VT Cru

The Virginia Tech Cru or Campus Crusades for Christ at Virginia Tech is a community for those that follow Christ and wish to learn more about him. Cru also conducts Bible studies in smaller groups that meet once a week in specific dorm halls. I was raised in a catholic home and was always encouraged to express my religion. When I entered college I knew I wanted to continue my religious education and Cru offered that opportunity. I especially wanted to join into the Bible study group. Even though I am catholic I have never read the Bible and it is something I have wanted to do. Since I don’t think I have the ability to make time to read the Bible and still complete all my other course work the Bible study gives me a great way to make a start for that goal.
The large general Cru meeting I attended on Thursday was a get together for the Cru community to come together and worship. A band played Christian rock music and the atmosphere was charged with faith. This first meeting served as an introduction to let people know what Cru was about. The group of students who put on the service were extremely nice and showed a positive attitude throughout the service. These groups of people spoke a bit about what Cru did before the campus director took the stage. The director read the story of the prodigal son and then gave a short homily. Though I didn’t agree with all the connections and ideas he said it still felt good to be in a place surrounded by so many that held a similar interest at heart.
The Bible study was much smaller group than the Cru meeting. Their where only seven students there including the two group leaders. Daniel and Seth asked the people there what they wanted to get out of these weekly meetings so they could better tailor the discussion and lessons to what we wanted to learn. The two guys in charge also told us some of the other stuff we would be doing as a group besides the meetings. All the people there were nice and appeared approachable. Daniel and Seth really showed an attitude that promoted Christ.
I plan to attend the Bible study groups on the weekly basis and will try to attend all the Cru meetings I can. I think I will benefit a lot more from the Bible studies than the general meetings. Being in a small group of guys that I will have a better relationship will let me put out my beliefs with feeling concerned. I have already started to get to know more people and experience new ideas. Through both of these services I know I will grow in a major way.

week 2 f

Reading a chapter from Gloria Naylor’s The Women of Brewster Place I am remained of a movie I saw a few weeks before I left for college. Because I Said So, tells a story very similar to that of Kiswana Browne. In both tales young woman are trying to live their own lives, but are constantly interrupted by their over barring mothers. The mothers believe they know what is best for their children and feel obligated to tell them. The daughters are never happy to have their mothers over especially if they are alone. Kiswana sees all her mother comments as criticism and can’t see that her mother just wants what is best for her. The real problem in the relationship is that both the mother and the daughter see each other as opposing forces to the way they live their life style. Though in the end they realize they have so much more in common than they think. It is customary for a parent to want the best for their kids but they can’t dictate what their child should do. In both the story and the movie the mothers creates a constant nuisance for the daughter causing a rift in their relationship.
The story gives a compelling narration of a single meeting between the two individuals involved. From the time we see how Kiswana reacts to seeing her mother coming to her apartment we are thrust into seeing her perspective of her mother. Kiswana views her mother as an aggressive force in her life that continues to break in and bring up bad feelings and cause turmoil. Even after she has left her home and stated her own independent life Kiswana still can’t escape from her mother. In our lives there are many forces that people believe we have escaped once we leave a certain part of our past behind, but often these forces return and most often travel with us our entire lives. In the case of Kiswana her mother will still be around for some time and she will want to be involved in her daughter’s life. For Kiswana it is up to her to except that her mother will persist to be caught up in her life and has to come to terms and be able to live with that fact. In the end it is not about conquering and ending that which disturbs us but to realize we have the ability to live along side these issues and make then into a positive into our lives.

MY MUSIC

Music is an amazing form of entertainment. Whenever I feel I need to get more upbeat and excited my music does just that for me. I am open to listen to almost any kind of music though I listen mostly to rap and hip-hop. Many people may have a problem with rap music but I can't see how anyone can claim a certain sort of music is superior or worse than another. Since I was young I have been listening primarily to the same radio station Z104. I believe my mother listen to the music when we first moved to the United States. During here morning exercises she would listen to Z104 she said that the hip-hop music provided a good beat to work out along with. I guess since that’s what my mom listen to I did the same and know that I have grow up it has become an integral part of me. When I was getting my iPod for Christmas I was so excited I had already downloaded iTunes and put all my music on the computer that way on Christmas morning all I would have to do is hook it up and I would immediately have all my jams with me. It was great to have my music with in such a convenient piece of technology. Whenever I rode the school bus I would zone out and tune into my music. I still listened to the radio because that was my method of discovering new music, but it sucked having to listen to all those commercials all the time. Thought the commercials always bothered me now they seemed so much more prominent. As I listened to my music I started to really make a distinction of what kind of music I preferred. Though rap was still a big part of me I started getting songs from my friends which were often very different compared to what I usually listened to. I started getting some rock especially from my sister who had rather recently switched from listening predominantly to rap and hip-hop to rock music. At times I would be so eager to listen to some of my favorite hip-hop music only to half way through the song to skip ahead and flip through a lot of my songs till I came upon some of the rock or alternate music I had recently gotten and really liked it. Though I still listen mostly to hip-hop music I really like getting some new rock music every now and then. My favorite rapper continues to be Ludacris. He often uses outlandish phrase in his songs that I can’t help but love. One of my favorite includes “headed downstairs to get yourself some milk and cookies”. Whenever one of his lyrics pops into my head I have to rush over to my iPod and listen to that song. Once I hear the line stuck in my head I’m free to concentrate again on what I have to do. Music for me excites me and puts me in a good mood.

week 2 wed

Suggestions for discussion p. 550 #2

Most sections begin with a narration of either a part of Gloria Anzaldua’s life or with a piece of history concerning the Chicanos. These brief stories bring you into the environment of what you are reading. The first two segments are much different than the following five segments. In the beginning Anzaldua writes almost completely in a first person narrative. As the chapter continues she starts to bring into the paper a more informational context while still inserting short narrative clips that go along with the topic of the section. Each section after the second tells a part of her development and her people’s development with the Chicano dialect. Throughout the segments pieces of the language are discussed but they vary from each part to the next. Anzaldua repeats through various sections some of the specific and distinctive differences in her original dialect compared to that of what is considered standard Spanish. Anzaldua even distinguishes between slight fluctuations among the Chicano language in different areas. The idea of having an identifying language is pronounced throughout the sections. She speaks of no longer being ashamed of her language despite the fact that some see it as a desecration of Spanish. Her language is her access to her distinction. When she was young she felt like she was in the proper place as she watched movies at the Mexican drive-in. The flow through the piece is well crafted with the addition of Anzaldua’s narration in each section. The fractions of her life inserted along with the information set up a well balanced article. In particular her growth of acceptance not with only the language but also the culture generates a powerful force to continue reading.



Suggestions for writing p. 551 #1

Starting out reading “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” I stopped at the first sentence in Spanish. Was I supposed to know what this said; I felt as though I would miss a general part of the piece if I couldn’t read the occasional Spanish phrase. As I continued reading the worry of interpreting the Spanish faded from my mind. Gloria Anzaldua narrative fragments made the reading enjoyable enough that I did not distract myself to much from the assignment. Continuing the reading I wonder what it’s like to be able to speak more than one language. The idea of knowing an entire other language seems so incredible to me. Both my parents can speak multiple languages and I wish they had used them at home when I was a child so that I would have learned them. The varying language in the paper can throw the reader for a loop. A reader may need to understand the fact that he or she can’t or is not supposed to understand what is being said in some sections. The reader can become overly concerned with deciphering what is being said or they can simply not worry about it; the reader doesn’t need to comprehend the Spanish to read and appreciate the paper. If the reader has any experience with learning another language such as French or Latin then the reader can relatively easily figure out what is being said. With reading the paper and coming upon the two languages we are set in a situation like that along the borderland where two different languages are being spoken at the same time. The English is unaware of the Spanish and at the same time it goes the other way around. It is up to a reader to take in what he understands as much as a person listens to the language they speak, but with it all happening in the same place at the same time it can become more difficult. Reading a piece where the writer uses different languages creates for me a realization of the how easily two languages or cultures can be mixed together to produce something as clear and beautiful as if it were done only with one language. In a nation where multiple cultures coexist it is necessary for people to be able to accept others for who they are and what beliefs they hold. Through daily encounters we may meet someone that was raised in a different environment than us, but most people treat them just the same as if they were another American.

#2 p.159

Learning to write in school is a continuing process that seems to be repeated forever. Similar to Min-zhan Lu I learned to speak English over what would have been my first language. Though I never had to switch between languages at home and school I was always hearing new words and paraphrases that I would try to develop them into my own writing and speaking skills. Through elementary school I was placed into a group of students who had difficulty with writing. Through this specific class I made my biggest gains in writing. The assignments in this course were usually silly dreams or past experiences, but their purpose was to get us to write. After I finished I would meet with the teacher and we would go over what I had written. Throughout middle and high school the teaching of how to write was nearly always the same. The first week of class we would go over brain storming ideas and outlines and many other methods to begin your writing. The five paragraph system was often introduced as the way to write all of our papers in class. Peer revision was supposed to help students by seeing other people’s papers. These small groups never did much for anyone since it was never taken serious and people only commented by saying “yeah it was good”.
Min-zhan Lu speaks of a more complex and dynamic social and historical scene out of the classroom. She calls our attention to the voices in our head that don’t seem to have a purpose. It is these voices she believes are the ones that are responsible for bringing us into a closer connection with our ability to learn to write. By encouraging people to listen to these ignored voices we hear new ideas and theories which develop us as people and writers. Through my years learning to write I was always in instructed to us these systematic methods to create your writing. When we go through these protocols it is the time to let the voices in our minds run free. These voices are responsible for bringing up the items and thoughts we want to put into our papers.
The system I’ve be taught doesn’t seem to ever work wonders for me, but I have never been big on writing. I was never happy to sit down and try to brainstorm ideas for a essay, I found just sit down and start writing from start to end and hoped it made sense and was good enough to receive a decent grade. This method for me probably won’t work in college but I have a feeling I won’t change much. I might try to develop some ideas before I start writing and I will certainly at least go over it once after I’m done.