Quote one: "If I could do anything else," My father finally said, "I'd be either a grocer or an undertaker. Because we all must eat and we all must die." -Edwidge's father page 123

Character Judgment I think this shows that her father is someone who considers everything deeply. I have noticed this with other quotes in the past, like 'have you enjoyed your life,' but this one really stood out to me. It sort of confused me and I had to re-read it. It shows that he's thoughtful and considerate and probably one to not make quick judgments. I don't really see how these things could be a dream, because when you ask someone else what they'd want to be if they were not what they were you'd expect something elaborate or probably something that made a lot of money. Even though this does take place a long time ago I still think what we wants are very simple.

Question one: What does he mean by "everybody most eat and everybody most die"? I know that is true but I don't get why he would want to work with the things that make the necessities of life.

Quote two: "She attracts bad, just like she did Pressior," Uncle Joseph would say, "but she's not a bad person." Uncle Joseph said about Marie Micheline, page 131.

Character Judgment: I've always known that Uncle Joseph was a really kind person, but this quote shows me that he looks farther than first impression. I think this is a really good thing to have, and I think it's more of doing it yourself then personality. It showed me that Uncle Joseph is a kind, generous and forgiving person who wants nothing but friends and family that love him. (:

Question two: Who/what is Pressior?

Comment.

Quote one Page 61: "Maybe we're all dying, one breath at a time." -Edwidge Danticat says reciting from memory what her uncle has told her.
Importance: This quote really struck out to me. It did because it was a strange way of looking at death and it made me reconsider what death really is.
Personal connection: I am connected to this quote because I have thought this exact same thing sense sixth grade. Everything ends, nothing lasts forever. Life is a death trap. I thought that by thinking that everyone was getting closer to death every second wasn't very positive- but it made me reconsider a lot of things. I thought of life sort of reversed, like death is life and life is death. I think that looking at life this way is sort of strange because people don't consider each other "dying" unless they are fatally ill and know they don't have long to live. But in reality, we are reaching closer to death all the time it just is if you consider it 'dying'.
Question 1: How do you think this quote will effect/has effected the family's view on life?
Quote one page 73 bottom paragraph: "Death is a journey we embark on from the moment we are born" he'd say. "An hourglass is turned and the sand starts to slip in different direction as soon as we emerge from our mother's womb. Thank God those around us are too blinded by joy then to realize it. Otherwise there would be weeping at births as well. But if we weep at death it's because we do not understand death. If we saw death as another kind of birth, just as the Gospel exhorts us to, we wouldn't weep, but rejoice, just as we do at the birth of a child." -It's not clear who says this.
Importance This quote really brings out whoever who said this' character. I can tell that they are someone very inspired by life and has probably been through a lot just by this quote. I think that Edwidge Danticat remembers this quote so clearly because it inspired her and maybe she will look back on it on the death of her father and the birth of her child. Also, it was very vivid and I felt like I could see a hourglass and a baby and a funeral in front of me - the words were strung together nicely.
Personal Connection: This quote is somewhat similar to the first. I feel like this quote has really twisted my view on birth and death. This quote says birth is very close to death and they should be looked at the same way. It really inspired me because I have somewhat considered this but this quote really put it out there and explained it nicely and makes you really wonder.

Question two: Who said that quote? (page 73)
comment.

Quote one: "What would you like to happen after I'm gone?" -Edwidge's father, page 19.
Significance: This quote shows that the father's life is soon to end, but his part in the story is obviously a big one. She would have included a lot of information about him if he wasn't an important part of the story. I believe that his death will play a big role in them leaving.
Charecter Judgement: I think her dad is someone who is compassionate and wants his death to be as easy as possible on the family. I can tell that he wants them to move on easily by this area in the book and wants them to believe that death is okay and they will be fine.

Quote two: "He believed that his life had been spared for some reason and only in Haiti could he discover why. He could have moved to New York when Maxo and I came and he could have moved after that. but I don't think he ever really wanted to leave Bel Air for any place in or outside of Haiti." -Edwidge's father says quoting what Uncle Joseph said. Page 42.
Significance: This talks about how he moved to Haiti from New York after losing his voice. I know that this must play a part in where the story ends and where it leads to. It plays a part in what the story is about and I believe that if he didn't move this story would be completely different - for reasons I don't yet know.
Personal connection: I can connect to this through my family. I realize from this book that immigration and every choice leads to a change in the family's generation and who will be born, and everyone involvement's fate. It really makes me think about what would my families life be like if they never immigrated from Vietnam and Austria.
Questions: When their father dies, how badly do you think they will react to his death?
How do you think Uncle Joseph's life will mostly change without a voice and in Haiti?
Comment?

From Haven to Home
In 1654, 23 Jewish individuals came on a boat o New York. They traveled in hope to make a stronger community in America. Jewish people came to America because they believe that education is important, and all success is from learning through educations and others mistakes.
The Jews started to build synagogues. They thought even if they were not born in America, they still had rights to be able to practice their religion and worship and pray freely. The “Jew Bill” was what allowed them to declare and practice their religion and belief. This bill was passed in Maryland during 1827.
Even though they were freely and proudly living in America, they carried their culture and tradition with them when the immigrated to the United States. Most Jews still follow their culture. Saturdays, they are meant to rest and not work. Saturday is a day for them to attend a temple and they pray. The only language they pray in is Hebrew. They also carried their food religion. They do not eat milk and meat in the same meal. They do not eat pork, or fish without scale like shrimp for example. They believe the reason why this started was because a long time ago before the technology of refrigeration, if you were to eat a rotten shrimp you would get very sick or die. So they thought it was a sin to eat. They only eat kosher meat, which means there is no blood on the animal. When they purchase meat they first boil it in salt water to get rid of the blood. In May of 1902 20,000 Jewish woman in New York broke in kosher butcher shops and threw meat on the streets and set it on fire. They were upset that kosher meat was double regular meat – which was 18 cents as pound. After the boycott was over the price of kosher meat dropped to 14 cents per pound.
Slowly, the Jews started building their community and making a difference. They were able to build their first synagogue in 1854 in Boston, Massachusetts. The first Jewish Cabinet member was in 1960. The first Jew to be a Supreme court judge was in 1916. Bess Myerson became Ms. New York City in 1945. A marriage certificate was issued for the first time in the U.S called a Ketuban for the first time in July of 1977. Benjamin Stegal was the founder of Las Vegas, although he was not a good man – he was a murder. Later on in his life he moved to Las Angeles with his girlfriend and was assassinated in her apartment. A Jewish man was founder of Hotel Del Coronado, which is known world wide. They helped with the development of rock and roll music and Broadway. From 1880 to 1924, many Jews came and established themselves in the US and made Kiddush speaking communities. This language is like a slang language of German. If you know Kiddush you can understand German as well. These Jews came from mainly Russia and Hungary. They were successful in America and often sent money back to their family to what they called their “old country.”
Although they made many accomplishments – it wasn't easy for them to gain their rights and make it that far. They fought in the Civil war. 9,000 Jews fought for the Union, while 3,000 fought for the Confederacy. Jews participated in the Civil Rights Movement, they defended their principle of legal rights and liberty. During World War II (1920 – 1945) People started doing boycotts. They had posters telling people to boycott movies, music and to stop the practice of Nazism.
Jews came to America in hope of a new start, and a new chance and better education for their later generation. They went through many struggles in order to make it as far as they have today.

The photo I chose features a boy getting his fingerprints taken by a man, as he entered to he O'Hare airport. The boy looked scared and sad. The hands holding his seemed huge compared to his small fingers. It made me feel sad, even though I didn't understand what was happening in the picture, which was taken in 1999.

The quote I chose says “When I left my country Vietnam, I didn't know I would probably never come back again. I was just ten years old. I knew my life would begin from this moment.” -Ngoe Nguyen.
I chose this quote because it seemed very eyeopening. This girl had to leave her home country to a place where she had never been to before. I also never thought about what was running through my mom's mind when she left Vietnam for America, knowing she too may never come back. It makes me wonder about how hard it must have been for not only people in Vietnam, but immigrants overall to leave their home and everything they were used to and adjusted to, to come to a completely different country.

The story I chose was by a seventh grader named Roger Yan who attends Challenger middle school. I chose this piece because the first paragraph struck me the most out of all of the stories. His father, Xuan witnessed horrific things like death and suicide. He was Chinese/Vietnamese and came to America from Vietnam. It talked about his struggle he faced in order to just come to America for a better future for himself and his family. He was only six years old when he left Vietnam. I was shocked by what some people have gone through, and how racism was such a big deal at the time – even teachers sometimes teased the students. I didn't know the journey to America could be so hard and rough.

These exhibits made me think of how much our world has changed from how it was hundreds of years ago, and I wonder what it would be like if these historic events never took place. I wonder what the world will be like hundreds of years from now.


comment?

From my knowledge, an immigrant is someone that moves from one country to a different country where they were not born to live. There are legal and illegal immigrants. Illegal immigrants are people who enter a country without being a citizen, and without approval.
I am connected to immigration because my mom was a immigrant from Vietnam. During the Vietnam war she moved to America and traveled all over the United States and Chile with her brother-in-law Bob and her sister Hanh. They were stationed in Taiwan at the tame because bob was an American solider. Bob flew to Saigon where my mom and her family lived and gathered them and they all flew to Hawaii the next day. One of her sisters came with her husband and two stayed in Vietnam and still live there today. All of her cousins and her one of her aunt's came, and there was a total of 14 people. Without immigration and the Vietnam war, I would have never been born.
I think so many immigrants come to the United States because it is a new start for them. They may live in a country where they don't have the amendment rights we do, and they want to be able to express and do things more freely – like express their religion, to make a better life for themselves and sometimes to escape a tragedy in their country at the time United States is open to everyone.
All around San Diego, there are people of different races. Without immigration, San Diego as well as the rest of the United States would only be one race. People in the United States would all basically have the same religion, and would not have any cultural variety. I think having immigration is a good thing because it helps us see different points of view and lifestyles, which help us build as a character. Although there is a problem with illegal immigrants, I think immigration is a wonderful opportunities for families wanting a 'second life'.