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.