W8 - Discussion
- Mat Wenzel
- Oct 22, 2018
- 1 min read
Post your brief summary/thoughts below!
Notes from a Trip to Russia by Audre Lorde https://www.mpba.mp.br/sites/default/files/biblioteca/direitos-humanos/direitos-da-populacao-lgbt/obras_digitalizadas/audre_lorde_-_sister_outsider_1.pdf
What It Means to Be American by James Baldwin https://geographyandfilm.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/baldwin_full1.pdf
Upon This Rock by John Jeremiah Sullivan https://www.gq.com/story/rock-music-jesus
Writing the Travel Essay by Dinty Moore
A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid (part one; to page19) http://www.d.umn.edu/~pfarrell/Latin%20America/pdfs%20of%20readings/Jamaica%20Kinkaid%20A%20Small%20Place%20EXCERPTED.pdf
I read Upon This Rock, which seemed to be a story about a man going to a christian rock concert and not realizing it was what he hoped to find. I have to be honest, this seemed like it was going in circles, but I think the biggest thing to take away from it is to be open to what you're writing about instead of attempting to antagonize from the beginning. Playing devil's advocate is good, but you must be open to other ideas as well.
I read The Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid, and unless I'm misreading it, it seems to be a pretty scathing criticism of the nature of tourism—especially tourism from wealthy countries to poorer countries. It is this form of tourism that Kincaid mimics (or maybe mocks), describing the thought process of an American or European tourist observing the flawed and impoverished, yet beautiful country around them. She points out the irony in visiting a place to soak in its natural beauty and unique culture while ignoring almost everything about the place. When you visit Antigua, you don't want to think about the corrupt government, unreliable hospital, or faulty sanitation system. You want to smile and enjoy the sun and the food…
The Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid was a fun piece to read. By beginning the piece with a perspective of giving the personalized “you” she takes the reader on a journey through Antigua from the perspective of Antiguan. She allows you to see the positives and negatives about the island and showed you her thoughts about certain events that have influenced the island and its progression. I also like the fact that a certain point she makes the statement that she is from Antigua as if to say “trust me. This is how we think of what has happened here.”
I'm not sure why when I read the title of the piece, I just assumed the writer of it would be a white male talking about ideas of nation and independence. When I realized the narrator was black, I was more interested in learning about his story. It was interesting to hear that he didn't feel like he belonged with white people nor the black community, because he was "born at the bottom." I didn't quite understand his inability to relate to the black community, because the community itself does face hardships everyday, and systematically is near the "bottom" of institutional hierarchies. I liked hearing that he chose to leave America in order to abandon the possibility of becoming "just"…
James Baldwin- The Discovery of what it means to be an American
Baldwin begins this piece with describing the complexity of America. He uses the words of Henry James, “It is a complex fate to be an America”. By the second paragraph he begins to explain why he left America. Baldwin describes how in America people are taught to fight to be important and then flaunt it over others. This reminds me of the survival of the fittest mentality, which is something that Americans constantly use to justify stepping over each other to be someone of status. Unlike Americans, Europeans are rooted in status and the people are fine with that. For instance, he describes how a waiter can b…