Class Evaluation!

1. I think I have grown as a student in this class by realizing that my ideas about literature aren't stupid. Everyone sees things differently, and that's okay. I think have to really pick apart all the literature really challenged me. I am used to just reading a text and then moving on. As a writer I think I improved on writing in the right perspective. I was always switching between the first and second. I also think I am doing better at explaining things.

2. I actually liked reading blankets, and after reading the poems and hearing some of the discussion i enjoyed those too. I struggled the most with the play. It was really hard for me to understand that type of language. I prevented me from getting into the play at all.

3. No. I always thought it could be looked at as literacy. There are many different forms and graphic novels are just a very odd one. I have found that I like reading graphic novels. I like having a picture to go with the words, and then I get a better understanding of how the character is feeling. They really grew on me!

4. I enjoyed blogging, I had never done it before and I thought it was fun. I liked being able to respond to everyone's posts, and to get a better understanding of what other people were thinking about the literature that we had been reading. My least favorite was discussion. I'm not very good at sharing my ideas openly. I like to keep them to myself. It's hard for me to get comfortable with new people and share my ideas.

5. I think I am better prepared to think critically about literature. I definitely think I could pick apart literature and look for different elements that were used to create it. I don't think I was hoping for anymore. I'm just glad we didn't have to read long plays. I think that is sooo hard!!!

The two Dream's

Well after reading the second Midsummer Night's Dream I was kinda thinking "What just happened." I thought it was very weird and honestly I don't even know if I am understanding it the right way. I took it as the real characters coming to watch humans perform their life, and Peaseblossom got pissed and wanted to play him self so he kills his character, and then puts a vex which may mean hex on the rest of the cast. It was also very clever that the Will Shekespear was the writer of the play and his sons name was Hamnet. I may be taking this whole work the wrong way, but if it happend the way I think it happened then I thought it was funny.

I don't think that turning the play into a comic destroyed it at all. Wouldn't it be the same as turning the writing into a movie. Some of the text is taken out to create the movie, and this is just a shorter and a changed version.

Act 1 Scene 1- Helena

In Helena's last part before scene 2 she is talking about Demetrius falling in love with Hermia. She doesn't understand why he loves her because she thinks she that she is just as pretty as Hermia. She is talking about love, and how it can be blind. I think Helena can't get over Demetrius and it's driving her nuts that he has already moved on. I don't know much about the story line, but I do know that they (Demetrius and Helena) were once engaged, but he left her after meeting Hermia. I thought this was interesting because it was her feelings on what had happened. Even thought I didn't understand everything she was saying it sounded very pretty. I don't really understand the language that they use in this play, so I wouldn't be able to tell you if it was used effectively.

Midsummer Nights Dream

To be completely honest I didn't understand any of this play. I attempted to read it, and I spent about an hour on the first page, and I still didn't know what was going on. I then tried to watch the play, which was even worse. I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone got out of this play since I don't have much of anything to say. Sorry I can't add anything, but Shakespeare totally confuses me.

Thesis for paper 2

My main idea is What does it mean to be an American?

I think that to be an american you only have to live in America...or call America your home

the color of your skin, your religion, your beliefs shouldn't affect whether or not you are an American.

i am doing multi-genre

Persepolis & the poems

I don't really like this book so I manly skimmed through it. I think that the panel on page 69 where Siamak comes home is like the poem War is kind. I think the poem is about how the end of war is kind. Depending on the side you are on you either get a better life or you lose. In this case I think the poem is talking about how great war is when it ends and you are on the wining side. In the book you don't know what happens in the war yet, but this man has returned home. It is a very happy time. He has been a prisoner of war and now is back home and safe. The last stanza of the poem is "Mother whose heart hung humble as a button On the bright splendid shroud of your on, Do not weep. War is kind!" I think this is when the dead son returns home to be burried, but even though it is very sad that he died you should be happy because he faught for his country. He was fighting a war that could benefit you. I think this stanza is most like the panal on page 69. It was so sad that he was away and being tortuerd, but now that he's back everyone is happy especially because he came back alive.

Blankets and other text

I chose to look at the last three panels on page 235. In the first panel at the bottom it's shows Barney with a little bit of fuzziness from the t.v. in the middle. In the middle panel at the top ou see the t.v. that has turned completely fussy, and then under that you can hear what it would sound like "ssssssssh" the words under that change to "sshhk..sshk" and you see in the picture under that, you see a razor cutting off the fuzzy stuff. In the last panel you see Craig shaving, and that is where the sshk..sshk came from. I like how these panels brought these two scenes together.

I think this book is like the poem Much Maddness is Divinest Sense by Emily Dickinson. I think that poem has a lot to do with outsiders, and i think craig is a major outsider. He is picked on a lot as he is growing up because he is different, and isn't like everyone else. I can also see that this book is like Oranges also. Jeanette is looked at as an outsider because of her sexuality, and in The Bluest Eye, Pecola is shunned from everyone, and is left on her own. No one wants to be around her.

Blankets

I actually really enjoyed reading this book, and the comic format is really growing on me. I think is book is really interesting. It seems as if Craigs life is so hard, he is always being bullied, and he doesn't have any friends. I liked when he first met Raina. You could tell that they liked each other. On page 90 you see Craig and Raina meet. They both look at each other and are tucking their hair behind their ears. I think this is showing that they are both timid, and nervous. Just the look on their faces makes me think that they like each other. After that you keep seeing them look at each other. It's weird that you can get that from a picture, but you later find out they do in fact have crushes on each other. I think if this book would have only had words you wouldn't have known that they liked each other, but the pictures add so much to the text.

I think the book Blankets shows that just like Emily Dickinsons poem Much Madness is Divenest sense, if you are different than everyone around you, than you are picked on, and looked down on. You are some what of an outcast. Craig doesn't look like a jock, and he doesn't act like one, so they pick on him a lot. I love that he doesn't change just because they are mean. He sticks it out and ends up finding a girl that likes him for him.

Oranges are not the only fruit

I believe in many different things, God is one of them. I also believe that I will one day go to heaven. I also believe that it is really hard to trust people. You can't read peoples minds, if they are lying you may never know. Another thing I believe is that you can't live without come sort of support system. You need people to believe in you otherwise you only have yourself, and if you are like me there are many times you doubt yourself. I think that my parents shaped what I believe in. They have been there my whole life telling me right from wrong. I also trust them a great deal and know that they would never steer me wrong. I would like to say that I came to believe in these things on my own, but I know that's not true. Until I am out of the house for good, I will probably always believe what they believe. I went through a phase when I was growing up where I didn't believe in God. One day I just decided that there was no way he was real. Non of it made any sense to me. How could one person do so much. it took me a long time to get back to believing in him, but I think my belief in him is stronger because of that.

In Oranges are not the only fruit religion has a big part in the whole story. The people in the book are always going to church or doing things related to their church. Whenever something happened they always had to go to the pastor. Jeanette still goes to church throughout the whole book. I think the belief that oranges are the only fruit is changed. At the end her mother finally realizes that they aren't the only fruit, and she serves pineapple. I think when Jeanette realizes she likes woman is a self-revelation. I can't find the quote, but it talks about how she had never looked at men in a way where she liked them, and people said it was because she had a job of a man. Preaching.

Even after Jeanette accepts herself, he mother still doesn't and the people in the church still don't want to be around her. She is pretty much on her own. Her whole life was that church with all of her friends, but the priest pretty much took all of her involvement out, they didn't want her around any more because she was different, she liked girls.

I didn't get to finish all of the questions......

The Bluest Eye

Shannon,
I haven't started the book but I am going to tonight...it will be all read by wednesday..sorry I couldn't share anything in class today.

Thesis statment

How are multimodal elements used in the book American Born Chinese?

When The characters sigh or make other noises you can hear them.
With the descriptions your imagination comes up with a picture.

Wednesday assignment

The two text I chose to blog about were The dove commercial and American Born Chinese. The dove commercial showed how much someones face can be changed to make it more beautiful. Even though that woman wasn't ugly by any means they still changed her eyes her neck and her hair. I think this relates to the monkey. He wanted to change everything about himself. He wanted to become a god, and whenever his creator said that he was just a monkey he wanted to prove that much more that he wasn't. I think it's sad that people can't be okay with who they are. The girl in the commercial may think she is pretty, but I think they pretty much shut her down when they start "fixing" all of her flaws. The monkey could have bettered himself but still remembered that he was a monkey, and that was never going to change. You can try and change all you want but you will either end up being fake, or you will find yourself and maybe it will be for the better.

American Born Chinese

To be completely honest I liked this book so much more than the McCloud text. This book was actually a story and not just a bunch of information about comics. It is still weird to me that you hear things when you read. I actually think about it every time I read something now. Even when I am reading something a friend wrote, I hear their voice saying it.
The panel I looked at was when Danny's mom tells him Chin-kee is coming to visit. He's sighs and also drops his book which makes a thud sound, and I heard it all. I can even hear the conversation, when he says hold that thought and then responds to his mom. I am enjoying reading this text I love how it is in comic format.

Bell Hooks

I think she makes many good points, but they are all things that have never crossed my mind. I think she may just look to deep into things. Maybe she is just looking for an argument. I agree with her now that she brings my attention to the African American man being the robber. Why is he, but before it was never something I thought about. I think that is exactly what she is saying. We are so used to seeing these types of things in the media that we don't think anything of it. We don't give a second thought to why someone is playing a certain character.

It's weird how I began this post saying that i think she looks to deep into things, but maybe you should. I mean the second she made those statements they made me wonder why. Why are certain people cast for certain roles? What would happen if they weren't? Would the movie or show flop?

I also think it's interesting that her Yale students know they are smart therefor they use it to their advantage, and her students in Harlem are smart but don't really care. They could go places, but since they don't know any different or don't care they don't apply themselves.

American Gothic

When I first look at this painting I immediately think that it isn't relevant to this time period. I think they look like a husband and wife. I also believe that they live on a farm, because he is hold a pitchfork and there is what looks like a red barn in the background. The two people have very harsh features and very stern looks on their faces. It seems like the man would be mean, and that he thinks he is better than his wife because she stands behind him. They both have very bland outfits which makes me believe that either they are Amish or from a different time period. I wonder what the woman is looking at. I don't think she is looking at her husband, it almost looks like she's looking past him, maybe staring into space. The window at the top of the house reminds me of a church. Not many houses these days have windows like that. I think this picture could represent life in a earlier time period. A lot of people were farmers and many thought that men came before women or were more important.

I don't really like this picture. Like Molly Bang says, people don't like sharp objects or edges. The pitch fork and their faces really make me uncomfortable.

What are real books?

I think any form of writing that is in the book format can be considered a "real book." Plus whether or not it is considered a book is based on who you are asking. So you can't really define a "real book." With me I believe anything can be a book. You can have a book full of comics and that is a "real book." You can also get a notebook and write all of your thoughts in it and then I would consider it a "real book" of your thoughts. I wouldn't even know where to begin if you wanted me to tell you what wasn't a book, there are so many different types, and besides like I said, no one would give you the same answer.

I don't really know a lot about comic books, or graphic novels. What I know about comics (which isn't much) I have learned from the Sunday morning paper.

Multimodal Literacies

This new form of literacy shows that everyone takes something different out of a certain article. We all learn differently and the way we learn something depends largely on how the information is presented to us. The main place we encounter these literacy situations is school. Information is presented to us in many different forms. Some teachers use lectures, texts, movies, and writing. Multimodal learning is really interesting because it's not something you think about on a daily basis. It also isn't a new idea, people have been learning in different ways and from different sources forever. For me this article was rather hard to read. there was so much information and so much going on that I had a hard time understanding it. I needed someone to explain to me what was going on, but for someone else they may have understood the second they finished. Everyone has their own way of learning, and certain forms of communication benifit certain ways of learning.

What is an American?

When I think of the word American I immediately think of someone wearing and outfit that resembles an American flag. I know that there are many Americans that don't own a piece of clothing like that, but are just as American. An American is someone that stands up for our country, and is very patriotic. I also believe you don't have to be born here to be American. Americans can come in all shapes and sizes. Americans are a very diverse group. A true American loves our country and would do whatever it took to defend it. I think many people say they are an American just because they were born here, but I think that you should give back to our country before you can truly say you are an American.

Aiden Joseph

This summer I had a baby, and this is our first photo together! He's the perfect little baby and I love spending all of my time with him. He's growing up way faster than I expected and every minute with him is amazing!





Summer