Table of Content

Table of Content

Tattoo You: I described a Sea Turtle Tattoo and the real 

meaning behind the tattoo.

Community Profile Interview: Here are the question to and answers from the person I interviewed.

Wiki Quote Sandwich: A quote from Wikispace on the novel, "The Tortilla Curtain."

Book Out Of My Past:  This is a post about a book I read in my freshmen year in high school. I give a short introduction about the book.

Two Truths One Lie: Try to guess which of these short paragraphs is a lie about me.

 Twilight Zone Assignment (Eye of the Beholder): A short summary about my thoughts and opinions on what this episode was trying to convey.  

Twilight Zone Assignment: Eye of the Beholder

     In the episode of the “Twilight Zone,” we see how discrimination takes place in society. We notice this with Janet Taylor and the staff at the hospital, and how she tries so hard just to fit in. It is an interesting episode, because the people who are “normal” have deformed faces and Janet does not, which makes her ugly. She goes through eleven surgeries just to try to get people to like her but it does not work. It relates to real life, because people always try to fit in with someone by changing their aspects. It relates to my personal life, because I was doing the same thing, when people would make fun of my cultural background. We see the discrimination take action, when the man on the television says how it is time to separate the people into two groups. And how Janet does not find it right that people should be put into groups. In our society people discriminate on how you are physically, mentally, and just being you in general. Maybe someday in the future, there will be a day where there will be just one category that states humanity as just humans in our society.

Two Truths One Lie

Two Truths One Lie

          I'm an only child, my friends and cousins are always telling me how lucky I am. I honestly don't feel very lucky to be a lonely child. This is because it gets really boring to have no one else to talk to, besides my parents. I'm not saying my parents aren't very interesting, I'm just saying that as a kid I had no one to play with or get in trouble with. That is just plain sad, I would have preferred to have someone to get in trouble with or just hang out with at home.

         I come from a Purepecha family and I love my customs. I enjoy to watch and dance our traditional dance, it's called “La Danza de Los Viejitos.” Every year on December, the Purepecha community gets together to make the preparations for the traditional dance. Our dance is a way to thank the Virgin Mary for everything she has done on that year and the celebration of the birth of baby Jesus.

        Some of my hobbies are sketching, listening to music, and watching anime. I enjoy drawing anime characters the most though, from the animes that I have watched. My favorite kind of music recently is Kpop, which stands for Korean Pop, and my favorite boy band is called BTS. Then there is anime, I don't have a favorite anime because it is to hard to actually pick one.

        

Book Out of My Past

          The book I want to share is titled, "Go Ask Alice." The author of the book is anonymous, but it is sold by Simon and Schuster. I read this book when I was towards the end of my freshmen year in high school. I read it both at home and school for a final book report. My English teacher, at that time, had introduced it to the class and recommended her students to read the book. She gave a brief summary about it and caught my attention. She said it would be a great experience to see the life of someone who has a hard time giving up on drugs. And how the struggle is really real. This book is about a teenage girl named Alice, who is addicted to drugs and has a very dramatic life. It is more like her diary, a real life diary, meaning that it is a true story. It goes on about her life with drugs, and how she struggles to give them up. I remember this book because, it is very interesting and is one of the first books I read that involved drugs. My favorite part was when Alice was at a party late at night, and the guy she was interested in was also there. She wanted to talk to him, but didn't have the guts to go up to him and start a conversation, until she took some pills for motivation. After talking and dancing for a while, they both decided to get high in one of the rooms of the house and than something unexpected had occurred. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone in class, it is a really good book. It is very detailed and once you start reading it you wouldn't want to put it down, till the end.

Wiki Quote Sandwich

Quote Sandwich

America is our MVP. This is because she is a very strong young women who is exploring a totally different area form what she is used too. She has too face many struggles to reach her dreams and aspirations. When she heads off to Canoga Park with Candidio, she notices the people and places that remind her of her hometown in Tepoztlan, maybe even a paradise: “And when it came to the furniture store-the couches and settees and rigs and elegant lamps all laid out like in the Hollywood movies-Candido couldn't budge her.”(203). Even after all the hardships she has to gone through, and still has to face. She still has hope to reach all of her desired goals. We can see that she is a fighter who is willing to do anything to obtain her long dreamed treasures.  

Community Profile Interview

Questions for Interview

1. How did they convince you to work in the U.S?

It was another regular afternoon, as I saw my father coming home from work. He had his orange long sleeve shirt on, along with his denim blue jeans and working shoes. He was caring his tool belt and left on a brown chair as he was coming toward the door. I asked him how his day was as he was coming inside the house, and he said “Bien hija, gracias a Dios.” I was glad to hear him say that, and I smiled at him. I was working on a math assignment and noticed my father smile as he was headed to his bedroom. When he came back out, he told me he was proud of me for deciding to continue my education. I then asked him how he was convinced to come here in the Coachella Valley. He sighed and said in Spanish,  “Nobody convinced me. I had to go. It was an obligation, a necessity.”

2. What were your first thoughts on the idea?

I immediately understood why he said that. He grabbed the chair next to me, and sat down. He then said, still speaking to me in Spanish,“You know, I was honestly scared the first time I came here. I didn't know what to expect once I would get to the other side of the border.” I looked at him, ready to hear him tell me how he got here. I stopped working on my last question and decided to close my notebook. I knew he was about to tell me his story.

3. What was the most challenging thing that occurred to you?

At this point I was all ears, ready to hear his story. That was not the case, though. He was already getting up from his chair, until I asked him the most difficult thing that occurred to him here. He sat back down, and said  “One of the most challenging things for me was understanding and speaking Spanish. I understood more than I could speak.” He then started laughing, which startled me.

4. How did you learn to speak and understand Spanish?

I asked him, why he was laughing. He stopped laughing and said, “I learned to speak Spanish, by listening to the Spanish speaking Mexicans around me at work and where I was living. Of course, I still don't know how to speak Spanish correctly, but I can speak enough of it to have a conversation with someone.” I then said, “What is so funny about that?” He said he had just realized how he learned to speak Spanish. I just giggled as he said that.

5. How did you face with discrimination?

I wanted to ask him a more serious question, but I felt that it would change the atmosphere of this conversation. I asked anyway. I asked him how he faced discrimination. As I asked him this question, I noticed how his face expression changed to a more serious one. For a moment, I was worried. He then smiled and said, “I didn't really do anything about it. All I thought about was my family and the future that I had planned for them and myself.” I was surprised when he answered the question with a smile, but at the same time, I was glad that it wasn’t a very acquired question for him to answer.

6. Did you ever feel unworthy? Why or why not?

At this point, I thought he was done answering my question. I was wrong. He got up from the chair, and headed towards the window. The sun was about to go down. He started talking, only this time; he talk to me in the Purepecha language and said,“I'm not going to lie. I did feel like I wasn't going to make anything for myself sometimes. When I was young I would sometimes cry myself to sleep. I missed my parents back home. It was really hard for me to get used to so much change, but I knew that this was all for the best deep inside.” and smiled. The last part made me realize even more, how much my dad went through. It was something that I will always keep in mind. It reassured me that anything really is possible to accomplish.

Tattoo You

          

            We live in a world of time, where we have little time to explain who we are. Many people find ways to show their identities through tattoos. The covering of ink on the skin, can represent a little more about the person. Of course, that is not always the case. Sometimes, it can just help us identify something they like or support. Anyways, time is something we all desire, and the women with the sea turtle tattoo tells us just that. She explains to us that she is looking forward to a long slow life full of a great amount of good luck. Since ancient times, symbols have been used to represent some sort of explanation about the past and past lives. It seems to be the same thing with tattoos, but instead of explaining something about the past, it explains a little more about an individual.

            The ladies tattoo is located on her left back shoulder. The design is of a sea turtle and on the turtle's back shell, there is a peace symbol that is located on its upper right side. The rest of its body and shell is covered in stars, and the color of the tattoo is made up of black ink. I suppose that she picked the color black because of its symbolic meaning, which represents strength, seriousness, power, and authority. It is also a formal and elegant color. A sea turtle in Hawaii is a symbolic meaning of a long life and good luck. Implying, that this woman hopes to live a long life full of great luck. Anyone that hopes to be in any kind of relationship with her, will know what kind of life she wants to have in store. It also explains a little more about what kind of person she is or she is looking for.