When I Was A Teenager By Judith Ortiz Cofer

America, once a shining beacon of opportunity, is tearing itself apart from the inside. Poverty gets worse every year, leaving many homeless and without access to basic necessities. On the other hand, discrimination causes extreme social tensions and personal identity issues for those discriminated against. Homelessness and discrimination are two of America’s most prevalent issues. To begin, one of the groups most discriminated against are people of Latin American origin. America receives many immigrants from several Latin American countries south of the U.S. Many come to America in search of better lives, such as Puerto Rican author Judith Ortiz Cofer. Cofer has dealt with not fitting in or being discriminated against for much of her life.

She writes in her essay, “When I was a teenager, for example, others questioned my blackness because some of the life choices I made weren't considered black” (p. 178). As well as others claiming, “‘You talk white, Oreo girl’ or ‘You can’t dance, white girl’” (p. 178). She was isolated and discriminated against due to her manner of speech and how she presented herself, as well as many other differences. Racial tensions are created through stereotyping. In addition to racial discrimination, there is discrimination against people who are homeless. People in unfortunate circumstances where they cannot afford necessities such as housing or food are brushed off. Having a place to call home is vital. There is a pride of ownership associated with it. A private space to call your own, whether it’s a room or a mansion. Anna Quidlen speaks on the importance of home ownership and the lack of support homeless people receive in her personal essay “Homeless”. Quidlen writes, “It has become customary to take people's pain and lessen our own participation in it by turning it into an issue, not a collection of human

By dehumanizing them, people feel less inclined to help the homeless. Furthermore, homeless people have limited access to safe food. If one is unable to pay rent for a home, they’re most unlikely to be able to afford food. Considering that they have nowhere to store personal belongings, even if they could afford food, where could they store more than one or two items on their person? Lars Eighner wrote about his time scavenging food during his period of being homeless in his personal essay “On Dumpster Diving”. He goes through the process of “scavenging” food from the trash safely, recalling his past experiences doing so. Eighner goes through several categories and breaks down each, describing how to tell if food has expired or not. He wrote many examples of different dumpsters he frequents, why he frequents them, what they often have, and what foods are often safer than others. In a break between educating the reader on scavenging, he writes, “No matter how careful I am, I still get dysentery at least once a month, often in warmer weather.Dumpster Diving has serious drawbacks as a way of life” (p.