No Trace

                In Albrook there was a big valley that was full of green trees and nature was abundant. It is recognizable that for that intention it was called Green Valley. This place had never been inhabited by man until progress reached it and its green forest became roads. In the forest there was a small river which inside had a cave in which water didn’t reach because of the flow it carried. This river was the home for many creatures and the water hydrated the animals.

                Before Green Valley became a complex of duplexes full of playing children, the hidden cave was the home of a family of Noriega oppositions that could never leave. This people weren’t brave enough to confront the dictatorship, but they weren’t cowardly enough to leave the place in which their family had lived for many years. The cave was a decent home which will absorb light and was big enough for a small family to live. During the morning they will come out and kill animals for food. They will get wood to make small fires which smoke will be absorbed by the humidity, but the flame wasn’t.

                The US invaded Panama and Noriega was taken out. Panama was still in shambled by this, but Noriega was gone. The family didn’t have any communication with the world so they kept living in the cave. They had become used to drinking water off the stream, using broken coconut shells as glasses; the sweet smell of blood was as good as a CH perfume. The kids had grown as tigers, carefully watching the animals get near the steam for necessity, and then stabbing them with sharp pieces of rocks. They were wild, they were untamed, they were self-sufficient, but they weren’t immortal. When construction started the rocks on top of the cave were flattened by digging equipment and other building items. The roof of the cave broke, making the cave collapse. No one knew of the family, and no one knew what happened to them. Were the old steam stood, there is mansion. Around are a set of duplexes were human families live. No one knows what happened beneath their feet.

Guilt

                In the chapter “The Man I killed/Ambush” the narrator is O’Brian. There is a small difference between the narrations of the two chapters. In “The Man I killed” O’Brian refrains from using the word “I”, as to make the entire chapter about the man he killed instead of himself. In “Ambush” things are very different because the chapter focuses in his point of view and on how he felt and also what happened that led him to kill the man.  Especially in “The Man I killed”, the man that O’Brian killed is described not only by his physic but by his life. Many intimate details as his young life, career, and love life are given my O’Brian even though there is no way for him to certainly know this information.

                O’Brian makes a judgment of the man he killed judging in his appearance and the fact that he is from Vietnam. He generalizes him with other Vietnamese that go into the war because their parents trained them to protect the land. O’Brian feels so responsible for his death that his brain plays the old trick on him in which one over analyzes something and makes it worst for you than how it already was. He is just feeling guilty for what he has done so he makes that guilt even bigger by thinking of how the life that he has ended could have gone. This makes him feel guiltier than what he already is and that is what he wanted to do, to feel guilty because that is what he feels a normal person should do. In a concise way, the details come from his guilty mind.

The Song Tra Bong

                Mary Anne comes to the war as an innocent and sweat girl that is in love with Mark Fossie, a war paramedic in a camp. While the story evolves we learn that the more time she spends in Vietnam the more she changes. She was very refined and she becomes part of Vietnam and very savage, worse than a soldier. She becomes a killer and we know this because she has a necklace which is full of human tongues and she helped in an ambush with the Special Forces. She becomes a killer because all the gore and the war lured her in because it was interesting. She wanted to know more about the war and about Vietnam until she became Vietnam, cold, killer, evil, always doing the opposite you think it is going to do, and she becomes an animal. The main reason why the character that goes through a change is a woman is because it shows how grave the situation is. Also in the time period that war took place people were very sexist and for them the idea of having women in war was considered stupid. Woman are said to be more mellow and less violent which really shows how much Vietnam may change a person—a women to a monster. Also in the past there was a belief that if a woman was a president she will be against war because it was said that women didn’t believe in killing or will never allow violence. This story goes completely against that tradition, showing the opinion of O’Brian that sexism is stupid.

                Rat Kiley is the narrator of this story because it is very likely that if the character O’Brian said the story, the reader will believe that the story is just the reflection of the author’s opinion (author also called O’Brian).  The story told by Rat fits the criteria of if it is a true war story because it is hard to separate what happened to what seemed to happen. Many things in the story can be seen in another way. An example is the disappearance of Mary Anne. All we know is that she was never seen again. What we think happened is that she became part of Vietnam and is walking around the forest, but she could have also been killed. Things like this and many other lead me to think that “Sweetheart in the Song Tra Bong” is a true war story. 

Hurting Peace Back

When O’Brian says “All that peace man, it felt so good it hurt. I want to hurt it back”, he means that peace makes them weak after they have been in so much death and problems. Peace can make them weaker because they became unfamiliar to the problems that they have been thru. Peace is defined in the passage probably as a weakness. A person at peace will probably not survive in a battle field because they will not want to attack other people. Peace can get them out of shape because if they are too relaxed, they may not be in the physical conditions to go back to war. During the war this men were at constant stress and grew unaccustomed to sit down and take a nap. Even in R&R they are stressed knowing that this is just temporal and in short time it will be ripped out of their hands. As many people say, one doesn’t lament what they never knew. By going to a moment of peace after they have been in death and explosions, they are probably going to lament that peace was just temporal.

In the Vietnam War men were obligated to fight for their country without a choice. As said before in the book, they always have to be careful of where they step because there may be a mine that will blow them in pieces. Peace it probably never fully achieved even though they are playing checkers. There is always someone with their guards up because a person may always throw a grenade to their fox-hole.  One of the most horrible things these soldiers experience the change between calm to afraid that even taking a leak you are going to be shot in the head. For these men being in a peaceful place will be great for some time. The problem occurs when they remember that this peace is probably temporal and in short time they will home to go to the battle field were they will encounter more death and fear. This is like giving freedom to someone and when they are starting to discover all the benefits of it, take is away from that person. By hurting is back they are saying that they are going to probably leave it until the war is done for them to never have to feel hoaxed again. 

War Letters

Dear Mom,

                If you just knew how much I miss you; I miss the many hours we watched Hawaii Five-O and Criminal Minds together, the jokes, the sarcasm. I miss the long and private conversations that we will only have in the gray Montero with a Dismay plaque and with the name Mickey. I miss how the name of the car will change to Mini when we went off-road and the car will start skating, only because you never remembered to turn on the AWD. I miss how I will make a chocolate shake and I will offer you one but you will say that it will do you bad to the stomach. How you will take my glass and drink half of the liquid even thought I offered to prepare you one.

                I am sure that you are praying for me from Panama, in the house that never was too big but never too small. Nick is probably now only another small china pot on a shelf. I hope that things have be quiet and relaxing at home. I know you will not believe me but here it is also very calm. The only thing we do all day is to march around some woods. We have never seen an armed opponent. We only carry some assault riffles if something happens but the only reason they have us here in war is for us to walk around with guns to scare others. I know you heard in the news that Francisco died. I know you are scared that the same thing will happen to me but he didn’t die as you think. He got malaria because the idiot forgot to drink his pills. I drink the pills every day so I am not in danger of getting sick.

                Mom, I am sure you are scared of my safety but I can assure you that I am coming back in one piece and you are going to be so proud of me when I obtain a bunch of medals. After this is all over I am leaving the army and will become a lawyer, have a calm job. I appreciate that you are scared of my safety but I know how to take care of myself. I am not the boy that grabbed an umbrella and jumped down the wall thinking I will fall gently as Marry Popping.  In some months I will be sent back home for some vacation in which all the things that we used to do together will be resumed. We will go to the double decker in London, go to South Africa—I will ride and ostrich as I always wanted—, go to Alaska, we will do anything he always wanted to do. This is a promise and I will not break it.

Sincerely, Harmodio

                I chose to write to my mother because she is the closest person I am in my family. She is the person that I can tell everything and she will accept it. With my dad there are many things that I can’t tell him because he is very closed-minded. I can’t tell him ant idea I have because it is very likely that he will disprove it or tell me to do what I want—which means don’t do it. I have decided to not share a lot of information about what really is happening in the war but about the past or about the future. Also I tried to reassure Mom that there is no risk at all to try to make her feel better. Information as the real reason of why one of the soldiers died was hidden to try to convince my mother that there is no risk. Most information about the war is omitted. I know that my love ones are going to know that it is a lie but it is still better to omit such information.

The Things I carry

               We carry lots of things every single day. Some are heavier than others. Some are more important. What we carry depends on different factors. Sex and beliefs are things that change a lot what we carry. A woman is most likely to carry lipstick and super thin Kotex®. A man’s items are changed because of machismo and other things. A man may carry a pocketknife, thick watch. Other men may carry condoms with them. Your age change what you carry too. As an infant one carries, sweeping thru the floor, their beloved blanket. Until six my now-to-small, thick, hot blanket with a picture of the Hunchback of Notre Dame—a movie that I have never seen— will be my cape, my tent, my shield in courageous battles against dragons… overall, my friend. The things I carry have changed a lot. Toys and videogames aren’t anymore in a bag that I took everywhere. Pokémon DS games that followed me are now in a shelf accumulating dust.

               I carry many things with me wherever I go, even thought in the moments I most need them I don’t not carry them. In my school backpack I carry my notebooks in which all my annotations and information are guarded. I carry either my iPad or laptop .The iPad is used in days were it is least likely to work in an important computer document and to be able to have something lighter. My laptop is used for things that need something more helpful than an iPad. With my laptop I am able to do more than one thing at the same time and do more complex things as big documents, projects, or running applications such as Wordly Wise. I also carry my blue and sharp pocket knife. The only reason I have it is because my old one broke in pieces and I needed one for a camp. Walking through a cheap store I saw a pretty blue, foldable knife that had a price of five dollars. My old one used to cost twenty dollars and will never be as good as this one. I carry my wallet everywhere because my mother is sure that one day I am going to go to school and come back home in a body bag. It doesn’t matter if it is to sleep or to go to the movies, I have to have about three different insurance cards— Assa, Metro Blue, CSS. I carry my cell phone which everyday is more a burden because it obligates me to talk with people I do not want to talk to. My phone will ring in the most unexpected and interrupting times, making be receive angry calls from my parents telling me I am lazy, from my mom making sure that I haven’t died yet, my grandfather wanting me to arrange a taxi, people that should understand that if eight times I close their calls they are to stop calling, and most-than-all calls from different services mad because my father hasn’t paid and costumers of my father saying that his workers are fooling around.

               From this list one of the items that I carry voluntarily is my pocket knife. It probably isn’t allowed in the school but also other classmates have little Swiss. It stays taking a nap in my locker at the start of the day and travels home with me in my bag. It is their as a tool that can be helpful at all moments. In the bus the driver needed a tool to cut something for his son, another bus driver, and my pocketknife was ready to do its function. It makes me feel safe even thought months have passes since the last time I sharpened the blade, know it is dull and the only thing that still cuts is the point— which has served as a screw driver because I am too lazy to go down stairs and get one. She has been my friend for a long time now— she because she reminded me to something Jeremy Clarkson in Top Gear said about three cars (three knifes I had) and how he described them (for me that knife was like the Aston Martin Rapid he was talking about). I do not take it absolutely every were because of the nature of the item, but it follows me to many locations.

               An item I didn’t mention but I use everyday are my glasses. I am completely blind without them. It will not be surprising if I followed another person thinking it was my mother—once even a car (In my defense she was wearing red which happened to be the color of the sedan). If I do not have them on I feel helpless and probably will not do a good job compared to if I was using my glasses. I am able to see objects that are close but it still makes me dizzy to read without my glasses. I need my sight to do every action. I never have left my glasses home because it has become an instinct for me to grab them every morning when I wake up. As you can imagine they are all twisted and broken by the time I get other glasses— which most of the time have the same ache. They are my partner were ever I go and they feel the same pain as I do when I am shot with a dodge ball in the face. They have survived punches, kick, falls, mud, water, sea water, more falls, scratches, and even more falls. They have survived more than my body that lately has been broken or injured week after another. When I was small I hated to use them because the disadvantage of wearing glasses and being the first in your third grade class is to be annoyed every single day of my existence and even today some four-eyed joke—a joke I don’t not find very funny— appears. As the maps that Jimmy Cross caries, without my glasses I will not know where to go.  

What do I know of the Vietnam War

               I have heard the name Vietnam War lots of times, yet I still didn't know anything about it. For me I didn't need a reason to accept or deny if the war should have happened. I will never say that and I know that wars like this happen because us humans tend to be inclined to violence and to do wars for the most ridiculous of the reasons: color, religion, beliefs, among other. As other classmates did to fill a little space of the chart about what he know form the Vietnam War, I only wrote that it took place in Vietnam and the U.S. was involved. Today things were different because we learned something about the Vietnam War—more than any history teacher had taught me.

               I learned why there was such a big fuss about the Vietnam War, people knew what has really happening because they could sit and see through TVs the killing that was taking place. Because people didn't want to enlist in the army and fight, there was a raffle by birthday in which the winner of the raffle has to participate in the war. Poor and middle class young men were the ones that were most likely to have to enlist because the rich could afford to go to college (if you were in collage you don’t have to enlist) or to move to Canada were they were safe. Many young men that could have a good future were sent to die in front lines. For the first time in many years people really knew what was happening in the battle field instead of the propaganda given by the government.

               The saddest part for me was to learn that the only reason why this war took place was because Vietnam was dividing into a capitalist part and into a communist part. The leader of the communist part, Ho Chi Minh, was very nice and liked by the people but the leader in the capitalist part was a dictator that did what was good for him. This made the communist party stronger because more people of the capitalist side moves to be free form dictatorship but were allowed to practice their believes, no need to convert to communist. The U.S. got involved in this war because they thought communism was horrible and they couldn’t permit another country to practice this. This is caused by the domino effect belief that if Vietnam practiced communism everyone will start practicing communism. At the end most of Vietnam joined to attack the U.S. and used guerilla warfare to win. The U.S. retreads at the end because it was costly and say that it was helpless.

Free Verse Project

O Gather Me the Rose

O gather me the rose, the rose, 

While yet in flower we find it, 

For summer smiles, but summer goes, 

And winter waits behind it. 

For with the dream foregone, foregone, 

The deed foreborn forever, 

The worm Regret will canker on, 

And time will turn him never. 

So were it well to love, my love, 

And cheat of any laughter 

The fate beneath us, and above, 

The dark before and after. 

The myrtle and the rose, the rose, 

The sunshine and the swallow, 

The dream that comes, the wish that goes 

The memories that follow!

William Ernest Henley

More Free Verse Projects

Color Colectives

Glacier White

Benjamin Moor OC-37

The glacier desolated,

 The last frontier.

No trees could survive,

The harshest weather.

A puny polar bear,

Paced past,

The dead trees.

Looking for,

Food to feed.

The old strong,

Glacier’s peak

Broke and tumble,

Down the cold sea.

Crack, creu, crek!

It broke

To shards

Small as

Sand.

In the glacier,

Was the cave,

Which the bear

Called home.

The bear remembers

The time when

His mother

Was alive.

The trees that

Now are dead.

Used to be

Green in all

Their glory.

Flowers sang,

Birds talked,

The bear chased

The rabbit.

The deer fought,

In a playful manner,

Against the other.

Life had changed,

So had the bear.

He walked thru,

The cold desert,

He calls home.

Humans will never come,

To rescue the poor bear

And save his from

The misery.

The brave baby bear,

Is trapped

In an iceberg.

Waiting,

Waiting for help,

Help from the benevolent mother

Death

Or from the mean

Mother survival.

The bear waits.

More Color Collectives

Were I'm From

Where I’m From

By Harmodio Harris

I am from coins and ice cream,

From Coca-Cola and Pentel.

I am from the barks and meows.

I am from the palm tree,

The papos.

From long hours

Playing with Nick and Flappy,

Chiqui licking my face.

From playing in the mud,

Ruining brand-new white shirts.

Playing catch with dogs,

That don’t know a lot.

From petting cats,

That will later make my eyes itch.

From trying to pet a bird,

Which’s only goal is to bite me.

From long hours talking to a bird

That doesn’t understand me.

From making circuits,

For my hamster to race,

At the end a yellow reward awaits.

I am from long debates and work,

From Pablo and Melissa,

From the political sound Arias,

And rising high Harris.

From shut up

 And let me finish.

From hair-pulling and screaming.

From it is Sunday

And long hours.

From take this,

And bring that.

From stop talking,

I will not.

I am from cries and screams,

From $75 drinks.

I am from lifter dirt.

From long grass,

Holding dangerous surprises.

From exploring the places,

Which they had told me not.

From sleeping in a bag,

Facing the stars.

From cooking with a small fire,

Some foil paper.

From climbing trees,

Take their fruit,

Let the sugary juices overflow.

I’m from Panama City and Harmodio Harris,

White rise and ropa vieja.

From the red, blue, and white,

From holding the flag.

From singing the anthem in the house.

From reading the constitution.

From the time my great grandfather

Was away of his home,

From the anger my father stored,

Since he was small.

Inside a DVD,

Hid the pictures of family smiles

And family cries.

My dad hairs getting grayer,

My mother’s face becoming wrinkle.

The pictures couldn’t fade,

But the fake smiles did.

Back to more poems

Without Dreams Life is Ashes

Description:  Dreams are fountain of energy for a human. Without dreams life is nothing. Dreams are the only thing that gives humans a reason to strive higher. Authors usually talk about dreams in their work and the importance of dreaming. In this works they explain their dreams and how important dreams are to humans.

Synopsis:

Poems that capture the biggest dreams in humanity.

Poetry:

Dreams by Langston Hughes

Dream Variations by Langston Hughes

A Little Root of a Dream by Paul Celan

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod by Eugene Field
I Dream... by Tsunami HiroshiSu
My Dear Dream by Anees Akbar
Birds Appearing In A Dream by Michael Collier
The Captive's Dream by Anne Bronte

Racism in the 21st Century

                On February 26, 2012, a horrible hate crime occurred. Trayvor Martin, only 17-years-old, was murdered when he came back from a convenient stop with a bag of snacks. He was a good kid, a loved son, but had black skin. The killer was a self-appointed watchman of the community that Martin lived in. The watchman is named George Zimmerman, age 28, which carried a concealed weapon without any permit or authority. He killed Martin because he claims that he was acting “suspicious”. This so said “suspicious” was just a shield for his racism. The teenager was walking in the night with items in his hands and was clad by a hooded sweat shirt.

                This was a complete act of racisms because just because a black kid was walking in the night with a hooded sweat shirt it doesn’t mean that he is going to do something bad. It is believed that Zimmerman had chased Martin around the neighborhood before he shot and killed him. Zimmerman also claims that Martin possessed suspicious items with him. When he was found the only things he had in his property were a bag of Skittles and a can of ice tea. It is evident that there is no evidence that Zimmerman had any reason to shot this kid that showed no danger to a member of the community where he lived.  This is a hate crime and the police can’t just let Zimmerman free because he promises that he did this in self defense.

                This case clearly shows that prejudice has led to injustice. This was not only a small injustice; an innocent boy was killed and the killer is out in the streets not feeling the least bit of regret. I ask you this; if your kid was killed because you are Latino wouldn’t you want the killer to go to jail? If your kid was killed because you are poor wouldn’t you want to see the killer in jail? Imagine if you child was killed because of the smallest stereotype and the killer was left free, wouldn’t you be mad and demand for justice? Martin’s parents have felt like this because their precious son was killed. They are demanding for justice which will most likely be the same thing you will d it this happened to you.

                It is our responsibility as civilized people that we are to protect the innocent; however, we strive to attack the innocent instead of the bad. We have to attack someone- which has caused humanity lots of conflicts that could he fixed other wise or would had never happen. If we call ourselves civilianized people in that case why are we killing people of our own race without any apparent reason? Elephants march in a group and enclose in a circle the small offspring for them to be protected of the depredator that trey to eat the small. Shouldn’t be better that any other animal? Shouldn’t we protect the innocent and the helpless as other animals do? Jails were made to incarcerate people that are a threat to society away for no innocent life to be affected. Killers are put in jail because what they have do is wrong and they can be a rick to innocent people. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee in page 103 Atticus, the father of the children, tells them that if they are going to shoot birds that it is okay if they shoot at a blue jay but that it is a sin to hit a mockingbird. Later in the chapter another character explains the children why it is considered a sin to shoot a mockingbird; mockingbirds don’t do anything bad to society and in occasions sing for the people. This part talks about how people that are pacific and that don’t do anything bad to society are unfairly treated. Martin was the mockingbird and Zimmerman committed a sin.

                I believe that in a way Zimmerman killed Martin because he didn’t understand how a black kid could be in the night dressed like that and not be doing something bad. He probably was instructed differently about blacks in his house when he was small and that may had motivated him to do such a horrible things. I am not explaining his act and he should still be punished but he was instructed one way and that motivated him. When humanity finds out about something that they don’t understand we tend to freak out and respond in violent of weird ways. For example when I was in the Wolf room and Lucas Wubochen spray blue hair paint on m hair I didn’t understand and reacted in a weird way and punched him. It is natural from a human to react differently when he doesn’t understand something but that doesn’t means that the person shouldn’t be punished.

                The main thing that actually influenced this injustice was that Martin was stereotyped by his gender- being black. Lots of problems and human reactions happen when we encounter people and judge them by their way of being. Some women may think a man is a rapist if she is walking in the dark and a man in hooded sweatshirt walks to their direction. Someone may think that someone is alcoholic or drug addict if he or she is homeless and poorly dressed. We judge people when we see them and it is something that is very bad but in a way it is a protection because it tells us when to be ready to defend ourselves. Zimmerman felt that Martin was up to no go and that is why he killed him but that was an exaggeration. We have the instinct to judge someone to for us to be ready to defend them but he didn’t defend himself because Martin never did something bad. This are the reasons why I be live that Zimmerman should be taken to trial under the charge of carrying a concealed weapon and murder in the second degree were he will be in jail for 25 to life- I hope it is for life.

The Sky is Falling

                                                                        

            Today something very weird thing happened in Maycomb County. Today Mrs. Radley died and Atticus went to their house to tell them that he was sorry for their loss. According to Atticus her death was imminent- she was extremely old. I interrogated Atticus to find out what he knew about Boo Radley. He was very meticulous with what he answered; he didn’t want me and Jem to try again to get Boo out of the house. At the end he just told me that he did not see him.

Next morning when I woke up I had probably the biggest chill I ever had in my life. When I woke up I ain’t felt the sweltering climate there is everyday in Maycomb. The moment my feet had contact with the floor a chill ran thru my body. I looked at the window next to my room and saw the most bizarre thing I ever saw. I thought the sky was falling; I didn’t know what the white particles that were falling were. It seemed as if the world was ending. Had the world gone in a state of anarchy?  I screamed till Atticus and Jem came to help me. Atticus told me that it was snow and it was something that happens all over the world only that it is very weird for it to happen in Maycomb. He said there had been an elapse of many years since the last snow fall in Maycomb County. Ten minutes passed until I was able to assimilate what they were saying.

            There was no school that day because this was very weird and the school wasn’t ready for this. Jem and I conspired to build a snowman but we didn’t had enough snow so we got some from Miss Maudie’s backyard. After that we still didn’t had enough so Jem made the snowman out of mud and the covered it with snow to make it a snowman instead of a mudman. We made it look as Mr. Avery because Jem kind of lionized him since we saw him peeing. I was scared that Atticus will get mad at us because of the piness  it had. I was sure that he was going to have a strong dissension about us making as snowman with a piness. I was impressed when he didn’t scream at us but told us that we were to disguise him. I that weird day nothing worth to tell happen.

            I the middle of the night Atticus woke me and stared putting in my clothes on me. I didn’t know why he was waking me up that early until I apprehended what was happening. I asked him and he answered with two words: Miss Maudie. Jem and I were taken outside of the house and next doors Atticus and other men from the county were taking what they could from Miss Maudie’s house. I wanted to go there and helped them but the Atticus instruction of not moving shackled me in my spot. What was happening was a real calamity, all the house was burning down. I thought that snow was made out of water but apparently it can cause a fire. Well, at least Miss Maudie didn’t get hurt in the fire. I was so cold while I was outside that Jem and I were hugged to maintain body heat.

            After that Atticus made hot coco for Jem and me for us to heat up. While we drank the coco Atticus asked me from where I got the blanket. I didn’t know what was he talking about until I saw mi elbows. I said that I didn’t know from where it came. In a couple of minutes we were able to solve the mystery apparently the person the placed the blanket on top of me was nobody less than Boo Radley. I was amazed that he had placed the blanket on top of me. I also couldn’t believe that the only moment he went out of his house I didn’t pay attention to him and didn’t even see him. Jem confessed of all the things we had done and also about going to the Radley’s house. I believe that Atticus had had enough action that day because he didn’t get mad at us. For the rest of the night he just talked about his cases and about how his client was being arraigned tomorrow.

            That next day Atticus didn’t obligate us to go to school because he knew we were tiered from what had happened yesterday. We played outside of the house for the majority of the day. We spotted Miss Maudie going to her incinerated garden she didn’t look as sad as we expected. To our amazement she said that it wasn’t that bad that her house had burned. She said that she always wanted a bigger garden and a smaller house. I looked at Jem funny and he whispered in my ear: that is just Miss Maudie. 

20 Years of Silence

Dear June,

February 15, 1984

            Hello June! 20 years have elapsed since we talked or wrote to each other. How have things been for you and for Neil? What does Neil do for a living? The news says that Indiana is sweltering- you should be feeling as home. I also heard that lots of people in the place you live lionize you for your music. August told me that you have gotten lots of money as a musician because you joined an orchestra and became the lead chelist. Is it true that you are writing songs to make your first record? Oh sorry- this is embarrassing- this seems like an interrogation.

            I want to go visit you to finally meet your daughter, October. I cried the day August told me that you named her as I wanted to be named. I didn’t know that you knew that I wanted to be called October- to have a calendar name as you and your sisters. I don’t know how tell or show you how happy I am. For this reason I am telling you that I love you in four ways. Te amo. Ek is life vir jou. I love you. Je t´aime.

I also want to give you a small heads up about my life. After Zack came from the north- after he became a lawyer- we got married, which was imminent. We are living with August- taking care of the bee farm, as you know if there is no queen in the hive things will get in a state of anarchy. I have been very meticulous about the bee farm because if something happened to the bees I will never pardon my self. I also became an author but wile I am not writing books I work in the farm. My first book was about the moment in which Zach was apprehended. I gave you a copy of that book and a copy of my second book- hope it already was delivered to your house. My second book was about the prohibited love between Zack and me, I hope you read it. For a third book Zach and me are conspiring together to right about how white and black people can be as successful as white people. Oh dear I am getting out of topic. What was I talking about? Oh yes abut me getting married with Zach.  For most of the people in the town it was bizarre for them to see a white woman and a black man married- those people can’t assimilate that love is colorless. T. Ray did not come to the wedding because he felt dissension about the idea of me getting merry to a black man. Oh I forgot to tell you that T. Ray was arraign because he assaulted a women back in Sylvia.

I almost forgot to tell you very good news! I am pregnant! Also the most important thing is that if it is a she we will call her May- just like old May. I still feel that May dying has been calamitous- after a year of May’s death August started crying when she passed near May’s wall. The problem is that if it is a boy we don’t know how to call him. Zack and I don’t want to be the type of family in which every son or daughter is called as his or he parents. Maybe you can write back to me with a good name. Well please answer me back and lest see if I can arrange a visit to your house one day to see your daughter. I will also like to figure out a way for you to come here to meet my child when it is born.

Love, Lily

Memoir in a Song: Dime Luna

Dime Luna

Dime luna,
Por me mira siempre así,
Y dime luna,
Es que yo no, no te puedo ocultar,
Oh, no, no, no,
Luna me haces recordar.

Te he perdido,
Y me desecho de todos tus recuerdos,
Cartas disco fotos, mi amor
Todo ya lo tire, o lo oculte,
Pero la luna sigue ahí.

Ya, cambie de mundo para olvidarla,
Me fui hasta Madrid, El Cairo y New York,
Ya he quitado todos sus recuerdos pero yo,
No le puedo olvidar.

Ahí esta, la luna,
Como se podría quitar del cielo, la luna,
Como se podría arrancar pa siempre del cielo,
Y así librarme yo, de este anhelo.

Hey dime luna,
Porque me mira no será q estarás enamorada,
Que no te puedo ocultar,
Oh, no, no, no,
Luna me haces recordar.

Te he perdido,
Ya regale tu perro, tu guitarra, tus anillos,
Ya evite tus calles, tus antros, tus amigos,
Pero yo no puedo, no, no, no, quitar la luna.

Ya, me he sumergido en una caracola,
Me fui hasta el Tibet y el fondo del mar,
Ya, he quitado todos sus recuerdos,
No le puedo olvidar.

Ahí esta, la luna,
Como se podría quitar del cielo, la luna,
Como se podría arrancar pa siempre del cielo,
Y así librarme yo, de este anhelo.

What did I do for Carnival Vacation

I find it very fun to see what people do for their carnival vacation here in Panama. People do all spurts of things in carnivals, for example some people go to the culecos and get wet. Other people realize that they finally have a week of vacation so they go and do something with their family. Other people are boring and stay in their houses seeing people having fun in their TVs. Other teenaged with no life- sorry but it is true- stay in their houses and play games like Skyrim, Halo, and Call of Duty. I thank my parents for not getting me a PS3 because if not I will be like that.

Well by know you should be wondering what I did for my carnival vacation. Well this is just Tuesday so I didn’t had a lot of time to do a lot of stuff, to tell you the truth. I just came to Taboga, which is the Panamanian version of Hawaii. I come hear every year and have the same pattern:

1.      Come here and go to the beach. Check

2.      My grandma will nag me about something and I will get mad. Check

3.      I will play with my cousins. Check.

4.      Be with family members- and to tell you the truth I don’t know the names of most of them. Check

5.      Do something stupid that will injure me or hurt me in some way. Sadly, Check.

To tell you the truth even I felt that the patter is boring as I wrote it but it actually is very fun, at least most of it. The part that is hate but seems to come to stay is the part of doing something stupid that will injure or hurt me. Oh, and yes I have tried to stop doing stupid things that will injure me but it did not work. Last year they were repairing a park were their way a monument and they had all the metals and materials laying on the floor- what a danger e? The thing is that to make it worst the workers were training to get a fancy cement fence to paste with the other older part of the fence but the cement will not past. So they decided to tie a metal rope from to the fence and to a tree in the park for it to stay their, stationary. What happened is that I was running in the park playing with my dousing and- guess what? I fell down and almost broke my hip. I had to be some hours in the little clinic they have their being connected to the IV liquid.

Well let me get to the point of what happened or is happening this time. Yesterday I was a lot of time riding in my Ripstick, taking turns with my cousins. In the might I felt a little pain in my crouch but I didn't think it was important. Today when I woke up I had a big pain in my crouch but I was embarrassed to say anything. When I grabbed my little cousin, Erasmo, and placed him in my back for him to act as he was in a horse-I almost cried. I didn't know why because I have always done it and did it the day before. I that moment my crouch hurt like he'll. To make a long story short Mom took me to the clinic because she saw that I was in pain and made me tell her. When we got their, I found out that when I was in the Ripstick I injured a tendon and that is what has doused the pain. I had to be injected and now I have to drink some medicine. Also to finish carnivals with a golden bow vacation and fun are over for me. I have to relax and stay in bed for it to cure fast for me to go to my scout camp.

Well it is not that bad and in addition tomorrow I am going to the mainland and I will just have a couple of friends over. Now I am going to leave because I have to read my Spanish book and I am not very eager to do that. I read two English books and read my scout manual 5 times but I don't want to read to God dam Spanish book. Well I hope most of you had a better vacation. See you in Comedy Theater.

Learning to Understand The Problem we all live with

This historical painting was painted by Norman Rockwell. This painting portrays Ruby Bridges, on of the first African American children that went to a integrated school, as she walks to her school. This painting is called The Problem we all live with. This painting was painted in 1964. This painting portrays Ruby as she enters her school in the morning. She is only six-year-old She is being escorted by four white federal marshals to the school. They are walking by a wall which is painted with the words “nigger”. Behind her their is a stain in the wall of a tomato and such tomato in the floor. Also in a wall there are “K” painted in the wall, meaning the Ku Klux Klan. A detail is that only the face of the Rudy appears in the painting and the on of he escorts are cut off.

            When you see this painting you are able to see the sufferment of people that have black skin. You feel how cruel is the men, abusing on another men because they have a different pigment of skin. I felt sad and depressed, not proud of being white when I saw the pain that people of the same color of my skin made a poor six-year-old girl pass. I also feel jealous, jealous of the braveness of that poor six-year-old had. Not crying- something that I would have done is I was in her position. She was portrait strong, walking straight-backed and proud- not a sign of fear in her face. The artist is probably trying to show how bad the African Americans are treated when they claim their rights.

            In the painting the faces of the federal marshals that were accompanying Ruby were excluded, probably done to have all the attention in Ruby. I feel that the color were bright because it is telling that it is a good day because the segregation in the schools are being abolished. At the same moment the stains of tomato is showing that some people are not happy of the change that is happening. I think that this painting is made in a neutral point of view. 

Vacation Journal #6: No Cheese in my Sandwich

Monday

            You know what makes me start hating vacation? It is food. When I am at school the maid has to cook something new and food is constant. I like that I have to eat at 6:00am, at 11:00, and at 7:00. For some reason I like when there is consistency in my meal times. When their school Mom buys food constantly but when we are on vacation she will not because we will probably go in a trip and the food will get ruined. The problem is that in vacations all you want to do is to eat a lot of crap wile you see a lot of TV. I am starting to miss school, which is something I never thought of saying at all. I am tired of all the time with my father, the problem with his is that he is annoying if you are with him for a lot of time and I am scared of him.

            This morning I woke up late and breakfast hour was over but I wanted to eat something. My father was at the kitchen cooking supper and he got mad because I was making it hard for him to get his ingredients. He was annoying me and I could not make my sandwich as I wanted. At the end I ate a sandwich that only had ketchup and mayonnaises. It sucked compared to what I had as a vision of the sandwich I wanted to do.

            The rest of the day I had to try on all my clothing because Mom wants me to give my old clothing to my cousins. She got the idea after the family party we had the 24^th of December. She saw that my cousins were dressed in a lousy way. My uncle doesn’t what to buy clothing for them because his ex-girlfriend doesn’t want to lend them to him. Someway he got her to let him have his sons for the holydays. Well I am getting out of topic. The point is that I hate having to try all my clothes and pick the wants I want to stay with. I like the idea of giving clothing but I find it so tedious. It was 5:00pm when we finished cleaning our clothing.

            In the night Mom took me to the Arrocha to buy Grandpa’s birthday gift. We got him a wallet because his is very beaten up. We decided to choose one that has a lot of slots for pictures because he has a lot of pictures of my sister. I don’t know why but he is balnes about her, he even gave her an expensive car as a gift. Again I am getting out of topic. When Mom used the machines to tae money out she got frustrated because the transaction happened but it didn’t give it money. Thanks to god the problem got fixed but it took hours for the gift to get wrapped. When we got home it was already past dinner hour and the only thing their was to eat was leftovers and personally I didn’t like what my father cooked for lunch. I started getting the things I usually put in my sandwich but I had no cheese. NO CHEESE! Who can survive without cheese? I love cheese. It is created from love, and majesty of the cows. It is full of crabs and it taste is excellent. Not only that but their was no ham. I had to use cheeses from a bar to be able to have cheese in my sandwich. If you see it you can see it has nothing. Well it is not all bad because no cheese in my sandwich means that probably I am going on a trip. The good part in this entry is that I was right; I am going on a trip. This Wednesday I am going to El Valle and to a special ceremony in which they are going to transport Arnulfo’s remaining to a different place.

            P.S: Sorry that I haven’t been able to do a post in such a lot of time. I will be posting a special entry in which I will talk of the days and share special stuff.