Bad Influence by Judith

Bad Influence by Judith Ortiz Cofer

The story was great and describable. I was surprised on what Judith’s parents were doing to her; sending her either to Puerto Rico or Catholic girl’s retreat during the summer holiday for just a punishment. It is because her parents did not want her to be influenced badly by her friends. So she chose Puerto Rico because she wanted to see her grandparents after a long time.

When she came to Puerto Rico, she was not expecting that everyone was doing the strange thing around her. Her grandmother always asked her if she was alright because Judith had asthma but it is not that too serious. She became bored at her grandparents’ home and wanted to come back to her home. The main reason she wanted to stay back was Meli and her future boyfriend, the bad influence. They are referred as “bad influence” because they tempted Judith to follow their bad ways and they were under house arrest for drug bust.

She learnt a lot from her grandfather who was a spirit healer. She went to meet Angela who had an “evil-related illness” which means she sometimes acted strange. This is the cause of her mother’s new boyfriend, a villain, who tried to bring bad influences into Angela’s house as this has affected Angela’s life.

I learnt many themes from this story. Judith was brave enough to stand any situation such as haunting places and evil-based issues. I was brave to hear many stories from my families. I don’t believe these stories even though my cousin is a spiritual healer. I experienced dealing some spiritual and sick issues with my cousin in Fiji.

Punishment helps children learn something so much like parents sent Judith to Puerto Rico to stay with her grandparents. She learned a lot about their culture rather than learning nothing at her home so that the bad influences won’t affect the childrens' lives much such as their education, relationship etc.

The Circuit by Francisco Jimenez

The Circuit by Francisco Jimenez

The story is about the struggles the author has faced in his life during his childhood. He is originally from Mexico and his family has migrated to live in America for employment. He liked the work and became used onto which his dad and brother were doing at a farm.

I see that they were doing that for financial needs. In the olden day times, many people were struggling to live toughly; therefore they needed to move to United States from Mexico to work there for money. During the strawberry and cotton season, the author was upset because he was unable to go for his education. But when the season was over, he enrolled in a school where he learned a lot although English was not his second language. He was very happy that his teacher helped him a lot. In the end, he was sad that his family was moving back to Mexico again after the harvesting season was over.

The point is that he is great in need of education. His parents didn’t know the importance of the education for their children.

In my experience, my teachers wanted to make sure I was satisfied with my education. My teachers used to be there for me when I needed help. Now, I see that I am here at university level. That is because of continuous supports from my friends, teachers, relatives and families. Education is a human right for everyone. Parents who want to use the children to work for them are encouraged to send them to school vitally and can work when they have free time.

When I came to United States from Fiji, I was surprised that the university I am planning to study in has so many opportunities for the students such as drama, sports, filming productions, dance. Many students became expert and leaders from these different categories. I feel like I am not very limited to these opportunities unlike Fiji.

Most of the Fiji students are unaffordable to pay school fees; therefore they stay and work in their village farms so that they earn some money for the family.

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Rules of the Game by Amy Tan

The story is about the Chinese culture and the chess-game. A girl whose name is Waverly Place Jong, the official name after the street that she and her family lived on. Her family used to call her Meimei at home. Her family was Chinese-origin but they lived in Chinatown of San Francisco. Meimei learnt a lot about the market products when she went out with her mom during their shopping especially on Saturdays.

When Christmas came, they went to the church where they prayed and got a gift donated from the member of other church. At the gift- giving area, when Santa asked Meimei how old she was and she got puzzled because she was not sure about her age due to the American formula not same as Chinese calendar. Her brothers received the chess from the Santa and played it during the Christmas week. Thus, Meimei learned what her brothers were doing with the chess by watching them. Later on, Meimei was interested in playing chess with them. On the way back to her home, she saw a group of boys playing the chess games, she realized she could learn from them if she plays with them so she ran to get the chess and play with them. Then Meimei joined the group and ask the man whose name is Lau Po. He taught her many new things especially American rules about the chess game and also how to play the chess.

Later on, she became the champions because she won many places. Her mother was very proud of her. However, Meimei dislike her mother’s attitude because she was showing her off to people when they were walking past in the market. This same thing has happened to my family especially me and mom. When I got the first place in my elementary school external exams, mom was overwhelmed and very impressed with my results and she kept telling everyone who visited her about me being Deaf but I got excellent grades all the times. This made me feeling enough (tired) for her to tell everyone about me. Because she just wanted to show that her son can do anything in this world.

The Gift of Laughter

A Gift of Laughter by Allan Sherman

This story is fantastic! I love the story because I understood the story clearly. The author explained what his experiences were alike during his childhood. He wanted to link his same story from his son, Robbie’s current experience. I learnt a lot from this story. This is special for the parents of productive children because it teaches them how to have patience for his children. Most parents are very tired of the children, talking unnecessarily and the children don’t understand their parents’ reaction.

The author wanted to share a gift of laughter because he wanted the kids to learn what things it is right or wrong to do. He wanted to give a piece of advice and a bit of his experience to his kids relating to the silly things he did in a long time ago like in the story Allan shared the funny story with his son, Robbie. Parents may be careful and aware of talking to each other while the children are watching because mature talking could influence the kid. This is the piece of the advice I would like to share with those parents who have kids for e.g. in the story Allan listened to his grandma’s conversation and then he brought a football into the house instead of a fruit bowl.

In my experience, my parents were always happy with me because I was doing something wisely like painting pictures and writing on the papers. Sometime when I cried, my mom brought something I made in my spare time and showed it to me. She said she was impressed with my artwork. Her delighted face with a flashing smile made me stopping crying and be happy. When my mum hugged me tightly, I could stop crying. She asked me if I wanted to go out for a swim or ice- cream. I used to ask her why she was admired with my artwork.

I believe the parents should appreciate the things what the children do with or show them their artwork. That will help the children to become more productive and successful in the future.