KT

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 K A T I E H A G A N ' S P A G E

1&2: March 18th, 2011, " Knuckles ", 65.

**" We were tied for prettiest girl in class. Now we were in her ruffled pink bedroom, exchanging confidential tips on how to braid our long, golden hair"** //This story was about a young Taiwanese American girl living with immigrant parents. The narrator, main character has an eating disorder and refuses to eat her mother's traditional gross food. The girl instead sneaks sweets and this causes her teeth to rot. She visits the dentist multiple times, having to get her teeth operated on and pulled. The main character fantasizes throughout the story about eating sweets and sitting with the pretty girls at school. The main character struggles with her immigrant lifestyle at home and fitting in outside of home.// 3: I feel bad for the main character in this book. I don't know how I'd feel if I didn't have a nice enjoyable dinner to come home to every night. The pain she goes through seems unbearable, having her teeth worked on continuously. I liked how she threw her food out the window, would put her food on her baby sister's plate when her mother wasn't looking, and hide candy bars under her sofa cushions. I found it funny how sneaky she was, even though it was sad at the same time. 4: There isn't much that me and this character have in common. I am not an immigrant nor come from an immigrant lifestyle nor Have had my teeth pulled and operated on due to bad hygiene. I can relate to the fact of her getting rid of her food. When I was younger my mom would make me sit at the table until my dinner plate was cleared. The nights where I didn't favor what she had cooked I'd wait for her to leave the kitchen and I'd feed my food to my dogs. That is something in common I have with the main character. 5: I wonder why her mother wouldn't make food that her daughter (the main character) would eat. From the details in the story, this family was not wealthy, they struggled like most immigrant families do. The daughter throwing out her food and all the dentists visits adds up to a lot of money going down the drain. If the mother would make food her daughter would enjoy it'd save money. Instead, she stuck with her traditional food and continued to nag at her daughter about ungrateful she was. But obviously, the daughter not eating was effecting her health critically so it was a serious matter, not her just being ungrateful. As a mother, I feel as if she should' ve changed up her cooking style to save money and help the health of her daughter.

1&2:

April 2, 2010, "How To Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie", 249

**"She'll say, I like Spanish guys, and even though you've never been to Spain, say, I like you. you'll sound smooth."**   //This story is a "dating guide for the Dominican American teenage male"; basically an instruction manuel on dating a girl. In this story the narrator tells the reader that is expecting a girl to come over what to do in preparation (hiding government cheese, family pictures, dirty toilet paper, sip your fathers alcohol) and what may happen while the girl is at your house. All of this depends on the race of the girl and where she is from. The narrator tells you where to take the girl out to dinner depending on if she's local or not, what to expect to get from the girl sexually, what to talk about, etc. The story is then ended with reminding the reader to put the government cheese back before your mother kills you.// 3: I enjoyed this story because it was funny. The way the narrator described what the reader would get from different race of girls was interesting, but I didn't agree with it. At the same time though, I know the story was written to be humorous so I didn't take offense to it. The was the author wrote the story, as if it was an instruction manuel was original. That was something else I liked about this. 4: I honestly can't really relate to this story. Which I think is weird because this was one of the stories I liked the most. 5: I wonder if the author ever had a hard time with dating. Maybe that's why he wrote this dating guide for others that are like him.

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