Blog Quiz

1. a)We are in Boston the year is 1955.
b)While Gilda is doing Savannah hair at the beauty salon she hears a knock on the door and is a tall man looking for Toya.

2. Two characters that we have met before is Gilda and Bird. Gilda now owns her own beauty salon on Mass ave. Gilda has matured because she has lived for 100 years. The costumers that Gilda has she calls them her family. Bird came back because she realized that she had made the mistake of being selfish. Bird feels that she does not need to forgive Gilda 2 because she replaced Gilda 1 and explains to her that she has always been behind her.

3. One new character is Savannah she is a prostitute and she is very distinct and she knows what she wants to look like. She carries a picture of aborigine because she wants to ac hive that look on herself. Toya is the second new character she is also a prostitute and she runs away from Fox because he hit her. Fox is another new character he is a pimp and a vampire. He is looking for Toya to kill her because she ran away. Henrietta works of the 411 lounge and she takes the order of Toya, Gilda and Bird. The Antagonist in chapter 4 is Fox because he causes conflict in Gilda and Toya.

4. The main conflict of chapter 4 is that Fox wants to kill Toya for running away. This causes conflict in Gilda because she wants to kill Fox. It causes her to think and reflect but she feels that is not worth killing Fox. Fox sets on fire Gilda's beauty salon and she later realizes that she has to kill Fox or else he will never leave Toya alone. At the end of the chapter the conflict is resolved Gilda and bird ends up killing Fox.

A Healthy Relationship

• Honesty
• Commitment
• Communication
• Respect
• Support
• Trust
• Care
• Being Spontaneous
• Intimacy
• Enjoy each other company

Interpretation of a Quote in the novel Giovanni’s Room

In the novel Giovanni’s Room, part one chapter three, the protagonist is David and Jacques is the acquaintance. They are in a bar in Paris were they are having drinks and a conversation about relationships. Jacques and David had a past relationship with each other, but Jacques notices that David is having an attraction for another man. Jacques says, “‘Love him and let him love you…You can give each other something which will make both of you better- forever- if you will not be ashamed, if you will not only play it safe’” (Baldwin 57). This quote explains how Jacques is telling David to let loose and let himself be who he truly is. David feels he cannot have feelings for a male because of society’s norms. Jacques tells David that if he realizes his attraction towards the same sex he would not only make himself happy, but his partner as well.

Analysis of Coffee Will Make You Black

In the novel Coffee Will Make You Black, the author, April Sinclair, progresses with the protagonist Jean Eloise Stevenson, also known as Stevie, who is an eleven and a half year old girl. Jean finds herself confused as she submits to the immense social pressures of her friends, Denise and Gail. In chapter two Jean is still an innocent child, compared to her six grade classmates, because of her parents’ refusal to explain to her anything about puberty or sex.

Growing up in Chicago as an African-American, the era is important to what the protagonist is experiencing because it takes place during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s. The Stevenson family has been inspired by the words and leadership of Martin Luther King Jr. “I remember how Mama and Daddy had called me and David in from playing to watch Dr. King give his ‘I have a Dream’ speech on TV, two summers ago”(Sinclair 14). The author’s use of setting helps the reader understand and notice why Stevie’s mother is very particular about how the English language is used by African-Americans. “Girls you should have said, ‘I didn’t go to church this morning because I didn’t get up in time” (Sinclair 14). Coffee Will Make You Black would not be the same novel if the time and place were changed because the Civil Rights Movement inspired all African Americans, including the Stevenson Family, to dream. This was a period of time that began significant changes in society.

Jean is experiencing change on the personal level. One of Jean’s character traits in chapter one is curiosity, which is portrayed through her ongoing questions about puberty and sex. In chapter two, Jean begins to walk home from school with Denise and Gail, developing a new trait of “cracking gum” because she wants to be able to fit in. In chapter one the protagonist values sincerity, she did not want to lie in a note that was sent to her by Michel Dun, “I’d snuck a peek inside and looked up the word virgin…I didn’t steal and tried my best not to lie” (Sinclair4). A new value that Jean has in chapter two is popularity. When Denise revels she had stolen nail polish, jeans thoughts is, “I almost swallowed my gum. I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying, you mean you stole it?” (Sinclair17). Jean shows that popularity is important to her because she would rather stay quite to be able to belong instead of expressing what she truly values, which is honesty.

In the novel Coffee Will Make You Black, the protagonist is struggling to achieve popularity. Jean has chosen to abandon things that she truly values such as writing a poem for the school paper and her friends Linda and Melody to walk with Denise and Gail, to belong to the popular group in school. I speculate that the antagonists are Denise and Gail because they are only causing Jean problems. “Girl, Carla Perkins saying she is going to kick yo ass! Counta you been talking to Michel” (Sinclair 21). The protagonist is also experiencing an external conflict between people; Michel has not only touched her improperly but has brought the conflict of Carla into her life as well. Jean is also experiencing an internal conflict since being popular comes with different values and responsibilities than the ones with which she was raised. Being peer pressured by Denise and Gail, Jean is going to have to confront Carla for saying disrespectful things about her mom, in order to gain popularity. Jean is going to have to decide whether she is going to value honesty and sincerity towards herself or challenge Carla into a fight.

There are many other characters that have made an impact in Jean’s life, one of them is her mother Evelyn. I believe that Evelyn values faith because when Denise and Gail visit Jean for the first time the Stevenson family had returned from Sunday service and Evelyn asks them if they had gone to church. “I hate to think that some people would put card playing ahead of church service” (Sinclair14). Evelyn also values the Civil Rights Movement because she has been inspired by Martin Luther King Jr. “I Have a Dream” speech and how he uses the English language. She has implemented into her and her family’s lifestyle to speak proper English. The relationship that Jean has with her mother is very strict because her mother will not explain to her anything about puberty or sex until it is the right time. The relationship that the protagonist carries with her mother is not as important to her as is one with her friends. Jean is influenced by her mother Evelyn because she was raised in a family where they value faith, family, honesty. These values that her mother has taught Jean cause discomfort for the protagonist when she finds herself peer pressured by Denise and Gail in certain situations she has never been in before.

Denise and Gail are characters that were introduced in chapter two, which have also made a great impact in Jean’s life. Two things that these characters most value are popularity and gossip. Denise and Gail are known as the girls who wear French rolls and like to crack their gum. They begins to talk to Jean because Michel sends her a note asking if she was a virgin. “Hey girl, any girl my cousin talks to, I make it my business to check out. ‘Cause don’t nobody get next to my cousin without coming through me…”(Sinclair16) For the protagonist, their friendship is very important because if other people see that she her interacting with Denise and Gail they may think she is half as cool as them. Jean wants to gain popularity and that is why she is influenced by their actions. The value of gossip that Denise and Gail hold causes the protagonist conflict because of the peer pressure to confront Carla.

In chapter two, the topic or theme of a character’s sexuality is not woven into this chapter. The protagonist is still an innocent child, but on her way to exploration as a pre-teen. A socio-political topic that I see emerging is the mother not informing her pre-teen daughter about puberty. While this subject is uncomfortable for Evelyn, it might cause Jean to seek for this information elsewhere. In addition, this topic connects to the Growing up Thematic Issue: The need to belong because Jean has been asked in school if she is a virgin, but she has no knowledge about the subject. The protagonist is in need to fit in and form a friendship with the popular group, which might lead Jean to make unwise decisions due to her lack of knowledge about puberty.

Reading the novel, Coffee Will Make You Black, brings back high school memories of when people gossiped about each other. In high school, everyone wants to know everyone else’s business and at times that leads to false accusations about other people. For instance, my cousin had a bad reputation in high school based on gossip, leading her to social isolation. Like Jean, my cousin had purposefully created rumors in order to be noticed. In the end, my cousin succeeded in becoming popular while abandoning her family values.

Analysis of Predators

A predator is one that victimizes, plunders, or destroys especially for one’s own gain. In the book The Mee Street Chronicles: Straight up Stories of a Black Woman’s life written by Frankie Lennon the selection Predators explains how the regular bar attendees can easily destroy the comfort the narrator had inside. The bar made her feel more at home but witnessing the homophobia made her uneasy and frightened. The narrator is at Allen’s, a bar located in Evansville, Indiana. Inside the bar the regulars began watching the CBS Evening News where Anita Bryant presents her campaign to end discrimination against homosexuals.

The predators in the story are Les the bar tender, Anita Bryant campaigns spokeswoman, Cecil, Sonny and Nance which are bar regulars. The reason they are referred as predators is because they are attacking the lifestyle of many homosexuals at that time. The narrators even thought they did not know she is a lesbian she feels as if she is the prey, waiting to be assaulted. “The hunted” or “the prey” is used metaphorically to signify the homosexuals that are being attack for just wanting to have a normal life. The title Predators is appropriate for the story because the homophobia that is driven out of the people surrounded by the narrator makes her feel defenseless and scared, make her feel like if they were attacking her. If she were to stand up for herself and the homosexual community, then they will find out her secret desire and punish her for being different.

In this story the emotional tone brings out frustration in not being able to shut off any insulting words or comments which are not being referred directly toward the narrator but causes her to become angry and bring out the emotions of how she really feels. On page 159, in paragraph five shows how tension grew, “I blew out a frustrated breath. What Bryant was saying boiled down to a load of crap. You didn’t choose or get recruited like you were joining the army or some kind of club. You were born the way you were born.” The atmosphere at Allen’s bar is heated with outraged emotions that cause tension and anxiety within the narrator. On page 161 in the last paragraph says, “His tone made my hair stand on end. I could hear the mutterings in the room boiling up to higher temperatures. I’d never felt anything like this in Allen’s before. Anita Bryant had raked up a kind of meanness, a kind of glad rush to violence that lay hidden underneath these people...” Predators impacted me emotionally because it made me feel irritated with the actions that the campaign “Save Our Children” was bringing out within people. This story made me an impact intellectually by becoming aware of how people in society can be easily persuaded into ideological ideas.

There are three major conflicts that drive the story. One of the major conflicts is the “Save Our Children” Bryant campaign. Spokeswoman Bryant says, “Since homosexuals cannot reproduce,” she said, striking a tone of both sincerity and loathing, “they must recruit children to refresh their ranks. We must not allow them to continue.” The ideology clashing is the belief of society mistaking homosexuals as pedophiles when it’s really the heterosexuals in their own neighborhood that are creating these criminal actions against children but they are trying to cover their tracks by blaming homosexuals. The second major conflict that also drives the story is the tension that grows between the bar regulars. The values clashing is the idea that homosexuals can be integrated into society. The bar regulars show anger because they are afraid of change within their community and society. The last major conflict that guides the story is the narrator inner voice. The narrator reacts with rage towards all the comments being said, but her inner voice tells her to stay calm and be quiet because if she speaks out, people at Allen’s will find out how she really feels and will no longer be accepted anywhere in Evansville. In Predators there are heterosexual needs to deny and destroy other people’s lives because they choose to find happiness like them but not with the opposite sex. The narrator makes a difficult choice, either to defend her believes and other homosexuals or keeping silence so she can belong. In the Coming Out Steps to Integration by James L. Helmuth, the narrator is in stage number two: Coming Out to Self because on page 159 the last paragraph says, “I thought about Stacy and rubbed the palm of my hand across my lips. Nobody recruited me into being attracted to women. Nobody forced me to love her. That admission woke up The Corners, the place, at the back of my mind where I’d vaulted my secrets.” This shows how she came out to herself by acknowledging her hidden love for Stacy.

Finishing this story it made me think to myself, where would I be if I didn’t belong or blend in with this society? It made me realize that with my friends and family and the need to fit in with people, I would be nowhere. I would be stranded in a hot, dry desert trying to find water and shelter and trying to find a way to live to see the next day. We all have the need to fit in but that does not mean we have to discriminate other people trying to do the same. We have to set the example that we want our future families to follow. We should not become predators or let others think you are the prey, we should be the one taming the predator, and the one helping the prey.

Famlily Album

My mother’s name is Ofelia Plascencia; she was born April 2nd, 1958 in Guadalajara, Jalisco. She is the oldest child out of eight brothers and sisters. My mother always claims that she never enjoyed her childhood. As soon as she was old enough to take care of her brothers and sisters, her parents went off to work. She had a lot of responsibilities in the house which included watching the kids, changing the dippers, cleaning the house, doing laundry, and cooking meals. She enjoyed cooking the most. I believe this is how she became an excellent cook.

When my mom first began to cook she did not have a clue what to do. She couldn’t even boil water for the beans because the water would evaporate into the air. My grandfather would get furious because my mom would not have supper ready before he would get home. My grandmother was never present in the house she would work from five o’clock in the morning to ten at night. My grandfather, Jose, taught my mother how to cook when he decided to work from home. He built a room near the kitchen to watch the kids and to give my mom cooking instructions. The first recipes that my mom mastered were breakfast meals. She was able to cook eggs in different ways. One day she would do scramble eggs, another over easy, or she would just cut vegetables and meat to cook with the eggs.

As my mother got older, she began to have an interest in different cooking styles. She was interested in finding new recipes and trying them out. When she would drop off her brothers and sisters at school, she would stay and chat with other ladies about new recipes she could explore. While exploring others recipes, she began to create her own unique way of cooking. For example, she took the ordinary beef lasagna and twisted its flavors by adding shrimp instead of meat and different kinds of vegetables. Ever since that recipe, she developed a sense of creativity with food.

Now my mother has become my family's cooking expert. She loves watching the food channel and always thinks about something new. I once dreamed that my mother was about to die in the hospital. She seemed to be in intensive care and I all of sudden told her she couldn’t die without giving me all of her recipes. Since that dream, I created my own recipe book. Everyday during the summer, I would write down the meals she would serve for the family. Those many years of cooking has always brought the entire family together to enjoy each others company with a delicious meal.

My mother Ofelia still is a great cook but aging always catches up to everyone, and she will soon forget or will be unable to cook all the delicious recipes she has created. This is why I believe it is important to be to be taught her famous recipes, so I can pass them on to future generations. One day I wish to publish her scrumptious recipes.

Struggles

Overcoming challenges requires immense will power and determination. I have faced many tough challenges, but the most difficult has been being able to forgive my mom. A mother should give to her child tenderness, maternal love, and protecting care. My mom failed to follow the definition of a caregiver.

My story begins in the fall of August 2004; I was molested by my step father. I told my mom about what had happen and she refused to believe me. She told me that I was trying to separate her from my step dad because I wanted her to get back with my father. At that moment in time I felt the world was coming down on me, and it wasn’t going to get any better. I couldn’t believe that my own mother would say that to me. I thought she was the mother that is defined in every dictionary. Being denied that comfort that I needed was the worst feeling ever. I wouldn’t wish that to any enemy of mine. I was torn from the inside. Every time I would remember it brought more pain than the next thought I had.

I immediately informed my sisters about what had happen to me. They instantly removed me from my mother’s home and I began to live with my oldest sisters. Living with my sisters was not an easy thing to do, but I had to adjust. It was uncomfortable at one point but they are my sisters and I need their help. Since that day I knew that I had to grow up on my own. I began to work for a company called hub cities. The money I would earn would be the money I lived off of. Even though I lived with my sisters that didn’t mean they would give me money for every little thing I needed. Ever since that situation happened my sisters became my new mothers.

From that day on I didn’t speak to my mother. It was so difficult for me because I was extremely hurt. My sisters encouraged me to talk to her, but I needed my own time to reflect. As timed passed I thought about the pros and cons if I would begin to talk to my mom. I realized that I needed to forgive her. Ever since I was small I was taught to forgive others because it makes you a better person and in return we receive an untold peace and happiness. I was aware that her actions were unethical, but after all she is my mother. Planning is an important part of everything I do, so I thought about how I would first approach her. I needed to be the leader I was growing up to be and set an example. I began to talk to her the summer of 2005; little by little we began to build on our communication skills. We were beginning to building unity in a time of change.

I learned in order to overcome challenges we need a positive attitude, a positive mind and the right amount of determination and will power. Along with this we need to see that the many challenges in which we face are similar to a range of mountains. There is no way around them, and no short cuts to be taken. We have to climb each mountain to be able to move forward in order to reach our goals.