This is Me

                                                                    Playing Bass

Playing Bass is my favorite thing to do in my free time. And of course, it is my all time favorite hobby. In my family, I happen to play bass and also so does my godfather.  But, there is a big difference, He has been playing bass guitar for about 15 years and I’ve been playing for only 4 months, a huge difference.

            Sometimes, I’m considered to be a nice and smooth person. That’s just the same way I play bass, nice and smooth. But, if I haven’t been playing my bass in quite a long time, then that’s when I’ll get rough. I’ll pluck the freaking string so hard that it will feel good hitting the right notes and making the sound extremely awesome. That’s just me when it comes to playing bass guitar, just like a homeless man craving for food.

Then there’s my godfather who is an awesome bassist. Compared to me, I’m just an amateur and he’s an expert. I’m the baby learning how to walk while he the toddler running, skipping and jumping everywhere.  I’m only plucking the strings while he’s plucking, and slapping and popping the strings. His brothers and him used to be in a Spanish Rock band and I’m just the single bassist. When it comes to playing bass, my godfather is a beast. I’ve seen him play before and sometimes, I don’t even know what notes he’s playing because he’s just so fast. But soon, I’ll be just like him, I’ll be the toddler running, skipping, and jumping everywhere.

             

I’m in the Oven

 

The intense heat rushing throughout the Bay Area. I live in Oakland, very close to the ocean, but still I feel like if I’m in the desert. It’s at 95 degrees and I’m dying. Lazy, not wanting to do nothing the extreme hot weather is hitting me like the shock of freshly-lit charcoal on my dad’s grill.

The heat slaps me in the face, making me dizzy. It makes me move a lot; I don’t know what to do with myself. I’m in the mood for going for a swim. Only that would end my laziness of not wanting to do anything.

At this point, I do not want to be I’m my house. My only option is to go outside where the heat is not locked in my home like a prisoner in his cell. Being outside with dad, mom and my sister will make me feel better.

“Yo dad, get out the watermelon from the refrigerator so we can enjoy it.” And so he did. We might as well finish it and not let it the heat kill it. We enjoyed as we talked about the good times like ever before. “Ugh! I hate this F-ing weather” my sister said. Yes agree with her. The day would be a perfect day only if it was like 15 degrees lower. Until then I’m miserable. I can’t even sleep. The intense heat is driving me crazy day and night. I feel like I’m in the oven. If I can’t handle this heat, I sure wouldn’t handle being in Arizona with my uncle. He’s lucky enough to have a built in swimming pool. And all I can think about is being in refrigerator. I cant do nothing to change this weather, I just have to deal with it. 



Pandillas en East Oakland

 

 East Oakland is where I stay. Home to three Latino gangs, Border Brothers (BBs), Nortenos (chaps, Nortes, X4) and Surenos (X3). Yea I Know about this. I’ve been around Nortes and Border Brothers before, but I’m not gang affiliated. Yea I know the gangs signs, but won’t throw em up where I stay at. I might get shot and killed.

Sometimes I don’t feel safe walking late at night through my neighborhood where many guys who are mainly Nortes are out there posting like they own the street. Yea I’ve been threatened before by a Norte by wearing black. This may be crazy but it is.

I don’t really have a closet filled with bright color T- shirts. For example, I don’t really have red or blue T-shirts because I run the risk of being threatened by a Norte, BB, or a Sureno. When I go shopping I avoid buying t-shirts that are blue or red. If I did, obviously, I would standout to gang banger. If I were to wear a red T-shrirt, I will standout like the British.

Gunshots at night or even in the plain day. Those gunshots are not only from pistols like 9mmthat are shot manually, but there are gunshots being shot by automatic guns like Uzis. Yes this Is tough living in a city where all this shit happens. Drive bys near my house and all I can say is “DAMN”.  Gangs shoot and kill to prove a point. That point is states to not mess with them. This aint a surprise for me, This is just  East  Oakland, and I got to deal with it.

Sketches

I love to draw. Other than playing bass, drawing is my big time hobby. My hobby of drawing is way stronger than my hobby of playing bass. Drawing is one of those things that help me a lot with my emotions. For example, if I’m mad, drawing will help me release my anger.

I guess some people consider me as a good drawer. I don’t, but I’m confident that I’m good enough to compete against others. Animation is my thing. I hope to major in it. I know that I can because I just love to draw. My inspiration was Dragon Ball z, my all time favorite cartoons. Considered to be epic animation. Drawing is my favorite thing to do and someday, I’ll be famous for my work.

TREES

The word trees come out a lot in The House on Mango Street, and this of course must have an important significance towards Esperanza’s life. While reading the vignettes that show trees, there is a pattern going on and every time, the meaning of the symbol tree is getting much closer to being discovered. At first, it was hard to catch the meaning of trees in the vignettes, that is why rereading the sentences before it mentions trees and after it mentions trees was the way to find what it means in each vignette. In the end, all of the “results” would come together to make the final significance of trees.

On page 74, there’s almost an obvious answer of what trees mean and is the starting point to the investigation of what trees mean. This quote is very important toward Esperanza and what she is feeling. The quote says: "Four skinny trees with skinny necks and pointy elbows like mine. Four who do not belong here but are here." This quote is important because Esperenza compares herself with the trees, she says that the trees do ot belong there but are there. IN one way, Esperanza is sort of simmilar to that. Shes where she is because shes there and of courres wishes that she would be somewhere else. For example, her dream house.

I think that the main important quote that basically shows the meaning of trees is on page 97. This qoute shows  alot of emotion, which is part of the meaning toward trees. This important qoute happens is about Esperanza and waht she's feelling. 

And then i dont know whybut i had to run away. I had to hide myself at the other end of the garden, in the jungle part, under a tree that wouldnt mind if i lay down and cried a long time.        

   The tree is somewhat a comfort palce for Esperanza when she feel sad. The quote is obviously showing that. But, this qoute is alos the misssing piece of the puzzle to now detremine what trees signifies. In the end, th tree shows isolation. Trees show isolation of Esperanza and discomfort in her own enviorment. The tree signifies Esperanza being an outsider in a way where she is embarassd from where she comes from.

The book The House on Mango Street By Sandra Cisneros is written to show something very important about the theme, but at the same time, the main point of each vignette is written with symbols. As you read it, you won’t realize what the symbols are and what they represent. Of course, I read the book and did not notice the symbols. But after re-reading the book, and reading the vignettes more than twice, then that’s when I’ll notice the significance of the symbols in the vignettes.

In the vignette, “My Name” happens to be an important one and the symbol of that vignette is are windows and so is for the other vignettes: No Speak English, Rafaela, and Sally. First of all, In “My Name”, there is a quote that tells a lot. “She looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow…Ezperanza. I have inherited her name, but I don’t want to inherit her place by the window.”  The window here symbolizes only way out toward a better life. Since there must be no way out then the window is small, very hard to get through. The fact of sitting their sadness on an elbow just shows waiting, Waiting for a chance towards better life. Esperanze’s name means hope and this quote show somewhat of hope.

 In “No Speak English” the window is something sort of similar to the other vignette of My Name.  This shows the reason to not advance. Well In the U.S, whether you’re you don’t speak English or not, it will always affect you. In this Vignette, the window represents. No will. The will not to go further. The quote that shows this is “…or afraid of English. She wont come down, She sits all day by the window and plays the Spanish radio show…” The window in this vignette also symbolizes homesick.

Cilie and Nettie

                                    Celie and Nettie

In Alice Walker’s novel The Color Purple, there are two very important characters that play a big role in this story. Those characters are Celie and Nettie, African American sisters. They both share similarities and big differences. Their main difference was that they both went through a very rough childhood. They then went through separate ways leading to very different ways of life which change who they are completely.

Celie has gone through a lot that’s stuck with her for most of her life. To start off, she was sexually abused at a young age by her step father. She was raped because her mother did not want to have sex with Celie’s step dad because she knew that she would end up pregnant. Cilie’s mom could not withstand another pregnancy. Celie describes her situation in brutal detail in the first letter of the novel.

“You gonna do what your mammy wouldn’t…Then he push his thing inside my pussy. When that hurt, I cry. He starts to choke me, saying you better shut up and get used to it.” (1)

This experience was very brutal for her. She even says that she feels sick every time.  This quote shows her disgust towards herself. This did not happen once but twice and Celie got pregnant twice by her step father. Not only that, but when she was in labor and gave birth to her child, her father gave one of them away. “He took my other little baby, a boy this time, But I don’t think he kilt it. I think he sold it to a man and his wife over at Monticello” (3) This just shows that her father was cruel enough to sell Cilie’s baby and make her suffer again. That’s just another experience she won’t forget.

           

Celie then marries Mr.___ and once again lives a horrible life. Mr.___ married Celie not because of love, but because he needed a wife to take care all of his children. Almost throughout the whole novel, Celie does not stand up for herself and must do everything that Mr.___ tells her to do. Celie does not have a voice in Mr.___ home. “Harpo ast why his daddy why he beat me (Celie) Mr.___ say, cause she my wife. Plus she stubborn…he beast me like he beat the children.”(22) Celie is beaten only because she is Mr.___ wife. Her being beat only because he Mr.___ wife, just shows that she has no voice in Mr.___ home. She says that when she receives the beatings from him, she makes herself like wood and takes the beatings. That shows how strong she is. Another thing that Celie has to go through in her everyday life is to do everything Mr.___ tells her to do. Whether she does it or not, she still might receive a beating from Albert just for the hell of it.

           

Throughout the entire novel, there is someone very important to Celie and also helps Celie change. That person is Shug Avery. Shug is a very important woman to Celie because she brings hopes up. It is said to be that Celie survives being with Albert only when Shug stays with them. Well this is because Albert loves Shug and not Celie. Celie is just a useful person.

“Pretty soon it be time for Shug to go…one day she say to me well. Miss Cilie, I believe it time for me to go…she come over and put her hand on my shoulder. He beat me when you not here…what he beat you for? For being me and not you.”  (76)

This shows that Mr.___ beats Celie only for who she is. Celie takes care of his children and does everything she’s told to do. And what it looks like,Mr___’s thank you is a hit to the face. Since Shug Avery stays in Mr.___’s home, Mr.___ pays all his attention towards her and not Cilie, Which is why Cilie says she receives the beating for being who she is and not Shug Avery.

            One thing that really affects Cilie is when Albert has “sexual relations” with her. In one of the letters, Cilie talks to Shug of what she feel when this happens.

“Most times, I pretend I aint there…Just do his business, get off, go to sleep…She start to laugh(Shug) do his business, she say…you make it sound like he going to the toilet on you. That what it feel like, I say. (77)

This is important because it shows what Celie feels when Mr.___ has sexual reactions with her. This has happened with her dad. So she basically knows what it feels like. But, the fact that she still lives day after day even though she’s treated like crap,  just happens to show her determination of trying to live better.

             Nettie on the other hand, Is much different than her sister Celie when it comes to explain their lives. Celie and Nettie went through rough childhoods. Sometimes your childhood can be similar to what your future would be like. For example, there’s Celie. But, with Nettie it’s different. Destiny chose Nettie to live a better life unlike her sister Celie.

           

Unlike Celie who is like a servant instead of a wife, Nettie is missionary that is living in Africa with a caring couple who cares for her...

“Corrine and Samuel and the Children are part of a group of people called missionaries…they feel they were born for missionary work in Africa. We’ve been together. They’ve been like a family to me.” (129)

Apparently, Nettie feels that she now has a family who cares for her. She’s has a rough childhood without the support of a loving mother and father. Probably, if she wouldn’t have met Corrine and Samuel, then she would have ended up like her sister Celie, miserable. Do to this, Nettie is also very independent.

Unlike Celie, Nettie is much braver and fights back. First of all, Albert doesn’t love Celie at all. He loves Nettie. On day, Nettie goes to see Celie and she’s welcomed by Mr.___. So then Nettie was off to school. Mr.___ starts to creep on her and begins to follow her on his horse. Then all of a sudden, Mr.___ pops out and tries to rape Nettie. But, Nettie defends herself and hits Mr.___ with her books despite the consequences. Celie didn’t know what happened until she read on of the letters that Nettie wrote.

“…He followed me on his horse…After while, I had to rest. And that’s when he got down from his horse and started to try to kiss me, and drag me back into the woods…I started to fight him, I hurt him bad enough to make him let me alone.” (126)

This shows how strong and brave Nettie is and stands up for herself. She did no want to be sexually abused and feel what her sister felt and still does. She saved herself from a horrible experience.

            As you can see, Celie and Nettie have very different lives, Celie was miserable until she stepped up and had the confidence to leave Mr.___.  Nettie, who leaves and become a missionary with a loving couple who cared for her throughout many years, but all of this happened because of Celie’s most important decisions that changed their lives completely. That decision was to marry Mr.___. “I see him looking at my little sister. She scared. But I say I’ll take care of you. With God help.” (3) Celie was willing to protect Nettie from Mr. ___ at all costs. Celie then says “I ast him to take me instead”(7) This was the turning point of everything. Nettie was saved. In conclusion, the way Celie and Nettie lived was because on of Celie’s most important life changing decisions.

Rebutal to Eric.

   The question that Eric answered was that Should the number of years of required schooling be changed? After reading his blog post, i saw that there are something that are very weak. something that he says is that after high school, you go on to college. Well not all people go on to college for various reasons. When we talk about the number of years required, we're basically talking about from preschool to kindergarten and then elementary school to middle school which then goes to high school. We cant really put collge because like i said, its your choice if you decide to go to college or not. the amount school years is 14 is you dont flunk.

   Having this amount of school years are actually good beacuse theres is so much things you need to learn other than the basic material. If you want to go to college, then of course, you do need all 14 years of school. Thats a law. Eric, i know you want to go to college but trust me you need all of those years to go to college and you need to do good, which i bet you do.

I rea lize that your talking about hifh scool, but not onliy high school, but an early college high school. Dude,all of the years of high school are needed even though its just a normal high school. High school isneeded to to go to college. Wanna go to college, suck it up and deal with all years of school. Really no big deal, time pasts like a flash. By the time you know it, you'll be done with high school.

Celie' Relation with God.

 Celie has a way to talk with God. Celie writes lettes to God. In those letters, she talks about her eceryday life. Some of the things that she says are pretty shocking. Alot of violence goes on in her life. AS i keep reading, i realize that Celie does not live a good life. It seems that most of the time, she's just a miserable. To start it off, she was sexually abused by her own father which is really disgusting. Thats a very harmful experience that will follow her for the rest of her life.

"You gonna do what your mammy wouldn't....Then he push his thing inside my pussy"

I ean thats juyst wrong. Why would a ather want to do that just for the f*****sure? Thats just f*****.Since shes gone through a lot of shit, she doesnt really have no one to talk to but God. God is like her only friend. Sometimes, i think that she writes the letters to feel good and to just realese her feelings. I consider that a good reason to why write letters to God.

Celie has a lot of guts to be stay alive beacuse she has gone through so much. Her mother died, she was abused sexually by her father, she doesnt know where her little sister is at, she's married to a son of a b****, shes takes beating from him and is treated like shit. I think that if some would to go through all that, i think that , that person would of probablly commited suicide. Imean, thats just too much to handle.

Her letters play a big roll in her life because her letters to god mean everything to her because those letters are considered to be like her true friends. Writing out her everyday life is like talking to a true friend who cares about her. That is why her letters to God is very important to her. God is like her true friendor even better, a familly.

Should Teens be allowed to Vote?

   I think that teens should be able to vote because everyone should have a voice when it comes to laws. In my opinion, if teens had the right to vote, there would probably be many laws that wouldn't of happen.Our nation fought for independence, to vote, to live free without the rule of a king. Voting was a big issue and still is in my opinion. Students like teenagers, play a big role in our society. The teenagers who want to succed in life, are the ones who are very smart, talented and of course must have common sence.

   For example if students where able to vote for the Dream Act, then there would of been a very high chance that it would of passed and very well educated students with strong talents would be able to go to college. A lot of the teenagers who are smart and talented are condidered to be the future of our nation. Those who study, go to college and vote are the ones who also improve our nation.
 This is very impoertant fact when it comes to voting

It allows them to get rid of bad governments and makes sure that any government listens to its people...http://www.idebate.org/debatabase/topic_details.php?topicID=588.

Something that catched my attention and that i agree with a lot is

16 year olds are mature enough to make important decisions such as voting. Their bodies are fully adult, they have been educated for at least 10 years...All this allows them to form political views and they should be allowed to put these across at election time. There is no magic difference between 16 and 18 - indeed, many 16 year old are more sensible than some 20 year olds. http://www.idebate.org/debatabase/topic_details.php?topicID=588

Really, i agree with this because teen agers that are 16 years old and are very mature to be able to vote. Really theres just a two year difference between 16 and 18, not very much. There are many teenagers that are intrested in politics which most of the time involves voting. Teenagers should recieve the right to vote because it will make a change.