33)#102-15. Don't Know What to Call This- But I Hate Goodbyes..

I can't believe this, but we finally reached the end..

Last class was quite something. Believing that the same name would bring us victory, we -Sevda, Nazlı, Seren and I- called ourselves "The Cheesecakes" and guess what? It worked, it really did bring us luck! We won the pub quiz. On a further note, I realized that we were the highest scoring group out of all classes. I think that is what you would call being on cloud nine :)

Unfortunately, I couldn't hang around the clouds too much because I realized that this was our last class as C2 :/ Then Sonja started out handing out her homemade cookies... I was so touched! I never had a teacher give me anything other than a piece paper with a grade on, so this meant a lot to me. Thank you Sonja for this caring farewell gift. Those cookies were DELICIOUS!! ^(-o-)^

The final task given to us was to fill in each other's daisies with our thoughts. Basically, we had to answer the question, "What do I think of you?" I hope everyone liked what I wrote since I was fond of everyone in the room, but of course, there were a few people who got a bit of extra writing from me since I've become very close to them over time thanks to ENG102. As I am writing this, I still catch myself stealing glances from my own daisy, so thank you everyone for your kind remarks. I appreciate them a lot :) I must say that this was quite a cute idea Sonja. I think your future students might like this activity as well :D

End of classes means end of blogging - for now! I am not making any promises, but I know I'll keep writing somehow somewhere... If you are interested in the things I write, let me know and I'll send them to you ;)

Ahhh...my last words...I really don't want to do this, but I have to...
Sonja, I'll truly miss you. I was very lucky to have a teacher like you in my freshman year, but you already know that ;) I'll say goodbye to you in person. After all, we still have one more mission ;) Anyhow, I had to share my feelings with the world ha-ha-ha :D

I wonder if anyone would miss me though.. :P ;)

Anyways, it's all from me folks!
Peace.

32)#102-14. Group Blue Proudly Presents... and Thanks!

This Monday was very special for me because it was my birthday =) Coincidentally, I had my seminar presentation on the very same day. Sevda, Nazlı and I, the ‘fierce’ members of group blue, were all dressed in blue from head to toe. Unfortunately, nobody noticed :/

Anyways, we went to our classroom FASS1081 to prepare everything beforehand. After Nazlı who introduced our presentation, Sevda started it off by explaining the features of black language. Following her, I explained the family identity of the Breedloves. I tried to analyze the family as a whole and its members as individuals. I also used a chart to explain the latter. I must thank Nazlı and Sevda for improving my computer skills. It took some time for me to accomplish that;)

Finally, it was Nazlı’s turn to talk about the Civil Rights Movement. On a closing note, we played “Black Magic Woman” by Fleetwood Mac. While we were preparing the group work of our presentation on Saturday, the coffee at Cafe Crown must have inspired us because that is when we got this idea to use a blues song at the end of our presentation.

Overall, how did Group Blue’s presentation go? I think it went pretty well. I enjoyed explaining the material to my fellow classmates. The only thing that bothered me was no matter how much I tried to interact with the audience, I was not able to succeed. That was a bummer :( My group members suffered from the same problem. We tried to explain more and give hints about the questions we posed, but we had no luck.. I do not know what we could have done more really.

The highlight of the presentation was actually what happened afterwards. When Sonja asked the class to sing “Happy Birthday” for me, I was really touched. I went bright red. I was sooooooo happy. Yes, even though I’m supposedly an adult, I still feel like a kid on days like this. I want to thank everyone, first and foremost Sonja and then my classmates, for doing such a nice thing. I’ll always cherish that moment :)

Ahh, I’ve written a lot today. You’re free to harass me about the length of this post if you like ;)
Peace.

31)#102-13. Presentations- All Racing in My Head...

This is one hectic weekend, but I still need to do my weekly update :D

The final presentations started this week. I was sitting in the middle of the classroom with my pen and paper ready, looking very journalist-like (Can you see my potential? ^^ lol jk). For those who were intimidated, I'm saying this to comfort you.. I'm a severe note-taker. Basically, I can't and won't stop taking notes! I don't want to forget anything.. I need to write a review after all and these notes really help. I recommend it to everyone. Try it.. you'll thank me later^^

Other than that Nazli, Sevda and I met in the city yesterday to prepare our presentation. In my opinion, we came up with some pretty creative ideas to include our audience during the presentation, so please look forward to it. We are still working on final details, but on monday, we'll show what we've got ;)

On another note, tomorrow is also my birthday :) I'm sorry I cannot hold it in. I'm like a kid; I still get excited for each birthday^^ Hopefully, tomorrow will rock or something awesome will happen hahaha!

Image taken from: http://actingwhite.blogspot.com/2009/08/acting-white-blue-eyes-vs-balck-skin.html

xoxo

30)#102-12. The Way Love is..

Now that the novel is over, what should I talk about?

First of all, I'd like to congratulate my group members, please don't mind our lame group name 'The Cheesecakes'(I don't remember when and how we got named like that, but whatever!). We stressed out like mad, but won in the end, so yay! (:

Secondly, I'd like to mention a quote in the 'Summer' part of the novel.

* This sentence really caught my eye, "Love is never any better than the lover." I think Morrison touches a great point here. I definetely agree with her. The identity of a person affects how that person treats other people- especially her/his lover. If you go to the last page of the novel to find this quote, the following of the quote is just as interesting. "Wicked people love wickedly, violent people love violently, weak people love weakly, stupid people love stupidly.." I really like the way Morrison illustrated this idea of love in connection with one's personality. Wouldn't you agree with what she is saying? I definetely do so.. We love people the way we are, and we cannot be any different.

* The reasons don't matter, I do not care: "Cholly, you bastard!"(Sorry for being so straight-forward, Sonja, but somebody needs to put it out there!)

29)#102-11. Blueberry Crumbles Never Meant This Much!

Up to now, we've been discussing the main themes of The Bluest Eye. In my opinion, racial self-hatred and the distorted perception of beauty are the most significant ones, so I tried to find an image to symbolize them both. This is completely made up, so you can disagree. Like I mentioned, I just brainstormed and found this on my own. I wanted to try a different writing style as well, so here it goes...

'Blueberry crumbles'

1) In terms of racial self-hatred, one should clearly understand the scene between pages 107 and 109. Here, Pauline's daughter Pecola accidently drops the blueberry pie which her mother had never made for her. However, it is a routine dessert she makes for the white little girl who wears 'a pink sunback dress with pink fluffy slippers.' The little white girl is the princess and Pecola is the ugly duckling.

When Pecola smashes the pie, Pauline sees the 'ugly duckling' she has given birth to. Anger explodes as she beats the daughter she can't look in the eye. On a subconcious level, I think Pecola's condition reminds Pauline of her own ugliness and that is why she takes it out on Pecola.

2) In terms of the distorted perception of beauty, I hinted on the former clause. In the book, there is a serious portrayal of the 'white princess vs. black ugly duckling' conflict(I coined the term myself). In this scene, the little girl starts crying when she sees the blueberry crumbles. Even though eating blueberry pies is a usual thing for her, she cries and garners the affection of Pauline; whereas, Pecola gets a severe beating. The white girl gains attention because of her princess-like characteristics; however, even though it is a small mistake anyone could have made, Pecola is treated brutally. Her looks victimize her in the eyes of her mother. The distorted perception of beauty declares the winner and the loser in an unfair way.

'Pie' by AriCee under CC Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic

28)#102-10. What Was Right Back Then?? [A Question of Morality]

Now that spring break is over*sobs*, I can get back to blogging. This entry is for week 10.

During our off-week, I read the ‘winter’ and ‘spring’ sections and I noticed a pattern. Why must all adult characters have some kind of perversion?!? Cholly impregnates his daughter; Soaphead Church is a pedophile; Mr. Henry sexually assaults Claudia and spends time with prostitutes... this list can go on. I must ask, “Was it that bad?!?” I mean those times was not the best of times, but why is every character morally corrupt? It really bothered me when I read the book.

Like I mentioned in my previous entry, the self-hatred of African-Americans (because of internalization of the white perception etc.) also bothered me. In class, we talked a lot about this issue and as I’d like to call upon ‘the doll quote’ which effectively illustrates the topic at hand. As Simge already knows, I do not like dolls(if you are that curious why I don’t like them, see her entry 'The Bluest Eye' and no, I did not get paid to advertise her blog, it is just because I want to :P).

I’ll blog about week 11 later…

If anyone would like to harass me-jk- or just randomly say hello, please do so. I like comments very much though I seem to have a limited audience :’(

'I Hate How Much I Love You' by shewatchedthesky under CC Attribuition-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic

27)#102-9. You're Beautiful Just Because..

Having read the first part of the Bluest Eye, I was appalled to see how much self-hatred the characters had for themselves. The character that appalled me the most was Pecola actually. Pecola lives like a shadow, constantly reminded of ugliness. She is devoid of love. Indeed, she poses the question, "how do you get someone to love you?" That is how desperate she is. The only hope she has is having blue eyes, eyes that will redeem her in others' minds.. Eyes that will get her noticed and make her beautiful. Finally, those eyes will make people love her..


The real dilemma I will address here is not how an 11 year old girl came to such a conclusion, but WHO decides what is 'beautiful' and what is 'ugly.' Physical appearance that we are so obsessed with, why does it have to define attractiveness? I might sound like an old lady for saying this, but what happened to "having a heart of gold"? Traits like modesty, consideracy, conscienciousness...what happened to them?

To be honest, there are days that I question these things myself, but luckily I have the most amazing people, first and foremost my parents, in my life to remind me when I get frustrated that I do not need somebody else's approval to be this-or-that. They'll love me the way I am-not because I confirm some sort of a societal criteria. So when my friend asks me if she looks beautiful, I'll say, "Yes, because you look like yourself.."
'Beauty 6' by Leah Makin Photography under CC Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic