Blog 9

Linda Manzano

Mrs. Croker

College Composition

March 17, 2012

Blog 9

My favorite poem is called “En Paz” translated to English the title of my favorite poem would be  “IN PEACE”  This poem is by Amado Nervo a Mexican poet. The reason why I love this poem in particular is because I  can envision an older man laying down watching the sun set talking about life. Another reason why I love this poem is because Nervo is right, we can make life good for ourselves or bad for ourselves because we are the architects of our own destiny. We can either extract good things from life (referred to as honey in the poem) or bad things (referred to as bile things in the poem). I hope you guys like this poem as much as I do!!

The Poem in Spanish and English:

Muy cerca de mi ocaso, yo te bendigo, Vida porque nunca me diste ni esperanza fallida ni trabajos injustos, ni pena inmerecida;      porque veo al final de mi rudo camino que yo fui el arquitecto de mi propio destino; que si extraje las mieles o la hiel de las cosas, fue porque en ellas puse hiel o mieles sabrosas; cuando planté rosales, coseché siempre rosas.      ... Cierto, a mis lozanías va a seguir el invierno: ¡mas tú no me dijiste que mayo fuese eterno! hallé sin duda largas las noches de mis penas; mas no me prometiste tú sólo noches buenas; y en cambio tuve algunas santamente serenas...      Amé, fui amado, el sol acarició mi faz.      ¡Vida, nada me debes!  ¡Vida, estamos en paz!

Very close to my setting sun, I bless you, Life because you never gave me unfulfilled hope, nor unjustified work, nor undeserved sorrow;      because I see at the end of my rough way that I was the architect of my own destiny; that if I extracted the honey or the bile of things, it was because I put bile or sweet honey into them; when I planted rosebushes, I always harvested roses.      ... True, the winter is going to follow my youth: but you never told me May was eternal! without a doubt I found the nights of my sorrows long; but you never promised me only good nights; and on the other hand I had some saintly calm...      I loved, I was loved, the sun caressed my face.      Life, you owe me nothing!  Life, we are at peace!

It will never happen to me

Linda Manzano

Mrs. Croker

College Composition 101

March 13, 2012

            I used to think that the odds of my house catching on fire were the same odds of me winning the lottery. I obviously thought that my house would never be in danger of catching on fire or ever catch on fire. I  am careful that when I leave my house. I make sure that my stove is off and that my lamps are off. I have told my children that we need to be careful when we leave our house and make sure we turn everything off. I thought that I did everything possible to avoid a fire and thus a fire could not ever occur at my house. I was terribly wrong because about a month ago my R.V caught on fire and my house literally was only three inches from catching on fire.

            It was late at night and I was getting ready to go to sleep when the lights at my house went on and off. I did not take much notice at the lights turning on and off at my house. Then my son Charlie started to yell and scream and I quicky got up. From my son’s window we could see smoke coming out from our R.V. My family quickly ran outside to see what was going on. My R.V was on fire and my daughter and I quickly yelled out fire. In an instant the R.V caught on fire my daughter Vicky called 911 and I grabbed my house and tried to divert the fire so that my house would not catch on fire. With my hose I put water on the part of the R.V closes to my house and then put water on the wall closes to my R.V.  The fire men came and told me to get away and listened to them. The fire men put out the fire but my R.V was ruined. I learned that there was a short circuit that night at my house and my that was why my R.V caught on fire.  That night I learned that my house could easily catch on fire no matter how hard I tried to avoid it. There are things we cannot control and those things might just cause a fire at anyone’s house. My friends and family could not believe my house almost caught on fire because they know just how cautious I am. My family, friends and even my thoughts have changed on the possibilities of our houses catching on fire.

A picture of what was left of my R.V

Family

Linda Manzano

Mrs. Croker

College Composition

March 3, 2012

Family

            Family is a great thing to have and the more the merrier it is. Growing up as a child my family went through many financial struggles but the family was always there to provide help. My mother side of the family was always involved during my childhood   while my father’s weren’t as much. Even my father was not around to see me grow because he was working in California while I was in Mexico with my mother.  As I grew older I got to meet my father’s side of the family and I wish that we had bonded with each other in my childhood.

            I will always have a stronger love for the family members from my mother’s side. The earliest memories of my life is about my aunts and uncles showering me with love. I cannot say that with my father’s side of the family for I began to interact with them in a later part of my life. Those aunts and uncles from my mother’s said of the family developed a strong relationship with me. They know things about that my father’s side of the family don’t. My aunts and uncles from my mother’s side of the family know that I was a good dancer and that at one point in my life it was a passion for me.  They basically know me inside out because they have watched my actions and reactions. My father’s side of the family will never know me like that because I can tell them about me but it is not the same as them forming their own opinion of me based on just watching me as I grew.

            I like my father’s side of the family but I wonder why they seem to have not taken interest in me and my sibling when we were children. It was later in life that they began to take interest in me. They truly do love me and have shared very important moments with me. I wish they would have been there for me when was younger because there were instances where I felt they did not care about me. They have redeemed themselves through their most recent actions. I have come to truly look at them as aunts and uncles and not as strangers. They have even been part of my children’s childhood and that makes me love them a little bit more but it also reminds me that they were not there in my childhood.

            I have no hard feelings for my father’s side of the family. The way I look at it the more the merrier.  My father side of the family have shown me that they really do care about me.  I can now look at my aunts and uncles for what they are and not as strangers. But I cannot love them as much as I love my mother’s side of the family.