Devil's Highway' Was a Stance of Standing

¶ … Devil's highway' was a stance of standing back and looking at my prejudices. Luis Alberto Urrea reduced this mass of numbers to individuals. All the time, we are faced with the problem of immigrants in the news -- the issue of foreigners entering the U.S. has always been a problem, and I think during hard times (such as the current recession) this problem becomes aggravated and more sensitive due to local resources being that much more limited and valuable.

The issue is, too, that we are ego-centrist (the center of our universe) and, after that, depending on experience, can relate closest to our similar group that we identify with. Anything outside that ken may seem alien to us and threatening. The closer an entity is to us, the more real and heartfelt their sufferings; the more different they are to us -- with alien ideology, cultural practices, beliefs, opinions, way of life etc. -- the more distant and the less we fail to relate to them.

My initial reaction to the 'Devil's Highway' when just reading an overview of the book's theme was detachment, admittedly even a touch of boredom: this is one more story that I hear countless times in various versions. People die all the time. These people are unrelated to me. At the same time, aware of these emotions I criticized them; nonetheless, they were there.

Reading the book, however, and tracing the individual histories of each of these lives made me enter the lives and perspectives of the other, and, seeing them as more human, made me dread the inevitable fate that would occur to them. They had given their all for the chance of starting a new life. Here was courage! I knew their end, and, empathizing with the individual, found it hard to continue reading about his ordeals until that end would be reached. The above was my spontaneous reaction.

The concept map, on the other hand, helped me divide these thoughts into groups -- to categorize them so that my ideas would be presented in a clear and seamless manner. It helped rationalize my thoughts; give them some form of order, and show me how best to present them. It also deterred me from reiteration and from confusion.

The concept map, I found, was not only a great idea for debates and group discussions (enabling me to articulate my thoughts ahead of time), but also ideal for writing and, perhaps, for any activity. I responded to critical friends by carefully listening to what they had to say, reflecting, thinking into their opinion and perspective and then assessing whether or not I agreed with their remarks. If I did, I modified my presentation.

In fact, the entire situation of 'critical friends' was helpful in that each came to the theme from the very different perspective of their own cultural understanding, and although critical, we functioned as a collaborative unit, communicated effectively, were creative in our ideas and insights, and worked towards pooling our ideas of the essence and lessons of the story. It was a great learning experience. My role in the group was that I worked on the first week which was the mental map.

Ben was responsibkle for the second week; Ray worked on the third week, whilst Brandon.