Welcome To Mr. Gurrola's Literature Page

September 11, 2001 I expect that those of you who are older, or have parents who will remember this day and it's significance and how it has changed how we perceive the the world we live in. I will always remember where I was and what I was doing when the twin towers were attacked that bright sunny morning. Events like this forever are etched in our psyches as individuals and as a nation as a whole. I too, remember the exact time of day and what I was doing in my sixth grade class when President Kennedy was shot. Our teacher, Mr. Richter, gathered us all around the desk and assured us that things would be okay. It was scary back then, as the school intercoms were broadcasting all over the building the radio station's narration of the event unfolding. Just like Mr. Richter had told us, we need to reassure ourselves that in the end, our freedoms as we know it, will prevail during times of crisis, and "things will be okay". We need to keep reading, expanding our visions thru the many "windows" that literature provides, in order to understand other peoples and cultures, and in the long run, to preserve our freedom.

September 14, 2007 ...you know, people have no literary sense...people never accept the tale for itself...that the writer writes a story to prove something...that some kind of lesson should be taught, rather than a tale written for the sheer pleasure of writing it, and for the story that is told... JORGE LUIS BORGES

September 28, 2007 .....READ, READ, READ!! So simple a notion, belief, idea. Read the major poets, read classics. Yes, read Shakespeare! He will never be outdated, his (writings) will go on till the end...much like the bible...Yes! Read the B-I-B-L-E!!! The King James first, then compare. Read drama, read essays, study history...it's what makes the man (or woman) who writes according to what's happening in his world around him...The great Chilean poet Pablo Neruda says it this way in his "Invisible Man"

"...my poor brother, the poet, everything happens to him....he believes he is different from everyone else in the world...I must write down what is happening, not forgetting anyone..."

October 17, 2007 Recently sent an e-mail to the literary critic, Harold Bloom. To my suprise I got an immediate response. I encouraged him to continue doing the good work that he does, being one of the most "well read scholars" in the world. He claimed in one interview that he was going to try to read every book in the Yale University library where he teaches. Of course, that's an impossibility he says, but he is attempting. he pointed out that we are all mortal, we all only have so much time, so don't squander it by reading "trash". He rattled off a list of books, and near the top of anybody's reading list is DON QUIXOTE. He said it is one of the most important novels ever written......enough said...... ENJOY reading it!!!!

November 13, 2007