Immigration Project Reflection

3/29/09
Silvia C.


Literature Circle Books/Blogs


My book for lit circles was Once Upon a Quinceañera, by Julia Alvarez. I was not happy with this book. I didn’t like it at all. I thought it was going to be about a girl who has a big quinceañera and throws a fit about it. But, it’s basically like a handbook about quinceañeras. I thought it was boring; it wasn’t my type of book. I didn’t really learn much about it. Just really how quinceañeras work, what traditional gifts to give are, and just all about them. Nothing else. As for my group, I didn’t really learn anything about them. All of us didn’t really understand or like the book. We never understood who was saying what.

I like the blogging. When I type things tend to work a little better for me. The responses were a bit tricky. I never really knew what to write. It was hard to relate the quotes to my self. The book was nothing like me, so I couldn’t relate it to me. As for the character judgment, that was easy I guess. Sometimes I would know what write and other times I wouldn’t know what to put. It depended what quote Blogging experience was easy for me. I had done it before, so I was used to it. There was really only one group member that really did all the posts and comments and read my blog. The other two members did, but not as much as the other group member.

Art & Literature

For my painting I chose to do a new book cover. The old book cover was too plain to me. For my new book cover, I made the background pink, I put Hispanic flags on the side, [representing all countries that have quinceañeras] and a tiara. I knew exactly what I wanted to paint. I love flags and I love to see the differences there is between them and other flags. So, that’s why I put the flags. The pink background was because the traditional color of a Hispanic quinceañera is pink. I wanted to show that. The tiara and wording on the cover our outlined with white. The traditional color of an Americanized quinceañera is white. So that’s why I outlined those things in white. I think that the idea of the piece was very good. I think it connects to the books. The Hispanic flags connect to the book because their Hispanic and Hispanic have quinceañeras. The pink and white because they talk about pink and white in the book and how they are traditional. The tiara because in the book it says the most common gift to give for a quinceañera. The panting its self didn’t turn out good. I’m not a good painter. So, to me, it doesn’t look good. The one thing I like about the painting is that it really reflects about the book. Everything on the cover, eventually it gets mentioned on the book. I like how a reflection and story could be told just by a painting.

Interview Process with Participant

I thought the interview went well. It went easy. My interviewer didn’t go to fast, and I understood everything she said. She was very nice as well. All the questions I asked in all three of my interviews went well. I felt good about it. I’m glad two of the interviews were over email, it was easier for me. In all these interviews I learned a lot of my interviewers life. I learned that she didn’t want to go to America in the first place. Also, that she missed it a lot. [Mexico]. In my 3rd interview I learned how she was as a teen. I thought the opportunity to interview someone was great. I knew my interviewer just as my friends mom. So, it was cool to learn more about her.