Unit 2: Vocabulary from Readings 1

From the finger my grandfather lost to the auger,
the eye my father shut to keep his sight.

Under my bed was a dress box
spilling old pictures,
a sift of lost faces
to drift beneath my dreams.

To facilitate my adjustment, the principal arranged for us to meet my new teacher, Mrs. Sandberg, a few days before I started school.

My father carefully explained that I had attended a prestigious kindergarten where all the children were taught English.

In her era, a girl's sole purpose in life was to find a husband.

Having an education ranked far below more desirable attributes such as the ability to serve tea or prepare baklava.

Her father, a fairly progressive man, had even refused the two earlier suitors who had come for her so that his daughter could pursue her dream.

I was especially mad at my mother, because she had negated the positive impression I had made previously by reciting the color wheel.

She then lavishly smeared my face, arms and legs with a mixture of pig’s fat and Vaseline.

Granny grabbed a piece of rope nearby and came to my mother’s aid. I bit and clawed every hand that grabbed me, and howled protestations against going to school; however, I was no match for the two determined matriarchs.

In a jiffy they had me bound, hand and feet.