Life's A Struggle

Who Or What Creates Your Identity?
I think what made me have the ability to be able to code switch is being around so many languages while I grew up. When I was a child I was around Spanish and slang English so I became able to understand both and not feel out of place. I learned Spanish from my whole family since we are a Mexican family who holds on to are roots and still know how to speak our native tongue. Then I learned the slang English from my older brothers, sisters and uncles who got it from the streets. Once I entered elementary school and middle school I became somewhat out of place because I was being looked at as un-educated by the way I speak.

“Identity is the essential core of who we are as individuals, the conscious experience of the self inside.” Gloria Anzaldua

I started to realize through years of taking English classes at school on how to speak properly, I still caught myself not talking properly with my slang words. So even though I have problems with mixing some of the different languages I feel more proud in myself that I can communicate with a variety of people. I’m also proud that people can understand me when I’m talking to them in their language and not seem like a perpetrator to fit in.

Who You Look Up To Is Who Makes You
It was a regular day and I just got back from school. I brought home my report card and showed it to my mom. My mom was enraged of my grades, I had received two A’s and rest were C’s and D’s. I had nothing to explain for my grades and what I got in return was a whipping with the belt and getting yelled at. I started heading to my room to cry but my older brother took me into his room and he said to stay in his room so I wouldn’t run into my mom again. I stayed in his room and I started to do my homework. While I was doing my homework I started to struggle so my brother began to help me. I felt so great inside because he was the one who helped me with my homework. After teaching me how to solve the problems and finish my homework my brother told me he wanted to talk to me. My brother told me he wanted me to keep going to school and never fall into the lifestyle he was living. He said the lifestyle he was living was the one he never wanted me to live and that it wouldn’t bring anything but pain.

“I work for my living! yelled Juan. I don’t go around shooting people! And I wouldn’t shoot a gun inside a house or car no matter if God Himself tells me to! I think, I use my head, and I work hard! I make my own liquor! I don’t steal from no man! I’m a businessman! I’m not a stupid gang of little two-bit, ass-turning punks, ganging up on an old teacher and pantsing him! I got balls, you understand? I got respect! I sweat! I work!” (pg 313) Victor Villasenor


So I promised him that I would succeed in school and from that day forward that was my goal in life. Right now till this day I’m fulfilling his wishes on completing that goal. The one other thing I remembered about my brother that made me look up to him, was that he was the center of the family and he brought the family together during family holidays. My brother always made everyone happy and always made sure everyone was alright. My brother wanted to give the best for my family. He did that but he didn’t get to finish since his life was taken away when he was 17. Since he passed away I took that goal he wanted for my family which was to have the best in life. I will succeed in education like he asked for me to do and become someone big in life to give my family everything they dreamed of. I want to be the men my brother wanted to be, the men he couldn’t become because the life he was in.

Teaching Yourself Is Your Greatest Strength
Throughout my whole life I never really had anyone to help me with my schoolwork besides one of my older brothers who helped me when he could and was at home. But since he passed away I have had to do my schoolwork on my own. I couldn’t get any other help from anyone because my mom wasn’t well educated like other mother’s because she had to work to support us when she was young instead of going to school.

“I started writing nonfiction as a freelancer the week after I was told by my former boss that writing was my worst skill and I should hone my talents toward account management.” Amy Tan


My siblings couldn’t help me because they were never home. So, seeing that I had to do it on my own I had to work that much harder to make myself get the homework even when I was stuck on it. I couldn’t get help from school because I had to take the bus home from school since my mom was busy working at the house. My mom also didn’t have all the money in the world to be driving from East Palo Alto all the way to Woodside hills so I had to work with what was giving to me. I gained self discipline through doing my homework on my own and seeing my mom support all of us on her own. My mom worked all day but still was a mom when she came home tired. So I became self discipline and use that to my advantage till this day to help day to day in life.

Final Lit Circle Blog

In the last part of the book that we were suppose to read Juan flees to Mexicali due to finding out that the Hotel deal was a trap. He gives his truck to Julio and his wife to flee as well but most importantly to shut up his annoying wife because how upset she was about the deal going bad. Juan leaves most of the barrels of whisky in a hiding spot where he was watching the hotel. The rest of the barrels that he had left he took with him towards Mexicali. When heading down there he stopped at the gas station and met a man and offered him his car and the rest of the barrels of whisky to take him to Mexicali. The man agreed and took him to Mexicali and Juan told him he was heading to Jalisco never ever to return back so that the man could tell that to investigators if they ever questioned him about Juan. Later on in the chapter Juan returns back to find out Julio and his wife are stealing his liquor but doesn't worry because he's going to let them fall into the law hands so he can start a new life. He later runs into Archie where he is questioned about the two people blown up in his car and if he was the one who did it. Juan explains everything then Archie agrees to give Juan a new name (Salvador) and a fresh start in life so he can marry Lupe. Then Juan and Lupe finally begin their courtship preparing themselves for a wedding they have been waiting all their lives. Then in the following chapter Lupe's group once again wasn't paid the same amount as men. Once Lupe sisters hear about this they create a strike and have the foreman pay everyone at the same scale. When this was accomplished Lupe and her sister feel that if they stick together they can attain their goal of equality to some degree. Then later in the chapter Mark ask Lupe if she has decided to become his wife but Lupe didn't know what to say. Lupe decides to tell Mark she still needs time before she can accept. When Lupe is having her time to decide Juan and her are finally alone and from that time forward she knew that she wanted to marry Juan. Now in chapter 20 Salvador offers Lupe to drive and once Lupe finished driving her little niece goes up to them and asks them if they're going to get married. Lupe gets quite embarrassed when this happens, but Salvador says that they are and that becomes the request for Lupe's hand in marriage. Then from this chapter on Salvador is preparing himself for the biggest day of his life but runs into a couple of bumps. One of them was Salvador and his brother going to jail because his brother couldn't handle staying at the house where they were making alcohol and got caught up because he bragged to an undercover cop when he was drunk about the illegal operation they were running. Salvador is bailed out but his brother was sentenced for three years. The other major bump Salvador went through was to not hate his own race because if he couldn't he would lose Lupe and mistreat his own kids. But Juan changed knowing that if he wanted to live a happy life with Lupe he had to change so he did and got married with Lupe.

Questions To Characters In ROG

To Juan:
How do you feel about your life and what have done through out it?

To Lupe:
Do you feel that the struggle and violence you have gone through in life has made you stronger?

Critical Thinking

The news article I'm choosing to discuss about and talk about the different viewpoints is the prosecution of an East Palo Alto Man who killed an East Palo Alto officer. My view is that officer's in general, especially East Palo Alto Police don't do their jobs correct. Furthermore I believe every time a police dies because of a street person they automatically say "Oh he's a cold blooded killer" and don't try to figure if there was any motive for that person to shoot back at an officer such as him not doing his job and abusing his authority as an officer. The story that's getting told out in the public like usual is that there was a fight that broke out outside a Taqueria and that the officer chased the defendant trying to arrest him but got shot to death. But forensic evidence shows that the officer fired first at the defendant while running away then hit him with his baton before the defendant ever fired back. But, back to seeing this in another view. People will say that the man was just another thug who was so cold blooded to kill an officer that was doing his job. But let me explain more why I feel the way I do about my view on this news article and police. First of all I hate how when an officer dies it gets all over the news but when a regular living person dies out in the streets they tell it in a minute and leave it at that. Second of all what ticks me off is how officers pull over minorities for no apparent reason and come up with some bull excuse to tell them this is why I pulled you over. Then they start asking for names and where they live and all these other questions that they don't have any right asking them because these minorities weren't doing anything. Last and furthermore this is the main reason why I don't like officers and know that they don't do their job and actually serve their community. My brother was shot and killed, walking distance (literally a block away) from the East Palo Alto Police Station at 1 pm and the thing that pisses me off is that how does it take three hours to get to where my brother was shot and killed and start putting yellow tape around a crime scene. This is why I see this article in my point of view. Police officers as always are treated as if they are more than human. They kill somebody in the streets none the less someone in handcuffs and receive a couple of years in jail instead of the death penalty. Man all I got to say is this so called "JUSTICE SYSTEM" in America is a bunch of bull and there isn’t any justice in this world. The minorities and other people in the community are the ones who face the consequences but the people who are in the law are the ones who really get away with murder and miss conduct against a victim.

The Men We Carry In Our Minds Blog

1. Sanders noticed that the men he grew up around had the same labored bodies being "marginal farmers, welders, steel workers and carpenters" which gave them their forearms with muscle. In paragraph three Sanders describes how the men looked. Sanders described that the men had nails black and split, hands filled with scars, missing fingers, bad backs, weak guts from hernias, ulcers, bad knees, weak ankles, hard hearing, coughing and drinking. Because of all this work and the effects it had on the men it made them appear much older than their age.

2. Sanders characterized the other men who were soldiers as being lazy. In paragraph four Sanders uses words such as boredom, waiting and no say to describe them.

3. Sanders couldn't imagine becoming or being one of those "successful" men because he grew up seeing the complete opposite of that "successful." men. The only thing Sanders ever knew and saw was hard working labor men so seeing these new type of men wasn't normal for him. He couldn't see himself being a successful men.

4. Sanders father fate seemed like a partial escape because he went from working on a farm to working in a tire factory then to an assembly line and finally to a front office. Luckily for Sanders father he got out of the slave labor, but the only bad thing was his body was ready to call it quits on him. Since Sanders father life changed from escaping the slave labor he still knows most of the young men he knew ended up joining the army, working at the smoky plants or building highways. His father took it step by step to reach the top but thing that was different from him and the younger boys was that they didn't even try. They were afraid to step out the boundaries that were created by society for them.

5. Sanders learned that college men automatically believed that they would live a pleasureable life becuase of their wealthy family. Sanders was amazed that women could be so into a man's life that Sanders quickly understood why they would. But because of that he didn't quickly agree. Sanders thought women had the better life. Reason being because women didn't have to work, weren't required to go to war, they were free to do anything they felt like doing.

6. Sanders realizes that a lot of pressure is always put on men especially the low-class who sees it as body aching work and having to be tough. The upper class women see it their life's as the same because of the struggles they have to go as being women in the society and dealing with their man.

7. They both wanted to have power and have a say in their future of their lives. They want to choose a job that they like and live a great life.

Self Evaluation Blog

I didn't do the assignment because I was at a family wedding in Arizona and didn't have a computer over there. Therefore I wasn't in class neither when you explained how to write it. So i decided not to do it because regardless the assignment was going to be marked incorrect because I didn't write it the way you wanted like you explained in class. So what's going to be different when I write the next summary is that I'm going to be here and in class to know how to write it then I'm a turn it in.

Libby's Blog Response

1. A Feminist is considered a dirty word for her students because they don't know the correct meaning or they just only have heard the negative stereotype's about the word. In paragraph two one of the student's she is interviewing uses the words "hate, blame, radical women and bad" as their definition of what a feminist is. In paragraph ten follows another negative word " man-haters" which is used to describe a feminist in a movie. So to say I agree that feminist is a dirty word is to fall for those stereotypes and therefore I disagree that feminists is a dirty word. Feminist is portrayed as a dirty word but just because of that doesn't mean me or anyone else has to see as that.

2. Their aren't many self-identified feminist because many don't want to be associated with the word and its stereotype or they feel like they can't call themselves a feminist. People believe that to be a feminist you have to participate in the whole movement and be a part of those people who protest against those stereo types of what feminists are. Males themselves, don't consider themselves to be feminist becuase they aren't female and they believe feminist stands for being a female and protesting for their rights when it much more than that. Man also feel like they don't belong with being feminist and that they won't be able to contribute to the cause because they feel that the word feminists as so over seen because of the stereotypes and people won't really care what they have to say.

3. She thinks more people should be feminist becuase to be a feminist you have to believe that how society sees sex exploitation and oppression and how they are dealing with it is totally wrong. Feminism isn't just about women, but about everyone and how they are being oppressed by sex exploitation and sexism. The word feminism is to be able to make your own decision and to have a voice. Feminism is all about having your equal rights and being able to live the life you want, not the one society wants you to have.