The three artists and their art that struck out to me during this assignment were Juergen Teller, Jayson Musson, and Andy Warhol. To begin with, my impressions of all of the three artists’ work were contradictory to how I generally portray art in my mind as being deep and elegant. The photographs taken by Juergen Teller are mostly revolving around female nudity while others capture views of people in distorted settings. One of his photographs depicted a huge gallery surrounded by a number of paintings, seemingly famous and expensive, with a couple of naked women sitting in the center frame of the picture. It is hard to understand what exactly is going on in the frames but that in itself is what captures the audience’s attention. Moving on, Andy Warhol visual art included a number of different mediums, including but not limited to paintings, sculptures, sketches, photographs, etc. Unlike Juergen Teller, it was rather easier to interpret the image. I personally like still portraits with subtleties enabling the viewer to have a personal connection to the art and that is exactly what I enjoyed the most about Andy Warhol. Lastly, Jayson Musson was the most fun out of all the artists. From his honest take on the stereotype in the artist community to his extremely candid work, Mr. Musson makes his art speak his philosophy. Interestingly, my first impression when I saw Jayson Musson’s work was how it reminded me of the NFT (non-fungible token) art that is being bought and sold nowadays for a lot of money. Even then, Mr. Musson successfully envelops great meaning in very basic artwork.

1. Brock Dethier wrote, “…For most of us revision is the only road to success.” Dethier means that a first draft is never the final draft. If you try to make your draft perfect on the first try, your thoughts will flow less smoothly. The piece, “Shitty First Drafts” talks about how having a messy first draft is perfectly okay. The revision process goes a long way in improvement. People can always improve and once you accept constructive criticism, it will help your writing be successful.
2. Dethier uses the metaphor of fixing a car to think about revision. I think of revision similar to playing tennis. You begin with your shots all over the place and there is room for improvement. With the help and constructive criticism of your tennis peers and instructors, your form will become better. With more and more practice, you will begin to see huge improvements in your form and playing abilities. Once you win your first match, you feel content knowing that all the practice that you have done has paid off. This is similar to writing because after lots of revision, you will finally feel content with the end result of your writing.
3. Donald Murray stated in “Revising Your Own Manuscripts”, “A piece of writing is never finished.” I agree with Murray’s statement because after experiencing success, you can still improve. If you leave your computer for a little while and then come back, you may see something in your writing that you have not seen before. No matter how much revision you do, it is always helpful to look at other perspectives to improve. This is similar to the tennis metaphor I mentioned earlier. Even after you win your first match, another coach may spot something wrong with the way you are playing. The coach may suggest a different way of holding the racket or hitting the ball at a different point of contact than you are used to, but it may help you even more in the long run.

How to Tame a Wild Tongue

Summary: Anzaldua argues that society has attempted to ‘whitewash’ her and her people. Many fall victim to the pressure and give in, losing their identity. However, there are some like Anzaldua, who resist the pressures and learned to stay true to themselves. As a Chicana, she speaks many languages but she doesn’t identify with all of them and at times the languages backfire. For example, Chicano Spanish is an illegitimate language that she speaks but finds herself only using it at home because she’s afraid that she won’t be understood by others, including other Hispanics. When she discovers Chicano literature she realizes that Chicanos exist as a people and that she should embrace her wild tongue.

Response: Language is a part of our identity. It is the means in which we communicate who we are. Throughout our lives, we learn other languages to be able to communicate with multiple discourses but that doesn’t mean it signifies who we are. Sometimes it can be out of necessity.

The Meanings of a Word”

Summary: Naylor recounts the time in the third grade when she was called a “nigger” by one of her classmates. At the time she had no clue what it meant but by using context clues she knew it was an insult. She realizes in adulthood that it probably wasn’t the first time she has heard the word being used. In her home/neighborhood environment the word had been repurposed to mean anything but an insult. For example, it could mean a man who had gained the approval of others through individual feats of strength, intelligence, etc. Except since she knew the word was used as an insult she asked her mother what it meant.

Response: Words do not define people, actions do. Words without meaning are just sounds. and context is important because the circumstances determine the connotations of the word being used.

Superman and Me

Summary: Sherman Alexie was a Spokane Indian boy living with his family on the Spokane Indian Reservation in eastern Washington state. His father loved books and spurred a love of books in him, however, this love wasn’t shared by others he encountered in his youth. From reading Alexie learned to view everything around him as a paragraph belonging to something greater. There were many factors working against him such as stereotypes. Reservation children were expected to be stupid and to fail in the non-Indian world. Alexie was determined to break this expectation so he kept reading through the hurdles set in front of him. Alexie found that his love for books came out of necessity because he was assuring his survival in the non-Indian world.

Response: For many people, this is the reality of learning a language. It boils down to a matter of life and death because language is a powerful tool. It allows us to communicate our ideas with others and without this ability, we lose out on many opportunities.

Mother Tongue

Summary: Amy Tan is a Chinese-American writer who comes to the realization of the many Englishes she uses in her day to day life. She uses vocabulary and sentence structures that are commonly used by someone in her field of work whereas at home she uses a toned down English with her mother and husband which she describes as her language of intimacy. However, when her mother speaks she uses a broken or limited English which to some might be hard to understand at all but to Tan it’s more than enough for her to understand. Tan and her mother have realized how this has affected their lives for the worse since many people often do not respect someone who cannot communicate their thoughts clearly.

Response: I think most of us can relate to this because depending on the circumstances we’re in will determine how we talk. However, this by no means takes away from what we’re trying to say because there are so many ways to say the same thing. As long as others understand what you’re trying to say then the language has done it’s job.