Corina + Gomez Transcript

>> CARINA GOMEZ:  Hi, my name is Carina Gomez and this is my Literacy Narrative. So, I pretty much--I'm trying to think--okay, when I was little my father would always buy me the little golden books and stuff like that and my mom would always read them to me. He was mostly always working. I remember, because she wasn't too familiar with the English language, but the ones that were still in English she would still kind of read them but by going by what the pictures had. She would invent a story every single time she would read it to me. So, it is pretty interesting, because she said that as I got older I would always tell her, "No, that's not what it said. It says something else and yesterday you said the story said this." It was a really good way of, I guess, getting used to the idea of books and they each tell a story--stuff like that. 

>> I remember, specifically, I had one little cassette tape that an aunt gave us and my mom and I would lie down and listen to it. It was an audio tape, I guess, of "Cenicienta" which is "Cinderella" in Spanish. It was one of my favorites; I still have the tape, I just couldn't find it at the moment. I have it stored away somewhere. She would always tell me stories of her as a child and growing up and It was always very interesting. She's a really good storyteller although she's not very big on reading herself, but she knew the importance of reading or she must have thought it was pretty important because she would always make sure that--because she would also buy me books and she would always make sure that I had a book or something and she would read me a little story. I guess, being a little girl, I was always nagging her to read me another one even if I knew she was kind of inventing it as she went along sometimes.

>> Certain hobbies that I had--I always loved writing poetry. For a while I could hear it as music and I would write it out, because I love music. My favorite type of literacy, or whatever--of literature--is lyrics. They are my favorite and I can't think back to a time where I didn't read the lyrics and just really, Wow! They're inspirational, just fun, they're poetic. Actually, I remember doing a lot of--because I was the oldest and for a while I didn't have any siblings--I remember doing a lot of play talking with myself or imaginary people, I guess, or with my toys. I used to play school a lot later on when I had my brothers. When I had my first brother I would always play school with him; even later on when the other one was born they were my two students. It was just a thing I always liked. It's like I always knew education was something that I really wanted to do and something I felt kind of passionate about even though it took me a while to realize that I should go into that field. I always wanted to; I guess I just wanted to make sure. I would get my cousins and tell them to write things and I would supposedly grade them. I was pretty good at spelling--I still am--and grammar and stuff like that. Although, that wasn't always the case for like the mechanics, the punctuation and stuff like that. I remember I have a few of my old papers that I've come across like little essays that I had written in middle school and stuff and I'm like, "Oh my gosh." I was--it was so bad, yet that's what I'm going into. I want to teach English like as a subject and I think it was the teachers that I had. They were very inspiring, they were very supportive and I never felt like I should give up. They didn't focus on correcting my mistakes always. It was like, "Focus on this" or "the subject is good" or "the story". I was always very imaginative. I guess I still am. It was always a thing; I would make up like little stories and claim that this is what happened on a certain day. It was pretty obvious though, like in my writing.

>> Some of my favorite books that I remember reading especially in, was it elementary, were the Judy Bloom Books. They're so addicting and good, entertaining and relatable. They dealt with a lot of issues that a lot of young adults or, kind of like, pre-adolescent people go through. I remember being slightly shocked at the content of some of them, but feeling that it's okay and it is good. I just remember loving those. There was one book, going back to elementary, where--it's called "Martina". In English it's called Martina the Beautiful Cockroach and it was in Spanish, because I was in bi-lingual classes. I don't know, it really stuck to me and I found it--well my mom found it--years later in a garage/yard sale type of thing without knowing and I was like, "Oh my god this is the book that I used to love in the first grade." I still have it; it's one of my niece's favorites actually and then I bought the English version for her because she doesn't understand Spanish very well.

>> I read books in high school that were--well actually they were the plays, the Shakespearian plays. I was so in love with those; they were awesome. I remember there was--well one thing that I remember is we had to, well we didn't have to because it was for extra credit and I was like, "Ooo, cool." It was for English class which--I always loved math and English; it was my thing. I actually wanted to teach math for a while and then, I don't know, I decided English was my true passion. One thing that I remember we had to memorize was that whole "Friends, Romans, countrymen lend me your ears. I come to bury Caesar not to praise him" and then I forgot the rest but I knew that whole little chunk and I don't remember, but I remembered it for the longest time and I really liked it. [laughs]

>> [burps] Excuse me.

>> Oh, my gosh. Okay, I do remember even--sorry. I remember in first grade our teacher was a big fan of having us perform plays and it was really fun. I remember at first, because I was terribly shy--wait this was for fourth grade and I said first--for fourth grade, sorry. I remember, at first, I didn't want to have anything to do with any of the plays and I picked the smallest of roles and--sorry--I was really good at memorizing everybody's lines. So, I thought, "You know what, I'm going to go for a bigger role next time." I remember one had to do with some kind of--oh I remember it was Christopher Columbus and I played I think like two roles--I'm so sorry, because I'm sweaty. It's hot or I'm nervous or whatever. Okay. Why am I nervous? Relax. So I played the role of a guard taking Christopher Columbus away from the queen, Queen Elizabeth was it? I forgot all my other roles but they were small roles where I had to say, for instance, the guard had to say, "This way, sir" and that was it. After that I was like, "Oh c'mon. I knew the whole play. I knew whose line was next. People would get stuck and I would whisper to them their lines. I would say that they're not really putting that much emotion into that, you know. So, for the next play that we did we did something about--it was like a satire type of thing on George Washington and him trying to prove his innocence in a court trial, a real trial for chopping down that cherry tree. So, I was like I want to be George Washington, because he was the lead role and I've always been, and I don't know why, but I've always been so anti-typical roles that women have to fall under men and I'm like, "No, c'mon seriously?" That's just always has been one of my things--no. If I find a way to break that I do it. 

>> Oh, my gosh, my bangs. No, it's this way. Sorry

>> So, at first you hear little giggles; keep in mind this is fourth grade. So, what is that like ten-year-olds is it, something like that? Well, I was like, "No, I'm not joking; I'm serious" and the teacher was like, "Oh, okay." You could tell she was a little reluctant at first but I was like, "No, I know he's a guy." She started telling me he's not a girl and I'm like, "Yeah, I know George Washington. He's on the quarter and the dollar." How could I not know? Hello. So, anyway she was a great teacher though in case she watches this is embarrassing. 

>> Stop looking at your hair. Don't look at yourself.

>> So, I played George Washington and I was so excited and of course I learned the play in like that and it was just, to me, really easy. I remember one time, because that teacher was known for setting up little plays and having other classes sitting down on the desks and watch us as an audience and it was exciting, you know. And for some reason I wasn't nervous and it was so different from how I am now. I just get anxiety and I'm like, "Oh, my god." I had always wanted and loved that and, I don't know--but I didn't join anything like that in high school or middle school or if they have them--I know they do in high school. It is a shame; you shouldn't let your fears overcome what you want to do. Anyway, I got really cocky towards the end and overly confident and I was just kind of relaxing, because I had to act like I was just there I think in one of the little scenes and then all of a sudden I started--I blanked out and I shouted a random comment. It was the correct line but in the wrong place. Other than that they were great. It was fun and that was really awesome actually. I think it's an idea that I might definitely look into.

>> I do and have kept several different diaries. The only thing is for some weird reason I decided to get rid of the evidence. I guess it was like they were so secret; they're my secrets. I read them when I got older and I was like, "Oh, my god how embarrassing." Unfortunately, I got rid of them and I'm like, "Oh, why?" I do have one that I have which is already pretty thick--it's just a regular notebook--but it's filled with poems and tears and joy. I only tend to write in my little diary/journal thing--I call it a journal--when I'm extremely happy or just completely depressed. I love it; it's awesome. It's where I go to when I just feel like immense emotion; I need to express it. I think that's pretty much where it comes from; if I'm feeling somewhere in the middle, eh. I've tried to go on days where I feel normal--well not normal because what is normal--when I feel balanced and I end up getting bored and I'm like, "Really? Who cares about--although, I try to though especially on trips. If I take a trip or even if there were like days that were normal I'd try, like when I'd go back, to recap kind of. I think it is fun and there are days were I just feel like reading but nothing in particular. I'll pull it out, start reading and I'm amazed and I remember when I wrote this or I know exactly what I'm talking about there. And wow I can't believe I went through that. The poetry that comes out of it is like, wow! But I've always liked poetry, really. So, I don't know, I find it difficult to express myself vocally at times and at sometimes not so much, but, at least when it comes to serious emotions, expressing myself to other people--it depends really--there are a lot of times when I have a hard time with that and I guess I found out that through poetry I don't have to be completely specific to what it is that I'm going through. I could be kind of vague and mysterious, but still know exactly what I'm talking about and find a way to express that and not have it bottled up. Emotions can sometimes rot you away, so it's very important to find an outlet and writing has definitely been one of my main things, outlets. 

>> My father tends to read the newspaper a lot and I'm pretty sure, subconsciously or whatever, that has been an example to us. It's funny because when we were at my parents' house and my brother and I--the youngest because I have two--we'll sit down and we'll be eating and we'll pass each other different pages of the newspaper and say, you know while we're eating, "Oh, did you read this today? It's pretty interesting." And then I'm like, "Oh, okay." One time my cousin was kind of making fun of us, because she was like, "You guys read? That's cool that you guys read while you eat." I said, "Oh, I'm sorry. Let's talk." It's just a thing that comes naturally to us.

>> I do remember growing up and I would memorize a lot of bible verses and have to present them in front of the church. That was a thing I really liked, but for some reason I don't remember them a lot. There's one that I do hold dear to me. My dad, for instance, would--you might vaguely mention what one is about and he'll tell you. It's always been something that's kind of impressed me; throughout all these years that he just remembers. 

>> Okay, so there are many ways that I communicate and stuff like that, but there's a cousin and we're so close but I had recently had to move to Dallas and texting, emails and stuff like that has been very important. We almost do it, I would say, maybe 3 times a week. It's a very good way to keep in touch with people. I don't like to social network. I got rid of everything; when I did it was a really good way of keeping in touch with family members that I have all over.

>> Okay, I guess I'm going to go ahead and stop. Yeah, I don't know how to end this.