Li-Young Lee is a poet who shows his own personal background experiences in his writings. Some of the poems we discussed in class, such as Eating Together, Persimmons, and Eating Alone, have prominent images of his father in them. I believe it can be said that his father was a special person in his life.
After reading about Lee’s childhood, it’s easy to see why most of his poems have the same theme of searching for identity. He was born in Indonesia where they were ridiculed for being Chinese and began a 5 year journey through different countries, eventually settling in the United States. Any child who lives through that is going to have emotional scars, which it is easy to see that Li-Young Lee emptied his emotions into his writings.
Another author that we discussed whose writings relate is Jhumpa Lahiri. She is an Indian American writer who was born in London. Her parents are Bengali, and they later moved to Rhode Island. She has said the she feels a sense of “homelessness” because she is feel ties to all three countries. She even says that "No country is my motherland. I always find myself in exile in whichever country I travel to, that's why I was tempted to write something about those living their lives in exile"
Even though she feels like she is an outsider and doesn’t belong, there are obviously a lot of people who can relate to her and her writings. She has won the Pulitzer Prize for her book, Interpreter of Maladies, as well as many other awards.
Sherman Alexie is a Native American poet who is known for his writings about Reservation life. His poems are self-expression of his personal experiences. One of the required readings of Alexie was the poem "Crow Testament." In summary, it tells the life of the Indians from when the settlers came to America to modern day. It is explained in more detail here. There were other poems that we read of his but what I found even more interesting is watching the interviews with him from the discussion board.
Sherman says that he doesn't allow his books to be available in any eBook form on the Colbert Report. I can sort of understand what he is saying, I like to hold an actual book in my hand, but with today's technology it's hard to compete with that. There are lots of eReaders and people that only read these type books. As far as Alexie is concerned about piracy, I know from experience that an Amazon Kindle will allow you to purchase the book and you may read it as many times as you want (just as a real book). Then you are allowed to share the book with another Kindle user, but the book may only be lent out once, and after 4 days, it goes back to the person who purchased it. In my opinion, the author would be making more money this way because only 2 people are allowed to read the book before it has to be purchased again. A print book can be lent out over and over and over again without having to purchase it or having a certain number of days to read it.
It's no secret. I am a thrift shopper. I buy lots of things from Goodwill and our local thrift store, God's Storehouse. There are always tons and tons of books in these thrift stores for as little as $0.10. Even though these books are cheap, the same ones are always there it seems. For me, a printed book is producing a lot of waste. Not only the waste of the materials to actually print the book, but also the waste of space. With an eReader, you can literally carry hundreds of books with you in your purse. Before the eReader we had to grab a book, some of them heavy, and carry it around with us to read. If we finished the book, we had to wait to start another one until we got another one from home, or even went to the book store and purchased one. Now, we can buy a new book or magazine on the go.
Interesting enough, I found his twitter account, which strikes me as odd since he was so "anti-technology" in the interview. He tweeted on 4/15/13, "E-readers aren't biodegradable & use the same electrical grid as
everything else. Stop calling them more environmental than actual books."
Reading the author Gloria Anzaldua caused quite a controversy during our class time discussion. I think this is the perfect opportunity to give my opinion on the matter.
The reading told us of how she was a "chicana" who was trying to express herself and her heritage by speaking all these different variations of Spanish to her friends, family and other people of Mexican decent, but that it was not accepted in society and so she had to speak English in public.
My opinion: Yes, it would be easier if we all spoke the same language, BUT our ancestors did not all come here speaking English. America is known as the "melting pot." What makes America what everyone desires is that ability to be yourself and it be okay. I realize that apparently our ancestors who spoke Italian, French, Spanish, etc. eventually began to speak English so that they could participate in public events and voice their opinion.
This is where I believe that the Chicana/Chicanos should embrace where they come from, yet adapt to the American culture of speaking English so that they can have a say-so in society. This isn't to say they should forget their culture entirely, I just believe that if you want to live here you should adapt.
But then, I get to the most important part. THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA DOES NOT HAVE AN OFFICIAL LANGUAGE. I repeat, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA DOES NOT HAVE AN OFFICIAL LANGUAGE. Which means to this Chicana, why should she speak English when it isn't the official language? I think that many people are mistaken and believe that the United States does have an official language of English, however, it does not even though the majority of the people speak English (even though spanish is on the rise).
If there is one thing that drives me absolutely insane, it is that you can take a driver's license test in Spanish. Hey, I understand, Spanish is their language and they aren't familiar with English. But how in the WORLD are you going to read the street signs that are written in English if you had to take your driver's license test in Spanish because you couldn't understand English. And how ridiculous would it be if we had to list every language on a street sign. The STOP signs would be the height of light poles and the width of interstate information signs.
For this reason, we should adopt an official language. This doesn't mean that someone who speaks a language other than the official language should be offended, it means that we are setting a common ground for the well being of all Americans.
On a completely different subject, we also discussed Billy Collins and his witty writings. I am not one much for poetry, but Billy's writing style appeases me. He writes in such a sarcastic way that you relate with what he is saying and you want to read more. I love sarcasm. Which is probably why I couldn't help but laugh while watching Billy Collins read his poem "To my favourite 17 year old High School girl."
Even though I was a teenage girl at one point, I think that everyone can relate to that attitude of the modern day "17 year old High School girl." The one that thinks she doesn't have to do anything, and the fact that Billy Collins includes
"you’re fine just being yourself. You’re loved for just being you."
just adds to the hillarity of the whole poem. The point he's trying to make is that they think they don't have to do anything because they are just perfect being themselves.
I'm so glad that "Litany" was pointed out in class. I love that Billy is actually making fun of another person's work by pointing out that it makes absolutely no sense. Even better, the 3 year old that recites this poem! Once you read the poem you can see that Billy is using his sarcasm again to show how ridiculous it is for someone to say all those things to someone. "You are the bread and the knife." How can you be the bread AND the knife? His point is, it just doesn't make sense.
I just keep on looking for more and more of his poems because he has such a dry sense of humor that I can't get enough.
Flannery O'Connor was an American fiction writer, who wrote the short story, "Good Country People." A summary of the story:
A woman takes in a mother and daughter to live at her house. The daughter is disabled and wears a prosthetic leg. She is a very miserable person. She is coaxed into going out with a travel bible salesman, where she plans to seduce him. In a turn of events, he ends up stealing her wooden leg and leaves her stranded in the loft of a barn.
You can read more about her disabilities, which aren't viewed in a normal sense of pity, in a blog here.
I feel like I can relate to this story, not because of the disabilities, but because of the trust message that the story gives us. People are put into our lives daily that should be a "trusting" person when a lot of times they aren't. Just as in the story, a person automatically assumes that a Bible salesman is someone that they can trust. But the story proved that he wasn't when he stole Hulga's leg.
This isn't to say that every Bible salesman is going to steal from you, but the point is that not everyone is who they say they are. I've been saying this for years. I am sometimes called a skeptic because I trust no one until they prove to me they can be trusted. Sometimes I think that this skepticism is a matter of past experiences that have left an impression on me.
Another author that we read some of their work was Jack Kerouac. For me, I hated reading his story because of the way that he writes. His sentences go on and on and on without punctuation. Which for me, is very hard to read and it is something that I am just not accustomed to.
Jack is famous for starting the "Beat movement" during the 50's, which emphasized on drugs, sex and jazz. When he wrote his famous writing, On the Road, which he wrote in 3 weeks about his 7 years on the road, it became what the young people that were following the Beat movement lived by. He was featured on The Steve Allen show with his book.
