My Oral Tradition

My oral tradition is just many stories passed down from many generations. This past spring break I went and sat down with my Grandpa, which is my dad's dad. He showed me tons of old pictures he had of a lot of people who are dead now. He even had a picture of my great great great Grandpa and Grandma. I had never seen them before in my life. Although my grandpa didn't know much about where my family has come from as far as ancestry, he told me numerous stories about his life and his dad's life. He also had ideas about where we have come from because of what his dad told him.

When my grandpa and I started talking he told me that his dad used to tell him that we aren't foreign to this land, we were already here as Native Americans. Now he also said that he isn't positive about this, that this is what he was told. Then he continued with telling me that we came from the country of Mexico, and moved to the land around the Tijeras Mountains and the Sandia Mountains. We were already on this land when people came here and started making it there own in the 1800's.

Then he continued on into his dad's life. His name was Florival Gutierrez. He lived in the mountains of Albuquerque which are also known as the Sandias. He lived there when, what is now presently called Old Town, was an Army Post for Albuquerque. Also when Tingley Beach was a Lake that overpowered the golf course next to it, and when th Rio Grande flowed majestically and freely. He told me a story of my great-grandfather of when he would have to take a trip that took a whole day into Albuquerque to sell wood in a wagon. That whole wagon full of wood was worth $5 and so that is what he sold it for.

The next part of my history that I learned about was my relatives that had come way before I was born and when my grandpa was little. He informed me that one my great-uncles is still alive and is living in Los Angeles, California. He is my great-grandpas brother, and is the last sibling that is still alive. Then he went on to tell me about his brothers and sisters, some of which are still alive and well and others which we have both never even met.

After everything was said and done, my grandpa told me, his parents had a total of 19 children. There were 8 brother's and 11 sister's in total. Right now in the current present there are 6 brother's and 8 sister's that are still alive. Most of the children were born in the mountains on their ranch. By thst time my great-grandpa had bought land from there and homesteaded it. It was the life my great-grandpa had wanted butsomething went wrong, maybe to many children? To much responsiblity for him? He left my great-grandma with 12 children still living at the house at that time. She had to take care of her family and was living off of a volunteer job as kindergarten assistant. She paid for food with the help of food stamps and welfare.

In the end my family has made it through thick and thin. This is only my dad's dad side of my history too. I have so much blood from everywhere running through my veins right now that it's amazing I'm not related to everyone in this room as well as them being related to me. I really do think that someday in the future my great-great-great grandchildren will be looking back at pictures of me and saying, "Wow, I wish I could have gotten to know her because there is so much to learn about my families past." When I sat down this past spring break with my grandpa that is exactly what he was telling me about his great-great grandpa.

Stop the Rape and Abuse of Women Worldwide

       Today in my English class I signed a petition to help stop the rape and abuse of women worldwide. This is one of the biggest human rights problem today. There is a statistic that states one out of every three women will be raped or abused during her lifetime. This petition was made to help create a strategy to address violence against women and girls worldwide. It was made especially to help women of foreign countries.

       When I was signing this petition I felt the pain of all the abused women throughout the world. I cannot imagine what they are going through. It is amazing that no one in the whole world has found a solution for this problem yet. I hope to help the cause and further my knowledge of my rights as a woman by signing this petition.

The Starfish Story

       The moral of this story is to try and make a difference with something even if it only gives the slightsest bit of help. The meaning of the story to my life is exactly what the moral is. I can make a difference even if it only helps just one thing. The "wisdom teaching" that the author is trying to convey to the reader (me) is the moral also.

       The moral of the story is indicated in the story at the last line. The last line reads 'As it met the water, he said, "I made a difference to that one!"' What this young man is trying to say is you need to help what you care about even if you only make the smallest difference because that difference can go a long way. Just by throwing that one starfish back into the water he saved its life and it wouldn't dry out and die. He made a difference to one life.

       When I was reading this story I thought of a quote I had heard before. That quote says, "Stand up for what is right even if you are standing alone." I thought of this quote because this young man didn't care if anyone helped him he just cared about saving just one life on the shore that day. He didn't even care if anyone saw either, even the wise man.

        What I think the wise man in the story thought is that the young man was fighting for a lost cause. Most people think like that and that is why no one fights for what is right anymore. They believe that they can't save things all by themselves so they don't try. The young man went out onto the shore that day not expecting to save every starfish for miles, he just went out there and wanted to make a difference to one starfish at a time.

         The wise man did not see the moral like the young man did. He walked over to the young man expecting to just find him dancining randomly at the shore. What he saw that was really going on he didn't exactly understand so he just told the young man that he couldn'y possibly save thousands of starfish on the shore that day. The young man just wanted to save many though, but what really mattered to him is that he saved at least one.

         In conclusion, I think this moral is not really understood by most people. I think this because most people want to see big results when they are trying to help. They want those visible results right away but sometimes they don't get it. Those people would be considered the wise man in the story. The people considered to be the young man would be the people who help out and don't expect much in return, just the satisfaction that they helped one life that day.

The Great Debaters:My Movie Review

This movie was very inspiring and had many morals of value to teach people of many ages. The most suspensful part of this movie was when Mr. Melvin B. Tolson and his debate team of three (at that time) came across a lynching mob of white people. The experience for the young 14 year old boy, James Farmer Jr., was one that won the debate for his team while up against Harvard's debate team. What he said to his audience was very emotional for me and inspired me. In the end I would give this movie 4 stars because while it was an amazingly inspirational story to speak out against what is wrong, it was hard for me to relate to. It was hard to relate to because I did not grow up in the time that the movie took place in.

Below I have provided the speech that Mr. Farmer Jr. gave at the Harvard debate.

James Farmer Jr.: In Texas they lynch Negroes. My teammates and I saw a man strung up by his neck and set on fire. We drove through a lynch mob, pressed our faces against the floorboard. I looked at my teammates. I saw the fear in their eyes and, worse, the shame. What was this Negro's crime that he should be hung without trial in a dark forest filled with fog. Was he a thief? Was he a killer? Or just a Negro? Was he a sharecropper? A preacher? Were his children waiting up for him? And who are we to just lie there and do nothing. No matter what he did, the mob was the criminal. But the law did nothing. Just left us wondering, "Why?" My opponent says nothing that erodes the rule of law can be moral. But there is no rule of law in the Jim Crow south. Not when Negroes are denied housing. Turned away from schools, hospitals. And not when we are lynched. St Augustine said, "An unjust law in no law at all.' Which means I have a right, even a duty to resist. With violence or civil disobedience. You should pray I choose the latter.

Diego Rivera:My Personal Essay

When I first saw this piece of Rivera's artwork I was consumed in the complex way his eyes see the world. This whole painting is deep on so many levels. It is a painting of a scene in Mexico City. It is called Epic of the Mexican People-Mexico Today and Tomorrow,1934-35, Palacio Nacional, Mexico City. To me this picture is epic, it is a story. The first thing that caught my eye was all the different colors used through out the painting. It seems to look like there are many strikes and fights, and maybe some love, going on in Mexico City in the years of 1934-35. In the painting, if you notice, there is a banner being carried by a mob of mexican men. That banner reads, "HUELGA", translated to english this word means, "STRIKE". In the background there is a peace symbol which looks really similar to the Natzi symbol. Through all this poverty and wars there is always room for love. Rivera showed this in his painting. A love affair in plain sight is happening almost in the center of his painting.

This whole painting made me understand just a little bit more of the struggles endured in this world. The world isn't perfect. Ther are strikes for jobs, there are some wars that brake out between the same races or even with a lot of different races. What I learned the most is that there is love everywhere and there are no limits on the amount given to someone.