De aquí o de allá?

De aquí o de alla?
(From here or there?)

Every time a situation comes in life we let it affect us or we let it change who we are; yet life is full of surprises and changes. In my life there were many situations that changed me completely such as moving to another country and having to adapt to the new rules, culture and language. It was hard to adapt because it was something new for me and because I was different from everyone else; I was treated differently. I had to fight different battles that life made me face and learn from what was around me needing to adapt to a culture that wasn’t mine.

Who are you?
“If you want to be American speak “American”. If you don’t like it, go back to Mexico where you belong” (Anzaldua pg. 249)
When I was in middle school I was stereotyped by the way I looked. Simply because I was brown people already assumed I was Mexican. They would come up to me and ask “De que parte de Mexico eres?” (What part of Mexico are you from?). I would firmly tell them I’m not from Mexico I’m from Guatemala, yet I was treated differently because I wasn’t like them. It was hard because they were the only ones who spoke Spanish at school. I had to change the way I spoke and be more like them to be accepted, which was difficult because I had to learn their culture and language, and I was starting to forget my own culture. Once I got to high school I started hanging out with “white” people more and they would make fun of me because of the way I talked. If I mispronounce a word they would laugh and tell me “Go back to Mexico you beaner”. These words would affect me and make me realize I wasn’t like the rest of them; it made me doubt on who I was. These comments made me push myself in school and prove to everyone that even though I wasn’t from this culture I could still belong in it. Later I learned to not get affected in any way by the comments that my “friends” would make. It didn’t affect me anymore because I was adapting to their culture and the way they were.

Two roads which should I take?
“I was spending time with my new Caucasian friends and learning new values that clashed with those of my parents” (Wakatsuki 4¶).
Living in two different countries with different cultures confused me in who I was because outside of home I would act like my friends. I wished to go out whenever I wanted, but at home I was a different boy. I would follow whatever my parents would tell me and be a nice kid to them; I was someone that they were always proud of. A few years later my parents saw that I was changing, that I was acting more like my “white friends”. I wouldn’t listen to them anymore; I wouldn’t care if I was doing badly in school or if I didn’t do any of my work or chores at home. Then one day my parents sat me down in the living room and told me how they had seen a change in my life. They began to express how they felt pointing out that it seemed I had lost the family values and I had begun to live two different lives which was affecting me because I didn’t know who I was anymore. I remember my dad telling me that even though we were in another country and the culture and values were different, I still had to follow the culture and the values that were thought to me growing up. At the beginning I was bothered by the fact that they wanted me to be in a different country but live with concept of a different culture, our original culture. This caused a lot of tension in my family because my sister and I shared the same mentality which our parents saw as a problem. They wanted us to follow certain traditions that the family had but we didn’t agree to because we didn’t see ourselves as they are. After talking to my parents many times they finally realized that my sister and I had a point, we couldn’t be like them because we were being raised in a different culture and society. Even though my parents agree to let me be part of a society that they don’t believe in, I still try to follow their values at home and act in accordance to their teachings because although it may bother them that I act differently outside, being at home I give them the respect they deserve.

Have you decided?
“Now I just entertain according to how I feel that day, if my Japanese sensibility is stronger, I act accordingly and feel comfortable. If I feel like going all-American, I can do that, too, and feel comfortable” (Wakatsuki ¶19).
After living through these problems I had to decide what to do, who I was going to be; I decided to live a double life. I would have the values of my parents but also live the culture of the country which I live in and had a hard time adapting to. I had decided what to do and what to become. I learned to live through the day and be whoever I wanted to be. I know I have two cultures which I accept but also I know I can control both of them and be who I want to be no matter what. I have to become who I want to be in life. I’m not going to let someone or a culture decide my future because it’s up to me to be whoever I want.
Even if you don’t know or are confused of whom you should be because people want you to be like them, know that it is up to you to decide. You can have and believe in their cultures and values but you can’t let it decide who you will become in life. You have the power to decide who you are going to be, just remember where you came from and always have in mind your goals and what you want in life as an independent person. I have decided to follow both my values and show everyone that I can do it. For this exact reason I decided to attend college to succeed in life, to be someone different from what people expected me to be. I know that college would be a good experience that will prepare me to go out to the world. Now I understand that those moments or problems that occurred have helped me define who I will be. I believe that everything that happens does happen for a reason, weather good or bad, but it’s up to us to decide if it’s going to bring us down or help us, picking up the good things from the situation and be someone better and stronger in life.

The Men We Carry In Our Minds

1. Sanders sees the different physical conditions of the men he knew when he was a little, he saw how those men worked for hours doing labor with their bodies which lead them to be hurt or have soared bodies, on paragraph 3 he gives many examples "the nails of their hands were black and split, the hands tattooed with scars". Sanders shows how these men were affected by the labor they did, how their hearing was affected from so many years of working with machines or how their knees ached from standing on concrete. He also shows how their physical appearance was affected from so many years of labor " the fathers of my friends always seemed older than the mothers." (Paragraph 3).

2. Sanders describes the "other sort of men" as some one who wouldn't "swear and break down like mules" because this men didn't work like the other men, they lived in military bases waiting to be call for duty, like wars transfers and they seemed like their work wasn't hard like the other men but they had something that the other men didn't, these men would spend their days practicing in a simulated war so they could be ready for the real action "I also felt certain that when the hour for killing arrived, they would kill. When the real shooting started, many of them would die. This was what soldiers were for, just as a hammer, was for driving nails." (paragraph 4)

3. Besides the "warriors and toilers" there was another kind of men , men that Sanders could never imagine becoming them "I could no more imagine growing up to become one of these cool, potent creatures than I could imagine becoming a prince." Sanders grew up as a low class boy and all this "cool jobs" were high class for the people who he read and watch on the television, these men were politicians, astronauts, generals, lawyers, philosophical doctors. Sanders believed that he already had a destiny and that was to follow his fathers steps and since he was never one of these men, he knew that he couldn't couldn't be like them.

4. Sander's father has a different job than all the men he knew "my father, who had escaped from a red-dirt farm to a tire factory, and from the assembly line to the front office" so this means that Sanders could have a different ending since every one followed their father's steps "they were bound to work as their fathers had worked, killing themselves or preparing to kill others." but since Sander's dad worked in an office he had a chance to work there too without enrolling on those hard jobs or the military and get train to kill some one or simply kill himself on those labor jobs that they offered.

5. When Sander went to college he met women who thought in a different way than him "and for the first time I met women who told me that men were guilty of having kept all the joys and privileges of the earth for themselves." He was confused by their thoughts could he would see the men at home and would ask himself what privileges they were talking about, if the men he know worked themselves to dead for their families to have a roof but then he realized that they were talking about the college men and he saw that their lives were completely different "here I met for the first time young men who had assumed from birth that they would lead lives of comfort and power, then he realized and understood that women have the better life "the only ones who ever seemed to enjoy a sense of ease and grace were the mothers and daughters." so he understood that women had more privileges than the men he knew.

6. Sander later realize that men and women have the same work to do just in different ways and they suffer the same or sometimes it would be worst for women. "I did not realize-- because such things were never spoken of how often women suffered from men's bullying." (paragraph 8) He also talks about how women were abandoned wives, single mother and how tired it could be to take care of a baby all day so these changed the way he saw women because he realized that they have the same amount of work to do just in different ways.

7. What Sanders and the college-educated women was that they wanted to be in control "The daughters of such men wanted to share in this power, this glory. So did I" (paragraph 11) but he knew that these women saw him as an enemy because of his sex and because he was destined to become like his father but he believed that he was more of an ally than an enemy to them but he knew they wouldn't believe him if he shared his thoughts with them.

Summary

I didn't do the summary because I procrastinate on it, I waited until the last minute to do it and eventually found myself in class realizing that I didn't do the summary, then I turned in the Pass but I thought it was a pass that it would excuse you from the project but it wasn't like that so I didn't do it, what I'm going to do now for the new summary is dedicate time to do it and if I don't know how to do something ask Susie or visit her on her office hours and ask her for help or I can also email her but this time im actually going to dedicate time on it and put all my effort to do it right, I can also go over other people summaries to see how they did and read their comments to see what I can do or what not to do.

Libby Blog Response

The author's survey demonstrates many different points of view, males say that they can not believe in it because they are guys and some people just by hearing the word they freak out about it because they believe it's something bad. Libby offer many reasons why people don't identify themselves as feminists, one of the reasons is that most people don't believe that this problem exist either because they don't like it or just ignore the fact that this problem it's actually going on in the world, another reason why people don't call themselves feminists it's because they simple don't believe the ideas or agree with what it means to be a feminists. People believe feminism is a bad thing and the media propaganda shows it as a negative thing in the world like a way of saying women are raising against men and will try to take control over the country but people should get inform of what it really means to be a feminist and this is that women and men have the same right that they can choose the way they want to live, that they have the same right at home and on the streets, that they will not be discriminated because of their gender. Many women don't call themselves feminist because they believe it's something bad but it's not it's something good for them because it will give them the same right as men, it's a way of fighting for what they believe it's right for them. Libby believes that more people should be identify themselves as feminist but I think it's a personal decision weather you know what it really means or not it's up to you to decide if you believe in the idea but don't want to be called a feminist, every one has the right to decide what they want to be so it's really up to the people to decide what they want to be and articles like this one can influence people to think in a different way but it's still up to them to decide who and what they want to be.

Highlight of conference

There were many different things in the conference that caught my attention, I was impressed of how many people there was in the conference from many schools and to have some one like Cruz Reynoso to take make time to go and talk to us I think that was the hightlight of the conference for me, it's really impressive how he became what he is now and how he didn't give up when people were attacking him, he kept fighting for what he wanted and that inspires me to fight for what I want and whenever some one tries to stop me or tells me I can't do it I will remember that I can because I am capable of doing many things I just how to get my head on my goal and fight for it and try my best to accomplish it. Another thing that I liked was the campus of Sacramento it's a nice university the campus is really big and has many departtaments that you can go and study and what they have to offer really caught my attention and also everything that they have on the campus really impressed me. This conference was good the trip, the workshops, the campus and being able to spend time with my friends from the Puente class.

Anzaldua Blog Response

I agree with the ideas that you presented about how sometimes we don't fit in, in a certain place because the way we speak and we feel out of place because we ask ourselves "where do we belong?" and how we have to conform ourselves to other cultures that are around us, on my experience when I moved to the Unites States I was the only Guatemalan in my class and everyone else were Mexican so I had to get used to their words and use them because I was the only one who was "different" and living that changes the way you are, it can change your culture, if people ask me what I am I will tell them I am Guatemalan but I am a mix of different cultures, I don't speak like a Guatemalan because I'm used to speaking English and also "Mexican" which is totally different than the Spanish that I grew up with and sometimes it's hard to fit in a certain group because I don't speak like them and makes me think who I am and after reading your article I realize that I'm a mix of different culture and no matter how hard I try not to be changed by the way society is it just happens naturally I don't try or push myself to act different its just out there that it becomes part of my life, I know what my culture is and how I was raised but living half of my life in my country and the other half in another country changes the way I am and created a new culture because its a mix of two different countries, in a way it could be a good thing because I can learn different things from both of them but it can also confuse me of who I am and that's where I sit and think who am I? but like I said after thinking I realize I am a mix of many cultures since I live in another country, hang out with many different people that have different cultures so I learn from them and get used to them, so I agree in everything that you presented in your essay because it's true and it helped me to see who I am and I decided that I am Guatemalan, American and a mix of many different countries.

College Student Inventory EC

There are thing in which I agree and disagree on the College Student Inventory, I agree in many things for example my desire to finish college it's high, my attitude towards educators, academic assistance. Those are thing where I can relate myself and see that I am really good at and those are my strongest attitudes. This inventory shows me different interests or needs that I have, there are some parts where I disagree, for example on the Academic Confidence my results were very low but I do have confidence on my academic skills, motivations but there must be a reason why the results were low so even though I disagree it should be something that I should look at and pay careful attention to it, to understand it better what it really means and what it proves. This show me problems that I have like study habits, I do have a very poor study habits I'm not used to study or prepare for a test or presentation I always try to see what my brain knows which doesn't help me because I always end up doing bad on it; this should be something I need to change so I strongly agree with the results that I have a very low study habits. These also gives me recommendations that I would strongly follow like getting help with reading and writing skills because they are not my strongest parts and I do need help on them. I agree with mostly all the results that are presented on this paper the very high and very low results, it really describes my behavior or the way I am when it comes to school, different activities or even with my family I agree with what it’s presented to me.

ROG Question

What would people be willing to sacrifice in times of hardship?

People make many sacrifices in life, and we ask ourselves why they do it or question their reason but sometimes we don't know the real reason or cannot understand it, for example Juan's mother made a huge sacrifice, she went out and beg so she could find money to feed her children many people don't do that because of their pride their "orgullo" this stops them from being some one else or have shame for what they do but this didn't stop her, she went in front of that church and sat there and ask for money while the people were passing by, when Juan found out about this he was in shock because it never goes through your mind that your mother would be begging for money after being rich or having the money to buy what you needed, he felt bad because he was hearing rumors about "the old lady outside the church" so when he went out to look for the old lady his surprise was that it was his mother, this affects every one because you believe something else and then you found something like this, I know that it would affect me if I found my mother outside a church begging for money but I know that she is doing it to help the family to bring food to the table obviously there are other ways to earn the money but there is always an easy way out to earn it. Another example can be brought from the text "Leaver your name at the Border" people sacrifice their name to have a better future for their families they do everything they can to survive they swallow their pride and follow the game to have a better life, every one makes a sacrifice in life and something you can see it or sometimes you can't but we can never judge people for what do if we don't know the real reasons of why they do or the way they are doing it, we are no one to judge people for what they do we just have to accept them for who they really are and help them, pick them up from the whole not push them down just because we don't believe in what they do.

What is the value of family?

Family has different meaning to every one, according to the dictionary family means: "any group of persons closely related by blood, as parents. children, uncles, aunts, and cousin", but some people it can mean something else ever one has a different perspective of what family really means, you might have a different perspective that mine about this, what I believe family is and I can prove my points with two different examples; I believe family is some one who cares for you and loves you no matter what you do, how you are, they still love you and they are willing to do anything for you because they are "your family", one example is from the book "Rain of Gold" Margarita cares for her family and is willing to do anything to help, protect them. She does everything to be there for her family to provide them food even though they have no money she finds a way to do it even if it is a degrading way, she still does it because it's her family and that's what family do for each other be there when the other needs you. Another example that I can use if from the text "Leave your Name at the Border", families sacrifice their lives, their names that mean everything to them it's who they are but they decide to give it up for their families and it's because they know the value of family they know how much family is worth so they do anything to survive in a country that it's not theirs and for what? They do it so their children can have a better future than what they had, and if by this you cannot see the value of family then I don't know what definition you have for it but I believe that the real "family" sacrifices who they are for who you are going to be and I have seen it and lived it because I have learned who my real family is so think about it, think who you real family is? the ones who are willing to give everything for you? for your wealth being? so take a moment and think who is your real family? and the only thing we can do is be thankful about who we have and not complain because what they do it's for our best even if we don't understand it.

Technology Project

Literature Circle Blog Response 1

One of the scenes that I think it’s important it’s when Don Pio Castro feels the presence of God and shows him the land that he can use, after searching for so many years and fighting over the land finally God spoke to him and show him where he had to go and no matter how the land was he was going to be prosper on everything that he did. This is an important scene because it shows you that even when the citizens where already free the rich people still took control of the land and made the poor slaves and that’s not what Don Pio wanted he wanted the people to be free to in everything that they did but sadly the people that were his friends and fought in the battles to obtain that freedom change their perspectives and became what they were fighting against. He just wanted the people to live their lives how ever they wanted. One word that I can use to describe this scene would be “FREEDOM” because that’s what Don Pio always fought and his believes. The other scene that I think it’s important it’s when Juan Castro is running around telling every one that the soldiers are coming so every one starts hiding in the corn feels and running away but he was lying to every one and he made this lie because his family had been stuck in the border with Texas trying to cross the border and had no food so what he did was while everyone was hiding he stole corn from the fields and he did this because he cares about his family and doesn’t want to see them suffer and he knew that by doing that he would help his family and it did so the word that I would chose to describe this scene would be “CARENESS” because you can see that even though he is still a boy he cares and protects his family form everything that happens.

What are some of the consequences tha...

What are some of the consequences that they might face if they don’t adapt a digital culture? 

Digital technology is part of our daily lives, people use technology for everything that they do now a days but there is still a percentage of the population that does not know how or don't want to use this technology. The problem with them not using technology is that when it comes to finding a job or at school technology is required, for example at school technology is required to look up for the homework, taking tests, posting a blog or to do a research paper. The consequences with this would be that probably you will fail to turn in your homework and lose points and might fail the class if you don't turn in the work that is required. Technology is part of our society and everyday is getting better and more technology is invented and more people don't know how to use this technology which affects them in life because when they are required to use any type of technology they wont be able to do it. Adapting to the digital culture is hard because there are many new things but once you adapt to it, it makes life easier because everything is faster, you have access to many sources that you might need. For immigrants its harder to adapt because in most countries they don't have the advantage of having or affording these technology so when they immigrate to a country that is based on technology it's hard for them to learn or know how to use it but eventually they have to learn and take advantage of it, in many jobs there is a type of technology that will be needed even to communicate with other people you need a cell phone and sometimes they can be complicated to use but people need to learn how to use this kind of technology because it will benefit them.

Reflection on Munoz

What qualities, conditions, or circumstances make adapting/assimilating into a culture possible or impossible? For many people who immigrate to another country like Latinos immigrating to the U.S have to go through many circumstances where they have to make though decisions about their future. For example many Latinos have to adapt to a whole different culture and system of living, it is possible to adapt to the culture but there has to be many changes in their lives, when it comes for them to look for a job its hard to find it for many reason, one of them its their name. Sadly people are judged by how they are named instead of how they work or their personality if they hear the name Pedro, Jose or Maria they know that they are immigrants and think the worst of them and most of the times because of how people are named they don’t get the job so people have done something about it and they “leave their names at the border” this means that they change their names to a more “white name” so they can have a better opportunities and can find a job to support their families. It is possible to adapt to the “American” culture but it feels like its impossible to do it and there are many people that don’t change the way they are how they are named because they are proud of who they are and where they come from but this society push them to change all those things to be accepted in this country. I believe that people should be accepted because of who they are not because of how they are named or how they look but society looks at it from a different point, if you don’t have a good name it will be harder to get a good job so people who don’t want to change who they are end up in jobs that don’t pay them right or threat them bad and there is nothing they can do about it because they know how its going to be when they try to get something better. There is so much more that this country has to change because immigrants have been part of it since the beginning and thanks to them this country is great.

My Digital Life

Technology it’s a great part of the world now, everything that people do it has something to do with technology weather is teaching, fixing a car, the military; everything involves technology. For me technology has been a great impact in my life, since I was little technology has been around, it has helped me so much during my life especially now that everything requires some technology to do homework or a research paper. I remember that last year on my senior year I had to write a 10 page research paper about nuclear weapons and the computer and internet helped me so much to write this paper without it I don’t think I would have been able to have all the information that I found or if I had found it I would have take me longer to look for it but on the computer it took me seconds just to type what I needed and different information appear on my screen. For some people technology it’s bad and it’s simply because they don’t know how to use it or don’t want to adjust to the idea that now on this century technology it’s a bid part of the society every one need a kind of technology in their lives. Technology its appropriate when its needed for example in class if there is no need to be using cell phones or a computer then it shouldn’t be used but there is always time for everything and some people don’t like when other people are texting or on the computer when they are talking, I’ll give u an example when my parents get home I know I cannot text or use my phone because its family time so they get mad when ever I use my phone and I get them but for me there is a need to be texting, I guess it has come an addiction and its bad because must people become really addicted to technology they need to have technology to survive or would die without it which is a bad thing because we depend on it a lot and we are so used to having everything really fast we want something we look for it online and there it is so its hard to not have a certain thing of technology in life. I think this society would collapse if technology wouldn’t be around any more there is a need of it every single day of our lives.

My Motivation to Attend College

Both of my parents never go the chance to attend college; they always tried their best to give me and my sister a good education. Since I was little I attended private schools in Guatemala until my parents decided to move to the U.S., we got here on 2003 and since then I have tried my hardest to do well on school, I know that my parents my a huge sacrifice to come to this country so I could have a better future and I have seen how they work to pay for the things that I always wanted and needed so by me attending college and do well here it is a way of repaying them everything that they have done for me. I’m really thankful for their hard work and caring because if they didn’t care they wouldn’t push me to try my hardest on school so I can have a better future and don’t struggle on life like they have, they want the best of me and they have shown me that they would do anything to see me succeed so by me staying in college and try my hardest is a way of saying thank you for all their hard work that they have done for me, for all those long days that they had to work. I think Puente will help me with these and help me stay in track and really push myself to do my best and keep my goal in mind to do everything for my parents for their sacrifice that they had to make for me to have a better life and I want to succeed in life because my dream is one day to see them rest and not worrying about money so if I succeed and have a good career I can tell my parents to retire and tell them not to worry about money or anything because like they took take care of me now it’s my turn to the same thing for them.