18111 Nordhoff Street

Northridge, CA 91330

Dear Nayely,

Hey, how are you? Hope you are well. I wanted to send you this letter to tell you how my
progress in my CAS 115 class is going. So starting off when I first enrolled in this class, I was
super anxious. Though I was pleasantly surprised when I got settled down in the class I found the
subject to be wonderfully interesting. Later through the semester we read this book called
“High-Risk Homosexuality”. It was such an interesting read. I personally do not like
autobiographies, but I think the lessons you learn from the experience are very valuable. There
was a lot of insight from the perspective of a latin man, a man, a gay man and of course a gay
latin man. Being able to look at the author's experience.
A huge main point about the book was identity. The author,since a young age, has
struggled with his identity. Identity is such a fundamental to humans and to struggle to find one’s
true self feels like torture, but at the same time finding yourself takes time and effort. You will
make mistakes, you will make decisions you will later regret, but you will also build a stable
future for yourself this way. In this class we learned about transnationalism and how it affects
people. The most memorable thing for me was watching a documentary about immigrants who
have come to the U.S. to flee their country or have a better opportunity of getting a job to support
their families back in their countries. This documentary really hit home for me since both of my
parents were immigrants, they came with the sole purpose of having a better life and to be able
to help their families back home. The documentary focused on domestic workers and how
challenging their life can be, watching that made me respect them so much more. Another
assignment that caught my attention was reading Visibly hidden. This article was so interesting
to me especially because it mentioned how Spanish speaking children are considered special ed
or they might be held back a year, all because English is not their first language. I had first hand
experience with this, in elementary school I was put in something called ELD, which I believe
stood for English learners division or something similar. This meant that I was taken out of my
regularly scheduled class and taken to a different class every day where all I would do is read an
article and then they would test my comprehension and understanding of the material. It was
honestly so frustrating because I spoke English just fine, I wrote just fine and I was doing great
in my classes. I was never told why I needed that extra class, my mom would even complain
about it. But alas I was unable to leave that class until fourth or fifth grade I believe.
Overall this class has taught me many new things and has helped me understand new
words. I honestly believe that I am going pretty steadily in this class and understand the material
very well. I am really enjoying the assignments and the readings that come along with them. I've
made consistent progress in the class; every reading and assignment has deepened my knowledge
of complex societal issues and helped me to appreciate the various points of view. I am really
glad I enrolled in this class!

With love,
Shirley Rodas