Building Bridges Essay By Gabriel Kalb

     “Them natty braids you call dread locks look like the fright do of a zombie,” says Mama Lil. Through the short story, Building bridges, by Andrea Davis Pinkney, the author teaches us that family relationships are complicated. In the short story, Bebe qualifies to work on the bridge building project. This would be a great opportunity for Bebe because it will help her get into college and help her pursue her dream in engineering. The problem is, Mama Lil (her guardian) will not sign the permission slip. Throughout the story, as Mama Lil and Bebe fight and argue, it becomes more and more obvious how Pinkney portrays the complicated relationship between these two individuals.

One-way that Pinkney teaches us that family relationships are complicated is by showing us that families are made up of individuals with different needs.  In the story, she compares the wants and needs of Bebe and Mama Lil. Mama Lil wants Bebe to stay at home and not work on the bridge so she won’t be alone. On the other hand, Bebe wants to work on the bridge so she can get a good education in engineering. As Mama Lil sits on her couch she reveals her motives for not wanting Bebe to leave. “ Your dreams are the kind that will take me away from you’” says Mama Lil.  This demonstrates why Mama Lil doesn’t want Bebe to work on the bridge project.  She fears Bebe’s dream of becoming an engineer will separate her from Bebe.  In contrast, Bebe wants to work on the bridge. “ The project would last the summer, pay good money and help me get in to college, where I wanted to study engineering,” says Bebe.  This validates how the needs of Bebe contradict the needs of Mama Lil. Both needs are equally important, which is what precipitates the argument in the first place. This is another way we learn that family relationships are complicated through the short story building bridges.

Another way Pinkney teaches us that family relationships are complicated is by showing us that although family members argue, they still love each other.  In the story, Bebe explains the relationship between her and Mama Lil, and how they have been “ butting heads for as long as she could remember”.   Momentarily, she recalls some of their constant disagreements as she sits in her kitchen chair. “ Mama Lil hated six studs I wear on my left ear, I hated the tacky red wig she pulled down close to her eyebrows when her hair wasn’t done”.   However, she also thinks to herself; “ Yeah, over the years me and Mama Lil thrown a lot of dissing words back and fourth.   But then to, I had a sister-sister connection to Mama Lil that not many kids had with their grandmas.”  This demonstrates the inherent differences yet their strong love for each other.  Bebe realizes quickly the special bond she had with her grandmother notwithstanding the fact that they continuously argue. This further emphasizes that Bebe is cognizant of the role that the Mama Lil plays as both sister and parent, which creates both confusion and disagreement as well as a closer loving bond.  This sisterly bond appears to be the cause of their ongoing arguments yet also the basis for their love and devotion to each other. In summary, Building Bridges teaches us, the complexities of the family relationships.

A third way Pinkney teaches us that family relationships are complicated through the short story, Building Bridges, is by displaying that sometimes family members are not always honest about what they are feeling. Mama Lil keeps her real motivations for not wanting Bebe to participate in the bridge project masked, instead of acknowledging her true emotions.  As Mama Lil smokes her Carlton cigarette, she says to Bebe;  “Aint no black woman doing no engineering… trying to cross a white mans line is only asking for trouble.” Here she says she doesn't want Bebe to work on the bridge because it is white mans work. We know this isn’t the real reason Mama Lil doesn’t want Bebe to work on the bridge.  We know this because it is later evidenced in the story that Mama Lil is afraid that her and Bebe will be separated.  As Mama Lil puts out her cigarette, she says; “ You got big hopes child, but they gonna leave me alone, by myself." This shows why Mama Lil didn’t want Bebe to work on the bridge project.  It was not because she believed that that women didn’t belong in engineering.  It was because she was afraid of being left alone.  Her failure to confess her true motivation caused them to fight.  Thus, showing us that family relationships are complicated because family members don’t always say what they feel.

In conclusion, through the short story, building bridges, we learn that family relationships can be complex. We learn this from a variety of emotions through two family members. We can apply this theme to the real world by realizing that no family is perfect, and all families argue. Also, we learn that arguments through family members can always sort itself out.

My Name

The name Gabriel means archangel. Although I like to think it sometimes, I am not an angel and I am far from perfect. Gabriel is a name referring to a perfect figure, someone who is impossible to compare with and/or match his greatness. Sometimes I feel that my name is very difficult to live up to because no one is perfect. My name shows that no one is faultless, and no one ever will be. It is hard having the name Gabriel and it is disappointing to know I will never live up to my names true meaning.

If my name were to be a number it would be three. My name is 3 syllables.  Three is a prime number because it has no factors. No one is like me, and no one will be like me. I am my own person, and I am different from every one else. This is why I am 3. Also, my baseball number is 3.

My name is a circle.  My nickname, Gabe, is smooth with no bumps or sharp sides. Similar to the curved nature of a circle, my name is one syllable and very easy to read and pronounce. I am very easy going and don’t get annoyed very easily.   However, I am someone who has endless thoughts and ideas.  This makes me similar to the radius of a circle, Pi, a number that continues on forever. I am also very reliable, comparable to the shape of a circle. I will always come back to where I started. This is why my name represents a circle.

My middle name is Madison. I was named after an Adam Sandler movie called Billy Madison. Identical to Billy Madison, I am very goofy and love to make jokes. Even when something is serious, unintentionally, I will make a joke about it. This gets me in trouble in school sometimes but it is the way I am and I can’t change it.

"The Closer" by Mariono Rivera

         "The Closer" by Mariano Rivera is an auto-biography about a boy raised in the poor country of Panama, and his journey to becoming  a phenomonal baseball player.  It is your classic rags to riches story where a young man overcomes  many obstacles such as poverty and hardships to become the successful baseball player he is now.   I learned from this story that no obstacle is to big with perserverence and hard work.

         The book begins with Mariano recalling his early childhood in a poor country.  Mariano lived a hard life as a child working at sea six days a week, in order to eat,  make money and help feed his family.  Mariano recalls in his book " I had no choice, though. I had no money and this is how I could earn it"  At that time, baseball was not a luxury he could pursue.   Although his lifelong dream was to play in the MLB,  working and supporting his family was his top priority.  He worked side by side with his father in often treacherous conditions such as storms and floods.  It was dangerous work where he related that a friend of his lost an arm when it got it caught between two boats. It was lonely and hard work.  The time at sea was difficult because he spent only one day a week on land and saw very little of his girlfriend, Clara who later on became his wife. This is one of the many obstacles he had to overcome to get where he is now.

        His experience as a baseball player as a child was limited and consisted of using a stick for a bat and a rock covered with net for a ball.   "We had no baseball gloves, but it's amazing what kind of pocket you can make out of cardboard box or a six-pack milk carton, if you know how to fold it," says  Mariano.  There is very few details in the book about his childhood playing baseball but it is clear from the information given that his experiance playing baseball as a kid was very different from the average child growing up in America.  Not being able to afford a glove is a very hard obstacle to overcome. It  also makes it very hard to play baseball. In addition he had limited time to practice, because he was fishing beside his father, 6 days per week and the last day for spending time with his girlfgriend clara. This was hard work and very difficult.  This was another obstacle that Mariano had to overcome to get where he is now.

     As you can see, Mariano Rivera became a great baseball player despite the poverty he grew up in and the limited resources that he had.   But no obstacle was too big with perserverence and hard work. Mariano overcame many challenges but he had perserverence and worked hard, and followed his dream. It was hard living the life of Mariano Rivera but he overcame that. I learned a very important lesson from this book and so should anyone else who reads it.