Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield

Katherine Mansfield was a writer of short fiction from New Zealand. She went to Great Britain at some point in her life and met writers D.H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf. She is best known  for tow of her more famous writings, "The Daughters of the Late Colonel" and " The Fly". I read her short story Miss Brill. This story could not help but to ring a thought of mental illness to me.

The short story Miss Brill also seemed to based in what today we would call mental illness. I consider myself an observer of people. I could relate to that characteristic in Miss Brill. However for her she became a movie, a script role. Somehow she lost herself and became what she was observing. The more you observe people the more you learn about personalities and gain a more genuine understanding of people. In her case she became the people she watched because she was not having any experiences of her own. Miss Brill also appeared to be a lonely woman like the woman in A Rose for Emily. She appeared to long for a relationship from the people she observed but would never initiate any conversations to try and start any form of communication with them. It appeared she was in a constant acting role in a movie. Her life was the movie and she was the star. There was a scene near the end of the story where Miss Brill hears crying coming from her fur. I wondered if she was having a self-realization that she was not living her own life she was playing a role in unscripted film in her head. She felt she was invisible but the teen boy that yelled out rude remarks about her as if she was preventing his plan to score with his girlfriend is a good example of that. She ignored his comments and did not even respond or acknowledge they were about her. As if she does not see the fact some people may be offended by her paying constant attention to what they are doing.

- Cassa Arnold

This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona by Sherman Alexie

After reading this short story I was paying close attention the the locations and how they relay to the story. In another class I had this semester we had to pay close attention to plot, theme ecetera in literature we were reading so that is how this came about in this story. All the location and environment descriptions in this story really help to set a scene for the characters in this short story. I felt all the locations, although they were very different in appearance and locations were very depressing in theme. The reservation seemed at first as thought it could be a great place because the Indians could keep a lot of their cultural beliefs; then you realize keeping those traditions came at a cost. The Reservation had a high poverty rate. None of the people had updated school books and learning the correct information. They as a people were falling behind and disappearing on the world stage. The tribes were broke. They could not even help Victor pay for the trip to retrieve his father’s ashes. Thomas brought in a nice addition to the story and I found it interesting this young man had the money to help Victor and take himself along too but the tribe could not. That to me shows what kind of situation they were in. To not be able to return the body of a loved one in Indian culture is a big deal from what I have heard before on old history shows.

The airplane provided a little joy in way that they were always on the reservation and a plane is a whole new experience for them. They flew like the birds but the experience was not full of joy due to the purpose of the flight but they did get a few laughs with the young lady they met who was in the Olympics. The purpose of the flight is was really gives this environment a dark tone in my eyes. How can you fully enjoy this experience when you are retrieving the body of a loved one? Victor’s dads house has the worst feelings for me. It is dark and depressing and the stench of his father’s decomposing body from having been left in the house for so long before the discovery all throughout the house made it the most horrifying location of the story. At the end of the story when they drive through Arizona deserts this is where you notice that Victor and Thomas notice their surroundings and the feeling of death from no visible life grows in a dessert. It was like in this moment in their journey their traditional ancestry roots were awakened and they mourned for the life lost in this area of the land. The scene when ar first they were a little upset at making roadkill of the only sign of life they saw in Arizona, but then laughed it off as a way of consoling one another really made this scene although depressing in nature transforming to the journey.

Victor was an aggressive and proud character. He loved his family and had much honor in my eyes because he went out into the unknown and brought his father back. Thomas was more vulnerable and appeared to be more traditional in views. He was true to himself which really makes him stand out. No matter how much he was looked down upon for staying so traditional he stayed true to himself and appeared to be happy. I found he was a good foil character to Victor.

This story is the shortstory to the movie we watched "Smoke Signals" for class. The story is almost exactly a like however the relationship between Tom and Victor is explained more which made me feel like I understood Tom's character more in the movie.

- Cassa Arnold

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

I have read the book and watched the movie. I have always loved the movie. After reading the book I found so much more depth in the story. I loved the way it was written in the format of which you felt you were reading her letters or journal. This aspect of the book reminded me of Saphire's Push. Both stories mimic one another in the aspect of incest and abuse of the girl children in the family. Both stories are very disturbing but in The Color Purple I felt at least there was a happier ending for Celie. She ended up having a deeper relationship than I first beleived with Shug Avery after reading the book. It was hard to read this story. You could definately tell it was another child telling the story. This story spanned over many years so you got to grow up with Celie within the story.  Celie was always told she was too dumb to go to school or read. I could not help by find myself cheering when Nettie was teaching it to her. Everyone should have this right.

 You got to be a personal witness to the rascism that took place during those times. Sofia ended up having to be enslaved by weathly family by a display of behavior that other whites could have done with out such harsh treatment. You could clearly see the social differences of the blacks in the story in comparison to their white counterparts. The book did a great job exploring Celie's personal journey in finding her inner strength and chaning her life for what was best for her. It was exciting to see Celie gain confidence to leave Mister. She ended up gaining such good friends and surrounded herself with them. That last dinner with Mister, Sophia, Harpo, Shug and the rest of their families was the climax for me. She got to tell how she had felt all her life to everyone she needed to all in one sitting. While the words flowed on the pages I felt her being liberated from her prison. I could hardly put this book down.

- Cassa Arnold

Fahrenheit 451 / Book of Eli

Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 is a graphic novel I read by Tim Hamilton . Although both Ray Bradbury and Tim Hamilton are American this story had a real plot for books and literacy that I had to comment on it. This story is about a fireman Guy Montag. The firefighters in this book do not fight fires, they start fires. You heard me right. They start fires. What amazed me and frightened me is that in this book reading and books are illegal and punsiable by death by fire. They would burn the books and if you did not get out of the way they would burn you too. If you did leave the house you would be arrested. They had a concept that too much knowledge (and reading contributed to more knowledge), made you unhappy because you questioned things. So everyone had a telvisionator that projected on your walls and showed you only what they wanted you to see and beleive. Reading was illegal they were burning all the books they could find. What else was scary was the fact that if you were smart you were a fugitive at large. University Professors were all wanted fugitives hiding out just for being smart and wanting to read and save books. It really made me think about what it would be like if they took our right to read away. Said our books were illegal and we should all have the same amount of knowledge. If you were a curious individual like that of the 16 year old girl Claisse McClellan who loved to ask questions of everything. She loved to ask why, she was very inquisitive so she was labeled crazy by her society and eventually killed. The thought that this could happen; if any government decided books caused the greater good to be bad and destroy not only them but the people who seek to read them, is devasting and very frightening.  The people who lived in a doomsday scenario outside of the cities decided to memorize books then destory them to evade harm if they are stopped with the books on them.

 I recently watched a movie "The book of Eli" written by Gary Whitta born and raised in London England and directed by Albert and Allen Hughes also known as the Hughes Brothers. These brothers had a African American father and Armenian American mother. In this movie Eli is the last person in the world whom carries the actual copy of the Holy Bible. Many men with evil intensions want this book. They see it as a way to domainate the world. They are killing people for the books that are left. The story line is similar to Fahrenheit 451. In the end Eli who has memorized the bible helps monks translate and republish the book. I had the same uneasy feeling when watching this movie. How scary is that to lose your basic right to read and have books? To kill people for the books that are there? Throughout history there has been many instances in which destorying our knowledge has set humans back. In 212 B.C The Chinese emperer Shih Huang had all books burned and only one copy saved then he had that copy destroyed with his death. The Nazi regime did this to students in 1933. Destorying all books that they felt were "Un-German".  There are many more instances of this throughout history. Hopefully we learn from our mistakes.

- Cassa Arnold

Open-minded; Open thoughts

I had an interesting conversation about racism with a friend of mine who offered me a perspective I had not considered. I was explaining "Intuitionist" to her and we started talking about racism that exists today. Her thought was that racism exists in large part  because many people are afraid to discuss it openly. I thought of the modern day comedian Dave Chappelle who is able to be so straightforward and I began to think she might be correct. It seems like everything in today's society focuses on being "politically correct" to the point where teachers and those individuals of the most influence just avoid these topics all together.

This same friend also happens to be albino and one of the first things she does when in a new group of people is crack a joke about herself to deflate the tension. She lets everyone know that she is ok with them asking any questions they might have, for her the awkard sidestepping conversations are worse than a straightforward question. I realize that not all people are as comfortable with themselves as she is, but I have to wonder if it would not be easier if they were. I think that language is a powerful tool that can be used to fight the hatred of racism, it should not be something that is ignored because it does still exist.

It also seems that it is more difficult for some races to be able to speak about racism than others. I think that if Dave Chappelle were white it would be awkward and uncomfortable to listen to his routines, but for some reason him being African American seems to make all the difference in the world. I think that in a perfect world everyone would be able to talk to each other openly and there would not be the obvious discomfort in different situations. Of course our world still has a long way to go, but a good start would be acceptance and awareness, not uncomfortable denial.

-Elizabeth

BIG BLACK GOOD MAN! By Richard wright

The author’s history helps to give some insight to the purpose of his stories. He was a son of a sharecropper in Mississippi as a child. As he grew older he became very upset with the treatment of African Americans and became a communist with Marxist views in 1932. He eventually moved from the United States for Paris due to his dislike of the treatments of African Americans. He continued on to write many stories and poems. A set of long stories won Best manuscript in a Story Magazine these stories were published as Uncle Tom’s Children. He continued on to write, Eight Men, Black Boy and Native Son many of these stories have the Marxist perspective to them. I have not read these stories but have read Big Black Good Man (1957).

This story is about Olaf Jenson a white hotel manager. He is not racist in his opinion but when he meets Jim a very tall, muscular and very dark skinned African-American he became very hateful towards in. For this instance he became very much prejudice and for the life of himself he could not figure out why. The more you read you see if felt he was not racist but Jim had all the characteristics of black people that he had not seen before. He feared him due to his size and color. He spent a long time cursing this man and not wanting to even give the man a room when he had them. In the story Olaf was really confused to why after dealing with cultures of all races including blacks why this man he feared so much. When Jim leaves the room after six nights there he put his hands around Jim’s throat and massaged his throat. Olaf was terrified and swore Jim wanted to kill him. The more I read the more I believed Olaf may have envied the health and strength of this man. He also found himself questioning the lady he kept sending to Jim as if Jim would hurt this lady. For several nights Olaf cursed the ground, water and anything the Jim would touch. He wished him harm and death. He pleasured himself in the thought of Jim’s death. A year later Jim returns. Again Olaf is terrified and promised himself he would shot Jim dead if he gets close to him. This time he did refuse Jim a room but Jim was not looking for a room. He brought Olaf gifts. Six nice shirts he presented to Olaf. Olaf was blown away by the gesture and guilty for all the hate he sent to Jim. He admitted to Jim he thought he was trying to kill him and cried openly at that thought. In the end Jim left and Olaf had realized he had judged a book by its cover. This story almost had me in tears. How many times have I judged a book by its cover? How many times did I think I knew what someone was thinking about me and prejudged the situation and took action on those thoughts? I can say many times and reading this story helped me to see that you cannot possibly know everything and your own insecurities can tell you a whole story that is not there.

- Cassa Arnold

Lila Mae; Giver to her society

The way the "Intuitionist" ended reminded me of one of my favorite books, "The Giver", a short story by Lois Lowry about a boy from a strange futuristic version of our world where everything is equal and therefore "Utopian,"even down to the colors. The the main character, a boy named Jonas, is selected to become the next receiver of all the memories before the age of Utopia, memories of colors and music, memories of depth and variety. I associated Lila Mae with Jonas because to her as to him the world looks differently than how everyone else sees it. The way the giver gradually offers to Jonas more and more memories or knowledge as he is prepared to receive it is quite similar to the way Lila Mae and Fulton were gradually distributing the knowledge of the "Black Box" to a culture that was not quite prepared for its repercussions. Jonas realizes through his newly acquired knowledge that the society he resides in is not the Utopia he thought it to be. Jonas seems to make the same realization that Lila Mae and Fulton make and that is; even though distributing such knowledge will mean chaos for awhile, it is necessary for the world to understand what these individuals are already aware of. I also finding interesting that while in Lila Mae’s world color was a deep rooted societal issue; Jonas world showed that monotony or lack of awareness of color did not create a perfect world. There will probably never be a “Utopia” of human beings, they just change and evolve and this is done through knowledge.
-Elizabeth

The facts on Intuition..More thoughts on the Intuitionist

As I was reading the Intuitionist an interesting thought struck me, at least I found it interesting. I find the conflict between the intuitionists and Empiricists extremely fascinating as I have already posted once about this topic. I then started wondering what it is that makes the two respective parties so different. From a scientific standpoint it can be argued that the Intuitionists just are not as evolved as the Empiricists, but this is not to say they are less human or by any means less intelligent, if anything I would think it may mean the exact opposite.  

In nature animals are extremely in tune with their surroundings and it seems to me that this is the secret of the intuitionists. They rely on their senses, and although it is referred to as “voodoo” in the novel, actually it is the technique most animals rely on for survival. Pre-dating the industrial revolution and the development of mankind to its present state, humans once depended on their senses for survival in a much similar way. The American Indians are good examples of this. Their survival depended on their ability to hunt food and stay a step ahead of Mother Nature.  Although people today do not always depend on senses for survival as they used to, the capability is still there, and like some Indians were better hunters, the intuitionists may just be more in touch with their senses.

The catalyst for this post was actually an example I saw of Empiricism and Intuitionism working together successfully. On the show Bones, the main characters, Dr. Brennan and Agent Booth work together to solve murders, and while Dr. Brennan is extremely intelligent she can work only with what she sees, the facts that are placed before her. Her partner, (Agent Booth), is the intuitionist; he works by knowing people and being in-tune with their basic natures. Even though Booth and Brennan often do not understand each other, they have developed a kind of co-dependent partnership that really does not function successfully without facts and feelings. They solve crimes faster together and although this is admittedly a fictional representation, it does nonetheless show how the nature of the two sides may be opposite, but that they can be mutually beneficial. In the Intuitionist, according to one passage Lila Mae has a perfect record with her inspections thus far and this is not at all understood by the Empiricists. I thought of Dr. Brennan because try as she might she cannot figure out how Booth’s intuition can be right so much of the time. In the beginning, in fact, they hated each other because of these very reasons. She called him superstitious, and he found her stubborn and unrelenting. I do not think that it was a necessity that both sides were able to explain themselves to one another as that they were eventually able to respect each others’ capabilities. 

-Elizabeth 

A good scientific theory must be Falsifiable: Science Vs. Faith

Last week I posted on discussion board about the empiricist/intuitionist conflict being very similar to the democrat/republican of politics. I was thinking further on the subject and I realized that most of the conflicts throughout history stem from some sort of heart versus head debate. One of the classic examples is that of science and religion. Before the scientific revolution, it was the literature of Religion that held the most power. Specifically the Catholic Church was the lording entity.

Science has always been perceived as a threat by religion and vice versa. Similar to the Intuitionists, religion is based on what is unseen, on feeling. In the Intuitionist the world has progressed to the point that Empiricists and Intuitionists have reached a sort of equilibrium, one does not possess more power than the other. I think it would be interesting to see the outcome if one were to dominate because I have a feeling it would be very similar to the age when the Catholic Church dominated.

Vs.

The popular belief at that time was the concept of the geocentric model or the fact that everything in the universe revolves around the Earth. This was supported by philosophers and religious literature of the day. Galileo Galilei apposed this theory and through his research was able to propose and provide sound evidence for the theory that the sun was the center of the universe. If he were in the novel, I think that Galileo would have been an Empiricist. As is known from history, Galileo was condemned for his theory and eventually sentenced to live out his life under house arrest. What is it about these two ideas, thinking/feeling, knowing/believing that makes them such mortal enemies?

I think the true irony is that these concepts are really not that different yet we continually try to emphasize the line between them. Had the Catholic Church been open to what Galileo had to say religion may have discovered much earlier that Galileo’s theory was not the threat that they assumed it to be and progress would have happened sooner. Literature is open to interpretation, that is the true beauty of it, and just because an interpretation is different does not make it wrong and I think that this concept is exactly what maintains religion to this day.
-Elizabeth 

More Thoughts on Push: illiteracy is Bliss?

I wrote a discussion board earlier this week about the “divinity of ugliness” and I remembered another endearing story for which this phrase would apply. Radio is a story about a mentally challenged boy who accidentally wonders onto a high school football field and is then taken under the wing of the head coach, Coach Jones. Like Precious, Radio too was illiterate but despite his learning disability Coach Jones begins teaching him his letters. Although Radio is capable of learning, his disability would prevent him from ever really being a good student, but he remains as “assistant” football coach to this day. Like Precious he had a teacher continually pushing him to do better, to never settle. I thought another interesting aspect was the expression of language in both stories. As Precious learned to read she was able to express herself better through writing than through verbal communication and in Radio,  he was always carrying around an old radio. The language in both stories is demonstrative of a lack of education but it is interesting how in both cases new means of communication develop. Radio cannot adequately express himself through words or even written language but I think he did so through the music on his radio.  I remember one of my favorite passages in Push was when Precious compared the poor man sharing his one hot dog with “Jesus and his fish” and there was a scene very similar to this in Radio. Radio’s community came together over Christmas and gave him a truckload of various supplies, everything from basic needs to things like a toaster oven. He opened them each enthusiastically but the next day he loaded them all up in his little shopping cart and he distributed each gift to different people around his neighborhood that needed them. In this moment he became more God-like I think than the good people who originally gave him the things, because he turned around and shared everything he had with someone else. These two stories made me think, is it sometimes true that education, literacy, pulls us farther and farther away from pure simple truths? Education is no doubt vitally important, but maybe literacy sometimes makes us forget what we used to not know.
-Elizabeth

"Shout, O children! / Shout, you're free!"

An companion to W.E.B. Du Bois's "The Souls of Black Folk"  

           If you haven't read "The Souls of Black Folk", then go read sections I and III now. It's not that long, so we'll wait...Good, now you can read this as a companion to that part of the writing and hopefully we can all have a clearer understanding of it. One of the most enlightening parts of it is his disagreement with Booker T. Washington (Sec. III). These two Black leaders had very different views of to best way for Blacks to integrate into American society as equals. We see this same dichotomy of comflicting paths to equality again and agian throughout Black history in America. In the long run, the basic views of Mr. Du Bois are the preferred method, but it is interesting to think about how different things might (or might not) be if Mr. Washington's method had been applied.

"The Souls of Black Folk"

The first passage of this writing is a poetic account of black history in America since emancipation. Du Bois recounts his first experience with racism and how, even as a child, it changed him personally. It made him bitter and separate and then, later, it motivated him by way of vengeance and a personal sense of greatness and responsibility. He uses this personal change to mirror the struggle of the free Blacks in America.

He feels that it is hard to be both American and black. He would not destroy either, because both have something to offer the world. He cannot be both, because the ends are to divergent. To raise him up with skill, only sets contempt against him; and to remain ignorant leaves his potential unused. This situation leaves him the worst of both, an ignorant vagabond. He could use the skill he had to raise his people up; the world hated him for the skill and for being black, so he could not accomplish equality or find acceptance from anyone. This sets the beginning of the cycle of an unfulfilled want of a Black identity.

Blacks tried to follow the elusive gifts from freedom without success. Then the fifteenth(15^th) Amendment came and Blacks could vote. They took this power, but to no lasting avail. So some Blacks tried traditional book learning. However, all who measured their success did so to point out the negative and did not allow them any real material gain or success. From this, they did get self-insight and a sense of their own power and mission. Blacks knew they had to be themselves to gain a position in the world and so they analyzed this new thought. They felt the social degradation and the poverty of their being, a poverty caused by generations of slavery mixed with a resulting ignorance, and this was all they had to compete against Whites, who were the culture and the society and the law. In addition, a stain covered their body, the evidence of the rape of their ancestral women by White people and their legal institutions. This robbed them of their African honor and purity and only gave them the curse of evil blood in their veins that sensed to destroy their self-image as a people. Again, we see an attempt at seeing where they fit in, as a people, and coming away from the experience dejected.

This situation should allow them time for introspection and self-healing, but the world moves on an unrelentingly judges them against the standard set by others. Whites gloat over the failures, obfuscate the successes, and explain away prejudice as a natural and right way of living. Blacks seek agreement in understanding when applying this sensibly, such as cultural differences, but they are helpless against that racism that pervades all things and wants nothing but to perpetuate it and set discouragement as the natural state of all Black people. With this total assault against their spirit, came the loss of initiative and a racial depression and hopelessness. They lamented their ignorance and questioned the value of knowledge or of voting, since, by force or fraud, it gave them nothing in the end. White society echoed this depression on them and told them to be content with their sad lot as their appropriate place. Here, I believe, the depression is finally strong enough to cause that total rebuilding of thought

Out of this despair came a great awakening that showed them that each of the things they sought were wrong, not for what they were, but for what they were not. Each of the prizes politics, education, and others need combining and forming with a Negro identity that will appeal to the American Republic so that eventually they can be strong, teach to, and learn from the White race. They begin not without, but with their own prizes to give. Their music, folk tales, and other cultural history has become the American culture in the time they have been here in bondage and free.

Their goal, as Du Bois sees it, is to give dynamic life to a clinical society of money and data. They will add this to America with the heart of their historic race, and in the name of human opportunity. It is a high ideal that has borne true since then. Unfortunately, his concept of the underlying contempt for his people and the unsettled identity of his people, because of their tumultuous history, have also shown as an accurate account even today.


Afterword - This is the most interesting conflict in American history (Civil War re-enactors be damned). It is a situation that is unique in the modern world. Only in America was a legally enslaved people freed into a modern society and back by a conflicted federal republican government that hated and helped them, depending on the state, the issue, and the administration. Over a hundred and fifty years, American political thinkers have been trying to solve the problem that slavery created. Great men such as W.E.B Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, then later Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and their contemporary counterparts such as Cornel West and Thurgood Marshall won't let the issue of racial inequality in America settle in the dust of history until it is destroyed and we are a truly united society.


Suggested Readings: Everyone has surely read or heard Martin Luther King Jr's "I have a Dream" (The greatest piece of American oratory that was surprisingly ineffective.) and now you have also read W.E.B. Du Bois's "The Souls of Black Folk". A good continuance into the applicable thoughts on these issues in a modern light are, Thurgood Marshall's "The Constitution's Bicentennial: Commemorating the Wrong Document?" (It is an intriguing title for a Supreme Court Justice to write.) and the book Race Matters, by Cornel West (about the cultural aftermath of the L.A. riots).


                                                                                -  Japheth

The Sum of Our Days

I recently read The Sum of Our Days  by Isabel Allende. This was a very emotional rollercoaster of a book. I felt Isabel did a wonderful job at allowing you to see the cultural belief differences between herself and her husband Willie. I felt I learned a little more about the people of Peru and Chile by some of the things she would say or think in the book. Like how she thought ill of Willie because he was not as close to his family as she was. She was used to large families and staying very close knit. You get a sense of strong family bonding. Willie is American and our cultural views for a lot of families is one of "the bird leaves the nest and goes off to his new life". She seemed to be disgusted by that and even seemed to act as though she was better than him because her kids did not have a lot of the problems his did. Jennifer was a drug addict who lost all her beauty and ends up dying. it was sad to see her slow progression to death and her constant deteriation and not wish there was something you could do about it. I found it hard for me to identify with Isabel at times because I felt she was selfish in a lot of ways. I was not sure if that was just because of the cultural differences between us; however I could not give a whole lot of weight to it since she has lived in Califorina for so much time of her life. The longer you live somewhere the more you adapt to their way of life. I think some key things will always stay but for the most part your views do change some. I don't always think she was selfish. I loved the circle of friends she kept and could easily see how anyone could value a group of friends like that. I just don't know if I could deal with it every day. 

             Celia was a very intersting person in this book. She was Isabelle's niece and found her to be very tolerable to some of Celia's views. Over time Celia views started to change. Celia seemed to be a bit homophobic and racist at times. Celia's peronal views changed over time. She was at first a little homophobic and a little racist too. When she met the ladies that would raise Sabrina she would make sly remarks to Isabel about gays in general. After a while you noticed she softened up on some of those old views. It seems her Sisters of Disorder and all the different view points of the ladies seemed to really humble a lot of the ladies in some sense. I know it had to be hard for her to write about her daughters death. That I would find to take an extrodinary person who can be able to share the most devistating experiences of their lives with everyone. I must say I found the Life at a Glance about Isabel very intersting. After reading this I felt I could understand some of her ways of thinking a little better.  By some of her were better than you attitude could very well be due to the fact she comes from the fact she was the niece of a Venezuelan President and had to flea Chile after his assassination. What I liked about his book is how true to life it really is. Life is not full of fairytales where there is no death, addiction, pain and hate. She shows how they dealt with so many tramatic events. You could not help but feel strength from how Isabel carries herself throughout all her families suffering.

- Cassa Arnold

Language: "Push" too far?

I started reading Push this week and one of the first things that stood out to me about this novel was the language. The book is written so the dialogue sounds like Precious and at first I could not decide how well I liked this technique, but there is so much voice and personality conveyed that within a few pages I felt like I could hear Precious talking right next to me. This really made me realize how powerful language can be in a novel. I have never been one who cares for swearing and I usually do not like books and movies with excessive swearing, but I think for the purpose of this book it was almost necessary. At some point during my reading I realized I was able to overlook all the swearing because of the attachment I started to feel towards Precious’ character. Her character was very pitiful and the reader cannot help but feel sympathetic to her story. There have been movies that I have watched and books I have read in which the swearing was just plain tacky and completely pointless. In Push however I think it was Sapphire’s goal to goal to make the novel as real as possible, the story had a message and as I have not read it all I cannot say what that message is yet, and Sapphire wanted to make sure she got her message across. Aside from the swearing I also liked the realism created by Precious’ dialogue. Her voice was completely evident in every passage of the novel which made it that much easier to “get to know” Precious, I felt completely involved in her life from the first few pages. There seems to be a barrier between reader and character that slowly bridges itself as the character develops and language, especially in this book, plays an important role in how quickly this happens. Do you think that the swearing adds to or retracts from the novel?   

-Elizabeth 

A Rose for Emily

I have been reading several short stories and came across a wonderfully horrific short story A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner. This story was written in the 1930's and since October just passed with the thrill of Halloween and American culture loving to be horrified by the macabe this story had all the fixins. This story is about Miss Emily Gierson. She is a recluse who the towns people would prefer not to have dealings with. I found it amazing how if someone is strange enough or made someone feel uncomfortable enough they would overlook certain things just to not have to deal with the person that makes them feel that way. I found this to be a trend in this story.

Miss Gierson was so escentric that the towns pepole let her get away without paying taxes for many years and even overlooked following polices of the purchase of regulated substances to her just because the clerk was uncomfortable with her forceful nature. She was very crude and her family history seemed to have a lot to do with why the town's people overlooked certain things she did. I often wondered what the dark secret event was in history that got her such favors for so long.

While reading the story I noticed the darkness in its tone so I immediately suspected that Miss Gierson was hiding something; in the end when the twist is exposed, you sit back and reminse on how certain events earlier in the story were sure tell signs of what was exposed in the end. William Faulkner did a great job keeping me intersted in what may come next in her secretive life. I too felt uncomfortable reading about Emily. I felt almost from the start something was not right with this woman. I could not help but to feel sorry for her and felt her life must have been full of pain and loniness. At the same time I often wondered if maybe she was mentally ill and because the towns people wanted nothing to do with her she did not get the help that would have made her function better in society. If you have not read this short story you should check it out. I found it a wonderful read.

- Cassa Arnold

The Walking Dead Graphic Novels

I just read all of the Walking Dead Graphic Novels by Robert Kirkman. I love this series and can't wait to get my hands on the most recent novel book six. I have always loved zombies and this was a very delightful read for me. I have never read graphic novels about zombies although as a child I did enjoy comic books. I read MAD Magazine, Spawn, Xmen and how can you forget the Archie. As a child I did not have much of a attention span to read full books but comics I could read easily and I believe it was due to the visual art. The art also interested me and I would study each storyboard carefully.

Graphic novels are just bigger comic books in my opinion and they are so fun to read. I like the way graphic novels add picture like storyboards to the words and allow for visuals while you are reading. The only downfall I see for that same benefit is the loss of your own visual creativity and personal interpretation to the same events you read about. That is definitely one aspect I always enjoyed about reading; you could read something and in your minds eye see a picture of what you read was happening. It's like creating your own  movie. Graphic novels bring the movie to the book. So that takes the creativity out of it and just shows you the way it is to be seen.

Those who love Zombie movies will enjoy The Walking Dead book series by Robert Kirkman. It has all the typical zombie scenarios but also gives you new situations and interesting characters to follow. I found myself emotional over the deaths of some characters while wishing some were bitten and turned to zombies right away. I found myself reading inbetween calls at work and couldn't wait to get the the next book. I would say for literacy, graphic novels are a definite helper for those who struggle with reading. Because there are pictures in the novel some of the extended reading your would have had to do to gain insight into descriptions of characters and locations, are now removed. This process is shortened because all of those details are shown in that picture. This allows for the only reading to be narrowed down to the conversations and thought processes of the characters in the novel. It is like watching a movie in a foreign language that you are reading the subtitles on, in my opinion it is the same process but in different form. Now you see live images opposed to still shots but you are still reading the words and seeing the visuals. I would recommend reading a graphic novel to anyone who like me had struggled to read long novels. I found after reading comics it made reading longer books easier for me to do and I actually enjoy it now.

-Cassa Arnold

Shadow Tag, Allende's It

Our assigned reading for this week was ShadowTag by Louise Erdrich. We also just finished Allende’s The sum of Our Days and with this novel still fresh on my mind I could not help but see some similarities between the two main characters: Sum’s Allende and Shadow’s Irene.

It seems like both characters use literature in various forms: writing, reading, knowledge, to escape and cope with their own realities. For them language is a source of strength and power. Allende writes to keep Paula alive while Irene writes to keep herself alive and also to free her from her husband. I think language was one of the biggest things that sustained both characters.

Both are very introverted characters who seem burdened by emotional troubles. In both books it seems like the children are the innocent victims of these troubles as well. Although both Irene and Allende obviously cared greatly for the children, both at times seemed very self involved. At some points in both novels I would get extremely irritated with these two characters wanting to say to both of them ‘just snap out of it!’ However, I enjoyed the voyage of self-exploration that we as readers were allowed to accompany them on feeling mixtures of extreme sympathy and exasperation as both stories progressed.

I think a big difference between the two characters is that Allende had found outlets for herself isolation. She had developed a colorful group of close nit friends and family, but Irene had no one other than the children until she discovered her connection to Louise. I am convinced more than ever after reading Shadow Tag that Allende was sustained by her clan-like connection to her friends and family. Irene only has this through her children and as yet in the story they are too young to be good outlets for their mother.

For a discussion question, since I myself found this interesting, did anyone else notice how the language of Irene when she wrote in her red book was very different from that in her blue book? To what purpose would such a technique serve? I think personally that it created a kind of bipolar characterization of Irene which made her even more complex. Blue book Irene was completely free from Gil’s clutches, but Red book Irene was still very much entrapped, like a portrait locked in a frame. Are there other similarities between Allende and Irene?

-Elizabeth Farley 

Do Audiobooks help literacy?

I have never been much for reading in my life. However I never really gave reading a chance. I am the type of reader that the piece of literature has to really grab me in the beginning or I can never complete reading the piece. I would read a few paragraphs then the next thing I know I am waking up. Dang, did I just fall asleep? For many years I felt I just hated to read. I couldn't do it. I had to read a book for a class and it was so dull reading the first chapter took be two weeks. One day one of my friends brought me the audiobook so I could listen to it since I kept falling asleep. I listened to the audiobook and wondered to myself. Is listening the book the same as reading it? I felt quilty like I just cheated on a test. Can listening help me to read words I would normally not know what is was? Am I getting the same benefit as I would if I read the book? Would my interpretation be different while hearing it as it would be reading it? A million questions ran through my mind so I decided to read up on it.

 What I found was that some experts believe that the use of reading your literature aloud to be one of the most important factors in proficicient reading skills. They believe that hearing the stories read aloud is one of  the right steps to becoming a better reader. I found this interesting because you don' t see the words when you hear it read to you opposed to if you read it yourself, however if you have an understanding of the alphabet it would make since then that hearing the words would make these words easier to identify. My cousin Jennifer read to her daughter frequently as a child. Jourdan was one of the first in her class to read. She also excelled in many other subjects compared to the other students in her class. My children did not get read to as often. My youngest son and daughter struggled with reading for a while until we started going to the library and getting books and reading them together. It appears to me that when you read to the children there is more going on at that moment then just hearing a story. My children lit up when we did these activities. They were so happy and really felt as though this was our time together a moment for mother and children. Our bond always seemed to be stronger during these times. When I took the time to read with the kids and help them to see the words. In some cases I would have them read to me and we would sound out words together. They were always so excited to go back to school and show their teachers what they learned or read about. At this time you realize how important it is to help the teachers by helping the children at home. With this little bit of time this can help a teacher save much needed time to help the child excel in otehr subjects.

I also found in my studies that some experts believe that reading to the children allows a greater chance of that child fostering phonemic awareness processes by introducing  the sounds of written language along with allowing access to the structure of liturature. This also allows the child to appropriate intonation  and helps to provide a model for fluent reading. One Physician states that reading allowed also helsp develop vocabulary growth and language expansion; when this is present ti increases the development of receptive and expressive language capabilies. —G. Reid Lyon, <I>The Keys to Literacy: Overview of Reading and Literacy
Research<I>

When I first read thought of this topic I did not believe you could gain good literacy by hearing the words and not reading them. After doing a little research I understood literacy to be more than just reading words and understanding them. I no longer feel guilty for listening to an audiobook instead of reading the book if it puts me to sleep. On that note I found that some books started off slow but while listening to them I could actually get through the novel and later found I could read along with the audiobook and gain more insight to what I just read.

most my information came from http://www.randomhouse.com/highschool/RHI/
 - Cassa Arnold

Language and Sustainability

     This will just be a quick entry. I just had a somewhat unique and interesting experience and it caused me to write a quick stream of consciousness poem. Now that I am in this class (Eng 370), I have thought more about the reasons that I do things like this. I believe it has to do with one of the class themes (Sustainability). Writing sustains me. When things happen, I write about them. When I was in school and I had to deal with different emotions and the learning process, I wrote poems. When I was in the Army and out of the country, I put down a litte prose as well as poetry. After I got hurt, I didn't write for a bit. That is what makes me think that writing is so important to my (and maybe others') healing process.

     Once I had gotten over the intial stages of that injury, I tried to write. Nothing would come out of it. Once the real issues involved in how I would have to change my life a bit became apparent, I could write again. At my previous job (before I got economy'd), I would write microfiction when I was stressed or maybe express a funny concept as a chart. I did a chart to see what was better, Superman or gold. I also wrote some fake Daily Planet articles (I love Superman) and did a microfiction Superman crossover. I love sharing these with my friends but copyright kept me from putting it on-line for others. Now that I look back, it is clear that writing sustains me.

     Our blog team's theme is 'language and literacy' and that is integral to this theme. It did not occur to me at first that the themes of our class are so vital a part of sustainability. A lot of my private interests involve increasing my writing ability. When I read, study grammar (I know that it's nerdy.), listen to public speakers or music, and even study other topics, I am working to improve my vocabulary and other skills so that I can write more effectively and over broader subject matter. Language and literacy sustains me just as surely as my body sustains my soul. Here is a little poem to prove it. It is about something that happened to me this morning.

I should have had a pickle

Distraction and traction, that was the action

1 truck, 2 trucks, White truck, blue bike

Stop, Turn, Stop, Slide – Superman

Burn

Leg and hand, Face is safe

Adrenaline

Talky talk, nicey nice

Hercules, Bike up right

Everyone - Fun, not fun

Everyone

Aid, lies, paid, buys, call

Waiting…Waiting, done

Nice!

                               -Japheth