I Will Pronounce Your Name- Leo Sedar Senghor (Senegal)

This short story/poem is about a girl named Naett. She must be important to the poet because she is decribed very deeply. For example, "Naett, your name is the sugared clarity of blooming coffee trees and it resembles the savannah, that blossoms forth under the masculine ardour of the midday sun" is what is said in the poem. The poet/author must really have a passionate love for this person. By reading the poem you can picture a beautiful woman from Senegal. She is even compared to the Princess of Elissa, who is a mythical figure from an epic poem who founded Carthage (now Tunisia). This woman must be very smart, witty and clever.- Kayla C

The Last Judgement-Karel Capek (Czechoslovakia)

The Last Judgement is about a man who was convicted of murder, robbery and other crimes is shot by a group of cops. He then enters Heaven and is inside of a courtroom. There are a group of judges and only one witness. He cannot plead because they already know the truth. A witness comes to the stand. The witness is God. God tells the whole court what this man has done.He has murdered 9 people, committed manslaughter, armed robbery, etc. The judges are determining whether he stays in Heaven or rots in Hell. He ends up going to Hell for victimizing innocent people and having no humanity.

I think if you have a bad life by doing stupid and careless things, whatever you do to people or things, it may happen to you. I think Karma will hit you with a sledge hammer, if you think you've done right when you've done wrong. My opinion on this story was that it was very raw and honest. I like the fact that someone can believe that you're innocent or guilty by knowing what they have done. I think humans shouldn't be inhumane. that's what being a human is all about. Humans are supposed to help out each other when times are tough.
--Kayla C

First Confession-Frank O' Connor (Ireland)

The First Confession is about a boy named Jackie, who reluctantly goes to his first confession. He has sinned alot in the pass, like chasing his sister with a butterknife and hating his grandmother. His sister is very mean, at one time she hopes he basically goes to hell. As he goes into the confession, he doesn't make a bad confession. He says all the sinful things he has done. The Father is stunned by what he has to say. He is flabbergasted by the tenasity this kid has. Afterwords, the Father tells him how courageous he is,but also that he is a very bad boy.

The church that I go to is the Holy Hill. It is a large extravagant church. To travel the church you have to go up and down hills.  It's activities include regular sabbaths, masses, sumitts, etc. I usually don't do to church but i go once a great while. I don't go to church that often because I have the bible at home and I know what's right and what's wrong. Going to church daily versus a person who goes a couple times a year doesn't mean one is superior to one another.

--Kayla C

Night- Elie Weisel

The book, Night is about a teenager named Elie Weisel and his life in the concentration camps during the Holocaust. He was put into the concentration camps when he was fifteen along with his father. Some occurances that happen are very shocking, such as people being hanged, babies being burned in the crematoriam, people being forced at gun point to dig their graves and then being shot and thrown in. On one occassion peoplecan lose their conscience and their faith: A man is told to thrown his father in the furnace and he does it and Elie had lost his faith by noy vasting on Yom Kippur. In the end when the camps are starting to get liquidated, Elie escapes but his father is thrown into the crematoriam.

I will remember the struggle and emotion that Elie wrote about in this book. The images from this book that are embedded into my head are the great amount of  determination the Nazis had to exterminate the Jews. It has changed the way of how I think by thinking of what I have and not focusing on what I don't have. I found that the saddest moment was where Elie's father was thrown into the furnace and Elie didn't see it, he already knew. The most horrifying was where a baby was being hanged and as it was hanged, it was still alive. The most angering was when a person wanted people to say Kaddish for him, and they forgot. The most confusing was when Elie lost his faith. Just people you are in a certain situation, doesn't necessarily change your faith.

"The Handsomest Drowned Man" By Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Columbia)

Macho, Macho Man!

This story is about a drowned man who washes up on shore in which a couple of children discover him. The children start to play with him, although he is dead. He is decribed to be the size of Lou Ferrigno and Arnold Schwarzenegger, but actually is handsome. A person tells the children to run along and alarms everyone in the village and studies him. The women of the village cleaned him up and tried to sew clothes but he was too big for any of them. The women realize that this man is an amazing, beautiful man and that their men actually suck. The men actually just wanted to get rid of him by putting him back in the water and thought the women were making such a big deal out of nothing. The women actually named him "Esteban". The men realize what big deal the women are making, he's beautiful! The village tried to create a proper mourning ceremony to comend Esteban. The women get  flowers to mourn him. To honor him, they made structures of buildings  very strong and wide. They also didn't sink him with an anchor because they wanted Esteban to "come back" if he wanted.

For my funeral. i don't want the wholw idea of mourning and crying and sympathy. I want to be the rememberance of my life. A timeline of my life. This story is similar to funerals I've been to because it is so emotional and sad. This reveals that death to Latin Americans is a painful loss and want to cherish every moment they can have with the passing of others.

-Kayla Campos

"The Youngest Doll" By Rosario Ferre (Puerto Rico)

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

"The Book Of Sand" by Jorge Luis Borges (Argentina)

This story is about a Presbyterian who comes door to door to sell bibles. This man knocks on the door of a man who doesn't look interested in buying but persades him into buying a book that he thinks he would be intrigued by. The man invites the Presbyterian into his house to talk about this book he wants to sell. It is a book called, The Book Of Sand.This book is special because it cannot be read in a traditional way. the book has pages listed to infinity and can be read only by arbitrary. Just like when you go to the beach you don't know where the sand ends or starts. This man buys the book. As soon as the man realizes what he had in store. He realized that the book was evil, diabloical, and possibly satanic.

What are some things in our modern world thaqt are similar to "The Book Of Sand"? In other words, what infinitely informational phenomenons do people nowadays become obsessed with?What happens to them? And what are your thoughts on this?

Time is infinite. It will never die or stop. It is a process that will go on forever. People nowadays become obsessed with a mental disorder that makes them keep knickknacks and trash, called hoarding. They usually end up isolating themselves or needing to seek mental therapy. I think these people may just be lazy or really need to seek special help because you be overflooded with this disease.