House on Rainbow Street Anna

Names

Anna, a translation of the word Hannah from Hebrew meaning favor or grace. Elizabeth is a Hebrew name meaning oath of God or God satisfaction. There are mentions of both Anna and Elizabeth in the bible and many famous Elizabeth queens. Annette is my grandmother’s name hence the name Anna. My other grandma’s name is Elizabeth, no explanation necessary. So Anna Elizabeth is a family name.

I like my name and I think the grace part fits me. I like the way Anna Elizabeth rolls off your tongue when you say it. My name sounds professional and it gets to the point. The quick Anna is balance with the long Elizabeth and they go well together.

I like my name but it’s common. You can find many Anna’s and many Elizabeth’s and it’s infuriating. Whenever people are talking and they say Anna I whip my head around to find them talking about another Anna. While being named after queens is kind of cool it frustrates me that I’m not the only one. I like to be unique and different but how can you be with a name like Anna Elizabeth. Then you add it to my last name which everyone knows and people’s opinions about me are already decided.

Magic

Magic is simply something science can’t explain so isn’t magic present in our lives more than we realize? What about that feeling you get when you help someone or when someone you love is happy? These don’t go along with the scientific laws of natural selection but can’t everyone of us say they happen all the time? What about when someone wakes up from a coma, or when you get a perfect sense of purpose in your life? Are these things defined by science?

The fact is every single one of us posses magic. It may not be the wands we all wish for (I was hoping for my Hogwarts letter when I discovered this) but it is actually better. Poke whoever is sitting next to you and tell them your magic because you are. Magic lives inside all of us as long as we are willing to look.

So look, what are you waiting for? Go spread your magic in the world and search for others magic. You’ll be surprised at what you find.

Reflection

When people look at you what do they see? Is your identity clear, or do they just think it is? Do other people see you or do they see someone else? Are you wearing a mask and hiding yourself?

Sometimes people think they know everything but they have only scratched the surface. They like to assume they know you because you seem open but the truth is you have secrets buried deep inside. In a dark place inside of you where you can’t even go for long or you’ll start crying. They are buried their under useless thoughts where no one will reach them.

But they remain.

Because you can’t take away that part of yourself. The secrets, the lies hidden inside make up who you are. What are we without our hardest times. Our truest self can be found in those dark places we just need to figure when to turn on the light. When we need to let in other people and let them see who we are. Let them see us without our masks. Let them find that hidden treasure buried deep within you. Because the fact still remains, when you put pressure on coal it turns to diamonds and when sand is trapped in a dark clam it thinks it will never escape it becomes a pearl.

Who is it you let the world see? Shouldn’t everything you do be a reflection of what you love most? How would everything look if we let everyone see our darkest sides? Who bulling be a bigger problem or would the vulnerability create empathy? Some say it doesn’t matter, after all it’s never going to happen anyways still as cliche as it sounds if everyone changed a little wouldn’t that make a difference?

Crushes

Crushes suck. They’re annoying and get in the way. Why do we need them anyway it’s not like they have any actual value to our lives? Wouldn it be easier if you didn’t have middle school crushes at all? Literally all they do is cause you pain.

It’s almost like they’re a warning from fate. Like hey, you are going to have people you care about who hurt you and you need to get away from them but something will drag you back every time. Think about isn’t it impossible to stop a middle school crush? When we see them dating others they hurt us, when they do something wrong they hurt us but we like them anyways. How dumb is that?

A crush just appears in your life. Everything is going alright then, boom, a crush pops up. Kind of like an annoying pimple that won’t go away a crush will just keep annoying you for a couple months then all of a sudden it’s gone. Just like that, poof, and your life is better for awhile until another one of the annoying things pop up. It’s a never ending cycle you can’t get out of because you’re a teenager and you have stupid hormones.

Togas

Togas were the clothing worn by ancient Romans for a while they were the most powerful nation on the earth but they fell like all great things do. Nothing last forever.

My parents met at a toga party. My dad and his friends were throwing a toga party because they were in college, enough said. He invited a girl he worked with and she didn’t want to go alone so she invited her friend. They didn’t think they would actually show up, and why would they after all this was a party thrown by college guys. The girls came but somewhere in the communication it got lost that this was a toga party, or they probably wouldn’t have shown up. So the first time my parents met my dad was wearing purple and gold tights.

Considering this story it isn’t a surprise I grew up to be obsessed with mythology. After all it is in my blood. Need someone to tell you who Medusa’s kids were, or how many heads a hydra has. I got you, need someone to explain the family tree of Greek gods, or how the Egyptians believed the world started? I know. Still I can’t tell you what the purpose of pythagorean theorem, I can tell you Acrimedias created it and that he was killed by Romans when they invaded Greece.

Greece was a strong nation but it fell to the Romans. The Roman Empire was a world power for a long time. People thought it was invinceable but it fell later to some other powerful nation I should probably know. Nothing last forever. In the words of Robert Frost, “Nothing gold can stay.”

“Stay gold” -S.E. Hinton.

Life and Death

“He’s in the hospital,” The words kept ringing in my ears. He couldn’t be, that’s impossible. A month ago I would've said he was one of the healthiest person I know, he exercised, he ate right. Still none of this makes the words any less true.

“Is it bad?” I find myself asking.

My mom nods, “You know he had surgery not long ago. Well he passed out and Nana took him to the hospital.”

“Is he alright?” I interrupted and she just gave me a look.

“They found out he has a blood clot in his lungs, one in his heart, and two in his legs. The doctor said it is the biggest clot he’d ever seen on a living person.”

I felt tears come to my eyes but I forced them down. I would not cry, “Is it affecting anything else?” My mom nodded “What,” I asked. I knew my voice sounded icy and distant. I sounded like I didn’t care but this was far from true. I had to think about this logically, nothing else would keep me from breaking down.

I didn’t want to ask the question I really wanted an answer to so I worked my way around it. I would make my own prognosis with the information.

Everything would be ok, everything would be ok , everything will be ok.

My vignettes are all my personal thoughts, other than Life and Death, that continue to influence the way I go at life. Most of the things I talk about are problems many people who are coming of age deal with. These are some of the thoughts that somehow ended up on the computer screen when I started typing and reading them I truly realize how true they are.

Many of the events described in The House of Mango Street are hard for me to relate to since I haven't experienced abuse, having my friends married young, or struggling to be individual. I haven't really experienced a coming of age moment yet but I think many times there isn't a set moment, we can see it happening a little and then instantly it's done.

I have trouble connecting with Esperanza because of the stiffness of the writing style. This is the same problem I has with Anthem, even though I understood both books the way the authors wrote made me disconnect with the characters. That being said I appreciate this book for it's eye opening stories. (Yes stories plural, while this book focuses on Esperanza it also tells the stories of other girls in the novel and it was written to express the stories of other women who went through similar experiences.) It brings you to another world that was more foreign to me than one with magic and expresses problems that so many different people can connect to globally.

Where I want to live.

Credits:

Created with images by zader - "Masks" • Kimthecoach - "ask for alms villager africa" • PurpleCar - "Mirror" • Patrick Hoesly - "iPhone Background - Liquid Brass" • ronhvass - "tulip dried plant" • romanboed - "Windmill in a field of flowers" • WikiImages - "the pleiades star cluster star star clusters" • jameelwinter - "Fire" • xlordashx - "Hands" • pittaya - "Books"

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