Like Father, Like Daughter

When I was reading the end of the book, I was struck by the fact that Deck Lee was so into his own world that he couldn't take even a moment to find out what had happened to Birdie when he was Brazil. He was just so conceded on his own studies and his book that was about to be complete that he didn't realize how much she had changed.

I felt bad for Birdie because he rationalized himself not coming to find Birdie and Sandy because it was would be "a project." You would think that he would have at least made some sort of attempt to find out if they were still alive and just try to pass a message to them.

I was also quite stricken with the chart “canary in a coal mine." Who would put their children in a chart that showed the history of mulattos and how "desolate or violent" their deaths were? That puts them as a scientific object instead of real people. It also was odd how he mentioned that one of the female girls didn't have a birth certificate so they didn’t know how old she was when she died. Then under the picture of Birdie and Cole, he puts the years that they were born.

It was like he was trying to foreshadow that they would die in a violent way, or that they would be the small step to a bright future.

It saddened me to watch how he would pick his book over his family. That he truly didn't care and waited until the end of their conversation to ask how Sandy was.

Prom Date?

For the race articles we did in class, I got the article about Whos Black, Who's White, and Who Cares- but this post is about another article that I heard about in class.

The article that intrigued me was the one about the school and the prom situation. I think that it's weird that the principal would ask the students if the dates that they were bringing to prom were of their same race. I wonder if this was a decision that he made on his own or if it was something that was a district discussion. I also have to wonder what gratification he gained by canceling their prom.
With it being in 1993, you would also think that people would be passed all of the racism and all. All at this time in age, its weird to think that some people havent moved passed it.

my race-AFRICAN

I do have a race, and I am shaped by it alot. When I first came to Mcfarland, it was very apprent that I was African. I felt it inside and out. When I started to gain friends and be more used to us, I was no longer black but white.

The reason that race shapes me is because I have to break the traditional views that people have of me. I have to do better and be better. This is in other situations, not really at school, I sucks that I go through this.

It sucks when people judge you when they dont know you. At the same time, I love who I am. I'm pretty much white and loving it...yeah right, I am actually black...not so much. My color doesnt define who I am or what I will be.

Advertisments

I never really thought about how advertisments really affect our mental views on gender. On some ads, it is easy to see that there is definte gender characterization. I never really thought about the affect of this in our future and the future of our kids. Its crazy to see that they can be so easily shape by this.

I think that people should try to encourage one another in the skin that they are in. We need more shows that emphasizes being comfortable with you are. Think about how strange the world would be if everyone was the same size. Thats crazy. We should all try to be who we are do things for personal gratification instead of pleasing others.

Sister Sister

I definitely feel bad for Birdie. I think it sucks that she lost her sister. I think I feel for her more because I have a sister, that I kind of lost. I lost her in the emotional sense that we drifted away from one another. We also dont have the same taste in things.
Its so weird because I remember when my sister I were so close that we had planned on getting married on the same day to two people who were best friends and live next door to one another. This was when we were so close that we were afraid of losing one another so we kind of predestined our future so we would always be together forever. (That was when I was young and naive and reality hadnt struck me yet.)

I definitely feel for Birdie because it's like Cole made a future with her other black friends and Birdie is left out. She is in the shadows, and as much as she tries to fit in and be in the same future with her sister, she will neve fit in.

...Colored Me

This is one of the best stories that I have ever read about race. I liked Hurtson's view on her particular race.

One of the lines that resinaded with me was, "I am off to a flying start and I must not halt in the stretch to look behind and weep."

I really liked this line for two main reasons.

First, I think this line states that a lot of people dwell in the past. They sit there and just think about how they were mistreated and dont move on from that point.

Second, I think that she is using this as a message to a lot of people. She is trying to tell others not to just sit there. Hurton talks about being "off to a flying start." She is trying to tell them that there is alot of opportunities for them to take. And that they can make good out of the bad.

People dont have to sit there and be in a slump ove things. You have to make the best out of an ugly situation and she is doing that. She realizes that her ancestors died, but now she can have a better future. She can accomplish the things people never expected her to.

Speaking in Tongues

This is one of the strangest books that I have ever read. I was amazed by the intensity of the church. It was so weird how the church had such a great rule over its members. If you were a girl, you had to wear clothes that went past your knees and wrist. You also had to ask yourself, "What Would Jesus Do?" before you went anywhere or did anything that you were questioning doing.

I thought that it was extremely strange that the lady had Tia in a headlock. If you ask me, I dont think that God would ever do something like that. He wouldn't want to force people to beileve in him. I think that God would perform a miracle for Tia so that she would believe in him.

I think that this church lost the aspect of God. God is there to help and guide you, not to bring you into a headlock.

Dr. Strangelove

I thought that this movie was...different. I love the way that they were able to potray all the issues that were going on at that time. It showed how people were scared of the red scare and the amount of degree that each person took it. It also showed how the different countries were in an arms race with each other.
For example: At the end when they were discussing going into the mine tunnels to escape being nuked, they were questioning if when they got out, they would be bombed by another country that brought bombs into their mine shaft thing.
I think that this movie did a great job potraying that era.

This is a youtube link to a four minute part in the video where the President meets with the Russian President.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWP_rEWG2xkI

letters from war

19-year-old Artillery Gunner, Leon responds to his fiancée, Korean War, read by Edward Norton:
KoreaHill 10-6-2
Dear Babe,I just received your letter in this morning's mail. I held it in my hand for a minute while a little voice in the back of my head whispered, "This is it. This is the one."

You tried to "let me down easy."

I never said I was the greatest guy on earth; you did. Anyway, he's there. I'm here.
"Be careful," you tell me. "Take care." I almost laughed out loud. We wouldn't want to see me hurt, would we? There's no need to worry about me. I'll be all right.... Do I say something brilliant like "may all your troubles be little ones"?

How about "If you ever need a friend"? That presumes a future.

There are 500,000 N. Koreans and Chinese on the other side of that hill bound and determined to make sure I don't have a future. Over here where your past is your last breath, your present is this breath, and your future is your next breath, you don't make too many promises. Which leaves me what?

Goodbye,Leon

Two days later, Leon charged an enemy machine gun nest and was killed.

Response:

When I read this letter, I felt really sad for the guy. I mean the fiancee dumped him while in the war. While reading this letter, I can complitely understand what the guy is goiong through. The fiancee gave him hope for the relationship. She pretty much stated that she would be there for him but now wasn't.

I also dont think that he overacted in the letter.

What is he supposed to do now? Are they supposed to be friends? Yeah right. She was wrong to do that to him while he was in the war. She should have just waited until he came home.

From what I know, I assume that most military folks keep going because they have someone to come back home to. They know that someone is back home waiting for them to come back.

So it Goes.

In our new book Slaughterhouse-Five, the sentence, "so it goes," gets repeated quite often. Vonnegut seems to repeat this line after every statement of a death. As I was wondering why was so important about death, I ran into my conclusion in Chapter 4.
When Weary dies, he tells the rest of the people that the person who killed him was "Billy Pilgrim."
This is the reason that I believe that he uses this phrase. With this phrase, he can kind of tell the story but not make the cause of the deaths a fact. Using this, he is trying to drive home that people dont always tell the truth. Also, the story might have been passed on and on and with that, people interpert things different.

Crazy Bird in the Tree

During the summer of '07, there was a bird in my backyard that decided to make a nest under our deck. (picture illustrates exactly were the bird nest was.) One day I was out in on my deck and I heared a little chirping. I hadn't discovered the nest...yet. I looked around and tried to listen carefully, but i couldn't find the source of the noise. The next morning, I went out onto my deck and I heared the same chirping. I was determined to find the source. I looked all around and discovered that it was coming from below. When I looked through the spacing in the boards, I noticed that it was a baby bird. I went back into my house and found some bread to feed it. Day after day, I went outside to feed this little bird. There was a tree across from my deck and everyday, I never really thought about a violent chirping that grew louder. After a week of feeding this bird, I started to acknowledge the chirping.
The next morning, I went out onto my deck. I took five steps out and all of a sudden, I saw a wild bird fly towards me. I then sprinted towards the door and grabbed it open and then slammed it shut. The bird flew right at the window then sharply turned.
For the rest of that summer, I would not go into my backyard. To this day, I am scared of birds

The Controversial Issue of RACE

Writing about race can be a controversial issue, so who has the right to write about it? Do you have to be a particular race to write or judge another race? If not, then is it okay to write the worst things about Hispanic people if you are...say...white? Does that make you racist? If not, then where do you draw the line?
It all kind of comes back to the story we read, Every Little Hurricane. In my class, Brittanya kind of brought up this topic. She asked if the man that wrote this story was Native American; if he wasn't, then he was using a lot of stereotypes of Native Americans that may or may not be true.

Let’s say that you were Native American and you read this story, but it was written by someone of a different race. You would definitely take some of the comments personal because you would feel that they were untrue stereotypes. You would be somewhatly upset that some random person can try to generalize your race when they don’t even know how it feels to be that race.

I don't really know where I was going with this post, but thats that!

Predictability in Literature

When I was reading the story by Flannery O'Connor, I found it to be extremely predictable. You could tell that Mr.Shiftlet had a motive for coming to the house. It was also very apparent after the second page that it had something to do with the automobile that was sitting in the Craters' garage. Another predictable aspect of this story is when Mr. Shiftlet gets the idea of driving off with Lucynell. Anyone can see it coming that he is about to leave her in at the diner.

I feel that the predictability of this story make it less entertaining. If O'Connor had put some type of twist or turn then maybe I would have been left guessing at what was about to happen next. Though I never saw the end going where it went, I feel like she could have built on it more. From what Mr. Kunkle told us in class about her, I expected the ending to be more tragic and have a bigger climax. I had this sort of illusion that it would end in a creepy dark way like the rumors of her other stories.

The end of the story felt like it belonged, but it was slightly awkward. It was weird when the boy jumped out of the car and Mr.Shiftlet was left to drive by himself down to Mobile. The dialogue seemed extremely out of place and didn't fit into my interpretation of the story. It was just empty space to me.