Kite And Nini : A Brand New Year

Living in Mexico throughout her teen years was very rough. Unlike other teenagers where their parents constantly provide for their children, Marisela’s life was a lot different than the usual parent- child relationship. She lived with her Abuela ( Grandma) Lupe, along with her 3 brothers and sister. She constantly had to take care of her brothers and sister at such a young age, that she became the mother-like figure of the

In the film “Mi Familia,” we follow the story of the Mexican-American Sánchez family who settled in East Los Angeles, California after immigrating to the United States. Gregory Nava and Anna Thomas introduce the story of this family in several contexts that are developed along generations. These generations hold significant historical periods that form the identity of each individual member of the family. We start off by exploring the immigrant experience as the family patriarch heads north to Los Angeles, later we see how national events like the great depression directly impact Maria as she gets deported, although she was a US citizen. The events that follow further oppress this family and begins separate identity formations. These

When Alma and her family move to America, they begin their new life in a place that is strange and confusing, one that is unaccommodating, and causes Alma’s misery and guilt to almost overwhelm her. After the Rivera’s first day in America, they find their appartment and try to go to sleep. Arturo and her daughter Maribel fall asleep right away, but Alma lays awake in bed, wondering to herself if they ”had... done the right thing, coming here?” (6). In the morning, they wake up, confused, “bewildered, and disorientated, glancing at one another, darting [their] gazes from wall to wall. And then we remembered. Delaware. Over three thousand kilometers from our home in Pátzuco. Three thousand kilometers and a world away” (6). Alma and Arturo left their home, not because they wanted to come to America, but because they wanted to be able to help their daughter, Maribel. She had an accident that caused a traumatic brain injury, and Alma feels that the accident is her fault, and has been consumed with grief ever since. Although the Riveras came to America to help Maribel, Alma still wonders to herself if it was the

Tom’s parents always flaunted their wealth; as did Tom’s grandparents. Their family was old money at its finest. It was the summer of 1903 in Chicago, a blinding day, the sun was beating down on the faces of the Buchanan family, who were sat in their 7-Sedan Rolls-Royce. For the Buchanan family this was less than a splurge, $12,900 was nothing to the Buchanan’s as they were old money. Tom sat in the back with his mother, breathing in the hot, muggy air. The chauffeur was sitting in the front on the brown leather seats driving. The chauffeur never talked in fear of being reprimanded by Mrs Buchanan.

Men were expected to be the breadwinners while women were expected to take their place at home as housewives. The Wheelers kept true to that so that they could be happy and successful. Frank has an office job in New York while April is a housewife; They have two children and a home in Connecticut. Frank and April are aware of the standards that one needs to follow to be happy but somehow after they have had to follow those norms they are not. They both begin to feel trapped and feel like this is what the rest of their lives would be like. They began to think of ways to escape their lives and thought of ways to bring back excitement or meaning into their lives.

Halfway down the long hotel vestibule, he thought that probably hewas going to be late, and hurried on into the street to get out hismotorcycle from the corner where the next-door superintendent let himkeep it. On the jewelry store at the corner he read that it was ten to nine;he had time to spare. The sun filtered through the tall downtown buildings,and he--because for himself, for just going along thinking, he did not havea name-he swung onto the machine, savoring the idea of the ride. Themotor whirred between his legs, and a cool wind whipped his pantslegs.

Imagine this, your dad died not long ago, your uncle is living in America and your mother, your younger brother, and you are living alone in Greece during a economic low point. Now that your dad has passed you mother wants you and your brother to move with her to America to be with your uncle. You know since your 16 and your brother is too young to work you will have to help work the restaurant with your uncle. Well, this is not an imagination for the Mehales family. To start their new year, in January Penelope moved her family here to America. Penelope Mehales, the mother of the family, describes the hard ship of coming to the U.S, "Having a 16 year old and a 3 year old made the trip here very stressful... There was only a meal and a half a day." Mehales also explains that the sleeping areas were dirty and packed with passengers. This family is one of the hundreds, even thousands of families on the same ship coming into America hoping for a "better life".

Carmen Mendez is a 33 year old female, who is a wife to Emmanuel and a mother to Josephine. Carmen sought after therapy because of the many transitions occurring in her family and precipitate’s a potential crisis. She believes her husband has a drinking problem because of his recent unemployment, although he denies it. Carmen moved to the United States eight years ago and has been able to secure domestic factory work. Carmen is bilingual and translates for her husband and daughter frequently. She was recently relocated for work and has moved her family to an urban

The car's wheels caress the highway lovingly. I forget the rumble of the cars behind for a moment, instead focusing on the insignificant touching of the wheels and ground. My sister sat at the wheel seemingly waiting for some kind of sign, waiting for me. She spoke, “Are you excited about moving back to Meetleburg?” As if, I am leaving behind all that I have worked for in the past four-teen years! I stayed silent to the dismay of my sister.

As I looked out the window and saw barren dirt roads, no overflowing shopping centers or even a Wal-Mart, I began to question where my parents had brought me. We were in Presidio, TX, a small town on the border of the United States and Ojinaga, Mexico. I questioned how my grandparents, or even my dad could have lived in such an underdeveloped town for years. The visits to Presidio became somewhat constant and rather than staying weekends, I stayed months. I developed an appreciation for the town and I could now communicate with the community shouting “Buenos Dias!” to everyone I ran into on our morning walks to the local market. During one of my prolong stays my five year old sister developed a urinary tract infection. The infection could have

“I thought I would be stuck in Mexico my entire life since I was happy.” If it wasn’t for her husband, she would most likely still be in her home country. Dalila thought about finally living the American dream and so when her plane landed in the US, her journey to becoming an American began. She quickly realized that the airport was quite overwhelming to take in since she was never taken to places with such high activity with people. In other words, she was nervous for what was ahead in her path. “I was shocked because I have never seen so many people at an airport. All the airports I went to in Mexico were no where near as packed as this one.” Much like the parents of Pedrito and his brother, the brothers navigated their parents in overwhelming places like the mall, just like how her husband acted like a guide for her at the Los Angeles International Airport. And so after her successful landing at the airport she went to her Parents-in-Law’s house where her and her husband would stay until they would buy their house. There she had a baby at 20 years old in 1994, her first child of three named Raymond Rendon. “I had mixed emotions because I was happy to have a kid in America and I was worried since I felt I was a little too young to have my first kid.” They stayed in Wilmington, California where Dalila would go to school at Banning High School to receive her GED in 1996. With the encouaragement of her husband she enrolled in English Second Language classes (ESL) to finish off what she could not do in Mexico, receive her high school diploma. There she learned to speak English similar to why the parents in “Music for My Mother” learned to speak English, to blend in with the people from America and to communicate with them. In other words, part of the American identity is to speak English since it’s the most common language there. While at her second year in school, her husband, her child, and son moved to Long Beach,

To begin, Esmerelda Santiago and her family immigrated into the United States from Puerto Rico. Immigration means, the movement of persons into a non-native country. At this point in time the family only consisted of Esmerelda, her seven younger siblings, Mami, Tata, Tío Chico, and Don Julio. After moving around from apartment to apartment, they finally settled down in Brooklyn, New York. Esmerelda explains that they came to Brooklyn, “in search of medical care for my youngest brother, Raymond, whose toes were nearly severed by a bike chain” (Santiago 1998: 3). Mami hoped for better medical attention for her child than she would have received in Macún, Puerto Rico. Esmerelda also describes the apartment they currently lived in on McKibbin Street, in New York as, “more substantial that any of our houses in Puerto Rico” (Santiago 1998: 6). This shows her level of living back in Puerto Rico was a worse living

The car ride was stressful for her. Her little brother had to pick up his friend. She complained, saying “why couldn’t he get a ride to our house before hand?”, but her mother shushed her. She was anxious, she didn’t want to miss one thing from her day, and she most definitely did not want to be late. After waiting for what seemed like forever, the small

Finally outside in the real world, it takes her awhile to find out where her Dad managed to park the dirty blue Honda he's had since she was 9, but nevertheless she does and stumbles inside. The trip back home was like a roller coaster, a little kiddie like roller coaster. So slow. So long. It agrivated her. They made it home safe and sound, greeted by the loud short barks of her old fart dog, her Dad went back to sleep after cursing at the dog. "Thanks." She grinned at her Dad and manged her way into the kitchen setting up the cup under the hot water

It was extremely difficult to sit down after a hard day’s work without Mabel hopping up onto Hanna’s lap. One afternoon, while the children were all at school, Hanna just wanted some peace and quiet. Assured Mabel was sound asleep in her bed next to the dishwasher, Hanna quietly tiptoed into the living room. Mabel bounded out of the kitchen, jumping onto the couch before Hanna even reached the middle of the living room. Mabel ran