Native Speaker Journal 4

1. "Ahn-young-ha-sae-yo. I greeted him back in Spanish, but his accent was much better than mine" (142).

This quote is a short, simple way of portraying the character Henry as humble. He admits that Eduardo's Korean is better than his own Spanish.

2. "Eduardo Fermin was his favorite" (144).
This short quote obviously shows the reader that Kwang likes Eduardo more than Henry. But it also serves as a segue into giving us a better idea of the character Eduardo.

3. "My friends, I have something to tell you today. An incredible bit of news. Black and Korean children, as some in this city would have you believe, aren't yet boycotting one another's corner lemonade stand" (150).
This quote brings some humor into the story. It shows that Kwang has a sense of humor. This is different than the serious politician that we knew him as before.

4. "A dull pop went off, followed quickly by another" (154).
This quote serves as a surprise in the story, and at the same time there's a little mystery invloved. The reader can imply that the dull pop is from a gun, but it is not known for sure if Kwang has been actually shot.

5. "His lips said, I was sure in Korean, Thank you" (155).
This shows the qualities of gratefulness and humility in Kwang. It makes the reader like his character more. The story makes us feel like we're a part of the election and we're becoming won over by John Kwang.

Native Speaker Journal 3

"Fair fight or not, she wasn't going to let me dress down my father, not with language, not with anything" (63).

This quote particularly stood out to me because it reminded me of the title of the book, Native Speaker, because of the word "language." It also stood out to me because it shows how Henry grew up having the good value of respect for his elders, of which I can relate to. When Henry used to verbally fight with his father, he would use "the biggest words [he] knew, whether they made sense or not"(63). The main quote at the top is referring to Ahjuhma; how she would protect Henry's father, as sort of a new mother figure in the family. I can relate in a way to this idea of having the utmost respect for my elders, especially my parents because that's how I was raised to act. I've never yelled or swore or done anything really disrespectful to my parents. And now, after 17 years, it's become a habit not to.

Native Speaker Journal 2

Out of all the unknown people to me, I would be most interested in getting to know my favorite baseball player, Derek Jeter, well. I've grown up idolizing him through my many years in baseball, and so I'd be curious about how his life was growing up and about his many different experiences with baseball. Maybe I'd be able to find something in common between us that would help me out with my journey in this game. Being such a successful player, I would have so many questions to ask him, about both baseball and about life. I'd want to know what types of things he's done throughout his life that benefited him, as well as things he's done that wasn't so helpful to him. I'd want to know things that I can do to maximize my ability and my time in this game that I love so much. Overall, it'd just be cool to get to know the guy i've watched on TV, doing so many extraordinary things that I could only dream of.

Native Speaker Journal 1

ME
You are irresponsible
Not careful
Too attached to things
Lazy
Out too much
Persistent
Pack rat
Scared of roaches
Too worried
Sports (esp. baseball) lover

SOMEONE ELSE
You are indecisive
Flaker
Unhealthy
Committed
Confident
Simple yet confusing
Fortunate
Friendly
Relaxed
Hard-headed

Culture Journal

What I chose to relate to Identity and Culture is the website that has taken over the world: Myspace. I, along with virtually, the rest of the world, go on it and am able to see different people's pages. First of all, I believe this relates to the concept of identity because people are able to express themselves and create their own identities through many different ways on Myspace. You go on someone's site, and immediately get a taste of their identity because of the way they layout their page. Different backgrounds, songs, pictures and words give feeling to what the person is all about. Also, people on Myspace express their feelings by writing blogs and bulletins about their lives.

On the other hand, other people on Myspace choose to hide their identities by pretending to be other people or just trying to be people other than themselves. As I hear on the news more and more lately, there are internet predators on sites like Myspace, doing wierd things to try to meet people. Although, on a lesser scale, people just try to be people that they're not. Because you have the freedom of doing whatever with your page that you want, you can pretty much be whoever you want. For example, people too scared to do, say, and show things in real life could do it on their space.