Stud. writing book 05.qxd - Santa Fe Community College

Personal EssayHonorable MentionIsrael GarciaSquare Of Destruction“Why did you and my dad get divorced?” I anxiously asked mymom, and my mom responded,“I don’t want to talk about this right nowbecause I’m watching my favorite novela.” I went to my room and turnedon the T.V. and started watching a fake reality in the 16-inch square of falsehope. In the essay “The 19-inch Neighborhood” by Joshua Myerowitz, theauthor says,“Our widespread adoption of television and other electronicmedia has subtly by significantly reshaped our world.”The author’s point isthat television has become the biggest social adaptation in the universe. Ibelieve that T.V has become a machine of social destruction in our world.T.V has been a common enemy with different faces to me and the peoplearound me.The T.V. started to kill my connections when I was 12 years old. Ihad barely arrived to this country and I was scare to death, because I didn’tknow the language. The fear would go away every time that I would grabthe remote control to turn on the T.V. It was the only the commondimension that Mexico and the United States had, at least that I wasthought. I had to deal with a new language, culture, habits, and my parent’sdivorce.T.V was my escape from all the problems that I encounterthroughout my teenager years.My mom worked a lot and basically I was the man of the house. Ihad to take care of my little brother, while my mom came back fromwork.Those of hours of babysitter were horrible, because I just wanted toplay outside. I couldn’t go out because of my brother, so I would just turnon the T.V. My brother used to yell and say,“Israel let’s do something. I’mbored and when it’s my mom going to come back.” I responded aggressively,“Joelbe quiet and go to your room and play with your toys. Comewith me and let’s watch T.V. together.” I didn’t what to say or do, because Iwas so frustrated with our situation.T.V. always was there to help me. If theT.V. was on I didn’t have to explain anything to my brother, so it was theperfect solution to all our hidden problems.We didn’t have talk about howour hearts felt in the storm, because the T.V. was the sunshine in a screen.I remember coming back from school around 3pm. I would open23