week one

My Prop 30 article from the LA times: http://articles.latimes.com/2012/aug/16/local/la-me-brown-taxes-20120816

1. 'Para Teresa' is written in English and Spanish because the shared culture of the combatants in the poem is central to their story. The poem is essentially about the two character's divergent reactions to the forces of assimilation in 1950's America, about how the narrator chooses to apply herself in school in order to make her family happy and to prove herself while Teresa chooses to rebel outwardly against the dominant culture. The bilingual nature of the poem is reflective of the conflict between trying to retain one's own culture, merge with the dominant culture, or find a balance between the two. The narrator seems to choose to write the more introspective lines in Spanish and the more descriptive lines in English, or at least the more emotional lines in Spanish and the more objective lines in English. The use of both Spanish and English gives it the feeling of a personal correspondence between the two main characters. the narrator also begins the poem with the phrase 'las palabras estas que explotan de mi corazon (these words that explode from my heart)' (Hernandez-Avila, 'Para Teresa'), setting the highly personal and seemingly private tone of the poem. the use of both Spanish and English sets up the poem as sincerely emotional and personal.


2. The narrator states "in the sixth grade, we did not understand ...but now in 1975 ... te comprendo, es mas, te respeto" (Hernandez-Avila, 'Para Teresa') When the narrator was a young girl she only knew her own way of thinking and living and Teresa (seeming frightening and strange to the narrator) only knew her own way. But as an adult the narrator is able to look back on this adolescent encounter and see it objectively; to take into account the time and place in the world and in their lives that the event occurred. Maybe at twenty-eight the narrator feels more like a Teresa, more aggressive and assertive, than she did as her sixth grade self. As our instructor mentioned, it is significant that the narrator uses the term 'pachucas' to describe Teresa and her friends. I had to look up the term (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachuco), and I found that the definition lent cultural and historical context. Describing Teresa and her friends as 'pachucas' meant that they were culturally dangerous, the rebellious subculture of their time. As an adult the author is able to identify with and be proud of the dangerous outward rebellion that Teresa showed in the sixth grade.


6. Anthony York's LA times article on Prop. 30 explains Governor Jerry Brown's proposition to temporarily raise income tax on those earning above $250,000 a year and California state sales tax in order to prevent heinous tax cuts from California's public schools and universities. The proposition is expected to raise up to $8 billion a year. Opponents argue that the state of California has recently dropped the ball with the state parks budget and made significant accounting errors, as well as pointing out that "the money raised by Proposition 30 would not be earmarked specifically for education." (York, http://articles.latimes.com)