Hardly anyone ‘ve ever noticed has leapt into the middle of Chapter 23, so that first page had better deliver the goods.
I must be the only one to turn to a page in the middle of a book then... I can get a better sense of if the book is a good match for me if i read a page or two in the middle or towards the end
But Hitler had originally wanted to be an artist
I can just imagine an alternate universe where Hitler actually became an artist. How different this world would have been.
What about Jackson Pollock? It took me years to see the beauty in his paintings.
When it comes to art, I think some artists and paintings can take time to truly understand and appreciate.
Is there a meaning of beauty on which we can agree?
I always think of "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Its amazing that every single person has a different definition of what beauty is. I see beauty in things others don't and I don't see the beauty in what others do.
Women are made to feel total failures if they don’t marry and have children.
I feel like this statement is becoming less true. Ever since we have been allowed to vote and go to college and get better jobs, we have slowly come out of the mindset of "women are only here to bear children" Of course, there are still a lot of people that are shocked and appalled when women say they don't want children. But I think overall, in many progressive societies, women are focused on themselves.
Culture is made by those in power—men. Males make the rules and laws; women transmit them. How many times have I heard mothers and mothers-in-law tell their sons to beat their wives for not obeying them,
I know some people are saying this is "old school" and it's not very common anymore. When you really think about it though, there are still quite a few cultures that practice this- families turning away and even encouraging husbands to beat their wives.
I had to leave home so I could find myself, find my own intrinsic nature buried under the personality that had been imposed on me.
This seems true in a lot of cases. It's hard to grow up and never leave the same place, then try to find out who you are as an adult. I think this is why a lot of people leave their homes and hometowns.
the cost of one healthy meal vs the cost of three fast food meals
Its all part of the system. Keep the healthy foods too expensive for poor and middle class people so they have to choose the unhealthy meals. Then the healthcare system can profit off of the many diseases, illnesses, disabilities, cancers that we get from the unhealthy food.
The doctors don’t care, our bodies decay,our minds deteriorate, we learn nothing of value.Our lives don’t get better, we go down quick.
This is such an unfortunate reality of a lot of many hispanic and African American peoples. Too many doctors don't seem to care or want to treat them properly.
Our expectations are high: in the old world,they talked about rehabilitation,about being able to finish school,and learning an extra good trade.But right away we are sent to work as dishwashers,to work in fields for three cents an hour.
It seems so difficult and frustrating to get your hopes up that you will able to do amazing things, finish school, get a great job; all for it to be an illusion.
some died young–fortunate–some rot in prisons
This is an unfortunate reality for too many people. You either die young (and still live a hard life, for those short years), or you have to do whatever it takes to make it. Most of which will land you behind bars
the art form of our slums more meaningful & significant than Egypt’s finest hieroglyphics.
Both are very meaningful. When people find their artwork in a few thousand years, it will be just as fascinating and important as the hieroglyphics in Egypt are to us now
i think i heard her once and cried out of sadness and fear
This reminds me of Bloody Mary in elementary school, when a whole group of us went into the bathroom with the lights out and tried it. I love how, as kids, we all have the same experiences.
Neighborhood of my youth demolished, erased forever from the universe.
I can relate to this somewhat, the neighborhood and town I grew up in changed drastically in just a few years
How when a man and a woman love each other, sometimes that love sours. But a parent’s love for a child, a child’s for its parents, is another thing entirely.
Not only the love of child and parent relationship, but the love between friends and other relationships is a different kind of love that doesn't "sour" like the love between a man and woman in a relationship.
But I did think about her and I thought about Marcos and Jorge and then I started to cry and I cried for a long time. And then I stopped.
It's really sad to just uproot a child from their home and take them far away from the places and people they know. Whats even more sad is that it's not even the thought of his mother that made him cry, but the thought of his friends, who he may never be able to find again.
I know what I am now. I am a bridge.
I wonder what exactly happened for him to become a 'bridge'. All the stories I have read that are similar to this one, the character has some sort of near death experience.
Sometimes I look for her when I’m awake. I get lost in our house wondering why I can’t find the nursery. I wake up thinking I hear her crying.
I can relate to this. I don't look for them or think I hear them crying. But I can only wonder what they would have been like. Would they have been boys or girls? Just 3 days ago I would've been celebrating my oldest third birthday. The author did a great job getting readers to understand that kind of pain.
I don’t doubt that she’d greet you like a long-lost daughter if you ever walked in through the door.
This sentence shows just how much he loves and cares for his partner. Telling the waitress so much about her that she could have a mother-daughter moment if they were to ever meet.
no one’s life depends on how awake I am. I don’t love my job. But it’s a living, and sometimes that’s enough.
I feel like he doesn't truly see his purpose in life because he is comparing himself to others, saying it doesn't make a difference if he's awake or not. "it's a living, and sometimes that's enough.", I can relate to this sometimes but once you get to a certain point in life it's time for a change.
To you, the Rio Grande Valley wasn’t simply a place on a map—the name itself was an incantation. Earth and sun and magic all at once.
Incantation is not a word I've heard before. According to Google, it means, "a series of words said as a magic spell or charm." I can't say the same about the Rio Grande Valley but I know I feel that same way about one specific place, and I'm sure a lot of people know that feeling.
I am the masses of my people and I refuse to be absorbed.
This is a good way with confidence to close out the poem. Reassuring the reader that despite all the odds against, to remain true to oneself and not let any society swallow you whole.
I shed the tears of anguishas I see my children disappearbehind a shroud of mediocrity,never to look back to remember me.
I have a few first or second generation Mexican-American friends. This makes me think of how, when meeting their parents and grandparents, I can see how the American society shows through my friends and their parents and grandparents are trying to hold onto those traditional values.
They frowned upon our way of life and took what they could use.
This is what I mentioned earlier about taking from the culture what 'we' liked the most. A lot of Mexican traditions are too foreign for Americans and therefore, those traditions are not seen as 'correct'. So America took all of the 'wrong' values out and kept the 'good'.
My culture has been raped.
What I think of when I read this, is all the ways that Americans have tried to replicate the Mexican culture. With Tex-Mex restaurants, celebrating Cinco de Mayo, etc. We took the culture and heritage away but turned around and tried claiming some of our own.
must choose betweenthe paradox ofvictory of the spirit,despite physical hunger, orto exist in the graspof American social neurosis,sterilization of the souland a full stomach.
Here we see Joaquin struggle with embracing his heritage, despite what the society he lives in feels about it. Or giving in and letting the American ways of life dictate how he lives his life. He will have to give up a very rich and vibrant heritage and to be accepted by people.