Essay 4

Estela Bustamante

Lauren Servais

English 100

8 December 2010

The good son

            In the Chinese culture, as well as in its surroundings, it’s of high importance to be filial piety; however, the influences of a more liberal American culture had over the two children who grew up under the strict beliefs of a Japanese father add a variation to the meaning of being a “good filial son”.  Toshio and Kiyoshi are the sons of two Japanese immigrants who have a debt that needs to be pay.  Similarly to most Japanese families, it’s the duty of a “good filial son” to help his parent, and so, Tosh and Kiyo are to put their parents’ needs before those of their own, in this case by helping them pay the debt.

            The Japanese camp in Hawaii was merely form by immigrants who had brought with them their traditions and beliefs.  Among these beliefs was that of being filial to one’s parents and elders, which is the primary value in this culture.  According to the web site wisegeek, filial piety is a concept created by a philosopher named Confucius (551 BCE), which was later adopted by the Buddhism religion in China expanding, also, to Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.  The definition of filial piety includes the respect that we, the youth, must pay our parents along with unconditional obedience, love, and care; however, filial piety is much more complex that just that.  A definition of the term is also provided by the Washington State University, which states that “Being a filial son meant complete obedience to one's parents during their lifetime and--as they grew older--taking the best possible care of them”.  Moreover, it’s the son’s responsibility to ensure the continuation of the family line by adopting a child or taking a second wife, if the first one fails on giving birth to a male child; while, the responsibilities of a “good filial women” were to serve and obey the husband’s family as well as baring a boy in order to bring pride to her family.

            Mr. and Mrs. Oyama had a clear idea of what a “good” filial son must be like, and Toshio wasn’t what they had expected.  Toshio had a strong character, similar to that of his mother, and he was not to settle with such a debt without a fight.  It wasn’t fair for Toshio and Kiyoshi to take over their shoulders a debt that was caused by their grandfather’s bad investment and the extreme devotion of their parents for him.  Everyone could turn out involve in a misfortunate situation; however, it’s not to be solve by bringing more misfortune to one’s love ones.  The responsibility of a son or daughter to his/her parents comes on second place after s/he’s taken the decision of forming a family of their own.  This doesn’t mean that one would stop loving and caring for his or her parents, but simply that one’s priorities have changed.  For example, while for a single son/daughter the problems of his/her parents might be the main reason of mortification and uneasiness, for a married individual the well being of a spouse and/or children, if any, will naturally come before anyone else’s.  Therefore, it’s not Mr. and Mrs. Oyama’s responsibility to provide Mr. Oyama’s father with monetary stability by jeopardizing the stability of their own family.  Toshio and his parents were “good” filial children to their respective parents; however, Toshio’s parents were blindly helping someone without considering the changed on their responsibilities when they formed a family of their own, while Toshio understood that it wasn’t necessarily the responsibility of a child to support his/her parents.  Toshio might not appear as a “good” filial son for many, as he was very disrespectful to his parents.  Nevertheless, he had the opportunity to leave his family behind and run away with the money he was making as a boxer but he decided to stay and help them, perhaps, because he knew the shame the he would bring to his parents.

            Cultural beliefs, and religion, among many other discussions, are subject to one’s interpretation.  While for some, Toshio might seem as a disgraceful son; for others, he’s simply someone with poor communication skills and an explosive temper that wishes for a better life for him and his family.  However, the frustration his feels for not being able to make his parents understand his way of thinking along with the strong character, inherent from his mother, turn him into a bully.  Toshio might not be the classic example of a good filial son, since he lacks of the basic respect that he must show to his parents, but he still posses the care and love for them, regardless of their different ways of thinking.

"All I Asking For Is My Body" Part III

Toshio and Kiyoshi were settled with a debt that belonged to their parents, which was inherited to them at the same time by Mr. Oyama’s father.  In the Japanese culture, as in many others, the children are expected to repay their parents for and help them, if in need; however, times have been changing and, unlike past times when obeying our parents without questioning was the only option, now, we know that there’s a world out there and that there’s more than one way to do things.  Tosh and Kiyoshi were born on a traditional Japanese family but with the influences a more modern and liberal culture.  On one hand, teachers at school taught them to think for themselves and to understand that their lives belong only to them; that the choices they make should only depend on them, and not on what they have been told to do so.  They’re the owners of their own destiny.  They’re the owners of their lives.  They’re the owners of their bodies.  On the other hand, Mr. and Mrs. Oyama were deeply in debt and, with a quite large family that kept growing, they depended on the tradition in which children put on hold their lives to help cover their parents’ needs in full, first.

Parents dictating over their children’s lives might have seen as the rightful think to do, many years ago; however, how can you ask someone who has the possibility, now, of accomplishing a better life to work as your ‘slave’ for 5, 10, 15 years?  Life is a gift, which means you don’t have to pay your parents for giving it to you.  Gratitude is a different situation.  One can feel grateful for what’s been given to us and return the favor by helping one’s parents, but this doesn’t mean that it’s one’s responsibility to give up live for XYZ years in order to repay.  It’s understandable that times were different, almost every civilization has gone through dramatic changes throughout history, and Toshio and Kiyoshi had the fortune or misfortune of being caught between two very distinct cultures during tough times.  Moreover, I consider that we’re never exactly the owners of our own lives.  Toshio was who fought the most to earn the right of calling himself the “owner of his body”, however, he fell in love and now his live belong to his family, just like Kiyo who on a desperate seek of freedom volunteered to go fight for his country and was ready to give his live for his nation.  “All I Asking for Is My Body” is a good title for the book; however, it’s more about having the right to make our own decision over our lives and bodies.

All I Asking For is My Body Part 2

Kiyoshi’s mother is a very superstitious woman.  After she left her family back in Japan and moved to Hawaii in order to marry, a series of misfortune events took place that forced the young couple to hand over to her parents all of their savings.  Kiyoshi’s mother began to think after this that she was the carrier of bad luck as she told Kiyoshi “A bad wife is fifty years of bad crops,…, I wasn’t a bad wife, but a bad-luck wife.”  Kiyoshi’s mother seems to be slightly more superstitious that most Japanese women.  After she suddenly falls extremely ill, her unfounded fears have her believe that the reason behind her sickness is a debt that a relative must have with life, something similar to karma.  She believes that a relative most have done something terribly bad and had gone away with it; however a retribution must be paid, and if that who did bad is not punished someone else in substitution will be.  She assumes she’s an alternator to pay for who has done badly.  Although Kiyoshi is not a believer himself of all of her mother’s popular beliefs, he respects them, and he’s careful about them.  I, personally, also consider most of them to be “silly superstitions” as Kiyoshi’s father calls them.  However, there’s a part of me that reminds me to know better and respect the wisdom of those who had been here before me, and the rest of us; and so, Kiyoshi asked for Obaban’s help.

The day after Kiyoshi talked to Obaban about his mother’s sickness, how nothing was working for her, and how she was afraid she was being the substitute to pay somebody else’s condemn Obaban died.  After learning the sad news, Kiyoshi felt relief as he understood that if his mother’s beliefs were true, and what she needed was not doctors but someone to be a substitute for herself, she had been saved by Obaban taking her place.

"Rules for Writers" Chapter 19

On Chapter 19 from “Rules for Writers” by Diana Hacker, she talks about sentence fragment.  Hacker explains how a sentence fragment must contain a full independent clause as it must contain a subject and a verb.  A sentence that is missing either a subject or a verb or begins with a subordinating word is consider a sentence fragment and must be submitted to revision.  During the revision of a sentence, it’s important not to confuse a verb with a verbal.  “A verbal is a verb form (such as walking, to act) that does not function as a verb of a clause.” (p. 149).  Hacker also explains how in some other languages a sentence may not need the presence of a subject or a verb but in English both are required with the exception of commands, for example, Get out.  A way to find some possible sentence fragment is using the grammar checker on your computer but just like spell checkers this are not eligible 100%.  On this chapter, Hacker also provides a solution to those sentence fragments, which is to attaching the fragment to a nearby sentence or turning them into sentences that could stand on their own.  Compound predicates are another way of solving a sentence fragment.  A compound predicate is the union of two predicates by a coordinating conjunction such as or, but, or and, since they both share one subject.  Finally, Hacker mentions how some fragments may be place to create one of the following: for emphasis, to answer, a question, as transition, exclamation, and in advertising.  

I understand my writing has various holes that I need to work on, such as, sentence fragments, the use of commas and semi colons, etc.  However, these could only improve with practice since the amount of times I could go over a specific subject would be useless without practice.  I would add the knowledge acquired from this chapter to the things to keep in mind on my everyday writing as this would help me to get better.

"All I Asking is For My Body" Dialogue

In the old Pepelau, Hawaii, there was a camp for Filipinos and there’s a camp for Japanese, as well; however, there’s one Japanese family that despite the separation between the two cultures lived over at the Filipino camp; that was Makot and his parents.  Makot was an outcast Japanese teenager.  Most of the Japanese kids his age bully him because he always had more money than them spend and because of the way his family lived.  People at the Japanese camp couldn’t understand how Makot’s father could afforded to have a car when only “the whites” had cars; also, Makot’s father would always be riding on his car, therefore, it was obvious he wasn’t the one supporting the family but Makot’s mother, which was another big “No, no!” during those times.  Makot couldn’t be friends with kids his own age for all of those reasons, and so he began hanging out with younger kids, buying their affection and friendship with candies and special treats.  However, once he was sure of the children loyalty, Makot began to mislead them from what they knew to be right.

Makot was a very lonely teenager who had to deal with the rejection of many people; however, he also made bad choices all on his own, which didn’t help to his reputation of being a bad influence for those who follow him.  This makes me feel sympathy for him as the reputation of his parents, as well as their misguide dance had turn Makot into an undesirable person to have around.  They’ve provided him with money without teaching him the responsibilities that come with it, since they live in a very poor community; Makot parents’ also failed on teaching him the importance of respect and to choose to do what’s right over wrong.

Parents have an enormous influence on their children’s character, and the education that Makot was receiving from his parents doesn’t seem to be the best.  During the short interaction that Makot had with his mother, he didn’t seem to have much respect for her and to me that’s really sad.  My personal relationship with my parents is one of the most important things in my life.  Makot appears to be ashamed of his parents as he immediately understood when Kiyo told him they couldn’t be friends anymore because of his parents, even though, Kiyo didn’t understand what was wrong with Makot’s parents. 

Essay 3 Workshop

Estela Bustamante

Lauren Servais

English 100

11 November 2010

I’m sorry

In occasions, forgiveness is what keeps a person from moving on with life; this was the case for Victor Joseph as the resentment that he felt for his father’s abandonment held him back from seeking a “better” life for him.  Forgiveness is not something that comes naturally for many of us; it takes a lot of work for people as stubborn and proud as Victor and me; whereas for others, like Thomas, it simply feels right to let the pass be the pass, and look up to the future.  However, forgiving other also has to do with forgiving the self first, which can be the hardest thing to do.

            It’s hard to forgive who causes pain to us or the ones we love; yet not forgiving also means not letting go of that pain and moving on with life. My grandmother blamed my grandfather for her misery till the day she died.  My grandfather, a soldier, stole my grandmother a couple weeks before her wedding with her fiancee, a man from a wealthy family just like hers.  Things were different back then, and a situation like that was extremely delicate.  My grandfather impregnated my grandmother and her parents forced her to get married to the poor soldier against her will.  They had 2 more children but she never love the father of his kids.  She was unhappy for the rest of her life. On the day of her death, my grandfather who had fell in love with her from the moment he had laid eyes on her till the last of his breath, asked her to forgive him for all the pain he’d caused her; there are a few different versions of what happened that day, but legend has it, she died denying him her absolution.  It’s understandable why my grandmother couldn’t forgive my grandfather; however, holding on to all the anger that she felt for her husband only made her more miserable.  They both procreated two sons and a daughter who they deeply adored, and even though, I’m not excusing my grandfather for his actions, I feel my grandmother would have left happy at last if she would had forgiven her partner for so many years.  Victor was able to forgive his father after a long abandonment; yet, just like my grandmother, his pain kept him from being happy for long time.

            Although, some people understand that the best way to continue on with their own life is to forgive those who have hurt you that doesn’t mean that forgiving would be any easier.  In occasions, one also has to forgive the self before forgiving others.  Victor thinking his father had left because of something he had done, and that kept him from forgiving Arnold; yet when he found out the true reason behind his disappearance, Victor was finally able to free himself and his father’s soul.  As Victor forgave his father, he liberated the grudge he had been carrying with for so long. 

"This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona" Dialogue

It’s incredible how one story can change so much with the simple omission of some details, and the addition of some others.  The variations between the movie “Smoke Signals” and the written version of the same, “This is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona”, give the story two different perspectives.  I feel as if the core of the narrative, which is Arnold Joseph’s dead and Victor, his son, having to go for his ashes and personal belongings, is one of the only elements that are keeping the two versions as the same story.  After reading the story for the first time, I noticed it didn’t said anything about Arnold being the responsible for Thomas’ parents dead, nor mentions anything about any one named Suzy Song, nor has the same arrogant Victor, compared to the movie.  First, I thought I had probably missed it, but after the tenth time reading it I simply concluded those vital details of the movie weren’t there and they wouldn’t appear on the piece of paper regardless of my persistence to find them.  My interpretation of the reading differs in many aspects now.  Victor was not the selfish, careless, and annoyed loser I saw on the movie.  He tried to go for his dad’s remaining because he wanted to and not because he was, in a way, being pushed by his mother to do so.  Also, my vision of Thomas changed.  The stories of Thomas had more truth in them as I had already imagine; some were real visions something I couldn’t quite get from the movie.  It was clear, to me, that Thomas had a special give to sense events to occur and more, but, a strange reasons, reading it make it more real, more palpable.  It’s like someone saying, “ghost exist people has close encounters all the time, there’s evidence!”, yes, you might consider the possibility of this being true; however, if you actually hear someone say, “I’ve seen ghosts!” or “I’ve felt the presence of spirits”, the confidence on their statements might make ghost more real to us even give you the goose bumps.

After analyzing the differences between the two versions of the story, I feel like I enjoyed more the written story than the movie, even though, I also like the different aspects of the movie.  Perhaps, the fact that Victor was a nicer person and Arnold was not the responsible for leaving Thomas an orphan made the difference for me between “good” and “better”.  Still, I feel a bit confused, I don’t quite understand why make a movie out of a written story without sticking to the actual details of the narrative; it may be as a publicity strategy with the purpose of making the movie more interesting for the audience, which, I have to say, worked.  Throughout the movie, I couldn’t wait to find out the cause of the fire, and if Victor and Thomas would finally become friends at last.

"Rules for Writers" Chapter 20

On Chapter 20 from “Rules for Writers” by Diana Hacker, she talks about run-on sentences, how to recognize them, and solutions to consider while revising them.  A run-on sentence is the union of two independent clauses incorrectly.  Hacker explains that when 2 independent clauses are united as one, a comma and a coordinating conjunction or a semicolon should be added in order to have a smooth transition.  There are only seven coordinating conjunctions in the English language, which are:  and, but, or, nor, for, so, and yet.  Also, Hacker gives three basic questions to ask when checking for run-on sentences, and she suggests four ways to solve it.  Those are:  using a comma and adding a coordinating conjunction, using a semicolon, a colon or a dash, make the clauses into separate sentences, and restructure the sentence by subordinating one of the clauses.  It’s important to keep in mind two things while using semicolons, first that these are more appropriate in formal writing than colons and dashes, and second that these can be use on their own or accompanied by a transition word.

I feel this is an area where I need the most help on.  I read the chapter and I understand the concept, yet I’d need to read it a few more times to fully get it down.  There’s this other book I bought for a previous English class that help me with this problem; whatever I could learn from both books would be useful.

"Smoke Signals" Dialogue

The lives of Victor Joseph and Thomas Builds-the-Fire were marked since they’re infants for the fire that took Thomas’ parents lives.  Victor always thought his dad had saved Thomas from the fire leaving him behind and, that if it wouldn’t have been for his mother who saved him he would have died burn.  This thought planted the seed of envy in Victor for Thomas as he couldn’t understand what was so special about Thomas for his dad to risk his life to save him.  As they grew older, and after Arnold had left the reservation, Thomas developed a great devotion for the man who had saved his live as a baby; perhaps, this was also something that Victor envied Thomas for.  Victor envied the idolized image that Thomas had of Arnold, since all Victor could see were his dad’s defects and mistakes, and not the great man of Thomas’ stories, which by the way were mostly made up by him.  It’s normal for children and adults to desire that that one does not possess, as it may be for Victor to see his father as the hero Thomas thought he was.  On the other hand, Thomas feelings for Victor are far more confusing to my understanding, since he seems to consider Victor as a friend, careless of Victor’s offences and humiliations something that would personally be hard for me to overlook on a friend.  Nevertheless, Thomas seems to understand the pain Victor is in for not having his father, as he, himself, grew up without both of his parents.

The journey to Phoenix, Arizona changed Victor’s feelings for Thomas.  Once Victor learned the real reason behind his father’s drinking problem and his abandoned, he valued more Thomas’ friendship; after all, not everyone can be friends with the son of one’s parent’s murderer.  When I was four, my uncle’s wife went “crazy”, she accused my mom of trying to poison her and with a knife on her hand intended to kill my cousin, Renata, who was my uncle’s daughter from a previous marriage, my mom who was seven months pregnant, my younger sister, and me.  Luckily for us, my dad returned from work just on time to intervene and save his family from a massacre.  My uncle and she split after that and we never saw her or her two sons, my cousins, again.  On a surprising casualty, Renata found one of her half-brothers on a popular social network a couple months ago and, she’s working on establishing a closer relationship between them, they’re brothers after all.  However, even though she’s instead on the possibility of me talking to them, I’m not sure I can do that, since their mom caused so much trouble to my family.  They’re both different situations, yet the pain caused to one’s family is not something that could be easily forgiven, which must be why Victor begins to respect Thomas; because Thomas not only forgave Victor’s father for killing his parents, he also befriend him despite his arrogance and helped him when he needed it.

“Happy Endings,” “Obituary,” and “Oompah Loompah” Dialogue

When I was a little girl, I wanted to become a teacher when I grew up.  As ironic as it might sound, those were the expectations of almost every other kid I knew.  Throughout my schooling years, I’ve had some very good teachers, as well as, not so good ones.  Good or bad, I know I’ve learned valuable lessons from each and every one of them; but I could never help myself to wonder why some teachers seem to hate their jobs so much.  “Children should never question grownups”, this was something I always had in mind as a child. This was also the reason why I never dare to ask a teacher why they had become teachers, in the first place.  Now, fifteen years later, things have change.  We’re encouraged to question everything and everyone on our path, but my question is not the same as it was many years ago.  While in elementary school, I never understood why some teachers would yell at students to the point of embarrassing them in front of their classmates; perhaps, the reason behind all of their anger was not that they hated their professions, but the result of their retained frustration for not being able to plant the seed of knowledge in our heads.

Many of us, for not saying all, have taken attitude test with the purpose of providing some sort of guide dance that would lead us toward our true vocation.  Teaching is a tough profession, not everyone has what it takes; perhaps, that’s the case of Mr. Harvey from “Obituary” by Lois-Ann Kamanaka.  He probably had the firm purpose of helping children be well educated but somewhere along the road he lost his path, like many others teachers.  I recall making cry my English teacher when I was in 7^th grade.  Even though, I don’t remember his name or the reason why cried, I would never forget his face and the way he looked at me.  He was a bit chubby, and tall.  He reminded me of a retired wrestler; he had that tough look on his face and traces of long-lost muscles of a once fit man.  He was trying to make understand the importance of education and I simply laughed on his face.  After I saw the tears in his face, I realized those were tears of frustration, he truly love what he had prepared for so long to do; yet, there was this ignorant, show off teenager girl taking for granted all of his effort.  Now, looking back, I can assure you that’s a good enough reason to take anyone’s frustration out.  I don’t believe making your student feel inferior as Mr. Harvey does would help him get through his students, but I understand how the feeling of resentment, irritation and even failure are the one interfering with his ability of teaching.

Rules for Writers Chapter 47

In Rules for Writers by Diana Hacker, she talks about creating arguments.  When writing an argument, identify which side you’re taking on the debate; always keep in mind that reasonable people disagree on a wide variety of subjects.  Hacker says that you should be prepared to explain your full understanding of the subject and provide new reasoning for readers to consider.  She suggests to do some research as this will provide you with more credibility which some readers might need in order for them to reflect on your point of view.  Moreover, when writing an argument you should keep in mind your audience; since in some cultures, they prefer straight forward arguments, unlike others that prefer a softer approach.  However, in the United States an assertive tone, which is not too aggressive neither too passive, is preferable.  Also, while analyzing you audience, do not assume they will agree with you views.  Take in count their possible opinion regarding the argument and be ready to stand by your own with supporting facts, statistics, examples, illustrations, and/or citations from experts, as this would help you to persuade your readers.  If you decided to cite an expert on your paper, be aware that you may need to prove your source’s credibility by providing credentials.  Finally, Hacker mentions that by showing your awareness of opposite points of view, “you show yourself as a reasonable and well-educated writer”; something that would also strengthen your argument.

This chapter gave me really good ideas of how to test arguments, and since I believe our next essay will have something to do with this, Hacker’s suggestions will definably come handy.  Also I found some terms on this section that, even though, I’ve heard before but I don’t fully understand such as the differences between social and intellectual context.  I found myself a bit confused after reading this chapters explanation, perhaps, reading it a few more times would make it more clear.

Essay 2 Workshop #2

                                                    Similarities                         

Sarah Vowell’s and myself had various similarities as we were growing up around our respective families.  First, Vowell’s sister and she have different ways of seeing life even though they both were raised by the same parents under the same norms and privileges, as my sister and I also differ on various ways.  Second, we share the same passion for art with the difference that I do it as a hobby while she makes a living out of it. Finally, one of the most important things that we have in common is the difficulty to relate to our respective fathers.

            My mother always says, “I have five children and just like my five fingers, no two are alike”.  My parents wanted to have twins, and when my sister was born soon after I turned one, my parents didn’t wait to start dressing us alike.  Vowell was a twin, however, just like my fake twin sister and I, we had different ways of seeing life.  While she’s always happy, relax and ready to enjoy a good day playing with baby dolls and tea sets; unfortunately for her, she never found a playmate on me. I would prefer to watch T.V. or sit to read something next to grandpa’.  On the case of Vowell, her twin sister enjoyed shooting that gun when their father decided it was time his little girls to try it; yet Vowell decided after her first shoot that guns were definitely not for her.  After this, Vowell’s sister began to call herself “the loneliest twin in history” (p. 12).  That’s probably how my sister felt not having her only sister, at the time, play with her.

            As Sarah Vowell was growing up, art became her main attraction, as she says, “All I ever cared about was art.”(p.6); for me, art was a distraction from the stress of school, yet it was invaluable.  I’ve always love music.  The harmony between music and the perfect lyrics is something that I’ve always found fascinating; just like Vowell explains, it’s the moment in the song were your heart starts beating faster and faster and suddenly an explosion of emotions makes you realize that you’re alive.  “I love noise.” (p. 31).

            During her younger years, Sarah Vowell was a girl who didn’t agree with her father in most matters but who also found a way to make their relationship work by looking into their similarities from a different prospective; likewise, my relationship with my own father has been very difficult throughout the years but we’ve come to a point where we’ve learned to listen to each other, we knowing we would hardly ever agree on something, of course, but try to respect the other’s opinion.  One of the main disagreements between Vowell and her father was his passion for making guns, as well as shooting them, something she considers to be evil.  My father is a “macho man” and that’s more than enough for us to disagree, too.  Yet, if our respective fathers have accepted us the way we are, there’s no reason for us to try to change them since we’re more like them than we can imagine, on our own versions, of course.

            There are many similarities between Sarah Vowell and myself, we love our families, enjoy music and reading, and we both have difficulty with family relations.  However, I can assure you that just like me, she would not change a thing of her life.  After all, it’s because of our pass that we are who we are.

Rules for Writers Chapter 4

Chapter 4 from “Rules for Writers”, by Diana Hacker, is about building effective paragraphs.  The body of an essay is meant to support its main point, thus Hacker suggests to “Aim for paragraphs that are clearly focused, well developed, organized, coherent, and neither too long nor too short for easy reading.”(p. 40).  It’s good to state the main idea of the paragraph at some point.  It’s common for the topic sentence to be located at the beginning of the paragraph but it could also be found after a transitional sentence, or even, at the end of the paragraph.  Also, some professional writers and Journalist might not use a clear topic sentence on their writings.  Hacker says that when writing a paragraph you must stick to the point.  Adding sentences that do not relate to the topic sentence may cause confusion and lost the interest of the reader.  When this happens, the sentence(s) has to be taken off or move somewhere else on the paper, depending on its importance.  All of the sentences must relate somehow to the topic sentence.  Moreover, Hacker gives some “suitable patters of organization” (p. 44) which would make easier the flow of the paragraph.  Those are:  examples and illustration, narration, description, process, comparison and contrast, analogy, cause and effect, definition, and classification and division.  Along with this patters she also gives ideas to make a paragraph more coherent by providing clear ideas with specific details and facts or examples.  Hacker also mentions that “repeating key words” (51) with different variation helps gain coherence without overwhelming the reader.  It’s important to provide ‘good’ transition words between sentences; since these would create flow from sentence to sentence.  Transition words are separate on different categories according to its purpose, which could be, to show addition, to give examples, to compare, to contrast, to summarize or conclude, to show time, to show place or direction, and to indicate logical relationship.  It is also important to provide transitions between paragraphs; you can do this by relating the idea of the paragraph to the one from the previous paragraph.  Finally, Hacker suggests keeping in mind the length of the paragraph.  There would be occasions in which the paragraph might need to be shorten by starting a new one, or combine with another paragraph if it “looks too choppy” (p. 57).

It’s been a while since I’ve gone over transition words, and patters of organization; this chapter would be very useful on refreshing those concepts.  Also I have a hard time deciding when is a good time to start a new paragraph without cutting it before time.  I was taught that short paragraphs don’t work, and I would always be confused when I would see them on certain readings but after reading this chapter I understand why they might not always work and in which occasions it might be appropriated to have one.  I’ll go back to this chapter later since I feel like I didn’t get everything down.

"Shooting Dad" Dialogue

My dad always wanted a boy as his firstborn; a son who would grow up to be just like him but instead he got me.  I know the story very well of how my parents were so excited when they found out my mom was pregnant with their first baby, how my dad swore to everyone that it would be a boy, and how my mom waited for him to find out on his own whether or not he was right, on the day of my birth.  Since that moment and on, I’ve always been so much like my dad that it’s even hard for us to get along.  I believe this what happened to Sarah Vowell with her dad; not the part where my dad expected a boy but the part where they’re so much alike on their own different ways that it becomes difficult to relate to one another.  On her story, Vowell explains how her relationship with her father is complicated by their differences on politic matters, hobbies, and their similar opinionated characters.

In my mind, I would always judge my dad of being a “crazy old man” when he would come up with his “macho man” ideas.  That’s probably something that Vowell would also think about her dad making guns, that he was crazy.  My dad was raised by his parents to be that way so I do understand where his coming from yet, that has been the reason of most of our disagreements, since I’ve become a bit “feminist” myself. Nevertheless, just like Vowell, I’ve also come to realized that I’m just like my dad; I fight for what I believe in, which is something that I’ve learned from him.  Perhaps, Vowell and I were meant to be just like our respective fathers but with a little twist due to the time in which they grew up compare to ours. 

I respect the fact that my dad never forced me to believe that I should be a stay-at-home mom who should also obey her husband’s will with not right to express her own opinion but instead he has encouraged me to pursue a career so I would never depend on a man, like my mom did for many years.  Vowell didn’t like arms but was decided to shoot her father’s remaining with the cannon that he himself had built; she wanted respect his last will just like he had respect her ideas from the moment she was born.

Rules for Writers Chapter 3

On Chapter 3 from “Rules for Writers” by Diana Hackers, she talks about how to revise an essay.  First, it’s important to divide the process in to two sections: a global revision and revising sentences.  A global revision would focus on the purpose, the organization, the content, and the strategy of your essay, while the revision of sentences would focus on possible improvements to the sentences, choice of words, grammar, punctuation, and the mechanics.  Hacker suggests that it’s good to take a day or more before going back to your essay to begin with the global revision and to “try to play the role of your audience” as this might help you come up with some questions that your readers might have.  Later, when you move down to your sentences, Hacker advices to revise first your sentences focusing on “effectiveness” and then work on edit them by checking for “correctness”.  She also mentions how some computers have a spell and/or grammar checkers that can be helpful.  The problem with spell checkers is that they would only mark as wrong words that haven’t been found on the dictionary regardless of its misused, and grammar checkers don’t count with “an understanding of grammatical structure”, therefore, it’s good to keep them handy but not to relay on them 100%.  Finally, it’s time for proofreading.   On this final step, try to read your essay slowly as you are looking for “misspellings, typographical mistakes, and omitted words or endings”.  Hacker suggests reading a loud your essay or reading your sentences in reverse order, as this would make you think of the sentence itself and not on how the essay works as a whole.

I found something very interesting on this chapter; I never would have thought of reading an essay “backwards” starting on the last sentence and moving backwards till the first one.  I tried reading a couple sentences of something I wrote in that manner and I found it a little confusing, perhaps, because as I’m reading I’m not sure on what to expect next.  This would probably be of much help as I try to revise future assignments since, just like Hacker says, I don’t read what is actually written on the paper but what I think “should” be written and this causes me to skip a lot of errors.

"Coming Home Again" Dialogue

What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of the word ‘home’?  Is it house or, perhaps, a place where to live? Or is it safety and warmth?  For most people, from the moment we are born our natural instinct is to seek for safety; and usually, we find it on the arms of our mothers as she is the primary person to care for us.  As we begin to grow older, some would become more attached to a different family member or even things, such as a toy, a picture, a room or a house, simply anything or anyone that could make us feel saved, feel home.  On the essay by Chang-rae Lee, “Coming Home Again”, Lee tells the story of how it was for him to come home after being away for 10 yrs. 

My dad would always say that ‘‘home is where family is”, and I honestly believe that.  My grandfather works at making the soles for shoes.  He has a little workshop on the very back of his backyard, and I always love that because that would make it easier for us to spend time together.  As a kid, I would spent hours and hours on the little shop just watching him make little holes on the soles with machines the size of train, of course, at the time a was like three feet something so everything was enormous to me.  Sometimes, if I was persistent enough he would give me a couple of soles and have me cut the extra plastic on the edges but normally after feeling accomplished for a brief moment, I would normally realized how my cutting pliers would always be really small and with not sharp at all, “so you don’t cut a finger” he would say, then laughed and ask me to go play with my dolls.  He didn’t want me to get hurt.  If I would of stick a bit longer around him, I would probably still be trying to figure out how to use those machines on his backyard, just like Lee turned the kitchen and cooking, following his mom’s passion.  I can almost bet he’s working on something back there right now.  He’s my home, I know that because he gives me that peace in my heart that I need, I feel safe knowing he’s around, and because, even though we’ve been apart for so long, I know that losing him would be like losing the walls or roof in a house.

During the years Lee spent away from home, he had various disagreements with his mother that compromised their close relationship.  Lee calls his essay “Coming Home Again” but what he’s really referring to is the bond between him and his mother and how he tries to get closer to her on her last days. 

Rules for Writers Chapeter 2

In Chapter 2 from “Rules for Writers” by Diana Hacker, she talks about ideas to consider while writing a rough draft of an essay that would also make the job flow easier.  First, Hacker suggests taking some time before beginning to write to organize the main points of your essay including your thesis or tempting thesis, for example, on an outline.  Once you have an idea of the points that you would like to cover on you essay, you can begin by writing you introduction which would include your thesis.  An introduction would normally be a paragraph between 50 to 150 words but in the case of a longer paper the introduction might even extent to be more than just one paragraph.   If you feel like you’re stuck on your introduction, Hacker mentions that giving it a little rest and leaving it for later could be a good way to relieve some of the pressure off; you can start by working on the body and then go back to your introduction.  It is very important to hook your reader from the beginning of your paper, so Hacker gives some ideas that could help you accomplish that goal, such as:  giving a vivid example, a description, a quote or an anecdote.   While working with your thesis is good to ask yourself if your thesis is too factual or too broad or even too vague for the kind of essay that you’re writing.  Hacker says that is good to write a paragraph on each of your main ideas this would give a more “workable order” to your ideas.  Lastly, the conclusion is also a very important part of the essay, just like everything else; It must “remind readers of the essay’s main ideas” but trying to avoid repetition as well as introducing whole new ideas.

After writing this summary I realized that it could have really helped me out working on the chapter before I wrote the conclusion of my essay.  Luckily, there is three more essays coming up and I know this chapter would be very useful.  Also writing a thesis scare me a little, because I’m always afraid it might be too broad so I’ll use many of the advices that Hacker suggests on this chapter for my next work.

Unexpected

My sister, Amelia, holding my nephew, Jesus.

My family is a typical, very conservative, Mexican family so when my younger sister told my parents that she was pregnant their disappointment was to expect but what no one would have guess is that her unplanned pregnancy was about to save her life. My sister’s name is Amelia Bustamante. There’s only one year and a half years difference between us, that must be why people think that since our births were so close together that we keep a very close relationship but truth is that we’re two completely different worlds, which has made it extremely difficult for of to get along. Everyone in my family always said that someday I would be the first one in the family to simply run off with some guy and come home later with one or two little kids by my hand, maybe because I’m the eldest because honestly I never knew what gave them that impression. Anyway, I always wanted to proof them wrong, but I never wanted to be this way.


I remember the day I found out my sister was pregnant. Amelia and I shared a room, which would normally cause big fights between us, especially at night, because I would be on the phone with my boyfriend, David, and she would also be on the phone with hers, and either her or I would be really loud making the other one mad, and vice verse; privacy was also a big problem among us since you don’t get much of that when you share a room. The night I found out about my sister, it was a night just like any other; we were both on the phone talking to our significant others and fighting over T.V., she wanted to watch “Family Guy” and I wanted MTV. I recall telling David a few days before that I felt like something was wrong, I just didn’t exactly knew what it was; I just knew it was a uncomfortable feeling like anxiety, almost like if I knew something was about to happen. While I was on the phone with David, I sent him a text message, so my sister wouldn’t hear me talking about her. I told him “I think my sister is pregnant” and, of course, he asked me what would make me say something like that. I stood quite for a minute. It wasn’t something I could easily explain over the phone, I never actually hear Amelia say “I’m pregnant”, all I could over hear were half responses saying “…huh?”, “…I didn’t know if I should tell you…”, “…don’t worry about it…”, and “…I can do it on my own…”; my sister had told me a couple weeks before that Gerardo, her boyfriend at the time, and her were not together any more so it immediately hit me; she was pregnant.

I was in a bit of a shock for the rest of the night but I tried to remain calm hoping I had misunderstood everything. The next morning, my sister was her usual self, happy, loud, playful, and full of energy, did I mention loud? She didn’t look worry or stress or even sad, she seem just “fine” so I tried not to pay much attention to the matter after that, I got ready for work and took off. Probably most of us wish that taking concerns off our heads was as easy as simply wanting to but who are we lying to? Work took my mind off the subject every now and then but not enough to forget. When I got off from work I called my dad and asked him to pick me up, just before we pulled in our drive way the truth slapped us both, my dad and I, on the face; Gerardo and he’s parents were standing in front of our house. Inside of me, I felt the blood rush that one gets just before the scariest drop on a roller coaster, it’s a mix of emotions; I was scared, and happy, and useless. As my dad parked the car, he said to himself, “Ay, Amelia”, by the tone of his voice I could have sworn that he already knew what was coming. I guess parents do have a sixth sense, after all. I wanted to stop my dad from going in to any cost but avoiding the unavoidable was not the solution. At this point, my greatest concern was my dad’s health; he’s high blood pressure and the news of my sister’s pregnancy would sure worsen his situation. We, both, gathered the courage to get out of the car and approached the guesses that were now inside the house, invited in by my mom who also waited inside for us. After saying hi to everyone, I prompted my brothers to their rooms and locked myself on my own as well. The first few minutes when by on courtesies, and after a long minute of silence that seem more like 30, Gerando’s dad began addressing my dad “well, the reason why we are here tonight is to ask for yours and your wife’s permission to let your daughter marry our son…”, my dad remained as calm as possible and argued that they were to young, and that they should wait a bit but no objection would hold those words that he for so long feared. Suddenly, someone said “Amelia’s pregnant”, I felt dizzy and wanted everything to be over but the end would not come soon enough. My dad didn’t say a word. After the big news, the reunion was mostly a talk between moms, since my sister and her boyfriend wouldn’t say much. Once Gerardo and his parents left, it was time for my mom to talk to my sister. I heard them both cried, but tried my hardest not to hear their conversation; everyone when to sleep that night with a bitter-sweet taste on our mouths.

There was a baby coming whether we liked it or not, and so, I decided that it was not time for “I told you so” lectures. As soon as I could, I went to the store with my boyfriend I got a baby outfit. I convinced myself that was the best way to show my sister that I was happy with the news without having to actually talk to her about it. Two months when by and my parents grew happier and happier with the idea of a new baby in the house. When everything seem to be going just fine, something started feeling again but this time everyone was feeling the same way. My sister was 3 months pregnant but her tummy showed a five or even six months pregnancy. On her following appointment her doctor noticed the same thing and decided to send her to get some tests done. When the results came back, they showed she had a cyst cause by liquid that had been released by her left ovary over the period of a few years. At home, we always noticed she had a little belly but assumed it was due to lack of exercise and the way she walk, it never crossed our minds it could be something to worry about. Since the cyst had been growing inside of her for quite some time, its size represented a significant threaten to the baby and since she was pregnant it wasn’t possible to identify if it was cancerous or not. Doctors agreed on waiting a few more months before putting them both, my sister and the baby through a surgery so the baby would gain strength and have a greater chance at surviving. Three more months when by and the time came for surgery. Thank god, everything when as planned and doctors were able to extract a cyst the size of a gallon of milk. They also had to remove one of her ovaries since it was connected to cyst but other than that my sister recovered successfully and as well as the fetus.

Last year, on November 6th my sister gave birth to a beautiful and healthy baby boy who they named Jesus Pinto-Bustamante. I like to think that everything happens for a reason; it might sound much of a cliché but if it weren’t have been for an unexpected pregnancy, neither my family nor my sister would have known of the existence of the cyst on her stomach; it could have kept growing and probably provoke more serious problems along the way. My sister and Gerardo are now married, and living on their own with their baby. Marriage is not easy, and raising a child is also a big package all on its own, but they’re both strong and in love so I can only hope they would manage to make it all work.

Rules for Writers Chapter 1

In Chapter 1 from “Rules for Writers” by Diana Hacker, she talks about ways to generate ideas and lists important points to consider while writing a paper such as purpose, length, format, etc., as well as, she goes over ways to analyze the writing situation of the paper, how to analyze your subject, and narrow if necessary, how to come up with a thesis, and lastly, she explains when are outlines useful during the writing process. There are some important components of an essay and Hacker provides a list of these whether is and analytical essay or a research paper. The components that need to be identified are such as the subject, the sources that would be use, a purpose to the writing, and the audience to whom the writing is direct to, also the format, the length of the paper, the reviewers, and the deadline, among others. Sometimes, the subject for a writing might be to broad, which would make it harder to cover all the important points to it, in this case breaking down the subject would make it easier to narrow it; it could also be helpful to focus your attention on a smaller audience instead of a more general audience. Hacker explains that personal experiences, readings, interviews and questionnaires could be very helpful to get information about your subject. There are many purposes for writing; the purpose could be informing, persuading or even entertaining, follow by many more. If a purpose has not been given, asking questions about the subject could be useful. In most academic essays you would have a general audience, unless specify; Hacker mentions that it’s good to keep in mind how some teachers would play different roles while reading a paper. The thesis of a paper is its central idea resume in one to two sentences. A good way to come up with a thesis is to ask yourself questions about your subject, Hacker gives a series of questions that could help polish the “tentative thesis” (9) that you have create. It is very important to keep in mind deadlines to have a better management of time so that you can cover all the key elements of a “good” paper. In the process of generating ideas; freewriting, clustering, listing, and making outlines are of great use, Hacker explains how informal outlines can be very useful during the early stage of you writing since there quick, and easy to make, also a formal outline could help you see if your more fully develop ideas work well together, if not, it is easier to see what you don’t need and where you might need farther explanation and details.




I’ve always have trouble coming up with a strong thesis so I will be using some of the questions and advices that Hacker provides to get a clear and strong thesis. The first draft of our first essay is due next Thursday, so this chapter would be in general very useful. I’m still not sure of my subject for the essay, therefore, I will also be using brainstorming and freewriting to come up with one or to decide for one of the ideas that I’ve have already in mind.

"The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me" Dialogue

As a kid, and even now, I remember hearing this two phrases very often: first, “study hard, since education is the only ‘true’ inheritance your parents would leave you that can last throughout your life”; and second “marry someone rich, so you don’t ever have to worry about a thing”. I have to say, they are both really tempting but I much rather stick to the knowledge since I’ve never seen money as the key to solve my problems. I can very easily related to Alexie’s experience growing up, my family just like his, was very poor, my parents didn’t have much education, although my dad has a very privileged mind, and being Mexican doesn’t help much, since I’m stereotyped as someone how would never do much with her life, just like Alexie. My mom was forced to leave me with her mom when I was still a newborn, I would always see her and my dad, but most of the time I was alone since my grandparents were always busy just like my uncle who still lived at home at the time. I was pretty much raised by the T.V. and yet I didn’t turn out so bad. I also learned how to read on my own, I cannot recall the exact moment nor how I did it, but I do remember every one being surprise when I was caught reading a book on kindergarten. The teacher called my parents and suggested that it would be good for me to be transfer to a different school where I could explore my talent on a more advance level; of course, she was talking about a private school, something that my parents couldn’t afford and that I do not regret. From that moment and on, I was always first place in class. I took two of my schools onto the estate competitions and both times ended up on 4th place, which wasn’t exactly what I wanted but it was still 10 times more of what the teachers expected since I put both schools among the best ones on the country, a place they had never had before, or ever since. Many Mexican girls before me have brake the odds, simply graduating from high school and by making many wonderful things out of their lives, but for me, being the first one to graduate from high school out of my family and with high honors has change my life. I want to do more; I want to show my brothers that we don’t have to be like the rest. I want them to know that we can do anything we want and the only limit is the sky, and even then, we know have spaceships.


Alexie tries to save the lives of the students he visits by showing them that they can do more than just what they’re expected to do. “We were Indian Children who were expected to be stupid.”(par. 6) but it doesn’t have to be like that at all. An old saying says that “monkey does, what monkey sees”, and by letting them know that he was just like them, just a little Indian boy coming from a relatively poor family, like most, and yet was able to become a famous writer he lets them know that they can do great things; if he was able to do it, why not them? On paragraph 6 from Alexie’s essay, he implies that the Indian kids my feel inhibited by the presence of non-Indian teachers, therefore by visiting schools and working with the Indian kids, being and Indian himself, Alexie tries to provide them more confidence and the power of his knowledge.

The more one reads the more one learns about the world, which is probably what happened to Alexie. Before you start going to school, there isn’t much out there, your world is normally as big as your house, your family, and the people that you know. We want to grow up to be like mom or dad, uncle Lou or even Santa, why not. Once we start learning about normal people doing great things is when, for most of us, the decider to do be great, to do more, awakes. In Alexie case, the world was the size of the reservation he lived in but he discovered the great power of knowledge, through his dad’s passion, reading. He didn’t want to be an average Indian kid who would probably grow up to get married and support his family with a minimum-wage job that would help him and his family have an “ok” life, with many limitations but, after all, that’s what was expected from him or any other kid at the Spokane Indian reservation. He saved his live by not being average, by not giving up before even trying, by being “an oddity” (par. 5). None the less, even though he's already become a successful writer, he's job is not done yet. As his explains on the last few sentences of his essay, “I am smart. I am arrogant. I am lucky. I am trying to save our lives.” (par. 8).

Rules for Writers Chapter 46

In chapter 46 from Rules for Writers by Diana Hacker, she talks about the differences between a summary and an analysis at the same time that she explains some of the keys that would help write a better summary and/or analysis of either a visual or written text. According to Hacker, reading actively, such as asking questions about the reading, highlighting or underling main ideas or information that could be relevant, etc., could help to create a better understanding of the reading. She also suggests doing more than just one reading since it’s not always easy to catch all the important details on the first attempt. Sketching an outline of the text could also be helpful as when trying to identify the thesis, and main ideas of a text. Hacker highlights how visual texts are not much different to written text and can also be examine the same one. Both visual and written texts have main ideas that are being transmitted by either by either illustrations on case of the visuals or words on the written texts. Finally, Hacker describes a summary as a brief piece in which only the main ideas and important points are stated and not personal opinion should be included; whereas, in an analysis your opinion is very important and should be supported by some sort of evidence, and will also normally included a brief summary of the reading.



I remember how my teachers and even my parents never allowed me to write on my textbook, even if they were old. So when I first heard about annotating, I confessed thinking that my teacher was crazy, “I can’t do such a thing”, it was like committing a crime. Although now, I honestly find annotating really fascinating; perhaps because it was something prohibit for me for such a long time but also because I find it very useful. Among other things, summarizing as well as analyzing is something that I’ve always had problems with. When I do summaries it is hard for me to extract only the main ideas from a text; I consider everything of vital importance that I normally struggle while choosing what has to be included and what can be left out. Probably because I simply don’t know how to make summaries so, this chapter will be very helpful on future assignments.

Freewriting Exercises

Freewriting is not more than putting what is on your mind down onto a paper. Now, going deeper into what freewriting means, there are two basic rules to follow when freewriting, and those are: first, it has to be short, and second, but most important, never stop writing. During freewriting, you would normally have a topic, if it is for a class or a particular paper that you are working on, which you would have to write about for some time between 10 to 15 minutes. The topic is normally meant for you to have a starting point, sometimes you’ll find yourself writing about stuff unrelated to the original topic, and that ok; the whole idea here is to make it easier for you, and me, to write without “editing” ourselves minds, because there is where I personally find myself getting stock the most trying to find the right word or phrase.
The purpose of freewriting is to help create a smooth and less painful way of writing. Of course, freewriting is not a new magical wand that will help you get the job done in one simple step; on the contrariety, freewriting would most likely add more writing to your usual way of doing papers. The magic on this method is that if you practice it with regularity it promises to take away some of the fears that come hand-to-hand with the word “write”. This technique is meant to liberate us from all the grammatical rules, and fears of misspelling that in many occasions frustrated us to the point where we decided to quit, and just focus on writing.
What is great about this technique is that you can even turn it into a freewriting dairy, that way it doesn’t really feel like you doing school work. Simply take 10 minutes before going to bed, or at any free moment that you possibly can and write about your day. It feels like this is just what I needed to lose some of the fears that have been hunting me for many years. I’ll see how it goes; hopefully it helps me improve my writing skills.

Introduction Dialogue

Hi Everyone,

My name is Estela Bustamante.  I'm originally from Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.  My family and I moved to the United States about 7 years ago and we've been living in Sonoma ever since.  I'm 21 years old and the eldest of five; since I was young I felt a big responsibility to set the example for the little ones on the family, although, it is not always easy to do so.  I graduated from Sonoma High and when straight to enroll at SRJC, during my first year, I was having some serious trouble concentrating and getting my work done that I decided it was time for my brain to take a break.  Finally after some time off, I feel like I'm ready to go back to school and finish what I started.  I'm still not quite sure of my major but I know I'll find what would really passion me.

Something I consider important to mention is that English is not exactly one of my favorite subject, as it isn't my native language.  Probably one of the most frustrating things of learning a new language is when it comes to write papers; because I know what I want to say, I know the emotions and feelings that I want the paper to reflect but no knowing the "right" way to do so can be very stressful.  Of course, I also have to considerate that fact that I'm just a really bad writer.  I'm a little bit of a perfectionist and that affects my timing.  I can stare in from of a computer or notebook for hours and hours working on the same two sentences; finishing a paragraph after paragraph and erasing it all.  That's just something I have to work on.  Finally, I simply would like to add that I'm happy to be back at school; that I hope we all do great on this class, as well as in others and on any personal project that we might have.  Best of the lucks, everyone.