Blog assigment # 4 - Describing a photograph.

     I chose Sebastião Salgado's Image of Mine Workers because I think it is shocking seeing so many people working on such conditions! The quality of the picture neither the size lets you have a better understanding of what is really going on in the picture but, it reminds of a movie I once watched with my nephew called “Antz”.  One can see thousands of workers working on the mine and I was wondering how did they hire so many people and even more incredible is how this people accepted to work in there? It looks crazy. There is no equipment whatsoever; everything must have being done manually. I don’t know if I should call them stairs or ladders but that’s what they used to go from one mountain to the other. The workers are wearing dirty clothes and almost bumping into each other in such a huge place. The picture overall gives you a sense of sadness because these people seem to be exploited. The author does a great job portraying how difficult it was to work in the mines of Brazil.

Blog assigment # 3 - Writing about My vignette

This first assignment took me roughly an hour to write. I chose the story because I didn’t what to write and I saw Magaly sitting next to me while we were having dinner. I started asking question and taking notes on a blank sheet of paper. And I thought her story was very interesting. Even though, I knew I couldn’t write her story on 3 pages, I decided to go for it. This was the part that really caught my attention:

                There was not anybody to take care of them, what at some point was unthinkable became a reality. Her father was always working from 6 am to 12pm for an American company 6 days a week and because of the depression he was experiencing since the death of his wife, he was barely at home. she had to come back and forward from school or work and help her siblings with their homework, feed them and take of them when they were sick. In addition, she had to deal with her older brother who instead of helping her would come home and give her extra work.

                As she was telling me story it was hard for me to choose which details I should keep. But in this particular part I could feel her anger towards her brother and the story got even more interesting.  She described him as a cold hearted person who never cared about anybody else than himself. On the other hand, she  was proud of herself for being able to raise two kids at her young age.

                At the end, I noticed that I had summarize her story so much that I knew it was not a powerful vignette  and I could have done a better job but time was up!. This was my first time writing something other than academic essays but I hope I get better at it.

Assignment Blog # 2

I chose “The Things They Carried” by Demetria Martinez because I thought it was the same piece I had read for other class which had the same tittle.  The story I read before talks about Tim O’Brien and his fellow soldiers from the alpha company in Vietnam. The story talks about the things they carried and how it helps them to stay in touch with the real world. However, as I started reading this piece by Demetria Martinez, I noticed that the concept is completely different but I was still very attracted to it.

This piece has a very strong message. It portrays more the individual stories of people crossing the border and the things that are left behind and delivers a more general awareness about this issue without involving U.S. politics on immigration. I really like the part where she says   "...abandoned by their smuggler, abandoned by a gluttonous nation that craves cheap labor but detests the laborer.". She writes in such a powerful way and the images are so real that she really makes the reader feel the emotion she is conveying. As Martinez details what some items are found in the desert it is hard not to imagine what some of these people go through for an opportunity to live in the country we are so fortunate to be living in.