03.07 Free Choice Blog

03.07 Free Choice Blog
Assessment Details

The Pregnancy Project by Gaby Rodriguez

Chapter 11 “The Aftermath”

            Gaby Rodriguez returned to school the next day after her interviews to find out if they’d gotten a copy of the Yakima Herald-Republic yet. She ended up being on the front cover with the headline PREGNOT. Then there were reporters following Gaby and trying to get a hold her and her family. But with the exposure came comments that were negative. The people missed her point and intentions completely or just simply ignored them. They were made by anonymous people who were being cruel and ignorant. Mr. Greene kept getting phone calls about networks and shows wanting to talk to Gaby about her project. She was also being sent letters and cards at school that she’d have to pick up from the principal’s office. Eventually, she ended up choosing NBC as the first major network where Gaby would be interviewed. She was to go on The Today Show and Telemundo. She was to fly to New York, although she was scared of flying, and took her mom, Juana Rodriguez. She stated that it felt good to be that person is there for people when most people say it but are being fake and don’t really mean it. She helped a teen girl realize that she shouldn’t let people bring her down and to hang in there at school because education is important.

            With every word, I became more intrigued with the story. For her to live down to those low expectations and see or hear what her community was saying must have made her anxious or nervous. I was also astonished on how those strangers and friends said about her whether they really knew her or not. The names they called her and what they said about her was terrible. To judge when they have no right to and call her an “attention-seeker”. But to see how she stayed positive and ignored what they said motivated me to ignore negative people and comments. Gaby’s intent was to show negatives and positives of what her project entitled. She expressed that we should ignore negativity and rise above expectations. I observed that Rodriguez used cause and effect in chronological order. She taught me to also live beyond stereotypes.

02.07 Free Choice Blog

The Pregnancy Project by Gaby Rodriguez

Gaby Rodriguez grew up where nothing was easy. Her mother got pregnant at the age of fourteen and her older siblings followed her footsteps by being teen parents as well. They all hoped that Gaby would break the cycle. But outsiders and her older sister Jessica expected it from her, for them, it was like family tradition. Gaby's plans never included a baby though. For her senior project, she thought it would be a good experiment to see what it was like to live down to the stereotypes and faked a pregnancy.

I was floored that Gaby's mother struggled so much as a child, young adult. She started out in a bad situation of being pregnant at the young age of fourteen to a so much worse predicament. To being forced to get married, having more kids, and being left to take care of all of them is hard. But to also have a selfish and cynical husband who speeds to the courthouse just to file the divorce papers first. Although, he was the only one who did wrong and had infidelities. She didn’t believe him at first and decided to follow him one day and saw it for herself. He then proceeded to take away her children and later abandoned them.

If I were to create notes, I would use the outline style to remember the most important points from the reading. I feel that using outline will help me get a better understanding and a more organized summarization of what I read in the book.  I would know the key points and important information if the notes were done well.