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And I thanked mi papa who'd always said to me that we, los Indios, the Indians, were like the weeds. That roses you had to water and giver fertilizer or they'd die. But weeds, indigenous plants, you gave them nada-nothing; hell you even poisoned them and put concrete over them, and those weeds would still break the concrete,
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Victor Villaseñor |
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And in that moment of sun and joy, Lupe knew why she loved and also hated Salvador. He gave her wings. He didn't try to lock her in, as had Jaime and the other boys she'd known. No, she could dream her wildest dreams with him and so she loved him for this; but she also hated him because it made her fearful. No one in her family was like this. They were always very cautious.
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freedom
joy
fear
happiness
love
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Victor Villaseñor |
3075860
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Because Spanish is a feeling-based language that comes first from the heart, just as English is a thinking-based language that comes first from the head.
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Victor Villaseñor |
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Mi hijito, I've told you a thousand times, if you speak badly of people, God will punish you and make you just like them.
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Victor Villaseñor |
f5bc6b8
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Oh, if only I could hurt with such misery once again, to feel the powers of love here inside my heart, the joys of heaven and the pains of hell!
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pain
love
longing
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Victor Villaseñor |
a9d4975
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Could it be we stifle our children's genius by languaging them too quickly away from their hearts and into the straight and narrow confines of linear thinking?
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Victor Villaseñor |
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You are the machos, the life, the future of our families. You are all that's left, so you must protect our mothers and grow and do good and have families of your own. I love you. I do. I do.
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integrity
family
love
inspirational
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Victor Villaseñor |
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Because, you see, real teaching isn't just about teaching the brain up here," I said, hitting my forehead, "but it's also about inspiring your students to have heart...compassion, guts, understanding, and hope!"
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Victor Villaseñor |
8b23332
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And so, there in the penitentiary, Juan's education began. He didn't want to be a puto weakling, so he worked hard at learning to read. His earthly body was locked up, but his mind was set free as a young eagle soaring through the heavens.
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reading
freedom
inspirational
reading-motivation
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Victor Villaseñor |
8c977eb
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we don't have five senses as we were told by all that flat, world-thinking that came from Europe. The Mother Earth is Round, we were told, and the Universe is Alive and Whole and always Growing and Changing in Sacred Cycles. Men have six senses, and women have seven, and when a man and woman come together, they then have all Thirteen. This is what love is really all about, a man and a woman coming to their full senses when they Unite their ..
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Victor Villaseñor |
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For this is God's great plan, that people rise up beyond their personal hatreds, here, right now, in this new land where so many different people with so many different bloods have come to join together and that we recognize we are all the children of God! Every one of us!
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Victor Villaseñor |
56c141a
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Rich is the cream of the fat cow's milk," she said. "Rich is the love of God that we receive each new day! Rich isn't gold! Gold is only for people that are poor of heart!"
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Victor Villaseñor |
175c72e
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teachers are no accident! You study to become a teacher! You work at it for years. So I cannot, and will not forgive teachers who are abusive, mean, and torture kids with commas and periods and misspelling, making them feel like they are less than human because they don't or can't seem to get it right.
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Victor Villaseñor |
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I don't care about periods or commas or misspellings at this time, even though this is English class. What I want to do is to get you so excited about reading and writing that the love of learning will be with you for the rest of your lives. I don't want to hinder your natural joy of wanting to venture into a world of books and writing and wanting to learn.
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Victor Villaseñor |
ca4fb56
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Inside, the midwife was trying to get Socorro to open her mouth wide and let the pain come out. "Open your mouth," said Angelina, massaging Socorro's neck and shoulders, "and let out what you feel. Don't keep it in, querida, let it out." Socorro cried softly at first, but little by little she loosened up and she began to let out long, ear-piercing screams. "Good," said the midwife, "now breathe deeply, deeply, and then cry out again, letti..
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pain
resilience
pregnancy
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Victor Villaseñor |
84aa7e7
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That's all we need, another drunk author.
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Victor Villaseñor |
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We're all only passing stars who have come by to give each other a little light for our few short days here on earth.
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Victor Villaseñor |
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Let us pray," said Dona Guadalupe, and they all knelt down. And as they prayed and Lupe saw the eastern sky growing yellow and rose and pink, she felt herself fill with such power, with such a strength and well-being, that she just knew in her bones that life was eternal. Her eyes filled with tears, she felt so close to these women. The whole world sang and danced before her very eyes as the cycle of life continued and the new day came fort..
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Victor Villaseñor |
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Because, you see, a bad teacher, like Moses, the abusive English teacher that I had in Carlsbad, kills kids, here in the heart, and not just with their tests, but with their superior attitude and those sly smiles that they like to give to their A students, but never to the ones who are also working hard, or maybe even harder, like me, but just couldn't get it!
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Victor Villaseñor |
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The townspeople were proud of themselves. They saw that they could get things done if they united.
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Victor Villaseñor |