Running in the Family- Michael Ondaatje
This work appears to be a travel memoir of what Ondaatje uncovers about his family when he returns to his native land, Sri Lanka. It centers on Ondaatje’s quest to understand his father, but in doing so, he also explores his ancestors and the country itself.
In this work, he uses a lot of detail to illustrate his story without being to clear about what it is were reading. This form of writing is new to me and intriguing.
The author creates narrative fragments and uses a unique form of organizing his text to point out his work. He creates rich story with his family members through his use of detail and description of whats happening around him.
Between the World and Me- Ta- Nehisi Coates
Between the World and Me the author writes, “Race, is the child of racism, not the father.” The idea of race has been so important in the history of America and in the self-identification of its people that it is hard to stray away from what has already been known.
The author explores what it means to grow up in urban America and the experience of the African American in this era.
Although much of this part of the book is written in sentiment and with fear and the haunting effects of violence, there is moments where he feels at peace and almost in control of not being able to answer all the questions he poses in todays society.
Open City- Teju Cole
Open City by author Teju Cole is a story follows the main character, Julius, who is a Nigerian doctor doing his psychiatric residency in New York City. Julius takes up walking as a way to distress from the pressures of his job working with his patients.
Julius uses the walks to clear his mind of personal matters. The way that this character copes with his troubles and the way the story is written is a an exposition.
This book is interesting to me because it is written from someone who lives in New York city. This character uses walks to get away from busy city life and find therapy in stepping out of his routine.
The Achievement of Desire- Richard Rodriguez
In the essay “Achievement of Desire”, author Richard Rodriguez, describes the difficulties balancing life in the academic world and the life of a working class family. As a child Rodriguez was the exception to the stereotypical student coming from a working class family. He was always top of his class, and rather than spending his time out with friends or with his family he spent his time with books and notes. He explores the idea of becoming an outsider to his work life and home life.
The essay is relatable to someone like from from a working class family. He discusses how education can alienate us from our parents since they don’t have the same understanding as us now and change our minds and us.
This essay is also relatable because it is about someone going away to get an education. He talks about how awkward it is to come back home and feel like his parents and him are conducting an interview by him being away from home and family matters. This topic is something I have felt and how to cope with being away from home and defining home.
On Becoming an Arab- Leila Ahmed
Leila Ahmed writes about deciphering her own and her country’s identity in the context of Egypt’s political atmosphere of the time and its new identity as an Arab which she finds affects her identity as well.
Ahmed writes emotionally about her country’s history as she finds upon herself a label that she feels she does not belong to her. It is interesting to see her perspective on Egypt’s history and the variety of facts and elements she discovers that redefine her preconceived thoughts about Egypt relative to propaganda and the atmosphere she lives in.
This reading focuses on identity and what it means to be who we are. In this reading there was a lot of political pressure and labelling that made her finding her identity difficult. This notion is something to think about and bring into light when thinking about my own identity.
Girl- Jamaica Kincaid
“Girl” consists of a single sentences of advice a mother imparts to her daughter, only twice interrupted by the girl to ask a question or defend herself. She intends the advice to both help her daughter and scold her at the same time.
Kincaid uses semicolons to separate the admonishments and words of wisdom but often repeats herself, especially to warn her daughter against becoming a “slut.” Besides these repetitions, “Girl” doesn’t move forward chronologically.
This reading was interesting because it also deals with the theme of identity. This one looks into identity in the perspective of the mother and a specific culture in which she tries to educate her daughter what is the correct way a girl should act. It considers a different factor in the idea of identity such as what culture you are from.
The Tender Stranger- Phillip Lopate
The Tender Stranger, the protagonist a fourth grader accidentally bumps into a man while turning the corner on there way to school. Lopate illustrates this “not so major event” in the child’s life as a turning point that will forever impact the child. Lopate uses imagery to let the viewer imagine the situation while leaving major questions unanswered.
The writing style is interesting in leaving us the readers with so many major questions. We don’t know the gender of the child and this mystery also promotes the question does it matter? Does that change the meaning of the story? It makes us concoct 2 or 3 different versions to answer our own questions.
This story was interesting to me because it put in to perspective how much society has shifted me and made me think a certain way. We don’t grow up with the lack of innocence to cook up that we find inappropriate even though there is no direct sign of there being anything inappropriate happening.
How to Build a Perfect Refugee Camp
This article is about Syrian civilians that are being sheltered in Kilis, Turkey and how well prepared these camps are. We imagine camps that look like prison but there is an excellent organization system and clean quarters for these refugees.
I find interesting that although the conditions are close to perfect and they have everything they need, these families still don’t feel at home. This puts into question what defines a home.
For this weeks readings, were looking into what specifically defines a home and why these objects or ideas mean home to us. In this article not even the perfect conditions they are received with makes these refugees feel at ease and like a place to settle down.
Invisible Child- Girl in the Shadows: Dasani’s Homeless Life
This article is about a girl named Dasani and her life being in shelters and how it affects her to be displaced and have lower income. Dasani goes from shelter to shelter is deplorable conditions with her family.
This article is interesting because it follows the life of a young girl trying to fit in in school and with other kids while not having the same income nor support some other kids have. She has to find her way through life to find pleasure and still be a kid.
This article comments on the realistic story of a child and being displaced. It is a detailed story following the life of a child and how she copes without a home.
Syrian Children Draw What Used to Be Home
This article is about Syrian children drawing what they felt like is home despite all the brutality defining Syria and the loss of many of their homes. A Syrian-American artist would have children draw the floor plan of their home and she would find that their sentiment on home was that they wanted to go back.
This article is also interesting because it uses children to see what they feel is being displaced whether they’re conscious of this feeling or not.
I find this article interesting because despite everything these children have gone through, they know what home means to them. Such as immigrants who are persecuted by their country but still want to go back to the people and town they called home.
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting-Milan Kundera
This portion of The Book of Laughter and Forgetting is about how strongly the images in a photographed being altered can change history. the power of erasure as a tool to alter history and for us to selectively remember what we choose is the underlying theme of this chapter.
What I find interesting in this chapter is how photography is included in our lives and in the media and the way it chooses to portray a story. In this incident, the history of communist Czechoslovakia was born by someone giving his hat and being charged with treason.
The power of erasure in photography is useful to alter and image and idea and can quickly change how we perceive an image.
On Photography- Susan Sontag
In this chapter in Photography, Susan Sontag holds an almost unlimited authority in modern society. She discusses that photographic images are capable of replacing reality by being not only a mirror or interpretation, but also a relic of reality, something that is taken straight from it.
Photography is not a mere copy of reality but a recycled copy. We consume photographs at an ever increasing rate and they are therefore consumed and need to be replaced. Meaning, the more we take photographs the more we need to take photographs especially with tools that facilitate this exchange such as instagram and other social media platforms.
I find this chapter interesting because it discusses something very real and something that we as millennials have been dealing with with the widespread use of smart phones and social media. We use photography at an ever increasing rate to show off certain ideals or to represent something we’d like to be.
In Protest the Power of Place- Michael Kimmelman
In Protest the Power of Place is about how the actual space and architecture around the people in protest is actually propelling and giving force to the protest. They discover one another and live with one another in this space to fortify their protest and build consciousness about the issue being protested.
This is an interesting concept of the actual space around us having as much power as the being inhibiting space. We sometimes don’t stop and think about the connotation of the space and mapping around us.
The theme of space and the physical world is something interesting to think about and something I can apply to my life here in New York City and my life back home and compare the two.
Remembered Spaces- Verlyn Klinkenborg
Remembered Spaces by Verlyn Klinkenborg is about a Korean market being part of her mental map of a space and only realizing this when the market closed down and dint shed the same energy and light it did on the street. She talks about all the buildings we have gone through in our lifetime and how we know how to navigate through a ghost-town that like doesn’t exist anymore.
Analyzing this text, I find interesting to look at the spaces I’ve known growing up in different countries and how i have a mental map and now how to navigate a space that only exists within me. This goes to show that our life experiences and physical homes are more a part of our mind and memory than anything else.
This text is interesting to look back into my childhood and and see what marked me growing up.
Memory Map- Katie Davis
This short chapter is about how we associate objects in space with what happens around them. In particular, the writer was going to an interview in Nicaragua and got directions from a woman to turn where a tree used to be. She looked back and realized that that woman’s wording is her way of saying and remembering a time where she was more at peace.
This text is about how we remember and what we remember. It is about a memory map but the meaning behind the memory map we hold so closely.
This text in interesting to me because this sort of mapping and direction giving is also associated with countries in Southern America and the Caribbean. Where I am from directions are given to go down so and so’s house and make a right at the park. They almost make a monument of an important person’s home in the town to follow the mapping for directions.
Letters of Transit: Shadow Cities- André Aciman
In Shadow cities, Acmian uses metaphors to compare the park and its four streets to Rome and the fountain that represents four rivers and the nymph to Zeus’s mistress Mnemosyne, who represents memory. He talks about finding remnants of cities he searches for in the city he is currently in.
When I write about experiences, I think that documenting the experience is important, but not as important as documenting the perceptions and personal growth that accompany the experience.
This text is successful in illustrating what it means to not have a home. He is content with not finding something to fit his high standards because he is at peace and conformed with the security of not finding anything like what he has in his memory.
Is Google Making Us Stupid?-Nicholas Carr
Is Google Making Us Stupid? is an article talking about the extent the internet has affected our attention span and thinking process. He uses examples by research done by various universities and scientific groups to justify his argument. His underlying statement is that we don’t think critically about situations, we instead run to google for answers.
Analyzing the text, the author puts a lot of blame on us the people not reading due to our shorter attention span and losing critical thinking skills. However, I think there is a personal discipline we need to consider to be less dependent on quick internet access.
The author makes several interesting points in this text about consumerism and how we have formed connections with the devices we use to communicate. This puts me into perspective because the second I have a question or a debate with someone I don’t think about the topic I quickly go to google for answers so reflecting on this text was very interesting for me.
How Technology Is Changing Nostalgia
How Technology Is Changing Nostalgia focuses on how although technology is always striving toward the future, it has continuously revised how we see the past. We have become obsessed with the idea of keeping the past for future enjoyment and aren’t allowing ourselves to enjoy the present to create future nostalgia.
Reviewing this text, I noticed that they reference On Photography and kind of go off the same theme on how photography and the internet affect how we remember. “In other words, nostalgia really won’t be what it once was if, in the future, you have nothing to remember but the time you spent swiping through your phone, remembering.”
I think this text is useful in helping self reflect and realize hoe much dependency we have formed with technology.
The Case for Contamination- Kwame Anthony Appiah
In The Case for Contamination the author Kwame Appiah analyzes and points out the many ways in which the world is becoming globalized. He uses many examples to show that the world is getting ‘contaminated’. By which he means that the mixture of all the innovative values and traditions are eventually destroying what our ancestors have left us.
Analyzing the text, he describes the gradual transformation of many cultures and different religions to support his points but in his opinion he is open-minded and not greatly influenced by his religion. Once a culture accepts the innovations that come along with globalization it depends on each community to either completely transform their way of living or keep their traditions.
This text is another perspective on the idea of media and change and how we cope with this within our cultures and traditions.
The Untold Story of Women Vendors in New York
The article is about the role and difficulties women vendors face in the streets of New York on their day to day lives. Many of them make a living of waking up early to do groceries and cook to later risk themselves (many not having permits) to go to the streets and sell. They don’t take days off nor can risk not working every day of the week to be able to sustain themselves.
This text talks about the struggles of immigrants and how much harder they have to work to sustain a living. They are constantly looking for solutions to their living situation and are constantly encountering problems.
This text is interesting and useful to me because the theme of immigrants and women is one I know well being from a family of hardworking women who had to overcome a lot of challenges to prove themselves in this country.
Memory and Counter-Memory- James E. Young
In Memory and Counter-Memory, James E. Young challenges the idea that we need monuments to be erected to share national values and ideals. He argues that we should challenge the way we see and what we want a memorial or monument to do for us and for our community.
Analyzing this text, I find interesting the authors thoroughness and use of examples to illustrate his idea. He says “the monument has increasingly become the site of contested and competing meanings, more likely the site of cultural conflict than of shared national values and ideals.”
This text is valuable in putting in to the perspective monuments for me. I never think twice when i see a monument nor think about the idea present unless i inspect them closer and this text helped me understand why.
The Conscience of Words- Susan Sontag
In The Conscience of Words Sontag begins by weighing the elasticity of language and the way in which words can expand meaning as much as they can contract it. “We fret about words, we writers. Words mean. Words point. They are arrows. Arrows stuck in the rough hide of reality. And the more portentous, more general the word, the more they also resemble rooms or tunnels. They can expand, or cave in. They can come to be filled with a bad smell.”
She speaks of words themselves, the tool writers use to communicate and how they use them to create a message and words. Sontag reflects on the writer’s relationship to words as a tool of personal agency.
This essay is interesting in assessing and being self reflective in what it means to be a writer and how much power lies in their hands “Another problem with opinions. They are agencies of self-immobilization. What writers do should free us up, shake us up. Open avenues of compassion and new interests. Remind us that we might, just might, aspire to become different, and better, than we are. Remind us that we can change.”
Time-Travelling With Miriam-Webster’s Dictionary- Elif Batuman
Time-Travelling With Miriam-Webster’s Dictionary is about the power of vocabulary and words “to organize and command the army of one’s thoughts and images.” She discusses how different times invoked different words and how old some of the words we use today actually are.
The feature is called Time Traveler, and it has enabled her to travel in time, because once she looks for the words birthed in given years.
This text is useful because there is a history to what we say today and a power in the words we choose to use and not use. Seeing the dictionary and a history book to language is an interesting form of analyzing and reflecting on text and how we use it.
Why I Write- Joan Didion
In the Joan Didion essay Why I Write, she describes the way she writes by using some images in her mind. Didion begins her writing with a few thoughts and images. Writing is a description of life around her superimposing her mind view on someone else’s blank view.
Analyzing this text, I find interesting how she says writing is a form of discovery and if she had all the answers to questions she wouldn’t need to write in the first place. She describes writing as a form of telling an imaginary story because she doesn’t have all the answers.
I find this text useful because of the way the author goes about beginning to write. When she writes her novel she does not use the sequence of time or character. She draws something in her mind before she starts writing. Didion said, “Let me show you what I mean by pictures in my mind. I began Play It As It Lays just as I have begun each of my novels, with no notion of “ character’’ or “plot” or even “incident”
