Juan Herrera, Notebook of a Chile Verde Smuggler
Pg.5
“Show Mama my right big toe infected and swollen. Ven aqui, she says. Ok, mom. Just put your foot in this pan of hot water. Hold the toe up, Juan, come on. Ok, now, give me that razor. What razor? Your papi’s brand new Gillette. It’s not brand new, Mama. ‘S ok, the hot water and the salt will burn the germs. You ready, Juan?
This was an interesting and new way to set the scene. This raises many questions to what kind of life style this boy had. Most likely in poverty, also they are Mexican. I choose this quote for I thought it was unique how he started the book off with such little words but yet it shows a lot about what the person and the family was like, with out any description.
Pg. 20
“The Father guitar cuento song eternal
The mother no longer sacrificial, yet holy
The son, now walking, always walking
The house, gone up in tribal ashes, gone
South to emptiness
Gone to the earth sky river melody
No chain
No shame
No name. “
This was said after he was talking about his mother, being pregnant. This short quote shows the life of that family, how the relationships of the mother, father, son and house interrelated. As time progressed the family has grown up too and many things had changed, the son was on his own, the mother was no longer having children, the father found a hobby and the house had burned. The family had moved on to the rest of their lives.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
My questions:
1. What got you interested in Buddhism? Or how did you start
2. Is and was your religion always Buddhist?
3. What is your daily life like?
4. How much time in a day do you take to meditate?
5. How long have you been a Buddhist mediator?
6. What do other people (friends, family) think of your life style?
7. What is your opinion on the mainstream society? And why
8. Have you ever had doubts on what you do?
9. Who are the people who have had a great influence on you?
10. Do you think what you do is rewarding?
1. What got you interested in Buddhism? Or how did you start
2. Is and was your religion always Buddhist?
3. What is your daily life like?
4. How much time in a day do you take to meditate?
5. How long have you been a Buddhist mediator?
6. What do other people (friends, family) think of your life style?
7. What is your opinion on the mainstream society? And why
8. Have you ever had doubts on what you do?
9. Who are the people who have had a great influence on you?
10. Do you think what you do is rewarding?
Monday, May 7, 2007
Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street
Pg.747
“But the house on Mango Street is not the way they told at all. It’s small and red with tight steps in front and windows so small you’d think they were holding their breath. Bricks were crumbling in pieces, and the frost door is so swollen you have to push hard to get in. There is no front yard only four little elms the city planted by the curb. Out back is a small garage for the car we don’t own yet and a small yard that looks smaller between the two buildings on either side”
In her parents stories and dreams they described the house that they wanted to move into as an elegant white house, in a good neighbor hood, with many rooms and bathrooms and room so spare. But when it came down to moving at the last minute they had to settle with the house on Mango Street. The way she described the house with the swollen door and windows that cant breathe shows that the house is small and old a place where she feels trapped. Everything she says about the house makes it seem small and uncomfortable.
Pg. 745
“Once when we were living in Loomis, a nun from my school passed by and saw me playing out front. The Laundromat downstairs had been boarded up because it had been robbed two days before and the owner had painted on the wood YES WE’RE OPEN so as not to loose business.
Where do you live? She asked.
There, I said pointing up to the third floor.
You live there?
There. I had to look where she was pointed the third floor, the paint peeling, wooden bars Papa had nailed on the windows so we wouldn’t fall out. You live there? The way she said it made me feel like nothing. There. I lived there. I nodded.”
Since she had lived in this place for a while and if not other places that were similar to this situation, she hasn’t realized what living condition she is in. She’s not poor because she is not living on the street and she is not rich because she can’t afford her own house, but she is somewhere in-between. When the nun points out that where she lives in is a shameful place, not on purpose, but the tone of her voice makes her feel self-conscious. This is when she starts to realize that the house her parent’s talk of is just a dream and might never be reached.
Pg.747
“But the house on Mango Street is not the way they told at all. It’s small and red with tight steps in front and windows so small you’d think they were holding their breath. Bricks were crumbling in pieces, and the frost door is so swollen you have to push hard to get in. There is no front yard only four little elms the city planted by the curb. Out back is a small garage for the car we don’t own yet and a small yard that looks smaller between the two buildings on either side”
In her parents stories and dreams they described the house that they wanted to move into as an elegant white house, in a good neighbor hood, with many rooms and bathrooms and room so spare. But when it came down to moving at the last minute they had to settle with the house on Mango Street. The way she described the house with the swollen door and windows that cant breathe shows that the house is small and old a place where she feels trapped. Everything she says about the house makes it seem small and uncomfortable.
Pg. 745
“Once when we were living in Loomis, a nun from my school passed by and saw me playing out front. The Laundromat downstairs had been boarded up because it had been robbed two days before and the owner had painted on the wood YES WE’RE OPEN so as not to loose business.
Where do you live? She asked.
There, I said pointing up to the third floor.
You live there?
There. I had to look where she was pointed the third floor, the paint peeling, wooden bars Papa had nailed on the windows so we wouldn’t fall out. You live there? The way she said it made me feel like nothing. There. I lived there. I nodded.”
Since she had lived in this place for a while and if not other places that were similar to this situation, she hasn’t realized what living condition she is in. She’s not poor because she is not living on the street and she is not rich because she can’t afford her own house, but she is somewhere in-between. When the nun points out that where she lives in is a shameful place, not on purpose, but the tone of her voice makes her feel self-conscious. This is when she starts to realize that the house her parent’s talk of is just a dream and might never be reached.
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums
Pg. 227
“Well I don’t care all I want is to be alone up there this summer. You’re saying that now but you’ll change your tune soon enough. They all talk brave. But then you get to talkin to yourself. That ain’t so bad but don’t start answerin yourself, son.
Ray is talking to Happy the muleskinner about his trip over the summer when he will be alone. Happy is telling him to go, take it all in but stop when necessary. For if Ray needs to stop and leave, not for him to stay out there just to prove he can. Go until you know the time for him is right to sop.
Pg. 235
“In fact I realized that they were upside down and I was upside down! There was nothing here to hide the fact of gravity holding us all intact upside down against a surface globe of earth in infinite empty space. And suddenly I realized I was truly alone and had nothing to do but feed myself and rest and amuse myself, and nobody could criticize. The little flowers grew everywhere around the rocks, and no one had asked them to grow or me to grow.”
Ray is on top of a mountain standing on his head looking at the other mountains realizing that he is entirely alone now, defending for himself. He was in complete serenity and enjoying it, he had come a long journey to get to this point where he was alone in total comfort. The mountains surrounding him were all the peaks that had alarming names, while he was upside down it seemed as he looked at the mountains the looked like “bubbles” they seemed harmless and new because they were in a different perspective.
Pg. 227
“Well I don’t care all I want is to be alone up there this summer. You’re saying that now but you’ll change your tune soon enough. They all talk brave. But then you get to talkin to yourself. That ain’t so bad but don’t start answerin yourself, son.
Ray is talking to Happy the muleskinner about his trip over the summer when he will be alone. Happy is telling him to go, take it all in but stop when necessary. For if Ray needs to stop and leave, not for him to stay out there just to prove he can. Go until you know the time for him is right to sop.
Pg. 235
“In fact I realized that they were upside down and I was upside down! There was nothing here to hide the fact of gravity holding us all intact upside down against a surface globe of earth in infinite empty space. And suddenly I realized I was truly alone and had nothing to do but feed myself and rest and amuse myself, and nobody could criticize. The little flowers grew everywhere around the rocks, and no one had asked them to grow or me to grow.”
Ray is on top of a mountain standing on his head looking at the other mountains realizing that he is entirely alone now, defending for himself. He was in complete serenity and enjoying it, he had come a long journey to get to this point where he was alone in total comfort. The mountains surrounding him were all the peaks that had alarming names, while he was upside down it seemed as he looked at the mountains the looked like “bubbles” they seemed harmless and new because they were in a different perspective.
Friday, May 4, 2007
Annie Dillard, Seeing
Pg. 693
“The world is fairly studded and strewed with pennies cast broadside from a generous hand. But -and this is the point- who gets excited by a mere penny? ... It is poverty indeed when a man is so malnourished and fatigue that he wont stop to pick up a penny. But if you cultivate a healthy poverty and simplicity, so that finding a penny will literally make your day, than since the world is in fact planted with pennies, you have with your poverty bought lifetime of days. It is that simple. What you see is what you get.
When Annie is talking about is how the world has come to stop appreciating the little things in life such as pennies. As generations past money has become less valuable, there were days where saving pennies was a gift because you could buy “penny candy” and if you collected enough it would turn into bigger amounts of money. Now the penny to people is worthless, people now get rid of small change for it is useless to them. Items are more expensive and pennies have no meaning anymore. She is saying that the penny has lost its value to people, but the penny really hasn’t lost its value at all.
Pg. 694
“It’s all a matter of keeping my eyes open. Nature is like one of those line drawings of a tree that are puzzles for children: Can you find hidden in the leaves a duck, a house, a boy, a bucket, a zebra, and a boot?”
Nature has a way of changing, unlike the broad statement of the world nature has ways to manipulate what it looks like to the surrounding areas. When you look at something in nature such as a tree you can either see a tree as it stands or if you look closer you can make out different things, which make it unique. Nature is able to hide some of its interesting beauties like Annie was saying about with the puzzles of making something seem as it is but having another item hidden. Being able to find these items takes concentration and patients to look that long. When finding hidden items you are in the moment and taking everything one-step at a time to take in what is around you and what you are looking at. By putting yourself in the moment it helps to find those unique hidden figures.
Pg. 693
“The world is fairly studded and strewed with pennies cast broadside from a generous hand. But -and this is the point- who gets excited by a mere penny? ... It is poverty indeed when a man is so malnourished and fatigue that he wont stop to pick up a penny. But if you cultivate a healthy poverty and simplicity, so that finding a penny will literally make your day, than since the world is in fact planted with pennies, you have with your poverty bought lifetime of days. It is that simple. What you see is what you get.
When Annie is talking about is how the world has come to stop appreciating the little things in life such as pennies. As generations past money has become less valuable, there were days where saving pennies was a gift because you could buy “penny candy” and if you collected enough it would turn into bigger amounts of money. Now the penny to people is worthless, people now get rid of small change for it is useless to them. Items are more expensive and pennies have no meaning anymore. She is saying that the penny has lost its value to people, but the penny really hasn’t lost its value at all.
Pg. 694
“It’s all a matter of keeping my eyes open. Nature is like one of those line drawings of a tree that are puzzles for children: Can you find hidden in the leaves a duck, a house, a boy, a bucket, a zebra, and a boot?”
Nature has a way of changing, unlike the broad statement of the world nature has ways to manipulate what it looks like to the surrounding areas. When you look at something in nature such as a tree you can either see a tree as it stands or if you look closer you can make out different things, which make it unique. Nature is able to hide some of its interesting beauties like Annie was saying about with the puzzles of making something seem as it is but having another item hidden. Being able to find these items takes concentration and patients to look that long. When finding hidden items you are in the moment and taking everything one-step at a time to take in what is around you and what you are looking at. By putting yourself in the moment it helps to find those unique hidden figures.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums
Pg. 206
“Japhy began to shriek and hoot and whistle and sing, full of pure gladness. Nobody around to hear him. This is the way you’ll be on top of Mount Desolation, this summer, Ray. Ill sing at the top of my voice for the first time in my life.”
Japhy and Ray have just climbed mount Desolation. Once they are at the top Ray notices the peacefulness and the isolation of society. When Japhy is up there he feels free with no worries and is able to act anyway he pleases and feels with no one judging him. Japhy has come to spots like this where he can feel completely free, not that Ray has had some of these experiences with Japhy he will be able to go out on his own and feel total freedom.
Pg. 209
“Try the meditation of the trial, just walk along looking at the trial at your feet and don’t look about and just fall into a trance as the ground zips by.”
Ray and Japhy are walking while so Japhy yelled back to Ray this to show him that you can find meditation anywhere around you and with in you. You don’t have to be sitting in a quite place but that even watching the trail’s twists and turns has a way to clear the mind and give you total peace.
Pg. 206
“Japhy began to shriek and hoot and whistle and sing, full of pure gladness. Nobody around to hear him. This is the way you’ll be on top of Mount Desolation, this summer, Ray. Ill sing at the top of my voice for the first time in my life.”
Japhy and Ray have just climbed mount Desolation. Once they are at the top Ray notices the peacefulness and the isolation of society. When Japhy is up there he feels free with no worries and is able to act anyway he pleases and feels with no one judging him. Japhy has come to spots like this where he can feel completely free, not that Ray has had some of these experiences with Japhy he will be able to go out on his own and feel total freedom.
Pg. 209
“Try the meditation of the trial, just walk along looking at the trial at your feet and don’t look about and just fall into a trance as the ground zips by.”
Ray and Japhy are walking while so Japhy yelled back to Ray this to show him that you can find meditation anywhere around you and with in you. You don’t have to be sitting in a quite place but that even watching the trail’s twists and turns has a way to clear the mind and give you total peace.
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