Although this was
my second time reading it, Joyce Carol Oates’ short story was just as dark on
the second read as the first. This story, albeit very deep and somewhat
disturbing, is a prime example of the coming-of-age theme that we have been
dealing with in this class.
Connie, the main
character of this chilling tale, fits the classic stereotype of an American
teenage girl. After being tied down for the first fifteen years of her life by
her parents (most notably her mother) Connie longs for independence, and takes
every opportunity she can to dress up and hang out around older people. I’ve
seen this longing firsthand, as my little sister, who is also 15, has acted the
same way, always wanting to grow up a little sooner than she should. Connie’s
desire to be older and more independent eventually backfires, as an older man
she once saw at the drive-in finds her and kidnaps her. Similar to The House on Mango Street, wanting to
grow up too soon leads to a loss of innocence, a deeper look into the tougher
problems that surround being an adult. Connie tried her hardest to believe that
her parents would be back soon and would be able to save her, but by insisting
on being independent (leaving herself at the house alone) she sacrificed the
safety blanket that her parents could provide. This story deals with some
extremely dark and scary thoughts, but is a very good example of one
coming-of-age too soon.
Arnold Friend (an
old friend?), the “definitely not a teenager anymore” suitor who forces Connie
to come with her, is almost a symbol of evil and temptation himself. His shiny
gold car, complete with his name painted across the back, is a good example of
the lure and lust of older men to some ladies. At first glance, a girl like
Connie could see him and his car and feel secure. I’m sure the constant “get
in” demands probably didn’t help her feel secure at all, but his appearance (or
of men of similar preying prowess) could have had a significant effect on the
ladies. This guy was a total piece of work, a slimy scumbag that I had a very
tough time reading about. This story was perfect for the class, but definitely
hard to stomach.
When I picked up
the Life anthology from library and
set out to write this piece, I started with the same strategy as last time;
pick an article that dabbles with the coming of age theme and write about it.
On the last go around it was pretty easy; I used The New Yorker, a magazine filled with short stories and memoirs.
Using Time, I found the task much
more difficult. This magazine is more traditional journalism, reporting news
stories and such. After about thirty minutes of flipping through the book, I
decided that finding an individual coming of age themed story would be too
difficult.
Instead, I decided
to look at a series of issues of the magazine as a collective whole. I found that a magazine like this showed the
coming of age of America as a whole in the 1950’s, a time of rebuilding, middle
class boom, and some testy international relations.
Over the course of
the six or so issues I thumbed through (summer of 1955), I found a lot of
stories covering two of the biggest topics of the time: Cold War and the Red
Scare. The Cold War nuclear crisis was all over these issues, with articles
ranging from new military tactics using nuclear bombs to a huge UN conference
in Geneva that was going on at the time regarding weapons of mass destruction.
Overall, this was a time of maturity and growth in the newest and most
dangerous of technologies. I thought it was extremely interesting to see the
new was America was adapting to foreign relations and such now having this technology.
Also, stories about communism and western ideals were prevalent. I don’t know
how much Life deals with politics and
government these days, but it seemed like every issue had something to do with
the Red Scare. Just goes to show you how important and prevalent the issue was
in day-to-day life, and it shows America’s reaction to opposition with
different governments.
Another
interesting coming of age theme I saw was the growth of the “suburban family”
stereotype that the 1950s is always remembered for. Many of the advertisements throughout the
magazines were for drug stores or cheap department stores, selling items that
would appeal to the middle class. Although there weren’t many pictures, the Fallout-esque sketches made the
advertisements fun and appealing to all ages and socioeconomic backgrounds.
This is a complete change in the style of ads from our last library research
day; in the 1930s, the magazines were advertising a lot of luxury, expensive
goods rather than basic everyday necessities. Also, lots of the articles
stressed family entertainment and wellbeing. One of the best examples of this
was the article covering the opening of Disneyland, a brand new theme park
designed for families of all ages to spend quality time together and have fun.
The eight-page article had color pictures and full detailed descriptions,
showing how important family values were to the magazine and America at the
time.
Although I was unable
to find a specific article dealing with coming of age, I thought the 1950s Life issues all dealt with America
coming of age, in the age of the Cold War and the rise of the middle class.
Jersey? Check.
Scarf? Check. Voice? Check. A wave of nervous excitement swept through my body
as I entered Section 138 for the first time. My friend and I, both new to this
scene, had only been to the Home Depot Center to see a Galaxy match once, and
we decided the next time we would try our hands at the supporter’s section. The
match against FC Dallas began, and from the moment I sang my first song, I knew
I wanted to be a part of the Los Angeles Riot Squad.
In a nutshell, a
supporter’s section is a part of the stadium designated for fans that wish to
stand, cheer, sing, and chant a team onto victory. The concept, much more
widespread in Europe, is supposed to help a team along to victory, having a
constant source of support throughout the game. I have always been someone that
takes pride in being part of something larger than myself, and being a voice in
a crowd cheering on the team is a great feeling.
Seeing LARS at my first match (away @Chivas USA, same stadium, different corner) made my friend and I want to join them for the next match.
However, I knew
from the first song (Riot Squad, we are
here, ooh, ooh, #$@% your women and drink your beer! Ooooh we are the Riot
Squad) that this supporter’s group was going to be a little different than
most. LARS happens to pride themselves on helping the team forward by setting
the other team back. They work all game to get in the other team’s head, allowing
the Angel City Brigade, the other supporters group on the other side of the
stadium, to support the team lovingly (LARS
actually made Houston Dynamo forward Brian Ching cry on one occasion). I
have even partaken myself, chanting at the refs, the opposing players, and, of
course, my own team. Although sometimes a little unorthodox and a tad bit
vulgar, standing with the Riot Squad is the most fun I have ever had at a live
sporting event and I have been back many times. Best of all it makes me feel
like I have a place, standing among like-minded individuals working towards a
common goal. I love that feeling.
Perhaps the
greatest LARS moment I have had was this past November, as I traveled back to
California (a week early for Thanksgiving) to see the Galaxy take on the
Houston Dynamo at home in the MLS Cup Final. After four hours of tailgating on
a rainy Sunday afternoon we crammed all of sections 137 & 138, singing our
hearts out despite the weather. A 72’ minute goal by Landon Donovan carved our
path to the championship, allowing LARS to celebrate deep into the night
(capped off with a group singing of “We Are The Champions/This is LA (my
favorite song, adapted from the song by The Briggs)). Honestly it was one of
the greatest days of my life and I will certainly never forget it.
From the ESPN telecast. One of the best days of my life.
LARS has certainly
shown me a side of sports I was never really acquainted with before: the
religion of fandom. Before my first Galaxy game, I never really had a team I
REALLY cared about. Sure, I liked the Angels for baseball and enjoyed going to
Mighty Ducks games, but really, I never cared how well the team was doing. Ever
since I started to get invested in the Galaxy (about three years ago), I have
found that my emotional state parallels the way the team is doing. The night
the G’s won the Cup I was happier than I had ever been in my life. This season,
with my team making a quick exit from the CONCACAF Champions league and
starting off extremely slowly in league play (1-0-3?!?! Really guys?!?!), I
have seen some bitter evenings (just ask Billy Klaess, he knows all about my
volatile state while watching a Galaxy game). The book Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby is all about this “disease”, the life of
a through and through fan. Adding to this, I am studying Journalism at TCU,
looking to be an MLS writer when I graduate. I can safely say that my ties to
the Galaxy and LARS in specific have changed the course of my life more than
any single thing has before.
Song Starts at 1:57
This is LA, Our city
our home
Los Angeles, we never
walk alone
Forever true we’ll
stay
In tribute to our city
No matter where we go
this is our home.
On a final note, I
consider myself to be an ambassador of the American soccer game. Although most
consider soccer in the US to be the ugly stepchild of sports with football,
baseball, basketball, and hockey trumping over it, I am here to tell you to keep
an open mind. Soccer’s magic and beauty comes straight from the fans, something
one will never experience by watching a match on television. It takes going to
a live match to really understand the greatness behind The Beautiful Game.
Cities such as Portland, Seattle, Salt Lake, and Kansas City have all rallied
around their teams and created soccer environments that begin to rival the
European teams. If you have a chance, I highly recommend taking in a match (although
FC Dallas might not be the best example, their fan base isn’t the best). Soccer
is indisputably growing in the US, and it has changed my life forever.
Short story
collection novels bother me. Maybe it’s the lack of continuity, or maybe its
all the reading between the lines that they force me to do. Or maybe it’s
because I don’t quite get them, at least not until the very end. Whatever the
case may be, I have always enjoyed novels like this once its all said and done,
whether it was The Lone Ranger and Tonto
Fistfight in Heaven or Fever Pitch
(one of my favorite books). This one was no exception.
I’m not quite sure
how I managed to read parts of this book in 9th grade, because this
story deals with some seriously dark issues. The main character, Esperanza,
finds herself trapped in the dangerous and inescapable world that is a
poverty-stricken neighborhood in Chicago. Some of the touchy themes, such as
sexual assault, prostitution, crime, and child abuse, are much too complex for
the age some students read this book at. I think those parts were necessary to
help convey the overall idea of the novel, but are pretty tough to deal with at
a middle school age.
For the most part,
I thought this book truly encompasses the concept of the “coming of age” theme
we have been dealing with this semester. Although in the end Esperanza simply
affirms the belief she always had (that Mango Street was not the place for
her), each of the occurances she has help her grow further. The most obvious
“coming of age” event (at least physically) in the story is arguably the “Hips”
chapter, where the girls discuss hitting puberty and developing their hips. However,
her persona matures through various events, from trying on the high heels to
getting her first job to being sexually assaulted and realized sex is not all
its hyped up to be in the movies. If this story isn’t the perfect example of
“coming of age” I’m not sure what else would be.
Although I liked
the novel as a whole, a few things bothered me. First of all, the lack of quotation
marks really irritated me by the end of the novel. Sitting down and reading a
book for a few hours straight is hard enough, but without quotation marks it
was nearly impossible to follow the dialogue clearly on the first read. Also, I
felt Esperanza’s growth was harder to follow without reflection on some of the
tougher issues she deals with. In other words, something would happen to her,
and I would expect her to think about what happened or how that affects her.
The short story chapter format prevented her from doing so, just moving on to
the next story without thoughts on the last one. By the end of the novel it was
easy to see her overall growth, but I found it difficult to track her progress
throughout it.
Overall, I thought
the novel was a great read; short and sweet, but definitely deep and insightful
into the seemingly endless life of poverty many families face.
On the Tuesday
after Spring Break I was able to meet with Hissa, my conversation partner, for
our fourth meeting. As per usual, it was a great session and I learned a lot
about her growth with the English language.
We started off by
exchanging Spring Break stories, her depicting her trip to California and me
describing my journey to Florida. From what it sounds like, she had an
absolutely wonderful time in California. She got to stay at a friend’s house in
Newport Beach (an extremely nice area of Southern California about 20 minutes
south of where I live), and was able to visit both Universal Studios and
Disneyland while getting plenty of sun. She said her favorite part of the trip
was getting to stay an extra day and sitting out on the beach until sundown. Honestly,
it kinda made me miss California! (Just a little of course…) One of the things
she mentioned that I thought was very beneficial for her growth in the English
language was her being forced to use her English on her travels. She explained
that all of the people she encountered, from the flight attendants to the
hostesses at restaurants, did not speak Arabic (obviously), forcing her to use
the English she knows to convey her thoughts. I think it is good for her to get
out of her ESL community and use her English with more native speakers, and it
sounds like this vacation was a great chance for her to do just that.
After we chatted
about our vacations for a good thirty minutes, she began to tell me about her
new task: purchasing a car. The day before she and her sister had gone out and followed
an ad from Craigslist to a mid 90’s Jeep. However, when she arrived, she found
the car was in very bad condition. Apparently the car had been in a minor
accident recently, and the owner neglected to mention that on the ad. I advised
Hissa to use Carfax.com to see whether a used car has been in an accident, and
suggested to try a used car dealership. She told me she would continue the hunt
this week and would let me know how it was going during our next meeting
(tomorrow).
Although we have
only met four times, I feel like I can see a definite improvement in her
overall use of English. Having a fluent speaker to practice with makes all the
difference, and I’m a little sad that we only have two more meetings for her to
practice with me. Nevertheless, it was another successful session and I await
our next one.
On the Tuesday
before Spring Break I met with Hissa, my conversation partner, for our third
meeting.
Like many of us, I
could immediately tell Hissa was very tired and was ready for a break. At first
she seemed rather shy and didn’t want to talk very much, just ready to take her
week off and relax. However, after a few minutes of small talk I was able to
make her feel comfortable again, and we continued our discussion. She told me
all about her plans for Spring Break, sounding really excited about her trip to
California. Having been there before, she was very enthused to return and enjoy
the beach and the sun. I asked her where exactly she was going, but she said
she didn’t know where her friend lived (being from So Cal myself made me
curious).
As for her studies, she has been quickly
progressing through her English classes. She still wishes to graduate in three
years and return to Saudi Arabia to become an English teacher, but is willing
to stay in America as long as she needs to finish her degree. I really think
she is dedicated to her learning, even if it is challenging at times. Socially, she has started to really become
integrated with her ESL community as well as the Dallas-Fort Worth community.
She has started to make friends outside of the Saudi Arabian group (I got to
meet her new friend, an ESL student from Morocco), and as a result is getting
different practice and experience with her English. However, as she jokingly
commented, she thinks the Saudi Arabian group still has the best accent,
considering she sometimes has difficulties understanding the English of those
from other places. All in all, she continues to grow her knowledge of English,
something I can attest to firsthand. I look forward to our meeting after Spring
Break.
