Theater taught me a lot about the way people think, and how to work as a team to create a piece of art (a show). Pitching has been such a fun thing to learn, as it has taught me a lot about mental toughness and leadership.ĭuring high school, I got into acting and singing through AMTC, and theater through CB Productions, where I participated in two main stage productions. I became a pitcher two years into my softball career mainly because there were no pitchers on my team. When I was thirteen, I was introduced to fastpitch softball, and played for seven years. I did this for about six months and made very good money while doing so. At the age of eleven, I pitched my sale to various business owners around my city, promising them that if they put a coupon for their place of business in my booklet, I would print one hundred copies and personally distribute at least 80% of them by hand. I successfully ran this business for several years, until I started my second business - a coupon distributing business. The service I provided consisted of retrieving orders door to door on foot, buying ingredients at the store, creating a schedule for baking the muffins fresh on Saturday morning, and waking up to make and delivery them. I started my own business when I was nine years old - a muffin delivery service in my neighborhood. My parents are both members of Life Company and have owned their own business since before I was born. I grew up in a very entrepreneurial home. I also took a summer class at Dakota County Technical College, so as a result of these experiences, I have 36 college credits. I am a 2017 home school high school graduate, and I've done PSEO at the University of Northwestern, St. She has inspired me to work hard and keep dreaming. Studying Julia Alvarez has been a truly rewarding and fun experience. Alvarez shows people that you can do anything you set your mind to. “Given Alvarez’s success…a variety of groups have claimed her as a member of their communities: as woman, ethnic, exile, diaspora, Caribbean, Dominican, Latina, and American” (Johnson, Mapping an Identity). The speaker is saying that she is going to be herself.Īlvarez also relates to many different types of people, making her an inspiration to many more people than the average poet. After reading that, I understood the first few lines of “Sometimes the Words Are So Close” much better: “Sometimes the words are so close I am /more who I am when I’m down on paper /than anywhere else” (Sometimes the Words Are So Close 1-3). Eventually, she figured out that she should not try to be like everyone else she should just be herself and sing her own song, even though she felt pressure to do otherwise. She could not match the notes the other poets were singing with her own voice. I thought it was brilliant that she compared it to singing. I was also intrigued by Alvarez’s reflections on her “Housekeeping Poems.” She says she tried to make her voice sound like other great poets, but she struggled with it. However, the speaker does not give up: “But I refused with every mark /to be like her, anonymous” (Dusting 17-18). The speaker in this poem writes her name in the dust while her mother follows behind her wiping the furniture clean. Personally, I loved the poem “Dusting,” because it showed me that I should not be afraid to be myself. I think that Alvarez’s story is a perfect example of what most Americans call “The American Dream.” She came to America, feeling like all were against her, and she overcame her struggles and achieved her dream. He says, “He started to sing as he tackled the thing /that couldn’t be done, and he did it!” (It Couldn’t Be Done 7-8). It reminds me of another poem called “It Couldn’t Be Done” by Edgar Albert Guest. Alvarez decided she had something to say and she was not going to let other people’s opinions stop her. “I touched the screen and sang /my own heart out with my new muse, / I am Chiquita Banana and I’m here to say…” (First Muse 28-30). She pressed on and wrote in English anyway. This is evidenced in her poem “First Muse.” Alvarez was told that she could not write poems in English because she was a Latino after some time however, Alvarez discovered that what she was told simply was not true. Her determination to be a writer no matter what inspired me to keep writing and trying to achieve my other dreams and goals just like she did. I found it fascinating that she grew up in the Dominican Republic and that her family had to flee the country because of her father’s involvement in a rebel plot to overthrow the dictatorship. Julia Alvarez’s history and life story are what makes her a poet that is worthy of study.
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