Maritza01pd2018 Identity Portfolio
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Maritza The Start of a Protest Can Begin With a Coca Cola Truck
The Start of a Protest Can Begin
With a Coca Cola Truck
The Start of a Protest Can
Begin With a Coca Cola
Truck
By: Maritza
Ambushed by a group of angry
protestors, the driver of the red
and white Coca Cola truck looked very concerned.
Almost like he was watching a horror <ilm and his
favorite character was about to die. Two men grabbed
the door handle and jolted the truck door open, as they
gripped their hands <irmly on to the driver’s arms. The
infuriated protestors forced him out of his vehicle, and
Maritza The Start of a Protest Can Begin With a Coca Cola Truck
lead him away from his truck. “Que hacen?” meaning
“What are you doing!” or, “Locos!” which also meant,
“Crazies!” people started to holler from their cars. The
poor man looked stricken. I wondered what was going
to happen next. There was
much anger that you could
feel the tension in the air. A
whirlpool of questions
entered my mind but I could
only remember one, what was all this chaos worth?
My plan for today was just to pick up my two kids,
Maritza and Gregory. I did not think it was going to be
such a dilemma to pick up my two young children.
Venezuela had a lot of problems. The biggest problem
Maritza The Start of a Protest Can Begin With a Coca Cola Truck
was a political rift in the military and government. If
you were Venezuelan, you were either for the
president, Hugo Chavez Frias, or against him. The
country was divided in two.
Everyone stuck in the line
of traf<ic in the middle of
downtown Venezuela was
focused on this spectacle
with the truck driver and the malicious protestors
(luckily nobody noticed the blond American ducking
down in her red jeep). Two cars away, I watched all of
this unfold and felt very nervous.
Suddenly, orange <lashes caught my eye. I turned
my focus to the truck. “Ahhh!” I shrieked in total shock.
Maritza The Start of a Protest Can Begin With a Coca Cola Truck
The smell of gasoline <illed the bright afternoon air, as
yelling and honking disturbed what would have been a
peaceful day. The sight of the Coca Cola truck on <ire
gave you the hint of what the protest was against,
“Americans!”
“Bajense! Bajense,
mis amores!” I yelled to
my two loves, Maritza
and Gregory, as I turned
towards them with a
petri<ied look. I reached to put both their heads down
low in their car seat. Protests, kidnappings,
assassinations, crime and violence all started to
escalate after Hugo Chavez was elected president. My
Maritza The Start of a Protest Can Begin With a Coca Cola Truck
blond hair, blue eyes and pale skin would tell them
instantaneously, that I was a foreigner. Immediately, I
glanced behind my car to see if I was blocked in. I
noticed no one was
behind me yet!
Shifting into reverse, I
barreled our car
backward down the
street until we turned
down into an old barrio.
Although I was cautious, I pulled into a
neighborhood that normally posed a risk to our safety,
but at the moment, it was a better place to be than the
main street. I realized our whole world had just
Maritza The Start of a Protest Can Begin With a Coca Cola Truck
turned upside down; I drove into a river of water to
cross a <looded irrigation ditch, risking the possibility
that the car would become stranded mid-‐stream. The
water was high, coming up to the middle of the Jeep,
which made the current powerful. Drowning with my
two kids was not an option to me. The only question in
my mind was how do I save us? This was getting more
frightening with each moment. “My two babies, how
will I keep them from harm?” I fretted.
“Vroom, vroom!” the car went as I pushed the
pedal so we had more power. Finally, we got through
the high river, and drove away. After a half hour of
meandering, I stopped the car, rolled the window
down and gave the group of children playing soccer a
Maritza The Start of a Protest Can Begin With a Coca Cola Truck
warm smile. “Saben
donde esta la
carretera?” I could
muster the calmest and
most <luent Spanish I
could.
“Sigue derecho, cuando llegues a la esquina de la
casa azul, ve a la izquierda y allí esta la carretera,” a
young boy replied with an enthusiastic smile. I
reviewed the direction in my head on how to get to the
main road. It didn’t seem that complicated. I soon
found it but had to continue to drive for another half
hour before we arrived home.
Maritza The Start of a Protest Can Begin With a Coca Cola Truck
The children had no idea what danger we had
escaped as they leapt out of their seats and ran over to
swing under our mango trees. Sipping rich, creamy
homemade cocoanut milk shakes as we took in the
sweet smell of ripe mangos, all framed by the sun
sparkling through the leaves in the magni<icent
afternoon made us forget the earlier problems.
Venezuela can be a perfect paradise, but you must
have the stomach for it.
Maritza The Start of a Protest Can Begin With a Coca Cola Truck
Author’s NoteThis story is about my mother living in
Venezuela and being in a protest against her country. Before becoming a president, Hugo Chavez was a military officer working for the country. Sadly, after the election, there became a separation in the government and the military. One side was for Chavez, another side was against the new president. The country was, and has been unstable for many years do to this split. This was to do with politics and the economy. While my mom, Joanne, was living in Venezuela, she had experienced things that she never thought she would be a part of. When I was born, (August 20th, 1999) in the capital, Caracas, my mom didn’t go out much. Then when she had my brother, occupied with her new job as a mother, she wasn’t paying attention to the news or what was happening in
Maritza The Start of a Protest Can Begin With a Coca Cola Truck
the country ( my mom was also learning Spanish at the time and it was hard for her to read the newspaper or watch the news). When she started to notice things around her, there was a large difference in the country. My family decided, after Gregory completed his first year, we would all would move to Maracay. Maracay, being far from the capital, would have less of an aggressive environment.
When I turned five years old, my parents decided it would be best if we moved out of the country altogether. My father started traveling more often and it was not safe for just my mom and us to be alone, with the high risk of: kidnapping, murder, etc. Moving to Miami, Florida was the best option. When we left, Venezuela decided to start confiscating people’s passport and keep them hostage in the country. A close friend to my parents got his passports taken away and was unable to leave the country until years later.
Maritza The Start of a Protest Can Begin With a Coca Cola Truck
-‐
Maritza The Start of a Protest Can Begin With a Coca Cola Truck
Interviewing What was the problem in Venezuela?The problem was happening progressively and it was mostly safety issues.
When did you see a change or when did the problems start?When we got married they had the elections, the year of 1998.You could see most of the issues in the year 2000.
When did you move from Venezuela?We moved the year 2005 to Miami, Florida.
How was everyone around you? Were they aggressive, scared etc.?Everyone around us was fine and friendly. However, outside of where we lived, people were wound up and you could not talk about politics.
Maritza The Start of a Protest Can Begin With a Coca Cola Truck
What are some reasons of why you moved?• When we were at a party four houses down,
someone tried to break in our house. They jumped over the sharp, ironed gate that protected out house and tried to get in through the air-conditioning without the alarm going off. Luckily, the alarm was installed in the air-conditioning.
• The day after my mom had loaded a gun, we hired a guard so he could protect us. Well a friend of ours who worked for the police, came over to check out if we
• Another time, I was with you and Greg coming home from school but on our way there, people decided to protest and set a Coca Cola truck on fire. They were protesting against the Americans. L
Maritza The Start of a Protest Can Begin With a Coca Cola Truck
• One fun thing to do though is when there were house protests, people use to get big pots and wooden spoons, go outside to their balcony and bang on them. Because babies love to make noise I would give you and Greg a wooden spoon and a pot so you could bang on it.
How would this problem in Venezuela impact you?It was a hard time, your dad would send us to your Grans in the USA and we wouldn’t see your father for a long time. Your Grandmother and Grandfather were so happy though, because they got to make memories with you.
What did you think about everything that was happening?It was a real shame. Venezuela is beautiful and tropical.
Did you have a hard time settling in Miami, Florida?
Maritza The Start of a Protest Can Begin With a Coca Cola Truck
Yes, because there was a hurricane; you and your brother missed five months of the school year and we came in speaking only Spanish but school only really spoke English. So I had to teach and help you while your teachers gave you as much help and support as they could.
Have you seen your old friends since you left?No, that’s why it was hard moving because you’ve lost them. L
Have you ever gone back to Venezuela, just even to visit?
No, its still very dangerous and they could take your passport away once your in the country. It happened to a friend of your fathers once and he had to get a fake passport to get out of the country.
Maritza The Start of a Protest Can Begin With a Coca Cola Truck
Reflec%on
What specific challenges did you face during this project?It was difficult to tell it in one person and add enough detail to create an image in the reader’s mind. Some8mes I would run out of details and would have to ask my mom the story again. I believe she told it to me seven to eight 8mes.
What did you learn about your family member? (personality, character…)I had heard the story before but I, myself, got to see the movie. What I thought was unbelievable was that my brother and I were there. Also, my mom reminded me of what Venezuela was like and I remember some memories.
What did you learn about yourself (as a learner, as a family member)?I found that I know what ques8ons I want to ask. I know the right ques8ons to ask at the right 8me and as well, I was able to read the person’s emo8ons.
How have you grown? (as a writer…)
Maritza The Start of a Protest Can Begin With a Coca Cola Truck
This was a challenge and I believe, yes, I have grown as a writer. I love to start with dialogue and with this narra8ve it was tricky to even add dialogue. Some of the things I found were hard, but I was able to resolve at the end.
Why do you think doing a project like this is important?It prepares you for more interviews in the future. It shows you in what order you should do things and how to plan accordingly. The specific moment had to be found, that was tricky because the person would only tell you an amount of things or if you wanted a specific moment you had to find it and ask about it.
What part of this process did you enjoy most? Why?I really like to review it and make sure it’s good. The edi8ng stage I really enjoyed because I always wasn’t to improve my wri8ng and so when I find errors I feel overjoyed. I am always striving to improve and when I find my own mistakes I see I know where i went wrong.
What part of this process did you least enjoy? Why?The beginning of the narra8ve. I was very confused on how to start and how to write my narra8ve. It worried me because I was coming out of my comfort zone and was kind of freaking out. There were details but not much of a historical fact and then there was the issue with the dialogue.
Maritza The Start of a Protest Can Begin With a Coca Cola Truck
Bibliography-My mother
-‐http://www.studyspanishlatinamerica.com/
latinamerica/detailprof.php?pais=VEN
-‐http://it.123rf.com/
photo_2908654_illustrazione-‐di-‐sventolando-‐la-‐
bandiera-‐venezuelana-‐vicino.html
-‐http://www.tiwy.com/pais/venezuela/
apartaderos/verfoto.phtml?carretera_transandina
-‐http://www.skyscraperlife.com/city-‐versus-‐city/
27705-‐maracay-‐vs-‐tijuana.html
-‐http://saveecodestinations.com/tag/cancer/
-‐http://www.tecnicasfotogra<icas.com/caracas-‐
venezuela-‐vt3029.html
Maritza The Start of a Protest Can Begin With a Coca Cola Truck