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- Reading responses must be AT LEAST 250 words.
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- Reading responses are due by midnight on the night PRIOR to our discussion of the required reading.
In the chapters by Ferguson, we see how she starts describing the way immigrants suffer when they cross the border. She gives us an inside look on how people perish in the desert, and when they do find help, it is only to get sent back. At least sometimes that’s what the helps mean. Ferguson and her friends try their best to aid these people, and honestly, I believe I would help them too. Way before reading the book by Ferguson, I knew immigrants faced crucial times when they arrived in this country. Not only Mexicans but people from other countries as well. The struggle into getting into the U.S, that is one struggle, the other struggle is the lack of knowing the language. I like the part where she says “Here I am now in my own country. I speak English, I understand what these men say, and I have no idea what is happening…”. If she went through that, being a U.S citizen, I can only imagine what the immigrants feel in a strange country with a different language. I feel that in great part that is the why they are being taken advantage of, and being mistreated. Maybe the government doesn’t want people to keep crossing the borders, but in all honesty, if they truly didn’t want that, there would be no help for them whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteIn the chapter by Karr, she emphasizes how important it is to revise ones work several times. Most times I believe I write a pretty good piece and the laziness of editing kicks in and I don’t revise it. When I do, I read my piece aloud and I find so many errors. And sometimes I don’t even make any sense in my paper so I have to edit it, and several times as that matter. So it is helpful to revise our papers several time in order to be fully satisfied with our paper.
-Celica Chavez
This is my response
ReplyDeleteIn order to get the best work from our selves we have to revise, revise. The best work comes from revision. Revising can be a annoying and exhausting and can also make us self- conscious about our work. I liked how Karr talks about the three truths she hears when she ask for advice in the beginning of the chapter. One of them said writing is painful, in a fun way, I agree. Or maybe I feel like that because it’s the end of the semester and the revising part of my classes is getting to me. On page 215 what Karr talks about here is really inspiring, “ remind yourself that revising proves your care for the reader and the nature of your ambition”.
There goes Ferguson again into the desert even after everything she had gone through with the arrest. Something I knew she would do she is too invested now to stop. This chapter is a sad one for me. When they find this young man in the conditions she describes it really stings. To come to think that there are many of them out there in his condition, or dying. When the border patrol says, “ they are all like that, we didn’t tell them to come here, we don’t owe them anything”, that’s just inhumane. These are human beings just like our selves and to come and think that there is border patrols who think like this, disgust me. No wonder Ferguson keeps going back to the desert, I would too. In chapter 22 Ferguson seems to be loosing all hope and has no energy for it all. Everything just starts to sink in. She even stops doing things she loved most like her documentaries. Fear also kicks in especially of loosing Valentin if he ever gets deported.
Lizette Garcia
In Fergusons chapters, she once again proves to be careless and does things without thinking about the possible consequences. They find a boy named Carlos, who Ferguson feels the extreme need to care for him at all costs. The border agents are getting frustrated since Lisa and Ferguson are getting in their way, causing the agents to become a bit agitated. She’s trying to save everyone but herself. She’s filled with fear every time she sees a group of people walking or being searched by border patrol. We start to see her set in paranoia. During one of her drives she thinks that she sees Hiram being surrounded by border agents and it ends up being a different person. AS the days pass she starts to feel an uncomfortable fear inside her that she can’t control. She then has to go into Mexico with Valentin so he can get his papers in order and Ferguson starts to have a mental breakdown from the moment they leave their house to the moment they have to cross back again. In the end Valentin crosses with no trouble and they meet back up in Tucson.
ReplyDeleteIn Karrs book, I understood half of what she tried to explain when it comes to revising. I do agree though that when it does come time for revising, the writing starts to change the more we edit it. “In the beginning, when there are zero pages, you have to cheer yourself into cranking stuff out...” I like this a lot because for me it’s true. Sometimes we need a little push in order to start writing about something.
Stephanie Cisneros
In the chapters by Ferguson, she experiences in my opinion cold hearted Border Patrol agents. I am not surprised with the comments and decisions according to Ferguson the agents made; the incident with a young illegal immigrant Carlos, where Ferguson and her friend try to help him. The Border Patrol says, “ They are all like that, we didn’t tell them to come here, we don’t owe them anything.” It is very unfortunate that we have so many agents that think this way. I know that for a fact because I have done research in the past for filming purposes and have found many documented incidents. As mentioned in chapter 21 on page 290 of ibooks; None of these agents have been found culpable or lost their jobs. And at least twenty people, including a U.S. citizen, have been shot in the face or back and killed by Border Patrol agents. And only a handful of people seem to notice. I honestly don’t trust Border Patrol agents, not anymore.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the reading on chapter 24 from Karr’s book. I like the way she explains why revisions are important for writers. When I write one thinks its the best piece of writing. It has happened to me many times when I write. I find out very quick that it isn’t so. I immediately ask myself, “ Did I write that?” I also found out that it is always good to look for other eyes to revise your work. I think one needs to try to give the reader the best piece of writing possible.
-luis antonio rodriguez
In Karr’s chapter I like the 3 truth’s that she has heard or was told to her. One that caught my attention is #3 “The best revisers often have reading habits that stretch back before the current age, which lends them a sense of history and raises their standards for quality”. For some reason, I understood it as over time you become to have higher standards for the work you do. If it has to do with revision your standards go higher into wanting those revisions to become perfect. I also agree when she mentions about how hard it is to read stories that aren’t closer to your time at a young age. Before I enjoyed reading I hated it because of all the “old” stories our teachers would make us read. However, I did end up enjoying and appreciating those “old” stories. She asks herself questions when she’s revising and I think it would be a good option to consider asking yourself those questions that are mentioned.
ReplyDeleteIn Ferguson’s chapters I think she has a lot of guts to talk to random strangers she doesn’t know to offer to help them. I would be worried about what that person would do since you don’t know what they are capable of. As I continue reading I can’t help but get angry at how the Border Patrol treat individuals just because they aren’t from the United States. I like the nickname she gives Jason “the Black Lion” I think it suits him based off by the description that she gives us. When she mentions Marisol and how she saw dirt marks of where her knee left imprints and starts going into detail about what she sees you can tell that its really deep you can almost picture it yourself. She mentions how she isn’t sure if the agents “believe that seemingly innocent people are dangerous or if they are psychos with badges” I think they are just blinded from the truth. Perhaps there are some that do go back home and think of how awful they were however maybe they think that this is what they have to do since it’s their job and they need to provide for their families as well. I think it’s great how she mentions brujeria how Valentin thinks they put a spell on her. She’s showing what Mexican/ Hispanic culture believe in and raised on.
Monika Gonzalez
While reading Karr’s chapter 24 about revision I couldn't help but think about test taking and how you are always taught to never second guess yourself and go with your gut feeling but then when you're writing it's almost as if they are telling you the complete opposite. I feel like from taking all the english course I have over the years i have been mostly taught that your first draft is usually shit and that in order to write something great you have to second guess yourself and that you're writing is never perfect the first time. I just find this really interesting.
ReplyDeleteI really liked chapter 20 of Ferguson's book, it's really interesting to me to read what she has to say about the border patrol because I have many friends that are border patrol agents and then on top of that having my mom be apart of law enforcement I have grown up and even living here I have only heard one side of the story. The part where she talks about the helicopter going low to dust out the people was horrifying for me because I have a friend that is a pilot for the airforce and flies the helicopters and has told me stories about things like this but he has never mentioned anything like this. I also thought it was interesting how she wrote it in a tone like the people in the helicopter want to intentionally hurt these people and I personally think that is an assumption that is not safe to make.
Jessica Young
Revision, based off from Karr’s chapter 24, is not only to take the time to sit down and re-read and fix your piece, but to do so by caring for the reader and yourself. I can understand why the young would find it fun and not as painful because I was like that. I spent an entire month and half handwriting a 20-page story, written on loose-leaf paper when I was a freshman in high school. I gain the motivation out of introducing a new character I came up with that mystified me, trying to figure out where he came from. This turned out to be a supposed “short essay” for my English class, and by that time when we were told to write something, I was halfway finished. Now in my 20s, it’s difficult to write something and continue. The idea is there, just the push doesn’t exist. Revision takes patience and with patience comes excitement and a burst of plot continuation. It also includes modification and sacrifice. A story maybe as boring and full of useless filler, yet a way to blurt it on the page, polish and remove, and shorten it.
ReplyDeleteDrawing rather close to finishing “The Haunting in the Mexican Border,” and there is still some homebound conflicts. Border Patrol agents, by her descriptions, are careless and cold-hearted. Illegals to them are just objects, unwanted waste and non-human. They fine those who help the illegals. A bit inhuman and kind of paranoid thinking that choking on water would lead to them suing the U.S. They won’t get anything out from suing, except realizing that the justice system is shit and the possible result is still deportation.
Hector Dimas
In Ferguson’s chapters she talks about some of her experiences with the Border Patrol agents. Being Latino, and a son migrant parents, it hits close to home, when she talks about the way the immigrants where treated. Along with it being painfully relevant to what is going on today with Trumps wall. It’s a topic in which I am very torn, because in one sense, I feel like, these are my people, my heritage, and I want them to have an opportunity to succeed and what not. But also, I feel like, yes, you’re crossing federal lines, natural borders, and you can’t just get away with that. It must be an extremely difficult position to be put into if this is your actual job, and you are faced with this decision.
ReplyDeleteIn Karr’s chapter, she talked about revisions, and why it’s important. It wasn’t something I haven’t heard before. Revision is something that Dr. Moreira is pretty adamant about as well, especially with our current assignments. But overall, after taking so many writing courses, revising your work is something that I can say all of my professors are extremely picky about. Revision is something that goes way past simple grammatical errors. Revision can be looking at things from a different perspective. Or having an epiphany and creating another narrative on which to latch onto. One of my favorite things to do, is go through old writing of mine, and revise it, and it never fails where I start to think of new ways in which I can make it better.
Jesus Garcia
Ferguson shows us a glimpse into immigration and border patrol tactics through the eyes of Carlos. She describes methods used by border patrol to harm immigrants physically and how they use their equipment, like helicopters, to achieve this. Perhaps there is a tactical reason why this is done. There could be. The fear Carlos has of the border patrol is not one that is over exaggerated, but one that can be rationalized and seems genuine. The BORSTAR description was particularly disturbing as it reveals a sense of judge, jury and executioner being played out by people who have the ability to choose life or death of others. The treatment and mentality of “illegals” as less than human and unable to be seen as equal is difficult to relate to, however, we are very much aware that this mindset is very much alive and well in the united states.
ReplyDeleteKarr’s revision is a key chapter to me who has a great deal of trouble going back to my writing to figure out what can stay, what needs to be changed, and what needs to go. She is careful to stress the importance of evolving as a writer and learning techniques to create a new foundation for your writing as she states “through reading and thinking, they’ve raised their taste beyond their skill levels” and I couldn’t agree more. I feel that as a writer, the nature in which nonfiction is woven is vital in the deliverance. She states how revision can be a smoother process if we keep an open mind or “approach it with curiosity” I think that is important when getting feedback from others to improve your piece.
-Amanda Gonzales