I read Butterfly Boy by Rigoberto Gonzalez; a book about Gonzalez's life and his becoming the man he is today. The book has a few interesting qualities that I would like to discuss.
The first thing I found interesting was how Gonzalez tied in all of his feminine acts as a child to him wanting to be like his mother. He admired her so much and was in love with everything she did for him. He wanted to walk like her and have her same mannerisms. I feel like him trying to be like his mom was the beginning of his homosexuality. He never came out and said it, but one could infer that from his writing. Secondly, I understand that this is an autobiography, however a lot of things in the book seemed almost unbelievable to me. Gonzalez would talk about locking eyes with someone he had never talked to before, then a few paragraphs later they would be having hot and steamy sex. On a roof. In the rain. While that seems really exciting, it seemed a little embellished to me. However, this didn't take away from the book. I actually thought it added a little bit of thrill to the story. Finally, the thing that I recognized the most was his style of writing. Butterfly Boy is written in both Spanish and English. Usually when books have a different language integrated in, the foreign words are italicized. However, this wasn't the case for this book. At first it confused me, but then I realized that he might have done this to show that neither of the languages or cultures are foreign to him. If this was the message he was trying to achieve, I like the way he decided to convey it. Overall, Butterfly Boy was a very good read. I enjoyed Gonzalez
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I am reading Butterfly Boy by Rigoberto Gonzalez. The book seemed very interesting even before I started reading. This was because of things like the cover, the reviews and the epigram.
When choosing the book, I was really won over by the cover. It is dark with an obfuscated picture of a boy with butterfly wings on his back. His eyes are a surprisingly bright yellow. This contrast startled me at first, but then I actually started looking at the picture. Why does this boy have on a smock and wings? Why does he look so hurt? The reviews are full of approbation. "Deeply felt," and "engrossing" (Manrique, Reviews), were just some of the words used to describe the work. Then I see it in Silvia Spitta's review as she raves about Gonzalez' "poignant autobiography": "[his] outing as a gay man." Yes! This is definitely going to be good. I'm itching to get to the 1st page when I stumble upon the epigram. " 'Of curse I love my father' a typo in an email," it reads. I feel it showed that Gonzalez is going to have problems with his father in the book. This book is getting more and more toothsome by the minute (and I haven't even started reading it yet!) The table of contents is a combination of 5 parts, with more modicum chapters with the names of places and dates. The dates are not in chronological order, and I'm not too fond of books like that; however, the book seems so good that I have to just read the first page to see if this is what I want to read for class. It doesn't disappoint. Within the first 10 pages, I found out that Gonzalez is in an abusive relationship with an older gentleman. He decides to go visit family to get away from him. I can't really tell if his family knows about his sexual orientation or not, but I don't think they do. From the way he describes his family, they don't seem that accepting of different things, so I doubt if he has told them yet. Overall, I am really glad I chose Butterfly Boy so far. The book is interesting and I feel like it is going to be very dramatic and deep. Just think about it, if it didn't have the cover it did, I might not be reading it right now. I know people say not to judge a book by its cover, but in this case, it wasn't a bad thing. 1. Teen pregnancy and shows like Teen Mom are so controversial. The stereotype is that most teen mothers are ghetto, Hispanic or white trash and incapable of raising a child. There are a lot of people think that shows like 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom encourage this.
2. I don’t think that the shows glamorize it at all. Nobody on the show is just fine and encouraging others to have kids of their own. 3. My satirical argument is that that the show is watched by all young girls of the world and that the stereotypical teen moms on the show are encouraging them to be young moms as well. 4. People who feel the same way that I feel about the issue of teen pregnancy would appreciate this satire, but teen moms probably wouldn’t like my portrayal of them. People who already don’t like the shows or the idea of teen mothers might think this article is real! 5. I chose an article as my media because I like the idea that it looks like an actual article but its 100% fake. 6. I focused on your stereotypical teen mom, and pointed out their flaws. Then I showed how the viewers of the show felt about them. I exposed the weaknesses of the show and made it funny. 7. I used euphemisms (mother of the year), an oxymoron, and a pun (Kelly's paragraph - sentence) to make my satire more comical. LOS ANGELES – Young girls anticipate many things: their birthday, Halloween, Christmas. The premiere of MTV’s second season of Young Mothers Rule! YMR! is a show that follows four teenage mothers around their hometowns as they neglect their children, fight with their baby daddies, and encourage innocently promiscuous girls around the world to have little tykes of their own. Last season, YMR! followed around Kelly, D’Breeyahnuh, Jessee, and Maria. Jessee was considered the favorite (behind D’Breeyahnuh of course), last season. The 18 year old cared for her beautiful son Farley in between spending time with her new boyfriend, smoking weed, and hooking up with her baby’s daddy (and his co-workers). “Jessee showed us that it’s okay to be a normal teenage girl, and have a kid too. I mean who knew you could still get baked after having a kid?” says viewer Chassidy, “I mean that’s the only thing that was holding me back, and the fact that I don’t have any money – but Jess had that under control too! A dancer at the local club? Do you know how much money comes in from that? She’s mother of the year, hands down.” Maria, 17, the first person in her family to not be known by her mug shot on the 6 o’clock news, was seen as the good girl of the group. Trying to make a living for herself as a house maid to support her son Jose, age 2, Maria was not the show favorite. “She was trying too hard,” says viewer Katelyn, “I mean, she’s 17, by herself and with a kid. She still has 4 more years until she actually has to grow up! She should have just left the snot nose with her grandma. I mean she probably knows a little more about parenting than Maria, don’t you think?” D’Breeyahnuh, 16, was the only one to have more than one kid (Q’L’aneesia, Ralph Lauren, and Leroyetta, all under age 3). Her segments were more about her flunking high school, getting multicolored weaves, and trying to find out whom each child’s daddy was, than her taking care of her children. “I just pray for her,” said her teary-eyed mother Ellie May, who is more of a guardian to her children than D’Breeyahnuh herself, “she’ll come around one day. I just hope it's soon.” Kelly, 15, from Willacoochee, GA, and her boyfriend of 9 months seemed to be the most stable couple on the show, texting each other every night; her from her YMR!-paid-for iPhone 4 in her trailer home, and him from his smuggled Nokia in jail. “Oh, were getting married once he finishes his sentence,” says Kelly, “not his like, word, you know talk sentence, but like, his jail sentence. He’s in jail.” Kelly has a 1.2 GPA. The show is expected to have 69.8 million viewers tune in tonight. “I’m leaving school early to get prepared for the YMR! party I’m throwing tonight,” says 14 year old Becky, “I’m inviting all the girls in the 9th grade. I ordered fake baby bumps and everything, only for the people that aren’t already preggo of course. So I only had to get like 7 or 8. Go YMR! Whoo!” YMR! season 2 premieres tonight at 10:00pm eastern time. The United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the industrialized world. In 2009, 2/3 of the births in the U.S. were from women under the age of 18, with over half of that number of births being unplanned (The Importance of Prevention). People sight many different reasons as to why this is so prevalent in the U.S. Things like peer pressure, absence of parents, rape, drinking, or ignorance on the subject are usually shown as causes. Recently however, people have laid blame on the media for glamorizing teen pregnancy (Langham).
Shows like MTV’s 16 and Pregnant, and MTV’s Teen Mom series have raised some concerns on what the media is portraying to girls. Jane Brown, a journalism professor at the University of North Carolina says, "It's the missing three C's: there's little commitment, no mention of contraception and rarely do we see negative consequences,” (“Teen Pregnancy, Hollywood Style”). Apparently, there are some people that agree with her. There are people speaking out who find the show “unrealistic” and “a train wreck”. There are even MTV blogs have comments from angry viewers saying to cancel the shows. However, there are people who find MTV’s 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom beneficial. 82% of teens surveyed, age 12-19, said that these types of shows “help teens better understand the challenges of pregnancy and parenting” (The National Campaign). Amber Portwood, a mom from season 1 of 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom feels like they show more of their hardships. "If you read the articles about the show, they do nothing but talk about how the show reveals how hard it is for all of us. It doesn't glamorize anything! It shows the heartache we've all gone through. We may be 'celebrities' because our face is out there, but it's only because we've done some bad things. That's not glamorous."(Teen Mom Stars to Kim Kardashian: Back Off!) Tita's Journal Entry
Dear Journal: Today, Mama Elena gave away my heart and soul to Rosaura. He came with his padre to ask for my hand in marriage. I even warned Mama before he came, but her miond was already decided. She argued against our marriage passionately -- but then she had an idea; my Pedro to marry Rosaura instead! Some idea! Tomorrow, I must begin sewing what's supposed to be my wedding sheets. Mama Elena even wants me to bake the cake...Rosaura and Pedro's wedding cake. Aye! I don't know if my heart can take it. But how could he just agree to marry her? He swore "his love for me would last forever," and while I know we are getting older, I know the end of time hasn't ran out yet. Tita Comprehension Task
Poem Words from Medea He was probably off somewhere playing tag with fate when my strawberry cheeks were touched by his wit and determination. My charms and incantations topped with a crimson bow merely blinded him. All I desired was a small niche in his heart, so in exchange for an elusively sentimental ring, I bore him a fleece that a stranger would conclude had to have been touched by Midas, himself. His recompense? My heart in his eternally outstretched palm crushed like he wasn't conscious that it was ever even there. His harlot, who had not an eighth of the affection I once possessed, found her toxic demise stitched in her wedding dress. Then, I laid incisions upon our, my, posterity, their tainted genes finally able to run free from their veins. Oh the sight of you, you lone being! Your detrimental actions brought this fate to you; how do you feel as I sit on the highest possible throne while you perch on the bow of your dilapidated ship, rotting. rotting. Hate will never mend the Broken Heart. Revenge however, always, alleviates the pain. Comprehension Task Comic Strip This is my comic strip about based on the scene in the story of Ali Baba when his brother Cassim gets trapped in the cave. Application Task In the story of Midas, the king made a decision (that proved to be dumb) to make everything that he touched turn to gold. This decision almost ruined his life. He realized what he had done was wrong, and asked to reverse it. The wish was reversed, but there was a humiliating consequence. When I heard this story, I thought of Kanye West. He is, in my opinion, a very talented musician and producer, but he has made some fatuous decisions, that have made him look very foolish. I would say his most infamous mistake was when he interrupted Taylor Swift during her acceptance speech at the MTV Music Video Awards, saying his view on her win. Like Midas, he realized what he did wasn't a really good idea and tried to make things right. However, also like Midas, there were repercussions. For more on this story, you can click this link. A reticent girl, who has noticeably beautiful eyes (and an even more noticeably deformed jaw), you’ve never seen before comes and sits beside you and your friends at lunch, trying to look nonchalant, even though she is shaking with trepidation. You are wondering why she came to sit with you, when you see them: a pack of recalcitrant teenage boys. “I bet David wants to go kiss her, don’t you David?” “Yeah, right, then I’ll go kiss your mother’s crusty feet.” “How’ll you know which is which?” They laugh and walk away, not caring about the damage done. The little girl is sitting there silently, like she never heard, but you can see the tears welling up in her eyes. You sit there shell-shocked. Autobiography of a Face is the story of Lucy Grealy, a woman living with a disfigured face caused by Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare form of cancer. The story describes her journey in overcoming her struggles with society and herself. Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy teaches readers that in order to be successful you must acknowledge your problem and get the most out of it. The Art of War by Sun Tzu is a book about war strategies. However, they can really be applied to everyday problems. There are cases in Autobiography of a Face where Lucy could have used some of Sun Tzu’s tactics to overcome her obstacles.
My definition of success is what you experience after you overcome an obstacle. I have many goals in life; I want to graduate high school and college with honors. I want to then become a teacher and have a family. However, there are obstacles in achieving these goals. Graduating college is going to require a lot of money and dedication. In The Art of War, Sun Tzu concludes that, “many calculations lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat” (Tzu 1). This makes me want to make an intricate plan that will get me to accomplish my goals. The book Autobiography of a Face tells us to make the best out of a situation. Since I cannot change the cost of school, I will just have to find a way to pay for it. Lucy Grealy writes Autobiography of a Face in chronological order. The prologue is set in her teen years. It shows us how she is being treated because of her face; it also gives us insight on what the book is going to be like. However, once you hit the first chapter, the real story begins, starting with the first incident with her jaw. All of the chapters have names that seem like they have no significance. Nevertheless, at the end of each chapter, you can see why Lucy picked the names for each chapter. The writing is very powerful. It really makes you think. Lucy Grealy asks a lot of questions in her writing to get a point across. An example of this is shown after Lucy received a bone graph to fix her jaw. She was really looking forward to seeing herself in a mirror. However, she wasn’t quite satisfied saying, “Wasn’t my fear just supposed to fall away, wasn’t life supposed to work now? Where was all that relief and freedom that I thought came with beauty?” (Grealy 204). At points in the text, it got pretty repetitive. However, I really appreciated her points of understanding in the book. I also loved the way she incorporated her heartbreaking anecdotes related to how people treated her because of her face. They really opened my eyes to how myopic and cruel some people can be. Throughout the book, Lucy keeps a very formal yet personal language. She uses mother and father when she talks about her parents; never mommy or daddy. She does a great job of recreating scenes from her childhood. You can feel the pain through the pages. The Art of War is completely different. It is built like a guide. There is no kind of order, just facts. It is very straight forward and has no emotional connotation at all. Reading Autobiography introduced me to Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare and very serious form of cancer. Lucy Grealy was lucky; there is only a 5 percent survival rate for this disease. In reading The Art of War, I learned many different ways to overcome a problem. I would not recommend The Art of War to others. It is pretty complex and you have to be the kind to see obstacles as mini-battles to appreciate Sun Tzu’s work. On the other hand, I would definitely recommend Autobiography of a Face to anybody. It is a great text that is the paragon of human nature on both the victim’s side and the offender’s. Reading this book leaves you with either a new outlook or more cautious outlook on life and how to treat others. That way, the next time a girl is teased at your lunch table, you will be able to stand up for her; you will be able to show her that somebody cares. Autobiography of a Face is the life story of Lucy Grealy: a lady living without part of her jaw . In the first chapter of the book, she describes her jaw colliding with a girl named Joni's head during a game of dodge ball in the fourth grade. Joni did not have a belligerent nature; she was simply going for the same ball as Lucy when the accident occurred. The collision caused something to go terribly wrong in Lucy's mouth. The doctors first thought that her tooth was just pushed back into her gum, but it would end up being something much, much worse.
So far, the book is pretty entertaining. The prologue was kind of boring, but the actual book after that is interesting. Lucy Grealy has a type of dry humor that I appreciate a lot. My favorite part of the book so far - the part that actually made me laugh out loud - was right after she ran into Joni. She describes her experience with a teacher, Ms. Minkin, asking her if she was okay. The passage goes as follows: ""Are you all right, dear?" Interrupted in my twilight, I looked up to see Mrs. Minkin, who was on playground duty that afternoon. She fell into the category of "scary" adults, and from there into the subcategory of adults "with cooties." In her plaid wool skirts and thick makeup, luridly ugly to schoolchildren's eyes, Mrs. Minkin was not someone to whom I was willing to admit distress. "I'm fine, thank you."" I think that the theme in the book right now is be who you are. If Lucy, who described herself as a "tomboy par excellence", had been herself in the game, she probably would not have gotten hit in the jaw. "...I was my face..." is a statement Grealy made in the book. I agree with the theme. You might as well be who you are; there really isn't a way you can change it. The movie “Il Postino” was pretty good for an old movie. However, if I didn’t have to do an assignment on it, I think I would have missed the messages that they were trying to get across when they made it. It had its cute moments that made me smile and then there were the corny moments that made me laugh. It was a sweet movie and I’m glad I got to see it.
I feel the movie “Il Postino” is saying that feelings do not care what class you are in. In the movie, Pablo Neruda always wore light colors which showed he was higher in class than Mario, who wore a dark postman’s uniform. However both of them experienced love: Pablo with his wife, and Mario with Beatrice. Mario was sad when Pablo left the island to go back to his home in Chile. Apparently, Pablo did not care about Mario that much after he left. When he wrote about visiting Italy, he did not talk about his “good friend, Mario Ruopollo.” He didn’t even write him a single letter! This made Mario feel very inferior to his once friend, Mr. Neruda. Mario’s mother-in-law described Pablo’s fleeing by saying “The bird that has eaten flies away.” Mario says that he was the one who benefited from Pablo, not vice versa. He said Pablo was a great poet loved by all the women, and that he was just a poor fisherman that asked him to write him a poem. However, when Pablo finally returned, it was too late. Only at that point, it seemed that Pablo showed real emotion towards his poor, fisherman friend. I feel the movie is trying to say that poetry is made to make people appreciate the small details of life. I saw this in the movie when Mario was developing his metaphors. When he said, “Your smile spreads across your face like a butterfly,” it made me smile because that is something so simple that he made beautiful. I also saw this after Pablo left and Mario finally could think of things that were beautiful on his island. Something as simple as the wind coming off the cliffs, or the sad nets of the fisherman, was made so beautiful in his tape. A quote from the movie that shows that poetry is meant for other people is “Poetry doesn’t belong to those who write it, but those who need it.” The movie says a lot of things about love, but I think the over all theme about love says that if you truly love somebody, they are the only thing that matters. This was shown through many different types of love in the film. Mario loved Pablo Neruda as a friend. He helped him win over his wife, Beatrice. Beatrice and Mario loved each other in a romantic way. When Mario was describing all of the beautiful things on his island, you could tell he had a great love for where he lived. Before Mario died, he said that he wanted to name his son Pablito. This showed his love for Pablo in a major way. Even when Beatrice said that she didn’t want to name her son that, he still insisted. Mario actually ended up dying trying to make Pablo Neruda proud. Now that is true love. | Poetry is a deal of joy, pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary. ~Kahlil GibranArchivesMarch 2011 Categories |
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