Where I Am From

I am from computers,
from HP and Dell.
I am from the wall-sized windows;
big, transparent,
gazing at the other buildings surrounding it.

I am from pizza and eyeglasses,
from Savina, Rajan, and Ashiana.
I am from the educated ones
and the well-behaved ones,
from “One thing at a time”
and “You have to work for it”.

I am from the era of meditation;
staying still, with nothing in mind.

I am from a cluster of Indians,
from eating vegetarian on Mondays,
from going to the temple every Friday.
From wearing traditional clothing in weddings,
and from worshipping copious amounts of gods/goddesses.

I am from my dad’s side of the family,
from eating pasta and fish.
From when dad won fourth place in the lottery,
from the old family pictures hidden in the closet;
yet to be recognized again.

I am from those moments.
A trunk with future carvings,
the roots that holds the family tree.

Pray For Japan

     A ten meter tsunami hit Japan, which preceded an 8.9 earthquake-one of the largest earthquakes recorded since the 1900’s- shocked the eastern part of Japan; leaving copious amount of dead bodies. Japan has never been in this condition since World War Two. Japan has been hit by many earthquakes before, but not by a fitful earthquake like this.

     Right now, many of the biggest countries have deployed search and rescue teams to facilitate the job of rescuing any survivors. Sadly, because of the mud and debris left over from the tsunami, it’s going to be hard for the fastidious dogs to differentiate the smell of a human and of a corpse. Unfortunately, there have also been tsunami alerts for the western border of North America, China, and Hawaii. It has also been said that Japan has moved three feet away from its original position on the map.

     To make matters even worse for Japan, a professional on nuclear power plants said that one of their nuclear reactors, the Fukushima Reactor, had leaked radiation; leaving a ten mile radiation in Japan. Now the residents in Japan are supposed to stay indoors for 24 hours and must stay at least twenty kilometers away from the radiation. It is crucial for us to help Japan during this moment of crisis.

Memoir- House On Mango Street

House On Mango Street

     The author of House on Mango Street is Sandra Cisneros. The title of the book is House on Mango Street because she used to live in a house on Mango Street, and this is where she grew up and went through her teenage years. The memoir is about a Mexican girl named Esperanza, and how she grew up in the United States in poverty. The author organized the memoir in vignettes.

     She learns that she didn’t want to be a stereotypical woman. She didn’t want to have the future as the other Mexican women have; being bossed around by their husbands.

     I thought that the book was okay, though it wasn't my type of book. This book is more recommendable to people who are looking to read a book about how people-specially people that are have different ethnical backgrounds-live in poverty. A couple of the vignettes of the book were a bit interesting, and some of the vignettes left you thinking about how harsh Esperanza’s life was when she was a teenager.


Lines We Love:
“Está muerto, and then as if he had heard the news himself, crumples like a coat and cries, my brave Papa cries.” (56)
“Hard to imagine her legs once strong, the bones had and parting water, clean sharp strokes, not bent and wrinkled like a baby, not drowning under the sticky yellow light.” (59)
“She is always sad like a house on fire-always something wrong.” (84)