Friday, September 30, 2011

"Hey Nostradamus!" (pgs.189-228) Agueda Gomez English 100

    In this part of the reading, it turns out that approximately a year before Jason disappeared, Jason had gone to Allison's house and gave her a note. The note was meant for Heather. Jason had told Allison (her real name is Cecilia) that if he were to ever go missing to pretend that he is contacting Heather from the beyond. When Heather finds this out through Cecilia's daughter, she feels better because she is know able to sleep at nights. The screwed part about the situation is that Cecilia manipulated Heather and made her fix her car (which cost over $2,000) and charged her $5,000 for her last "message" from Jason. She took advantage of the situation. She knew how much Jason meant to her and knew how much she would do for information on Jason and that s why she took advantage of her. When Heather finds out that Allison is a phony, she confronts her and retrieves that letter. In the letter we see what jason had written. He had made scripts and descriptions of every single character that him and Heather had made together. There was Froggles, Bonnie T. Lamb, Cloveriness, etc. This was a way that Heather would believe Allison because nobody else knew about these characters but Jason and Heather. Jason did this so that Heather could believe this fake side kick and she would find some sort of comfort.
     In my opinion, readings 189-228 were pretty upsetting. The reason I say this is because I expected a little more in reference to Jason's disappearance.To me, it was not a good ending because were not sure exactly what happened to Jason; the only thing we do know is that he is most likely dead. The other messed up part about the reading is that it sounds like a gloomy ending for Heather because she might be lonely for ever. I think that what the author was trying to convey throughout this book is that people are hypocrites, even the "purest" looking people are deceiving and to not become a part of all that hypocrisy. Some people are born to die alone, to be invisible. Throughout this chapter, we see how people can be heartless and take advantage of other people. How you give them your hand and they end up yanking your foot.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

"Hey Nostradamus!" (pgs.146-188) Agueda Gomez English 100

   Pages 146-188 were about Jason's newest relationship, Heather. Heather and Jason met in a toy story where they developed some made up characters. Heather describes how before her life with Jason, her life was also dull and boring. Jason's mom ended up in a hospital where old people live, Barb ended up marrying Cheryl's older brother, and Reg continues to be changing into his opposite. Reg seems to know drink and smoke, he seems to be worried about Jason, and Heather is his best friend. The important part of this section is that Jason goes missing and no one knows where he is at. However, some psychic lady Allison seems to have some sort of connection with Jason. She gets messages from him that only Heather and Jason knew. So through the chapter Heather seems to be tormented because Jason is missing and and the closest signs to him are with this psychic lady Allison. The reason Heather is so upset is because this could possibly mean that Jason is dead. I think Jason is dead because how else could this psychic lady receive all these clues without knowing them or anything.
     In this part of the chapter, I was glad that Jason finally found someone to make him happy. It sounds like know he really is trying to turn around his dull boring life. I guess he really does believe that his life was meant for more than boredom and loneliness. I think it's sad how Jason's mom ended up in a hospital. I think that it is all Reg's fault that she ended up in that hospital because Reg is the one that put her through alot and if I were to live with a man like that I would have also drank myself crazy. It's so weird to see how Reg is changing into a more open-minded and understanding person. How his best friend is Heather, who is not religious at all. How he is know smoking and drinking, maybe so that people can like him and he found out that that's how htey will like him. It's so weird how he is so concerned about Jason's disappearance. I think that Jason is dead by maybe those people that he got drunk with that one time.

Monday, September 26, 2011

"Hey Nostradamus!" (pgs. 93-146) Agueda Gomez English 100

   Pages 93-146 were extremely exciting because all of the characters true colors come out. For example, we see how Jason and his mother are pretty close because he trusts her enough to leave his, best friend his dog with her. We also learn that his mother becomes a HEAVIER drinker when she divorces Reg. we also confirm from previous readings that the mom is "gangster" because when the "Alive" teenage group doesn't listen to Jason when he kicks them out, the mom comes out with a riffle saying, "You heard Jason. Leave. Leave. Now."(105). The most interesting part of the novel had to do with Barb and Reg. Let me begin with Reg's true feelings. When Reg shatters his ribs and ends up in the hospital. He gives the hospital Jason's number. To Jason and the reader's surprise, Reg knew the number by memory even though they stopped talking for eleven years. In this part of the novel, we learn that Reg actually did love his son Jason because he tells Jason, "You were perfect, your soul was perfect" (101). By this he means that If Jason would have died in the cafeteria during the massacre, he would have gone straight to heaven because his soul "pure." Although Jason and his father didn't get along, we learn that it wasn't because he hated Jason; because he says, "All I ever wanted for you was the kingdom." (101).
  During Jason's past, when he moves to Moneton after the massacre, Cheryl's family writes to him. The first family member that writes to him is the mom. She states, "Cheryl had changed one year before she died, I have no idea who it was who died in the shooting."(107).  We also see the letter that Cheryl's dad writes to Jason, he states how the "Alive" group took total control by inviting a lot of people and handing everyone markers to write on Cheryl's casket. He says,"They were treating my daughter's casket like a year book."(110). When Cheryl's brother writes to Jason, two days after the dad, he states that the mom and dad were being hypocrites in their letters because they were always talking bad about him with youth "Alive" and they had also believed that Jason was the suspect to Cheryl's death when the youth "Alive" group had said that Jason had planned Cheryl's death because "he had planned the death just to kill the girl he had worked so hard on to corrupt." This proves that Cheryl's mom and dad are hypocrites.
   During the reading, we also learn more about Jason's black-outs. During his present life, he becomes a bit more social than what he used to be and becomes a bit more social than what he used to be. He begins to drink with his co-workers and popps pills and blacks out. When he wakes up from his final black-out, he is confronted with the choice to kill once again. He is in the decision of whether or not to kill Yorgo and he chooses not to. This shows some kind of christianity towards him
   We also learn that Jason is tired of having no goals, wants to go further in life, wants people to know he exists, that he has a purpose to life. This is the reason why Jason choses to go with his co-workers and get wild. This new character also prevents him from speaking about what happened between him and Barb right around the time his brother dies.
  During this time, we learn that Barb had been trying to get pregnant by her husband Ken for two years and that he's been shooting "blanks". So when Kent dies, she wanted a memory of Kent and whatr better than a kid to remember Ken. So the day after Kent's death, Barb and Jason get married (under Jason's condisions of granting her a baby that would most likely to look lie Kent's kid, do to religious purposes). We learn how crazy Barb is as she decided to concieve a baby from her dead husband's brother and kills a witness in Las Vegas when Jason ans Barb get married. So when Jason mom tells Jason that Barb is pregnant with twins, this is when we automatically know that Jason's nephews are actually his kids. Maybe this is the reason why Jason has been writing to them all along.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

"Hey Nostradamus!" (pgs.43-92) Agueda Gomez English 100

   For this reading we learn about Cheryl's husband, Jason. Jason is 29 years old at the time. Like Cheryl, Jason also goes back and forth in time, talking about the massacre where he was 17 years old and his present life. As Jason speaks about his past life (17 yrs.), we learn that Cheryl is a teenage love that he was never able to over come. He deeply explains how Cheryl died in his arms and how she and him made a perfect couple because they were like each other. They were both religious to some extent, they were both different from the "Alive" group that they were part of, they were both to themselves (they didn't like anybody else to know about their business), and they both were lost in direction toward life; perhaps confused of what life really is. Although Cheryl left visible scar in Jason's heart, he also explains other characters in his life whom have contributed to who he is today.
   Reg is Jason's father. However, you can tell that Jason and Reg aren't too close because he doesn't mention him as dad but to his actual name. Reg is very religious. I would say it's beyond religion though. The reason why I say this is because Reg takes religion to a whole different level. For example, in the reading he tries to imply that one of his grandchildren might not have a soul because they are twins. He feels this way because suppose ably, being a twin is somewhat considered cloning. Reg's favorite son is Kent, the older brother. Kent and Reg getting along well because they both believe in religion to a whole different level. Nevertheless, Kent is not an "ass-whole." He is always neutral when it comes to difficult situations; Like when they were trying to say that Jason was a suspect to the massacre.
   In the book, as Jason is in the process of attending Kent's memorial, we learn why Jason lives a sad life. He stayed in the massacre era with Cheryl and was not able to overcome it because he still hasn't had a girlfriend and he constantly thinks about her and reminds himself of her and how his baby would have looked like. Another person that has heavily influenced his style to life is his father because he has this big grudge against his father that he lives the opposite of what Reg taught him. For example, he lives in an extremely messy house because cleaning represents God. Because a recent incident occurred with his sister-in-law and Reg about his twin nephews being twins, representing cloning, and not having a soul; Jason believes that life would perhaps be easier if cloning did exist and everyone came with a manual. Therefore, he begins to write his own manual for his future clone.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Hey Nostradamus! pgs 3-42 Agueda Gomez

   The first chapter of "Hey Nostradamus!" was, at first, confusing because the narrator would jumps from scene to scene. It was just a matter of getting the hang to it. I thought these couple of pages were very interesting through a teenagers point of view. Cheryl, the narrator describes how her life feels dull and boring. How she wished she had accomplished more or wish she felt more alive. Cheryl is a teenager that feels like she doesn't belong with her fellow classmates because there on a different level than she is. While her classmates are too busy gossiping and doing things she once did with them, she is living the married life. Cheryl gets married at the young age of 17 with her boyfriend in order to have sex without shame. The reason they do this is because they are somewhat religious kids and feel like if they got married, they wouldn't be fornicating of sinning. However, Cheryl is know pregnant and has alot on her mind know, this is why she doesn't care about her friends anymore.
   As Cheryl talks about her life and her boyfriend, she also describes a massacre that occurred in her school during lunch time. There was a massacre done by three boys that attended the school as well. They killed many students and also shot Cheryl. Luckily, they didn't kill her. Unfortunately her baby did die. The way Cheryl see's this crisis is that no matter where you are (you can be in the holiest place) evil, sin, and the devil will be there.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

"The Library Card"-Wright Agueda Gomez

     The short story, "The Library Card", by Richard Wright was a very sad reading because it shows an African American man struggling in the slavery periods in America. He has this great desire to read and write but feels oppressed by the white men and their restrictions to "Negro's". However, as a persevering man he asks a white catholic guy from work if he could borrow his library card so he could check out books. The white man grants him permission to do so. For him to be able to check out books, he had to forge little notes to the librarian pretending to be the white catholic man.
     Throughout literature, this young man silently begins to become more educated and begins to thirst reading even more. The reason I say that he is silently becoming more educated is because he has to hide that he's reading to everyone. He has to pretend like he's stupid and he's just reading "to kill time". He also begins to want to learn how to write. But he says that how could he write if he barely new the English language. It's truly sad how he wants to get out of the mold society has placed him in, but can't because he doesn't have the resources or know the people to do so.
     This reading was pretty sad to me because it makes you realize how we have all these opportunities and free things to succeed in life and we choose not too when their are others out there that want to but can't because they don't have the same opportunities like we do. This story reminds me alot of the people who are trying to succeed in school but can't because they can't afford it because they're illegal aliens or because X factors. Nevertheless, everything is doable if you truly procrastinate. For example, I can't afford the school books but I go to the library everyday and catch up on my readings. I save up money for when I have enough to buy a book. Everything is doable if you put your everything into it.
   

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Journal Assignment #2- "Only Daughter" Agueda Gomez

     I really enjoyed reading this short essay because the author clearly gets her point across and makes you understand exactly how she felt. In this short essay, Cisneros describes the struggles of being a single daughter in a Mexican-American family. She describes how her large family of nine practices true Mexican values such as: the yelling and loudness of all her family in her house, the “novelas” being watched, the type of food they ate, and the way her family thought about women. The main point of the short story was that the way old-fashioned Mexicans think is unfair to women. The reason to why women are seen as just wives and stay-at-home moms is because men have so much pride and believe that they are the bread makers and the sons are the ones that continue the blood line. Therefore, having a more sons is something to be proud of. 
     Because of the way Cisnero’s family raised her, she often felt rejected and ignored by her father and desired her father’s attention. Cisnero’s decided to continue school and her father approved of this with the purpose that she would find a successful husband in school. However, Cisnero’s felt that she truly had a passion for writing and wrote a book about her culture, the town her family came from, and the house her father grew up on. After two years, her father finally read her book and was extremely proud of her because it was translated in Spanish and the reading related to him. Through literature, Cisnero’s father changed the way he thought about women and saw how his own daughter of seven boys had accomplished so much throught literature. 
     I really liked this short essay because my family is so old fashioned as well and seeing the words like “molcaljete” and “novela” made me smile because they are spanish terms that are usually not seen in literature. Literature that relates to you is fun to read.

Journal Assignment #1 Agueda Gomez

Reading about Malcolm X was truly inspirational due to his perseverance to chase knowledge. He began his life as an illiterate convict, but when he was put to jail for many years he began to crave education. He says that the reason he wanted to become a literate man was because he was jealous of the way other inmates were smart. He picked up a book and was unable to understand most of it, but after basically memorizing the entire dictionary he started to experience the appetite for reading since he know understood books well. Although Malcolm X was in prison for several years, he states that he was "truly free" in prison because through books he was able to learn about new animals and historical events that he never knew of. He also states how know a days, there are too many distractions at school when in prison he was able to read and study fifteen hours a day. After reading Malcolm X's experience in prison, I truly believe that prison rehabilitates their inmates because there is no distractions and you have a craving to become more literate and wise. In prison, you see everything differently. Like Malcolm X says, "education is our passport to the future." Besides education and prison, Malcolm X also talks about how "negroes" have been mistreated by the "white men" and so forth. But I really did not pay much attention to this part because know a day’s things have changed.
                The reading that mostly touched my heart was "The Joy of Reading and Writing" because it was more personal than historical. The reason why I say this is because the author describes how she has struggled as a poor infant and how society expects her to fail because of where she came from. But she fought hard to be the opposite of that "Indian" child. The reason why I also liked this reading was because she really emphasizes that books will save her life and the life of other minorities as well. I completely agree with the author because books and school are the only things that will help you survive in the world of politics and help you fight for your rights and your life against the educated men. It's also inspiring how the author wants everyone to persevere the way she did to succeed in life; how she "throws her weight against locked doors" of those minorities whom have given up and sit in back of the class with no pen or paper to write in.