Blog Reflection: Another Accomplishment

            As a student of Pittmann’s class, it was my duty this semester to polish my writing skills and become a good blogger. So not only, did I had to write for class, but I also had to write good material for the whole internet world to see. Also, it’s an interactive blog, which means that people can comment and give you feedback about your works. What made the blog more interesting was that it was not simply a copy and paste version of our past works. Instead, we could aggregate photos, videos, gifs, links and customized it as we pleased. In other words, we could give the viewers a taste of our style and personality through multimedia.

             I believe that the blog activity gave every student the chance to be creative and play with the different ways we could make our written works gain more personality. I liked the blog activity because the professor gave us the liberty of choosing the written works that we preferred to publish in it. Therefore, it gave me a chance to evaluate my writing throughout all the semester, and choose the works that I believed represented me better as a writer. The blog also gave me the opportunity to improve my writing skills and confidence. It’s hard to expose your thoughts in the internet because many people can see your works and sometimes be very judgmental about them. Therefore, I had to be extremely open to good and bad criticism at all times.

            In conclusion, by seeing my classmates blogs I got a lot of inspiration and knowledge. Through criticism and seeing other blogs, I improved my blog the best I could. Every new post, felt like a new creation and accomplishment. Finally, after achieving the ten blogs I was very proud of all the things I had learned during the process.

Letter to Oskar- A Multigenre Activity

Explanation:

I decided that as a response to the novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, I could write a letter to Oskar. I chose to write a letter because it’s a multigenre technique that is used in the novel. Therefore, I found it the most appropriate to use in this case. In the letter, I didn’t want to keep talking about his father’s death because I’m sure he has had enough of that already. Instead, I wanted him to feel that he could trust me, which is very important in the human condition. Trust and good relationships are basically what make up a good human condition. Since he didn’t have many friends in school and was a victim of bullying, I wanted to offer myself as a friend. Basically, my letter revolved around him and how he has changed during the years, and what happened to his family after the book ended.

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Dear Oskar:

            First of all, I would like to express my admiration towards you. I’m almost double your age when you were looking for the lock to the key, and at your age I wasn’t even half as smart and determined as you were. Damn! Now you must be brilliant. I wonder if you got that job that you wanted as an assistant.

            With that being said, I wanted to share with you my sympathy towards your situation. I’m no one to tell you that I can imagine what you went through because I haven’t gone through it. I can only tell you that if you ever want to write to someone and vent, you can always write to me. I know that your expedition for the key was a long time ago and now you’re an adult, but I want to know how that experience changed your life. In other words, how that experience has shaped you into the grown man that you must be right now. I imagine you could be a father by now and your father was an outstanding father, so I believe that you can be too.

            I would also love to know how are your grandparents. Did your grandfather finally talked? Did your grandmother finally felt completely loved and not a replacement for Anna? Did your mother made it official with Ron? Have you found love yet? I just realized that I have a lot of questions for you. I know you don’t know me and I’m asking personal questions, but believe me when I say that I’m a huge fan and don’t mean to be rude.

Oskar, at many times I identified with you because a lot of things also make me panicky. Cruises, airplanes, crowded places, natural disasters, death, and germs, among others. I would love to just sit and talk for a whole day with you, I think we have more things in common than you can imagine.

Sincerely,

Sila Avilés

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A song that I always keep close to my heart is “If Today Was Your Last Day” by Nickelback. With Oskar’s story, I couldn’t help but remember it because neither Oskar, his mom, his father, his grandmother or his grandfather thought that Thomas would die from one day to another.  Therefore, it’s important to always live your days as if they were your lasts, and that is what the songs emphasizes.

Reflection on The Autobiography of Jane Pittman (novel and film)

Little and Big Differences

The film and the novel of The Autobiography of Jane Pittman share many resemblances between one another. However, numerous details that the reader enjoys in the novel are absent or altered in the film. First of all, there exists a time difference between the film and the novel because the film starts with a black girl drinking from the white fountain (which happens towards the end of the novel), and the novel starts with an introduction from the editor explaining how he convinced Miss Jane Pittman to do the interview. However, the most important thing that was present in both the film and the novel was the use of autobiographical techniques. Even though in the film and the novel, the editor or interviewer talked in some part of the film or the novel, Jane Pittman was the one who had complete control of the story.

Even though the novel isn’t based on a true life story, since Jane Pittman herself is a primary source because she is talking about things that happened through her life, it’s easier for the audience to believe everything that she says. That is why I think that the author did a good job by using autobiographical techniques and creating a plot that was told during an interview. In that way, nothing can be altered or potentially be exaggerated by other people because the interviewer was writing his story from a primary source. Also, because an autobiography is supposed to be about real things that happened to a person.

Lastly, the greatest and more important changes in the film, in my opinion, were the active and constant role that the editor had and the omission of Tee Bob’s suicide. In the novel, the editor was only present during the introduction; nonetheless, in the film, the editor took one of the lead roles. Furthermore, the film was constantly changing from present to past events; whereas in the

novel, everything was a constant flashback with no interruptions from Jane or the editor. The endings of the novel and the film differed too. The ending of the novel is when Jane wants to join the march even though Jimmy was killed. In the film, when Jane learns about Jimmy’s death, instead of going to the march, she goes to drink to the white people’s fountain.

To conclude, on a macro scale, the film summarized the novel of  The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman in an overall good method with a solid point of view because it was Jane’s point of view (a primary source). However, in a micro scale, the reader and viewer can perceive noticeable differences between both of the works.

*I'll leave you the movie below for if you ever want to watch it.

Reflection on "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" (novel and film)

The Purposes of Letters

Autobiographical techniques in a novel or film, help the audience have a better understanding of the character’s situations and personal thoughts. Through them, the audience can see and understand with facility the situation, and develop own arguments about the situation. Also, the audience can see how the event changed the characters’ personality, ideas, and morals, among others. In my own words, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is the story of how a young boy comes to terms with his father’s death, after the Twin Towers were terribly impacted by two airplanes.  Between the novel and the film of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, I preferred the personal insight that was provided for the reader through the autobiographical and multigenre techniques in the novel.

The reason why I preferred the personal insight that the novel provided was because it demonstrated different points of view. The first point of view presented was Oskar’s, and that can be seen when he says, “I could invent a teakettle that reads in dad’s voice…” (Foer 1). Since the novel is divided between other two points of view, the second to appear in the novel was his grandfather. His grandfather, used letters to express his thoughts, and changed the time setting for the first time. This is seen when he starts his letter by writing “To my unborn child…”; therefore, his letters are directed to Oskar’s father (Foer 16), who in Oskar’s present was already dead. The last point of view presented was of Oskar’s grandmother, and she also used letters to express herself. However, her letters were directed to Oskar, and her first letter started with, “Dear Oskar, I’m writing this to you from the airport” (Foer 75). Eventually, the reader can see that the letters that Oskar’s grandmother wrote, where written in the future when Oskar had already solved his hunt for the lock. Consequently, the point of view of the grandmother, also changed the time frame of the novel.

Like in most situations, the story line of the novel is much more complex and detailed than the film. That is due to the difference in points of view; for example, in the film the only point of view is Oskar’s. The film did have difference in time frames, and they were shown through flashbacks; however, since it only demonstrated Oskar’s point of view, the flashbacks were only of Oskar’s past situations.

Thus, from my perspective, the novel was more successful in giving the reader extensive details of the biography of each character that had a point of view. But, it was appealing that the film gave more importance to the individual life of Oskar and not to the romantic relationship of his grandparents. I believe that not giving specific details about the romantic relationship of Oskar’s grandparents was beneficial. In that way, the audience can focus more on the impact that the act of terrorism towards the Twin Towers had in many of the families affected.

Multigenre techniques were more present throughout all the novel than in the film. In the novel, the most important multigenre technique used was the presence of letters to demonstrate the points of view of Oskar’s paternal grandparents. Incorporating letters in the novel also showed the reader things that the character of Oskar didn’t know about his grandfathers. Not only that, the letters were helpful in showing the different settings such as, Oskar’s present, his grandparents’ house and background history about his grandparents. On the other hand, in the film the letters were incorporated towards the end of the story line and served as a resolution to the story. They served as a resolution because through them, Oskar finally told everyone the outcome of his final expedition and how he felt about it. Also, he finally accepted his father’s death; consequently, his emotional growth is shown. Therefore, it is noted that the multigenre technique that was used in both the film and the novel was the use of letters; however, the letters didn’t serve the same purpose.

Overall, the novel incorporated more biographical details about the characters that had a point of view in the story. Therefore, it gives the reader a chance to look multiple characters in a closer spectrum than in the film. On the other hand, it was effective for the film to use only one point of view because it narrowed the plot. Also, it gave more importance to the specific situation of Oskar and his journey in finding closure with his father’s death. However, both the film and the novel demonstrated the terrible effects that the destruction of the Twin Towers brought upon thousands of people.

*I highly suggest that if you want to know more about the Twin Towers click here.

Timeline on the life of Jane Pittman- A Multigenre Activity

As a response to the novel The Autobiography of Jane Pittman I did a timeline that reflected the most important moments in Jane’s life. While creating the timeline, I discovered amazing things about the character of Jane Pittman. For example, how ironic it was that Jane lacked true parental care when she was young; however, she was the one who at 9 years old had to take care of the white children in the Big House. Also, when slavery was abolished she had to take a maternal role, to take care of Ned. It demonstrates both natural instincts and maturity Jane had to developed at a young age, which later in the novel made her an admirable figure. Another thing that captured my attention was all the loss that Jane had to go through in her long 110 years. First, the loss of her parents, Coronel Brown’s disappearance, Joe’s death, and Ned and Jimmy’s death too. Constantly feeling alone, made her a strong independent woman and a respected figure at the community. Throughout her life, Jane demonstrated to be a very stubborn, outspoken, and carefree person. Additionally, she was fearful and didn’t let white people dictate her fate.  In short, the timeline I created of Jane’s life made me respect her more as a woman and specially as a black woman. I appreciate all the commodities, freedom and flexibility that today’s society has, in comparison to, past decades. Of course, all the liberties mentioned previously are thanks to people like Ned, Jimmy and Jane who fought incessantly until the day they died.

The Autobiography of Jane Pittman- Reflection on Book 4

Fight for Freedom

In Book 4 of The Autobiography of Jane Pittman, by Ernest Gaines, the topic that stood out the most was Jimmy’s decision to become an activist for black people’s civil rights. As with some of the other books, although Jane was present through all of the events, another character took the lead role in the theme of Book 4. In this case, Jimmy took the lead role or as Jane called him, he became the “One”. From my perspective, Jimmy became the savior of all the black community, and Jane supported all his decisions without fear. This is seen when Jane accepted to support and be present in the passive march that Jimmy was promoting in Bayonne. The day of the march, Jane said “I wasn’t scared I might get hurt – when you get to be a hundred and eight or a hundred and nine you forget what scared is . . . (Gaines 241)

Unlike Jane, many black people were scared of the drastic changes that Jimmy wanted to make for the black community. The black people that lived in Samson’s plantation were scared of fighting for their freedom because they knew it would cost them their lives or their commodities (the land Robert Samson lent to them). In Elder Banks’ own words, “All we want to do is live our life quietly as we can peacefully as the Lord will allow us . . . He owns the house we live in . . . And the day he tells us to leave, we got to go . . .” (Gaines 226). Naturally, even though Jimmy’s movement helped future generations, the present generation would have to sacrifice some aspects of their life and Jimmy knew that, and tried to instruct the others in the importance of their sacrifice by saying “Some of us might be killed, some of us definitely going to jail, and some of us might be crippled the rest of our life. But death and jail don’t scare us – . . . but every day we put up with the white man insults they cripple us just a little bit more” (Gaines 226-227).

Not only that, Jimmy’s experience reminded me of when Ned was promoting education for the black community and ended up being murdered. Therefore, through Ned’s experience, any reader can foreshadow Jimmy’s death. In conclusion, Book 4 ended The Autobiography of Jane Pittman with the movement for defending the black community’s civil rights, but in real life it marked just the beginning of equality for the black community.

The Autobiography of Jane Pittman- Reflection on Book 3

More Ignorance and Discrimination

            In Book 3 of The Autobiography of Jane Pittman, by Ernest Gaines, Jane discussed the environment and dynamics in the Robert Samson’s plantation. Three key aspects were emphasized in Book 3, they were: traces of slavery after it was abolished (abuse), class differences (discrimination) and the difficulty in pleasing society’s expectations. Jane was present in all of these themes; however, other characters took the lead roles in the conflicts. Also, all of the key aspects in Book 3 can be summarized in ignorance and discrimination between black, white and Creole people.

           

The event that connected all the key aspects in Book 3 was Tee Bob’s suicide because of his love towards Mary Agnes. Since he was a little boy, Tee Bob didn’t comprehend why people gave such importance to skin color. The first example being, when his brother was removed from the plantation and taken away from him. Also, when he fell in love with Mary Agnes, everyone knew that it would be an impossible love. As Jane remembers, Jules Raynard told Tee Bob that since the girl wasn’t white, loving her in the open was impossible (Gaines 181). Even his best friend disapproved of his love for her, Jimmy Caya saw black women as pleasure, but never love. This belief wasn’t something Jimmy made up, but something that his ancestors taught him. In a way, Jimmy felt that as part of his manhood, he could do with any women (that was not fully white) as he pleased. He clearly states that when he tells Tee Bob “If you want her, you go to that house and take her.” (Gaines 173). In other words, he prohibited Tee Bob from being in a serious relationship with her, but encouraged him into using Mary Agnes as a sexual object. By the disapproval of everyone in Tee Bob’s life, even Mary Agnes, he decided to commit suicide because he didn’t want to be part of a society who prohibited him from being with Mary Agnes, just because of the color of her skin.

            In conclusion, through the relationship between the characters of Mary Agnes and Tee Bob (for example), the reader can perceive the traces of slavery, class differences and the difficultness of pleasing society’s expectations.

The Autobiography of Jane Pittman- Reflection on Book 2

One Voice that Speaks for Everyone  

Ned (from the film version)

            The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, by Ernest J. Gaines, is divided in four books. Book two, specifically, focuses on the deaths of the most important people in Jane’s life, her husband (Joe Pittman) and her adoptive son, Ned.

Jane and Joe Pittman (from the film version)

However, the character that stood out in book two and impacted me the most was Ned. He reminded me of who Martin Luther King Jr. was for the black community in the 1960’s. As the website “History” indicates, King was “a civil rights activist who was the leading force behind the withdrawal of segregation laws in the 1960's” (if you want to know more about Martin Luther King Jr. click here). In the same manner, Ned was trying to give the black community in the 1900’s, the education they deserved. Both of them died because they wanted to make the world a better place for every race and individual. In fact, Ned even knew that he was going to die, because he told Jane “I’m go’n to die, Mama” to which Jane commented that “he had no fear of death” (Gaines 112).

It’s extremely admirable that a person is willing to die, in order to, protect and defend minorities who don’t have a voice. Nevertheless, I felt the desperation that Jane was feeling by knowing that Ned, one of the most important people in her life, was willing to die and wasn’t going to let anyone stop him. Not only that, in book two the reader can notice the difference in Ned’s character. He portrayed himself as a more outspoken and powerful person. In other words, he was not the little boy who barely spoke in book one. He had grown up to be a strong and caring man, or as Jane described him: “He was a great big man now. Powerfully built: broad shoulders, thick neck” (Gaines 99). Therefore, even though Jane noticed his physical growth, the reader can perceive his maturity and emotional growth through his actions as a teacher and leader.

            In conclusion, in book two, of the many things that happened to Jane, I believe that what the author emphasized the most was Ned’s heroicness. Likewise, what impacted me the most was Ned’s determination and compromise with the black community.

Reflection about the character of Jane Pittman

Jane Pittmann was a very outspoken girl, given her position in society where black people couldn’t express their feelings feely. For a black slave girl to talk back to her mistress was a big deal. Of course, the first incident in the novel that demonstrated this was when she was determined to be called Jane. Since I can relate more to events of the present, I tried to understand Jane’s stubbornness with her name, through the transgender community and how they give much importance to how people address them. For example, if a person was born a boy, but identifies herself with a girl, she demands everyone to address her by her girl name and use the appropriate pronouns. In the same manner, Jane didn’t want to have her “slave name” because it automatically made her inferior from the white community.

Another problem that I identified with was how Jane was getting a lower wage for being a girl and not a women. In today’s society, women get lower wages than many men do, even though if the woman does a better or equal job to the man. Therefore, it was refreshing to see that Mr. Bone equaled Jane’s pay to the women’s, when he noticed that she did an equally good job. That is exactly what the U.S government, for example, can do with its current wages.

            Upon reflection, one can notice many problems and situations in the first book of the novel that transcended and are still visible in today’s society.

The themes of inequality and racism in The Autobiography of Jane Pittman, reminded me of 2pac’s 1993 hit single “Keep Ya Head Up”.

In the song, he recognizes the different struggles of the black community (discrimination and injustice) and encourages everybody to keep moving forward, which in the case of Pittman was something that she had to deal with every day. However, she survived all of it until she was 110 years old.

SHORT STORY AS A RESPONSE TO THE "USE OF FORCE" BY WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS

That Boy

Shock, trauma and betrayal. This is the story of the time that boy stole my first kiss... First kisses are a big deal for most kids or at least it was for me. At thirteen, I had never been kissed on the lips by a boy, trust me. On top of that, the wait wasn’t even worth it. My first kiss was a mixture of friendship betrayal, raging hormones and little to no excitement from my part. I felt normal that day, so far, it had been the classic daily routine at school. Classes. Snack time. Classes. Lunch time. Time to go home. As I was picking the books I had to take home, my eyes were suddenly covered up with two hands. I didn’t panic, it was a silly game we used to play at school, where someone would blind the other and the person had to guess who was blinding them. I recognized my best friend’s hands, for his long sweaty fingers. His name is Robert and he was a tall-blonde-thin-athletic boy in middle school. In a matter of seconds the situation escalated from a goofy game to a serious violation. It happened quickly, but it still made me extremely uncomfortable. Seconds after he covered my eyes, I felt a smooch on the lips, and someone continued pressing his lips against mine while Robert shouted: “1, 2, 3, run!”. The kiss was wet-like and prickly because of that boy’s beard, totally awful combinations for a girl who had never been kissed.

When Robert ceased his mischievous endeavor, I only caught sight of the two boys running away from me, and in a matter of seconds I understood all that had happened. My best friend, Robert, had gone behind my back to blind side me. Not only that, he gave the opportunity to that boy to steal a kiss from me. Of course, they were long gone before I realized what had happened, and better for them because I was a strong five feet little girl who would have knocked them out both.

Fist curled and lips all wet, I stared at the crowded hallway and cried.

The End

Note: If you want to read "The Use of Force" by William Carlos Williams, click here.

Journal Reflection: "Let it Flow"

Let it Flow  

            For eight weeks, my classmates and I had to do a writing exercise proposed by Natalie Goldberg, and introduced to us by our professor Cynthia Pittmann. The goal of the exercise was to practice, improve and auto-evaluate our writing skills. The activity was done in a notebook with no lines and we could write in any direction that we pleased. Also, we had six rules that we had to follow while we wrote. The rules were: “keep your hand moving, don’t cross out, don’t worry about spelling, punctuation or grammar, lose control, don’t think, don’t get logical, and go for the jugular”. (Goldberg 15-16) At first sight, those rules may seem trivial and simple for a writing exercise. However, in practice, it was harder than I could’ve imagined. Nevertheless, this was my second semester doing the exercise, so I found it simpler than the first time I had to accomplish the exercise.

I remember that the first semester I did this writing exercise, called “First Thoughts”, I was very mad at myself when I misspelled a word or when I was extremely open about the problems I was having at the time. This second semester I had a lot of problems that tormented my mind every day. Nonetheless, I felt at peace with myself every time I wrote everything in the notebook. In comparison to last semester, I was astonished or in disbelief of how descriptive I was being about my thoughts. For example, in the first semester, I was really scared of writing the names of the people I was talking about because I thought that if I lost the notebook, someone could instantly know all my problems and fears. On the other hand, this semester I felt very comfortable writing the names and describing the exact situations that were bothering me. In other words, I didn’t “beat around the bush” like I used to do. Another thing that caught my attention this semester was that I wrote in cursive and manuscript handwriting. Last semester, I wrote all of my journal entries in cursive

handwriting because I knew that not many people would understand it, if by chance I lost my notebook. Conversely, this semester I only wrote in cursive handwriting when I was very lazy, but most of the time I wrote in manuscript handwriting, which is the type of handwriting that I use most of the time.

In terms of following the rules, I think I did a very good job. For ten minutes, I had to write anything that came first to my mind. I did notice all the misspelled words and sentences that didn’t even made sense, but that was due to the difference in speed between my thoughts and my handwriting. I never crossed out and I always went for the jugular, which means the thought that is the most powerful at the time. Not once I felt mad at myself for being too emotional in my writing. On the contrary, I patiently waited for any time that I had a break to write everything down. One new thing that I never did for last semester was that I started to write about my dreams too.

When I felt that a dream of mine had any symbolism or message that my subconscious was trying to show me, I rapidly tried to analyze my dream through the First Thoughts’ activity. I have to admit that there were times that the dreams meant nothing. But other times, I found solutions to the problems that were prohibiting me from living a happy life. Another thing that I wrote a lot about this semester was my anxiety. All of the times that I wrote about anxiety was because of college work. Reading my journal entries for this reflection made me realize that this semester has been harder on me than last semester.

To sum up, I consider myself a very skilled writer in the First Thoughts’ activity. Not because I write faster, but because I followed the rules without having to think about them. The first time I accomplished this activity, I had to think a lot because I couldn’t remember the rules. This semester, my writing came out naturally. Additionally, I believe that I enjoyed more this second round of the First Thoughts’ activity because I had already gone through the experience, and learned that I shouldn’t be afraid about being sincere about my problems. Therefore, I felt more comfortable writing about my thoughts and feelings. The journal has definitely helped me in keeping my composure through this second semester that has been very hard on me. Thus, my advice to other students or people that would like to practice this activity is to just let it flow. No matter how scared or unexperienced you are in the activity, I promise that it’s always worth it because in the end you will get to live a happy and conscious life.