The final post on this blog.

Our group has done a great deal of work throughout this project. Not only did we all have different roles and tasks to fufil, we really analyzed the text and questioned various things that occurred. We learned all about the Garcia girls, their family, and the never ending obstacles and challenges they faced throughout the years. I thought this was an interesting project and it's sad that it has to come to an end. We hope you enjoyed reading our blog as much as we enjoyed writing on it. (:


sincerely yours,

Angelina

[JAMM]

This picture reminded me of the Garcia family when they were in the Dominican Republic, since their family was so incredibly large. I thought I'd share this with you. (:





This is a picture of the dominican flag on Dominican Day. Goes to show how proud these people are of their culture, eh?



-Angelinaaaa :P

Temptation: can you resist your own personal desires?

In the book, the Fanning's help out the Garcia's a lot. They took them out to dinner and were willing to pay for some of the things that the family wanted, such as a doll that Sandra wanted. We all know that if someone were to offer to pay for everything that we wanted, we would be extremely tempted to jump on it--but would you?

Sandra disobeyed her parents just because she wanted to get what she wanted. Didn't she feel the least bit guilty? would you do this? why or why not?

please write back (:

-Angelinaaa (=

Painting Pictures.

I was looking through pictures on google of Dominican Republic and America in comparing them and also having a better understanding of how Dominican Republic look like. The top picture is a picture of the city of which we know, Manhattan and the picture on the bottom is a picture of Dominican Republic.

What do you picture when the setting is described to you? Is it similar to these pictures? Why or why not?

-Michelle Xiaa

Summaries.

Still Lives:

The family decided that Sandi needed to take art lessons and she was sent to take lessons from Dona Charito. The children were given a tour of the house before Dona Charito started her lesson on how to hold a paintbrush the proper way. Sandi became bored, started painting cats and was thrown out of the class for disobeying. She wanders around and sees Don Jose, sculpting large figures. She broke her arm when she fell off the branch and she couldn't draw anymore. During Christmas Eve at the National Cathedral, Sandi recognizes the sculptures from the shed, especially the Virgin, who has a face that looks like her.

An American Surprise:

Carlos returns from a trip to New York City with a surprise for his daughters. He had brought them mechanical toy banks that moves when a coin is dropped into the slot. Gladys, their maid, offered to buy the bank from Carla, but Carla gives the bank to her for free. When the bank was found with Gladys, they fired her because they couldn't trust her, even though Carla confessed that she had given it away voluntarily.

The Drum:

Yolanda's grandmother brought her a drum from New York. All day long, Yolanda drummed until one drumstick got lost and the other broke. Their maid, Pila, would tell stories of devils and ghosts and claimed they lived in the coal shed. Pila had been stealing things from the family, but she was allowed to leave with the stolen things because Laura pitied her. Yolanda found kittens in the shed and names her favorite kitten, Schwarz. She takes the kitten inside, but gets annoyed with the kitten's cries and throws it outside. The kitten and the mother cat disappears, but she has nightmares of the mother cat, that haunts her at night.

--Janet

More Summaries.

Floor Show:

The family goes out to dinner with the Fannings, who wanted to treat them to a little luxury. Dr.Fanning had helped them escape their homeland and was helping Carlos get a job. At the restaurant, Mrs.Fanning becomes drunk, kisses Carlos, and dances with the performers on stage. Sandra ignored her mother's warning about not asking for extra treats because she believed that Mrs.Fanning owed her and asked for the doll. Mrs.Fanning insisted to Carlos that her husband would pay for the dolls.

The Blood of the Conquistadores:

The secret police comes to question Carlos, but he hides in a secret room in the bedroom closet. Victor Hubbard, who worked for the CIA, arrives and Laura realizes that they will have to leave the Island soon. When Sandi had to pick one toy to take to the U.S, she realizes that no toy would fill the emptiness opening inside her. Sofia doesn't remember the last day on the Island because she was the youngest. But her sisters would always tell her that she almost got their father killed because she was mean to one of the secret police that came looking for him.

The Human Body:

Yolanda's grandmother returns from New York City with Aunt Mimi. Aunt Mimi brought them a toy called "The Human Body" which is a doll with removable body parts. Mimi also gave Yolanda's cousin, Mundin, a packet of pink modeling clay. Mundin offered to trade the clay with Yolanda if she would show him she was a girl. Yolanda and Fifi took off their clothes in the shed, but Mundin was disappointed that they looked like dolls. They were found in the shed by Tia Carmen and the garderner and Yolanda lied to them that they were hiding from the secret police.

--Janet (:

Another thing i would like to ask you guys.

After I read the chapter about Yolanda and Rudy, I really thought about how he used her for his own enjoyment, and it reminded me of a friend I have.

Her boyfriend used her the entire time they went out. She had true, strong, feelings for him whereas he just used her to have somebody.

I would like to ask you guys:

Would you ever stay with a guy who is using you? Why do you think guys do this? Are girls JUST as guilty?

I'd love to hear your input (:

-Angelinaaaaaa x]

is their parent's solution better or worse?

After re-reading the chapter, and being very much inspired by Janet's blog post, I'd like to ask you all some questions.

In the chapter, "A Regular Revolution", the girls are sent back to the Dominican Republic to reconnect with their culture, since they were growing accustom to the American ways.

Sophia seems to be doing the worst; first having a bag of marijuana, then after going back to the DR, changing her appearance & sleeping with her uncle's illegitamate son--WITHOUT protection.

Do you think that the girls did WORSE when they were in the Dominican Republic? What makes you think this way? Post your responses here (:

-Angelina :D

Summaries

Daughter of Invention:

After arriving in the United States, Laura tried to invent things. But her daughters hated how she would spend time inventing, instead of helping them fit in America. Laura becomes frustrated that she couldn't turn any of her ideas into something profitable, so she gave up.

During ninth grade, Yolanda was chosen to give a speech at the school assembly. She felt uncomfortable with her accent and feared that she was going to be laughed at by her classmates. Yolanda worked hard on her speech and was pleased that she finally sounded like herself in English. But her father became angered by Yolanda's disrespect to her teachers and tore the paper into pieces. Yolanda ran back to her room and locked the door, until her mother came and helped her write a new speech.

Trespass:

Carla felt ashamed of the changes that her body was going through. She also feared the gang of boys at her new school that would hurl stones at her and call her names. One day when she was walking home from school, she noticed a car following her. The man in the car beckoned for her to come closer and she realized that he was naked from the waist down. Carla ran home and when the police arrived, she was mortified that she had to explain what had happened. Later Carla changed school, but she never forgot the memory of the boys telling her to go back to where she came from. She would pray to return to a place where people loved her.

Snow:

Yolanda went to a Catholic school near their small rented apartment. She was the only immigrant in the class and got special tutoring from her 4th grade teacher, Sister Zoe, to help her learn English. Yolanda learned that a cuban missile crisis was going on and when she saw dots in the air, she thought it was a bomb, until Sister Zoe explained that it was only snow.

--Janet :)

words :]

jubilant: over joyed; happy. [page 159]

effusively: pouring out; lacking of reserve. [page 211]

gaily: merriment. [page 269]

calisthenic: gymnastic exercises designed to develop physical health and vigor. [page 246]

SPANISH WORDS:

paella: rice dish made with vegetables, meat and/or sea food. [page 178]

carro: cart. [page 161]

damas: game of checkers. [page 184]

pastelon: large pie. [page 179]

vinagretta: french dressing. [page 178]

caballeros: gentleman. [page 184]

inimediatamente: immediately. [page 214]

tortolas: turtle dove. [page 223]

Sometimes the spanish words in the book throw me off a little when I'm reading the sentence that has them. I'm always like "Wait, what does that mean and what is she saying?" Does this happen to you ?

-MONICA SHARMA (:

Let's learn a little bit about the author.

Hi, guys. Apparently all of my blog post did not go through, so I'm going to repost some of the posts I created.

Since we finished the book, I thought it would be nice to learn a bit about the author of this book, Julia Alvarez.

The book we actually read, How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, is considered to be one of her most notable works. Some of her other books include "Return to Sender," "Finding Miracles," "Once Upon a Quinceanera", and many more. Many of her works have to do with various conflicts, hardships, and tales of living both as a Dominican and an American.

Julia was born to Dominican parents in NYC on March 27, 1950, but her family moved back to the Dominican Republic when she was only 3 months old. She grew up alongside her sisters, her cousins, and many other family members and maids. In 1960 when she was just 10 years old, her father became involved in a plot to overthrow the country's dictator, Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina. His plans were discovered, however. With the help of an American agent, he was able to get his family out of the country before being arrested or killed.

Alvarez was ecstatic when she discovered she was going back to America. Although she faced homesickness and the fear of not fitting in, she was determined to practice the English language, eat American foods, and befriend American children. She was sent to boarding school at the age of 13, and she returned to the Dominican Republic each summer. She graduated from Abbot Academy in 1967 and attended Connecticut College, then transferred to Middlebury College in Vermont in 1969. She earned a Master’s degree in creative writing from Syracuse University in 1975.

Julia knew that she wanted to be a writer. But in the late sixties, early seventies--African-American writers were just beginning to gain admission into the canon. Latino literature or writers were unheard of, and writing which focused on the lives of minorities were considered of ethnic interest only, the province of sociology.

She eventually fell into teaching, in order to earn a living. She traveled for years with poetry-in-school programs, then began teaching at a highschool level. She eventually moved onto college, and had her works published in small magazines and even won a few writing awards.

In 1991, she published her first novel, "How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents" with a small publishing company called Algonquin Books. Her editor, Shannon Ravenel, willing to give "a new voice" a chance. This book was the first of many more to come. (:


-Angelina :DD

HAPPY ONE YEAR BIRTHDAY! Not.

The day the Garcias were one American year old, they had celebration at dinner. Mami had baked a nice flan and stuck a candle in the center. "Guess what day it is today?" She looked around the table at her daughters' baffled faces. "One year ago today," Papi began orating, "we came to the shores of this great country." When he was done misquoting the poem on Statue of Liberty, the youngest, Fifi, asked if she could blow out the candle, and Mami said only after everyone had made a wish.



What do you wish for on the first celebration of the day you lost everything? Carla wondered. Everyon else arounf the table had their eyes closed as if they had no trouble deciding. Carla closed her eyes too. She should make an effort and not wish for what she always wished for in her homesickness. But just this last time, she would let herself. "Dear God," she began. She could not get used to this American wish-making without bringing God into it. "Ket us please go back home, please," she half prayed and half wished. It seemed a less and less likely prospect. In fact, her parents were sinking roots here. Only a month ago, they had moved out of the city to a neighborhood on Long Island so that the girls could have a yard to play in, so mami said. The little green squares around each look-alike house seemed more like carpeting that had to be kept clean than yards to play in. The trees were no taller than little Fifi. Carla thought yearningly of the lush grasses and thick-limbed, vine-ladened trees around the compound back home. (pg. 150)



In this passage, the girls are celebrating one year since they have been in America. However, in Carla's perspective, she doesn't want to stay in America and that she is a bit homesick. This made me think about all the immigrants to come to America. After a year, are they happy here? Why don't they like it?

What do you guys think? Why does Carla want to go home? Can you relate to this?

-Michelle Xia!

A Regular Revolution

Papi, Mami, and the four girls are living in the United States, but the girls are complaining that they want to go back home. But soon the girls begin to adjust to the ways of American life. Their parents starts to worry, so they decide to send the girls back to the Island to remember the Dominican culture and reconnect with their extended family. When their mother found a bag of marijuana behind the bureau, Sophia admitted that the bag was hers. As punishment, Sophia had to stay on the Island for a year. During that time, Sophia changed her appearance and is dating her uncle's illegitimate son, Manuel Gustavo, who turns out to be bossy and possessive. Yolanda, Sandi, and Carla become angered when they find out that Sophia is sleeping with Manuel without protection. The three sisters come up with a plan to leave Sophia with Manuel without a chaperon, which will get Sophia in trouble. Their mother decides to send Sophia back to America before her reputation is ruined.

--Janet