Reader Response #2

We had to read four stories: On Being an Mexican American, How Being an Immigrant Shaped My Life, On Being an American Journalist, and How It Feels To Be a Colored Me. They were all pretty similar to each other. They all talked about American, what it means, being it, or some part of an American. "On Being An American Journalist" made me think about how the journalist didn't report anything but facts. They want to report what is true and they actually have to go into the wars to gather information. They want people to know the truth about what is going on and that sometimes is not liked and people are killed for doing that. They try to stay neutral and just report what they find and sometimes that it really hard. Sometimes those things that they report might go against the government and people might think that they are not patriotic. They say that they do not represent the government so they should report whatever they find. So a big problem is should they report something that is negative about the government when it is true and all they are doing is trying to inform people about the truth.

King Still King?

I think that Martin Luther King Jr. is still king. We have a day off to remember him which means we respect him but a lot of us think about it as a day off. We just use that day for our own purposes. We don't really think about what King did for us on that day. We all know about him and what he did but we don't really mention him. He is one of the greatest civil rights leaders ever. He did a lot to help blacks have the same rights as whites. If it wasn't for him I don't think that the blacks would have gotten their right as fast. They would have eventually because somebody else would have come along but until then they would be discriminated against. He not only changed the lives of blacks but every single race. Nowadays there is a lot of diversity everywhere. There are all races living and doing things together. All sorts of people are friends with each other. Because king fought for black's rights this made people think that everybody should be equal helping all races get the rights they deserve. I think that King is still king but we should be more thankful for him because we have kinda lost the importance of what King did.

What is an American

Out of all the short stories that we have read so far the one that I liked the best was Children of the Sea. I liked how the story was told through letters and a man and woman was writing. Even though they never actually sent the letters to each other it still seemed like they did. Also you could understand what was happening even though it was not like a traditional story. Both of them had to deal with struggles in their own right. Both of them had many troubles and had to survive when it was hard. All the other stories, Young Gifted and Black, I Hear America Singing & There was a Child Went Forth, and This Sacred Soil were all not as good as Children of the Sea. I felt like it wasn't as interesting and I didn't really understand them. All I got out of them was that there are much diversity in America and that they all broaden the definition on what is considered an American. Also even though they themselves think they are Americans a lot of people don't think that because they were not originally from America. Also a lot of people don't think that the minority should be considered Americans.