Bearing down

Not that I am complaining about going to Richland College but I wish I was a more dedicated student in high school. Instead of letting all the distractions of life and social life get to me and focus on school. I would be in a better position to get into a four year university instead of coming to Richland College and hoping to get in four year university. There are times where ill be honest and ask myself what am doing here and why am kidding myself but most of the time that comes from frustration from not getting into a university straight out of high school, not that ill every quit going to school. All through high school you hear phrases like “bearing down on school will pay off in the long run” but at some point that just goes in one ear and out the other or a least it did to me. Some times school feels like I’m just procrastinating the whole time and spending all this money and showing all this effort only not to get anything back at least nothing tangible,but again that is just frustration from things that are my fault and I always had control of but for some stupid reason or reasons I didn’t take advantage of those missed opportunities.

That fragrance

The scent I am thinking about is the scent of my grandmother for as long as I can remember she always wore the same fragrance. Every one and a while I catch a random whiff of perfume and it reminds me of my grandmother some times its kind of weird but sometimes it a kind of has soothing effects.My grandmother is a very sweet and gentle person honestly I only have good things to say about her she is also a very devout christian women. unfortunately we don’t get to see each other very often since she lives in El Salvador,I don’t get that many opportunities to go to El Salvador and she hates to travel like most senior citizens do. So I obviously have a great fondness in heart for that particular scent.

El Salvador

Poverty and corruption in a great place with good people is the image I had of El Salvador when my family and me move to the United States over 15 years ago. Unfortunately that image is not an image anymore it has become reality; it is easy to place the blame on lack of education but when there are no avenues to pursuit an education then who do you blame? Most Salvadoreans don’t know a world in which the government is not corrupt to its core or one with the publics’ best interest in mind. There is no middle class in El Salvador in it rich people with a BMW parked in front of a house on a hill or a family of six living in a one room shack without enough money to even feed and clothe themselves  everything in El Salvador is at its most extreme rich and poor both ends of the spectrum. Everything is dirty and unsanitary for humans to even be around and it stinks and it is always hot. It is depressing to be in El Salvador as much as it pains me to say that since my parents have done so much to provide for me and my brothers since we moved to Texas. It is loud and full of angry drivers so all you can really hear is car horns blasting and bad exhaust systems that would never pass inspection anywhere else but since we are in El Salvador who gives a damn, the government certainly doesn’t. Since everyone and there mom owns a car and the way the roads are designed doesn’t really make to much sense a there is always gridlock and smog. You are probably asking why do I keep on coming and why do I stay so long the only answer I have for you is the food. The food is really the only reason why I keep on volunteering to come back.

All kidding aside I love El Salvador even with all its faults and every time I go I learn something and I feel a lot more appreciative of what I have here and what my parents worked so hard to achieve since we moved. Every time I go it almost serves as a wake up call to me and it reminds me that I am not that far away from living that kind of lifestyle if you can call it that, we are all just a few mistakes away from being in that position. I feel that El Salvador helps me shape into the person that I am today. I can not wait to see the new El Salvador that is beginning to form. Thanks to the United States, El Salvador has decided to make the dollar their new form of currency. New and better innovations in the country have helped pave the way such as new freeway systems and public transportation have really helped the infrastructure and the environment of El Salvador’s biggest city and capitol San Salvador. Even with all its disadvantages El Salvador is still a big part of my culture and heritage.

Coach J

The person who most influenced me is my high school football coach and my algebra teacher Coach Jackson, Coach Jackson influenced me for several reasons. He is the first person who really let me know that school beyond high school is obtainable and not just some big myth. I live in a community that if you don’t leave after graduation then most likely you will never leave, it is also a community that doesn’t have a lot of wealth people or very highly educated people which isn’t a very shocking correlation to me at all. So when I first met Coach Jackson,it was kind of intimidating because he is a very big black man who demanded a lot of his students and his athletes and since I was both he really paid close attention to me at all times. He was a graduate from the same high school that he teaches and coaches at, his father was in the military so he always held us to the same standard that he was held to and that made him kind of a task master to his student athletes. He was in his mid twenties but he has accomplished a lot in his young life, he received a track scholarship to Baylor and later went on to represent the U.S. in the Olympics in Sydney,Australia.

He opened my eyes to the possibility of going to college after high school and having the opportunity of bettering my life through academics. Before I met him I didn’t really know anyone who has gone to a major university and finish with a degree in anything. So the thought has always came to if he can do it then why not me; I remember one day in class he made us do a project , he made each individual student pick a college across the U.S. and since most student in the class have never left Texas the majority of the classroom picked the University of Texas in Austin. This obviously disappointed Coach Jackson, so he took a quick poll across the classroom, the poll was who in this room plans on going to college. To this day it saddens me so say that no one in the room including me raised his or her hand.A response that clearly disappointed Coach Jackson even more than before,he immediately stopped the lesson plan for the day and began to explain the importance of pursuing higher education after high school and answered any questions we had about college.

Not surprisingly most of the questions where about money he proceeded to inform us of the available money that was out there for us to use on tuition. That was about three years ago and I still remember that class discussion like it happened yesterday, that discussion pretty much changed my life and made me rededicate myself to school. Instead of coming to school and just going through the motions all day for four years then not know what to do after graduation. I am a better person for meeting Coach Jackson.

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