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Gabriela Prado
Professor Tyberg
English 100/1A STACC
5 October 2014
My Favorite Journal Entry
It was my first day of junior year, just as how it was for the student writer of diary 59 in
the story Freedom Writers Diary by Erin Gruwell. The only difference was that I was nervous
I have never heard the name of my English teacher that was mentioned in my class schedule. I
did not even know how to pronounce the name next to the room number. The name was
Ciuperca, look at it I thought it was cupid. My class schedules never mentioned if it was a Mr. or
Ms. so I just let me to wonder if it was a male teacher or a female. That was one thing I hated
about those schedules. Anyways as I enter my English class I see a very great teacher nicely
dressed and she was greeting us as she was standing by the front desk. She had a face like if she
was going to be really mean and supper strict, I was not wrong about the strict part but I was
wrong about the mean part. She was the sweetest teacher you could ever meet her name was
pronounced chuperka but it was spelled Ms. Ciuperca.
Diary entry 59 consists of two parts in which the writer talks about how she was assigned
to do a reading but she didnt want to read it and she was questioning herself and asking why is
there a need for her to read. Later that day she picked up the book and then she began to read she
began to read the back page, I guess it is her way of seeing if the story is going to be interesting
or not, and then she moved on to the front page to begin reading. As she was reading she loved

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how the author wrote and she was astonished on how his diction was very good and she fell in
love with the author. She really liked the book and so she continued to read it all. That is the first
part later she talks about how her mother calls her all the time to check up on her every time she
goes out, in this case she was at her best friends house, her mom called her and started acting
like a detective asking her questions. She began to talk about how her mom grounds her and
doesnt let her go anywhere but her room. When the student was at her best friends house, she
was supposed to go home and then they planned to go to the beach and somehow ended up in
Las Vegas. She talks about how she had lots of fun but then her mom was calling and calling so
that really killed her fun for her and her breakfast was bitter thanks to the last call her mom had
made her. When she got home to explain that they happened to end up in Las Vegas her mom did
not buy that and she obviously got in trouble. To the fact that she was grounded she was stuck in
her room and that is where she saw the book and she began to read it. This entry was really
interesting and it made me remember the essay of Richard Rodriguez in which he talks about a
private and public figure, in which the student begins to talk first about how she discovered her
private inner self during reading and her public which was the fact that she was grounded and her
mother cares and that is shown a lot.
On my first day of class Ms. Ciuperca introduced us to an author whom I have never
heard of, his name was Edgar Allan Poe, and he wrote a lot of poems and short stories. Ms.
Ciuperca had assigned us to read a certain short story of Poe. Just as how the student who wrote
the journal entry 59, I was also assigned to read but for me it wasnt a book it was the short story
from Edgar Allan Poe for a discussion in class. I was thinking, the exact same questions or
almost the same as the student whom wrote the journal entry 59 to myself, why are we going to
discuss about this short story in class for?, what is the whole point of reading this short story?

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Just the title sounded really weird The Black Cat I hate cats therefore there was no way I was
going to read that. As how the student from journal 59 I began to read the short story The Black
Cat by Poe. I began to like the first few sentences of the book and I caught on quick and I loved
the short story. The student from journal 59 states, I instantly developed respect for the author
because of his unique style of writing these were the same words I was thinking in my mind
as I finished reading the really detailed short story. When I read this quote it impacted me so
much because I felt the same way I was astonished and amazed on how powerful the story was, I
can really relate to the student author of the journal entry 59.
When I continued reading it stated something that also caught my attention and it was
how both our mothers call us a lot. The author states, She just called to see at what time Id be
home. I swear shes a damn detective, always tracking me down. this reminds me so much of
me and how when Im at my best friends house she calls me and checks up on what time I will
be home and she starts acting like a detective and tracking me down. When I tell her I will be
home in an hour she calls me thirty minutes before the hour passes and says that I better be in the
bus stop waiting for the bus to bring me home or if Im getting a ride home she needs to know
who is taking me back home and she calls to see if I am on my way home already. My mother
cares a lot for me and she worries a lot too just as how the mother of the student who wrote the
journal entry 59. This is another reason to why it caught my attention a lot out of all the other
journals. I connected more and I understood the writer of diary 59. I believe the reason to why
both our mothers worry is because since we both live in a very not so good community they are
afraid of what is going to happen to their little ones. For example in this article that I found
called Child Development and Early Learning states, Mothers around the world generally
take on the primary role of addressing their children's rights and needs. this is significant

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because many parents like my mother and the mother of the author of diary 59 are always caring
and they are even playing the role of a detective just to protect their little bundle of joy that isnt
home and is out in the streets. In the end of the journal the student who wrote diary 59 said that
her mom doesnt let her go out no further than her room or keeps her with her that reminds me of
my mom but that is a mother instinct that the author of diary 59 and I have to understand. That
other instinct is that the mother knowing that the child is in really dangerous places it is better to
be in the house and in case something happens the mother is able to do something to protect the
child and will also know if her child is safe or not unlike if they were to be in the streets. When
the quote talks about addressing the childs needs and rights to be more specific it is like when
their kid is in danger or in a dangerous place the mother addresses the needs of extra security for
the child and react a lot because that is their instinct to adjust to whatever the situation is. Both
our mothers are both caring for us this is why I chose this quote because it shows how mothers
care a lot and how the author of journal 59 and I have to be appreciative for that.
The connection this diary entry made me realize a lot of things for example never judge a
book by its cover. Not wanting to read a story because it had cats made me sound a little ignorant
but that was my point on it at that time I really wasnt going to read a short story that talked
about a black cat when I especially hate black cats. But reading the story yes it talked about a
black cat but it symbolized something not that it was just explaining how the black cats are. I
was being judgmental, if I didnt read the story I would of one received a bad grade and two I
would have not been able to read an amazing story which opened my eyes to an amazing author
whose diction is incredible. In this short story I read called Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual
Childhood by Richard Rodriguez, the author talks about him reading a poem alone in his home
and he is talking about how it has reached to him and Rodriguez quotes, It reminds me of the

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possibility of escaping public words, the possibility that awaits me in meeting the intimate.(340)
This quote explains how the diction in the poem Rodriguez is reading sends him to another
dimension to where he escapes the regular speaking in public and reads a different diction and
understands it clearly. The public part of the student is the fact that her mom cares a lot that is
why she is grounded and the private part is when she begins to read and she gets driven away
from the fact that she was grounded and in her room. Just as how I believe it happened to the
author of the diary 59 and me it send us to another dimension and we loved the way the author
wrote, to me it was if I was living the short story itself with tension and drama all together it was
a good reading.
I can really relate to the writer of diary 59 because we both went from not wanting to read
a story to reading it and loving the author and falling in love with his diction made me connect a
lot with the writer of the diary 59. I felt as if I was reading my first day of junior year and not
wanting to read my first short story assignment and then going out and having my mother call
me all the time to know at what time I will be home and then being grounded for getting home
really late but in the writers diary the student got home if Im not mistaken the next day. Also
another difference is that she began to read the story due to the fact that she was grounded and
she just had seen the book that was there in her room. Both having a mother that grounds us and
doesnt let us go out but just to our rooms and having a detective mother also made me have a
really huge connection with the student that wrote the journal 59. I also understood that Im not
the only one who just sees the cover and immediately just doesnt find the story attractive.
Giving things a chance, for example reading, we will find outstanding authors and Im not going
to say this is always going to happen but if you dont like the story at least you have an

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understanding on how people think in some different ways and that is still good it gives you a
way for you to not sound or be ignorant and just believe one thing or just know one thing.

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Works Cited

"Child Development and Early Learning." Facts for Life -. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2014.
<http://www.factsforlifeglobal.org/03/1.html>.
Gruwell, Erin. "Diary 59." The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing
to Change Themselves and the World around Them. New York: Doubleday, 1999. N. pag. Print.
Rodriguez, Richard. "Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood." Reading for Revolutionary Writing.
Boston: Bedford/st. Martin's, 2013. N. pag. Print.