In the final section Jaquira graduates school and travels to Puerto Rico a few times as well. Jaquira’s mother was also in the hospital battling schizophrenia and other health problems she had. In the section “Returning” it states “as I’m lining up with all the other graduates, I will look for my family in the crowd, Abuela sitting next to Alaina, Papi, Meira, Anthony, Tio, and Chieto.” (Diaz 194) This shows how Jaquiras family supported her when she graduated even though she grew apart from her family. Jaquira was very happy and felt emotional that her family supported her and how proud they were that she graduated. Another example, in the section “Returning” it states “I can’t stop smiling. I am overwhelmed with happiness, with love, with hope, with the certainty that I will be a writer someday, but also,more than anything else, I wish my mother was here.” (Diaz 194) This shows how Jaquira became very successful all though she faced many struggles throughout her life. Jaquira is a prime example of overcoming adversity because she was doing drugs and even dropped out of school countless times, but in the end she graduated college and became a successful author.
Author Archives: Adrian Gonzalez
Ordinary Girls 3
In the third section Jaquira Diaz talked about her love interest Cheito, dropping out of school, joining the military, and her grandmother Mercy passing away. Jaquira had a very difficult life growing up without both parents and facing constant abuse. In the section “Beach city” she talked about being a complete failure in life and didn’t know if she had a future. “I couldn’t really see any future at all. I was still exactly where I’d been a year before, sleeping on my fathers couch, a high school dropout with a GED and some failed community college classes.” (Diaz 150) Jaquira talks about how her life had gotten worse over time she dropped out of high school, which shows how much Jaquira struggles with drugs and her trying to keep a stable life. In “Battle stations” Jaquira talked about joining the military and how it would save her. For example, “In the navy, I became a completely different girl. I took orders, I followed the rules, and worked hard, harder than I’d worked my whole life.” (Diaz 152) This shows Jaquira clearly wanted to become a better person and joining the navy set her on the right path, she became very responsible and respectful to others.
The Hardships of being an Ordinary Girl
“Ordinary Girls” is a Book written by Jaquira Diaz, a Puerto Rican woman who deals with hardships with her family and grows up in poverty. In the second section of “Ordinary Girls” Jaquira is trying to help her mother who is constantly doing drugs and smoking cigarettes and not being a mother to her. She also talks about her brother being abusive towards her, and she would stand up for herself by fighting back. Jaquira talks about how mothers are supposed to be loving and caring and always be there for you, but her mother was just hurting her. “We’re supposed to love our mothers, we’re supposed to trust them and need them and miss them when they’re gone. But what if that same person, the one who’s supposed to love you more than anyone else in the world, the one who’s supposed to protect you, is also the one who hurts you the most?” (Diaz 58) She also talks about how her father wouldn’t fight back for them if her mother took them away, or when Jaquira would show bruises from her mother to her father or to even show a sign that he even cared. This shows how her parents are bad role models and are not being supportive, making her life lonely.
“Ordinary Girls” Response
In this chapter, Jaquira Diaz talks about her mother and father and their household issues growing up. Jaquira mentions her interests in books and how her father loved books as well. Her brother Anthony was an artist and drew many cartoons and various characters. Throughout the chapter she mentions how her grandmother would constantly abuse her and cut her hair. In the section “Home is a place” (pg 49-52) “Our white Grandmother Mercy hated that my hair was a tangle of dry frizzy curls like my father’s bad hairs she called it.” Mercy didn’t appreciate her hair due to her fathers genes and was very racist towards her. This shows how Mercy was very abusive and racist towards her own granddaughter because of her genes that her father gave her. Jaquira lived under poverty and struggled in school. She would be bullied in school and many students would question her appearance due to her shorter hair. Both her father and mother didn’t get along later on in their relationship and would constantly be fighting. Her mother was battling schizophrenia at a young age. As Jaquira grew up she wanted to be like her father and share a similar life he had. The chapter shows the struggles Jaquira and her family went through and how they approached these hardships living in the projects.
Racial Justice Reads Post
During the video of “Racial Justice Reads” I noticed the differences between all the authors and their different ways of expressing their stories. Meredith Talusan talks about his transition from a male to a female. Meredith Talusan also talks about her life before transitioning and growing up in the Philippines. Jaquira Diaz talks about how when she was younger her white grandmother named Mercy would cut her hair because she had “bad hair”. One citation I found was “Our white grandmother Mercy, hated that my hair was a tangle of dry frizzy curls like my father’s bad hairs she called it.” Mercy didn’t appreciate her hair due to her fathers genes and was very racist towards her. Kiese Laymon talks about how growing up he would be taught to survive around white folks and the struggles black people have been through and are still going through. The preview readings “La Otra,” “The Cover of my Face,” and “Quick Feet” all show small parts of the reading and cover a majority of the central ideas being portrayed. For example, “La Otra” has information about Jaquira Diaz’s life growing up in New York and being Puerto Rican. Some things I might expect from the book that I might read is how the author talks about their experiences and the ways it impacted their lives. Some expectations I’m looking forward to is learning new things about the author’s perspective and the way they try to relate to the audience or grab the audience’s attention.
My Expectations
My expectations in this class is to learn new ways on how to interpret a reading and how to engage into conversations with my classmates, and how to become a better writer throughout my time at Lehman College. I’m also looking forward to learning many new things and different ways on how to write and what to include in my writing. My expectations for my instructor is to learn the most information I can during this course and be respectful as possible in this class. My expectations for my classmates is to get to know everyone the best I can and have good communication with my peers. Also try to understand their goals and expectations for this class.
