Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Webkinz® - Webkinz World - Dog Collar
Webkinz® - Webkinz World - Dog Collar: "Great way to make sure you never mix-up your Webkin"
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Writer's Choice
I chose this piece specifically for my Writer's Choice piece as it truly shows clearly how easily our identity, communities and traditions can be preconceived and misconceived through the perceptions of others. It also takes a look at how a life like mine or Kennedi's goes almost untouched by the world around it and yet remains with a strong sense of Identity, Community and Traditions.
My Wallet and its misconceptions...
If someone was to find my wallet they might first judge primarily that I am a woman who likes expensive brand items. This is a total misconception. My husband loves thrift store shopping and found a three hundred dollar wallet for a dollar and a half and bought it for me, as he loves being a treasure collector. Once opened, my wallet would appear to be rather empty, no checkbook, no pictures, no credit cards, etc. It does have mirrors on one side which came built into the trifold wallet, but they have never once been used. I am not a person that makes much use of mirrors. The middle section is totally empty and the far side contains in very precise alignment, my driver's licence, my debit card, my disability card, my library card, my UW patient card, and my build a bear workshop card. My husband teases me that I am obsessive compulsive because the cards always have to be perfectly aligned with one another in the slots provided within the leather. From the information one would be able to determine my age from my driver's licence; however, not my appearance. My driver's licence picture was taken days after being released from a three month hospital stay and I am 40 pounds heavier than now, or ever, as well as exremely pale, my long blonde hair having been cut off from my coma, has now regrown, and my tan face and pronounced cheek bones which are normally easily defining are missing. Many people question if it is even my driver's licence at all. I had trouble getting my son's car out of impound as a result as they did not believe that the person in that picture was the same tall, thin, tan, blonde standing before them. So once again, the individual examining my wallet will have formed a misconception about my appearance based on the picture on the licence. They would then perhaps notice a total lack of credit cards and checkbook and assume this is a result of poor credit rather than a choice to use only cash under all circumstances with the exception of purchasing gas, as I cannot be out in the cold and need to use my debit card for quick gas purchasing and emergency bank withdrawals. My disability card might place a picture in one's mind of a person in a wheel chair. Often I am yelled at by people for using handicap parking spaces even though I have handicap plates on my car. They conceive that only those who are in wheel chairs need handicap parking spaces. Mine was issued by my neurosurgeon, who does not want me exposed to cold air which will put me back in the hospital, and another misconception has been formed. I have a library card. The library is something that I use primarily online and order many downloadable audio books to listen to when I am sick, historical fiction, biographies, etc. The assumption that I like to read would be a correct one; however, the perception that I spend time in the library or even go to the library is again false. I order my books online and have my kids or husband bring them home to me. My UW patient card does give some information about me: I am a patient of the University of Washington Medical Center. The types of assumptions this might result in are too numerous to tell and most would probably be again, inaccurate. Finally, there is my build a bear workshop card. This might lead one to believe I have small children or frequent the store often. Both of these assumptions are also incorrect. My children are grown; it is my grandchildren and stepchildren that I have used this card for. Furthermore, it has not been used since last Christmas; however, since there was one more slot in the wallet, I put it in to even the spaces out between the cards precisely. Now this is the one thing my husband notices the most and I wonder if a stranger finding my wallet would even notice how carefully I place the cards in perfect alignment.
So the most important issue to discuss would be what would they miss about me based on the contents of my wallet. Well my wallet would tell nothing of meaning to anyone about me with the exception of my birthdate and driver's licence number, not even the address is right on it. My wallet tells no one of my relationship to GOD or my family, as it is totally lacking photographs. Would this lead someone to the proper conclusion: that I am just not the type of person interested in or having time for frivalities, I doubt it. I have countless beautiful pictures of my children, grandchildren and husband, who are more important to me than anything else on the planet; however, someone who rarely leaves the house, has no reason to carry these sort of things around in a wallet. Any extra's in my wallet just increases the weight of my purse, which pulls on my neck and increases my pain, which is one of the most defining characteristics of my life and this no one can see in my wallet. This, everyone would miss who did not know me personally. This inanimate object tells nothing of my life, my identity, or personality.
Voice and Audience Piece
I chose to include a couple of my paper talk posts to fellow class mates as an example of voice and audience pieces. These pieces highlight the need for clear and respectful communication when working with fellow students and the way in which our class helped and encouraged one another through the writing process. Again, as communication is such an imperative key to family life, I believe that the improvement of my communication skills is by far the greatest gift I have taken away from this course. The selection I have chosen showcase how I learned to use proper voicing for the audience addressed in helping one another with our first papers. It was a stressful time for many in the group and we tried to be as encouraging as possible while still maintaining focus on ways to help one another improve our work. As I had taught high school English this was an area that I was able to be of some help in to my fellow group members early on as they were honing their own writing skills.
Hi Jerry, Lisa, I am just going to throw in some ideas in purple. Just a few thoughts that could help. I really like where you are going with your paper and you made it very clear; however, you do not make it clear enough which writing prompt you are responding to and therefore there is not a clear antithesis. I see that in a sense you are saying, some people dress to impress and some people, like yourself dress for comfort. Try to turn this into a clearer statement toward the writing prompt and state that the people who dress to impress are the individuals that are trying to create impressions about themselves that may or may not be true while and then you can use the group who dresses "naturally, for utility and comfort" as people or really "are what they wear" as they are not trying to present anything other than who they really are. The ideas are there, they just need pulled tighter into the writing prompt, does that make sense? Also, I would get at least one quote from the book like maybe for yours the quote that says "If you're seen to be wearing the right thing, you're in" (73) It would go well in your paper when discussing the people who "Billboard" dress. Good luck Jerry, Lisa
Hi Satarra, So I would assume from your thesis that you have chosen the first writing prompt and are making the point that "we are NOT what we wear", we CHOSE to portray ourselves to others in order to get them to perceive us a certain way. This is a very workable thesis for the prompt. Your obviously antithesis would be to consider the opinion of someone who believes that clothing and identity are inseparable and that "we are what we wear". Than you tie the two up in a conclusion paragraph. Have you thought of an angle to zoom in on. Like Lolly wrote somewhere, at this point, small is good. And we have the 10-1 guideline also, more depth, less breadth. Discuss more about one smaller issue rather than discussing a number of different issues all over the map. I have to go to bed really early tonight as I am sick, but I will check in one more time before I go down for the night. Try to get somemore focus going now. Like on mine I used the economic aspect as my focus. I noticed someone use fashion. With what you are using, it seems their are many quotes in the text that would support your thesis. Have you found some? Especially all over in Michelle Lee's article. The quote, "We dress to communicate our social identity to others." (71) would work good for you. Good luck. Just keep writing! Smile, don't stress too much, its just our first paper. We have enough time in this course to get good at this, but the sooner you start the more time you have to get help. Lisa
Hi Jerry, Lisa, I am just going to throw in some ideas in purple. Just a few thoughts that could help. I really like where you are going with your paper and you made it very clear; however, you do not make it clear enough which writing prompt you are responding to and therefore there is not a clear antithesis. I see that in a sense you are saying, some people dress to impress and some people, like yourself dress for comfort. Try to turn this into a clearer statement toward the writing prompt and state that the people who dress to impress are the individuals that are trying to create impressions about themselves that may or may not be true while and then you can use the group who dresses "naturally, for utility and comfort" as people or really "are what they wear" as they are not trying to present anything other than who they really are. The ideas are there, they just need pulled tighter into the writing prompt, does that make sense? Also, I would get at least one quote from the book like maybe for yours the quote that says "If you're seen to be wearing the right thing, you're in" (73) It would go well in your paper when discussing the people who "Billboard" dress. Good luck Jerry, Lisa
Hi Satarra, So I would assume from your thesis that you have chosen the first writing prompt and are making the point that "we are NOT what we wear", we CHOSE to portray ourselves to others in order to get them to perceive us a certain way. This is a very workable thesis for the prompt. Your obviously antithesis would be to consider the opinion of someone who believes that clothing and identity are inseparable and that "we are what we wear". Than you tie the two up in a conclusion paragraph. Have you thought of an angle to zoom in on. Like Lolly wrote somewhere, at this point, small is good. And we have the 10-1 guideline also, more depth, less breadth. Discuss more about one smaller issue rather than discussing a number of different issues all over the map. I have to go to bed really early tonight as I am sick, but I will check in one more time before I go down for the night. Try to get somemore focus going now. Like on mine I used the economic aspect as my focus. I noticed someone use fashion. With what you are using, it seems their are many quotes in the text that would support your thesis. Have you found some? Especially all over in Michelle Lee's article. The quote, "We dress to communicate our social identity to others." (71) would work good for you. Good luck. Just keep writing! Smile, don't stress too much, its just our first paper. We have enough time in this course to get good at this, but the sooner you start the more time you have to get help. Lisa
Revision Piece
For this timed write our assignment was: In an essay of about a page (3-5 paragraphs), develop a thesis-driven discussion that demonstrates how the film defines what it is to be an outsider (using one or two characters from the film you chose and discussed) AND how this definition upholds or challenges your own cultural understanding of what it means to be an outsider.
I developed a thesis driven discussion of how the film demonstrates what it is to be an outsider and even managed to stick to using only two characters. When I originally started this piece I was using four characters and decided to narrow, narrow, narrow, as this continues to be my weakness. However, I narrowed to the point that I totally overlooked the second half of the prompt with the exception of a single sentence. So first I will present my original piece for "Remember the Titans" and then I will add a revised piece with a paragraph included about how this definition upholds or challenges my own cultural understanding of what it means to be an outsider. This definition especially hits closely to home as my granddaughter was multi ethnic and her parents dealt with these issues on a daily basis as a result of an ever present undercurrent in society that causes some people to be unwilling to except change and allow individuals the freedom to love whomever they might chose.
In the movie Remember the Titans, director Boaz Yakin shows clearly through effects such as costumes, camara angle, music, etc., the othering of two main representative protagonists, Julius Campbell, a black player from the Burg ghetto, and Gerry Bertier, a white player who decides to become friends with the black players and especially Julius. The treatment of these individuals as outsiders is a horrific example of human nature at its worst.
The marginalization of the black community was so extreme in Alexandria, Virginia, as to cause total alienation and segregation between the two groups. The black community lived in a ghetto known as the Bhurg, while the white community was in the main part of town. As Sheryl, Coach Yost's daughter introduces in the beginning of the film, she says, "Up until 1971 there was no race mixing. Then the School Board forced us to integrate. They combined the white school and the black school into one." This is where the true extent of the 'us' and 'them' mentality can be seen. As the football team started practices before the school year began, they were forced into integrating with one another before the rest of the community. As Russel Thornton states in his article "What the Census Doesn't Count", "Race as we now know is a social notion, not a biological reality (Latterell 65)". He goes on to say, "Nevertheless, the races society has created are real to many people and have important psychological and social implications for individuals (Latterell 65)". The white community believed that they were in every way superior to the black community and this created an atmosphere of "insiders" and "outsiders".
The early focus of the film is how this marginalization affected the players on the team. The filmakers show this through various ways. The use of costume shows that the white players have letterman's jackets and the black players do not. The musical score relies on classic motown music when the black players are in the forefront of a scene. Julius is immediately shown as the leader of the black players on the team while Gerry is shown as the leader of the white players. Coach Boone tries to get them to interact, but is met with great resistance. The haunting effects and dark mist used at the Gettysburg Memorial Cemetery truly show the cost and extent of the battle that they are still fighting. It is on the evening after this visit that we see Julius and Gerry begin to come together as teammates and leaders as an example that they can "belong". They do not have to remain separated into groups of 'outsiders' and 'insiders'. From their leadership, most of the team follows suit.
It is on return from camp that the new friends have become "outsiders" together in a new sense. Gerry is treated differently by his white friends, girlfriend and mother, bringing new light to the idea of being an "outsider". His was a voluntary choice, unlike Julius who was judged by the color of his skin. The director does an excellent job of showing this in a scene when Gerry's girlfriend pulls up in a car with other white kids and Gerry is standing above them. They want him to leave his fellow team mates (specifically the black players and Julius and come with them). The camera angle zooms down on them to show us that Gerry has stepped above their petty thought processes and grown into the commendable young man and example he was known to be.
Later in the film we see the new affects of "belonging", in a sense, on Julius. As he walks through the white neighborhood music is again used to highlight the significance of the atmosphere. The song "Peace Train" by Cat Stevens is playing with the lyrics, "now I've been smiling lately, thinking about good things to come, and I believe it could be, something new has begun." It is used very powerfully as it is obvious he has never been in a white part of town before. They bring in an ominous moment with a close up on a policeman rolling down his window and after finding out it was only to congratulate Julius on their playing the music comes back in loudly to celebrate this "something new (that) has begun."
These two young men begin the film in a fist fight over a racial issue (the hanging of a poster of two men signifying black power at the Olympics in Mexico City) and end the film "brothers". They travel a rocky road of coming to terms with one another to leading their teammates and community to becoming one and placing their prejudice in the past. As Thornton states, "Race is a social, not private, reality (Latterell 67)", and Remember the Titans shows this both dramatically and effectively through the many aspects used in film making. The memorable song of the movie "Ain't no mountain high, ain't no valley low, ain't no river wide enough, to keep me from getting to you" signifies the bringing together of these two individuals and groups in Remember the Titans.
Revision: In the movie Remember the Titans, director Boaz Yakin shows clearly through effects such as costumes, camara angle, music, etc., the othering of two main representative protagonists, Julius Campbell, a black player from the Burg ghetto, and Gerry Bertier, a white player who decides to become friends with the black players and especially Julius. The treatment of these individuals as outsiders is a horrific example of human nature at its worst and upholds my beliefs that the "othering" of individuals based on race is wrong.
The marginalization of the black community was so extreme in Alexandria, Virginia, as to cause total alienation and segregation between the two groups. The black community lived in a ghetto known as the Bhurg, while the white community was in the main part of town. As Sheryl, Coach Yost's daughter introduces in the beginning of the film, she says, "Up until 1971 there was no race mixing. Then the School Board forced us to integrate. They combined the white school and the black school into one." This is where the true extent of the 'us' and 'them' mentality can be seen. As the football team started practices before the school year began, they were forced into integrating with one another before the rest of the community. As Russel Thornton states in his article "What the Census Doesn't Count", "Race as we now know is a social notion, not a biological reality (Latterell 65)". He goes on to say, "Nevertheless, the races society has created are real to many people and have important psychological and social implications for individuals (Latterell 65)". The white community believed that they were in every way superior to the black community and this created an atmosphere of "insiders" and "outsiders".
The early focus of the film is how this marginalization affected the players on the team. The filmakers show this through various ways. The use of costume shows that the white players have letterman's jackets and the black players do not. The musical score relies on classic motown music when the black players are in the forefront of a scene. Julius is immediately shown as the leader of the black players on the team while Gerry is shown as the leader of the white players. Coach Boone tries to get them to interact, but is met with great resistance. The haunting effects and dark mist used at the Gettysburg Memorial Cemetery truly show the cost and extent of the battle that they are still fighting. It is on the evening after this visit that we see Julius and Gerry begin to come together as teammates and leaders as an example that they can "belong". They do not have to remain separated into groups of 'outsiders' and 'insiders'. From their leadership, most of the team follows suit.
It is on return from camp that the new friends have become "outsiders" together in a new sense. Gerry is treated differently by his white friends, girlfriend and mother, bringing new light to the idea of being an "outsider". His was a voluntary choice, unlike Julius who was judged by the color of his skin. The director does an excellent job of showing this in a scene when Gerry's girlfriend pulls up in a car with other white kids and Gerry is standing above them. They want him to leave his fellow team mates (specifically the black players and Julius and come with them). The camera angle zooms down on them to show us that Gerry has stepped above their petty thought processes and grown into the commendable young man and example he was known to be.
Later in the film we see the new affects of "belonging", in a sense, on Julius. As he walks through the white neighborhood music is again used to highlight the significance of the atmosphere. The song "Peace Train" by Cat Stevens is playing with the lyrics, "now I've been smiling lately, thinking about good things to come, and I believe it could be, something new has begun." It is used very powerfully as it is obvious he has never been in a white part of town before. They bring in an ominous moment with a close up on a policeman rolling down his window and after finding out it was only to congratulate Julius on their playing the music comes back in loudly to celebrate this "something new (that) has begun."
This film upholds my beliefs that the "othering" of individuals due to their race is extremely wrong. It shows very clearly the mistreatment of the black teammembers as well as the later mistreatment of the white teammembers who have chosen to become their friends. This is a subject that is very familiar to me as my son in law is black and my daughter has very blonde hair and blue eyes. My granddaughter was multi ethnic and this was another battle she would have had to fight throughout her life had she lived a full life in society. I especially appreciated the way the filmmakers chose to show the "othering" of the white individuals or chose to become friends with their black teammates. This is something we have a great deal of familiarity with in our family as a result of our somewhat unique situation. I hope their comes a day when no one looks twice at the color of an individual's skin and a white and black person can walk hand in hand without anyone turning their head. I feel the filmmaker's had this same vision and portrayed it with great empathy.
The two young men, Gerry and Julius, begin the film in a fist fight over a racial issue (the hanging of a poster of two men signifying black power at the Olympics in Mexico City) and end the film "brothers". They travel a rocky road of coming to terms with one another to leading their teammates and community to becoming one and placing their prejudice in the past. As Thornton states, "Race is a social, not private, reality (Latterell 67)", and Remember the Titans shows this both dramatically and effectively through the many aspects used in film making. The memorable song of the movie "Ain't no mountain high, ain't no valley low, ain't no river wide enough, to keep me from getting to you" signifies the bringing together of these two individuals and groups in Remember the Titans. It will also be so close in my heart in remembering the way it brought together my daughter's family and brought a beautiful little girl into the world for a short period of time.
I developed a thesis driven discussion of how the film demonstrates what it is to be an outsider and even managed to stick to using only two characters. When I originally started this piece I was using four characters and decided to narrow, narrow, narrow, as this continues to be my weakness. However, I narrowed to the point that I totally overlooked the second half of the prompt with the exception of a single sentence. So first I will present my original piece for "Remember the Titans" and then I will add a revised piece with a paragraph included about how this definition upholds or challenges my own cultural understanding of what it means to be an outsider. This definition especially hits closely to home as my granddaughter was multi ethnic and her parents dealt with these issues on a daily basis as a result of an ever present undercurrent in society that causes some people to be unwilling to except change and allow individuals the freedom to love whomever they might chose.
In the movie Remember the Titans, director Boaz Yakin shows clearly through effects such as costumes, camara angle, music, etc., the othering of two main representative protagonists, Julius Campbell, a black player from the Burg ghetto, and Gerry Bertier, a white player who decides to become friends with the black players and especially Julius. The treatment of these individuals as outsiders is a horrific example of human nature at its worst.
The marginalization of the black community was so extreme in Alexandria, Virginia, as to cause total alienation and segregation between the two groups. The black community lived in a ghetto known as the Bhurg, while the white community was in the main part of town. As Sheryl, Coach Yost's daughter introduces in the beginning of the film, she says, "Up until 1971 there was no race mixing. Then the School Board forced us to integrate. They combined the white school and the black school into one." This is where the true extent of the 'us' and 'them' mentality can be seen. As the football team started practices before the school year began, they were forced into integrating with one another before the rest of the community. As Russel Thornton states in his article "What the Census Doesn't Count", "Race as we now know is a social notion, not a biological reality (Latterell 65)". He goes on to say, "Nevertheless, the races society has created are real to many people and have important psychological and social implications for individuals (Latterell 65)". The white community believed that they were in every way superior to the black community and this created an atmosphere of "insiders" and "outsiders".
The early focus of the film is how this marginalization affected the players on the team. The filmakers show this through various ways. The use of costume shows that the white players have letterman's jackets and the black players do not. The musical score relies on classic motown music when the black players are in the forefront of a scene. Julius is immediately shown as the leader of the black players on the team while Gerry is shown as the leader of the white players. Coach Boone tries to get them to interact, but is met with great resistance. The haunting effects and dark mist used at the Gettysburg Memorial Cemetery truly show the cost and extent of the battle that they are still fighting. It is on the evening after this visit that we see Julius and Gerry begin to come together as teammates and leaders as an example that they can "belong". They do not have to remain separated into groups of 'outsiders' and 'insiders'. From their leadership, most of the team follows suit.
It is on return from camp that the new friends have become "outsiders" together in a new sense. Gerry is treated differently by his white friends, girlfriend and mother, bringing new light to the idea of being an "outsider". His was a voluntary choice, unlike Julius who was judged by the color of his skin. The director does an excellent job of showing this in a scene when Gerry's girlfriend pulls up in a car with other white kids and Gerry is standing above them. They want him to leave his fellow team mates (specifically the black players and Julius and come with them). The camera angle zooms down on them to show us that Gerry has stepped above their petty thought processes and grown into the commendable young man and example he was known to be.
Later in the film we see the new affects of "belonging", in a sense, on Julius. As he walks through the white neighborhood music is again used to highlight the significance of the atmosphere. The song "Peace Train" by Cat Stevens is playing with the lyrics, "now I've been smiling lately, thinking about good things to come, and I believe it could be, something new has begun." It is used very powerfully as it is obvious he has never been in a white part of town before. They bring in an ominous moment with a close up on a policeman rolling down his window and after finding out it was only to congratulate Julius on their playing the music comes back in loudly to celebrate this "something new (that) has begun."
These two young men begin the film in a fist fight over a racial issue (the hanging of a poster of two men signifying black power at the Olympics in Mexico City) and end the film "brothers". They travel a rocky road of coming to terms with one another to leading their teammates and community to becoming one and placing their prejudice in the past. As Thornton states, "Race is a social, not private, reality (Latterell 67)", and Remember the Titans shows this both dramatically and effectively through the many aspects used in film making. The memorable song of the movie "Ain't no mountain high, ain't no valley low, ain't no river wide enough, to keep me from getting to you" signifies the bringing together of these two individuals and groups in Remember the Titans.
Revision: In the movie Remember the Titans, director Boaz Yakin shows clearly through effects such as costumes, camara angle, music, etc., the othering of two main representative protagonists, Julius Campbell, a black player from the Burg ghetto, and Gerry Bertier, a white player who decides to become friends with the black players and especially Julius. The treatment of these individuals as outsiders is a horrific example of human nature at its worst and upholds my beliefs that the "othering" of individuals based on race is wrong.
The marginalization of the black community was so extreme in Alexandria, Virginia, as to cause total alienation and segregation between the two groups. The black community lived in a ghetto known as the Bhurg, while the white community was in the main part of town. As Sheryl, Coach Yost's daughter introduces in the beginning of the film, she says, "Up until 1971 there was no race mixing. Then the School Board forced us to integrate. They combined the white school and the black school into one." This is where the true extent of the 'us' and 'them' mentality can be seen. As the football team started practices before the school year began, they were forced into integrating with one another before the rest of the community. As Russel Thornton states in his article "What the Census Doesn't Count", "Race as we now know is a social notion, not a biological reality (Latterell 65)". He goes on to say, "Nevertheless, the races society has created are real to many people and have important psychological and social implications for individuals (Latterell 65)". The white community believed that they were in every way superior to the black community and this created an atmosphere of "insiders" and "outsiders".
The early focus of the film is how this marginalization affected the players on the team. The filmakers show this through various ways. The use of costume shows that the white players have letterman's jackets and the black players do not. The musical score relies on classic motown music when the black players are in the forefront of a scene. Julius is immediately shown as the leader of the black players on the team while Gerry is shown as the leader of the white players. Coach Boone tries to get them to interact, but is met with great resistance. The haunting effects and dark mist used at the Gettysburg Memorial Cemetery truly show the cost and extent of the battle that they are still fighting. It is on the evening after this visit that we see Julius and Gerry begin to come together as teammates and leaders as an example that they can "belong". They do not have to remain separated into groups of 'outsiders' and 'insiders'. From their leadership, most of the team follows suit.
It is on return from camp that the new friends have become "outsiders" together in a new sense. Gerry is treated differently by his white friends, girlfriend and mother, bringing new light to the idea of being an "outsider". His was a voluntary choice, unlike Julius who was judged by the color of his skin. The director does an excellent job of showing this in a scene when Gerry's girlfriend pulls up in a car with other white kids and Gerry is standing above them. They want him to leave his fellow team mates (specifically the black players and Julius and come with them). The camera angle zooms down on them to show us that Gerry has stepped above their petty thought processes and grown into the commendable young man and example he was known to be.
Later in the film we see the new affects of "belonging", in a sense, on Julius. As he walks through the white neighborhood music is again used to highlight the significance of the atmosphere. The song "Peace Train" by Cat Stevens is playing with the lyrics, "now I've been smiling lately, thinking about good things to come, and I believe it could be, something new has begun." It is used very powerfully as it is obvious he has never been in a white part of town before. They bring in an ominous moment with a close up on a policeman rolling down his window and after finding out it was only to congratulate Julius on their playing the music comes back in loudly to celebrate this "something new (that) has begun."
This film upholds my beliefs that the "othering" of individuals due to their race is extremely wrong. It shows very clearly the mistreatment of the black teammembers as well as the later mistreatment of the white teammembers who have chosen to become their friends. This is a subject that is very familiar to me as my son in law is black and my daughter has very blonde hair and blue eyes. My granddaughter was multi ethnic and this was another battle she would have had to fight throughout her life had she lived a full life in society. I especially appreciated the way the filmmakers chose to show the "othering" of the white individuals or chose to become friends with their black teammates. This is something we have a great deal of familiarity with in our family as a result of our somewhat unique situation. I hope their comes a day when no one looks twice at the color of an individual's skin and a white and black person can walk hand in hand without anyone turning their head. I feel the filmmaker's had this same vision and portrayed it with great empathy.
The two young men, Gerry and Julius, begin the film in a fist fight over a racial issue (the hanging of a poster of two men signifying black power at the Olympics in Mexico City) and end the film "brothers". They travel a rocky road of coming to terms with one another to leading their teammates and community to becoming one and placing their prejudice in the past. As Thornton states, "Race is a social, not private, reality (Latterell 67)", and Remember the Titans shows this both dramatically and effectively through the many aspects used in film making. The memorable song of the movie "Ain't no mountain high, ain't no valley low, ain't no river wide enough, to keep me from getting to you" signifies the bringing together of these two individuals and groups in Remember the Titans. It will also be so close in my heart in remembering the way it brought together my daughter's family and brought a beautiful little girl into the world for a short period of time.
Critical Thinking Piece
I chose this piece because of the way it directly relates with family ties and our family as our community. It ties together all three themes within our course. Our identity is formed through our family relationships, our family is our generational community, tying us all together through time, and it is within this family that we establish our traditions that keep us close, affecting our identity. This brings us to a circular journey that never ends within our family.
I believe this particular piece, "Ending Poem", shows my critical thinking skills well as it required looking at the way the writer's used metaphors to represent their thoughts to their audience. It required analyzing the text and looking critically at what and how the authors were communicating their concepts about identity, community and tradition through metaphors.
In “Ending Poem” by Rosario Morales and Aurora Levins Morales metaphors are used to present family as a very special kind of community. These metaphors covey to us how familial communities affect and shape our personal identity. It is written by a mother and daughter who “explore family ties as perhaps the most significant community affecting our lives (Latterell 95)”. The poem is written in such a way that every other line is written by daughter, then mother, daughter, then mother. The metaphors are primarily used by the mother in looking at her family heritage; however, they are found in both sections of the poem. Italicized lines represent the mother’s voice while the plain text represents the daughters voice.
The first true metaphor in the poem is found in line 6:
“I am New York Manhattan and the Bronx”
This metaphor gives us a picture of the large immigrant populations living in these areas. This poem was written in 1986; therefore, it did not bring to mind anything regarding the Twin Tower devastation that any mention of New York often brings to mind now. The intention and image presented by the metaphor is clear. ‘I am of the people that make up the backbone of this city: the immigrants.’ She tells us she is “up from the shtetl, a Californian Puerto Rican Jew”, this gives us a further picture of the Jewish neighborhoods, with the men out playing chess in the courtyards as the woman prepare for Shabbat.
“Spanish is my flesh, ripples from my tongue, lodges in my hips”
For those in our class who just watched “Spanglish”, this should be an especially meaningful metaphor, reminders of the rolling of tongue in Fleurrrrrrr and the beautiful curvaceous body of the Latino woman.
“Africa waters the roots of my tree”
This brings forth images of the beautiful giant acacias covering the plains in Africa that the giraffes graze on in the spring afternoons as the gentle rains flow around the roots of the magnificent trees.
“I am a late leaf of that ancient tree”
Here she paints a picture of the beautiful tree lined coasts of the Bahamas. The word Taino itself means good or noble and adds more character to the noble blood of so many cultures that run in her veins. By saying she is a late leaf, she is bringing into the limelight the fact that the culture was decimated by the 18th century, thus “Taino is in me, there is no way back”.
“Europe lives in me but I have no home there”
This goes back to the earlier line in the poem where the daughter says she is mestizo. Mestizo means ‘to mix’ and designates a person of mixed Spanish and European blood in most cases. This rich metaphor could bring forth a thousand different images to a thousand different readers as Europe means so many different things to so many different people. Primarily the reader is reminded again of the ancient cultures that have lived in Europe for millennia. Pictures of the beautiful architecture of Rome, Venice, Spain, etc. flood the mind.
“The table has a cloth woven by one, dyed by another, embroidered by another still”
Here we have a metaphor comparing the rich heritage of their ancestors to a table cloth pieced together by numerous family members over numerous generations, each adding their special touches of their cultural background to form the unity that is the community of their family.
They also tie the poem together with the early statement, “My people didn’t go to dinner parties. They weren’t invited.” And toward the end of the poem tell us, “I am a child of many mothers, They have kept it going, All the civilizations erected on their backs. All the dinner parties given with their labor.” Giving images of their mothers and mother’s mothers laboring for the communities in which they lived, yet finding their sense of community within themselves, there own family.
Subject: Family - Our most significant community
I believe this particular piece, "Ending Poem", shows my critical thinking skills well as it required looking at the way the writer's used metaphors to represent their thoughts to their audience. It required analyzing the text and looking critically at what and how the authors were communicating their concepts about identity, community and tradition through metaphors.
In “Ending Poem” by Rosario Morales and Aurora Levins Morales metaphors are used to present family as a very special kind of community. These metaphors covey to us how familial communities affect and shape our personal identity. It is written by a mother and daughter who “explore family ties as perhaps the most significant community affecting our lives (Latterell 95)”. The poem is written in such a way that every other line is written by daughter, then mother, daughter, then mother. The metaphors are primarily used by the mother in looking at her family heritage; however, they are found in both sections of the poem. Italicized lines represent the mother’s voice while the plain text represents the daughters voice.
The first true metaphor in the poem is found in line 6:
“I am New York Manhattan and the Bronx”
This metaphor gives us a picture of the large immigrant populations living in these areas. This poem was written in 1986; therefore, it did not bring to mind anything regarding the Twin Tower devastation that any mention of New York often brings to mind now. The intention and image presented by the metaphor is clear. ‘I am of the people that make up the backbone of this city: the immigrants.’ She tells us she is “up from the shtetl, a Californian Puerto Rican Jew”, this gives us a further picture of the Jewish neighborhoods, with the men out playing chess in the courtyards as the woman prepare for Shabbat.
“Spanish is my flesh, ripples from my tongue, lodges in my hips”
For those in our class who just watched “Spanglish”, this should be an especially meaningful metaphor, reminders of the rolling of tongue in Fleurrrrrrr and the beautiful curvaceous body of the Latino woman.
“Africa waters the roots of my tree”
This brings forth images of the beautiful giant acacias covering the plains in Africa that the giraffes graze on in the spring afternoons as the gentle rains flow around the roots of the magnificent trees.
“I am a late leaf of that ancient tree”
Here she paints a picture of the beautiful tree lined coasts of the Bahamas. The word Taino itself means good or noble and adds more character to the noble blood of so many cultures that run in her veins. By saying she is a late leaf, she is bringing into the limelight the fact that the culture was decimated by the 18th century, thus “Taino is in me, there is no way back”.
“Europe lives in me but I have no home there”
This goes back to the earlier line in the poem where the daughter says she is mestizo. Mestizo means ‘to mix’ and designates a person of mixed Spanish and European blood in most cases. This rich metaphor could bring forth a thousand different images to a thousand different readers as Europe means so many different things to so many different people. Primarily the reader is reminded again of the ancient cultures that have lived in Europe for millennia. Pictures of the beautiful architecture of Rome, Venice, Spain, etc. flood the mind.
“The table has a cloth woven by one, dyed by another, embroidered by another still”
Here we have a metaphor comparing the rich heritage of their ancestors to a table cloth pieced together by numerous family members over numerous generations, each adding their special touches of their cultural background to form the unity that is the community of their family.
They also tie the poem together with the early statement, “My people didn’t go to dinner parties. They weren’t invited.” And toward the end of the poem tell us, “I am a child of many mothers, They have kept it going, All the civilizations erected on their backs. All the dinner parties given with their labor.” Giving images of their mothers and mother’s mothers laboring for the communities in which they lived, yet finding their sense of community within themselves, there own family.
Subject: Family - Our most significant community
Reflection Letter
Hi! I am Lisa Howard and a 44 year old parent and grandparent. I originally went to college for five years at Pierce, Diablo Valley and CSUN back in the early eighties and then worked at Children’s Hospital in Seattle in the mid eighties and taught junior and senior high school and headed up the science department at Stilliguamish Valley School back in the late nineties. I have gone back to school a couple of times taking correspondence courses through Western Washington University and Berean Bible College. I had always promised myself I would return to get a degree in art after my children were all in college. I was originally pre med in school. Since my youngest child, Jeremiah, is 16 and in Running Start at Everett Community College I decided it was time to take on the challenge. However, as I am very ill, I take almost all of my courses online.
The themes of our course hit very close to home in some ways and were extremely unfamiliar to me in others. Throughout this quarter our family has been dealing with the declining health of my granddaughter Kennedi and I have been in the hospital numerous times myself. Kennedi passed away late Saturday night, December 1st. As we studied identity, I often pondered what exactly establishes one’s identity. In the case of Kennedi and I, both people who usually wear nothing but pajamas, do not watch television or listen to the radio and live very sheltered lives from society in general, it cannot be how we relate to society as a whole. Kennedi’s life has come and gone with barely a notice and yet those who met her will always be touched by her smile and her ability to fight and beat all odds against her for such a long time. Kennedi’s community, as well as my own, consists primarily of our family and physicians. This is why I was so touched by “Ending Poem” which relates how the identity of an individual is interwoven with their identity within their family. I have chose to present this piece as my Critical Thinking Piece. While looking at our tradition theme I found myself looking with longing at the days long past in the previous century when families were much closer and bound through multiple generations often with three and four generations living and working together in the same home toward a common goal. This again tied closely in with the theme of the “Ending Poem”.
My Revision Piece is chosen from my timed write on “Remember the Titans” as the theme of this film also ties so closely with issues that our family faced. Kennedi’s mother, my daughter is white and her father is black, so on top of the complexities of her medical conditions, were the reactions of the people that came and went, woven within her life (hospice nurses, doctors, etc.). When I originally wrote my timed write, I underwrote about how the movie challenged my personal concepts and merely focused on the contents of the movie. I am now going to include in my revision a paragraph of my private feelings on the issue of “othering”.
For my Voice and Audience Piece I am going to include two paper talk posts to fellow students relating to them possible ways to enhance their writing skills. I have taken English 101 in the past as well as five other college English courses and was able to be of some assistance to my fellow group mates early on in the Paper Talks as many were unfamiliar with putting together a prompt driven paper with a thesis, antithesis and synthesis section. Communication is one of the most important tools a person learns in working in groups as we did in this course and I believe that we all had the opportunity to hone our communication skills through the discussion board and group assignments. This part of the course definitely stretched and challenged my thinking as we discussed various issues within our groups. The most controversial discussion in the group was probably the look at the essays on the homosexual male on testosterone and the female who chose to shave her head. These essays challenged each of us to communicate respectfully and try to understand one another’s points of view. This again relates closely to the theme of family, as communication is the most important part of maintaining strong family ties. Without strong communication between family members, a family grows or even falls apart.
For my Writer’s Choice Piece I have chosen to include my discussion of my wallet’s contents. It shows how easily we misunderstand one another and draw inappropriate conclusions. It was my first blog post and I found blogging to be one of my favorite parts of this course. I spent a great deal of time personalizing my blog page and thoroughly enjoyed cruising the pages of other class members. I also used this page as an opportunity to share information with my family from out of state who checked in regularly to see what I was up to and see new pictures and news coverage of Kennedi as well as video streaming from the charities I work for through the internet.
The primary weakness in my writing continues to be taking on too broad a topic and trying to cover too much ground in any given paper. Given the comments my instructor’s have made, it does not appear that I have made much progress in this area and will have to continue to work on this skill in future writing courses. My fellow group mates seemed to always enjoy my writing posts and I appreciated their input throughout the quarter, as it was always encouraging.
I must say that given my lifestyle I would have probably enjoyed a much more traditional English course as I really don’t care what Brittany Spears is doing these days nor do I have any interest in fashion or most forms of pop culture. I was challenged to step outside my sheltered life and look at things I would never normally be bothered with. Ultimately, however, I prefer classic literature to pop culture and would always rather read non-fiction than fiction. I did enjoy the themes we covered in our course; however, I would have enjoyed a little more freedom in selecting what to write about within the three themes: Identity, Community, and Tradition.
The themes of our course hit very close to home in some ways and were extremely unfamiliar to me in others. Throughout this quarter our family has been dealing with the declining health of my granddaughter Kennedi and I have been in the hospital numerous times myself. Kennedi passed away late Saturday night, December 1st. As we studied identity, I often pondered what exactly establishes one’s identity. In the case of Kennedi and I, both people who usually wear nothing but pajamas, do not watch television or listen to the radio and live very sheltered lives from society in general, it cannot be how we relate to society as a whole. Kennedi’s life has come and gone with barely a notice and yet those who met her will always be touched by her smile and her ability to fight and beat all odds against her for such a long time. Kennedi’s community, as well as my own, consists primarily of our family and physicians. This is why I was so touched by “Ending Poem” which relates how the identity of an individual is interwoven with their identity within their family. I have chose to present this piece as my Critical Thinking Piece. While looking at our tradition theme I found myself looking with longing at the days long past in the previous century when families were much closer and bound through multiple generations often with three and four generations living and working together in the same home toward a common goal. This again tied closely in with the theme of the “Ending Poem”.
My Revision Piece is chosen from my timed write on “Remember the Titans” as the theme of this film also ties so closely with issues that our family faced. Kennedi’s mother, my daughter is white and her father is black, so on top of the complexities of her medical conditions, were the reactions of the people that came and went, woven within her life (hospice nurses, doctors, etc.). When I originally wrote my timed write, I underwrote about how the movie challenged my personal concepts and merely focused on the contents of the movie. I am now going to include in my revision a paragraph of my private feelings on the issue of “othering”.
For my Voice and Audience Piece I am going to include two paper talk posts to fellow students relating to them possible ways to enhance their writing skills. I have taken English 101 in the past as well as five other college English courses and was able to be of some assistance to my fellow group mates early on in the Paper Talks as many were unfamiliar with putting together a prompt driven paper with a thesis, antithesis and synthesis section. Communication is one of the most important tools a person learns in working in groups as we did in this course and I believe that we all had the opportunity to hone our communication skills through the discussion board and group assignments. This part of the course definitely stretched and challenged my thinking as we discussed various issues within our groups. The most controversial discussion in the group was probably the look at the essays on the homosexual male on testosterone and the female who chose to shave her head. These essays challenged each of us to communicate respectfully and try to understand one another’s points of view. This again relates closely to the theme of family, as communication is the most important part of maintaining strong family ties. Without strong communication between family members, a family grows or even falls apart.
For my Writer’s Choice Piece I have chosen to include my discussion of my wallet’s contents. It shows how easily we misunderstand one another and draw inappropriate conclusions. It was my first blog post and I found blogging to be one of my favorite parts of this course. I spent a great deal of time personalizing my blog page and thoroughly enjoyed cruising the pages of other class members. I also used this page as an opportunity to share information with my family from out of state who checked in regularly to see what I was up to and see new pictures and news coverage of Kennedi as well as video streaming from the charities I work for through the internet.
The primary weakness in my writing continues to be taking on too broad a topic and trying to cover too much ground in any given paper. Given the comments my instructor’s have made, it does not appear that I have made much progress in this area and will have to continue to work on this skill in future writing courses. My fellow group mates seemed to always enjoy my writing posts and I appreciated their input throughout the quarter, as it was always encouraging.
I must say that given my lifestyle I would have probably enjoyed a much more traditional English course as I really don’t care what Brittany Spears is doing these days nor do I have any interest in fashion or most forms of pop culture. I was challenged to step outside my sheltered life and look at things I would never normally be bothered with. Ultimately, however, I prefer classic literature to pop culture and would always rather read non-fiction than fiction. I did enjoy the themes we covered in our course; however, I would have enjoyed a little more freedom in selecting what to write about within the three themes: Identity, Community, and Tradition.
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