QW for Cisneros and Oblivious Empire

I'm not really sure if this is a required assignment, but it's on the syllabus so I'll do it.
"I've never made love in Spanish"
The first thing that caught my attention with this reading was the use of figurative language. Cisneros describes the Spanish language as being a "sweep of palm leaves and fringed shaws" (par. 5) and that it "whirred like silk, rolled, puckered, and hissed" (par. 6). Cisneros also describes the English language as being "crunchy as apples, resilient and stiff as sailcloth"
(par. 5). Other uses of figurative language reveal little details about how Cisneros views the Spanish language that wouldn't be seen otherwise. However, a few similes that are used, such as talking in the kitchen at the same time, don't really make seem to fit in with everything else. Also to me, this excerpt reminds me a bit about the concept of ethnocentrism. Cisneros is partly Mexican and thus, seems to view the language of Spanish as being superior to the language of English. This basically seems to be the case for all people. They view their languages as superior to those of others. Still, Cisneros does provide a good view of how bilinguals experience their languages by showing how she sees each of her languages.
The Oblivious Empire
I've known for a little while that the US really gets out and tries to make other countries see its views on issues, and this reading proved it. What kind of struck me was how oblivious some Americans can be in regards to other countries as well as their own, hence the title Oblivious Empire. The article states that we "know little of the outside world" and are ill-informed about what our government is doing" (p. 101). Both of my parents seem to be very knowledgeable about what goes on in the world and what the government is doing, so it was a little bit of a shock to read how we as citizens don't even know what our own government is doing. What I also read, but wasn't really surprised at, was how the US government insists that it's fighting in other countries to impose liberty and freedom, but is actually helping to create and support laws that endanger everyone living in other countries. This doesn't seem surprising since I know that the US has, over the years, really let itself go in terms of holding a view of liberty that everyone agrees on.