A blog devoted to Chae Sweet's ENG073 course at Hudson County Community College. Students will discuss "Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble and Coming of Age in the Bronx."
I was glad to see CoCo, Cesar, Mercedes, and the twins pictures it is nice to put faces to the characters in the book. I would like to see Jessica and Boy George. It is great to see the author is still keeping us informed on the characters lives.
As we move along...things have changed for the characters of Random Family: Chapters 23-28
Coco was now living in a shelter called Thorpe House. She was enrolled in a program,SIP. This program helps people like Coco to keep their disorganized lives on track. Coco's other option was Section 8. A program that also helps people with getting apartments and getting their lives in tact aswell. Coco didn't want to stay at the Thorpe House but alternatives were narrowing down for her and her children. Coco avoided the Nuns at the shelter. The reason Coco didnt want to run into the Nuns was the fact she was now pregnant once again. Coco was stressed of the fact she was now at a shelter but understood that in order for her to get an apartment she would have to stay at the Thorpe House and deal with all the stress and activity there. Coco had fights while pregnant. Since Coco would be leaving the shelter soon, the Nuns disregarded any deformalities she would endure at the Thorpe House. Coco had left the Thorpe house and found herself at Her mother Foxy's home again. Being that Foxy's apartment was too crowded for her to stay, she decided instead to take the Section 8 offer and move into her new place with her kids and a new baby on the way. The apartment was in a not so good area but she had her place at least. Milagros lived close so she could drop the kids off there to run her errands and handle her own business. The apartment was nothing like the Bronx, Victorian Houses were all over the place and it looked as if it were a thriving community. None the less, drug activity still followed her wherever she went. She was givien vouchers for furniture and recieved public assistance from the state. Rats, roaches and grime were still a factor. Not much had changed in this regard. Yet, she made a home of her new apartment. Living alone with children spooked Coco. She was scared to be alone was scared of every sound she heard. Clankin on fire escapes warrented Coco to put up a Matress blockade to keep out intruders. In Coco's mind, she was alone and afraid. Coco considered moving upstate where Milaros lived assuming it would be best for her and her kids. The environment was much better than the apartment she had now. Coca still saw Wishman even though he denied the baby. Whenever they were intimate, Coco felt as Wishman was actually tryin to hurt the baby. She reported that she was bleeding and complications were occuring with the pregnanacy. Coco gave birth to a baby girl. Coco found out that Cesar was now married to an anonymous girl who we found out was Gisselle. She took it hard and was upset at the fact that he married knowing how much she loved him and vice verca. She forgave him eventually and still wrote. Coco then was introduced to Frankie, who turned out to be a good person. They started a relationship and soon he was staying with her at her apartment with her kids. Frankie was a smalltime dealer. He wasn't very good at it from all persepctives, but he still managed to put a little money in his pocket. Coco was now recieving phone calls from Cesar and the situation of Coco and Cesar strained Frankie, but he still hung in there, however he was now spending less time with her. Frankie's freinds were now hanging out at Coco's and drug dealin was now happening from out of her home. Management now was getting on Coco's back to either move out or end her relationship with Frankie. She terminated the relationship Jessica was preganant by Torres corrections officer at her jail. She claimed she was raped in a section of the jail she was denied access to. Torres's superiors were well aware of the relationship and he was terminated. Torres kept contact for a while but on the day the baby was born, he was a no show. She ended the relationship at the hospital. Jessica had twins once again. Once she gave birth, shee was to hand them over to Lourdes who would watch over them till Jessica's release. Instead they went with Elain and Angel. After a while, the twins became a strain on Elaine being so expensive to take care of them as well as her own household, the twins were then discarted to Milagros. Mercedes had toothaches, missed her father and was tired of Frankie and well, the whole jail situation. She constantly complained about being bored and missing her dad. You could not discipline her. She would throw that, "You're not my dad" statement at anyone who would try. She has genetal warts and Coco is now aware that she may have been molested. thios of course causes Coco to have a breakdown. Now shes burdened with telling Cesar his daughter has warts. Jessica is now on suicide watch and has decided to go forth with therapy. This being caused byu the fact she has now broken up with Torres and thinks Elaine is having an affair with a new man in her life. Her mother visited only twice and since then has been very lonely. When Lourdes did visit they spoke and did girl things, braided hair, talked about the unborns and just argued. In our opinion, it was the way they showed each other love. Visits are now becoming scarce. Hardly anyone visited; added to the cause of her depression. Coco sent the kids aways to camp, this led to a comeon from Milagros. MIlagros was butchy in our opinion and it would not have surprised us that this would eventually happen. It caused Coco to become upset and of course resented the fact Milagros would come on to her after so long a friendship and being one person Jessica and Coco could trust. Pearl was still sick and had problems breathing. Pearl has asthma and at one point was so sick she needed cpr was needed. Coco knew taking care of her was a fulltime workout and even though it shortened her freetime, she took care of her. Coco still messed around with wishman from time to time but her love was Cesar and did not lose touch even after the fact that they cut her phone off. They wrote and it was enough for them to get information about the kids to Cesar. For the most part the story has some turnaround, but just slightly.
The theme across these chapters Rebellion. This is in light of all the incidents that have oocurred through out these chapters. We see Mercedes rebel against her mother's boyfriend Frankie and anyone that tries to discipline her. We see Jessica rebel against the court system by being pregnant by Torres, the corrections officer, and her family, which causes her to go into a depression. We see Coco rebel against Milagros' advances toward her. Coco against Cesar for getting married on the down low and not telling her then getting pregnant again. Frankie rebels against Coco by not paying her attention and going out more often and leaving her home with the kids. For all that rebellion, it would seem that hope is the next theme, but for the characters of Random family, it may very well not be.
1. Pearl came home from the hospital. 2. Coco gets her new place and leaves the shelter. 3. Jessica and torres break up. 4. Coco meets frankie and starts a relationship then ends it after warnings from the head of the complex she lives in gives her the altimatum. 5. Jessica becomes suicidal and attends therapy. 6. Milagros comes on to Coco. 7. Coco and Cesar still keep in touch.
The chapter opens up with CoCo and Frankie. CoCo do not like the way Frankie is treating the girls. One morning CoCo woke to Frankie snapping scissors in Naurica's face, the argued and CoCo told Frankie he would never treat his own childre that way. Then right before Christmas Frankie got arreste, it was for a murder warrant, someone must have used his name. But his fingerprints cleared him and he came home. After that CoCo considered moving back to the city, she felt more safe there, but Cesar told her she should not because the kids deserve better. Meanwhile Cesar wrote Jessica expressing his concern about his children especially Mercedes, he was afraid he will lose her, like she is slipping away from him. Even though Cesar expressed his unhappiness about certain things like the upbringing, he do not tell Jessica of his drug use.But Jessica did tell Cesar of her lesbian relationship. Jessica is also going to sue The Department of Corrections saying that the should have kept her from getting pregnant while in their care. Back in Troy life was falling apart for CoCo the girls were missing alot of school and as a result she received a visit from a social worker from the the Child Protective Services. Right after that CoCo's welfare case was closed because she missed her recertification date. CoCo and Mercedes was always argueing they could not seem to get along CoCo wanted to keep going to the Bronx and Mercedes did not. One time while in the Bronx CoCo saw Wishman, he gave her some money for Pearal.Foxy believed Wishman only wanted to sleep with CoCo, and she was right. One day Wishman and CoCo went to the hotel and slept together. After that when she tried to get in touch with Wishman she could'nt. By the end od the summer CoCo received a letter from welfare saying she had to go to school or get a job, she decided to go back to school to get her GED. It was a happy moment. Back at the prison Jessica met a woman named Nilda the became lovers, and Nilda convinced Jessica to reapply for the DAP program, to shorten her stay because her children needed her home. Jessica spoke to her children over the phone and kept in touch with Cesar, she even sent him money.CoCo moved into a new place near the girls school. The place of course was close to drug transacts also. Immediately CoCo apartments filled up with unwanted guests, because CoCo could'nt tell anyone no. That lead to more arguement between CoCo and Mercedes. Soon after the Head Start expelled Pearal saying she was to sick for them to handle. That jeopardized Pearal's SSI and the teachers and doctor had to write a note for CoCo explaining the situation. Pearal needed an operation to correct her reflux, Frankie nursed her back to health. while CoCo attended school. In the midst of evertying CoCo was upset because she heard rumors about how good Giselle was doing, and that she was becoming closer to Cesar's family. All of the rumors were not true. Giselle was visiting Cesar regularly and he asked her to make arrangements to bring the girls the next time she came. She agreed.Everything was fine, the the night before the girls were to meet Giselle, she called CoCo to tell her that Cesar had been stabbed. Cesar had to get thirty-two stitches across his back. Soon after he got shipped to Southpoint. Lourdes and the girls went to go see Jessica, she told them if she continued to do good in the DAP program she will be home by Christmas.CoCo was having a hard time dealing with school the children and Frankie. One morning she went back to check on Frankie and caught him bagging up crack. She dropped out of school after that she did'nt want to leave him home alone. They got into a big arguement after that and she threw him out. To help make ends meat she started baby sitting. CoCo aprtment needed fumigating but the landlord ignored CoCo, as a result the girls got head lice and got sent home from school. Milagros told CoCo to call the Department of Health, but a housing inspector came our instead and condemned the place. CoCo was homeless a second time within one year. Following her evauation CoCo reapplied for Section 8 and applied for Public Housing also. She was staying between Hector and Iris, but feeling welcome no where. Coco found a job slicing meat, then found her another place to live of course it was in an unsafe neighborhood, but CoCo just wanted a roof over their heads. She moved Frankie back in and as before Mercedes and Frankie were argueing. CoCo would agree with Mercedes one minute and tell her to stay in a child's place the next. No wonder why Mercedes was frustrated and confused.. Jessica was released from jail right before Christmas. She had to report to a halfway house first. On Christmas day the had a big celebration at Lourdes's house everyone came even Jessica's grandma from Florida. Milagros brought the girls and the had a great time. Elaine found Jessica a job at the place where she works and she is staying with her until she can find her own place. Jessica is back to her old ways and is dating a guy name George. Can you believe that? CoCo quit her job because of the irregular hours. Hector found her a job at the hospital, but she had to quit that because Pearal was missing her doctor's appointments. The chapter ends with the school wanting Mercedes to see a therpist because of ther behavior. Mercedes did not want to talk to the therpist because she would be betraying her mom and putting her sisters in jeopardy. She knows by telling the therpist the truth, welfare would take the benefits and housing would disqualify CoCo if they found out that Frankie lived there. And she also wondered what about if the found out about the drugs Frankie hid from CoCo in the house? That is an awful lot for an eight year old to bear. And oh yeah!!! CoCo is pregnant again. What does the next chapters bring for the characters in Random Family? Read on and see.
It seems as though the chacters in Random Family are always struggling with something in the lives. So for me the chapters theme is Life Struggles.
CoCo is struggling to keep her sanity between the children driving her crazy and Frankie with his friends and drug dealing. And she is also strugglingg to keep a roof over their heads and food in the house.
Mercedes is struggling wiht not having her father around and struggling in an unstable household with her mom not paying her any attention. She is also fighting with Frankie all the time. She is also struggling in school with ther peers, school work and her teachers.
Lourdes is truggling just to be a normal mom to her children, and she in on medication now for her depression.
Cesar is struggling to keep a relationship with Mercedes, he is scared he will lose her. And trying to keep his sanity in jail because he is worried about his family.
Jessica is always struggling with life because all she cares about are men. But she is also worried about she and Serena's relationship because Serena is so close to Elaine.
For all the struggles that the characters go through in the book, you would think that they would make better choices in their lives, maybe they will let's read on and see.
I'm a writing professor at Hudson County Community College. I have been teaching here for about 10 years, and I love working with the eclectic bunch of students I meet each semester.
5 comments:
I was glad to see CoCo, Cesar, Mercedes, and the twins pictures it is nice to put faces to the characters in the book. I would like to see Jessica and Boy George. It is great to see the author is still keeping us informed on the characters lives.
by Jay and Carol
As we move along...things have changed for the characters of Random Family:
Chapters 23-28
Coco was now living in a shelter called Thorpe House. She was enrolled in a program,SIP. This program helps people like Coco to keep their disorganized
lives on track. Coco's other option was Section 8. A program that also helps people with getting apartments and getting their lives in tact aswell. Coco
didn't want to stay at the Thorpe House but alternatives were narrowing down for her and her children. Coco avoided the Nuns at the shelter. The reason
Coco didnt want to run into the Nuns was the fact she was now pregnant once
again. Coco was stressed of the fact she was now at a shelter but understood that in order for her to get an apartment she would have to stay at the Thorpe House and deal with all the stress and activity there. Coco had
fights while pregnant. Since Coco would be leaving the shelter soon, the Nuns disregarded any deformalities she would endure at the Thorpe House.
Coco had left the Thorpe house and found herself at Her mother Foxy's home
again. Being that Foxy's apartment was too crowded for her to stay, she decided instead to take the Section 8 offer and move into her new place with her kids and a new baby on the way. The apartment was in a not so good area
but she had her place at least. Milagros lived close so she could drop the kids off there to run her errands and handle her own business.
The apartment was nothing like the Bronx, Victorian Houses were all over the place and it looked as if it were a thriving community. None the less,
drug activity still followed her wherever she went. She was givien vouchers for furniture and recieved public assistance from the state. Rats, roaches
and grime were still a factor. Not much had changed in this regard. Yet, she made a home of her new apartment.
Living alone with children spooked Coco. She was scared to be alone was scared of every sound she heard. Clankin on fire escapes warrented Coco to put up a Matress blockade to keep out intruders. In Coco's mind, she was alone and afraid.
Coco considered moving upstate where Milaros lived assuming it would be
best for her and her kids. The environment was much better than the apartment she had now. Coca still saw Wishman even though he denied the baby. Whenever they were intimate, Coco felt as Wishman was actually tryin
to hurt the baby. She reported that she was bleeding and complications were occuring with the pregnanacy. Coco gave birth to a baby girl.
Coco found out that Cesar was now married to an anonymous girl who we found out was Gisselle. She took it hard and was upset at the fact that he married
knowing how much she loved him and vice verca. She forgave him eventually and still wrote.
Coco then was introduced to Frankie, who turned out to be a good person. They started a relationship and soon he was staying with her at her
apartment with her kids. Frankie was a smalltime dealer. He wasn't very good at it from all persepctives, but he still managed to put a little money in
his pocket.
Coco was now recieving phone calls from Cesar and the situation of Coco and
Cesar strained Frankie, but he still hung in there, however he was now spending less time with her. Frankie's freinds were now hanging out at Coco's and drug dealin was now happening from out of her home. Management
now was getting on Coco's back to either move out or end her relationship with Frankie. She terminated the relationship
Jessica was preganant by Torres corrections officer at her jail. She claimed she was raped in a section of the jail she was denied access to.
Torres's superiors were well aware of the relationship and he was
terminated. Torres kept contact for a while but on the day the baby was born, he was a no show. She ended the relationship at the hospital. Jessica had twins once again. Once she gave birth, shee was to hand them over to
Lourdes who would watch over them till Jessica's release. Instead they went with Elain and Angel. After a while, the twins became a strain on Elaine being so expensive to take care of them as well as her own household, the
twins were then discarted to Milagros.
Mercedes had toothaches, missed her father and was tired of Frankie and well, the whole jail situation. She constantly complained about being bored
and missing her dad. You could not discipline her. She would throw that, "You're not my dad" statement at anyone who would try. She has genetal warts and Coco is now aware that she may have been molested. thios of course
causes Coco to have a breakdown. Now shes burdened with telling Cesar his daughter has warts.
Jessica is now on suicide watch and has decided to go forth with therapy. This being caused byu the fact she has now broken up with Torres and thinks
Elaine is having an affair with a new man in her life. Her mother visited only twice and since then has been very lonely. When Lourdes did visit they spoke and did girl things, braided hair, talked about the unborns and just argued. In our opinion, it was the way they showed each other love. Visits
are now becoming scarce. Hardly anyone visited; added to the cause of her depression.
Coco sent the kids aways to camp, this led to a comeon from Milagros. MIlagros was butchy in our opinion and it would not have surprised us that this would eventually happen. It caused Coco to become upset and of course
resented the fact Milagros would come on to her after so long a friendship and being one person Jessica and Coco could trust.
Pearl was still sick and had problems breathing. Pearl has asthma and at one point was so sick she needed cpr was needed. Coco knew taking care of
her was a fulltime workout and even though it shortened her freetime, she
took care of her.
Coco still messed around with wishman from time to time but her love was Cesar and did not lose touch even after the fact that they cut her phone off. They wrote and it was enough for them to get information about the kids
to Cesar.
For the most part the story has some turnaround, but just slightly.
The theme across these chapters Rebellion. This is in light of all the
incidents that have oocurred through out these chapters. We see Mercedes
rebel against her mother's boyfriend Frankie and anyone that tries to
discipline her. We see Jessica rebel against the court system by being
pregnant by Torres, the corrections officer, and her family, which causes
her to go into a depression. We see Coco rebel against Milagros' advances
toward her. Coco against Cesar for getting married on the down low and not
telling her then getting pregnant again. Frankie rebels against Coco by not
paying her attention and going out more often and leaving her home with the
kids.
For all that rebellion, it would seem that hope is the next theme, but for
the characters of Random family, it may very well not be.
Pivotal Scenes
1. Pearl came home from the hospital.
2. Coco gets her new place and leaves the shelter.
3. Jessica and torres break up.
4. Coco meets frankie and starts a relationship then ends it after warnings
from the head
of the complex she lives in gives her the altimatum.
5. Jessica becomes suicidal and attends therapy.
6. Milagros comes on to Coco.
7. Coco and Cesar still keep in touch.
Andrea and Rosa said...
by Andrea and Rosa
This is a summary of chapers 29-36;
The chapter opens up with CoCo and Frankie. CoCo do not like the way Frankie is treating the girls. One morning CoCo woke to Frankie snapping scissors in Naurica's face, the argued and CoCo told Frankie he would never treat his own childre that way. Then right before Christmas Frankie got arreste, it was for a murder warrant, someone must have used his name. But his fingerprints cleared him and he came home. After that CoCo considered moving back to the city, she felt more safe there, but Cesar told her she should not because the kids deserve better. Meanwhile Cesar wrote Jessica expressing his concern about his children especially Mercedes, he was afraid he will lose her, like she is slipping away from him. Even though Cesar expressed his unhappiness about certain things like the upbringing, he do not tell Jessica of his drug use.But Jessica did tell Cesar of her lesbian relationship. Jessica is also going to sue The Department of Corrections saying that the should have kept her from getting pregnant while in their care.
Back in Troy life was falling apart for CoCo the girls were missing alot of school and as a result she received a visit from a social worker from the the Child Protective Services. Right after that CoCo's welfare case was closed because she missed her recertification date. CoCo and Mercedes was always argueing they could not seem to get along CoCo wanted to keep going to the Bronx and Mercedes did not. One time while in the Bronx CoCo saw Wishman, he gave her some money for Pearal.Foxy believed Wishman only wanted to sleep with CoCo, and she was right. One day Wishman and CoCo went to the hotel and slept together. After that when she tried to get in touch with Wishman she could'nt. By the end od the summer CoCo received a letter from welfare saying she had to go to school or get a job, she decided to go back to school to get her GED. It was a happy moment. Back at the prison Jessica met a woman named Nilda the became lovers, and Nilda convinced Jessica to reapply for the DAP program, to shorten her stay because her children needed her home. Jessica spoke to her children over the phone and kept in touch with Cesar, she even sent him money.CoCo moved into a new place near the girls school. The place of course was close to drug transacts also. Immediately CoCo apartments filled up with unwanted guests, because CoCo could'nt tell anyone no. That lead to more arguement between CoCo and Mercedes. Soon after the Head Start expelled Pearal saying she was to sick for them to handle. That jeopardized Pearal's SSI and the teachers and doctor had to write a note for CoCo explaining the situation. Pearal needed an operation to correct her reflux, Frankie nursed her back to health. while CoCo attended school. In the midst of evertying CoCo was upset because she heard rumors about how good Giselle was doing, and that she was becoming closer to Cesar's family. All of the rumors were not true. Giselle was visiting Cesar regularly and he asked her to make arrangements to bring the girls the next time she came. She agreed.Everything was fine, the the night before the girls were to meet Giselle, she called CoCo to tell her that Cesar had been stabbed. Cesar had to get thirty-two stitches across his back. Soon after he got shipped to Southpoint. Lourdes and the girls went to go see Jessica, she told them if she continued to do good in the DAP program she will be home by Christmas.CoCo was having a hard time dealing with school the children and Frankie. One morning she went back to check on Frankie and caught him bagging up crack. She dropped out of school after that she did'nt want to leave him home alone. They got into a big arguement after that and she threw him out. To help make ends meat she started baby sitting. CoCo aprtment needed fumigating but the landlord ignored CoCo, as a result the girls got head lice and got sent home from school. Milagros told CoCo to call the Department of Health, but a housing inspector came our instead and condemned the place. CoCo was homeless a second time within one year. Following her evauation CoCo reapplied for Section 8 and applied for Public Housing also. She was staying between Hector and Iris, but feeling welcome no where. Coco found a job slicing meat, then found her another place to live of course it was in an unsafe neighborhood, but CoCo just wanted a roof over their heads. She moved Frankie back in and as before Mercedes and Frankie were argueing. CoCo would agree with Mercedes one minute and tell her to stay in a child's place the next. No wonder why Mercedes was frustrated and confused.. Jessica was released from jail right before Christmas. She had to report to a halfway house first. On Christmas day the had a big celebration at Lourdes's house everyone came even Jessica's grandma from Florida. Milagros brought the girls and the had a great time. Elaine found Jessica a job at the place where she works and she is staying with her until she can find her own place. Jessica is back to her old ways and is dating a guy name George. Can you believe that? CoCo quit her job because of the irregular hours. Hector found her a job at the hospital, but she had to quit that because Pearal was missing her doctor's appointments. The chapter ends with the school wanting Mercedes to see a therpist because of ther behavior. Mercedes did not want to talk to the therpist because she would be betraying her mom and putting her sisters in jeopardy. She knows by telling the therpist the truth, welfare would take the benefits and housing would disqualify CoCo if they found out that Frankie lived there. And she also wondered what about if the found out about the drugs Frankie hid from CoCo in the house? That is an awful lot for an eight year old to bear. And oh yeah!!! CoCo is pregnant again. What does the next chapters bring for the characters in Random Family? Read on and see.
It seems as though the chacters in Random Family are always struggling with something in the lives. So for me the chapters theme is Life Struggles.
CoCo is struggling to keep her sanity between the children driving her crazy and Frankie with his friends and drug dealing. And she is also strugglingg to keep a roof over their heads and food in the house.
Mercedes is struggling wiht not having her father around and struggling in an unstable household with her mom not paying her any attention. She is also fighting with Frankie all the time. She is also struggling in school with ther peers, school work and her teachers.
Lourdes is truggling just to be a normal mom to her children, and she in on medication now for her depression.
Cesar is struggling to keep a relationship with Mercedes, he is scared he will lose her. And trying to keep his sanity in jail because he is worried about his family.
Jessica is always struggling with life because all she cares about are men. But she is also worried about she and Serena's relationship because
Serena is so close to Elaine.
For all the struggles that the characters go through in the book, you would think that they would make better choices in their lives, maybe they will let's read on and see.
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