My Reading Life.

1. Did I meet my reading goal?

                Although I didn't meet my goal of 16 books, I came pretty close with eight books and an enormous textbook that I completed. 

2. So, what does a girl like me read?
     
               Honestly, being forced to read just made me resent reading so much more, and despite that I  am actually very glad I was. As paradoxical as that may seem, if I hadn't been forced to read I would have never opened such wonderful books (listed below):
                  

• Midwinter BLOOD by Marcus Sedgwick
• The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
• The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
• Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran
• A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
• He's Just Not That Into You by Liz Tuccillo and Greg Brehrendt 
• The Room by Emma Donoghue 
• The Canon by Natalie Angier
• America's History
• Unwind by Neal Shusterman (Abandoned, but it was a great book and I will be finishing it)

3. Which book was the sweetest?

                 

             The Devil Wears Prada  was my favorite book out of all ten books listed. Maybe it was simply because I hope to one day be consumed by the world of fashion and turn into the very mouth that ate me, or maybe it was the unexpected ending. Also besides those two factors, a nice cherry on top was Andrea getting free designer clothes. Although the events in the book were just fictional, I still felt a rush of joy and love as if I were the one actually receiving those precious garments.

4. Which book was the most brain busting?

              That would definitely have to be The Canon.  Although I loved learning interesting facts like why my hair seems to defy gravity after wearing my beautifully woven beanie, the process was a lot more challenging than most books I've read. To add the kerosene to the fire, Angier mixed in higher level vocabulary with technical scientific names for things such as heat.

5. What's my reading superpower?

              I've grown tremendously with my ability to spot the rhetorical devices authors use to put emphases on certain aspects that are clues to the overall theme.

6. What's my kryptonite? 

             I'm still very weak when I have to read quickly, so I definitely need to improve my reading speed to a much faster pace.

7. Did I need guidance during my reading journey?

             The reading conferences with my teacher were really helpful with making me aware of my areas that still needed improvement. Although I could give a prize winning summary of the books I was currently reading, when she asked me certain questions to see evidence of thinking as I read, my eyes opened up to what I needed to work on as I read because I couldn't answer all her questions correctly.

8. Who did I turn to as a support group during my reading journey?

             Being apart of a reading community filled with my AVID peers was really beneficial because, for the first, I was actually able to have an intellectual conversation with people just as into it as I was. Also with other readers, like myself, I could see another trusted perspective on the same or similar book topics and themes.

9.

                                    

He's Just Not That Into You book cover by Chelsea Dagger

I Believe

I believe judgement should be a second look,
though the first look can make it hard to do it again.

I believe it takes one generation to save the next.
I believe almond butter can save lives.
I believe I am a quiet voice in a loud world, which does not make me unheard, unimportant, or inactive.

I believe God loves us unconditionally, but if I kiss a girl I'm going to hell

I believe going to hell is eternal darkness

But with a flick of a switch darkness turns into light

I believe with true love the dark spots filled with pain and anguish in a normal person's heart might be healed.

Unfortunately, the pain I've endured will always stick around,
and so will the joyful memories.
I believe in Family, I believe in blood, I believe in loyalty,
but if you stick around long enough- Hey, Sister. Not because I am easily trusting,
but because I'm done pushing away good people.

I believe ambition is the key to success

I believe goals will increase my lifespan,

and maybe leaving high school sooner will save me.

When I break free, hopefully I'll break a leg, and break records that set new standards for "great."

I believe I am meant to be like Beyoncé, but greater.

Yeah I said it, and I meant it, but in my special way.

Wanting her body and her nose is playful wishing, unless

it's the reason our friends lie paralyzed on the floor next to pill bottles.

I believe confidence would have saved her.

I believe confidence is looking in the mirror and telling myself I am more than Beautiful.

I believe Beauty can happen on all faces even if it takes a second glance.

I believe we are all beautiful in our natural state.

God made us that way.
I believe in God, and if you give me a chance, I'll make your day if you need me. Do you need me?
Do you believe in being real?

I believe opening ourselves up to God can release every tear of despair

I believe God loves me. Not the 1/4 of me or the 9/10 I show my friends, but all of me, all at once.

My mom loves me like God loves me, and will never say goodbye, but that's good because I don't believe in those. Because I don't, when the day it's necessary comes, her heart will ache, and this will cause me pain. Sometimes a burning sensation. Sometimes my heart will throb.

I believe we should appreciate the ones that have stuck by us.

I believe it's hard to show full appreciation as an immature teenager.

I believe everyone who is living a happy life has an immature side.

I believe living life seriously is a mistake,

a mistake I'll never do again. As a matter of fact,

I believe the world should be like Adam and Eve before the sin.

Be Free.
I believe good designers invent, great designers innovate, and only if we spent more time caring for others, we wouldn't have to worry ourselves to sleep caring how others feel about us. 
We would realize our own greatness. 
I believe pugs, both white and black, can make Alexia the happiest girl in the world.
I believe hot dressing and peach cobbler, from Chandler, Texas, is the best meal one could dream of.
I believe in sunny days, funny ways, and dancing for no reason, I believe that someone loves me and they will rescue me from evil, and if you pat me right here, right here in this spot, you will find
close-minded open-mind trying to make sense of the world. 

Response to "As Life Was Five"

  Writing about certain situations in his life and others' life, Jimmy Santiago Baca, through poetry, gives his audience a taste of the culture that surrounded him as a child. In "As Life Was Five" he talks about his innocence being robbed from him in one moment. In one moment he was left with a scaring memory that changed his attitude completely, but eventually led him to a revelation.

 Unlike Baca, I learned about racism not through the way others were treated, but instead through the way I was treated. Although I have never been rejected because of the color of my skin like Baca's grandfather, constantly I receive comments from people of another ethnicity explaining how I'm not like the rest, or from fellow African Americans explaining how I speak white. Because I've dealt with this most of my life I have learned to embrace my differences, like Baca, and to rise six feet higher instead of being struck down two feet lower. Therefore, as I relate to the lines of  "As Life Was Five," some of the same emotions from my own experiences run through my veins.

Maturing Slowly, but Surely

    Knowing that "[Baca's] heart [was] a wet-feathered bird growing but never able to crack out of the shell," takes me through the mental process of Baca up to "[his] behavior shattering." Step one I see Joy. Step two I see Confusion. Step three I see Comprehension. Finally, step four arrives arrives and we see Flames. Because Baca uses an intense metaphor portraying the heart as weak and uses the action verb, shattering, my emotions were ignited. Shattering was an interesting word choice because, by using that, Baca seemed to change so abruptly.  When glass shatters it is a very quick process, and because they hurt him so badly, I wanted him to  seek revenge. I didn't mind if he hurt innocent people, because like shattered glass, guilty or not guilty, if one grazes the mess they're going to get hurt.  This feeling took me back to a time where I was at the lowest point in my life. I allowed others' judgement to burden me, not only with racist insults, but also beauty and personality insults, and eventually I began to seclude myself away from the people who did me wrong. Showing them my dramatic shift in attitude, I soaked in satire while they sunk from guilt. Through the process of releasing comeuppances on everyone, I realized I wasn't helping myself by becoming the insults they threw at me. As "a song ...[makes] his heart into an eagle," I began to feel like I was finally making progress up a mountain and the weather was clearing up.  My jaw unclenched my grinding teeth. I started to stand up straighter. Now that I could clearly see that I had to embrace my differences in order to rise above, I felt like I was Baca transforming from a bird barely out the egg to a soaring eagle.

Painting emotions on Paper in the Form of Words...(Analysis)

No matter how serene things

may be in my life,
how well things are going,
my body and soul
are two cliff peaks
from which a dream of who I can be
falls, and I must learn
to fly again each day,
or die.

Death draws respect
and fear from the living.
Death offers
no false starts. It is not
a referee with a pop-gun
at the startling
of a hundred yard dash.

I do not live to retrieve
or multiply what my father lost
or gained.

I continually find myself in the ruins
of new beginnings,
uncoiling the rope of my life
to descend ever deeper into unknown abysses,
tying my heart into a knot
round a tree or boulder,
to insure I have something that will hold me,
that will not let me fall.

My heart has many thorn-studded slits of flame
springing from the red candle jars.
My dreams flicker and twist
on the altar of this earth,
light wrestling with darkness,
light radiating into darkness,
to widen my day blue,
and all that is wax melts
in the flame-

I can see treetops!

Jimmy Santiago Baca had a very tough life at a young age and faced many challenges, and in his poem "A Daily Joy To be Alive" he reflects on  a lifestyle of trying to grasp one's inner-self by exploring different aspects of life on a daily basis. Baca expresses these ideas by using symbolism as seen in these lines, "I continually find myself in the ruins of new beginnings, uncoiling the rope of my life to descend ever deeper into unknown abysses, tying my heart into a knot." Baca uses the rope to represent a long journey of finding the words to express himself in a subject where there is so much to learn. To further express this struggle Baca uses "light wrestling with darkness, light radiating into darkness", a juxtaposition, to describe the turning point when he breaks free from the scuffle of discovering himself artistically  and  turns his thinking from negative to positive. All in all Baca uses this poem to show us, through symbolism and juxtaposition, the transition he makes from not knowing how to convey his emotions to suddenly breaking free into a clear view where he can see all the possible ways to present his thoughts to the world.

#One Little Word

#One Little Word

"I will succeed in anything I set my mind to"...

The quote above is nothing more than a statement, but we can turn it into so much more with a little bit of effort. If we are willing to do EVERYTHING it takes to achieve a goal, we can transform such an insignificant statement into the catalyst that drives us closer to success.  With AMBITION, we naturally pick up every other quality necessary to achieve success. Because ambition is "a strong desire to do or to achieve something", if we truly have ambition initiative, perseverance, and persistence will follow. I've experienced all the pain when there are barriers preventing me from success  and I've also experienced all the gratification after overcoming the barriers when I was only in middle school. Ever since I was un nina, I knew that learning spanish would give me an edge over my competition in any industry I chose to join. Therefor when I was in sixth grade I started a long complicated journey toward being bilingual. As a sixth grader with no friends or family in spanish I had to go through a long process of guessing the meanings of words and attempting to use them correctly. Of course being so young with an undeveloped brain, I made mistakes and even had to face criticism from native spanish speakers who laughed at my incorrect grammar and use of words. Because of my dedication I was able to become bilingual by the time I reached eighth grade.

Helping Myself by Helping Others

When I did community service for the first time I was filled with such a high that left me wanting to tell everyone around me about all the great deeds I accomplished even though it was really just one. Therefore, when I took The Six Human Needs Test I wasn't surprised to see that contribution, at 93%, by far out shot all the rest of my needs including growth at 79%. After seeing my results I began evaluating different aspects to see if my actions really were led by the need to contribute and grow.

After analyzing my reading life, I found that most of the books I have read turn out to be a quest. For example The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger, Midwinter Blood by Murcus Sedgwick, and The Notebook  by Nicholas Sparks are all books that appear to have nothing in common, but in reality they share the same ambitious protagonist. Because of my urge to have growth in every area of my life I choose books that have a character willing to give up everything for what they desire. Once I find these books, although I'm really into them, I tend to read a lot slower because of my desire to become a better reader. In other words as I read each sentence find myself over analyzing each sentence for hidden messages to the point of my reading rate being cut in half. I face this problem especially when I'm reading books that involve a character doing their best to provide for the well being of another like in A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.

The main character, Mariam, always ends up in a position of trying to please others and when she faces a personal loss she finds herself wanting to please the same person who treats her similar to that of a dog. Because of my need to contribute, like Mariam, I stretch myself in all different direction to please the ones I love and make life a little bit more decent for strangers. I even go as far as attempting to get my friends on board with community service and other events. Also I make the mistake of expecting the ones I love to want to contribute to my happiness like I desire to do for them.


Although growth and Contribution seem to always be a good thing, having those needs can lead to the disruption of a peaceful relationship. I found this out the hard way one year I when I went through all the trouble of throwing a surprise party for my friend although nothing was expected of me, but then when my birthday came around I made the mistake of expecting appreciation for what I did earlier and barely got a "Happy Birthday" the next day.

It's Never Too Late to Vamp Up our Wardrobe

      I remember being able to go anywhere in the world as a child, but not because I was spoiled or just had the money laying around for the perfect moment; the true key to my expansive travel was imagination. Although I'm no longer a child at the beach with Barbie, I still allow my imagination to take me on journeys around the world with aid from my outfits. My imagination never stops flowing due my access to the eclectic people on social media. In order to expand our outfits we must learn from different people around the world by way of social media to prevent our style from being plain-jane.

      Over the years I have found the best mood kill in the world is fishing for a compliment, but no one catching on because they've seen the same bait for about a year (which is about as long as a fashion trend takes to be worn by the average person). Therefore, I make it a routine to check Instagram every morning in order to stay caught up with the trends in Tokyo, New York, Paris, and England. Just recently, because of what I had seen on social media, I picked up, what would have been, just a boring T-shirt dress and turned it into something my peers gawked over just by simply taking inspiration from a picture and adding my own flair. That day I got more than just a few pat-on-the-back compliments, with out a lot of work I was able to accomplish, what I call, the "neck-snapper," which is that dramatic look people give a person when he looks stunning.

       Unfortunately in today's society the only way to be noticed is by being loud, being smart, or creating a couple of neck-snappers. Many people, like myself, neither have the brains of a mathematician nor the voice box of a megaphone, therefore looking flawless is about our only option. Thanks to YouTube, Instagram, and retail store's online look books, making this happen, literally over night, isn't impossible. Many people have the assumption that the only way to prevent others from mistaking our name as Jane, we have to buy a whole new wardrobe, when in reality if we turn to social media they give us great examples of how to spice up our worn out wardrobe. For example, in the video below , who many of us have never met, is able to teach us how to transform garments we already have in ways that will make others wonder about us and where we got our clothes from.

       All in all it's pretty amazing that we are able to get influence from pretty much anywhere in the world by utilizing social media. From a fashion perspective, social media really multiplies our wardrobe from as ordinary as we'd like to just as breath taking as we desire.