The House on Mango Street By Sandra Cisneros A three week unit plan by Quiana McCoy 1 "Introduction to The House on Mango Street" Homework: Read pgs. 3-8. "The House on Mango Street", "Hairs" and "Boys and Girls" 2 "Hair, Hair and more Hairs" Homework: Read pgs. 10-17; "My Name", "Cathy: Queen of Cats", "Our Good Day","Laughter" 3 "What's in a name?" Homework: Read pgs. 19-26; "Gil's furniture bought and sold", " Louis, His cousin and His other cousin", "Marin" 4 "Stage Directions" Homework: Read pgs 28-35; " Those who don't", " There was an old woman she had so many children she didn't know what to do", " Alicia who sees mice", "Darius & the clouds" "And some more" 5 "What's in a word?" Homework: Read pgs. 39-49; "The family of little feet", "A rice sandwich", "Chanclas", "Hips" * 6 "The Names on Mango Street" Homework: Read pgs. 53-62; " The first job", "Papa who wakes up tired in the dark", "Born bad", "Elenita, cards, palm, water" 7 "The quest for a home" Homework: Read pgs. 65-74; "Geraldo no last name", Edna's Ruthie, "The Earl of Tennessee", "Sire", "Four Skinny Trees" 8 "Lights, Camera, Action! (Part 1)" Homework: Finish trailers 9 "Lights, Camera, Action!" (Part 2) Homework: Read pgs. 76-84; "No speak English", "Rafaela who drinks coconut and papaya juice on "Tuesdays","Sally ", "Minerva writes poems" 10 "No Speak English" Homework: Read pgs. 86-92; "Bums in the attic", "Beautiful & Cruel", " A Smart Cookie", " What Sally said" ** 11 "It's a she thing" Homework: Read pgs.94-101; " The Monkey Garden", "Red Clowns", "Linoleum Roses" 12 "Nature, Flowers and The Monkey Garden" Homework: Read pgs. 103- 109; "The Three Sisters", " Alicia & I talking on the stairs". " A House of my own", "Mango says goodbye sometimes" 13 "A Mango of my own" Homework: Prepare for proposal presentation 14 "The Proposal" (part 1) ***15 "The Proposal" (part 2) *Quiz one, ** Quiz two, *** Unit Exam Grading Policy Webquest (30 points): Information for grading the webquest can be found in my electronic portfolio. Quizzes (20 points): There are two quizzes given during this unit plan. Each counts as 10 points. Online Discussion Board (15 points): This board serves as an online journal for students. Students will be required to have at least a total of 12 entries for this unit plan. Unit Exam (15 points): This unit exam will be given on the last day of the unit plan. Class participation, In-class projects and Group work (20 points) Total: 100 Points "Introduction to The House on Mango Street" Objective: For this lesson students will be introduced to Cisneros' writing style and they will also briefly learn about some of the topics used in The House on Mango Street. They will also learn what a vignette is and discuss the style and form of it. Materials: Index cards, Pre-reading activity sheet (attached), copy of any vignette from The House on Mango Street Motivation: Strategy: • Write topics from pre-reading activity sheet onto index cards (one topic per card). • Divide students into groups of three and allow them to choose a index card without seeing a topic. • Inform students that they must write a poem or some prose about the topic on the index card (give students about 5-7 minutes to complete this) • Next, have students read their work aloud to the class. After all groups are done showcasing their work ask the questions: Was it easy to encapsulate a whole story into a poem or prose? Can it be done? • Pass out a copy of the vignette and have each students take turns reading a line each to the class (round-robin style) (I used the vignette "Hairs"). • Then have a class discussion on whether the vignette tells a complete story. (Do not discuss the theme or topic of the vignette). • Have students briefly look over the style and structure of the vignette. Ask the students what style of writing does the vignette mostly resemble. • Tell students that the style of the story is called a vignette and explain to them what it is. Homework: Read pgs. 3-8. "The House on Mango Street", "Hairs" and "Boys and Girls" Online discussion board question: What is the significance of the vignette "Hairs"? Write any questions or comments that you would like to discuss in class. "Hair, Hair and more Hairs" Objective: In this lesson students will discuss the significance of the vignette "Hairs" and they will read the poem "Hair" and connect it to the vignette. Materials: The House on Mango Street, copies of the poem "Hair" by Nick Nicholas (attached) Motivation: Have class discussion about the responses from the online discussion board and answer any question or comments the students had. Strategy: • Divide students into two groups and have groups face each other from opposites sides of the room. Pass out a copy of the poem to each student. • Have groups take turns reading a line aloud. (Ex. One group reads "Your hair is wild" and other groups reads "As wild, as hare") • Have students read poem again this way but to read it faster this time. • Next, have a class discussion on how saying the poem differently the second time change the poem. Also discuss with the class the repetition of the H's and W's in the poem and how it effected the poem as a whole. • Read the vignette "Hairs" and ask the students in what way could it be read to see it differently. (Example Try stopping at certain lines or read it as a poem) Homework: Read pgs. 10-17; "My Name", "Cathy: Queen of Cats", "Our Good Day", "Laughter". Online discussion board: Write about any of the vignettes that you have read for homework that you believe you can relate to? Why? Complete name etymology sheet. "What's in a name?" Objective: Today student will discuss the importance of names and learn about the importance of names in the novel. They will also connect supplement material about names with the novel. Materials: The House on Mango Street, Copy of lines from Romeo & Juliet (II,ii,1-2) (attached), name meaning sheet (attached) . Motivation: Students will have discussion about some responses from the online discussion board. Strategy: • As students walk in, purposely call them by a different name and look at their response. • Do motivation exercise with students (if students begin to question about calling them by a different name skip the motivation for today). • Have students read the lines from Romeo & Juliet and ask the students whether they believe the quote to be true or not. • Next, have students take out name meaning sheet and share their answers with the class. • Ask students how did it feel to be called by a different name as they walk in. Based on name meaning sheet, do names truly define the person. • Connect this to the novel by asking the students why does Esperanza dislike her name so much. What does her name meaning say about her or the story? Homework: Read pgs. 19-26; "Gil's furniture bought and sold", " Louis, His cousin and His other cousin", "Marin". Online discussion board: Why is the music box important to Esperanza? "Stage Directions" Objective: Students will learn how to do close reading of a text by making a promptbook from a vignette in The House on Mango Street. Materials: The House on Mango Street, Promptbook (from any play), Index card with title of vignettes from novel (try to use longer ones) Motivation: Class discussion about responses posted on online discussion board. Strategy: • Explain to students what a promptbook is and show them the example. • Allow students to group together, groups of four or five, then give them one of the index cards. Inform students that they will have to turn the vignette into a play before they can make the promptbook. (Write example on board : (From "Cathy, Queen of Cats" Cathy (snobbily): I am the great-great grand cousin of the queen of France. Esperanza (off- stage): She lives (points to Cathy), over there (points to building), next to Joe the baby grabber (light quickly focuses on Joe ). Allow students 15 minutes to complete this. • Then have students turn their work into a promptbook. Afterwards have them act out the play. Some students may act as director if there are not enough parts. Homework: Read pgs 28-35; " Those who don't", " There was an old woman she had so many children she didn't know what to do", " Alicia who sees mice", "Darius & the clouds" "And some more". Online discussion board: What is the significance of the vignette "Darius & the clouds"? Why is it in the book? "What's in a word?" Objective: In this lesson students will learn how to find the definitions of words through their context. Students will also learn about the importance of suffixes, prefixes and roots of words. Materials: The House on Mango Street, copies on suffixes, prefixes, roots sheet ( can be found at: http://www.gpc.edu/~lawowl/handouts/common-prefixes.pdf) Motivation: Class discussion about responses posted on online discussion board. Strategy: • Pass out suffixes sheet to students. Explain to students how words can often be taken apart in order to find the meaning. • Write a sentence on the board and underline a common word that the students should know (ex. She opened the window in order to let the cool air in.) • Explain students how the definition of window can be found through the context of the sentence. Guide students through this slowly. • Next, write another sentence on the board but give students a word that the may not know (ex. She played the banjo because she liked the sounds it made). • Have students try to guess the meaning of the word through context. • Review with students for upcoming quiz. Homework: Read pgs. 39-49; "The family of little feet", "A rice sandwich", "Chanclas", "Hips". Online Discussion Board: What significance do the shoes have in "The family of little feet". "The Names on Mango Street" Objective: Students will take Quiz one. Afterwards they will do close reading of the poem "The Names" and the vignette "And some more". They will attempt to connect the structure of the two works. Materials: The House on Mango Street, "The Names" by Billy Collins (attached) , Mango Quiz 1 (attached) Motivation: Class discussion about responses posted on online discussion board. Strategy: • Hand out quiz and gave students fifteen minutes to complete. • Read the vignette "And some more" to the class. Ask students what do the names in the vignette do to/for the story. • Re-read the vignette, but this time have the students stomp their feet every time they hear the names. Ask students above question again. • Hand out poem to students and have them "spirit read" it. Question for students: Do these names also have the same effect as the ones in the vignette? • Next, read the poem to the students but have them say the names in the poem aloud in unison. Question for students: Does the effect help you to realize the significance of the names in the poem and vignette? Especially the importance of names in the novel. Homework: Read pgs. 53-62; " The first job", "Papa who wakes up tired in the dark", "Born bad", "Elenita, cards, palm, water". Assignment: Go onto internet read and printout your horoscope for today. Was it accurate? Do you believe in horoscopes or psychics? "The quest for a home" Objective: In this lesson students will learn about webquests and go over the aspects of the webquest that they will complete in class. Students will also review how to do close reading of a text, seeing that it is the first part of the webquest that they will have to complete. Materials: The House on Mango Street, Computer Lab Motivation: Ask students about any online projects that they might have done for a class in the past Strategy: • Explain to students about webquests and what it entails. • Assign students to groups of four and read the introduction for the webquest. • Go over each task of the webquest and also the grading. • Go back to task one and review with students how to do close reading for the first half of task one. Give students an example from the text that would help students to do the webquest (ex. In the text Esperanza talks about the fear of having huge hips (50). Tell students that they could make an exercise room in the house for this problem). • Have students begin to work with group to talk about what approach they will take for the webquest. Homework: Read pgs. 65-74; "Geraldo no last name", "Edna's Ruthie", "The Earl of Tennessee", "Sire", "Four Skinny Trees" "Lights, Camera, Action! (Parts 1 & 2)" Objective: Students will learn how to make a trailer for a movie. They will create a trailer for The House on Mango Street. They will either share with the class the way they would do their trailer or if possible they will perform it in class. Materials: The House on Mango Street, Video examples of trailers (from any movies) Motivation: Class discussion: Can the text become a movie? How would it do in the movie theaters (sales)? How would they promote it? Strategy: • Show students 3 to 4 examples of trailers. Try to use ones from different genre movies (drama, love , action etc.) • Inform students that they are going to make a trailer for the an upcoming movie called The House on Mango Street • Assign students to groups of 5 or 6 to work for on the project Homework: Finish trailers Day 2 • Have students either share with the class the way they would do their trailer or if possible they perform it (give more credit for performance) Homework: Read pgs. 76-84; "No speak English", "Rafaela who drinks coconut and papaya juice on Tuesdays", "Sally", "Minerva writes poems". Online discussion board: Discuss the trailers and the process of making them "No Speak English" Objective: This day will focus on the topic of assimilation and they effect that it has on family life. Students will connect the poem "Half-breed girl in the City" and a chapter from How the Garcia girls lost their accents to the text. Material: The House on Mango Street, copies of "Half-Breed girl in the City" by Jo Whitehorse Cochran (attached) Motivation: Read poem to the students as they are walking into class. Strategy: • After reading poem to students, answer any questions or concerns that they might have about the poem • Hand out a copy of the poem to each student • Have one student read the first four lines of the poem. Then have each student read one word in the poem (round-robin style) • Discuss the effect of doing this to the poem and discuss the content of the poem in relation to the text as a whole (the issue/problem of race) • Start a class discussion about the vignette "No speak English". Have students lead this discussion. • Pass out chapter from How the Garcia Girls lost their accents and read to students • Compare the Garcia Girls with the little boy from "No speak English". Student should see the similarities between the two. Briefly discuss with students about assimilation. Homework: Read pgs. 86-92; "Bums in the attic", "Beautiful & Cruel", " A Smart Cookie", " What Sally said". Online discussion board: Why do you think Esperanza would want bums in the attic. "It's a she thing" Objective: On this day, students will take quiz 2. Students will discuss the difference between boys and girls. They will also read and connect the poem "Girl" and lyrics "Ain't nothing but a she thing" to the topic of boys and girls and The House On Mango Street. Material: The House on Mango Street, Mango Quiz 2 (attached) , copies of lyrics "Ain't nothing but a she thing" by Salt & Pepa (attached) , copies of "Girl" by Caryn Mirriam- Goldberg (attached) , copies of "A little difference between men and women (attached) Motivation: Hand out copies of " A little difference between men and women" to students as they enter the classroom. Strategy: • Give students fifteen minutes to complete quiz. • Begin the class with a discussion about the drawing and whether the students believe it's true or not. Note the different reaction between boys and girls. Question: What is the difference that the picture is trying to suggest. • Have students take turns reading a line each from the poem "Girl" (round-robin style) Question: How does the narrator view womanhood? Discuss the structure of the poem and some of the poetic elements in the poem. • Next hand out the lyric for the song and read to the students (if you know song you may sing it or at least speak to the rhythm of the song. You could also bring in the sing for the students to listen to) Questions: What does the song say about woman hood? Why are the two works different? Why do people see womanhood differently? • Connect this to Esperanza and the way that she views womanhood. Allow students to see this connection first. Homework: Read pgs.94-101; " The Monkey Garden", "Red Clowns", "Linoleum Roses". Online Discussion Board: What are Linoleum Roses? (Search internet for definition) "Nature, Flowers and The Monkey Garden" Objective: On this day students will read "The Flowers" and discuss the topic of growing up. They will connect the story to "The Monkey Garden". Material: The House on Mango Street, "The Flowers" by Alice Walker (attached) Motivation: Ask students whether they can recall the exact time they grew up Strategy: • Read the short story to the students and have them underline all the references to nature in the story. Question: What is the story about? • Have students read their references to the class. Discuss the ending sentence of the short story. Why is summer over for Myop? (Give students a chance to answer). If they are unsure explain to them that the experience Myop had has made her leave childhood and took away her innocence. • Discuss the underline references to nature and how nature is often seen as innocence or birth (such as spring). • Connect this with the vignette "The Monkey Garden" which also has the same references to nature. Students should understand that the vignette is explaining Esperanza's loss of childhood. Homework: Read pgs. 103-109; "The Three Sisters", " Alicia & I talking on the stairs". " A House of my own", "Mango says goodbye sometimes". Online discussion board: What do the three sisters mean by " When you leave you must remember to come back for the others. A circle, understand" (105) "A Mango of my own" Objective: Students will show a comprehension of the text by writing a poem that tells the whole story of the text. This will allow the teacher to see whether students have an understanding of the topics discussed in the text. Material: The House on Mango Street, copies of poem "Mango Street" by Dodi Thomas (attached) Motivation: Class discussion about responses posted on online discussion board. Strategy: • First congratulate the students on a job well done in completing this unit. • Put students into groups of four and hand out the poem. Have students read poem in unison aloud. • Inform students that the asssignment will be for them to create a poem that encapsulates the entire text. This should include most of the topics and mentioning of some the vignette titles. Allow students twenty mintues to complete. • After, have each group share their work with the class. Homework: Prepare for proposal presentation "The Proposal (Parts 1 & 2)" Objective: For the next two days students will do their proposal presentations in front of the class. On day 15 they will take a unit test and then complete the proposals. Mango Quiz One I. Answer the following questions (5pts.): 1) Why does Lucy hurry to take off the shoes at the end of "The Family of Little Feet" (3pts)? 2) Esperanza's name means (2pts.): A) Heart B) Heath C) Hope D) Happy II. Write the definition of the underlined word through the context of the sentence (5pts): "It's like drops of water. Or like marimbas only with a funny little plucked sound to it like you were running your finger across the teeth of a metal comb" (Cisneros 20). Extra Credit (1pt.) The suffix -ceed means . (ex. The teacher told the young man to proceed to the next question). Mango Quiz Two I. Answer the following questions (5pts.): 1) Why does Geraldo have no last name" (3pts)? 2) Who is the smart cookie in the vignette " A Smart Cookie" (2pts.): A) Esperanza B) Nenny C) Esperanza's mother D) Sally II. Write the definition of the underlined words through the context of the sentence (5pts): "She likes to dance. She knows how to do cumbias and salsas and rancheras even. And he was just someone she danced with" (Cisneros 65). Extra Credit (1pt.) The prefix mal- means . (ex. The doctor was accused of malpractice because the patient died in his care). Name Meaning For this assignment you will search the internet to find the meaning of your name. You can either type in your name and meaning at www.google.com (ex. Quiana and Meaning) or you can type in name and meaning on the same website. If your name is not there you can do someone's name in your home. 1) What does your name mean? Does it describe your personality or any aspect of you? 2) Ask your parent/guardian why they decided to give you the name you have? Did they know the meaning? 3) Is there a name that you like better than your own? What is it and what is the meaning? Often people say that a name "does not fit you"? Ask someone which name suits you better, yours or the one you like better. Mango Unit Test I. Answer the following questions (5pts.) 1) Why is the music box in Gil's store so important to Esperanza (2pts)? 2) How is Esperanza like the four skinny trees in the vignette "Four Skinny Trees" (2pts.)? 3) What are " The Three Sisters"? (1pt) A) Esperanza's Cousins C) Sally's Aunts B) Psychics D) Astronomers II. Write the definition of the underlined words through the context of the sentence (10pts) "Home is a house in a photograph, a pink house, pink as hollyhocks with lots of startled light (77). "Your abuelito is dead, Papa says early one morning in my room. Esta muerto, and then as if he just heard the news himself, crumples like a coat and cries, my brave Papa cries" (56). Extra Credit (1pt) The prefix dis- means . (ex. Laurie's mother did not want to distract her from completing her homework). Halfbreed Girl in the City School by Jo Whitehorse Cochran 1. are you Mexican are you Italian are you Chinese are you Japanese spic wetback greaseball slant-eye you are dark enough to question you are light enough to ask you have near black hair brown eyes and speak slow-english we are blonde blue eyed and wear store bought sweaters skirts or pants you are in homemade clothes out of style we circle round you and your sister you hug your sister close she's small and even darker we kick we tug at braids and coats we pull "I'm Indian!" out of you the social worker wants you to describe your family she asks does your father beat you does your mother does your father drink does your mother do you hate your parents do you cry tell me tell me do you like the reservation better are you ashamed in the classroom when you wet your pants why don't you speak up why don't you get excused why don't you go at recess tell me tell me speak! you stare out the window turn an alphabet block in your hands speak english speak english the social worker caws outside Canadian geese pass through your immediate sky six in an arc going south if you were a Changer like Star Boy you could fly with those long-necks but you must stay and look out this window Grand ma's words pound in your head they want to strip us of our words they want to take our tongues so we forget how to talk to each other you swallow the rock that was your tongue you swallow the song that was your voice you swallow you swallow in the silence (Poem by Jo Whitehorse Cochran reprinted with kind permission of Rethinking Schools: 1991, Rethinking Columbus [special edition of Rethinking Schools], p. 48.) "The Flowers" by Alice Walker 1. Reading and Writing about Short Fiction. Ed. Edward Proffitt. NY: Harcourt, 1988. 404-05. It seemed to Myop as she skipped lightly from hen house to pigpen to smokehouse that the days had never been as beautiful as these. The air held a keenness that made her nose twitch. The harvesting of the corn and cotton, peanuts and squash, made each day a golden surprise that caused excited little tremors to run up her jaws. Myop carried a short, knobby stick. She struck out at random at chickens she liked, and worked out the beat of a song on the fence around the pigpen. She felt light and good in the warm sun. She was ten, and nothing existed for her but her song, the stick clutched in her dark brown hand, and the tat-de-ta-ta-ta of accompaniment, Turning her back on the rusty boards of her family's sharecropper cabin, Myop walked along the fence till it ran into the stream made by the spring. Around the spring, where the family got drinking water, silver ferns and wildflowers grew. Along the shallow banks pigs rooted. Myop watched the tiny white bubbles disrupt the thin black scale of soil and the water that silently rose and slid away down the stream. She had explored the woods behind the house many times. Often, in late autumn, her mother took her to gather nuts among the fallen leaves. Today she made her own path, bouncing this way and that way, vaguely keeping an eye out for snakes. She found, in addition to various common but pretty ferns and leaves, an armful of strange blue flowers with velvety ridges and a sweet suds bush full of the brown, fragrant buds. By twelve o'clock, her arms laden with sprigs of her findings, she was a mile or more from home. She had often been as far before, but the strangeness of the land made it not as pleasant as her usual haunts. It seemed gloomy in the little cove in which she found herself. The air was damp, the silence close and deep. Myop began to circle back to the house, back to the peacefulness of the morning. It was then she stepped smack into his eyes. Her heel became lodged in the broken ridge between brow and nose, and she reached down quickly, unafraid, to free herself. It was only when she saw his naked grin that she gave a little yelp of surprise. He had been a tall man. From feet to neck covered a long space. His head lay beside him. When she pushed back the leaves and layers of earth and debris Myop saw that he'd had large white teeth, all of them cracked or broken, long fingers, and very big bones. All his clothes had rotted away except some threads of blue denim from his overalls. The buckles of the overall had turned green. Myop gazed around the spot with interest. Very near where she'd stepped into the head was a wild pink rose. As she picked it to add to her bundle she noticed a raised mound, a ring, around the rose's root. It was the rotted remains of a noose, a bit of shredding plowline, now blending benignly into the soil. Around an overhanging limb of a great spreading oak clung another piece. Frayed, rotted, bleached, and frazzled--barely there- -but spinning restlessly in the breeze. Myop laid down her flowers. And the summer was over. Ain't Nuthin' But a She Thing Lyrics It ain't a man's world (You go, girl!) No more sugar and spice (And everything nice) (repeat) CHORUS It's a she thing, and it's all in me (It ain't nothin' but a she thing, I could be anything that I want to be baby Don't consider me a minority Yeah, you know Open up your eyes and maybe you'll see It's a she thing It's a she thing, and it's all in me Strong, innocent, and I could be anything that I want to be Intelligent lady Don't consider me a minority Proud of who I am Ladies help me out if you agree It's a she thing) It ain't nothin' but a she thing (We are proud) It ain't nothin' but a she thing (Say it loud) It ain't nothin' but a she thing (On the rise) It ain't nothin' but a she thing (Better recognize) Now I can bring home the bacon (yeah), fry it in the pan (yeah) Never let you forget that you're a man Cuz I'm a W-O-M-A-N That's what I am, doin' all I can The thing that makes me mad and crazy, upset Got to break my neck just to get my respect Go to work and get paid less than a man When I'm doin' the same damn thing that he can When I'm aggressive then I'm a b When I got attitude you call me a witch Treat me like a sex-object (That ain't smooth) Underestimate the mind, oh yeah, you're a fool Weaker sex, yeah, right, that's the joke (ha!) Have you ever been in labor? I don't think so, nope I'm a genuine feminine female thang Can you hang? Ain't nothin' but a she thang CHORUS It ain't nothin' but a she thing (We are proud) It ain't nothin' but a she thing (Say it loud) It ain't nothin' but a she thing (On the rise) It ain't nothin' but a she thing (You better recognize) On the real I'm a female doin' what I feel Put me to the test, yes, I will get ill Sensitive and sweet, yeah, all that good stuff But when it's time to get rough, baby, I'm rough enough Ain't afraid to show how I feel down deep Compassisionate but don't underestimate me I'm intelligent, wise, complicated being With an instinct to dream and believe in the dreams Family's first before anybody else (believe that) Take care of them before I take care of self I'm a genuine feminine female thang Can you hang? Ain't nothin' but a she thang It ain't nothin' but a she thing (We are proud) It ain't nothin' but a she thing (Say it loud) It ain't nothin' but a she thing (On the rise) It ain't nothin' but a she thing (You better recognize) You got to understand it's a she thang We got the power, yeah, you know the deal So you go, girl (You go, girl!), it ain't no man's world You can do anything (You can do anything), do what you feel Excuse me, hold up...(Pep got the floor!) I'm givin' props to the strong women layin' down the law Taking control of the wrongs in their life (hey) Standing up and turning all the wrongs to the right (ho) I'd like to give a shout out to the mamas out there (Shout it out) Bringing up the babies with the tender loving care You're in charge of the future of the nation Do the right thing, lay the foundation To all the single mothers Salt-N-Pepa said, "Keep your head up" I know it gets hard sometimes but never let up You're a genuine feminine female thang Can you hang? Ain't nothin' but a she thang CHORUS It ain't nothin' but a she thing (We are proud) It ain't nothin' but a she thing (Say it loud) It ain't nothin' but a she thing (On the rise) It ain't nothin' but a she thing (You better recognize) Now let me break it down to the marrow of the bone I'm a female (go!), and I got it goin' on (ya know) Don't be fooled by my S-E-X It ain't that simple, I'm more complex We've come a long way, and, baby, that's a fact Let's keep moving forward, girls, never look back Fight for your rights, stand up and be heard You're just as good as any man, believe that, word CHORUS Girl When I was a girl I didn't know I was a girl. I thought I was more of a pigment, an open field, some kind of weather that disrupts everyone's life in the living room. I knocked over the cast iron iron again, and this time it broke. How could you break an iron iron? they yelled, but how could I not? The weight of metal on earth, wanting to return and I didn't have the clear premise of an "I" at my disposal. When money was missing, I thought surely I must have taken it. When it rained, a hurricane this time, I thought see what you've done now. I didn't believe in cause and effect, elements of surprise, or the slim chance meetings that changed everyone's lives. I didn't know that people were supposed to end, contained in vases to hold whatever you gave them. I thought we were more like land, islands even, unfurling slowly in the brown haze of the sea. I thought there was water everywhere, pouring us into changeable shapes, leaf or puppy or branch. All falling toward wherever it came from not afraid or surprised, not bad or tricked into good. All falling back into the horizons that come each evening to meet the fire. Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg's poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Sojourner, Wind, Cinncinati Poetry Review, The Exquisite Corpse, Feminist Studies, Phoebe, River City, California Quarterly, Louisville Review, Nimrod, and many other literary magazines, and has won several awards. She teaches at Goddard College. Her book Write Where You Are, a writing guide for teens, will soon be published by Free Spirit Press. COPYRIGHT 2003 Fairleigh Dickinson University COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group Hair Poem Your hair is wild, as wild as hare, it's wild as hare and wiles a hare, it wiles one here and wills one here, it wills one hers and wells one hers, it wells up hurt and walls up hurt, it walls up heart and wails through heart, it wails apart and sails apart, it sails a-port and souls at port, it's souls' rapport and holds rapport, its heeds outpoured and hills appeared, and hills appealed and hulls once peeled and hurls impaled and hers are pale and her a pile and higher a pile and higher a while and higher is willed. Your hair is wild. -Nick Nicholas Pre-Reading Activity The House on Mango Street 1. Riding in a stolen Cadillac 2. Living in an ugly read house with three trees outside 3. Sharing a bike ride with two other passengers 4. Living illegally in the United States 5. Shopping in a used furniture store 6. Marrying to escape a bad home situation 7. Rising early to make tortillas with a rolling pin The Names 1. Yesterday, I lay awake in the palm of the night. A soft rain stole in, unhelped by any breeze, And when I saw the silver glaze on the windows, I started with A, with Ackerman, as it happened, Then Baxter and Calabro, Davis and Eberling, names falling into place As droplets fell through the dark. Names printed on the ceiling of the night. Names slipping around a watery bend. Twenty-six willows on the banks of a stream. In the morning, I walked out barefoot Among thousands of flowers Heavy with dew like the eyes of tears, And each had a name -- Fiori inscribed on a yellow petal Then Gonzalez and Han, Ishikawa and Jenkins. Names written in the air And stitched into the cloth of the day. A name under a photograph taped to a mailbox. Monogram on a torn shirt, I see you spelled out on storefront windows And on the bright unfurled awnings of this city. I say the syllables as I turn a corner -- Kelly and Lee, Medina, Nardella, and O'Connor. When I peer into the woods, I see a thick tangle where letters are hidden As in a puzzle concocted for children. Parker and Quigley in the twigs of an ash, Rizzo, Schubert, Torres, and Upton, Secrets in the boughs of an ancient maple. Names written in the pale sky. Names rising in the updraft amid buildings. Names silent in stone Or cried out behind a door. Names blown over the earth and out to sea. In the evening -- weakening light, the last swallows. A boy on a lake lifts his oars. A woman by a window puts a match to a candle, And the names are outlined on the rose clouds -- Vanacore and Wallace, (let X stand, if it can, for the ones unfound) Then Young and Ziminsky, the final jolt of Z. Names etched on the head of a pin. One name spanning a bridge, another undergoing a tunnel. A blue name needled into the skin. Names of citizens, workers, mothers and fathers, The bright-eyed daughter, the quick son. Alphabet of names in a green field. Names in the small tracks of birds. Names lifted from a hat Or balanced on the tip of the tongue. Names wheeled into the dim warehouse of memory. So many names, there is barely room on the walls of the heart. -Billy Collins "What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other word would smell as sweet." --From Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)