Blog 9

Although all three readings “The Path to the Milky Way Leads through Los Angeles,” “A Bedtime Story” and “A Father,” provide their readers with examples of numerous cultural differences; enough that one can say that cultural differences are universal whether in big cities or small families; there is a great connection between the message of Joy Harjo’s poem and that of Rudolfo Anaya’s short story, “B. Traven is Alive and Well in Cuernavaca.”
The message throughout Anaya’s story is not simply that B. Traven is in fact alive and well; rather it is that B. Traven lives in all of us because we can be alive and well if we simply “stopped and smelt the coffee” (and I don’t mean the instant kind). Everything one needs to live and “succeed” and “treasure” is right in front of one’s eyes, but unfortunately our motives of our needs, successes and treasures can sometimes get in the way of our real treasures. We spend more of our time and energy producing an elaborate means to our success that we are blind to the reality of its presence right in front of us. Life is success alone. Anaya creates the character Justino to represent what lies right in front of the narrator’s eyes: his story. The narrator continually looks and listens for stories to arise in everything he does, “I listened as I always listen, because one never knows when a word or phrase or an idea will be the seed from which a story sprout…” (p 61); however he doesn’t notice he is in fact embedded within an ongoing story because his motives shift his view of what is right in front of him. It is not until he stops his routine to have a conversation that his view shifts back to one that enables him to see the story. Anaya also adds a running commentary about “Americanos” and Mexicans and their clashing cultures, which could have been one cause to the narrator’s “can’t stop till I succeed” mentality. It is very possible that the narrator is suggesting that Americans treasure time and success and especially making the most of their time. There is a lack of sitting back and relaxing in American culture. Everything is rushing, “instant” and “on the go;” right down to our breakfasts and automatic car starters. This suggestion about Americans, whether it be true or not, is also suggested in the poem by Joy Harjo called “The Path to the Milky Way Leads through Los Angeles.”
As one reads Harjo’s poem, it is like one is walking along side her down the path that leads through Los Angeles; both reader and speaker simultaneously witness the culture of the “city named for angels.” The form of the poem, long staggering lines, even resembles different paths taken to get from one place to the next. The culture, according to Harjo, is almost related to something supernatural like a “starry road” and “minerals of planets” (14-15) found in hamburgers. She goes on to say that you can buy a map of the stars’ homes and choose from several different brands of water and even sell your soul for less than a song. All such things that make up the culture are again bizarre to her. She doesn’t find it understandable to “sell your soul for less than a song” (19); rather she would prefer to live and “collect the shine of anything beautiful” (28) that she can find. This resembles the suggestion of Anaya’s that Americans don’t realize what they have right in front of them because they are too busy filling up their time. In Los Angeles, their time is filled up with visiting stars’ homes and signing their lives away to record companies.
All of the works expose the existence of different cultures and many of their aspects. Some of these cultures clash or cause clashes within oneself. The texts also expose these clashes. Being American, I am exposed to others views of our culture through the stories and poetry; similarly, being a Loyola College student, I am exposed to our culture of Baltimore through the words of Jesuit Education.