Fiction, Fantasy, Myth

Fitzgerald Minilecture

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Hurston Minilecture

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Woolf Minilecture #1

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Woolf Minilecture #2

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Forster Minlecture #1

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Forster Minilecture #2

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the author says that race does not exist, thatit is not biolgical. it is more of a socail contract. he also say that our race does not make up who are.

people who are not in the same race will catagrze other people.
example we did in class with the scarves. when we separted eevryone with scarves and said they are low.

After reading “The Manufacture of Consent” it described about American politics abusing its power to spread its government around the world. The reading showed several historical events such as the Columbus discovering the new world with the trade off with Indians, by buying the right to settle on the newly discovered land. Starting from this stand point, lead throughout the history, are the atrocities that Americans have done on to individual groups of people. The settlers have massacred millions of indigenous people by claiming that they owned the land and in order to protect their own interest. We find it befitting to see that our government doing all these intolerable acts in order to protect us. Yet we don’t see the true agenda behind this power of greed. Our government tends to blame others as the “aggressors”; in many cases attacking them in response is an act of self defense. I believe that our government is ignorant in its policies by claiming that our form of government is superior to all other forms. As stated by John Quincy Adams

“The first settlers … immediately after landing, purchased from the Indian natives  the right of settlement upon the soil. Thus was a social compact formed upon the elementary principles of civil society, in which conquest and servitude had no part. The slough of brutal force was entirely cast off: all was voluntary: all was unbiased consent: all was the agreement of soul with soul”(126).

Continuing this idea, Americans have neglected many warnings from World Court to stand down on the confrontations with Nicaragua. We attacked Nicaragua using propaganda of Soviet domination. To justify these attacks we turned an assumption of a MIG being acquired by the Nicaragua government as a threat to our nation. In order to protect ourselves as a “defensive measure” we kill innocent civilians from air bombings. All these massacres done by the American government was consent by us in order to defend our national interest. Is it necessary for all this killing to happen, and that our government, itself is a tyrant who wants to dominate the world by using any means? And to justify these actions we hide our true intentions by diverting the blame on victims.

Mr. Gatto became a teacher 26 years ago because he had nothing better to do so he decided to try schoolteaching.  He claims that his certified license states that he is a english and a literature teacher but he does not teach either but instead teaches school.  I feel like what he means by this is that he is teaching lessons to the student for their future.  I can conclude this because the seven lessons he teaches all state rules for the children which will benefit them when they are older.  The first of the seven lesson states that he teaches confusion.  He writes that he was the students to find the meaning in the content that is being taught even though it may be out of order.  The second lesson he teaches is the class position.  He teaches them that everyone has a position in the class and that you could never get out of the class.  The third lesson is the one of indifference, which states that the students should go from one topic to the next and should not take into consideration that much.  The fourth lesson is labeled as emotional dependency.  In this he claims that the students do not have rights in school.  The fifth lesson which i kind of agree with is the one of intellectual dependency which states that we can’t make decisions without taking advice from people who are smarter than us.  He writes “Successful children do the thinking i assign thjem with a minimum of resistance and a decent show of enthusiasm” (176).  I agree with this because without having any knowledge, one can not succeed and the best place to get your knowledge would be from someone that knows what they are talking from.  The sixth lesson he teaches is provisional self-esteem.   I think that this means that a child should base their self-respect on what the experts state about him/her.  The final lesson he teaches is that one cannot hide.  In this lesson he is trying to tell the reader that there is no such thing as privacy. 

He feels that school is a system that provides a social order.  I agree with this because as kids attend school they learn the do’s and don’ts of their society which forms the structure.  He further states that there is no such thing as a national curriculum because the seven lessons he has presented in his essay are part of the curriculum.

            This article that we had to read talks about certain myths that most people have about Islam, which is always portrayed through the media. The way the media showcases Islam gives it only two kinds of meaning and that is “unacceptable and impoverishing.” Because of the media’s constant portrayal of Islam in this manner, that is how most people perceive Islam to be. Said tries to prove in the article that Islam has more to it besides the two meanings that the media always gives it. Said states that people do not know the Islamic world and he talks about two examples in which the rest of the world tries to learn more about the Islamic world. The first example he uses is an old one and in this he talks about the time in the 1800’s when France occupied Algeria and in 1798 when Napoleon captured Egypt for a short while. The contemporary example he uses is with the United States. He talks about how the U.S. is so involved in the Islamic world that it actually “domesticated” the Islamic world. He goes on further to say that the U.S. looks at the Islamic world “either as oil suppliers or potential terrorists.”

            I agree with Said about the fact that because of the media, Islam is viewed unfairly by the Western world. Most people associate Islam as being “anti-human, antidemocratic, anti-Semitic and antirational.” Because of these long held beliefs about the Islamic world, most people are thus reluctant to be sympathetic to the Muslim world. However, people still prefer to listen to the media about Islam because it makes things simpler and easier for them to understand. Said comes up with some solutions, which I agree with, will help bring a better understanding about the Islamic world. One of his suggestions is that people should always make a distinction between serious considerations about the Islamic world and everything that passes for Islam in the media. And as for his suggestions to the Arab world, he tells them to “write a new form of history, in which there is a genuine seriousness of purpose and a love of truth.”

Said argues the media has formed two definitions of Islam, one being a threat to society and the other as having a defensive nature. Islam is called the Orient, “different” whereas our world is called Occidental, or the West. The Orients are seen as wicked and malevolent, treated with “a very special hostility and fear”. Islam is distinguished as antihuman, antidemocratic, anti-Semitic, and antirational. The generalization of these issues in the media have clouded Western nations’ thoughts because mass media perception of Islam. This is shown in Harold and Kumar when an elderly woman imagines Kumar as a terrorist. She linked the negative events that happened in the part to a person who just looked the part. Said encourages people to look beyond the media and get the more complicated side of Islam. As for the Islamic world they must let go of the hostility toward the West.

Towards the end of the book, we see how the Reservation attitude changes toward the band. They strongly dislike them, because even though they did not want them to go to New York the band went to New York. Father Arnold leaves the reservation, in a way he wanted to escape the problems that he had created. As a priest he could not have been in a relationship with Checker,he had a relationship with her and in the end of the book he leaves her, and decides to go to another Reservation. The band breaks up, as they lost the competition in New York, Junior dies, and the reservation decides not to help the band.

Towards the end of the novel, we see how the characters attitudes vary about Big Mom who represents the traditional Native American traditions. Thomas who considers himself to be a traditional Native American believes in Big Mom and her powers. He believes all the stories that he has heard about her, and believes that she is a powerful medicine women who can help improve their band. Victor on the other hand does not believe in Big Mom, and thinks that all the stories are a bunch of crap that dont work. Checkers at first was frightened by Big Mom because she was afraid that Big Mom would use her magic and instantly know that Checkers was in love with Father Arnold, but then she realized that they could have a talk and began to believe in her. By contrasting these attitudes, we can see how traditional Native Americans beliefs differ from the more modern day Native Americans.

I feel Sherman Alexie puts a lot of emphasis on one of the producers or whatever he was, the guy named Sheridan , and places emphasis on Father Arnold; not the characters themselves, but the way they act with Checkers. To me, it feels as if Sherman Alexie is putting emphasis on the white americans and rape with the Native American, Checkers. More of what I’m looking at is Father Arnold. Don’t you think that Sherman Alexie portrays a negative priest as he conveys him as a rapist and a hypocrit? He kisses Checkers and has deep intimate relationships with her. I’m personally disturbed by the idea of priests and how they act in modern day society, but do you think Sherman Alexie has that negative attitude on Father Arnold and Christianity itself?

The book starts off telling us, a strange man landed on the reservation. Thomas was the only person who went up to this men and help him. Thomas and this men whos name is johnson talked and he told thomas that he was sick and he needs help and only one person can help him and the person that came to thmoas mind was big mama. thmoas realized that jhonson hand was deformed ,because of the guitar. jhonson goes up to bigmama and does not bring his gutior woth him. Thomas starts to play the gutiar and he always had athing for music. thomas decided to form a band. so he got junior and victor. they started off playing in the twin bar and they loved them. different music. The guitar was great because when you played music the sound just keeps getting louder and louder. and more beautiful.