Fast Food

            My history with fast food, well when I lived in Mexico I did not ate too much fast food. I don’t remember visiting fast food restaurants that often, but I do remember a Burger King over there that sometimes we would go and eat. We would only eat like once a month because we used to live with my aunts and uncles, so we had a lot of cooking there. That change when we move here to the U.S I remember the first week being here I ate like five days in that week. I would eat any kind of fast food except from McDonald because since the first time I ate their food I was about to throw up. Since then my family and I would go and eat fast food every weekend, my favorite fast food restaurant was Burger King, but we would also eat Jack in the box. We would order the big size and I always drank coke and I would get a refill two times. We did that for like five years and even though I watched a movie about what would happen if we ate too much fast food specially McDonalds I still ate it anyway.

                Getting in to college I still ate fast food on the weekends. Last semester I took a health class in which we had to do a project about fast food. In the project we had to investigate what was in most of their food, and the calories. What I found out was really bad for anyone who consumes that kind of food and what it does to our body is really terrible. Most of the food given by fast food restaurant does not even have real chicken, they also contain some bacteria in it. I saw some nasty ingredients that they put on their menu so since that project I have not eaten in any fast food restaurant. With all those ingredients that they put in their food it made me realize that what we put in our bodies is something that it should be made illegal. 

Essay #1

Starting a New Life

When we are just little kids we adjust to the things around us. We know what’s around us, like the people and the houses. Now what happens if you have to leave that entire life behind, because you and your family have to go to another country. All the friends you met, and family that you know, well you have to say goodbye to them. That happened to me when I was twelve years old, we had to move out of our country Mexico to get into the United States.

I used to live near the border and even though the U.S was on the other side, we were on a poor side of the state. It was a really nice place that I liked, but we were not living that well, so my dad decided that we should give it a try and move to the U.S. It was not my dad’s plan but it was our only option so that we could live better. After we sold everything that we had, it was time to go to the other side. We arrived to the place that some guy told my dad, we waited there for like two hours before we met with some guys. We got in a van, I was a little scared but was not nervous, they started talking with my dad and mom, while my brother and I were playing. We got to a house were we slept for a while but then I heard my mom, “wake up it’s time to go”. When we were ready, my dad stopped us and began to pray.

It was a cold night and I was happy at that time, and to be honest I really don’t know why I felt like that. If I was leaving my country I thought that I would be kind of sad, but it wasn’t the case. We walked for ten minutes and then we finally got to the place. It was really bright because of all the lights, and officer or someone from the immigration came to us and asked some questions, but I didn’t even paid attention because it was my first time seeing those types of weapons, they were not small guns, it looked like if they were going to war. I looked at him and asked, “Have your ever used them before?” my mom squeezed my hand really hard that I wanted to cry.

            Around ten minutes passed and the officer was still asking questions. I wasn’t scared, but then sudden all I heard was some people yelling, “Run, Run!” at that time I got scared. The officer stayed with us, but he kept a hand on his gun. More officers came to where we were and they were not as friendly as the first one. They looked really mad, and one of them started talking really loud to my dad, but my dad never seemed like he was scared or nervous. After a while we finally started moving, they finally let us go. While we were walking all I saw was people sad and crying, a woman with a baby in her arms, it looked as if she was talking to God. There were like two kids around my age who were really scared, I could tell by the look on their faces.

            We kept walking and I started talking to my mom and asked her, “Why were those people crying?” she told me, “Soon you will understand”. We finally met a guy in a car and we got in, he drove around five hours nonstop, and then we finally me our uncle right here in Oxnard. It was so different from the place that I lived. Nice houses and grass everywhere, I felt strange but it looked good. We got to our uncle’s house, and it was a really big house and there we finally met our entire family living here, and that’s how I got here. Now being on this side is really a good place compare to where we lived, but I will still miss where I used to live.

            After everything that I saw that night it changed my life and the way I look at life. It made me realize that not everyone have their life as good as we. Life is not fair for many people and I wonder why, but I will never get an answer. We all have our struggle at some point of our lives, their just totally different problems. If this is a country where people believe in a God then why do they have to show a card to get in? Everyone should be able to go where they want, because we didn’t created the planet, so we have no right to claim what territory is ours. This experienced showed me that if your want a better life, it won’t be easy but it could happen.

Marriage

            I really think that marriage is still alive, and that’s because even though we as a generation are more liberals, we are always going to be looking for someone to be with. Being with somebody will always be in the human minds, that’s how we are raise and how many want to live their lives. Although I do think it is still strong I believe it is not because of the love one has for their partner. Now we see teens having kids, and when their parents notice that the girl is pregnant, the first question they ask is who the father is right? So now the girl tells her dad who the father is, and to make sure that her daughter is not alone they make those two teens get marry. That’s why I also think the divorce rate is getting higher, because those two teens maybe didn't love each other and when they get older they are probably be getting a divorce. That’s why I think that marriage is still strong, and I know that because I've seen it with family members. I see marriage more as wasting money so that people can see our wedding, when we think of marriage most of the time the first thing on our mind will be the wedding and the rings.

            When someone gets married they agree to spend their lives together and to be faithful. In the essay of Rivera, if you get a “temporary marriage” then it is not a marriage. I don’t know why they even called it that name, marriage main point is to live together until someone dies. By doing that temporary marriage, if you are religious, it would be disrespectful. There is no such thing as “temporary marriage” because you promise to be with that person for the rest of your life. In the vows you wouldn't say “and to live with you for the next two years”. That sounds weird to me and I’m sure it does sound weird to you. Getting marry is a compromise between a couple, is not an “if I like it I’ll renew our marriage”. Marriage is a serious compromise that needs to be taken really serious between the couple. To me temporary marriage is like saying F u the church and family tradition.

            I think that if a couple wants to get marry they need to think about what could happen once they marry and give it some critical thought. I do believe that getting married won’t necessarily make you happy. I've seen it with many families who are not happy being married. And even though there is another way to reduce divorce, “temporary marriage”, I think a successful marriage doesn't need an expensive ring so that we show it to the whole world like they do in the media, it also doesn't need an expensive wedding dress, it just need real love and I think that’s the most important thing and that’s what is missing in most marriages. This is just my opinion on marriage, and I know that it would be different from many of you. 

           

            

Name

      My name is Emmanuel, and the story of why they gave me this name is just funny to me. My dad is a huge fan of a Mexican singer name Emmanuel and well that’s how I got my name. He said that he made a pact with a friend that they would name one of their kids Emmanuel, and that’s what he did. I’m thankful that they gave me this name because in some way I will always have a part of my dad and what he liked, and in case you were wondering I also like the music of that singer but not as much as my dad. The meaning of my name is "God is with us". It is a biblical name that was first written in the Old Testament, in the Old Testament it has something to do with the birth of the messiah. The popularity of this name is not very high in the U.S its rank at 171 in popular names in the U.S.

      My last name is Gavino, and it comes from Italy. I really like my last name because it’s not really popular. My dad tells me that we come from Italy because my grandfather told him that two generations before them they use to live over there but they moved to México for some reason. It doesn't have that much story because it’s not very popular. Its meaning is “White Hawk” or “Little Falcon”. I haven’t met anyone the same last name except for all my family of course.

      If they gave me the opportunity to change my name I would say no because I like my name. I would never change my name, because I was given that name and it will stay with me. I love the meaning of my name and the fact that is not a very popular name it makes it better for me. More importantly I consider my name a gift of my parents, a gift that will stay with me for all my life. I also would not change my surname because I think is a cool surname and because it’s not very popular, I’m sure that many of you would of not know this last name until now, and that’s what I like about it.