my death penalty presentaion link

https://www.facebook.com/tyree.williams.1232/videos/487230491447993/?pnref=story

If you would like to see my death penalty presentation click the link above.

Last day of class

Thanks professor Tailbird for an amazing semester! I really enjoyed taking your class because of your teaching methods. It really tested me, by having to write essays every 2 weeks. I didn't think I would be able to do it at first. 

What is one thing we have read in our class that stood out to you the most?

Death at the door

Carlos did not deserve to die we have there is no one to blame but the system but we can also he was just at the wrong place wrong time

At the Door of Death

Another reason why the death penalty must be improved.

Final Posts

For this final week of the blog, I would like you to respond to your classmates' readings. Which did you like best and why?

You may also use this forum to reflect on what you've learned in the class this term. How has 101 affected your writing and/or reading skills? In what ways have you learned to think differently? What was new for you this term? And what do you hope to continue working on as you transition to ENGL 102? 

Essay Prompt

In Death of Innocence, Sister Helen is sculpted by the cruelty of Death Penalty. In Best American Essays, narrators are sculpted after certain events. How does ideas and events shape our lives?

Post Death Penalty Debate POV Opinion

It was interesting to hear what both sides had to say about the death penalty and how some took this topic more serious than others. The simple attendance of this debate from the start of class had educated me partially on this topic, away from the simple inhumane argument.

However one subject that wasn't brought up in this debate was; the death penalty is another way for fate to claim lives. What I'm saying in my opinion is how the death penalty is similar to dying in other ways; fate controls the situation in determining the outcome. Determining a person to live is by chance; to continue to live or start over somewhere else where their actual real life is. Like for instance, there are three chances for an outcome after a life threatening event. 1/3rd chance is to be killed off and the other 2/3rd chance is to continue living without injury, the latter is sustaining a random injury (ranging from a scar to possibly a severe injury that will permanently affect the individual's daily life) and lets the individual to choose one of the two aforementioned options by them-self. Why do some live past 100 years old while some die too early? The same applies to natural illnesses, some can survive while some pass away. As well as accidents; some people have been known to survive the impossible and get away as if nothing happened (various recorded footage that were Real). Others, not so much...

Sister Helen mentioned how there was a petition(?) in Italy that led the pope and a million civilians to forcefully prevent someone from being executed via the death penalty in the U.S.. This relates to my statement as this could have been performed to other victims as well, but why did it only happened to only ONE person? 

By the way, what IS the difference in executing a dangerous wild animal that has claimed the lives of humans while our kind can essentially perform the same thing, but can dodge the scythe of Death more easily (e.g. put in confinement rather than executed)? I've recently found an article regarding to kill off a sole predatory creature that was responsible for the death of humans. There was an infamous case involving a huge crocodile in Burundi (Gustave) racking its kill count of humans up to 300 in 2008 that possibly still lives to this day. The team that were sent to capture and conserve this creature had spent 15 years. To be unsuccessful... Brady Barr who was within that team had stated and pointed out: "People have to get their water, do their laundry, fish for a living," says Barr. "If a croc does take a person, villagers may slaughter a few crocs after an attack—enough to feel as if they've done something—and then they go back to doing what they have to do." Had they focus on weapons than snares and traps, guaranteed there would be less innocent lives from both sides becoming a statistic. Like the infamous Panar leopard of Northern India, it's fate was to die because of Jim Corbett's wild bullet in 1910 after killing and mostly eating 410 humans. And another pair whom which were both gun downed by the same hunter after sharing 500 kills between them.

This also applies to other predators such as lions, tigers, alligators, cougars, and even sharks (in fact, the Jaws movie was inspired by a 1916 case involving a SINGLE huge shark). Same could be applied for humans, disregarding the media's idiotic love for spreading propaganda and exaggerating inaccurate sugar coated information. People tend to attack and censor innocent people that relate to attacks by individuals of the same group, feeling that they would become more safe by doing so because anyone they see who fits the group could either be the culprit or a servant. More so if the leader of a corrupted group was to remain alive in jail instead of being dead.

  

Source:

Landers, Jackson. "When AnimalsAttack, We Must Kill Them." Slate. N.p., 11 July 2012.Web. 07 Dec. 2015.  

Film

Today's film was interesting how Carlos DeLuna's sister was making a point that her brother was injected with an injection that was "too harsh", when Mr. Pickett said that he had asked a center for veterinarians and said they don't even use to injections for animals because they are too harsh, that why would they use it on humans? This scene caught my attention

DNA testing

Professor. Talbird asked a question in class, I was not able to post it

How does this excerpt support or challenge your views on the death penalty?

"DNA testing proved that inoccent people were being sentenced to death, this prompted a grassnotes re examination oof capital punishment"

DNA should be tested multiple times and explained rather than convicting people right away for death penalty.

Readings

We will  have class readings on 12/14  during class time. Everyone will read some of their own writing. You can read something you’ve written for ENGL 101 or some other writing (poem, story, etc.) of which you feel proud. You may read an entire piece or just a portion.

Please prepare for this activity. Don’t rush. Read slowly and clearly. Project. Show pride in your work by practicing your reading at least once in advance.

Arbitrariness

Knowing that there is a high level of arbitrariness in the death penalty, would you guys still support it knowing that a close friend or relative was a victim to a murder and his assailant got life in prison instead of the death penalty?

At the Death House Door

This week, I'd like you to blog about the documentary At the Death House Door (Dir. Peter Gilbert, 2008). This doc examines the death penalty in Texas, as you know, the state that has executed the largest number of prisoners by far since the reinstatement of the dp in 1976. There are two main characters in this film, Carroll Pickett, a retired death house minister who archived a series of audio tapes about his reactions to the executions he witnessed, and Carlos DeLuna, an executed convict who was tried, sentenced, and put to death under suspicious circumstances.

I'd like you to write about how you reacted to this film. What emotions? What did it do to your thoughts on the death penalty? What place does race play in this story? Faith?

Debate!

The death penalty debate in class on Wednesday was definitely interesting. It really showed me how passionate some of my classmates were about the topic of the death penalty. It also prepared me for future courses I will take in college such as speech class, because I will have to present in front of the class. 

Death Penalty

I think we need to do this again professor before the semester ends a rematch 30 minutes and that's it.

Free write

In the last chapter of the death of innocents sister Helen mentions the statics of the death penalty. It's really great that the death penalty has declined. Hopefully soon they will be able to get rid of the death penalty for good. 

In class writing

Well considering the fact the the man was accused and sentenced for committing an act of rape that he never committed is surely supports my view of the death penalty. I believe that he was wrongly killed. Many innocent people were dying because of no DNA testing. Now that we have the DNA testing it's easier to catch the correct criminal. But that also brings up problems because we can now review old cases of death row inmates and find there deaths in vein.

How does this excerpt support or challenge your views on the death penalty?

As you can see a weak legal system causes the release of very dangerous people because too many innocent reconstructing the legal system and capital punishment should be a top priority.

This exerpt challenges the death penalty completely. "DNA provided the first tangible evidence that the criminal justice system was seriously flawed." Innocent people were convicted and sentenced to death so many times. Appeals are supposed to give those who have been wrongly convicted a chance to prove their innocence or the faultiness of their trial. These appeal courts are often so biased that there is never really any real chance of an overturn.

Interesting Link

This link has all sorts of facts about the death penalty. One particular interesting thing I picked up was majority of the executions seem to be occurring in the south.

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/FactSheet.pdf

Our Views On What is Right and Wrong?

I feel like our morals are shaped by our societies, and the time we were raised in. Societies are what we grow up in. Societies shape our views and influence us more than we know. Different areas in the world have different views. Morals do change over time. The code of hammurabi was strict code that we would hardly find now a days. In that matter, most punishments that the code gave evolved with time. If that same society lived in this time, would they have embraced the same code today?

Death penalty

This article refers to the statistics of death penalty done on the innocent :

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5228854

Death penalty

Here's a link that refers to religion and the death penalty : 

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php%3Fdid%3D2249

The death of innocents

I find it weird how Supreme Court Judge Scalia is Catholic but has such views about the death penalty. You would expect someone who is religious to have more compassion and not be so cold hearted. 

Debate on 12/02

We'll have one more class, 11/30, to prepare for the debate. I realized that I forgot to upload directions for the debate to Blackboard. That problem has been rectified. I'll also have handouts in class. In addition to discussion Prejean, you may use this space to discuss strategies or questions you may have about the debate. Although I won't give you a letter grade for the debate, I will add your participation on this project into you in-class participation final grade. I'll also allow you to comment on the debate, and about the stand-out contributions from your classmates here on the blog.

Tomorrow's Class

Hi all:

For those of you who weren’t in class yesterday: I’ve canceled tomorrow’s class (11/25) since it’s so close to Thanksgiving. I’ll be here nonetheless if you want to turn in Assignment #4 in my office, H428. (I’ll be here until about 2:30.) If you prefer, you may turn in your assignment to me via email. Although you may turn in Assignment #4 up until 12/14, you must turn Assignment #4 in tomorrow if you want a chance to rewrite.

Have a happy Thanksgiving.

Best,

jt

Legal Murder of Innocent Lives

Let us say that somebody gets sentenced to state execution and then later on, they were proven innocent. Would a legal case be sown up accusing the government of murder? What would be the repercussions if someone related were to somehow purse a legal case accusing the government of murder? Who would face the consequences? What would be the consequences?

Cases of Extreme Gravity

In The Death of Innocents, Sister Helen goes on at some length about how the Catholic church dropped the words from the Catechism "not excluding, in cases of extreme gravity, the death penalty" (129-130). She argues that since the Catholic church has dropped that qualifier that they're essentially saying that governments shouldn't make exceptions for executions, not for killers of police officers, children, a room full of people (or a concert hall, i.e. Paris last Friday), or terrorists such as Osama bin Laden (who was still alive when this book was published). What do you think about this argument? Why is it not okay to make exceptions for particularly heinous murders?

Use the blog this week to get caught up. It seems like a lot of you hadn't read the chapter on Joseph O'Dell. Please do so. I have been haunted by this chapter. Look at the very end, the email from the "jailhouse snitch" Steven Watson who confessed that he lied about O'Dell's confession (and about how he said that he was threatened w/ 10 years of jail for contempt of course if he recanted his original testimony). Or the fact that the state of VA destroyed the evidence before the defense could get it DNA tested. What is your reaction to this sad story?

Cost of death penalty

I was so so curious so i searched this up.

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/costs-death-penalty

Death penalty

http://news.yahoo.com/u-death-penalties-executions-slow-capital-punishment-squeezed-140212521.html

I will also be getting those rewrites in

I want to thank you again professor for bringing us to the writing center again it has really helped me with my paper seeing how this is so helpful we should go as a class weekly

Topic

I have decided to do Essay #4: Public and private based on abortion. Do you guys think this is a good topic? how do you guys feel about this? are you a supporter or opponent of abortion?. Write a few comments please, this would help me with ideas on my paper.
- Thank you

Death penalty

I'm against death penalty. I think people put on death row are there obviously because they have done a terrible crime. I feel they should not be on death row because from there they die at one shot. Making them stay in jail the rest of their lives would be the best thing so they can learn to suffer just like the people they did the crime on.  Victims of these crimes are humans as well. They might have died either for a reason or no reason at all, like for example; rape and getting killed for "no proof". Every human deserves to live, thats why we were born. But these people comitting crimes should learn their lesson in jail for the rest of their lives, beacuse even though they are put for a life sentence, they know they are not coming out for the rest of their lives, so they might want to die. The government shouldn't allow this.

Death of innocents

I'm reading the first 53 pages over agin to re fresh my memory and I really do feel bad for Williams. It's sad that he's not giving a fair  jury. It's sad that his life is being chosen by a room full of whites when it should be filled with some of his peers. It's sad that even though there's very little evidence that it could be him he's still getting blamed maybe because of his race. 

Research paper

For our last assignment I decided to do death with dignity. Which is when a person who is terminally ill has the decision to end their own life. How do you guys feel about this topic ? Do you think someone should have this option why or why not ? 

Ironic Legal System

I remember in Death of Innocence, Sister Prejean said that the court cared a lot about protocol. I think it was O'Dell who got rejected because he did wrote Notice instead of another word that was similar and his document was rejected. But the DA had violated protocol throughout the case and they were excused.They even lost the tape, and the idea of protocol had gone down the drain.

Professor are you against death penalty or not?

Did you guys know that the death penalty costs A LOT because of the legal process

In death of innocents I just kept thinking the husband killed his wife throughout everything yet these people were so racist that they couldn't let themselves think that maybe Dobie didn't do it or maybe they just wanted to cover it up so badly

I've noticed that police brutality is a big topic in our writing assignments

I really hope I get an A so I've decided to post on blogger every single second of my life, while I eat, while I sleep, while I walk, while I shower.. I'm determined.

Legal System

The legal system is supposed to bring justice into situations where a party was wronged. In chapter one of Death of Innocence, Sister Prejean says that the system cared more about protocol than they did about justice. And throughout chapter one, Sister Prejean shows how seeking justice was disrespected by the prosecutor. I feel like that idea is not inclusive to only the book.

Dead Man Walking

I felt that in The Dead Man Walking, Matthew, deserved what he got. He was proud that he killed and raped someone and he was too proud to let himself break. Eventually he broke at the face of death he broke his pride thanks to Sister Helen.

Dead Man Walking

This film made me feel different emotions throughout the entire length. It first began with the sister Helen and Matthew first meeting and already he had a bad impression on me. After learning about what he was guilty for I then agreed that prison is the right place for him to be for the rest of his life at most. But he is in fact on death row (p.s. I am completely against the death penalty). As time passes between the two interacting, I started to feel that maybe Matthew is completely guily. I mean that in a sense that he isn't guilty for the murders or rape, just for being an accomplice. I started hoping that somehow, he would be found innocent of the accused crime and be removed from death row. I felt really emotional when Helen began singing to Matthew because it was already too late for him. But then the most shocking scene for me was him admitting to killing the boy and raping the girl...I was just shattered knowing that he infact did commit a murder and rape the poor girl..he sure had me fooled....... Just thought that this aspect of the movie was very powerful for me.
(Still doesn't change the fact that I was against the death penalty on him)
(It's as if the government stoops down to his level and commits a murder themselves)

The Death of Innocents

We won't be able to discuss DOI this week since we're meeting in the library, but I'd like us to start discussing it here. Let's talk about Dobie Gillis Williams' case as Sister Helen describes it. Do you see any flaws in the way justice was carried out in this case? Sister Helen clearly does, but maybe you don't agree w/ her on some points. Here is a good place to start these conversations.

A big issue in this first chapter is the fact that many black defendants (like Dobie)--esp. those who are indigent (don't have the $ to afford a good lawyer)--are not tried by a jury of their peers (i.e. the entire jury is white). Coincidentally, there are two editorials in today's NY Times about this very issue. Check them out:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/02/opinion/excluding-blacks-from-juries.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region

and

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/02/opinion/how-america-tolerates-racism-in-jury-selection.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region

Dead Man Walking

Also, I knew that nuns are not allowed to be married or intimate with a man. It was insightful to see the kickoff scene where all the nuns were in their white dresses. This was them marrying God and committing to be of service to Him for life? Right? Correct me if I'm wrong. That's how I saw it.

Dead Man Walking

I find it Sister Helen to be a very interesting character in this film. It was strange to me that she found herself becoming so close to this man. This man who raped and murdered. In a way, he is everything she is not. He is racist, and cold-hearted at most times. He couldn't even admit what he had done until the day of his execution. He repeatedly said things like "I ain't gonna beg" and "I ain't gonna kiss nobody's ass." But pretty much does the opposite when he's in court and trying to get out of the death penalty. He also says things like "we both live with the poor" and he talked about his father giving him beer from age 12 and it's hard not to feel the least bit bad for him. But then he goes back talking about being a nazi and can't decide if it's niggers or lazy people he hates more. I think it's just interesting to watch the bond grow between sister helen and the man, because the relationship is just so wrong from the beginning.

Dead Man Walking

Me and sister Helens views are quite different. If I was in her position, I definitely wouldn't have helped Matthew and stood with him through out the whole time of his trial. He committed crime and rape and I felt like he deserved to stay in jail. However, I do understand that she was attempting to see the good in him, that of which he did have, but it still doesn't change the fact that he did what he did. I did like the way she tried to find the good in him because seeing her do that I was trying to do the same thing while watching the movie. The movie was beyond entertaining and interesting in my opinion and I really enjoyed it. 

Dead Man Walking

I personally think that the death penalty shouldn't be allowed in any state no matter what crime they committed. I think that instead of them being placed into the death penalty, they should just be in jail for life. My point of view is, let's say someone is placed on the death penalty for committing murder. It makes no sense for the state to commit the same exact crime the murderer did and kill them. Instead they should face their consequences for life in jail instead of having to escape the pain by getting killed. If they're in jail for life then they deal with the consequences and feel the actual pain of being in jail for the rest of their lives. 

Two Criminals but one death penalty

Its kinda funny how Poncelet and his buddy both killed the couple but people wanted only Poncelet dead. Throughout the movie, people were only pushing for the death penalty on Poncelet. Its as if they agreed with the legal system and excused Poncelet's buddy because he had a more reasonable lawyer even though they did the same exact crime. I feel as if this happens everywhere and not only in the movie. People sway with their words. As long as it sounds reasonable, it does not have to be true.

Dead man walking

In the film "Dead man walking" I felt very sorry for sister Helen. She was trying to please everyone and it wasn't working out in her favor. She was trying to be Matthews spiritual leader while he was awaiting death and also have a relationship with the victims family. During the movies there's a part when she's in the car and she starts crying about being kicked out one of the victims house. I wonder what was going through her mind then. Did she regret ever deciding to be spiritual leaders for murderers?

  All in all I think it's great what sister Helen is doing. It's great that's she's providing the support one would need while going through such a difficult time in their life. What sister Helen is doing is very brave! She's loosing friendships and respect by doing this. But that didn't stop her.  

the "Me" Component in Subculture Essay

The essay is about a subculture but I have noticed that my group critique peers talk about a seen subculture so there is a lot of the "Me" component in their essays. I am one of the people who talked about a virtual subculture. I was wondering, how much of "Me" would I include in that essay when there's more I have seen than played a part of. I was planning on just explaining why my subculture is a subculture and stuff like that. But I am starting to rethink it.

Dead Man Walking

This week we're going to watch Dead Man Walking, the movie adapted from Sister Helen Prejean's first memoir of the same name. In the film, Sean Penn's character is really a fusion of two men-- Louisiana death row inmates in the 1980s. Susan Sarandon won an academy award for her portrayal of the nun (Penn was nominated but lost to Nicholas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas). The film is a pretty accurate portrayal of the memoir although at this time, historically, Louisiana executed criminals by electric chair and the Sean Penn character is executed by lethal injection. This might be one of the questions you should consider for the blog this week: Why did they change it to lethal injection in the film? Why did they change it in real life?

Sean Penn's character, Matthew Poncelet, is based on two criminals, Elmo Sonnier and Robert Lee Willie, both who were guilty of murder. In her second memoir, The Death of Innocents, which we'll be reading over the course of the semester, she looks at the case of two men who were probably innocent and yet executed anyway. As we watch the film and read the book, I'd like us to think about how these two texts affect our views of the death penalty.

Btw: What are your views of the dp? What are Sister Helen's and how are they different or similar to yours? How are Sister Helen's views dramatized in the film? New York has abolished the dp, but Louisiana, where the film is set, hasn't. Does it matter that 31 states allow the dp and the other 19 do not?

I'm actually thankful for Talbird , by far the only class I like in school

Letters from

I live in the neighborhood of Elmhurst.

"Letters from Elmhurst" to me has a whole different viewpoint from other neighborhoods. I think this because different cultures and ethnicities live in my neighborhood. Everyone has different jobs. Also, i feel where i live everything is close. The stores, malls, train. I like my neighborhood. Also, everyone is very friendly and everyone practices different religions.

Essay interview

My topic was body modification. I did my interview 2 days ago, i was soo scared because i had to go in a scary tattoo shop to ask the person if i could interview him... But he said yes i was happy. lol.  I learned so much than expected and i stepped out of my comfort zone.

In our essay are we supposed to say why it is a subculture?

Im kind of stuck with my essay.. :(

I was scrolling through instagram and seen the page of this girl who went to the burning man festival and she was dressed revealing with lingerie and the background looked like a dessert.

"BAE"

I'm responding to a previous post that was made referring to the novel "BAE" in general. I agree with what you said about it being interesting. This is the type of novel that you could never get bored with  because it provides a different story after every 20 page. For me it's hard staying interested in a novel due to me getting bored quickly. With "BAE" that hasn't happened. Some of the stories are so interesting afterwards it leave me thinking what am I doing with my life ?! Why am I so boring?. Best American Essays is a great read! 

The Devils bait

I find it so crazy/ a little unrealistic how once one person contracted the morgellons disease everyone started thinking they had it. The part that I find unrealistic is when Jamison says that patients would produce fake evidence that they had the disease. I could understand if this was early 90s but it was early 2000s so I would assume that doctors had a lot more technology that could help them with the disease that would ease the patients mind not causing them to freak out over it. 

Subcultures. Well I think if anything our whole class except the proffesor is part of the 90's baby subculture

I think Letters to Greenwich was a good example that people have there own stereotypes

Defining a Subculture

One of the most hardest parts of the essay I faced was defining a subculture and then engineering my essay towards how the subculture I choose was a subculture. I feel that cultures can be broken down into subcultures and then subcultures can be broken down further.Would those broken down branches of a subculture make the subculture a more unifying culture? That is what got to me.

Prob Not Morgellons but..

I have not read the essay fully yet but I was reading, this thought came into my head.  Over the summer, I felt what was described as Morgellons disease. When I would sleep, I felt a crawling sensation that would keep me up at night. I came to the conclusion that it was my skin being super sensitive since I do actually have genetically bad skin. I asked my sister who is currently studying for medical school about this and she, just like the doctors, did not have an explanation but she did tell me to stop taking super hot showers because that made my skin worse. After listening to her advice, I realized that that crawling sensation left.
My question to you guys is that do you think that Morgellons disease is not actually a disease like something is actually causing the skin to become super sensative or it is a disease that doctors have no clue how to diagnose it ?

The Devil's Bait and Burning Man

The two essays this week, I think, are great models of subculture writing. I think we should talk about that, about how both authors, both outsiders of these subcultures, take us inside these communities. Are they sympathetic to the communities or judging or both or neither? How do they situate themselves in relation to their subjects (i.e. what is their ethos)? Part of analyzing their ethos might be imagining them differently. So, for instance, how would Wells Tower's essay be different if he hadn't gone to Burning Man w/ his father but, instead, peers of his? How might Leslie Jamison's essay be different if she went to the Morgellons conference as a fellow sufferer or if she had been a medical doctor who didn't believe it was a real disease? I think both of the subjects could be very exploitive. Morgellons is pretty hideous (try googling it) and Burning Man is lascivious (ditto). And yet both essays, at moments, are moving (and Towers' is often hilarious). Can you explore how the two authors complicate their subject matter?

Letter from Greenwich village

The letter from Greenwich Village is a letter made from a New Yorkers point of view. Since I live in New York as well, I also have kind of a similar perspective. In one section of the Letter from Greenwich Village, she describes the different conversations she hears when roaming down the streets of New York. It was quite odd reading this because before I read this, I always thought the same and listened to people's conversations as well in my neighborhood and on my way to school and realized how different everyone around New York is, but also fairly similar at the same exact time. I personally feel like every New Yorker has kind of a similar mindset but maybe a different kind of way to express themselves. Maybe other people from different states and countries think similar of different. 

Letters from ..

In both Essays the main characters both describe their " love life". In letters in Williamsburg I sorta feel bad for the main character because she seems lost and unaware of the things she does. It's unfortunate that she brought herself into depression by doing things that she know she wouldn't be happy with. In letters from GV although the main character has some type of friendship/relationship with Leonard it still isn't an "ideal" relationship because Leonard always had something negative to say. The difference between Letters from Williamsburg  and Letters from Gv relationships are, Williamsburg is unhappy with her relationships. While GV is content with Leonard, I think she likes being around him because although he can be harsh and negative, hes real she always know's what shes going to get when shes with him.

Okay so i looked up the word ennui and according to dictionary. it means a feeling of utter weariness and discontent resulting form satiety or lack of interest; boredom" So in other words, when Vivian Gornick used this word to describe how undaunted Leonard's disinterest remains in hearing the name Krista K, I think she is showing us how much of an effect his pessimism has on everything she does. It that particular scene, she seems almost tired of his negativity, as it seems that his comments only exacerbate her weariness from reading the book. I found this part of her essay the most interesting because the narrator experiences a sudden change in character after Leonard's little personal moment (i think?) where he states, "I have only known what i don't want. I've always had a thorn in my side, and I've always thought, When this thorn is removed then I'll think about what I want. But then that particular thorn is removed, and I'd be left feeling emptied out. In a short time another thorn would be inserted into my side. Then, once again , all i had to think about was being free of the thorn in my side. I've never had time to think about what i want" I believe that Leonard's testimony kind of shows where Vivian was headed in a way if she was unable to find something to balance that negativity that was always present in each and every on of her thoughts, which goes to show that the essay is about finding that balance in life that will help you to survive from its sometimes depressing outlooks; unlike Leonard, who was stuck in a constant ennui of life, our narrator Vivian was able to find an escape from the depressing undertones that she constantly identified and found a balance that brought peace, stability and understanding as to who she was and wanted to continue to be. That escape for her was the city and her balance was the solace in listening to the many voices that surrounded her as walked around Manhattan.

Formal Writing Assignment

How did you guys plan/structure out your essay on subculture? 

"Letter from..."

Both of the essays this week are written from the perspective of New Yorkers. Is it your perspective? How is it different? How similar? How would "Letter from Bayside (or whatever your neighborhood is)" be different?

How is "Letter from Williamsburg" about faith? How is it about losing faith? Is it both or neither? How is it about depression? What symbol does Dombek use to represent depression? Significance?

Both essays are about sex and relationships. How are they similar? How different?

Formal Writing Assignments

I found that making a structural outline on writing assignments help me build up the essay better. Having a purpose for each paragraph and then ultimately relating it to the assignment helps me develop a better essay. How do you guys start off your essays? Do you just start writing or do you plan a bit ahead?

"How to Make a Slave" in second person

"How to Make a Slave" is told in second person. This affects the reading of the essay because it starts by saying " where your thirteen year old sister sits at the table thumbing through your schoolbook on black history" he doesn't use  "I, we". This affects it because it allows me to experience the story as if it were my own. For example, in the quote above it makes me have past connections when my nieces use to go over my notebooks and even after i didn't let them, they kept on doing it. It makes me reflect more on what i am reading and what is going on.

SlickHeads and How to Make a Slave

There is a connection between Slickheads and How to Make a Slave. Both are about being a black man in America who grew up in tough neighborhoods and then became professors. In Slickheads the narrator says "Sonnt dying like he did definitely motivated me to to finish graduate school and teach at university level. But going to college for eleven years was no doubt the most sterile experience". His friend Sonny's death motivated his further to finish school and become a professor at university level. In "How to Make a Slave" the narrator mentions how his neighborhood was "some people like you, live in communities with drugs, crime, bad schools, police brutality, and the collective view that white people were and will always be racist". Then he says " The ghetto was never an option, But instead move to one that is 96 percent white .. want a  racially diverse, progressive, urban community but instead move to one near Boston that you and your wife land professorships".

Subculture Assignment

I have been having trouble thinking of a subculture and what makes it a subculture but then I stumbled upon this article by Steve Mizrach and it helped me a bit. Specifically the first three paragraphs

Over the past two years, the focus of my research has been focused on youth subcultures in American society. I have been interested in how these subcultures have come into being, and how they maintain their solidarity and cohesiveness. There has been a great deal of research into how these subcultures come into being through organizing around music (Polhemus 1994), fashion and style (Hebidge 1977), drugs (Redhead 1993), and countercultural norms and deviant practices at odds with 'straight' society (Ben-Yehuda 1990). While people have looked at some of the more unusual linguistic aspects of these groups (use of slang, anti-language, jargons, and 'hip talk'), there has been no real effort to look closely at language as a determinant of sociocultural identity. While there have been efforts to look at the interrelations between language, culture, and identity, most of the research in these areas has not looked into the process of language formation and the ways in which existing languages are altered to fit new roles, perceptions, and identities.Ever since Lee, Whorf, Berlin-Kay, et al., did their studies, it has been commonplace to assert that language shapes ones' cultural worldview and thus how they experience the world. However, such analyses have often been static. A culture's language is assumed to be derived from unmediated sensory input from their environment (hence the idea that the Esquimaux have about thirty words for snow, etc.), without any process of invention or creativity. However, what my research with these subcultures has shown is that there is a constant practice of innovation and experimentation involved in language. Further, these subcultures are aware that in rejecting existing linguistic practices, they are also challenging the norms and worldviews that they are supposed to undergird. Language is a realm of conflict , because worldviews are in collision, and irreconcilable differences may exist between the views of 'straight' society and that of the subcultures. Linguistic identity can be oppositional , reflecting what the person rejects and denies as part of their life.
This view of linguistic systems as being fundamentally exploratory and experimental is not new. In physical evolution, we can see throughout the fossil record evidence of organisms trying and 'probing' different developmental pathways through multiple genetic 'drift'. Cognitive science also shows us that the brain, in planning decisions, often runs through scenarios and possibilities, arriving at outcomes through processes of elimination. Language, I suggest, works the same way. Conservative linguists who seek to conserve the propriety of their respective languages, preserving some sort of official canon of standards, misunderstand fundamentally the way in which language works in human cultures. Linguistic innovation is a way of testing 'pathways of development' for linguistic systems, attempting to find vectors which may meet future cultural demands and point the way to new directions of social change. It is a process that has been particularly accelerated by new communications technologies which propagate such innovations all the more rapidly.

Here is the link for the whole article http://www2.fiu.edu/~mizrachs/subcultural-discourse.html

Best American Essays

I feel like the majority of the essays we read in Best American Essays (2014 edition) by John Jeremiah Sullivan are based on experiences that somehow affected the author's life for an incredibly long period of time. Especially in "Thanksgiving in Mongolia" by Aerial Levy and "Sliver of Sky" by Barry Lopez. Both authors had this traumatic experience/s that changed their life forever. I also noticed most of the essays we read have this negative situation that has affected the author's life in some manner. Do you guys think writers or at least most writers are motivated by negative experiences to write? In a way, I see it as writing can be seen as a therapeutical activity so most writers in general write and then advance into the profession later in their adulthood.

Slickheads and How to Make a Slave

Let's make connections between these two essays. Both are about being a black man in America. Both are about young men who grew up in rough neighborhoods and then became professors. What do you think their attitudes are about their lives now?

"How to Make a Slave" is told in second person ("You do this, you do that"). How does this affect your reading of the essay. In fact, both essays are told in an untraditional fashion. "Slickheads" is told in the slang of Lawrence Jackson's youth. What do these quirky approaches to style do for the subject matter? Why not just tell these stories in a straight ahead fashion? Why are they titled the way they are?

Dear Friend, From My Life I Write to You in Your Life

I like how reading this essay was like reading a very personal journal. The way it was written was amazing. It had a lot of great emotions behind it.

The Man at the River

This was actually pretty enjoyable to read. It was all one big awkward situations. From the american's point of view, he was just trying to make sure that his body doesn't get infected with any sort of bacteria, so he didn't want to cross the river. He never went through that river before, so he doesn't know what could possibly be in it. Also, his body isn't as adapted to the new environment, so he is more likely to become sick. He didn't want to embarrass the mutual friend, but he also didn't want to possibly get an infection . So when the mutual friend called the boatman over, he felt like he had no choice but to make a bad impression and rid a boat across the river.

From the mutual's point of view, the American was probably overreacting , after all he's been through that river a bunch of times without getting any sort of sickness, and he didn't to have to go to the village without the guest. Probably because if he went there without the guest then everyone would just assume that he chose not to help a guest, and if he tried to tell everyone what the American told him then the people at the village would probably say to him what he said to the American.

Assignment for Tomorrow

For tomorrow, should we have author's notes attached or a cover letter or both? What's the difference between the two?


Also, 4 pages right? Not including the authors note/cover letter or works cited page.

When were we assigned to interview a proffesor? When is that due?

"Dear Friend, From My Life I Write to You in Your Life"

Here are some questions I have about this essay:

• Why this title?
• Why is it divided up into sections like this?
• What do we learn about the author in this essay?
• How is this essay about immigration? What does the before and after musing in section 1 have to do with this, if anything? 
• Why doesn't Li want to be a dreamer? What does it mean to be one? What is the difference between dreaming and being ambitious? 

What questions do you have? 

The database guide for our class...

Hi all:

Here is the guide that Neera Mohess made for our class:

http://qcc.libguides.com/c.php?g=142667&p=1508434

If you follow the "Using the Library" tab, you will see a link to Neera's email:

Nmohess@qcc.cuny.edu

You should feel free to write her if you have any questions about doing research for this class.

best,

jt

Matter of Life and Death

 Aubrey says “marriage gives you someone to blame.” Aubrey’s statement fits with my own ideas of love and marriage because I was once in love two years ago and any problem I had I would always blame any conflicts I had on him. I strongly agree with Aurbrey’s statement because your company is basically the  only person you’re very close to so in my opinion it is more easy to blame problems on your partner than anyone else. I was also surprised by the reading because usually in marriage stories it is usually positive thoughts, however in this one it was negative usually about how it gets boring after a while. Which is very narrow, direct and truthful words.