Personal Narrative: Rio Grande Valley

It was April of 1999. My family was at home. Children were running outside. The asphalt was burning. Cars rolled up to the entrance of the apartments and BANG. I grew up in Stockton, California. Surprisingly, as a minority, I wasn’t really a minority. There were, in fact, a large and diverse population of Asian-Americans. But, Stockton is not the ideal place to live. It was hot and dry, almost to the point of a drought. Stockton was also ranked as the one of the top 5 most dangerous cities in California. So, having a nice and safe family is kind of difficult. Eventually, my family decided to move to Crescent City, California when my dad retired. It was a world of difference. There were trees, plentiful water, and a nice cool temperature. This

I grew up in a city named Colorado City, TX – the city is located in Central West Texas. I had a really good friend, that I became best friends with, named Daniel. We went riding our bikes everywhere around this little town, scraping our knees on concrete and crashing our bikes on practically everything (since there was practically nothing to do in this town – this was before the 3M Palace Theatre was reopened).

I've been abandoned all alone in a trailer park in Gallup, New Mexico. I just received a phone saying i was dead and my mom was in the hospital.

My mind will often wander to all the places I've lived in and all those I would love to travel to, or visit again. I think of the streets of Santa Fe, how fresh it would be compared to the over 100 degree temperature of were I am now, the hot dry heat of El Paso, Texas, a place I often come back to, the soil were my roots are permanently ingrained. El Paso has grown significantly in the past 10 years alone and is now the sixth most populous city in Texas (World Population Reviw). It's far from it's days when it was widely known as “El Chuco,” or “ChucoTown,” nicknames whose origins and meaning have long been debated, but no matter how much of the new generation is unfamiliar with these terms the history lives on through the streets and current

The birds, squirrels, and fishes living in tranquility. The daylight there is an early riser, while the night feels like a mother rocking her baby; peaceful. Therefore, the nights are so still that only the beautiful harmony of the crickets could be heard. The green tree looks so alive, they were standing large and stiff. There was even the opportunity of exploring the mountain trails. It was amazing being able to experience something completely different, especially when it was just a few days from starting my junior year. The memories from that trip will be unforgettable.

I was raised alongside my brother in the suburbs of Denver, more specifically, the city of Highlands Ranch. Whether the residents of Highlands Ranch care to admit it or not, it is one of the least diverse areas in the country. It is mainly composed of middle to upper class conservative white families where the most change they’ve had to deal with is to that of the seasons. Don’t get me wrong, Highlands Ranch is great place to live and an even better place for a kid to grow up in; its safe, full of resources, and an all around pleasant area. However, concerning diversity and the open-mindedness of the area is lacking. Thus I am extremely lucky to have had the parents that I did, for the lessons they’ve taught my brother and I concerning how to treat others different from ourselves were especially valuable.

My mother tells me that the first word I learned to say was tortilla. She tells me that I was always more at home in the kitchen watching my grandmother make food then playing with my siblings. In my family food is the most important part of your life, my grandmother always said that a good meal was a perfect way to express how you feel and who you are. Growing up down here in Hidalgo, we have to learn how to be creative in our everyday lives ,and it’s slowly shaping us into the men and women that we will be in the future.

3) A heavy rain pour down the city of Houston on June 19, 2006. According to the article from NBC news, there was a lot of cars stall and many neighborhoods flooded. There was as much as, “10.5 inches of rain reported,” and in some areas there was six inches of rain which caused delays in airports. The Houston city is no stranger to floods yet the amount of rain that poured as such little time was surprising.

Just 2 hours later after gathering our last group, 80% of New Orleans was under water, up to 20 feet in deep places. (“11 Facts About Hurricane Katrina”). It was my very first hurricane and it happens to be the largest and 3rd strongest hurricane ever recorded to make landfall in the U.S. (“11 Facts About Hurricane Katrina”). But I wasn’t scared because I had all these kids who have experienced one already and they can keep me company.

Growing up in the Rio Grande Valley was an experience like no other. The RGV is full of Tex-Mex, laughs, and the most random things you can think of. Despite all its quirks it’s a beautiful place to live in, and it’s home to me.

Back in 2012 we had a Derecho which was a damaging wind storm which some people called it a mini tornado in Waynesboro. I was outside at a racetrack when this happened and it seemed like time stood still. Everyone was rushing to their cars to go home and running around looking for somewhere to take cover. All I can remember was the adrenaline rush to get into a safe and sturdy place to wait out this storm. My mawmaw told me to get under the concession stand shelf, but all I wanted was to peek up and watch as this wind picked up every little thing it could. Trees were down, power was out, and destruction was left behind for some houses. The ending quote Crenshaw wrote, “I realized they watched from the window to see the terrible beauty of the storm…”( 2004, pg.206), made me relate back to that night because all I wanted to do was sit and watch as this storm

One of the biggest events of the year in El Paso, Texas, is the big outdoor market that only happens once a year, exactly during the first weekend of June. It happens in Downtown El Paso a city where we have more hours of sunshine than of darkness.

The four major units of study in this course this semester are, unit one: Writers of the Rio Grande Valley, unit two Approaches from the Education and Library Fields, unit three: Genre Innovations and the Hero’s Journey, and finally unit four: New Beginnings. The unit that I am most looking forward to is unit one: Writers of the Rio Grande Valley. I’m really looking forward to this unit because knowing stuff in general from the Rio Grande Valley really interests me and knowing that we will learn about writers of the Rio Grande valley gets my attention and interests me a bit more.

I found it funny (in a strange way) to see the first topic was on hurricanes as well. I live in Corpus Christi and Harvey's eye was about thirty miles from my house at its closest point. Fortunately, we were on the western side of it, the winds where pushing the water out of Corpus Christi Bay and its estuaries, so there was no storm surge here. While the winds did get very strong, about sixty-five miles per hour, we sustained almost no damage and our power stayed on for all but five minutes. Unfortunately, the cities north and east of us where impacted by the full force of Harvey and were the recipients of all of the water pulled out of the bay. The town of Rockport and the surrounding areas were almost completely obliterated. It is a testament

“We sometimes give so much that we end up losing ourselves.” These few words amounted to so much more after the week long Las Vegas trip and for that they will never be forgotten. The task of playing seven basketball games and still trying to go scope out the Strip, generated a feeling that had submerged you into a feeling of panicky, with an outcome being an anxiety attack in the lobby of the prestigious Caesars Palace.