I am from...

I am from the Mp3

From Apple and Sony.

I am from the annoying

Honking cars

To the sight

Of the distant boats.

I am from the wannabe-trees

The plastic, the fake, the outcast of nature.

I am from the family fun night

To family argument night

I am from the not going to church

And playing basketball instead.

I am from “It’s not too late.”

To “there is nothing you can do.”

I am from the faith of God

To the proof of Science

I am from going to Protestant Church,

To Catholic with my mom’s relatives.

I’m from Ecuador,

Where the hot Caldo de Bolas

Are served.

To American,

Where the smell

of fresh made Corndogs

Fill the air.

From the soft ball skills

My grandfather has kept,

The time when we

(The whole family of my dad’s side)

Went to go watch his game,

Meeting people,

I might not remember.

I am from the boxes and small books,

Hidden in the closet,

The pictures which shows

What I once was,

With memories long forgotten,

And hard to remember.

Photos that find their way

To the heart of the tree,

Where they will be safely

Stowed away.

Pray For Japan

The devastating earthquake in Japan was fitful; nobody was expecting such earthquake with such magnitude. Japan is copious when it comes to people, and this has affected the lives of many people not only in Japan, but Worldwide. Other then this 9 magnitude earthquake, it was followed broadly half an hour after, an over 10 meter tsunami that wiped out many areas of Japan.

Many family members who have relatives or friends in Japan have been fastidious with the news and trying to desperately contact them. Most people who watched the news the date of the occurrence, felt a pang of pain for the footage they showed of the people affected, and all the houses being dragged by the tsunami.

The nuclear meltdowns in the nuclear facilities, is said to decelerate Japans economic growth. They also have had electrical shortage due to the fact that these nuclear facilities create most of the energy in Japan. This is why Nuclear Plants are crucial in Japan. The nuclear meltdowns have also caused a 10 mile radius of radiation, and it has been said that the wind may carry the radiation, up to the coast of California, United States. Japan is trying to grapple the situation of the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdowns.

Many rescue and search parties have been deployed in the coasts of Japan and areas affected by the tsunami. Adept doctors have also been sent for the aid of the survivors. This natural disaster has claimed the lives of over 10,000 people. The nuclear meltdowns have caused the evacuation of over 200,000 people.

The Japanese government is trying to keep everything under control, and are taking care of the situation gingerly, and having to make quick decisions. Other countries of the world have also gone to Japans aid, and have volunteered to help Japan get back to its formal self.

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

The significance of The House on Mango Street is that this was the where her new house was located, in which the memoirist-Esperanza-with her mother father, two younger brothers, and sister moved into. Also this was the first house her family had owned, “The house on Mango Street is ours, and we don’t have to pay rent to anybody, or share the yard with the people downstairs, or be careful not to make too much noise, and there isn’t a landlord banging on the ceiling with a broom.” (3) This is where Esperanza spends most of her coming of age years. Mango Street is where she learns life lessons that will help her in the future, and it’s where she creates her ambition of being a free women.

The memoirist of the book is Esperanza, a young Mexican girl who moved into Mango Street. She had to face different coming of age issues such as being self conscious about herself and how she looks, Awareness of sexuality-as in she was noticing boys more, “All night the boy who is a man watches me dance. He watched me dance.” (48).She also had to face situations and problems that she didn’t have full understanding of in the moment, moment she wasn’t ready for and was too young to understand.

The story is set up in chronological order from the time she got onto Mango Street, and each story is set up in vignettes that talk about parts of her life, in which she learned life lessons and discovered who she was. They never specify her age, but the reader can give a good guess on what her age is, depending by the story. The farther into the book you go, the older she becomes and more the more knowledge she acquires, from people she meets along the way.
Esperanza came to find out about herself was that, she wanted to be a free woman, not one that was stuck indoors, but one that could go out when she wanted, she wanted to enjoy life. She also learned other life lessons, watching and experiencing different moments in Mango Street. Mango Street, the people, and her personal experience there have taught her much of the knowledge she has.

This book was interesting at many points to read, it shows you how a person from Mexico can have a hard time living in America, through the eyes of a young teenager growing up. It shows you how people stick to stereotypes and judge people before they know them. Every vignette keeps you thinking on how this is actually happening to people, many of her stories can be related to. It is a really good book; Sandra Cisneros kept the book real and intriguing to read.

two lines I loved were, “In English my name means hope. In Spanish it means too many letters. It mean sadness, it means waiting. It is like the number nine. A muddy color. It is the Mexican records my father plays on Sunday mornings when he is shaving, songs like sobbing.” Pg.10 and, “Those who don't know any better come into our neighborhood scared. All brown all around, we are safe. But watch us drive into a neighborhood of another color and our knees go shakity-shake.” Pg. 28.

I Believe...

I believe in Music,
To calm a person down
Like the ocean,
After a ferocious storm.

I believe that brothers
Can be a pain,
But they always find a way
To teach you something new.

I believe in Patience,
To wait, observe, and listen
Like a predator
Stalking its prey.

I believe that a person
Can’t and doesn’t change,
But just learns
How to act differently.

I believe in creativity,
It creates who you are,
And what you’re going to be.

I Believe that playing a instrument,
Doesn’t only take raw skills
But dedication and time

I believe in taking risks
Even if the out come
May seem bad.

I believe that everyone
Should have a chance
To live life at its full potential

I believe that a beginning always has an end
And the length of it

is variable.

Memories to Remember

Thrown into the interrogation room John sat down on the chair and his head started to hurt. He felt claustrophobia and began to swelter. He never was a big fan of closed rooms. The room had four walls; one of the walls had a big window that he couldn’t see through from his side. In front of the table that he was sitting was placed a chair, which he apprehended that was for the person who was going to interrogate him. Time elapsed slowly and he began to feel as if he was shackled to the room as if he was never going to leave.

Suddenly a thin man wearing a black suit came in with a note book and said, “We are going to ask you a few questions and you must answer them thoroughly. Also we have a lie detector, so don’t even think of lying to us. Now wait till my work partner arrives. Oh and I’m Steven, my partner is Dave.”

5 minutes later another man came in also wearing a black suit. Johns head began to hurt more, and didn’t know why. Then he receives memory of blood and a knife and a silhouette of a person running away, which seemed to be running away from him. John falls off the chair grabbing his head. The two men kneel down and help John up.

“Should we really continue this interrogation, I mean he clearly doesn’t seem to be feeling well, and he has suffered memory loss.”

“Well, his wife did hit him with a baseball bat in the head, because he was trying to kill her.” John watches as the two men murmured between each other, his headache has seized, and he was able to remember vague things that he had forgotten. “Was he really trying to kill someone, did he succeed, who did he try to kill?” these were the questions he was thinking of. His mind was in a state of anarchy, he had no clue what was going on. Then Steve began to interrogate him and later Dave also did the same, but they weren’t able to get anything.

“It’s imminent that he will recover those memories, but we must help him remember them.” Whispers Steven to Dave.

“All he remembers was that he was hit really hard by something. He also remembers that he was arraigned, but he was clueless of what. His doctors said that little by little he will first uncover vague and small memories, and later he will recall the scene. Maybe if we take him to his house he would be able to recall the scene.” Says Dave.

“Good Idea.” Responded Dave (Him and Steven almost never have dissensions which is why they are one of the best work partners), and tells John that they were taking him home. When they go inside the house, John noticed that the place they called “His House” was completely calamitous. It was completely bizarre that John didn’t remember even though he was in the actual crime scene he had caused, but suddenly while they were walking next to a sports store John saw a baseball bat and his head began to ache. Then he remembered the bat he had given his wife when they were at a baseball game, and it got signed by the player he lionized. This was the same bat she used to him in the head. Then he remembered that he has conspired to kill his own wife, because she was driving him insane, and getting him mad.

Once again Dave and Steve meticulously helped him up, but then John made a run for it, he had been caught and it was imminent that he was going to go to jail and going to jail was the last thing he wanted. He ran as fast as he could and lost Dave and Steve, and assimilated into the multitude of people. There was a killer on the loose…

The Dispute

“You guys have to be likes Samuel! He always does his homework and gets A’s!” My Mom says directing it to my brother and me. He is being lionized once again eating pounds of ice cream and watching T.V. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was grinning right now, because he knew we would be grounded and he would be able to use my Computer (Which I will hide).
“Mom, HE is in THIRD GRADE and I’m in EIGHTH GRADE don’t you expect things to be harder in my grade, and look this test grade is just a B+ yeah I probably could have done better, but I wasn’t well prepared.” I say
“Yeah, because you’re always chatting on Skype instead of doing HW, and you always tell me that your done doing homework AND studying.” I knew if I kept this dissension was going to keep going and the outcome was going to be negative, so all I did was say that I was sorry for not studying properly… bla bla bla. This wasn’t enough she was going to come back later, but for now it was all SHE needed to hear.
Next was my brother Zachary’s turn, He has to fend for himself. My mom is already mad at me enough, and hiding homework deserves a big consequence. I meticulously place my ear on my brother’s room door, and listen to my mom talk to him seriously about not hiding his homework and things like that. I got bored after a while and decided I wanted to go take a walk in Multicentro.
“Hey Mom can I go to Multicentro?” I ask
“Yeah, Yeah you can do whatever you want!” She answered, yeah she is still mad, but she said yes.
I go to the movie theater and assimilated into the line of people waiting to buy tickets and left when I got to the counter. I just remembered that I left my money at home.

"Damn I have to return home now..." I say to myself, and walk out into the sidewalk of the streets.

Wordly Wise

Mobs of angry citizens filled the roads throwing rocks, sticks, and many different house-hold items. Guards were being overwhelmed; the Kingdom was in a state of anarchy. The more Corrupt the kingdom is becoming, this is what we have conspired. This is where it all begins….John had planned this all along; he managed to convince a whole nation that it was time to over-power the blood-thirsty king. This King was the one who made unfair laws; he was the one who executed the ones who didn’t follow his orders. They all feared the King, but the time had come for everyone to take action.
John had no mother and father, they were both executed right before his eyes when he was just merely 4 years old, and anything close to family was his best-friend Bob, who was like a brother to him (whose parents were also killed). They both hated the King with burning passion, but never have been able to do anything about it… well until now that he has the whole nation against the kings and the lords. John and Bob had trained and studied hard since they were 10 (now their 18), patiently waiting for John to avenge the death of all the innocent lives the King has taken.
Shortly after John turned 18, Bob got really sick. He asked the King (even though he hated him), to give him the cure, but the King would only give it to him for a price, a really high price, and John didn’t have that kind of money. Then came the day when Bob died, leaving John isolated and alone, he had lost everything that was dear to him. He wasn’t just going to stand there and watch more people die. He took action. He convinced most of the Kingdoms citizens to start riots, to fight back the King. All the citizens and John conspired against the King, and decided to attack at dawn.
John was using the riot as a distraction for the King, he was planning to get rid of the King himself, but this he could not tell anyone, the King was going to die by his hand for killing the people he loved and cared for. Telling the citizens would cause them to get in his way and the more people in the actual riot the better.
Time elapsed slowly, but finally came the time for the riot to start. All the Citizens charged to the Kings temple, the managed to break down the gates. Guards came charging with weapons in hand. Citizens with weapons were up front and fought of the guards. While the others tried to break down the Kings Temples door. While all of this was happening John was trying to break in on the other side. He had planned it out with Bob, but he wasn’t there at the moment, so he had to improvise. Most of the temples roof was made out of glass, so John found a way to get to the top of the roof, and with a rock broke the glass. He gets into the temple and lands on a marbled tile floor. He had never seen such floor before, but he knew it wasn’t time to get distracted he had to go search for the King. He searched the temple stealthily, so that he wouldn’t be found by the Kings guards. He knew he was getting closer as he noticed that the security was getting tighter. Until he finally saw a giant red door, which imminently indicated where the King was.
He assassinated the two guards guarding the door and entered the Kings room. As he entered the room he saw the Kings throne and the King sitting on it. The King seemed calm even with all the commotion outside. Something also troubled John, the King was wielding to swords ready to duel.
“You have wanted to kill me for a very long time.” Says the King, as he throws one of the swords at John, for him to catch.
“Yes, and I will succeed!” He yells out loud as he charges the King with anger in his eyes, hatred in his heart, seeking revenge for what he has taken. As John brought the sword down on to the King, The King skillfully stopped it with his. The battle went on, it seemed endless, but John had lots of Stamina, and was going to do what it takes to kill the King. The King suddenly became tired and this was John’s chance to kill him…
“Father!” yelled out a little boy. The boy reminded John of himself when he was little and how his parents were executed in front of his very young eyes. He could do the same to the Kings son, but he knew better, he knew he couldn’t bring himself down to the Kings level. The Kingdom had successfully overthrown the throne. They shackled the King in jail for a life sentence. His kid became Johns son, and everyone nominated John to become the new ruler of the kingdom.