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