"Recitatif" by Toni Morrison

The video will not upload on this blog so I uploaded the video on youtube. Click the link to youtube to view my video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9718XxkF2E

                The story “Recitatif” was written by Toni Morrison. She made this story interesting, on the black and white problem. Also, this story was confusing for me too. I do not really understand the purpose of this story. It is interesting because it is different than other stories in the book.

                I wondered if Twyla was white. Or black? Because this story was not clear, and I also do not know what color Roberta is either. It seems that Twyla is white and Roberta is black. I wanted to know why does Twyla’s mother dance all the night. What kind of sickness does Roberta’s mother have? I do not understand why both of them are put in orphan while their mothers still visit them? Why would orphan kids never wash their hair? Do they (St. Bonaventure) not have enough hot water provided?

                Why do the orphans call the caretaker Big Bozo instead of her real name, Mrs. Itkins? I wonder what the term “Big Bozo” means. I wonder what is so special about the orchard to Twyla. When she mentioned that the cooker, Maggie, at St. Bonaventure had a parenthesis legs, I immediately knew that was a bowlegs because I researched a lot on it in my high school on my own time. She also said that Maggie is mute, and said that she wore really stupid hat, this made me wonder if she is not just a mute, but not high-functioning?

                I wonder why does 8 years old girls, Twyla and Roberta, already is learning Civics already at that age while most of us are learning it in our high school years. At age of 8 I wouldn’t put on wet socks even though they are pretty, I hate the feeling of wet socks. How can Roberta deal with that? I wonder what exactly is wrong with Twyla’s mother. I know that she is not all there in the head but what exactly?

                I thought it was horrible that Twyla’s mother did not bring any picnic food to share with Twyla. I will never do that to my kids, I will make sure they have food. I wonder why not Roberta acted the same when she saw Twyla again after many years. I wonder what made her change from sweet girl to snobby young woman, then married and kind of nice woman, then she is against Twyla, then she is apologetic? I now wonder what happened to Roberta’s mind because she kept sprouting weird things that Twyla did not remember.

                I wonder if the protesting is about segregation of black and white kids. At the beginning, Twyla says that her mother is Mary and she dances all the night, now near the end of the story, Twyla says that Maggie is her mother and she dances all the night. This is confusing, why did she say that? I wonder what does the word “Recitatif” mean. I looked it up and it said that it mean the tone or rhythm peculiar to any language.

                This story is interesting because it is not clear what kind of races those two are, and it is also confusing because they keep talking about weird things. Like getting the race of the cooker wrong, and changing who is mother of Twyla and who dances all the night. This was an extremely

long story.

Zelzah: A Tale From Long Ago by Norma Fox Mazer

Once again, there are problem with the video, just search for the play button.

The story called “Zelzah: A Tale From Long Ago” is really extremely long, and it was written by Norma Fox Mazer. It is lovely story about sisters and Zelzah’s transition to America’s life from Jewish life. It was well written and easy to read kind of story. I would like to see what other stories Norma have wrote.

I thought the name Zelzah was pretty name, and I thought that the meaning of that name is cool. Shade-in-the-Heat seems to be nice meaning to be given to someone. Also I wondered why the mother named Anna that name, and its meaning does not match her, because she is not graceful. Other daughter’s name Shulamith does not match her name meaning too, she is not peaceful; she is fiery girl who wants everything to be fair to her. She does not like having her territory to be crossed. Ruth is not all there in her head, and the mother’s name is Adah, and it means ornament. In actual reality, she is poor. I think it is funny because none of their name matches to their personality or life.

I think that it is sad that the mother was poor and this made her name her kids with these meaning in hope that it will make her kids future better. But it seems that it doesn’t work. She wished that Shulamith would be peaceful, and be a comfort to people. She wanted Zelzah to be someone that people will go to feel a relief from problems. I feel bad that all the girls have to share one bed because that’s all they could afford.

The house they live in has only one room and everything is in one room. That shows how poor they are. I wish that Jewish people has more money so they could be better off instead of being poor and barely have enough of anything. I know this because my family is poor and we have some money and it is not always great, and now I look at Jewish, they are worse off than we are. This made me wish they had little more money so that they could have some more stuff to have. 

I wonder what attract Ruth so much about a stick, a bug, and a crushed leaf. This looks like to me that she has autism because they have a fascination with some objects. I thought that it was odd that Aunt Hannah would marry off his son, Jake, to Zelzah while they are cousins. That is a incest to this day, I would understand if they were second cousins or farther but they are first cousins. I wonder how cheap is the boat fare was back in then compared to today’s boat fare.  I wonder was Zelzah’s tear is of joy or sadness? It looks like a joy because she made to America. 

It looked like that Zelzah was overwhelmed by everything in America and Aunt Hannah’s house. They are not poor compared to Jewish village. Once again, I felt bad for her because she was so grateful that she has better bed, she kept saying that her aunt is too kind. When Zelzah said that her cousins Jake and Ephraim is beautiful and handsome, this made me think that at Zelzah’s old home there is many  not handsome men available.

I can feel that Zelzah really missed her families because she kept crying into her shawl, and said that the house is so quiet compared to her home. She kept waking up to listen for noises usually made at her old home. She said that her heart is full of terror and loneliness, and that it lessens when Jake shares with her in bed. It seems that Zelzah needs someone in her bed to keep her terror and loneliness away.

I wondered why did Jake secretly marry with Grace, who was Ephraim’s girlfriend while he was supposed to marry Zelzah? It is horrible that he cheated on Zelzah. I think it was wonderful that Zelzah became more confident in herself and got job in New York City. I thought it was weird that Zelzah still doesn’t mind to be wife for Jake even though he cheated on her. I thought it was wonderful that Shulamith came to America and stayed with Zelzah. But her temper is still there and she still rages at everything.

I think it’s wonderful that Aaron married Shulamith even though she got a temper. Other thing I thought was wonderful is that they got many things done fast, like marrying, having kids, going to college, and have jobs. It looks like they are adapting to America life pretty well. I wonder why doesn’t Zelzah want to get married and have children. Is it because what happened with Jake?

The story was very good and I really liked it because it is actually a story, not really short one. It is long and just right for me. I thought it was well written story, and I would like to see if Norma has written other stories. I loved to see what those name mean in Jewish. It gave me more inspiration to name my kids with cool names, like mine.

"Little Saigon," by David St. John

       

(For some reason the format is messed up so click the black space below the video to play it. You might have to move around your mouse to find the play button.)

        The story called the “Little Saigon” was written by David St. John and it is of poem. An extremely long poem and it was easy to read through it. I hate reading or writing any poems, but this one was not bead because it is easy on my mind and eyes.

This poem seems to be a sad poem because the girl, Ngoc Be, was sad that her father died. And that they want to leave their land to America. The girl was raped by the captain of the pirate boat repeatedly, and that her mom was not seen for long time. And that she and her sister are hated in their neighbor in America. Later, she found out from her Aunt Kahnh that her mother is dead. That she drowned right after she left on boat to America. So, it is a sad poem.

I want to know why the white peacock stands for their mother. Why not other animals? I wonder why they wanted to move to America. Is their old home not satisfactory? I wonder if the girls and mother is French. Because Ngoc Be said that her mother chatted in French with the nun. This makes me wonder what exactly their heritage is. Why did mother and children get separated on the boat? Why not stay together? I want to know how Aunt Kahnh found out the mother’s death.

I hated that the captain of the pirate boat raped Ngoc Be several times because that is horrible for anyone to experience it. I am glad that he got taken away by sailors. I felt bad for her because she had to suffer through it and was very happy that she got to shower and wash all the filth off her. I want to know how old is these girls? I know that Mai Chi is really young, but what about Ngoc Be? I wonder why their cousin is ashamed of them. What exactly did they do that made the cousin be ashamed about them? When Ngoc Be mentioned that Mai Chi resembles her father so much, does this mean they are half-sisters?

I looked up the word spangly, gilt and emblem because I do not know that means. Spangly mean clothes that is covered in beads or jewels. Gilt means something that is covered in thin gold. Emblem means something that is a symbol. Now that’s other vocabularies I have learned.

I felt odd that at beginning Ngoc Be had that dream about white peacock, and in the end Mai Chi says she dreamt about white peacock. I felt strange because they did not tell each other that they had that dream until Ngoc Be showed her painting to Mai Chi on white peacock, and now Mai Chi says she dreamed about it. It is odd because they had the same dream. That is amazing when people have same dream about same object.

In all, this poem was pretty good. It is long poem, which seems unusual to me because poems usually are short. It is depressing and good poem about Ngoc Be and Mai Chi’s experience from their old home to America. If I were not read this poem for a while, I would read it again because it is good.

"On the Rainy River" by Tim O'Brien, "The Setting Sun and the Rolling World" by Charles Mungoshi

      "On the Rainy River" is written by Tim O'Brien. This story was very easy to read, and you could speed through it without stuttering. It was that easy to read. I could feel the author’s pain in this story. I was amazed that he went through all of that and would write it down for everyone to read.
     I wondered why in the past once the people get a draft, they have to go to the war. I wonder why they have to force men to go to the wars when they do not want to join. Why not let them make their own decision if they want to risk their lives or not for their countries. Forcing them to go to the war violates their rights to choose what they want to do. America supposed to be a dream country for everyone but this seems not because of the forcing. It seems that the government of America is corrupted in that way. We actually are under their control, we aren’t really free like they said we are.
    I wonder what made the author to write his experience in the story. Is it because he wanted to lift some of his guilty burden off his shoulders by telling us what happened? I wonder how did the old man in the story knew what happened to Tim without asking? Is it because the old man has run into many young men who did not want to go to war? I want to know why the old man would help Tim to make decision by taking him to the edge of Canada water.
    When the old man said that he wondered why the heck Tim smells so much like pig, and that he wondered if Tim loved on eating pork or something, this made me laugh. Somehow that phrase was funny to me. Don’t ask me how.
    If I was in Tim’s shoes, I would have gone to the war because I would have no guts to escape from the draft. I would just give myself up and go battle the enemies. Tim impressed me with his guts, and that he was barely an adult. He was only 21 years old when that happened. I bet that I would cry and break down, then accept the fact that I am going to the war. Good thing that I am female, and if I was in his time I would be only housewife. Sadly, at the end he changed his mind on escaping, he decided to go to war because he couldn’t face the exile from his people. I agreed with his statement on him being coward because he gave into going to the war.
    Now, I know why the story is called “On the Rainy River.” How I figured it out? Because Tim and the old man is in the boat floating on the Rainy River. That is the river’s name, and the change of his mind occurred on this river. That’s why the title of the story is called “On the Rainy River.” I really felt his pain, and it was good story. Very detailed in not boring way, and gave me the insight to his feelings. Overall, I wouldn’t have what he done in the beginning, I would be the one who immediately give in and go to the war.








    “The Setting Sun and the Rolling World” was written by Charles Mungoshi. This story was not making any sense to me, it was hard understanding what the characters were talking about. I felt that they should be less vague on what they were talking about. I think they should explain and elaborate more, and then I would understand it better.
    I want to know what these characters, Old Musoni and Nhamo were talking about? When I read the story, nothing came up in my mind on what they were referring to. Only thing came up on my mind is that Nhamo is leaving home for something. I wonder what about the Nhamo leaving home makes Old Musoni so attached to him, not wanting him to leave home? Is it because Nhamo is going on a dangerous journey? Or is he going to a place that he possibly will die? I get this impression from the story.
    When Old Musoni wished that the rain would come, this made me think that his land is full of drought, that the land is very, very dry. That it is not reliable to use to get food from. Also Nhamo mentioned that the land was overworked and nothing could grow from the land to Old Musoni, this proves my theory of the land. I wondered why didn’t Nhamo just go ahead tell his father what he said in his mind instead of just saying that he will be ok and that Old Musoni shouldn’t worry. Why don’t he be blunt? I am sure the truth is more better than covering up what he wants to say.
     Same thing with Old Musoni not saying what he said in his mind either to Nhamo. Old Musoni gave a good reason to not say what he said in his mind. He said that he was tired of this and that they have been going at this for two months, but Nhamo gave no good reason to cover up what he wanted to say.
     In all, the story wasn’t satisfying for me at all. I felt that I didn’t get much from the story, all I got was an impression. The impression was that Nhamo is leaving home for something and that it might be dangerous for him. That’s all I got from the story. I wish that I could catch Charles Mungoshi and ask him what he really meant in the story.

Quiz on the "English is Androcentric."

                After reading this amazing article called the “English is Androcentric,” I realized that it was so true on use of language. I started to analyze everything that is being written or said. I kept finding that we refer out writing and speaking references on males. The images above are related to the topics in my blog.

                What does the word ‘androcentric’ in the title means? It mean when people speak or write, they usually will focus on men, and doesn’t include women. Such as when you write you usually will refer to the unknown person as a ‘he’ instead of ‘she.’ The words ‘he’ and ‘men’ are used to explain everyone, and all of the gender races while there are females. Even though there are many terms to the women than men but these terms to the women is mostly belittling while the terms to men are more flattering.

                The English is built by men because in back then the men have the power while females don’t. The females were not educated so they had no saying in making of the English. The men say that anything using women terms is not important, while men terms are. A man called Mr. Wilson declared that it is abnormal if the women came before men. The Act of Parliament passed the law that ‘he’ is used to represent both sexes. Therefore, the English language was made by men because the people are under authority of men.

                Not only the women are underrepresented in English, the races beside white are underrepresented. This is called racial bias in the language. When you look up in dictionary on white and black, there are more damaging definitions on black instead of white. The word black usually describe something that is evil.

                Sadly, people don’t really notice the sexist and racial biases in the language. Only the time that people notice is when it applies or influences them. Before I have learned about sexist and racial biases, I did not notice this problem. I am thankful because this article is an eye-opener.

                There is a debate on thoughts and languages, how it affects out thinking skills. Such as some linguists and psychologists believe that thought is controlled by language while others thinks that language is controlled by thought, or both is totally separate or linked, or that the both is the same.

                Many people wonder if language could affect our thinking. The answer is yes, the language could affect our thinking somewhat. Every language has some basic concepts, this is called conceptual primes. Conceptual primes mean basic, important thoughts. For example, we have a basic concept on how the direction works by using up and down, or near and far.

                There are many linguists believe in thought and language being interdependent. Both of it can be separate but most of the time language assists the thought. This helps us to understand the language correctly. We usually think to ourselves to help our thoughts and explain it to people clearly.

                The speakers manipulate people by using oratory or rhetoric methods. There are many ways to convince the audience, the terms that speakers uses to attract the audience makes the speakers seem more valid. These methods speakers uses are: repetition of words, metaphor, simile, very emotive language, and rhetorical questions. There are more methods other than these listed above.

                People may ask what does euphemism means. Euphemism is when people use words or expressions to talk about horrible subjects without actually talking about it. For example, the word ‘RIP’ is horrible so people use other words that don’t sound horrible to replace the word ‘RIP.’ The replacement of ‘RIP’ is ‘the old woman passed away,’ this is the euphemism.

The "Dawn", wrote by Tim Wynne-Jones

The story called the “Dawn” is written by Tim Wynne-Jones. This story was cute but heartbreaking at the same time. It was cute from beginning then at the end of the story was sad. This story revolves around a boy named Barnsey, but his real name is Matthew. He met a girl named Dawn, that’s why the story is called the “Dawn.”

                I want to know what kind of store that Barnsey’s parents own. I wonder why he is so against someone weird. There is nothing wrong with people being weird, it’s not people’s fault that they are weird. I am weird girl, and I love being one. I wonder why the mother kept buying Barnsey a lot of junks even though she is strict with food at the most of time. It seems that the mother was worried about Barnsey going on the trip without her. Why would the mother let her son go alone on the trip at age of thirteen? If it was up to me, I wouldn’t let my kid go until they are at least 15 years old. It’s dangerous to let young teenagers wander alone in this unsafe world.

When Dawn looked at the ingredient of the chips, and saying that it was full of chemical, it made me think that she is from area that eats healthy food. Why would Barnsey’s mother send him away to grandma without letting him know that she is divorcing his dad? If my mom did that to me, I will be totally devastated and might hate my mom for it. I thought it was wonderful of Dawn writing a note and put in her cd then hid it in Barnsey’s backpack.

                I found two things that I could relate in this story. First one is that when I was seventeen years old, I went on train trip alone through nine states. I went on trip to go to Youth Leadership Camp, YLC. The only way to go was on train, and my parents did not want me to fly because it cost more than train trip. I remember that it was wonderful experience of going through many states and learning how to get by on my own in two days.

                The second one is that Dawn is a vegetarian, and I could relate to it because I am a vegetarian. I have been a vegetarian for almost three years. When the date of December 16^th arrives, then it will be three year anniversary of being a vegetarian. I only eat seafood, nothing else. I never really liked eating meat in my entire life because I hated the texture, taste, and look of the meat. They feel gross when I eat them, and I keep finding tendons, bones, vein, and unidentifiable things in the meat. I just find it gross eating meat, that’s why I am a vegetarian.

                The story was okay, there was something that I could relate to. I liked the part where Dawn put the note in the cd. I liked it when Dawn speaks with her British accent. Her accent makes the story sounds interesting, and livelier.

"Bad Influence," by Judith Ortiz Cofer

       

        The story inside the “Leaving Home” I read is called the “Bad Influence,” and it was written by Judith Ortiz Cofer. I thought this story was hilarious. There were many phrases that made me laugh. I think this story was the best one so far from the book. I was so into this story that I have read through fast from page 63 to 90! The length of this story was just right for me, it is not too short or too long.

I wondered why it was so bad if Rita hung out with guys. Is it in their culture that girls have to go with a guys that her parents chosen for her? I wanted to know what exactly is wrong with Ramon the rooster. Papa says that the rooster can’t tell the difference between day and night. Is Ramon is not normal functionally rooster? Or he is just like that?

I agreed with Rita’s statement on how could the sick girl be so sad when she has a wonderful view of the beach? Maybe the girl was abused by her mother’s boyfriend? Since Rita’s grandma says that she felt the evil aura from the girl’s mother’s boyfriend. This is what I would assume about the girl. Also there might be evidence of abuse because the grandma says that she saw bruise on girl’s arm.

I wonder what does it feels like sensing evil spirits, souls, and things related to it. It’d be horrible to be aware of evil spirits, souls, and other things all the time. For sure, I would rather to be normal human being with only 4 senses.

I thought it was wonderful of Rita being friends with the sick girl. The sick girl’s name is Angela, and she is an anorexic. It was wonderful of Papa to help with Angela, getting her mother to throw out the boyfriend out of the house. Ever since that, Angela have been gaining little bit of weight and looks better. This further confirms that Angela was abused.

Ever since the book is really hilarious, and truly enjoyable to read I would like to know if the author wrote more stories. I went online to see if she wrote more books, and it turns out that she does. I’d like to check out some of her books someday. It’s the best one so far in the “Leaving Home.”

The Circuit, wrote by Francisco Jiménez

Francisco Jiménez wrote the story called “The Circuit”. The story was kind of heartbreaking but it is a good story though. It is also pretty short but it is enjoyable reading material. It’s something that you would continue reading after first page of the story.

            I looked at the Spanish words and to see if I know any of it because I took Spanish class for one semester in my senior year. But unfortunately, I do not know what any of these words means. These words are: ‘Ya esora’, ‘Carcanchita’, ‘listo’, ‘mi olla’, ‘es todo’,’tienen que tener cuidado’, ‘vámonos’, quince’, and ‘carne con chile’.

So I decided to look it up on Spanish to English translation, and the translation may not always be right but you get the idea what it means. ‘Ya esora’ is not translatable, but from what I see, it seems to mean ready or time to go. ‘Carcanchita’ is an affectionate nickname being given to a car. ‘Listo’ means ready, ‘mi olla’ means ‘my pot.’ ‘Es todo’ means ‘that’s all’ in English. ’Tienen que tener cuidado’ means ‘we have to be careful.’ ‘Vámonos’ means ‘let’s go’ and ‘quince’ means ‘fifteen.’ Lastly, ‘carne con chile’ means ‘chili with meat.’

            I am glad that I decided to look it up because it made the story clearer because I now know what these words mean. I want to know why not the boy in the story goes to school right way instead of waiting for the grape season to be over? Why not let his older brother take over the grape picking and let his little brother to go to school? I wonder what happens if they boy did not hide from the school bus? Will his parents get in trouble for it?

            Why would they move to Fresno? Is the economy better there? Why would the boy’s father think that the previous owner of the car is a good man based on the blue necktie? Why would the boy’s mother proud of the old pot and get even more prouder when it get more banged up? That sounds crazy. If it was I, I would have threw it away. I wonder where did the boy’s mother learn English? Is it her native language before she learned Spanish? Why did the author leave the ending like that?

            I thought it was horrible of the man to give the family a run-down garage as a home. It is barely holding itself up and is infested with termites. It talks about drinking too much water could make you sick. I know pretty well about this because I have experienced it when I drank too much after basketball game, I felt horrible because too much water in one drink. Also you could die from drinking too much, it is called water poisoning.

            Also it talked about how the boy was very sore after working all day in the field. That he was sore for a while then finally got used to workload. I could relate to him because I workout everyday in the Field House building. I get sore every time I up the weight, but when I get used to it, then I am not sore anymore. So I totally understand how the boy feels.

            I thought it was wonderful that the boy finally could go to school as a sixth grade student because the grape season is over. The grape season is over in the first week of November. But I felt bad about Roberto not able to go to school because he still has to work in cotton season, which is not over until February. It was sad that the boy was so overwhelmed in the class because he knows only basic English. I thought the teacher was very nice to help him with English and this made the boy excited to go back to school because he knows that he is going to learn something new.

            I was very disappointed with the end of the story because the boy was so excited that he goes to that school and that he is going to learn music. Which is corridos, it is frequently used in Mexico by everyone. He was so excited that he wanted to tell the good news to his parents but he was let down in the end. Why? When he arrived back home, what he gets is that everything is packed again, this means that he is moving again. I thought it was horrible for him because he only got a taste of middle school for one day.

            I learned a lot from this book, mostly on Spanish words and terms. Also learning the name of chili and music that Mexicans eat and uses. I gained little more knowledge of Spanish words, I am planning to take Spanish as my class next semester and this is a good way to start learning some Spanish. I am glad that I was hooked at first page of the story and kept reading to the end.

"Rules of the Game," by Amy Tan

             

            The story called the “Rules of the Game,” is the one I am blogging today. The story was written by Amy Tan, and the story is really long. It has tons of details, information, and descriptions. Once you read this story, you will be kind of overwhelmed by everything.

            There are several things I do not know, things such as: Prawns, sanddabs, so I looked them up on the website. Prawns are similar to shrimps, and sanddabs are the fish that lays bottom of the ocean, their eyes are on one side. They lay on their side, waiting for any prey for them to eat. They blend themselves with sand. If you want to check out on what they look like, go to below of this blog to see the links to pictures.

This story is very detailed and long. Personally, I think the story is too detailed that it lost me halfway into the story. Especially the part where the author described the chess strategies and its rules.

When the girl, Meimei, say she’s seven in America but 8 in Chinese, this made me wonder how it works. Like, if I am 18 in America, then that mean I am 19 in Chinese? The story also mentioned that Vincent, Meimei’s brother, has deaf ears. Does that mean he always ignores people?

Why would the mother name her daughter as, Meimei, Waverly Place Jong? I think that is silly to name her daughter after Waverly Place. I could understand if she named her daughter only Waverly Jong.

I want to know why Meimei’s mom is very explicated in details. Such as saying that the girl was hit by the cab and “was smashed flat.” (Tan, 1997, p. 39) She also told her daughter that Chinese do torture people. Why tell this to 7-8 years old girl? Are Chinese very open-minded people?

When the mother and daughter mentioned about Chinese torture, that made me think of my conversation with my friend. We were talking about Chinese torture, and it was of dripping water on the bind person’s forehead all day, all night, driving the person crazy. This is a psychological torture, well it seemed to me that it is psychological. This torture is called Chinese Water Torture. It is said that after a while, this could cause people having mental retardation. Also, there are picture listed below of torture equipment.

I thought it was wonderful that a young girl loves to play chess. This shows that even a young child could play very well if the game is in their interest area. I thought it was hilarious that Meimei used many excuses to get out of something or get her ways. Such as getting her brothers move out of the bedroom, or not eating all of her supper. This really is normal behavior of young kids.

Seeing that Meimei’s language is very good while her mother doesn’t. I think that Meimei’s mother was born and raised in Chinese. Then she moved to Chinatown in San Francisco, while Meimei was born and raised in Chinatown. It also makes me think that Meimei goes to American’s school.

I can kind of relate to Meimei on her mother showing her off. My mom does that most of the time with the people and me. Sometimes this bothers me because I do not want my mom to make people mad at me. Sometime I tell my mom to shout up. Yes, I actually do say shut up to my mom.

I thought the end of this story was very strange. I wonder why Meimei imagined her opponent as her mother? I never could imagine my mom as my opponent even if I was mad at her.

This story was not bad, it just was too detailed for me and my eyes. I kept reading on the same lines over and over. But this story made me want to learn more about Chinese’s ages to American’s ages. That’s one positive thing about this story.

Prawn picture:

http://rankexploits.com/musings/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/prawn.jpg

Sanddabs picture:

http://www.eatsforone.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/citharichthys_sordidus.jpg

Chinese torture picture:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Chinesische_Wasserfolter_-_Gedenkstätte_Berlin-Hohenschönhausen.jpg

"The Gift of Laughter" by Allan Sherman

This story is called “The Gift of Laughter,” wrote by Allan Sherman. It was a cute story where the son, Robert, wanted his dad, Allan, to approve his art. But Allan was mad because he was having a important conversation with his wife. Robert was very upset, and left to his bedroom. In the end, they both forgave each other.

I was impressed that Allan decided to stop his conversation to pick up the art picture. Then visiting his son to get Robert to forgive him and telling his son that he thought the art was wonderful. I fell in love at the part where Allan decided to go with hi son out of the house. That Allan is taking Robert to shopping to get frame, so Allan can get the art framed.

I think the title of this story relates to Allan’s childhood where his family laughed. Also Allan’s mother laughed when Allan thought that his grandma needed football while she actually wanted was a fruit bowl. His childhood was full of laughter.

How come Allan was so stressed out that Robert was screaming? It seemed that his son always are noisy. When I read the part where grandma has a deep Yiddish accent, I wondered where exact in the foreign country was she from? I wonder which parts in the story does the “Gift” in the title applies to? I could not find it.

I totally understood the 13^th-22^nd lines on page 31. I could understand how Robert felt because I cry all the time and having hard time to stop. For example, when I was little girl, I got in trouble because of my friend. She is at Gallaudet University too, and I have known her for 13 years. She got me in trouble and this made the houseparent to place me in my dorm bedroom for time-out. When I was placed in my bedroom, I cried a lot. I attempted to stop crying. But I couldn’t because every time I think about me being in trouble, I cry. So I could relate to that part very well.

I also can relate to where Robert gave the art to Allan just because Allan is his father. I drew a lot when I was little girl. I always gave my arts to my parents because I loved them so much. I still do that to this day, only the difference is that I am better at drawing than I was in back then.

Once again, this story was very cute to read. I can read this story again and again, never worrying about getting bored with the story. I love this story very much, and I will always think about this story when I have children in the future.

The story, “Dancer,” was very sad and inspiring. The little girl, Clarissa, was full of sadness and her soul was black. Learning the dance was her salvation, which had lightened her world and soul. I was and still am in love with this story.

            It was a wonderful story to read. I can relate with Clarissa pretty well. It was nice to see the woman to take in Clarissa. The woman who took Clarissa in made a right decision on letting Clarissa to learn dance. Learning dance made her a happy five years old girl.

            Reason why I could relate to Clarissa was that I had some nightmares. Only that I was three years old. I remember sleeping on my parents’ bed. In my dream, a man with a long knife chased me right over the 100-stories building. I remember the man successfully stabbed the knife into my heart in the mid-air. I remember gagging when I woke up. That was very unnatural dream for a toddler.

            The title of this story applies to me because I was a dancer. I danced for 13 years, and last June was my last dance performance. I danced Jazz and Ballet. (If you want to see what I looked like in dance, then go to the links below this blog.) Dancing made me feel free and light. So does it to Clarissa. I could understand how she felt about watching and joining the dance.

            I wondered what does “A pair of pants barely holding a crotch,” meant? Maybe that means she got second-handed pants that was too big for her. I want to know if the woman who took in Clarissa knows what Sociopath means. Maybe the woman was not that educated. How or what made Clarissa have these kinds of dreams? Why did Clarissa try to kill the cat? Maybe she had bad experience with the cats. I wonder if Clarissa was an Indian. Because she joined Powwow and might be of Assiniboine tribe.

            It was terrible to see Clarissa being like that. Being called sociopath, has no real family, and has bad dreams. She might have gone through a lot of difficult time before she came upon to the woman who took her in. Dancing must be her sanctuary. I recommend everyone to read this story. I will have some of my friends to read it.

The links to pictures and gif of me dancing.

http://shorelinemedia.smugmug.com/Sports/Calista-Dance-Recital/12453143_rcEhF#891776174_KQh6E (Third from the left)

http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/74/l_2e00f0f26cd1e84de184a0813f0cb7ac.gif

http://shorelinemedia.smugmug.com/Sports/Calista-Dance-Recital/12453143_rcEhF#891775634_beXML

http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/106/l_afd1daa54f79b060ee8d9742454728f9.gif

http://shorelinemedia.smugmug.com/Sports/Calista-Dance-Recital/12453143_rcEhF#891773620_CWY6A (Third from the left)

"A House of My Own" by Sandra Cisneros, and "Saturday at the Canal" by Gary Soto.

These two poems are called “A House of My Own,” and “Saturday at the Canal.” When I read the first poem, the woman was very happy that she got her own home, and have it all for herself. Because the way she said about several things such as that she has her pillow, purple petunias, books, and stories.

I got the feeling that this woman is elderly because she said “Nobody to shake a stick at.” The saying sounds like she has a walking cane. Most of the time, old people will set their shoes right next to their bed. She said “Only a house quiet as snow, a space for myself to go.” This also helped me to imagine her as an old lady.

I did not know what petunias was until I looked it up in the dictionary. It’s a flower, and it’s colored purple in the poem. One thing that I do not understand is what she meant by saying this, “…clean as paper before the poem.” I want to know what that saying means.

I want to know why was she so happy to have her own house and space? Why did she mention that it was not a man’s house of her dad’s house? Is it because she had horrible experiences with men? Or with her father? What kind of house did she own? If she really is an old lady? I will be so happy to find out the answers to those questions.

The second poem is about two boys (I see them as a boy, correct me if I am wrong). This part on they wanted to hitchhike reminded me of my sister. My sister hitchhiked to Mexico when she was thirteen years old. She went there because she was not happy in Michigan.

I do not understand this poem almost at all. I want to know what he meant by “The teachers were too close to dying to understand.” Does this mean that the teachers are old? “The years froze as we sat on the bank.” Does that mean that the time to them are very slow like a snail’s pace? I want to know why he wanted to be happy by age of seventeen? Why did they want to hitchhike to San Francisco? Is it because they hated the city/town/village they lived in? Why were they lonely? Is there nothing that has interesting events, and displays to keep them stay at where they live?

I did not like those two poems because the first one is too short, and vague. The second one is really hard to understand. Because I do not relate to them because I definitely am not lonely or wanting to leave my hometown. Also, that there’s many phrases that I do not understand. Only if the first poem was longer and has more descriptions. Only if the second poem is more clearer and understandable.

To me there are two common themes in the poems. Those two common themes are pursuit of happiness and escape-ness. The woman is happy to live on her own and the boys seem looking for their happiness by wishing that they leave from where they live. Both seem trying to escape from something like the woman seems to escape from people, men, and noises while the boys seem to try to escape from the loneliness.

Overall, both poems are unsatisfying to me. I want to find out more about both poems so I can quench my curiosity. The both poems deal with happiness and escape-ness.

"Learning my Native Language,""The Hands of My Father,""Recollections."

Those three pieces have a common theme, and this common theme is oppression/struggle of deafness. But each pieces has their own theme, which is being stuck in between two worlds, no communication access, and deaf identity.

           “Learning my Native Language’s” theme is being stuck in between two worlds. The woman has difficulties in deaf and hearing world. Like when she is at hearing school, teacher will point out her mistakes on test paper because of her deafness. While at deaf college, she does not have a good signing reception

“The Hands of My Father’s” theme is no communication access. The son’s father will not sign with him. He never had signed with his son. The son wanted to be able to talk with his father but could not. “Recollections’” theme is deaf identity. The woman as a child discovered that she does not want to take any speech classes. She wants to sign only, and not speak.

           An example of struggle is the woman who writes “Learning my Native Language,” struggles with hearing and deaf worlds. The woman is hard-of-hearing. In the hearing world, she cannot catch every word hearing people say. For example, when the teacher or the student speaks, the woman sometimes misses what they say but refuses to ask them to repeat themselves because she is embarrassed of her hearing problems.  In the deaf world she cannot quite catch all of people’s signing.  Also, she entered Gallaudet University, and from there she learned American Sign Language. The ASL teacher that the woman was under is very into the deaf world and looks down on hearing people. The woman feels that she was one of them. She was late at learning sign language, so I think this is one reason why she has problems with being able to talk with deaf people. So it is a struggle for her to exist in both worlds.

In “The Hands of My Father,” the son’s father does not want to sign at all. The son is oppressed because he has no communication access with his father. Father did not like people so he is a quiet man. Also he looks at his son as if he was diseased. The son said that he felt like he was a drought to his father, because he will not try to talk with him in his natural language. He felt oppressed from it.

In “Recollections, “ the author as a little girl goes to an oral school, called Camelot, which does not allow signing. If one get caught, he or she will be punished for it. At the oral school she takes speech lessons at Camelot and Kendall. Then at her last year of elementary, she dropped the speech class. She dropped it because she does not want to talk. After she dropped the class, the speech teacher had asked her why she dropped the class, and the girl responded that she does not want to take the class. The speech teacher looked down at her after that. She rather sign language over oral because when she went to Kendall school, she said that she liked that there is full of sign language while at oral school, she felt isolated because she was not allowed to sign. This is a struggle of deaf identity at the beginning.

          Rather it’s being stuck between both worlds in “Learning my Native Language,” struggling with communication access in “Hands of My Father,” or suffering from understanding and accepting one’s Deaf identity in “Recollections.” Each of the pieces deals with oppression.

Leaving Home: The First Day

Hello everyone, I have read the chapter called “The First Day.” It is in the book, the book title is “Leaving Home.” I am trying to not summarize the chapter. As I read through the chapter, I thought that the mother made right choice to follow the woman’s advice on getting her daughter enrolled into Walker-Jones school. This woman is member of Ebony, an advertising company, and she greets the new children Seaton Elementary School if the mother didn’t follow the advice, then her daughter probably wouldn’t have education like herself. If mother still tried to enroll her daughter into Seaton Elementary School, they still wouldn’t have accepted her daughter. This probably will also make the daughter have no education. When I was reading this chapter, it made me think about my first day of school, I felt similar to what the daughter felt. I remember when I entered with my mom, seeing many parents signing up their children to enroll in Michigan School for the Deaf (MSD). I remember feeling afraid because there were a lot of children around, and some of them were also crying and complaining. I remember my mom filling out the forms, and bringing the documents, identification, and other materials that is needed. I also thought that I was fortunate that my mom could read and write, because the process is faster. If my mom couldn’t read or write then filling out the forms would’ve lasted more longer than necessary. I was left with few questions after reading the chapter. 

Why doesn’t the mother knows how to read and write? Is it because when she was little, she was from a poor family and couldn’t afford to enroll in any school? Why did the mother stared at the teacher even though she told her daughter to not stare at people? Why did the mother became very serious with her daughter at the end of story? I wondered why the daughter kept hearing her mother’s footsteps over everything that is going on in the school? The significant of the chapter’s title is that it is all about first day at school. That the daughter was with her mother 24/7, now that she goes to school, she will see her mother less. This experience is similar to college students, they see their parents often when they are in high school. But when they become college student, they have to let go their parents. Like when the daughter kept hearing her mother’s footsteps, that is kind of like college student watching their parents leaving in the vehicle. That’s how I see it. There were few description of the characters, such as the daughter wore checkered blue and green cotton dress, with bits of yellow, white, and brown scattered on the dress. The woman from Ebony, wore pearls that is size of huge marbles and that it reaches to her navel. That’s about it.

Introduction

Hello people, my name is Asia Riedinger. I am from Michigan, and I attended Michigan School for the Deaf (MSD) for 9 years. I am from hearing family, and is the baby of my family.

Most of people know that I love to do something that is related to art, such as painting, and drawing animals. They also know that I love to read fantasy and mystery/thriller books.

My expectation on GSR 102 is that I will learn how to make my writing creative and very interesting. I think that we will use this blog to describe what we have learned from the class and talk about the books we have read.

In this link, the man's name is Michael, and he is a professional artist. He has several pictures that I like, and the pictures were painted by him. I noticed that Michael like to paint landscapes.

http://drawman.blogspot.com/