“Night” by Elie Weisel (Germany)

            In this piece of literature “Night” was telling how horrible the Nazis were treating Jews during WWII. The Nazis were taking the Jews to concentration camps, and their families were separating. Men were taken to work for the Nazis, and those who were weak would get killed. Children would be burned in the furnaces like they were trash or killed from the gas chambers. They only received little rations of food each day. They had a hard life from the Nazis.

            The event in the book “Night” that I would remember the longest was when the Nazis hanged the little boy. They let him slowly suffer until he died, and told everybody to watch him pass away. This event was very sad about how the Nazis treated kids in the concentration camps. The image that would stick with me was children getting burned in the furnaces. It was a horrible death from burning when they still alive. It would be very hurtful and painful from the fire. The most angering and confusing would be when they were separated from their family. They were very sad and did not know what to do. They would do anything to survive because they wanted to go back to see their family. It was the most touching for me because it was very sad to be separated from our family. I learned that family is the most important thing in our life.

By: Xiong Her

“Central Station” (Brazil)

            One thing I learned about the region Brazil is that there are a lot of poor people who live in the streets. Some were stealing food and got killed right away when got caught for the reason of stolen food. Some children got lied to by adults and got sold to other people who needed the lung or heart. Brazil’s buses are filled with crowded people and some were trying to get through the window too. They believe in god or dead people because they like to sing a song for their god or dead people.

            The relationship that Dora and Josue have is the same as my family in that we all are loving and caring about each other a lot. We share food with one another. The differences are we do not hate each other and do not say bad things about other lives like Josue said to Dora. Also, we do not leave one alone like Dora left Josue with his brothers. In my opinion, the importances of family are love and cooperation because they will help everyone in the family live happily and help one another. Family should stick together because if there is a problem for one person in the family then the other can help them faster. If they live separate then it is hard for the other to come and they might not even know about the problem too.

By: Xiong Her

“The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Columbia)

I learned about the region of the story “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World” that those people are peaceful. They love to help people who were in trouble. Their village was very small and they love nature. They only walk to find news for the village. During a funeral, they will put a lot of flowers to the dead person and dress him very nice. They will let the dead person flow happily along the water. When women saw some guys who were handsome, then they started to think about how those guys’ life would be like if they lived in the village. Women started to compare the handsome guys to their husbands and said that their husbands were not as good as the handsome guys.

The funeral that I want for me is I want my family to dress me up in Hmong clothes because I am Hmong. I want them to get me a lot of flowers. The flowers will make me look cool. This kind of funeral is the same as every Hmong people funeral. They will pray for me and kill a lot of cows and pigs for me after life. So I can use them to eat carry my stuff. They will burn a lot of money for me so I can use it after life.

By: Xiong Her

“The Youngest Doll” by Rosario Ferre (Puerto Rico)

            I learned from the story “The Youngest Doll” is that the people who live in Puerto Rico love to make dolls when they have a lot of free time. They always try to make the doll look like the real person. Each year, they will make one new doll for the birthday of their children. They will put a lot of treasure things on the last doll when their children are marrying. The men love to show people that their wife is in a high class by sitting outside of the door not doing anything.

            The time in my life when I was terrified was when I lived in Thailand and my friends and I love to go climb the mountain during the New Year. However, one day there was a man who was broken hearted and went to kill himself on the mountain where we always went to. After his death, I was scared to go climb the mountain because people stopped going there and some who went there said they have seen him too. Sometimes at night, he was walking around near the area where his girlfriend lived. This also made me stop going out with friends at night to go to the theater.  I did not like to watch scary movies so I did not have a scary event from the movie.

By: Xiong Her

“The Book of Sand” by Jorge Luis Borges (Argentina)

I learned from the story “The Book of Sand” that the people who live in Argentina love to read bibles. They like to trade for weird book. When they got something weird, they never show it to others because they are scared other will steal it. They always keep the thing they had as a secret. Sometime, they will hide their book in a secret place and let it be there forever without telling anyone because it was their treasure.

Some of the things that related to the “Book of Sand” are people love to text on their cell phone and they always talk on face book. They use these technologies to connect with people and they can’t get rid of these or stop. Another infinitely informational phenomenon is online games because people can’t stop playing them and they make those people drown into their world. The games make people addicted. I think games really make people go crazy sometimes because some people can’t stop playing it. When they are playing games they don’t care about other business that they have.

By: Xiong Her

“No Dogs Bark” by Juan Rulfo (Mexico)

I learned from the story “No Dogs Bark” was that Mexico has dry desert with mountains. Those poor people who lived on the country side would have a hard time to get help when they were in danger like Igancio. They have to cross the big desert by walking with no food to get help from others because they didn’t have enough money for good transportation. I also learned that good parents never let their kids in danger. They would do everything to help their kids even though they didn’t have any strength left, they will still keep going like Igancio’s father. Parents always love their kids, but sometimes the kids don’t realize. 

            If I become a parent one day, I will be a good parent for my children. I will talk to my children nicely and let them know what they did wrong. I will not punish them, but teach them to do the right things and don’t do the bad things again. I take good care of them and I support them and do everything I could do to help them to achieve their goals. I will be similar to Igancio’s father because every parent loves their kids. They never let their kids in danger alone. They will always take good care of their children like Igancio’s father who never let Igancio die in the forest. 

By: Xiong Her

"Borders" by Thomas King (Canada)

“Borders” by Thomas King (Canada)

          I learned that when the Native American tribe crossed a border to other country, they have to be a citizen of the country they lived because the guard of the border wanted to record who travels to the U.S. Native Americans could not be their own tribe Blackfoot because they did not have a country. The guard would not let them pass until they knew the citizenship of the traveler. However, Native Americans cared about their ethinicity rather than their nationality. I also learned there is a Native American’s tribe called Blackfoot. 

My ethnicity is more important to me than my nationality because I am Hmong and always be Hmong. Even though I am an Ameican’s citizen, my background and blood still a part Hmong’s people. Also, my family always celebrate Hmong’s culture, no matter where we are. 

By: Xiong H.