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"I was silent as a child, and silenced as a young woman; I am taking my lumps and bumps for being a big mouth, now, but usually from those whose opinion I don’t respect."--Sandra Cisneros, in the "Voices From the Gaps" interview

Class Handouts:

• Here is a little class exercise on similes and metaphors, with definitions of those two words.
• And here is the assignment to write a vignette of your own, making sure to color it with metaphors, similes, and poetic language.

Internet Resources:

• Usually, this is the spot where I have links to all the online student helper and notes editions, like Pink Monkey, eNotes, Spark Notes, etc. But really. You and I both know that those sites are for students who don't, won't, or can't read the actual novel. And look at The House on Mango Street! It's actually shorter in word count than the online notes for it! Do yourself a favor and read Cisneros' book. Enjoy the poetic prose style. Take it all in. As easy and as pleasant as a fine aroma. We'll talk about the issues, themes, symbols, and writing style in class.
• The official Sandra Cisneros website is just as bright and colorful as you'd expect from this author. Once you learn the funky navigation (put your cursor over a blue question mark for a clue!), you can find out more about her and her works, but much of the pleasure of the site is the quirky design, one that matches her writing. Sometimes the only point of a button or animation is to grow a flower or hear a rooster crow.
• Here's an interview with Sandra Cisneros that may be hard to read, but it touches on big issues in her writing, like feminism, identity, and the sense of space. It's part of the Voices From the Gaps coverage of Cisneros.
• A profile/interview of Cisneros in Latino Leaders magazine is fairly long (5 pages of clicking), but has lots of insights and interesting things to say about the author and her influences. It's called "A Latina of Many Colors".
• National Public Radio in the US did an interesting series of fairy tales inspired by Cisneros' "cross-cultural voice". You can hear the interview with her, and some examples, as part of their "Intersections: Where Languages Collide". Notice how Cisneros discusses the "Spanish behind the English" in House on Mango Street.
• Listen to an interview with Sandra Cisneros done by Don Swaim of CBS Radio in the US, in 1991. You'll need a RealPlayer on your computer. It's a big file, and 39 minutes long. Don Swaim is an excellent, laid-back interviewer, whose radio show Book Beat was broadcast from a CBS radio studio in New York City daily for more than ten years. Look at the amazing list of authors he interviewed, now available online, courtesy of Ohio University's Wired for Books, an excellent website for book lovers.

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