Sunday, October 31, 2010

The "Dawn", wrote by Tim Wynne-Jones




The story called the “Dawn” is written by Tim Wynne-Jones. This story was cute but heartbreaking at the same time. It was cute from beginning then at the end of the story was sad. This story revolves around a boy named Barnsey, but his real name is Matthew. He met a girl named Dawn, that’s why the story is called the “Dawn.”
                I want to know what kind of store that Barnsey’s parents own. I wonder why he is so against someone weird. There is nothing wrong with people being weird, it’s not people’s fault that they are weird. I am weird girl, and I love being one. I wonder why the mother kept buying Barnsey a lot of junks even though she is strict with food at the most of time. It seems that the mother was worried about Barnsey going on the trip without her. Why would the mother let her son go alone on the trip at age of thirteen? If it was up to me, I wouldn’t let my kid go until they are at least 15 years old. It’s dangerous to let young teenagers wander alone in this unsafe world.
When Dawn looked at the ingredient of the chips, and saying that it was full of chemical, it made me think that she is from area that eats healthy food. Why would Barnsey’s mother send him away to grandma without letting him know that she is divorcing his dad? If my mom did that to me, I will be totally devastated and might hate my mom for it. I thought it was wonderful of Dawn writing a note and put in her cd then hid it in Barnsey’s backpack.
                I found two things that I could relate in this story. First one is that when I was seventeen years old, I went on train trip alone through nine states. I went on trip to go to Youth Leadership Camp, YLC. The only way to go was on train, and my parents did not want me to fly because it cost more than train trip. I remember that it was wonderful experience of going through many states and learning how to get by on my own in two days.
                The second one is that Dawn is a vegetarian, and I could relate to it because I am a vegetarian. I have been a vegetarian for almost three years. When the date of December 16th arrives, then it will be three year anniversary of being a vegetarian. I only eat seafood, nothing else. I never really liked eating meat in my entire life because I hated the texture, taste, and look of the meat. They feel gross when I eat them, and I keep finding tendons, bones, vein, and unidentifiable things in the meat. I just find it gross eating meat, that’s why I am a vegetarian.
                The story was okay, there was something that I could relate to. I liked the part where Dawn put the note in the cd. I liked it when Dawn speaks with her British accent. Her accent makes the story sounds interesting, and livelier.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

"Bad Influence," by Judith Ortiz Cofer




       
        The story inside the “Leaving Home” I read is called the “Bad Influence,” and it was written by Judith Ortiz Cofer. I thought this story was hilarious. There were many phrases that made me laugh. I think this story was the best one so far from the book. I was so into this story that I have read through fast from page 63 to 90! The length of this story was just right for me, it is not too short or too long.
I wondered why it was so bad if Rita hung out with guys. Is it in their culture that girls have to go with a guys that her parents chosen for her? I wanted to know what exactly is wrong with Ramon the rooster. Papa says that the rooster can’t tell the difference between day and night. Is Ramon is not normal functionally rooster? Or he is just like that?
I agreed with Rita’s statement on how could the sick girl be so sad when she has a wonderful view of the beach? Maybe the girl was abused by her mother’s boyfriend? Since Rita’s grandma says that she felt the evil aura from the girl’s mother’s boyfriend. This is what I would assume about the girl. Also there might be evidence of abuse because the grandma says that she saw bruise on girl’s arm.
I wonder what does it feels like sensing evil spirits, souls, and things related to it. It’d be horrible to be aware of evil spirits, souls, and other things all the time. For sure, I would rather to be normal human being with only 4 senses.
I thought it was wonderful of Rita being friends with the sick girl. The sick girl’s name is Angela, and she is an anorexic. It was wonderful of Papa to help with Angela, getting her mother to throw out the boyfriend out of the house. Ever since that, Angela have been gaining little bit of weight and looks better. This further confirms that Angela was abused.
Ever since the book is really hilarious, and truly enjoyable to read I would like to know if the author wrote more stories. I went online to see if she wrote more books, and it turns out that she does. I’d like to check out some of her books someday. It’s the best one so far in the “Leaving Home.”

Thursday, October 21, 2010

The Circuit, wrote by Francisco Jiménez


Francisco Jiménez wrote the story called “The Circuit”. The story was kind of heartbreaking but it is a good story though. It is also pretty short but it is enjoyable reading material. It’s something that you would continue reading after first page of the story.

            I looked at the Spanish words and to see if I know any of it because I took Spanish class for one semester in my senior year. But unfortunately, I do not know what any of these words means. These words are: ‘Ya esora’, ‘Carcanchita’, ‘listo’, ‘mi olla’, ‘es todo’,’tienen que tener cuidado’, ‘vámonos’, quince’, and ‘carne con chile’.

So I decided to look it up on Spanish to English translation, and the translation may not always be right but you get the idea what it means. ‘Ya esora’ is not translatable, but from what I see, it seems to mean ready or time to go. ‘Carcanchita’ is an affectionate nickname being given to a car. ‘Listo’ means ready, ‘mi olla’ means ‘my pot.’ ‘Es todo’ means ‘that’s all’ in English. ’Tienen que tener cuidado’ means ‘we have to be careful.’ ‘Vámonos’ means ‘let’s go’ and ‘quince’ means ‘fifteen.’ Lastly, ‘carne con chile’ means ‘chili with meat.’

            I am glad that I decided to look it up because it made the story clearer because I now know what these words mean. I want to know why not the boy in the story goes to school right way instead of waiting for the grape season to be over? Why not let his older brother take over the grape picking and let his little brother to go to school? I wonder what happens if they boy did not hide from the school bus? Will his parents get in trouble for it?

            Why would they move to Fresno? Is the economy better there? Why would the boy’s father think that the previous owner of the car is a good man based on the blue necktie? Why would the boy’s mother proud of the old pot and get even more prouder when it get more banged up? That sounds crazy. If it was I, I would have threw it away. I wonder where did the boy’s mother learn English? Is it her native language before she learned Spanish? Why did the author leave the ending like that?

            I thought it was horrible of the man to give the family a run-down garage as a home. It is barely holding itself up and is infested with termites. It talks about drinking too much water could make you sick. I know pretty well about this because I have experienced it when I drank too much after basketball game, I felt horrible because too much water in one drink. Also you could die from drinking too much, it is called water poisoning.

            Also it talked about how the boy was very sore after working all day in the field. That he was sore for a while then finally got used to workload. I could relate to him because I workout everyday in the Field House building. I get sore every time I up the weight, but when I get used to it, then I am not sore anymore. So I totally understand how the boy feels.

            I thought it was wonderful that the boy finally could go to school as a sixth grade student because the grape season is over. The grape season is over in the first week of November. But I felt bad about Roberto not able to go to school because he still has to work in cotton season, which is not over until February. It was sad that the boy was so overwhelmed in the class because he knows only basic English. I thought the teacher was very nice to help him with English and this made the boy excited to go back to school because he knows that he is going to learn something new.

            I was very disappointed with the end of the story because the boy was so excited that he goes to that school and that he is going to learn music. Which is corridos, it is frequently used in Mexico by everyone. He was so excited that he wanted to tell the good news to his parents but he was let down in the end. Why? When he arrived back home, what he gets is that everything is packed again, this means that he is moving again. I thought it was horrible for him because he only got a taste of middle school for one day.

            I learned a lot from this book, mostly on Spanish words and terms. Also learning the name of chili and music that Mexicans eat and uses. I gained little more knowledge of Spanish words, I am planning to take Spanish as my class next semester and this is a good way to start learning some Spanish. I am glad that I was hooked at first page of the story and kept reading to the end.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

"Rules of the Game," by Amy Tan


             

            The story called the “Rules of the Game,” is the one I am blogging today. The story was written by Amy Tan, and the story is really long. It has tons of details, information, and descriptions. Once you read this story, you will be kind of overwhelmed by everything.
            There are several things I do not know, things such as: Prawns, sanddabs, so I looked them up on the website. Prawns are similar to shrimps, and sanddabs are the fish that lays bottom of the ocean, their eyes are on one side. They lay on their side, waiting for any prey for them to eat. They blend themselves with sand. If you want to check out on what they look like, go to below of this blog to see the links to pictures.
This story is very detailed and long. Personally, I think the story is too detailed that it lost me halfway into the story. Especially the part where the author described the chess strategies and its rules.
When the girl, Meimei, say she’s seven in America but 8 in Chinese, this made me wonder how it works. Like, if I am 18 in America, then that mean I am 19 in Chinese? The story also mentioned that Vincent, Meimei’s brother, has deaf ears. Does that mean he always ignores people?
Why would the mother name her daughter as, Meimei, Waverly Place Jong? I think that is silly to name her daughter after Waverly Place. I could understand if she named her daughter only Waverly Jong.
I want to know why Meimei’s mom is very explicated in details. Such as saying that the girl was hit by the cab and “was smashed flat.” (Tan, 1997, p. 39) She also told her daughter that Chinese do torture people. Why tell this to 7-8 years old girl? Are Chinese very open-minded people?
When the mother and daughter mentioned about Chinese torture, that made me think of my conversation with my friend. We were talking about Chinese torture, and it was of dripping water on the bind person’s forehead all day, all night, driving the person crazy. This is a psychological torture, well it seemed to me that it is psychological. This torture is called Chinese Water Torture. It is said that after a while, this could cause people having mental retardation. Also, there are picture listed below of torture equipment.
I thought it was wonderful that a young girl loves to play chess. This shows that even a young child could play very well if the game is in their interest area. I thought it was hilarious that Meimei used many excuses to get out of something or get her ways. Such as getting her brothers move out of the bedroom, or not eating all of her supper. This really is normal behavior of young kids.
Seeing that Meimei’s language is very good while her mother doesn’t. I think that Meimei’s mother was born and raised in Chinese. Then she moved to Chinatown in San Francisco, while Meimei was born and raised in Chinatown. It also makes me think that Meimei goes to American’s school.
I can kind of relate to Meimei on her mother showing her off. My mom does that most of the time with the people and me. Sometimes this bothers me because I do not want my mom to make people mad at me. Sometime I tell my mom to shout up. Yes, I actually do say shut up to my mom.
I thought the end of this story was very strange. I wonder why Meimei imagined her opponent as her mother? I never could imagine my mom as my opponent even if I was mad at her.
This story was not bad, it just was too detailed for me and my eyes. I kept reading on the same lines over and over. But this story made me want to learn more about Chinese’s ages to American’s ages. That’s one positive thing about this story.

Prawn picture:

Sanddabs picture:
http://www.eatsforone.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/citharichthys_sordidus.jpg

Chinese torture picture:

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

"The Gift of Laughter" by Allan Sherman



This story is called “The Gift of Laughter,” wrote by Allan Sherman. It was a cute story where the son, Robert, wanted his dad, Allan, to approve his art. But Allan was mad because he was having a important conversation with his wife. Robert was very upset, and left to his bedroom. In the end, they both forgave each other.
I was impressed that Allan decided to stop his conversation to pick up the art picture. Then visiting his son to get Robert to forgive him and telling his son that he thought the art was wonderful. I fell in love at the part where Allan decided to go with hi son out of the house. That Allan is taking Robert to shopping to get frame, so Allan can get the art framed.
I think the title of this story relates to Allan’s childhood where his family laughed. Also Allan’s mother laughed when Allan thought that his grandma needed football while she actually wanted was a fruit bowl. His childhood was full of laughter.
How come Allan was so stressed out that Robert was screaming? It seemed that his son always are noisy. When I read the part where grandma has a deep Yiddish accent, I wondered where exact in the foreign country was she from? I wonder which parts in the story does the “Gift” in the title applies to? I could not find it.
I totally understood the 13th-22nd lines on page 31. I could understand how Robert felt because I cry all the time and having hard time to stop. For example, when I was little girl, I got in trouble because of my friend. She is at Gallaudet University too, and I have known her for 13 years. She got me in trouble and this made the houseparent to place me in my dorm bedroom for time-out. When I was placed in my bedroom, I cried a lot. I attempted to stop crying. But I couldn’t because every time I think about me being in trouble, I cry. So I could relate to that part very well.
I also can relate to where Robert gave the art to Allan just because Allan is his father. I drew a lot when I was little girl. I always gave my arts to my parents because I loved them so much. I still do that to this day, only the difference is that I am better at drawing than I was in back then.
Once again, this story was very cute to read. I can read this story again and again, never worrying about getting bored with the story. I love this story very much, and I will always think about this story when I have children in the future.