In the spirit of remixes...

Modern...

Classy....

Reuniting With Myself

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Erica Marquez

Dr. Preston

AP English Literature and Composition

31 March 2014

Reunited With Myself

When I came into this world and took my first breath of oxygen I stunned many and became a special case for the doctors. I was premature and unable to eat without assistance. As I see it, I just could not wait to start living. As I grew older I found things that I liked, people that I loved, and experiences I wanted to go through. As I kept existing in this world I forgot what it meant to live. I forgot what it really meant to enjoy life. I got so wrapped up in what life and my education should be that I forgot what I loved about these things. I lost an essence of who I was and this course helped me reunite with that person.

When I began this course I was slapped with the big question. I thought and thought, and I wondered should I strive to impress or should I be truthful? I went with truthful and there my journey began. I felt like I took a fresh breath of oxygen.  I took this course to heart because then is when I knew that it would benefit me. Working with others, making connections, and sharing my ideas allowed me to become interactive in class. It allowed me to enjoy the course and I would definitely say that we as students deserve that opportunity. We deserve the opportunity to finally breathe a breath of fresh air; a breath of a new system.

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Literature is about learning and reading, and writing, and loving, and feeling, and emotion. It is so many things in so little pages. Part of our experience in this course was literature. My favorite pieces of work from this year are “The Kite Runner”,  “A thousand Splendid Suns” and, “In The Time Of The Butterflies”. These were my favorite because I am very passionate about justice for all. I like to think that we all have voices and that they should all be heard. These novels have many injustices embedded in the story lines. They are so raw and are based on the reality of two countries, Afghanistan and the Dominican Republic. Reading about these events reminded me about my life, it reminded me of how grateful I should be, and about how I want to change the world.

I could breathe since day one, but I did not know how to live or what I would live for. Connecting with myself allowed me to realize that there is so much to be done in this world and for the world. I could be a change. I could be passionate again. (I lost that in school) I could express my feelings and share my concerns in this course. I could talk about the campesinos and their injustices. I could hear about

other peoples passions like teaching, releasing stress through blowing fruits up, inspiring others through films, creating websites to help and entertain others, etc. The list of passions and interest goes on…The fresh air is breathed, it is contagious in this environment.

            I like oxygen and breathing this type of fresh air, but what really made me inhale and exhale lots of it were Javi’s and Izamar’s In Loco Politico post. The

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sarcasm and truth to their post was the freshest of air. Also, the class readings of plays like Macbeth, and Hamlet. They were very fun and entertaining.

            In that class we all breathe the same cool air. We all have a passion or something we care about and want to share with others. Kristen, Jacob, Kendall’s, Kylie’s, Maria’s and Javi’s and Izamar’s presentations were all connected and unified in two things. I felt like their presentations were focused on identity and change. They all put something on the table, something that they liked or could identify with and they talked about changing it, being innovators, trying to understand it and making a contribution to it. They all let us have a breeze of their wind.

            This year I not only stunned many…I stunned myself. I fought many battles, and I struggled to breathe the fresh air. Despite these gust of winds that seemed to tumble me and shake me once in a while I became aware of when I needed to hold my breath and when I could breathe. And finally I could breathe…            

Voices Without A Voice/ Voces Sin Voz

This is for you my dear campesinos

As you read this think of yourself as a farm worker...

YOU came into this huge and "rich" country at a really young age. YOU came on your own, YOU came with your family, or your parents brought you here. The only thing you came here for was to survive. Your beautiful country did not provide you with the resources or opportunities you needed to survive. You had no choice...You had to leave your home and you had to say bye to your mom and dad, your spouse, your aunts, and uncles, and cousins, but worst of all your children, your babies, your everything. You had to leave them. You left with absolutely nothing and came with absolutely nothing. YOU are nothing...

Oh and by the way while you were on your journey to survive you had the cross the border, but before that you were faced with Mexican and American assailants and kidnappers after your money, you were faced with heat, the sun, snakes and cacti, after your body and American vigilantes after your freedom, and border patrol after your records. Then you had to stay in a small dark and damp room with about 20 others oh and by the way you are dehydrated, and eating rotten food. You are unshowered...but wait the fun does not end there...You also had to go under a 7 foot barbed wire fence run across a sand road run across another barbed wire fence and keep running until you cannot breath...And then maybe you will make it through. Oh and by the way you had to pay for this 3 day vacation trip... (source Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies by Seth M. Holmes)

You see, YOU are opressed and your dignity is squandered therefore like Che Guevara said in his Motorcycle Diaries  "they stop being father, mother, sister or brother and become a purely negative factor in the struggle for life and, consequently a source of bitterness for the healthy members of the community."

Guevara also says " The lives of the poor, unsung heroes of this battle, who die miserably in one of the thousand traps set by nature to defend its treasures, when all they want is to earn their daily bread." 

Voices Without A Voice Video 

Cesar Chavez Movie Trailer :)