The alarm clock wakes me up around 7:30 a.m. The sun is already trying to sneak into my room. I do not think that El Paso has a much time living in the darkness. The scintillating sun does not leave until 9 p.m. After a shower, I put on some sunscreen, have a little snack, and grab my belongings, ready to go to work. I can walk daily from where I am staying to Cinco Puntos Press (CPP). Obviously, a routine has formed, however, it is a routine I very much enjoy. My supervisors, they described themselves as “hippies”—although, not the ones who would do drugs or used to go insane when they were young, back in the 60s. They would order me that the first thing that I must do when I get to work is get a cup of coffee, so that I am wide awake. …show more content…
As the days go by swiftly. I have done a little bit of everything. I had the opportunity to proofread a Spanish translation of a successful sequel to a series of books that CPP has published for quite some time already known as Maximilian. The third installment is titled, Maximilian and the Lucha Libre Club: A Bilingual Lucha Libre by Xavier Garza. It is a gleeful story about a young boy who happens to have an interesting, comic, yet dangerous family. They are all involved in the business of lucha libre (a term used in Mexico for a form of professional wrestling). The boy begins to train to become the next big thing, just like his uncle the “Guardian Angel” (Ángel Guardian), although he still has a long way to go, however, Max has two exceptional and expert trainers along him: his uncles. It seems that lucha libre is intrinsically pumping in his …show more content…
I have also been trying to get one of CPP’s new books out there. It is a book, titled, Photographs of My Father by Paul Spike. It is a great book, which I happen to have read—one of the perks of this job is that I get to read as many books as I want for free. The story about Rev. Robert Spike, who later became a civil rights activist and was mysteriously killed after finding out that the funding that was supposed to go to a federal Mississippi education program was in lieu going somewhere else--to fund the Vietnam War. This book was published in 1973 and when it came out, it was reviewed by a lot of newspapers and publications, including The New York Times. The book stopped printing, and CPP decided to re-print it again. The bad news is that not everyone is interested in reviewing a book that has already come out. Therefore, my job has been reaching out to different outlets that could potentially be interested in selling, endorsing, or reviewing the book, and I have been successful at it. This task has allowed me to develop my marketing
Born in 1956 in Mexico City, Juan Villoro is the author of many well known books such as “El Testigo” which was recognized and was honored with the Herralde Prize, and other books like “La Casa Pierde” and “Efectos Personales”. Juan Villoro stands out with his style of writing using impressive array of topics with insight, dark humor, irony, and the social and cultural functions of spectator sports like boxing and soccer. With his interest in sports, he enjoys writing about the deep passion that is represented in the sport, with his story “Lightweight Champ”, a short story about a professional Mexican boxer and his journalist/drug addicted childhood friend who came from poverty in the early years in Mexico. Juan becomes very interested in investigating why what happens in sports, giving people interest in what their reading, making them think about lets loose superstitions, systems of belief, hopes, disappointments and so on. The story “Lightweight Champ” talks about how guilt was the motivation to Ignacio Barrientos’s success in his career as a professional boxer, yet no one knew his past, that gave me that stride and edge in the ring other than a few people, including the speaker of the story. Guilt is a feeling where can last a moment or a lifetime, leaving an unphysical effect on yourself, and finding a way to deal with it, so it does not eat us up inside.
This novel is a story of a Chicano family. Sofi, her husband Domingo together with their four daughters – Esperanza, Fe, Caridad, and Loca live in the little town of Tome, New Mexico. The story focuses on the struggles of Sofi, the death of her daughters and the problems of their town. Sofi endures all the hardships and problems that come her way. Her marriage is deteriorating; her daughters are dying one by one. But, she endures it all and comes out stronger and more enlightened than ever. Sofi is a woman that never gives up no matter how poorly life treats her. The author- Ana Castillo mixes religion, super natural occurrences, sex, laughter and heartbreak in this novel. The novel is tragic, with no happy ending but at the same time funny and inspiring. It is full of the victory of the human spirit. The names of Sofi’s first three daughters denote the three major Christian ideals (Hope, Faith and Charity).
Junot Diaz’s “Otravida, Otravez” depicts a perspective of life where one’s present and future always reflects their past in some way. Diaz’s representation of symbolic figures, convey how a person’s past can be carried into the future. Diaz’s use of symbolic figures includes the dirty sheets washed by Yasmin, the letters sent by Virta to Ramon, and the young girl who begins working with Yasmin at the hospital. These symbolic figures and situations remind the readers that the past will always play a major role in one’s present. Additionally, Diaz’s word choice, where Spanish words appear in many different parts of the reading, suggests that indirectly, one’s past habits are not easily broken.
Although, I have been a good student at school, I always have struggles doing my homework like any other student. Sometimes, it is difficult to me to understand my assignments; however, I always try to obtain a knowledge from my courses. In this case English 111, like any other course left a mark on my academic and personal life.
Through the process of acquiring knowledge in this course, I have learned countless aspects about my own self. Amidst the very challenges I faced, the act of communication, management, and leadership, are among them. Being bilingual, my communication skills are on par yet at times hinder me from articulating my intention precisely as I have meant them. With every socialization I have made, I have striven to do better and to be better. I have learned that although you may consider yourself “fluent” in a foreign language, there are phrases or intonations to which come across as something entirely different from what you intended to say causing the message to be lost between the barrier of the two communicators.
As adolescents they had been complicit in following the intrepid adventures of Don Quixote de la Mancha and his sidekick, Sancho Penza, as they read of their travels around the world in their failed efforts to revive chivalry. It made them wonder at what the world might be like outside their village. They read Lolita in Spanish, trying to imagine the magnitude of a man's love. They read The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in Spanish, and asked themselves who would betray them in life? They delighter in the exploits of Doña Barbara, and wondered if it were possible to hate that deeply. All these questions would be answered in their lifetime.
Unfamiliarity, in the broadest sense, can evoke a feeling of fear or anxiety. However, my unique cultural upbringing has made me comfortable with unfamiliarity, and eager to embrace differences among people with compassion and tolerance. I am the product of a cultural infusion—I was born in the United Kingdom to an English father, but was influenced by the Turkish customs of my mother. While living in England, I grew up eating dinner on the floor, listening to Turkish music on the radio, and waking up to a poster of Kemal Ataturk. I spent every summer living in Turkey where I learned the language, saw the way different people lived, and became familiar with the practices of Islam. At 14 years old I was immersed in yet another culture when I
I was born and raised in Vietnam, so I naturally observed my culture from my family and my previous schools. I learned most of my culture by watching and coping the ways my family do things. My family and my friends all spoke Vietnamese, so I eventually knew how to speak and understand deeply about my language as I grew up. At home, my mom cooked many Vietnamese foods, and she also taught me to cook Vietnamese food. So I became accustom Vietnamese food. I also learned that grandparents and parents in my culture are taken care of until they die. At school, I learned to address people formally and greet higher-ranking people first. In Vietnamese culture, ranking and status are not related to wealth, so they are concerned with age and education.
The air hung around them, tensed and quiet. The fragility of her emotion was threatening to shatter. It is as if that time stood still for her. She fingered the brim of her notebook, nervously and took notice of the cup of coffee on her side. Controlling the sudden urged to drown the caffeine all at once; she carefully picked the cup and warily sipped its content. It had long been cold, and her tongue appreciated that fact.
When I was asked by my mother what I wanted to do for my 15th birthday the first thing that popped into my head was roller coasters. This idea has been in my head ever since I heard one of my best friends talking about how she was tired of going to a 15's dinner or event. So I got to thinking about what would be enjoyable for me and my 3 best friends. Then the idea hits roller coasters. I rode one of my first roller coasters in school with my 3 best friends. Whenever there was a carnival in town and they had a cool roller coaster, we would all go together on it. It was one of our few traditions that stuck. So now I had to choose the where. We actually had all went to Disney world about a year ago, and one of my best friends, Alex, hated it. So
Even though Diaz chose English as his medium of expression, he never aspired to create a failed Spanglish, but an English exceptionally creative, capable of assimilating the Spanish spoken in New York and using it to improve their adoptive language. None of its relators fascinates with this new language, or becomes the main topic of the novel, but rather it is used as a fun vehicle that allows him to expose his stories with admirable freedom.
Previously, I have written press releases for Red Hen’s fundraiser and for its partnered groundbreaking ceremony. I would be honored and thrilled to write publicity copy and facilitate press for Ecco’s praiseworthy authors and their books, frequently recognized as both literary and commercial achievements. Ecco has an unbelievable arsenal of authors, several of whom inhabit my to-read list—I am really interested in Amy Tan’s memoir, Joyce Carol Oates’ novels, and Litt’s Thanks, Obama, to name a few. If you contact my previous supervisors and professors, they will attest to my ardent, engaged personality and value as a hardworking team
Personal Narrative: The World The world is a messed up place and we are all stuck here until our lives are through, or until we choose to leave. It's strange that I go along with everything everyone tells me, such as that I should wear certain clothes or listen to certain songs. I often wonder why I do the things I do, but then I just realize that's who I am. People are confused about why they are here, and they don't understand what life is supposed to be about.
I was scheduled to work at the red-eye hours of the morning all through the scorching hours of the summer afternoons. To this day, the smell of fresh espresso and Caramel brings back memories of whipping the sweat off my brown “DD” visor and horrific throwbacks of near death coffee spills due to the cramped working environment that we operated
Learning a new language isn’t always easy. It has it’s up and down moments but once I learned that new language I felt accomplished and a lot of new opportunities open for me. My point is that learning English for me wasn’t easy, but once I learned English, I was able to help out my parents more and a bunch of new doors opened for me. You can say by knowing English I had a little more power now at home because they depended a lot on me now but it also felt great just to help them out with their English.