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.

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.

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.

http://www.loveisnotabuse.com/

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.

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.

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.