The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
A very short and easy read.

I am finding that I am treating books like a fine mint or chocolate. Something to savor and think about, not to chomp through and prove I read something (or to make my “read” list longer).

At times I will read something and then either re-read the paragraph or even the chapter to take it all in. I noticed I did this with the book “Caramelo”, also by Sandra Cisneros. In “The House on Mango Street” I found myself reading chapters over (they are very short, 1 – 2 pages at most) to make sure I savored all the flavor from her writing.

She writes without any quotation marks to show spoken word. It’s almost as if she is remembering what happened and you’re hearing it in her head.

It’s the story of a girl, living in a low-income area and the people who live around her. The whole book is about her observations of the people she sees, but also her own feelings about living there and realizing what it means to live “there”.

Some chapters make you laugh (she can be very clever in her writing) and some chapters can make you tear up (I’m sure my own background fueled some of the tearing up). The observations are all made through the eyes of a girl, so things like abuse, machismo, and heartbreak are very straight forward, simple, almost romatic. Not romantic in the horrible things that happen, but in the way she sees it and tries to make sense of it.

Bea Author died

I loved that show, and all the Golden Girls in it!

Okay, so now my page has a “theme”. Not sure if I like it though. We’ll give it a whirl and see if it’s for me. Oh and I have to double space so it looks good on my blog (sorry LJers). Hm, I’ll play with the code and see how it looks in my next post.

Church bells are ringing, it’s 7pm. There is a Catholic church near my house and every hour the church bells ring. It’s actually really nice. Sometimes they even play a song. For those of you not in ‘the know’ Catholic songs rarely change. Okay, they do change, but I could probably go into any Catholic church (except maybe a Mennonite one) and sing along. So, yes, the word tradition is taken to the extreme. Anyway, that said, they have some really beautiful songs that I remember since my wee years, and the church around the corner plays them. Everything from “How Great Thou Art” to “Eagle’s Wings” to “How Can I Keep from Singing”, it’s pretty and not too loud or annoying. And of course, they don’t chime late or too early, even if they did, they are pretty soft.

My mom wishes I would be a Sunday school teacher there. But I think I have way to many questions/doubts, not about the faith (go God!), but about the religion…

…yet I still consider myself a Catholic.

Come on LJ, just connect already! UGH…

EDIT: Ah, finally, I have cross-bred (?) my LJ and my new blog! It was so easy, yet I made it so hard. ha

Now I need to edit the appearance of my blog…hm…

Oh for you LJ folks, I am still going to be looking at LJ, I just wanted something that I could post off of my personal website, yet still comment on your stuff!

If you’d prefer to add me to your reader, do it at my blog site.

No time to update, but I have thought of several things to blog about, but I’m sure once I get to it, I’ll forget.

Topics that I would like to talk about: Teaching, the dog, teaching the dog, kids, movies

This is only a test…just testing to see if I am able to link my old blog to this one. I downloaded the crossposter, let’s see what happens.

Ugh, of course I downloaded the plugin and put it in the right folder (I’m pretty sure) but now there is no place to put in my login/password. Hm, I wonder if I do that on the other blog area? Ugh, annoying, have to figure it out later, time for dinner. Danny made ravioli (not from scratch) and sauce (from scratch).

Yesterday at the Art Institute we had our “Day of Service”. Students from local organizations and charities came to the school. Organizations like Big Brothers Big Sisters and Texas Baptist Children’s Home were invited. But due to lack of prep time (put together in a week or two), only 6 kids showed up. It was fun though because with a small group, we were able to give more attention. 6 ladies showed up from the home.
The home serves children who typically are placed voluntarily by family members due to a temporary crisis in their home. Some parent(s) aren’t able to care for their children, many are incarcerated. My heart went out to the girls who came. They were all so eager to learn and have fun. They were older, like in high school (a couple in junior high). It was a good day, and hopefully we do it more often.

On a sidenote: After the young ladies had left I went to the faculty area. There an instructor and I chatted about our classes and what we are teaching this quarter. She suggested I get my PhD. While it’s inticing, I do go back and forth on the issue. On one hand I think, “Yeah! I would love to!” but on the other hand, I hate research. Well, mainly quantitative, I don’t like statistics or numbers (or should I say I don’t like reading them and doing them). I don’t mind qualitative so much, I rather gather info and put it together than gather numbers. I did leave really pondering about it. If only I could be so lucky to get another full fellowship like I did for my Masters. Hmmm, just something to think about. Oh and what should I get it in? Instructional Technology (like my Masters), perhaps with a focus on minorites and technology?

I recently met a professor at my school who is doing a research study on young Hispanic males  (for his PhD). Why “young Hispanic males” you ask? This is the group with the highest drop out rate. He has done a lot of research and conducted his own trials in trying to find a way to help this group literally beat the odds. He said he has tried to figure out what would work, crack the code of why less than half will graduate. After school programs, intervention programs, anything to help this group finish high school. He said the only thing that is proven over and over again, and the only thing he can find to help this group is so basic. Reading to your kids. Period. That’s it. That is the only magic he has found. It doesn’t matter what you read, just read. Part of it, he felt, that by reading to your kids, you teach them that you can learn new things from books. If you need to know more about something, you can read. If you want to read better, you can listen and follow along as someone else reads. If you want to get out of the place you are stuck in, then just read. That has the biggest impact on a child’s life (or so his findings tell him). He also said, even if there is only one parent around…READ to your kids!

Ah, now time for bed and for me to read a little.

I am a big sister in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program here in Austin and I have a wonderful “little”.

I highly recommend mentoring a young person. In San Antonio I worked with Communities in Schools and here in Austin I am with BBBS and it’s just awesome. I know once we have a family it will be difficult to meet with my little as often, but that’s okay, we’ll worry about that when that day comes. Right now it’s where I need to be.

I met up with my “little” today. I hadn’t seen her for a while due to Easter and the new quarter starting up. We got to go shopping (see my previous post) and hang out. I also took her to see Monsters vs Aliens in 3D. It was a pretty cute movie. Not a must see but I enjoyed it and we laughed out loud several times.

She did give me some news. Her 13 year old cousin is pregnant. It’s upsetting, not in a “she should know better” way, but in a “she has a long road ahead of her” way. The fact that she is 13 is sad, they grow up so fast. I had a friend who I went to grad school with, she quit being a nurse and joined our program. She said she saw a 10 year old come in to deliver her baby. A 10 year old! She said she couldn’t deal with it and needed to get into another field. My little did say something under her breath, something like “I want a baby” and had to retort with, “sure they are cute when they are tiny, but then they turn into that” and so be it, God waved her hand and put three screaming children moving past us. My little laughed and said “I know, I am kidding”…but I don’t like “kidding”. Hopefully once the baby is born she can see how much work it is and the amount of time it takes to care for it, there is no “going out” on the weekends with a baby. I can advise and suggest and offer support, but I can’t (and won’t) argue or get angry with her. My role is just to be there to give her an attentive ear, and try to understand her point of view.
Just an FYI, don’t just assume you have a “good kid” because you raised them “right”. They are always good kids, you can be an amazing parent and things can happen. I think parents should do all they can, but know that we all make mistakes. I know my mom put the fear of God in me, and God put the fear of boys in me too!

I worry for my little because there is a lot that has gone on in her life. Her guardians are her grandma and step-grandpa (wait, what would you call the other man her grandma married?). She lost her mom when she was 5 and never knew her dad. I won’t go into much more detail to protect her privacy, but it’s been tough. I want her to know there is so much more world out there than just what she sees right now. We’ve done quite a bit of stuff here in Austin. Taken her to several cool places including the top of the UT tower. She is starting high school next year and I’ll be there for her, and praying she is protected.