Day 2 Presentations

I think Betito’s identity wheel (or pizza) was really amazing. First, it was a very creative way to conclude and summarize our readings for the class. Second, the wheel helped us to see a bigger picture and some common themes. For example, many hyphenated Americans are struggling with identity issues. Some even do not know which ethnicity group they should belong to. Many parents of hyphenated Americans are debating between teaching their children English only or their native language. Some choose not to but later regret. I sat at the back of the room and could not really see the pictures on the wheel clearly, but suddenly a thought came to me. People tend to categorize others into different boxes and view them in each box as having similar traits, but that is not true. For hyphenated Americans, many of them might look similar and behave similar, but we have to know them closely to understand their individual trait and identity. Everyone’s story is unique.

I was also very impressed with Kelly’s puzzle idea. She interviewed eight people and asked them what is real American. I could see some connections to what we read for this class. People’s different answers reflect what they have experienced as a hyphenated American in this country.

Presentations Day 2: OCD

Kelsey’s presentation presents a perfect definition for what an OCD people look and live like, I am really grateful for what she did, include her earlier poem presentation. Before her presentation, the only think I know about OCD is OCD is a mental illness. And I personally care mental illness less than physical illness, because it is really hard to tell you have mental illness or not sometimes. But when Kelsey repetitively said the same word over and over in her presentation, I can felt her emotion: that strong force push an OCD person to do a same activity again and again for no reason. Even though they are not intentionally to do the same things, but they seem do not have a choice, because they are sick. And the OCD patient is really need extra care, but I can realized that OCD person is easily to annoy other normal person. In the other hand, if you want to help OCD people, first you had to let them know OCD is wrong, then things become complex Because you have no idea they aware what they did is wrong or not, they just keep doing things again and again. I think OCD is a serious illness, and should be treated serious.

 

Day 1 Presentations on “Mercury”

Many people, including I, gave a presentation on the short story, “Mercury.” I was very impressed that we all read the same story but interpreted the story from different angles. We also used different ways to present our ideas. Someone continued to write the story and finished it. It was sad to hear that Maria’s grandfather passes away when Maria comes back from that Bakery. Someone discussed the story based on the title “mercury” and related the idea that hyphenated Americans are flexible in their identities to other stories we read for this class. I talked about how effective communication is not all about language. Someone did a book cover with many objects in the story included, such as a typewriter. I really liked her idea of using the two countries’ flags as book covers and explained that the binder is a connection of Maria’s identity stemming from the two cultures. For the pictures and stickers on the front and back covers, I like her explanation of why she put a clock on the front cover. Maria wants to talk with her grandfather using Spanish, but time goes so fast that before she has a chance to do so her grandfather becomes deaf and cannot hear her talking anymore. Maria runs out of time.

Presentations Day 2

Kelsey’s short story about her the poem she previously presented us with was amazing! Usually, like most of us, it’s easy for us to lose the attention of speakers, but not Kelsey. Her story gave me the chills and I was intrigued the entire time. I wish there was more to it or an actual book for me to read because I think she did so well. It was an extremely creative approach! Remembering her poem, the story was a perfect narrative for it. I think it was clever how she tied in similar sentences like “her eyelash, her eyelash,” and repeating it exactly like the poem. The background of the author was so interesting to learn about. Both the original poem and Kelsey’s story made me visualize everything perfectly. I could imagine the coffee shop they met at, and what each character looked like. I could imagine someone who twitches at the littlest things and a girl who responds sweetly at it. Both the story and poem definitely form a build-up of emotions. Kelsey did a really well job with evoking the emotions through the tone of her voice. If it wasn’t for her change in the tone, the presentation could have been much different. Overall, this will be a presentation I’ll never forget. Good job, Kelsey! 

Presentations Day 2

I absolutely loved Betito’s identity pizza! I thought what he did was a creative way to show the majority of the short stories we read throughout the semester. My favorite part of the whole thing was how at the end of the pizza, all the the pictures and symbols came together as one. You weren’t able to tell the difference between who came from which background and I love how he related that to life in general. You never really know who came from where and you can’t judge people by the way they look. That goes for all hyphenated Americans. They are struggling to discover their identities and it’s a challenge for them because many people who consider themselves fully American already have these stereotypes about them. I think Betito did a good job with choosing appropriate symbols and pictures to represent each story. Although I read all the short stories, I could tell which one matched which story, but at the end, nobody would be able to tell the certain background all these characters came from. It was an extremely creative project, I wish I could have thought of something like that! 

Identity Pizza

I was really intrigued by Betito’s identity wheel. Each part of the wheel or pizza represented a story that we read in class. There were symbols outside and that is what people might think from the outside looking in. Yet, when you look in the inside you see that each one is different. Each story was represented by pictures that went along with the story. There was a part of the wheel that didn’t have any symbols outside of it and Betitio described it as being an individual who is confused about his or her identity. I thought that was really creative because there are a lot of people that are confused when they are a Hyphenated American. We even read a lot about these individuals so it’s great that Betito remembered to include that. I also liked that he went through all the pieces on the wheel describing what was in it and what story it represented. It is the end of the semester and Betito’s project was a refresher for me to remember what we read. There were things like Ms. Marvel that I had forgotten about and I’m glad that I now remember.  By being on the second day, Betito also talked about Lauren’s and Melissa’s project that was similar to one of the pieces on his wheel. Instead of using a specific story, Betito did a good job connecting a lot together. 

Poems

I really liked all the creative writing pieces that were presented in class. There were 3 pieces that really stuck out to me.

Ismenia’s poem inspired by Mexican Enough was the poem that I can empathize with. She described her characteristics and explained how she is both American and Mexican. The comment, “you look really Mexican today” was one that struck me a little. Personally, I wouldn’t make a comment like that and it’s something that does stick with you. I think Ismenia did a great job with her poem and interpretation. Steven’s poem from Oscar was another poem that I really liked. Steven grasped all the important events in the poem and added themes like love and the fuku. It was interesting, detailed, and funny and was a good interpretation of what happened. Steven did a good job in summarizing a whole book in one poem. Kelsey’s story that was a long version of the OCD poem was also great. When she first presented the poem in class, I loved it and I looked it up after. it is a poem that sticks to you and I understand why she would want to work with it again for her final project. She still included everything that was important in the poem and added her own twist to it without taking anything away from the poem. I still had the same reaction as when I first heard it. These 3 along with all the creative writing pieces were great.

Day Two of Presentations: Part 2

Again all the presentations were great, good job everyone! Another presentation that I want to blog about was Kelsey Derf’s. I thought her continuance of the poem that she read for her poetry presentations was really interesting. I loved the poem that she read earlier in the semester and I thought it was awesome that she decided to make a short story about it. The topic of OCD is something that hits close to heart since one of my good friends back home is living with OCD. It makes her life harder not only for her self but for people around here. I think Kelsey really captured how a person with OCD would feel in her short story while falling in love. She put herself in their mindset to write the story which I thought was creative and unique. I couldn’t tell if the way she was reading the story, fast and fidgeting if thats how she wanted to read it to capture the presence of a person with OCD or was just nervous. Either way I thought she did a great job! 

Day Two of Presentations

I thought everyone did a great job on their presentations! I wanted to blog about Katherine Bailey’s presentation from Thursday. I like how she decided to continue the short story, “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised By Wolves”, written by Karen Russell. I thought she did a great job presenting her story that she wrote. Her continuation was very creative and well thought out. When she was reading her story I felt that her story came alive due to the emotion that she was putting into the words which I thought was great. I really enjoyed the St. Lucy’s short story, it was probably one of my favorite readings we had all semester so it was great to hear someone else’s interpretation and continuance of the story. I like how unlike in the story where they are always human physically, in Katherine’s story she made it the opposite and had the girls look like wolves all the time except when a full moon would come out. Overall I thought her presentation was intriguing and I would of loved to hear more of her continuance of the short story.  

Presentations Day 2 Part 2

Another presentation I wanted to blog about from Thursday is the short story that Azzah wrote about a Sundanese Hyphenated American. It was an interesting way for Azzah to introduce us to her heritage and her cultural background because Sudanese culture is one that I honestly know pretty much nothing about. However the conflict brought up in the story was one I could relate to, although not from the protagonist’s point of view.

Back in high school I dated a girl for about 2 years who was Muslim. Her parent’s were from Egypt and practiced Islam fairly regularly. She didn’t wear all the traditional clothes, pray more than twice a day, or go to mosque more than once a week, but their family still considered themselves to be practicing. Azzah’s main character was trying to assimilate to  white america as someone from a Sudanese culture, and I was a person from whit america trying to assimilate to an Islamic culture whenever I went over to my girlfriend’s house to spend time with her. I could relate to some of the situations Azzah mentioned in her story such as the dinner scene all too well. It brought back some pretty fond/cringe-worthy memories we all have of our high school exes. I enjoyed Azzah’s story and I thought it was a great way to conclude the presentations.