One of the reasons we were asked to read this book was to help us as future educators understand the damage racism can cause. Villasenor certainly suffered for it. There are important things we can learn from that aspect of his story. But I learned a lot more from the stories he shared about his family. I have mentioned what great teachers he had in his mother, father and brother. But one day he accidentally learned a lesson from his cousin Chemo. Chemo was older and sort of a big shot in his school. He was handsome, really good at football and had a pretty girlfriend. One day Victor was riding along with his sister , Chemo and Chemo's girlfriend. Chemo was driving his girlfriend's parent's car. Chemo, being sort of show off, was driving way to fast on a curvy road. Victor started to get scared because he just had feeling something bad was about to happen if they didn't slow down. He cautioned Chemo to slow down but that just made Chemo mad and he told Victor to shut up. Victor told him again that he really needed to slow down. Chemo told him to "Shove it" and started going faster. Victor was really agitated because he had envisioned a red truck coming around the bend of this narrow road. So Victor yelled at Chemo saying that it was his last chance that if he didn't obey him and slow down he would jump out of the car. He told them he was going to jump and then they could get killed by the red truck. So here was this little boy telling his older cousin not only to obey him but also saying with certainty that there was a truck coming around the bend. Chemo saw no truck and was mad about being told to obey a little boy. So, of course, he didn't slow down except just a little bit as he took a curve. It was at this moment Victor seized the opportunity and did indeed jump out of a speeding car. He hit the road hard and rolled down into a ditch. This finally made Chemo hit the brakes. At that same moment the red truck came by and swerved away from the car just in time. Of course, Chemo and the girls ran down into the ditch to see if Victor was okay and there was much hysteria as one might imagine. Victor described how he could see the scene unfolding as from above himself. He expected the girls to be upset but he also saw how upset Chemo was and realized that Chemo actually did love and care about him. When he came back to consciousness and they were talking about getting him home, he only agreed to go if Chemo drove slowly. Chemo's manhood was pricked again and he said that he was going to drive like he always did. So Victor said he would rather walk even though he could barely stand. He was determined not to get back in that car and have a ride like that again. The girls finally convinced Victor to get in and Joan drove her parent's car.
Later when he was at home and talking to Joseph about the incident he learned that telling Chemo to obey him was a challenge to his manhood especially since he said it in front of Chemo's girlfriend. He had made Chemo look bad in front of his woman. Joseph told him if he was ever in a situation like that again just to tell the driver he needed to pee real bad and ask them to please slow down.
So a good lesson for us as educators is to try never to make a student look bad in front of his classmates because it will just make things worse for both parties. Also when dealing with a volatile situation a cool and calm reaction works better than a knee jerk reaction. Finally just because someone may appear indifferent or even a little hostile towards someone , that doesn't necessarily mean they don't care about that person. For some people it easier to put up a front of indifference than show their true feelings.
Sunday, July 10, 2016
Saturday, July 9, 2016
Thoughts on Burro Genius 3
While Victor had a fantastic teacher in his mother and father, he also had one in his brother Joseph. Joseph was older and unlike their father had a much calmer demeanor. Now that is not to say that their father was irrational or quick-tempered. No he was more passionate and could have flairs of temper if he felt strongly about something. This was rarely, if ever, aimed at the family. But Joseph never seemed to get ruffled about much of anything. And as I said he was a key teacher in Victor's life. One example was on a day when he discovered Victor going through his things trying to find Joseph's marbles because he had lost all of his. A lot of brothers would have been mad at their little brother going through their things period much less trying to take something that did not belong to him. Instead he asked what Victor was doing and when Victor explained that he had lost all his marbles to this new kid, he related how he had experienced the same thing. But he said that kid taught him how to play and not only that he learned about strategy. Part of the problem for Victor and the other kids was that the new guy kept doing things with marbles that gave him an advantage the other kids could not seem to achieve like switching his marbles up in the game to get better shots. When he would switch his marble he ended up being able to shoot all the marbles out of the circle leaving all the other kids just staring at him dumbfounded. Joseph told Victor that rules could be established before the game started that eliminated that kind of thing. It could be anything that seemed fair and in this case it was the "no-switchies" rule meaning whatever marble you start with is the one you play the whole game. Victor was amazed and could not understand how one could just make up their own rules for a game. Joseph said that they could if they voted on it and the majority agreed. This was amazing news to Victor. It would end up literally being a game changer for him. Not just because it improved his game, it also made him be seen as a fair person and if the other kids (and people in general) saw him as a fair person they were more willing to go along with his suggestions.But before he could start Joseph taught him some better techniques and emphasized that Victor would have to practice a lot. Not only that he told him as he was practicing the new techniques that he should not play a game at school for two weeks. Joseph said it would give hime time to watch and learn some things from the other players. One more interesting nugget Victor learned from these lessons from Joseph was that their father had paid the kid that beat Joseph out of all his marbles how to play. Their father did not view kids games as trivial ways to spend their time but as training for real life and so he felt it was worth while to spend money on Joseph learning the game.
Well Victor did master marbles and when he was ready to play he introduced all the techniques Joseph had taught him. It worked like a charm. He won big time. And he could have gone on winning and gotten real cocky about it too. But it was Joseph and family wisdom to the rescue again. Joseph warned him not to brag and to let the other guy win every now and then. Letting others win every now and then would guarantee he still had someone to play because otherwise they would have given up hope on winning and they would have thought he was a jerk for bragging about it.
I loved how patient Joseph was with Victor throughout his life. He loved his little brother so much that he wanted his success and happiness. Victor rarely if ever found that in the teachers he had through school. And I know that there will be students that will challenge my patience, but I hope to be able to love them enough(even if I don't like them) to be able to guide them to the next level of their education. I may be a light to them and never know it so I have to keep that in mind.
Well Victor did master marbles and when he was ready to play he introduced all the techniques Joseph had taught him. It worked like a charm. He won big time. And he could have gone on winning and gotten real cocky about it too. But it was Joseph and family wisdom to the rescue again. Joseph warned him not to brag and to let the other guy win every now and then. Letting others win every now and then would guarantee he still had someone to play because otherwise they would have given up hope on winning and they would have thought he was a jerk for bragging about it.
I loved how patient Joseph was with Victor throughout his life. He loved his little brother so much that he wanted his success and happiness. Victor rarely if ever found that in the teachers he had through school. And I know that there will be students that will challenge my patience, but I hope to be able to love them enough(even if I don't like them) to be able to guide them to the next level of their education. I may be a light to them and never know it so I have to keep that in mind.
Thursday, July 7, 2016
Thoughts on Burro Genius-2
When I started reading Burro Genius I kind of figured there would a huge focus on the mistreatment Villasenor received while he was in school. As it was a big part of his life he did recount several incidences but he really focused more on his family and how he was raised. I am going to be honest when I was growing up I have no recollection of ever meeting a Mexican or any other Hispanic person till I was grown. The only perception of Mexicans I ever had were from those cheesy Westerns that presented them as dirty and dangerous. I probably would have been leery of Mexicans if I had encountered them just from my limited view. My parents never talked to me about this one way or the other. They always taught me that we are equal in God's eyes. I have no such prejudice now that I'm grown and know better but my point is that in sharing his family, Victor shed light on his culture and race in such beautiful way. As he describes how his grandmother , mother and father survived war and poverty I so admired their spirit and courage. I loved how he was taught to respect women and that the most important thing he could do when he was grown was to find a strong woman to marry. His description of how his father loved his mother was wonderful. His father didn't just love his wife, he admired her and treasured her.
I so enjoyed reading about how his mother and father taught him about life. I think the idea of raising a son like a girl for the first seven years of his life is wise. It does teach them kindness and sensitivity. But then as soon as a boy is eight his training as a man begins and I thought that made good sense. If he were coddled like a girl for any longer he might become spoiled but if the training of manhood started to soon the lessons of kindness might not be firmly established. Victor tells of how he and his friend carelessly and cruelly stomped on snails and burned a lizard alive. That night he was haunted by images of a giant lizard and then a frog throwing up snails. When he came crying into the room his mother told him he was just dreaming and put him back to bed. When the images came again and he came running into the room again his mother was getting rather exasperated with him. However, his father called him over and asked him if he had harmed any of these creatures he kept seeing. Victor was shocked that his father could have known of his cruelty. His father explained he had done something similar when he was a boy and the same kind of images haunted him. So he told Victor that he must go to his room and asked the animals and Jesus to forgive him. He did not want to go by himself because he was scared. His mother wanted to go with him because she said he was just a child. But his father said no now that he was eight years old he must begin to face things like a man. He said if he were old enough to kill those animals then he must be man enough to face these fears on his own. He also told he that it was okay for him to be scared because he said that the deer lives in fear of the lion but she lives her life and raises a family. He also said that it fear that help them live through the Revolution. So Victor returned to his room with images of the giant frog and lizard still looming before him and prayed fervently to be forgiven. As he did he peace came and he knew he was forgiven.
I am not sure how much Villasenor really learned in school but he received a great education from his family. And I, not having ever really known about the Mexican culture, learned a great deal myself. I love when I can learn about other cultures and I think it is so important to learn about people as much as possible. There is no quick fix for racism. It is a day by day, person by person change. We are so tied up in blaming this and that for racism that we don't realize that only by building relationships can we ever hope to overcome it completely.
I so enjoyed reading about how his mother and father taught him about life. I think the idea of raising a son like a girl for the first seven years of his life is wise. It does teach them kindness and sensitivity. But then as soon as a boy is eight his training as a man begins and I thought that made good sense. If he were coddled like a girl for any longer he might become spoiled but if the training of manhood started to soon the lessons of kindness might not be firmly established. Victor tells of how he and his friend carelessly and cruelly stomped on snails and burned a lizard alive. That night he was haunted by images of a giant lizard and then a frog throwing up snails. When he came crying into the room his mother told him he was just dreaming and put him back to bed. When the images came again and he came running into the room again his mother was getting rather exasperated with him. However, his father called him over and asked him if he had harmed any of these creatures he kept seeing. Victor was shocked that his father could have known of his cruelty. His father explained he had done something similar when he was a boy and the same kind of images haunted him. So he told Victor that he must go to his room and asked the animals and Jesus to forgive him. He did not want to go by himself because he was scared. His mother wanted to go with him because she said he was just a child. But his father said no now that he was eight years old he must begin to face things like a man. He said if he were old enough to kill those animals then he must be man enough to face these fears on his own. He also told he that it was okay for him to be scared because he said that the deer lives in fear of the lion but she lives her life and raises a family. He also said that it fear that help them live through the Revolution. So Victor returned to his room with images of the giant frog and lizard still looming before him and prayed fervently to be forgiven. As he did he peace came and he knew he was forgiven.
I am not sure how much Villasenor really learned in school but he received a great education from his family. And I, not having ever really known about the Mexican culture, learned a great deal myself. I love when I can learn about other cultures and I think it is so important to learn about people as much as possible. There is no quick fix for racism. It is a day by day, person by person change. We are so tied up in blaming this and that for racism that we don't realize that only by building relationships can we ever hope to overcome it completely.
Wednesday, July 6, 2016
First Thoughts
I was attracted to this book because when I read how long it took Victor Villansenor to finally ever get published I could relate. It has taken my entire adult life to finally graduate college and work on achieving my Master's. He had so many struggles to overcome but he never let them get in the way of doing what he wanted to do. In the beginning of the story he is at a conference for English teachers. The main speaker ends up not being able to show up in time. So the publicist needs to find a replacement in a hurry. So she comes into a room full of published authors and asks if anyone is willing to fill that spot. Now Villasenor is still a green author having only published one book at this time so he is just happy to be there. But as he looks around the room none of these people whom he so admires is willing to step up. For reasons he can't really identify he decides he can do it. The publicist is doubtful but her assistant convinces her that he can do it. So they take him out of the author filled room and try to get him ready in a hurry. The first thing they try to do is change his appearance. Victor was raised on a ranch and still lived on a ranch. He was dressed like a cowboy, hat and all. The publicist and her assistant immediately demand he take off his hat and change his shirt. They succeed at first but in the end he has his hat back and goes out to speak dressed as he came in. He was not ashamed of who he was and where he came from. He was not about to change for these "educated people" the publicist was so worried about. I have been told so much in my life that I need to change for this reason or that. I have been told that I was not good enough or just not enough to satisfy this person or that position or whatever a lot in my life. So I was cheering for him a he went forth as himself and not something other people said he should be. I also loved that he went before these people without a clue as to what he was going to say. Since I have undertaken this quest to get my education at a time when people often begin to think of retiring, I have had to make the decision to step forward into situations which I had no clue how I would handle. I have not even really read a blog much less posted one. But here I am writing this for all who are interested to read. Victor Villasenor overcame a lot more than I have to become a successful author. He came through school during a time of great prejudice against Mexicans. Even though his father was very successful and the family quite wealthy, he was still considered a dirty, lying, stupid Mexican boy all through school. Not only that he was extremely dyslexic before anyone even knew what that meant. So he thought he was just stupid and so did most of his teachers.When he stepped up to the podium in front of all those English teachers he was finally able to say to them what he wished he could have said all along. He spoke of being abused by teachers his whole life because he had trouble learning how to read and couldn't get things right. He said he could forgive bad parents because that could be an accident but not bad teachers because they went to school and trained to be educators. They should help students not hurt them.
I think that so much of the time we expect people to think like we do and be like we are that we cannot except when they are different. It is important as an educator to appreciate the variables that make up our students. It is important not to cast our desires or ideals on others. We need to allow people to be who they are and as educators try and teach them where they are and not where we wish they were.
I think that so much of the time we expect people to think like we do and be like we are that we cannot except when they are different. It is important as an educator to appreciate the variables that make up our students. It is important not to cast our desires or ideals on others. We need to allow people to be who they are and as educators try and teach them where they are and not where we wish they were.
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