Outside Activity 5

During this semester I had the opportunity to listen to an accomplished writer with a disability read her work. It was an incredible moment. A young woman named Kelly came to speak and she has autism. It was very moving to listen to her talk about her family and her life with autism as she spoke to us and through her book. I think her main idea she wanted to get across was to not make fun of people with disabilities. She told us in her book and through her speech that she had many hard times in school because other students would call her retarded and it hurt her feelings. Kelly was a very nice and intelligent woman who has accomplished a lot. She is living on her own in a community with other people with disabilities and is very close to her family. She inspired me as an individual to help others and myself.

WORD COUNT: 156

Movie vs. Text

In class we watched a movies that was based on the text "A Worn Path." I really enjoyed getting this point of view from the movie. In the text, the narrator is an outside source that has nothing to do with what takes place; however in the movie, the narrator seems like it is the old woman herself. In the text, the author was very discriptive of the events that occured but the movie helped me understand more of what happened. It helps me a lot to see expressions on people's faces because you can tell a lot from how people are looking at you. Because of this, I was able to better understand the nurse in the doctor's office throught the movies than in the text. Another difference in the way the text is portrays and the movies is where the setting takes place. After reading the text, I assumed that it was taking place in the north because although the white man was somewhat racial toward the black woman, he was still polite in helping her. In the movie, however, the sign on the doctor's office said "colored" which makes me think more about the south and segregation.

WORD COUNT: 200

Outside Activity 4

This weekend I went to Burke's Book Store to listen to students from a different college read creative writings that they wrote themselves. It was very interesting; however, when poetry was read I got a little lost. I'm not much or a poetic person so most of the time it was over my head. The fiction stories were very enjoyable. I liked the first one read the best. The girl was very talented. I noticed a big difference in the way that I would write compared to her. She used a lot of details, adjectives, and different uses of language. There was a lot of fowl language which I appreciated because I was able to relate to it better since that language is used everyday anyway. The second fiction story that was told by the last reader was also a well written story. It too used very descriptive words which I was able to follow and visualize while listening. Our guest in Memphis were very talented and I enjoyed the experience a lot.

WORD COUNT: 173

The Barmaid Tells the Story

When the barmaid is first introduced into the story, a negative connotation begins to develop through the text chosen by the author. Words such as “semiwhore,” “doomed,” and “menace” are used to describe the character and her life (Baldwin 45). These words are consistent with the negative tone of the rest of the story as it goes on to talk about the life of Sonny. The narrator uses the barmaid to symbolize the underlying theme of the story when he uses these words to portray different characteristics. Baldwin writes, “When she smiled one saw the little girl, one sensed the doomed, still-struggling woman beneath the battered face of the semiwhore” (Baldwin 45). This is how the narrator characterizes the barmaid to his audience; simultaneously, the narrator is speaking of the conditions in every character’s life in Sonny’s Blues. Not only through words but also through different behaviorisms is the theme seen through the barmaid. When the narrator sees the struggling and doomed woman, she is dancing and singing. It is assumed that the dancing, singing, and music are her escape from the reality of menace, because when the music stops, the barmaid pauses and looks at the juke box until it resumes. That moment when the music stops is when reality is hardest. Sonny’s Blues is about the hard times in life and learning the right way to deal with them by finding an escape which is shown briefly in the character of the barmaid.

WORD COUNT: 245

Teenage Wasteland

I thought today's discussion in English was great. I really enjoyed listening to the song by The Who because they are not a band that I listen to and it was good exposure. When relating the song to the story we just read, I thought it was very appropriate. The story is about a trouble teenage boy. The narrator of the piece of literature is his mother, Daisy. Therefore the entire story is told from the perspective of parents and adults. They see a troubled kid who keeps getting into trouble and eventually runs away. The teenage boy, however, does not get to share his side of the story. Maybe he is feeling trapped. Maybe he is feeling like he is looking for something and the world around him is not providing it. He wants something more than what is in front of him. That is where the song comes in. I believe the song comes from teenagers points of view. The music sound chaotic but it goes along with the lyrics. Just as a teenager's life is not structured or organized. If they made the short story into a movie I could see this song beginning to play as Donny walk out of the exam and leaves.

WORD COUNT: 208

Parker's Back Reflection

After reading Parker’s Back a couple of times I have had time to reflect on the characters. They range from religious to not religious, young to old, black to white, and creative to plain. All of these contrasting attributes can be seen in either Sarah Ruth or O.E. I reflected more on the character of O.E. who I thought to be the most interesting.

When O.E. marries Sarah Ruth, he is not religious. Whether he believed in God and chose not to act on it or did not believe at all, the reader does not know. The reader, however, does know that he is black and has covered his body in tattoos except for his back. I think it is important that he has nothing on his back and the reason for it. He thinks that there is not a reason to have a tattoo on his back because he cannot see it. If he did want to see it he would have to position himself between two mirrors and he thinks that he would look like an idiot looking for the tattoo.

At the end of the story, O.E. has a major revelation when he gets the tattoo of Christ on his back. This image of Christ is a symbol of his revelation about religion. I found it interesting because the reason he did not have a tattoo there was because he could not see it, just as he cannot see Christ. I also liked that he found the eyes the most intriguing part. His back is the most appropriate place for this image as well. Although he cannot see Christ, Christ is always watching and observing what we do. The other reason he did not get a tattoo there was because he would look like an idiot trying to see it. This goes along well with how his friends questioned him about getting religion and made him feel stupid.

This story is a lesson to me that although not everyone may believe in the Lord, they may in time and in different ways. Not everyone has to come to Christ at the same time or the same way. Parker’s Back had many opposing characters that combined in some way to benefit the protagonist O.E.

WORK COUNT: 378

Outside Activity 3

This weekend I went with my boyfriend to see "Twelve Angry Jurors." FYI if you do not purchase a ticket and just get on the waiting list, you do not have to pay. So it was good entertainment for free.

I really enjoyed this play a lot. The acting was very good and so was the image behind it. After discussing it with my boyfriend on the way home, he brought up a very good question that made me reflect on society. How many jury committees rush through a trial because they have other things to do? I found this very interesting, because it would be easier for someone to just agree with a group in order to move on, especially when you do not know the person being effected by your decision. I admired the woman juror who stood up for her beliefs. She did not have a reason to doubt the guilt but wanted to discuss it any way. If she had not than they would not have found out that the victim was not guilty. The behavior of the other jurors and their motives make me question how we run things in courts. Who is to say that this does not happen? Most people dread getting letters for jury duty any way. You never hear someone who got jury duty say, "Yeah! Now I get to go spend days in a court room listening and being quite."

WORD COUNT: 240