“Africa” By David Diop (Senegal)

“Africa” By David Diop (Senegal)

The literature says that “Africa my Africa” because Africa is where they live and who they are.  Their black blood flows in their veins and beautiful black blood that irrigates the fields because their black blood represent that they are black and died with blood flows over the fields.  They want to celebrate the contributions of African culture to the world and how harsh is their life every day. They live with a hard life with red scars in their back and live under the sun every day, but they never reach the sun with liberty on their hands.

I feel happy that I am Hmong

Hmong is a group of people with unique talents

Hmong is a group of people with special values

Hmong is a group of people with loves

We don’t have a country or a king

But we are all still strong

We are a group of people who represent that we are one of a special people

I feel glad that I am born to be Hmong

I feel joyful that I am born to be Hmong Yang generation

Night by Elie Weisel

Night by Elie Weisel

The literature says about the region of the world that Jews were bad from Adolf Hitler.  This made the Nazis believe that Jews were bad and the Nazis started to kill the Jews.  Even though the Jews didn’t do anything to anyone and they were killed for the hack of fun.  In 1938 in German, many laws were passed restricting Jewish economic activity and working opportunities.  Law was also passed through January 1, 1939 to requiring all Jews to carry ID of Polish citizenship cards.  If you don’t have an ID of Polish citizenship cards you will be arrested and relocated across the Polish border.  Many of who had been living in Germany for decades was also getting arrested too.  Jews lived their life like animals and being treated like dogs.  Germany can do anything to them at anytime and anywhere such as burning Jewish’s religious instruction and looting.  Germany also broke Jewish’s windows of businesses and homes.

During the story of “Night”, I remember the longest about this book was that Rabbi Eliahou’s son left him in purpose while the Jews would march.  This made Elie feel bad for him because he told his dad and himself that he will never leave his father at anywhere or behind.  The images that stick with me were when Rabbi Eliahou got a piece of bread and his son beat him up to steal the bread.  So these images stick with me because even though the father was going to share the bread with the son and the son beat his dad up to get the whole bread for himself.  It has changed my thinking that even though you going to die, you should stay with the family and dies together because since you one of the family and family should never separate each other.  The parts I found that was very sad was that the Nazis hang a little boy and let him die slow because since he so light and took him a long time to die.  This is sad for the boy because he was struggling and out of breath.

Keng T. Yang

“Central Station” (Brazil)

“Central Station” (Brazil)

I learned from the movie that people in Brazil do anything to make money such as Dora because she knows how to writes and she writes messages for money.  If somebody in Brazil knows education it is a very good thing for him/herself.  He/she can make money from writing or reading such as writing messages or reading messages for other people for money.  I also learned from the movie that whoever steals something and gets caught they will get killed.

Dora and Josue’s relationship compare to my relationship of family is that I love my family and we love each other.  We never do bad thing to each other or leave each other.  We stick together as a family and help each other out through our lifetime.  During our lifetime it is the time for us to love each other because after someone passes away then there are no points of love anymore.  I think the importance of family is love each other, and don’t leave each other.  Love is what the family should have for everyone in the family.  For example: if I hate someone in the family, I should never hate them for life.

By: KENG T. YANG

“The Youngest Doll” By Rosario Ferre (Puerto Rico)

“The Youngest Doll” By Rosario Ferre (Puerto Rico)

I learned from the story that Puerto Rican people believe in ghosts and some creatures.  Puerto Rican people like to make dolls for their memories of their childhood and making dolls on their free time.  I learned from the story that the doctor just uses women for money and they treat women badly.  I think Puerto Rican people look at women with a low rank such as in the story, the doctor told his wife to go sit outside instead she sat with him in the house or stayed in the house.  Also, I learned from the book that if a person is with a doll all the time they might turn into a doll.

Once when I was still in Thailand and I was 10 years old, my grandma and I went to our farm and it was not so far away from our house.  When we got to the farm, my grandma forgot the lighter because we planned to go burn our farm so we can grow corn.  Then my grandma told me to come back home to get the lighter so we can burn the farm.  When I walked back home and there was a little river under the bridge.  I looked down to see if there were any fish and I saw a little girl sitting down under the bridge.  Her hair was very long and she was wearing some Hmong clothes.  I yelled and she didn’t look at me.  Then I started to feel a cold air blowing on me.  I started to run to the house and get the lighter.  I ran as fast as I could to go get the lighter and to go to the farm.  A few days later I became very sick.  My mom was scared and my grandma told a Hmong shaman to do some shaman stuff to me.  The shaman told me that I had seen a ghost and the ghost wanted to take me with her.  Then my mom decided to kill a pig for the ghost and told the shaman to tell the ghost to take the pig.  After a few days later, everything started to be normal again.  The scariest movie I saw was “The Unborn.”  I think it was scary because the baby that cannot be born and the ghost that has a broken leg and neck.

By: KENG T. YANG

“Border” by Thomas King (Canada)

"Border" By Thomas King (Canada)

After reading the story, I learned that before crossing a border from Canada or any other country a guard needs to verify what type of citizenship a person has before one is able to cross the border. Also, I learned that Native Americans like to be known as Native Americans, not just Americans. This is seen through the Native American family when they visited their daughter. The family started saying “Black Foot” referring “Native American”. In saying this, the family showed their citizenship to the guard.

I am apart of the Hmong, which is an Asian ethnic group from regions of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand.  I am originally from Thailand. I came to the states five years ago, where I gained citizenship. Even though I moved to the United States and have grown accustomed to this culture, I still celebrate and am apart of the Hmong ethnic group.  All in all, I am proud to say that I am a Hmong American because I belong to both of these cultures, where I represent my past and present life.

By: KENG T. YANG

"No Dogs Bark" by Juan Rulfo (Mexico)

“No Dogs Bark” by Juan Rulfo

After finish reading the book “No Dogs Bark” I learned that the book is telling me that even though family is a hard thing and he/she had did something bad in their life, but you can’t leave them behind to die. You can teach them a lesson or a story about what they did to teach them to become a good person after everything he/she had done. I learn that hospitals in Mexico are not close because in the book it sounds like the father and the son traveling so far to go get medicine and help for the son.  So I think if people who do not live in downtown or in a big city, it will be a hard time for them to go get help and medicine if they don’t have any vehicle. Also, Mexico is a hot place and has a lot of mountains.

If I was a parent, I will take good care of my kids, teach them how to be good, teach them how to be respectful and make the right choice for their life.  I would help my kids as hard as I could to be a good father for them and support them.  If my children misbehave, I will teach them what they did wrong and what they did right so they could help themselves to make things right. I will not tell them what to do, but I will teach my children what to do and let them choose the right choice for their life. I think I will be similar to Igancio’s father because Igancio’s father didn’t leave his son Igancio behind in the woods alone and die there.

By: KENG T. YANG