I Am a Victim of a Traditional Class.

(Inspired by Crispin, Sophomore English Major of Neijiang Normal University, PRC)

by Luis Humberto Valadez

                         

You are a joy to be around. I don’t 
want you to as I am. As I am is the 
tradition of not making yourself in 
front of others. Or it is the 
tradition of making yourself only
in front of others. 

English is victimizing so many of 
our aims. Our aims are only as 
strong as the doors they can 
penetrate.

I hear, from you, father and 
mother do not see a victim who
takes many examinations for class 
distinctions that are solid lines not
bending like the radicals of your 
name. 

You hear, from me, your dream is 
like the afternoon rest that is not a 
tradition where I come from, like 
the values that lead you away from
your parents’ class to English.  

So here is class time to write on 
very thin paper, spelling your      
name without radicals tightly 
pulled like a hood on my head  
during our winter classes. 

I notice you never wear one. To 
me, it seems, you have learned to  
accept the cold.