Month: September 2021

1.      I’m a procrastinator. Every time a new assignment is released, I get anxious. I will first look at the assignment and then plan when to complete it. But every time I would get anxious, like making the assignment too complicated, which is actually a very simple question, I used to think about a lot. I plan to use Eickmeyer’s “Listen and take notes when the instructor explains the assignment” to help me effectively write down words that may be important in the assignment. Because I’m usually a person who doesn’t take notes. I might have heard the professor say something about the assignment in class and remembered it. But I somtime will forgot it when I actually started doing it. So I think this is a good way to avoid asking for too much and not remembering it later.

2.     Thinking of Ku’s example literacy narrative, I can think of I had a similar experience with the Ku. First of all, I would like to introduce two places, both in China, one is Guangzhou (a big city), and the other is Jiangmen (where my parents were born, which is also my hometown). I was born in Guangzhou, went to school in Guangzhou, made friends in Guangzhou. I may only go back to my hometown once a year, but every time I go back to my hometown, people always says to me, “You come from the city”, “you don’t belong here”. “Are you going back soon? “It’s dirty here, there are so many fun things to do in Guangzhou, why do you still want to come back?”. But deep down in my heart, the two places are not that different, my grandparents are here, I come back to visit them. But my own life is in Guangzhou, I want to go back to continue my life for no doubt. But why do people back home think I’m a spoiled brat who lives in a fancy city kid? However, as time goes by, I don’t care what these people say, because I know that these two places are closely related to me, and I have the opportunity to enjoy two completely different lifestyles, I will come back to live with my grandparents for a while when I am tired. Missing my friends, I returned to Guangzhou to enjoy the convenience of the fast pace and more developed big cities. Is that bad？ No, it’s totally fine.

1. Anxiety and aversion both have been major barriers for me in my past writing experiences. When I come upon major assignments or standardized tests I can study or write for hours and days before and no matter what the anxiety will still get to me even after all the work and effort I put in. Anxiety isn’t just an obstacle it’s a mind game that truly twists your mind and wants you to fail but once you put your mind to it and give it your best you will overcome it. I plan to utilize and adopt Eichmeyer’s skills and strategies throughout my transition to college by setting aside a certain amount of time for every assignment and utilizing all my time efficiently. 

   2.Two worlds that I existed in are going to a Jewish private school my whole life and being sucked into a very secluded bubble of almost zero diversity. Going to a fully Jewish school gave me less of a chance to interact with new people of different cultures and religions.  Once I got a little older and by living in New York City, one of the most diverse cities in the world, it really has given me the opportunity and ability to interact with lots of new people which I have learned a lot of amazing things from. Another world that I have existed in is Anti-Semitism. Being a proud practicing Jew in New York also comes with the hardships of the vast amounts of hatred Jews face on a daily basis. Many may think that this hatred discourages us to continue to practice, but it truly makes us stronger and more united. No matter how much hate certain people can show, as a practicing Jew I believe that everyone is connected through the creation of god and we are all brothers and sisters and all equal. 

1. In the past, anxiety and aversion weren’t that big of a problem for me. I have come to peace that I’m not a good writer and no matter how hard I try or how much time I put into a single essay it’s not gonna become a masterpiece, so I don’t suffer from anxiety. As for aversion, I don’t see writing essays as fun so it doesn’t matter if I don’t like the topic, class, etc. — it’s just something I have to do. That said, it doesn’t mean I don’t suffer from procrastination — I very much do. (And I believe reasons for procrastination brought up in the reading like “I get better grades when I write the night before” are all just blatant excuses that we say, but what it really is is that writing or doing schoolwork in general is just inherently not fun and there are so many other things in our modern lives that seem so much more appealing to us; however we can’t really just say that to our teachers’ faces because they will not be very happy about it, so we have to keep on saying these silly excuses to humor our mentors, or otherwise our society wouldn’t be functioning.)
   I plan on abusing Eickmeyer’s “Break it down” technique for writing my literacy narrative thing. I fix to break the entire writing process in many-many smaller pieces and then slap some vibe breaks in between them to maximize the enjoyment out of the assignment.
2. I think I’m stuck between linguistical worlds. I feel kind of embarrassed for that one time in middle school when I talked to an English-speaking classmate and answered “Да” to their question. Or that one time I almost said “ありがとう” to a worker at Carvel. I speak multiple languages and sometimes when you spend too much time in one of them, it’s really hard to make your brain to switch. Nowadays when I write anything I frequently pull out a dictionary to remember how to say that one thing in English just to be disappointed that a word/phrase/idea like that doesn’t exist in English.

Anzaldua disagree’s with the idea that the firm lines between different languages can’t share a common reality. She was called out by her teacher for speaking Spanish in which her teacher responded with, “If you want to be American, speak ‘American.'” As an immigrant it is common for cultural assimilation to be forced upon you by others. But this is where people can share their common reality. Anzaldua states, “For a people who are neither Spanish nor live in a country in which Spanish is Chicano Spanish is not incorrect, it is a living language. The first language; for a people who live in a country in which English is the reign-ing tongue but who are not Anglo; for a people who cannot entirely identify with either standard (formal, Castillian) Spanish nor standard English, what recourse is left to them but to create their own language? A language which they can connect their identity to, one capable of communicating the realities and values true to themselves—a language with terms that are neither español ni inglés, but both.” Using both languages and making it one by using slang and different terminology brings people together as a community and it can be a form of identification.

Anzaldua’s uses personal experience in her literacy narrative. Referring back to the beginning of the text where her teacher pointed her out for speaking Spanish in a place where you’re “supposed” to speak English. When conversing with her mom, her mom agreed with the idea of her having to speak proper English so that it’ll benefit her in the long run. Anzaldua had to take classes to help her with her accent. The reason as to why I feel like she chose this narrative is so that people can relate to her experience of being “in between” or not fitting into social norms; “We needed a language with which we could communicate with ourselves, a secret language.”

The most apparent convention seen in Sedari’s essay is personal experience conveyed through  language acquisition. Sedari moves to Paris to continue his education in hopes of learning how to speak French. Himself as well as others are there for the same reason. When asked who knows the alphabet, he laughed, but realized that he didn’t know the alphabet in French as the words are said differently. By the end of the essay Sedari learns how to speak French. the convection that seems less important to Sedari were key events. Sedari didn’t not much was said as to how he learned French but we do know that he reached his end goal.

I believe that Manson does not feel the same by the end of her essay. At the beginning Manson describes her difficulties with vocabulary which affected her social life and communication. Because of this she began to stay silent in hopes of avoiding certain conversation she hated. However, by the end she improved her vocabulary and although she started to feel like this again, she made a huge improvement from where she once was.

1. Anzaluda disagrees with this theory of language because her own dialect, Pachuco, consists of the combination of two languages. Therefore, in her case, speakers can most definitely share a common reality within Spanish and English speakers. On page 74, Anzaluda states “Until I am free to write bilingually and to switch codes without having always to translate, while I still have to speak English or Spanish when I would rather speak Spanglish..my tongue will be illegitimate.” She instead takes pride in her ability to share two languages and be bilingual.
2. Anzaludas’s style in her literacy narrative is very direct and filled with experiences of injustice which caused her tone to be determined and portray inequality.  She chose this style because this tone of writing helps support her argument and the readers can almost feel her dilemma and agree with her points.  “I will no longer be made to feel ashamed of existing. I will have my voice: Until I can take pride in my language, I cannot take pride in myself. Indian, Spanish, white. I will have my serpent’s tongue—my woman’s voice, my sexual voice, my poet’s voice. I will overcome the tradition of silence” (Page 74).  Her tone is confident and draws readers in.
3. The theme of change, which was Liao’s first convention for literacy narratives known as the journey from confusion to fluency, was most evident in Sedaris’ essay. It starts with them learning new languages and ends with them understanding those languages in both literacy stories. By contrast, Sedaris does not seem to implement discourse communities into his essay as much as Liao did. In the article, Sedaris describes how he felt terrified and threatened by his French instructor, a discourse he had with other classmates as well. Sedaris, on the other hand, seemed unconcerned in connecting it to a broader meaning or message.
4. The tone of Manson’s essay was sullen and sad. Although her writing ended in her grandmother’s death, she learns to accept herself with her manner of expressing herself, and she realizes that her quiet is beneficial. She states “Silence helped me cope with the truly unspeakable. It allowed me to connect to myself and to those around me.” At the beginning of the essay, Manson struggled with hiding her emotions and expressing her voice. However, by the end of the essay, she was content with how everything turned out.

1. Anzaldua clearly disagrees with the theory in question. The theory states that every language has firm lines and are in their own entirely different universe. She states in her literacy narrative, “The pocho is an anglicized Mexican or American of Mexican origin who speaks Spanish with an accent characteristic of North Americans and who distorts and reconstructs the language according to the influence of English.” Which describes the mix of the two ”universes”. She speaks on this mentioning how a form of Spanish she speaks is actually influenced by English colonization.

2. After reading Anzaldua’s literacy narrative I noticed she was very personal. The style of writing she showed is mostly using personal experiences to help her with her argument and to bring about new arguments.”“Pocho, cultural traitor, you’re speaking the oppressor’s language by speaking English, you’re ruining the Spanish language,” I have been accused by various Latinos and Latinas. Chicano Spanish is considered by the purist and by most Latinos deficient, a mutilation of Spanish.” Here she is describing how the form of Spanish she uses is looked down upon and uses a personal experience to strengthen that argument.

3.  One of Liao’s conventions that was definitely present was ”journey from confusion to fluency”. In both narratives, you can see that both Liao and Sedaris have trouble learning new languages that they eventually understand and get a hang of. One convention that didn’t seem to appear was ”discourse community”. Throughout the essay, Sedaris was focusing on one point and does not mention anything relating to ”discourse community”.  That is why it seems like the least important of Liao’s conventions to Sideris.

4.  After reading Manson’s essay, I saw that there was some change in her, but she still showed signs of sadness.  At the beginning of her essay, she was locked up in her mind and couldn’t communicate or express her thoughts. She then mentioned how this weighed on her social and family life poorly damaging her relationships with others. She just never knew what to say because she never knew how to put how she felt into words. Towards the end of the essay, she used a technique of comparing to portray how she felt so others will understand. She grew a lot from beginning to end, even after the death of her grandmother she was able to somewhat communicate. She was able to explain how she felt and have people understand her emotions.