Issue # 2 speechless rgv

Free Dec. 2011 Issue 2

Art by Marco Tapuro

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SPEECHLESS in the RGV INTRODUCTION Speechless is the Rio Grande Valley’s creative writing & art magazine. This is an opportunity for the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas to showcase its young artists. Art is subjective and means something different to every person. It is in a constant state of change, so you can never really pin down what it is other than thought provoking.

Speechless in the RGV The Holiday Issue Issue # 2

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Speechless NOTE: Speechless in the RGV will be coming out every month. No work or any part of this issue may be reproduced without the written consent of the artist or writer.

This issue contains a collection of children’s stories and more.

We are always looking for submissions.

All ages are welcome. Include your name and e-mail.

For more information on Speechless in the RGV contact Esmeralda Noyola, at SpeechlessMagazine@live.com LIKE us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/speechlessRGVmag The views reflected within this issue do not represent the views of Speechless in the RGV ; in fact, the views expressed by any speaker or character in any statement, poem, drawing, photo, painting, or short story do not necessarily reflect the views of anyone. This is an artistic and creative expression of the artists & writers. This is art.

SPEECHLESS

By Marco Solis, La Joya

2

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Where's Santa? By Tapuro, Marco

Cover

Warning by Marco Solis

Page 1

En Guard by Alexandra Y. Hernandez

Page 2

Turkey Slaughter written by Rogelio Garcia

Santa Snow Globe by Cristo Alvarado

Page 8

Baby Rattle X Mas by Bryan Guzman

Page 8

illustrated by Cristo Alvarado Photo by Alexandra Y. Hernanez

Page 2 Page 6

Basketball Family written by Ruby Red illustrated by Bryan Guzman Page 13

If Only by Bweraa Rodriguez

Page 6

Santa's Nuclear Workshop written by

Cartoon by Saul Saenz

Page 7

Rosbelt Chapa & illustrated by Marco Tapuro Page 16

Self-portrait by JD Salinas

Page 7

TV Killer by Rogelio Garcia

Page 7

Baby, In My Tummy by Yazeem Guerra

Page 7

Baby's 1st Thanksgiving by YazWar

Page 8

Photograph by Marco Tapuro

War of the Worlds by Cristo Alvarado

Page 21

Page 8

Letter to Santa by YazWar

Page 23

Read featuring Rogelio Garcia

Page 8

Snowman Snow Globe by Cristo Alvarado

Page 23

The Adventures of Super Saul written and illustrated by Saul Saenz Mirror by Leeroy Zuniga She's a Villain to Me by Alex Hernandez

Page 10 Page 12 Page 12

Photograph by Alexandra Y. Hernandez, McAllen ISSUU.COM/SPEECHLESSINTHERGV

Written by Rogelio Garcia Illustrated by Cristo Alvarado 2011, La Joya, Texas

SPEECHLESS 3

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One day before thanksgiving my family and I went to buy a huge turkey to kill by the big day…Dia del pavo!!!

We were so excited about the turkey when we bought it that we dismissed something that the farmer who sold it told us. On our way home, I was thinking about what he said. “We call this turkey, Turkey Slaughter. Don’t ask why. You’ll find out for yourself.”

He knew something we didn’t.

We got home very excited, messing with the huge turkey, and just waiting to kill it on the big day. When we all went to sleep that night, I had the strangest dream. I dreamed about the turkey we bought. I was poking at it all the time for some weird reason. Then, the turkey was poking me in my dream!

SPEECHLESS 4

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It was enormous, way bigger than me, and it chased me while poking me with his beak. I screamed in horror and ran inside my house in pain looking for my family. I was devastated at what I saw. My entire family had been slaughtered! I just wanted to wake up already, so I screamed. I woke up with panic running all through my blood cells. Minutes later, after realizing it was just a dream, I went back to sleep.

I became furious that I didn’t have a turkey for Thanksgiving anymore. All of a sudden, we heard huge footsteps like if something big was coming toward us. I panicked right away and ran outside looking for somewhere safe to hide. When I looked up I saw the enormous turkey of my dreams. My dream became reality and I ran for my life screaming in horror because that huge turkey was speaking to me while it chased me.

Thanksgiving Day arrived and I woke up still thinking about my dream. I headed to the kitchen where I saw my whole family together. I was relieved knowing they were fine. They all stared at me and I noticed they seemed upset.

“What’s wrong?” I asked them.

“Someone stole our turkey! It’s no longer outside!” They told me.

“So, you were planning to slaughter me alive?!”

I was speechless and ran even faster inside my house where my family was nowhere to be found. Devastated and hopeless, I stood still outside waiting for the Turkey Slaughter to finish me too. The last words it said to me were, “Now who’s picking on who?!?”

I fell on my knees and within seconds I was lying dead on the floor.

Let this be a lesson to all of you. Vegetarians RULE! The End

SPEECHLESS 5

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Speechless Break If Only If only I could rewind the time, I would be nine-years-old, you would be working.

If only I could rewind the time, I would be twelve-years-old, you would be at Jossie’s exercising.

If I could rewind the time I would be thirteen, I wouldn’t have left, you would be taking care of us.

If I could rewind the time, I would be eighteen, you would be standing up on a Saturday making plates to sell.

If only, only if I could rewind the time, I would be nineteen, you would be walking.

You would have your leg, you would be walking; Running...playing with your “nieta”.

If only, if I could, I would be in the hospital cutting my own leg and donating it, for you.

If only, I could rewind the time, Mom, everything would be back to normal.

You wouldn’t be hospitalized right now, you would walk and stand on your own feet.

Only if...

If only.

By Bweeraa Rodriguez

Photograph by Alexandra Y. Hernandez, McAllen

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SPEECHLESS 6

Art by Saul Saenz, La Joya

TV Killer On a sunny Friday afternoon, I had gotten home from skateboarding afterschool with my friends. I started playing Xbox 360.

Everything was good. I was in an awesome mood. So, I started playing Black Ops, killing zombies. It has different levels starting from level 1 and it gets more difficult as you cross each level. Level 34 is the farthest I’ve gotten in zombies. That day, I beat my record!

I was so happy in level 39 when the game suddenly gave me a warning that it was going to turn off in three minutes. I got carried away with my happiness and forgot. My TV shut down, stupefied, I forgot to pause the game. By the time I turned it back on I was dead already. I got so upset that I picked up my TV and threw it outside, started kicking it, got a stick, and hit it. I even got the trashcan from outside and started hitting it with that too. My TV was victim of my own terrible rage. Then, I fell victim to my mother.

My mom wasn’t home, so she didn’t tell me anything until the next day when she found out. As a punishment she left me no TV, Xbox, and 360 less.

That happened a month ago.

I’m still TV less.

By Rogelio Garcia, La Joya SPEECHLESS 7

BABY, IN MY TUMMY My nose senses a change Oh, my tummy feels a pain.

Can’t stay awake Its five to eight, And my eyes are slowly closing.

I get a call; it’s a weekend night, I think I’ll just stay in.

I feel too sick…I must admit.

9 months of pain…. Doesn’t sound to legit 9 weeks go by Soon twenty, too.

Can’t wait for your arrival.

I am too young.

Too soon for this, But God sent me a blessing, No turning back.

You’re on your way.

Not stopping your track.

A mother’s “LOVE” Is so obsessing. ~ YazWar, La Joya

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Self-portrait by JD Salinas, La Joya

Speechless Break

Baby’s 1st Thanksgiving Say Hi to the turkey I’ll see him soon Maybe next year Or hopefully in two Can’t promise today Today’s pay may…

Got money to save For my delivery day Say hi to the turkey I’ll see him soon If maybe next year Then, a table for two Can’t promise today Got money to save Oh! My sweet angel For your first turkey day. ` YazWar, La Joya

Santa Snow globe by Cristo Alvarado

Baby, Rattle Christmas!

Baby rattle X-mas.

“Rattle, rattle, rattle!”

Walk forth on through this battle, don’t turn back to the shadows.

Stride fast to destined greatness, like snow came down to face this.

This dry and solid land, reminding us that united we all stand.

So, baby, rattle x-mas!

Rattle fast and rattle hard!

I’ll proudly say I got this far.

Art and poem by Bryan Guzman, La Joya ISSUU.COM/SPEECHLESSINTHERGV

SPEECHLESS 8

Speechless Break There They A

“Beautiful Lady” I’ve been dreaming of her lately. Dreaming we’re getting married and she’s wearing a beautiful long black dress. There’s black everywhere.

The en-

tire wedding décor is black. My dream wedding has come true.

My first love was run over by a drunk driver three years ago and died. I loved her so much that I couldn’t accept the fact that she wasn’t with me anymore. Thoughts of suicide were with me at all times. I just couldn’t accept reality.

One night, I dreamed I was with the most beautiful lady in a black wedding dress. I’ve had this dream many times before and every time I woke up I wondered who she was. This time was the last time. We were getting married. I was so happy, but I still didn’t know who she was. At the

Nothing ne w, There they are Four cows From a ran ch so far.

Not too far, But close to mine.

On the oth er side From a fen ced up line.

There they are Right after school.

They wait fo r me To feed the m food.

As you can see My grass is green.

So full of life For them it seems.

moment I grabbed her hands then all the people from the church disappeared. Even the pastor disappeared and it was just her and I alone. Then, she revealed her identity. It was my first and only love. I kissed her and I disappeared.

My first love came for me and I never woke up from that dream. Now we’re together forever.

Not even death will keep us apart. Our love will

They’re h ome, but It’s not h ome to th em .

Their own er seems To have a bandoned them.

There the y are, with out A blade o f grass, no grass, Just twigs and ants.

So dark lo oks dead.

No water I bet.

So, I decid e to break That wick ed fence And ther e they are in paradis e again.

By Yazeem

burn more fiercely than the fiercest star for ever and ever.

re

Rogelio Garcia, La Joya, TX

Art by Rosbelt Chapa, La Joya

SPEECHLESS 9

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Guerra, La

Joya

A mystery woman attempts to capture Saul’s heart. Will Saul break free of her fatal attraction for him or will he fall victim to Witchy Cupid?

Una mujer misteriosa intenta de capturar el Corazon de Saul. ¿Podra saul salir libre de su atracción fatal o cerá victima de esta Bruja Cúpido?

Written and illustrated by Saul Saenz, La Joya

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SPEECHLESS 10

There once was a black witch that had arrows like cupid. If you were pierced by one of the black witch’s arrows you would fall in love with her. She would spend her time finding unsuspecting boys to make them love her.

Habiá una vesz una bruja negra que traia flechas y a el que le tocaba se enamoraba de ella. Se pasaba la mayoria de su tiempo buscando muchachitos distraidos para que se enamoraran de ella.

1 The witch tried to chase Saul from one side of the world to the other. But, Saul was so fast that by the time she arrived he had already circled the earth three times.

La bruja perseguía a Saul de un lado del mundo al otro.

Pero, Saul era tan rápido, pero tan rapido, que cuando ella llegaba él ya havía dado la vuelta al mundo tres veces.

One day, a muchachote, who was named Saul, caught the witch’s eye. What she didn’t know was that this boy was special. No one could defeat him. Saul was very strong and fast. He would run so fast that not even light could catch up to him.

Un dia, un muchachoté, llamado Saul, le llamo a la bruja.

Lo que no sabía era que este muchacho era especial. Nadie podía con el. Saul era muy fuerte y aun mas rapido. El corría y saltaba tan rapido que la mismita luz no lo alcanzaba.

2

Desperate, the witch made one last attempt at capturing Saul’s heart. She only had one magic arrow left and it was for him. But, Saul disappeared on her! Outsmarted again and furious she screamed out in rage. “NO!” At a distance Saul could be heard laughing and saying, “Ha! Ha! Witchy woman, you can’t get me. I’m too fast for you. I’m Super Saul.”

The End

Deseperada, la bruja intenté robarse el Corazon de Saul una ultima ves. Solo tenia una fletcha majica mas y era para el. ¡Pero, Saul se le pelo! De nevo frustrada y fracasada, la bruja grito de un coraje imenso. “¡NO!” Saul se escuchaba el la distancia rillendo se y diciendo, “¡Ja! ¡Ja! Bruja, nunca lograras tener mi Corazon. Soy demasiado rapido para ti. Soy Super Saul. No se le olvide.

3 SPEECHLESS 11

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Fin

Written by Ruby Red, Mission Illustrated by Bryan Guzman, La Joya

SPEECHLESS 13

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Meet Vicky and her mom, Ms. Ruby.

There once was a tiny family made up of a mommy, Ms. Ruby and her daughter, Vicky. They often spent their time going to games and fun outings.

Ms. Ruby would try to make them as fun and comfortable as possible for Vicky. But Vicky was always sad. She looked at the other families and wondered why her family seemed incomplete.

Page 1

Page 2

The basketball player had been so taken with Ms. Ruby that he could think of nothing else the during entire game other than winning.

One day, at a basketball game, Vicky’s mom caught a basketball that had gone out of bounds onto the bleachers.

“Sorry, may I have the ball please?” Said the Basketball Player.

“I can’t look like a loser in front of her.” He thought.

“Geez. Don’t let them see you sweat, PJ.” He whispered to himself as the ball left his hand and the buzzer went off.

“Sure.” Vicky’s mom returned the ball.

Page 4 Page 3

SPEECHLESS 14

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After making the winning basket, he called over Ms. Ruby and Vicky to join him in the winners circle.

Nowadays Vicky is nothing but smiles when she goes to the games. Everywhere she goes now Vicky sees that she too can have her dreams come true.

Page 5

Now, Vicky has a new dream of being a big sister.

The End

Page 6

SPEECHLESS 15

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Written by Rosbelt Chapa Illustrated by Marco Tapuro

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SPEECHLESS 16

It was a snowy day in the North Pole and Santa’s toy factory was ready for business. The factory was getting ready to make toys for Christmas day.

Santa gets on the podium and says “we are going to have to work harder this Christmas because toys don’t make themselves”. Every elf in the factory agrees with Santa and quickly gets to work.

SPEECHLESS 17

Santa calls all his elves for a meeting at the main building of Santa’s toy factory.

As the toys are being made in the factory Santa forgets to announce the new toys that are going to be made this year. He gets everybody’s attention with a big “hohoho”.

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Everybody that had eyes turned to look at Santa. Santa said, “We will be making a variety of new toys this year including a transforming robot, talking dolls, and a green dinosaur. Do I make myself clear?”

Everybody responds with a big “yes, sir!"

They get back to work on the toys.

Santa saw that they are one dinosaur short.

“The dinosaur was accidently made without the top of its head, Santa.”

The elves give him the headless dinosaur and he does not like what he sees.

SPEECHLESS 18

All the elves were excited about the new toys they would be making. So they went straight to work. Progress was happening fast. They made 500 transforming robots, 500 talking dolls, and 499 green dinosaurs.

He just throws the ugly doll away. But, what Santa didn’t know is that he threw the doll in a trash can that the radiation building used to disposes of the radioactive materials at Santa’s factory. Nobody noticed what happened next.

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Do It Yourself! Illustrate the story following the text.

Days pass and the doll had already been processed through the radiation factory and was thrown in the snow. Christmas was days away and Santa’s toy factory was ready to start sending toys to all the kids around the world.

He went back but the toy dinosaur was gone! It had just got up and walked away! The elf left very confused.

An elf throwing the trash and he stumbled over something. The elf looks down and saw the headless dinosaur. He ignores it and leaves.

As soon as he stepped away he started to think about how he should have disposed of it properly.

The elf goes to tell Santa what he had seen, but Santa told him to ignore it. Santa said, “You need a vacation. It must be all those toys you’re making. Don’t worry about that right now.”

“Yes, sir.”Christmas Eve, Santa was getting ready to leave for his long journey. He gets on his sleigh and the elves load the toys on for take off.

Santa takes off with a big “hohoho”.

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SPEECHLESS 19

Santa looks back up with a gulp and said, “I seriously need to get rid of that radiation factory. I’m sure it’s a good zombie dino.”

Santa radioed his head elf.

As Santa is riding threw the North Pole to deliver the toys he heard this loud roar. He looked down from his sleigh just a few feet away and noticed a 400 foot green zombified dinosaur with a sign that read, “where’s Santa?”

“#1, can you handle this zombie diono saturation?”

All the elves got together and climbed on a huge candy cane to try to speak to the zombie diono.

The elves explained that Santa did love him very much.

“Dino, Dino! Calm down! What’s wrong?

What do you need?”

“Santa...Santa...love me.” Said the Dino as he stumbled after the cloud tracks Santa’s sleigh had made in the blue sky.

SPEECHLESS 20

“Not a problem, Santa.”

“I thought so. Ho Ho HO!”

“No matter what you look like, Santa will always love you. He loves all his toys. Santa just needs to work. He needs to deliver toys to all the boys and girls of the world, but he will be back soon.”

“Santa, love me?” Dino asked.

“Yes, of course.”

All was well in Santa’s nuclear workshop. As they waited for Santa to return from his toy deliveries the zombie dino and the hazmat elves cleaned up the factory for Santa.

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THE END

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Do It Yourself! Write your own story following the illustrations.

_________________________ Title

____________________________________ ____________________________________

Written by _____________ Illustrated by Cristo Alvarado,

____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________

SPEECHLESS 21

____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________

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SPEECHLESS 22

Letter to Santa Santa, I don’t want any iPads, No games of Twister, Not any dog, Or any cat named Whiskers!

I don’t need a car.

I’m too young to drive.

I don’t need a mansion, I think my home is fine.

I’ve realized something.

Now, I've got it all A supportive family, And friends I can call.

I’m healthy, Santa.

Feel strong now too.

See, I fought my cancer.

Thank God I made it through.

Your milk and cookies Are there either way Along with a thank you note, Because this year I’ll be ok.

Art work by Cristo Alvarado

Cartoon by Cristo Alvarado, La Joya

By Yazeem Guerra, La Joya

Cartoon by Cristo Alvarado, La Joya

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SPEECHLESS 23