This book is SO intense. After the scene already set at the beginning, a very grim mood has been set that continued through the last section of reading that I did. Luis is now in his early-teens (the book jumps around a lot, anywhere from 13 to 16 years old), and his life has gotten even more rough than before. Luis and his family are still moving a lot, and besides leaving schools because of that, Luis has been kicked out of a bunch of schools as well. Fights, vandalism, gang involvement, sex, and drugs are starting to take over Luis' life.
"Hypodermic needles, spoons, matches and bags of powder were on the table. I looked around and saw about five people, including two women. They had dark circles beneath their eyes, tattoos like old pachucas, and collapsed veins along the inside of their arms." (page 130).
"I clasped the screwdriver and walked up to the beaten driver in the seat whose head was bleeding. The dude looked at me through glazed eyes, horrified at my presence, at what I held in my hand, at this twisted, swollen face that came at him through the dark. Do it! were the last words I recalled before I plunged the screwdriver into flesh and bone, and the sky screamed." (page 111).
"Payasa fought all the time at school. Whenever she lost, her older brothers would slice her tongue with a razor. She wasn't ever supposed to lose. This made her meaner, crazier - unpredictable." (page 106).
These quotes, for me, illustrate scenes that are full of death, destruction, and hopelessness. Rodriguez is describing places and events that nearly defines the lifestyle of the "hood." Violence and other terrible things involved with gangs run people's lives in the wrong direction. I read passages like these and wonder how people can live like that. However, elements like these make the book completely unpredictable, with action and unsuspecting events at every turn of the page, which I enjoy. (And it's still just as exciting the second time through surprisingly!)
word up homie g peace
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Monday, September 24, 2007
Always Running #1
Hello! blog blog blog blog blog blog blog blog blog blog.
For outside reading this unit, I am reading Always Running: La Vida Loca:Gang Days in L.A. by Luis J. Rodriguez. Ironically, I finished this book the day before I found out that we are supposed to do updates on the BLOGS for our books while reading. However, I did enjoy this book very much, and so I have decided to simply read it again for the project. : )
Right now in the story, Luis is telling the dark tale of his youngest childhood and introducing his family and their rough lifestyle. Always in utter poverty, Luis and his family almost never have enough to eat, they are constantly moving and are always too crowded in the small houses. Also, racial hatred against Mexican-Americans such as Luis and his family is nearly overwhelming.
Rodriguez also goes into sections that both help set the scene for the book, but also foreshadow future events in the book. "We were constant prey, and the hunters soon became big blurs: the plice, the gangs, the junkies, the dudes on Garvey Boulevard who took our money, all smudged into one. Sometimes they were teachers who jumped on us Mexicans as if we were born with a hideous stain. " (page 36).
For outside reading this unit, I am reading Always Running: La Vida Loca:Gang Days in L.A. by Luis J. Rodriguez. Ironically, I finished this book the day before I found out that we are supposed to do updates on the BLOGS for our books while reading. However, I did enjoy this book very much, and so I have decided to simply read it again for the project. : )
Right now in the story, Luis is telling the dark tale of his youngest childhood and introducing his family and their rough lifestyle. Always in utter poverty, Luis and his family almost never have enough to eat, they are constantly moving and are always too crowded in the small houses. Also, racial hatred against Mexican-Americans such as Luis and his family is nearly overwhelming.
Rodriguez also goes into sections that both help set the scene for the book, but also foreshadow future events in the book. "We were constant prey, and the hunters soon became big blurs: the plice, the gangs, the junkies, the dudes on Garvey Boulevard who took our money, all smudged into one. Sometimes they were teachers who jumped on us Mexicans as if we were born with a hideous stain. " (page 36).
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Sunday, September 16, 2007
This I Believe
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4544547
"A Game of Cards"
Norman Cousins
"This I believe; that man today has all the resources to shatter his fears and go on to the greatest golden age in history, an age which will provide the conditions for human growth and for the development of the good that resides within man, whether in his individual or his collective being. And he has only to mobilize his rational intelligence and his conscience to put these resources to work."
I personally liked Norman Cousins' philosophy on man; that man is both good and evil, and a person must choose the traits in them that brings out the good. I often hear that nobody is a bad person, people just do bad things, but I have always disagreed. People have good and bad things about them, and how they choose to use the good things makes them what they are.
"A Game of Cards"
Norman Cousins
"This I believe; that man today has all the resources to shatter his fears and go on to the greatest golden age in history, an age which will provide the conditions for human growth and for the development of the good that resides within man, whether in his individual or his collective being. And he has only to mobilize his rational intelligence and his conscience to put these resources to work."
I personally liked Norman Cousins' philosophy on man; that man is both good and evil, and a person must choose the traits in them that brings out the good. I often hear that nobody is a bad person, people just do bad things, but I have always disagreed. People have good and bad things about them, and how they choose to use the good things makes them what they are.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
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