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.

Memorization

When it comes to memorization I use only one and that's rehearsal because repetition equals perfection. When it comes to any subject I repeat the most important facts I need to know or any information that I know that is going to pop up for the test or quiz. Rehearsal is effective as for memorizing because repetition makes you get whatever you are reading. For example when it comes to having a test for a math class I tend to forget the formulas very fast so what I do is write down the formulas and start repeating them so I know I get them down. Once I do that I start remembering the formulas from the class and start using them throughout my years. Rehearsal in sports has made a huge benefit to me because in a sport in able to become good at something you need to practice until you have it down like the back of your head. Once you have hours and days repetition on a sport that sport becomes second nature to you. When it comes to science I rehearse by reading and re-reading the text so I get where we are at as in a time frame of the class and so I can answer questions. In addition knowing what we are studying and knowing the cells or anatomy that we need to know for an upcoming test. So to summarize it all up rehearsal is one of the top ways for someone to memorize something important in their class. Furthermore, besides memorizing it helps, the study habits for yourself and others in other countries. Seeing the problem itself with the memorizing I can see why so many students themselves don’t remember a thing about a certain subject because they don’t have a study habit.

Transfer Motivational Conference Blog

The biggest highlight for me was the people who put there time into the Puente program to help students succeed in college and later on in life. I attended a workshop were they were discussing about students who wanted to go to college but weren't citizens yet. They got into detail and explained to the class that you could still go to college even if you weren't a citizen but you had to fill out a couple of forms to attend college. My point of view of that class was that it wasn't very helpful on helping me out as in my future for college or right now. I see it this way because the motivation/drive that brought me to college to receive a associate and bachelor degree later on in college was basically being reinstated at the motivational conference and its workshops. So I really didn't gain anything from going there but just meeting other Puente students and interacting more with my fellow Puente students. Besides the motivational conference not really helping or motivate me I did get to see other students gain a lot from the conference and giving them a motivational boost that they can make it through college even with all the odds stacked against them. From looking at the body language of the other Puente groups it seemed to me that our Puente group from Foothill was the most energetic there. We did get complaints of being to disruptive but I didn't see it as that, I saw it as if we were the most motivated out all of the Puente groups and we displayed it at the motivational conference. So to summarize it all up I think as a group some of us might have gain a little knowledge going to the motivational conference. But overall I think we already had that motivation that the motivational conference was trying to give us and the other Puente groups.

Anzaldua Blog Response #2: The Anti- Essay

Anzaldua writes in a way were she uses a metaphor to start off her essay then gets into the essay explaining that metaphor she used in the beginning. By doing this in her writing she grabs the reader to keep on reading and has them wanting to read more to answer their question from the metaphor she created in the first paragraph. What makes her text an academic text is the problem of the Spanish language having many varieties of languages in its own part and why don’t we stick to that medieval Spanish? Since these issues are brought up, this engages the reader to join the conversation and submit their own point of views. What made the text anti-academic was the discussion about the Spanish language starting to change in her personal view than staying on the academic part of it. It’s different from a traditional essay because Anzaldua is trying to get on a personal level on the subject to have the reader connect with the subject more. By doing this Anzaldua grabs the reader to keep reading and really find out what she really is trying to say in the text. She does this type of writing because from the start she throws a curveball at them with a metaphor. Then once the reader finishes reading that first paragraph they have a drive to read the whole text so they can solve that metaphor and see how it connects to the rest of her text. “Pocho, cultural traitor, you’re ruining the Spanish language” this quote I believe shows us as a reader the purpose of writing this essay. Reason being is because it’ not that some of us Spanish speaking people intertwine our language with English but to create a language that fits our society as a group in a English society. This new language does not have to do with us watering down our Spanish with English but evolving it to another language that our kids will understand us due to the big divide between both cultures. We are just trying to keep some of that Spanish language we’re proud of but incorporate the language that we are forced to learn to succeed in life so that we still hold our roots but let them grow to what they are surrounded by in life.

How to Tame A Wild Tongue Blog

I was stunned to the unusual mix of languages the Anzaldua uses in this excerpt because of the message she is trying to get across. She gives many examples of the different languages she uses by describing how she talked Spanish compared to other people/cultures. Anzaldua compares these different Spanish speaking cultures and shows the reader how a society can change the way a group of people speak and how it affects their accent as well. Anzaldua goes into depth giving the readers the proper word and way to say a word in Spanish. Then she shows how other Spanish speaking cultures write and pronounce that word. This gives the reader examples on how different cultures have a way of speaking a certain language. Furthermore she describes the similarities between the cultures and the way they say words but then the differences as well. Showing how one culture keeps these letters in a word instead of the other letters. This is what caused the mixture of languages and it made one language more difficult to decode to find out what one word really meant or the definition of that word. I find this intriguing because it shows you how a language can be transformed by a majority group of people that influences a minority group of people to speak their language. That would later on leave that culture to speak with the majority group accent. In addition, to that it would make the minority group change the way they spoke their language and form a new language. Anzaldua is trying to show to the reader that their isn't one set language for the languages broken down into simplified categories. She wants to prove that language isn't set into you and that's it. It actually stays evolving into a more complex language that seem like codes when people talk to one another and other people.