Photostory

This is my full photostory for those of you who didn't get to see it in class. As you all may know it was about the book The Daughters of Juarez and how after it's publication more people became aware of all the murders in Juarez and how that caused people from both Juarez and beyond to unite together and demand a stop to the murders and to seek justice for the victims' families.

Seems like it was only yesterday when we held our first day of class. On our first day Ms. Ramirez asked the class what were our expectations for this class. I personally never expected to be taken out of my comfort zone as I was many times by this class. It was not a bad thing at all it's just that in the past Enlglish classes to me meant simply reading books and writing book reports afterwards. Never did I expect to spend a whole semester studying in depth the definition of rhetoric an analyzation.

I learned a lot in this class that hopefully I will continue to apply to the rest of my college years. Everyone brought something special to the table, you can tell by all the different photo stories that were presented last Saturday, that also made the class unique. I hope everyone has a nice summer. Be safe!

I used to watch a series on HBO, strictly for its entertainment value, which some of you may have also seen called Big Love. For those of you who never watched the show it was about a polygamist family. Recently the controversy over polygamy has been in the news again only this time it was not in Arizona or Utah as it usually is but rather in Texas. Apparently in El Dorado Texas there is a polygamist ranch which was part of the FLDS church.

Last week state officials raided the ranch and most recently made a decision to separate the roughly 400 children from their mothers. State officials claim that it was in the childrens best interest to separate them from their mothers. This all began when a 16 year old made a phone call claiming that she was being abused within the ranch. The mothers are now are using the media, who they rarely grant interviews to, to try and gain sympathy from the public in order to try and get their children back.

As I watched the interview on CNN yesterday with one of the mother's it was obvious that she was coached as to what to answer. The mother would all together avoid some of the questions or couldn't give a direct answer. Then she said something which was the most upsetting part of the whole interview to me. She tried to compare their current situation to that of the Jews in WWII. Anderson Cooper, who was conducting the interview, then asked her if she was fully aware of what had actually happend to the Jews in WWII and she answered that she was that in fact she was a well educated woman in history and had a university degree.

At first I didn't know if I should laugh but the more I think about it the comments from that mother are upsetting more than anything else. I can't imagine what university she went to but I just find it so mind boggling that some one could allow themselves to be so brain washed. After hearing her try to compare her plight to the Holocaust I have no sympathy at all for these women. I think that both Utah and Arizona should follow Texas example and take all children out of any polygamist environment. All the brain washed mothers should then be forced to have their tubes tied. Ok I know that sounds a little crazy but I don't beleive it's any crazier than the comparison she tried to make.

Some of you may think that I spend my weekends going to parties, nothing could be further from the truth, I'm usually re-writing my anaylsis papers on the weekend. These are pictures of my weekend trip to Chihuahua. Each year my friend Jesus has a really big party for his birthday, he's in the second picture wearing the gold mask. He always goes all out for his parties, he rents one of the bars in Chihuahua and only those with an invitation can get in. This year the theme of the party was, I really don't know what the theme was but we were all told to wear a mask. See if you can find me in the first picture.
Like Adolfo's party, see my past posting, I always look forward to Jesus' party because it gives me an opportunity to see old friends that have moved away. Some people come from as far away as California, Monterrey, and Hermosillo to name a few. There's nothing like a good party to bring together old friends. Far too many times friends and family wait until something tragic to happen to come together. I hope everyone else had a great weekend.

This is a picture of my 2 1/2 year old nephew Kaelen. He lives with my 3 sisters: Esperanza, Bernadette, & Genevieve in Albuquerque NM. Genevieve is his birth mother and Esperanza and Bernadette are his surrogate mothers. Over spring break I picked up my mother and went to visit them for Easter. Unfortunately I don't get to see them as often as I would like but being with him made me feel like a kid again. I had forgot how much fun coloring and hiding Easter eggs could be.

Other than playing with my nephew about the only other things I did was go to the local flea market there and church on Sunday but mass was held outside and as usual the weather did not cooperate. It was sunny but there was a slight breeze which made it cold enough to have to wear a light jacket. Luckily I had one but many people did not. I hope everyone else had a good a good spring break.

Sagrario Gonzalez

In 1998 a young teenager by the name of Sagrario Gonzalez disappeared in Juarez on her way home from work at a maquiladora. Unfortunately, like so many other poor girls which had moved to Juarez from the interior of Mexico with their families to seek work in the American based maquiladoras of Juarez, 17 year old Sagrario was met foul play. Two weeks after her disappearance Sagrario's body was found in an abandoned lot. Although police believe that she had been raped before she was strangled and stabbed, her body was too decomposed to determine. To this day no one has been brought to justice for Sagrario's murder.

Determined to not let Sagrario and the other victims be forgotten, Sagrario's older sister Guillermina went on to form a grassroots organization called Voices Without Echo. Family members of other victims soon joined the organization with a goal of keeping the murdered women of Juarez in the headlines. The group began to paint black crosses with a pink back ground on utility poles around the city. I must admit I had seen the painted utility poles before but had no idea what their significance was. Sadly in 2001 Guillermina announced she would have to disband the group she founded, Voices Without Echo. She was now engaged to man who had lost a daughter from a previous marriage to a violent death also, and without any funding which had been promised to her for expenses it was impossible for her to continue the group. The group won many challenges for victims' family in the few years it existed but on 07/18/01 the group ceased all operations.

Research Topic

The Daughters of Juarez is a book I'm currently reading about the hundreds of girls that have been murdered just across the border from us mostly within the last 12 years. I wish I had already read the entire book so I could tell you more about it but unfortunately that's gonna have to wait until later.

As I read this book many different emotions are stirred up; sadness, frustration, but most of all anger. It is such an injustice that these girls are being taken away from their loved ones and nothing is done about it.

I'm still not quite sure how I will fit this into the rhetorical situation, any suggestions would be appreciated, but this is one of the topics that I want to continue to research for our final. I'm not sure what awaits me at the end of this road but I hope that I will be able to use this for something positive, even if that only means gaining more knowledge about the current situation and passing that on to others I know.

I think it is important for everyone to not only know what is going on in the world but also to be aware of what is going on in their own back yards and their community. Althouth Juarez is not technically part of El Paso I beleive, and some may disagree, that everything that happens there has an impact on us here in El Paso in one way or another and vice versa. Recently El Paso was in the national new because Hillary Clinton visited El Paso. I would much rather see El Paso and Juarez on national tv for something positive such as a Presidential nominee visiting our city rather than mass murder in our sister city.

Birthday

This past Saturday, 02/09/08, was one of my friends Adolfo's birthday party. Adolfo's birthday parties are always a lot of fun and something to look forward to each year. He always hires a dj and has free food and liquor for all of his guest. Of course I just don't go for the free food and booze. It's always an opportunity to see old friends that due to schedule constraints we don't get to hang out as much as we used to or would like to. These are just a few of my friends, in the first picture are Carlos Acero, myself, Carlos Izita, and Dimitri. In the second picture of the girls are Roseanne, Anna, and Karla



It seems as if his birthday has become some what of a holiday to those who know him because each year as his birthday approaches everyone keeps that day open and does everything within their power to attend. I would like to think it's the opportunity to get to see everyone from the past again that causes this but who knows? In any event, be it the free liquor, free food, or just the atmosphere itself it's always a lot of fun when a large group of old friends gets together again. We always end up talking about the past as if it were yesterday. At times our laughter was so loud that we drowned out the music.





This is the perfect opportunity for me to thank Adolfo for always hosting such a fun party. I know that you put a lot of effort, time, and most of all money in to your parties. Thank you Adolfo, I can't wait until next year!

reminder

This past Saturday, 02/02/08, when I got out of class at UTEP and since I was close to downtown El Paso, I decided to walk across to Juarez to buy a bottle of liquor as a birthday present for a party I was going to that night. This is something I have done so many times in my life I didn't give it much thought and figured it would be as easy as the hundreds of other times I've walked to Juarez. After being in class for three hours I thought I would kill two birds with one stone and buy a bottle of liquor for a lot less than it would cost me here in the U.S. and get some authentic mexican food to eat.



The only problem was that starting this year a passport is now required to re-enter the U.S. from Mexico. If you don't have a passport you can still get back using your drivers liscence and your birth certificate. After so many years of going to Juarez and only having to say "American" or "U.S. citizen" to get back it totally slipped my mind that rules had changed. Needless to say I had neither my passport or my birth certificate with me.



The nice U.S. Customs official; after interrogating me as if i was a criminal and scolding me like a five year old, handed me a bulletin explaining the new rules and finally let me go. So let this serve as a reminder to anyone else who may be planning on going to Juarez in the near future, remember to take your passport or drivers liscence and birth certificate. Trust me, it will save you a lot of heartache and not mention time!

voting

Last week in my English class we read an article printed in The Indianapolis Star in 2002 encouraging Americans to vote. According to the article in some age groups over 50% of eligible voters do not vote. I have come across a lot of people in my life, could be friends or co-workers, who for one reason or another do not vote. I can recall even meeting some adults who were not ashamed to admit that they had never voted in their entire life!

Quite frankly I can't imagine what could be worse, the fact that so many Americans don't vote or that they could possibly be encouraged to vote without first knowing the issues which our country is facing. I do not believe that voting is something to be taking lightly. The importance of voting is something which was instilled in me as a very young adult by my father, but just as important as voting was educating yourself on the important issues which could change your daily life. When anyone goes to the polls they are not only voting for a candidate or a particular party; you are voting for or against abortion, for or against the death penalty for example. The list goes on and on.

I am definately not writing this to persuade anyone not to vote. I only want to stress the importance that as a voter I believe we each have a vested interest to first research what may be the issues facing the country today and how they may impact us in our daily lives. By doing this you will then have the knowledge to know where any candidate may stand on any particular issue and be able to make the best choice for yourself. I will get off my soap box now but would encourage everyone to keep up with the Democratic and Republican debates. May the best man, or woman win!

First Timer

Hello everyone. This is my first time doing this and I'm stepping out of my comfort zone so everyone please be patient with me. I previously attended NMSU but that was so long ago I can hardly remember. I recently made a decision to take advantage of a tuition re-imbursment program that they have at my work. Going back to school after so many years stirs up a lot of different emotions, it's both very exciting and nerve racking. I had forgot what it meant to have homework. A lot things have changed since I first attended NMSU in 1991, mainly the use of the internet. Yes the internet did exsist in 1991 but believe it or not it was not used as much as it is now, especially by the professors, and at that time many students still got by without inter-net access. I don't think it would be possible today and most of you would more than likely agree with me.

With that being said I am looking forward to expanding my horizons by furthering my education. I can't wait to see what new doors will open for me as a result of going back to school. I know that it will not all be smooth sailing, experience has taught me that there are always bumps in the road ahead but I've learned to overcome obstacles that may get in the way of my goals. I have a good support network of family, friends, and co-workers which I hope are going to help get through the bad times. I wish all my fellow students the best of luck.