Tuesday, April 28, 2009

My experience with the Blog project and class.


It has been really fun discovering another way to express our thoughts. Last semester we made a portfolio and it was handwritten this semester we are more technological. Either way we do it, the important thing is that we express our feelings and that we tell our opinion. I learn more doing a reflexion after I read a story than reading the story and not forcing myself to think about what I just read.The blog project is really cool, we choose what color we want and we can add different gadgets.


This semester the class has been harder, so I have pushed myself even more and I have given my all. The stories were more complicated but way more fun than last semester stories. We have read longer stories, we had the privilege to read to big books; Daisy Miller and Reading Lolita in Tehran. Now I read faster than I read before and the interesting fact is that, although I read faster I still. I think and hope that my writing has improve. Doing my Writing Down the Bones notebook and doing all my reflections in the blog has helped me take out the writer in me.


In my second year I will take another English class and it will be Literature. I think that I am more than prepared to take the class. This year has made me grow and I have learned a lot. I hope that in that class I learn as much as I have learn in this one, and that I get to learn and have fun at the same time, just like I have in this English class.

Perspectives toward the novel Daisy Miller and a connection with "Reading Loliota in Tehran".


There are many perspectives toward different actions that Daisy does in the novel. Mr. Giovanelli, an Italian man, does not mind walking at night with her. Daisy is an American girl, maybe if she was an Italian girl it would be seen as something bad. The Italians are known to be really spiced up people. They are very explosive with their emotions and really romantic. Maybe Mr. Giovanelli wanted something physical with Daisy and did not mind if she was a proper girl or not.

The American perspective of flirting with a man that is not your husband is a really open one. The Americans do not see flirting as an insinuation of wanting to have sex. They see flirting as something innocent and common. Mrs. Miller is the mother of Daisy and she sees flirting as an attribute rather than a promiscuous behavior. She does not understand what can be so bad about flirting when she was raised in a Country where flirting was something normal. “… Does Mademoiselle propose to go alone? … “Oh no’; with this gentleman!’ answered Daisy’s mamma. (26)

The Europeans have a more conservative culture and they are really respectful of the social standing of someone, their actions and their manners. For a woman to take a walk, boat trip or go sightseeing with someone that they had just met is a really wrong thing. When Ms. Daisy took a walk with Mr. Winterbourne right after they met, his aunt, Mrs. Costello, thought that it was not the proper behavior of a young woman. “… She went with you all alone? … ‘And that,’ she exclaimed, ‘is the young person you wanted me to know!’ ” (30)

Mrs. Walker is a lady from Geneva and she has lived long enough in Europe to be attached to their ways. She thinks that Daisy is not enough for Mr. Winterbourne and that she behaves like an immature girl. She does not like that Miss Daisy is so fond of her courier, that she is always surrounded by men and that she takes long walks with men at night. Mrs. Walker is really tough on Miss Daisy, maybe she really wants to help but she does not have the touch to tell people in what they are failing. “It may be enchanting, dear child, but it is not the custom here.” (42)

Randolph is Daisy’s little brother. He has a unique perspective of the trust that Daisy has with Winterbourne. He is just a kid but one can sense that he is really open mind but at the same time, he respects the position of men in society. When Daisy refers to “you” at Winterbourne, Randolph says: “… I tell you, sir!’ he added jocosely, giving Winterbourne a thump on the knee. ‘It is bigger too!’ ” (34). He demonstrates that she should treat him with respect because he is a grown man. It is a small detail but it has a lot of social strength behind it. We can see the role that men plays versus the role that women play.

In another novel that we had the pleasure to read, Reading Lolita in Tehran, there is a small part where the students are discussing the novel Daisy Miller. Iran has a really strict religion and it emphasizes in women and their image.
Daisy is such an impact to the women in Iran that some of them defend her, others ignore her and some men disown her. Daisy is a girl that does not respect the figure of
men as a complete authority. She does whatever she wants, when she wants it, and she does not follow any rules that are imposed to her.
In Iran a virtue of women is that they follow men without saying anything, they should obey always men and they have no right for an opinion.
Taking a walk at night with a man that is not your husband is considered an abomination. If any woman in Iran does that she would suffer greatly her insolence. Young girls are supposed to walk with their mothers, and if married behind their husband, not in front or in the side.

Daisy dresses with colors and with dresses that shape her figure. She walks knowing that men are looking at her and that she looks good. She never walks with her eyes looking down. In Iran women have to be covered from head to toe always. They cannot walk in a flirtatious way or looking up. They must never have eye contact with any man.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Reaction: To Oral Presentation




Sometimes referred to as the swinging lifestyle, is "a non-monogamous sexual activity, treated much like any other social activity, that can be experienced as a couple” .The phenomenon of swinging may be seen as part of the sexual revolution of recent decades, which occurred after the upsurge in sexual activity made possible by the prevalence of safer sex practices during the same period. Swinging has been called wife swapping in the past, but this term has been criticized as andocentric (taking a male-oriented point of view) and inaccurately describing the full range of sexual activities in which swingers may take part. Swinger’s sexual habits are typically characterized by partner-swapping, female bisexuality and group sex. Full penetrative sex, though common, is not essential. Male bisexuality is absent. All swinging couples have their own rules of sexual behavior and these come in an infinite variety from the restrictive, through the asymmetric to the relaxed.

In the US there are several organizations against swinging and in favor of it. A survey found that up to 90% of swingers identify with a religion and up to 47% regularly attend their place of worship. US swingers tend to be Republicans, middle to upper-middle class, middle-aged and (over 90%) white. They are less racist, less sexist and uphold traditional relationship roles. An analysis of couples advertising in Desire Contact magazine, Britain's leading swingers contact publication, found an average age of 43 (men 45, women 41) with only 15% over 50, 26% under 40 and 59% in their 40s. The Guardian has suggested there are between 500,000 swingers in the UK.

I would’t like to participate in a swinging activity. I think that when we marry someone we should only engage in sexual activities with that person. A lot of couples say that they entered swinging because they felt like their relationship was dying and that the love was fading. They also say, that swinging has help their relationship and that they never have felt jealous or mad because someone else was having sex with their spouse. For me it’s wrong living a life like that. My husband is mine and I am his, no one else’s.

The presentation was really interesting. I learned a lot of different forms of marriage. Each group presentation was really fun, and we got to learn new stuff with a different way of teaching. I think that our presentation, was really good, because we explain the main thing and we did it in a normal amount of time, so we didn't make anybody get bored. I like giving presentations because we have fun, we learn, time passes faster and we get to know each other more.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Domestic Abuse


Domestic Abuse occurs when a family member, partner or ex partner attempts to physically or psychologically dominate another. Domestic abuse often refers to violence between spouses, or spousal abuse but can also include cohabitants and non-married intimate partners. Domestic abuse occurs in all cultures; people of all races, ethnicities, religions, sexes and classes, and it can happen to both men and women.


The different signs of domestic abuse are: Intimidation, depression, stalking, absences from work, economic deprivation, bruises, broken extremities, lack of confidence, bullying, pessimistic, sadness, loneliness, paranoia and much more.


There are many types of abuse, there's physical, psychological, sexual, social, economic or financial and emotional.


As part of our curriculum we have read a lot of stories regarding abuse. But two of them highlight really clearly different types of abuse. One of them is the movie "The Secret Life of Bees". In this movie there's physical, psychological and mental abuse. There's physical abuse towards Lily, her mother and Rosaleen. Before having physical abuse there has to be psychological abuse, and in this movie we can observe the way the dad treats his daughter, with such indifference and anger. The action of the movie was in the 60's and that was a time of a lot of changes in the world. There was a constantly abuse toward the colored people and we can see that clearly in this movie.


Another reading that we did, was from Miguel Street, "George and the Pink House". There's a lot of abuse in this story but the main abuse was from George to his wife and kids. It was their daily bread, physically and emotionally this man abused his family. His wife even died of one of the beating he gave her. His son didn't want to live with him and his daughter felt disgust toward him.


Everyone is in charge of their own life and no one should want to take possession or control of the life of anyone else. It doesn't matter if it is our spouse or kids we should respect the freedom of everyone. We can take a role of guidance in our children's life and we should even teach them what is right and what is wrong. But once we teach them values we should trust that what we have done will flourish and they will live a life of truth.


No one should be afraid of talking about any sort of abuse they have been suffering. Nowadays there are a lot of organizations that help everyone in need of counseling or an exit from a life of abuse. Anyone can pass through a situation like that but not everyone has the courage to speak out, and those are the ones that survive.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Reaction: Second Part: "The Secret Life of Bees"


The second part is really emotional and all the truth comes out to the light. May, the twin sister that carries all the pain of her family, kills herself. Zack gets kidnapped and T. Ray finds were Lily is hiding. T. Ray is an abuser. Sometimes when we think of abuse we think that it only exists sexual abuse, but there are a lot of types of abuse. There's psychological, physical, social and sexual abuse. Her dad is constantly abusing her mentally and emotionally. He doesn't know how to demonstrate that he loves her. He carries the anger of her mother's runaway and he takes it out on her. In another hand Lily feels that nobody loves her and that she is the cause of all the horrible things happening around her.


It's a great movie with so many messages that I wouldn't finish if I tell them all. The one that touch me the most, was that we should never give up on anything. Life is hard, if it wasn't in wouldn't be life. But everything is possible if we believes in ourselves and if we fight for what we want. It doesn't matter the color of our skin or our ethnicity, what matters is who we are and what we believed in. No one stops ourselves except, we have the power to decide if we want to keep moving forward or if a problem will stop us.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Reaction: First part of : "The Secret Life of Bees"


It was a wonderful movie I can't wait to see the second part.


It's a movie recreated in the 60's and it's a about this girl Lily, that killed accidentally her mother when she was 3 with a gun. She is now all grown up and lives with her abusive dad. Which was the responsible for her mother's death. She was trying to run away from him, but he caught her and she never got out.


Now the girl is the one that runs away from her father after he doesn't do anything to defend their helper/maid which is black and got in a fight with some men. After a rough journey they find a place which she knows because one of her mother's thing had an image from that place. It was a house of 3 black women (August, May and June), who dedicate to make honey. And Lily lives there while she helps them with the honey. In the second part I will talk more about the problems and solution.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Reaction: "Miguel Street, George and the Pink House" by: V.S. Naipaul


It has a variety of emotions and it's a good story. Some things I had to read twice to understand but everything else is really simple and easy to infer.


The author tells the story of one of his neighbors in the famous Miguel Street. This really mean man, named George, beat his kids and wife. He had a house that was pink and really abandoned. His wife was a woman that by the time grew thinner and his daughter grew fatter. George didn't hurt his son as he grew older but instead he hit his wife and daughter even more. The boy that narrates the story is really sacred of George and his house. One day George's wife died and he was really sad and he looked comfort in drinking. He even got away and he didn't returned in a long time. When he came back, he came with an Indian woman that did all the chores that his wife use to do, but she got tired of him been so abusive and she left him. Short after that the boy saw that in the house they were a lot of women and Jeeps. George had made his house a whore house, where a lot of soldiers came and had a good time with one of the ladies. When other places more pretty and sophisticated opened he lost his clients. He died later alone and forgotten.


V.S. Naipaul has a great mind to develop great stories, this story has different messages and themes in it. But it's only one of the many short stories in this book. It's really sad that he had to die alone, but it was his fault for being so mean and corrupting. When we do bad stuff in a way we have to pay for them and no good deed goes unpunished. Sometimes we need to think about other people to their feelings and wishes. There's nothing more important than love, friends and family and to preserve all of those things we need to dedicate time, effort and love.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Reaction: "The Story of an Hour" by: Kate Chopin


Wow, really impressing and sad. It's a really shame that she couldn't live a little longer to see that he wasn't dead.


How curious that only the tought of being without the one you love kills you. She only heard that he was dead, she didn't saw him, she just knew. And that happiness and relief that she felt while in her room, I think that more than a tought of being free because she didn't want to be with him she knew that if she died she was going to be with him. A lot of emotions were felt at once that's why her heart stoped.


When he entered the house, I was in atonement. And when they said that she had died I was shocked. I thought that she was happy because he had died, but the I understood that she was sad because he died and happy because she was free to be with him eternally. She couldn't bear thinking of living her life without him.


Sometimes Love gives you life and sometimes it takes it away. But we have the power to choose which role Love will play in our lives. Love is great in every aspect and we need to cherish every moment of life and live it with Love.

Reaction: "The Storm" by: Kate Chopin


Wow, what a hot storm. It was really interesting reading such an essay from a woman (Kate) who looks so decent and modest. From what I could gather, the woman, Calixta was french and her partial lover M'sieur Alcée was french too.


Her husband and child Bibi, were passing a storm in a grocery store while she was at her house. She sees a neighbor, Alcée, and invites him to come in so he doesn't get wet, sick or killed. And while she is at the window all these emotions of anxiety for her husband and child and the nervousness that she feels for the storm make her vulnerable at the tempting sight of her past lover Alcéee. He is tempted too and they remember a long kiss that they shared a long time ago when neither of them were married, and I think they kissed. When the storm was over he left, they shared a smile and her husband and child enter the house. They taught she was going to be mad because they were really dirty but she was so happy for that moment of passion that she didn't even care.


The story is really short but it tells you directly what it wants to tell. I liked it because it was different, and sometimes a Storm is a situation of confusion but when it passes you see everything clearly and you learn more.


Saturday, February 28, 2009

Reaction: "A Worn Path" by: Eudora Welty


We live in a culture where we don't appreciate the elderly people. In ancient times being able to live a long time was consider a blessing and old people were a symbol of wisdom. Nowadays we don't treat with respect or even admire old people. We see growing old as something horrible were our appearance decays and our mind start to slow down and that is in part responsible for all the cosmetic surgeries, all the elderly centers or even suicides of people.


In the story we see a woman who no mattering her age is strong and accomplishes a journey which is physically hard for her. The author describes with vivid images her trip, her appearance, the town, her reactions and her dream. Her trip more than a way to get fresh air was a trip for love. Her grandson was sick, I'm not really sure if he is alive, she had to go to town into a doctor's office for her grandsons medicine. At first she even forgets what was the reason of her trip but when the nurse asks her about her grandson she remembers why she was there.


Grandparents are a blessing to us all, at least for me, I have the best grandparents in the world. A grandparents is a symbol of tenderness, warmth and love. Grandparents play a major part in the uprising of any human being, the parents teach the discipline and love of an authority which loves you no matter what but the grandparents teach you that love with tenderness, in very rare occasion they ground you and everything is telled with peace and love. For me my grandparents are angels sent from heaven and if I am who I am right now is in part because of them.


Looking at this old woman sacrificing so much for her grandson doesn't only want to make me respect her more but also admire that strenght in her that many people of my age don't even have.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Reaction: "A Walk to the Jetty" by: Jamaica Kincaid


This story has left a warm feeling in my heart because it reminded me of the moment I had to leave my parents to go to the university. Everything I saw reminded me of my childhood, just like her. I think that's like a psychology way of saying goodbye and moving on.

At first it was like "Annie doesn't have a heart how can she not feel sad about leaving to another country and never coming back". I cried a lot and I see them on Christmas and summer, how can she not cry about not seeing them forever. At the same time in a way I understood she wanted to go away, as much as she loves her mother she couldn't stand her anymore and for the well being of both of them they had to be apart.

The way she described all the memories that came to her mind while walking the street towards the Jetty were beautifully described, she made them so real that while I was reading I was imagining them. That walk for me was what gave the story it's heart warming feeling and the part of the goodbye too, of course.

She was an adult now and she had to begin her own life now. As much as it's hurts there will always be different types of separations in life and those are the one that make us stronger and they help us value more life and our surroundings.

Reaction: "Columbus in Chains" by: Jamaica Kincaid





It was a really funny story, I laughed a lot. The main character Annie is a really rebellious girl that has a lot of anger inside of her. The awkward thing is that she has anger for something that was part of her history and she was not even born when the slavery on the island was legal. She is carrying strong feelings toward different persons that are not even alive, for example Christopher Columbus. I'm not saying that she hasn't have a right to get angry towards all the horrible stuff that her ancestors had to overcome but please get over it !!!!! The main danger of she carrying all those strong feelings is towards herself, she will always feel part of that tragedy in a way.

It's not her fault that she is that way she was thought to be that way. She is really similar to her mother. Her mother still has not forgive her dad for being strong and even abusive to her, and that deficiency of forgiveness and moving on has being passes to Annie.

In my blood there's Spanish, Indian and African heritage. And I think that when the Spanish colonized the island it wasn't on the greatest way, but I'm not going to be mad at them for something that passed ages ago and for the good or the bad it happened and I cant do anything about it. I'm proud of my heritage and my blood and what I can do is live my life not because of my past but for the outcome of my future.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Reaction: "To Hell with Dying" by: Alice Walker


Awwwww, It's such a cute, sad and gorgeous story. We humans fear death so much because we don't know it and we don't have a concrete thought about what it is.


It's a very interesting story, and is really well narrated. I could imagine all that she was saying even Mr. Sweet, such a great man, with flaws like anyone, but with a great heart. The way when she was a child she used to play with him and all the memories and smells that reminded her of him, it's a really fun way to describe someone.


There are a lot of elements in this story, one of them is the love that Mr. Sweet had for his wife, a love so strong that he even felt like dying when he remembered that she was not there with him anymore. All those times that he nearly died because of the pain that he felted,a pain so real that made him fee like he was dying and looking like that too. How the way that Alice jumping and playig with him gave him life again.


The most wonderful part of the story is at the end, when Mr. Sweet is lying there in his final moments and he rolls his finger through her face like when she was a child and then with a smile on his face he dies. She can't believe it because he would never really die, but this time was true. She looked at her parents, with their eyes full of tears, and she realized that Mr. Sweet was her fisrt love. HOW CUTE IS THAT !!!! Love in a pure way, love like the feeling that one gets when we admire, respect and love someone just as they are. Pure and Simple.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Reaction: "Everyday Use" By: Alice Walker


The story is great but sad in a way. It's great that at the end the Mama stood up to Dee and was fair with Maggie.

Sometimes when we fly to high we forget from where we came, we forget the basic things. A person that forgets their history never will be filled she or he will be always looking for something to fill that space that real love fills.


It's a great lesson what is tought in this story. The way Dee sees the house with pitty or even disgust is horrible, now that she is a city girl she doesn't value the worth that her family has. She thinks that being rich or famous it's was is important but she is wrong, being love and respected by others is way important. Material things may go away but the feelings that we treasure in our hearts will last forever.


Maggie in the other hand thinks that she's less important because she's burned but the reality is that she has a better heart and soul than her sister. She will reach any dream that she has if she gains more self confidence because the power to do it she has it in her all she needs is to understand that even though she is burned and she may not be as pretty as her sister she is still a human with the capacity of achieving anything.


Great story, great lesson !!!!

Thursday, February 5, 2009

My experience with "The Use of Force"


When I was around 6 years old I went to the dentist to get a cleanup and the doctor was joking around and I was laughing and everything was great till he said to me that I had a cavity and it was not enough to drill it he need it to take it out. He said dont worry it's one of your milk teeth it will grow a new in no time. I was scared but at the same time I knew that it needed to be done. Then the moment arrive, he told me i'm just checking I'm not going to pull it out yet and in that moment he pulled it, when I was unaware and unprepared. I cried, I was scared and I hated him for that.


It took me 5 years to get over that and trust in another Dentist, I didn't touch a dentist office in 5 years I was terrified, I didn't like that he lied to me, maybe he did the right thing but at that time for me it was horrendous.


Maybe the use of force is neccesarily in some cases but to lie is not a good way to gain the confidence of someone. I got braces so I need to go to the dentist office every month, that was a great lesson for me. Now I trust them more and I have learned to appreciate their work.


Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Reaction: "The Use of Force" by: William Carlos Williams


It's a really interesting short story, because my dream is to become a doctor and in a situation like this I wouldn't know if I would act like the Doctor from the story or if I would act differently.

The title "The Use of Force" it's really peculiar because that kind of usage of force is not bad or aggressive. When I first read "The Use of Force" I thought that it was going to be a short story about a criminal or even a policeman. But that wasn't the case, it was about a doctor who had to use his physical force to examine a young girls' throat and that way determine if the girl had a fatal disease.

It's a weird theme for a story, it feels more like an article from a doctors "What to do in this kind of situation " manual, but for me it was interesting and it has a lot of different conflicts going on, it's not just the sick girls it is to the parents. I think the Doctor did what he had to, he came with good intentions and a plan but the girl had another plan of her own. At least the use of his force on her maybe was the action that saved that girl's life.