About Me

The Scene that Stands out the Most in A Place to Stand

Maddie Schleifer
English 1100
12 June 2018
Prof. Young

The Scene that Stands out the Most From pages 1-66 in A Place to Stand

The novel entitled, A Place to Stand, written by Jimmy Santiago Baca discusses his poor upbringing and the hardships he had faced growing up. One situation he struggled with understanding was his mother abandoning his family at the age of seven. His mom, Cecilia, had met a rich white man, Richard. He did not approve of her Spanish children so she had left her children in the custody of their grandparents to be with him. On the way to drop of the kids, Richard hit Mieyo. Baca states, "Crybaby," Mieyo said, and then the engine slowed and Richard backhanded him across the face. "Stop that or I'll throw you out!"(16). This scene stood out to me the most because Richard should have not hit Mieyo because it is not his kid, instead he should have talked to Mieyo or tell his mom to handle the situation. When they dropped the kids off, she told them she would be right back, but never returned. If Richard did love her, he should had never put her in the situation to give up her kids. While her three children, Martina, Mieyo, and Jimmy lived with their grandparents they kept hope that she would come back to them, unfortunately, she never did. When living with their grandparents, Grandpa Baca had suddenly passed, which caused Mieyo and Jimmy to end up in St. Anthony's Boys Home, an orphanage in Albuquerque. Even living in the orphanage, Jimmy still wished his mom would come to his rescue.

  

Blog 2: Do the Right Thing Response

Maddie Schleifer
English 1100
29 May 2018
Prof. Young

Do the Right Thing Response

1) Which character could you relate to the most/least?

The character I could relate to the most is Da Mayor. Da Mayor causes no harm and just wants to help people and also to be liked by the community. For instances, Da Mayor knows that Mother Sista does not like him because she has been talking badly about him for eighteen years. He takes offense that she does not like him and does gestures and actions that makes her change her mind about him. She begins to change her mind about Da Mayor when he brings her flowers, saves Eddie, and then saves when Da Mayor saves her. 

The character I could least relate to is Mookie because he is immature and irresponsible. Mookie shows his immaturity when he does not make time to see his son and his girlfriend and claims he still wants to be apart of their lives. He also shows how he is irresponsible because during his work shift he goes home to take shower without asking his boss. He takes forever returning to the shop to continue to work because he would rather be doing other activities.

2) Does the script provide a point about doing the "right" thing?
The scene where the kids get the interior of Charlie's car went is when Mookie did the right thing. When Charlie is talking to the police officers he says Da Mayor is an eye witness and makes him talk to the officers. When Mookie sees this he immediately gets Da Mayor aways from them because he could get arrested for being drunk in public.


3) What is the "right" thing to do according to the script?
According to the script, the citizens of Boston believe that the "right" thing to do is do what the want regardless of others feelings. For example, while the mob was destroying Sal's pizzeria, Mookie decided to join the mob regardless that Sal treats him like family. He vandalizes his own place of work regardless how it will make Sal and his family feel.

Do the Right Thing Response

Maddie Schleifer
English 1100
23 May 2018
Prof. Young

 Do the Right Thing Response

The movie Do the Right Thing by Spike Lee is takes place in Brooklyn 1989. The characters Mookie, Da Mayor, and Mother Sista are all dynamic characters. For instances, Mookie takes advantage of Sal and makes excuses of why his deliveries are so long. Sal could fire Mookie, but does not. However, once the fight breaks out Mookie turns his back on Sal and his family and vandalizes his pizzeria.  For Da Mayor, in the beginning of the script, many would think he is a static character, but he is not. He may seem like a static character because he is an alcoholic. Da Mayor proves himself to the audience by resucing Eddie, Mother Sista, and Jade. When the mob began, Da Mayor did not participate in the actions; instead he saved Sal, Vito, and Pino from the mob. Mother Sista is a protector of the block and seems to be good, but when the mob broke out, she joined the mob and helped destroy Sal's pizzeria. Overall, the movie is a reflection of actions that has happened in police custody in Brooklyn 1989. This movie was to spread awareness of real life situations that has happened. For example, Elenore Bumpers, Yusef Hawkins and Michael were all killed while in police custody. Radio Raheem was killed and beaten to death by police officers in front of his entire neighborhood. Radio Raheem represents what has happened to the real victims in while they were in police custody.