We have to learn to read every new novel, so the novel must be a series of lessons on how to read this one.
I'm thinking this means learning a new world. Sometimes they just jump right in to their creatures or magic or even way of thinking and you have to read a few chapters before you can actually grasp the concept.
I did suggest that one of my sons put some Mozart on his Walkman
I play classical music for my kids as they're going to sleep. It's calming and beautiful and I hope it helps them relax.
Stare at a Rembrandt or a Rodin or a Helen Levitt photograph long enough and afterward people look different: lovelier and more complex
I feel this way about music too. There could be a new song on the radio and I don't like it. After hearing it countless times I find myself singing along to it and even enjoying they lyrics or beat.
One of the things that most disturbs me about the way in which children may come to prefer electronic devices and video games to books
As an avid reader I make sure my children also develop a love of books. They get books for holidays and birthdays. They still love screen time but they also have their downtime with a book. Also, I read on my phone so they see me staring at my phone almost all day yet they still know that I'm reading.
It's true, or I want to believe it's true, that there is something humanizing about the intimacy a book creates between the author and the reader, between the reader and the character, something humanizing about experiencing the vision and work of another human being.
I've written a few short stories and I always feel like the characters come alive; like they have a mind of their own and they would or would not do certain things. Writing a character humanizes them so that the reader can relate to their problems or not.
What if reading were proved to be even healthier than exercise?
This would be amazing. I have stopped snacking as much at night now that I'm reading instead of watching TV so that's something.
I've always hoped that someone would fund a research project to measure the changes that occur in our brain waves when we lose ourselves in a book.
This would be a project I would sign up for. Would you get to pick the genre or does everyone have to read the same book?
I grew divorced from my body. Insecure, overweight, listless. On hot summer days when my rubber-soled shoes soaked up the heat from the sidewalk, I kept my head down. Or walked in the shade. My mother didn't need anymore to tell me to watch out for the sun. I denied myselfa sensational life.
This makes me incredibly sad. His life was severely diminished because of the careless words of another.
An aunt regularly called her dark child mi feito (my little ugly one)
I'm taking Spanish 1 right now and just learned that many families refer to their children as "mi feito" but not because of their skin tone. From what I've learned it was just another term of endearment.
And since she had the balls in the family, we identified–culturally–as Mexican
My mom tells me stories about her grandma who "identified-culturally-as Mexican" and that woman could also be described as the one with the "balls in the family" also.
we just kind of stank from the heat and dealt with it.
As boys do, because why would they care about smelling good when they could be outside playing.
“Thank you, Mommy, for putting me in that program,"
This made me tear up. It's always nice to know that your children appreciate what you do for them. Even if they don't want to do it in the first place.
I got first place and won a prize.
What an amazing accomplishment! Too bad they couldn't write it in their mother tongue and get the same result at that time.
Not once did anyone say speaking two languages was an asset, especially in a diverse country like ours
While I lived in Germany I was told that their schools require all students to know both English and German. Many of the people I met while there knew even more languages as well as those two. I wish America would require the same for elementary age children.
To my misfortune, the local elementary school I was enrolled in when I arrived in California didn't have a bilingual program or English as a Second Language (ESL) classes.
Even Texas in the 90's didn't have any ESL classes or even classes to teach elementary age children Spanish. Luckily Round Rock schools offer this and my children can learn Spanish as they grow.
Instead of ironing my younger brothers’ shirts or cleaning the cupboards, I would pass many hours studying, reading, painting, writing.
I too procrastinate with the best of them. Even at 33, I'd still rather be reading instead of washing the dishes.
Whenmost folks say they want to change the world they mean their own.
It's hard for the individual to see past their own problems. We all know that there is famine and pain out there. But we are experiencing it here as well. This line to me means that the world is not the entire 7 billion people on the planet but instead their own little bubble and that's what people mean when they say they want to change the world.
feartakeseverything
Breaking these up into one word lines leaves the reader taking a pause after each word. Hammering home the message.
the price of sufficient insulin
It's disgusting how expensive insulin when it is needed for so many just to live
that camouflage is no longer sexy
I think this might mean that sticking to the societal norms of her time no longer seems appealing, while the Aqua-Net hair spray brought nostalgia and comfort with its scent that times are changing and she is ready to break free from the pressure to be like the others.
oh, how we all believed it.
Because why wouldn't you believe what is taught to you by those who are supposed to lead and guide your education in the right direction.
(I’ve been quizzed on Texas history–history contrived in dark corridorsby darker still textbook committees.
This "white washing" of Texas history was still prevalent when I was learning it in the early 2000's
Outside, the dark cover of night toreas daybreak bloomed like a roseon a stem of thorns.
This is a beautiful way to foreshadow how his day will be. While the sunrise is as beautiful as a rose, the thorns are there to prick your fingers and show you that it is not something to take lightly.
I peek through the cactus fence
While he may live there, he is still not welcome to visit the beach, so he must spy on the tourists as they enjoy the waves and the sun.
With a wooden board he smoothsaway all footprints.
Every morning he erases any evidence of people having been there before the newest batch of tourists can visit the beach. Giving them the illusion that they are the first.
Then Feliz began laughing again, but it wasn’t Feliz laughing. It was gurgling out of her own throat, a long ribbon of laughter, like water.
Leading up to this I was happy to see that she was able to get away. But it wasn't the type of freedom that I thought. Instead she's turned into La Llorona.
Now this here is a real car.
She's almost amazed that this woman is able to own something considered masculine and she admires this.
La Llorona
https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1170907
This is the man I have waited my whole life for.
In denial thinking that this is what love is supposed to be like
She had always said she would fight back if a man, any man, were to strike her.
We all have these scenarios in our heads of how we would react up until the moment is actually upon us and we have a completely different reaction.
in this country you cannot let your baby walk around with no diaper
This is also common in Germany to just let your young children walk around with no bottoms. At many of the water parks we went to there were just naked little children under the age of 4 and nobody batted an eye.
Or walk to the cinema to see this week’s film again,
I also grew up in a small town. The theater only had one screen that would play one movie twice a night for a week before switching to a new one. Sometimes we would go to the theater just to get nachos or a pickle since it was homemade.
I am your father, I will never abandon you.
The love of a parent is eternal and her father is saying that if she ever leaves her new husband that he will always be there for her no matter what.
And it will be my work to listen to them—while I work, while I live, while I love you, while life moves forward. And when you’re ready to see our Ruby, I’ll bring you here.
I love that he was able to find peace with his gift and feels confident enough to share with his wife. I think being able to see his lost daughter helped to ease his transition into accepting that he can hear and now see the dead.
phantom warmth smaller than the palm of my hand over my heart.
This is alluding to the loss of a child too soon, he wakes in a panic, patting his chest as if he's searching for the child he was holding in his dreams.
I sleep on the nights you’re home with me.
It's as if this is the only time he can get any decent rest. When his wife is home in his arms he can finally quiet his mind enough to drown out the voices if only for a couple hours.
Joaquín,
The name Joaquín has many meanings according to google. It could mean, "established by God," "raised by Yahweh," "God is gracious," and many others. I think that the meaning leans more towards "God will judge" for this reading.
I worked I sweatedI bledI prayed and waited silently for life to begin again.
Here we begin to see a rise in the feelings this story can elicit in the reader. We are shown that while life can be hard there is always someone out there fighting for something better.
The crown was gone but all its parasites remained and ruled and taughtwith gun and flame and mystic power.
They were able to find freedom from the Spanish after so long yet they still remained oppressed by those who were left behind. The little people were still little in the eyes of those with a small amount of power.
I withdraw to the safety within thecircle of life– MY OWN PEOPLE.
Seeing how he has such feelings of hate for the American man he decides to look towards the past at his own people and how they dealt with the problems that were thrown their way.
I must choose betweenthe paradox ofvictory of the spirit,despite physical hunger, orto exist in the graspof American social neurosis,sterilization of the souland a full stomach.
Here we see the struggle that the author is feeling. Continue to embrace his heritage as a proud Mexican man or assimilate to the American way in order to continue to survive.
And now the trumpet sounds,the music of the people stirs the revolution.
There is always a light at the end of the tunnel. The trumpet sounding is there to ignite a sense of right and unite the people for a common goal.
I am still here!
The entire story has felt like he is saying he will persevere and his culture will live on regardless of all the hardships thrown their way. This line just solidifies that feeling, "I am still here!" he almost shouts that he cannot be beaten down.