Jordy Mejia

      Jordy Mejia

803/Cunningham

 

       Martin Espada's poem "New Bathroom Policy at English High School" "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson'' and' 'Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California,may,3,1877''  make the reader think about white people taking over the Hispanics control of freedom. The white people have power and they don't let the Hispanics have their rights.            

     '' New bathroom policy'' makes me think about how people will respond to their fear. The way that the principal responds to this is by banning Spanish from the bathroom. The principal bans Spanish only because he heard his name when the boys where talking. It makes him feel nervous because he can't understand what the boys were saying about him.it is not fair that they can't speak Spanish with their friends in the bathroom. The principal thinks that he could do that only because he has the power to do so.                                                                                                                                                                       

     Espada's poem ''Revolutionary Spanish Lesson'' makes the reader think about disrespect. An example from the text is that they mispronounce his name and he just wants to buy a toy pistol and a beret and hijack a busload of republican tourists. When Espada says that he wants to buy a toy pistol he is just angry at people that mispronounce his name which makes him fell disrespected.                                                                

     Espada's poem ''Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California ,May3,1877''makes me think that it wasn't fair for the Mexicans to not have a trial in the court and sent to death by people of the town who choose what to do to them, and did not care. An example from the poem is that they took pictures of them when they were hanging as if it was a joke for them. This teaches me that you should give all your respect even if that person was dead or alive. You should not always take stuff like if it was a joke for you , you should always take it serous and it's not justice for the Mexicans.                                                                                                                                                                                                        

     In Martin Espada's poems ''New Bathroom Policy at the English High School'' ''Revolutionary Spanish Lesson'' and ''Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877'' all the poems make me think that white people have all the respect to them but not the Hispanics. This makes me angry because that means if I was there then no one will give me the respect that I should have as everyone else.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

 

Jorge Montes

Jorge Montes

7/29/14

     The poem "Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May3,  May3, 1877," "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson," and "The New Bathroom Policy at English High School," by Martin Espada makes the reader  think about discrimination against Latinos. How Espada shows discrimination against Latinos is in each of his poems a person is discriminating against another person due to their race, culture and skin color. Espada is expressing his feelings through these poems and wants to make the reader realize that he doesn't like people mistreating and discriminating against others.

    The poem "New Bathroom Policy at English High School" makes the reader think about all the things that have to do with discrimination, unfair equal treatment towards a specific person due to a cause. One example from the text that makes me think this is "New Bathroom Policy at English High School" it says "So he decides/ to ban Spanish/ from the bathrooms." This shows discrimination because the principal is not allowing the children to speak their native language which is Spanish. This happens be their native language which is Spanish. This happens because the principal since the principal is next to the stalls he hears the children speak Spanish not only that, he also hears his name while they speak Spanish. This causes him to ban Spanish. This makes the reader think that they're victims of unfair treatment because the principal just banned Spanish from all the bathrooms at his high school which is an unfair equal treatment because the children can only speak English at his high school.

     In Espada's poem "Revolutionary Spanish lesson,"  the reader is asked to think about rebellion. The reader knows or thinks what it is like to rebel against something or someone. In the text it says that "for the bilingual swat team to helicopter overhead, begging me to be reasonable." This shows rebellion because the narrator is being commanded by a swat. This happens because he has kidnapped a busload of tourist – a fantasy of he has in response to his name being mispronounced.This makes him rebel. This teaches the reader that sometimes people rebel against something or someone, it makes them rebel so they can stand up for themselves and rebel against a religion or a general thing.

     In Espada's poem "Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May3, 1877" the reader is asked to think about discrimination. The reader knows or thinks what it is like to discriminate against someone based on their culture, race, skin color, etc. in the text it says "When forty gringo vigilantes cheered the rope that snapped two Mexicanos into the grimacing sleep of broken necks."  This shows discrimination because two Mexicanos were being killed by gringo  vigilantes. This happens because the gringos killed to Mexicans with ropes instead of letting the legal system give them a trial. This teaches the reader that discrimination is not good because people think they're better than others and maybe also mistreat them in some way which causes discrimination and the person feels that they're being put down in a certain way just because of their skin color.

   In conclusion, these three poems by Martin Espada teach the reader about discrimination because they make the reader think about discrimination in each of the poems and they effects of it specifically discrimination against Latino. How Espada does this is he gets an idea in the readers head that all these three poems make the reader think about what each of the Espada's poems are about.                

      

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nathaniel Batista Espada essay

Nathaniel Batista

Martin Espada's poem

"The new bathroom policy at English high school"

"Revolutionary Spanish lesson" and

"Two mexicanos lynched in Santa Cruz, California May 3, 1877"

Teach the reader about discrimination.

The poem "New Bathroom policy at English High school" is about discrimination

An example from the text that makes me think is when the Spanish language is taken away at the school because the principal is afraid.

 

In Espada's poem "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson" the reader is asked to think about discrimination.

We think about this because he wants to kidnap a busload of tourists and make them chant  anti American slogans in Spanish. He wants to do this because they don't say his name right.

We learn not to make people feel bad and we have to respect each other

Espada's poem "Two Mexicanos"

 makes the reader think about this case in the poem it saying when  they kill  the Mexican people without a trial and don't treat them fairly.

This teaches us that everybody should be treated equally.

In conclusion this three poem by Espada teach about discrimination

His poem teach there the reader  to think about discrimination

Edwin Duran

Edwin  Duran                                                                                                                         7/14/14

All Summer In A Day

 

A group of children who live on Venus where it always rains have never seen the

Sun, everyone except a girl named Margot.

Margot stood apart from the other children. The reason why she stood apart is

because, Margot used to live on Earth. She used to experience the Sun, something the other

children only dreamed about. The other children couldn't remember a day where it didn't

rain.

Margot used to talk about the Sun. She used to talk about how it looks and feels. The

other children would get jealous because they felt like she was bragging it upon them. The

children eventually start to hate and bully her. They call her names and mistreat her. Also

the Scientists on TV predicted that the Sun will come out today, the first time in 7 years!

While the Sun starts to come out the children start to bully Margot and throw her in

a closet. The children were jealous of her because she has already experienced the Sun. The

Sun comes out and all the children go outside to play and forget about Margot. While the

children are playing the mood and surrounding changes. They notice that locking Margot in

the closet was an awful, terrible thing to do.

Experiences like that can change people. Jealousy and Bullying not only hurts the

person you are mean to but also yourself.

 

Destiny Sargent

The poems, '"The Mexicanos lynched in Santa Cruz, California, "The Revolutionary Spanish Lesson", and "The New Bathroom Policy at English High School" by Martin Espada make the reader think of how Mexicans experience discrimination. Martin Espada's point of view was to get readers to feel his anger by showing proof of how Latinos were being treated back then and now. The poems all show discrimination against someone and want the reader to get the feeling of what this means.

 

The poem "New Bathroom Policy at English High School," makes me feel that people should have the right to do anything they were born to. If somebody had banned something from me, I would feel disappointed. It's not fair and I think it's a privilege that people should be able to speak out their feelings.  In the poem, "The principal overheard two students in the bathroom talking in Spanish, and the one word he could make out was his name. " He assumed that they were talking badly about him, so he banned Spanish in the bathrooms.

In Espada's poem "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson," it makes the reader think about how people don't like to be disrespected. I think that the speaker's name means something to him the he gets mad when someone mispronounces his name. In the text it says, "I want to buy a toy pistol…..put on dark sunglasses." He wants to respond like a revolutionary- like a Che Guevara. He wants to do something crazy when somebody disrespects him. This shows that people don't like to be disrespected and feel that everyone deserves respect.

This poem "Two Mexicanos," makes the reader think about racism and how people get treated because of their race. Espada starts describing the lynching, "More than the moment when forty vigilantes cheered the rope that snapped two Mexicanos into the grimacing sleep of broken necks." What bothers him the most is described in the last stanza, "Remain the faces of the lynching party." This bothers Espada because of the fact they took a picture of what they've done. I don't think that was fair because everyone deserves to be treated the same way as you want to be treated. In the story it says "Two Mexicanos were being lynched by forty gringo vigilantes."  They were lynched without getting the same treatment when breaking the law.  The vigilantes took justice into their own hands.   This shows that people were racist in the past and are still treating other people differently than what they should be treating them.

 

These poems are all the same in different ways. They all show how treating someone differently by their race is a cruel thing to do. Nobody deserves discrimination or being treated poorly. disrespect because of race is wrong. Espada expresses his feelings about the unjust lynching of the two Latinos in "Two Mexicanos."  He expresses his feelings about discrimination of Latinos in "New Bathroom Policy," and "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson." These poems make sure that people today understand they should stand for what's right and speak up to what's wrong.

Jordy Mejia

Jordy Mejia                                                                           7/16/14           803                                                                                                                                    In Ray Bradbury's short story, ''All summer in a day '' kids on  Venus only saw rain. A young girl Margot was the only one who saw the sun. The kids were jealous that she had seen the sun because  she  told  about it to the kids and wrote the poetry.                                                     In the story ''all summer in a day'' we are introduced to the reason the children might be jealous of Margot. ''Margot stood apart from them, from these children who could ever remember a time when there wasn't rain and rain and rain.'' This shows that she is different from them because she has experienced the sun and they have not. We learn that Margot used to live on Earth when she experienced the sun, something the other children could dream about.

          In the middle of the story we see how the children's jealousy makes them mean. They begin to hurt Margot and they push her away. For example they throw Margot in the closet. Another example is that a kid takes her poem. The last example is that they harass her and bore her. In the story it says they surged about her, caught her up, and bore her, protesting and pleading, and crying, back into the tunnel a room, a closet where they slammed and locked the door. This shows that the kid's jealousy affected Margot. This means that the problem got out of hand.   

After the children locked Margot in the closet they run outside to enjoy their glorious hours in the sun. When it's over the mood changes they realize the terrible thing they did by locking Margot it the closet. The children did all of this because they were jealous that Margot remembered the sun.

          In Ray Bradbury's short story "All summer in a Day", emotions such as jealousy can make us behave in a way that we regret. This story teaches the reader to think before acting because when we act out against others we only hurt ourselves.

Gabriel Cordero

All summer in a Day                                            Gabriel Cordero

 

         Jealousy is a central theme in the story "All Summer in a Day "We see how jealousy affects the children in the story when they locked Margot on the closet so that she can't experience the sun with them. They ate jealous because Margot knows what the sun feels and looks like. This makes me think that jealousy makes you mean. After the sun the children remembered they locked Margot in the closet. We get the feeling that they are regret for doing this. This makes me think that jealousy doesn't only hurt the people who are doing it but it also hurts us.

 

         In the beginning we learn why the children are jealous of Margot. She remembers what the sun looks like because she used to live on Earth. "It's like a penny." "No its not" the children cried. This shows us that the children reject the idea that Margot knows what the sun is like. They are so upset that she has experienced the sun and they haven't that they won't even listen to her.

     

         In the middle of the story we continue to see how the children's jealousy is making them mean towards Margot. One example is when kid pushed her and said "Get Away! ".  Also in the text it says, "Hey everyone let's put her in before the teacher comes ". That shows us that the jealousy was getting out of hand.

 

        Towards the end of the story the children's gets out of control. The children decided to lock Margot in the closet so that she that she won't see the sun again.  "They surged about her, caught her up and bore her protesting, and then pleading and crying back into a tunnel room, a closet, where they slammed closed and locked". This shows us how out of control the children's jealousy got. The children don't even seem to be thinking about what they are doing. They just want to hurt Margot.

 

    Bradbury teaches us that we might regret acting impulsively in response to our emotions. The children in this story seem to regret locking Margot in the closet after they realize what they done. This makes the reader think about their own behavior and its consequences. 

Antonio Fernandez

Antonio Fernandez                                                                                                                7-29-14

            Martin Espada is the poet for the three poems "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson," "New Bathroom Policy at New English High School," and "Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California May 3, 1877." These poems make the reader think about racism, abuse of power, and discrimination. Espada does this by referring to real life situations.

            The poem "The New Bathroom Policy at New English High School" makes the reader think about abuse of power. For example, the principal in the poem decided to ban Spanish from the bathrooms because he heard his name and this made him afraid. By taking away the Spanish language he took away the student's voice. This teaches us as readers that there are people in the world that may not be able to speak for themselves and we have to help them.

            In Espada's poem "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson" the reader is asked to think about racism. We think about racism because in the text it says "Whenever my name is mispronounced…I want to…highjack a busload of…tourists." The speaker of the poem says this because he had a fantasy of what he would do if people kept mispronouncing his name and some people may not think it's a big deal but it is, because your name represents your culture. This teaches us that there is racism in the world still.

            In Espada's poem "Two Mexicanos" the reader is asked to think about discrimination. We think about discrimination because in the text it says "Forty gringo vigilantes cheered the rope that snapped two Mexicanos." He describes the lynching.  The thing that bothered Espada the most is what he writes about in the last stanza, "Remain the faces of the lynching party."  They gathered each other so they can take a picture in celebration and they were all smiling. This teaches us that the gringos got away with discrimination because if they were to do that a white person they would be in trouble because the law didn't care about the Latinos.

            In conclusion, Espada makes the reader think about racism, abuse of power, and discrimination. It makes us think about other people who can't stand up for themselves.

Jessica Arias

     The poems "Two Mexicans Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877," "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson," and "The New Bathroom Policy at English High School" by Latino poet, Martin Espada, are all about the same issue because they are talking about the discrimination of Latinos.

     The poem "New Bathroom Policy at English High School" makes the reader think about how kids don't know how to defend themselves. An example from the text that makes me think this is, the boys speak Spanish in the bathroom while the principal listens from his stall. He hears his name and this upsets him, so he bans Spanish. This is wrong because he is only thinking of himself and he is not thinking of his students. This teaches the reader that the kids need to know how defend themselves or if they can't, people should speak up for them.                                                                                                                                        In Espada's poem" Revolutionary Spanish Lesson," the reader is asked to think about how someone is disrespected and it makes them feel upset. We think about disrespect because in the text is makes us think that he feels frustrated when people mispronounced his name and he dreams about doing something drastic that will make them see him and understand. This teaches the reader that there are people that do that purpose and they like to make fun of you and disrespect you and it's not okay to do that.                                                                                Espada's poem "Two Mexicanos" makes the reader think about how the two Mexicanos were being violated by the forty gringo vigilantes. We think about this because in the poem it says that the "gringo vigilantes cheered the rope that snapped the Two Mexicanos into the grimacing sleep of the broken necks." The vigilantes do this because they think it's their right to give a punishment to the men without a trial.

These poems by Espada are all the same issue because they are talking about the discrimination of the Latinos. It also makes the reader think that they should stand up and speak up for what's right.

Juan Matlala

In Martin Espada's poems  "Revolutionary Spanish lesson," "The New Bathroom Policy at English high school," and "Two Mexicans Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877," he makes the reader think about abuse of power, and racism because hHhe shows the reader different examples of racism and abuse of power against Latinos.

            The poem "New Bathroom policy at English High School" makes the reader think about abusive power. An example of the text that makes me think this is, "The only word he recognizes is his own name/ so he decides to ban Spanish."  This is wrong because the students are talking Spanish and the only word he understands is his name. He doesn't find out if they were talking good about him. He just bans Spanish.  This shows the idea of abusive power. This makes the reader understand that some people should not be given power.     

      Martin Espada's poem "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson" makes me think that about people abusing their power because in the text it says "When someone mispronounces my name… I want to…hijack a busload of Republican tourists from Wisconsin." He wants to do this because he wants the average American to respect his culture and when people mispronounce his name he feels disrespected. We don't think he wants to actually want to do that but this shows an exaggeration of his frustration.

            Espada`s poem "Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California May 3, 1877" makes me think about racism. We think about this because two Mexicans were hung just because they were Mexicans. They were taken from the jail and they weren't given a fair trial and were lynched this makes the reader think that everybody should receive the same treatment no matter what race they are.

            In conclusion these three poems by Martin Espada make the reader think that there is a lot of racism, and abuse of power in the world. And we the readers should stand up for those abused.

Esther Morales

The poem "Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877,"                 "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson," and "New Bathroom Policy at English High School" are by Latino poet Martin Espada. In the three poems, the reader understands that the discrimination and racism are the basis faced discrimination a long time also as well as in the present.

The poem "New Bathroom Policy at English High School"                                                                             This teaches the reader that it is not fair to take something away that you are born to do. If somebody had banned Spanish from me, I would feel discriminated.  The principal over hard two students in the bathroom talking in Spanish, and one word he could make out was his name. He assumed that they were talking badly about him so he banned Spanish in the bathroom.

 In Espada's poem "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson," the reader is asked to think about,         how people don't like to be disrespected. I think that the boy's name means something to him that he gets mad when someone mispronounced his name. In the text it say's "I want to buy a toy pistol,… put on dark sunglasses." He wants to make people pronouncing his name pay attention. This shows he doesn't like anybody disrespecting him.

Espada's poem "Two Mexicanos" makes the reader think about,                                                    how people still get treated different today even though this happened in 1877. We think about this because in the poem is say's that snapped the neck of two Mexicanos and then they crowded around the two bodies and took a photo. This teaches us that racism is a serious problem in this world.

In conclusion, the poem "Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3,1877, Revolutionary Spanish Lesson, and New Bathroom Policy at     High School." All illustrate ignorance of the more fortunate poorly affecting another, less fortunate group (in this case Latinos.) Overall, exploring and analyzing these emotional poems made one better understand bigotry and racial hatred while these poems may seem mocking and irate, they help inspire the reader.

 

Kevin Torres

Martin Espada's poems "The New Bathroom Policy at English High school," "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson," and "Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877," all have the theme of racism against Hispanic people.

            The poem "The New Bathroom Policy at English High school" makes the reader think about how the principal is being racist and scared because he hears his name and that's the only think he understands. "So this constipates him" meaning this upsets him. What he does to solve the problem is to ban Spanish from the bathrooms. I think the principal acted like that was because he was scared because he didn't speak Spanish. This teaches me that some people use their power instead of talking to the person.

            In Espada's poem, "Revolution Spanish Lesson" he makes the reader thinks about kidnapping a bus load of Republican tourists. This makes me think the narrator is mad because his name was mispronounced. He begins the poem with "Whenever my name is mispronounced" and then he fantasy kidnapping the people that mispronounced his name.  The narrator just wants to feel as equal has everyone else.

            Espada's poem "Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877" makes the reader think that Santa Cruz was a racist place. I say this because in the poem it said" When forty gringo vigilantes cheered the rope that snapped two Mexicanos into the grimacing sleep of broken necks." They did this because they thought that it was the right thing to do. It was not right because they did deserve civil rights. Instead they were killed without a trail. The other things  the vigilante do is they take a picture with the corpses hanging.  This is very disrespectful.  This shows the reader that every one's rights should be protected.   

In conclusion Espada's three poems are about the Hispanic people that did not have the same rights as other people. What I have learned for these three poems is that you should stand up for people that don't have a voice for themselves.

Hashan Azon                                                                                                                July 28, 2014

 

            In Martin Espada's poems "The New Bathroom Policy at English High school," "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson," and "Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California May 3, 1877," Espada introduces us to the theme of people abusing their power.

            The poem "New Bathroom Policy at English High School" makes the reader think about how people react when they encounter their fears. The boys are in the bathroom speaking to one another while the principal was listening in his stall.   They say his name and the principal assumes that they are speaking about him. The principal then "decides to ban Spanish from the bathrooms," because he doesn't understand the language and he is scared that the might be judging him. This makes me angry because that is not fair to the boys, even if they were speaking about him they have a right to freedom of speech. This is against their constitutional rights and is an abuse of power. The principal should have just walked away back to his office and not even cared about what the boys said.

            In Espada's poem, "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson" he makes the reader think about how people get offended when somebody disrespects their culture. An example from the text that makes me think this is, "When someone mispronounces my name I want to hijack a busload of republican tourists from Wisconsin, and force them to chant anti-American slogans in Spanish." Espada fantasizes about doing this to cause people to respect him and respect his culture as well. This teaches the reader that Espada hates it when his culture is disrespected. He wants the reader to pay attention to this.

            Espada's poem "Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz" makes the reader think about how unjust people can be. An example from the text is "remain the faces of the lynching party: faded as pennies from 1877, a few stunned in the blur of execution, a high-collar boy smirking, some peering from the shade of bowler hats, but all crowding into the photograph." I think that what upsets Espada the most is that these gringos are crowding in to take a photograph with the lynched Mexicanos. This shows the reader that the gringos don't care about the mexicanos, they treat them like animals like if they weren't human beings, and this also shows that they don't care about the mexicanos culture because that is inconsiderate that they are taking a photograph with dead people.

            In Conclusion, Espada's poems "The New Bathroom Policy at English High school," "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson," and "Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz" share the same theme. Espada makes us think about how many people abuse their power. I think that people should stand up to people like this, who abuse their power.

Zachariah Cuyuch

The "New Bathroom Policy at English High School", "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson," " Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877" by Martin Espada are about one problem. He has a problem with the way Spanish people have been treated. They haven't had the same equal rights as other people. He is trying to make a case and allow them to feel free and be like everybody else.

 

 

The poem "New Bathroom Policy at English High School" makes the reader think about how people react when they face their fears. When people face their fears they start panicking and think about the worse. They don't want the worse to happen so they start to do things that can prevent them from happening.  The principal at this high school was using the bathroom and he heard his name used in one of the kid's conversation.  He didn't understand because they were speaking in Spanish.  So he decides to ban Spanish from the bathroom. It was wrong because in the constitution it doesn't say that you are able to take away or to banish a language from any area. This poem was inspired by an actual event.  Martin Espada went to the high school to suggest the principal read the constitution. The principal had to allow the kids to speak Spanish again.

 

 

Martin Espada in "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson" is about how he hates when people mispronounce his name because he feels like they are insulting him.  He feels like hijacking a bunch of Republicans in a bus and just a big news headline. He feels offended.  Espada feels like that people don't pronounce name right because they don't care how people feel and they could care less.  It looks bad because it looks like people don't care how Spanish people feel. Society is so screwed up. Nobody treats each other with respect.  That is why there is so much violence.

 

Martin Espada's view on the "Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz California, May 3, 1877" is that are own people should not be treated this way.  The vigilantes did not allow them to have a fair trial. They took them out the jail and took matters into their own hands. The Vigilantes did not care so according to the events this poem is based on; they gave them a shot of whisky and hung them. What made it worse they took a picture celebrating.

 

The conclusion is that Martin Espada was trying to prove a point that Hispanic people are not treated equally. I know where he is coming from. All races should be treated equally and with tons of respect. Even to all religions, nobody should be bothered and treated differently because of beliefs.

 

                                                                                                                                   

Edwin Duran

Edwin Duran                                                                                                                          7/28/14                                                                                                                            Poetry by Martin Espada

           

In Martin Espada's three poems "New Bathroom Policy at English High School", "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson," and "Two Mexicano's Lynched in Santa Cruz , California, May 3, 1877" all include racism. Espada relates the poems to the readers by showing how Latinos face racism in different ways.

            The poem "New Bathroom Policy" shows how discrimination can make

People do stupid things. An example from the text that makes me think this is,

"The boys chatter Spanish from the bathroom while the principal listens from

his stall. /The only word he recognizes is his own name/ and this constipates

him."  He becomes upset because he heard his name and he assumed the boys

were talking bad about him, so he decides to ban Spanish in the bathroom.

This teaches me that people will do these dumb things and even abuse their

power to assure their own happiness and comfort.

            In Espada's poem "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson" he makes the reader

think about rebels like Che Guevara who stand up for themselves and to

others. Here's an example from the text that makes me think this. "Whenever

my  name is mispronounced, I want to buy a toy pistol, put on dark eyeglasses,

push my beret at an angle, comb my beard to a point." Also the reason why I

say this reminds me of Che Guevara because, Espada also uses a metaphor to

present himself as Che Guevara. This teaches me his name represents his

culture and when you mispronounce his name it's like a disrespect to his

culture.

Espada's poem "Two Mexicanos" makes me think about people who

abuse their own power and are racist. There's an example from the text

that makes me think this. "Forty gringo vigilantes cheered the rope that

Snapped two Mexicans into the grimacing sleep of broken necks." The

vigilantes lynched the Mexicans because they thought it was ok but it was

against their civil rights. This is not ok because The Mexicano's didn't have a

Fair trial before they died. This also teaches me that there are people who

abuse power to do anything they want.

In conclusion, all Espada's poems make you realize that racism is a

Problem in this country and we need to make it stop.

Gabriel Perez

 Martin Espada's poems "New bathroom Policy at English High School''  "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson,'' and  Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877," make me think about racism and how people can be racist and disrespectful, and how people having power can abuse it.

            The poem "New Bathroom Policy at English High School" makes the reader think about racism . An example from the text that makes me think this is," the boys chatter Spanish from the bathroom while the principal listens from his stall  and this constipates him/ so he decides to ban Spanish from the Bathrooms." This teaches the reader that just because someone doesn't know another language doesn't mean they have to ban other's languages making them only speak what they understand.

             Espada's poem "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson" makes the reader think about how people disrespect other people's cultures. What makes me think about this is that the speaker of the poem says he wants to "hijack a busload of Republican tourists from wisconsin,/ force them to chant anti-American slogans/ in Spanish."  This teaches the reader that he wants us to pay attention Because he feels disrespected when his name is mispronounced.

            Espada's poem "Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877 "makes the reader think about  people taking power. An Example from the text that makes me think this is "more than the moment when forty gringo vigilantes cheered the rope that snapped two Mexicanos into the grimacing sleep of broken necks… remain the faces of the lynching party."  Even more than the lynching, the Mexicanos crowded to take a picture together is what bothers the speaker. They took the pictures because they didn't show any respect to them at all cause of being from a different culture. This teaches the reader just because you're from another culture doesn't mean that you should have fewer rights often people with power abuse it. And the "gringo vigilantes" took the law into their own hands.

            In conclusion, Espada's poem talked about racism about Spanish people, they also talked about people with power that  abuse it . And that some people could be really disrespectful to others. People should fight back or others should help at least defend people that don't now just cause there culture is different doesn't make them different.                  

 

 

Jackie Carrera                                                                                            July 28, 2014

E.L.A- Mrs. Cunningham                                                                                               803

             Martin Espada's poems " The New Bathroom Policy at English High School," " Revolutionary Spanish Lesson, " and " Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California May 3, 1877, "  make readers think about racism and injustice and  how  white and other people abuse their power over Latinos. In all three poems he showed us examples of Latinos being treated like they are worthless. This makes the reader feel that they need to see this and do something about it.

            The poem "The New Bathroom Policy at English High School" makes me think about how people respond to their own fear. An example from the text that makes me thinks this is that the principal "decides to ban Spanish from the bathroom."  He's assuming that the boys in the bathroom are speaking badly about him although he doesn't understand what they are saying and the only thing he recognizes is his name.   In the poem it says that hearing his name in the stall constipates him but after he bans Spanish he can relax.  This is upsetting to me because this isn't fair and also racist. This isn't fair because he's only thinking about himself. Additionally he is taking away the boys voice. He didn't stop to think about if that was the only language the boys knew. He just cared about himself.    

     In Espadas poem "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson," he makes people think how others feel when they're being disrespected. An example from the text that make me think this is that he has a fantasy of kidnapping people who mispronounced his name he says, "I want to buy a toy pistol, / put on dark eyeglasses, /push my beret to an angle, / comb my beard to a point, / highjack a busload of Republican tourists/from Wisconsin, /force them to chant/anti-American slogans/in Spanish." He says this to bring attention to how this makes him feel. We don't really except him to do these things he just has this fantasy because of the way they make him feel. This teaches the reader that little things such as mispronouncing someone's name can be very upsetting.  Also this makes us think that they didn't take time to know their name so this can be taken as disrespecting not only the person but their culture too.

            Espada's poem "Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California May 3, 1877" makes people think about abuse of power. An example is that at the time Santa Cruz was extremely racist toward Mexicans. Also the gringo vigilantes in the poem decided to lynch them instead of giving them a trial that the constitution requires. What bothers me the most is that the gringo vigilantes took a birthday- like picture with the Mexicans while they were lynched. This proves that they didn't feel bad. We know this because in the begging of all the stanzas he begins as "more than" but in the last stanza he begins as "remain." This shows that "more than" all the terrible things that happened to those Mexicans, what bothered him the most is what "remains,"  "the faces of the lynching party."   This teaches the readers that it's unfair to take law into your own hands and that minorities were often victims of this injustice.

            In all three poems by martin Espada, he contributes the same theme throughout. People abuse of power over Latinos. The Latinos in the three poems have no voice. Espada is trying to say that we should stand up for those who don't have a voice. The people in the poem go to extreme measures to gain power over the Latinos, but we should all be treated equally so no one should face this type of discrimination.   

eric cordova

Eric Cordova                                              803

7-28-14                      

 

         In Martin Espada's poems "The New Bathroom Policy at English High School", "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson," and "Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California May 3, 1877" make the reader think about different ways Latinos face racism and injustice. In some cases people in power are abusing their power and treating the Mexicans like animals, or disrespecting them in some way.  

      Espada's "New bathroom Policy" makes me think about how people respond to their own fear rather than trying to understand it. The principal is sitting in the bathroom stall when he hears Hispanic boys talking in the bathroom and hears his name being mentioned and becomes constipated so he decides to ban Spanish from the bathroom rather than speaking it over with them. In the poem it says, "The principal decides to ban Spanish from the bathrooms." This makes the reader think the principal is being racist because he is not letting Hispanics speak Spanish in the bathroom or during lunch. It makes me feel upset that they are doing that because, what if the person only speaks Spanish? He is not going to be able to speak to other kids during lunch or in the bathroom.

      In Martin Espada's poem, "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson" he makes people think about how when someone doesn't take the time to pronounce your name, it could make feel disrespected. In "Revolutionary Spanish Lesson" it says when his name is mispronounced he wants to "hijack a busload of republican tourists and make them chant anti-American slogans in Spanish." He wants to do this to make them pay attention and see that he feels disrespected. Even though he is saying these horrible things about what he wants to do, he is fantasizing about what he will do and we know he would not intently do it. I learned that everyone should take the time to respect other's cultures and taking time to pronounce or learn someone's name can make a difference to another person.

      Espada's Poem "Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877" is inspired by a true story of two Mexicans who were victims of unfair vigilantes. What Espada is more upset about is that they took a picture of the horrific event. This poem makes the reader think about how these two Mexican men were killed not for the crime they committed, but because they were Mexicans. They did this because back in 1877 white people were racist to Mexicans and also this would have never happened to a white person. An example from the text is, "forty gringo vigilantes cheered the rope that snapped two mexicanos into the grimacing sleep of broken necks." The gringo vigilantes pulled the two Mexicans out of jail and hanged them instead of having a trial. It reminds the reader that minorities were often victims of this injustice and we need to remember that.

      In conclusion, in Martin Espada's 3 poems, he wants the reader to learn that everybody should be treated equally and not be discriminated by the color of their skin or race because everyone is different in their own way.  Everybody should be treated the same and nobody should be treated unfairly or feel disrespected no matter who they are or where

Greetings and Welcome to Room 109's ELA Blog!

My name is Shelly Cunningham and the writing posted here is a result of A LOT of hard work by the students of Room 109.  My students are from Dewey Middle School (MS 136) and Sunset Park Academy (MS 821).  We have spent the last 4 weeks together doing some critical thinking about our reading and then writing about it.  This work includes their independent reading as well as the short story All Summer in a Day  by Ray Bradbury, and a collection of Poems by Martin Espada, New Bathroom Policy at English High School, Revolutionary Spanish Lesson, and Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877.  Here you will find the work that makes them (and me) very proud.  Enjoy!