What it takes to be a life-long reader...

Accessability to books, any and all books. According to the speaker at the workshop mentioned in my former post, kids need to be exposed to all types of literature, even bad literature. Once they click with a piece of literature, they will be more likely to venture into a bookstore or library to look for more books of a similar nature.

I’ve bared witness to such experiences. I’m asked for a Gloria Velasquez title at least once a day. It’s really an amazing thing.

Speaking of literature, Arte Público Press is in need of some help, monetary help. They have until December to raise $250,000. Why this much by then? Because the Brown Foundation, who we all know is awesome, will match dollar for dollar donations up to that amount.

Those of you familiar with the press, you know what awesome work they do. I know they bring lots of joy to my life and the lives of my students. And those of you not aware please check out their website and donate. It doesn’t have to be a substantial amount, anything will help.

If you still come around, finally, an update!

It’s incredible how priorities shift in our lives. When I started writing here, I was really full of myself. A cocky, thinks she knows it all, college senior.

These days, I’m still cocky in many ways, but I also know that there are things that take precedence over my ramblings. Besides, the kids fulfill the diva in me by greeting me any chance they get, especially when it’s ones I never had as students, but have heard about me from someone. It is for this reason that I have not updated. For now, all the things in my life are either all about work or my personal life that well, is sort of a train wreck at times.

In any case, I still wish to share about my professional life seeing as how I’ve been presented with some delectable new opportunities.

My Latina empowerment group will meet for the first time this coming Friday. I have yet to put together the first day materials, although I do have an idea. I’m rather excited about the whole thing. I met with the girls that helped out with last year’s and will help out this year. I received an e-mail from one of them that basically fed my barril sin fondo ego.

This Pre-Ap/GT teaching is great. However, I’ve managed to turn it into this huge discussion that my selves have with each other. The question that haunts me on a daily basis is “Why can’t ‘regular’ ed do all of this?” And honestly, I haven’t really found an answer on why they can’t. I have not delved into the whole annotated essay topic with my “regular ed” classes yet, but we’ll be going there.

Also, I just got home from this training that talked about producing life-long readers and my head is spinning. It even hurts a little because the tiny mouse in on overdrive. Sometimes, I feel so frustrated because there are so many things that I want to do, but I don’t have the time.

The other project in the making is seeking permission to put on a play at school. We were talking about it yesterday at the baseball game, and we came up with ghost stories. I’m standing firm on La Llorona. I would probably have to write the script, but I know it would be successful.

Other duties that are taking up time are mentoring, 6th grade team secretary, and student council co-sponsor. Sometimes it feels overwhelming, but if it helps me become a bigger superstah, count me in.

* * *

The new apartment is great. Thanks for all your good wishes.

We were forced to fully settle in last week when Daniel’s parents announced their visit right before they left Dallas.

My mom had surgery last week. She had a pace maker installed. It caused me to be antsy the entire day making it impossible to get any work done. I spoke to her yesterday, and she sounded like a brand new mom.

Lastly, I’ve become a social butterfly at school. I’ve gotten to know many of the teachers on Lesson Plan Friday after School “Coffee” Meetings. I’ve heard many stories and drunken philosophizing and have been dished much advice that has caused me to feel that perhaps fall will bring many changes in my little world. For better or worse, I know that I won’t be able to stop it.

I’ve been reading journals/blogs, just haven’t been commenting. I’ll come back around sometimes in October or November when routines start to set in.

New Undertakings

Howdy. Sorry for the lack of updates, I’ve been busy. I’m so behind on my journal reading too. I’m hoping that perhaps I can catch up on Monday, since there is no school.

Dan the Man and I are finally moving out of our current hell hole. Tomorrow is the big moving day. I entrusted my young scholars with a substitute. This year will be somewhat difficult because I’m going to be attending tons of trainings during school hours, so I will have to entrust my classes to a sub. I’m not ecstatic about it, but I have no other choice.

Things are going great at la escuelita. I was under the weather the first part of this week, but my body managed to get past it after lunch yesterday. I still have the stuffed up nose and funky voice, but the fever and sore throat is gone.

Yesterday, I was asked if I wanted to head a program for young Latinas whose focus is on building self-esteem among other things. Of course, I said yes. I’m so excited. I can’t wait to get started.

Well, I’m cutting this off now because I have more to pack.

Adios MTVR

Today, I spent a couple hours with my friend in her almost desolate apartment. As it always happens, when one is moving, there were the small things scattered here and there: a stack of copies for one of the many papers a grad student must write, ashtrays, couch cushions, and knick knacks she doesn’t need and can’t take anyway.

I helped her clean out a closet. She gave me a bookshelf and a printer. We blindly dumped boxes of papers into the trash bins and dropped off two suitcases full of clothes and other reusable items at a donation center.

It all seemed so odd. I’d known this day was coming for almost a year now, but now that it’s here, it’s weird. I can only imagine how she feels. Although I’m sad that my friend will be moving across the Atlantic, I’m happy she’s going. I think back to how I felt when Dan the Man was finally moving to Houston; and I can still remember the excitment. For almost two years now, she and her Nalgarito had been wishing for this day, and it’s finally here.

Te deseo todo lo mejor Carnala. Nos volveremos a ver muy pronto.

Sueños

Writing has been a rather erratic process lately. I do it when I get time or want to procrastinate something else. Today, I’m procrastinating the big stack of papers of I’m supposed to grade today; hence two entries.

I’ve had disturbing dreams the last today. When ever I tell my mom about stuff like this, she always asks what I ate before I went to bed. Then she makes some kind of remark about Jesus or God watching out for us so that nothing bad happens, since bad dreams can be an omen.

To be honest, I’ve just been thinking too much. Friday night, I went out with the fellow teachers for a couple of beers. Somehow, we ended up talking about dads. Of course, it got me thinking about mine. Then it got me thinking about Dan the Man’s dad. He’s always really nice to me. All of his family treat me like I’m family, especially his dad. Anyway, all these thoughts provoked a dream about his death. In the dream, Dan the Man and I were in Houston because I had a kid (first weird thing). His mom called him to tell him that Dan Sr. had died. He’d been sick in the hospital and had refused treatment.

Yesterday, I was thinking a lot about the Juárez murders. I was wondering if this time they did catch the right guy, what’s going to happen, and will we get more information soon. Not to mention, I watched half of Pirates of the Caribbean before I went to bed. While sleeping, I dreamt about being in a church where people were being kidnapped during church services. I don’t really know why I was there; it wasn’t because of the mass. I think I may have been there to help figure out what was happening or something. Anyway, I was there with my sister and during the mass, she was kidnapped. It was done in a split second. I remember feeling the wish of the air and turning to see her place empty. I immediately stood up and started wanting to curse and screaming for my sister. I made it my personal goal to find the kidnapper. After what seemed like months, I found him. I cornered him somehow and made him take me to my sister. When we arrived at his house, there was a little girl in an inflatable pool with no water. The name “Teresita” was written on the pool. It was at this point that I woke up.

I hate when my dreams are not resolved. I tried going back to sleep, but the dreams never come back to me. Maybe tonight I’ll have better luck.

School News

It’s only the end of the first full week of school, and I already know who can give me trouble. Actually, I knew that by the end of last Friday. The little sister of one of my former students said, “Oh, you have him, he’s big trouble” as she scanned the list of names on my hall pass one afternoon. Later that week, when another of my former students stopped by to ask how my new batch of sixth graders were behaving, the kid passed by and I said, “they’re great, especially that one.” The kid smiled at me. He’s been on his best behavior in my class.

I’m completely sold on this humanitarian way of teaching. I’m trying to build relationships with my students, so that I’m not just their English teacher. I shake hands as they come in, I smile even when I’ve had a headache the entire day and all I want is to shut the door, turn out the lights, and chill. Within the first three days of school, I memorized all of their names and encouraged them to test me. And you know what? It’s paying off, because when the day is over, and the halls are clear, I remember all the good things and smile. It makes me want to go back to work the next day and I wouldn’t trade that feeling for anything n the world.

And this GT/Pre-AP thing rocks. Class moves along so much faster. When anyone asks me how it’s going and I say great, they all say, “I knew you would love it.” But honestly, all in all, this bunch of kiddos seems like a great bunch. They’re so sweet and really just care about school.

I demand justice

Amidst the World Cup and Presidential Election debate, Mexico has dropped a causa that is very near and dear to me. It’s pretty pathetic that people’s last hope is Hollywood. Please, if you have not, sign the petition.

La Footnotes aka mi ama

Mi ama has spent most of her life using the bus as her main source of transportation. This enabled her to do one of her favorite things: talk. Mi ama will talk to anyone about anything.

I remember being at a bus stop or on the bus and mi ama striking up various conversations with people, from the lady who was counting “penes” for bus fare downtown to the young girl who was working in the U.S. illegally and looking to marry for a green card.

Calling her is a one hour event. First, she asks how I’m doing, then I ask her, and then it begins. I hear all about the adult day care events, family events or wrongdoings, celebrity gossip (telenovela soap stars who I don’t really know, sometimes she has music gossip about La Julie Venegas or A.B. Quintanilla), y luego vuelta al cassette o la bendicion.

One of the most comical aspects of conversation con mi ama is the footnotes. When I still lived at home, she used to drive me nuts with her uncanny ability to provide footnotes to every story. At the time, I was still really young (because I’m still young you know, but not really young) and I don’t think I had completely developed my critical thinking skills; therefore, I was unable to follow non-linear conversations. Sometimes, with a frustrated tone, I would say, “Go back to the original story!” She would oblige, with hurt feelings.

It wasn’t until I went away to college that I learned to entertain her footnotes and coined her the nickname La Footnotes. I learned the value of being able to tell one story, the fill in with some much needed information, and still know where one had left off in the original story. Heck, I was reading texts with half a page of footnotes that weren’t nearly as entertaining as my ama’s. Besides, sometimes the footnotes provide even better stories or a point of reference for further inquiry about my ama’s unbounded wisdom.

Changes

One of my Godmother’s favorite songs was Black Sabbath’s Changes. I acquired a cd with that song a couple years after she died, and it soon became one of my favorites. This last week has certainly seen many changes.

For one, I don’t have a trip to look forward to. We got back from El Paso on early Sunday morning (12:30 am). Although it’s always difficult to leave, this time seemed more difficult than usual. The time I spent there was so relaxing. We did what we wanted to do. We went where we wanted to go, when we wanted to go. I was able to help out my mom with some things she had to do, and the best part was just handing out. Every evening at 7:30 pm, we would hang out in her room to watch La fea más bella. Afterwards, we would work on her crafts or sit around and watch TV until she fell asleep.

Going to my dad’s grave was really sad this time too. Dan the Man went with me and took a picture of him headstone. He insisted on my squatting next to it, but for some reason, I couldn’t do it. Taking pictures of such things just isn’t something my mom ever condoned. Maybe it wore off on me.

As I said earlier, leaving was quite difficult. My mom was really sad that we were coming back, and that’s what made it the hardest. Seeing the way she was leaning on the wrought iron guardrail watching the car drive away from her was so difficult. I was glad when I called her from San Antonio to learn that she had gone out to eat with one of her friends. When I called her last night, her friends were over at her apartment visiting, so that was good news. But I still have this empty feeling, the same kind of feeling I had when Dan the Man and I were doing the LDR.

The other changes that have occurred are at work. There’s been a lot of shuffling around at work. Some people have left, and others have moved to another grade, one of them being my mentor. She will be teaching 7th grade next year. She gave me this news over the phone when I was in El Paso, as well as the news that I was recommended to teach the GT/Pre-AP Language Arts class. I have mixed emotions about it, but overall, I welcome the challenge.

Also, when I checked my work e-mail, I found out that I will be mentoring the new 6th grade LA teacher. She has a Latino surname and I’m wondering if this is the reason we were paired up. I’m really looking forward to meeting her.

In the early pre-school staff events letter, we were given a list of all of the changes. Being the way I am, I counted all the Latino names, there are six. That makes a grand total of 12 Latino faculty members. I wonder if any of this has anything to do with the new principal.

I’m not eager for the year to start, but I know it’s inevitable. People tell me that it will be much easier, and I have a hunch they’re right.

The Bandit

I always considered myself a dog person. I liked cats, but they weren’t my favorite. They seemed distant and I hated how they got up on the kitchen counters and left hair everywhere. While I lived at my sister’s they acquired a cat. She is quite the character, a very classy young lady.

Dan the Man, despite allergies, is a cat lover. When we got a place on our own, he kept hinting about getting a cat. I wasn’t all that interested because I didn’t want the responsibility. One day, I was won over by our little guy, Bandit.

It was he who made the first move. While looking around at the Pet's Mart adoption center, he began pawing at my pants. He was quite the persistent little fellow. He didn't stop until I squatted down and began petting him. Then he tried to get me to open the cage. Clearly, he had devised a system to get out of the cage. It was evident that he was good at it since his was the only cage with cardboard covering any large openings. Despite his allergies and want of a kitten, Dan the Man agreed to adopt him.

When we brought him home, he was very scared. He ran and hid under the kitchen table and wouldn't come out. I read all of the literature they gave us about bringing home a new cat and put his food bowls near him and the kitty litter, in sight, but far away from his food. Although it took him some time, he finally felt comfortable to let it all hang out. One of his favorite positions to sleep in is on his back. From an aerial view, he looks like he's standing. He'll sleep like this practically anywhere. His favorite spot to lie on his back is in front of the window on a sunny day. ¡Gato tenía que ser!

However, his favorite places to sleep are in bed, particularly between Dan the Man and I. I think they're both going to have withdrawals this coming week since Dan the Man and I will be leaving to El Paso el sábado en la madrugada. Its evident, that he loves no other more than his dad.

No Title

I’ve thought about updating a lot, and I even had titles and entries all ready in my head…I just never made it to the computer. I guess now that I am here; I can touch on all of the subjects I wanted to blog about.

Friday, Dan the Man, my niece, her bf, and I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean and had dinner. I tried to be as pleasant as possible to her bf. I can’t stand the guy. He acts like such a jerk at times. He can be condescending. I really didn’t like him referring to her as “my tard.” He also made fun on me when I said “punch buggie” and because I got a Lonestar. That’s strike number three. The first one was when he tried to explain to me what a graduate degree is. Idiot. My niece knows how I feel about him, but I try to be amiable because of her.

Saturday, I invited my friend MT over for lunch because she’d never really been to my apartment. Actually, the only people who have actually been here besides Dan the Man’s friend with the exasperating wife are my sis and her hubby. Anyway, I told her I’d make shrimp po’ boys because she likes them and I wanted to try out the recipe. Since the closing of Randalls down the street, Kroger thinks they’re the “fancy” supermarket; this is evident in their prices. So I went a little further to Fiesta. I love shopping at Fiesta’s, especially in predominately Latino areas because they play Spanish music, the workers speak Spanish, and they have a huge variety of reasonably priced items. The best part is that I can listen to La Raza with my windows rolled down and not get strange looks.

Yesterday, I made some more Mujeres de Juárez shirts. I never realized how much time I spend on making them. It took me about two and a half hours to make six. I realized this because it was while I was trying to watch my novella, La Fea Más Bella. Also, I made el coraje del año. When I was leaving the gym, for some reason, I walked around the back of my car. When I did, I noticed that some punk ass wrote “BK” on my car in old English lettering with blue marker of some kind. I was so upset. Fortunately, I was able to get it off. Still, I’m seething over it. I can’t believe how disrespectful people are. I think it was done at our apartment complex by one of the little punk kids that hang out with our neighbor. I’m so glad that our lease is up in a couple of months. For now, I’m parking my car in front of my apartment so I can keep an eye on it. I think Dan the Man kept an eye on it last night.

Why does doing the right thing sometimes feels wrong?

I like to think that I’m pretty honest. I’m not very good at lying because my face says it all, all of the time. That’s why when the self checkout machine gave me a hundred dollar bill instead of a twenty, I took it to the girl that oversees them all and traded it in for a twenty. Yeah, I could use the money, but I got nervous since the machine had my debit card info and thought they could somehow trace it all back to me. Since then, I’ve thought so many times, “Que mensa!”

T-shirts

For some reason, I've always been the one that gets quirky t-shirts. Like during the first Gulf War, my bro god me one with a caricature of Sadam that said, "So Damn Insane."

The same brother also got me a shirt of Jesus on the cross trying to push it up and I think it said, "Bench press this!" At the time, I had no idea what that meant, but I wore the shirt. Often times, people would stare and sometimes laugh.

Fast forward about ten years, I started to make my own quirky shirts. I made myself a Frijolera t-shirt after listening to the Molotov song. I also have one that says "Mexican Jumping Beaner" and of course, a "Big Brown Girl" one.

However, in between my "creative creations," I've made some for las mujeres de Juárez. Whatever money we make off them goes to their organization. This week, I was asked to make a couple for an event later today. This time, the creativity kicked in and I decided to make each one different, after all, each one of those young girls was different in her own way. The one in the picture is my favorite.

ESPN vs Univision

In my rancho, these are the only two channels that show the World Cup games. Fortunately, I have access to both of these channels. However, when asked to choose, I prefer watching the games on Univision.

Le ponen mas color. Plus, aren't the commercials awesome? My current favorite is the Coca Cola one where the ice cube jumps out of the cup and is screaming, then he melts and says something like, "Siempre pasa lo mismo."

Any of you guys have a fave?

An aside-I finally figured out how to post a pic, as you can see. Dan the Man says I look funky in that pic because I look disproportioned.

Nervous Energy

Last week, as my sis drove west on I-10, there was this nervous energy about us. We listened to 850 AM until we were out of range. The voices of the soccer commentator only enhanced the energy. When we arrived in San Antonio, the nervous energy only increased. Not only did we get a little lost, there was a lot of traffic near the hotel.

Today, the nervous energy returns. I hope El Tri does its best or I might pull out some of my hair or kick Dan the Man (accidentally of course, can you believe he's still sleeping on such an important day?!)!

Si se puede! Si se puede! Si se puede!

Rain & weekend

Something very bad happened to my computer. I fixed it, but for the time being I don’t have Word and all of my music was deleted. This is yet another instance proving to me that I need to make a switch to Mac.

Anyway, my last couple of days have been good. Class was cancelled today due to the rain. My neighborhood didn’t flood when I went out, but there’s no telling what happened earlier today. There was a truck on the median leaning into the ditch. I tried to take a picture of it, but Dan the Man was being a jerk and erased it. He also put his arm in the way.

Anyway, Thursday was my birthday and it was great. My sis got me a copy of The Adventures of Goat. I think that’s the one of the most thoughtful gifts I’ve ever received. I also got a retro Super Mario Brothers game for the Gameboy which has caused me a bit of frustration. I’m terrible at video games, but I really wanted this game. My mom also rocked my world with the new Julieta Venegas cd. It’s awesome.

On Friday, I went to the big ranch, AKA San Antonio, with my sis and the ex roomie to see Robert Karimi. His show was awesome and I liked hanging out at Bar America, but I could have done without the jackass server at Blue Star. Anyway, if you haven’t heard of Karimi, I highly recommend checking him out.

Well, I’m out. Home duties need to be tended to.

Help Save El Segundo Barrio

I am incensed after reading the plans to wipe out El Segundo Barrio in El Paso. The more I think and read about it, the angrier I get. It makes me think of historical houses on the North side of downtown. Why don’t they wipe them out? What is so special about them that they can stay pero the south side gets wiped out?

Please, please, please help a sister out and sign it and pass along the info.

Hello everyone,

I am writing to let you know that there are efforts here, spearheaded by developers (the Paso del Norte Group) and politicians, to demolish 128 acres of el Segundo Barrio, the second oldest Mexicano barrio in El Paso, an area of critical importance to Chicano history and a living community. For a hundred years or more, el Segundo has served as the port of entry to thousands of Mexicano immigrants. It was in this barrio that Mariano Azuela published the first great novel of the Mexican Revolution, Los de Abajo. It was in this neighborhood that Teresita Urrea, la Santa de Cabora, lived and healed thousands in the 1890s. The barrio is rich with Mexicana/o and Chicana/o history.

As scholars of Chicano studies, our voices are needed to stop the destruction of the barrio. We have seen this type of destruction before, whether it be Olvera Street in the 1930s or Chavez Ravine in the 1950s. We can't let this keep happening.

Please visit the website of Paso del Sur and help save the barrio. Please spread the word.

http://www.pasodelsur.com/

thanks,
Yolanda Leyva

Divisions, yay or nay?

Yesterday, we had a little extra time before I had to be at Quilty's class. Dan the Man was borrowing my car cbecause his does't have a/c. Since he was going to get gifts for a certain Browngirl's upcoming b-day, I decided he could use my car.

Anyway, we'd gone to the library earlier. I was curious to see what the library in the "ghetto" part of town was like. It was actually much better than the one near us. It was pretty big, and had tons of resources like a computer lab, a good size reference section, a good size children's section, a rather large collection of young adult novels, and computers throughout the library. Dan the Man doesn't understand the concept of sitting in the library reading the books you plan to check out, so we left.

We then went to a carniceria because I was looking for the Gamesa pastries with cards of El Tri's team members, but didn't find any. Since we still had time left, we decided to go to Barnes and Noble. Even though I don't like to buy books from them, I like using their facilities to read and write. I think of it as a private library.

Yesterday, their Latino Studies shelves seemed emptier than usual. There were only two shelves with the classics: Richard Rodriguez, Victor Villaseñor, Julia Alvarez, Denise Chaves, Judith Ortiz Cofer, Piri Thomas. After browsing the shelfs, I asked myself: Is it better that the Latino themed titles be seperated or would it be better to put them under their subject area?

I san see the plusses on both sides of the issue, but I still can't answer my question. What do you guys think?

Soccer

Mexico juega hoy. I can’t wait. I don’t know if I should go to the gym and watch the game there. It would give me something to do, but then I might get upset and kick something or worse yet, someone. You should have seem me the day the spelling be was on and the kid from Houston lost. I didn’t hurt anything or anyone, but you were able to hear a “Damn!”

I don’t really follow soccer until these major games. My problem, as with hockey, is that I like so many players, that I just can’t choose one team to follow. Therefore, I like when they have events such as the World Cup, because then they have many of the players that I like. Although, this time they didn’t take Paco Palencia.

Do you guys remember that year that Mexico beat Brazil at La Copa FIFA Confederaciones? Oh man, that was the best year ever. I had an outfit that I wore for the games. It was some mismatched thing: a black t-shirt (I think it was an old Levis t-shirt) and some white shorts with red pinstripes. I used to hide it on the top shelf of my closet in the crate that held my purses. I was convinced that it was because I was wearing that getup that they had made it. I wish I had my little getup today; I’d definitely be sporting it today.

With a Little Help From Your Friends

Necesito ayuda. It seems that no matter what songs I have on my MP3 player while I'm at the gym, I get bored. Thus far, the only songs that seem to keep me moving one of the Selena songs from her live concert and Carnaval by Celia Cruz.

Anyway, since many of you are music connoisseurs, I figured I'd ask for your help. What songs get you moving?