Shorty's Blog

Poetry Reading (4/19)

2005-04-21T14:25:00.000-07:00

Since i didn't get to write a question about the last poetry reading by Rachel Blau Duplessis i thought that i would write one from attending this past reading on Tuesday April 19. The first reader was amazing. The energy and power that he had in his voice showed just how much he appritiated being up there reading his work. The subjects behind his pieces were interesting, and most important different from most poetry you would read. I mean how many other poems do you read about erections? Also his world views were very down to earth. I greatly enjoyed taking that time out of my day to listen to him and firmly believe i got something out of it.

Invisible Man

2005-04-17T17:16:00.000-07:00

Identity, Group memberships, and ethnic ties are still very relevant in the current year. Things continue to get better over time, the ethinic gap is closing and so is people grouping into certain races, ethnicities, and even prejudice groups. If this book were to be re-written to be set in 2005, a lot of things would change, for example the scene in the bar where I.M is invited to recieve the scholorship but has to be put on display before he is "good" enough to be given it. Today, yes there are still all african american colleges but to be given a scholorship would not take being humiliated and ignored. A black man/women would be given a ceremony for this honor. Secondly, yes there are still racial stereotypes, everyone is prejudice regardless if it's against a religion, race, or even a person with a weight issue it's still prejudice. I.M is placed in the middle of black racisim and struggles with it much more then a person that is "different" in today's world. I'm not really sure that anyone can be classified as different, because everyone is different in all kinds of ways.
The idea that people should have different restrooms for seperate groups is an idea of the past, also that people should not be allowed to live in the same part of town, or even heckled for walking alone at night. Hopefully things will contine to get better over the furture years and identity, groups, and ethinicity won't be an issue to discuss.

House of Spirits (Ideology)

2005-03-29T11:30:00.000-08:00

If I were to pick one person that i had completely different Ideologies from it would be Esteban Trueba. He is a man who believes in wealth, power, and greed. Esteban treats everyone around him who is not of the same social class as if they were different, or not as good as he is. For example, his daughter Bianca falls in love with a man who is of a different social class. While in the midsts of their love they have sex and concieve a child, this infuriates Esteban he finds his daughter and beats her, then proceeds to finding this man and cuts off his fingers. Bianca is then forced to marry another man of her fathers' choice. He puts together a huge party in hopes that his money, and flashy party will distract the community from his daughers wrong doing. Esteban only considers himself in his actions, believing that everyone sees life the way that he does.

Antigone

2005-03-21T02:20:00.000-08:00

If Antigone were to be brought up into present times, instead of during the time of WWII the subject of inter-racial marriage would be very much like the story of Antigone. Creon would play the role of the angry parents, who do not approve of their son or daugher marrying someone of a different race or background. Telling their child that if they went ahead against their wishes that they would be excommunicated from the family, or community. Just as Antigone was put into away into isolation for burying her brother against the wishes of Creon.
Antigone was a very moving story for me because i believe firmly in doing what you want to do. Not what others think is "right" or "wrong". Antigone believed that her brother deserved a proper barial and was not going to adhear to the Kings' beliefs or the women.
Regardless of the punishment, people should marry who they want to marry and do what they want to do. Antigone was a novel of choice and triumph in my oppinion.

El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez

2005-03-10T18:52:00.000-08:00

This story, or folk tale was very interesting for a few different reasons. For one, the different meanings that can be derived from one, two or three of the versions written on just this particular story. This is a story about a man, Cortez, who is involved in a shoot out between his brother and a sheriff in their community. His brother is shot dead and then Cortez kills the officer responsible for his brothers murder. This starts a search for Cortez, Dead or alive. Depending on the different story that you read will determine all of the events that follow this event.

I was not very into this story from the beginning, but even as a child i was not interested in the stories of Jesse James, Wyatt Erp, and the western "tales". So my comments are quite limited. Maybe i'll add more later, i think i'm having a brain fart.

Blood Wedding

2005-02-08T02:00:00.000-08:00

Throughout highschool we read a lot of different plays. Blood Wedding, i'd have to say was one of the strangest plays i've read and also my first in college. I feel like there was a lot of scenes that were cut out, or shortened. Although after talking about how he related a lot of his work to Salvador Dali i started to understand the concepts a lot more. Dali is my all time favorite artist and his abstract realism has always fascinated me, and looking at this play the same way gave me a deeper appritiation for it and it's creativity.

The relationship between the bridegroom and his mother to me kind of foreshadowed the entire play. There was conflict that arose from the opening scene all the way until the closing line of the play. The mother knew there was something strange about the bride, and the fact that she had been courted by Leonardo, a member of the family that killed the Bridegrooms brother and father. To me, that would be a really good indication that you don't want to marry this women. Obviously he felt differently.

Also, i had a few questions... If anyone has an answer to them...
Did the wife die at the end?
are we supposed to assume the wedding party knew they were still in love?
Did Leonardo make the wife leave with him? or was it her idea?

The Awakening

2005-02-02T11:40:00.000-08:00

Wow. That's all I can say about this book. At first when i started reading it i wasn't sure how i was going to feel about it, but in the end after she killed herself i concluded that i didn't like the book anymore. Edna, to me seemed like she could have become a role model to the other women. She had her own beliefs and HER OWN thoughts. unlike all of the other women at the resort who thought that tending to her children and her husband was the meaning of life. If you have ever seen Pleasantville, the movie about the kids who got sucked into the television and put into a Black and white world, it is a lot like this book. The wives didn't know how to act other then to stay home and make dinner and take care of the house, then one day one person spoke out and the women, or other people who rebelled turned into color. Edna would be the only one in this community in color.

She stood out, she painted she loved music she APPRITIATED life.

Madam Ratignolle knew about Edna, she knew her ambitions and her wants and needs in life how she wanted to cheat on Leonce but kept it to herself. Maybe if Ratignolle would have told someone about Edna's desires her death may have not happened. Maybe Leonce would have understood and let her act the way she wanted. I also believe that Robert had a large part in the death of Edna. He ran away, he was a chicken when he realized the feelings that were between those two. If he would have just stuck around maybe things would have turned out differently.

My last thoughts, are that maybe Edna should not have killed herself in the end but told her friends and family about her needs. If she was going for the shock factor telling everyone would have been just as shocking as her killing herself... I don't believe it was her destiny to die I think her destiny was to bring her love of art and "Life" to the world.

Yellow Wallpaper

2005-01-24T12:05:00.000-08:00

I had no problem reading through this story and understanding the good bulk of it, but I definitely have some questions and comments to share. Throughout the beginning of the story she is mostly speaking about her husband, and the home that they are staying in. The detail in this story is very vivid and in depth, I always enjoy feeling as if I'm standing in the same setting as the narrator and this story succeeded in doing this.
I thought for a while that the wife may of had some sort of cancer, or incurable disease since her body seemed to be deteriorating. Later on though, it became more clear to me that she had a psychological problem more then physical. The introduction of the yellow wallpaper, well her first description of it, is what clued me in on her problem. When she started to believe that there were people, or one single women who was "behind" the wallpaper I started to become much more confused.
I do wish though, that the story would not have been through just her point of view, knowing what John thought, or even her sister-in-law would have given the story a little more clarity.

Douglass

2005-01-23T22:46:00.000-08:00

Douglass was a very moving and inspirational story to me. Hearing about how he managed to overcome all of the hardships of slavery, and not being able to read or even more so not having any education. The stories of how he learned to read through more "fortunate" white boys and dealing with the death of his mother whom he hardly knew was just unbelievable.
It makes me think that life as most of us know it will never be as difficult as his was, and if he can succeed in life the way that he did anybody can. I wonder though after reading that story if he wasn't a "real" person who had went through this personally I would question some of the small excerpts from his life.

My First BLOG

2005-01-20T17:04:00.000-08:00

Look It's my First BLOG! I'll be posting my thoughts on Douglass soon!