VLP Poetry Slam Literary Event One

First, I would like to state that I found this event very interesting. In fact, it was so interesting that I plan to attend a lot more next semester. It was not at all like I imagined. I figured the people reading would be reading famous authors poetry. I knew that some students read their own poetry, and it seems like someone mentioned to me that once in a while they have someone who has been published read some of their material. I would love to attend one of those slams. The atmosphere was light, relaxed, and yet fun. Erin Roseland read a poem she wrote and dedicated it to her father who is a farmer. Anthony Miller read a poem that I thought was very humorous, and I think the rest of the crowd also thought so. He won the Gladys Hasse Award for poetry. There was some poetry read that written by a Native American Student (Zonnie Oakie, I think), and these poems showed the heritage and culture of the writer. One was called “The Lost Buffalo” and the other was titled “The Prairie Prayer.” They were both interesting and had great rhythm. I felt both of these poems flowed easily. Kevin Cole was one of the readers. I’m not sure if he is the person who read the poem about navel jelly or if that was Anthony Miller’s poem. A poem titled “Duct Tape” was read, and I really didn’t care for the style or the words chosen, plus I felt it was a little dry, but that’s just my opinion. Tenasha Kesler read a poem that I felt was a little too long to keep my attention, it is either that or the poem just didn’t grab my attention. I was shocked to see the English department give out awards because I thought this was done at a banquet dinner which usually takes place at the Winery. Kelsey Meadows also won an award. I was impressed with such a young adult having the courage to read her work. An award was also given out for a play. I plan to encourage my daughter, Jacque to attend one of this next semester because she writes poetry in her spare time, and I’m hoping she will pick English as her major when she is ready to attend college. Overall, I felt this was a great experience and plan to attend more poetry slams in the future.

The Autobiography of Red

This was an interesting read. I did not care for the very beginning that started with paragraphs labeled in numerical order because I thought this was confusing and I had a difficult time trying to determine what exactly was going on. Also, the lack of punctuation made it a little more difficult, but added to the overall ambiguity of the story. I felt that appendix C was full of ambiguity and contradictions, but perhaps this was Anne Carson's goal since the story ends open ended and full of ambiguity. Obviously, this is a story of fantasy and mythology. I liked how Carson included the mythology. The chapter titled "Hades" is a perfect example of the mythology role within the story line. Because Hades was known as God of the underworld, it was very clear that Carson incorporated some realness of the mythology perspective by having words like "hell, volcano, fire, and flames" present in this chapter. I felt this was a sort of foreshadowing used to describe the hell in Geryon's life ( the abusive brother, the twisted love). Perhaps the color red was also a symbol. Red not only symbolizes love, but it could be a symbol of passion and lust. The valcano which has lava that errupts and fire that is burning inside is also red not only in colore (fire), but with the heat element. If you think of a stove burner on high and getting hot, the color is red. Red could also be a symbol for danger or evil lurking, and all of the listed possibilites play some role in this work. Carson uses a lot of symbolism in this work. In the first chapter, geryon is shown how Geryon's brother thinks that he is stupid, and due to this, Geryon is somewhat lonely and perhaps considers himself somewhat of a burden. In chapter Geryon is cutting paper to glue on top of a tomato ( a red vegetable) for hair. However, one could view the tomato as a symbol for a vegetable, but perhaps for meaning a mental capacity. Once again there is a lot of ambiguity present throughout the story. Carson also uses otamatpia (?) in chapter two and I felt this element added even more to the story. I also like how Carson incorporated the photo aspect because one might see one thing in a photo where another person will see entirely something else, and this adds to the ambiguity. Overall, I enjoyed this work.

The "Power" in "The Powerbook"

First of all, I would like to state this this book was difficult for me to follow. Maybe this is due to my interpretation of this kind of literature. This literature is very different from other literature that I have experienced, especiallly from the literature that is offered at most required classes here at USD. I found that this author (Jeanette Winterson) mainly focusses on relating real love stories to love stories from the past. Not that there is anything wrong with this, but this can make this sort of literature hard to follow, especially if one is not aware of the famous past love-hate relationships. Not only does the tone change (which is relevant), but the diolalogue changes, and at times make the story line difficult to follow. Obviously, there is always a person in charge, (usually it is the male or literally through the female in charge lens, but if one looks at this issue through a different lense, the female controls not only with the emotions, but with a certain amount of deception as well, especially during certain time eras). This work was difficult to read because of how it jumped back and forth, and because of this, it was a slow read. Alit and her lover were the main point, however I did not care for how the author linked the information with the past, famous lovers in history. Some aspects were relevant, yet others were not, especially when the dialogue changes. So far this semester, this has been not only the most difficul work to read, but the one that is the hardest to follow in some areas. I prefer something that is a little more relevant to the theme of the story, or in other words, something that is easier for me to grasp that doesn't seem to jump around.

The bitter taste of salt

Monique Truong uses salt for a metaphor in The Book of Salt. Salt is somewhat bitter and Binh is bitter about many parts of his life. He has bitter feelings toward his father due to the physical and verbal abuse that he suffered through as a child. His father was somewhat bitter concerning the thought of his wife having a business, and this is because he considered the word business to be only associated with men. He also seems to have a bitter hatred of women and this is shown in how he talks about his wife and how he treats her. It is terrible how his father treats Binh and yet he has his favorite son, Minh. Minh does truly accomplish assimilation into the French culture and does try to help Binh with the assimilation process as well. He does this by teaching him French and by teaching him how to cook in a way that will secure Binh a good job so that he can support himself. Problems of quality employment are also present in parts of this book and are shown in ways like they were in Drown. Both books demonstrate how hard it is to find really good employment and how employers treat these people and listen to what they have to say like tossing a grain of salt into the air. Binh is also bitter about how others view homosexuality and consider it to be some sort of sickness that is not curable. Also, many different religions and cultures frown upon homosexuality and consider it a sin. It's somehwat ironic that Binh lands a job with Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas since they are both homosexuals. There is also a look of talk concerning food and many of these foods are things that one would find in an ocean or a sea which of course contains salt. Other foods mentioned, especially while Binh is taking Chef Blerior to the vendors is also somewhat strong and bitter. For instance when Binh is talking about the onions and garlic. These items definitely have strong somewhat salty odors. The metaphor of salt definitely plays a role throughout the book.

Blu's Hanging

Blu's Hanging by Lois-Ann Yamanaka is a novel that contains so many different types of abuse that it makes me glad that I grew up with the parents I had. Almost everyone who reads this probably feels this way. Not only is there both physical and verbal child abuse taking place, but child neglect was very present in the story. I felt Poppy was such a horrible person. I realize that it is difficult when we lose someone we love, but one needs to pick themselves up and do what is right or at the very least do the best they can, especially when there are children involved. Where does Poppy get off putting all the responsibility on Ivah, and if that wasn't enough he blamed her for many things? It wasn't her fault Blu was raped or that her mother died. One can see how isolated and trapped that Ivah, Blu, and Maise must of felt, and Poppy constantly being in his own world made life more horrible for his children. Yamanaka made it clear to readers with her first couple of sentences that the family was extremely poor and this was shown with the descriptions of what they ate on a regular basis. Adding to this was the part that told how they were no longer able to charge food at the Friendly Market. Poor Ivah had so much responsibility at such a young age. The things that these children endured mad me sad. Child abuse was not the only abuse taking place in the neighborhood. The descriptions of the things that happened to the cats and dogs is horrible. Locking poor dogs up until they die is terrible and why anyone would want to do this is beyond me. Uncle Paulo needed to be locked up or at the very least in a pyche ward. I liked how Maise wrote the horrible things on his house because I felt everyone in the neighborhood should know what he really was. The sad thing here is that I think everyone in the neighborhood realized this, yet no one did nothing. Anyone that tortures both animals (cats) and children is a terrible person and has something seriously wrong with them, or at least one would think so. The repeating of only phrases by Maise perhaps suggest how tormented and withdrawn that she was. She was constantly stating the words, "mama, and scared." This shows what a dark place Maise must of been in. Obviously Maise had some problems expressing herself and one of the high points in the novel is when she is able to read and communicate with others. Ivah finally gets some sort of resolution in the end with her going off to school, no thanks to Poppy though. Overall, I enjoyed this book even though there were so many upsetting things that happened to Ivah, Maise, and Blu.

Drown by Junot Diaz

This was an interesting read concerning culture. I was lost in one area or I just didn't get the relevance of the information that Junot Diaz presented. This area concerned the boy who wore the mask. I understood that the first time this was addressed that it was the experience of the narrator when he was a child. However, when it was mentioned later on in the book I just didn't get the relevance or the meaning. Why would this narrative concerning a young man's life would drift back to this. The only thing that I could think of was that it is relevant because it concerns assimilation into society and how it is different for everyone depending on your background, culture, and position in society. I liked how the author integrated Spanish vocabulary into the text. This definitely aided in showing what role culture plays in someone's life. The last tale concerning Ramon was especially interesting because it showed how hard this man wanted to become Americanized. He went to America unable to speak English, yet he succeeded in this task over a period of time. The jobs that it describes him working are so real, especially for people who are attempting to assimilate into American society. The description of the places Ramon had to live because of the jobs he held was also a reality. I somewhat understand Ramon's relationship with Nilda because he was wanting to assimilate his family into society, but did he have to have children with her. I'm sure over time it was difficult to be away from his family; however, was it necessary to spend money at the bar instead of saving money to bring them into America to offer them a chance at a better life? Even though he had other children with Nilda, he never really had a true love for her. I really don't think he had true love for his first wife or those children. If one did, how can you just forget that life existed? He often refered to this life and how life back home would save him, yet when he had the opportunity he let it pass him by. Perhaps because it was too much after too much time had passed. I also like how Diaz described all the different living environments, especially when describing the campo and how the tia and tio lived there. Very realistic and saddening. In doing this, it is clear who the people involved defined themselves and their own identities.

Slave Moth

Thylias Moss did an excellent job writing her book Slave Moth. This story about Varl's escape from slavery is written in such a way that readers can actually imagine having to live this type of life. Not only do the readers imagine this with the descriptive symbols and metaphors that Moss used, but the above literary devices makes it possible to emotional about Varl's situation along with understanding the way Varl's mind thinks and why she thinks the things she does. There are many things that define the character of Varl. The schooling that Esmenda provided for interested slaves shows not all people felt that slavery was right, and felt that all people were entitled to some sort of education. Of course, this was not the feeling of most people and many would go to whatever extreme necessary in order to keep this from happening. This is true of the Mr. Littleton who threatened Esmenda by doing threatening things to keep her farm from producing and as a constant reminder of what would happen if he felt she was continuing with what he felt was nonsense. Because Mamalee knew her literacy was intimidating to Mr. Littleton, she played along with acting unintelligent because this is what many in society not only wanted to see during this time, but it is what they believed in. This fear made it difficult for Blacks to move ahead. If people are faced with fear and it affects how they act, then of course this will define a big part of their character. This indeed did define part of Varl's character. Moss also demonstrated how children had the same outlook as their parents. She did this through the character of Lusa, Peter Perry's child. This child not only cut Varl down whenever she felt like it, she also tried to threaten her with Dob and insinuated that she could make life very difficult for Varl just by talking with her father. This would be very difficult to take especially when one knows they can't do anything about the situation, except to plan escape in order to seek freedom. I liked how it was written in verse and think this only made the story better.