"Loved One during NIU Massacre"

It was February 14th a clear day in Southern California. Everything was running smoothly throughout the day. I turned on the radio as I drove home when I heard on the radio that there had been a shooting at Nothern Illinois University. I heard that their were students injured. I knew my daughter was in school that day but I had no idea where she was or if she was one of the injured. I prayed to god hoping that she was o.k. and not injured. I parked grabbed my cell and called her cell. Please pick, please pick up. The phone was not getting in any calls, there was some interference with the lines. I tried several times but, no answer. I hurried home to call her form the house phone. As I was driving, I was asking myself "Why?" I got home called my daughter and with a relief, I heard her voice telling me"Mom, I am o.k." She told me afterwards that one of her classes was canceled and left school early. I was so thankful at that point that she was fine and that her class was canceled. It was not meant for her to be there at the time of the shooting. The gunman killed five students that were in class at that time.

"Power of the mind"

I have experienced some unique things that I would like to know what you think. Today I was thinking about money and telling myself that I was going to get money. Later during the day, I was using my computer at work and I dont know what I did that my printer started printing pictures of Ben Franklins. I said to myself, well I was thinking about money and that is money. After awhile, I went upstairs to check if I had mail and I passed by accounting and the lady called my name and said, "Maria Elena, I have something for you" I went into her office and she gave me one check for $115. dollars and one for $28. dollars. I could not believe my mind. Even if it was not alot of money. I was still amazed at the fact that I was thinking of money all day and money appeared before me. No matter what type it was or how much, it was money. What do you think happen, Coincidence or power of the mind?

"Sicko" by Michael Moore

Today I saw a documentary by Michael Moore called "Sicko." Wow! I really can't imagine the red tape that goes on regarding Health Care. I found out the Canada, France, England, and Cuba have UNiversal Health Care. They do not have to pay anything for medical care. I also found out that in France they have access to a free college education. Imagine that. I really recommend this documentary because it is heart breaking especially when you get to see people that volunteered in the "9-11" tradegy suffering from respiratory disorders and they have no access to health insurance. Watch it. Its mind blowing.

"Missed Class Today"

I missed class tonight,
My license plate from my truck got stolen. I spent most of the day, doing the correct thing. I went to the police station and filed a report. After the report, I went to the DMV and spent three hours waiting for my number to be called "B400" when I got there they had just called "B267." I got home at 6:00pm. a little after I got home, I received a call from a fellow classmate telling me that I did not miss nothing interesting in class because the class was canceled for today 2/19/09. I hope the Mr. Tim is doing o.k. from his back pain, if that's why he missed. See you in class.

"Basket Case"

In one word, I would describe myself as a basket case. I am in a hopeless mental state. Half of the time I have no idea what day it is and when I open my big mouth, half of the time, I blurr out dumb and inconsistent things. Every quarter, I take classes that I need but, for some stupid reason I always blank out the name of the class. Maybe its related to the things I do on a daily basis. I get up at 5:00am, shower, get dressed, wake my kids up, get them dressed and we are out the door by 7:00a.m. My work starts at 7:30am and most of the time, I am out on the field. From 43rd and central to Hollywood and Vermont. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays my work times might change from 7:30-5:30pm and Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7:30-3:30p.m. after 3:30 and Tuesdays and Thursdays I have class from 4:20 to 10:00pm

"I See It Like It Is"

In my own eyes...
Roses are black, winter is green
In my own eyes...
Rain is wine that falls from the sky
In my own eyes...
I close my eyes and let the air caress my fears
In my own eyes...
In this vast hemisphere

"Aunt, am I going to Die?"

I still remember those vivid words that stick in my mind like a sharp sword. "Aunt am I going to die?" my nephew asked. I responded by saying "No, you are going to be all right." as I looked at my nephew sitting in my sisters car with a bullet hole on his left side of his rib cage. My nephew had just crashed with a parked car as he tried to get into the neighbors driveway. I tried calling 911 with my cell phone but it did not work. After a couple of seconds my sister rushed out of the house and said "We called 911 awhile back and the ambulance is not coming. I ran to my parents house and called 911 talked to the operator and told them we needed an ambulance right away, he explained that they were on their way and that he would stay with me until the ambulance or came. He asked what the situation was. I told him that my nephew had been shot. He asked me to go and put pressure on his would with a clean cloth. I rushed to apply pressure to the wound. I was so upset that it took the paramedics 45 minutes for my nehpew to get medical attention. As he was being placed in the stretcher, they asked him if he could feel his legs and he replied "No." A thought of fear came to my mind but I decided to discard it. At that moment I was relieved because the paramedics were attending to his medical needs. I did not realize that I had parked my truck in the middle of the street with no regard to safety. I moved it after the police told me to remove it. I realized at that time that I could have caused an accident because their was incoming traffic from both directions. I was terrified as I went around the car and counted sixteen bullet holes around the car. Who in the world would want to kill an 18 year old boy with such anger and rage? I said to myself. Today I am sad to say that he will be in a wheelchair permanently the rest of his life. All I know to this day is that he had borrowed my sister's car to take his girlfriend home and along the way he stopped at his friend's home as they got in the car the bullets started coming like torrential rain. My nephew had been hit in the back as well. He knew there and then that his legs were no more. He asked his friend to drop to the floor and work the gas pedals with his hands thats how they managed to get away and at the same time save his friends life as well.

"Comm 490-The Breakfast Club"

I really like this class because it reminds me of one of my old favorite movies"the Breakfast Club." I enjoy the small class setting because it brings a uniqueness to it. I like the fact that we have the opportunity to interact with the professor and students on a closer level, they all bring such a vast range of cultures, knowledge, and experience to the class. By the way, I also like "My cousin Vinny" but, thats a whole different story.

Coincidence or Destiny

This is basically about people you meet during your life time. Is it coincidence or destiny? I am not sure but, I think that they are there at certain times for a purpose. I don't know but, Since I met Ms. Kathy, She has made a difference in my way of thinking. She brought more sense of the class (No offense, Professor Tim you are great!) I think her teaching technique was more meaningful to me in so many ways. I believe she brought a more mature experience and perspective. I will probably need some legal advice in the future too.

"Memory, Where have thy Gone?"

The story that I want to create would probably be on a personal life experience. I was thinking of writing about my mother's condition and perhaps bring in a clip about the disease from "youtube." After taking Ms. Sage advice, I think that's the route I am going to take but, it will be difficult because that is something that is heart breaking to me and I am not sure if I will be strong enough and not break down in class. I was doing some research and I want to name my story "Loosing my Marbles" which is about Alzheimers or title it "Memory, Where have thy Gone?" I think that a story should touch our heart in some way or another. I also think that its also good to learn from it, as well. I will see where this story takes me and if I have the courage to express it and confront it.

Ms. Kathy Sage

I really enjoyed Ms. Sage story about her recollections when she taught at a college and being in a rural town in Illinois. She had straight forward memories of one part of her life. She made me go back when I worked in a small town. I was a teacher assistant in a unit school. This unit school was basically a building that taught students that ranged from 4 to 17yrs of age. The school had a capacity of 400 students. I was teaching students ESL from all ages. I was in charge of teaching the latino kids. I lived in this rural town in Illinois where everyone knew each other. There was only one post office for everyone's mail because the town was so small there was no mail carriers. There was only one patrol car with four officers that take turns two officers at a time patrolling the neighborhood. The town was composed of a majority of white folk that held the positions in teaching and administrative work or in the politics of the town and the minority were Latinos that worked in the mushroom or flower factories. I remember the time when i needed car insurance for my car and the insurance lady told me that she had never seen me before, I told her that I was new in town. She asked me where I worked and I told her in the school. She replied by saying "Are you a cook in the cafeteria?" I replied by saying, "No, I work as a teacher assistant." In this unit school, I was one of three latinas that worked in the school. The majority of the staff was white. I liked it there because I felt i made a difference with the Latino kids when I heard their first words in English and their effort to speak English. I liked the fact the faculty appreciated the diversity in this school because we helped each other when it came to parent, community, and extra curricular activities. Although, I did notice some racial tension at times, from the old folk. The old folk that made it very territorial because they were there for generations. I kind of understood where they were coming from because I knew that these seniors or the elderly were more fixed in their roots therefore, I understood there claim of territory. I loved the snow when it began to fall. I loved the only little mall they had and only one movie theatre. I loved to shop at Bergners for clothes. I liked the fact that at least they had one mexican place. It was a blend of American and Mexican food. It wasn't really authentic Mexican food but, I appreciated the fact that they made every attempt to recreate it. I loved also to eat their famous Gyros. Great memories. Thanks to Ms.Sage for making me remember good old memories.

Storytelling

I have found out that stories are more interesting if you make them come alive. You kick it up a notch by becoming those characters and changing your tone of voice. You make me use my imagination. I sometimes close my eyes and start forming pictures of who those characters look like, what they are wearing, and I picture an out of this world scenery. Very interesting, I might say. I definately need to polish those skills that are hidden somewhere, I think. If I don't find those skills, that means I never had them. That is bad, truly bad.

Story resources

Story resources are a great resource to tap into. I had no idea the variety of folk stories that can be retold over and over with different perspectives. Depending on the country, city, or state and the experiences you have lived will give that same story a personal twist. I had no idea that the "Llorona" was told in different parts of Latin America. Growing up, I remember my mother telling me this story. Especially at night when I didn't want to go to sleep. She would say "If you don't go to sleep the Llorona will grab you from your feet and take you away." I remeber wrapping my feet with the bed sheet so the "Llorona" would not grab my feet, and I would stay very still and closed my eyes until I was fast asleep". I would never tell my children this story because I became frightened and I always wanted to sleep with the light on. I had reoccuring nightmares of this lady coming to get me. I think we should always try to target a specific age when telling certain stories. The "Llorona" should be told to people that have an understanding that it is fiction and the hidden meaning behind it, that it is only a folk story that has been told from generation to generation. Perhaps, who wrote this story, did take some information from a real life case and added their own personal twist. Who knows, the only thing I can say is that we need to be very careful the stories we tell children because sometimes it can have a negative impact on them.