To me there is something disingenuous about the meter of Daniel Payne’s “The Mournful Lute or the Preceptor’s Farewell.” Knowing the historical traditions that iambic pentameter stems from, it seems as though the author is trying too hard to impress instead of convey a feeling. There was something really raw about the slave songs we read before, and it is possible that this is just related to the form. Perhaps the shorter lines and simpler lyrics are better for singing than for reading. I just can’t feel the same level of pain and sincerity when I’m being swayed by the gentle rhythm of iamb after iamb.
I suppose that it is a distinct possibility that the author and other sufferers of adverse conditions have just found more eloquent ways to express themselves. I think part of my problem is that the imagery and the diction are the stars of the poem. Payne uses the following image: “As when a deer does in the pasture graze,/ The lion roars—she’s filled with wild amaze.” To me, such images detract from the pain of what Payne should be feeling. I would be more inclined to believe him if he at least used more relevant images.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Nat Turner and Mournful Lute
Having looked at the pictures I fond myself astonished by the graphic nature of the pictures and the shear brutality of the slave trade. I have read a lot of narratives and reports of the slave trade and the evil and total dehumanization of the entire organization but it never hit as hard until I saw it. Seeing the baby with the umbilical cord still attached and the slaves being beaten and dying all over the ship made it real and tangible. I read a “True Story” by Mark Twain in which he recounts a story of a woman who had her seven children and husband ripped from her and sold away. That is a touching and moving story but it did not come close to touching me as the pictures did.
The poem for today that interested me most was Payne’s “The Mournful Lute.” Since the first class I have realized the importance of religion and the promise of salvation in the afterlife. The opening couplet speaks exactly to that. It really strikes me as terribly morbid and a sad, sad life. The idea of living to die and only to die is beyond depressing. I am starting to realize how unhappy and relentless and resilient the slaves must have been in order to wake up each morning. I hope that the reading become a little less depressing and a little more uplifting. I doubt it will happen because the African American life is one filled with strive and unhappiness still to this day.
The poem for today that interested me most was Payne’s “The Mournful Lute.” Since the first class I have realized the importance of religion and the promise of salvation in the afterlife. The opening couplet speaks exactly to that. It really strikes me as terribly morbid and a sad, sad life. The idea of living to die and only to die is beyond depressing. I am starting to realize how unhappy and relentless and resilient the slaves must have been in order to wake up each morning. I hope that the reading become a little less depressing and a little more uplifting. I doubt it will happen because the African American life is one filled with strive and unhappiness still to this day.
Legal vs. Religious Excuses
In Joan Dayan’s Legal Slaves and Civil Bodies I found it interesting how she maps out the reasons for why people in history felt that they had the right to enslave people, under the law. According to her theory blacks were considered tainted because of the color of their skin, via their blood. Being tainted is something that cannot continue, and should not, under the law, be allowed to hold land and pass their tainted blood onto the heirs. While disallowing African’s blood to pass along to their children would ultimately mean killing them, instead more legally it meant not allowing them to hold any position or own any land, thus giving the right to whites to make them slaves.
Dayan’s essay maps out the legal justifications and thought process for whites and why they enslaved blacks but that is only the legal justification, not the root cause. The racism is much more deep seeded and the legality of the problem is only an excuse for why the whites did what they did, much like using the Bible as an excuse to have slaves. I think that in actuality the real excuse that was used was Christianity, because during the time I doubt many whites had to legally justify their actions; however, they did feel the need to justify themselves with God. Thus we have many of the slave poems, which reflect the idea of being saved, and that the reason they were brought to America was to be saved and made into a good Christian.
Dayan’s essay maps out the legal justifications and thought process for whites and why they enslaved blacks but that is only the legal justification, not the root cause. The racism is much more deep seeded and the legality of the problem is only an excuse for why the whites did what they did, much like using the Bible as an excuse to have slaves. I think that in actuality the real excuse that was used was Christianity, because during the time I doubt many whites had to legally justify their actions; however, they did feel the need to justify themselves with God. Thus we have many of the slave poems, which reflect the idea of being saved, and that the reason they were brought to America was to be saved and made into a good Christian.
Firstly, I wanted to comment on Kyle Barker's "Nat Turner." The pictures were very graphic and extremely shocking. I think the most horrifying images revolved around the baby. Seeing the child on the floor still connected to the umbilical cord was very disturbing. I can't imagine people being treated that way. Then the parent throwing his child overboard so he/she wouldn't have to live that kind of life. Its so disturbing. I can't imagine being treated as an object and not a as person. The handout for today was intense as well. Talking about what rights a slave had and where they stood in the law. And what mixed individuals were considered. It was just insane to see people arguing about this.
Out of the poems we read for today, my favorite was "Songs For The People." I just really like the idea of using music to unify others and to heal the pain caused by horrible events or times. I also thought the poem was very powerful and hopeful which doesn't seem to be present in many of the poems.
Also I was thinking about class the other day. I think someone mentioned Disney and I was thinking about how racist the movies really are. Majority of the time, the villains have dark features, while the heroes and heroines have light hair and eyes. I just think its crazy how darker skin is associated with evil and light skin associated with purity and good. Its all brainwashing really.
Out of the poems we read for today, my favorite was "Songs For The People." I just really like the idea of using music to unify others and to heal the pain caused by horrible events or times. I also thought the poem was very powerful and hopeful which doesn't seem to be present in many of the poems.
Also I was thinking about class the other day. I think someone mentioned Disney and I was thinking about how racist the movies really are. Majority of the time, the villains have dark features, while the heroes and heroines have light hair and eyes. I just think its crazy how darker skin is associated with evil and light skin associated with purity and good. Its all brainwashing really.
Continuity?
As I read Harper’s poem, “Songs for the People,” I thought, without having read the post with Alexander’s inaugural poem yet, how fitting “Songs” might have been for Obama’s campaign. Granted, there is a good chance that Obama would never have been elected had he at any point suggested that all this country needs is a little “music to sooth all its sorrow.” Nevertheless, I couldn’t ignore the hopeful tone of Harper’s “Songs,” nor when I revisited the text of “Praise Song for the Day,” could I ignore Alexander's matching tone and complimentary subject. Harper’s first verse even likens her Song for the people to a battle-cry; and how many times has one or another of Obama’s speeches been called “a call to arms”? And, of course, Obama is ever the every man’s man, which is reflected in Alexander’s poem with those several verses at the beginning, spotlighting moments of necessity in any layperson’s day or life, while Harper sings to the old and young, the weary, the poor, the children and the hearts of men.
The point I’m making here is that there seems to be an endurance of theme, or perhaps consciousness, that goes beyond the persistent struggle for social and civil justice, to inspiration. Harper strove to inspire “with more abundant life” a world she saw as worn down by wrong and war; Alexander wrote of “today’s sharp sparkle” that sits on the brink, brim and cusp of a presidency whose catch phrase, “yes, we can,” is nothing if not inspiring. And, of course, the most remarkable thing has been said before: the greater global community, consisting of many races, is now [finally] being inspired.
-Lisa
Thus far, this class has been nothing short of shocking. Sometimes history is glossed over— many times in middle school, it is a class that can come in between two fiction classes. It is hard for me to think about what people have done.
Our first class, we discussed our own prejudices. For some reason, I made myself believe that they did not exist in the North. I thought that maybe it would be a few people, but it would not be everybody. I am glad we talked about it. It is funny how everybody has some sort of prejudice caught in their mind, but because it is never talked about, some people believe that they are the only ones who have racist thoughts. I wonder if the elephant in the room ceased to be ignored, if it would go away. Why do we try to ignore these things anyway?
The reading was just as shocking as the class:
I have never read a story by Fredrick Douglass before, and although I knew he could read and write, it never occurred to me that he could write so poetically. I don’t know how he was taught to read and write, but it must have been hard to keep writing so well, when people expected so little out of him, and it is unlikely that he had time to practice. The way how he expressed himself was almost surreal. Because the story was called “The Last Flogging”, I assumed that he would run away by the end of the story, it never even occurred to me that he would go back to his master until he actually did.
What also struck me, was the cartoon we saw for homework. It is one thing to read about the middle passage, but it is quite another to have to see it. I’ve never seen a cartoon about the middle passage before, and it was disgusting! When reading something, the pages can somehow be glossed over, and the reader does not have to picture the words on the page as real. Once seen, it is a different matter.
This class made me wonder why we try to gloss over so many things. Even when we were discussing how words change to mean better ideas, we forget their original meaning, and the suffering of our past. When forgetting our past, we gloss over the present, pretending that large prejudices don’t exist.
Our first class, we discussed our own prejudices. For some reason, I made myself believe that they did not exist in the North. I thought that maybe it would be a few people, but it would not be everybody. I am glad we talked about it. It is funny how everybody has some sort of prejudice caught in their mind, but because it is never talked about, some people believe that they are the only ones who have racist thoughts. I wonder if the elephant in the room ceased to be ignored, if it would go away. Why do we try to ignore these things anyway?
The reading was just as shocking as the class:
I have never read a story by Fredrick Douglass before, and although I knew he could read and write, it never occurred to me that he could write so poetically. I don’t know how he was taught to read and write, but it must have been hard to keep writing so well, when people expected so little out of him, and it is unlikely that he had time to practice. The way how he expressed himself was almost surreal. Because the story was called “The Last Flogging”, I assumed that he would run away by the end of the story, it never even occurred to me that he would go back to his master until he actually did.
What also struck me, was the cartoon we saw for homework. It is one thing to read about the middle passage, but it is quite another to have to see it. I’ve never seen a cartoon about the middle passage before, and it was disgusting! When reading something, the pages can somehow be glossed over, and the reader does not have to picture the words on the page as real. Once seen, it is a different matter.
This class made me wonder why we try to gloss over so many things. Even when we were discussing how words change to mean better ideas, we forget their original meaning, and the suffering of our past. When forgetting our past, we gloss over the present, pretending that large prejudices don’t exist.
Why do we pretend?
Thus far, this class has been nothing short of shocking. Sometimes history is glossed over— many times in middle school, it is a class that can come in between two fiction classes. It is hard for me to think about what people have done.
Our first class, we discussed our own prejudices. For some reason, I made myself believe that they did not exist in the North. I thought that maybe it would be a few people, but it would not be everybody. I am glad we talked about it. It is funny how everybody has some sort of prejudice caught in their mind, but because it is never talked about, some people believe that they are the only ones who have racist thoughts. I wonder if the elephant in the room ceased to be ignored, if it would go away. Why do we try to ignore these things anyway?
The reading was just as shocking as the class:
I have never read a story by Fredrick Douglass before, and although I knew he could read and write, it never occurred to me that he could write so poetically. I don’t know how he was taught to read and write, but it must have been hard to keep writing so well, when people expected so little out of him, and it is unlikely that he had time to practice. The way how he expressed himself was almost surreal. Because the story was called “The Last Flogging”, I assumed that he would run away by the end of the story, it never even occurred to me that he would go back to his master until he actually did.
What also struck me, was the cartoon we saw for homework. It is one thing to read about the middle passage, but it is quite another to have to see it. I’ve never seen a cartoon about the middle passage before, and it was disgusting! When reading something, the pages can somehow be glossed over, and the reader does not have to picture the words on the page as real. Once seen, it is a different matter.
This class made me wonder why we try to gloss over so many things. Even when we were discussing how words change to mean better ideas, we forget their original meaning, and the suffering of our past. When forgetting our past, we gloss over the present, pretending that large prejudices don’t exist.
Our first class, we discussed our own prejudices. For some reason, I made myself believe that they did not exist in the North. I thought that maybe it would be a few people, but it would not be everybody. I am glad we talked about it. It is funny how everybody has some sort of prejudice caught in their mind, but because it is never talked about, some people believe that they are the only ones who have racist thoughts. I wonder if the elephant in the room ceased to be ignored, if it would go away. Why do we try to ignore these things anyway?
The reading was just as shocking as the class:
I have never read a story by Fredrick Douglass before, and although I knew he could read and write, it never occurred to me that he could write so poetically. I don’t know how he was taught to read and write, but it must have been hard to keep writing so well, when people expected so little out of him, and it is unlikely that he had time to practice. The way how he expressed himself was almost surreal. Because the story was called “The Last Flogging”, I assumed that he would run away by the end of the story, it never even occurred to me that he would go back to his master until he actually did.
What also struck me, was the cartoon we saw for homework. It is one thing to read about the middle passage, but it is quite another to have to see it. I’ve never seen a cartoon about the middle passage before, and it was disgusting! When reading something, the pages can somehow be glossed over, and the reader does not have to picture the words on the page as real. Once seen, it is a different matter.
This class made me wonder why we try to gloss over so many things. Even when we were discussing how words change to mean better ideas, we forget their original meaning, and the suffering of our past. When forgetting our past, we gloss over the present, pretending that large prejudices don’t exist.
Response to Class 1/26
A few things that struck me about our discussion at the end of last class including our allusion to the struggles of getting an African American poet published and the sense of community that this may have created.
First, it is interesting, if not shocking, to think that a group of white people would have to vouch for the talents and skills of another person solely because of their race, and the believed inferiority of their mental capacity. (Although it is not unique in this setting as this has also occurred for women, Native Americans and other minority groups.)
Second, the dynamics of an education African American slave are important to consider. Frederick Douglass mentioned in “The Last Flogging” the respect that he was given because of his ability to read. The presence of this division in the slave community, over those who read and those who couldn’t would have been further divided by the success of a small minority of these individuals including Phillis Wheatley and Jupiter Hammon. This minority of individuals then faced another rift as they were slowly brought into the fold of white culture, yet seemed to face an eternal wall against them as well. The formation of a support system, as illustrated in Hammon’s “Address to Phillis Wheatley,” may have been a way to share common experience and advice. The communication and camaraderie may also have been a way to make sure that each new member, each rising star of the slave community, was committed to the positive representation of their race. It may have been felt, or even may have been the case, that the success of each of them was crucial to the successful acceptance of the race as a whole. My exploration of this idea is because of the class division in whether or not Hammon may have been praising Wheatley, or cautioning/guiding her: and this explanation could address both camps.
Finally, it is interesting to think about whether this “social hierarchy” of race, education, success, and white acceptance is still around today as race may become a spectrum that can be influenced by a variety of factors: not just color. This comes to mind because of the short video posted on the last entry about the levels of beauty based on lightness of skin as well as commentary I have read/heard about Obama not being "black enough" to be the first president of color...
First, it is interesting, if not shocking, to think that a group of white people would have to vouch for the talents and skills of another person solely because of their race, and the believed inferiority of their mental capacity. (Although it is not unique in this setting as this has also occurred for women, Native Americans and other minority groups.)
Second, the dynamics of an education African American slave are important to consider. Frederick Douglass mentioned in “The Last Flogging” the respect that he was given because of his ability to read. The presence of this division in the slave community, over those who read and those who couldn’t would have been further divided by the success of a small minority of these individuals including Phillis Wheatley and Jupiter Hammon. This minority of individuals then faced another rift as they were slowly brought into the fold of white culture, yet seemed to face an eternal wall against them as well. The formation of a support system, as illustrated in Hammon’s “Address to Phillis Wheatley,” may have been a way to share common experience and advice. The communication and camaraderie may also have been a way to make sure that each new member, each rising star of the slave community, was committed to the positive representation of their race. It may have been felt, or even may have been the case, that the success of each of them was crucial to the successful acceptance of the race as a whole. My exploration of this idea is because of the class division in whether or not Hammon may have been praising Wheatley, or cautioning/guiding her: and this explanation could address both camps.
Finally, it is interesting to think about whether this “social hierarchy” of race, education, success, and white acceptance is still around today as race may become a spectrum that can be influenced by a variety of factors: not just color. This comes to mind because of the short video posted on the last entry about the levels of beauty based on lightness of skin as well as commentary I have read/heard about Obama not being "black enough" to be the first president of color...
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Following up on our conversation
I wanted to follow up on a few threads from our conversation and you blog entries, and to share some links and other background info with you.
In our discussion of how we come to internalize our culture's ideas about race, someone wondered whether xenophobia might be natural, a kind of instinct. I would encourage all of us to be very suspicious of the word "natural," as well as the phrase "common sense." Both frequently cover for hegemonic ideology--for ideas the mainstream of our culture takes as given, but which are in fact historically produced, and which we can destabilize by examining them. Race is an excellent example of such a category, so central to our culture that it feels natural and obvious to us--and yet the concept of "race" was invented sometime during the beginning of Europe's colonial age, in the 16th and 17th centuries. (Why and how? This is a topic we'll be reading some about as the semester progresses, but I can also always point you towards more material on the subject if you'd like.) Race is a construct, created by people and subject to historical change. Obviously the fact that race is a fiction doesn't make it any less powerful, or its material and economic effects any less real.
I believe someone also pointed out how early in childhood we begin to be conscious of racial categories and stereotypes. That's certainly true. Check out this incredible short film (7 minutes), A Girl Like Me. Black teenaged girls talk about race and beauty issues, and then one does an experiment, talking to black children as young as three about their preferences for a black or a white doll.
I really enjoyed our discussion of how meaning is made and transmitted, and how the things we say have a way of carrying more information than we might intend. I was struck when Nick said, "Obviously, communication is receiver-oriented." It struck me at that moment that since this is a poetry class, it will be very important for us to talk about how language works as a medium of communication. We'll need to talk about signifiers (the noises we make with our mouths, the marks we make with pens on paper or with pixels on screens) and signifieds (the shared cultural ideas that those noises and marks refer to). In everyday language--say, when I say to you, "Please get out a sheet of paper"--the signifieds are the important part. I'm not worried about how aesthetically pleasing my utterance is--what I care about is getting you to do what I've asked. But in literary language, the signifiers start to matter more. Prose novelists shape sentences to have rhythm and flow, to sound good to the ear. Poets work even more closely with signifiers, creating patterns of rhyme, repetition, assonance, alliteration, onomatopoeia--all effects based upon signifiers. In his essay "Disappearance of the Word, Appearance of the World," Ron Silliman traces how the rise of industrial capitalism has been accompanied by an increased focus on signifieds in the way we use language, and a decreased focus on what he refers to as "the gestural"--that is, to the pleasure of using language, the pleasures of nonsense syllables ("hickory dickory dock," "hey nonny nonny," "de doo run run run de doo run run") and repetition. I find it interesting that so many of the slave songs we read rely so heavily upon repetition in their structures. I think this has partly to do with the fact that they're oral creations, and thus rely on rhyme, rhythm, and repetition as mnemonic devices. I also think this has to do with the fact that many of these songs were also likely used while working, to keep teams of workers in rhythm with one another (as you can see in the chain gang scene at the very beginning of O Brother, Where Art Thou?). But I also think that the repetition in these songs, like the repetitions in lots of poetry from all over the world and in all kinds of historical moments, has to do with the sheer pleasure of repetition--the fact that the human mouth enjoys the sensation of it, and the human ear is satisfied and soothed by it.
The last thread I wanted to pick up on was the persistent imagery of death that Nick and Vic mentioned in their blog posts, accompanied by the imagery of flying that Sarah noticed. If you've read Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, you're probably familiar with the myth of the flying African (and if you haven't read it, I recommend it highly!). Naomi Van Tol discusses it succinctly in the "All God's Children Got Wings" section here. Thus, in familiar spirituals like "I'll Fly Away," singers are singing in part about the legend of slaves who literally could fly home to Africa. A related concept is the African-American euphemism "going home" for dying. ("Sister Margaret went home last Tuesday, and she will be sorely missed.") At least some slaves believed that the souls of the dead went not to some fluffy-cloud Heaven in the sky, but back to their beloved homelands; thus, a slave born in African could hope to return there after death. This hope was particularly important to captured Africans who committed suicide or infanticide during the Middle Passage, a practice you'll see illustrated in the Kyle Baker text for next week. Finally, I'll point out that a perusal of the Old and New Testaments will reveal that enslaved African Americans were by no means the first oppressed people in the Judeo-Christian tradition to ascribe a kind of moral virtue to suffering, or to accept earthly existence full of misery in the belief that patience and martyrdom would be rewarded in the afterlife.
In our discussion of how we come to internalize our culture's ideas about race, someone wondered whether xenophobia might be natural, a kind of instinct. I would encourage all of us to be very suspicious of the word "natural," as well as the phrase "common sense." Both frequently cover for hegemonic ideology--for ideas the mainstream of our culture takes as given, but which are in fact historically produced, and which we can destabilize by examining them. Race is an excellent example of such a category, so central to our culture that it feels natural and obvious to us--and yet the concept of "race" was invented sometime during the beginning of Europe's colonial age, in the 16th and 17th centuries. (Why and how? This is a topic we'll be reading some about as the semester progresses, but I can also always point you towards more material on the subject if you'd like.) Race is a construct, created by people and subject to historical change. Obviously the fact that race is a fiction doesn't make it any less powerful, or its material and economic effects any less real.
I believe someone also pointed out how early in childhood we begin to be conscious of racial categories and stereotypes. That's certainly true. Check out this incredible short film (7 minutes), A Girl Like Me. Black teenaged girls talk about race and beauty issues, and then one does an experiment, talking to black children as young as three about their preferences for a black or a white doll.
I really enjoyed our discussion of how meaning is made and transmitted, and how the things we say have a way of carrying more information than we might intend. I was struck when Nick said, "Obviously, communication is receiver-oriented." It struck me at that moment that since this is a poetry class, it will be very important for us to talk about how language works as a medium of communication. We'll need to talk about signifiers (the noises we make with our mouths, the marks we make with pens on paper or with pixels on screens) and signifieds (the shared cultural ideas that those noises and marks refer to). In everyday language--say, when I say to you, "Please get out a sheet of paper"--the signifieds are the important part. I'm not worried about how aesthetically pleasing my utterance is--what I care about is getting you to do what I've asked. But in literary language, the signifiers start to matter more. Prose novelists shape sentences to have rhythm and flow, to sound good to the ear. Poets work even more closely with signifiers, creating patterns of rhyme, repetition, assonance, alliteration, onomatopoeia--all effects based upon signifiers. In his essay "Disappearance of the Word, Appearance of the World," Ron Silliman traces how the rise of industrial capitalism has been accompanied by an increased focus on signifieds in the way we use language, and a decreased focus on what he refers to as "the gestural"--that is, to the pleasure of using language, the pleasures of nonsense syllables ("hickory dickory dock," "hey nonny nonny," "de doo run run run de doo run run") and repetition. I find it interesting that so many of the slave songs we read rely so heavily upon repetition in their structures. I think this has partly to do with the fact that they're oral creations, and thus rely on rhyme, rhythm, and repetition as mnemonic devices. I also think this has to do with the fact that many of these songs were also likely used while working, to keep teams of workers in rhythm with one another (as you can see in the chain gang scene at the very beginning of O Brother, Where Art Thou?). But I also think that the repetition in these songs, like the repetitions in lots of poetry from all over the world and in all kinds of historical moments, has to do with the sheer pleasure of repetition--the fact that the human mouth enjoys the sensation of it, and the human ear is satisfied and soothed by it.
The last thread I wanted to pick up on was the persistent imagery of death that Nick and Vic mentioned in their blog posts, accompanied by the imagery of flying that Sarah noticed. If you've read Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, you're probably familiar with the myth of the flying African (and if you haven't read it, I recommend it highly!). Naomi Van Tol discusses it succinctly in the "All God's Children Got Wings" section here. Thus, in familiar spirituals like "I'll Fly Away," singers are singing in part about the legend of slaves who literally could fly home to Africa. A related concept is the African-American euphemism "going home" for dying. ("Sister Margaret went home last Tuesday, and she will be sorely missed.") At least some slaves believed that the souls of the dead went not to some fluffy-cloud Heaven in the sky, but back to their beloved homelands; thus, a slave born in African could hope to return there after death. This hope was particularly important to captured Africans who committed suicide or infanticide during the Middle Passage, a practice you'll see illustrated in the Kyle Baker text for next week. Finally, I'll point out that a perusal of the Old and New Testaments will reveal that enslaved African Americans were by no means the first oppressed people in the Judeo-Christian tradition to ascribe a kind of moral virtue to suffering, or to accept earthly existence full of misery in the belief that patience and martyrdom would be rewarded in the afterlife.
Elizabeth Alexander Links
Hi!
It seemed to me like our class might be particularly interested in Elizabeth Alexander's inaugural poem, only the fourth such poem in the history of the United States (the first three were Robert Frost's "The Gift Outright" at Kennedy's inauguration, Maya Angelou's "On the Pulse of Morning" at Clinton's first inauguration, and Miller Williams's "Of History and Hope" at Clinton's second inauguration).
the text of Elizabeth Alexander's inaugural poem
Elizabeth Alexander reads her inaugural poem
the text of Obama's inaugural speech
Elizabeth Alexander's website, with thoughts about Obama's inauguration
an interview with Elizabeth Alexander
Elizabeth Alexander on the Colbert Report
It seemed to me like our class might be particularly interested in Elizabeth Alexander's inaugural poem, only the fourth such poem in the history of the United States (the first three were Robert Frost's "The Gift Outright" at Kennedy's inauguration, Maya Angelou's "On the Pulse of Morning" at Clinton's first inauguration, and Miller Williams's "Of History and Hope" at Clinton's second inauguration).
the text of Elizabeth Alexander's inaugural poem
Elizabeth Alexander reads her inaugural poem
the text of Obama's inaugural speech
Elizabeth Alexander's website, with thoughts about Obama's inauguration
an interview with Elizabeth Alexander
Elizabeth Alexander on the Colbert Report
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Assignment 0
I am majoring in English Literature. When I first got to SLU, I was very unsure of what I wanted to study. Then I took an African lit class and I decided that I wanted to be an English major. I really like learning about cultures and time periods through reading novels based on events. I also like the creative side, being able to say so much about something in only a few words.
I am from Los Angeles and it is kind of an insane place. There are so many different types of people there. I mean you could create some character in your mind and chances are that person exists in LA. There are lots of things to do which is pretty awesome. The down side is many people tend to be superficial. Some people concentrate more on the way you look rather than what kind of person you are, but there are also many nice people as well.
I really like singing and I spend much of my time singing. My dad is a musician and he would perform in clubs around town or hit the road and go on tour. Also, my mother was a night club manager for many years. Basically, I’ve spent most of my childhood in clubs surrounded by music. I think that probably why I love it so much. I also really love swimming. I was always intrigued by water as a kid and I would always be the first to take off towards a swimming pool or the ocean. When I was really little I jumped off a yacht into Long Beach harbor. That was when my mother decided that I needed to learn how to swim. Eventually, I ended up on a swim team and swam competitively for 10 years. I don’t really swim that much now though…
I found it interesting that many of the slave songs revolved around religion. Many of them spoke about reaching the promised land and life after death. This emphasis on the after life really caught my attention. I fell like the songs are very hopless. Its hard to see a group of people suffer, especially when they seem to feel nothing can be done about it. Also, since the songs concentrate on the after life, there is a lot about salvation and finding religion before death. In “Soon One Mawnin,” one line is “I’m so glad I got religion in time.” Another line in that same song is “Oh my Lawd, Oh my Lawd, what shall I do to be saved?” I think this is where many people became trapped in a sense by religion. Maybe the slaves felt they had to obey their masters or they would not be able to go to heaven in the afterlife.
I hope to learn more about historical events and African American culture, to have a better understanding of earlier time periods and what life was/is like for an African American. How views have changed or not changed with time. I think it will be interesting to see how the poerty has changed and what the subjects of the poems are.
I am from Los Angeles and it is kind of an insane place. There are so many different types of people there. I mean you could create some character in your mind and chances are that person exists in LA. There are lots of things to do which is pretty awesome. The down side is many people tend to be superficial. Some people concentrate more on the way you look rather than what kind of person you are, but there are also many nice people as well.
I really like singing and I spend much of my time singing. My dad is a musician and he would perform in clubs around town or hit the road and go on tour. Also, my mother was a night club manager for many years. Basically, I’ve spent most of my childhood in clubs surrounded by music. I think that probably why I love it so much. I also really love swimming. I was always intrigued by water as a kid and I would always be the first to take off towards a swimming pool or the ocean. When I was really little I jumped off a yacht into Long Beach harbor. That was when my mother decided that I needed to learn how to swim. Eventually, I ended up on a swim team and swam competitively for 10 years. I don’t really swim that much now though…
I found it interesting that many of the slave songs revolved around religion. Many of them spoke about reaching the promised land and life after death. This emphasis on the after life really caught my attention. I fell like the songs are very hopless. Its hard to see a group of people suffer, especially when they seem to feel nothing can be done about it. Also, since the songs concentrate on the after life, there is a lot about salvation and finding religion before death. In “Soon One Mawnin,” one line is “I’m so glad I got religion in time.” Another line in that same song is “Oh my Lawd, Oh my Lawd, what shall I do to be saved?” I think this is where many people became trapped in a sense by religion. Maybe the slaves felt they had to obey their masters or they would not be able to go to heaven in the afterlife.
I hope to learn more about historical events and African American culture, to have a better understanding of earlier time periods and what life was/is like for an African American. How views have changed or not changed with time. I think it will be interesting to see how the poerty has changed and what the subjects of the poems are.
Angie - Assignment 0
I’m Angie Christie, and I’m a junior. I am from scenic White River Junction, Vermont. White River Junction is a village in the town of Hartford, and the whole town is about 10,000 people. My high school was 800 students. It’s the kind of town where everyone knows everyone, and gossip spreads like wildfire. My father, who used to teach automotive classes and coach football and track at my school, has taught or coached half the town, I swear. When I was younger, we would go out for a quick trip to the store, and Dad would always take 20 minutes longer than was necessary just because he was chatting. I suppose that’s part of the appeal of a small town, though… if a small town can be said to have appeal. The weather there is quite similar to Canton, though we tend to get a little more snow and a lot less wind.
I’m an English literature major, and I suppose I’m doing it because I’ve always enjoyed reading. I feel good when I’m expanding my literary horizons. It makes me feel like I’ve done something when I can say, “Why yes, I have read Eliot and Thackeray.” I have had mostly positive experiences in my English classes, though sometimes the amount of reading we have to do in a short period of time overwhelms me. The audiences reading these novels the first time read them in installments over years! How can I be expected to read the same thing in a matter of days? When the amount is reasonable, though, I also find reading to be a nice escape from my daily life.
That said, one of my biggest interests is The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. The man was a genius. I am absolutely captivated by the detail he used in his works. He invented 14 languages for use in Middle-Earth. And what’s more, all of these languages have the same linguistic developments and patterns that real languages have. I just think it’s so amazing. And I don’t care what people say—Peter Jackson’s adaptation was excellent. You can’t compare movies to books without ruining both, so I choose to appreciate them separately as the distinct art forms they are.
For our first paper, I think I’m going to write about the line from “Motherless Child” that reads, “Sometimes I feel like I’m almost gone.” I find this line intriguing because “gone” is such an ambiguous term. Where does the speaker feel that he/ she is gone to? I think the poem as a whole is just relating the emptiness of the life of a slave. I like this poem for its repetition, ambiguity, and hint of uplifting themes at the end.
From this class, I hope to gain a better understanding of my roots. As an African American, I know what I have been through, and I’m obviously familiar with the historical difficulties, but I look forward to having a more personal insight into what others have experienced.
I’m an English literature major, and I suppose I’m doing it because I’ve always enjoyed reading. I feel good when I’m expanding my literary horizons. It makes me feel like I’ve done something when I can say, “Why yes, I have read Eliot and Thackeray.” I have had mostly positive experiences in my English classes, though sometimes the amount of reading we have to do in a short period of time overwhelms me. The audiences reading these novels the first time read them in installments over years! How can I be expected to read the same thing in a matter of days? When the amount is reasonable, though, I also find reading to be a nice escape from my daily life.
That said, one of my biggest interests is The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. The man was a genius. I am absolutely captivated by the detail he used in his works. He invented 14 languages for use in Middle-Earth. And what’s more, all of these languages have the same linguistic developments and patterns that real languages have. I just think it’s so amazing. And I don’t care what people say—Peter Jackson’s adaptation was excellent. You can’t compare movies to books without ruining both, so I choose to appreciate them separately as the distinct art forms they are.
For our first paper, I think I’m going to write about the line from “Motherless Child” that reads, “Sometimes I feel like I’m almost gone.” I find this line intriguing because “gone” is such an ambiguous term. Where does the speaker feel that he/ she is gone to? I think the poem as a whole is just relating the emptiness of the life of a slave. I like this poem for its repetition, ambiguity, and hint of uplifting themes at the end.
From this class, I hope to gain a better understanding of my roots. As an African American, I know what I have been through, and I’m obviously familiar with the historical difficulties, but I look forward to having a more personal insight into what others have experienced.
Alice's Assignment 0
My name is Alice Holtermann, and I decided to become an English major my Sophmore year. After having the opportunity to take a wide variety of classes I found that English was something that I understood and really enjoyed. I told myself I could pick a major that was more specific towards a career I might want after school, but instead I wanted to learn and study in a subject that really interested me, and besides I could always pick up the necessary skills I need for a job later if that’s even what I want.
Originally I am from New York but for most of my life I have been living in Wilton, Connecticut. When I was younger I don’t think I really appreciated my town, but once I got to high school I enjoyed it much more. It is nice area and I can see why a lot of people would move to Wilton and the towns around it to get out of the city and into the suburbs. The area is very pretty and my town is right in the middle of the woods it seems like.
For most of my life my hobbies have been sports from lacrosse to track and hockey, however my main focus since I was very young has been ice hockey. My mother put me in a figure skating class, after I passed all the levels I decided that figure skating was not for me and I decided to see what hockey was all about, since we shared the other half of the rink with a hockey introductory course.
For the most part I have had good experiences with English courses, I mean some can be dull but what I really enjoy is when I am assigned books to read that I wouldn’t typically but have always wanted to read. I also enjoyed the writing classes I have taken in the past, they made me really branch out and try to be a better creative writer, something that I wasn’t willing to attempt for quite some time.
As for right now I think I want to look into some more of the poems until I decide which I will pick for my paper. So far they look interesting.
I think this class will be interesting because I’ve already taken an Africana philosophy class which jumped into the philosophy and thinking of Africans and African Americans. Taking my experience and what I have learned in that class, the class was really enjoyable too, and using it to look at African American poetry could be really fun and interesting. Also I don’t know much about poetry and often times don’t fully understand it so I think this class will be a good learning experience for me.
Originally I am from New York but for most of my life I have been living in Wilton, Connecticut. When I was younger I don’t think I really appreciated my town, but once I got to high school I enjoyed it much more. It is nice area and I can see why a lot of people would move to Wilton and the towns around it to get out of the city and into the suburbs. The area is very pretty and my town is right in the middle of the woods it seems like.
For most of my life my hobbies have been sports from lacrosse to track and hockey, however my main focus since I was very young has been ice hockey. My mother put me in a figure skating class, after I passed all the levels I decided that figure skating was not for me and I decided to see what hockey was all about, since we shared the other half of the rink with a hockey introductory course.
For the most part I have had good experiences with English courses, I mean some can be dull but what I really enjoy is when I am assigned books to read that I wouldn’t typically but have always wanted to read. I also enjoyed the writing classes I have taken in the past, they made me really branch out and try to be a better creative writer, something that I wasn’t willing to attempt for quite some time.
As for right now I think I want to look into some more of the poems until I decide which I will pick for my paper. So far they look interesting.
I think this class will be interesting because I’ve already taken an Africana philosophy class which jumped into the philosophy and thinking of Africans and African Americans. Taking my experience and what I have learned in that class, the class was really enjoyable too, and using it to look at African American poetry could be really fun and interesting. Also I don’t know much about poetry and often times don’t fully understand it so I think this class will be a good learning experience for me.
First Blog
My name is Sarah Friedman, and I am an English major with a Philosophy minor. I like the two because they fit together so well. I like English, because it’s the best way to learn about people, history, and other parts of the world; if written correctly, it can sound beautiful.
I’m from Durham North Carolina. It snowed three inches there yesterday, and all of the schools shut down. We play to the stereotypes down there… all of my friends like sweet tea and sitting outside.
I like scuba diving and snowboarding. I also work at the crisis hotline, and I am an EMT. I like to sing and dance even though my attempts at either makes people laugh.
All the English courses I’ve ever taken were great; the English professors here are some of the best teachers I’ve ever had. Because of Margret Kent Bass’s Caribbean Literature course, I decided to go abroad to Trinidad. In Trinidad, I took an African Literature course from a man who used to live in Nigeria. I love the way how English intertwines with history, and how writing can really change the world around you.
My favorite poem that we read thus far is: When-a Mah Blood Runs Chilly an Col. In my FYP, we studied “black churches in a white America”. It was a very interesting course, and one of the ideas that our teacher placed in our heads is the idea that religion helped suppress the African Americans. Not only did forcing them to switch religions take away their history and culture, but they were told that if they were good in this life, then they’d have a good afterlife. Many of them prayed to Jesus to help them serve their masters, because they were told that was how to get into heaven. To some people, revolting was bad behavior, and they did not do it because they wanted to go to heaven. This idea can be seen in the line, “ Ef you cain’t bear no crosses, you cain’t wear no crown” (5).
Another line in the song that struck me as interesting is the line: “Do, Lord, do Lord, do remember me.”(5). This line is heartbreaking, because the people felt as if they had to sing to their lord to have themselves remembered. This line is begging their God not to forget about them. The reader can see how low self-esteem they must have, if they are worried about an all-seeing, all-knowing God remembering them.
In this class, I hope to learn more about the African American movement, and how to read and write poetry. Most poems do not have very many words to convey a complex situation, so I know that each word must be chosen carefully, but I would like to look closely at how the writer chooses to write.
I’m from Durham North Carolina. It snowed three inches there yesterday, and all of the schools shut down. We play to the stereotypes down there… all of my friends like sweet tea and sitting outside.
I like scuba diving and snowboarding. I also work at the crisis hotline, and I am an EMT. I like to sing and dance even though my attempts at either makes people laugh.
All the English courses I’ve ever taken were great; the English professors here are some of the best teachers I’ve ever had. Because of Margret Kent Bass’s Caribbean Literature course, I decided to go abroad to Trinidad. In Trinidad, I took an African Literature course from a man who used to live in Nigeria. I love the way how English intertwines with history, and how writing can really change the world around you.
My favorite poem that we read thus far is: When-a Mah Blood Runs Chilly an Col. In my FYP, we studied “black churches in a white America”. It was a very interesting course, and one of the ideas that our teacher placed in our heads is the idea that religion helped suppress the African Americans. Not only did forcing them to switch religions take away their history and culture, but they were told that if they were good in this life, then they’d have a good afterlife. Many of them prayed to Jesus to help them serve their masters, because they were told that was how to get into heaven. To some people, revolting was bad behavior, and they did not do it because they wanted to go to heaven. This idea can be seen in the line, “ Ef you cain’t bear no crosses, you cain’t wear no crown” (5).
Another line in the song that struck me as interesting is the line: “Do, Lord, do Lord, do remember me.”(5). This line is heartbreaking, because the people felt as if they had to sing to their lord to have themselves remembered. This line is begging their God not to forget about them. The reader can see how low self-esteem they must have, if they are worried about an all-seeing, all-knowing God remembering them.
In this class, I hope to learn more about the African American movement, and how to read and write poetry. Most poems do not have very many words to convey a complex situation, so I know that each word must be chosen carefully, but I would like to look closely at how the writer chooses to write.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
And so, it begins…
While it took me some time to declare a major, and even longer to really embrace it, I am now content to say that I am an economics major. I was attracted to economics because of the logical, and arguably cold-hearted, way it explores the actions of others and the world we live in. I have found though, that economics is not only a complex and complicated field of study, but that it is best understood in a liberal arts setting where global studies, English courses, psychology theories and other diverse considerations all work together to paint a picture of the past, the present and today.
My minor in English, with a specialization in creative non-fiction writing, came as the result of a distribution requirement that led me to rediscover my love for the challenge and power of writing. I have found comfort and excitement in writing my stories, experiences and observations for an audience, sometimes, but also for myself. In both fields, I have discovered that not only do I love learning, but that there is always more to know.
I’m from Essex, Vermont, which is a three hour drive, and almost seven hour bike east of St. Lawrence. The climate is similar, and its description really depends on where you come from. It is a land of four seasons: cold and snowy (the longest season), muddy and wet, muggy and lush, and crisp and colorful. I wouldn’t want it any other way.
Appropriately, the longest season in Vermont coincides with my many hobbies. I Nordic ski on the team here at SLU, and love to be outside any time of the year whether I am skiing, snowshoeing, biking, running, swimming, hiking…etc. I also love to read, listen to music and do nothing, although I only last a few hours. I lead a very busy life and I like it. More than anything else, I love to laugh.
So far (fingers crossed!) I have had great experiences in all of my English classes. Like all classes each provided a different challenge. From American to later-British literature, expository to creative writing, and journalism to my current internship in communications, each professor and experience has led me down a new path of thinking, that I hope is culminating into a variety of skills.
For the first essay I would like to work with Motherless Child. We sang this song, although didn’t really analyze it, in my FYP to be mentioned later, and I actually have a recording of Hootie and the Blowfish singing/performing the first verse that I really like. Aside from those details, the line I find most interesting is “sometimes I feel like a feather in the air.” This line strikes me for a variety of reasons. Firstly, a feather when floating in the air moves with the current of the wind/air itself, and like the slaves has largely now effect on its own path. The use of the word “floating” and the feather itself, adds lightness to the line despite the otherwise very somber poem of loneliness and loss. This lightness in weight also gives way to a feeling of acceptance of the situation, and seemed to transition predictably into the line depicting the flying that followed. The floating feather can also be akin to idle thought, not in the sense of free time, as much as the time spent doing repetitive tasks during which the mind can wander, moving from one topic to a next like a feather dips to the wind…but, just some thoughts…hopefully the class will help more. Adam, I feel the same sense of insecurity with the assignment and class, but I guess we’re all in this together!
This class serves many purposes for me. I have always been intrigued by the overlap between psychology, sociology and history, especially as found in the written and oral word. I hope to learn about the emotions of the various eras of history, as seen through African American eyes, and the many creative and complex ways they are expressed. This class is also a “full-circle” experience for me: as I started my first semester in an FYP titled “Amazing Grace: The Black Church in White America” which consisted of hymns, poetry, and political movements, and will now finish my senior year with a similar course. Like all classes I take, I am especially interested in the many viewpoints and considerations that we as a class will explore that I never may have thought of alone.
And so, it begins…
My minor in English, with a specialization in creative non-fiction writing, came as the result of a distribution requirement that led me to rediscover my love for the challenge and power of writing. I have found comfort and excitement in writing my stories, experiences and observations for an audience, sometimes, but also for myself. In both fields, I have discovered that not only do I love learning, but that there is always more to know.
I’m from Essex, Vermont, which is a three hour drive, and almost seven hour bike east of St. Lawrence. The climate is similar, and its description really depends on where you come from. It is a land of four seasons: cold and snowy (the longest season), muddy and wet, muggy and lush, and crisp and colorful. I wouldn’t want it any other way.
Appropriately, the longest season in Vermont coincides with my many hobbies. I Nordic ski on the team here at SLU, and love to be outside any time of the year whether I am skiing, snowshoeing, biking, running, swimming, hiking…etc. I also love to read, listen to music and do nothing, although I only last a few hours. I lead a very busy life and I like it. More than anything else, I love to laugh.
So far (fingers crossed!) I have had great experiences in all of my English classes. Like all classes each provided a different challenge. From American to later-British literature, expository to creative writing, and journalism to my current internship in communications, each professor and experience has led me down a new path of thinking, that I hope is culminating into a variety of skills.
For the first essay I would like to work with Motherless Child. We sang this song, although didn’t really analyze it, in my FYP to be mentioned later, and I actually have a recording of Hootie and the Blowfish singing/performing the first verse that I really like. Aside from those details, the line I find most interesting is “sometimes I feel like a feather in the air.” This line strikes me for a variety of reasons. Firstly, a feather when floating in the air moves with the current of the wind/air itself, and like the slaves has largely now effect on its own path. The use of the word “floating” and the feather itself, adds lightness to the line despite the otherwise very somber poem of loneliness and loss. This lightness in weight also gives way to a feeling of acceptance of the situation, and seemed to transition predictably into the line depicting the flying that followed. The floating feather can also be akin to idle thought, not in the sense of free time, as much as the time spent doing repetitive tasks during which the mind can wander, moving from one topic to a next like a feather dips to the wind…but, just some thoughts…hopefully the class will help more. Adam, I feel the same sense of insecurity with the assignment and class, but I guess we’re all in this together!
This class serves many purposes for me. I have always been intrigued by the overlap between psychology, sociology and history, especially as found in the written and oral word. I hope to learn about the emotions of the various eras of history, as seen through African American eyes, and the many creative and complex ways they are expressed. This class is also a “full-circle” experience for me: as I started my first semester in an FYP titled “Amazing Grace: The Black Church in White America” which consisted of hymns, poetry, and political movements, and will now finish my senior year with a similar course. Like all classes I take, I am especially interested in the many viewpoints and considerations that we as a class will explore that I never may have thought of alone.
And so, it begins…
Lisa's assignment 0
I am Lisa Manoogian, and I grew up in part of Greater Boston, Watertown, MA., which I never tell people because they inevitably ignore the ‘MA’ part and ask how I like Watertown, NY. Boston gets a healthy dose of all four seasons, so that by the end of each one it’s inhabitants reinstate the appropriate wardrobe, and pack away the previous season’s ungrudgingly. Forty minutes outside of Boston, the buildings shrink and are replaced by fields and woods. In one such fieldy and woodsy town, Harvard, I have been horseback riding for almost my whole life. Because horses are an expensive hobby, I have spent the past couple of summers teaching riding lessons at a camp in North Carolina, so that teaching itself has become a sort of hobby.
Last spring, I planned to study abroad in Kenya. When the program was canceled, I refused to return to campus and instead took my life’s savings on a whirlwind tour of Europe. Afterward, not only did I promptly add ‘travel’ to my list of interests, but, after struggling to communicate with native speakers of every language I didn’t know, I realized how much I appreciate English. English is my first language, and is by far the one I am most fluent in, which makes it familiar, pliable, and full of possibilities that a stunted vocabulary and poor grasp on foreign grammar do not afford. Having said that, I have had fairly good experiences with English courses so far. My only frustrations arise out of a lack of depth in a course, as in a survey of literature class, for example.
I would like to work with Do, Lawd in my first paper. It is more cryptic than the other poems; I am not sure if the speaker is asking to die, or asking to live one more year, what role his/her father plays, or how literally ‘father’ is being used. I also like that death is addressed in am ambivalent light, especially in the second verse, ending with “and die wid a free good will.” The speaker paints one of the most brutal, painful, unjustified deaths imaginable as one that can be recreated, or re-experienced, at least on some level, by dying peacefully by choice. And, of course, ‘dying by choice’ inevitably brings up the question of suicide, frowned upon in the Bible, but, understandably, an attractive option for someone bound by slavery. Moreover, if suicide is not what the speaker had in mind with ‘die wid a free good will,’ what are the other possibilities? I have a lot of questions about this particular poem, and I think after discussing it in class I will have a clearer idea of how to focus my paper.
By the end of this course, I would like to feel confident about the technical analysis of poems in general, as well as have enough knowledge of the African-American poetry genre to make intelligent arguments about poems’ content, historical influences, and intended message.
Last spring, I planned to study abroad in Kenya. When the program was canceled, I refused to return to campus and instead took my life’s savings on a whirlwind tour of Europe. Afterward, not only did I promptly add ‘travel’ to my list of interests, but, after struggling to communicate with native speakers of every language I didn’t know, I realized how much I appreciate English. English is my first language, and is by far the one I am most fluent in, which makes it familiar, pliable, and full of possibilities that a stunted vocabulary and poor grasp on foreign grammar do not afford. Having said that, I have had fairly good experiences with English courses so far. My only frustrations arise out of a lack of depth in a course, as in a survey of literature class, for example.
I would like to work with Do, Lawd in my first paper. It is more cryptic than the other poems; I am not sure if the speaker is asking to die, or asking to live one more year, what role his/her father plays, or how literally ‘father’ is being used. I also like that death is addressed in am ambivalent light, especially in the second verse, ending with “and die wid a free good will.” The speaker paints one of the most brutal, painful, unjustified deaths imaginable as one that can be recreated, or re-experienced, at least on some level, by dying peacefully by choice. And, of course, ‘dying by choice’ inevitably brings up the question of suicide, frowned upon in the Bible, but, understandably, an attractive option for someone bound by slavery. Moreover, if suicide is not what the speaker had in mind with ‘die wid a free good will,’ what are the other possibilities? I have a lot of questions about this particular poem, and I think after discussing it in class I will have a clearer idea of how to focus my paper.
By the end of this course, I would like to feel confident about the technical analysis of poems in general, as well as have enough knowledge of the African-American poetry genre to make intelligent arguments about poems’ content, historical influences, and intended message.
Assignment 0
My name is Adam Baitsell and I am a junior majoring in English, with a focus on Creative Non-Fiction. I enjoy writing non-fiction because it allows me to be as honest as possible while tapping into my creativity and my abilities to paint powerful and moving images or scenes with specific words and sentence structure. I live in a suburb of New York City called White Plains; it’s about a forty-five minute drive north of the city. Although it is technically a suburb it is slowly becoming more and more of a metropolis with high-rise buildings and an inexcusable increase in traffic and parking tickets. The town itself has a fairly defined line between the houses and apartments and I happen to live right on the line, I like to think I am the first house outside of “downtown” White Plains even though I know I’m not.
I don’t have many hobbies, but I used to collect postcards and those moist towellettes (sp) when I was younger. Now I enjoy playing rugby and the rush of the full contact sport and its utter brutality is probably what draws me most to the game. As I said early I enjoy Creative Non-Fiction writing, so one of my interests/hobbies has to be reading and writing it. My favorite authors right now are Augusten Burroughs and David Sedaris, and I also really enjoy Ellison and Wright. I have been writing non-fiction since high school and it is something that means a lot to me and I have set a goal to be published by the end of my senior year.
My overall experience within the SLU English department has been great, some have been negative during class sessions but the lessons I learned from the classes have taught me countless lessons for both academia and life. One class in particular sticks out in my mind as the most effective and helpful class and that was my Advanced Creative Non-Fiction with Paul Graham. Before that class I rarely did concrete or cohesive rewrites of my work, maybe a few verb and word changes here and there but never a complete reworking of an essay and from that class and the workshops that gave me my peers feedback I have become an avid rewriter and find that I almost enjoy editing and rewriting more than just writing.
After having read the syllabus I hope to gain a much, much deeper understanding of the African American struggle and be more informed on the historical and social settings of each author and each poem. The first essay assignment seems daunting because I have never taken a poetry class here and I feel like I might be behind in my abilities to close-read and tease out important or necessary information like some of the others in the class but I hope that by May I will be as close to an expert as I can get.
After having read the assignment for Wednesday and trying to give the paper for Monday some thought I think I will write about “When-a Mah blood Runs Chilly an Col.” What I have found interesting about slavery for a long time is the grotesque misuse of religion to pigeon hole and manipulate slaves into “obeying their masters” and being “good servants of God.” And even with this misuse religion becomes a gigantic focal point in the lives of slaves, and heaven becomes their only escape. The ‘Beulah land’ was confusing but after a quick Google search I learned that it is a metaphor for heaven. The poem as a whole conveys an importance of religion and heaven, and the absolute necessity for slaves to go to heaven. Heaven and religion become escapes for slaves while it is a major reason for their oppression. The irony behind it is what really makes my head spin.
I don’t have many hobbies, but I used to collect postcards and those moist towellettes (sp) when I was younger. Now I enjoy playing rugby and the rush of the full contact sport and its utter brutality is probably what draws me most to the game. As I said early I enjoy Creative Non-Fiction writing, so one of my interests/hobbies has to be reading and writing it. My favorite authors right now are Augusten Burroughs and David Sedaris, and I also really enjoy Ellison and Wright. I have been writing non-fiction since high school and it is something that means a lot to me and I have set a goal to be published by the end of my senior year.
My overall experience within the SLU English department has been great, some have been negative during class sessions but the lessons I learned from the classes have taught me countless lessons for both academia and life. One class in particular sticks out in my mind as the most effective and helpful class and that was my Advanced Creative Non-Fiction with Paul Graham. Before that class I rarely did concrete or cohesive rewrites of my work, maybe a few verb and word changes here and there but never a complete reworking of an essay and from that class and the workshops that gave me my peers feedback I have become an avid rewriter and find that I almost enjoy editing and rewriting more than just writing.
After having read the syllabus I hope to gain a much, much deeper understanding of the African American struggle and be more informed on the historical and social settings of each author and each poem. The first essay assignment seems daunting because I have never taken a poetry class here and I feel like I might be behind in my abilities to close-read and tease out important or necessary information like some of the others in the class but I hope that by May I will be as close to an expert as I can get.
After having read the assignment for Wednesday and trying to give the paper for Monday some thought I think I will write about “When-a Mah blood Runs Chilly an Col.” What I have found interesting about slavery for a long time is the grotesque misuse of religion to pigeon hole and manipulate slaves into “obeying their masters” and being “good servants of God.” And even with this misuse religion becomes a gigantic focal point in the lives of slaves, and heaven becomes their only escape. The ‘Beulah land’ was confusing but after a quick Google search I learned that it is a metaphor for heaven. The poem as a whole conveys an importance of religion and heaven, and the absolute necessity for slaves to go to heaven. Heaven and religion become escapes for slaves while it is a major reason for their oppression. The irony behind it is what really makes my head spin.
Monday, January 19, 2009
First Blog Entry
To be completed before class, Wednesday, January 21
Length: at least 450 words
• Go to our class blog, http://english347.blogspot.com/ . If it doesn’t want to let you post to the blog, email me and remind me to add you as a contributor!
• Make your first blog entry. In that entry, please spend at least 450 words answering the following questions:
• What are you studying, and why do you like it?
• Where are you from, and what’s it like there?
• What are your interests and hobbies?
• Have you had good or bad experiences in English courses? What were they?
• Which poem are you thinking of writing about in Paper #1? Why does that poem appeal to you? What issues does it raise that strike you as important? What’s strange or non-obvious about this poem? What assumptions or beliefs does it convey (possibly without meaning to)?
• What do you hope to learn in this class? (Don’t be lame and say, “I want to learn about African American poetry.” Be more specific than that.)
Length: at least 450 words
• Go to our class blog, http://english347.blogspot.com/ . If it doesn’t want to let you post to the blog, email me and remind me to add you as a contributor!
• Make your first blog entry. In that entry, please spend at least 450 words answering the following questions:
• What are you studying, and why do you like it?
• Where are you from, and what’s it like there?
• What are your interests and hobbies?
• Have you had good or bad experiences in English courses? What were they?
• Which poem are you thinking of writing about in Paper #1? Why does that poem appeal to you? What issues does it raise that strike you as important? What’s strange or non-obvious about this poem? What assumptions or beliefs does it convey (possibly without meaning to)?
• What do you hope to learn in this class? (Don’t be lame and say, “I want to learn about African American poetry.” Be more specific than that.)
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