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.
Monday, April 21, 2008
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.
Monday, November 26, 2007
"We tend to forget"
What I learned about Thanksgiving during the weekend break was that their is a deeper meaning behind this holiday rather than just eating turkey. Sometimes it seems like the only purpose of Thanksgiving is to eat turkey, watch football, and start the Christmas shopping with all the sales going on. Sometimes people even call Thanksgiving “Turkey Day.”
Thanksgiving is all about God and thanking him for the gifts of life, love, joy, and more. We gather with our family and friends to spend time and enjoy a great meal. We sometimes forget that our central purpose should be to give thanks to God. We should be thankful for what we have and for keeping us alive. We have forgotten to teach the new generations about sitting in the table and pray in order of God.
Something I noticed on Thanksgiving that came from my family was that, my aunt set the table in the middle of the living room. She began to serve the food and put center plates like pumpkin pie, ham, mash potato, and most important the turkey. As we all began to fill our plates with food we forgot to thank God for the food on the table and for having all of us gather together. Until when we were half done with our meal my aunt said "We forgot to thank God." Then we all stopped and prayed.
This proved to me that we are forgetting the real meaning of Thanksgiving. We have turned
Thanksgiving into "Turkey Day" rather than being thankful to God. We might forget to pray an thank God but we will never forget the turkey on Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving is all about God and thanking him for the gifts of life, love, joy, and more. We gather with our family and friends to spend time and enjoy a great meal. We sometimes forget that our central purpose should be to give thanks to God. We should be thankful for what we have and for keeping us alive. We have forgotten to teach the new generations about sitting in the table and pray in order of God.
Something I noticed on Thanksgiving that came from my family was that, my aunt set the table in the middle of the living room. She began to serve the food and put center plates like pumpkin pie, ham, mash potato, and most important the turkey. As we all began to fill our plates with food we forgot to thank God for the food on the table and for having all of us gather together. Until when we were half done with our meal my aunt said "We forgot to thank God." Then we all stopped and prayed.
This proved to me that we are forgetting the real meaning of Thanksgiving. We have turned
Thanksgiving into "Turkey Day" rather than being thankful to God. We might forget to pray an thank God but we will never forget the turkey on Thanksgiving.
Friday, November 16, 2007
"The True Meaning"
Who are we? Do we know where we come from? The truth is that we don't really know the true meaning behind our lives. We guide ourselves from what our parents and families tell us. Life can is too short to live life in lies and mysteries. What I learned from the movie "Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving is that we need to know our origin and never satisfy yourself with the first answer you acquire.
Knowing our past and place we come from can help identify why we are the person we are. Having knowledge from my ancestors' culture and life style allows me to understand my decisions. We sometimes make decisions that we don't know why we made them. The reason is behindour past, we tend to generate what our families have gone through and make decisions according to our beliefs which are the same as our ancestors'. Ichabod Crane also known as Johny Depp did know quite remembers his past.He had night mares that would bring back memories of his childhood and that's were we learned how he had got those marks on his hands. We should never stop questioning where we come from, the more we know the better for our life style. Also, it's a great way to keep our traditions and cultures alive.
Another lesson I learned was to never make your first answer your final answer. It's great to find a solution to the problem but we need more than one answer to determine our answer. Ichabod made the mistake of blaming Katrina Van Tassel for doing witch craft and causing the Hessian Horseman to cut everyone's heads. At the end he figured out that she was not the one controlling the horseman, it was her stepmother. Katrina was just trying to protect him from getting killed. We all tend to give up after we find the first answer to our question and that's our biggest mistake. We should always look for more than one answer before we make our final decision.
At last , "Sleepy Hollow" is a legend that can teach us about lies and revenge. Lieying can lead us to believe something else and miss judge someone. We should always speak the truth no mattere how painful it could be.
Knowing our past and place we come from can help identify why we are the person we are. Having knowledge from my ancestors' culture and life style allows me to understand my decisions. We sometimes make decisions that we don't know why we made them. The reason is behindour past, we tend to generate what our families have gone through and make decisions according to our beliefs which are the same as our ancestors'. Ichabod Crane also known as Johny Depp did know quite remembers his past.He had night mares that would bring back memories of his childhood and that's were we learned how he had got those marks on his hands. We should never stop questioning where we come from, the more we know the better for our life style. Also, it's a great way to keep our traditions and cultures alive.
Another lesson I learned was to never make your first answer your final answer. It's great to find a solution to the problem but we need more than one answer to determine our answer. Ichabod made the mistake of blaming Katrina Van Tassel for doing witch craft and causing the Hessian Horseman to cut everyone's heads. At the end he figured out that she was not the one controlling the horseman, it was her stepmother. Katrina was just trying to protect him from getting killed. We all tend to give up after we find the first answer to our question and that's our biggest mistake. We should always look for more than one answer before we make our final decision.
At last , "Sleepy Hollow" is a legend that can teach us about lies and revenge. Lieying can lead us to believe something else and miss judge someone. We should always speak the truth no mattere how painful it could be.
"My Guide"
All through my life in school I have met many teachers who have changed my life by teaching me information that I did not know. Beginning school is a major change for a children’s life. It’s were we learn to add, subtract, read, and write. The basic information are taught in our younger years were our brain is in the stage of receiving information and maintaining it. Besides just learning Math, History, English, and Science I learn life lessons from a teacher in Middle School. Mr. Elicegui taught me life lessons that change my life, which are; learning to understand god’s decisions and the value of believe in me.
Elicegui always told me that God was our creator and he would give us and take away things from us. He always told me that we should value what we have right now because we never know when we are going to lose it. For example, when my parents split up I didn’t understand why god was taking one of my parents away from me. I asked myself, was I a bad child? He told me that I had to understand and had to let go and adapt to my new life. At times, I felt like I hated god, but Mr. Elicegui made me realize that god makes things happen for a reason and that something good was going to come out of this problem for me. At last, my parents kept in touch, they kept a friendship and now I have notice that there is still love between my parents and that soon they might end up back together.
After my parents split up I felt useless and bad. I felt like it was my fault. I didn’t want to attend school no more. Mr. Elicegui stop by my house one time and asked me if I was doing well. I told him to go away and that I was not going back to school. I didn’t feel smart or capable of dealing with school work, that’s when Mr. Elicegui stepped in. He pushed me to go back to school and made me realize that I was smart and capable of becoming whoever I wanted to be. He was always by my side, my last year in Middle school until the day that they announced who was going to graduate. I had made it to the honor roll, something that I believed I was not capable of accomplishing. When I started my freshmen year he encourage me to get into a magnet program at Reseda High School called “The Police Academy.” Which I did, I joined and it was a great experience in where I met life time friends that are always by my side on good and bad moments. I never felt capable of accomplishing all my goals, but know that I’m in college I know I can do whatever I set my mind to.
Teachers are humans just like us even though sometimes we think that they are some kind of evil lunatic. Mr. Elicegui was not only my Math teacher but also my friend and guide. Now I know that god makes decisions that might hurt us but we have to accept them and continue living. I also, understand that I’m a smart person that is capable of accomplishing my goals in life, event though I didn’t believe that before. We should always look beyond the person and we might find a true friend. Never judge a book by its cover not even our teachers which might end up helping us. Sometimes they are hard but it’s just to make us stronger.
Elicegui always told me that God was our creator and he would give us and take away things from us. He always told me that we should value what we have right now because we never know when we are going to lose it. For example, when my parents split up I didn’t understand why god was taking one of my parents away from me. I asked myself, was I a bad child? He told me that I had to understand and had to let go and adapt to my new life. At times, I felt like I hated god, but Mr. Elicegui made me realize that god makes things happen for a reason and that something good was going to come out of this problem for me. At last, my parents kept in touch, they kept a friendship and now I have notice that there is still love between my parents and that soon they might end up back together.
After my parents split up I felt useless and bad. I felt like it was my fault. I didn’t want to attend school no more. Mr. Elicegui stop by my house one time and asked me if I was doing well. I told him to go away and that I was not going back to school. I didn’t feel smart or capable of dealing with school work, that’s when Mr. Elicegui stepped in. He pushed me to go back to school and made me realize that I was smart and capable of becoming whoever I wanted to be. He was always by my side, my last year in Middle school until the day that they announced who was going to graduate. I had made it to the honor roll, something that I believed I was not capable of accomplishing. When I started my freshmen year he encourage me to get into a magnet program at Reseda High School called “The Police Academy.” Which I did, I joined and it was a great experience in where I met life time friends that are always by my side on good and bad moments. I never felt capable of accomplishing all my goals, but know that I’m in college I know I can do whatever I set my mind to.
Teachers are humans just like us even though sometimes we think that they are some kind of evil lunatic. Mr. Elicegui was not only my Math teacher but also my friend and guide. Now I know that god makes decisions that might hurt us but we have to accept them and continue living. I also, understand that I’m a smart person that is capable of accomplishing my goals in life, event though I didn’t believe that before. We should always look beyond the person and we might find a true friend. Never judge a book by its cover not even our teachers which might end up helping us. Sometimes they are hard but it’s just to make us stronger.
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