A Walk To The Jetty - Christian Torres

Annie is a seventeen year-old girl that is on the verge of leaving to England, where she is to become a nurse. Going to England and becoming a nurse is not something that she really wants to do, but, she thinks that it's better than living with her parents any longer. She wishes to part from them (as many teenagers do). Even though her parents are not bad parents, she wants to part from them. On the way to the boat that will take her to Europe, she starts to reminisce about her childhood only to find that her indentity is basically made up from her parents identity. That idea helps her descicion to go and become a nurse even firmer. The thought of independence and finding and identity to call her own is empowering. At just minutes before boarding, she thinks that it may be a bad idea, and that she really will miss her parents. But after coming to an agreement with her senses, she realizes that leaving her parents y what she wants most and that even though it will be tough, it's something that she has to go throught for her own sake. Annie is able to leave her parents with no second thoughts. I think many teenagers could relate to this short story. Because doesn't go too far down the roots of the problems, I think it's easier for readers to put themselves in Annie's position. Independence is one of the reasons we go to college for and finding our own identity. Not everytime we need something as drastic as moving to another country but just being determined to find oneself could be enough to make it happen.

Columbus in Chains Reflection

Adrian Perez Columbus in Chains is a controversial story that makes you rethink about history and about Christopher Columbus himself. I personally never gave that much attention to Christopher Columbus because in school I was taught that he’s the one that discovered us and that’s it, but after discussing about him in class, it made me think about his purpose in discovering us. A lot of people think that he is a hero, but I don’t think he’s a hero. A hero is someone who looks out for others and is not selfish. Christopher Columbus is an important figure in history, but he’s no hero. He brought slavery and war to our land, and he didn’t think of us, he just wanted to do his job, which was to discover us. I think that the author thought that in a way he was a hero, but in another way he wasn’t. A.J. first thought that he deserved to be chained up and felt good about it, but then realized that he’s the one that discovered her land. This story inspires me to know more about our history and our past.

The Storm Reflection

Adrian Perez After reading this story, it shocked me how Calixta went on with her life after she just cheated on her husband, whom treats her very well. Calixta was alone and Alcee, her past lover, comes to her house because of the storm. The sexual passion that they demonstrated was very intense and maybe it’s because both of them don’t have that kind of passion with their respective spouses. For me, I don’t support cheating on your husband or wife, but maybe in this case is something that needed to happen. Maybe they needed closure from their past relationship and that’s why neither of them felt guilty. Society says that marriage is a sacred union and that that bond should never be disrespected, so that’s why I’m against Calixta’s actions. If she had problems with her husband they should have worked out. The Storm was an interesting story because it was full of strong emotions and it had an unexpected element that made the story have more character.

Writing is not a McDonald’s Hamburger

Adrian Perez When you write you are supposed to let everything go and not hold anything back. The author uses an example of a student that can talk about anything, but when he writes, he can’t transmit those emotions. In writing you have to let every emotion you have to take place in that writing and feel what you’re writing. After reading this I started to write because it reminded me of the journal that we use in class for free writing and we are supposed to let everything go and write everything that’s in our thoughts. I started to write whatever I was feeling without holding back anything. It was a very calm experience. I wrote whatever popped in my head and it felt good while doing it because I forgot all of my worries.

A Walk to the Jetty Reflection

Adrian Perez This story is about finding yourself. Annie decided to leave her home and go to England and become a nurse. As she goes to take the ship to England, she has all these memories that she remembers that include her parents and her childhood and she doesn’t want to continue that path in her life where she is dominated by her parents and so she wants to gain independence and find herself by leaving. I think this is a good story because it teaches us to take a stand and choose what we want to do in the future. I think everyone can relate to this story because everyone at some point in their lives has to leave the nest and become independent and go through that journey that helps us find ourselves.

The Storm- Beatriz Cruz

In this story, Calixta is alone at home when she notices that there is a storm coming. Her husband and son are at a store, so they do not come home until the storm is over. She lets in Alcee, because of the storm. They are both married, but the past passion they had came over them. Calixta did not care she did that to her husband, who was really good with her. What really touched me was that she treated her husband like always, she was happy. She did not even feel guilty because he was good with her. She felt nothing, even though she did something that would hurt him a lot.

Columbus In Chains- Beatriz Cruz

The question was if Christopher Columbus is a hero or not. I do not think he was really a hero. Although he discovered many places, he was not a hero. In my oppinion heores are people that have courage and are self sacrificed, but have moral excellence. Christopher Columbus had courage and was self sacrificed, but he did not have moral excellence. He did not care when he hurt the indians just to rule this island. The little girl had the right to express her oppinion on Christopher Columbus. Where she studied they could not do what they wanted. They had to behave ladylike, talk about novels and poems they were reading, they did all this while walking. But she was different, some of the other girls and her liked to play games that the teachers did not approve. I liked the way she did everything that she wanted, she had courage.