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"By the time Eugene’s family moved in, the yard was a tangled mass of weeds". It reminds of how when different families move in out the neighbourhood thing change like the environment. As different people move in the garden and surrounding areas get worse.

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Things don't always go the way you hope and she realizes things won't always go in a positive direction no matter how you originally perceived it. Like how Eugene's mother turned her away when she showed up at their house.

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"Father would come in from his late shift at midnight" I consider this a text to self because whenever I used to spend the night at my dads house he would sometimes work 2nd/3rd shift and would come home around midnight.

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She realizes that not everything is going to go perfect and that she should expect some other things.

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The author is trying to say that rejection is always going to happen to us no matter what the situation is. It happens to everybody in life.

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the author is saying that rejection is something you'll go trough in life no matter what but you must persevere.

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¨I went to my window and pressed my face to the cool glass. Looking up at the light I could see the white snow falling like a lace veil over its face. I did not look down to see it turning gray as it touched the ground below.

this part of the story reminded me of when it was snowing when I was little.

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The author is trying to say that rejection will be a struggle but that should never cause you to stop trying

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The author is trying to say that rejection might be hard to accept but you can let it stick with you.

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when she faced rejection it made her realize that everything doesn't go her way and life isn't easy but you should never give up you should always keep trying and stay strong

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“You are going out today?” The way she said “today” sounded as if a storm warning had been issued. It was said in utter disbelief. Before I could answer, she came toward me and held my elbows as I clutched my books.

“Hija,17 the President has been killed. We must show respect. He was a great man. Come to church with me tonight.”

[25]

She tried to embrace me, but my books were in the way. My first impulse was to comfort her, she seemed so distraught, 18but I had to meet Eugene in fifteen minutes.

“I have a test to study for, Mama. I will be home by eight.”

Text to world - This reminds of all the times I've witnessed people, only thinking about how they want a situation to go, rather than how they know it's going to go. I think somewhere deep down in Elena's heart and mind she knew that president Kennedy's death may hinder her little "date"; but she just didn't want to accept it.

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“We had been given free exercise time and had been ordered by our PE teacher, Mr. Depalma to keep moving.”

Text to self

This reminds me of when i was at football practice and coach told us to get on the line and run and when we got tired he told us to keep moving

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My mother said this in spanish and in a resigned tone that surprised me, as if she had no intention of stopping me from ''heading for humiliation and pain.

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The remind me of life because you will alway face rejection or even losing people this will always be your life no matter what.

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The author is trying to say that people will discriminate agaisnt the smallest reasons.

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What the author is trying to say is that rejection and self tragedy it change your perspective It can be something so little yet leave an big impact onto your life

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Elena realizes that the world isn't fair and you have to be unfazed to what people.

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"Eugene doesn't want to study with you he is a smart boy doesn't need help you understand me i am truly sorry he told you, you can come over he can not study with you it's nothing personal you understand we won't be in this place much longer no need for him to get close with people it’ll just make it harder for him later run back home now I couldn't move i just stood there in shock at hearing these things.”

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Elena the week after much maneuvering I managed '' to run into him in the hallway where his locker was-on the other side of the building from mine-and in study hall at the library.

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She learned that everyone is nice and warm hearted and will just allow you into their house..

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the auther is saying that you cant avoid rejection and you should think about how situations make people feel

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When she faces rejection she sees that not everything is perfect or fair in the way that she wants it to be and how she wants to see the world

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They possibly say that when rejected from something you shouldn't let that pause your life and stop you from doing things.

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“I was ready for rejection, snobbery, the worst. But when I came up to him, practically panting in my nervousness, and blurted out: “You’re Eugene. Right?” he smiled, pushed his glasses up on his nose, and nodded. I saw then that he was blushing deeply.”(Ortiz Cofer 9)
text to self
reminds me of a time
i was scared of getting rejected

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Girl start ninth year old and she hate the publis school number 13 and she hate the teacher and my skinny flat-chested.

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one day my mother came into my room as I was sitting on the windowstill staring out. IN her abrupt way she said "Elena, you are acting 'moony'" like a girl stupidly infatuated. since I had turned fourteen.

Text to worl

This remind me that even though parents can be smoothering, they still mean well and have the best motives at heart

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#170,she looked up at me and tear up,though I wanted to feel the right thing about president kennedy's death, When we lost Kobe Bryant we all took a pause and realized we lost something that was important.

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“The President is dead, you idiots. I should have known that wouldn’t mean anything to a bunch of losers like you kids. Go home.”

Text to world

The historical time when the Martin Luther King Jr incident occurred.

This reminds me of the time period of 1968 when Martin Luther King Jr got assassinated. It changed a lot of people's perspective of the world and just made them look at the world totally differently. It was such a tragic event that many people still think about to this day.

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i think Elena learns to consider how situations can make people feel and that life isn't always going to go your way

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The author is trying to say that with personal and collective tragedy, you should allow people to move at their own pace to heal, and not rush/push things on them. The author portrays that you should not let a rejection hinder your life or week.

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“You are forgetting who you are, Nina. I have seen you staring down at that boy’s house. You are heading for humiliation and pain.”

Text to self
It reminds me of when my brother started to act differently to fit in the kids at his school, and they rejected him.

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I think she has to accept the fact that the world isn’t fair in a way. I also think that she learns that fitting in isn’t easy, and sometimes other people will prevent you from fitting in by pointing out how you are different.

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#90, One day my mother came into the room as i was sitting on the window sill staring  out, When I was always in the house I never went outside because something happened.

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Move on even tho difficult stuff happen to you .

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Discrimination is still present in today's time.

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I think something she may learn from her experience is to be more self independent. She may be forced to grow up facing a group of challenges with her life and how she could possibly solve them and get over them. Her decision making will definitely be different and change.

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Discriminating can hurt people

By-Kenneth

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Sometimes it's hard to be accepted because you're different.

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I think Elena has learned from her experiences that you won’t always get the answers you want with all things in life.

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She learned that some things aren’t meant to be, for example she thought she could study with Eugene but her mom said nope. As a result of these events, I think she was kinda forced because a lot was happening that could change the world.

By-Kenneth

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“The yard was tangled mass of weeds.the father had spent several days mowing”

Text to self
When me and my family moved in our new home my dad spent days cleaning the back yard.

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Sometimes things aren't fair, and you won't feel in control.

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Elena learned that the world is cruel , and it’s hard to just be accepted for who you are.She was forced to recognize, and simply accept that people will treat you differently just because of your ethnicity. It’s not any way that anyone would like to grow, but this maturity has to deal with finding that out, and having to grow a thick exterior just to ignore and accept it.

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Elena learns to be more considerate about how situations may affect people. Elena is forced to mature, by being able to accept that no matter what impression she gives off, people may still not like her because of a biased factor.

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Quote
“ I began to think of the present more than of the future”

Text connection
This makes me think about the world because we should focus more on the present time. I think we

shouldn’t focus so much on the future, because we can't control what will happen.

Text to world

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"Father would come in from his late shift at midnight."

paragraph #35

Text to Self

My mom would work and come back at 2 AM.

By-Kenneth

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P. 7 “I only saw him on weekends when they sometimes sat on lawn chairs under the oak tree, each hidden behind a newspaper; and there was Eugene…. That summer, before we had even spoken one word to each other, I kept him company on my fire escape.”
This reminded me of Little Women by Louisa May Allcott. Laurie, one of the supporting characters, watches the protagonist and her family from next door before they really know each other.

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“You live there?” She pointed up to El Building, which looked particularly ugly, like a gray prison with its many dirty windows and rusty fire escapes. The woman had stepped halfway out and I could see that she wore a white nurse’s uniform with St. Joseph’s Hospital on the name tag.“Yes. I do.”She looked intently at me for a couple of heartbeats, then said as if to herself, “I don’t know how you people do it.” Then directly to me: “Listen. Honey. Eugene doesn’t want to study with you. He is a smart boy. Doesn’t need help. You understand me. I am truly sorry if he told you you could come over. He cannot study with you. It’s nothing personal. You understand? We won’t be in this place much longer, no need for him to get close to people — it’ll just make it harder for him later. Run back home now.”

|     Text to World

| This honestly just reminds me of how people in the world today are still like this. They instantly judge people,whether because of their looks,how or where they live with no good reason, and then some try to play it off, like as soon as Eugene’s mom found out where she lived she immediately started judging her character , refers to her as “you people”,  starts to speak for her son in a negative way, and then uses the excuse they’re going to move to stop her from talking to him.