The story " Serving in Florida" is a journalists report on what she was forced to encounter as she took on an undercover role. Her story was a bout lower class citizens and what they face through there day to day struggles of paying the bills. The story began with Barbara telling college students to think twice before they droop out and persue a minimum-wage job.
My inicial perspective was that the authors story would have some difficult moments and cause her to face the reality of what life truly consisted of outside of her comfortable living style. I expected the moral behind this whole peice to be sympathetic towards minimum-wage but still show an optimistic view of making it through in that line of work.
The story then goes on to describe the authors job and how difficult it was to maintain not just one but two waitressing jobs. though the author quite one job she was very quick to start looking for another to replace that space. It was challenging to make friends but she was able to meet two people that became very close to her, Gail who was a waitress at the Hearthside and lived in her van. Barbara also formed a very close relationship with a young man named George, he was the dishwasher at her place of imployment, jerry's. George was a sweat boy from the Czech Republic and as i read furthur into the story i found that he was convicted of stealing though the truth was never revealed, i felt that the author never truly believed it to be. As the story progresses the author begins another job at a hotel as a cleaning lady. she describes her struggle on working both jobs but notes that it is necassary for her to aford her rent.I began to notice a change in the author as she progressed living and working at in that atmosphere, she no longer faught against the grain. Maybe the hard physical labor had began to wear her out, or maybe she had been to afraid to argue and loose her job. Whatever had caused her mentality to change was not good and she began to feel it aswell. It has become so costly for her to live in her appartment that she is forced to put a down payment on a trailer, but she only lives there for a short while before she calls it quites on the entire project.
I found the end of this story to be disapointing, it was great that the author chose to leave behind money for Gail and George to help them pay there bills but i felt as though she just gave up. The message she ened up portraying was not that of conquering challenges thrown at you, but that when the going get tough it easy to run away if you have a back up. What i took away from this article was that some desicions u make in life are not easy to some back from, sometimes what seems like the easiest road will be the most challenging and dissapointing.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
"Looking for Work" by Gary Soto
In my perspective this text was both simple and complicatingto understand. I know that is contradicting but in many ways that statement identifies the characters feelings as well. In reading the pre text about the author Gary Soto and what his growing up was like, i quickly identified with his upbringing. I believe that he himself felt a close bond to the main character in his story, the main reason being that they both grew up in the lower class of society. though it was not stated in the pre text that Soto looked up to the wealthy and wanted to be liked by them, everyone wants to be someone special when their growing up so its not impossible to imagine that he felt that very same way.
This text started very randomly with the young narrator talking about the t.v show he watched while drinking Kool Ade. He was very descriptive even in the manner he had been holding the drink between his knees. He does extremely well in describing every aspect of there environment and how his family lives there lives compared to the t.v families he watched. At first the narrator sounded as though he was embarrassed of who he was, it seemed to me that the author thought getting into a wealthy lifestyle was simple. I quickly realized as i continued to read that this little boy was willing to work for anything to reach his goal, it was superficial of him to think that the perfect life came with wearing shoes at the dinner table or looking like the rich people, but it deffinently wasn't wrong of him to want something better.
In many ways the narrator proved to be a better person then the people he wanted to be like. money was important to him but when the opportunity came for him to go to the pool with his friend he offered to give him money so they could go. What i found even more surprising was when his sister wanted to go but had no money, he simply told her to come along and he would take care of it. It is hard to find siblings at such a young age that would share especial share money that they worked for. At the rate the narrator was going he would end up spending his hard earned money to help others so they could all have fun together, and that is better then any upper class style of living.
All in all i think the story had a more simple meaning behind it than an average persons desire to be something more, something he was not. At the end of the story the narrator makes a small note of his neighbor who seems to be living the life he wants and who is also close friends with his older brother. This made me think, maybe the story wasn't about a boy who looked up to people in a far away t.v land, but someone who lived just over the fence, someone who had formed a bond with his brother while he remained on the "side lines" so to speak.
This text started very randomly with the young narrator talking about the t.v show he watched while drinking Kool Ade. He was very descriptive even in the manner he had been holding the drink between his knees. He does extremely well in describing every aspect of there environment and how his family lives there lives compared to the t.v families he watched. At first the narrator sounded as though he was embarrassed of who he was, it seemed to me that the author thought getting into a wealthy lifestyle was simple. I quickly realized as i continued to read that this little boy was willing to work for anything to reach his goal, it was superficial of him to think that the perfect life came with wearing shoes at the dinner table or looking like the rich people, but it deffinently wasn't wrong of him to want something better.
In many ways the narrator proved to be a better person then the people he wanted to be like. money was important to him but when the opportunity came for him to go to the pool with his friend he offered to give him money so they could go. What i found even more surprising was when his sister wanted to go but had no money, he simply told her to come along and he would take care of it. It is hard to find siblings at such a young age that would share especial share money that they worked for. At the rate the narrator was going he would end up spending his hard earned money to help others so they could all have fun together, and that is better then any upper class style of living.
All in all i think the story had a more simple meaning behind it than an average persons desire to be something more, something he was not. At the end of the story the narrator makes a small note of his neighbor who seems to be living the life he wants and who is also close friends with his older brother. This made me think, maybe the story wasn't about a boy who looked up to people in a far away t.v land, but someone who lived just over the fence, someone who had formed a bond with his brother while he remained on the "side lines" so to speak.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Conflict essays...9/20/10
In the first conflict essay writen by Matt, he tells a story that starts off very dramatic. He begins the essay by saying " in sixth grade my world took a wild trip down the road of life", it was a good metaphor but i feel like it was too heavy for this topic. The author then proceeds to explain how his life changed when he was able to finally take guitar lessons, he mentions his dreams of becoming famous. His first perspective in the story was that anything he desired was accesable as long as he worked hard enough to reach his goal.
The conflict to this peice was that after he had got a "gig" at a club he and his band members did not sell enough tickets, the problem grew when on the day of the show his manager said that the author never called him to speak about the ticket sales and therfore it was the authors fault. The band was then forced to performe two hours before they were set to go on stage and all of there fans who had boaght the tickets missed the show.
The authors final perspective by the end of the story was that he couldnt trust anyone and that you dont always get what you want most. It seemed as though the author was heartbroken and dealt with a hard lesson. The second essay elaborates even more on why he felt so strongly about attaining his dream, paragraph 11 states "My parents told me that musicians that i was looking up to at the time were losers, bums, and drug addicts."
The two conflict essays written were by the same person but were actually very different in form. Both were telling the same conflict though the second was alot clearer to understand.After i had read the first essay i thought i understood the basic points of the story and what it was about, but surprisingly i missed major details to the story. Once i had read the second essay it became much clearer and was alot more descriptive even about small events. I did however find the same personal perspective's in both essays, the writers seems to put alot of blame on others in the essay. especially when he is speaking about the ticket sales and making phone calls to clubs so that they can start performing publicly. This shows me that he is confident that everything that took place was not his faul, and that he still holds strong feelings about what happened that night.
The conflict to this peice was that after he had got a "gig" at a club he and his band members did not sell enough tickets, the problem grew when on the day of the show his manager said that the author never called him to speak about the ticket sales and therfore it was the authors fault. The band was then forced to performe two hours before they were set to go on stage and all of there fans who had boaght the tickets missed the show.
The authors final perspective by the end of the story was that he couldnt trust anyone and that you dont always get what you want most. It seemed as though the author was heartbroken and dealt with a hard lesson. The second essay elaborates even more on why he felt so strongly about attaining his dream, paragraph 11 states "My parents told me that musicians that i was looking up to at the time were losers, bums, and drug addicts."
The two conflict essays written were by the same person but were actually very different in form. Both were telling the same conflict though the second was alot clearer to understand.After i had read the first essay i thought i understood the basic points of the story and what it was about, but surprisingly i missed major details to the story. Once i had read the second essay it became much clearer and was alot more descriptive even about small events. I did however find the same personal perspective's in both essays, the writers seems to put alot of blame on others in the essay. especially when he is speaking about the ticket sales and making phone calls to clubs so that they can start performing publicly. This shows me that he is confident that everything that took place was not his faul, and that he still holds strong feelings about what happened that night.
Monday, September 13, 2010
"Hair" ...BY:Malcolm X
The short story "Hair" was writen by Malcolm X, that alone says that it will be very meaningful and mostlikley have something to do with racial acts of descrimination or degredation. The prereading gave me an even deeper look into the kind of person malcolm was and how he thought. He felt so strongly about standing up for his rights and people that he even changed his own last name.However the title did draw me to rethink my ideas about the text, i mean sure people of all races have different types of hair but how could it really turn into a debate over racism?
The story started off a bit confusing because alot of the words used were slang. After a few lines everything began falling into place, Malcolm explaines that hair "conking" is just a term used for chemicaly straightening african american hair. It surprised me that someone as devoted in being proud to be who he was would actually be excited to change his hair from its natural form. This is a man who changed his last name because he thought it was a slave name and here was trying to be something hes not, granted straightening your hair now a days is not such a heated debate. The authors initial perspective was that he would look great with this new style, and after all the pain he went through to get it, he still thought it was all worth it and would not go without another conking again.
However, as Malcolm matured into a man his perspective drasticaly changed. Perhapse the experiences he had faced throughout the years had tainted him in some way, whatever it may have been, he was not the same person and he even haited himself for ever doing that to his head for so many years. He thought he was extremely wrong to go through such terrible pain just so he could look more like the people who haited him so strongly, the "white" man. Malcolm saw that there was a bigger picture than just the "conking", but that it was self degredation. This simple act would only lead to more sever things, like body modification. All people would begin to do these things so they can look more like what was said to be "right" or "beautiful".
I enjoyed this story because it was about more then what was actually written on the pages, even more then blacks and whites. It was about any race, any person that feels there looks arent good enough and that they would be prettier or better looking if there skin was different, if there eyes or hair color was lighter or darker. Self degredation happens all over and to all different types of people. It must be stoped.
The story started off a bit confusing because alot of the words used were slang. After a few lines everything began falling into place, Malcolm explaines that hair "conking" is just a term used for chemicaly straightening african american hair. It surprised me that someone as devoted in being proud to be who he was would actually be excited to change his hair from its natural form. This is a man who changed his last name because he thought it was a slave name and here was trying to be something hes not, granted straightening your hair now a days is not such a heated debate. The authors initial perspective was that he would look great with this new style, and after all the pain he went through to get it, he still thought it was all worth it and would not go without another conking again.
However, as Malcolm matured into a man his perspective drasticaly changed. Perhapse the experiences he had faced throughout the years had tainted him in some way, whatever it may have been, he was not the same person and he even haited himself for ever doing that to his head for so many years. He thought he was extremely wrong to go through such terrible pain just so he could look more like the people who haited him so strongly, the "white" man. Malcolm saw that there was a bigger picture than just the "conking", but that it was self degredation. This simple act would only lead to more sever things, like body modification. All people would begin to do these things so they can look more like what was said to be "right" or "beautiful".
I enjoyed this story because it was about more then what was actually written on the pages, even more then blacks and whites. It was about any race, any person that feels there looks arent good enough and that they would be prettier or better looking if there skin was different, if there eyes or hair color was lighter or darker. Self degredation happens all over and to all different types of people. It must be stoped.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
"Hating Goldie"
This passage was very intriguing to me because when i first read the title i thought it would have something to do with someone or a group of people "hating" a person called goldie. After i read about other books the author had writen and the types of literature she was interested in i began to think that the story must have some connection with a women or a girl faceing some challenge.
On the surface of the story the reader can just see the narrators point of view on how her life had went and we are supposed to make an assumption on how much of her lack of success was really to blame on her parents. The passage went on in a depressing tone that actually could make a reader feel sorry for someone who was so fortunate but suffered alone.
However for me the passage had really nothing to do with the narrator hating her canary "Goldie", it was about her inability took look past herself and what happened or didnt happen to her throughout that made her who she was. Instead of realizing that it was her and only her who held herself back from whatever future she could have seen for herself, she chose the easier way out and managed to find a problem in her almost perfect and easy life. This goes to show that even if u give someone the world they will find something wrong with the "wraping" so to speak.
On the surface of the story the reader can just see the narrators point of view on how her life had went and we are supposed to make an assumption on how much of her lack of success was really to blame on her parents. The passage went on in a depressing tone that actually could make a reader feel sorry for someone who was so fortunate but suffered alone.
However for me the passage had really nothing to do with the narrator hating her canary "Goldie", it was about her inability took look past herself and what happened or didnt happen to her throughout that made her who she was. Instead of realizing that it was her and only her who held herself back from whatever future she could have seen for herself, she chose the easier way out and managed to find a problem in her almost perfect and easy life. This goes to show that even if u give someone the world they will find something wrong with the "wraping" so to speak.
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