.

Some people do like to keep up with their appearance to get the attention of others or to be liked, but I think that is for the people who have a problem with the way they look. They feel as if that is the only way that they will be liked: by overly obsessing with their appearance as a daily routine.

It is also wrong for people to put emphasis on the 'prettier looking' people rather than the people  who embrace their natural beauty. It is morally wrong because that can cause a person  to feel bad about themselves and that in turn, can ignite problems with image for most people.

My say is that people shouldn't really care how they look as much as how they care at the moment. If a person does not like how you look, then don't mind them. As long as you are happy with the way you look, then it doesn't really matter what others think. Deep down, they're just haters.

Also, people shouldn't let others get to them with their rude comments about they way that people look. If they do let this happen, then it all goes back with what I said that you will become obsessed over looking good in order to be accepted by the rest. But really, they don't matter.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Speak Part Numero Dos!

In the second book discussion for Speak, my group discussed the changing high school life of Melinda Sordino.
We discussed the fact that Melinda portrays the type of person who longs for attention from anyone even of she wants to isolate herself from the outside world. In one case scenario, Melinda's only friend in high school, Heather, tells Melinda that she did not want to be her friend anymore since she had a 'bad reputation'. At the mention of this, Melinda got upset. Even if she's the type of person who does not want to be aroud people, Melinda still feeels hurt because she now knows that she would have to be completely alone. She also pushes people away. A classamte of Melinda, David Petrakis, had invited Melinda to a party but she refused to attend.
The fact that we didn't understand was why Melinda was so hurt by the breakup with Heather if she had already stated from the beginning that Heather was only a disposable friend. She was only there when she need her and then she was planning to get rid of her whenever she wanted to.
Melinda's ex-best friend, Rachel, had stood up for what she believed in during class and in the end, she got the entire class punished. In her mind, Melinda said, "That's what you get for speaking up," (102). This shows that Melinda is afraid to speak up for whatever happened to her in the past. She does not want to tell people what her situation is because she is afraid that she will either get judged or that people would not care and not believe her.
In Speak, me and my group members found signs of symbolism. In the book, Melinda is discussing about symbolism in one of the books she must read in class. This sort of lead us to believe that it was intentionally written about throughout the story to show that Speak itslef has symbolism. For example, the tree solely represents Melinda in every way. In one case, Melinda had drew a tree that was scarred and that had many branches reaching out form it. The tree portrays the type of person that Melinda is because the scars on the tree implies that Melinda has been through something tough during her life and that has left her with bad memories. The branches that extend from the tree represent what lies ahead of Melinda as in the new chapters of her life. Branches on a tree show that many things can happen during a lifetime and that we get pulled in many different directions.
Finally, we learn what actually happened to Melinda. She was raped at a summer party. The reason why Melinda has no more friends was because they shunned her. After she was in shock of what had happened at the party, Melinda had called the police and they had to shut down the party. That was the only reason why they didn't want to be friends with her.
Overall, the book is starting to get even more intersting. We get to see into the life of a young teenage girl who has to struggle within her high school life for something that was out of her control. I predict that the final section to Speak will tell of how Melinda will finally reveal her secret to someone instead of keeping it all in without letting anyone know what lies behind the real person.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Beauty: Defined!

I love this post. This is a response to Christy's blog about beauty! 
Why do people always mention skinny, tall, long legs, banging body type of girls? I am tired of people referring skinny girls as beautiful. What about the ones that are not skinny and is average or over weight?  What makes skinny girls so much better? I wish everyone can accept the fact that everyone is beautiful in their own ways. 
Just to put it out there, I am not trying to put anyone down, but honestly, this response is all about my opinion.

If you were to flip through the newest edition of every single fashion magazine out there, you will always see a skinny girl on the cover. Never in my life have I seen a decent looking girl on the covers of the trends that us girls follow these days. Society has tortured the minds of woman and especially young teenage girls. They manipulated them into thinking that the only way that they could be beautiful is by looking like the anorexic girls in the magazines and on television.

 Like Christy said, I'm not trying to put any of the skinny girls down, but I am just saying that not only skinny girls are the pretty girls.

In my culture, background or family, however you want to call it, it's beautiful to have the natural curves that a woman should have. I come from a Latin family and in my family, we embrace our bodies and are proud of them even if other people don't like it. Personally, I am not a size 1 girl and I would never want to be that way. I love myself and my body type even if I'm not the skinniest girl out there. My man loves the way I look so I don't have to change my body and go nuts with working out if it's not necessary. (I just had to put it out there! :] ).

I have a very high self-esteem and I think that every girl should be that way no matter how they look. Every girl is beautiful in their own way. Even if they might not be pretty on the outside, they might be stunning on the inside.

No one should be judging a persons' appearance because that doesn't define us as a person. Yeah you might be pretty, but if you have an ugly attitude, then most people will not like you even if you have all the right looks.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Speak Part Numero Uno!

Our first group discussion about our book, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson was great! Although we had a very small proportion of our book to read, I felt as if my group was able to break down the book to the very last subject.

In the first part to Speak, we are introduced to a girl named Melinda Sordino who holds on to a secret that we are not aware of yet.The only thing that we know is the Melinda's old best friends do not want to be around her anymore, leaving her isolated in high school.

At first, my group pulled apart the title. We think that, of course, it relates to Melinda, but we were unsure why. I responded by saying that the main theme of the book is to learn how to speak up for ourselves to be better understood. We said that Melinda is scared to speak up for herself when it comes down to what really happened to her. She is afraid of being judged and by not talking about her past is her mechanism for trying to forget although it is still always with her no matter what.

In art class, the students are given a word and they must draw that word throughout the entire year changing up the forms and giving an entire new meaning to the word. Melinda ended up choosing 'tree' and the most thought provoking question that was brought up was what does the tree represent? My group came up with the idea that the tree symbolizes Melinda. A tree has many branches and each one of the branches can represent Melinda's new chapters in her life. Melinda needs to branch out while she is in high school since she's just letting her life pass her by due to the fact that she's holding on to a secret that she doesn't dare mention to anyone.

In the end of the section, the author provides Melinda's report card. What stood out to all of us the most was that the only A that Melinda had in all of her classes was in art. We all wondered why this was and then we postulated that she gets a good grade in art since it isn't a class that requires speaking. People are able to express their feeling through art and instead of them speaking for their art, the art speaks for them.

Finally, we discussed how Melinda is afraid of mirrors. We had came up with the idea that she is afraid to look at herself in the mirror and see what has become of her. There was an incident before her secret in which Melinda was supposed to see herself in the mirror and picture her future, but when she did, she explained how she didn't see anything. This provides us with the idea that Melinda does not know where she is going with herself.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Girls Should be Treated WAY Better!

  I responded to Karen's blog...
He said,"Hahaha I bet that slut must have been played a lot of times." I had asked him why he said that.He said,"Because you can hella tell. When a female plays a guy is because they got played and their hearts broken many times so the only thing they can do is turn into sluts." I was like,"WTH??? Maybe they just want to do it because there not ready to get into a serious relationship or relationships aren't their thing."He responded with,"Mm,like I said BOP!"
Karen's thoughts on girls being called sluts and guys being called pimps really surprised me. Everything that she states though is valid and can be proven by any girl that you know.

Personally, I hate when guys play girls because I have seen that happen so many times with girls that I know and it's just sad. When the girls are the ones who are being played, the guy gets recognized by his friends or peers and they all act as if he did nothing wrong. In reality, that guy could have destroyed a girl's life to the fullest.

On the other hand, if the girls are the ones who are pimpin' then they are automatically labeled a slut when in fact, they aren't, they really just wanted to try something new I guess. Karen proposes that maybe the girls could have had their heart broken and they want to play around, but just because of that, it doesn't mean that people have the right to call a girl a slut if they know nothing about them.  Either way, girls are judged by both guys and other girls.

Usually, a girl will call another girl a slut for the purpose that their jealous at how much game the other girl has. If a girl can pull a lot of guys then that doesn't make her a slut, she's just playing the game like every other guy on this planet and the other girls shouldn't be hating on that.

How come it's okay for a guy to do it, but then if a girl shows this kind of behavior, she is 'morally wrong' and a slut? That sucks for girls. All our business is put out there and they are humiliated by being labeled a title that shouldn't be theirs.

I think that the only way that a girl can be considered a slut is if she has slept around with so many guys and she has not even dated them yet. Only in that way can they be referred to by this derogatory word. If a girls is being called a slut for getting guys, then why don't the boys get called sluts as well. It is the same matter, but in their case, they just pimpin' on chicks. We do not have equality among the sexes since guys still have it easy to do as they please and be congratulated by their performances.

All I got to say is that guys need to stop calling girls sluts and girls need to stop with the jealousy amongst other girls.

Don't hate the playa, hate the game!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Garcia Girls Essay!

I chose to write about question 1 and 2. What was the author’s purpose in writing this book, and how can you tell? How well was this purpose achieved? For what audience is this book intended for, and how can you tell?

In the story of How The Garcia Girls Lost their Accents, Julia Alvarez tells the story of four sisters. She goes into depth and analyzes their life from the very beginning to the current stage in where they are in their lives told in the book. The author intended to tell the story of how moving to a new country can change the lives of many people especially those of a younger age. This story can appeal to a wide variety of audiences, but mainly, I think that Julia Alvarez is trying to appeal to a younger audience for the purpose of having them relate to the story she tells.

Julia Alvarez’s purpose in writing this book is to show the lives of four sisters and how they had evolved over the years. The main purpose of this novel is to show the changes that occur throughout every one's life. Everyone has their own destiny in their lives and it takes a lifetime to figure out how it will all work out. People must come face to face with a variety of problems that emerge when they grow out of the different stages of their lives.

The book, How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accent, is split into three parts where each segment is meant to tell the story of the girls from different time periods in their lives. For example, the first part of the book is told in present time. At this time, we expect the book to be told from the very beginning, but the girls are already grown up and they seem to be remembering how they had got to that place in their lives simply from looking back at their past. As we take a closer look at the story behind the book, we get to know more background information about the four Garcia sisters. As we read more into the story, we learn that the girls homeland is the Dominican Republic. By the end of the book, we come to know that the entire Garcia family was forced to move out of their homeland of the Dominican Republic to the new country of the United States. The girls learned how to become more Americanized after being raised in the United States for such a long period of time, “Yoyo suggested, thinking it would be nice to have a little pot to smoke when things on the Island got dull”. After straying from the life they had in the Dominican Republic, the Garcia girls started to act more like the girls that were raised in the States. From this, I can tell that the purpose of the author was to tell a story of the girls in a way that shows how changes are made when people are stripped of their past and are forced to make a new future out of themselves. In another sense, the girls had to make those changes in their life in order for their society to accept them. When the girls first arrived at the United States, they were being picked on because of their accent. Thus, showing how the title clearly makes sense. since one of the sisters, Carla wanted to survive in that society, she began to get rid of her cultural language, “The girl she had been back home in Spanish was being shed” (153). The entire migration left the girls conflicted with many aspects of their new lives. They were forced to change or rather better situate themselves with a whole different type of social environment. Them being teenage girls also had a negative impact on them. Their era of girls were so different from what they could have been back home in the Dominican Republic. Thus, that lead to a change within the girls live for the years to come.

Julia Alvarez’s purpose of her story was achieved. Although the book has its’ weaknesses when it comes down to the organization of the book, the story does achieve its’ purpose when its telling the entire story. The book tells a story of how change happens when a family is forced to move somewhere new.The story has a positive effect on the readers even if they do get confused with the arrangement of the books’ parts.  The audience intended for this book was for a younger range of people. I believe this to be true because the majority of the book was based around the girls at a younger age. Two thirds of the book discussed how the Garcia sisters were either young girls or when they were at the age of adolescents, “We took turns being the wildest,” (86) Usually when teenage girls are growing up, they go through a rebellion stage. This is a situation that occurs during every teenage girls life. It works well with this story because Julia Alvarez incorporates this aspect of a every young girls life in a way that reveals to her readers that this book was intended for a younger audience. In another sense, the story tell the struggle of the girls when they are forced to move to a new country. This subject is what would bring the audience in. Personally, books that have a lot of drama or the ones that tell a compelling story are the books that attract me and make me actually want to read the book. This book works to its’ advantage since it is all based around a central theme that shows the different challenges that come with living in a new environment. How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accent, is a story that mainly appeals to an audience that is around the same age that the Garcia characters were throughout the biggest portion of the book.

How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accent is a irresistible book that any reader would not be able to put down. The main purpose of this book is to tell the story about girls that change for their society after arriving to a new country from the Dominican Republic. It shows that a new country can change people in many ways. Not only that, but this book is one that appeals to an audience that understands what it is like to be in one of those girls’ position when it comes to dealing with an everyday teenage life.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Garcia Girls

In the final section to the book, How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accent, the story dates back to the very beginning. The setting is set back in their hometown of the Dominican Republic. This was all before the Garcia family was forced to move to the United States, but it is talking about how they got to be there and the reason behind their migration.
In the first chapter of this part, there are two men from the SIM, or the Dominican secret police, that are looking for Doctor Garcia, or the sisters’ father. It seemed as if they were going to be a problem and they turned out to be. The father was hiding in some closet throughout the house. Since the mother did not want the girls to be part of the trouble, they two oldest were sent to their aunt’s house. After the entire mayhem, the mother had told her daughters to pack up their belongings and one toy that they would take back to the States. And that was when I noticed that the entire story had led up to that point where they mention how they had gotten to the United States and for what reason.
In this final part of the book, we learn that the family had a lot of money since they live with maids in their house caring for them. Throughout the first two parts of the book, we did not know this since it seemed like they didn’t have enough money to get anything due to the fact that they were new to the country. Besides that, the book has a part in which the father had come back from a trip in New York and he had brought his daughters a present: a doll bank. Like all the other toys the girls got, they got bored with them. So Carla decided to give hers to one of the maids, Gladys, for no charge since she wanted it so badly. Although Carla did it out of pure generosity, it resulted in the maid leaving the house for not being able to be trusted.
Finally, the last chapter talks about a cat that had haunted Yolanda for a while. I learned that her past experiences are what inspired her artistic ambition.
Throughout the entire book, I have discussed on the theme of innocence in this story and I still stick by it. This final section of the book has proved that before moving to the States, the girls still held on to their innocence.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Oscar Grant Case

Since the police officer Johannes Mesherle only got the minimal jail time of two years, I do not think that justice was served at all. Honestly, I think this might be a case where the people had to include the issues of race in to it. The police officer was of course a Caucasian male and the victim, Oscar Grant was an African-American.

In this society it is still all about your race. Although there are arguments’ stating that people think that race-hating is over, I think it is not true. If we were to take a closer look at it, discrimination is still all around us even if it under the radar. This tragedy might count as an example to this hate.

The whole crime that happened on New Year’s Eve should have cost the BART police officer way more time sentenced to jail. The event that happened was still considered man-slaughter, and shouldn’t that mean that Johannes Mesherle should have gotten more jail time? I think that the only reason his case was not sentenced to longer prison time was because of the obvious reason: he is white and he is a police officer. All of this seems unfair to me. If the tables were turned and the man who was shot was white and if the man who shot him was African-American, then there is a probable chance that the man would have gotten a harsher punishment.

My take on this whole situation is that the legal system didn’t do enough to justify the man-slaughter of Oscar Grant. The response that was received by the police officer was not enough. Honestly, the excuse that he confused his gun for his tazer is completely ridiculous. The police officers are trained to know the difference between their weapons. Oscar Grant was on the floor handcuffed and defenseless. He was not doing anything to attack the police officer, yet he was killed for no justifiable reason.

A just verdict for me is to give Johannes Mesherle a longer jail sentence. If that happened instead of the minimal two year sentence that he was given, I think the riot would have not even gone down. The legal system really did not do a good job of serving justice in this case.

Love is Real

I am responding to Stan’s blog post about the Reality of Love

My take on the whole love scenario is that it is completely made up. It is just a state of mind that your brain tricks itself into believing is real… At this age you are guaranteed this feeling of "Love" eventually you are going to feel it one way or another. At this stage in our lives relationships are not meant to be everlasting, at this age relationships are just for the fun of it, or at least in the beginning they are. That relationship is still for fun…but really kids are interested in making out…But never in your life will love ever be real, it is just a state of mind. So you might ask "Why even get into a relationship if you are just going to get your heart broken?"

I really do have to disagree with Stan’s statement that love is completely made up and that it is just a state of mind. That is really not true. Yes it is true that as teenagers, we are thought to believe that love does not exist until later on in our lives. At this age, love is not supposed to be so close at our reach, but in certain circumstances, we are blinded by love and it does happen.

Relationships that start off at an early age sometimes can go both ways. Sometimes the person that you are in a relationship with might be the love of your life who you will end up with the rest of your life, and sometimes, that relationship was just too young and was just made up to have fun. Either way, there is no deniable reason that love could have been there. That proves that love does exist even if it sometimes doesn’t work in our favor.

I love where Stan says that kids these days are only really interested in making out. To be honest, he does make a good point. I guess you can say that making out is a fun thing to do at this age, but it’s not the only thing that we have in mind. You never know, maybe kids really do want to find love this young and that is not an impossible thing to do. I know from experience. I love my boyfriend and that has nothing to do with the factor of making out. I have found love at a young age and I really don’t see it as a state of mind since I’m living and breathing it right now.

Love takes up many forms, but that it is not a reason to say that it is not inevitable at this age. Love is real and it only takes for you to find the love of your life to know that it does exist.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Garcia Girls part 2

In the second part of the book, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, the story got a whole lot more interesting. The first part of the book was set up in such a way that I did not really understand what was going on. The author jumps into the book in a way that makes it seem like we automatically know what is going on. By the end of the first part, I was still stuck at that state of confusion throughout the book. When I began to read the second part, it was dated back 20 years earlier. For that reason, the short stories were giving more background information about the Garcia family which helped a lot in understanding the book better.

In this section of the book, we find out about the first couple of years that the Garcia family was in the United States. Because the story was going backwards in order, the other chapters started off with the family first being in the state for a year. One of the sisters, Carla, was being harassed while she was at school by a group of white boys. They teased her mainly for the reason that she was a foreign student, but they also made fun of her because of the way her body was transforming. She was going through puberty which she was unaware of.  She was a target for as while until the group of boys got tired.

Another incident happened with Carla when she was walking home from school. The family thought that they lived in a good neighborhood, but they were somewhat mistaken. While walking home, Carla was being stalked by a man driving in his car. As the car approached her, Carla got nervous and then the man wanted her to come to his window. The main reason Carla didn’t want to go over there was because she didn’t want to speak to him in English which was a language she didn’t quickly grasp. Finally, the horror that happened was that the man was a pervert who had showed Carla his genitals. Scared, Carla ran home to tell her mother of the incident in which she called the police.

The main subject of this part of the story was to show the innocence of the family when they are newly arrived in the United States. The entire book is centralized on the theme of innocence. The first part of the book shows how all innocence was lost between the family. The second part of the book shows how the family still held on to that innocence and I predict that the final section of the book will show the beginning to everything.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Response to Vy's post

Teen pregnancies are a subject that our society has to be concerned about. In Vy’s blog about Teen Pregnancies, she claims this,

“In my opinion, Teen moms should not be given a show, it just shows that teenagers are able to get away with anything and are given a privilege to be on T.V. That does not teach anyone anything. It  causes a bigger problem because it give teenagers a reason to get pregnant so, they can make easy money by getting on T.V. Teen moms should just keep their business to themselves and take care of what they need like taking care of their kids instead, of caring about getting on T.V. In a way, they are using their kid and that is not fair on their kid behave.”

I agree with Vy’s claims about it being just ridiculous for MTV to air a show based on teen moms. I know that I do not have any say in how people live their lives and that I know that it is their choice for them to put their business out there like that on shows, but honestly, I feel as if Teen Mom and 16 & Pregnant are not good choices for a show. Yes I know that it does show their struggles with having a kid at such a young age, but at the same time, like Vy said, it gives off the impression that teenagers are able to get away with what they want such as having sex and getting knocked up afterwards.

I have noticed that nowadays, everything has been made into a reality show. Teen Mom and 16& Pregnant are just two of the many shows that are based on the specific details of a person’s life.

I honestly do not see why these teenage girls would want to have all their personal business out there like that. Personally, if I was in their situation, I would not want my life to be showcased like that. My life is no ones business just like these teenage moms. In my opinion, they should not have a show since it really doesn’t teach anyone anything. These shows are just putting these moms on blast when they dig deep into their personal lives that are AIRED ON T.V!

Teenagers These Days

My question is why do the adults these days think that there must be something wrong with the teenage generation now?

Usually, you will most likely see an adult say “What has happened to the kids nowadays.” They think that we have all changed for the worst. To them, we are so different to how they were back when they were our age. I think that the older people think that everything we do is wrong. Apparently to them, every aspect of what we do and how we behave is not right.

For example, our dating habits. In most cases, parents will not let their children start dating until they reach a certain age and some parents will not let their kids date at all. Most parents think that it is wrong and they just begin to imagine the worst of young couples even if they are not doing anything wrong. I guess that back in the day, kids used to be lonely since dating is so ‘wrong’.

Another example is the way our styles have changed over the years. You can say that our way of dressing has evolved so much from the past generations. Nowadays, for the females, its all about the skinny jeans and tank tops. For the guys, you will also see some rockin’ the skinny jeans or baggy jeans. For some unexplainable reason, adults do not like this. For the girls, they always say that “They shouldn’t be dressing like that,” and for the guys, it’s mostly always, “They should pull their pants up.” They will always have something to say about this and I don’t even know the reason behind their judgment.

Finally, our vocabulary is not really the best out there. I have seen on a regular basis where kids do not know how to complete a sentence without including a cuss word somewhere in there. On rare occasion, you can witness this sort of behavior occurring around an adult and if it does happen, they automatically get mad for our ‘bad mouth’.

Although our new generation of kids have changed a lot throughout the years, I do not think that we do anything wrong. In my defense, everyone used to be a teenager at one time or another. They should know that we just want to have fun and enjoy what is left of our teenage years before we become old like the adults. In some crazy way, the adults have to understand that time has changed and they should let kids live freely without any judgment for how we do things in our time.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents Part 1

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent is the story of four girls living in America and of the stories of how they got there. The names of the four sisters are Yolanda, Carla, Sofia and Sandra. The book is separated into three parts that consist of many short stories. In the first part of the book, it is telling basically of how the girls are living their lives in the present.

In the very first chapter, Yolanda is the first girl that is being discussed. The setting of this short story I think is back in their home town of the Dominican Republic. Yolanda is visiting her family and they point out the obvious changes of her from how she is Americanized. They speak of the word antojos which in Spanish means, a craving for something food related. As a result, Yolanda goes on a search for her antojos which just so happens to be guavas.

In the next short story, the author talks about the other daughter, Sofia. In my perspective, Sofia is the wild child out of them all. Basically, it talks about how she had met this German guy named Otto back then and they would send letters to each other that spoke of their sexual nights. When the girls’ father had found these letters, he was furious because of the fact that the letters made him suspect that his daughter was no longer a virgin. As a result, the father had kicked his daughter out of the house and she went all the way to Europe in search of her man. Next, they had a party for the fathers’ 70th birthday. They were playing a game that didn’t end so well because of Sofia.

The next part of the stories is still just talking about the daughters and how they came to be what they are now. They all have had their problems in the past and the book is based purely on their lives.

So far, I am really confused about this story and what the main subject is. I think that the book does have a lot of potential to be a story that is interesting, but I do not think I will find that out until the end. The thing that confuses me the most about this book is the fact that it is written in backwards chronological order which sets that book up for confusion right away. All in all, I think that the more I read along, the better sense this story will make to me.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Reflective Essay xD

Throughout the entire process of my blogposting in the first quarter, I have been writing about anything that seems to come to me out of nowhere. When it comes to responding to other people’s blogs, the ideas all seem to flow right onto my computer screen. Writing is something that just comes natural for me and for that reason, I pull ideas either from different people or from anything out in the open. My inspiration for writing all followed up to some of my best work of all.

I feel as if when someone throws a topic at me and they just give me a couple of minutes to process it, I can come up with a response that comes natural to me. I have a lot of inspiration when it comes to my writing, and that all emerges from just simply getting the chance to read another persons blog. When I see other people’s ideas on a topic, I am able to either agree with them or disagree with them, but that all helps in the process of me being able to come up with an idea of my own. It fascinates me to read the thoughts of others and from that forming a new topic just based off of what they had previously said. I’m not stealing others ideas on their topics; I just basically group all of others’ ideas to come up with a way that helps me comprehend what they are writing in order to help myself come up with a similar topic.  For example, when I was responding to John's blog aboput swagga style, I was able to understand what it was that he was writing about and from that, I agreed with him on his thoughts while also having the capability of expressing my own thoughts,
“I agree with John’s final statement because I feel as if people don't have the right to judge the way you dress. In my opinion, a person can be who they want to be and they have the right to that. Just as people are entitled to their own opinion, then they are also allowed to dress the way they want without having to worry what others will say about them.”
Although reading other people’s blogs does feed to my inspiration, it does not only come from them. My inspiration to my writing has so many ranges and I do not think there is ever any possible way that I will not be able to write about a topic because I keep an open eye for everything. Inspiration for everyone comes from all angles. That seems to work for me since I get inspired easily from anything and everything.

My favorite blog post has to be my response to Ianna's Kissing Blog. I think the reason behind why I liked it so much was the fact that I got to express how I felt and I got to show what I thought about the subject that was at hand. The whole situation about her post was that she was basically asking the question of why people think that kissing is such a bad thing to do. Along the way, she began to mention how the topic of sex also comes up with this process. Throughout her entire blog, she mainly stated her response to her own question and asked if anyone had any thoughts on that. Just by reading through this, it inspired me to write about it since it kind of is a controversial topic to most and it was a very interesting fact to talk about in my own words rather than Ianna’s.

“To respond to this blog, I guess I have to say that people view kissing as such a big deal because of the times we are currently in. to better explain myself, back in the day, everything used to be old-fashioned and kissing was something that took a big step as it proceeded gradually. Nowadays, people especially the young; tend to express how they love each other in public. They usually will be in a public place and just start making out with nobody caring. To some this might seem wrong because they are still caught up in the old days…For me personally; I think it is just wrong for random people to care so much about what others are doing. If kids are kissing in public, then so be it. That is nobody’s business and they should just let it go. When it comes to sex, then that also doesn’t matter because it is happening behind closed doors. That is nobody’s business but the two people who are involved.”


The true meaning behind my response was to show how I honestly felt about the subject. I wrote about how I feel as if others frown upon the decisions that are not made by hem and that causes people to be judgmental. I truly wanted to show how I viewed the topic and to show that I thought that whatever decision is made by another person other than you is up to them and no one else. Ianna was my inspiration because I know that without her ever coming out with this topic, I would have never even thought of writing it. This falls into the way my inspiration helps me in coming up with one of my favorite blog posts.

Although I do not think that my writing process in my blogs have been bad, I still feel as if there is never any room for improvement. I stated that when I write, everything can be my inspiration and that it works for me. Even if this is true, I think I can make a goal to make sure that the ideas that flow to me are ‘juicy’ enough to write about. I have ideas about blog posting coming in out of no where and I think my only downfall is that I do not always tend to write about the topics that are way to out there. My goal for the next quarter is to not be afraid to write about anything. I know that my audience is not a problem for me because I write for myself and no on else, but I do think it would be interesting if people got to read what I had to say and see my take on things. 



 
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Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Night Essay

 During ones’ lifetime, they must come face to face with challenges and above all, the conflicts that surround them each and every day. Many problems can break through in someone’s life when dealing with multiple situations. In Night, Elie faces his struggles within his troubling society.
    Although Elie’s main conflict is with his society, it branches out to the point where he has to deal with sub-conflicts. He has an ugly encounter with another fellow Jewish man named Idek. Elie catches him when he was doing wrong and for that reason, Idek gets angry. At this point, Elie’s conflict with Idek begins, “…You’re going to pay for this pretty soon,” (54). Idek was angry with Elie and his authority over him was supreme. This goes to show how Elie’s society has even had an affect on other characters including those of the same race. Idek has turned on his people by being part of the others who are against the Jews. His revenge against Elie began with a beating, “He took his time between each stroke,” (55). Elie is fighting for himself against a society that is keeping him down. The society that he is currently residing in influences people to change against their own people. This becomes an obstacle for Elie when another character, another Jewish man such as himself, becomes part of his struggle during his time being in the concentration camps.
    In between all the chaos that emerges throughout the book, Elie manages to make himself feel guilty about his thoughts on different topics. While on this stressful journey, Elie must stick with his father who is on the verge of death. At one point or another, he begins to think that without his father holding him back, he could put all his strength forward in surviving for himself only, “Don’t let me find him!...Immediately I felt ashamed of myself, ashamed forever,” (101). This shows a turn of events when Elie psyches himself out to believe that he does not need his father by his side even though his mindset in the beginning was to go on and save both his father and himself. His cruel society has brought this sort of mentality down on Elie. At first, he wanted to come out of this tragedy victorious with his father right beside him. Near the end, Elie begins to turn on his father leaving him with a guilty conscience. The brutality coming from Elie’s society has affected him when it comes to feeling self-guilt towards the one person he had planned to save the entire time.
    When Elie and the other Jews arrive at the concentration camps, they realize that the Germans will eliminate all the people who are not worthwhile. The Germans were in the process of burning people in the crematory. Elie has now experienced the evil side of his society as he witnesses the cremating of babies, “Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky,” (32). With this act of violence against the young children who never did anything wrong, Elie sees how bad his society has turned on their moral righteousness. This is one of the many breaking points for Elie just for the simple fact that he had never expected   Elie has come a long way to see his conflicts within his society.
    Night is a compelling story that demonstrates how everything has changed from how things used to be. Elie’s conflict within his society falls into other conflicts involving another character and even with himself.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Response to daddy Pedro

PEDRO:I also like the short story The Dinosaurs. One thing I got to disagree about it is that I really do not mind the fact that the story is short because I enjoy reading a good story. This was a good story because it kept me engage. I thought that it was really interesting.
I also agree with him when he said that at the end he turns into a human. When he said I went into the train station and was lost once again really shows how he is clearly a human. No other living being takes the train, the only living beings that take a train are humans.

I also want to say that I like the conflict. The fact that he was confuse of what he really was and did not know whether being a dinosaur is a good thing or not was interesting to read about.
What I like about the story is the fact that Q is a really interesting character because he got to experience a lot of forms of living beings. He did not just got to experience life from one animal but multiple. What I do not like is that he cannot remember what he has being through when he turns into a new animal. I also like the other story about Q with his uncle the fish. That one was also interesting to read about in kept me engage as well.
So overall I do agree with him because the conflicts in the book were really good to read about. Q had many problems going on and did not know who he really was into the end when he realize that being different is not a bad thing. At the end he turned into something new witch only means he is now going to experience a new adventure as a new animal.

REflectin to Night

Although I think the book Night is really sad and there is a lot of wrong things going on I think that is a really good book. It informs me a lot about how life was in the labor camps. This book keeps me engage because it is never boring there is something going on in every page.

I think this story is really sad. The fact that they are burning babies is wrong. I do not see how a person could had done such a thing. I think that the people ere really wrong because they really do not have a reason to do this to the Jews. They are only doing this to make them suffer and just make their life miserable.

I think that the Jews should just stay together because if one of them die I think that it can cause the life of many other people. For example when they were in the bus they told them that there were 80 people in the boat and if one of them went missing they will had killed everyone in there. So I think that if the Jews stay together and have hope they would make it alive.

In the beginning of the book it seem that religion was going to be a big part of the book because he was really religious. He had a lot of faith in god, he would like to learn about him, but as the story went on it seem that he lost faith of god. He kept wondering why would he let all this happened to them. I and is true if they day god is all about protecting a person why would he let such thing happened to someone. He should had prevent this from happening, I believe that no person deserves what is happening to them to happened to them.

So overall I really enjoy reading this book because although is a book it is actually informing me about new things I did not know. It is teaching me they life about the people in a labor camp.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Respond To Ianna

I got this quote from Ianna
My question to the world is why is kissing such a big deal? I have been wondering this for quite some time. Ever since kissing has been introduced to my generation, people have made a very big deal of it. …For clarification I am not saying to never have sex or kiss and I am not telling anyone to walk around naked waiting for sexual interactions. I am just wondering why everything is such a big deal.
     
     
     
      To respond to this blog, I guess I have to say that people  view kissing as such a big deal because of the times we are currently in. to better explain myself, back in the day, everything used to be old-fashioned and kissing was something that took a big step as it proceeded gradually. Nowadys, people especially the young, tend to express how they love eachother in public. They usually will be in a public place and just start making out with nobody caring. To some this might seem wrong because they are still caught up in the old days.
      Kissing is such a big deal to most because they feel as if they should do that behind closed doors. To others, it is disrepect when  people show their affection for others in front of a crowd. For example, parents would think that it is rude because they say that they are too young to do it. The point of view from the society is that teenagers should wait to do all of that especially if it is public.
      Now on to sex. Sex is a big deal because it might be okay for some if you do it as long as you are not speaking of it and putting your business out there like that. For other people, they view this as the worst thing a young adult to do simply because of their age.
      For me personally, I think it is just wrong for random people tyo care so much about what others are doing. If kids are kissing in public, then so be it. That is nobody’s business and they shuld just let it go. When it comes to sex, then that also doesn’t matter because it is happenoing behind closed doors. That is nobody’s business but the two people who are involved.

Overachievers

If I had to make a list of the ‘Best Colleges’ out there for me, I would have to choose USC, UCLA and UC Berkeley. These schools are primarily on my list because they are the top choices of where I want to go in the future. First of all, if I get accepted to any of them three, I would be close to home.
I like these schools because they provide a challenge for me. These are colleges that are not so easy to get into and that comes with a challenge for me. What makes them so special is that they all provide their students with a good education. I especially like the fact that UC Berkeley has gotten so much publicity and that so many great minds have come out of that school.
My ideal college has to have a high graduation rate and a high acceptance rate as well. I want my college to be one of the best out there. I prefer a college that is not Ivy League. Most kids and most parents want their kids to go to an Ivy League school, but I rather not attend those types of schools. I also do not mind the sororities and the fraternities, but I rather not have them in the college I attend. I want the classes I take to also be rigorous to get me prepared for my future. I also want there to be many electives for me to choose from.
During my four years of studies, I want to have the time of my life. I want to learn a whole lot, but still be able to party the college way. I want to be able to experience all there is and all the characteristics to being a college student. I want my college life to be exciting with new adventures on every corner. I do not want to be a college drop-out either, so that’s why I want to work hard on my studies in order to be able to graduate with a good degree.
All in all, I want college to be an unforgettable 4 years. I want it to be a time in my life where I could look back and not regret a single thing.
   

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Essay Of Q

Q resembles a person who is completely different from the rest, resulting in a state of confusion, in wicth he no longer knows what his true identity really is

Q is different, he is a dinosaur mixed in with a breed known as, “The new one.” He falls in with them in some circumstances, but to them, he is just beyond different. While staing with the new one, Q wants to feel as if he is one of them regardless of his true identity. “The ugly one; because I was different from the, For no other reason,”(99). Towards the beginning of Q's journey with the new ones, he is not accepted due to his obvious differences. The new one had given Q this tittle “The Ugly One” and it stuck on to him. He begins to think that because he holds on to that name, that it would be his identity. What he does not know it is just the way he is seen to others. The Ugly One has nothing to do with Q's actual character because he does not know who he is.

Q does not know whether or not he is the definition of a dinosaur that the new one things they are, or if he is an individual. He does not Know the category in wicth he falls into due to the fact that he never reveals it openly about who he is, “But the dinosaur imaged was too different from the dinosaur he was, and this thought made me even more different and timid”(101). In every corner of the world people will make speculations about others and postulate a possible identify to someone. In this case the new ones have come up with their own stories about how they believe dinosaurs are. The keyword in this quote is different. Q is unsure of who he is because the new ones make him think he is one of the dinosaurs in their stories, but he states he is different. This reveals that his identity, or whatever little bit of identity that he had, was settled thanks to the new one's stories.

In the end of Q's adventure with the new ones, he finally breaks away from them to be left in solitude. Throughout it all, Q finally came to the conclusion that he is not individual because he is lost within himself in confusion of his true life. He does leave the new ones breed; but he is still incapable of understanding the fundamental and characteristics of himself, “..and was lost in the crowd,”(112). When someone is aware of who they are, they display it with others and hold on to their individuality. With Q, he goes on to be a part of a crowd merely blending in. With new ones, the fact that he was a dinosaur never came up. Thus, he was never himself around them. After he got away, he he was just lost in the crowd. This does not show that he knows who he was because from there on out, he was just trying to be someone who he is not. Although Q goes through some meager changes throughout the course of this story, he is still left with an empty identity

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Reponse to John

I got this quote from John

So what i basically am trying to say is dress the way you want to dress it does not matter if that race dress like that more just do what makes you as a person happy. If that means dressing like that famous actor then dress like him in order to feel accepted.
Well in this blog, John was responding to Aleah's blog about swagg-style. Throughout it all, he was basically stating that he did not understand what Aleah meant when she was talking about "race dressing". in the end of it all, John stated that it does not matter what the color of your skin is, or what race you are, as long as you are happy, it does not even matter what others think. I agree with what he is trying to state because it is true and there are many ambiguous answers to this statement. if a black person wants to dress like a white person or if a white person wants to dress like a black person, then that's on them. It really does not matter what other people think about you.  


I agree with  John's final statement because I feel as if people don't have the right to judge the way you dress. In my opinion, a person can be who they want to be and they have the right to that. Just as people are entitled to their own opinion, then they are also allowed to dress the way they want without having to worry what others will say about them. 


With many different styles emerging on to the scene, we feel as if we must follow them all at once. John states that you should be happy the way you dress and that if you want to dress up like someone who is famous then so be it. Personally, I look up to the famous people and try to i guess 'mimic' their style. If i am happy the way I dress then i really don't care what others think. As long as my outfit looks bomb, then I'm good with how I look. Whatever you do should make you happy and if you want to dress up like someone or be someone new one day, then go ahead and do it so you can be content with yourself.

Survival of the Fittest

An environment where the competition is so intense can sometimes be good and it can sometimes be bad. It can be good because this encourages and pushes the students to do better in their classes. They put much more effort in their work because they want to compete and be better than the other students. They are the type of people who always want to come out on top This type of atmosphere can also be bad because competition can sometimes end up really bad when people take it too far. Some kids can get way too caught up with their competitive side that they tend to block everything else out and focus too much on winning.
    Basically, students cheat as an easy way to get out of doing their own work. If that is not the case, kids will cheat to come out on the top as one of the best. Students usually want to make the grade but they really do not know how. For that reason, they resort to cheating as an alternative to doing their work and stressing about it later on. The consequences of cheating all depends on what kind of school people go to and the types of discipline the school has. Most likely, a student will get an F and they can also be expelled in some cases. Cheating is never worth it. If kids cheat they basically are only cheating themselves. In the long-run, they would not have learned anything because they did not do the work themselves. Yes the student might get ahead in a class because they cheated and if they did not get caught, but then at the same time, they will eventually show that they did not learn that work themselves.
    I think that students who are caught cheating should be punished in whatever way is possible. Kids need to learn that it is not okay to cheat and that for every cheater, there is a consequence. Cheating does not lead to anything good. At the time, it may seem like a good thing to do, but in the end, it will not help anyone at all.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Vocab Words

1.hierarchical
2.paradigm
3.ambiguous
4.arbitrary
5.infrasperusture
6.analogous
7.albeit
8.levy
9.subsidiary
10.inherent

Respond to Swagga-style

This quote was written by Aleah.I think fashion is an expression of who you are, I;m not saying every white person who wants to, try and dress black I'm not saying that. But I think styles have to fit you inside and out. Just because you may feel like your black doesn't mean you are. I'm not being racist but still.

I do not even know how to comment on this particular blog. First of all i would like to say that she does have some really good valid points, some where in between and some were bad. At the same time she sort of lost me when was talking about the inter racial fashions. She basically started that you will most likely be sagging because you are black but if you are non-white you try to dress like that.

She ask the question if inter racial fashions annoy you and it honestly does not. You get to choose what you want to dress like and that is no ones business. when she addresses the point if a black guy starts to wear skinny jeans and rock a skateboard that no one would say anything about it, she is asking why is it that no one would say anything about it, but they would to a whit guy if they sagged.

 I do have to agree with her in her final paragraph though.She says that fashion comes from who you are. She is right about it because in fashion, to me, is all about making a statement. If you want to rock a certain look, you can do that and still add your own swag to it. If a person wants to dress up weird,well that is their choice. Whatever statement they want to make with their fashion sense is up to them. No one should really care about what other think about them, the way u dress will always be up to you and there would always be someone in your life that would like the way u dress. So what I am basically trying to say is that dress how ever you want to and never let no one tell you that you cannot dress a certain way. Finally I just think that in my own opinion, fashion is whatever you choose it to be.

Friday, August 27, 2010

ASTI constitution post

I found this quote very interesting. I got this by the blog post of Tram

    They are the creation of anger, loneliness, and neglect. The victims of so, are searching     for a battlefield to have a sense of recognition. Since they cannot find this attention at     home, they reign their power over where the weak and undeveloped are ample: school.

This quote relates to the ASTI constitution because it states that bullies have a reason for doing certain things to other people for their sole purpose of making themselves feel better. Our very first rule on the ASTI constitution is that we should always think before we speak or act. A bully does not think before they speak and they most certainly do not feel any remorse for any of the things they have done to hurt other people. Another one of our rules is to accept others for who they are. Bullies “they are the creation of anger, loneliness, and neglect,” and for that reason, they will judge a person without getting to know them first. They build up this sort of sense of loneliness and neglect in their victims because they feel as if they are not accepted by their peers. At last, another ASTI constitution rule is to understand where other people are coming from and to be empathetic. This quote states that when a victim of being a bully cannot find any more of this sort of attention elsewhere, they will direct all their rage and anger towards the people who they believe are weak. A bully is searching for attention and for that reason, they pick on “weak” students to get the attention of being “that mean kid” at school. A bully must learn to be empathetic to the people that they tease, make fun of and harass. A bully might not even realize that for the victim of their bullying, they might have other stuff that they must deal with outside of school.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Regina!!!!!!

OMG!!! i love you Gina!
dang girl you be making my day with your ridiculous backside guuuuurrrrrllllll!!!! lolz

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Odd girl Out

While in elementary school, I have to admit that at one time or another, I was part of group or alliance that had made another group of girls feel like outcasts. I can say that I felt bad, but I think I would be lying. At the time, I really did not care, but now that I look back on it, I actually do feel bad for all the things we caused the other girls that we did not like to feel. I feel as if our behavior was really childish and now, it makes no sense that I and these other girls did that. We were really mean and did not consider the other girls feelings. I had many options in this situation. I could either have stopped or continued with it and I chose to end it after a while. A lot of people think that the reason behind bullying others is because of insecurity and the want to make them feel better about themselves by making others feel so low. The truth behind it all is that it is just the way that girls act. It can also happen with boys, but with girls it is more common because drama comes naturally to us. Not all girls have insecurity issues. Their reasons for being mean towards another girl might actually just be the plain fact that they dislike them. Drama happens between girls really easily nowadays just by when someone says the wrong thing. If one girl is talking about another girl and they find out about it, the drama basically takes off from there. Nobody wants to be bullied, but in some cases, girls bring them on themselves when they start with the gossiping. This makes them not likeable and that is the reason for the bullying. A bully may want to hurt their peers simply for issues that they have with another girl. It might just be the anger that has been bottles up for a long time because they will have beef with some other person. In general, bullying is bad no matter what, but it really is just the way girls react to things nowadays.