I begin today’s class with a photograph of a Haitian man and his son being “rounded up” by an American border control agent near Mexico. Here is the full article on how President Biden has ordered over 15,000 Haitian migrants at the border of America to be flown back to Haiti. How does this image connect with last week’s readings?
- Review How to Write A Summary
- Read José Olivarez, “Maybe I Could Save Myself by Writing” and “Mexican American Disambiguation” and “Citizen Illegal” (2018)
- Write a 1-paragraph summary of one of Olivarez’s texts, using the Summary Powerpoint template as a model. Include a quote from the text that you feel represents an important idea. For example: As Olivarez writes, “Maybe I could write the stories I was craving to read. Maybe I could save myself by writing.”
- Post using “comments” icon (above this post)
FOR TODAY’S CLASS
- Watch 2019 LAF student video on Olivarez. Share any response you have to the student comments. Can you relate to something a fellow City Tech student articulated?
- Watch Jose Olivarez read “Citizen Illegal”
- Discuss Unit 1 and brainstorm
In Jose Olivares article, “Maybe I Could Save Myself By Writing” (2018), the author expresses that some of the readers are like him in the sense that some do not feel as though they fit in, or haven’t understood our calling. Olivares explains that he didn’t feel like he fit in being raised in the United States or even in Mexico where his parents are from but got the comfort of fitting in through Poetry. Which wasn’t something that he was found of younger. The author opens up a bigger questions for his readers to think about after expressing that in order to feel like you fit in somewhere it doesn’t necessarily need to be your nationality or where you were raised. So where exactly do you fit in?
In Jose Olivarez poem “Citizen illegal” (2018), The author describes all the characteristics that makes a child illegal or a citizen. It could be the way you look, the way you talk and most importantly where you come from. The author conveys the idea that many of our characteristics place us in a category, we either look like a citizen or we don’t. One of the quotes that really represented the idea of the whole poem is towards the end when he explains“ if the boy ( citizen ) ( Illegal ) growns up ( illegal ) and can only write ( Illegal ) this story in English ( citizen ), does that make him more American ( citizen ) or Mexican ( Illegal )”. When reading this you can finally understand that the author himself has gone through all of these experiences, and the use of the parenthesis can help the reader understand the characteristics that make him ( Illegal ) or ( citizen ) in a world where people place you in little boxes depending on how you look , act and talk.
In his poem, Jose Olivarez’s “Citizen Illegal” (2018), shows 2 cultures as one being a citizen and the other being illegal. The author is Mexican American, which he writes Mexican (illegal) -American (citizen). In his experience, he is showing that attending school is his citizenship in America while at the same time feeling like an outcast or lonely from his American friends for being Mexican (illegal). Jose Olivarez shows the pros and (more) cons of being Mexican-American from his childhood years to an adult. As the author ends his poem he questions whether this writing makes him “…more American (citizen) or Mexican (illegal)?”
In Jose Oilivarez poem ” Citizen Illegal” he talks about all the ways he is put into a category of being illegal or being a citizen. He described how when he was born from two immigrant parents would that make him an immigrant or if he went to school and surrounded himself around American children does that make him a citizen. In this poem you can see how Jose if suffering from identity loss, Identity crises and is describing ways on how he is being stripped of his culture just to fit in and not hold the title of an immigrant child. Society has made it hard for him to accept and love who he is and be proud of where he is from. A quote that stood out the most was when Jose stated “Take a Mexican woman (illegal) and a Mexican man (illegal).If they have a baby and the baby looks white enough to pass (citizen).” This quote shows me just how involved society is in your life and just how much they make you question yourself. how they make you feel like you should be pale to be considered an American child someone worth being called a citizen.
In José Olivarez’s article, “Maybe I Could Save Myself by Writing” (2018), the author states that the readers can possibly relate to him and his story of not fitting in or not understanding why their put in certain circumstances in life. In this article, the author Jose Olivarez gives a brief summary of his childhood trying to convey his message he didn’t know where he fit in during his teenage years back home in Cañadas de Obregón, Jalisco, México where his parents were from or Chicago, Illinois United States where he was born and raised. But the author found where he fits through his love for writing poverty that he wished he was able to read at a young age after name-dropping some popular Latinx authors. The main idea of this article is to find where you fit in or why you are put in certain circumstances in life. This quote from the text supports the main idea “When I was 16, my parents let me spend a month with my grandparents in Cañadas. My plan was to never come back. However, I arrived in México and felt just as out of place as I felt anywhere else.” So the author left us with a big question to answer: where do we fit in and how do we determine that we fit in. He found where he fit in through his love for writing poverty in his teenage years that he didn’t know when he was younger. What I got from this article is that the author Jose Olivarez found his way and is trying to help kids that feel the same as he did because when he was young he wished he had poems to read to help him find where he fits. As Olivarez writes, “Maybe I could write the stories I was craving to read. Maybe I could save myself by writing.”
In José Olivarez’s article, “Maybe I Could Save Myself by Writing” (2018), in the reading the author doesnt think he belong in either mexico or america.
He felt like in america and mexico he just didnt fit in and opens up alot of questions to the reader’s. He goes a bit into the detail of his childhood and from it we learn that he wasnt accepted in a kindergarden
bc he is of spanish desent. this made him feel even more out of place than he already was. He turned to writing poetry as a means of fitting in. but that eft us with a question. how do we determine what and how we fit in.
in this article José Olivarezis trying to relate to the people that feel the same ay and by doing that he can help them.
In the Jose Olivarez poem “Mexican American Disambiguation” (2017) the author tries to convey that no matter what circumstance he is in he will never have a label that will truly represent who he is. The poem discusses his life referencing his parents and how they’re are being categorized by everyone and they don’t have a simple title for who they are and represent because no matter what everyone labels them differently. In the poem, it states “my parents are Mexican who are not to be confused with Mexicans still living in México. those Mexicans call themselves Mexicanos. white folks at parties call them pobrecitos.” this just goes to show how they are always being labeled no matter what and it’s not one label they have but the different types of labels trying to describe who they are. At the end of the day will there really be a label that truly describes how is his family?
In JosĂ© Olivarez’s article, “Maybe I Could Save Myself by Writing” (2018), the author tried to make a point that no matter what are your roots or what life situation you living there’s always going to be something that will truly define what you are. So the author began his story with experience he lived during his childhood the main reason he wrote was that he was having a difficult time trying to identifying what were actually his roots. He had trouble understanding everything that didn’t make sense for him as a teenager. A quote that stood out for me was “When I was a teenager, I felt like I belonged nowhere. I know it’s a clichĂ©: Ni de aqui, ni de alla, but damn if I didn’t feel that. I walked around with my head to the ground. I was just trying to get through each day. For him it was a difficult part of his life, he didn’t know where he belonged and its understandable when you are being raised into two nationalities.
Well done.
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José Olivarez’s article, “Maybe I Could Save Myself by Writing” discusses a point in time where Jose asked himself a very common question that at some point in our lives we also have asked ourselves. Jose mentioned “I felt like I belonged nowhere. I know it’s a cliché: Ni de aqui, ni de alla.” Jose was born in Chicago having parents born in Mexico. He never felt the feeling of connection in his local school as well as his one month trip to Mexico. The question of where he belonged remained unanswered. Jose wanted to bounce off all his questions on books made by his own people however no one seemed to understand what he was going through. Therefore he wrote poems that projected similar ideas and problems with younger people creating a comfort zone. He stated that “ We designed them to hold space for Latinx people, and we heard over and over that the space felt like home.” To further accomplish his goals of understanding the emotional feeling of many young adults he created a series of open mics around his neighborhood. It all started with a simple poem that only described what he was going through.
In Jose Olivarez article “Maybe I Could Save Myself By Writing”(2018) the author expresses how life was like for him when he was a teenager. He was a Latinx teen in America that felt like he wasn’t fitting in. In the article he states ” I was living in the wrong country. I didn’t make sense in the United States, but if I moved to MĂ©xico, I would make sense. All my questions about where I belonged would be answered. I could go and live a good, anxiety-free life.” When he said that he could live a good, anxiety free life he was conveying that as a teen coming from out of the United States he wasn’t comfortable and didn’t really feel safe, but the imagination of being back in his country he thought life would be so much better.
In the article, ” Maybe I could save myself writing”, by Jose Olivarez; the author starts by being vulnerable and opening up about his shortcomings as a young man and what “not fitting in” truly feels like in every aspect of life. As the writer begins to describe what a Latino living in a suburban Chicago city looks like, we are one of a possible bias of what he remembers because of what he now knows to be lack of representation. We can see from a young age the author experiencing the lack of inclusivity in the United States and Mexico made him anxious and uncertain as to where he truly belonged. Realizing early that Latino authors were not a part of his school curriculum and that if he wanted to be represented he would have to find another outlet outside of academics. It is only when Olivarez attends a poem club at his school , does he understand that he could not only write the stories he long to read but, he could help and influence his peers to do the same and see each others as pupils.
In “Citizen Illegal”, the author Jose Olivarez talks on the inequalities many immigrants in this country have to deal with. He describes how he is born as a citizen but his parents are both immigrants from Mexico. Due to this situation, others classify him as a immigrant despite him actually being a citizen. In the text, it states “If the boy (citizen) (illegal) grows up (illegal) and can only write (illegal) this story in English (citizen), does that make him more American (citizen) or Mexican (illegal)?”This quote is making a statement on how unfair he gets treated due to his background.
In the poem “Mexican American Disambiguation” the author compares the life of his parents who came from Mexico to the United States. He also compares his life as an American student and as he is called an international student because he has Mexican traits. I found this quote interesting in the poem “my mom was white in MĂ©xico & my dad was mestizo & after they crossed the border they became diverse. & minorities. & ethnic. & exotic “is interesting how the life of his parents changed and the author mentions throughout the poem how his parents are categorized and what the life of an immigrant is like. So Who you really are?
In Jose Olivarez’s Poem “(Citizen)(Illegal)” (2018); the author illustrates the inconspicuous battle of defining what makes a “citizen”, and what makes an “illegal” from being a product of “illegal parents.” The author continues to define the actions declaring “citizen” or “illegal” questioning cultural identity in the process.
In Jose Olivarez’s article, “Maybe I Could Save Myself By Writing” (2018), the author gives the idea that there are many readers just like him feel like they don’t fit in the home they were born in or the home their parents were from. That or they have not found their place in the world. Olivarez would elaborate this by stating that he didn’t belong neither being raised in the United States or even in living in Mexico where his parents are from. However he did find some sense of comfort that being in the form of Poetry. Something that he found when he younger he also grew quite fond of it as well. All of this would lead to the author opening up a to a bigger question for his readers. Expressing yourself to feel like you fit in somewhere, nationality gender and color shouldn’t matter.