Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Journal six

After tread this book I did learn how to describe a scene and it brought me back to my childhood. Some stories it talks about which did similar happen around me. Such as, the first job, chanclas, and some more, and so on. This book has two strengths. Each time the main character got problem finally they got fix it and have experience that is the first strength. Such as the story name “The Family of Little Feet”. The other strength of this book is the love in their family for example “Papa Who wakes Up tired in the Dark”. I gave me a shock, and let me thought about the scene when my grandmother died. Though it is a really short story, all the sentences have their feeling. This book has lots of stories however some of these stories are boring. In my opinion it is the weakness of this book. I would like every stories are interesting so that I can keep enthusiastic from the being to the end. But in the other hand I can think the boring stories can let the good stories become more interesting. Let readers feel like claiming mountains, sometimes goes up sometimes goes down.
My favorite story is “The family of Little Feet”. Girls curiosity to the heel. But they are the the age to wear that shoes. I think they just try to pretend an adult, however they do not understand these shoes should be wore in special place. Somebody warned them on page 41 “You girls too young to be wearing shoes like that. Take them shoes off before I call the cops, but we just run.” “Do you like these shoes?” this sentence appear 3 times in page 41, in my opinion they really like the shoes and try to get all peoples' attention. Eventually they got flirt with a Bum man. I like this story because it is let me understand I should pay attention to others warning.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

The house on Mango Street.

This book was a really nice book. It more creative than anything else. She used many figurative language in the book. She described things so well and made them jump out of the book. She gave many objects characteristics that they didn't have and made sure it made sense. She was very detailed in. She has many themes and she just jump around from story to story. She talks about realistic situations that she has experienced that you can relate to.

The House on Mango Street

The House on Mango Street was a little different than other books. Some scenes were hard to understand because how the author, Cisneros, used grammars. I liked her unique writing styles where she did not use quotation marks at all. All the short stories were interesting and had a lot of details.By reading this book, I found the new writing skills. I learned that the main character, Esperanza, did not like the house on mango street, however, she had the most memorable moments with her friends and neighbors. The strengths in this story were how Esperanza did not complain about the house to her parents because she knew that they could not afford. And also how she had problems about the friends and family and find a way to solve them.
My favorite story in this book was “A Smart Cookie.” This is my favorite story because I could tell that Esperanza’s mother cares about Esperanza. She does not want Esperanza to experience the same like how she dropped school because of not having nice clothes. My favorite quote from this story is “I could’ve been somebody, you know? Esperanza, you go to school” (Cisneros, 91)

Journal Six


I learnt a lot of writing skills after reading the House on Mango Street. Ciseneros does really good on narration and characterization, she made the people and places come to life. She also used a lot of similes and metaphors which make the stories much more interesting to read. The sequence of the stories in the book is well organized; it showed me how the children in the Mango Street grow up and what they have to go through as a kid in a poor neighborhood. The stories are short but they just inspired us to think more about the in-depth meaning conveyed from each stories. The weakness of the book is that there are a lot of grammatical problems and it’s sometimes confusing to read; Ciseneros narrates stories with a lot of dialogues but she does not clearly indicate who the speaker is most of the time.

My favorite story is “Mango Says Goodbye Sometimes” which is the last story in the book. She says, “They will not know I have gone away to come back. For the ones I left behind. For the ones who cannot out.” In the previous stories, Ciseneros actually showed how much Esperanza doesn’t want to stay in Mango Street and choose her own way of life. She was ashamed to be poor and she wants to escape from the poor neighborhood. However, although she left the Mango Street at last, she just didn’t forget who she really is and she come back to the Mango Street to help the others who got stuck there.

Mango response

I enjoyed the story of House on Mango Street for several reasons.
First of all, It kind of reminds me of my own life. Before I moved to Ohio, I lived in Brownsville where there were many young girls like Esperanza. Since I met some of them while they were working in restaurans or gas stations, we kind of became friends and they told me stories similar to what happened to Esperanza.
I liked the story for other reasons too. In the first place, it portraits the dark side of American life. People from outside US might think that here there is no poverty and everybody is driving at least a Cadillac. Besides, this story has a strong message for poor people all over the world that it is possible not to break down the pressure of poverty. Esperanza shows us that by engaging our mind in useful activities such as writing, we can not only tolerate the pressure of life but also move on in our life successfully. And finally, I liked the fact that although Esperanza was determined to leave that street, She still felt responsible and sympathetic about the older women living there. I like her desire for thinking it is emotional and deep. My favorite story is MANGO SAYS GOODBYE SOMETIMES, the way she takes a risk and freedom in writing and she knows a beauty in herself, and she has a dream in her mind that she wants to bring it to this world. It has wonderful ending for the book very soft and sensitive but powerful.

Journal Six

After reading The House on Mango Street, I have to say this book has become one of my favorites. Even though the stories were short, I enjoyed reading them. I think when people read this book they become fascinated with the amount of meaning each story has. Cisneros does a very good job at explaining details very much and making sure the reader does not get confused or anything like that. I learned a lot from this book. I learned that no matter how happy a person seems, some are just putting that smiley face as a cover to hide what’s really going through their lives. I didn’t find any weaknesses because over all I liked the book. Some of the strengths of the book were that most stories were about the struggle of the people and things that happened behind closed doors when nobody knew anything about it.
One story that stood out to be the most was “A House of My Own.” I thought this story has the most meaning out of all the other stories. And also it is the shortest story in the book. But at the same time, when you read it, you instantly become amazed at how a short story can have such a meaning. She describes how she wants a place of her own and to basically start something new. She states “Only a house quiet as snow, a space for myself to go, clean as paper before the poem” (Cisneros 108). Even though she is still a young person, she understands life more than anyone else.

Journal Six: Thoughts on Mango Street

Overall, I liked the book. It was an easy read and a hard read. It was easy because it was composed of short stories. It was hard because it was her life. It told about the good times and the bad times. It dealt with how she struggled through it. I would say its weaknesses is that it was somewhat hard to follow because it was composed of short stories. I had a hard time tieing it all together at first. The strengths were that her creative writing made it seem real to the reader. It made you feel like you were there by the way she described things. I learned from this book to definitely appreciate what we have. I also learned that you should always remember where you came from. Some people may not like their past, but that is what made them who they are. If they forget where they came from, they could forget who they are.

My favorite story was "A House of My Own". I liked this story because all her life she wanted to live in a house. A real house. " Not a flat. Not an apartment in back. Not a man's house. Not a daddy's. A house all my own. With my porch and my pillow, my pretty purple petunias. My books and my stories. My two shoes waiting beside the bed. Nobody's garbage to pick up after." She wants it to be just hers and she doesnt want to have it because a man gave it to her. She doesn't want to be like Sally whose husband won't let her out of the house. She is independent and this much reminds me of myself and how I want to have a place of my own. She wants to be happy and on her own in her house.

Linoleum Roses

In this story, Esperanza's friend Sally gets married. Sally is maybe 14 or 15 at the time. She gets married in another state becuase you can't get married that young in most states. She gets married to escape the abuse, and violence going on in her home. Even though she no longer lives with her abusive father, she is still trapped, and can't go anywhere. It stood out to me becuase she is still in the same situation, she can't even leave the house becuase her husband won't let her or becuase she is too afraid to stand up to him. He is controlling her just like her father was. My favorite sentence is "she sits at home because she is afraid to go outside without his permission".

A House of my Own

I thought that overall, The House on Mango Street was a different and interesting book. Mostly because the author, Sandra Cisneros, did not follow the common grammar rules, and she basically made up her own form of grammar. She is the type of writer I like to be, which someone who can just sit down and type without worrying about whether the punctuation is correct or not.
What I learned from this book and from the main character Esperanza, was that whether you are happy about where you live, how you live and the people you live with or around, you have to suck it up and deal with it. Life eventually will all pan out the way you want it to be, just be patient.
One strength that really stood out to me in the book was the fact that Esperanza, for being a little girl, was so strong. Sure she complained about things that were not very significant, but like I said before, she continued to work. She found a job, she talked to people and made friends, she helped out her family when they needed her. She did all this without really asking what was in it for her. That is a true strength. A weakness that I saw in her was the fact that she did spend some of her time complaining about certain things that could not really be changed, like her name.
My favorite story in this section was, A House of my Own. I liked it, because even though it was the shortest story, it had so much detail and told a story in itself. She talks about having her dream place and having place of her own. My favorite quote in the story was when Esperanza said, “Only a house quiet as snow, a space for myself to go, clean as paper before the poem.” Another reason I like it is because this is what I too dream of. To have a place that I can call my own, where I do not have to clean or cook for anyone but myself. Where I can be myself and not worry about what others are thinking. My own sanctuary.

Journal six

I personal learned from this book how to use metaphor and dialogue which help a lot with my papers. I read many books including short stories, fairy tales, but nothing compare to Cisneros's book The House on Mango Street.

In my view, the strength of this book is the way it grabs the attention of its views and its richness of dialogue and poetic use that many books dint have. However, many traditional readers may see this book as recorded conversation between people.

My favorite story is What Sally Said, because its reality this kind of things happened most homes, parents displining thier child and she does not see it as problems. "Then as school she'd say she fell."

The House On Mango Street

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros is an exploration of a little girl's childhood. This girl's name is Esperanza and she is growing up in a poor neighborhood in Chicago where she knows she does not belong. Esperanza doesn't belong on Mango Street because she is meant for much better things. She wants to grow up and become more than a wife and a mother. She wants to be free and have a home of her own far away from Mango Street.

While reading The House on Mango Street, it is easy to see that the people who live in poor neighborhoods like this one often do not have a choice. There are children like Esperanza who are very bright and meant for much greater things. It is sad that it is so hard for her to get what she wants only because her family is poor. Also, even though it is sometimes hard to piece together all of the stories in the book, Cisneros always uses such strong and beautiful language throughout the book that it paints such a beautiful picture of everything that happens in Esperanza's life. When we see the world through Esperanza's eyes, it seems so simple that she will grow up and find everything that she dreams of.

One story that I thought really stood out and in a sense captured the theme of the book was "A Smart Cookie." In this story, Esperanza talks about how her mother is talented like her and how she could have done so much more with her life if it weren't for shame. "Shame is a bad thing you know. It keeps you down." Esperanza's mother quit school because she didn't have nice clothes and she wants Esperanza to know that she too has the chance to make something of herself as long as she is not ashamed of where she comes from.

The House on Mango Street: Journal Six

What i learned from this book is how creative Sandra cisneros is. How she always breaks the grammar rule in this book. The other thing is how she always knows what to write about always being funny.The strengths of this book was her grammar. She is the most talented writer when it comes to grammatically. To me in this book did not have no weakness but it would have been better if the stories were a bit longer that would have made it more interesting, even though its already fun reading it.

The story that stood the most to me on this reading was the "Beautiful & Cruel" this story stood out the most to me because its talking about how a girl can be picky most of the times. I like this quote where it says "Nenny says she won't wait her whole life for a husband to come and get her, that Minerva's sister left her mother's house by having a baby, but she doesn't want to go that way either. She wants things all her own, to pick and choose." meaning that she doesn't want to leave the house in a bad way rather just stay than that to happen, but she seems to want things on her own. Where she can pick and choose on her own.

Journal six: The House on Mango Street

From the House on Mango Street book, I learn that even a short story can be very good and can have lots of figure language in it. I think the strengths point in this book is that the author can use the language that make it come to life and use the sense detail very good. The favorite story that I like is the "The Three Sisters." I like that stroy because it tell that the three sistes can tell fortune to other people that live in the Mango Street. They use fortune for helping people around the Mango Street. Then Esperanza go see those sisters. Then the sisters tell her to come back to Mango Street for visit even when she move out of that street. That like saying don't forget where you were from even you live in different place. On page 105, there a part i like when one of the sister said it. That is "You will always be Esperanza. You will always be Mango Street.You can't erase what you know. You can't forget who you are."

House on Mango Street Response

Reading The House on Mango Street taught me that author Cisneros is a writer that brings character and scenes to life using similes and metaphors. Also this book has taught me that you have to adapt to something even if you don't like it, for the outcome to be better.

The strengths of the book was that it was easy to understand what was happening in the chapters because Cisneros brought things to life. Also she had many similes and metaphors that helped me connect to things in real life. A weakness in my view was that I didn't like the short chapters. I didn't like them because it was hard for me to put together the meaning of the book. Also, another weakness is that it was hard to follow all of the characters because new ones appeared in different chapters.

My favorite story that I like in last part of the readings was the story named "The Bums in the Attic." This was my favorite story because it shows that Esperanza likes helping out the poor and that if she owned her own house, she would help people off the streets and give them the attic to live in. My favorite quote that I thought was funny and helps suggests the theme of the story is when Cisneros writes, " The floorboards will squeak upstairs. The attic grumbles. The visitors will ask, Rats? Bums I'll say, and I'll be happy."

House On Mango Street: Book Response

I recently finished the book The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros. In this book, Cisneros uses very creative writing in each of her short chapters that were divided into short stories. These short stories all came together to create a larger plot.

This book taught me that not all writing pieces have to be formally set up into organized paragraphs. Cisneros uses many paragraphs, her language isn't always clear, and her choice of chapter topics doesn't always seem relevant, but all of these unique aspects come together to make a very unique book. These unique writing strategies made the book fun to read, and it made my brain work to find the meaning of some of the text.

I will always respect Cisneros for her unique writing style, but i feel as if she tries to be too artistic at many points throughout the book. Some of the short stories still do not make sense to me, and i feel like i missed out on a lot of important themes.

My favorite story from the final part of the book was, A House of My Own. Despite being one of the shortest chapters in the book, i feel like it had was the most important chapter in the entire book. The entire book is about Cisneros' life in a crowded area with many neighbors and stresses. Cisneros describers her dream in the first passage of the chapter: "Not a flat. Not an apartment in back. Not a man's house. A house all my own. With my porch and pillow, my pretty purple petunias" (Cisneros 109), she said in a description of her dream to one day have her own home. She is still a small child in this part of the book, but by this early time in her life, she knows what she really wants in her life. I wish i knew what i really wanted to do with my life at a young age.

Monday, October 19, 2009

My First Job

My first job is considered the least_paid job I have ever had, but it is the most memorable one. I was an Art student in small school in my hometown when I was offered a part time job in the summer to help my teacher. There are several reasons that make this job such a special one.
To begin with, it was my first job, so naturally I was very exited about it. I had a feeling of joy and worry at the same time. I felt proud for entering the world of adults, and I was scared that I would have more responsibilities. As a result, I could hear the pitter-patter of my heart as the first day of my first job was approaching.
My main duties were checking the other student drawing and helping them.I had never failed to my best,which was the main reason I was asked to work part timeduring the summer.This job brought me more prestige among my friends. They began to ook up to me.
Overal, despite the fact that my firstjob was not well paid at all and I consider it one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life. Sometimes I wish I had a time mashine and could go back to that summer and repeat that wonderful experience.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

My First Job


One of my first jobs was a Customer Service Representative. I was excited and nervous at the same time because I didn’t know what to expect. It’s my first day of training and here I am looking like I am lost, because the training took place in a class room where I felt as if I was in school all of a sudden. Training went on for about a month and after that it was a job on hand. It was time to take calls and experience the true reality of what customer service is all about. When I first started this job, I was thinking to my head that it was a simple job and I would be sitting around taking useless calls and stuff. But boy did I realize it was a very hard and frustrating job. People would be calling out and yelling out some very inappropriate names that I don’t wish to repeat.
Callers would just call and as soon as I say hello, they would shout “If you don’t stop giving me these ridiculous calls I will personally come and kill you with my bare hands.” See by this time I got used to hearing things like this.
So I would just say “Miss or Sir let me explain,” but as the usual they would hang up and end up calling again. I quit that job after working there for about four months. And I said to myself I would find a better job.

Snapshot Three: My First Job


My first job was at Valvoline Instant Oil Change where i am still currently employed. First, I want to tell you about how i got my job. One day i was at the shop having my oil changed and the manager was there that day. I asked him, "Are you hiring?" He said, "Yes we are and i have been looking for a female to help with sales." I asked, "Do you have to have any knowledge or background on cars." He said, "No we actually prefer that you have no previous background so we can train you the way we want you the first time." So, that night I went home and applied online. I did not get hired for a couple of months, but i have been employed there ever since.
On my first day, I went to orientation. At my orientation there were thirty people and it was boring and took forever. It felt like being stuck in an isolation chamber except for you were not alone. The next day I started working at the shop. It was very weird and awkward at first. I was the only girl working with a bunch of guys. Since, I was the only girl I had to change in the bathroom. I was very nervous because I was uncertain on what they expected out of me. I was very out-numbered by them, but once I got to know them I found that they were great people to work with. Cars were foreign to me. I struggled very much when they taught me bottom side partly because I am not as strong as them. This job was fun for me because I like to learn and this job gave me the benefit.

first job


Three days before Chinese New Year, the government will occupy a six traffic lines street and make booths in the middle of street. It is a traditional in my hometown, lots of people will rent a booth to sell flowers or something interesting. I had my first job in here when I was twelve.
I did buy some fluorescent stick and sold with my friend on street. At seven o'clock we began walk on the fair and found a big concrete for standing I could see peoples head moving in front of me. Tons of people walks in the same direction, it looks like a black stream which runs slowly. Radios were barking on the side of street. The fair is very noisy, voice of the radio, people's talk, some owner of booth yelled for getting attention, all the voice mix together feels like I was standing in front of a waterfall. We should people’s attention too, we yelled “fluorescent stick! One for 50cent, three for 1yuan.” In a day the most people traveling the fair is at eight to eleven o'clock.
As the time pass there were more and more people traveling on the street. The crow would like to walk on the traffic lines than side walk. Peoples tried to hustle into the crow, the stream becomes a moving cube and moved slowly. I found lots of people sold fluorescent stick. For getting more customers everyone dropped their price. We even drop our price to 2cent per stick. But we cannot earn any money by selling this price. Luckily my partner found his friend who sold spray snow. Nobody sold spray snow in the fair at that night. That is an opportunity to raise our price. He sold spray snow 8 yuan per can. But we yelled “Spray snow 10 yuan per can get 5 fluorescent stick for free.” We combined our goods together and try to build up our price. Our price was getting lots of attentions from the crow. They throw their curiosity look to us. All the fluorescent stick and spray snow were sold out before eleven o'clock. Yelling against to all the people is the deepest impression of my first job. Though it just temporary job, it is interesting, because it is special experience.

Snapshot 3: My first job


My first job is at Yin Yue Restaurant. This restaurant is open by one of my uncle. At one summer my dad come home ask me about job. I was 15 year old at that year. This is how it start.

“Have you found a job yet?” Said my dad
“No”
“Your uncle wants to know, do you want to start work at the restaurant for experiment.”
“Why not start there and you can have some experiment at work.”
“And you can help your uncle out.”
“Ok”
The follow Saturday, it is my first job experiment start. My dad drives me there to start work. My aunt and one of the workers there teach me what to do there. That day is not a busy day and they had time to teach me. Later my aunt said, “I through today will be busy but it is not.”
“If it busy, I would help you packing and you can make the sauces for it.”
I have to learn each meal name and what it likes. First I don’t know each meal it like and the name but then I learn them at that day. Most the time I have to ask what it that meal to the chief.
First I look at the meal, if I know what it is by gusted then if I don’t I will start to ask.
“What it this meals call?”
“It is Sesames chicken.”
It is like that most of that day.
Later I know most of the meals already. It all thank to my aunt, the workers there and the chief.
At the restaurant, I doing the packing at Saturday and on Sunday I sometime answer the phone or be waiter.

My first job


Snapshot Three


My First Job


My first job was working at Wends Old Fashion Hamburger, located next to then Northland Mall, as a drive through cashier. I work there from four o’clock in the afternoon to closing time, while attending high school. I had no previous experience, so the jobs available to me were limited. I was eager finding a job so I can buy car. Staring out as a cashier was not that bad,

On my first day, I had to be train so I can handle the responsibility. My trainer was a cool cat, name Tim, who also a cashier running the one in the dinning room. However, he was con artist.
“Okay, what do I do” I ask.
“Man today am gonna teach you a trick that will benefit you” he said.
He open the register, took money out unplug and close the register, than he haler to the manager, “the register is down.” I was very surprise by what he did.
“This stealing,” I told him
“Come down” he said.
“What if the manager finds out?” I ask.
“Don’t be alarm baby boy, everybody here does it including the shift manager,” his friend said, who was standing next to us.
I kept my mouth shut, pretend nothing happen, and went home. I came to work next day worrying about what happen yesterday, wonder when am going to the office. However, I realize what happen here yesterday, was normal thing to everybody who work there. The restaurant was very corrupted. Working there was as if working in a casino ran by mobsters.

The only bad thing about working there was dealing with dirty dishes, which I hated most. Imagine cleaning all the dirty dishes that were paling up all day, while attending school in the morning. Eventually, I left there with experience to find my next job.

Snapshot Three


Looking back at my early teenage years, my first job was mowing my neighbors yard. It all started when our new neighbor moved in next door. Driving pass their house week by week, I noticed that there yard kept getting longer and longer as if no one was living there. My joy for cutting grass helped motivate me to knock on their door. One sunny afternoon during the spring, I went to their house and knocked on the door. The owner of the house answered the door, “Hey how are you doing?”

“Good how are you. I just wanted to introduce myself and let you know that if you need your yard cut, I’m the guy who can help you out.”

“Yea, the mower that I have won’t start and I'm looking for someone to cut my yard because it’s getting long.”

“Ok that sounds great, does $20 a week work good for you. I will mow the yard and string trim all around the house as well.”

“ That is awesome. I will even throw in a tip in if you pick up the sticks around the yard.”

After hearing Mr. Hogue say that, my eyes got big and it was like a kid opening presents on Christmas day. The next weekend later, I began to cut his grass weekly. This job at times was not fun because on a hot summer day, you would sweat a ton and have no motivation to continue to mow. Even though it was hot, it was a convinent job for a teenager trying to make money because it was right next-door. To this day I still continue to mow this same yard and other lawns that I acquired over the years.

Snapshot Three: My First Job


How does it feel to interact with your favorite celebrities and athletes? I gave a ride to one of my favorite rappers Dwayne Michael Carter also know as Lil Wayne. It was a short ride from his gate to the baggage claim level. We were having a good conversation at the end of the ride; he tipped me 65 dollars and gave me a ticket and a backstage pass to his concert at the Veterans Memorial Park April. This is just one of the reasons why I think my job is one of the best jobs out there. I get to meet or see some of the most important people and the most famous people in the world, but I also get to meet and help average everyday people just like you and me. Not only that but my job also has good benefits, and it pays well.
I love my job It is one of the first jobs I have had so far. I have been working there for almost 4 years now. I work at Port Columbus International Airport. I Started of as a wheelchair and now my title is supervisor/coordinator. The company I work for is a contractor with the airlines at the airport. Our company does all the basic necessity stuff that flying or arriving passengers need, such as we push wheelchairs for those who need it, we translate for those passengers who don’t speak English, and we help if the passengers needs help with the bags and I also have my best friend from high school that works with me at this job also attends OSU with me now.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Snapshot 3: My First Job


I have never truly owned a job the closest I can come to it is when I did volunteer work at the OSU medical center at Doan Hall. I was stationed at the PPRC (post procedure recovery center) and was given assignments akin to what might be expected of an orderly whether it be wheeling patients from place to place or assembling Blood Test kits or even compiling charts for the doctors. It was a rather quiet place sometimes eerily so the halls would echo with the beeps and whistles of the various machines, and long silent corridors would suddenly come alive, as MDs would stealthily dash through the halls like thieves in the night and whisk certain patients away on there beds into elevators never to return. But not all was so lifeless as I managed to overhear some amusing things from the patients and nurses.

One such occasion was when I was tasked with taking an out going patient to his car. He was an elderly man at first glance he appeared weathered his skin like tanned leather. I assumed he was a farmer of some sort as he was clad in blue jeans and a plaid button up shirt that drew up pictures in my mind of people I had seen on TV working farmland. As we strolled over to the parking garage his wife called out to him,

“Ted do you remember where we parked the car” she said,

“yeah number 32 didn’t you look” he replied,

“of course I looked its not there” she fired back,

“well maybe you’re looking in the wrong place” he answered.

She gave us both an exasperated look and stormed off toward the cars

“women I tell ya” he said silently as held his head, “ better not scratch my truck that’s all know”. He murmured a few more things to himself before a large black Chevy pulled up in front of us, “about time” he said as he stepped out of the wheelchair, he and his wife continued to quarrel as they both got in and eventually drove off, I remember thinking to myself I cant believe Im not getting paid for this.



My First Job

My first job was being a salesperson in a fashion boutique in Hong Kong. The store is located in a small-scale department store and I was the only salesperson there. Beside the store, there are other different clothing boutiques, also with only one salesperson in each store selling similar stuffs.

"Three rules. You have to remember being as a salesperson. One, be nice to any kind of customers. Two, give customers 10%off discount at most if they keep on bargaining. Three, only wear those clothing which is sold in our store.”This was what the boss told me before my first day of work. “No problem!” I said, thinking that the job would be really easy.

I still remember at the very end of my first day of work, a customer, who is a fat, snobbish-looking middle-aged woman, entered my store. She wandered around in the extremely small store for half an hour and she finally picked a red dress. The woman suddenly said, “Twenty. I will give you twenty dollars for this.” “Madam, that dress costs fifty dollars, I can only give you a 10% off at most!” I told her this in a really polite way.Then, she started screaming at me, like a mad dog. “Look at your tiny store! Even the whole store doesn’t worth 50 dollars! And your attitude is so bad! Where is your boss, I have to complain NOW!” I was shocked. She claimed that my attitude was really bad but actually I did not even say a word when she was yelling at me. Although I was badly insulted by her, I still faked a smile and gave her my boss’s phone number. She threw away the red dress and left.

I think she didn’t complain at last as my boss didn’t scold at me for this incident. However, I learned my lesson. Work is never easy, deal with it.

Snapshot Three: My First Job

My first actual job in my life was a tutor. I teach English to Japanese children who is not able to speak English well since that is their second language. I go to their houses and work on their homework and basic conversations. Since I was involved in so many school activities, I could not get a job until the beginning of my senior year.

Life is an adventure; I would never know what is going to happen in my life. I always wanted to get a job but had no time to work, although one day, I had a call from a Japanese family. This family just moved from Japan and their son and I went to the same high school.

“I have two children, a freshman and a fifth grade. Could you tutor my kids and help them with their English?” Their mother called me, as my heart got rainbow. I was very happy and excited as I heard this.

On my first day of my actual job, I was a little bit nervous. Thinking like “I hope the kids are nice to me,” or “I hope they like me...” I entered their house. First thing we did was introduce ourselves.
“Hello, my name is Lisa. What is your name?” We started from here, and basic vocabularies, and some grammars.

I am still working as a tutor. I like my job because a boss does not control me to do stuff. As the kids learn their English, I feel like I am also learning by teaching them English.

Snapshot Three: My First Job

"You don't want to get a job yet," my dad would say to me, "you've got the rest of your life to work." I guess my parents were weird about it. I mean, I mooched off of them for as long as I could, but once I was about 16 I really needed to get a job to pay for all the things I wanted to do.

The biggest reason I had to get a job was just to have some money for myself. I was fortunate enough to not really need a job. At the time, I just really wanted a nice guitar. So I applied for one at the golf course down the road from my house. It was only a bike ride away, so I didn't need a car; and it was a fairly easy job come to think of it. The only downside was that I despised the game of golf.

Really, the job I had wasn't that bad. All I had to do was make sure that all of the golf carts were clean and ready to use, and then put them all away at night. Sometimes I would have some rather difficult cleaning jobs or I'd have to find a dead cart out on the course and drag it back to the clubhouse, but I spent most of the day not doing very much at all. What got to me was the lack of human interaction. I'd be lucky to get a "good morning" or "how's it goin?" from someone in the clubhouse before I went outside to tend to the carts and deal with rude golfers all day. I almost went insane.


Snapshot Three: My First Job


“Liza, you are 14 years-old, when are you going to start looking for a job young lady?” These were always the words I dreaded hearing from my parents.
“Soon, I am looking, but no place seems to be hiring…” We all know that that was my way of getting out of the whole situation, but sooner or later I knew that I would have to find a job, or else my parents would catch on.
I tried a couple of places; the first place I tried was Kroger, which was walking distance from my home, just like the neighborhood park was. That did not work out so I went to the next place I thought of, The Dollar Tree, which was right next door to Kroger. Luckily, I got that job.
I still remember my first day at work. The place smelt like cheap old toys that would break the moment you touched them, mixed with the smell of too strong car air fresheners that would go out within days of being put into your car. Me, my sweaty palms and shaking knees, walked up the manager and said, “Hi, I am Liza. Should I clock in?” What kind of question was that? Should I clock in? Of course I should have, I mean if I wanted to get paid I would need to.
My manager, Belva, who still today reminds me of a hip older woman that you see breaking it down at the club, put me right to work. Unloading boxes of half broken picture frames, and if they were not already broken, they would be by the time I put them on the shelf.
That is all I ever did, was unload boxes, help ring out a customer that bought maybe two things, and unload more boxes. At times there were those odd customers that came through the line with a year supply of shampoo and groceries and that of course would take forever.
Ugh what a boring job!

My First Job

My first job, wow what a joke. Throughout my days of working at the Muirfield pool as a lifeguard, I never once turned a wrench, or wore a pair of shoes that covered my toes.

My main worry throughout a shift was an even tan, crisp, brown, and glistening. Sunglasses created problems. Lifeguards were required to wear them while in the chair, but if the glasses were too big a tan line would appear.

The only real work that was done during a shift was yelling at swimmers. “Off the lane line!” was by far my favorite. Followed by “No running on the deck”, which finished as a close second place.

No actual “incidents” happened during the three years that I worked at the pool. The closest thing to an incident was handing out a bandage to a young boy with a skinned knee. When his mother thanked me for the help, my only response was, “its my duty to serve”. The Mother was creeped out more then anything by this gesture. Maybe it was my straight face of my aviators that frightened her.

Snapshot Three: My First Job

My first job, wow that was one heck of a job. It was at KFC aka Kentucky Fried Chicken. This place was crazy it was like a hell hole. It was hot, greasy and dirty. Ugh!!!! Every day I did the same thing. I would walk in and my manager would say “ get on the cash register”. I hated that man, he over worked me and constantly yelled “hurry up customers are waiting” and I would always yell back that am only one person. I had this coworker his name was Lazarus like the Macy’s store. He was nice and until this day am still friends with him. Whenever I got stressed out, he would always calm me down and help me out. Other than my manager and the horrible conditions, I guess the job was ok. I felt like I was doing the same thing everyday. I would ring up orders, get the money, give the food out and always smile and say “Have a nice day!!”.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Journal Five

In The House On Mango Street, the story, “Born Bad” stood out to me the most. Esperanza and her friends were playing a game which they made fun of people they know. One day, they pretended like Esperanza’s aunt, Aunt Lupe, how she cannot move her legs or see because of the disease.
I liked how Esperanza told everything without lying about they made fun of Aunt Lupe. I kind of understand why they pretended like her because Aunt Lupe was sick all Esperanza’s life and she does not know when Aunt Lupe was a swimmer. The sickness was normal to Esperaza. Esperaza says “Most likely I will go to hell and most likely I deserve to be there” (Cisneros, 58) I can tell from this sentence how she feels really bad even she liked her aunt.

This is actually Rex's Journal Five

The born bad stood out to me. This chapter talks about the author and her friends take care of her aunt. Her aunt is blind and live in a dark apartment and she was goning to die. But the girls did not know or forget. Esperanza’s aunt was ashame and embarrassed to the children, because they always came to visit her. Her aunt said: “I will keep you free.” I think that means when she died they don’t need to visit her and take care of her anymore.

I like the discription in this chapter. Such as when Esperanza discript her aunt’s apartment she writes “She never saw the dirty dishes in the sink. She couldn’t see the ceiling dusty with flies, the ugly maroon walls, the bottles and sticky spoons.”

She does not use her situation to discript the apartment, she use her aunt’s. Esperanza in and atemp to represent the diseases as the eviel, she writes “They pick with a dizzy finger anyone, just anyone.”

Journal Five

In the House On Mango Street book, I like the story called "Born Bad" because this story talk about Esperanza's aunt. She talk about her aunt Lupe how sick she is and how they get along. Her aunt Lupe had a son, Totchy. She is a good swimmer but she can't swim now because she is sick. When Esperanza visit her, she read peoms to her and some of the poem is she wrote. The sentence that I like in this story is "And then she died, my aunt who listened to my poems. And then we began to dream the dreams."(Cisneros 61). I like this sentence because it show how she still remember her even her aunt Lupe died.

Adding pictures and links to your post


If you save a picture from the internet, you have to right click on the picture and then save the image to your computer. Once you do that, you can post it to the blog writing by clicking the image button. You can also easily add video or links to other websites. At some point this quarter we will try to do all these things. Maybe I want to add something to my post about The House On Mango Street.


Here is a link to the website about Sandra Cisneros. http://www.sandracisneros.com/bio.php


Here is a picture of Ms. Cisneros.






Gil's Furniture Bought And Sold

One of the story in The House on Mango Street is gil's furniture bought and sold. It tells me the way she looks around and she write them the same as simple they are. I have lots of favorite sentences in tthat story, the one that says "with just a dairty window for light" or the one "he doesn't turn the lights on unless you got money to buy things with".

Journal #5: response to Born Bad

The most meaningful chapter for me would have to be Born Bad. This is probably because I also grew up in a very religious community and as far back as I can remember have not exactly met eye to eye with my family's beliefs. It was my opinion that a person should look at God objectively and ask questions to better understand your faith but my family wouldn't here of it, so i have often wondered about my relationship with god and if he really would condemn someone for being a little out of the ordinary.
My favorite sentence refers to Esperanza's similar dilemma, "My mother says i was born on an evil day and prays for me. Lucy and Rachel pray two." as my family prays for me too to find my way. One thing I have come to know about religion is certain though one punishes themselves a thousand times over before God gets around to it.

Journal Five

In the book The House On Mango Street, the story that was most fascinating to me was without a doubt, "Geraldo, No Last Name". This story was about a young man from outside the United States, that Marin met at a dance club. They danced for a while, and then Geraldo left the club. After his night of dancing with Marin, Geraldo was killed by a hit and run.

The most interesting part of the story is the fact that Marin sat in the hospital for many hours, waiting to find out the fate of someone she barely knew. This story shows that human beings will always care and grieve for one another, despite weather or not they know each other. My favorite sentences from the story are; "the hours and hours, for somebody she didn't even know. The emergency room." (Cisneros 66). Cisneros uses this passage to show that all humans care for one another, despite their knowledge of one anther's life.

The reason for the title being, "Geraldo, With No Last Name", is because the girls never got his last name from him in person, and there was no one at the hospital to confirm his identity. They only knew him as Geraldo. His family had no idea of the accident.

Born Bad

The story that stood out to me the most was "Born Bad". Born Bad is about Esperanza'z aunt Lupe's death. She feels responsible becuase they were imitating her on the day she died. She made up this game about imitating famous people and somehow got around to people they know like her aunt. Her aunt was very weak for a long time and on top of that she was blind. I jus tthink she feels guilty becuase she the only one that took the time to listen to her poems, and her stories. I think she's one of the main reasons that the author Sandra Cisneros continued writing. My favorite sentence in the book is when her aunt Lupe says "You Just Keep Writing,Esperanza. You Must Keep Writing. It will keep you free". She tells her that through writing she can be who ever she wants to be, express her ideas and basically have freedom of words.

Journal 5: Geraldo No Last Name

One of the stories that has stood out to me the most is "Geraldo No Last Name." In the story, we hear about a young hispanic man who Marin meets one night at a dance. Unfortunately, there is an accident that night and by coincidence alone, Marin becomes the last person to see Geraldo alive. I like this story because I find it interesting how Cisneros uses such beautiful language to describe something so sad. She introduces us to Geraldo and turns it into such a sad story, but describes him in such a nice way. "Geraldo. That's all. Green pants and Saturday shirt. Geraldo. That's what he told her." (Cisneros 65) For Marin, Geraldo was nothing more than someone to dance with, but he dies that night.

Journal Five: Born Bad

I chose the story Born Bad. The reason why i chose this story is because its talking about how evil people sometimes are. In this story they show how teenagers pick on any person even if they are having major diseases or any type of disease they seem to not care. They care more about having fun then knowing that this person is suffering of a sickness. My favorite quote is "The day we played the game we didn't know she was going to die. We pretended with our heads thrown back, our arms limp and useless, dangling like the dead". That tells you the kids didn't realize anything till they found out that she was dying.

Born Bad


"Born Bad" it sound more like someone who have no soul. However, Esperanza and her sisters are just playing games of Imitating a famous people like Wonder woman, but they dicided to imitate thier aunt, who used to be swimer but sustain injury that paralaze her body and blind sighted. Even though they knew she was paralaze they didn't mind imitate her. Esperanza states "The day we played the game, we didn't know she was going to die. We pretended with our heads thrown back, our arms limp and useless, dangling like the dead. We laughted the way the she did. We talked the way she talked, the way blind people talk without moving their head."


Mike's note: Do you think this person in the picture was born bad?!


Journal Five:

In the book on House on Mango Street the story that stood out during the reading was "Geraldo No Last Name." This story stood out to me because it has good descriptions of what Geraldo is like and how much he loved to dance. It was also interesting because to me because they unfortunately found out that he had no last name because of the hit and run accident that killed him. If that didn't happen would they know that he didn't have a last name?

One of my favorite sentence during the reading was when Marin describes where Geraldo went, "Geraldo- he went north...we never heard from him again" (66). I like this sentence because I think it symbolizes that he went to Heaven.

Journal Five

In "The House on Mango Street", the story most stood out to me is "Marin". Marin is one of the girls who wants to get out of the neighborhood. She dressed up for attention and hope that she will get picked up by one of the guys downtown one day. It seems to me that no matter how the girls in the neighborhood struggle for a better life, it’s their destiny to stay there. They just never have the opportunity to get better education and to have a better job.

My favorite line in this story is “Marin, under the streetlight, dancing by herself, is singing the same song somewhere. I know. Is waiting for a car to stop, a star to fall, someone to change her life.” They know the way things are in the neighborhood, they know that there is almost no chance to escape from their destiny and get out of the neighborhood. However, they are always waiting, even for the littlest chance, for anyone to change their life.

Journal Five!!

The story that stoood out to me the most was "Born Bad." I found this story to be odd and yet amusing. Esperenza talks about how her Aunt Lupe is sick and dieing from a disease and is blind too. she feels guilty and somewhat reponsible for her death. Esperenza always use to go to her house and read her stories and poems. On the day of her aunt's death, Esperanza and her freinds decided to play a game of imitating people. They first started off by imitating famous people but then later on changed into imitating real people they knew. So she decided to imitate her sick aunt. They mocked how her arms were dangling from side to side, how she has to tilt her head back when drinking. Little did she know that on that same day, her aunt passed away.

My favorite quote was "And then we began to dream the dreams." I guess what she meant by that it started to hit her that her aunt was really gone. And she will always remeber those days she use to go to her house and read for her, that day she realized her aunt was blind and couldnt see a thing, and that day her aunt told her to never stop writing because its gonna keep her free from life.

Geraldo No Last Name

The story that stood out the most to me was, "Geraldo No Last Name." I found it to be a very sad story because a woman who barely knew a man named Geraldo, who she met at dance, did not know that she would be the last person to talk to him. I wonder if she wondered if she made a difference in his life. He was here in the United States all alone and the people he knew in his home country probably will never know that he has passed away. Maybe this woman made him feel wanted, and special, with just the couple words that she said to him.
I love the way the Esperanza describes Geraldo in the story. "Green pants and Saturday shirt" (Cisneros 65). All she has to say is Saturday shirt and you know exactly what she means. It is not a shirt that is really dressy like it would be for a Sunday and getting ready for church. It is not a scummy old t-shirt that you wear to go work out, but it is a casual shirt, maybe button up or nice polo. It could even have a light jacket over top.

Journal five

The story that most stood out to me was "Born Bad". In this story, Esperanza, Lucy, and Rachel are playing a game. They are pretenting to be other people that they know. They decide to pretend to be like Esperanza's Aunt Lupe. They are pretending and acting out like she is dying. Her Aunt Lupe dies that day. Esperanza feels bad that her aunt dies that day. It seems to her like it is her fault because they were pretending that she was dead. Esperanza feels like she was born bad because of it. This story stood out to me because it seems as if she feels guilty because she died. It is like she blames herself for her death.

My favorite sentences from this story are "Her name was Guadalupe and she was pretty like my mother. Dark. Good to look at. In her Joan Crawford dress and swimmer legs. Aunt Lupe of the photographs" (Cisneros 58).
"But i knew her sick from the disease that would not go, her legs bunched under the yellow sheets, the bones gone limp as worms. The yellow pillow, the yellow smell, the bottles and spoons. Her head thrown back like a thirsty lady. My aunt, the swimmer" (Cisneros 58).
" Hard to imagine her legs once strong , the bones hard and parting water, clean sharp strokes, not bent and wrinkled like a baby, not drowning under the sticky yellow light. Second-floor rear apartment. The naked light bulb. The high ceilings. The light bulbs always burning" (Cisneros 59).

First blog post today!

Hello students, and today, we want to get familiar with blogging so we can use it this quarter. First, please sign up for a free Gmail account at gmail.com. Then, once you create an email account, please send me an email at mikelohre@gmail.com.

I will then send you an email back to your new Gmail address and I will invite you to be a member of the blog.Once you become a member of the blog, you can sign in, and then create a post. To do this, you have to click the link that says New Post in the upper right hand corner of the blog.

We will play around with this today and write Journal 5 here on the blog so that we can get used to it. I will help you as we go along, but the idea is to have a lot of fun and use the technology to share ideas and stories with each other. Good luck!

Mike