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

26)#102-8. Last Week Was A Nerdy One..

Now that the presentations, term papers, and midterms are over for now, I can officially get back to updating my beloved blog :) This entry will be for the previous week.

On the 5th of April, we, group blue, had to face the truth. The truth ended up being equal to about 70 e-mails(as unbelievable that sounds, I am being serious. I actually counted!), 2 meetings and a couple phone calls...We made our presentation to an audience of 3 people which was quite an irony within itself. Nevertheless, I still felt comfortable(less people to please-YES!). My AMAZING group members and I were very nervous and excited at the same time. We were pleased with the outcome. However, hopefully, we'll do even better for our final presentation which will be on my birthday, so basically, I want to make it rock again XD

Other than the presentations, of course, we had our research papers due that weekend. With the recent midterms and projects in my mind, I just thought, "Hmmm.. this just keeps getting better and better." Anyhow, I did what I had to do. I based my paper on the Asian American 'model minority' stereotype with a special focus on Asian American students. It was a fun assignment for me as I was already wondering about the topic beforehand.

All that is left for me to say about my paper is.. make mama proud!!

Image: 'peter pan syndrom' by RaymondPhotography under CC Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic