Since I was a little girl I was taught only Spanish. I was the first child which made me the first child from my family born in the United States. For many Hispanic families, Spanish is the only language they can speak and is the only way to communicate. As the Central American family that I come from, I as well was taught to speak Spanish and made it my first language. As I grew older my struggles with learning English increased.
When I started elementary school my parents debated whether to put me in a Spanish or English class. At last my parents placed me in a Spanish class. At first I did not understand the difference and importance of English. As I grew older and move up into higher grade levels, I understood the meaning of English.
During my first grade I was placed in a normal English class with an African American lady as my teacher who did not speak Spanish at all. I had a hard time communicating with my teacher and the rest of my classmates. I always feared reading in class because I had an accent. When I was in fourth grade and I thought I knew everything in English, I found out that that English is a never ending lesson. There are always more words to learn and different structures for becoming a better writer.
My biggest struggle was in high school, my freshman year. My freshman year I had to put both languages together. I was taking an English and Spanish class. I had to learn to manage both languages as two different subjects rather than putting them together and making it into “Spanglish’, what everyone thinks is a new language.
Many of my classmates would speak “Spanglish” , not Spanish nor English . It’s a mixture of both and improper. I did not want to be one of them. I wanted to be able to speak proper Spanish and proper English.
Now that I am working I get to put the two languages I know into work. Since I work at Vons store as a cashier, I get many different customers who speak different languages. Sometimes I struggle when people like Koreans don’t speak English and cannot communicate with them as I charge their groceries. I am thankful that after all my hard work and struggles, I have been able to manipulate both languages in a way that I can communicate with others with no struggle. Sometimes I even translate people who cannot speak English.
Even though I can speak both languages well, I cannot stop learning because there are always new vocabulary and better ways to make your language stronger and meaningful.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
"Living Reality"
Since I was a little girl, I have seen how my life has changed. I have had good and bad moments, which they have left powerful lessons learned. As my years of education increased I have learned that I’m in this world for a reason. I have seen how lifestyles have changed into a more equal lifestyle for everyone. I have learned that slaves were forced to work with no pay and that we tend to take freedom for granted.
One morning while I sat in my History class and heard my teacher lecture about slaves I realize that there were people out there not as fortunate as me. For many years slavery was seen as a normal form for labor use. African Americans were forced to be slaves and work with no pay at all. Slaves were seemed as machines that would accomplish the work with no hesitation. If they did not do the job right they would get punished and they would get beat up. Now days we don’t experience that kind of abuse at work. We are not forced to work, it’s our decision if we want to work and where we want to work. We sometimes tend to complain that we are getting little pay for our labor, but we never realize that others were getting pay less or not pay at all. We never see our surroundings or try to help others if they need it. We only think of ourselves and what’s good for us. I have learned that there are people out there who are getting pay very little because they are immigrants and other who are trying to get a job in order to survive and provide a roof and food for their families. We need to be thankful with what we have and appreciated. It’s time for us to help each other since economy is out the door and just keeps getting worst.
Every day we hear new things going on in the news. We hear of deaths and how our economy keeps getting worst. For seventeen years I have waited to step up and speak up. Now that I am eighteen I can vote and raise my voice, this is a privileged I have as a human being. I can choose who I want the United States to be ruled, as well as I can make other decisions that make me feel valuable. We sometimes forget that making our own decisions that will please us is just a privilege. Slaves were not allowed to think for themselves or choose what they wanted to do. They always followed orders and commands that the whites would give them. During my government class I learned that freedom is just a privileged and we should be careful of how we deal with it. Some of us get the wrong concept of freedom and commit crimes that are punishable. Our freedom is for us to speak out and let our thought be heard by others in a polite and respectful way, without offending others or causing harm. We all need to learn to take freedom as a privileged and not for granted.
Now days it is common for people to take freedom for granted instead of a privilege. Slaves never had the option of making decisions for themselves, they had to follow orders without complaining. Also, we need to be happy with what we have an not envy others. I have learned that I need to value my education and thank the teachers and family who taught me what I know up to now, if not I would probably be an ignorant person unable to make up decisions for myself.
One morning while I sat in my History class and heard my teacher lecture about slaves I realize that there were people out there not as fortunate as me. For many years slavery was seen as a normal form for labor use. African Americans were forced to be slaves and work with no pay at all. Slaves were seemed as machines that would accomplish the work with no hesitation. If they did not do the job right they would get punished and they would get beat up. Now days we don’t experience that kind of abuse at work. We are not forced to work, it’s our decision if we want to work and where we want to work. We sometimes tend to complain that we are getting little pay for our labor, but we never realize that others were getting pay less or not pay at all. We never see our surroundings or try to help others if they need it. We only think of ourselves and what’s good for us. I have learned that there are people out there who are getting pay very little because they are immigrants and other who are trying to get a job in order to survive and provide a roof and food for their families. We need to be thankful with what we have and appreciated. It’s time for us to help each other since economy is out the door and just keeps getting worst.
Every day we hear new things going on in the news. We hear of deaths and how our economy keeps getting worst. For seventeen years I have waited to step up and speak up. Now that I am eighteen I can vote and raise my voice, this is a privileged I have as a human being. I can choose who I want the United States to be ruled, as well as I can make other decisions that make me feel valuable. We sometimes forget that making our own decisions that will please us is just a privilege. Slaves were not allowed to think for themselves or choose what they wanted to do. They always followed orders and commands that the whites would give them. During my government class I learned that freedom is just a privileged and we should be careful of how we deal with it. Some of us get the wrong concept of freedom and commit crimes that are punishable. Our freedom is for us to speak out and let our thought be heard by others in a polite and respectful way, without offending others or causing harm. We all need to learn to take freedom as a privileged and not for granted.
Now days it is common for people to take freedom for granted instead of a privilege. Slaves never had the option of making decisions for themselves, they had to follow orders without complaining. Also, we need to be happy with what we have an not envy others. I have learned that I need to value my education and thank the teachers and family who taught me what I know up to now, if not I would probably be an ignorant person unable to make up decisions for myself.
"Leslie"
Who am I? Is what most people ask themselves. Do we really know ourselves? We sometimes think of ourselves a certain way but is that the same way people look at us? At least as for me, I consider myself a role model and a fighter.
My name is Leslie Janette Giron, I am the first one in my family attending college. I work at VONS store as a checker and I’m a role model at home. Since I lost my father since I was very young I had to step up and encourage my mother and sister to keep on living. As hard as it was life was still going and we had to live every second of it. Since I was the more open minded in my family, I had to inspire those around me by living a life that is more outward focused than inward focused. As the leader of my family I had to set a good example for the people around me to follow, especially my sister who I love.
As I grew up many obstacles were put in my way. The first one was the lost of my dad. Going to school and seeing some of my classmates getting dropped of by their dad hurt me. Knowing that my dad was not going to be there when I had my first boyfriend hurt me all I wanted was my dad. The memories I had of him were beautiful. Even though all my family was crushed I had to overcome my pain and accomplish what he always wanted me to which was going into college. I have always been a fighter who fights for what I want. All I want is to make my family proud of me. I’m a fighter for life and nothing is going to stop me from that.
At last I’m just a nineteen year old girl who is trying to accomplish her goals in life. I want to be someone in life; I want to be an educator for young children. I want to be there on the children’s first struggles and encourage them to be fighters in life. What else can I be? Only life will say, but up till now all I am is a student of Mount St. Mary’s College and a daughter and sister at home.
My name is Leslie Janette Giron, I am the first one in my family attending college. I work at VONS store as a checker and I’m a role model at home. Since I lost my father since I was very young I had to step up and encourage my mother and sister to keep on living. As hard as it was life was still going and we had to live every second of it. Since I was the more open minded in my family, I had to inspire those around me by living a life that is more outward focused than inward focused. As the leader of my family I had to set a good example for the people around me to follow, especially my sister who I love.
As I grew up many obstacles were put in my way. The first one was the lost of my dad. Going to school and seeing some of my classmates getting dropped of by their dad hurt me. Knowing that my dad was not going to be there when I had my first boyfriend hurt me all I wanted was my dad. The memories I had of him were beautiful. Even though all my family was crushed I had to overcome my pain and accomplish what he always wanted me to which was going into college. I have always been a fighter who fights for what I want. All I want is to make my family proud of me. I’m a fighter for life and nothing is going to stop me from that.
At last I’m just a nineteen year old girl who is trying to accomplish her goals in life. I want to be someone in life; I want to be an educator for young children. I want to be there on the children’s first struggles and encourage them to be fighters in life. What else can I be? Only life will say, but up till now all I am is a student of Mount St. Mary’s College and a daughter and sister at home.
Monday, April 21, 2008
"Plaits"
Since we are little girls we are taught different values than boys. We are raised in a way that they set an image of a beautiful woman which we have to follow. They teach us that women represent beauty and elegance. As we grow up we see beautiful women on television and on movies which we look up to. They become our role models and are forced to look like them.
In the story “Plaits”, Frankie experiences the opposite of beauty. By cutting her hair people saw her as a different child. Society has an image of women which they tend to follow. People do not see beyond that. A woman is supposed to have long, silky hair. If a women dares to cut their hair they are judge and seen as men.
When I was little I remember that once my dad told me that I couldn’t cut my hair short during the summer or else I was going to lose my beauty and look like a men. My dad told me that a women’s beauty was based on the hair and body. If we showed that we take care of ourselves by looking beautiful more men were going to want us.
Society is forcing us to follow the perfect image of the women in every front cover of a magazine. If we don’t follow that image we are seen as an ugly woman. Since many women are afraid what others are going to say or judge us about we tend to just follow and not express ourselves. We are afraid of losing our beauty and get stereotyped.
In the story “Plaits”, Frankie experiences the opposite of beauty. By cutting her hair people saw her as a different child. Society has an image of women which they tend to follow. People do not see beyond that. A woman is supposed to have long, silky hair. If a women dares to cut their hair they are judge and seen as men.
When I was little I remember that once my dad told me that I couldn’t cut my hair short during the summer or else I was going to lose my beauty and look like a men. My dad told me that a women’s beauty was based on the hair and body. If we showed that we take care of ourselves by looking beautiful more men were going to want us.
Society is forcing us to follow the perfect image of the women in every front cover of a magazine. If we don’t follow that image we are seen as an ugly woman. Since many women are afraid what others are going to say or judge us about we tend to just follow and not express ourselves. We are afraid of losing our beauty and get stereotyped.
Friday, March 14, 2008
"No Escape Response"
When we are young children we tend to fear even our own shadow. We feel like monsters are going to come out of our closets and that the boogeyman lives under our beds. In the story “No Escape” from The Mee Street Chronicles by Frankie Lennon the narrator who is a young girl describes the struggle she went through to find her parents and to get out of the house.
Frankie describes the struggle and bravery she had to put in. She feared the darkness as well as being alone but that did not stop her from getting to the door. The author used vivid words that made me feel part of what the young girl was feeling. It made me feel like I needed to help her and tell her not to be afraid. As I read the story I felt like that young girl was me. Up until now I still fear the dark, even though I know that the boogeyman does not exists I still get scare.
Now that I’m a grown young lady I can relate to Frankie when she was young. Having that fear that takes your breath away leaving you with nothing but sweat and thoughts of having a monster or spirit take you forever, and never coming back with your family is something that I still believe and get scare every time I go throw the trash in the dark or go do laundry at the garage where the washers are located.
My mother would always say that it was all in my imagination and that I had to lose my fear or else I would always wonder if that shadow was really a monster or just the shadow of my sweater hanging on the chair. Even though my mother thought I was just exaggerating, I always believed that there was something or someone else sleeping in the night with me. Maybe it was a spirit I would say but who knows, I will never know if it was true or just my imagination.
At last I like the story “No Escape” from The Mee Street Chronicles by Frankie Lennon, because she used very descriptive and vivid words that made me remember about my fears and made me feel part of the story as if I was the young girl. I enjoyed reading this story since I was able to relate to it and bring up my childhood once more.
Frankie describes the struggle and bravery she had to put in. She feared the darkness as well as being alone but that did not stop her from getting to the door. The author used vivid words that made me feel part of what the young girl was feeling. It made me feel like I needed to help her and tell her not to be afraid. As I read the story I felt like that young girl was me. Up until now I still fear the dark, even though I know that the boogeyman does not exists I still get scare.
Now that I’m a grown young lady I can relate to Frankie when she was young. Having that fear that takes your breath away leaving you with nothing but sweat and thoughts of having a monster or spirit take you forever, and never coming back with your family is something that I still believe and get scare every time I go throw the trash in the dark or go do laundry at the garage where the washers are located.
My mother would always say that it was all in my imagination and that I had to lose my fear or else I would always wonder if that shadow was really a monster or just the shadow of my sweater hanging on the chair. Even though my mother thought I was just exaggerating, I always believed that there was something or someone else sleeping in the night with me. Maybe it was a spirit I would say but who knows, I will never know if it was true or just my imagination.
At last I like the story “No Escape” from The Mee Street Chronicles by Frankie Lennon, because she used very descriptive and vivid words that made me remember about my fears and made me feel part of the story as if I was the young girl. I enjoyed reading this story since I was able to relate to it and bring up my childhood once more.
Friday, February 1, 2008
On my way to school today......
On the way to school today, I had many things going on. I left my house at 8:15a.m. in order to get to school before my first class began. My first class starts at 9:10a.m. and my goal was to arrive at 8:40a.m. Usually my mother drops me off before she leaves to work but today was not one of those days. My day began the wrong way; I woke up late and did not have time to eat breakfast. I could not find my book for philosophy and my notebook for math.
On my way to the bus stop, I saw a dead bird on the sidewalk that creped me out. As I got to the bus stop it began to rain. I thought that eventually it was going to stop, but once again I was wrong. The rain only continued to get harder and harder. I waited at the bus stop for about fifteen minutes until I got tired of getting wet and of waiting. I decided to call my uncle and ask him for a ride to school. I called one time and he did not answer, I called a second time and again he did not answer. I began to stress out and worry about not arriving to school on time for my first class. Suddenly my phone rang and it was my uncle, he told me he was in the shower when I called him and asked me what did I want. I kindly asked for a ride to school and he said yes.
Finally, my day was turning better. When I arrived school, I took my notebook out and noticed that all my notes were wet, since I had spent fifteen minutes under the rain waiting for the bus to arrive, which it never did. My class was about to begin and my notebook was still wet. I took my homework out so it would dry before the teacher collected it. “God I thought to myself, when is this day going to end?”
As my day continued it turn out better, everything was under control after my first class. I had lunch with my friends and left for home with no problem. My aunt picked me up and then took me to work. I got out from work at 8:00p.m. and arrived at my house at 8:15p.m. As soon as I got home I fell to sleep. I just hope that I don”t get another day like that in a long time.
On my way to the bus stop, I saw a dead bird on the sidewalk that creped me out. As I got to the bus stop it began to rain. I thought that eventually it was going to stop, but once again I was wrong. The rain only continued to get harder and harder. I waited at the bus stop for about fifteen minutes until I got tired of getting wet and of waiting. I decided to call my uncle and ask him for a ride to school. I called one time and he did not answer, I called a second time and again he did not answer. I began to stress out and worry about not arriving to school on time for my first class. Suddenly my phone rang and it was my uncle, he told me he was in the shower when I called him and asked me what did I want. I kindly asked for a ride to school and he said yes.
Finally, my day was turning better. When I arrived school, I took my notebook out and noticed that all my notes were wet, since I had spent fifteen minutes under the rain waiting for the bus to arrive, which it never did. My class was about to begin and my notebook was still wet. I took my homework out so it would dry before the teacher collected it. “God I thought to myself, when is this day going to end?”
As my day continued it turn out better, everything was under control after my first class. I had lunch with my friends and left for home with no problem. My aunt picked me up and then took me to work. I got out from work at 8:00p.m. and arrived at my house at 8:15p.m. As soon as I got home I fell to sleep. I just hope that I don”t get another day like that in a long time.
"The Other Face of the Holidays"
Christmas is my favorite holiday; it’s a day of rest and pleasure, a day to get acquainted with each other and a day to recall old memories even though there seems to be so much to do at Christmas. There are presents to buy and wrap, family to visit, and the tamales to cook. This year the holidays were not as good as I expected. Two things that disappointed me during the holidays were that two of my paychecks flew by without keeping a dollar for myself and that a person I don’t like showed up to my house on New Year’s Eve.
For seventeen years I have seen Christmas as the day in which I would receive many presents and stuff my self with many tamales that my mom would make for this special occasion. This year it was different, I had a job and as well as the rest of my family I had to buy presents to give away. I worked hard for two weeks without getting a single dollar from my paycheck for myself. I was too busy buying presents for my family and friends. It was painful knowing it was Friday, “pay day”, and not being able to enjoy it on me. That’s when I figured out that often buying presents can leave the biggest hole in our bank balance.
After my crisis of the Christmas presents I thought that maybe New Year’s Eve was going to be a different story. I thought it was going to be pleasant and peaceful, but I was wrong. My problem now was not the money but a person. That night my male cousin decided to bring a friend who I tend not to like so much. As I was enjoying dinner with my family and friends I saw the person I dislike walk through the door. She glanced at me and pretended like she didn’t notice that I was there. When the music began I took my cousin out to dance with me and she got mad. When the clock struck 12:00 we all hugged and welcomed the New Year. At 12:30a.m. she left and that’s when my day got better.
The holidays can leave us with good and bad memories, but it’s up to us if we let that bring our spirit down. Only because this past Christmas and New Year’s Eve was not as good as others, I’m not going to let this experience ruin the rest of them to come. I just hope that next year I get better and more pleasant people to visit me.
For seventeen years I have seen Christmas as the day in which I would receive many presents and stuff my self with many tamales that my mom would make for this special occasion. This year it was different, I had a job and as well as the rest of my family I had to buy presents to give away. I worked hard for two weeks without getting a single dollar from my paycheck for myself. I was too busy buying presents for my family and friends. It was painful knowing it was Friday, “pay day”, and not being able to enjoy it on me. That’s when I figured out that often buying presents can leave the biggest hole in our bank balance.
After my crisis of the Christmas presents I thought that maybe New Year’s Eve was going to be a different story. I thought it was going to be pleasant and peaceful, but I was wrong. My problem now was not the money but a person. That night my male cousin decided to bring a friend who I tend not to like so much. As I was enjoying dinner with my family and friends I saw the person I dislike walk through the door. She glanced at me and pretended like she didn’t notice that I was there. When the music began I took my cousin out to dance with me and she got mad. When the clock struck 12:00 we all hugged and welcomed the New Year. At 12:30a.m. she left and that’s when my day got better.
The holidays can leave us with good and bad memories, but it’s up to us if we let that bring our spirit down. Only because this past Christmas and New Year’s Eve was not as good as others, I’m not going to let this experience ruin the rest of them to come. I just hope that next year I get better and more pleasant people to visit me.
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