Week 16
All I Asking for My Body Dialogue
I liked the ending to the story. After all the sacrificing for family Kiyochan takes a step for himself when he volunteers to go to war. He sees it as the only way he will ever have any freedom. For him to then manufacture his own good luck by figuring out the odds with craps and win seems highly unlikely. However true to form he then sends the money home to pay off the family debt.
This debt started before his birth and grew out of family necessity. It consumed his mother, made his father feel like a failure and changed his brother’s life. These children were at the mercy of the plantation way of life. A life they could not change but had to accept. Their only other choice seemed to be no life at all. They were born into poverty and struggled just to “keep face” it was the fate of the entire family. There was no escape no way out. On page 88 of the text Kiyochan says, “It was like a prison term” he is referring to his plantation life. The cycle he and many others were caught up in. He was working for $2 a day, 6 days a week, eight hours a day and had nothing to show for it. I liked that at the end of the story he seemed to be escaping in some ways the irony of it was that escape he had to volunteer to go to war.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
All I Asking For is My Body, Part II Dialogue
Week 15 dialogue
All I Asking For is My Body Part II
Kiyoshi’s mother has been ill before and now she is ill again. This makes Kiyoshi worry. While his father goes out fishing it is Kiyoshi’s job to look after his mother and the younger children. He has an older brother, but this is his job. Kiyoshi gets Obaban for his mother when she is doing poorly. Obaban tends to his mother and seems to be the only one who can lift her spirits. Kiyoshi’s mother is very superstitious and tells him how she is the one who brings bad luck to their family. She says that she feels she will die young. She also tells Kiyoshi that you could be punished if a close relative had done something bad, she could be a substitute and that might be why she feels so ill.
Obaban explains the concept of bachi to Kiyoshi. It is the punishment for doing something bad and getting away with it. She tells him that if his mother can find a substitute for her bad luck she might be freed from it. Soon after she visits Kiyoshi's mother Obaban dies and they all go to the service. Afterward Kiyoshi’s mother seems to feel better so Kiyoshi thinks that maybe Obaban was her substitute and now his own mother will be spared. While he did not want Obaban to die he wants his mother to live more.
All I Asking For is My Body Part II
Kiyoshi’s mother has been ill before and now she is ill again. This makes Kiyoshi worry. While his father goes out fishing it is Kiyoshi’s job to look after his mother and the younger children. He has an older brother, but this is his job. Kiyoshi gets Obaban for his mother when she is doing poorly. Obaban tends to his mother and seems to be the only one who can lift her spirits. Kiyoshi’s mother is very superstitious and tells him how she is the one who brings bad luck to their family. She says that she feels she will die young. She also tells Kiyoshi that you could be punished if a close relative had done something bad, she could be a substitute and that might be why she feels so ill.
Obaban explains the concept of bachi to Kiyoshi. It is the punishment for doing something bad and getting away with it. She tells him that if his mother can find a substitute for her bad luck she might be freed from it. Soon after she visits Kiyoshi's mother Obaban dies and they all go to the service. Afterward Kiyoshi’s mother seems to feel better so Kiyoshi thinks that maybe Obaban was her substitute and now his own mother will be spared. While he did not want Obaban to die he wants his mother to live more.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Rules for Writers Chapter 37
Rules for Writers
Chapter 37: Quotation marks.
Quotation marks are another area where grammar checkers are not always helpful. Quotation marks are needed to enclose a direct quote. A writer can also set off a long quotation, for example poetry by indenting. Quotation marks are used around titles of short works, newspaper and magazine articles, poems, short stories, and songs, episodes of television and radio programs and chapters or subdivisions of books.
When using quotation marks periods and commas are placed inside the quotation marks as are colons, semicolons, questions marks and exclamation points.
After a formal quote is introduced a colon is appropriate. If a quotation is introduced by he said or she said or if it is at the beginning of a sentence a comma is needed.
Common misuses of quotation marks to be avoided include using them to draw attention to slang, indirect quotations or the title of your own essay.
Grammar and punctuation can turn a reader off when used incorrectly; your point can be lost entirely this way. These are things I still struggle with my writing.
Chapter 37: Quotation marks.
Quotation marks are another area where grammar checkers are not always helpful. Quotation marks are needed to enclose a direct quote. A writer can also set off a long quotation, for example poetry by indenting. Quotation marks are used around titles of short works, newspaper and magazine articles, poems, short stories, and songs, episodes of television and radio programs and chapters or subdivisions of books.
When using quotation marks periods and commas are placed inside the quotation marks as are colons, semicolons, questions marks and exclamation points.
After a formal quote is introduced a colon is appropriate. If a quotation is introduced by he said or she said or if it is at the beginning of a sentence a comma is needed.
Common misuses of quotation marks to be avoided include using them to draw attention to slang, indirect quotations or the title of your own essay.
Grammar and punctuation can turn a reader off when used incorrectly; your point can be lost entirely this way. These are things I still struggle with my writing.
All I Asking For is My Body Part I Dialouge
Makot is a boy who has to buy friendship. He has been made fun of by the boys his own age and so he befriends the younger boys. To help assure that they will be his friends he buys them treats and takes them to the movies. Makot also takes them to his house when his parents are not home and shares food with them. When the younger boys do not give in to his way of thinking Makot pouts until they do. He withholds the favors he gives them unless they go along with what he wants.
In the story Makot’s family is the only Japanese family that lives in the Filipino camp. His parents are not like the boys parents that he plays with. Makot’s father owned a Model T unlike any of the other Japanese dads and does not appear to work. He also never spoke to the children. Makot’s mother dressed in a kimono and wore white powder on her face and red paint on her cheeks. His mother worked all the time. Makot’s friend’s families will not say what is different about Makot’s family but they don’t want their children playing with him.
I think Makot brought his friends home when his parents were not home because he did not want them to meet. When Kiyoshi went to Makot’s house Makot pushed his mother inside not wanting her to talk to his friend. It was as if he was hiding something or was ashamed of his parents. I felt that he was somewhat of a bully to the younger boys. Maybe it was because of the way the older boys treated him. I did not feel sad for him he was able to use the younger boys to get what he needed.
In the story Makot’s family is the only Japanese family that lives in the Filipino camp. His parents are not like the boys parents that he plays with. Makot’s father owned a Model T unlike any of the other Japanese dads and does not appear to work. He also never spoke to the children. Makot’s mother dressed in a kimono and wore white powder on her face and red paint on her cheeks. His mother worked all the time. Makot’s friend’s families will not say what is different about Makot’s family but they don’t want their children playing with him.
I think Makot brought his friends home when his parents were not home because he did not want them to meet. When Kiyoshi went to Makot’s house Makot pushed his mother inside not wanting her to talk to his friend. It was as if he was hiding something or was ashamed of his parents. I felt that he was somewhat of a bully to the younger boys. Maybe it was because of the way the older boys treated him. I did not feel sad for him he was able to use the younger boys to get what he needed.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Veterans Day
Veterans Day I am so proud of my dad and all the men and women who haved served, will serve and are serving to keep us free. This is a day for saying "Thank You" no matter how we feel about wars. Many of us have shared about our families in our writing so I wanted to share this with you too.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Essay Workshop 3
Smoke Signals Essay 3
To forgive someone is the process of letting go of resentment, indignation or anger as a result of a perceived offense, difference or mistake they have made without demanding punishment or restitution. We are taught as children to ask for forgiveness and to forgive those who have harmed us. It’s only when we forgive that we are able to receive forgiveness from ourselves and others. The question is who do we forgive and for what offenses? In “Smoke Signals” Victor travels a path to forgiveness. This path is filled with memories, regrets, realizations and forgiveness.
Memories are tricky things. They are colored by our perception of what occurred, what other people tell us happened and can change over time. Victor’s memories of his early childhood have shaped him into a young man filled with anger and a sense of being treated unfairly. As the story unfolds we find that Victor and Thomas remember their childhood differently. As Thomas and Victor start their journey Victor is filled with memories of his father. Thomas serves as a catalyst, sharing his own version of what he remembers. One of Victor’s first memories is of the fire that took the lives of Thomas’s parents. Thomas sees Victors father as the man who saved him, but Victor sees his father as the man that did not come back for him. It was after the fire that Victor remembers his father changing; he cut his hair and began leaving a little each day.
As the story unfolds Victor begins to remember things, snap shots of his childhood. One of these was a time he shared with his father laughing and teasing that ended with his father hitting him after he spilled beer in the truck. Another was the morning after watching his father and mother drinking when he threw all the remaining beer bottles at his father’s truck. As a young child Victor was fighting against the affects that living with a drinker can have on a child. He was losing faith in his father and becoming withdrawn.
Hurtful words can fill us with regret when we lose someone close to us. Words that are easily said in anger may linger for years causing family members to not bond with one another. Words are powerful things and can sometimes hurt us more than any physical injury. When a child lives with a parent or parents that have a drinking problem they see good times and bad times. Not knowing what to expect at any given time makes them become guarded. One memory that Victor had was of his father asking him who he looked up to. Victor did not answer, thus hurting not only his father but himself. When Victor’s father left the family, although disillusioned, his son pleaded with him not to go.
As the boys travel together Thomas reminds Victor that his father had been leaving for a long time, that he had wanted to disappear long before he actually drove away. As Victor grew older I think that he regretted not doing more with his father. He had let his anger over his father not saving him, but saving Thomas during the fire when they were children, interfere with their relationship. This perceived injustice became Victor’s way of dealing with the feelings he had for his father.
While he headed toward his fathers last residence Victor begins to realize that he has let his family situation color the way he looks at life. Growing up on the reservation where poverty and isolation was an everyday fact of life Victor had become hardened. He told Thomas that Indians needed to be stoic. That they needed to dress a certain way, wear their hair long and loose and look mean so that the white man would respect them. Victor’s mother was a giving woman who accepted help learned from others. After his father left she quit drinking and devoted herself to giving her son a better life. Thomas told Victor that he was unapproachable and that he had cut himself off from his mother long before they started the journey. When the boys started their trip Victor’s mother made him promise to come back to her. It was as if she agreed with Thomas.
After meeting Suzy Victor begins to have some insight into his father’s life. He discovered that his father regretted leaving his family and that he always intended to come back. Suzy told Victor that his father quit drinking and that he was a good and caring friend to her. Victor’s father had told her stories about his son always portraying him as a bigger character then he was. He was proud of his son. Suzy tells Victor that his father told her he had started the fire that took the lives of Thomas’s parents and it was the guilt over that that had made him drink more and leave his family. Suzy encourages Victor to look through his father’s trailer and find closure. When Victor finds an old family photo that his father kept with the word Home written on the back he cuts his own hair out of respect for his father, following the traditions of his culture, and burns down the trailer. Victor realizes that his father loved him and that it was not his fault that he left.
Smoke Signals is a story about the journey that Victor goes on which is filled with memories, regrets, realizations and forgiveness. The road trip that Victor and Thomas went on was a symbolic trip into Victors past. Thomas was a storyteller and through his stories he helped Victor reach out for memories of his father, who he was and what he meant to his son. To forgive an injustice we feel has been done to us is not an easy thing to do. It is, how ever something we need to do more for ourselves then for others. In Smoke Signals Victor needs to forgive his father for not being the one who saved him from the fire, for drinking too much, for hitting him and for leaving. When he is able to let these things go Victor remembers how much he loved his father and that he was loved in return.
With this journey Victor takes the first steps into a new part of his life releasing those old thoughts and hurts that he had carried with him for years. Victor finds the father he longed for and the ability to accept that he could not change things that happened when he was a child. As the journey ends Victor remembers his father, the good and bad things that happened in his childhood and he begins to understand his path. As he releases his father’s ashes into the river he also releases his anger and embraces his loss. At the end of the story Thomas ask, “when do we forgive our fathers and for what.” For Victor to forgive his father and to try to understand the man he was, gave him the opportunity to open his heart and live his own life.
To forgive someone is the process of letting go of resentment, indignation or anger as a result of a perceived offense, difference or mistake they have made without demanding punishment or restitution. We are taught as children to ask for forgiveness and to forgive those who have harmed us. It’s only when we forgive that we are able to receive forgiveness from ourselves and others. The question is who do we forgive and for what offenses? In “Smoke Signals” Victor travels a path to forgiveness. This path is filled with memories, regrets, realizations and forgiveness.
Memories are tricky things. They are colored by our perception of what occurred, what other people tell us happened and can change over time. Victor’s memories of his early childhood have shaped him into a young man filled with anger and a sense of being treated unfairly. As the story unfolds we find that Victor and Thomas remember their childhood differently. As Thomas and Victor start their journey Victor is filled with memories of his father. Thomas serves as a catalyst, sharing his own version of what he remembers. One of Victor’s first memories is of the fire that took the lives of Thomas’s parents. Thomas sees Victors father as the man who saved him, but Victor sees his father as the man that did not come back for him. It was after the fire that Victor remembers his father changing; he cut his hair and began leaving a little each day.
As the story unfolds Victor begins to remember things, snap shots of his childhood. One of these was a time he shared with his father laughing and teasing that ended with his father hitting him after he spilled beer in the truck. Another was the morning after watching his father and mother drinking when he threw all the remaining beer bottles at his father’s truck. As a young child Victor was fighting against the affects that living with a drinker can have on a child. He was losing faith in his father and becoming withdrawn.
Hurtful words can fill us with regret when we lose someone close to us. Words that are easily said in anger may linger for years causing family members to not bond with one another. Words are powerful things and can sometimes hurt us more than any physical injury. When a child lives with a parent or parents that have a drinking problem they see good times and bad times. Not knowing what to expect at any given time makes them become guarded. One memory that Victor had was of his father asking him who he looked up to. Victor did not answer, thus hurting not only his father but himself. When Victor’s father left the family, although disillusioned, his son pleaded with him not to go.
As the boys travel together Thomas reminds Victor that his father had been leaving for a long time, that he had wanted to disappear long before he actually drove away. As Victor grew older I think that he regretted not doing more with his father. He had let his anger over his father not saving him, but saving Thomas during the fire when they were children, interfere with their relationship. This perceived injustice became Victor’s way of dealing with the feelings he had for his father.
While he headed toward his fathers last residence Victor begins to realize that he has let his family situation color the way he looks at life. Growing up on the reservation where poverty and isolation was an everyday fact of life Victor had become hardened. He told Thomas that Indians needed to be stoic. That they needed to dress a certain way, wear their hair long and loose and look mean so that the white man would respect them. Victor’s mother was a giving woman who accepted help learned from others. After his father left she quit drinking and devoted herself to giving her son a better life. Thomas told Victor that he was unapproachable and that he had cut himself off from his mother long before they started the journey. When the boys started their trip Victor’s mother made him promise to come back to her. It was as if she agreed with Thomas.
After meeting Suzy Victor begins to have some insight into his father’s life. He discovered that his father regretted leaving his family and that he always intended to come back. Suzy told Victor that his father quit drinking and that he was a good and caring friend to her. Victor’s father had told her stories about his son always portraying him as a bigger character then he was. He was proud of his son. Suzy tells Victor that his father told her he had started the fire that took the lives of Thomas’s parents and it was the guilt over that that had made him drink more and leave his family. Suzy encourages Victor to look through his father’s trailer and find closure. When Victor finds an old family photo that his father kept with the word Home written on the back he cuts his own hair out of respect for his father, following the traditions of his culture, and burns down the trailer. Victor realizes that his father loved him and that it was not his fault that he left.
Smoke Signals is a story about the journey that Victor goes on which is filled with memories, regrets, realizations and forgiveness. The road trip that Victor and Thomas went on was a symbolic trip into Victors past. Thomas was a storyteller and through his stories he helped Victor reach out for memories of his father, who he was and what he meant to his son. To forgive an injustice we feel has been done to us is not an easy thing to do. It is, how ever something we need to do more for ourselves then for others. In Smoke Signals Victor needs to forgive his father for not being the one who saved him from the fire, for drinking too much, for hitting him and for leaving. When he is able to let these things go Victor remembers how much he loved his father and that he was loved in return.
With this journey Victor takes the first steps into a new part of his life releasing those old thoughts and hurts that he had carried with him for years. Victor finds the father he longed for and the ability to accept that he could not change things that happened when he was a child. As the journey ends Victor remembers his father, the good and bad things that happened in his childhood and he begins to understand his path. As he releases his father’s ashes into the river he also releases his anger and embraces his loss. At the end of the story Thomas ask, “when do we forgive our fathers and for what.” For Victor to forgive his father and to try to understand the man he was, gave him the opportunity to open his heart and live his own life.
Writing About Film
Writing about Film
When viewing a film we need to remind ourselves to be active listeners not passive. When professors ask you to view a film you need to take note of the way the camera moves, the composition within the frames and how the film was edited. The question to ask is how do these things function together? When looking at film you need to ask yourself when it was made, how it was made and by whom. When writing about a film it is important to remember you are not writing a review.
There are different kinds of papers written about films. They include a formal analysis; breaking the film down into parts and discussing them, a film history paper; a historical type document, ideological film papers; films that promote some set of beliefs and cultural studies or national cinemas papers; films that reflect cultures and nations.
There are steps to take when you are writing about film, first you view the film and observe its content and features. Second taking notes or annotating scenes helps you keep track of the sequence of the film. Some questions to ask yourself might include who made the film, what is the production history of the film, what can you learn from the films genre, does the film reflect a culture and what do critics say about the film?
When you begin to write about the film it is important to have a strong thesis statement, to have clear paragraphs which support your thesis and to check your grammar. If you use sources it is important to cite them correctly. Some things to avoid when writing about a film are just summarizing the film, just looking at camera angles or editing techniques, limiting your discussion of the plot and characters and using “I” to much.
When viewing a film we need to remind ourselves to be active listeners not passive. When professors ask you to view a film you need to take note of the way the camera moves, the composition within the frames and how the film was edited. The question to ask is how do these things function together? When looking at film you need to ask yourself when it was made, how it was made and by whom. When writing about a film it is important to remember you are not writing a review.
There are different kinds of papers written about films. They include a formal analysis; breaking the film down into parts and discussing them, a film history paper; a historical type document, ideological film papers; films that promote some set of beliefs and cultural studies or national cinemas papers; films that reflect cultures and nations.
There are steps to take when you are writing about film, first you view the film and observe its content and features. Second taking notes or annotating scenes helps you keep track of the sequence of the film. Some questions to ask yourself might include who made the film, what is the production history of the film, what can you learn from the films genre, does the film reflect a culture and what do critics say about the film?
When you begin to write about the film it is important to have a strong thesis statement, to have clear paragraphs which support your thesis and to check your grammar. If you use sources it is important to cite them correctly. Some things to avoid when writing about a film are just summarizing the film, just looking at camera angles or editing techniques, limiting your discussion of the plot and characters and using “I” to much.
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