July 6,2010
THE KITCHEN OF MEANING:
This article was very interesting. In it the author discussed how images, gestures, and behaviors can tell you about a persons social class,accentricity or life style. He makes a strong point saying that "all these "readings" are too important in our life, they imply too many social,moral,ideological values, not to attempt to account for them by systematic reflection:...." I agree with the article because we jugde or label people ust by the obvious signs and we don't search deeper for the not so obvious signs and that to me is the problem with society because that is what brings about stereotyping ,social segregation and in some cases crime.
July 7,2010
Federick Douglass :Learning to read and write
The passage on Federick douglass was at first very confusing but as i kept reading and looking up words I didnt understand, it seemed a little clear to me. In tha passage Federick talks about how his "mistress" which is his masters wife, taught him how to read. He described her as a kind hearted person but he later goes on to say that she turned cold hearted like her husband instructed her to. But Federick already learned the basics of reading so he used every opportunity he had order to further expand his reading and writting skills.He even made white friends and he turned them into teachers so that they can help aid him.He would trade bread for bread of knowlege. .It seems like the more knowlege Federick attained, the more he wanted freedom.
July 7,2010
Casa: A Partial Rememberance of a Puetorican Childhood
The essay appeared to be a simple reading but it had many subliminal messages. She spoke in a lot of figurative language and great imagery. I liked the emphasis she made on her Grandmothers motherly ways and the stories her Gradmother gave to teach life lessons. This essay has room for many diverse interpretations.
July 8,2010
Mother Tongue
This was my favorite essay so far because I can relate to it. Even though I do find English to be one of my strongest subjects, I do come from a family of foreigners and I can relate to Amy when she talks about her mothers "Broken" English and how it also effects her English. My mother speaks good English but my family speaks Nigerian broken English even though they know how to speak proper English. In my country, Nigeria, They speak Broken English also known as pigeon English. This originated because when the British colonized Nigeria, they tried to teach them English but the Nigerians at that time didnt go to school to perfect their English so it came out kind of deformed when they spoke it. Now Nigerians can speak proper English but they speak broken English to communicate betwen different tribes in Nigeria. Its a language that all of Nigeria can understand due to the various languages Nigeria has. I do speak it with my cousins and sometimes I find my self speaking it to teachers by accident.
July 15, 2010`
A Woman's Beauty Put-Down or Power Source?
In this essay Susan the author talks about beauty and the definition of it. Though this essay comes from a greek prespective I see many similarities in their definition of beauty, like the one in various places of the world. It describes how men are the ones that invented the definition of beauty. What I got from it is that culture has a huge effect on peoples definition of what beauty in women is supposed to be for example in China the smaller a womans feet is, the prettier she is said to be and in a country in africa, the longer a womans neck is the more beautiful she is. I learned that beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder. Beauty is more of an opinion than a fact.
July 15,2010
Confessions of a recovering misogynist:
This essay was another one of my favorites. The author talks about his struggle with women. He describes a painful childhood under the abuse of his mother and the abandonment of his father. He goes on to show how this effects his life as he gets older. He grew up learning to belittle disrespect and abuse women. He even gets kicked out of college because of an incident he had with a woman. After he abused his girlfriend and she finally left him, he did some soul searching and he accepted the fact that he does actually have a problem. But now he is trying to change and turn his life around. I like the metaphor he used in the end , that hes swimming in a river and even though he may bump his head in a few places he's gonna keep on going till he can reach his destiny.
