Prompt 13

Some of Rudy Medina's choices of friends, words, and attitude have put him on this rollercoaster. When I was first introduced to Rudy he was a boy who only wanted to please his father but never quite met that expectation. Then his so called friends always are getting him into trouble and him and his father develop a sort of love, hate relationship towards one another. A recent problem he was faced with was finding out his father was cheating on his mother. This upset him and he figured he would flip on his dad. Instead, after awhile he gave up and went to steal cigarettes and wine from a store with his buddy. The advice I would give him is don't let other peoples bad choices turn you into a bad person who makes even worse choices but doing drugs and alcohol. Go talk calmly to your father and tell him how you feel with the situation, let him in on some of the things you are going through and you might not have to go through them alone.

Prompt 11

This books language and style is very effective because some parts of the book are in Spanish, however most are in English. It gives the book character and helps the reader understand the Spanish culture and all the characters feelings. The tiny bit of spanish added enjoyment to the book for me, partially because I understood what they were saying.

Prompt 14

A quote I found to be rather interesting is when Rudy says "Day or night he could be anywhere he choosed while I stood cooped up like my fathers chicken." I think this is an interesting quote because in the begining of the book when he turned 14 his father gave him the chicken killing knife to go out back and catch and kill a chicken by slitting its throat, but Rudy couldn't bring himself to do it. He felt sorry for the chicken and now that he is referring back to himself as a chicken I wonder if he is feeling sorry for himself, like he felt sorry for the chicken.

Prompt 15

This picture is symbolic in a way because Rudy deals with a lot of peer pressure to not be the stool pigeon anymore. He starts smoking and drinking. He even carried around Boxer's zip gun for her in school. I honestly think peer pressure is stupid and people should be able to freely express or better yet be themselves without anyone else putting in their two cents.

Prompt 10

Some connections I made while reading this chapter was how much Che and Rudy are alike. They both have asthma and are both Latin American. They both have a sort of innocence to them and yet all of a suddent they change. They both become very popular by their actions even though some of the choices they each made aren't the best. The only real big difference between them is age and potential for destruction. By that I mean although Che was loved, he was also known for witnessing hundreds of murders and Rudy he was quite popular after he became a smart allic and won some points with his friends, yet he was known for being rude and disrespectful.

Prompt 4

The thing that suprised me most is how Rudy is now acting toward his older sister Lena. Lena used to be the one to take care of Rudy when he was sick and protect him from a lot of things including his fathers harsh words and beatings. Now as I get deeper into the story I can see that Rudy is protecting his sister. Mostly because his father tells him its his job, but I think Rudy enjoys doing it or else he wouldn't have went out looking for her that night her father was looking for her.

Prompt 3

The way Rudy is quickly changing from innocent boy who wants to do nothing but please his father to this boy who has an attitude, smokes, hangs with the wrong crowd and such sticks out the most. Rudy is acting way different now then he did in the beginning of the book. In the beginning of the book I thought it was going to be a big success story, hence the title (Famous All Over Town), however it's not. The pace the main character is changing is keeping me interested because it's hard to figure out his next move. This chapter really is keeping me on my toes.

Prompt 1

I don't really like how they start the book off because it was kind of slow and hard to get into. The thing I like the most about the book is how when the characters are having a dialouge there is a mixture of English and Spanish and it helps you understand the character and the character's feelings better. I also like the drama in the book, it's entertaining yet informative.

Prompt 6

I think that Rudy (the main character) will figure out that he is smarter than his so called friends. I think he will be able to achieve his dreams and be well known for rising up from his economic status. I truely believe he will realize his gang is going nowhere fast and that they will drag him down with him. Eventually I believe Rudy will become a straight 'A' student.

Thesis Statement - Theme 6

Compassion Turns Sour

Ernesto had good intentions but Che let those good intentions turn sour. Ernesto, a young medical student was very compassionate; he witnessed widespread poverty, oppression and disenfranchisement throughout Latin America. He then turned into a different man and became Che after witnessing these many injustices. Che saw the injustices differently and wanted to fix them, his way of fixing the problem was he installed and supported repressive regimes around the world.

Prompt 9

1. Why was the beginning of the book a bad time in his life?

2. Why was he "famous" all over town?

3. Why is he pondering the next step in his life?

4. Why was he so unsure of his tomorrows?

5. What makes his father so mad over the way he killed the chicken?

6. Why does he have a soft spot for the way the chicken was killed.

7. Why was he considered a man at 14?

8. What did he do prior to his 14th birthday to make him become a man at 14?

9. Where is this story heading?

Do Now 3/11/09

Che and Alberto met many interesting groups of people along their way. The one group who interested them the most in Peru was the Indians. Describe a time when you were going somewhere and met an interesting person who left an impression on you that you remember. It can be a good impression or bad impression.


I chose this topic because I love traveling and listening to other peoples stories and over the past few years I met a lot of people who had an impact on my life.

A Chilean Memoir

Hospitable, reason that makes Chile enjoyable!

It's CHILE time!

In Chile, Alberto and Che faced a lot of problems with La Poderosa II. Between working on the bike and them scrounging around from place to place trying to find food at the homes of which they stopped at. Che said that Chilean hospitality was one reason traveling in Chile was so enjoyable. Che felt incapable of many things at some points in his journey in Chile. I think that all the people Che met in Chile had a great influence on his socialist views. I feel the reason he wanted to help other people better their lives is because he was helped out by complete strangers on his life journey. I think he learned a lot about others in Chile, but more importantly I think he found himself while he was in Chile.