Journey of Man: Part Two

It makes sense that our skin color changed over the years as we adapted to our environment. I have heard that the Native Americans came over from Asia, and this all makes more sense now.  I didn't think that we all came from Africa though.  I never thought about it at all really.  But it makes sense. What they will need to do now, is go back to that African tribe and find out more more about the very first humans.  This could only be done though bones and cave drawings, but it would be interesting.

The message of this, or the reason you showed it I think, is acceptance.  The TRUTH about racism, is that it only exists in our hearts.  If we all came from one man and woman, we are all family!  I loved when he said we are all brothers and sisters separated by 2000 generations.  It really sparks a sense of community that we need to think about everyday.

I guess I won't get my answer about why some of the first Africans left.  Because if it would have been a life or death situation, they all would have left.  Maybe leave the migration to a higher purpose, that we were suppose to populate the earth.  I need to be more like Violet was at the end of "Intention Neglect" and just accept that there are just not answers to some things.  There are some things that this race, even if it lives on for another 2000 generations, will never know.  When I become 100% okay with that I know I'll be happy.

I enjoyed this class.  Beyond the literature, I was challenged to grow in ways I didn't think I would be. 

Keri Jo

Journey of Man: Part One

The most interesting part of this movie to me is finding out why so many people left there homes and ended up in Australia.  I was thinking he was going to say that they walked across the ocean during the ice age, but ocean water doesn't freeze.  They way shows like this pan out, they are set up only for success.  So that means, because they went to India, they WILL find what they are looking for there.  But why would so many of them leave Africa and not stop until they reached Australia?

The first thing question that got my brain working was how many of them left?  You know there had to be a lot of them, because traveling would have wore them down, and many of them would have died along the way.  The trip had to have taken several years, so many of them would have died.  So what kind of outrageous number are we talking about?  Because there had to be a good number of people to populate Australia.  I'm really surprised a split like this didn't cause our species to die out.

So the other question is why would they leave?  What was going on back then that would have made them want to risk their lives and their children's lives to go out into the unknown?  They didn't have to do it to survive, or the others that stayed would have all died out.  Could curiosity really be that strong?  Even if it was, there wouldn't have been enough of them that were crazy enough to do this.  So I wanna know what happened.  It had to have been big.

And also, he was talking about bones as old as 60,000 years.  Holy cow.  Wouldn't it be cool to be a fly on a cave wall, see how they lived and what kind of creatures roamed the earth?  The animals had to be very post-dinosaury.  And what happened with the ice age?  How did man survive?  I have a feeling that this movie won't be as descriptive as I'd like, but that's usual because we always want more answers when it comes to stuff like this.  Looking forward to finding out why they left Africa! If they even know...

Until next time,

Keri Jo

eNcounTer acTiviTy fOur***

After reading some of the other blogs (by Cattie, Amanda, and Channdra) I have some things I can compare.  For one, problems communicating were brought up always, in some form.  Paco knew English already, but still had problems understanding the slang.  Dr. Olasz also had problems with the idiom, and had to learn things like what a high-five meant.  I don't think we think about this enough.  Besides the language, there is A LOT of other stuff immigrants must learn. Mafo had problems communicating with Amanda too.  Paco said that a lot of Hispanics seem invisible and get mistreated because of their race, and Dr. Olasz got treated like less for being Hungarian.  The culture was also a big thing that came up.  Paco, from Mexico City, was surprised to see senior citizens behind the wheel.  Luo, from Ouzhou, China, was surprised to see that pedestrians had the right away and that people were so friendly.

There was also a lot that was different between these people.  Paco knew English when he came to America because he had taught it in Mexico.  Mafo, who was African but spoke French, knew little about the language (English) and about things like driving.  Paco teaches Spanish in America and is trusted in that because it is his native language.  Dr. Olasz taught U.S. History, and students were skeptical because she was Hungarian.  Paco said the translations from Spanish to English lose there meaning sometimes, and Luo said it really depends of the company doing the translation, that sometimes translation from Chinese to English stays intact.

Everyone had something they wanted America to know about their culture.  Paco wanted people to realize their stereotypes about Hispanics.  Dr. Olasz wanted Americans to know that Hungarians are not Slavic.  Mafo wanted us to value everything we have, because not everyone in Africa is so fortunate.  Luo wants people to realize that there are the same things in China that we have in America.  It's not so different. If I had to sum up all of my findings, I would say that no matter what, there are going to be difficulties.  It doesn't matter how educated you are in the language.  You will still need to learn the culture.  And like Paco told me, you can't do that without going over and living it. 

Let the peoples' voice be heard! From this exercise I have learned that people from different cultures really long for us to understand their culture.  The problem is, people are so rapped up in their own lives we often don't stop to smell the roses.  Or listen to what people have to say.  Or more importantly, understand how they feel.  That stuff takes time, and unfortunately America is on a tight schedule.  That's why we need classes like one this to educate us about other cultures.


Until next time,

Keri Jo

KITE RUNNER part three

The end of this movie was a climax I did not expect.  I did not for a second think that Hassan and Amir could be brothers.  My stomach jumped like I was on a roller coaster when I heard this.  Props to the writers.  Good plot.

I thought it was sweet that Amir dedicated that book to Rahim.  It shows the softer side of Amir.  Amir often hides his emotions so you have to look closely to watch them come out. 

Hassan's letter to Amir almost made me cry.  Hassan was such a wonderful person.  It was truly sad to hear that he died, but I figured he would.  After all, he was not the protagonist.  Hassan had such thoughtful and loving wishes, and said Amir would always have an old faithful friend waiting for him.  Man did that touch my heart.  After reading this Amir must have known that he had to save his nephew.  Sometimes it takes something this sad and powerful to get a person to do the right thing.

The Taliban ruling Afghanistan is sick.  I feel for the people there, although I can't really empathize because we in America don't have to deal with that kind of stuff.  And they think God wants them to kill those that sin.  I almost cried again, for that woman, and all I could think of was, in the Gospels, how Jesus stops the Jews from stoning that woman, or rather He says, "“Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”  Regardless of what people believe, I cannot imagine anyone thinking it is okay to take another life like this.  People literally make me sick.  This whole movie made me sick and shameful to even be a human being.

In other news...

*SIGH*

My heart broke for Amir during the last part of the movie.  I got back on his side, and rooted for him to win.  Sometimes authors do that.  They will have you dislike the protagonist, only to make you love him at the end.  It's truly an art.  So Amir finally follows in his father's foot steps and stands up for what is right and good.  I didn't think they would really escape from the Taliban, but they did.  The fight was expected, but I didn't expect Assif! Nor did I expect Hassan's son to use his old sling shot and blind him.  So gross, but totally awesome.  The ending didn't set well with me though, because it was like everything is alright now, happily ever after, when clearly that wasn't the case.  That kid was so messed up he will never be right in the head, but I guess he has Amir, an uncle to love him no matter what.  A more realistic ending I guess, instead of one like a fairy tale.  What a messed up movie.  Good, but messed up.


Until next time,

Keri Jo

Kite Runner: Part Two

After watching the second part of the movie, I have a lot of unanswered questions.  So, Ali and Hassan leave Amir and Baba's house, but where do they go?  Is it Hassan who has called Ali all of these years later, or did they never make it out of the Middle East?  Did they die in the war?  I really want to know what happened with Hassan, because I am really fond of his character.

Me siding with Hassan's character over all others is interesting, because literature is made so that the reader/viewer sides with the protagonist.  Almost always, at least.  But all I want to know is more about Hassan's life.  I think this is because of the big differences between Amir and Hassan's character.  Amir is a spoiled little brat.  He grew up with money and servants, and seems to look down upon them.  He has had a rough life without a mother, but his father has such great character that it should have rubbed off on him.  Instead, as a child at least, Amir appears to be a bad apple.  Hassan on the other hand, has learned much from his life of servitude.  He humbles himself, he will not fight back.  He has honor.  He cares about others more than himself.  He is filled with love for his fellowman and is wise beyond his years.  Hassan values life.  At least this is how I see it.  Amir, as a child, had a lot to learn.

When we saw parts of the war, and Baba standing up for that woman while they were in the wagon, I was amazed.  His character is so strong; I envy it.  That is what I would want in a dad.  He was someone with strong values; a real man, who stood up for a woman.  We don't see that as often as we used to.

In California, I was sad to see Baba working in a convenience store.  I never think about that when it comes to immigration.  Baba was somebody.  He was rich and successful and loved in his country.  Then, in America, he is a nobody.  When I was interviewing Paco for the encounter activity, he told me about this but even then I didn't really get it.  I guess I had to see it, through Baba's life.  That really sucks.  But he is proud of his only son who graduated from college and even though he doesn't want to be a doctor, his dad still loves him.  Amir is really lucky to have a dad like that.  Anyone would be.

There was a part when Baba brings up Hassan, says Hassan would be happy for you, or something like that.  You can see the shame, and maybe a hint of anger, across Amir's face when his dad mentions Hassan.  The general and his daughter come into the movie, and everyone could tell they'd end up together.  It was strange to me, however, that they decided to marry after only talking a few times.  They didn't even know each other!  How could they know they would get along?  Maybe this is a culture thing, a Middle Eastern tradition or something, but whatever it is I don't understand it.  Seems crazy to me.

I got really sad when Baba got sick, because I love his character.  Funny I like Hassan and Baba both more than the protagonist.  I did think it was funny that Baba didn't want a Russian doctor and freaked out on him.  Then he ended up with a Middle Eastern doctor.  Go figure.  But it was really sad because you know that Baba is going to die and you keep hoping it won't happen.  I did enjoy, however, the culture that played through in the funeral, as well as with the wedding.  I have some questions about that too.  I want to know more about this culture, the dances, the songs and what they mean, and about the little things like the mirror used at the wedding.  Hopefully these things can be answered in class tomorrow.



Until next time,

Keri Jo

Kite Runner One

This movie started out being more intense than I thought it would.  Amir flashes back to his childhood, and I'm sure felt a deep pain about how he acted back then.  Amir heard his father talking about how a real man stands up for himself, and decided to use this to teach Hassan a lesson.  Who is Amir to teach anything?  He is just a child.  Amir calls Hassan the coward, because that is what he has learned from his father.  But Amir is the real coward.  He has no love in his heart.  He feels angry and guilty and sad all the time about his mother, and you can tell he is deeply disturbed when you hear about the stories he writes.  He writes about a man who would kill his own wife to get rich.  This man loves his wife so much that he weeps while killing her, but every tear turns to a pearl making him rich.  What kind of child writes stuff like this?  Seriously, this boy's father should have got him help.

Hassan caught my interest from the start, when he, not even knowing Amir, told him if you ask me to eat dirt then I will.  I was like wow, what is up with this boy.  This boy is full of love.  He will not harm others, and keeps his honor this way.  Hassan is wise beyond his years.  I hated watching the scene where he gets raped.  People make me sick.  I cannot comprehend the way people act sometimes; I want to throw up.  I have mixed feelings about how Amir reacted, because he could not have fought off all those boys.  He would have gotten assaulted too.  But that's when you have to decide: how much do your friends mean to you?  Will you run, or stay to go down with them?  It would be a hard decision in this case, because fear is powerful.

The scene when Amir tries to get Hassan to fight back is also sickening.  I thought for a second he might, but then he smashes the fruit in his own face.  This was shocking to me, and it hurt my heart.  How can a boy this young be like this?  It is so hard for me to understand, because at 23 years old I'm not even sure if I could act this way.  It was sad, but inspiring.  I wonder how the rest of this movie will go, and how Amir will take his paralyzing memories of his own moral failure.




Until next time,

Keri Jo

Encounter Activity Three

For my Encounter Activity, I sat down and talked with Northwest Spanish Instructor Francisco "Paco" Martinez  I'm guessing that through this activity, our class will find that while every story of immigration is unique, there are some difficulties that almost everyone faces.  So Paco was born in Mexico City, and has been living in the U.S. for 10 years.  In Mexico, he had taught English as a foreign language and did some freelance translating, so when he moved to Missouri in 2001 he already knew the language pretty well.  However, as any of us who have studied a foreign language would know, school doesn't teach you slang.  He had to learn all of the slang and anything that wasn't in the dictionary, so that was one difficulty he faced.  He talked about how the thick Midwest accent made it difficult for him to understand people sometimes.

There were also some cultural differences he noticed that were shocking.  For one, he had never been to a place with so many white people before.  Ten years ago, there was a lot less diversity on campus.  He was also used to the big city, and in coming to Maryville he realized how little there was to do in small towns.  In big cities you can go to the mall, concerts, fine restaurants, plays, you name it.  So that was something that took some getting used to.  Another thing he noticed that seemed out of the ordinary was that there were so many old people driving.  This confused me, so I had to ask what do old people do in Mexico City?  They don't go anywhere?  He said no, they don't drive, because the traffic is so crazy down there they would just get pushed off the road.  I don't even like driving in Des Moines! So I definitely wouldn't make it down there. 



Sor Juana Inez



Then we talked about Latin American literature, and he shared with me some of the writers.  Sor (Sister) Juana Inez was a feminist poet who became a nun, and wrote poetry that gave a voice to women back in the 1700s.  I'm not a feminist, but this still sounds like poetry I would really enjoy.  Then he talked about Mexico's independence, and pre-independence stories like "Los Banditos Del Rio Frio."  He also told me about scary stories like "El Fistol (the necktie pin) Del Diablo."  This story was about people that, because of greed and sin, would somehow end up with the fistol, and this also sounds like a story I would enjoy.

When it comes to stories that go from Spanish to English, the idea and theme sometimes get lost in translation.  One Latin American movie, made by Julio Cortarzar, was "La Tia Julia y El Escribidor."  He said when Woody Allen remade it, calling it "Radio Days," everything was changed.  Another one Paco and I discussed was "Love in the Times of Cholera."  This was a Colombian love story made by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  When it got remade in America, in English, it lost its originality and was no longer authentic.  We also talked about poetry, and how American and Latin American poetry differs.  In America, it is all about the rhythm, and when it's done in Spanish, the rhyme is more important.  When poetry gets translated it can really lose it's meaning, making it hard to do.

Then I asked Paco what he would like America to know about Hispanic culture.  He said there are some general misconceptions when it comes to Hispanics, because some Americans call all Hispanics Mexican.  I agree, that we assume way too much, and you know what happens when you assume...  We also talked about stereotypes, and how a lot of people think Hispanics are all laborers or cleaners, and that those trades should just be second nature to them.  He said truthfully, Hispanic immigrants are shy, and sometimes uneducated, but very hard working.  People think that all Mexicans want to come to America and this is another thing we misinterpret.  Usually, only one or two from the whole family come over to work and make money to send it back to their families. 

We talked about the American dream, and how it has lost its meaning.  He said in America, if you work hard you get to be someone, but he said it doesn't seem to work that way with Hispanics.  They stay invisible no matter how hard they work.  This really made me sad. We also talked about the differences in communication between Americans and Mexicans.  He said we talk about everything but nothing.  We talk about politics and our problems everything is just an agenda, when with Mexicans they talk just to talk.  They listen to each other and help each other, their friendships are like a "real Facebook," not fake.  I told him how I had noticed throughout my life that the Hispanics I had been around were almost always more open and affectionate that the average American.  With Americans we are always defending our space and want people to stay out of our bubble, and with Mexicans, or possibly Hispanics in general, they just share it.  The main point I took away from all this is that we all judge, we all assume, and we are getting it wrong, so Paco told me that in order to understand another culture, you must experience it.

Until next time,

Keri Jo

Returning To "Cunanan's Wake"

I gained some knowledge about the history of the Philippines from class discussion.  I didn't know much at all about them, about them being ruled by Spain and then America.  Shows how much I care about history.  I thought that the language aspect was interesting.  I didn't know they taught English in their schools.  I thought that they spoke some kind of Asian language.  You learn something new everyday.

I am still disturbed by the violence and ignorance in this story.  They are animals!  I could not imagine living like that.  They have a strong sense of ethnic loyalty, however, that I am not used to.  I have observed this loyalty, with other races, but I have often wondered if the whites are the only ones without it.  Sometimes I feel like because we are not a minority in America, we lose a sense of fellowship.  Perhaps if I went to China or Mexico, I would see the same sense of community among white tourists that I see with minorities in America.

The characters of this story have that loyalty to their own, and although it is mislead and used in an extreme situation, I am envious of how it would feel to be like that.  I wonder if it is the same with other groups as it is with race.  For example, how musicians around musicians feel connected, or Christians among Christians.  I wouldn't know, because like I said, I haven't experienced that as a white person. 

In class, we also discussed the notes written by the editor and the doctor.  I thought that was very interesting, how she was in a mental hospital.  Maybe that is where I got the idea of that being the reality of the characterization in "People Are Strange."  If I did, it was done subconsciously, because I'm just realizing it. Neat.  I hope we can read more stories like these.  I like short stories, just fiction, better than the other genres.  I like escaping for a short time into someone else's mind.  It's neat.

Until next time,

Keri Jo

"People Are Strange, When You're A Stranger, Faces Look Ugly, When You're Alone"

Oooh, I love this song!  What a strange story... It was suppose to be a memoir I think, but not all of it is true, so it there a such thing as a creative memoir?  Gamalinda, through this piece, has wrote something unlike anything I have ever encountered in all my years of reading literature.  I don't even know where to start because It was so weird.  But an awesome kind of weird.  I would read stuff like this everyday for the rest of my life, because maybe I am strange too. 

So the narrator of this story (I'm going to call it a story because it is not non-fiction) can change color at will like a chameleon.  I'm sure we can all account a time when we tried to imitate an accent or something like that, but he is saying he can actually change color like a chameleon, that it is a physical change, not just acting.  I do enjoy acting these things out sometimes.  Only in good fun, not to make fun or hurt others, but simply for amusement.  I am particularly fond of the Australian accent, which I sometimes belt out in the car while singing (alone of course!), and my niece and I try to do funny accents and record them on my cell phone and play them back and laugh and laugh. 

But this guy seems more like a schizophrenic than a jester.  I'm no psychologist, but the multiple personalities point towards dissociative identity disorder, but if the characters are only in his head, they may just be delusions, and that along with the paranoia would be paranoid schizophrenia.  Why did I take so much psychology???? I'm a writer! Anyways, the knowledge comes in useful sometimes.

So through this piece the narrator prophesies his own death.  He knows it is going to happen before it happens, or so it seems.  I can't even really wrap my mind around it, but I know it will make a great topic for a response paper.  I hope we talk about this a lot in class (stories like this makes me wish we had a longer class period!) because I am so interested in this piece that I want all the answers.

Until next time,

Keri Jo

Cunanan's Wake

I found this story to be very interesting.  The characterization was done really well, and the language, which I'm not even sure if Filipino is a language or if they speak some other Asian language, really helped make the story come to life.  I love when ethnic writers use foreign language in their works.  Even if I don't know what it means, it adds to the piece and makes it authentic.

These characters were arguing over it is right to follow your own, as in your own race, even when they do something so wrong.  Most agreed that they should honor the murder's death, but Junior wouldn't have it.  And I agree with him.  I am an American, but I also know that there are bad people everywhere.  Every race, color, country, city, has bad people and good people.  I would not stick up for an American that murdered someone JUST because he was an American.  No wonder other cities thought this one was full of ignorant people. I was also very shocked by all of the violence.  They cant even relax and enjoy a beer without someone pulling out a gun and trying to shoot someone.  Crazy!  If people did that in a bar in America they wouldn't just be yelled at, they would be arrested.  Everyone has a different POV, but that is no reason to shoot someone.

I was surprised to see that a woman ran the town.  Kapitana.  Like captain, right?  She was the mayor, I think, and she was definitely queen b.  When Junior was mocking her gay son at the end, she tried to shoot him! I don't know how people can live like this.  So barbaric!  And they hate Americans.  But then again, who doesn't?  We just try to take over the world right?  I am against war and violence, which our country takes big part in, but that doesn't always represent the individual.  The single mom with two kids working at Hy-Vee.  The surgeon in the OR that saves your son's life after a car crash.  The missionaries that go over seas to help people.  America isn't all bad, but some people like to think so. 

I didn't know that we went over there and started war though.  I knew about Vietnam and Hiroshima, but I didn't know anything about the Philippines.  Sometimes I wish our country would just mind their own business so we could stay out of the spot light.  Most of the reading for today was difficult to understand, but this story, Cunanan's Wake, was the one I understood the best.  For the other things we read today, I will have to get help from class discussion to understand it, because not only did I not understand what I was reading, but I didn't even know WHAT I was reading.  It was set up very strangely in comparison to what I am used to, so I hope things will be clarified in class.

Until next time,

Keri Jo

"How to Leave Hialeah"

Hooray!  I love second person narrative.  I was hoping we would read a story like this in this class.  So, this story is about a Cuban American girl that goes through the motions of life, from high school to college to the work place.  She moves across the country and really isn't too far out of the norm (as far as ambitious young adults goes).  I just like reading with this POV because YOU get to be the protagonist. 

I found a lot of ways I could relate to this character.  From crying over high school boyfriends to wanting a good education.  She felt marginalized a lot in this story.  Her parents didn't understand her ideas and she was often full of anger.  Sounds like a teenager that never grew up.

This is a good story of how minorities can feel different and lonely, and the POV allows us to step into their shoes.  I didn't like the scene at work, with her employees acting racist.  I also don't like that people called her Mexican when clearly she was not.  But I will be one to be honest on the subject:  I cannot tell!  I don't know the differences and probably couldn't spot them if I did, without practice anyways.  So it is best just to use the term Hispanic for all unless you are 100% sure.

CUBA.  A lot of immigrants from Cuba have amazing stories about making it across the sea and surviving.  That seems so crazy to me, that families would risk their lives, and the lives of their children to come to America.  It really makes me think that they must have it worse than I could image, otherwise I would see the justification. 

I like stories like this because you can better connect with the protagonist.  You know how they feel, and you live with them instead of just observing them.  While they can be a challenge to write, second person POV is fun to read.  I hope we read at least one more before the semester is over.

Until next time,

Keri Jo

Returning to "Passing" Part Three

In class I learned that it wasn't that the author of the critique essay thought she was right, it was just that she was saying that those were possibilities.  There are many points of view that literature can uncover.  If this author thought envelopes were sex symbols and that the characters (Irene and Claire) had the hots for each other, that's her option.

I still think that lit critics take stuff too far.  But that's part of the job.  I thought we were taking things too far in class too, with the cartoon and Taylor Swift picture.  I don't think most people would have looked at that comic strip and seen anything sexist.  But only most.  We can't say how EVERYONE will view things, so people should be cautious in what they print if they don't want to make people angry at them.  As for the Taylor Swift picture, all celebrity photos are sexy, but I don't know one person stupid enough to believe that if they drink milk they can look like Taylor Swift.  So let them run ads like that.  If people are stupid enough to believe that, then they probably cannot read anyway, and are therefore safe.

All of this is about people seeing things that aren't there.  People see what they want to see, because of what is inside them.  If people are going to see what they want to see anyway, then it doesn't matter what is printed.  If someone is a hardcore feminist, they are going to see sexism in EVERYTHING.  The same goes with everything.  But people don't have to walk around on egg shells for everyone else, because this is America and we can say what we want.

I have been thinking about the ending of "Passing" and have come to the conclusion that while he would never admit it, Jack was clearly heartbroken by his wife's death.  I think that the death was oddly an unsaid mutual decision between Claire and Irene.  Irene was angry enough to want her dead, and Claire was depressed enough by Jack finding her out that she wanted to die.  I'm going to say she jumped just as Irene was pushing her.  But maybe I'm critiquing things that aren't there and seeing what I want to see.


Until next time,

Keri Jo

Encounter Activity Response to Abby Schreck's Blog

Like I said earlier, there are many reasons people become marginalized.  Education is a very common one.  While this only relates to the experience I chose to talk about in terms of how it made us feel (angry), I do have experiences with this as well. 

I dropped out of high school in the 11th grade.  I know right? One year to go and I had better things to do.  But this impacted me greatly on getting a job.  Almost everywhere in my town required a GED, so I had to get mine before I could get a job that paid above minimum wage.

It angers me to hear of someone so hard working getting shot down just because of a piece of paper, but that is our world today.  That little piece of paper hold power.  A lot of power.  And without it, a person can't expect to do more than "get by."

This reminds me of my older sister, who is always saying she would be a great nurse if they would just let her be one and she didn't have to go to school.  Because she would fail at school.  No book smarts, and no motivation to obtain them.  But the hands-on experience and passion is there.  She should be a nurse, but without that piece of paper she never will be.

I am glad that Abby became motivated to get a degree, even if anger was the motivator.  It was mine as well.  I remember the day I walked out of the candy factory... My boss was saying as I walked away, "The grass isn't always greener on the other side..."  Well Russ, you were wrong.  You may have needed me to package those glorious little gummy bears, but I needed a college degree.  Now I have one, and I'm going for another.

If I learned anything from this exercise, it's that marginalization makes us all feel the same way: angry.  But it happens.  It's just a part of life.  We will never hold all of the power.


Until next time,

Keri Jo

"Passing" Part Three

"Passing" was looked at deeply by the author of this essay, and there were some points to be made.  The court case was brought up about the woman who had to undress in front of a jury to determine her race.  How humiliating.  What judge would allow this?  It was clear from his statement to the press after their wedding that he knew she was black, and yet this poor woman had to undress to prove it.  

It was also brought up that there was some homosexuality between Claire and Irene.  I did not see this, but looking back, I suppose there could have been.  Irene was always talking about how good Claire looked, and Irene didn't have a sex life with her husband.  Then there is the scene where Claire kisses Irene's shoulder.  I can see how this could be interpreted, but I did not see it that way and still don't.

The author of this essay made it clear that fashion had a lot to do with the women passing.  It was said that their light skin allowed them to pass, but they wouldn't have been able to without the upper class fashion and etiquette.  I know for a fact that not all white people during the 20's were upper classed and had good manners, so I also think this is a load of crap.  Black people could pass for a poor white person just as easy as a rich white person.  All that mattered was their color, or lack of it.

I do think that Larsen made her characters Jack and Claire from the Rhinelander case.  Why not?  It was an interesting part of history that would make for a great story. 


The fact that Alice's own lawyer made her undress makes me sick.  But then again, it wasn't that long ago that slavery was happening, so it is believable.  I would like to think that all this happened a thousand years ago and since then we have been tolerant, but that just isn't so.

Her lawyer, however, must have known what he was doing because they won the case.  But could it have not been won any other way?  Any way at all that would preserve Alice's dignity?

I have to say I disagree with the writer of this essay on the homosexual undertones, and of them needing more than light skin to pass.  Maybe, if they had an accent of sorts, it would need to be covered up.  Maybe the way they talked and acted would have given them up.  But I don't think that money should have had anything to do with it.  But money always does.

I think sometimes critics read too much into works.  Literature can be analyzed and interpreted so much that by the time you are done you don't even have the same piece you started with.  Sometimes authors haven't hidden clues to be found.  Sometimes it is just simple:

*Two women

*They are passing

*One gets reckless, makes the other angry

*They feel connected because of their race, their past, their fear

*One gets paranoid because her marriage is already in shambles, and the other is prettier

*Paranoia turns quickly into hatred

*The hatred boils over and causes one woman to snap

*The end

Perhaps there were hidden messages to be found.  But sometimes it's just better to keep things simple.

Until next time,

Keri Jo

***EnCoUnTeR aCtIvItY tWo

The first time I felt marginalized was in the 3rd grade.  Somewhat like Claire from "Passing" for our small town, my life had become the talk of the town, or at least of the kids at school.  Let me start at the beginning.

Lots of kids' parents got divorced.  In fact, by high school, if your parents were still together, you were the one being marginalized.  My story was different because of the drama involved.

Divorce can cause a lot of bitter feelings, and make people lash out.  Mothers talk to other mothers, and they talk to their kids, and kids talk to other kids, and so on.  So, when I was 7 or 8 years old my parents got divorced.  I don't know what happened to our house, all I remember is having to go from small town Creston, IA, to Des Moines which was about an hour northeast.  We had to stay in a shelter.  Which I don't remember being that bad.  They had a big playground for the kids, and there were two sets of bunk beds in each room.  I got the top bunk, and my mom shared the bottom with my 3 year old sister.  That was the first thing kids started talking about when I got back to school.  You gotta love small town gossip...

The second, and far worse, part of me feeling outcast was when kids started talking about my dad being gay.  Of course he wasn't, but somewhere along the line, the bitterness my mom felt from the divorce had caused her to start a rumor to make herself look better (I'm guessing) and it had gotten around.  Fast.  Other parents were talking, and somehow their kids found out, and they would tease me at school.  I didn't really know what was happening, but I knew it made me feel really bad, and really sad, so I had to start seeing the school counselor.

I don't have a lot of memories about the event in my life, but I do know it was the first and possibly the worst time I felt like I didn't belong, or I wasn't in the norm.  I don't remember a lot of acting out because of it, more like acting in.  I kept to myself a lot after that. 

At the time, I learned that people were basically bad.  That people like to laugh at other people's misfortunes.  There was this one girl, Tarah, that teased me so much that I wanted to fight her.  I remember feeling so much anger, even up till high school, when people started picking on her.  I was happy they were picking on her.  I thought she deserved it.  Karmic justice.

Now I can see that kids are just KIDS.  When there is something going on they don't understand, they talk about it.  Most of the kids were just curious, if anything, but it was just the one girl that was being mean.  And I'm sure she had her own set of problems at home that caused her to be a bully.  Looking back, I feel sorry for her.

I still believe that people are mean when they think something is funny, but really, it is just our nature.  The 8 year old that would have taken me aside and given me a hug would have been so far outta the norm it would have been ridiculous.  Kids are kids.  All they have to go by is what their parents have taught them.  Which if their parents are going to gossip like that in the first place, they don't have a chance anyway.  The moral of this story is that children need to be taught morals at a very young age, so that this kind of stuff doesn't happen.  People need to be better parents.  And better teachers.  Teachers have an obligation, especially these days, to make sure that bullying isn't going on at school.  Lots of things can make a person feel marginalized.  This is just the event in my life that stuck in my head.

Until next time,

Keri Jo

"Passing" Part Two

In the second part of this story we really get to see a softer side of Claire.  It is understood that she decided to pass because she felt accepted, worthy, and loved among whites.  But now we see that she desperately longs for the blacks again.  She wants to hear them laugh and be with them more than ever, and she tells Irene that she couldn't possibly understand her pain.  And she's right.  That was one of the points I brought up in my response paper.  Irene can't possible feel Claire's pain.  She doesn't live her life.  Irene didn't have a bad black upbringing followed by a good white one.  Irene had a good black upbringing, so why be white?  But it is shown here that Claire is passionate about her race and longs to come back, but really can't.  These visits, as Irene says, are very dangerous, and when I am done reading I'm sure I will find that Claire gets caught, because that's the only possible climax I can imagine.

If Claire was raised mostly white, and lived mostly white, why would she long for the blacks?  It must be in her blood.  There are things deep down that our souls desire, that just are.  Although she has an almost perfect belonging with the whites, she knows something is missing.  Something doesn't feel right.  It makes her squirm, cringe.  This is often the case when we are living a lie.  We don't feel whole.  We don't feel right.  Something is leaving a gaping hole in our heart and we try to fill it.

Claire tried to fill the hole in her heart with passing, but it only made it deeper.  This was only a temporary fix, because all truths will be told in the end.  Her living a lie makes her life very difficult.  Irene thinks she is too edgy, too daring, and that she faces danger.  But what she doesn't understand it why Claire doesn't care.  She is empty anyway.  What does she have to lose?  She is giving up her life and her safety for that temporary fix of happiness, when she could get it from her own race.  Claire really needs to come back, she needs to leave her pig bigot of a husband and go back to where she belongs.  To the people who love her for what she truly is, and not what she appears to be.

Until next time,

Keri Jo

Reflecting on Part One of "Passing"

In class today, we discussed the different relationships of the three main characters and how they were different from each other.  This really helped me to understand some things.  Irene was upper classed, married to a doctor, and liked to travel.  She bought her boys the best and made sure they had whatever they wanted.  Maybe that is why she didn't feel the need to "pass", even though she did without trying.  She said she didn't care that her husband and one of her sons couldn't pass, but as we keep reading maybe we will find out different.

Claire was poor.  Her mother died when she was very young, and her 1/2 black father was a drunk who beat her until he died after a bar fight.  She didn't know nice things or nice people.  She was also raised by white women (her aunts), which was probably the first time she felt loved, and wanted to do whatever she could to keep that love, even if it meant leaving her roots behind.  I didn't think about how sad and hurt she must be, and that she is the way she is because the only other option would be a very dark place.  Her husband is the first man to love her, and with her daddy issues, she will do whatever she has to to keep that love, even if it means lying to him.  I think Irene may come to realize this as we read on.

It didn't tell much about Gertrude, but she seems like the happy medium of the story.  She passes like the rest of them, but her husband knows.  She seems happy enough with it, but maybe the afternoon with Jack changed her mind.  It will be interesting to see how each of these characters lives turn out and what decisions they choose to make.  I think this story is really interesting.  I like ballsy writers.  They are the best kind.

Until next time,

Keri Jo

"Passing" Part One

Nella Larsen is an African American writer, with West Indian and Danish ancestry as well.  Having grown up tin the 1920's she got to see what "Passing" was all about.  Blacks would pass over the "color line" and choose to live white, leaving behind their black ways, friends and family.  Then some would desperately long for blacks, and miss their old lives.  Some said that the whites didn't know how to have fun like the blacks did.  But it was told that these African Americans were in a dangerous life of self-hating for not wanting to be black.  We should be happy about who we are, and never try to be something we are not, but at the time this was the way things were done.  Larsen had a personal experience of her dad leaving the family, and her mom remarrying a white man.  "Passing" was originally named "Nig" but she changed it because it was too controversial.  The introduction gave a preview of how race comes into play in "Passing" and how no one can really answer the question, "What is race?"

In class we talked about race as being the physical characteristics.  On job applications it will ask for you to mark your race.  They have white, African American, Hispanic, Native American, Asian, etc.  They are pretty broad groups.  During class discussion, I will need to find out why this color line was being crossed because I don't really understand it, and what the class thinks race is after reading this book.

I didn't understand what passing really was from the introduction.  But after reading the first part of this book, I had a sad realization.  They weren't just living white.  People thought they WERE white.  And they were okay with that! They were okay with being called the 'N' word because they didn't want to blow their cover.  How wrong were these people!  Why make yourself feel so much pain and live in a lie?  Claire didn't care that her husband was a racist.  That just seems wrong to me.  Irene had the right idea.  And I think she was the happiest of all the characters because she was being true to herself.  Who cares about money or fame if you can't be YOU.  That reminds me of a lyric from an Avril Lavigne song:

"LA told me, you'll be a rock star, all you have to change, is everything you are"

It's almost like selling your soul.  You are selling yourself out for things that don't even matter.  I know that because of racism and the way blacks were treated that some of them longed to be white, but this is just wrong.  We are all different, we are all unique, and we need to embrace that, not hide from it.  I have a hard time being myself sometimes because I am different that a lot of students here.  I'm more shy, anxious, and awkward, so I sometimes hide and become anti-social rather than letting people know the real me (which is basically a dorky nervous chick).  But this is wrong.  If someone doesn't love you for exactly who you are, then they aren't worth your time.  We deserve better.  We have to love ourselves as God made us.

Until next time,

Keri Jo

Returing to "Recitatif"

Class discussion helps.  But it also hurts.  Let me explain.

I didn't know what the title meant and honestly was too lazy to Google it.  But... I thought it might have something to do with Roberta's illiteracy because I couldn't read it.  Good title though.  Really creative.  Kudos to Ms. Morrison, she's a damn good writer.  Music.  I know in class we talked about the musical part being the sing-songy happy part... but I still have that dramatic, sort of like opera, singing and booming of drums in my head that goes better with the bad parts.  Then the drama is over and the music and singing stops, and they just go back to talking.  Maybe I'm alone in this, but try to imagine it if you want.

How it hurt...

I did not ONCE think that Roberta might be white and Twyla might be black.  It never crossed my mind.  The hair thing in the beginning, I've heard that before.  And in my head I didn't see a big white woman with a Bible that brought her daughter fried chicken.  That's terrible...but true.  The first time they met, I didn't think a white girl in the 60's would know about Hendrix before a black girl would.  This is all so terrible, I feel really bad because it seems like most the class at least recognised that they could be the other way around.  Stereotypes suck.

Our parents teach us about other races by using stereotypes - like the Disney movies - and before we know it we are using them on a subconscious level.  That's kinda scary.  I don't want to think like this.  Like in my blog before, when I wished we were all colorblind.  I want that again.  I want that big Mr. Clean Eraser so I can take it to my brain and make all my thoughts like that disappear.  It makes me want to disappear.

This is definitely a story I want to do a response paper on.  There is so much more to explore with this, I actually wish we could spend another class period on it, but I'm sure the next piece we read will mess with my mind just as much, it seems to be a reoccurring theme in this class.  ;)

Until next time,

Keri Jo

Textbook Wars

Wow... It's hard to believe things like this are real.  That people are really like that.  That's why people hate Americans.  They think we're all conservative.  Well that's where they're wrong.  And I know one thing for sure... my kids won't be going to school in Texas! 

Haha these a-holes have been fighting for as long as we can remember.  It doesn't matter which you are really, as long as you are a good and ethical person.  But for the most part, Republicans suck.  That's right, I said it.  And I'm a journalist, so get used to it.  But in all seriousness, this is crazy!  They want to erase American history with fairy tales because they tell nicer? ***************************************
 Let's just play Disney movies in history class instead.   Man people like this get my blood boiling.  I guess we will have to be responsible for our own children's education and make sure they know the truth. Or move to Canada ;)

What is happening in Texas shows that history has probably always been skewed by people like this.  Zinn showed us that the history we all learned about in high school wasn't all there.  It was...changed.  It told nicer.  If this keeps happening, before we know it none of us will be able to remember the truth.  That's what they want. Brainwashing.  Okay, maybe that's a little cynical, but really? Our history is already told nicer than it actually happened, they shouldn't make it any worse.  This is just a case of a bunch of red necks with POWER DOMINANCE over people with actual brains.  I don't think all conservatives would agree with what they are doing, but it's acts like this that give them a bad name.  It might be stereotypical but so is everything.  They will never agree with each other.  But one thing we all should agree on is that this is a BAD idea.  I'm not going to lie to my children.  Are you?

Until next time,

Keri Jo

RECITATIF

RECITATIF. Okay, first off, what the heck does the title say?  Irregardless, what an amazing story!  For the first time this year I couldn't put down a book no matter how hard I tried.  I like that feeling.  We get so busy we seldom have time to enjoy literature, but this story gave me no choice. Okay.  So we got a white girl and a black girl in an orphanage.  They are different.  They look different, smell different, eat different foods, and their mothers are different.  But they become friends.  They play, they share. They do each other's hair.  It was a lot easier because they didn't know.  They didn't know why their parents didn't want to be introduced.  They just didn't know. 

As we get older, we start to realize things about differences.  Sometimes there are walls there that we didn't even put up.  They have just been there for so long no one can take them down.  No two people anyways.  These walls are so big it would take all of us.  Well, most of us.  But the girls find this out as they get older.  When they meet in the coffee shop, Roberta acts like she is better than Twyla.  But then like 10 years later, they both have money so that means they are the best of friends?  I think it has to do with the times.  When they were little, nothing mattered.  Because nothing like that does when you're a kid.  As teenagers, I'm guessing in the 50's, they weren't suppose to be friends.  But in the 60's, was there more peace among different races?  We will have to discuss this in class because I am bad with history.  I do know that segregation (or the end of it) had them both fighting.  I think that's why they had to change schools.  Because black kids couldn't go to the same schools (or could go now?).  I forget sometimes that that wasn't that long ago that people acted like that.  I would like to think it was hundreds of years ago.  But Roberta is fighting for the right to say which school her kids can go to.  Twyla is fighting just to be mean to Roberta.  She wants to fight for her side, but doesn't even understand what she's fighting for.  She made it personal.  

At the end, they are trying to figure out their memory about Maggie.  Did it matter if she was black or white?  It sure did while they were fighting.  But it doesn't.  Because NO ONE should get kicked like that.  I'm sure today people would see it as a hate crime. I don't like that.  It's like, two people of different color have nothing to fight about except race.  You get in a fight with someone from a different race, people start talking.  When it could just be a regular fight.  But anyway, Maggie got beat up.  And the girls both seen her as a vision of their mothers and wanted to hurt her too.  They never remembered what happened, and as close as they might have gotten after the story was over, there would have always been those walls.  The walls that keep us from understanding how other races FEEL.  Like, I know racism creates a bad feeling.  You get angry, upset, embarrassed maybe.. but I've never had anyone be like that towards me, and so the walls go up.  I honestly don't know HOW that feels.  It will take years for us to bring down these walls. Decades.  Who knows if they will ever come down.  But all we can do is try.

Until next time,

Keri Jo

Rethinking Class Discussion

Today was an interesting day to say the least.  But something happened.  After class, after dinner, I was typing up my Spanish homework when something on the television caught my ear.  I was just thinking about how frustrated I was because I didn't understand what happened today, and feeling mixed feelings about wanting it to continue.  I don't even watch "The Office," although Steve Carell is hilarious, but I turned around because I heard them talking about teaching racial tolerance.  I'm not sure if this is an old episode or a new one, but the few minutes I watched made me feel better.  Racism is a serious problem, but comedians make light of it all the time.  So if we go to comedians and laugh, why are cartoons offensive?  I realized I was still using the part of my brain I used when I watched those Disney movies fifteen years ago.  I was only looking at the good parts.  When I was a kid, I only saw the good parts because no one taught me about bad things like racism.  But today, I didn't see the bad parts because I was afraid to.  And I was still angry and still confused and still wondering why can't we just pretend there is no color until I heard a voice behind me say how pretending there is no color is just fighting ignorance with ignorance.  Maybe I just needed to hear someone else say it.  But I thought I'd share the clip, because it made me feel like discussing racism, while it will be difficult, might be a good thing after all, if done in a calm setting.  This clip isn't for laughs, it's for educational purposes.  Steve Carell's character, Michael, has done a Chris Rock skit at work, and people complain, causing the office employees to take a racial tolerance class.  Just pay attention to what Mr. Brown is trying to teach.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb-meG47XWM

The crazy part is, the person (Michael) that needs the most education in this department is the one who doesn't understand it.  I think this happens a lot.  And I think people get mad and let their emotions fly off the handle because they are offended by something that wasn't meant to offend.  But that was one of the questions in class.  Does motive matter?  Does it matter if you are just quoting a comedian or rapping along to your favorite song?  Why is it funny when Chris Rock says a bad word but not when Steve Carell does?  Okay answer that.  You said because Chris is black and Steve is white.  Now tell me why it's okay for Eminem to say it.  Is it okay because he's friends with black people?  No it's because it's music.  Entertainment.  Right?  Which is it?  Because honestly I don't know where the line is anymore.  People spent so many years being racist that now, as we are trying to go the opposite direction of our grandparents, I feel like anything I say or do could be taken in an offensive way.  Cartoons are racist? So what is there going to be an eternity of people walking on egg shells and being too scared to say their opinion or what?  I'm so frustrated at not knowing what is okay anymore that I just shut down earlier and decided I was not going to be a part of this because it is too hard.  But something in me changed when I heard that actor on "The Office" talking about the same thing that had been bothering me all day.  I want to learn, and understand how other people feel, and WHY they feel that way, but I don't want to be attacked or called names for having an opinion.  So let's try this again.  Play nice.

Mending Wall by Robert Frost

Oh Frost, you are so famous for your poetry, yet I often feel frustrated by it.  When a poem flows like a poem ought to (purely my opinion) I find them so much easier to interpret.  I read between the lines and look for a hidden message, and am disappointed when there is nothing to be found between the lines.  I was looking for some sort of romance, two lovers with a wall built between them, but I think he was just talking about his actual neighbor.  I don't like poems that read more like short shorts.  But it has to be that way, because some poets have short stories to write and cannot.  I know I am slightly gifted in poetry writing, if and when the mood strikes me, but my short stories aren't very good.  I am me.  I am not Tom, Barbara, Cindy or any other protagonist.  I write how I feel.  People who write short stories, on the other hand, become Tom, Barbara, or Cindy and write amazing short stories and become other people, but often can't get personal enough in self indulgence to pour out their feelings into poetry.  This was my last literature instructor.  Awesome short stories, but said he had trouble with poetry.  So I think when poets want to to both, they have to write like how Frost wrote this one.

In this poem, the speaker has a neighbor who doesn't want to be friends.  He wants to keep the wall up and keep to his own.  The speaker, I think, wants to be friends and take down the wall.  He doesn't understand why his neighbor thinks this way.  People are just different.  It's just like in college.  We don't get to pick our roommates sometimes, and sometimes they are different.  I can relate to this speaker because of my experience with my roommate.  I didn't want walls put up.  I wanted to be friends.  She preferred walls.  So it didn't work out.  She couldn't build a wall high enough and moved.  At least that's my interpretation.  But in life we will always have that person in the next cubicle, next house, next bed, that has a say in how high the wall will become.  Everyone is different.  Everyone is unique. And in life we will all be challenged by walls.  Sometimes it is just best to quit trying to climb over them and just walk past to the next one that isn't so high.

Walls don't have to mean no relationship though.  Sometimes they just mean a limited one.  I did have a few questions about this poem though.  What the heck was he talking about cows for?  Was it because walls are only needed to keep in animals, not keep out people?  I'm not sure, so I'll have to remember to ask about it in class.  I enjoy getting other peoples' interpretations on literature.  I wish that's all we did in class was talk about one piece for fifty minutes.  We would get so deep in discussion in my other literature class that our instructor once said, "Wow, we might as well be sitting around here getting stoned because this discussion is getting so deep."  Perhaps I will take my career as a journalist and become a literary critic.  Then I would be doing what I love.

Until next time,

Keri Jo

Rethinking Undertow



Ah, it's 13, and it's called a Bar Mitzvah.
You learn something new everyday.



After we discussed Undertow in class, I realized that I had been so focused on finding out how it ended that I didn't come to a full understanding about the different neighborhoods they were passing through.  I didn't realize they were Polish either, I thought they were Jewish because Perry said him and Sir could go but Mick couldn't, like he wasn't at that age that Jewish men have to be to become a man.  What is it like 15?  I'm not sure but that's how I interpreted it.  But this story does really touch on ethnic relationships.  They first drive through Chinatown, and the boys want to stop but I think the dad thinks they are too different of a people so they shouldn't stop.  When they pass through the black ghetto, Sir gets weary and tells them to roll up the windows.  I didn't think about this, but my mom did that too.  My mom has family in Omaha, and she would say stuff like that whenever we would visit, because my grandmother lives in what is now a black ghetto.  She invoked that fear in my so much that I would do that when I would take my niece and nephews to Omaha.  I know it is a mostly false stereotype that people living in those conditions are packin' heat, but I would have rather been safe than sorry.  One time my nephew, about 10 at the time, stuck his plastic Nerf gun by the window of the car while we were parked and I freaked out. I said are you TRYING to get us shot.  My sister would also always tell me that you do NOT want get stopped by a red light in that area of Omaha.  But really looking back on how I was raised, I feel bad because stereotypes like that are cruel.



In "Thinner" the gypsy touches the
protagonist's face and curses him.



They went through Jewtown, which is a part I have never heard of anywhere.  Like, how does that happen?  I see at as a religion, not an ethnicity, but I guess it can be both.  That's what I was most confused about but things were more clear to me after class.  The gypsies...(click if you want, I love this song) Sir said they were dirty.  Which is what people think.  Dirty, almost witchy type people that try to rob you.  Have you ever seen "Thinner"?  It's a movie that was made based on the novel by Stephan King.  Really creepy, but it teaches about gypsy culture so we should totally watch it in class, hint hint. I didn't give it much thought while reading, but in the car they are judgemental about the people they pass.  At the lake, everyone gets along.  There is no color.  I think that is because everyone is having fun.  They have come together based on a common interest and nothing else matters at that moment but having fun.  It is too bad the world cant just "have fun" all the time.

Until next time,

Keri Jo