Vark Activity.

Kinesthetic.
I was recommended to go see one of my professors during office hours to discuss the way that I learned the best from. I chose my Accounting professor. Since I was having a difficult time trying to figure out our take-home midterm that was due today, I went to see him last Thursday. During the time at his office I brought up the talk about the way that I learned the best from. And I told him that I am a kinesthetic learner, meaning that I learned best by hands-on activities and body movement. We discuss the subject for about 15 minutes and to my surprise, this morning when I walked into class he had an in-class activity that involved movement around the room and “fake” money as our currency for the day. I thought it was pretty cool that he came up with that after I decided to approach him with this issue a couple of days before! :)

Lit. Blog Response #3

What is the value of happiness to Margarita’s family?

Happiness is often described as the quality of being cheerful and content. A lot of us value happiness as much as we value our family members. The state happiness brings joy and family fortunes to all of its members. As we read Rain of Gold, we encounter several moments where family happiness has played a big role in the story. Dona Guadalupe and Margarita family’s stories are two different stories but yet they both have strong values for family Happiness. An specifically example is shown in chapter fourteen when Juan Salvador is living in Montana by himself and gets a telegram from Luisa saying that if he wants to see his mother alive one last time he ought to come home as soon as possible. And without thinking twice about the situation he boards the train that will take him to California. When he arrives to his mom’s house he finds out that in fact his mom was not ill nor was going to die anytime soon. And all that Margarita wanted was to see her last child she had given birth to get married. “The only thing that kept me alive, mi hijito… is the promise that I made you in the desert, that I’d live to see you grow and big and married (224). By saying this, Margarita shows how important is for her to “die” in happiness. Seeing his younger child get married and have a family of his own, for her is the only thing that has kept her alive for all this years that she has being way from Juan. The fact that she wanted Juan to comeback so they can all be together again shows how important the value of family happiness is for her in the family. We can relate this same topic to what is happening with Dona Guadalupe’s family. Dona Guadalupe has this strong believe that Sophia is not death and that one day she will find her. And the moment that she finally does she plants the flower that she brought from Lluvia de Oro and she had promised that she was going to plant it the moment she’d find Sophia. We can think of the floor as being Dona Guadalupe’s happiness. It is mentioned that before she found Sophia the family was thinking she was going crazy, but when they find out that Sophia is alive, Dona Guadalupe comes back to live. As if happiness squeezes her once more.

Literature Cirlce Blog Response #2

What is the value of family?
The value of family for a lot of people represents the strongest value that one could ever possibly have. As we grow older, we start to realize that family is an essential “item” in our lives that we must hold on as tight as possible. A family that is united will be looking after each other and will always be able to trust every member around them. Some families, if not all, will be willing to sacrifice their own lives for one another. Such case is given in the book, Rain of Gold when Don Victor comes to back to Lluvia de Oro to reunite with his family after more than four years of being away. When his family sees him walking towards the ramada they rush out to greet him with warmth welcoming. Except for Lupe who is a little confused as to call him a daddy or not. “She thought of all the bad things that she’d heard about her father over the years –his gambling and drinking- and thought how he’d left them” (184). At this point Lupe is being a rebellious little girl that refuses to accept that her father is back for good. Is not until Dona Guadalupe explains to her daughter that Don Victor is the man that she loves and she had chosen to be with for the rest of her life. Lupe then realizes that her mom was truly in love with him and that she had to accept that he was in fact her dad and that the value of family that Dona Guadalupe long taught Lupe also included Don Victor in the picture. I also made a connection of having family values with Katie Townsend’s presentation about how the meaning of having a family around has made her who she is, and how the family around her has been the one that is being with her through thin and thick parts of her life. As I had said in the beginning, the value of having a family is an essential “item” for our lives.



How are families unified in terms of moral support?
The more support you get the more likely you’ll be successful. The more support you get the more likely you’ll build a relationship. This is the case of families and moral support. When families share moral support to each other they tend to get closer, like their family relation grown stronger and stronger each day. Families look for each other for support and unity. The book Rain of Gold, talks about family unity and support to each other during hard times. Throughout the story we see scenes where the family gives moral support to each other in order to keep on their journey. In section one of the book Dona Guadalupe’s family gives support to each other to overcome the cruelty of the revolution and the ruling of the Americanos in the mine. They stick together as a united family in order to survive. In section two of the book, as Margarita’s family is heading up North they face tough situations such as not being able to almost keep the family unified. They struggle sticking together but at the end they find themselves giving moral support to each other and then they rise from above to become a unified family again. During section three of the book is the most important one when talking about unified families in terms of moral support. When Don Victor and Don Tiburcio come back from their journey Dona Guadalupe informs Victor that Maria and Esabel had gotten together and she Maria was expecting a child. “Don Victor Stood up erect, staring at Maria and Esabel. But then, instead of becoming enraged, he simply embraced Maria” (190). This particular scene shows the moral support that Don Victor gives the family regardless of what the situation is. This kind act gives the family more unity as a whole. Right after that Don Victor tell Maria that he’s not upset at the situation because he understands that situations are difficult during that time and they do their best to stick together. This clearly shows the how families are more unified in terms of giving each other moral support.

Giovanni's Recomendation

Literature Circle Blog 1. Drawings

This scene that I have selected is when Juan and his family are on their way to go north and they stop by Cara de Nopal’s hacienda to steel some corn (Pages 103 to 106). This particular scene shows the strong unity that the family has, although they’ve been through so much together, loss of family members, and their loss of the land for the Revolucionarios. They still stick together as a family. I would also like to point out the connection that Victor Villasenor explains on the bottom of page 106 how the coyotes were calling and teaching their young ones how to hunt together like a family. I think this connection is really strong in contrast to what the family had done which is working together as a family so everything would be fine. I can relate to this scene as my family and I went through the same thing when we were on our way here from Mexico back in 1994. We were hiding in some bushes just as immigration patrol was passing through the road when suddenly they spotted my brother and my mom hiding behind the bush and caught him. My dad was hiding on the other side of the dirt road along with my other brother and myself. When he saw that Immigration was walking towards my brother and my mom he grabbed us by the hand and came out of the bushes. This Shows how unite we are, and shows a similarity on what Juan’s family went through when they were on their way north.
I did not know that Porfirio Diaz would not allow any “dirty Indians” into the Mexico City while his 80th birthday celebration was in progress. So that is definitely some part of history that I can take with me from this part of the story.

The next scene that I have selected occurs on page 132 and 133. When Epitacio is explaining Luisa of all the beauties the United States is to offer, beautiful houses a green vegetation, flushing toilets inside the house and enough jobs that they would not be suffering to find one. The way he describes it to Lisa is as if it was paradise on the other side of the border. Even Lisa herself could not believe what she was hearing coming out of Epitacio’s lips. This scene in particular I think is really important because it defines the moment of truth for what was ahead for the family. At this point in the story the family is thinking of turning back and going back to their land in Los Altos de Jalisco. But hearing all the great things that Epitacio talked about this great country that he had been before in, the family decided to just keep on going and find what was there ahead of them. From this scene I learned from the characters that they have a lot of hope and they don’t give up really easily despite of all the things they have gone through. My relationship to this scene kind of relates to about the same type of events from scene one. It was September 2000, when my family decided to come back to the United States for the third time. We had sold everything we had in order to come up with money, to get back into the U.S. -After all we didn’t have plans to get back to Mexico City any time soon, all we had left there was our house which my grandma and some of my aunts are looking after-. So when were waiting at the border of Mexicali with Calexico, we were told that I guy in her mid thirties was going to pick us up from the hotel we were staying sometime during the weekend so he could get us across the border. A whole week had passed by and he hadn’t heard from the guy yet, so my parents were getting frustrated and for a moment they thought of going back to Mexico City because they were losing all hopes, but after thinking over and over of all the things that we have seen when we first came to the United States and all of the opportunities that this country had to offer they decided to stick around for a couple more days and see if we would hear about the guy. Luckily the guy whose name was Juan (What a coincidence) picked us up the next day. This Scene might have some sort of political impact as far as how “illegal” immigration has being around this country for a really long time. This story takes place during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s and more than one hundred years later it still persists.

leave your cellphone at the classroom door

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

Some of the consequences people might face if they don't adapt to digital culture are; better job opportunities, and the opportunity to make life easier.

Nowadays most jobs require employees to have at least some notion of technology in order to get hired. I've seen a couple of job adds that at the bottom they specify that knowledge of basic computer skills is required for the applied position. Therefore, people who are considered digital immigrants, might want to consider to take a technology class or to learn just the basis of a computer just so they can have better job opportunities and higher paying jobs. Also with technology life can be so much easier. From the moment our day starts we are exposed to technology. Our wake up alarms, music while showering, tv while getting dressed. and cell phone to see what time it is. Personally, I start brewing my daily coffee cup while takin a shower, all i have to do is just press a button and the coffee will be ready by the time I'm done. Or what about those vacuums that just go around the house by themselves and clean the floor! Those totally work!!!

Reflection in Munoz Blog

What is the difference between assimilating and giving in to a new society?

A lot of people think that assimilating to a new society means to change your name, the way you look, and even the way you dress. Manuel Munoz argues that people do all this different things in order to feel “included” into a new environment, it can go from a new country to even a new group of friends. I would personally argue the same but twisting it a little bit more. Many people have a misconception as far as what the difference is between assimilating and giving in. For instance, for me, when I came to the Unites States it was really difficult for me to come to the realization that I was going to leave here and that this country was going to be my “new home” . It took me about three years to finally come to my senses and assimilate the American Culture. -When I mention the word assimilate, I refer to the idea of getting used to the American Culture, to the idea of finally coming to the realization that I’m here and this is what I call home now. - For example, I learned how to speak the language and I am really fluent on it, yet I still speak Spanish –my native language- all the time when I am around my family. I’ve been told that I dressed like a “preppy Gringo” all the time. I’ve been called whitewash, coconut, Oreo, so many names that I cannot even keep track of them. Despite all the mentioned reasons, my name is still Jorge instead of George, my last name still De la concha instead of “Di La Cancha” so have a I assimilated enough?
I often hear in the Latino Markets while shopping for groceries names that catch my attention. Junior, Jimmy, Andrew, Mary, Emily, those are just some that make me wonder if those persons or their parents have assimilated or give in to the American Culture. When someone gives in to the culture, is a form of giving up on your previous culture. Changing your name, refusing to speak their native language, deny that they are from a different country and making themselves believe that they’re Americans. There are many factors. What I am trying to say is that giving into the culture is to adopt a new one, while completely dropping the one that was previously established.

My digital Life

When I was little, I remember my favorite place to hang out was at my uncle Juan’s house. He was the only person in my family who had a computer with internet working, and, every time I visited he would let me use it. I remember that each time I had a homework assignment that had to do with writing; I would run to his house and asked him if he would let me use his computer so I could turn in my homework the next day nicely printed in a shiny white piece of paper. I was the only one in the class who did that, so I felt extra special. But back then in 1999 it was not a requirement to type your homework or to even do anything in the computer. Where I am from, not a lot of people had even seen a computer ever before, so it was not something that was expected from everyone to have. It was not until I moved to the United States in 2000 when I became a “digital” person. When I came here it seemed that almost everyone had a computer at their house. I was so amazed by the technological advancement that this country had. As time went on my English and Science teachers during eight grade started to ask for all homework assignments to be typed. But it was during high school when I became total digital. My classes involved online assignments, submitting homework online, even math assignments online! I was really impressed by the type of things that technology could make life as student easier. I even took a web-design class to fulfill my “graduation technology requirement” in order to graduate and receive a high school diploma. So it was not an option that everyone had, it had become a “requirement” now. Let’s not even talk about cell phones. When I was a junior in high school and wanted to get a cell phone just because it was the “cool” thing to have, but, of course, my parents not being from the “digital generation” wouldn’t allow me to have one because I was still not in the age to have it. And now, I see middle school kids getting off school talking on their cell-phones with their parents so they can come and pick them up, time change doesn’t it?
Personally, I love technology. I think it has made our lives easier. Nowadays, all you have to do is make a phone call from your cell phone to your friend’s cell phone to see where they are so you can pick them up, instead of driving around the same 4 blocks for like a million times. What about the advantage of being available 24/7 in case of a family emergency? Or, what about the times when you had to go to the library and look all over for two hours in order to find a book? Now all you have to do is type it in any searching-web-site and boom! There it is, 0.324 seconds, that’s how long it takes the website to find what you were looking for. Yes, we all agree that there are times when you have to go old school and do what we used to do about 4 years ago. Library, pencil, paper, mail letters, you name it, and it might be for our own good! We have to keep in mind that technology indeed is great, but it also relies on energy, a source, that sometimes it gone for a couple of hours and everything gets chaotic. Gosh! What would we do without our dear friend technology!