I identified with the passage “My Name” in House on Mango Street. It reminds me of the I Am poems we did in class last week. For example, Esperanza states, “It is the Mexican records my father plays on Sunday mornings when he is shaving, songs like sobbing,” (Cisneros, pg. 10, 1984). Her name is her great-grandmother’s, which is popular to do in Hispanic culture. It’s not only a name, it carries a history. It tells how connected her family is and the traditions they follow. Also, I like how she wants to learn more about her great-grandmother and isn’t ashamed to say she wants to change the future. She doesn’t want to be victim to what happened her great-grandmother and won’t victimize herself and her family. She’s pushing towards a better future and wants the family name to continue. I like how she details the songs in the morning because a lot of Hispanic/Latino households do that. We’ll put on some of our favorite tunes and wake up so refreshed and energize, like the music is like our hot morning coffee. When she says the songs sound like their sobbing, I think of a type of Colombian music called Vallenato. It’s very slow, but semi-upbeat.

I understand how she feels about her name meaning her family’s legacy, but some Americans can want to make you water it down or dumb it down for them to say. For example, when she wants to identify herself as “…Lisandra or Martiza or Zeze the X…,” I relate to that feeling (Cisneros, pg. 11, 1984). There’s two different ways of saying my name. My name is Carolina, which is pronounced ka-row-lee-nah. In American culture, my name is pronounced ka-row-line-uh. If I say my name the American way, no one has trouble spelling it or pronouncing it. But when I say it the Hispanic way, the correct way in my case, almost every American I know gives me a confused look. I then clarify by saying “Like the state”, and then it proceeds with “Ooooh you mean ka-row-line-uh,” which I then reply with “Yeah, but it’s pronounced ka-row-lee-nah”. I used to say my name the American way just to not have to deal with this, but then I felt I wasn’t doing myself or my family justice. I felt like I was cheating myself out of my heritage. I’m proud of my background and want to show that. My parents named me a certain way, and that’s how it’s pronounced. If us Americans can say and come up with words like onomatopoeia and supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (which is a real word), then we can pronounce people’s names correctly. Also, not only have people pronounced my name wrong or tried to correct me, but they completely missed the mark. For instance, I’ve been called Caroline, Katarina, Catalina, and even Catherine. There will be times where make an exception and I’ll just say it the American way just to save myself some time, like when someone’s taking my Starbuck’s order, or any food order for that matter.

Lastly, the “No Speak English” passage was so sad. It’s sad to see Mamacita disconnect with her only son and to not be able to communicate with him because he only knows English and she knows Spanish. It saddens me that she’s homesick and her own family can’t comfort her. So many Hispanics/Latin families come here with big aspirations, only to be betrayed, forced to be Americanized and to be yelled at for speaking another language. I can’t stand seeing videos where people are speaking their native language and are told to speak English. Firstly, America doesn’t have an official language because of how diverse it is. Secondly, I feel people do that because they a) are insecure they can’t speak another language other than English, b) want to be nosey, c) believe people are talking about them in a different language (which is never the case), or d) are uneducated and plain racist.

I’ve read this book before but I resonate with it so much more than I did in high school.

I enjoyed Langston Hughes poem so much. It spoke to me in so many ways and is very relevant to today’s political and social climate. His poem is written as if it was placed in today’s time. I read it and think so much has changed but nothing has changed at all.

The line “O, let my land be a land where Liberty/Is crowned with no false patriotic wealth,/ But opportunity is real, and life is free,/Equality is in the air we breathe,” is so profound in today’s time. In my opinion, many people use the word patriotism as an excuse to be bigots and racist. For example, Trump’s election has brought out hatred and violence in many ways. Also, he uses these feelings to push his own agenda, as well as a racist kind of propaganda that a lot of people buy into. Also, Langston’s line “I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,/I am the red man driven from the land./ I am the refugee clutching the hope I seek-/ But finding only the same stupid plan/ Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak,” is another instance where we see nothing much has changed in our country. This makes me think about how young our country really is and how we are STILL forming an identity. Segregation and racism are still happening. Rich versus poor is still a mindset. In addition, many refugees are seeking asylum in the USA but are punished just for wanting to seek a better life. Stereotypes are being enforced more than ever by racist parties to maintain their privilege. Distrust has become the norm and sometimes, people’s intention are unclear or malicious. This behavior creates the dog eat dog world Hughes is talking about. It’s weird, scary and fascinating to see how accurate this is years down the line.

I thought the American Dream documentary was great. It shined light on a lot of topics, especially controversial ones. I think the documentary was informative. It really comments on both sides of the spectrum, meaning people who are US citizens and people who immigrated here. In addition, patriotism takes on a lot of forms.

Also, I found it kind of weird when the girl with the army family was talking about how she’s patriotic and she encourages people protesting, but it’s disrespectful to burn the American flag. I mean, I know it’s not respectful, but to me, it kind of alludes to her, and others with her “patriotic” mindset, will not accept how others express their patriotism. She believes there’s certain constraints on her idea of patriotism.

Lastly, the final portion we didn’t get to watch all of was about assimilation and identity. This resonated with me the most. My parents talk about this sometimes. My mom came to America at around 14 and she still has trouble understanding certain parts of American culture. For instance, she understands social media but she feels it’s more of a con than it is a pro. I feel it’s equally both a pro and a con. She knows the stereotypes of posing in duck face and posting photos for everyone to see, but she doesn’t understand certain trends that happen, like the ASL Challenge, Cinnamon Challenge, etc. In regards to identity, I can relate to this. I’m American with Colombian and Cuban heritage. Sometimes I feel I’m not Hispanic enough or I’m not American enough. The majority of American people in my age group are really into rap, R&B and popular pop songs that play on the radio for weeks on end on repeat. Personally, there are some artists I don’t follow or listen to just because they don’t catch my attention, but sometimes I’ll feel isolated because I don’t know the songs or the lyrics, especially when everyone’s hyped at a party and I can’t sing along with them. This video describes me perfectly:

https://www.tiktok.com/@audraystanlay/video/6775210163725962502

Also, they’re very into hookup culture, which personally, is not my style.

On the other hand, with my Hispanic family sometimes my semi-American semi-Hispanic ideals clash. Sometimes my family agrees with me on certain topics, while others don’t. For instance, my parents don’t agree with getting piercings or tattoos. In contrast, I don’t mind piercings or tattoos.

I really liked the TED Talk we watched. I’ve seen it before, but it was good to revisit the subject. I enjoyed how she emphasized how different races and ethnicities should be represented in literature. This would provide a multi-perspective way of reading literature and learning about different cultures. Also, I identified with her when she said the books she wrote and read were nothing like her. I used to feel like European beauty standards were the ideal because I didn’t read a book with someone who looked like me until I was in middle school when I read Esperanza Rising. European beauty standards are still the ideal, but I’m confident in who I am now and don’t want to fit a mold.

It’s so true when Adichie said Americans have one way of looking at Africa, mind you she’s Nigerian. Every country in Africa has a different culture, but Americans tend to blend them all in one. It’s funny how people still think Africa is a country and not a continent in 2020. Many Americans have a single story of Africa just being poor, dirty, needy, etc. But Africa is so much more than the stereotypes. Not only Africa, but other places too! I can’t stand when people just go off of stereotypes and live by them. They become narrow-minded. This kind of thinking closes them off to learning about a particular culture and being receptive to new ideas. Whenever I think about narrow-minded people, that one scene in Mean Girls comes to my mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8wrqe72YG4. When people have a single-story of everything, it only becomes a disadvantage. For instance, when she talked about how she spoke at a university and a student said it was a shame all Nigerian men were physical abusers. I liked how she retaliated with “I had just read American Psycho. It’s such a shame all young American men are serial killers”. I liked how she advocates for seeing every perspective of a story and not just being one-sided.