Reflections

Compendium Video

The topic I am going to do my research on is Feminism or the Feminist Movement. In Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” the handmaids are strictly used for their ovaries. The wives are sterile, unable to bear children, so they are also abused in that they are made to accept the handmaids as surrogates. Their reproductive rights were taken away. All these women are oppressed, essentially second class citizens. They have no rights. The male dominant government controlled them in every way. The handmaids were not allowed to read, or even move about town freely.
“The feminist movement (also known as the Women's Movement, Women's Liberation, or Women's Lib) refers to a series of campaigns for reforms on issues such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, voting rights, sexual harassment, and sexual violence. The goals of the movement vary from country to country, e.g. opposition to female genital cutting in Sudan, or to the glass ceiling in Western countries.
The movement's history has gone through three waves, beginning in the 18th century. The First-wave was oriented around the station of middle or upper-class white women, and involved suffrage and political equality. Second-wave feminism attempted to further combat social and cultural inequalities. Third-wave feminism was a reaction to and continuation from the second-wave, taking a post-structuralist analysis of femininity to argue that there is in fact no all-encompassing single feminist idea. It set itself against essentialist definitions of femininity, which assume a universal female identity, instead emphasizing discursive power and the ambiguity of gender. Third-wave theory incorporates elements of queer theory, anti-racism, and other hallmarks of modern progressivism.
The feminist movement has brought a sweeping variety of social and cultural change, its impact touching familial relations, religion, the place of women in society, gendered language, and relationships between men and women.”
“In his 1869 essay The Subjection of Women the English philosopher and political theorist John Stuart Mill described the situation for women in Britain as follows:
"We are continually told that civilization and Christianity have restored to the woman her just rights. Meanwhile the wife is the actual bondservant of her husband; no less so, as far as the legal obligation goes, than slaves commonly so called."
During the 1800s women in the United States and Britain began to challenge laws that denied them the right to their property once they married. Under the common law doctrine of coverture husbands gained control of their wives' real estate and wages. Beginning in the 1840s, state legislatures in the United States and the British Parliament began passing statutes that protected women's property from their husbands and their husbands' creditors. These laws were known as the Married Women's Property Acts. Courts in the nineteenth-century United States also continued to require privy examinations of married women who sold their property. A privy examination was a practice in which a married woman who wished to sell her property had to be separately examined by a judge or justice of the peace outside of the presence of her husband and asked if her husband was pressuring her into signing the document.”
I chose this topic, because I am a woman and I believe strongly in women’s rights. Atwood’s portrayal of women is her novel touched me in that I am opposed to treating anyone in this manner, especially women.
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal of womens_history/v012/12.2braukman.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_rights
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminist_movement http://womenshistory.about.com/od/marriedwomensproperty/a/property_1848ny.htm http://www.umd.umich.edu/casl/hum/eng/classes/434/geweb/PROPERTY.htm
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/366305/Married-Womens-Property-Acts http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Subjection_of_Women
Mill, John Stuart, The Subjection of Women. Dover Thrift Editions. 1869 (1997).

A Good Reader

What does Nabokov think makes a good reader?
1. The reader should have imagination.
2. The reader should have memory.
3. The reader should have a dictionary.
4. The reader should have some artistic sense.
Do you agree? Yes, I do agree.
What do you believe are the characteristics of a good reader?
I think the most important thing is to have an imagination. Having memory is good, however I don’t think it is necessary to be a good reader. You can always go back if you don’t remember a particular passage or paragraph and reread it. Time, is a big one for me. One should have time to devote to and concentrate on while reading. I think a dictionary is very important in the event that you don’t know what a particular word means you can look it up. However, in the age of the internet, it’s not as necessary, one could just Google it. I do believe a good reader should have some artistic sense. I think as humans we all have imagination and artistic sense on some level. I like the idea of feeling with the spine. If I am reading a book, I like to really think deeply about what the author is trying to portray. Even if I don’t agree with his or her point of view, I try to keep an open mind and really think about the story that is being told.
Do you consider yourself a good reader? Yes, I consider myself a good reader. I am a busy person, so I don’t get to read for pleasure as much as I would like to. But I read every day, mostly for research in my work. But I do have an imagination, concentration when necessary and I think I have some artistic sense. I think I was a better reader when I was younger, mostly because I spent most summers reading and at the library. I really enjoy reading for pleasure.
http://www.gailborden.info/m/

Daffodils

Daffodils.

I picked this poem, because I like daffodils. They are one of my favorite flowers. At the same time I can relate to the feeling that we should protect our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In Ostrikers’ poem “Daffodils,” she states, “Don’t you think it is our business to defend it,” (lines 33-34). I am grateful for our troops, who protect us so that we can enjoy the simple things in life, like the daffodils. Too often, we take for granted our freedoms here in America. Our service men and women give up so much so that we can enjoy life without really worrying too much about our security. What do we give them in return? Not nearly enough.
Spring time brings the daffodils! I love spring, it’s a time for renewal, and this makes me happy. It’s a time when we throw out the old to make room for the new. “With their outstretched arms and ruffled cups/ blowing in the wind” (lines 3-4). “Look at this light, and color, a splash of brilliant yellow” (lines 27-28). These quotes are good descriptions that made me imagine the beautiful little daffodil. I think they do look like they dance.
We are sometimes so busy complaining. “Life is hard,” “but better than the alternatives/” are those little daffodils (lines 25-26). Yes, life is hard. But if you really think about it we are truly blessed to be living in a free country. So many people don’t have the same rights or opportunities. As bad as war is, sometimes it’s necessary. Sometimes there are good things that come as a result of war, like change and freedom for people who are less fortunate that we are. Many of those who have been oppressed are grateful for their new freedoms. It is unfortunate that people have to die for freedom, but it is the way of the world. It’s been going on for centuries. This poem just helped me to remember to be grateful for every day. We should not complain so much, we should be grateful for all that we have and the people who make it possible. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War

Poetry of Witness

Compendium of Lost Objects.

I can really relate to this poem. It touches me in ways none of the others could. I was born in New Orleans, and if you’ve ever been there, you could somehow relate to the poem too. New Orleans is a fascinating city. The old buildings, the French Quarter, the many wonderful restaurants, but mostly the culture and the wonderful people of New Orleans will stay with you always. There is a phrase that is often used, “Le Bon Ton Roule,” which translated means “let the good times roll.” This city was alive always. For instance, when people die, they have Jazz funerals. It’s a celebration of the person’s life. Yes, it’s really sad when someone dies, but in our culture, we believe that the “Saints go marching on!” So it’s a ritual to send them along with a celebration.
The entire country was touched by what happened there, and it is still in the back of my mind. It was a very sad time for me and my family. The images from the Superdome which housed so many displaced New Orleans residents, was incomprehensible.
I’m sure the author feels hurt by all that was lost that day, but more profound what she sees and describes in her poem, really rings true. In Cooley’s poem “Compendium of Lost Objects” some of the things described in her poem, like “the pink-shuttered house on the streetcar line/” (line 9), really hits home, because I know where this is. It is uptown where there are old historic homes that were so beautiful, you would never forget them if you saw them. The houses in this area have at least three levels that feature lots of windows with shutters. “The parks Live Oaks” there are many parks there and lots of large old oak trees, made for lovely picnics and family gatherings. (line 7)
The images of people displaced, were heart-wrenching. It was devastating to hear that this hurricane crushed my birthplace. Even though there is a lot of rebuilding, it will never be the same. http://www.neworleansonline.com/architecture;
http://www.neworleansonline.com/cemetaries; http://www.neworleansonline.com/festivals; www.nola.com/katrina; www.poemoftheweek.org/id241.html