Rethinking Education

The Infectious Disease of Distance Grande, R. (2012).  The Distance Between Us: A Memoir . New York, NY: Washington Square Press. (pp. 163-249) At this point of the book, I am beginning to really understand the meaning behind the title, The Distance Between Us . In my first post, I thought the distance was between Reyna and her father in the United States. In the second post, it seemed the distance was focused on Reyna and her mother. However, now I understand there is distance present within her entire family. Immigration has caused physical, as well as mental distance between Reyna and her father, mother, siblings, grandmother, aunts and uncles. Here we see the infectious pain that spreads throughout immigrant families. Again, Reyna is offering a personal insight into the effects of illegal immigration. Although readers may still feel it is wrong to illegally enter our country, it's impossible to close this book without a developed empathy for the risks and conseq...

La Otra Lado  Grande, R. (2012).  The Distance Between Us: A Memoir . New York, NY: Washington Square Press. (pp. 84-159) These chapters concluded the first half of the book and recounted the last years until Reyna left Mexico. Reyna’s mother returns with a new addition to the family: Betty, Reyna’s little sister. The other children are intensely jealous of Betty because she is an American citizen and represents a life they wish they had. Betty has the same father as the kids and unlike them, has been living with both of her parents while they have been parent-less. More than anything, this revealed to me the immense privilege of Americans. It’s not just Reyna and her siblings that want to go to America: everyone wants to go to America. All children in the book talk about it like a fairytale. The kids want to go to be reunited with their parents and for the better clothes and toys they get tastes of when their parents send gifts. The adults want to go for th...

The Monster that Steals Parents Grande, R. (2012).  The Distance Between Us: A Memoir . New York, NY: Washington Square Press. (pp. 1-83) I was skeptical of this book when I picked it up. Yes, the blurbs on the back of the book make it sound interesting, but I am not much of a memoir reader. To my surprise, within the first page, I was enthralled. Reyna Grande begins her memoir as her four year old self. She begins by remembering a monster called La Llorona, her grandmothers warned her about, that steals children away. Even as a child, she knew there was something much scarier than the urban legend of La Llorona. There was a very real monster that steals parents away. A monster that stole both of her parents: The United States. Reyna lives in Mexico with her two siblings Mago (who is four years older than Reyna) and Carlos (who is almost three years older than Reyna) along with their mother. However, Reyna's mother is leaving to join her husband i...