hi.
My literature class is so exciting - I am exhausted on Thursdays though. Even though I get a ride from Queens to the Bronx and take the express train, it's still 10:30 when I get home, and I'm not the type of person to come in, shower, and go to bed. I have to unwind for 2-3 hours no matter what time I get home, so I don't get in bed until 1 or 2 in the morning on days I go to class - then 7am comes mighty early! My body is tired, but even still I am reeling over class, just like last week. I can tell this is going to be such an important few months of my life.
So, last night we were discussing Women Writing Resistance: Essays on Latin America and the Carribean which is such a good book... and a perfect book to read after Discourse on Colonialism. While Aimé Césaire wrote from a male point of view about the effects of colonization on the colonizer, Women Writing Resistance is a collection of essays written from the female perspective about the effects of colonization on the colonized. You have this total flip of point of view, working only to educate the readers on the whole picture. Another relationship between the two books is they both raise the point that resistance doesn't have to be on a spectacular level. To pick up a pen and write, or to lend a hand to a cause is significant. To teach a class, write a letter, hold a sign, or even just to be so solid inside that you will never let that which you are resisting from sway your enslave you is a significant way to resist. The only way to not do enough for the things you believe in, is to do nothing.
I am very pumped because a part of our homework is to make a collage, a visual response to what we've read thus far. I'm excited about this because visual assignments appeal to me much more. I have already mapped out a lot of the collage in my head, and I'm going to do the collage not by cutting and pasting paper, but all in Photoshop with digital cutting pasting and tweaking, and then printed out on a color printer. Of course I will have to show you all when it is done!
A good thing brought up last night, was the usage of "we" in situations where you're referring to the people in the country where you live, or the people of the same race or class as you, even when referring to something you do not identify with. I am realizing the intricacies of language and how tricky it is. Several times today I had to correct myself while talking to Xavier and say "most U.S. citizens" as opposed to "we" as I was referring to things that do not relate to me. Language is tricky and I realize that it can be used to empower and enslave: it's amazing the boundaries people live in, willingly, based on the language they use. I must say that Orwell was right on in 1984 limiting the language to Newspeak to control the people's minds. Language is far more powerful than it gets credit for, that's for sure. So, I have committed to really watch my usage of words and make sure they are really representing what I mean.
Anyway... today is a sushi lunch day! The Dr. is having a party at lunchtime because two of the scientists I work with are going back to Paris, where they live. The department spent like $400 on sushi for everyone so I'll definitely be all up in that mix. Then tomorrow night is Sushi Samba with Maggie, Anamaria, Nina & Whoever else Maggie is having haha.
I'm going because they've actually given me crap to do now, so that's an end to the livejournal post. Think good thoughts for Xavier who's on his way to a job interview, please! ♥
So, last night we were discussing Women Writing Resistance: Essays on Latin America and the Carribean which is such a good book... and a perfect book to read after Discourse on Colonialism. While Aimé Césaire wrote from a male point of view about the effects of colonization on the colonizer, Women Writing Resistance is a collection of essays written from the female perspective about the effects of colonization on the colonized. You have this total flip of point of view, working only to educate the readers on the whole picture. Another relationship between the two books is they both raise the point that resistance doesn't have to be on a spectacular level. To pick up a pen and write, or to lend a hand to a cause is significant. To teach a class, write a letter, hold a sign, or even just to be so solid inside that you will never let that which you are resisting from sway your enslave you is a significant way to resist. The only way to not do enough for the things you believe in, is to do nothing.
I am very pumped because a part of our homework is to make a collage, a visual response to what we've read thus far. I'm excited about this because visual assignments appeal to me much more. I have already mapped out a lot of the collage in my head, and I'm going to do the collage not by cutting and pasting paper, but all in Photoshop with digital cutting pasting and tweaking, and then printed out on a color printer. Of course I will have to show you all when it is done!
A good thing brought up last night, was the usage of "we" in situations where you're referring to the people in the country where you live, or the people of the same race or class as you, even when referring to something you do not identify with. I am realizing the intricacies of language and how tricky it is. Several times today I had to correct myself while talking to Xavier and say "most U.S. citizens" as opposed to "we" as I was referring to things that do not relate to me. Language is tricky and I realize that it can be used to empower and enslave: it's amazing the boundaries people live in, willingly, based on the language they use. I must say that Orwell was right on in 1984 limiting the language to Newspeak to control the people's minds. Language is far more powerful than it gets credit for, that's for sure. So, I have committed to really watch my usage of words and make sure they are really representing what I mean.
Anyway... today is a sushi lunch day! The Dr. is having a party at lunchtime because two of the scientists I work with are going back to Paris, where they live. The department spent like $400 on sushi for everyone so I'll definitely be all up in that mix. Then tomorrow night is Sushi Samba with Maggie, Anamaria, Nina & Whoever else Maggie is having haha.
I'm going because they've actually given me crap to do now, so that's an end to the livejournal post. Think good thoughts for Xavier who's on his way to a job interview, please! ♥