Is school the place to learn a language?

There are two ways to learn language. The first is from birth, where you grow up learning a language and it is ingrained from the beginning. The second is when you learn a second language, normally in school. I think that both methods can be beneficial. In the past, new languages were taught just in school or just in family. Now they are taught both places. I was first introduced to Spanish when I was in kindergarten. I've learned it all throughout school, but I feel as though if I were introduced to it in my family I would have developed a better sense of the culture and a better understanding of how to actually speak the language. Culture to me is the most important aspect of a language because it helps you to be imersed into all of the language. Language should be taught in both places, school and the family.

But sometimes there are other places to learn. I researched learning languages on youtube, and now there are different ways of learning languages in school. Some people have started using Skype to learn languages. This gives students the opportunity to learn all types of languages over the internet while giving them one on one attention.

Here is the youtube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynvgJr9HbfI

Tradition and Power

The ending of the novel Power was interesting to me but I liked it. I really enjoyed reading this novel and even though it was a little confusing at times, I was happy with the end result. Omishto finally ended up deciding for herself what was right. In class we discussed what Power was to each of us and what were the most important power's in the novel. I believe that the power of belief was the most important and apparent throughout this novel. Omishto finally started to believe in her old traditions and I think that is important to point out. Traditions in this novel were very apparent and are seen throughout the whole story. Throughout the novel, Omishto was very confused as to what she actually believed, but in the end and through all of her troubles in the novel, she came to a conclusion on what she believed. I think that she got much of her independence from Ama, but I also think that by witnessing what happened, she found her own personal way of deciding what she actually believes.

The meaning of the storm and panther

In the novel Power, many things lead up to the killing of the panther, like the storm. I think the storm was written into this novel to build suspense, but also give us a view of what Omishto was truly like. Although we see a little bit of her personality through the beginning of the novel, her identity is shown when she is put into complex situations. During the storm, while she was all alone trying her hardest to get back to Ama's house for safety, all she could think about was that if this was a dream. I think this may have been the first time she was ever put into a situation like that, but I thought it was interesting that she kept mentioning her mom and sister and wondering if they were safe. Before that, her mother and sister were not too high on her list of people she really liked, but when it came down to what really mattered, they were there.

While reading about the storm, I started to get jumpy when I would hear things around me. I think this novel is meant to do this and I think the storm brings a scary feeling into the picture while the panther hunt starts as well. The panther hunt also shows a characteristic of Omishto we haven't really seen. I saw that throughout the novel she was influenced by many peoples decisions, and still is during this hunt, but she at least tries to give Ama a sense of her mind. Omishto tries to tell Ama to stop and asks her what she is doing.

I think the storm and the panther hunt are significant throughout Power because it gives us a sense of who Omishto really is, and who she can be. I think since she is only 16 she is also going through self-identity issues and isn't sure what she thinks and maybe if what she thinks is right in their minds.

Nature in Power

There are many different ways that nature is seen throughout this novel. I see it the most when I read about Omishto's description of Ama's house though. I think it is important to point out that earlier in Ama's life, her house was bright blue, just like the sky. And now it is covered in leaves and is a dark brown. Ama lives out in the wilderness because she likes to feel independent. Nature brings out Ama's identity and is important to her character. Nature is also important throughout this novel because it is a way that Ama and Omishto relate. Even though they do not talk much, they usually observe the wonders of nature together and do not have to even say much in order to communicate. They both sometimes know what the other is thinking. Although we haven't read much so far, by next Tuesday I'm sure nature will play a much bigger role in the novel. Nature seems to be brought up very spontaneously, which gives me the idea that it plays a significant role in Omishto and Ama's lives. I feel that Omishto's family does not give mother Earth and nature credit and Ama does. Omishto realizes that and also realizes that Ama has the power to go against what everyone thinks, which gives her a sense of Power. I think the title of this book has several meanings to it, and one of them I am almost certain about is Ama's ability to go against everyone in order to do what she wants.

P.S.-I know the picture above is a cartoon, but it reminds me a little of Ama's house because of the big tree that is above her house. Also, there are a couple things outside this house that reminds me of Ama's house like the porch and the actual color of the house.

Lucy and Peggy

Lucy and Peggy's relationship is much different than that with her and Mariah's. Mariah reminds Lucy of her mother more and more with every conversation they have. I feel that Peggy and Lucy's relationship brings up Lucy's mother sometimes, but usually they do things that Lucy has never done. I feel that Peggy brings out the bad or promiscuous side in Lucy while Lucy brings out the good side in Peggy.

When Lucy goes with Peggy to the party, she see's that Peggy has many different friends. Some of them are artistic and smoke a lot of marijuana, which now is normal to Lucy. I think Mariah does not like Peggy because she knows she is much different than herself and Lucy. Mariah wants to direct Lucy down the right path, while Peggy might be throwing her off.

I think Peggy and Lucy's relationship is good for her and even though Mariah does not like the fact that her friend is Peggy, she is happy that Lucy has found a friend. I feel the same way, because I feel that Lucy needs someone she can be a young woman with, and with Mariah and her family it is hard for that to come out when she is taking care of the children and conversing with a mother. What do any of you think about this? Do you guys think Peggy and Lucy's relationship is good for Lucy? Or do you think it is taking away from the whole reason Lucy came to the United States?

Putting on a show for others

One of the questions we were left with at the end of class on Tuesday was one that has always struck me. Is everything you do a type of performance?

To me, I would have to say 80% of the time, yes and 20% no. Usually for class, I try to most importantly perform to the best of my ability for the teacher and then because I want my classmates also to think I am somewhat intelligent. Like someone else mentioned in class, our papers for our teachers are performances in a way, too. How we dress and present ourselves in class is another type of thing we do that shows that everything is a performance. If a student is attentive and shows respect towards others and the teacher, she will portray a much better image than one that is sleeping and shows no class participation.

Out of the classroom and in social environments, I would agree that that is its own performance as well. If your just sitting in a corner all alone and not socializing it does not give off the same type of vibe as if you were up and about talking amongst others.

With parents or siblings, there is always competition. Brothers and sisters, or sisters and sisters or brothers and brothers are always wanting to do better than the other. There is most of the time a want from children to perform to their best of their abilities to impress their parents. Sometimes this is not the case, but also if the child is lazy or just unmotivated that would be a type of performance as well. They are showing their parents they do not care about the particular thing.

So when asked the question is everything you do type of performance, I would have to agree. Do any of you ever have to compete or put on a performance for your parents? or teachers? or siblings?

This Blessed House

I thought this story was really interesting. I thought the actual read was good, but I couldn't understand some of the personalities of the characters. The thing that I thought was the most important was the vinegar. I thought although it was found in the pantry at first, I feel like it was an important metaphor. I feel that it was not only put there for the cooking aspect, but I feel like something in the couples live might have been missing and the vinegar symbolizes it a little bit. I'm anxious to go to class because I want to get some of my questions cleared up about the story, which might help me analyze this metaphor, but I do not think the vinegar was just there as a cooking ingredient. Does anyone agree or disagree with this statement?? I'm not too sure if this was right, but I took a guess.

Sports and Othello

After watching the movie "O", we discussed the how the producers chose the sport of basketball instead of any other sport. I was really intrigued with this discussion because I really love sports. I thought that one other sport that could have been played throughout this movie that would have brought out all of the same qualities would be football. With football, you have somewhat of the racism aspect but also some of the aspects with the "star player."

Even though I was very involved as a child and teenager in sports, I never really stood back and looked around to see what was happening besides the actual sport being played. Sometimes, the "star player" gets all the glory, while the person with the assist does more work than the them. But no one on the team realizes that expect the person that assisted the "star player".

Throughout my childhood and teenage years I played golf. Golf to most people is an individual sport, but in highschool it turns to a team sport. The top four scores are always counted and then compared with another teams to see who won. Although this was basketball like in the movie, "O", I still tried to compare golf with it. I compared it a little because sometimes our high school team had one star player, who always got the lowest score. The coach would always praise her for all her hardwork, even though everyone else put in the honest effort just like she did. And all of our scores also counted towards our Regional Championship Title. In some ways, other girls on the team felt left out, while the girl who got all the media press and praise never felt that way, at least to the outside world.

Has anyone ever been involved in a sport other than basketball or football that they tried to relate this movie to it? I know it was kind of difficult to, and maybe I didn't do it the right way, but I tried.

Othello

In the clip we watched in class, I began to notice many different things about the movie and how the producer wanted each particular character to be portrayed. I started looking at the camera angle and lighting, the background music, the costumes and the makeups on the characters, and even the color pallet. I never really began to notice these things until they were pointed out to me. In the Othello movie of 1995, I noticed through the camera angle that it focused mainly on the characters faces, and got very close. The color pallet was much different then most movies now; red, white and black.

In movies now, I think I will try to look at all of these factors while watching the movie because it gives the movie/play more meaning then what it originally has for its audience. If everyone watched movies in this particular fashion, people would see movies much more differently.

Displacement

Displacement has many different definitions. In class, we identified displacement as: geographical location/place, value systems, family ties, companions, style, possessions, class, religion, education, nationality, sexuality, language and even accents. The most controversial identifications of displacement is race.

Race is socially constructed. Usually when most people talk about race, they are talking about either black and white, Hispanic or American etc. Race does not allow for mixture, but in a sense creates a community. Race can be a good thing but also a bad thing.

In Othello race seems to be a big issue. Shakespeare always is hinting at the color or Othello. It is strange to think that back then people were talking about it and now people are still talking about it. There are many people in our world today that do not take race into account, but there are some people that are still stuck in their ways. I think race will always be an issue in our world, but I do not think it should effect the types of things we all do. Just because some people are a different race then ourselves does not mean that we should treat anyone differently, although some people still do. Have you ever been involved in a type of racial issue as either a minority or majority?

Girl Inturrupted

While I was on my way to watch the film, Girl Interrupted, I wasn't sure what to expect. Many of my friends told me it was a good movie, but that's all they really mentioned. A classmate of mine told me a little of what was to come in the movie, but I really didn't know what to expect.

After viewing the movie, I came out of the Vander Vennett Theater sad and uptight. Many of the characters seemed to have gone through the same thing that Gilman went through when she was writing. Angelina Jolie's character scared me at first, but throughout the movie more of her true self came out. To me, her character stuck out the most as being trapped in "a room." She was trapped in her body, which was full of evil. The one quote that stuck to me the most was when Winona Ryder told Angelina that she had no heart and that she really was not alive. After their close friend committed suicide, Angelina had no feelings and only cared about taking her money. I feel that Angelina needed Winona to tell her that so she could truly get better. That point in the movie seemed like the turning point for both of them.

This movie made me really upset because I know that there are people out in our world suffering like these young women did, but they can't do anything about it. To "normal" people, these women in the mental institute seemed "crazy." But did anyone ever care to ask these women what their true problems were? Did they even give them the time of day? No. Many people who are associated with mental hospitals are always labeled as crazy.

Usually people sit back , judge other people and assume things they think in their mind they think are right, when in reality, they are clearly wrong. All these women really needed was someone to be their friend and love them.

The Yellow Wallpaper

While reading and analyzing The Yellow Wallpaper for the second time, I've realized a few things. During the time that this was written, a lot of industrialization and technology advancements were being made. Women during this time were not treated with the same respect men were treated with. But during the story as well, women were discouraged from writing.

I felt sorry for Gilman in this story because her husband was always shushing her and never really letting her do what she wanted. I feel as though sometimes women and even men these days are shushed for their true feelings and beliefs.

Sometimes I get nervous to tell the people I care for the most, what I am truly passionate about and what I really think about a certain subject. I'm usually scared that I will make them either mad or frustrated. I have been trying to tell people how I truly feel about certain things. Its getting a little better, but I am still nervous.

I feel as though in The Yellow Wallpaper, Gilman had the same type of problem. I think this type of problem has always existed and will always exist. Some people have certain ways of dealing with their kept secrets and opinions such as diaries and blogs, and others just keep to themselves.

Does anyone have issues or problems trying to tell the people they care about what they really think? Or are Gilman and I the only ones?

Judith Shakespeare

To me, Judith Shakespeare is all the women who never had a chance to talk. Although I'm sure my argument is not right, I feel as though Woolf goes on and on about how different Judith and Shakespeare actually are.

Woolf writes, "it would have been impossible, completely and entirely, for any woman to have written the plays of Shakespeare in the age of Shakespeare."

While Shakespeare was out and about in London, working in theatres, he started to become a successful actor and knew many important people. While this was going on his sister Judith was to remain at home. She tried to read and sneak in a couple pages when she could, but sometimes she would get caught and was told to go back and do what she had learned.

Judith was never given the opportunities to enhance her education. Her and Shakespeare were always treated differently, because "that was the way women were suppose to be treated."

Women have worked for their place in society and since back then even up until now, it has been a struggle for women to gain the right respect and equality. To me, this argument that Woolf writes about is for all the women back in those days who wanted to read, write and have a life like a fellow male.

Dillard vs Sanders

Dillard and Sanders seem to have a different writing style, but still use the same style when using metaphors and explaining their experiences throughout the natural world. They like to explore their identities and both practice their writing skills. Also, they both talk about how writing is very unique and a way of life for both of them.

Although I enjoyed reading both of these short excerpts, I seemed to enjoy Sanders more. I seemed to understand his writing more than Dillards and I seemed to understand the metaphors better. His writing was also a little more contemporary. I liked that he was very family oriented and I also liked that he didn't want his life to be consumed in writing.

Writing to me is like...

Writing is an important tool that helps people express what they are feeling. However, when I start to write I get an type of anxiety. To me, writing is like jumping into the Gulf of Mexico in Naples, Florida. Although I have been vacationing there since I was born and have been in the ocean plenty of times, the first time getting in the water during a vacation is a bit scary. Its always a bit cold. But once my feet get used to the temperature, I usually try to go in a little farther. Once I'm in all the way to my stomach, I usually get scared of all the animals that could maybe brush my leg and scare me. But once I'm in for awhile I stop thinking about anything that could hurt me and I start having fun. Even though I always come out of the ocean as the same person as I was when I went in, I still get nervous everytime I see that vast body of water for the first time in a while.