...publishing of three collections of poetry, four essay collections, four novels, and short story collections. Cofer is currently “Regents’ and Franklin Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Georgia” (230). In this essay Cofer often experiences being stereotyped based off her beauty and ethnic background. Cofer is a beautiful Hispanic woman “who so obviously belongs to Rita Moreno’s gene pool” (231), as she stated in the beginning of the essay. Cofer begins the essay by relating an experience where a drunk man started singing "Maria”, from "Westside Story” (231) to her, while she is on a bus trip to London from Oxford. Cofer tries to keep her cool even though everyone around her finds it entertaining. Cofer states “I managed my version of an English smile: no show of teeth, no extreme contortions of facial muscles. . .” (231). At this moment, Cofer is aggravated by the actions of the drunk man but tries to keep her composure. Cofer feels that just because she is beautiful that does not...
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...Zulamita Robles Government Mr. Allen 3/26/14 Public Opinion Essay (Conservative) Being raised in a Hispanic Catholic Home I do highly believe I am a conservative. While thinking it through it came to mind that it may be because of how I was and am being raised or perhaps my religion or possibly even my race. Then it came to mind that being a Hispanic girl raised with Hispanic parents in a strongly enforced catholic home has greatly influenced my beliefs. We all want the same things in life. We want freedom; we want the chance for prosperity; we want as few people suffering as possible; we want healthy children; we want to have crime-free streets. Conservatives believe in personal responsibility, limited government, free markets, individual liberty, traditional American values and a strong national defense. We believe the role of government should be to provide people the freedom necessary to pursue their own goals. Conservative policies generally emphasize empowerment of the individual to solve problems. There are several topics in which my belief of me classified as a conservative is put up to its meaning for example Abortion a Liberal would believe that A woman has the right to decide what happens with her body. A fetus is not a human life, so it does not have separate individual rights. The decision to have an abortion is a personal choice of a woman regarding her own body and the government must protect this right. However a Conservative would argue that a Human...
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...“At odds”, a phrase which means in conflict or at variance. People may feel at odds with different situations or even with each others, consequently they eliminate the feeling in varies ways. However, when there comes to feel at odds with a new culture for these two writers, both of them tried to assimilate into the American culture which they immigrated to and longed for getting involved with, by overcoming the inability of fitting in the society while struggling with their own particular difficulties, emphasizing that sometimes you have to do something against your original heritage in order to achieve the assimilation. The author, David Jacobson, of the essay “Reflections: Growing-Up Grown” expresses how grateful he was for his non-English...
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...UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON December 2006 Copyright © by Melissa Maier Bishop 2006 All Rights Reserved ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A wise professor told me before starting my PhD work to not forget my distractions. Therefore, this work is dedicated to my three favorite distractions—my husband Jeff and my two sons, Abel and Peyton. Thank you, Jeff, for all of your encouragement, your support, and your shoulder to lean on and your ear to listen during the past five years as we’ve come together on this journey. Thank you, Abel and Peyton, for sharing me with my studies and for often keeping me company while I studied for my exams and wrote my papers. Thank you also to my wonderful committee who were all so encouraging and patient with me, especially my Chair, Dr. Mark Peterson. Your excitement for my ideas inspired me as well as your belief in me. You have an unselfish and self-sacrificing nature that shines through you, and you are a gift to all of your students. Many thanks also to Dr. Roger Dickinson, who was a great support to me over the past five years and a big reason I decided to join the program in the first place. Thanks to my parents and to Jeff’s parents for helping me out in so many ways during this program. You all have always been so supportive of me in all that I do. Finally, thanks to God who put in me a stubborn and persevering nature, without which I would not have been able to finish. November 17, 2006 iii ABSTRACT THE ROLE OF LANGUAGE CODESWITCHING...
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...Academic Journal #1 Stacey Cayetano June 24, 2012 ENGL1035 Composing Process 1. What is the purpose of the subheading winter gardens, what is so significant about talking about God in a story named Making Babies? The purpose of the section of the story talking about God is to show the innocence of a child, how a child imagination can run wild and bring up questions that leave the parents wondering or trying to formulate how to answer in a way that doesn’t hurt their feelings or make them believe that what they think is correct. It also shows the difficulties of being parents how you as a human being doesn’t have the answers for everything but you should know how to answers your children doubts and curiosity. This part of the story also shows how religion has an influence on a child life and no matter how much you try to hide it the questions of supernatural being will always arise. 2. What is the significance of an entire community being involved with the birth and development of a child and why? From reading the story it is stated that the entire community is not involved in the birth and development of a child. It is just the parents and grandparents of the child that are involved with the birth. The community needs to help and being involved for the days that the mother and child are in isolation. With the help from the community, the child will have a variety of people that will help him or her during their development and help with the discipline...
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...In my essay I am going explain in my opinion what is the role of a teacher, the role of a student and some obstacles in culture differences change the role of a teacher in the learning process. Learning is a necessity for some people and an obligation for others. My interpretation of a teacher is a person who provides education to another person, in a manner that helps the person understand what has been taught to them. Different people learn in different ways and for different reasons, and it is important for a teacher to be able to assess which approach will provide the greatest understanding. Adler and Van Doren (1972) wrote, “A teacher may help his student in many ways; it is the student himself who must do the learning” (p.8). Learning varies on each and every one. Individuals can perceive and process information in different kinds of ways, which means that the way to which individuals learn, has as much as to do with whether the learning experience is according to their style of learning. Some of the individuals learn and develop easily in the early stage, while others are not. As a student I see my role as someone is to learn and who has a lot to learn from my instructor. When I attend my classes I am willing to receive whatever is being taught to me. I acknowledge that I am responsible for asking all the necessary questions until whatever is being taught can be clear in my doubts. As Adler and Van Doren (1972) said, we can learn only from our “betters” (p.6). I have...
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...8/29/2013 Final Project Information about diversity in the United States that has helped me to better understand and relate to others in the past and today would be the events of 9/11. While I was serving in the Navy, we were assigned to escort and protect oil tankers in the Persian Gulf, ensuring safe passage from attacks by Iraqi forces. At the time, I did not look at Saddam Hussein as a radical Muslim, just as a dictator who was dead set on ruling his people and making them submit. After the attacks on the Twin Towers, I joined with other Americans, calling for a war on terrorism and the Muslims. I researched the Koran to see what all the hoopla was about and discovered that there are two acceptable versions, one that calls for a Jihad (holy war), and one that teaches peace among all people. I found that only a handful of Muslims are radical and believe in the Holy War, and that most want to live in peace with others. By learning this about the Muslims, I also learned that many whites in America are still biased toward other races and ethnicities. While some embrace the diversity on our country, there are still those that look down unapprovingly at other races. While I am proud of who I am, and my race, there are those that still embarrass me. According to projections by the U.S. Census Bureau, non-Hispanic whites could be a minority by 2043, due in part to the doubling of Hispanic and Asian populations. Races that are considered minorities today comprise 37 percent of...
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...In the essay, “The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria”, Cofer describes what it is like to grow up in America being a Puerto Rican girl. She explains how the people at her school who judge her and other Puerto Rican girls by the way she dressed. Students would notice that they would dress mature and cover themselves with jewellery for even simply events. Men would flirt with her because of her “exotic” background. She and other Hispanics are portrayed negatively by society, however if people would learn to understand their culture it will better our relationship. In the essay, “Two Ways to Belong in America”, Mukherjee compares her American experience to her twin sister. She explains how she became involved with the United States and accepted the culture; while her sister, Mira, refused to give up her Indian citizenship. Even though Mira spent many years as an educator at the United States and made...
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...Final Essay Don J . Brinning ETH-125 September 2, 2012 Monica Hahn Final Essay Since taking this class, I not had any access to any previously unknown life altering revelations of information; in reality, what I have learned is exactly how badly the dominant group has treated all of the minority groups over the years. I know that the United States was founded on a long tradition of violence, slavery, and genocide toward any group that they could get away with subjugating; what I was surprised by was how groups that I had always thought were part of the majority (French, Irish, Italian, and so forth) were initially discriminated against early on and had to ‘pay their dues’ in order to be awarded membership in the dominant culture. This information does not change my understanding or relation of others, as I have always prided myself on treating people as people and ignoring things like race, religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity. The main thing that the material in this course has taught me is that I should be even more embarrassed by the cretins further up in my family tree when I look at myself in the mirror in the morning, and more dedicated to making up for the (assumed) transgressions of my ancestors by not allowing any prejudice or discrimination enter my own thought process or actions. Immigration trends are currently increasing the amount of minority residents in the United States, in particular those from Latin America or those with Hispanic backgrounds...
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...College, Writing for Life, 2/e II. Using What You’ve Learned to Share Information The McGraw-Hill Guide: Writing for College, Writing for Life, Second Edition 4. Writing to Share Experience © The McGraw−Hill Companies, 2011 13 Reading, Inquiry, and Research ■ PART 2 | Using What You Have Learned to Share Information 57 TANYA BARRIENTOS Se Habla Español MEMOIR he man on the other end of the phone line is 1 Tanya Maria telling me the classes I’ve called about are firstBarrientos has rate: native speakers in charge, no more than six stuwritten for the dents per group. Philadelphia “Conbersaychunal,” he says, allowing the fat vow- 2 Inquirer for more than els of his accented English to collide with the sawedtwenty years. off consonants. I tell him that will be fi ne, that I’m familiar with 3 Barrientos was born in Guatethe conversational setup, and yes, I’ve studied a bit mala and raised of Spanish in the past. He asks for my name and I in El Paso, Texas. Her first novel, Frontera Street, was supply it, rolling the double r in Barrientos like a pro. published in 2002, and her second, That’s when I hear the silent snag, the momentary Family Resemblance, was pubhesitation I’ve come to expect at this part of the exlished in 2003. Her column “Unchange. Should I go into it again? Should I explain, conventional Wisdom” runs every the way I have to half a dozen others, that I am Guaweek in the Inquirer. This essay originally appeared in the collectemalan...
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...In this essay I undertake a semiotic study of Macklemore’s situation, or placement, in rap music. Using opposition theory, I seek to understand how the listener “reads” Macklemore in the context of rap music and thereby forms his or her expectations for his music. I take his appeal to result from the prospective listener’s feeling of “safety” with the music and his or her identification, or ability to relate, with Macklemore’s persona. I will argue that, in connecting with the listener, the music also reaffirms the listener’s assumptions about Macklemore and rap music, and thus reinforces constructions of whiteness and blackness, as well as the listener’s value system and disposition to other rap music. In this essay, I will first provide a brief explanation of opposition theory, which is the principal means by which the relationships between the listeners’ ideas about Macklemore, Macklemore’s relationship to rap music, and rap music’s relationship to “popular culture” will be understood. Next, I will give a brief account of rap music and explain the importance of fixing genre in this discussion. Then I will move into the central argument, over the course of which I will explicate how the listener understands Macklemore in relation to rap music, how this affects their interpretation of him, and finally I will assess the implications and significance of this interpretation. Furthermore, the reader should note that “rap” and “hip-hop” are used interchangeably to denote what is commonly...
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...in Kansas City, Missouri. In this neighborhood, I was instructed by Phil to carry my legal weapon being the lone Caucasian in the predominately black/Hispanic neighborhood, due to the violence of gang activity. So after being instructed to wear neutral colors such as white or black, we went so he could get a haircut. My normally clean cut self is definitely out of my environment. We park his car in a parking lot on the corner, and he is immediately greeted by a group of 3 young dark skinned black men, in dark baggy oversized clothing with brand new flat brimmed hats and Jordan basketball shoes. They exchange a handshake and we move towards the barber shop. At this point I am observed as the outsider, from the little kids playing on the corner to the gang members selling what I can assume is crack, judging by the tweaking, raggedy, twitchy individuals dropping money off and running away. We enter the barber shop that was built in, what appears to be the mid 1950’s. Inside, is a replica of the Eddie Murphy movie, “Coming to America” except for an old Jewish man there is a surprisingly, a 65 year old Asian man named Han sitting in the corner. There are 3 black barbers who address myself as cracker when I enter with phil. There are photos of famous, powerful African Americans on the wall. Dr. King, Henry Aaron, Rosa Parks, and Malcolm X. The three pepper haired men, though refer to me as cracker, insist ‘I sit down white boy, and shut up.’ The chairs, three of them, are worn brown...
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...According to the Miriam-Webster dictionary, affirmative action is defined as “an active effort to improve the employment or educational opportunities of members of minority groups and women” (Miriam). Many people feel that affirmative action is necessary to either counteract injustices or ensure the advancement of certain minorities. There are four justifications generally pointed out by affirmative action exponents. These are racism, poverty, diversity, and the problem of underrepresentation. Supporters point out that many blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans live in substandard housing, go to substandard schools, and live in crime ridden neighborhoods. They also claim that they are targets of daily racism, hindering their chances for advancement. Proponents point to small numbers of these minorities in certain desirable jobs (i.e. CEOs of corporations and high elected office) as evidence of underrepresentation of minorities and a need for diversity both in the workplace and in higher education. There are a number of different levels of affirmative action, including quotas, preferences, and outreach, in lessening order of severity. Quotas, also called “set asides”, deal with having a definite amount of jobs or college spots reserved for a particular group. For example, if a university admits 1000 students every year and sets aside 150 seats that are open to blacks only, this is considered a quota. A perfect illustration of a quota would be the 1977 Supreme Court case...
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...exciting and demanding, but at the same time is very rewarding, because I get to help people. Often times I use my interactions with the public to educate them on the law. Usually, after I explain the reasons for stopping them, they react in a very positive way.” 3. Did you purposely choose the type of agency you work for? (Answered by Officer E. Romo.) “Yes. I was a Cadet with the Santa Monica Police Department and after I graduated from the Police Academy at Rio Hondo College, I applied with different Municipalities and the City of Monterey Park hired me five years ago.” 4. What do you like the most about being a Police officer? (Answered by Officer V. Vasquez.) “I like many aspects of police work, it’s almost impossible to say what I like the most; but I think making the community safer is where I get the most satisfaction, because I make a positive impact in the community.” 5. What do you dislike most about being a Police Officer? (Answered by Officer E. Romo) “I dislike Paperwork.” (Answered by Officer V. Vasquez) “I dislike giving...
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...and American made film which premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in 1983. Based Nava’s experiences, the film tells the story of Quiche Indians Rosa and Enrique as they are forced to flee from the village in Guatemala in order to make a new life for themselves in the United States. In this essay I am going to describe some of the difficulties faced by the characters as indigenous people living in the Americas in the late 20th Century while primarily focusing on their experiences as immigrants in North America. One of the primary problems faced by the characters in El Norte is the issue of seeking employment in a country where they are unable to easily gain qualifications and education. During their time in Guatemala Rosa and Enrique worked exclusively in the domestic and agricultural realm and thus have no qualifications that could grant them a successful and high paying job in the U.S. Therefore they end up in somewhat menial low paying job such as waiting on, ironing clothes and cleaning houses. When Nacha first introduces Rosa to the job of ironing clothes shortly after she has arrived in America she states “They’ll pay you 30 cents apiece.” According to US tax policy this means she would have had to iron 11 pieces an hour in order to earn the minimum wage for the state of California in the year the film was released. This shows just how incredibly hard immigrant workers have to work in order to make just the minimum amount of money they could be expected to live on. ...
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