gobble gobble
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post luis rodriguez 1 here
By americanculturesgobble gobble
November 17, 2006 at 11:58 pm
For anyone that has started Always Running paper what does this question mean, because i don’t quite understand it, it is from the list of questions on the schedule to write about.
“What is the relation of the narrative to history as we know it and to the personal history of these narrators?”????
November 18, 2006 at 1:15 am
I believe it is in relation to the works of Trouillot.. meaning what we know of the process of history and who are the narrators…
November 18, 2006 at 9:43 pm
Kimberly Murphy
Human 6
Always Running Chp 1-3
Page 1
After starting this narrative I found myself not being able to put the book down. I read the first three chapters in one sitting because the narrative was so interesting I wanted to know what was going to happen. One of my favorite areas of study is the study of cultures and this narrative was so full of culture that I just seeped it in. Luis Rodriquez does such a wonderful job of painting a picture in your mind, that it almost seems like you could be there with him, on the streets of Los Angeles.
Luis talks a lot about his family in the first three chapters but he never really talks about loving them. The only one he admits to loving is his older brother Rano. “I looked at him and told him something I never, ever told him again. I did it because I love you,” (51). His relationship with his mother did not seem like a loving one, but more like a constant battle between the two of them. “You can’t buy my love,” she yelled in Spanish. “You can’t show respect with this money. I don’t want it. I don’t want anything from you,” (82). He also seems to not have much of a relationship with his father. At most he has respect for his father and his being an intellectual but that seems to be it.
Luis seems to think of his vatos as more of a family than his own. They are the ones he is always with and the ones he is always causing trouble with. When he runs away from his real family they are the ones he runs to. He found a place of safety and comfort within his friends and the gangs they belonged to. “It was something to belong to, something that was ours. We weren’t in boy scouts, in sports teams or camping groups. Thee Impersonations is how we wove something out of the threads of nothing,” (41). I often believe that children believe that to feel special they must have a lot of friends or belong to something like the boy scouts or the soccer team. This is how Luis must have felt when he was starting to join the Los Angeles gang scene. He moved from home to home, leaving schools and friends behind, never really having anything to call his own. Belonging to something like a gang made him believe he had something, something that he really belonged to, something that was his.
In the very short first 17 years of his life, Luis ran into more trouble and traumas than most people do in their entire lives. “Our first exposure in America stays with me like a foul odor. It seemed a strange world, most of it spiteful to us, spitting and stepping on us, coughing us up, us immigrants, as if we were phlegm stuck in the collective throat of this country,” (19). To move to a new place must be scary, I wouldn’t know I have lived in the same house for all 21 years of my life, but to move somewhere and be treated like you are not wanted and like you are a piece of trash waiting to be thrown away must be awful. Luis was a very little boy when he first witnessed America and to have such a horrible memory of feeling so unwanted has have ramifications on that child later in life. Luis’ early memories of America may have been what made him feel he needed to join a gang to feel wanted, to feel a part of something.
“I remember the shill, maddening laughter of one of the kids on a bike, this laughing like a raven’s wail, a harsh wind’s shriek, a laugh that I would hear in countless beatings thereafter,” (25). Luis was faced with many beating from white boys, but this one he remembers because it was not him who was taking the beating; it was his older,
Kimberly Murphy
Human 6
Always Running Chp 1-3
Page 2
stronger brother Rano. He was held back and forced to watch his brother being beat down. I honestly don’t think I could imagine watching my brother being beat down, it would scar me. The life that Luis lived is so different from the life that I live. I am from a middle class family, who is not rich, but not poor. We never went without anything but we were never spoiled. Luis came from the poorest of the poor and had nothing growing up. He was always moving houses, having to share bedrooms with his brother and cousins and sisters. He was forced to get a job at the young age of 12 to help his parents pay for necessities like food and clothing.
During his childhood Luis also lacked proper schooling because of the language barrier between him and his teachers. “My first day of school said a lot about my scholastic life to come. I was taken to a teacher who didn’t know what to do with me. She complained about not having any room, about kids who didn’t even speak the language,” (26). Having a proper education is one of the things that help people achieve better lives, but Luis was not allowed that. He was forced to sit in the back of the classroom and play with blocks for the remainder of the year. The same sort of racial barriers met him in junior high and high school. The Mexican kids were put into industrial arts such as wood and metal shop while the white and Asian kids were allowed to take the college prep classes.
According to Trouillot, there are three kinds of people, the actors, the narrators and the agents. Trouillot writes about history and the way it is written down and perceived. I believe that Luis is what Trouillot would call a narrator. Luis lived through an era where gang warfare was a huge part of the lifestyle in Los Angeles. It was also a huge part of the lifestyle to Mexicans and Chicanos. Luis witnesses his friends being killed, shot at and beaten down. He lived the lifestyle of a convict, stealing, doing drugs and learning to use a gun. He wrote this narrative because he wanted people to understand what life is like out on the streets. In the preface of the narrative he makes his intentions clear, “The more we know, the more we owe. This is a responsibility I take seriously. My hope in producing this work is that perhaps there’s a thread to be found, a pattern or connection, a seed of apprehension herein, which can be of some use, no matter how slight, in helping to end the rising casualty count for the Ramiro’s of this world, as more and more communities come under the death grip of what we called ‘The Crazy Life’,” (11). Luis wants to help people, not matter if it is just one person. He wants people to realize that gangs are not the way to go, that the crazy life is not the life to live.
Luis reminds me a lot of Stanley “Tookie” Williams. Tookie, a co founder of the Los Angeles gang, the crips, also became a reformed man like Luis. Tookie also lived a life like Luis, and then renounced his affiliation with the gang. He decided instead of being a gang banger he would become pro active and help kids out of the gang banging lifestyle. He, like Luis also wrote about his times in the gang, and he even developed a series of children’s books aimed at helping kids realize that gangs are not the way to go. I think it is wonderful that people like Luis and Tookie could renounce their days as gang
Kimberly Murphy
Human 6
Always Running Chp 1-3
Page 3
bangers but there are so many people out there who don’t. They believe that the only way of life is the gang banging way of life.
I am a very avid watcher of the television show The Shield. , which is a show based on cops in the Los Angeles area. The main characters of the show deal with the many gangs in the area. I know that this is just a television show but it has to be based off of some truth. The gang bangers in that show steal, rape, kill and have no disregard for anything or anyone. And if someone tries to get out of the gang, they better watch their back because they will probably end up dead.
I feel lucky that I was able to read Luis’s narrative. He survived the harsh Los Angeles streets and lived to tell about it. He could have chosen to keep his silence about the gang lifestyle but he decided to share his story in hopes of saving others. I hope that his narrative opens up the eyes of the ones on the wrong path. I hope that it helps people reach out and help those in need of help. This is a great narrative and I can’t wait to read the rest of it.
November 18, 2006 at 10:14 pm
Sorry for how long the paper is, but i just sat down and wrote and wrote and i didn’t want to stop the ideas flowing.
Jade Dant
Always Running, I
11/19/06
italianbooty143@yahoo.com
Online 1395
Luis J. Rodriguez wrote a well-composed story about his gang days and growing up in the Chicano Movement. Luis has many family members, which seems to be an issue of many Hispanic families Luis talks about. Birth control and safe sex were not used in his neighborhood, which is a big issue for family growth in small violent areas. Luis himself later in life becomes a well-educated guy, but before as a young child and into youth he became a hard-ass who couldn’t say no to anything whether it be sex or drugs. Ramiro who, like his dad Luis, was brought up in violence and was introduced in the story as a spiraling down youth in the ghetto. Just like many of the issues at hand it isn’t how well the parents are at being there sometimes the street can’t be beat and the calling to become a gang member like everyone else is strong. Ramiro, Luis’s son, is at a tipping point of either doing the right thing or falling in a hole like many of his friends. Ramiro is strong willed, his parents split at a young age and step-fathers beat down on Ramiro causing him to turn to other people for attention. The issue of child abuse is strong, though Luis doesn’t hit Ramiro, many fathers or step-fathers of other children beat on them and this causes them to grow up wanting love from anyone and also violence in their own psyche. Camilla was Ramiro’s biological mother, she was the only one of her family that graduated high school, but that education from a school with the highest drop out rate didn’t matter and only gave her a 9-5 job. In Camilla’s youth one of her brothers became a convict and heroin addict, the other brother was killed and stabbed
Jade Dant
Always Running, I
seven times, her older half-brother was shot, and her nephew at age 17 was murdered right outside the home. All that violence created a weaker Camilla searching only for protection that came at a price of an abusive husband (Not Luis). The issue of young latino women who grow up around abuse becomes inescapable with the husbands who grew up in violence and therefore beat their wives. It is just a terrible spiral of abuse on both sides and cops don’t care and programs don’t exist to help them out. Now how did Luis begin his life, not so good I guess with his own close family members. Luis’s father Alfonso who grew up in Chihuahua had a strong heart and was well-educated for being brought up in poor surroundings with cardboard towns filled with hunger. One may think poverty is bad in America, in many parts of South America it is horrendous where police are from dictatorships and don’t care if they kill you and your family. When Alfonso married Maria he had already had four or five children from three or four other women. What kind of example does that set for Luis? Many of the times men would hump anything that moved spreading their seeds, but not taking the time to see the flower grow causing it to turn into a weed dying of hunger and violence. Alfonso was shipped from job to job around America each neighborhood no better than the rest, he even had to have uneducated jobs because the white kids couldn’t understand his accent. It is terrible that anyone educated Mexicans coming to America can be told their credentials mean nothing is a let down where faith in the system is futile. It just teaches the youth that education in America is not what matters, because not even their hard-working parents could get anywhere with it. Maria, Luis’s mother, and Alfonso’s wife was a spitfire of a woman. Where Alfonso was fire, Maria was water, two opposites burning inside Luis. Luis says,
Jade Dant
Always Running, I
“Mama was one of two daughters in a family run by a heavy-drinking, wife-beating railroad worker and musician”(15). Off to a bad start Maria was in a bad situation, Maria became overweight and suffered from Diabetes without medication or insurance she would bleed her legs to relieve pain. Poor medical attention was ridiculous, the fact that people like Maria had to suffer because they had no money is a huge issue that many battle today. Maria, the one who had to discipline her children became tired, tired of being told she wasn’t good enough for white jobs and tired of being sick, and in all of this had to take care of the children. Then there are some that abuse the system, taking drugs because of addiction, selling their children’s medicine for money. Rano, Luis’s older brother was rotten to the core in the beginning. Rano would beat on Luis just to watch him cry sometimes even dragging Luis by a rope around his neck. Children at the school would also beat on Rano, he was put into a mentally-retarded class because he couldn’t speak English. Though Rano at age 16 turned his life around to being a success story from the barrio all because one teacher paid attention long enough to help. Rano is an example of the poor educational system, the way white teachers treat students they don’t understand, and many male students have a likely hood of being shot before passing a math test. Clavo, a young “Animal Tribe” gang member who is not related to Luis in a blood sense, but is related in a brother-gang sense. He gets shot up and loses an eye, that trauma turned Clavo away from the gang scene, disappearing all together. Luis was a product of a father who was let down over and over, a mother who was sick and treated like shit by whites, and a brother that would beat him. His connection with his mother was one of discipline, his father was one of respect, and his brother was one of violence,
Jade Dant
Always Running, I
but love. The gang scene became Luis’s family, his partners in crime were all he had. Luis suffered many traumas, at home later in life Ramiro his own son fights with him while Luis struggles to unclamp the claws of gang life from Ramiro. At home when Luis was younger the trauma of daily beatings from his brother Rano was enough to drive anyone mad. The housing system was terrible. Many time they lived without heat and light, taking only cold showers and sharing the house with sometimes five other people. At school, his first impression was of a teacher who couldn’t speak Spanish and just set Luis in the back of class to play while she taught others. Luis says, “In those days there was no way to integrate the non-English speaking children. So they just made it a crime to speak anything but English”(27). Later on school is where Luis got his first tattoo and met girlfriends to have sex with. Teachers were even losing fingers. Luis said, “In the mid-1960;s the students at Garvey had some of the worst academic score in the state. Most of the time, there were no pencils or paper. Books were discards from other suburban schools”(43). This brings up the issue of poor education and poor adult supervision in schools. Imagine being in a school where fights happened everyday and your test score was just a fill in the dot game. These students learned nothing. On the streets trauma after trauma occurred. A racist encounter with a white women yelling at Luis for sitting in a white person’s bench. A racist encounter with white kids in a neighborhood resulting in a bad beating. Luis’s friend Tino died in an escape attempt from the cops at a young age. Gang shootings occurred when Luis joined “The Animal Tribe,” and his friend Clavo got messed up. Cops from the white beach beat up on Luis and his friends. Luis meets Yuk-Yuk who introduces him to stealing things, and they
Jade Dant
Always Running, I
attempt to rob a concession stand and end up being shot at. The similarities between home, school, and the street are violence. The trauma’s encountered at home
were from being poor, in school is was from being Mexican, and the traumas on the street were from being in the wrong gang and crowd.
I can’t say I can personally relate to having that bad of trauma’s. Where I used to live, school was a thing for the squares and many kids just either gave up or had bad enough teachers that they learned nothing. In parts of town is was more poor white druggies who got out of prison from molesting children. Though being shot at was a rarity, the streets for children were not safe from predators. Both my parents were fortunate enough to be able to go to college unlike that of Luis. I think that the narrators tell their story to just get out that other side of story. A bad stereotype that I definitely don’t agree with is that Mexicans are lazy and are just trouble making teenagers who like to hurt other people. In reality their life is a whole another world, where their school contains violence, their homes contain violence, and the street is about claiming a gang. Gangs were made out of necessity, for protection and a family, but they unfortunately spiraled into violence against themselves instead of just the oppressor. Luis wants to tell his story to relate to others, if only to just help one person, one person to survive the ghetto and push their way into realizing what is happening. To Trouillot Luis is an actor, narrator, and agent. Luis is an actor because he participated in the story and existed in it. Luis is an agent in the fact he plays the role of a father and a confused Mexican gang-member which each its own duties and roles associated with them. Luis is fortunate enough to be the narrator, where he writes his story from his own memory not another’s.
November 19, 2006 at 4:54 am
Ben Basque
Human 6 1395
Always Running Ch.1-3
Luis Rodriquez comes from a family that consists of his father Alfonzo, mother Maria Estela, older brother Jose (Rano), younger sisters Ana (Pata), Gloria (Cuca) and 3 or 4 older siblings from his dad’s earlier life. Alfonso is a calm, educated man who is not overly emotional, his Mom is a dramatic, Mexican Indian women who does not seem very happy or well adjusted, his brother Rano is an angry, abusive boy and I don’t have a take his sisters. He has an extended family of Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and cousins that are in and out of his house and life.
Alfonzo studied in the U.S. and liked it here. When he returned to his family in Mexico he was charged with a crime and incarcerated. He lost his teaching job and when he finally got released from jail he fled with his family to the U.S. (15) His wife Maria Estela does not want to be in the United States, but she seems to be afraid to be with out her husband. (16) Maria Estela seems to be the primary parent figure, but she is challenged by the language and has a lot of anger. The family finally settles for a little while in Watts. They settle here because an older daughter of Alfonzo’s lives there with her family. (17)
Rodriquez’s first impression of the United States was not positive. His dad did not have steady work and the jobs he does get are not in teaching. They are in construction, sales, and manual labor. Maria Estela cleans houses. When she works she brings her kids. (19) Maria Estela does not speak any English and she gets taken advantage of and sometimes her kids are used as scapegoats, but because of her language issues she does not address those issues. Instead of standing up for herself or her kids she just moves on. “We kept jumping hurdles, kept breaking from the constraints, kept evading the border guards of every new trek.” (19) This statement really gives me a visual to how it must feel to not be here legally. It seems to have made the family feel like they were able to stand up for them selves. They became “victims”. It almost appears that the simple act of being an “illegal” perpetuated more illegal activity by the kids. They could not find sustainable work for income so turned to illegal means to get the
Ben Basque
Human 6 1395
Always 1-3
Pg. 2
needed money. The frustration and anger that they must experience when it is realized, that the prosperity and opportunities that they dreamed of when they came here, is a far different reality. My mom is an American born in the U.S. but she grew up in Africa and came here as a young adult. She said that even as an American coming here was “pretty traumatic”. She spoke the language, but did not understand our culture or its rules. Life here was much “faster and more complicated than where she grew up. She said that if language and residency status were also issues it would have been even harder to assimilate to the culture.
Rodriquez does not seem to have had an opportunity to connect with anyplace, because of the constant turmoil and moving. With no solid roots he seems to migrate towards trouble. Some of it he knows is trouble and some of it is he just does not understand the consequences of his actions. He gets caught up in the group or gang mentality. An innocent example is when he climbed the fence to play basketball at the grammar school. (35). It appears to me that once he started getting in to trouble it gave him an excuse to get in to more. Trouble lost any negative stigma for him. In fact some times it gave him some form of respect. This concept is hard for me to grasp. I feel that we always have choices and it is up to us to take responsibility for our choices. They might not always be easy, but we do have that control. Rodriquez’s parents failed him by being so caught up in their own issues that they did not teach him that he and he alone is responsible for his actions. Rodriquez’s brother Rano started out on that same path, but them he figured out that he would rather get positive attention than the negative. Rano was a very abusive and mean child “
Ben Basque
Human 6 1395
Always 1-3
Pg. 3
Rano then pushed me and I struck the ground on my back with a loud thump and lost my breath laying deathly still in suffocating agony.”(21) Over time Rano’s abuse of his brother stopped. He became focused on success.
Mrs. Rodriquez seems like a pretty selfish mother when she “bled her veins” and drained the blood in to bowls in front of her young kids (24) she did not seem to consider the effects on her children. Rodriguez has ongoing night mares about all the blood. (24)
When Rodriguez was small he did not speak English and he made many mistakes in school because he was afraid to ask for clarification. He “mixed up all the words, screwed up all the songs.” (27) This caused unnecessary confusion for him. His childhood seemed like it was in constant turmoil. His parents don’t stay in any one place, don’t keep any job and their marriage is unstable. Dad wants to stay in the United States and mom wants to go back to Mexico. “What does it matter? I’ve been a red hot ball bouncing around from here to there. Anyone can bounce me.……Everybody knows this.”(72) To me this is just an excuse. As long as you can blame “the man” then you don’t have to look at your own behavior. So far in this book I feel like there are many excuses for his deviant behavior. Yes, there are bad things that happen, there are injustices that happen, but where is his personal responsibility?
November 19, 2006 at 12:21 pm
Donna Blanchard
Always Running, Part 1
November 19, 2006
moxiedonna@gmail.com
Human 6, Section 1395
Luis Rodriguez was born into a large Hispanic family who eventually fled their home in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico for East Los Angeles. His father, Alfonso, was an educated man who at one time was principal of the high school in Ciudad Juarez. After being jailed and losing his position as principal, Alfonso decided to move his family across the border into the United States in hopes of a better life. However, once they arrived in LA, Alfonso’s education meant virtually nothing and he was mostly only able to find work doing manual labor or factory jobs.
Rodriguez’ mother, Maria Estela, spoke no English and was the center of the family. Rodriguez described Maria Estela as being very strong and the force that held the family together despite her many health problems. She either cleaned houses or worked in the garment district as a way to help support the family but was limited by her language skills. Maria had a hard time adapting to life in America because she was separated from the people around her. The language barrier was just one more little brick in the wall separating Maria and everyone else. Because of her inability to speak English, Maria wasn’t able to communicate with business owners, who often took advantage of her limitations.
Rodriguez’ older brother, Jose or “Rano”, was tough and always seemed to be filled with anger. Other children in their Watts neighborhood picked on him and beat him up but all he did was take it. Soon, Jose became known as the kid who could take a beating and not cry or fight back. But as retaliation, Jose would beat on Rodriguez. Rodriguez often hid from his brother and had to be forced to play with him. The neighborhood boys would see Jose pick on Rodriguez and they started doing the same. In school, Jose’s limited knowledge of the English language landed him in classes with mentally challenged students – as is speaking only Spanish is a handicap.
Rodriguez also had two younger sisters, Ana and Gloria, but doesn’t speak of them very much in the early parts of the book – perhaps in part because they were younger and possibly because they were not boys. Rodriguez also had an older half-sister, Seni, who lived with the family in Watts after they crossed the border. Seni was Alfonso’s daughter from an earlier relationship and her mother died in childbirth. When she moved in with Rodriguez’ family, she was already married with two children of her own. In addition to his half-sister, Rodriguez speaks of two older half-brothers, Alberto and Mario, who lived in Mexico.
Rodriguez doesn’t speak of his family as being very close-knit. He speaks of arguments he had with his mother and toward the end of this narrative speaks of his banishment from the house. Rodriguez was a troublemaker in school and Maria was constantly getting calls from the school that he had skipped classes or was getting into fights. I believe that Maria had a
Donna Blanchard
Always Running, Part 1
huge load on her back and was just worried that her son was going to get thrown in jail or killed. The stress of worrying about one child can exclude all the other children from a person’s mind. After she had initially thrown Rodriguez out of the house, Maria relented and allowed her son to live in a small room in the garage behind the house. Rodriguez was allowed to come into the house and eat meals only with Maria’s explicit permission. It was a tenuous grip on Rodriguez to enable Maria to keep some sort of eye on him while giving him the freedom that he seemed so determined to have.
Rodriguez’ first encounters in America do not paint an easy picture to view. Most of the people they met were spiteful and rude because Rodriguez and his family were immigrants. There were so many borders separating Rodriguez’ family from the American experience: language, culture, physical borders. No one in the family really found the acceptance into American culture that I believe they were seeking and life wasn’t much better than it was in Mexico. “It was a metaphor to fill our lives – that river, that first crossing, the mother of all crossings” (19).
There was always something separating Rodriguez and his family from everyone else. There was never a sense of connection, of acceptance. What happened to “give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free”? Apparently at some it became too much to bear and people who weren’t immigrants themselves don’t remember that their family probably came to America on a boat at some point in the past. It is not in their personal history as is it in Rodriguez’. There was no way for people already living in Los Angeles to feel sympathetic to the plight of a person new to the country – no way for them to connect with someone who is not acclimated to America – because they don’t know what it’s like to be in a place so foreign, so completely different from everything you are used to. It’s an issue of complacency – we don’t care about those who are new to the country because we have always been here. Our parents were most likely born and raised here and their parents may have been as well. Sure, we all probably hear stories about how our great-grandparents came to America on a boat seeking a better life but it’s not engrained in us because we didn’t live it.
Perhaps Rodriguez’ real family, the people he felt the deepest connection with, were the other young Hispanic boys he hung out with. His group, his friends, his clique, his vatos, his Lomas. He doesn’t speak of them as a gang but states they were a club or a clique. “It was something to belong to – something that was ours. …is how we wove something out of the threads of nothing” (41). Rodriguez joined his first “group”, Thee Impersonations, at the age of eleven. The boys in his group vowed to care for each other, to stand up for each other. Rodriguez says the group was born out of necessity because the boys needed protection from all the gangs that were forming in their neighborhood. Claiming gang affiliation is pretty much the same back then as it is now – it offers a certain protection but also a certain level of vulnerability against other gangs. Being affiliated with one gang makes you immediately an enemy of an opposing gang.
Donna Blanchard
Always Running, Part 1
The negativity Rodriguez faced upon first immigrating to the United States stayed with him throughout adolescence and into adulthood. He turned to his gang as family members and fought his way through his teenage years. While his older brother Jose grew out of the fighting and rebellious stage to become interested in music, Rodriguez embraced it and thrived on the violence. I believe Rodriguez was seeking not only acceptance from his fellow gang members, but he was also seeking power. The power over other people – the power that his brother Jose held over him when they were younger, the power that everyone held over his entire family after they immigrated. Rodriguez wanted the power to make people cower in fear and the power to make people respect him and his position in life. Some people would strive to become a better person, a wealthier person – because in this society wealth begets power. But violence and intimidation also beget power and this is the route Rodriguez chose to take.
Life and how we live it is all about the choices that we make. Perhaps Rodriguez would not have found his way out of the violence to help educate other people if he had not embraced the violence in the first place. It’s a vicious cycle of “what ifs” – what if he had not joined a gang, what if his family had not moved to the United States, what if he had not chosen education over violence. Each of these what ifs is a part of history that could have happened and may very well have happened. Each what if is a question that can never really be answered, a part of history that is invisible to everyone.
Rodriguez is an actor in his own life and also an actor in the life of everyone whose life touches his as we all are. He is his own narrator and can choose to tell the story however he wants to tell it, whatever way he wants to tell it. He can leave out parts of the story to skew our views on his personal history. There is no one to verify that he has not left out parts of his story (but I’m not arguing that he has skipped over parts). Each of us tells our own story and can make the narration say what we want it to say. Our view on our lives and on the world is different from everyone else’s. We all see the world in different ways and we all have different versions of the same event. Our narrations are simply our view on events that happen and what we may have learned from them.
Rodriguez’ narrative about growing up as an immigrant in East LA was different from anything I have ever heard of or read about. I’ve always been interested in the Civil Rights Movement and therefore have read many things about the Watts Riots in 1965. But I’ve never read anything about the Hispanic neighborhoods in Los Angeles and how they were affected during the 1950s and 1960s. It seems that at this point in the narrative, Rodriguez is just getting started. He is still somewhat new to the gang life and his offenses are growing stronger and stronger. I’m waiting for the light at the end of the tunnel to appear – waiting for him to take some accountability in his life. Waiting for the realization that we choose our destinies and we have control over our reaction to life and the blows it may deal us.
November 19, 2006 at 11:55 pm
Desire Black
Human 6
Always Running ch. 1-3
Page 1
When I started this book I saw a connection that the poorest communities have the most problems with gangs; Luis Rodriguez points this out blatantly when explaining the situation in his current home while writing the book. This given that the poorest people have the most violent lives only continues the cycle of violence. Poor people have the disadvantage to begin with of struggling to find a means to survive and to families gangs are the end of this cycle for children, but for children needing security, gangs are a haven. Rodriguez writes about the beginnings of his heritage. He is acting as a narrator, by writing this personal history. He shows how the places and situations before him shaped his life. He shows that he came from very humble beginnings with different kinds of people: his great grandmother from an Indian tribe never conquered; his grandmother who suffered loss with the death of her first husband and second child and the blindness of her son to the humiliation of a wild and adulterous “heavy-drinking, wife-beating railroad worker” (pg.15) second husband (which of course Luis’ mother saw how this changes the family dynamic). Rodriguez describes his matriarchal family as strong, loving, they seem to be the backbone of the family. He doesn’t describe his patriarchal heritage directly, only by the side of the mothers. The focus of the mother is explicit. He describes his mother as being “emotionally-charged, border woman, full of fire, full of pain, full of giving love. [His father] was a stoic, unfeeling, unmoved intellectual who did as he pleased as much as she did all she could to please him.” Luis talks about his father’s past: his past wives and children; his job as a principal and the politics surrounding the loss of his job; his good looks and the trouble it caused him. The event described in the first chapter Luis describes the flight and plight of the family. Rodriguez attitude as a child towards the comic book shows how special the event was and how poor the family is. The comic book is cherished and recognized as a treat for the children. He is aware of the tension in the car and the mannerisms of each of his parents; his mother fiery, passionate and his father cool and matter-of-factly. He describes his parents as being like the sun and moon; completely different. Even in their looks they are different, he is tall and lean, and she looks like an Indian. He describes his parents’ dichotomy as being the beginning of the conflict within himself. His brothers and sisters have animals’ names given to them by their father. Luis’ brother “Rano” meaning frog was extremely aggressive as a child; in the car scene, he is hitting and insulting his sister Ana. He also beats up “Grillo” frequently;
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Luis doesn’t want to play with him because of his temperament. Later on Rano becomes completely different; he is good at sports and theatre and music, he is the “mexican exception” (49).
He describes the places he lived as being as important as the people that he lives with. His first place is El Paso, which is the birthing center for illegals to attempt citizenship for their children. Then he describes Watts and the Quarter where his sister and her family lived. He notes the reasons for the move; sister’s request and the possibility of industrial jobs. He implies that moving there is a last resort in his description of the scene. He says that “If you moved there it was because the real estate concerns pushed you in this direction.” (17) He tells that his oldest sister, Seni is actually a half sister and tells the way that she is rumored to have gotten her name and the linage of the name. He first tells a family legend of his father leaving her at grandmother’s house for so long that she didn’t recognize him, then he tells the story about the chair. Seni makes Luis believe that the chair wards off the huge cockroaches and rats that inhabit their house, and then with the absence of the chair and the harsh words of his sister that he is young and so gullible. I wonder if the absence of her father and the death of her mother made her so callous towards her brother. Luis’ family seems to fluctuate a lot; he stays with family members, such as his half sister and her family, different houses and shelters so the stability of a physical home is not there. The constant instability I consider to be a trauma, but he endures the abuse of an angry brother, a emotionally distant father, an exhausted mother. He also encounters racism at an early age, he goes to the store with his brother, knowing that it wasn’t a good idea at the age of six; he is beaten up by white teenagers for shopping on the wrong side of the tracks. School is traumatic all by itself, but being 6 years old, not understanding the language and being alone must have been hell. I live in Germany and its so nerve wrecking to even go shopping, without trying to learn something new. Being ignored by the teacher and harassed by other classmates made him become more withdrawn and possibly contributed to his need for friendship and his willingness to join the “clubs”. Rodriguez’s family suffers the trauma of false hope with the promise of becoming an American family falls through by the termination of father’s teaching job. When they move back in with Seni and her family, he describes the situation as being overcrowded, the constant fighting and the escape to the streets. At the end of page 36, Luis describes the constant running that he and others have to do. His first close encounter with Thee Mystics gave him the feeling that they had power, power to hurt others and
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he desired to inflict this power. Rodriguez has no real control over what happens to his family; he gets jobs when he can and he does what he can to help the family. In school he didn’t have control over the beginnings of his career, but later on he decides to go with the crowd and to harass teacher and not to study and to learn; the students create their own environment of power. He escapes to the streets.
The racism that Luis’ family experiences are so common. Everywhere there is any that separates one group from another becomes this divider, and whoever has more advantage uses it and abuses it to the full extent possible. Rodriguez’ life is different in the ways that the moves and the places where his family stayed were undesirable, while my moves with my family where planned and we had stability with money. I know the feeling of being a misfit and alienated because you cannot speak the native language, but I do not have to work or be discriminated against because I look different. I never had the desire to inflict pain on anyone, no matter how unpleasant they were to me. I was never physically abused like Luis was. I never had a need to form a club for protection either. He didn’t have the shelter life that I enjoyed; how lucky he is to know what the real world is. He had to survive; I just had the fortune to be white. Rodriguez’ writing this story about his life and what factored into his situations, we should examine what causes these predicaments for people like him. I think that he is writing this book to question the origins of gangs. He is showing us from the point of view from one person how it is possible to get into a gang; from childbirth to manhood.
November 20, 2006 at 2:23 am
Jana Churich
Always Running by Luis J. Rodriquez
Read pages 1 – 79 (Chapters 1-3)
Luis Rodriguez’s family structure is complex. His father, Alfonso, had more than one wife. It is in his later marriage to Luis’ mom Maria, that the real characters come about. Luis has an older brother, Jose, and thwo younger sisters Ana and Gloria. There are also many cousins, aunts, uncles and grandmothers that also come into the picture during the introductory chapters. Alfonso, Luis’s father is a really dynamic character. In all honesty I felt really sorry for his character because he presented early on as sort of a hero. He puts out his own money and efforts to save the school he worked for and ultimately gets screwed over by the government. He makes the decision to move his family into the United States despite having no resources, and against his wife Maria’s wishes. When he get into the States and tries to find work is degree and educational background and experience hold no clout with the white world. It’s destroying that at first glance he seems like he is a winner for his family but after Luis moves there is accounts are only an affect of his father not in relationship to him or his values.
Luis’ mother Maria is refreshing. So often when we watch tv, movies, or read novels about Mexican Americans that are not truly narratives the Mexican mother becomes modelesque, beautiful, even exotic. The way that Luis portrays his mother, she is not glamorous whatsoever. She cleans homes, she is constantly achy and sick and is missing most of her teeth. Luis describes the varicose veins that line her legs and it is a disgusting and shocking memory. Apparently in order to relieve the pressure in her legs she would slice the vein open in her ankles and drain the blood into a bucket. He relates the memory to a dream and retracts it…the blood was actually real. She is a mother that is in touch with the nitty gritty of her life. She is the glue that holds the pieces together. She manages the discipline, the cooking, cleaning, and income. It is no wonder that she is completely worn out and distressed. “Despite this she worked all the time, chased after my brother with a belt or a board, and held up the family when almost everything else came apart.” (23)
Luis’s brother, Jose, I think plays the most important role in his life. Jose, or better known as Rano, was an intense young kid. “ His face wad dark with meanness, what my mother alled maldad. He also took delight in seeing me writhe in pain, cry or cower, vulnerable to his own inflated sense of power.” (20) He is sort of the cause and affect of why Luis started in a gang and being delinquent. As his older brother, Rano abused Luis very maliciously. He felt a sense of power beating up on his younger brother, and made sure that when he was beaten he never cried. His reputation was the only thing that protected him. “ He had never asked me anything, unless it was a demand, an expectation, an obligation to be his throwaway boy-doll.” More often than not we consider child abuse something that parents do to their children. Or rather, adults that beat up on children whether they are parents, guardians, foster parents, other figures. But I definitely think there is a definite unspoken epidemic of sibling to sibling violence. I also think it can have the same serious psychological effects on a child.
This is especially evident when Luis first goes to school. He is put in the back of the classroom because he does not speak English. He is told to play with blocks. He is so introverted and so secluded that he does not even tell the teacher when he has to go to the bathroom, he simply wets his pants. This causes a spectacle and a vicious cycle of insecurities. “ It got so every morning I would put my lunch and coat away, and walk to my corner where I stayed the whole day long. It forced me to be more withdrawn.”(26)
The issue of being abused is one thing. When it is compiled with constant moving from one place to another a child has a difficult time finding home. Luis’ childhood was difficult, something I could never imagine. When he shares about how there eleven people were living in a one bedroom apartment in the middle of a condensed, poor population, I can see why he finds refuge in the streets. “Mama reminded us how she’d seen so much alcoholism, so much weed-madness, and she prohibited anything with alcohol in the house, even beer. I later learned this rage came from how mama’s father treated her siblings and her mother…” When a kid like Luis finds refuge in the street his friends become his family. Actually I think in cases of most children who have issues with their parents or home life find this to be true. When asked about the composition of his family I instinctively started to analyze his parents and siblings. Which in every
Jana Churich
Always Running by Luis J. Rodriquez
Read pages 1 – 79 (Chapters 1-3)
sense is right, they are in fact his blood. However when talking about poor kids on the street that are segregated from opportunity it can be inferred that those kids on the street depend on their cliques to be their family. They offer protection, comfort, and brotherhood. “ We are all taking a pledge… A pledge to be there for each other. To stand up for the clica.”(41)
I almost missed the scene where Tino died. Rodriguez skims over it quickly. The chase scene is intense but he does not tell the result until the break in the next chapter. It was very sad to hear that these kids were out on a playground, trespassing yes, but harmlessly playing basket ball and the police chased them to death. These young kids have to play on the streets because they don’t want to be in their small cramped homes. Their parents can’t supervise them because they are working long shifts, and there are no government or community resources to keep them occupied. Furthermore, they are forced into this situation as well as embedded with inherent fear so when they see an authority figure they run. Hence the title of the novel, Always Running. But there is no escape. And for Tino, he died in a tragic accident and as impactful as it should have been in Rodriguez’s life, he seemed to pass over it like it wasn’t an unusual incident. That poor kid had no chance whether he was running or not.
Another issue that is kind of a backdoor subject that Rodriguez hits head on is pre-teen sex. He and his friends are young and they are out partying, drinking and having sex. The scene where he hears a girl moaning and his friend Miguel says she is being initiated into the clique is appalling. When kids have no supervision they tend to grow up faster than normal kids. At thirteen Luis got his first tattoo and started drinking and smoking. I have brothers that are twelve and although they may have been exposed to peer pressure to smoke cigarettes and they like girls they are not running the streets getting tattoos and having sex. It’s too much adulthood for a thirteen year old kid. Especially a good kid like, Rodriguez who shows promise. His principal pointed out that he was too smart to be a delinquent. When he defends his older brother’s honor when the kids tried to kick his ass he showed promise.
In one part of the story, when the kids are at the beach raises another issue. Those cops provoked the violence from the kids at the beach. Of course they should not have been doing drugs or drinking but the racist police officers were not interested in what they were doing so much as who was doing it. “ The white guys challenged us to come up there. It didn’t take much to get us going…” (65) The cops called them derogatory names, arrested them, abused them, degraded them, and ultimately arrested Black Dog. The idea was that they would start detaining kids while they were young. That way when they became adults they had a wrap sheet a mile long. It would be easier to prosecute a repeat offender rather than a one time offender. By this time in the novel, and as the crimes get worse because guns are involved, I just felt like the cycle was hopeless. That everything worked against this minority of people at that time. I can’t imagine things are so much different nowadays. Perhaps the situation is worse off with technology and the accessibility of illegal drugs and paraphernalia. I have never been to LA so I don’t know what South Central is like, but it’s reputation does not pose well for change.
I can’t imagine living Rodriguez’s life. I can’t even affectionately say mine is or was anything like it. There have been instances in my childhood where I did not get along with my parents. Sometimes I even ran away. Well not really I ran down the street and always came back. I know I felt fear at that age but I do not think I was consumed by it. Luis Rodriguez is consumed by fear that is why he acts the way he does. I remember living in a cramped apartment while my family was between houses. There were six of us in a two bedroom apartment, which included my twin brothers who were babies at the time. I was nine. Looking back on it now I can remember at that point in my life, more than anything, the time I spent outside with the neighborhood kids. Thankfully it was a good neighborhood because we were out until dark playing tag and running a muck. Perhaps that is my connection with him. However I was fortunate not to be surrounded by poverty and anger. That is the difference in the way my future has panned out versus those who are subjected to the harsher conditions of an inner city neighborhood.
This is the second narrative story I have read this semester. The first one was a slave narrative, and this one is a gang/povery Mexican/American Narrative. It is a really impressive
Jana Churich
Always Running by Luis J. Rodriquez
Read pages 1 – 79 (Chapters 1-3)
vocal way of telling a story. I think when you know the story really happened, that it is based on a real person’s life, it becomes more important. Also, I expect there to be bias and holes in the
story. In this sense however it’s ok because when I tell stories there are always things I leave out, sometimes even on purpose. But when the story is fabricated to teach you a lesson the expectation is for all the I’s to be dotted and ts to be crossed so that the connections are made between concepts. Fiction for some reason, to me, is never as impactful as non-fiction stories like narratives. I feel like I know the author and what he went through after I read it. I believe that awareness that I feel after I am shocked and awed by his story is exactly the purpose of a person writing a narrative. It is an educational tool to allow people into a world they may never know or understand. I will never be a Mexican American mother with no teeth that cleans homes for a living, but after reading how that Mexican American woman struggled to keep her family alive might make me appreciate her more and judge her less if I see her in real life.
November 20, 2006 at 3:04 am
Jamie Danford Sec. 1395 AR p.1
Luis’s family consisted of the following members:
Luis’s mother, Maria, tells him to go play and be like other boys when earl comes into the picture as Luis’s first friend. And this sets a theme for the rest of Luis’s life and eventually learns that this at times saves his life and other times got him into trouble. Mom is a kind hearted woman and has strong family values. Unfortunately Luis’s mom was not very good looking and had health issues (diabetes) that was traumatic for Luis to watch and gave him nightmares. She raises her voice when she tries to get something across. Maria met Alfanso at age 27 and he was 40, this was not an uncommon age difference in their culture.
Luis’s father, Alfanso, was working a lot and left it to mom to take care of the kids and most family matters as most Chicano families’ traditional roles historically were. In America the inevitable need of self employed house cleaning enterprise that most Chicano mothers participated in order to help support the bills in addition to taking care of the family necessities and household duties. Never raising his voice and just told it how it was Alfonso unlike Maria enjoyed residing in America.. He was a cold water kind of guy who slept with several women before Luis’s mother and had several children from prior relationships. A smart and educated man whose reputation as a school principle in Mexico got ruined for accusations of fraud which instigated the whole move to the US where he developed the American dream which was also soon to be shattered. He had a conservative demeanor. Once his dream was shattered it did not stop him from trying to get it back although political, racial and other historical barriers disabled him to find a well paying job.
Jose Rene or Rano for short (AKA Rana the frog) later becomes Joe, the older brother of Luis who gets jumped by some boys on the way home from store, cries after he gets beat up which Luis had never seen him do before and begs him and makes Luis promise never to tell a soul how he cried because it would ruin his tuff guy reputation.
One younger sister Ana Virginia (AKA Pata/anastein in reference to Frankenstein a nick name that Rano called her).
Another younger sister Gloria Estella/Cuca cucaracha- the cockroach
Luis’s friends consisted of:
Earl becomes Luis’s friend after setting Luis up to take the blame for something he did not do, pulling on a girls pony tails, and repays him with a friendship offering in inviting him to play with his precious marble collection. Earl also liked to tell tall tales on the rooftop where they played quite often. Earl was an entertainer or jokester of the two.
Jamie Danford Sec. 1395 AR p.2
Jaime Rano’s friend, the one arm soccer player, was a sort of inspiration in that Luis learned that you must be thankful for life and to play the hand your have been dealt in order to get by.
Miguel – Member of the “Clica Impersonations” Leader, Played sports and was good at school. President of the club.
Elana first girlfriend of Luis.
Socorro second girlfriend very proper.
Then there was Marina
Luis’s inspirational people in the classroom and on the streets:
Angel tattoo artist
Mr. Stone – strict shop teacher loses finger.
Mrs. Krieger – Old science teacher goes nuts tossing classroom furniture onto front lawn of the school.
Mr. Enriquez – Tormented with spitballs and alike.
Mrs. Snelling – Ranos teacher that helped him progress.
Tia Chucha – Luis’s influential figure (free spirit/crazy?)
Wilo, Fernie, Clavo and Chicharron are other members of the Tribe.
Blackdog – homey that was so dark hence the name Blackdog.
Pancho – Cousin (idol)
Kiko- Uncle alcoholic, magical down to earth kind of guy.
Jandro Mares – Car theft dealer offered employment mostly to those who were unseccesful in school as an opportunity to make money.
Shed Cowager – Junk man also offered employment and an opportunity to make money in exchange for goods which most likely were stolen.
Yuk Yuk – Perfected the art of Bike Theft as mall rat and also engaged in house theft.
Jamie Danford Sec. 1395 AR p.3
Tino one of Luis’s friends gets into mischief when all they want to do is play Basketball and convinces Luis to play past court hours leading them into a game of cat and mouse with the cops.
Noodles one of the gang members of the Tribe has a speech impediment and is a funny character. Luis states that you can tell when he is mad because of his body movements and his slurring language.
The old lady neighbor aka a witch. Kids torment her as Denise the Menace did to his neighbor.
Gabriela- Luis’s girlfriend whom he and his friends used to tease and pull on her braids started out as puppy love and then turned into an obsession and eventually makes Luis grow up faster than he could help it.
Luis/Chin/Grillo/- cricket acted as the protector of the house as he grew older and loved his family deeply. Many times confused, scared and lost knew nothing other than to run from his problems or ignore them until it got so bad that he did not change until he witnessed life threatening experiences or a devastating event. His experiences growing up in the barrio of LA conditioned the adaptations and evolution of his life.
As he narrates his life story in the book Always Running he explains his life growing up in East LA as a Chicano gang member and family man; his roles as an agent. Luis refers to himself as the ball that anyone can bounce because for so long he was unable to fight for his rights. As an actor he uses his descriptive narrative ability and poetic touch enabling his audience to feel as if they were reliving his life through his eyes creating sympathy for himself as he transforms as a person and sets the mood for every event and feeling he encounters. Trulliot’s theory on the historic narrators relates to Luis’s life story in that Luis gives his audience an up close and personal point of view of the Chicano movement, immigration issues, racial issues, class issues, political issues and how these things affected his personal development and family life and culture shock.
Historic comparison
The difference in history as we know it vs. history of the narrators is that we hear about corruption and violence within the streets and the government or read about it in history books, but Luis brings it to life for us with his details and analogies so that it is easy to paint the picture and also know the details on some of the corruption within the police departments and how those forces keep the barrio fighting and instigate more crime and death.
Life similarities and differences
Jamie Danford Sec. 1395 AR p.4
My life was similar and different at the same time – I similarly found myself growing up in a poor part of town with a younger sister of a two year age difference, although our attitudes were reversed in comparison to Rano and Luis. I was older and quiet and my sister was younger and took the role of the bully. I always fought back if she messed with me and then eventually she did not mess with me anymore. When you learn to live poorly you do not know how to appreciate the finer things because you have never had them, but when you get them then you become addicted. This addiction is much like a drug addiction.
Traumas and differences in School, Street and Home
Home for Luis was a comfort zone, an environment he knew and was familiar with. Luis being the younger more timid brother absorbed beatings from his older bully brother Rano. For instance Rano found it amusing to push Luis of the roof at a young age. Rano was really the only danger to Luis at home and he otherwise felt safe there and looked up to his brother. Watching his mother bleed the painful blood clotted and broken veins from her ankles gave Luis nightmares often.
The first day of school being put into a crowded class room with an English speaking teacher and a crappy chair pretty much set the tone for the rest of Luis’s scholastic days. It was known to be a crime to talk Spanish so Luis did not say anything at all and was afraid he would get in trouble or be misunderstood if he did so would rather pee in his pants than ask to go to the bathroom. Language barriers were a big problem in the class rooms because of the lack of Hispanic teachers and the abundance of Hispanic students. Teachers that were unable to understand assume that the kids were talking badly. Luis was ignored and left in the corner of his classroom to play with building blocks. It is no wonder why so many Hispanics become artists. School was also somewhat a safe place,
However as Luis got older it became just as dangerous as the streets because there was a mixture of gangs within classrooms and riots that would break out.
The streets were dangerous, filthy, smelly and filled with broken spirits and death. One dramatic event which was really Luis’s first violent encounter in the streets was being held back and forced to see his brother Rano get the piss beat out of him for the reason of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. At times the streets offered plenty of hiding places to escape from police or other gang members which was better than bringing the violence into the home. Luis did this in respecting the security of his family. One dramatic event was the drive by shooting of the gang in the grey mercury who shot two of Luis’s good friends and gang members. The street becomes the most dangerous place for Luis compared to home and school and by no choice, as most poor Chicano kids, Luis got pushed out of the school system and forced into the streets by the system and his family in order to protect the safety of the rest of the family and ends up in big trouble. Luis later on learns a valuable lesson from his way of life during his gang involvement and redirects his energy toward the war against war.
November 20, 2006 at 3:50 am
Page 1 of 8
Todd Eastman
Always Running (Chapters 1-3)
11/19/06
todd.eastman@comcast.net
HUMAN 6 American Cultures, Section 1395
This book, by Luis J. Rodriguez, serves as a good mirror for many of the concepts about the use of power described by Foucault. It highlights how hegemony becomes a survival tool. The gangs then gained pastoral power over the neighborhoods. Foucault’s definition of dividing practices, or “Bio-Power” can be seen over and over again. It becomes a dominating factor in Rodriguez’s life.
The book has so far, struck me as an odd enigma. Writers have a “voice” in which they write in. The really good ones can make you almost picture the author sitting there in conversation with you. The very first “mystery” I am eager to read about is his education. His writing “voice” is that of a well educated English major, but at the same time, it is vivid and authentic enough to bring his story to life, including his frustrating habit of tossing in little bits of Spanish without definition. His story is easy to read, but not as easy to follow. His narrative jumps back and forth from one time period to another. Maybe that’s how he remembers it all.
I have had some personal exposure to much of what he writes about, during about the same time period. I spent a good part of my pre-teen and teenage days and the first year of high school in southern Arizona. In Tombstone, home of the “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.” One of my first girlfriends was a shy Mexican girl named Mary Ellen. Her family reminded me very much of the one described by Luis. Her family was so poor that their floor in many places was plain dirt.
Page 2 of 8
Todd Eastman
Always Running (Chapters 1-3)
11/19/06
Like many Mexican households, they shared the common practice of giving everyone their own private nickname, usually after some animal for example. “Gallo” (Rooster) seemed to be a favorite. Like Rodriguez, understanding their family dynamics almost requires a degree in Genealogy. Half-sisters, half-brothers, 2nd cousins, and often people who you have absolutely no clue as to their role or relationship. I was invited on a family trip that took me from Tombstone, Arizona, into and through much of East Los Angeles, and then down into Mexico to visit other family. I have to admit, I was more frightened being in East L.A. than I ever was in Mexico itself.
Another similarity I noticed is that as much as the families are close and bonded, they also branch out into their own lives, often not visiting other family members for years at a time, but always welcome. Like Luis, their family updates usually had something to do with who was married, who is pregnant, who got busted, and who is in prison. I never heard anyone inquire about Cousin Joe who was doing so well at Harvard this year.
I could personally identify with Luis when he said, “I have no position on the issue before us. To stay in L.A. To go. What does it matter? I’ve been a red hot ball, bouncing around from here to there. Anyone can bounce me. Mama. Dad. Rano. Schools. Streets. I’m a ball. Whatever.” My father was an Army lifer, so we spent a lot of time going from one military station to another. I know how it feels to bounce.
Page 3 of 8
Todd Eastman
Always Running (Chapters 1-3)
11/19/06
Rodriguez talks a lot about his family, but I didn’t find that he really had that much to say about them. Many of them were just faceless names to me. I got the sense that he was inspired by his father Alfonso (aka Pancho), but ashamed of his failures. He obviously respected his mother Maria Estela, and feared his brother Jose Rene “Rano”. He hardly mentions his younger sisters, other than their nicknames of “Annastein” and “La Pata” for Ana Virginia and “Cuca” for Gloria Estela.
As I read the book, I could sense the anger underlying his stories, but he attempted to control it within his writing. His opinion of law enforcement is obviously contemptuous and fearful. On page 10, Luis writes, “Criminality in this country is a class issue. Many of those warehoused in overcrowded prisons can be properly called “criminals of want”, those who’ve been deprived of the basic necessities of life and therefore forced into so-called criminal acts to survive. Many of them just don’t have the means to buy their “justice”. They are the members of a social stratum which includes welfare mothers, housing project residents, immigrant families, the homeless and unemployed.” I was very impressed with his insight.
While Luis is telling us about his present family, he tells us about his son Ramiro, comparing some of the incidents that he went through, with nearly identical situations he himself experienced in his youth. Each time Luis mentions the police, you can almost feel the anger. Just as he blames the police for the death
Page 4 of 8
Todd Eastman
Always Running (Chapters 1-3)
11/19/06
of his friend “Tino” who died falling through a skylight, he also holds them responsible for other incidents. One story was, “A few of his (Ramiro) friends were picked up by police, who drive them around in a squad car. The police took them to a rival gang neighborhood. There they forced Ramiro’s friends to spray pain over the graffiti with their own insignias – as rival gang members watched- – and then left them there to find their way home. It’s an old police practice.” I have experienced and witnessed enough that charges regarding police misconduct is nothing new. But the story of how they exacerbated the gang problems in this manner was something unexpected.
I was also touched by the feelings of hopelessness and despair that Luis shares with us. He wrote, “There is an aspect of suicide in young people whose options have been cut off. They stand on street corners, flashing hand signs, inviting the bullets.” It is a simple statement, but it explains why no amount of imploring, community involvement, or law enforcement has been able to do anything about the gang problems.
I noticed a lot of stereotyping in this book, both from the street Latino viewpoint, as well as the non-Latino viewpoint. Although his crossing into the U.S. was pretty unremarkable, he tells us, “There are stories of women who wait up to the ninth month and run across the border to have their babies, sometimes squatting and dropping them on the pavement as they hug the closest lamppost.” I found this one to be far-fetched.
Page 5 of 8
Todd Eastman
Always Running (Chapters 1-3)
11/19/06
There were some parts where I had to question how much of the book is autobiographical, and how much is fictional. For example, there are scenes where he is just a small child, unable to speak English but learning to comprehend more, giving his rendition of events and comments that he couldn’t possibly remember. Early incidents such as when his mother and siblings were bullied out of their spot on a park bench, or the refrain of “this is not your country” which he refers to as echoing for a lifetime. Was he speaking metaphorically?
At times, Luis talks about his mother cleaning other people’s houses. He observed that, “the odor of these houses was different, full of fragrances, sweet and nauseating. On 105th street, the smells were of fried lard, of beans and car fumes, factory smoke.” His anger seems to simmer just below the surface. Is he jealous? Does he resent the people who lived in those houses?
In another incident, Luis writes about when he was six years old and Rano was nine. It was the first time they ventured over the “line” (South Gate) and got roughed up by white kids. Rano made him swear to never tell anyone he cried during the beating. I thought it was insightful of Luis to acknowledge the importance of saving face, hanging on to his reputation as a tough guy. I also found it odd that he promised not to tell anyone, asks himself whether he ever did, and then probably realizing it wouldn’t matter now, just assumes that he kept the promise. Of course, just writing about it broke the promise.
Page 6 of 8
Todd Eastman
Always Running (Chapters 1-3)
11/19/06
He tells us story of when he was six years old and was dragged to school by his mother. He said something interesting, “The first day of school said a lot about my scholastic life to come. “ He was taken to a teacher who didn’t know what to do with him. He tells how in those days, there was no way to integrate the non-English speaking children, so they made it a crime to speak anything but English. Now when I was in school, this wasn’t an issue. Most of the kids, even those who spoke English as a second language, managed to learn quickly. I always found it odd to go to a girlfriend’s house and hear her easily switch back and forth between English and Spanish. In many of these families, the adults still speak Spanish while the children take on the roles of translator. But speaking Spanish at school was common. As for the teachers complaining that maybe the children were saying bad things about them, I had to ask – Since when has a language barrier ever influenced that? I suppose this statement will make more sense once I read more about his education. For now, it seemed out of context.
The story of Luis and his family is completely different than I had expected. As he mentioned, his father was an educated man. He didn’t get his start as a farm worker. There was a brief, shining moment when the American Dream seemed to be coming true for him. “One day a miracle happened,” he writes, telling how his was able to find a substitute teaching job in San Fernando Valley. They bought a large house in Reseda. He talked about attending “nicer schools that had books.” His father went on a buying splurge, buying new furniture,
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Todd Eastman
Always Running (Chapters 1-3)
11/19/06
appliances, a new TV, a new car. Then he lost the job and everything was repossessed. I can’t even imagine the heartbreak that must have caused his father. To be so close to success, only to have it all disappear almost overnight. If things had worked out differently, Luis J. Rodriguez would not have had this story to tell.
Luis writes, “It never stopped, this running. We are constant prey, and the hunters soon became big blurs: the police, the gangs, the junkies, the dudes on Garvey Boulevard who took our money, all smudged into one. Sometimes they were teachers who jumped on us Mexicans as if we were born with a hideous stain. We were always afraid. Always running.” This paragraph gave rise to the title of the book. But I personally would have preferred “La Vida Loca”, The Crazy Life.
I was surprised to realize how scared he and others like him probably are. While society cringes in fear any time the word “gang” is used, perhaps the gang members themselves cringe in fear any time something non-Latino comes up. Luis made it pretty clear that gangs were a result of fear – fear of each other, and fear of society. But when Luis refers to his petty crimes, he refers to stealing as the “Stealing Business” rather than calling it theft or robbery. When he talks about his actions, there is almost a sense of entitlement.
The birth of “Thee Impersonations” seemed to be a big turning point in his life. It was his first “club” or “clicas”. He says they didn’t call themselves “gangs”. Then
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Todd Eastman
Always Running (Chapters 1-3)
11/19/06
he witnessed “Thee Mystics” as they entered the school grounds, and terrorized everyone. Luis said, “I wanted this power. I wanted to be able to bring a whole school to its knees and even make teachers squirm.” Fear and Power. Interesting how they go hand in hand, one feeding upon the other.
November 20, 2006 at 3:59 am
Corinne Neuman
Luis Rodriguez, Part I
November 19, 2006
yourmomismad@yahoo.com
Humanities 6: Section 1395
At the time my son turned two, I began to dwell on the school years. After all I had seen within the Santa Rosa City School district, I pledged that my son would not be attending any of their schools. I just did not want to subject him to the violence; he was so too innocent at his young age. Many children in our society have been through more hardship than most adults in a lifetime. I wanted to protect my child, and offer him the best that I was capable of. We moved to Rohnert Park, and my son attends Cross and Crown Lutheran. I hate the lack of diversity, but I know he’s getting a good start in education. I am not rich, but work odd jobs including newspaper delivery to afford the tuition.
As I read the book, Always Running by Luis Rodriguez I felt the guilt of my decision creeping into my throat. I understand that my decision to send my child to private school is one of that contributes to the problem. By continuing to send our “good” kids to different schools than the rest of the population, we make the bad worse. We force the poor kids to bad schools which they are left with no choices. The kids who have it all to begin with, keep getting the better. Most people would rather work at the “good” schools than at the “bad.” The cycle continues to make the bad worse.
The situation of separating the rich from the poor, the good kids from the bad reminds me of our current situation with the Roseland. Nobody wants to work within the school system, no student wants to attend, and no parent wants to send their kids to those schools. Where does it stop? Where do people stop running from school to school, community to community? People sit at top of Fountaingrove driving their Mercedes, pretending that a problem doesn’t exist and if it does it’s not their problem. You can only run so far before it’s in your backyard, your schools, and affecting the lives of you and your children. Before long it is your problem.
Lois Rodriguez sent a powerful image when he says, “It never stopped, this running. We were constant prey, and the hunters soon became big blurs: the police, the gangs, the junkies, the dudes on Garvey Boulevard who took our money, all smudged into one. Sometimes they were teachers who jumped on us Mexicans as if we were born with a hideous strain. We were always afraid. Always running.” (36) In this context, I think it is apparent he is speaking in present day, remembering many years of his youth. He demonstrates that is how he lived life for several years thereafter; this scene was merely one of the many.
During this chase scene in Chapter Two, I was reminded when I was 12 years old. In an awkward place seeking to be independent, but yet still a child needing to be loved, nourished and cared for. Luis and his friends did not have any trusting adults in their lives. In fact adults in any form besides at school seemed absent. The teachers in his
Corinne Neuman
Luis Rodriguez, Part I
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school had seemed to have given up hope, and lost complete control of their classrooms. Imagine the fear you would have if nothing but bullies revolved in your world. It is warfare.
Power has its place in gang life. Luis illustrates this in the second Chapter at one of his early experiences with his rivals Thee Mystics, “I froze as the head-stomping came dangerously my way. But I was also intrigued. I wanted this power. I wanted to be able to bring a whole school to its knees and even make teachers squirm. All my school life until then had been poised against me: telling me what to be, what to say, how to say it. I was a broken boy, shy and fearful. I wanted what Thee Mystics had; I wanted the power to hurt somebody.” (42) For Luis and his friends, at the age of adolescents these kids were seeking an opportunity to have some power in their lives – seeking their place in life, seeking independence. Unfortunately, they didn’t have anyone to go to when they got in too deep.
I think that in life we all need to have a certain amount of power. Power offers us confidence, self respect, and I think that when people cannot find constructive means of power they seek destructive. As a supervisor I hold a certain amount of power over my colleagues, but allowing them to make their own decisions gives them a sense of leadership and responsibility. As a parent, I offer my children the chance to make their own choices but they also suffer the consequences or rewards of their choices. I give them the power to make their own choices, and it empowers them to make better choices. When people are not given ample power to control themselves, they then resort to gaining control over someone else. Power is central to many problems in our society: gangs, Hitler in World War II, prisons, racism, child abuse, domestic abuse, War, and let the list continue. This too is where history comes into play, since all of the patterns within history are virtually the same just in different contexts.
Luis became powerless when his brother became the ultimate bully, beating him into smithereens before he even started Kindergarten. Luis became submissive to his brother and his friends, and therefore carried on wanting to dominate others. The power that he sought out of his brother is what drove him to violence. However, this is not what led him into gangs. He was forced into gangs as a means of survival. Be a victim, or become victimized was his choice. His brother was able to change paths in his leadership role, through sports and education. Luis didn’t feel he was good at anything, not a leader. “I didn’t own any talents. I was lousy in sports. I couldn’t catch baseballs of footballs. And I constantly tripped when I ran or jumped.” (49)
This was not a bad family by any means, one with parents of good intentions. So where were they? His father continually strived to do better, seeking better employment and such while his mother cleaned houses. However, where was their parental role? How
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Luis Rodriguez, Part I
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come they did not step in when Rano was beating Luis and encouraging friends to do the same? Even as hard as I work, I am constantly aware of the time I sacrifice from my children and how it affects them. On particularly difficult weeks of hard work for me, my children will resort to bad behavior in order to get my attention. Did Luis’s family simply ignore all of these signs? I am appreciative of the fact that this Thanksgiving I am able to spend all of it with my kids. Limited amounts of homework, no work, and lots of time to listen to my children – feel them, see them, share with them. That is there time, and time for me to discover more about them.
There are many brave people who share their stories of gang life; we can use it to help those around us. Kids are looking to the street with their tough attitudes because they are hurt, and they need some love and a caring person in their life who is willing to go to bat for them. Just think at how judgmental our society is about teenagers, but yet no one is willing to fill in the voids that are within them. How much change could we make, by instead of judging these kids we simply sat and listened to their stories for a little while. Many of them could teach all of us a thing or two about life. Luis is a narrator in his book, giving us his interpretation of what had happened in his life. His brother, father, mother, and fellow gang members would all give different interpretations of the history.
November 20, 2006 at 6:47 am
Missy Cook p.1
Always Running 1-3
11/19/2006
eskimomissy@comcas.net
Section 1395
When I picked up this book I did not know what to expect, but as I began reading I did not want to stop. Luis J. Rodriquez tells a good personal story and I can’t help but want to read ahead to find out what happens to him and his family. His life as a child was very harsh and cruel. Luis sums it all up when he states “Our first exposure to America stays with me like a foul order. It seemed a strange world, most of it spiteful to us, spitting and stepping on us, coughing us up, us immigrants, as if we were phlegm stuck in the collective throat of this country.” (p. 19). I can only imagine what life was like back then for immigrants coming to America. His family is a very diverse and full of half and full siblings. This I can relate too. He describes his family in different parts of the book. “The family consisted if my father Alfonso, my mom Maria Estela, my older brother, Jose Rene, and my younger sisters, Ana Virginia and Gloria Estela.” (p. 14). Later he explains, “When my parents married. Mama was 27; Dad almost 40. She had never known any other man. He already had four or five children from three or four other women.” (p. 16). He then states, “I also had two older half-brothers, Alberto and Mario, who lived in Mexico. Another half-sister, Lisa died as an infant after she accidentally ate some chicharrones my father was forced to sell on cobblestone streets in Mexico City after his father cut him off.” (p. 18). My siblings are also very diverse. I have one full older brother Olonna from my father and mother. My mother had a baby boy Matthew when I was seven that only lived eight months due to catching Meningitis and not surviving the disease. This loss at seven was especially hard for me because Mathew in
Missy Cook p.2
Always Running 1-3
many ways felt like my own child. My mother was a heavy drinker at this time and left the raising of Mathew to me a lot of the time. She then remarried later in life and had my two younger half-brothers Malachi and Timothy and my younger half-sister Naomi. There are 20 years separating my oldest brother and youngest sister from my mother. My father also remarried and had my two younger half-sisters Cheryl and Kay. There are 15 years separating my oldest brother and youngest sister from my father. At the age of thirteen I was legally separated form my mother and adopted into my best friend’s family that I had known since I was 6 years old. So from this adopted family I have my best friend/sister Brandi and adopted brother Mike. I am close to all of my siblings and keep in contact with them all, especially now that the ones from my mother’s second marriage are growing up and becoming young adults.
When Luis talks about his brother older brother Rano it reminds me a lot of my younger brother Timothy. He talks about how his brother would take whippings from their mom or beatings from the neighborhood without crying. “It was his one last thing to hang onto, his rep as someone who could take a belt whipping, who could take a beating in the neighborhood and still go back risking for more…”(p. 25). My brother Timothy also has this tough act. The only time I remember him crying was when he broke his arm when he was doing skateboarding tricks with a borrowed skateboard.
Another similarity that I couldn’t help ignoring was when Luis talks about Christmas. “Christmas came with barley a whimper. The presents came from a church group which gave out gifts to the poor.” (p.22). My twelfth Christmas was the worst. It was the beginning of the end of my living with my natural mother. Our presents also
Missy Cook p.3
Always Running 1-3
came from the local church and if it wasn’t for that same church we probably would not have had anything to eat on Christmas day. Two days after Christmas my step father decided to tear apart the tree and mess up the entire house in one of his dug induced rampages. I talked my mother into running away and hiding out with various friends.
Luis’s time at school never seemed to be a pleasant one. From the beginning he did not fit in and was often left in the back of the class because he did not know how to speak English. He became withdrawn and did not make many friends. “The first day of school said a lot about my scholastic life to come. I was taken to a teacher who didn’t know what to do with me… I knew I wasn’t wanted.” This is so sad to me. There should have been a better way to deal with the language difficulties. It seems as if Luis would have just had a better start in school than his life may have turned out differently. Later in school he made friends and got into trouble with them. He became involved in gangs. Although they did not call themselves gangs they called themselves clubs. The first one he formed was “Thee Impersonations” (p 41). Luis states, “Thee Impersonations was born out of necessity.”(p 42). Our junior and high school also had their different gangs throughout the years. I however learned how to steer clear of them.
Even though I have had a rough childhood I did not have to go through any of the discrimination that he has had to endure. I think that his statements sum it all up, “Schools provide other restrictions: Don’t speak Spanish, don’t be Mexican – you don’t belong.” (p 20) Then he goes on to talk about LA in general, “We were invisible people in a city which thrived on glitter, big screens and big names, but the glamour contained none of our names, none of our faces.” (p 20).
November 20, 2006 at 7:01 am
Jereme Robinson Page 1
Always Running, Part 1
November 19, 2006
Preludekid212@aol.com
Human 6 – Section 1395
Luis Rodriquez piece of writing was very moving on how his life was growing up in Chicano and being in a gang. Luis Rodriguez comes from a very large Hispanic family that started there life in Mexico. Luis and his family left Mexico to come to the United States. They ended up in the eastern part of Los Angeles. Luis family consists of his father Alfonzo, mother Maria Estela, older brother Jose (Rano), younger sisters Ana (Pata), Gloria (Cuca) and 3 or 4 older siblings from his dad’s earlier life. His family really lived a similar life, which was drugs and violence.
Alfonzo, Luis father, is a calm man that is very well educated. He was a school principle in Mexico before he came to the United States. After being jailed and losing his position as principal, Alfonso decided to move his family across the border into the United States in hopes of a better life. Alfonzo kind of had a rude awaking when he came to America because his educating that he received in Mexico really meant nothing in the United States so he was starting all over again with manual labor in the fields. Rodriguez’ mother, Maria Estela, spoke no English and was the main frame of the family. The family really relied on her to supporting and carrying the family. She either cleaned houses or worked in the garment district as a way to help support the family but was limited by her language skills. Luis describes his mother as a woman that just cleans house and lives around the house. She is missing most of all her teeth and he describes her as always being sick with some type of illness. On page 23 Luis really expresses the way he feels about him mother with a quote, “Despite this she worked all the time,
Jereme Robinson Page 2
Always Running, Part 1
chased after my brother with a belt or a board, and held up the family when almost everything else came apart.” (23)
Luis’s brother, Jose, plays a very big role in his life as being his role model and the person that he looked up to. Jose or also know as, “Rano”, was tough and always seemed to be filled with anger. People in the Watts hood weren’t really sure of him so kind of gave him a hard time. On page 20 Luis I believe says a quote that sums his brothers Rano life, “His face wad dark with meanness, what my mother allied maldad. He also took delight in seeing me writhe in pain, cry or cower, vulnerable to his own inflated sense of power.” (20) Its weird why Rano was so important to Luis because Rano took out his anger on him and always beat him up. Luis had two younger sisters, Ana and Gloria, which he really doesn’t talk about much because they really weren’t a big part of his life. Rodriguez also had an older half-sister who lived with the family in Watts after they crossed the border. Seni was Alfonso’s daughter from an earlier relationship he had which his Ex-wife and her mother died in the process of having her.
The issue that everyone had to grown up with was violence which leads to abuse within the family. The issue of young Latino women who grow up around abuse becomes inescapable with the husbands who grew up in violence and therefore beat their wives. Abuse was so high in the location that they lived in so the police really didn’t care because it was happening so much that it was too hard to control. As I read the story and learned about the life of Luis and how he grew up and the conditions he grew up in I couldn’t believe that I was reading. He describes at one point that 11 people lived inside
Jereme Robinson Page 3
Always Running, Part 1
a one bedroom apartment with no air condition in the hot conditions. I mean that to me just isn’t human, almost like the prison system in the mid 1900’s.
On the street Luis and other kids create like I would call a mini gang. I when you can’t look at a people in your home to make you feel secure because of the abuse and alcohol and drugs, you can only expect a kid to seek love and safeness within the streets.
Luis explains his life on the streets and a second family where they look for each other when help is needed. “We are all taking a pledge… A pledge to be there for each other. To stand up for the clica.”(41) As for Luis and school he was put into an American School that spoke all English, which he didn’t know. It was hard for him to learn or make friends when he had the language barer problem.
A lot about Luis is life I can’t really relate to and don’t have much in common with. As I kid I grew up with a very small family with only one older sister and one uncle that didn’t have any kids which made me one out of two grandkids, so I received a lot of attention and didn’t live in the tight conditions that Luis lived in. I also never was exposed to drugs or alcohol with abuse so I felt safe at home and crated my friendship and safe spot at home instead of in the streets with my friends.
November 20, 2006 at 7:47 am
Dawn Rash
Always Running
November 17, 2006
Dawnkrash@hotmail.com
Humanities 6 online
In Always Running, Luis Rodriguez comes from a family in which his parents are married He has three other siblings, an older brother Rano, and two sisters, Ana and Gloria. Luis also has four or five step siblings from relationships that Luis’s father had with other woman. It was his oldest sister, Seni who urged the family to come to Los Angeles. They stayed with her family periodically during new beginnings and sad endings. Their home was also opened to relatives who were either immigrating from Mexico or just visiting from other states.
Luis describes himself as being very withdrawn as a child. How could he not be withdrawn? Between the abuse that he suffered at the hands of society and the fact that he was the object of so much of his brother’s wrath during his early years, he had no place to really feel safe. In writing about the scene at the Union Station with his family on the verge of splitting up, he write, “ up to this juncture, it’s been like being in a storm-so much instability, of dreams achieved and then shattered , of a silence within the walls of my body, of being turned on, beaten, belittled and pushed aside, forgotten and unimportant,” (33) he refers to himself as a ball bouncing that anyone can bounce. Those are the words of a boy with no self esteem.
Luis’s parents who he describes as fire woman and water man, (16) are strong and determined people. Alfonso was determined to make a new start for his family in Los Angeles and Maria was determined to keep her family together. Either goal would be difficult to achieve under good circumstances. The change had to be a living hell for Maria because she never wanted to be in Los Angeles in the first place. A mother’s role is to protect and guide her children. While Maria could certainly guide her children using the Spanish language, she could
Dawn Rash- Always Running
only remedy few of the injustices due to her broken English. (21) She had to leave the familiarity of her home land to live in a place where she was treated like garbage whenever she left her house. Maria’s health deteriorated and she aged beyond her years. Because of her own childhood experiences with alcoholism in her family, she had no tolerance for such behavior and was the disciplinarian. Luis described his mother as the one who held up the family when almost everything else came apart. She was an emotionally charged woman, full of love, pain and fire. Maria’s personality contrasted with his father who was stoic, unfeeling, and intellectual and basically did what he pleased.(16) Alfonso had power in being educated in Chihuahua but he lost that status when coming to Los Angeles. Instead of being a man who was respected, he was now a man who was invisible. In making the choice that he would rather starve on his own terms in America, he shows great pride and high morals.
While the sisters of Luis are not key players in the story as of yet, brother Rano is important to Luis on many levels. In his younger years, Rano is abusive to Luis. Luis is the punching bag that Rano uses as a source to vent his own rage and frustration at the horrible treatment that he receives in Los Angeles. Rano is enrolled in a class with the mentally impaired because of his inability to speak English. Rano’s life changes as a result of the move to Reseda in that he becomes the best fighter in school and is recognized for his talents in the arts. By high school, Rano has changed his name to Joe and is enjoying a life in the school system in which Luis has no part. The brothers no longer share the same social hardships that Luis continues to deal with on a daily basis. While Joe is finding his means of survival through sports and education, Luis is finding his means of survival on the streets within the system of gangs. This is where the Dawn Rash- Always Running
brothers part ways socially and emotionally.
There is nothing in this narrative that is like my life in any way, shape or form. I have never been made to feel as if I don’t belong in any situation. I have never been spit on, cursed at, chased, cheated or beaten because of racism. Most of the hardships that I have endured in my life have been due to family break ups, loss of loved ones, and /or the result of choices that I have made of my own volition. My internal force was destructive enough at times, I don’t know how I would have survived had that been compounded by the external forces that Rodriguez had to deal with. I can not imagine one of my friends telling me to chose a side or face the possibility of death as a teenager. There is something incredibly wrong with a system that forces young people of any race to feel as if they have no backing or protection within the society that they live; that their own source of protection is required. Guns and violence were not a part of my life growing up in a nice middle class neighborhood in Santa Rosa. I can’t relate to the life that Rodriguez lived.
I think that narrators like Rodriguez tell their stories because they hope to educate people like myself who have no idea what is it like to walk in his shoes. Reading this book for the third time still infuriates me as much as it did the first time that I read the book three years ago. I find something new each time that I read it. More importantly, I think that narrators tell their story in the hopes of preventing a younger generation from walking in the same paths as the characters in the narrative. By explaining how and why the story happened, maybe the narrator can lessen the judgement of some readers, while touching others on a personal level.
November 20, 2006 at 7:58 am
David Bynum
Human 6 Online
American Cultures
11/20/2006
medic811@sbcglobal.net
Two people can attend the same event yet have completely different experiences. The same is to be said of families; we all have a different reality and narrative. While one family struggles to put food on the table each day, another family could suffer from alcohol addiction and the abuse that follows alcoholism. Always Running by Luis Rodriguez is a narrative of Luis’ life experiences. Luis is troubled by an unstable family life which leads to gang involvement. In his narrative, Luis is the narrator, the actor and the agent. The story is told through his eyes and the subject is about bio-power, dominant power and segregation in our society today. His narrative “is an argument for the reorganization of American society” (10).
Parents want a better life for their child, as did Luis. The story begins with Luis, as a parent, struggling to save his son from a life of crime. Luis has lived this life and does not want his suffering to become his son’s. Luis’ childhood was devastating but it was “only the beginning stages of what [he] believe[s] is now a consistent and growing genocidal level of destruction” (6) in our society today.
Luis was a product of his family dynamics. His family was forced out of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua when he was two years old and set off for Los Angeles, CA. Although Luis had several half-brothers and sisters, the immediate family relationships included: Maria his mother, Alfonso his father, Jose (Rano) his older brother and younger sisters Ana and Gloria. Alfonso “was an educated man, unusual for [a] border town” (14). Due to a political mess and some jail time, Alfonso left his powerful position as high school principal, to “escape to the United States” (15). Luis referred to his father as “stoic, unfeeling [and a] unmoved intellectual who did as his pleased” (16). His mother was the opposite, “emotionally-charged, border woman, full of fire, full of pain, full of giving love” (16). Together they were oil and vinegar and “these two sides created a life-long conflict” (16) in Luis.
Upon arriving in America, their dreams of hope were crushed and Luis states the “first exposure in America stays with [him] like a foul odor” (19). Alfonso went from a thriving educational experience to being “mostly out of work” and the work that he did do was construction or factory work. In addition, they were treated as if diseased because they were different and spoke a different language. Their world became one of segregation and not just by the Mexican/US border, it was which side of the railroad tracks or rive you live by, east or west side. The tracks divided the Mexicans from the whites.
David Bynum
Always Running 1
The segreation did not stop at geography; it carried over into Luis’ school depriving him and his brother of a quality education. Luis and his brother Rano were considered unintelligent because they spoke a different language and looked different. Moreover, speaking Spanish at the school ws considered a crime so Luis was afraid to speak sometimes because he feared ridicule from saying the wrong words. The teachers treated them as if they “were born with a hideous stain” (36). Rano became enraged and took his anger out on Luis by constantly beating him. Maria tried to correct Rano’s misbehavior by physical abuse but Rano became unemotional like his father. Despite the abuse, Luis admired Rano and loved him.
Over time their family moved many times, “always running” creating a sense of instability and fear of what was next. It was a struggle to live each day and sometimes their entire family was housed in a one room apartment. The Mexican areas of town “became self-contained and forbidden, incubators of rebellion which the local media, generally controlled by suburban whites, labeled havens of crime” (7). He chose a life of crime and gangs as a means of survival.
Luis suffered in school and in life on the streets. The Mexicans were outcasts of society and being that, they were forced to congregate into like groups and become gangs. The gangs provided Luis with companionship. he no longer needed to feel different from society and excluded; however, gangs put Luis on the wrong side of the law. Luis witnessed the deaths of several close friends via gang violence and police brutality. Eventually Luis’ behavior put him out on the streets. His fire-powered mother did not endorse his criminal behavior and she asked him to leave.
After struggling with places to stay, Luis came home under his mother’s new rules. He accepted the changes and returned to school as well, however, he realized he was in different worlds. Basically “the school had two principal languages. Two skin tones and two cultures. It revolved around class differences” (83). The whites associated with the Asians and the few mixed groups ended up with the Mexicans. In addition to skin color differences, “the school separated these two groups by levels of education: The professional-class kids were provided with college-preparatory classes; the blue-collar students were pushed into industrial arts” (84) or trade workers. The opportunities were not the same.
David Bynum
Always Running 1
Luis felted trapped in this world and he was going to be “a thug” (84) or lower class for the rest of his life. More like “a jacket I could try to take off, but they kept putting it back on” (84). He could not change who he was although his brother tried. His relationship with Rano was tumultuous; Luis lived in fear of Rano’s anger. Eventually Rano developed musical and theatrical skills and began to sore. He even changed his name from Jose to Joe as if becoming Joe would create a new history for him and erase his past stains.
Luis shared his narration to inspire and help others; a lesson learned. Trouillot taught us that history is a process and is about what happened and what is said to have happened. Luis’ narration is the same, it is seen through his eyes. As with any narration, there are silences and erasures and Luis expressed his pain through his story.
Luis was an actor in his narration; he participated in time and space and was a “constant interface with the context” (Trouillot 23). The position of actor and narrator are interchangeable (Trouillot 22). Luis represented a specific class of society and this strata is referred to as the agent (Trouillot 23), however the vocality of his lifestyle was the subject of his narration. His narration is about class segregation and power; one group over another and his group being the expendable of the two. His “crazy life” is a means for survival.
Although my childhood was not the same as Luis’, I can related to being in different social classes. I grew up with four other siblings and each one of us has a different perception of our childhood. The events were the same but the experiences were different. We never struggled for our next meal but raising five kids was a financial hardship for my parents. I grew up in a wealthy community yet our family did not have the same monetary means. I can understand what it is like to considered of a different class. Someone once told me “life is not fair, it is different and different doesn’t mean good or bad, it just means different.” Unfortunately most people view different as bad.
November 20, 2006 at 8:30 am
Melissa Duffield
meld731@yahoo.com
Always Running #1
11/20/06
1395 1
The book Always Running written by Luis J. Rodriguez is an inspirational piece of literature. Always Running tells a story of one mans life who is strong enough to walk away from the only lifestyle he has know and take on the world to better himself and his family. It also helps the general public become closer and more knowledgeable about gangs as a whole and the individuals members that get caught up in this dangerous lifestyle many of us disapprove of.
Luis J. Rodriguez’s family is filled with many people who all have different characters and personalities and going there separate ways in life. Many of Rodriguez’s family members effect him in different ways. His dad is described as the more quite and thoughtful one that would use his knowledge of philososphy to impress Rodriguez to think with his mind and not with his actions or acts of violence. Rodriguez’s mom seemed to be the more physical parent, the one who Rodriguez could rely on to get beat for doing something bad. Although Rodriguez’s older brother Jose took his frustration and anger out on Rodriguez when he was younger, as he became older Jose steered away from the violent life style and became involved in school activities. So far in the reading is does not seem that Jose and his uninterested in the street lifestyle effect Rodriguez that much it might as Rodriguez grows up, he may try to follow in his brothers foot steps. Then there was the cool older cousin who both Rodriguez and his brother Jose wanted to be like so they would follow him around and mimic him when he would stay a there house. The Rodriguez family contains many members all of which are traveling there own ways in life and some how having an impression on young Luis J. Rodriguez life. Coming from a very small family with extremely independent individuals it
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was interesting to read and learn about all of the Rodriguez family members and how they all
interact with each other.
It was amazing to read how much Rodriguez had been through all before he was thirteen years old. He had moved to L.A where he did not have a permanent residence, jumping from school to school and house to house. His parents not being able to afford basic care for their children and receiving daily beatings from his brother must have taken a toll on him as a young boy. I believe that gangs are formed for many reasons but one of the main reasons I feel that gangs are formed is because an individual needs to feel that they belong to something. Seeing as Rodriguez didn’t not have a permanent residence and he did not seem close to his family especially his brother he had the urge to feel like he was needed and the he belonged. From what I can gather from the reading, so far it seems like Rodriguez’s brother Jose picked on him every chance he got and the violence that Jose showed to Rodriguez, Rodriguez carried with him as he grew up. Even though Jose moved away from the violent lifestyle and became more involved in sports and school, Rodriguez continued on the same violent lifestyle and took no note of what his once abusive brother was doing. Rodriguez joined a few gangs as he entered his early teen year, all of which failed. Even when he joined the all might Animal Tribe gang death and constant upset still surrounded him.
It seems like Rodriguez has three different worlds, all of which are interconnected. These three worlds are the street, home, and school. From the get go Rodriguez did not have a very smooth and successful introduction to school. His racial and stuck in their ways teachers did not go out of their way to help Rodriguez learn and grow. Instead they discard him from
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Always Running #1 3
the class and pretend like he was not there only causing him to become more introverted. At home he was always the one being picked one or used never the one that feels protected. Like the way his mom forces him to play with his brother even though she know Rodriguez is going to get a beating from him. And in the streets Rodriguez is the one that is being beat or the cops. These three worlds speak very different languages and have extremely different rules and customs however the common factor is that Rodriguez is the underdog.
Even though I have experniced tremendous hardship during my twenty years of being alive I find myself feeling privileged and blessed too not been in Rodriguez situation. I grew up with no close family and no support system helping me to succeed in life, I have had to make do on my own however I never faced some or most of the dangerous situations that Rodriguez has faced. I think that these narrators tell their stories to help people from all different walks of life. By reading Rodriguez story I know that I am lucky to not live in a “bad” neighborhood or have the need to join a gang so I can make up for unmet needs. Also Rodriguez story helps everyone I believe mainly youth who may be in the same situation that Rodriguez was in and he can shed some hope on them and what trouble they may be in. I think that Rodriguez story also helps show people that not everyone born into this lifestyle wants to continues with it. Rodriguez was involved in gangs but got out and is writing books to help and inspire people to change their lives. I feel that our society still has a belief of what every class you are born into you will stay there. If your parents were involved in gang activity chance are you will be. This book I think helps kill those stereotypes and show the public that gang members are no different then non gang member expect they may not be granted they same privileges the non-gang members are.
November 20, 2006 at 1:12 pm
Ben – I agree with most of your paper and how some people use their label as an excuse. However, I just wanted to address the issue of Maria Estela not standing up for herself. Wouldn’t you agree that sometimes it is just easier to take whatever abuse is heaped upon you than to fight back? I think that Maria had the worst time out of the entire family acclimating to life in Los Angeles. She seems to be a very naive soul – someone who isn’t quite sure of her place in life. I don’t think she ignored the way she was treated out of neglect – I just think she didn’t know how to process it. I feel sorry for Maria – trapped in a place where she is not wanted and where she doesn’t particularly want to be but wanting to stand by her husband’s side. Choosing the lives of her children over her own happiness was a great sacrifice.
November 20, 2006 at 1:16 pm
Kimberly – I got pretty much the same impression about Luis’ feelings towards his family that you did. I think he speaks of them with love out of familial obligation but reserves his true feelings for his vatos. I thought it was a little odd how he hardly mentioned either of his younger sisters – I guess they just didn’t have a huge affect on his life. I think Luis’ was conflicted in regard to his mother – he respected her on one hand and wanted her admiration but I think he also resented her for her ignorance and refusal to learn English. I believe that Luis felt torn between two worlds – the Hispanic world his mother embraced and the American way of life his father longed to have.
November 20, 2006 at 8:54 pm
Ryan McGraw
Always Running #1
11/20/06
I feel the need to start this off with an account of my life when I was going to High School back in Redwood City, California. We often called it the La Barrio because it was on the other side of our little white community. Although I grew up with a very diverse school, it seemed like by the time I got out of childhood and elementary school I had no idea what to expect. I was pretty sheltered growing up, so as I read this I couldn’t really fathom the things these kids were doing at that age. I had many friends in High School that I grew very close with but never truly understood the lifestyle they had to deal with at home. It was an amazing front they put on at school to try and impress everyone and be bigger and stronger then other people, but when it really came down to it they had 10 brothers and sisters, they lived in the back of their dads restaurant and had trouble putting food on the table for each one of themselves, even with all of them working full time jobs. I have to say this book that Luis is writing of his accounts of life really changes the perspective of things and from an ignorant white boy, growing up in one of the richest cities in California, I feel sick knowing I was on the other end, complaining because my parents didn’t buy me a car as I saw all my friends getting new BMW’s and that crap. Its as if I almost feel guilty sitting here reading the story because I could have done something to make a difference, like shut my mouth for one. It seems to get me into a lot of deep holes I found out, but knowing its not to late to believe and respect and understand is a great feeling. Just hearing the storys he writes makes me feel a part of something, a part of history. I guess as I sat here reading the story, I really became touched by the issues that occurred. A movie I recently watched called “City of God”, came into my head as I created a mental picture of kids carrying guns and claiming territory because that’s all they have left. They would murder anyone who didnt “belong”, and torture any other kids that stood in there way. In the begining of the movie the kids were less then 10 years old, and as they grew older the carnage and disconnection from reality got further and further with drugs, guns and money.
I felt throughout this personal account, Luis was both an actor and narrator throughout the story . He tells the story from a personal point of view that puts you in the front seat for his experiences and over all life. He talks in such a way that is down to earth, like a one on one conversation with one of your friends. You can tell by his speech he has been hurt and is cold to emotions, because there is no depth when death is brought up. It is known and accepted and gotten over just as soon as it happens. There is no dwelling on experiences; there is only surface learning and progressing on. This transitions into his ability to be an actor. He plays the main role in his biography of experiences, but shows other peoples lives in the process. He is touched and forgotten in one fluid motion, which seems to be the main theme of the story. His narration and actor features come together multiple times to create an amazingly powerful first hand experience that pulls the emotion right out of your stomach. The narration he brings is from the memories of the eyes of a young child. He in no way trys to silence this past, but insted step right into it and tell it like it was.
He goes through so many experiences day to day but for me it was very difficult to see who was coming in and out of his life. It was amazing that throughout these chapters he changes from a young child one day being moved around from place to place, not talking to anyone, feeling the pent up aggression building, to something adjusted to his surroundings through fear. Then, just when you think its going to explode you realize he is only 13 years old, getting tattoos and doing drugs and having sexual experiences. His mentality has changed in a matter of years, and all from what? His family consists of many members, all of which carry there own characteristic to the surroundings. His mother is the action first type of person. This I believe is the stability that all children need, the put your foot down person, to show a child the ropes. He is beaten many times, not as many as his outrageous brother, but enough to know the respect he should be giving to her and life. She provides stability and essence in his life. She is the voice of reason, and at the age he tells us about now, he is invincible so her word doesn’t mean much yet, but all of the things he does have an effect and he is smart enough to realize that things happen for a reason. His father is the quiet type that never raises his voice. He is firm, yet reserve as Luis tells us through out the issues they face.
He is bombarded with a life of a transient. There is no home, no belonging to a single place. He fights to belong, which I think is the essence of this story. He is surrounded by pain and fear all the time. He doesn’t feel comfortable anywhere he is, except with his friends, and only because their fear is greater then his own. There is no escape for him anywhere he goes. He speaks of friends whom he admires and sees good in, but does nothing to make himself the same way, only the talk of past issues haunt him. When does the learning begin I start to wonder? At what age do you see yourself, and what you are doing? When you start to notice others and become a narrator in your own life. You watch and learn everyday from others around you, from school to work to your friends. We all play narrator in that sense.
What is the relation of the narrative to history as we know it and to the personal history of these narrators? The narrative is told through his own eyes as the happened in real time for him. There is no passing on the family stories or reading about crossing the borders or squatting babies and tossing them over the fence for an American birth. This is the truth, the only constant in history as we know it. Personial history is created and told, making it true, thus a real account that can be learned from and researched. The racism is real, the threats of death are real, the pain and defeat of a new family in this “American Dream” country are all real. But reality comes with a price and from this account of personial history we can see that there is no end in sight of the history already created. Again, the pain is real, the words are real. His life is real and he really wanted to put his experiences out there for everyone to see. “America the Great” has had more blood spilled then any place on earth, and its very interesting to me to actualy hear how our nation was really created up until today; piece by piece. This may not be as believeable as a high school history book, but its more the truth then we are ever lead to believe, and truth is all we have in history.
November 21, 2006 at 5:36 pm
Hi Jade:
I agree with you paragraph about Luis’s mom, and family. They were such a hard working decent family, no abuse, drugs etc. I am boggelled by what seperated them so much. Were they the same in Mexico? How come his parents didn’t give their children more attention. If they had, would that have changed the scenario any?
November 21, 2006 at 5:38 pm
“I have to say this book that Luis is writing of his accounts of life really changes the perspective of things and from an ignorant white boy, growing up in one of the richest cities in California, I feel sick knowing I was on the other end, complaining because my parents didn’t buy me a car as I saw all my friends getting new BMW’s and that crap.”
Ryan,
I also wrote about feeling guilty. I decided to send my son to private school instead of public, because I didn’t want to subject him to violence and break the innocence of his childness. I now can see how acts such as mine further the problem.
November 21, 2006 at 5:49 pm
Dave:
“Luis was an actor in his narration; he participated in time and space and was a “constant interface with the context”
I felt that Luis was more of a narrator than an actor, interpreting what happened.
November 22, 2006 at 3:26 pm
Corinne, true but he was an actor before he was a narrator.
Kimberly – I agree with your interpretation of belonging. It is human nature to want to belong to something.. to be accepted. Luis was an outcast amongst his society with the exception of gangs… it seems much safer to have some group than no group at all.
November 22, 2006 at 11:44 pm
Ben- I have a difference of opinion from what you say here, “To me this is just an excuse. As long as you can blame “the man” then you don’t have to look at your own behavior.” I think what you are talking about is a what politicians say is a very slippery slope. Luis does need to take responsibility for beating up others and stealing. But lets just say you had no food and no money and no institutions to help out, what would you do??Would you steal food? Or starve? I am definately not a fan of our own government along with their puppet governments disspersed throughout the world. A good example of how crappy things are from a “barrio” is the schooling system, because no matter how are one works there and gets straight A’s that A doesn’t matter to a college looking at your petty highschool. What do you do? When your taught that those grades mean nothing and it seems like the only way to survive is to not be a victim. Did you know our own CIA has implanted drugs into various poor neighborhoods to keep the population subdued basically a “docile body”? It is just hard to tell someone to take responsibility when the whole system is corrupt and won’t take responsibility for their own actions.
November 23, 2006 at 2:04 am
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Crystal Pardo
November 21, 2006
Always Running Ch. 1-3
American Cultures 1395
Pardofam4@sbcglobal.net
In the first three chapters of Always Running by Luis J. Rodriguez, the author explains the main character which is Luis, his family and their life after coming to the United States. Luis who was called Grillo (which means cricket in Spanish) had an older brother named Jose Rene, two younger sisters named Ana Virginia and Gloria Estela, a mother named Maria Estela and a father named Alfonso. Luis also had two half brothers that lived in Mexico, a half sister that had died and another half sister named Seni who often stayed with Luis’s mother Catita. Luis’s father was a well educated man; he worked as a principal in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua (Mexico). When he was offered a six month study program in Indiana he took it, but when he returned he was soon arrested for stealing school funds at the school where he was a principal. He fought the charges and was found innocent, but still spent time in jail in the process and because of all of this his father lost his job. Alfonso was determined to escape his life in Mexico and move to the United States. The family moved to Los Angeles when Luis was two years old. And a few years later other family members followed too.
The family ended up in Watts, a community within the Los Angeles area primarily of black people. After moving to Los Angeles the family moved around a lot because they would get evicted due to their father not being able to find steady jobs, but they stayed primarily in the Watts area. The family was very poor, sometimes they would have no electricity and have to take cold baths. When Christmas came it was just as bad, the family received most of their presents from the church and their tree was a fake aluminum tree.
One time when Luis’s mother asked him and his brother Rano to go to the grocery store the boys decided to cross the tracks and head to a store in South Gate which was an area filled with families considered to be of higher class. This area was known to be off limits to the people who lived in Watts. While walking out of the store the boys were approached by five teenagers who began to insult them for being Hispanic. The teenagers held Luis and began to beat on his brother Rano. This incident left Rano embarrassed and he made Luis promise to never speak of it and how he had cried. It also changed the boy’s relationship with each other. Rano had never shown any emotion toward Luis up until that incident.
The children began school and Luis started to make friends. He would also hang out with his brother and the kids that he brought home. When Luis’s father landed what he thought was a good secure job the family moved to Reseda and bought a house. They were the only Mexican’s around that area at the time. When Alfonso found out that the job was
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Always Running Ch. 1-3
American Cultures 1395
temporary and was laid off the family was forced to sell the house and move in with the half sister Seni, her husband and their kids. Grandma Catita also lived in the house. Then one day the entire family was evicted from the house because of a fight that happened. After moving back to a low income community and being poor once again, Luis and his brother often found themselves in refuge on the streets. Luis’s parents decided to split up and his mother was going to move back to Mexico, but at the train station his father tells his mother to stay and that they will make it work so she decided to stay for her family.
Things did get somewhat better; the dad got a job so the family moved into another house. Luis started Junior High which was the turning pointing his life. By the age of thirteen he had his first love and many more girlfriends after that. He hung out with a group of kids that called themselves a clique. He got his first tattoo, was sexually active, did drugs, was stealing and was getting into fights (one which was to defend his brother). He was also getting into trouble at school which made his parents very upset because they did not raise their son to be like this. Luis’s family had to work hard to succeed; they did not steal or do drugs. One day his mother told him that he was old enough now that he needed to help out with the family.
This story sounds a lot like my husbands childhood. He came from a good religious family, his father worked very hard for a low pay and his mother cared for six children. Although the family life was good, at times they were poor and my husband felt that the streets and his friends filled those empty spots in his life. He began doing everything that Luis did and at the same age. It took him almost fifteen years to realize that he needed to change his ways but he did and his life has much more to offer him now.
So why is it that children who come from a good loving home still end up getting into trouble? Is it because they are poor? You would think that a child who lived a poor lifestyle would want more for themselves as an adult or for their own family. I know I would. I didn’t grow up poor or rich, we had just enough money to get by and sometimes not that but I knew I wanted to never be like that when I grew up and had my own children.
November 26, 2006 at 6:51 am
Ben Basque
Human 6 1395
Always Running Ch 4-6
San Gabriel Days are an annual “Fiesta” to honor the Spanish/ Mexican heritage of the area (87) “The celebration during the day is geared towards the Anglos who are commemorating a past that they were never a part of. “ (88) The night belongs to the Mexicans. (88)
When the Mission information is presented as neutral we erase the struggles of the people and we silence the domination by the church. I do not see that the Mexican kids or their families see the link between the church and the poverty that many of them suffer. When the church dictates that they can not use birth control, the church is keeping its people in poverty and keeping them tied to the church. They are also keeping the church numbers large because of all the kids raised in the church
Mark Keppel High School is a segregated school with Anglo and Asian upper class students taking “A” classes, doing school clubs, being class officers etc, while the Mexican kids are in “C” classes for stupid kids. (83). By the time that Louis got to Keppel he had decided that no one could get to him. He was not making eye contact and starring straight ahead. He was looking for the tough image. (84) …….distain greeted me…Already a thug. It was a jacket I could try to take off, but they kept putting it back on. Why not be an outlaw? (84) I can see how he came to this mind set, it is a defeatist attitude, but it is also an excuse. He did not just start his deviant behavior in High School; he had been doing it since he was 12 or younger. It escalated in High School, but it did not begin there. So to blame it on the fact that he was a thug so always a thug does not work for me.
I can see how Louis felt like a traitor when he was with the Sango girl on the roof, “I felt torn. There I was, a vato from Lomas staring in to the eyes of a Sangro girl, this made me a traitor.” (93)But the reality is that it was an opportunity to see his “enemy” as a real person. It is unfortunate that he did not see a lesson in the event. He witness’ the fight as a removed participant and continues the pattern of victimizing anyone not in his group. Louis seems to like the feeling he gets from intimidating others.
Ben Basque
Human 6 1395
Always Chp.4-6
Pg 2
Through all of his violent behavior and drug use Louis says” Everything lost it’s value for me: Love, Life, and Women. Death seemed the only door….we tried to enter death…we sought it in heroin.” (125) heroin overtook us, weakening and enslaving us. (125)
Louis seems to love his mom but he also shows her little respect. “ Hablen en espanol” she said “ya saben que no entiendo ingles.” Mama kept telling us and we kept talking in english.” (81) To disrespect your own language and your own parent show how much he did not value himself.
Louis was banished from his home by his mother because “ she was just too tired. Pulling me out of jail cells, of getting reports from school about fights……of expecting a call from the hospital or morgue.” (81-82) Living in the garage was a compromise between the streets and the house. (81)
“Chente impressed me as someone I could learn from. He was calm, but also street enough to go among all those crazy guys and know how to handle himself. He didn’t need to act bad to operate. I wanted to do this too.” (113-114) Chente was a mentor for Louis. He did not as Louis if he wanted a job or if he wanted to attend school, but Chente saw that for Loius to have any chance of success he needed to be involved with life. Chente got Louis a job, and required him to return to Keppel. (147) Chente’s tactics worked and Louis became “deeply involved at the center.” (148) Chente was a father figure, administrator, counselor and the law. He did it all through his strength of character. (146)
November 26, 2006 at 11:22 pm
***I wasn’t sure where else to post this week’s assignment so I’m posting it here. I’m leaving for work but I’ll try to check later this evening to see if there is another blog to post it to***
Donna Blanchard
Always Running, Part 2
November 19, 2006
moxiedonna@gmail.com
Human 6, Section 1395
The San Gabriel Mission Days was an annual celebration honoring the area’s Mexican-Spanish heritage. The Fiesta Days were mostly for the euros “who commemorated a past they were never a part of” (87). It was like two separate fiestas – during the day the euros would go to the fiesta and celebrate in canned and watered-down versions of the real fiestas that would happen in the evenings. Because the evenings belonged to the people whose heritage should have really been celebrated – the Mexicans. They ruled in the evenings. Gangs would come out in force to make their presence known – they were prepared for anything. Lomas and Sangras staked out different sections of the fairgrounds and held their grounds there. Police would be out as well, both in and out of uniform, waiting for something to happen. As the night wore on, the families would scatter to their homes and leave the festival grounds to the gangs.
Luis and Viviana meet during the San Gabriel Mission Fiesta Days. He was not aware that she was from the “other side”, that her brothers were Sangras. Viviana was aware all along that Luis was Lomas and says that she doesn’t care. “Why this war? Aren’t we the same?” (91) Viviana is different from all of the other girls Luis hangs around with – being with her on the Ferris wheel makes him wish that the ride wouldn’t stop and that they could be forever spinning around and around. The Ferris wheel is innocent, as is Viviana to a certain extent. Being around both of them makes Luis more innocent by proxy. He laughs and seems to act more his age. He believes that he makes her feel safe, that she doesn’t want to leave him. When the fight breaks out on the fairgrounds as Luis and Viviana are sitting on the roof, she begs him to stay with her – to not choose his vatos over her. From his perch on high, Luis can see before everyone else that the fight has already started. He can see his friend Chicharron’s shirt spattered with blood and knows that he has already been fighting. Luis is able to yell out that the fight had started and perhaps escalated the fight with his words. As people yelled and shots rang out, Luis stayed on the roof with Viviana, unwilling to leave her presence for the violence below. Choosing passion over violence, love over hate, good over bad.
Luis’ retelling of his time on the roof with Viviana for some reason reminded me of West Side Story. Finding love amidst all of the violence brewing around you – finding a flower in the middle of a clump of weeds. Luis was torn between his brothers, his vatos, and wanting to be with the innocent Viviana. Luis was musical, artistic, and intelligent yet chose the gang life over everything else he could have been. He chose to embrace the angriness inside – the hatred that had been building from years of being rejected and from trying to acclimate with the euros around him.
As Luis embraces the gang lifestyle and becomes heavily involved in drugs, he just stops going to school and his mother gives up on him. Maria kicks him out of the house and effectively washes her hands of him. Their rocky mother-son relationship is partially borne of
Donna Blanchard
Always Running, Part 2
Maria’s inability to speak English and I believe Luis’ refusal to speak Spanish to her. He is constantly in trouble both in and out of school and Maria banishes him from the house. After sleeping in all-night theaters or crashing with friends, Luis is allowed to sleep in the garage behind the house but is told that he could only go inside the house with his mother’s permission. Twice Luis comes close to attempting suicide in his garage room late at night and twice he shows up at his mother’s doorstep the next morning, possibly as repentance.
“She worried about me, although not really knowing what I was up to; to protect herself from being hurt, she stayed uninvolved.” (133) I believe that Maria was very worried about her son even though she wasn’t aware of the drugs, the gangs, the girls, the violence. I believe that she just saw someone who was refusing to go to school and who was wasting his life living in a shed and hanging out with thugs. Maria would often make remarks about Luis not going to school and even asked his former elementary school principal to speak with him about going back to school. Maria’s heart was in the right place – she was just at a loss for what to do with her wayward son.
After Luis meets Chente, he is introduced to Daniel Fuentes through the community center and turned on to amateur boxing. Luis boxed his way into the Junior Olympics tournament and invited his entire family to watch him box and hopefully win. By this point, Luis and his mother were not close by any stretch of the imagination. They hadn’t really spoken or associated in months – Luis hadn’t associated with most of his family in months. I believe he wanted to show them that he could do something good, that he could do something with the violence he learned. He was trying to put the violence to some sort of contained use, not just random beatings and fights. He wanted his family to see him excel at something. I believe that Luis wanted to make his mother proud of him, wanted to impress her. But after Luis lost his match, he could see that his mother had been crying.
Mark Keppel High’s “Tradition” usually lasted two to three weeks during the school year and doesn’t fit the normal definition of tradition. Fighting between the Mexican and Euro students was so severe that classes are cancelled and police and medical crews are brought to the school. Parents of the “society” (rich) students pulled their children out of school to avoid them being injured. The tradition that Luis spoke of started during a football game when one of his friends, Carlitos, was victimized by the police. Carlitos’ beating sparked a riot, first between the Lomas and the police and then between the Lomas and everyone else. No one was safe – people walking by in the streets or halls at school were subject to being beaten up. Somehow the police were able to quash the fighting, zeroing in on and arresting the Mexicans who were involved. The Mexican students who weren’t arrested were subsequently expelled from the school.
Obviously expelling the students from school for fighting is not the best way to improve relations between the cultures. Mexicans who already felt out of place and unwanted only
Donna Blanchard
Always Running, Part 2
felt greater animosity toward the Euro students who were fighting but weren’t expelled or arrested. And, as in any retelling of history or biography, we are getting only one side of the story from Luis. It could be that there were Euro students who were punished for fighting but the Mexican students felt victimized because more of them were punished.
Luis met Chente Ramirez at the Bienvenidos Community Center. Chente grew up in a barrio in East LA but had managed to resist becoming part of the gangs. He chose instead to educate himself and become involved in groups to help educate Mexican students. Even though Luis remained active in the gang lifestyle, with Chente’s help he began to realize that there was more to life than violence, that there are other, more productive ways to revolutionize oneself. Luis looked up to Chente; saw him as a mentor and role model. I believe Luis had begun to realize that he could follow in Chente’s footsteps and still have authority over his own life, but in different ways.
Chente works with Luis, trying to get him on a better path. He helps Luis get a job with the Neighborhood Youth Corps to keep him occupied and Luis began to take a more active role in the youth center by volunteering for different programs. Chente also eventually gets Luis back in school at Mark Keppel High after a new principal, Mr. Madison, is hired. Mr. Madison wanted to improve race relations at the school and had been meeting with people from the community in an effort to give the Mexican students and families a voice in the community and school. Chente feels that Luis could be a strong and intelligent presence, a leader for the other Mexican students.
Chente knows Luis when Luis is a raging junkie and tries to help him out of the void. Luis had been doing well, working with the Youth Corps and holding down a job until his friends Yuk Yuk and Daddio were killed when a car they stole crashed and went up in flames. Luis feels the pain and deals with it in a familiar way – by turning to drugs – and is confronted by Chente. “When you win, we win; but when you go down, you go down alone” (159). I believe Chente senses that Luis is about to give up on himself and slide back into the cycle of violence that he knows so well.
Luis is at a crossroads at this point – violence and chaos or education and revolution through organization. He knows what he wants – he wants power and authority. I just don’t think he is sure which path will give him the best kind of power. Luis is intelligent and a natural leader; he has the power within himself to do great things and help make great changes in his neighborhood and his own life. He can change his history and turn it into something positive, something that he can look back on and feel proud to have done.
November 27, 2006 at 2:21 am
Corinne Neuman
Always Running, Part II
November 26, 2006
yourmomismad@yahoo.com
Human 6: Section 1395
The San Gabriel Days were sponsored by the San Gabriel Mission in an attempt to honor the Spanish-Mexican heritage. It resembled Cinco de Mayo in our society in many ways. For one, Anglo American’s use the daylight hours to celebrate while the Hispanics take control of the evening hours. “During the daytime the gabachos put on phony sombreros, rode rhinestone garnished horses, and applauded one Hat Dance after another. But at first hints of nightfall, they skulked back to their walled estates in the San Marino or Pasadena, to Spanish-style mansions and the melancholy of manicured lawns. At night, the fiesta belonged to the Mexicans.” (88)
Cinco de Mayo is similar in Santa Rosa, at first glimpse of nightfall crowds begin to swarm into the streets of Sebastopol Road and Dutton Ave in the all popular Roseland district of Santa Rosa. I was thankful that the city leaders of Santa Rosa have finally come together to create an actual celebration for everyone, that has helped avoid some of the violence that erodes at night fall.
The line that is drawn between the night hours and daylight hours of the celebration of “Fiesta days” is silenced. How did that line get drawn? At one point did Hispanics and the rest of society celebrate together? There seems to be a subliminal understanding between the two groups of people of when one starts, another ends. Somehow this understanding and system was established, but yet the reasoning and events surrounding have definitely been silenced. Everybody understands the rules, but nobody understands why they are followed.
Euro families and Mexican families are most definitely not participating equally. The differences of celebration times clearly demonstrate that. Euro families celebrate with Euro families and Mexican families celebrate between themselves as well.
Viviana attempted to create an understanding that even though her and Luis were from different gangs, that they wanted the same things and were virtually the same people. “I don’t care about this Sangras and Lomas stuff. Why this war? Aren’t we all the same?” (91)
In awkwardness at first meeting, Vivana made Luis feel important and funny – even though his self-perception was everything but important or funny. “I wasn’t funny but she made me feel like I could’ve said anything and she would consider it brilliantly clever.” (89) I think this captures a lot of importance in friendships. To me, people who are close always have a clever way of making me feel special and important as Viviana does for Luis. Luis didn’t have many people that made him feel special, which is what made his relationship with Viviana stand out. As intensity builds, Luis is pulled between furthering the relationship with Viviana or backing up his fellow gang-brothers. I think that Luis Corinne Neuman
Always Running, Part II
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made a smart move, by retreating to the fight. Had the relationship continued, they would have been discovered by the others. Once discovered, they would have been considered un loyal and punished. Luis bolted when he saw his friend surrounded by Sangras.
As the rival’s intensity was building I was reminded of the annual fights that occur at the Sonoma County fair. Each year on the final day of the fair, massive fights evolve. “Oakley is not happy that police closed the fair when a couple of fights broke out in the carnival. Police formed lines and forced people out the exit gates.” (LEARNING INS, OUTS OF FAIR MANAGEMENT: 1ST-YEAR MANAGER OF SONOMA COUNTY FAIR EVALUATES FAILURES, SUCCESSES TO; by
Tim Tesconi Press Democrat, August 14 2005)
Mark Keppel High School is one that resembles many of the schools that we have right in Sonoma County. Upper and middle class students are offered college preparatory classes, career exploration opportunities, drive nice cars, and get caught up in clichés. Meanwhile minorities are directed to auto shop programs, and basic curriculum is offered to get students a diploma and passed onto society.
To me, the tradition at the start of the school year symbolized the struggles of establishing a pecking order between ethnicities. Each group had to establish their place, and once that place was established then the violence was somewhat grounded. It was merely a power struggle, and an opportunity for Hispanics to gain respect and feel powerful. “The game continued for a few more plays before the realization set in a battle was raging out of control in the stands. We rushed into the grandstands, smacking people around. The rage from seeing Carlitos being choked and the cops pushing around had been building for years. Spectators tried to flee, a number of cars were smashed.” (97)
I am reminded of my children fighting over a toy, and many times when I know its happening I turn a blind eye. I do so in order to let them figure it out for themselves, and I believe teaches important problem solving skills that can be learned in no other way but figuring it out. So in a way, I do feel that the tradition at Mark Keppel High School is better than expulsion. It is one of the few opportunities that the students are allowed to figure it out themselves. Unfortunately, these kids are nearly adults and are extremely violent. It would be better to find a way in which the building rage could be released – perhaps a sports event could be a better way.
Luis turned to the streets, living in the “fields” with other homeless and with friends. His mother wanted his respect, and became disgusted with all that her son had grown to become. Luis felt that his mother was just tired of seeing all the trouble that Luis was in. “ She was just too tired: puilling me out of jail cells, of getting reports from school about the fights that I’d been in, of expecting a call from a hospital or morgue.” (81)
Corinne Neuman
Always Running, Part II
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Luis and his mother finally come to an agreement to allow Luis a home in the garage, which was bare shelter. I believe that Luis’s mother was scared for what Luis had become, and what he was becoming. She didn’t know where to turn, or how to handle the problems that he imposed. When she agreed to let Luis live in the garage, I believe that it was an attempt to gain some control and respect over him. “She laid down the rules: I couldn’t set foot in the house unless I had her permission.” (83) The room of the garage resembled a prison; it was cold and had virtually no amenities.
San Gabriel turned to reform, following a series of press attention to the gang activity within the community. Chente was hired as part of this reform, with new funding directed to subsiding gang activity. Luis was drawn to the people who worked in the social services, and community centers which is how he became interested in Chente. Chente was a person who grew up in the same environment as Luis, forced between choices of claiming blue or red. However, Chente avoided the life that Luis had been living and became a powerful figure in society. He avoided the hard life by going to school, and working with his father. Chente became Luis’s role model, a mentor that challenged Luis to think for himself.
November 27, 2006 at 3:18 am
Jade Dant
Always Running, Part II Chp 4-6
11/25/06
italianbooty143@yahoo.com
Online 1395
I thought the last chapter was full of terrible events, the next chapters going even more into the deep end of really bad things to happen to an individual. The San Gabriel fair is just a battle ground for street gangs, but unfortunately it is against someone of their own race, just pitted against each other. The cultural significance and what it means to people depends on their race and view. To someone of Spanish-Mexican heritage it is a celebration of days when they owned the land and had happier days. It was also a time of conquer through religion, the missioners wanted to spread their word of God into the natives telling them they needed to work hard to get into an afterlife. For the whites who go to the fair its meaning is summed up in Luis’s words, “There were parades, speeches, carnival rides, directed for the most part at the Anglos who commemorated a past they were never a part of, as if the Mexicans were long dead and mummified, while in the present they’d rather spit on a Mexican that give him the time of day”(Pg 88). The celebration for anyone Mexican became just a place to have fun and in Luis’s case it is for gang warfare, a place of fighting. This shows how culturally different today’s society is from the 1700’s Spanish-Mexicans, showing the eroding of the significance of a celebration into a money making day of beer drinking and rides. When one presents the information about San Gabriel in neutral terms many important things get erased. For instance: the names of those involved, like the workers aren’t spoken of, the lives of the people are narrowed down to a date. When the missions were built it symbolized a conquering religion, what about the culture before the missions and what happened to
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those involved? Lived had to have changed and feelings had to be felt, but when neutrality is introduced all that doesn’t seem relevant falls into the deep dark world of dead cultures and names. I really don’t think the Mexican kids question the power of the Catholic Church on indigenous tribes and Mexicans in general. Kids are taught to follow along and just believe in God and if they don’t they go to Hell. Luis is damn sure not thinking about the erasure of culture through the neutrality of the Church, he is thinking about girls and not being caught alone by Sangra members.
The Mexican families and kids don’t participate in the same activities as the whites. The whites come in and cheer on select few Hispanic looking performers and celebrate as if they cared and when darkness arrives they scurry back to their mansions. This is when families from the Barrio arrive for their fun, sin blancos. The rooftop love affair with Viviana was an intense situation where Luis felt torn between “bro’s or hoes”. I really think I would get off the roof and help my friends, my family from being beaten. I think Luis would have if Chicharron and others hadn’t arrived as help. When can one separate themselves from the violence, when can someone choose between backing up someone in a dangerous situation or taking a stand against violence in general? I guess it was good for Luis to show his love instead of hate.
The Mark Keppel High School tradition is one of great racism and pent up hatred. The night before the tradition was to begin was not directed at specific people, but at an oppressive race in general where everyone was consumed by violence and bottled emotions. I am not sure I understand the question that Judith posted on the Schedule,
Jade Dant
Always Running, Part II Chp 4-6
“About Mark Keppel High School and the tradition.: does this function as well as a better way than expulsion from school to show repressed animosity?” I think the expulsion is definitely one sided, and so is the law where Mexicans V.S Whites is concerned. I can’t say that violent explosions are a better way of dealing with pent up animosity.
When Luis becomes a junkie he is consumed and twice that I can count of has tried to commit suicide. He now lives in a freezing garage with no bathroom, proper bed covers, or running water in general. One occasion of suicide attempt brings up Luis’s feelings about his mom when he says, “I planned to thrust my arm into the water after I cut an artery (I didn’t want any blood on the floor- even at this moment I feared Mama cursing about the mess)”(81). If one thinks about it, it is a harsh assumption about a parent; it is as if he thinks his mom will be madder about the mess than Luis’s death. Other quotations from Luis seem to show confusion about his mother’s feelings, “Mama was heat. Mama was turned-around leather belts and wailing choruses of Mary-Mother-of-Jesus. She was the penetrating emotion that came at you through her eyes, the mother-guilt”(47). Luis considers his dad the wisdom and his mother punishment not necessarily with violence, but with simple words of heavy guilt. Luis also says, “She [Mom] worried about me, although not really knowing what I was up to; to protect herself from being hurt, she stayed uninvolved. While Joe amounted to something, to Mama I turned out to be a smudge on this earth, with no goals…”(133). Luis seems to think of his Mother as harsh love who hates what Luis had become to a point where a bloody mess was more important than his death.
Jade Dant
Always Running, Part II Chp 4-6
Chente is like a mentor for Luis, the guy who gets Luis involved with programs and the Chicano Movement. Luis even shows desire to be just like Chente when he says, “Chente impressed me as someone I could learn from. He could be strong, intelligent, and in control, the kind of dude who could get the best from the system…I wanted to be able to do this too”(114). Chente influenced Luis without judgment, he just listened. Chente helps create many important classes and programs for youth and he gives Luis opportunities to help the community, keeping him busy with heart and not violence. Luis would volunteer with many projects, this was the birth of an alternate way of thinking for Luis, which will help him, jumpstart into political action. After facing the death of friends, Wilo, Yuk Yuk, and Daddio all consumed by gang violence, Luis begins to think. What now?????
November 27, 2006 at 4:08 am
Jana Churich
Always Running by Luis J. Rodriquez
80 – 160 (Chapters 4-6)
`The background o f the Mission San Gabriel is that it was the richest and most dominant of the missions established in California during the 1800s. There were over 25,000 baptisms performed in the time it was active and therefore very influential to its community of Catholics. “Rejoice, Mary, filled with grace. The Lord is with you!” Luke 1:28” (http://www.sangabrielmission.org/our_history.htm). This quote being the backbone of the teaching that occur at San Gabriel mission. As far as Rodriguez is concerned he described the “Fiesta Days” as a “celebration to honor the Spanish-Mexican heritage of the area. There were parades, speeches, carnical rides, directed for the most part at the Anglos who commemorated a past they were never a part of, as if the Mexicans were long dead and mummified…” (87). In the San Gabriel Days there was a unification of indigenous Mexican/Americans that diversified the mission. After the secularization and the take over of new leadership it has become now, a historical landmark that still preaches the words of San Gabriel.
“ At first hints of nightfall, they skulled back to their walled estates in San Marino or Pasadena, to Spanish-style mansions and the melancholy of manicured lawns. At night, the fiesta belonged to the Mexicans. “ (88). The interesting aspect of this celebration that Rodriguez subtly points out is that the Anglos, as he calls them, celebrate the Missionaries achievements, rather Mexican achievements, yet they could not accept them as people of their community. The entire celebration was a façade, a reason for Anglos to celebrate diversity and culture but in a very superficial way. It is aggravating to read because you can only assume that the Anglos funded the celebration, or Fiesta, and therefore changed it according to how they wanted to celebrate it. The fact that it belonged to the Mexicans at night was just a product of the fact that the celebration was a rouse. There was no diversity. There was segregation. The segregation was not only between the Anglos and Mexicans, but also the Mexicans from one side of the hills and Mexicans from the other side. The Anglos infused so much anger into the poverish Mexican community that they actually ignited gang wars between a single community.
I really did try to put myself in Luis’ shoes as he stayed on that roof top listening to the sounds of a war breaking out. First of all it is important to remember that he is only about fourteen or fifteen years old. He is a child by our standards but an adult by theirs. At one minute I pictured him getting onto the ferris wheel with sweaty palms and underarms sweating the idea of being close to a female he was attracted too. It appears as if his relationship with Viviana came and went. She was like a conscience for him. She gave us insight as to how she is trapped between one side and the other because her brothers belonged to one gang and Luis belonged to another. She didn’t care about their stupid war though, she cared about breaking that border. Perhaps she used Luis as a tool to prove a point, girls are smart when it comes to knowing how their actions can affect a man. “ Don’t go down there. It’s not your fight. They’re always going at it. Don’t be a part of that tonight. I’m from Sangra. You’re from Lomas. So what?” (93). Ultimately Luis stayed with. They shared a passionate moment as their embrace was echoed by the sounds of footsteps, screams and violence. (93)
The story of the San Gabriel Mission, and the history thereof, does offer a good example of how history is silenced. If I was a tourist and I traveled to San Gabriel and went to the festival I would assume that all is well. A celebration means that things are good. It would appear as if there is a community that accepts diversity and shares a common interest. But the fact of the matter is that the “gabachos” which is the slang term for Anglos, gave a false presentation of the events of the San Gabriel marches. “ During the daytime the babachoes put on phony sombreros, rode rhinestone-garnished horses, and applauded one Hat Dance, after another.” (88) Then as the actual Mexicans start to show up a sense of fear envelopes the fiesta and it becomes a fighting ground. Really, it makes me thankful that Rodriguez wrote this narrative of his experiences because otherwise there is no legitimacy, or continuity to the story. Interpretation of events like the San Gabriel days can be skewed or altered and they become not authentic.
The Tradition, as Luis called it, appears to be an event that happens every year where the different races and by extension classes of students fight amongst each other. “ The Tradition for that year had started. Mexicans roamed the hallwas, beating on any white guy they could see…Parents came to pull their kids out of school.” As a result of all this annual fighting the kids get hurt, injured, and expelled. “School officials had the police take us to the office…Those of us still in school were expelled. This was fine with me. I hated school. And I loved fighting,” said Luis on page 100. It is really appalling to me that everything works against these kids. They are luck if they make it into the high school level curriculum and yet they are expelled from school even though the authorities recognize there is a problem between the two races. Unfortunately, we do not hear anything of the Anglo kids getting expelled.
Chente becomes a sort of mentor to Luis. He is in his late twenties and he was a positive influence to the community. He grew up somewhat similar to that of Luis but had managed to go to school, get a college education, and actively participate in a number of groups that helped educate and engage Mexicans. “ He as calm, but also street enough to go among all those crazy guys and know hot to handle himself. He didn’t need to act bad to operate. He could be strong, intelligent, and in control.” (113) He also headlines the quote in the beginning of chapter six: “ there are choices you have to make not just once, but every time they come up.” (132). My favorite line that Chente says to Luis after he relapses on heroine is. “ When you win, we win; but when you go down, you go down alone.” (159) That was pretty powerful to read because you know that Luis is a good guy, and he has tried to make thing right. His friends dying in the car accident really pushed him over but it seems like Chente will help rescue him from that shallows of his drug addiction.
November 27, 2006 at 4:38 am
Page 1 of 4
Todd Eastman
Always Running (Chapters 4-6)
11/26/06
todd.eastman@comcast.net
HUMAN 6 American Cultures, Section 1395
What is the cultural significance of San Gabriel Days, and what do they mean to the people who go to the fair? I’m not sure I am really qualified to answer that question. I say this, not as a cop out, but because I can’t put myself in a position to share the experience. “Fiesta Days” is a celebration to honor the Spanish-Mexican heritage of the area. But in Always Running, Luis tells us very little about the cultural significance. This part of the story reminds me of our own county fair at the fairgrounds each year. It brings together a wide assortment of cultures, art, music, and people from all walks of life. But everyone knows the nights are for the kids and young adults. Luis shares the same story – during the daytime the “gabachos” put on phony sombreros, ride rhinestone-garished horses, and applaud the Hat Dance. But when night arrives, it is the youth and the gangs that take over.
Even the California Missions website doesn’t provide what I would need to know in order to understand the cultural significance the San Gabriel Days. It is too far removed from my own culture. The history of the Spanish missions is filled with inaccuracies, cultural viewpoints and “erased” or “silenced” details. People forget that the missionaries treated the indigent people as animals, and the Mexican people as subservient to the Spanish. Even in victory, these people are also reminded that a huge chunk of their geographic territory was taken away from them by the white Americans.
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Todd Eastman
Always Running (Chapters 4-6)
11/26/06
When Luis tells us about meeting and being with Viviana, the story comes out as a modern day Romeo & Juliet. One from the Sangra, the other from Lomas. Frankly, I am not convinced that his version of the story is accurate. I felt the entire episode, as Luis described it, was too theatrical.
The Mark Keppel High School “tradition” is the on-going battle between the Mexicans and the Anglos. Unfortunately, this “tradition” is not unique. It happens at other schools, in other communities. The police, using the racial profiling skills they are taught, inevitably assume that the Latinos are the instigators, never considering if they might be the victims.
There is one thing about this book, and Luis’ story, that keeps bothering me. I realize that Luis tends to jump around in his writing. Not only is there a lack of continuity, but I question the viability of his claims. On page 85, Luis tells us how he picked up a used saxophone and by listening to records, he learns to play well enough to “jam with a couple of local garage bands.” I have been working to learn to read and play music for a long time. Believe me, a couple of quick lessons and playing karaoke with your stereo is not going to make you a musician. It won’t happen that way. Of course, we also have Mr. Rothro, an educator who recognizes the potential in Luis. Luis now has an old, beat up, manual typewriter with which he was going to write a book. He spends all his free time writing, or reading. Then he meets Daniel Fuentes, and is introduced to organized amateur boxing, and actually has a shot at being a contender. Speaking from experience, I can tell you that becoming a musician, a writer, or a
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Todd Eastman
Always Running (Chapters 4-6)
11/26/06
boxer is hard work, time consuming, and requires discipline. Pick any one of those three and you can easily spend all of your free time for a couple years at least before you succeed. Yet Luis tells us he had too much free time on his hands and that is why he turned to “sniffing.”
I also found it odd how he briefly tells us he considered suicide, not just once, but at least twice. Yet they are details that he treats as mundane. He writes eloquently, with vivid imagery and detail when he tells us about his drug trips, but when it comes to suicide, he barely mentions it. Even when he does discuss it, he uses it metaphorically to describe how and why his society is trying to kill itself.
I was surprised when Chente got a job for Luis, leading a crew of other workers. This story has not once given me the impression that Luis had any leadership qualities or potential. Quite the opposite, Luis is nearly a compulsive follower. All of his experiences have been the result of following or emulating someone else. The story about their destroying the “cherry” 1952 DeSoto made me angry. What right did they have to pick someone out randomly, destroy something they obviously value, then kill him? Luis commits his first murder, just to be initiated into the gang. The sky may have “screamed”, but only for a moment. That’s about how long his compassion lasted.
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Todd Eastman
Always Running (Chapters 4-6)
11/26/06
Luis still has mixed feelings for his mother and father. He wrote, “While Joe amounted to something, to Mama I turned out to be a smudge on this earth, with no goals, no interests except what got puked up from the streets.” His mother had kicked him out, not because he was a lousy kid. She kicked him out for not showing her respect. Once he showed respect, she relented and allowed him to stay, but made him live in the garage under tight rules. About his father he said, “I also learned not to be angry with my father. I learned something about my father’s love, which he never expressed in words, but instead, at great risk, he gave me the world of books – a gift for a lifetime.”
Chente Ramirez was hired by the Bienvenidos Community Center and became a potential mentor for Luis. On page 113 Luis writes: “Chente impressed me as someone I could learn from. He was calm, but also street enough to go among all those crazy guys and know how to handle himself. He didn’t need to act bad to operate. He could be strong, intelligent, and in control.” In other words, Chente represents all the things that Luis lacks, but can obtain. Luis seemed to recognize this. Despite his despair, he at least can see that other possibilities do exist.
November 27, 2006 at 5:01 am
Melissa Duffield
Always Running part 2
meld731@yahoo.com
11/26/06 1
The events discussed in the book during the San Gabriel days also describe the lives of many Spanish-Mexican people in present time. Many people coming over from Mexico to the United States try to make a better life for themselves but end up getting caught in a violent and unsuccessful life style. Where I work we have three immigrants from Mexico that help and they tell me how lucky and privileged they feel to be able to have a nicely paying job opportunity in the United States. They tell me many stories of their friends and family members that come to the United States from Mexico and don’t have many if any opportunities for steady work. I think that this show one culture significance because we as a whole, the United States feel like we are moving forward when really we have not developed much for helping immigrants. These situations remind me of what Lt. Crittendon was talking about during his presentation. The man that gets put in jail for selling drugs and when his sentence is up he is thrown out on the street with little money and nowhere to go. We as a society seem to expect more form these people however how can we if we don’t give them a fair chance to successed. It seems that Rodriguez and his friend’s end up doing certain things like stealing which they may not do if they were given better opportunities. Rodriguez really has no adults pushing him or guiding him in the right direction. Teachers push him aside and forget about him while his parents put him in the garage leaving him to make his own choices. The only people that he has left to turn to are his peers where he is constantly being pushed to do things because of peer pressure. Even though Rodriguez’s mom cares about him she is trying very hard to hang on the families culture and traditions. When Rodriguez, his
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mom, and his sister are in the kitchen Rodriguez and his sister are speaking to each other in English and their mom gets upsets and asks them to speak in Spanish. I think that it is good that she wants her children to continue the family traditions and cultures and not forget about their background but I also think that she needs to let them adjust to the American lifestyle. Rodriguez’s mom and become an insignificant character in his life which he realizes. On page 135 Rodriguez understands that his mom is staying out of his way so she does not have to get hurt if something terrible happens to him. I understand that she needs to protect herself and not get involved in Rodriguez life but she also has a duty as a mother to help her child grow and teach him what is right and wrong. When Chante comes into Rodriguez life he is the first successful man to make a good impression on Rodriguez. Chante asks Rodriguez to become involved in the community center. This is so important to Rodriguez because it makes him feel good about himself. It gives Rodriguez the responsibility of a job and he also gets to help other people and experience first hand of what it is like to help improve someone else’s life. This seems to be a major changing point in Rodriguez life when he seems to take a step back from the gang life and try to get serious and focus on bettering his life as well as others.
The Mission where Rodriguez grew up held annual “fiesta days”, which were to celebrate and honor the Spanish-Mexican heritage. As described in the book the Anglos celebrated at the “Fiesta days” during the daytime with their families while the Spanish and Mexican people came to celebrate during the evening. Even though the Fiesta is supposed to celebrate the Spanish-Mexican people it seems like the Spanish youth does not interpret the Fiesta days that way. The youth feels like they are being forgotten about they feel that the
Melissa Duffield
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Anglos celebrate their heritage like their people had died off. When Rodriguez meets Viviana he had himself a Romeo and Juliet moment. He was torn between his “family” the gang and a girl whom he liked. Even though I can’t truly put myself in that situation I think that Rodriguez did the right thing. If he had sat up on the roof and watched his friends fight without helping them and they may have gotten hurt he would have probably felt guilty. I think that this situation was a major event in Rodriguez life because it was the first time in his life where he had to step up to the plate and make a choice by himself. He did not have the gang or his family there telling him what he should do, he had to be independent and make the choice himself.
November 27, 2006 at 5:38 am
Melissa Cook
Always Running Ch 4-6
Nov 26, 2006
Human 6, sect 1395
eskimomissy@comcast.net
The San Gabriel Days were full of cultural division and class separation. Luis says, “The school had two principal languages. Two skin tones and two cultures. It revolved around two class differences.” (p 83) The higher class was the whites and Asians whose parents were professionals and owned their homes. The lower class was the laboring class who lived in the poor side of town. It seemed as if the lower class got labeled and not given a chance to excel at anything. This reminds me of the papers we had to read about the importance of naming and labeling. There is a lot of power in giving a preconceived name and label to things. Luis talks about this, “If you came form the hills you were labeled from the start. I’d walk into the counselor’s office for whatever reason and looks of disdain greeted me – one meant for a criminal, alien, to be feared. Already a thug. It was harder to defy this expectation than just accept it and fall into trappings.” (p84). I can see Luis’s dilemma. Why fight what everyone believes to already be true? I never experienced prejudice this extreme but in high school I had a similar experience. I was not in the excel classes nor did I try very hard in the classes I was in. I skated by and did the minimum work to graduate. The counselors never tried to push me or steer me in a college direction. Only after working at Burger King for two years after high school did I have the motivation to receive a higher education. So I can feel a little of Luis’s pain here.
Every year in the San Gabriel Mission held a celebration called “Fiesta Days”. It was meant to celebrate the Spanish-Mexican heritage of the area. When Luis talks about
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the fiesta he leaves out of information, in a way silencing the event. It seems odd that a place like San Gabriel would hold a celebration when the people they are celebrating are subject to daily discrimination and the area is so divided by classes. Its like the higher class decided to give the lower class one day to honor their heritage and the rest of the 364 days choose to ignore them and not notice the problems that were going on daily in their neighborhoods. Luis brings this point home when he says, “There were parades, speeches, carnival rides, directed for the most part at the Anglos who commemorated a past they were never a part of, as if the Mexicans were long dead and mummified, while in the present they’d rather spit on a Mexican than give him the time of day.” (p88). He also talks about how the Anglos celebrated during the day but a night the celebration belonged to the Mexicans, after all the white people went safely home. Judith asks, Do you think the Mexican kids question the power that is inherent in the Catholic Church to neutralize the effects of its colonization? I’m not sure if the Mexican kids question the Catholic Church’s power but it seems as if they definitely question authority in general. I think they show this by the fighting and violence amongst themselves. They are not happy and seem to be trying to gain power and the upper hand amongst themselves by belonging to different gangs and fighting each other so that their gang can be number one and in charge. Here Luis meets Viviana. It’s hard to imagine the struggle that must have been going on inside him when he was up on the roof of the building looking down at the gang war. Part of me wanted him to go down immediately and help his friends and the other part wanted him to stay up there where he was safe. He must have been feeling
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guilty especially since she was a Sangra and he was a Lomas. I was glad he stayed up there and was safe from at least one fight.
“At Mark Keppel High School there was an annual observance: the battle between the Mexicans and Anglos.” (94). This started one year at a football game that turned into an all out brawl and riot. The fighting continued in school the next day. The police ended up being called and, “as usual, they went after the Mexicans.” (p100). They got taken to the police department and were expelled. Judith asks, does this function as well as a better way than expulsion from school to show repressed animosity? I’m not sure if this is a better way to show repressed anger but I feel like the Mexicans definitely let it out that evening and days that followed.
I think that Luis respected his mother and wanted to show her that he could amount to something like his brother Joe. “She worried about me, although not really knowing what I was up to; to protect herself from being hurt, she stayed uninvolved. Yet almost daily she offered quips and comments about me not attending school.” (p133). His mother really seemed to care about him, but I don’t think that turning her back on him was the best way. I would like to think that if way in the same position with one if my kids I would do everything within my power to help them succeed and stay away form the gangs and drugs. Maybe she did do this and since she could not speak English and was poor she used up all her resources to help Luis. We will never know what she was really thinking or how much she really loved Luis because the history Luis is telling between him and his mother is what he felt and remembered; it is his side of the story. His mother’s side is silenced.
November 27, 2006 at 6:15 am
David Bynum
Human 6
American Cultures 1395
11/26/2006
Medic811@sbcglobal.net
Always Running II
California has historical missions and Luis Rodriguez resided near the San Gabriel Mission. Annually a “Fiesta Days” celebration occurred and this event “honor[ed] the Spanish-Mexican heritage” (87). This particular celebration wasn’t any different from our typical fairs with the exception of the padres. The whites celebrated this event yet they “commemorated a past they were never a part of” (88) as if the current day Mexicans never existed. Like an everyday fair, the whites put on costumes, rode horses and participated in the days events “but at first hints of nightfall, they skulked back to their mansions…[and] at night, the fiesta belonged to the Mexicans” (88).
The history of the celebration is silenced. Saint Patrick’s Day is similar. We all dress up in green, wear shamrocks, praise the Irish, but what does the average person know of the history? The euros celebrate this day with the Mexicans,” while in the present they’d rather spit on a Mexican than give him the time of day” (88). The conflict between the Mexicans and whites is erased and disregarded. These two groups are not participating equally in this event because one group celebrates by day and the other by night. They are segregated and view the celebration differently.
The history of the Mission is a form of silence. Fiesta Days is a celebration but was the Catholic religion welcomed or was its dominance silenced over the years? Religion has colonized most of the world in one form or another and currently we are all questioning the power.
During the San Gabriel celebration, Luis meets a girl named Viviana. She belongs to a rival gang and declares her attraction to Luis. Viviana questions why they have gangs and wars because “aren’t we the same?” (91). Viviana is more concerned about the type of person Luis is than what gang he belongs to (91). Luis and Viviana ended up on a rooftop yet the night brought out the gang wars and Luis felt torn between her and his homeboys. Although Luis participated daily in gang activity, watching the activities from the rooftop was a different experience. He liked “looking at them this way. You see things about people you wouldn’t see if you were there with them” (92). Instead of being caught up in the bloodshed, he was able to see how unnecessary it was.
The draw was too strong and Luis did not want his “homeboy [to] duke it out without [him]” (93). Viviana protested and said “don’t go down there. It’s not your fight” (93). She declared their differences and said “so what?” (93). They were both Mexicans but belonged to different gangs. Did it matter?
Dave Bynum
Always Running II
Fiesta Days separated the whites and Mexicans just like Mark Keppel High School. Mark Keppel has an annual initiation called “The Tradition” (94). This tradition started off each school year during a football game. The rival team was predominantly white. Although the ongoing racial conflict existed, the football game seemed a more acceptable was to express animosity between the races. It excused the fight and promoted violence. The school “revolved around class differences” (83).
This tradition went on for several weeks. At one point Luis was chased by a car full of white guys and felt “this was on Mexican scalp these cowboys wouldn’t get” (99). Are the cowboys always white and the “others” of a colored race? Eventually the police came and “as usual, they went after the Mexicans”(100). Unfortunately this scenario is common day occurrence. If a person is known to be violent, he/she is assumed guilty and asks questions later. Moreover race and color are involved in the decision.
Luis’ gang involvement led to drug use. Getting high took him away from the violence in his world. During some of these moments he had visions and thoughts of his mother. He craved his mother’s comfort (104) and searched for peace. He called out “don’t close the door, Mama, I’m scared” (104). Luis longed for comfort from his mother yet he felt he disappointed her; “a smudge on this earth” (133). Luis’ lived in the garage because his extra curricular activities were disrespectful to his family; she would not allow him in the household until he could respect it.
The drug use escalate and “everything lost its value for me: Love, Life and Women” (125). Luis felt that death was his only future (125). His mother worried about him yet remained uninvolved in his activities (133). He ended up at the John Fabela Youth Center and met a mentor, Chente. This man played many roles in Luis’ life, he was: “administrator, father-figure, counselor and the law” (146). He did it all through “strength of character” because Chente knew the teens would spot a phony.
Dave Bynum
Always Running II
Chente inspired Luis. He helped Luis find a job, hobbies and continue his schooling. Chente gave Luis purpose in life besides gang related violence and drugs and changed his perspective; he “made dead things come alive” (156). From Luis’ view, life seemed out of his grasp and Chente help change that view and his dreams “could be gently held – where it would not fly away” (157).
After the death of some homeboys, Luis had a weak moment and fell back into getting high. Chente caught this and tried to teach Luis a lesson. They both looked at graffiti on the walls, 30-40 years of it. Nothing changed and each group put their marking over the old one and graffiti is still graffiti. Chente tried to convince Luis that he needed to change the pattern of graffiti. He could paint on the wall year after year and contribute to the “craziness and violence” (159) or prepare for “a world in which none of this is necessary” (159).
Chente tried to teach Luis that we all have choices. If you chose the wrong path, it was your choice and you go down alone; however “when you win, we win” (159). At this point Luis has walked down two separate paths. He has worked, been part of the community and learned about philosophy. Luis has also been high, caught up in drugs, fighting and killing. He is confused. At home his father is king, a brilliant man but because he cannot speak English, he looked down upon and became “someone else’s push-around” (136). Luis ponders “an invitation to abandon illusions about a situation, is an invitation to abandon a situation in need of illusions” (157). This statement mimics his life because he is running from a situation in need of help but the real problem is to abandon the illusion.
November 27, 2006 at 6:22 am
Todd,
I think that you are right about fear and power going hand in hand. There was one situation in my life where I lived in fear for a number of years. Once I gained the power to control my situation fear was no longer a problem.
Corrine,
I don’t know how much parental attention was avalible to Luis and his brother and sisters because his parents both had to work to support the family. One of the saddest victims of poverty is the children who have no one to watch over them. today we have programs to help pay for child care, but back then those options were not available.
November 27, 2006 at 6:24 am
Dawn Rash
Always Running-2
November 25, 2006
dawnkrash@hotmail.com
Humanities 6 online
“Going to the fair,” refers to the “Fiesta Days” celebration held at the San Gabriel Mission each year to that is supposed to honor the Spanish-Mexican heritage of the area. To Luis, the celebration was “directed for the most part at Anglos who commemorated a past they were never a part of. As if the Mexicans were long dead and mummified, while in the present they’d rather spit on a Mexican than give him the time of day.” (88) This suggests that the Mexican families and kids did not participate equally with the euro families during the festival. They enjoyed the show of it all, but left by night fall when the fiesta belonged to the Mexicans according to Luis. Even during the day it wasn’t as if there were two cultures intertwined, but two distinctly different cultures attending the same event. It reminded me of the Columbus Day celebrations that were recreated to fit the needs of whatever agendas needed to be pushed for whoever was doing the pushing. The irony was not lost on Luis.
Luis must have been torn in half up on the roof with Viviana. I think that if I had been in Luis’s place on that roof, I would have made the same choice that he did. I would have stayed with Viviana. For just a short period of time, there was a relationship presented that didn’t depend on where he lived or who he hung with; just two people who were enjoying each other. He may have felt like a traitor to his gang, but how often did he really have an opportunity to follow his own feelings. Nobody knew where he was and Viviana made a good point when she said that the gangs were always going at it and asked him not to be a part of the fight that night. Even though every thing that represented Luis was going on below him, he had the gift of freedom with Viviana.. I’m sure that he wished that he could have stayed on that roof removed
Dawn Rash -Always Running 2
from the constant pressures of his day to day life.
I don’t know if the tradition functions as a better way than expulsion from school to show repressed animosity, but once the tradition hits, animosity is no longer repressed but expressed. By expelling students from school, administration may have temporary hold of the situation and not have to listen to animosity between students, but the effectiveness of the tradition has a greater and longer impact on the whole school. Nobody really cares about a few kids being expelled from school, but canceling classes and having the police brought in is hard to miss.
Luis feels that his mother thinks that compared to his brother, “I turned out to be a smudge on this earth, with no goals, no interest except what got puked up from the streets.” (133) He gets the fact that she is staying uninvolved to protect herself from being hurt, but he wants to make her proud as any son would. Somehow Luis always falls short. He wanted to impress his mother with his boxing abilities, but that brought her to tears too. He appears to be growing further and further from his mother, with no visible means of reconnecting. He can’t be the person that his mother wants him to be. Luis is so wrapped in his own life of despair and loss that he is barely hanging on to the will to live, much less to function at the level of his mother’s expectations.
Chente is the person that Luis looks up to because he was able to be influential without being judgmental. Although he was educated, he grew up in the same environment that Luis was coming from. Luis was drawn to Chente’s ability to remain calm and handle himself well in all situations. Chente was able to guide Luis in a positive direction, at first on the work detail and later in joining “the collective”. Chente introduced Luis to a social revolution, but more
Dawn Rash-Always Running 2
importantly he is presenting to Luis an alternative to the craziness and violence that is his life. Chente is trying to get the point to Luis that the world is bigger than his own barrio. Luis at this point is still teetering between the new knowledge that he is gaining from the collective and the reality of the violence and drugs that consume his life.
November 27, 2006 at 6:33 am
Kimberly Murphy
Human 6
Always Running- Chapter 4-6
Page 1
In these three chapters we really get to know Luis Rodriguez and we get to witness his downward spiral into the gang lifestyle. Luis gets involved in fights at school, leading to his expulsion, he becomes a hard core drug addict, popping pills, sniffing anything he can get a hold of and even messing with heroin. The life that Luis describes to us sounds so hard core and so scary. It seems like he has seen things in his lifetime that many of us could not even fathom.
Luis describes to us the “Fiesta Days” that the San Miguel Mission held to honor the Spanish-Mexican heritage. He explains that during the day the fiesta is mostly littered with white people, playing carnival games and riding rides. “At night the fiesta belonged to the Mexicans,” (88). The “Fiesta Days” is where Luis met Viviana, a girl from the rival gang of the Lomas, the Sangra. When Luis was with Viviana he felt on top of the world, he felt like nothing could touch him. He had such a great feeling being with Viviana that he chose to stay with her instead of join his homeboys in their fight against the Sangra. “I also felt something tug at me, the feeling I should be with my homeboys, that I should be marching with them tonight. But I wanted to be with Viviana, away from the war cries, the bloodshed, away from the adrenalin pumping up or speech and walk,” (91). His being with Viviana instead of with his homeboys is like the story of Romeo and Juliet, two star crossed lovers, forbidden to be together. Luis knew he should be down at the fiesta marching with the other gang banger soldiers, but he was drawn in by Viviana, even though she was from the rival gang. If I were put in Luis’ situation I am sure I would do the same as him. I am drawn to love, drawn to wanting to be with someone, the way Luis was drawn to Viviana. He knew that no matter what his friends would still be there tomorrow and he would still be apart of their gang, but that night was his night, his night to be free of the Lomas and to be a part of something un gang related.
Another life changing event in Luis’ life was the annual observance of the battle between the Mexicans and the whites at his school, Mark Keppel High School. “We called it ‘The Tradition’” (94). It was warfare between the Mexicans and the whites, always ending badly. “Mexican’s roamed the hallways, beating on any white guy they could see. Girls got into it too, ripping the blouses of the prim and proper ‘society’ girls and wreaking havoc in the gym area. Parents came to pull their kids out of school,” (99). After the fighting reached height, the police came and Luis was expelled from school. “This was fine with me. I hated school. And I loved fighting,” (100). Luis had never had a good experience at school, starting with his elementary school days when he was put in the corner to play because the teachers didn’t know what to do with him. Of course he was excited to get expelled from school, it would give him more time to do the things he really wanted to do like fight, do drugs and get with girls. Expelling him from school was not a punishment for him, it was a reward.
After being expelled from school, Luis needed things to do to pass his time so he began using drugs on a regular basis. “Not going to school meant a lot of free time. Sniffing became my favorite way to waste it,” (102). Luis recalled doing stupid things while on drugs, most of which he did not remember, but was told by his friends. Luis
Kimberly Murphy
Human 6
Always Running- Chapter 4-6
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even almost died while on drugs, but was saved by his friends. He seemed to not care about his life or the consequences of his actions. He was single minded, with no regard for anything or anyone. He threw himself into fights and drugs with no care in the world whether or not he lived or died. He seemed like he was so fearless and they he wasn’t scared of anything, not even if a gun barrel was staring him straight in the face. People who are like that scare me to death; I am so careful and cautious when it comes to things. When my mom died I was scared to do anything dangerous because I felt like if something happened to me, my family wouldn’t be able to handle it. Reading about someone whose life and personality is so different than mine really intrigues me.
Luis never really had anyone that he looked up to, until he met Chente Ramirez, a man who worked at the Bienvenidos Community Center. “He was someone who could influence me without judging me morally or telling me what to do. He was just there. He listened, and when he knew you were wrong, before he would say anything, he would get you to think,” (114). It was good for Luis to have someone to look up to, someone who would help Luis realize he could do better for his life than just being a gang banger. He never really looked up to his mother or father, they were just always there. He has no real relationship with either of his parents or his brother or sisters, so Chente was someone he could really talk to and really relate to.
When Luis’ parents forced him to go to school with his father, it changed his life forever. He learned a lot about his heritage and the Chicano movement. He began reading and discovered a life in books and information. “I learned something about my father’s love, which he never expressed in words, but instead, at great risk, he gave me the world of books- a gift for a lifetime,”(139). Luis had finally found a way to respect his father and to appreciate what he has always done for their family. Once Luis discovered the world of books, he realized there was more out there for him and he was going to figure out a way to get it.
November 27, 2006 at 6:39 am
Jereme Robinson Page 1
Always Running Chapters 4-6
November 27th, 2006
Preludekid212@aol.com
Human – Section 6
The San Gabriel Days have a lot of cultural significance to the Mexican Culture in this area. The Days are an annual Celebration to honor the Spanish/Mexican Heritage of the area. This “Fiesta” is very important to the Spanish/Mexican Culture. “The celebration during the day is geared towards the Anglos who are commemorating a past that they were never a part of. “ (88) There were parades, speeches, and carnival rides during the day for the Anglos and then a little different events in the evening. I would look at the “Fiesta” in two parts in this area. Your have the first part where people celebrate in the days which is more family oriented and then in the evening the celebration turns into a gang event where alcohol plays a big role. The fair played the role for the meeting grounds for the gangs. Kind of scary to think that a bunch of gang members drinking and celebrating in one area. The San Gabriel Days are very similar to Cinco de Mayo that we now celebrate here in America and in our area of Santa Rosa.
Euro Families and Mexican Family really come from two different end of the pole and refuse to participate together in an event. The two different parties make it clear that they will only celebrate with there own people and will not mix to celebrate. I don’t believe it is as much as it raciest as it is that the two parties believe in different things and have different beliefs which make it hard to get along. A good example I thought of when I was reading this was like a strong left wing liberal marring a conservative Republican, not going to work out very well.
Jereme Robinson Page 2
Always Running Chapters 4-6
Now comes along Viviana, who is a girl that Luis meets on the roof top. Viviana is a member of the opposite gang, which does not get along with his gang at all. She talks with Luis and doesn’t understand why the two gangs don’t get along because they truly have the same beliefs. “I don’t care about this Sangras and Lomas stuff. Why this war? Aren’t we all the same?” (91) As I read I really try to put myself in his shoes but find it very hard to feel what he would feel as I don’t agree with gangs or understand why there are even gangs. The only thing I would feel being in his shoes is to ask her the same why can’t we just wear our colors and leave each other only and stop the killing. As you read on you find out how Luis felt because he expresses his feelings saying he felt like a trader. “I felt torn. There I was, a vato from Lomas staring in to the eyes of a Sangro girl, this made me a traitor.” (93)
Mark Keppel High School unfortunately isn’t a school that I would want my kids to attend if I was a minority of the Hispanic culture. The school is divided into two different groups; one is the whites who receive the “A” treatment and get into college prep classes, clubs, and become class officials. Then on the other side is the minority group which is considered the lower class group who is just stupid and doesn’t deserve the treatment that the “A” class receives. This made a tradition at the school where the Hispanic and the Euros would become enemies. This tradition only lasted a short time but create some very serious violent condition in the school. At time it got so bad that police were needed at the school for security. Expelling the Hispanic students and not the euro students who were fighting only create more violent condition. The Hispanics
Jereme Robinson Page 3
Always Running Chapters 4-6
already felt victimized by the school and then for them to make them feel more like victims of racism wasn’t a good idea. We also have to look at it that Luis is telling it from his side of the story and we never really get to look at the other side.
Luis, even through the things his mom has done to him, really loves her a lot but then he shows her very little respect. I think that is more apart of the Hispanic culture where they are very protective of mothers. Luis I believe looks at what his mom is trying to do as a positive thing and I believe make him has to give her a little more respect. “She laid down the rules: I couldn’t set foot in the house unless I had her permission.” (83) At this point Luis should just be lucky she is letting him stay in the garage. Luis Said this quote on page 81 that shows how much his mom loves and cares for him, “she was just too tired. Pulling me out of jail cells, of getting reports from school about fights……of expecting a call from the hospital or morgue.” (81-82).
Chente was a mentor for Luis and was someone that he really looked up to for advice on the streets. Chente works with Luis, trying to get him on a better path. He helps Luis get a job with the Neighborhood Youth Corps to keep him occupied and Luis began to take a more active role in the youth center by volunteering for different programs. The more amazing thing that Chente did for Luis was get him back into school and actually doing very well in school. “Chente impressed me as someone I could learn from. He was calm, but also street enough to go among all those crazy guys and know how to handle himself. He didn’t need to act bad to operate. I wanted to do this too.” (113-114) I truly believe without Luis meeting Chente and respecting him like he does, which made him turn his life around, Luis would be a dead kid on the streets on L.A.
November 27, 2006 at 7:37 am
Ryan McGraw
Always Running #2
Chapters 4-6
“Sometimes you cant always be on top of things…”(159) Luis is now starting to learn about real life and the essence in which he possesses inside himself. I think the first true account we get of this is when he is with Viviana, holding her close, thinking about how something so wrong can feel so right. He starts to think about the non-sense he is involved with and he truly feels a feeling of belonging while sitting on the roof as a desperate young girl, calls out to him for comfort. Although this is like many of his escapades in that the reason it feels so good is because it’s so wrong. It’s the feeling of rebellion, the power of the situation that keeps the light strong. I think his feelings are shallow still but he is starting to be able to see the full circle of life for a moment as he watches from the roof tops as his friends continue to carry on the tradition of protecting all they have. In the story Chin try’s to go down and help his friends, because he knows he has a duty and cause to his friends and family, but cant help but think of the life, living from above looking down. The same when he used to drive down the nice part of town, where he once used to live for a short time, thinking that someday things will be different, but being so young knowing that current times are all that matter. Future thoughts come with age I believe, and clearly he didn’t have aspirations to pursue it.
During the time of the fair, many family’s come together to celebrate the lives that they have made for themselves and the memories of heritage. The “Fiesta Days” brought out a lot of people for celebration. Luis speaks about how the white people come out to celebrate Mexican heritage, but really don’t understand it, because they weren’t even a part of it. I think about a festival my town has called Hometown days. It’s a big festival and very large for my small white suburban town, but originally it was designed for families to get together and celebrate the diversity of the town and congratulate immigrants for coming with different activities and foods from all over. This tradition really seemed to go down hill after carnies started to come in, and instead of having traditional home cooked food, there now was a giant Sysco truck parked at the back of the park, passing out hotdogs for $10 a pop. The only reason I know this is because I spent a lot of time in the library as a kid because my parents couldn’t be home to watch me, and didn’t want me home. But coming back to the fair, it seems funny that now there is only one day when people just come out (Friday night before the weekend), bring there towels and get drunk and basically talk shit about all the other neighborhood kids and families. Who isn’t doing what, who is dating who, who is getting divorced. Like a god dam sewing circle it seems, when really the whole point of the now over priced, carnie fest was to celebrate the coming together of understanding and history. No longer is it a time to learn, but a time for High School and Middle School kids to escape there parents and make out behind the bleachers. Much like Chin talked about in the book, there was a feeling that the point was lost, but as long as they had the night for Mexican celebration they would remember who they were and truly celebrate life.
During his days a Mark Keppel High School there was a tradition of “race wars”. It was the whites against Mexicans in the school, but was not limited to fighting at school. There would be stabbings in school, massive fights and other kids from other schools would come to “help” the gringos fight Mexicans. It was a yearly tradition, that lasted several weeks and included cars knifes and even a few guns. The last straw this year that Luis spoke of was at a football game all the homies were loitering outside the gates not doing anything but then get harassed by the police. It started very small, but as word came that one of Luis friends was choked out by a police officer, the whole place started a huge riot and bottles and rocks came at the officers. More police came quickly and even an ambulance to help Carlitos but the crowd was too much for them to handle and the decided to back off. Its times like this were I don’t know if it would be fair to say the police didn’t act wrong because clearly they knew what was going to happen if they started something and clearly provoked it. I really doubt that they thought that was going to happen and find them in the middle of a huge town wide fight, which ultimately they started. “Go ahead puto…but make sure you kill me, or ill come after you.”(98) Luis spoke with the pride and power of his friends and for barely 15 he truly seemed like a warrior.
A main source of entertainment for all of the kids in the barrio is drugs. There is much talk about getting high and drunk almost every page. There is no stop to it, and to think at age 15 doing so many drugs can be consequential to your life. “Everything lost its value for me: Love, Life and Women.” (125) This statement coming from a child scared me. To think there was such a thought in a person who hadn’t even experienced true love yet, is thinking about death because there was no drug strong enough to get him to euphoria. Many people don’t experience true love, some throughout there lives and at this point in the book I really started to get closer to Chin, because he is trying to hard to be one way, when inside he is something so much more powerful and stronger, but he doesn’t know how to let it out and control it. I feel it is much the same in my life at times, this is why I really connected at this point. “Death seemed the only door worth opening, the only road toward a future.” (125) Ignorance is the one word that comes to mind although when reading this page over and over again. I guess its easy to be an outsider looking in, telling someone how to live there life and everything is going to be ok, but in reality the other person is sitting there wishing you would just shut your mouth and go away. I can say I turned to drinking when I was younger because I felt the same invincibility that we all do as child. Open every door no matter how big or how much pain or hurt will be on the other side. I was raised to, much like Luis was, but his was directed in a different way, and encouraged by a crowd and community that didn’t progress but hinder his ideas and life. Drugs seemed to be the only way out for him, for his mind to escape the killings and hatred for himself.
As chapter six comes to a close, we see that Luis’ mother has come out to watch him fight at the Lorena Street Gym. He really isn’t close with his mother physically throughout the book, but under it all seems to understand the love she carry’s for him. After all, she is his mother. “You cant by my love”, his mother screams as he leaves her money on the table that he worked so hard to get. Throughout the book, it has been very clear to me as the reader what she wants out of him, yet he still refuses to do it and gets all of this negative love from his family. His mother puts him in the garage because her heart hurts and can not deal with him anymore, but still wants to be close to her son. This sounds like the story of my brother. The example of him bringing money home was the best for me, because it reminded me of how a whole childhood of torment and pain on the heart can not be forgiven in one small table meeting. She did not raise a monster and can hardly imagine how he got that way, unlike his brothers, but his small gestures will not do as she cares way deeper about him then he knows at this age.
Chente could not have come at a better time in Luis life. He is the person who is going to get him railed in the right track by putting his talents and intellect in the right direction. He helped him get a job at the community center, cleaning up and making an example for other kids. Luis respects Chente a lot, so decides to take the job with the condition he goes back to school when the time comes around again. “Sure if feels good to get messed up every once in a while…To let it all go. But the fight for a better life wont stop just because you aren’t ready.”(159) The words of a hero are spoken here. To sum up their relationship and foreshadow good things to come for Luis this quote will do the trick. “There was something about the way Chente and the other made sense; the way the made dead things come alive…”(156)
November 27, 2006 at 2:09 pm
I noticed that nobody did Luis Rodriquez part iii, and I just noticed that it was also do last night?
November 28, 2006 at 2:56 am
We are on part 2 (chapters 4-6) since we are a week behind.
November 28, 2006 at 2:57 am
Page 1 of 2
Crystal Pardo
November 25, 2006
Always Running Ch. 4-6
American Cultures 1395
Pardofam4@sbcglobal.net
In the next few chapters of Always Running, the author talks more about Luis and the trouble he get’s in to. He continues to drink and come home late so his mother told him to stay out of the house. His mother was tired of waiting up late for him, having to get him from jail, hearing from the school about a fight he had been in or was just afraid she would hear that he was in the hospital or dead. He then started sleeping in the garage. Their relationship began to take a turn for the worst. Even when Luis would do an honest job to earn money and try to give his mother the money she would not take it. She told him that he could not buy her love. (Page 82) Luis then began sleeping anywhere, but then finally went home and worked it out with his mother to stay in the garage again.
Luis started high school at Mark Keppel High School and by this time he had become introspective and quiet. He developed a love for music and began playing the saxophone. He would lock himself in the garage and play his saxophone when he needed time to be alone. One day he got into a fight with his brother and his brother destroyed his saxophone, Luis was devastated because his saxophone meant everything to him. (Page 86)
One night Luis and his friend Chicharron attended a Festival that honored the Spanish-Mexican heritage of the San Gabriel area where he lived. In the daytime the gabachos (white people) would attend the Festival and dress up in sombreros, dance and ride the horses, but as soon as the night fell the Festival belonged to the Mexicans. (Page 88) That night Luis met Viviana. Viviana was from Sangra, but was not into gangs or sets. Luis fell for her as soon as he laid eyes on her. They spent the night together at the carnival and then later up on the rooftop of the Mission school building. Although he felt like he should have been with his homeboys, Luis wanted to be with Viviana away from the war cries and bloodshed. (Page 91& 92) While on the rooftop, Luis saw a fight that he felt that he needed to be part of but Viviana begged him to stay with her.
By the age of fifteen Luis had started working in a restaurant as a bus boy. He was not going to school because he was expelled which gave him more time during the day to be up to no good. Sniffing drugs was his favorite way to waste his extra time. (Page 102)
Luis got a new girlfriend named Payasa. Payasa was his friend Wilo’s sister. Luis and Payasa used drugs a lot together, but Luis eventually broke it off because Payasa became too much like the walking dead. (Page 106) After the break up Payasa was found with cuts all over her arms and was admitted to a rehabilitation hospital for teen addicts.
Page 2 of 2
Crystal Pardo
Always Running Ch. 4-6
American Cultures 1395
Luis then got jumped into a gang; he was a Lomas loco now. Fighting and being involved with murders were part of him now. His friend Wilo moved with his aunt to escape the violence in the streets, but ten days later was killed at the age of fifteen. After this Luis felt that everything had lost its value. Death seemed like the only door worth opening. (Page 125)
Luis then meets Chente who plays the administrator, father figure and counselor at the John Fabela Youth Center. Chente offers Luis a job and tries to talk him into going back to school. Luis also started boxing and he invited his family to come and watch him. It seemed as if Luis was making a change for the best, but even when he would mess up Chente would assure him that he was there to help him.
November 28, 2006 at 5:34 am
Corinne Neuman-
November 28, 2006 at 5:43 am
Jana- You brought up a good point on how the schools are from the start pitted against mexicans. “It is really appalling to me that everything works against these kids. They are luck if they make it into the high school level curriculum and yet they are expelled from school even though the authorities recognize there is a problem between the two races” I remember in highschool how my teacher confessed to the class that a majority of the staff their didn’t want to be forced to learn Spanish to help better understand their students. The teachers were angry about having to take time and learn some tactics and spanish in order to communicate. Why isn’t learning to speak english started at a very young age along with spanish, you know like in 2nd grade or something??? In foreign countries they teach their younger children mulitiple languages while their brains can soak it up better. It is like the mexicans would live up to their image given by whites, being unfriendly, not doing school work, starting fights all that bull, it is like being told your stupid over and over and finally believing it. The whole society contributes to the mess, but how can one fix it???
November 28, 2006 at 8:26 pm
Ryan- you brought up a good point about Luis being so young yet experiencing so much. He got to the point where he didn’t care about anything and everything lost value love, life and women. When he said this in the book it scared me too. It is such a sad place for someone so young to be.
November 29, 2006 at 1:23 am
Todd – it also crossed my mind about Chente’s choice for Luis. I did not see that he possessed any leadership qualities.. I am sure this story has many silences like the beginning of Chente’s relationship with Luis etc..
November 30, 2006 at 12:29 am
Is the next assignment due the 5 page paper on Always Running? I need to know before the weekend due to other classes.
November 30, 2006 at 2:21 am
crystal when you get your answer will you post it? and is there a 2 page assignment due as well?
November 30, 2006 at 4:57 am
yes please repost.
December 5, 2006 at 4:33 am
Ryan – Very true about Luis and the life experience he has recieved as a young boy. I mean he is so young and has seen so much as in violence and people growing up.
Jana – Good point about how Mexicans are treated in schools. I didn’t see it very much in my high school or maybe i didn’t pay much attention to it but i can see how they are treaterd different which makes them to choice a different type of lifestyle where gangs and violence are a escape route for the pain. It’s said that kids have to turn to the streets for help when they need the help and can’t feel like they can talk to someone at school.
December 14, 2006 at 1:18 am
Dina McCarthy
Always Running
Dmccarthy5@sbcglobal.net
Americancultures1395
Always Running describes the weary life of Luis Rodriguez and how he and his family cope with the harsh reality of discrimination by the term immigration.
Luis Rodriquez comes from a family that consists mainly of his father Alfonzo, a seemingly relaxed man, who is educated, and not very affectionate or emotional, his mother Maria Estela, a dramatic, and unhappy Mexican-indian woman, then there is Jose or Rano as they call him, he is angry and abusive, there are also younger sisters Ana, Gloria and 3 or 4 older siblings from his dad’s earlier life. Grandparents and oter extended family seem to come in and out without of his life without much consistency.
The message that Rodriguez seems to be sending is about the disdain and harassment faced when darkness takes over all living hope for those with oppressed ambitions. Throughout this book, Luis Rodriguez describes himself as a trapped pawn to a vengeful society, determined to become a dominant force within his inner cluster of shameless gang members.
The message of unity seems apparent throughout. Born into a world of hatred and torment, Luis faces an early harsh reality of beatings and torment by those he loves. Through force, his mother and brother rule his life early on, and then force reawakens through the corrupt police department. But the main desire for unity is to undermine the racism that surrounds his cultural background. Born as a United States citizen, Rodriquez is denied acceptance as an equal to Anglo-Saxons based on appearance. Consistently banished and targeted by others at his various schools, Luis becomes accustomed to these kinds of alienations. To counter these threats, Luis and his friends create a gang for safety and power. They took “a pledge to be for each other, to stand up for the club.” (41). Luis’s regains comfort in the gang, as he stands up for friends and gang allies throughout the gang wars and countless beatings. He finally has a real family. But his desire for comradery is not fully accustomed to ruin. Luis’s main goal is to reunite his culture with that of all ethnicities. As time wears on, he pulls together members of his ethnicity to stand up for their beliefs and rites as equal individuals. Being involved with various clubs encompassing desegregation, such as To Help Mexican American Students (To.H.M.A.S.) and the Chicano Student Center, among others, Luis achieves unity by destroying social barriers between cultures. This is a fight he does not face alone. Friends such as Esme, Chava, and Chicharron, along with former gang leaders embark on Luis’s journey of peace. The people he once fought and rivaled with come together to form the first peace pack under his influence, which formally ends gang fighting in his
Dina McCarthy
Always Running
Dmccarthy5@sbcglobal.net
Americancultures1395
area. Through this unity, he is able to break the social restraints of oppression by social racism, and focus more on his well being for the future.
This story was a clear and convincing account of a gang member’s life, about Luis J. Rodriguez’s expressive and passionate history of his youth in Los Angeles in the late 60s and early 70s. Growing up in Watts and East L.A., Rodriguez joined his first gang at age 11 and was drawn into “la vida loca” – the crazy life. Gangs were “how we wove something out of the threads of nothing,” he remembers. By age 18, he was a veteran of gang warfare, police killings, drug overdoses, and suicides that had claimed 25 of his friends and had driven him and so many others to despair. In part, Rodriguez survived the violence and desperation of his youth by writing down his experiences.
As for how this relates to my life, it doesn’t. I am not naïve in the sense that I don’t think that this stuff really happens, it just seems so far away. I know that events involving gangs and gang violence are all around, but I cannot relate to it, and I really try not to subject myself to it. I have been blessed with a good, and very close family. We support each other and get through issues by working them out together. Don’t get me wrong, no family is perfect, I mean, my brother was a drunk, and is now a born again Christian, and my father has been married 5 times, but we still stick together and get through life as a family. Reading stories like Always Running amaze me. Luis Rodriguez has come so far, he went through so much and I have such respect for someone who fought to find the strength within him, to do himself and his family justice. It’s inspiring.
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