Activity #4

After completing the assignment, I now feel that I am very ignorant of other ethnic backgrounds. More to the point, I feel that I am ignorant of the histories of ethnic backgrounds different from mine.

To begin, I found that answering questions about white males was the easiest for me in regards to ethnicity as well as gender. Actually, I think this was the only easy category for me. I think this was the easiest ethnic group for me to answer for because much of my upbringing incorporated the histories of white Americans, white Englishmen, or more briefly white Europeans. For instance, in social studies classrooms my classes focused primarily on the United States’ history and perspectives, especially during the Civil War and the World Wars. And obviously white authority figures generally dominated the previously mentioned eras. Besides, my English classrooms almost never incorporated very little international fiction or creative non-fiction.

It seems clear to me that I better understand the ethnic history of whites because the histories that I was taught in schools emphasized it very much. Thus, even though the history of white ethnicity is easier for me to understand because of the history that I have learned in regards to it, I am equally at a disadvantage when considering the ethnic backgrounds that my courses in school rarely emphasized.

For instance, after the question on the quiz about white males, I found that I had a tougher time with the remaining ethnic backgrounds. I even had a tough time with white females. Once I needed to recall a white female before the 1800s I had a very tough time. I think I had a tough time because white women have historically been a minority to white men. Because of that, I think it is harder to find key white female figures to stand alongside the white male. Thus, I think white females are talked about less, especially in schools, because more influential persons in history are white males and not white females.

Also, I had a tougher time with black males and black females. The former seemed easier for me to answer because of the general inclusion of blacks in sports, but nonetheless, both were much harder for me compared to answering questions about white males. As in the case of white females, I think the ethnic background of black males and black females tend to be spoken about less frequently than white males. For example, when I was in high school, my history teacher spent about one or two days talking about the importance of rock and roll music. But in his discussions he never mentioned the person for who many classic rock fans consider the first rocker of all-time, Robert Johnson, who happened to be black. Thus, when my teacher spoke about Elvis, The Beatles, and Bob Dylan, he skipped over Robert Johnson. I don’t know why exactly this happened, but it seems to me that many people nowadays don’t even know who Robert Johnson was, or even how he influenced music. After all, Elvis is a national figure, but Robert Johnson is nearly unknown. In short, he stands as an illustration of how one example of black history has, in a way, faded away, for no clear reason, in our American culture.

Most of all, however, I found that the remaining ethnic categories were rather impossible for me to answer. I realized that I know next-to-nothing with regards to Latino backgrounds or Asian backgrounds. This makes me think that these groups are rarely studied in America. In fact, when I was in high school, I don’t remember studying important figureheads or events in Latin America or Asia. The latter obviously has to do with my junior high and senior high concentrating on our Nation’s history. I suppose their reasoning stemmed from the fact that the majority of students were Americans. Thus, why not center the curriculum on American history?

But now that I am in college I wish I knew more about ethnic backgrounds that are different than mine. If I knew more about the ethnic backgrounds of people in the Congo, for instance, I could then better understand the writings of Joseph Conrad. If I knew more about the treatment of women before the 1900s, I could better appreciate the importance of Virginia Woolf transforming literature and the role of women in literature during the 1900s. Needles to say, I wish the histories of other ethnic backgrounds were made more accessible when I was in school. Because of that, I feel that much of the world is unknown to me.

Question: Do you think that high school curriculum is too narrow in regards to its historical focus? Why or why not?

Activity #3

Even though my ethnic background consists of German, Swedish, and Dutch descent, not one person has ever asked or wondered about my ethnicity. When people look at me they presume me to be American and nothing else. For that reason, nobody knows how my ethnic background has slightly influenced me as an American.

A point in case rests with how my German background (my primary ethnic background) has negatively and positively influenced who I am today. To exemplify the former, when my literature class last semester was reading Maus I and Maus II, two books portraying factual accounts of the Holocaust, I felt uncomfortable during class discussions. My discomfort derived from the general stigma associated with German history. Needless to say, I am often embarrassed about my German descent; embarrassed even though my great-grandparents and great-uncles and great-aunts became migrants in Montana, North Dakota, and Minnesota in the early 1900s, nearly forty years before World War II.

Despite my inner embarrassment, however, my German descent has interested me, as a literature student, to take an interest in early Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman literature. I am unsure if my family extends to the Saxons, Angles, Jutes, or Frisians, but I am proud to be loosely connected with works such as Beowulf, Lanval, Dream of the Rood, and my personal favorite, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Upon my graduation next fall, I foresee myself studying Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman history and literature more closely, mainly because Modern English literature derives from their works. In this respect, my German descent has influenced a specific literature passion for me. And I am very happy for that.

But, as I said before, when most people look at me they don’t notice a young adult with an ethnic background. Therefore, people understand or misunderstand me in other ways. Most people, I think, focus their attention to my reserved personality. In doing so, most individuals label me as a “shy” person. For my whole life I have disliked people labeling me as a “shy” person because a shy personality has grown to represent a derogatory description in American culture. After all, I have never been labeled a “reserved” person, and whenever I have been labeled “quiet,” people precede the description with “so quiet.” In a way, I have grown to understand that the word “shy” doesn’t correlate to “quiet” but rather “so quiet.”

As a result, the label “shy” has influenced who I am very much, even possibly more than my ethnic background has, and possibly more than anything else in the world. For instance, because of the label I have studied more dutifully the etymology of words, the personalities of words, and the uniqueness of how words altar in meaning over the course of time. And considering that many words derive from Old English, the language from Germanic settlers in England, I have only become more interested due to my Germanic descent. More to the point, since I enjoy writing my own stories, I consider very carefully how words are gradually changing meanings in our own culture—“shy” obviously being one of them. For that reason, I strongly believe that I have become a better Creative Writing student. And hopefully my passion for words will help positively influence my future in English studies as well.

Question: What do you think it would be like to presently live in a place that has very violent ethnic conflicts? For instance, only 16 years ago, one ethnic group in Rwanda (the Hutus) committed genocide, killing nearly 1 million of another ethnic group (the Tutsis).

Activity #2

While standing or sitting, we stare at the bricks of a parking ramp, the pebbles near our shoes, or even the elegance or coolness or awfulness of our clothing. But we do not look at one another. Not really anyway. Only sporadically will we sneak an eye(s) in a stranger’s direction. And we tend to hold onto these peaks, hold onto them like a boy mesmerized by a graceful girl, all until the subject of our attention turns and spots our spying. Immediately our eyes run away, embarrassed of our ignoring the “No Wandering Eyes” rule of adult passengers.

A few mornings ago I took the metro transit Light Rail from the 28th avenue station, located a few minutes away from the Mall of America, to downtown Minneapolis. Before I boarded the train, however, I noticed some unique cultural habits from all waiting passengers, including myself.

First of all, as already narrated, we rarely looked at one another. For instance, while waiting on the platform, one gentleman in a business suit was staring into the 28th avenue parking ramp, one woman was glancing at herself in a hand-held mirror, and three other single riders were staring at the ground. As for myself, even when I snuck my attention away from counting the bricks of the platform to the business lady spotting herself in her mirror, I twisted away once she intuitively shifted her eyes to my intrusion. Immediately I knew that I had broken a passenger rule—No Wandering Eyes.

Secondly, we expressed our collective disconnection from not just our reluctance to look at one another, but also in the way that we stood separate from one another. As one might predict, we didn’t nonverbally communicate with intimate proxemics, personal proxemics, or social proxemics. Instead, we communicated with public proxemics. Thus, the space that which we put between each other was substantial. Instead of pinning ourselves near each other, we strung ourselves away from one another. The gentleman in the business suit, for example, stood a solid ten or fifteen paces away from his closest neighbor. Even when the business lady with the hand-held mirror arrived (she was the last arriving passenger) she intentionally scrolled past each waiting passenger—the business man, several other passengers, and finally myself—to occupy her own space at the far end of the platform. More to the point, three other passengers—one man and two women—each waited within separate partitions. Rather than sharing a partition, they required separate partitions. And no other waiting passenger, about fifteen or twenty in total, disturbed their partitions either. I imagine that if I sauntered into one of their partitions, they would have scrambled away to another partition,—a literal or figurative one—or would’ve scoffed under their breaths.

The final unwritten rule I would like to discuss is in regards to the general agreement to not verbally speak to one another. I waited for roughly ten minutes for the train to arrive and not one conversation or brief dialogue was conducted. In fact, only one sentence was muttered. Before one lady entered into her partition, she asked the business gentleman if he knew the time. But, instead of verbally replying to her question, he gestured to a screen located underneath the canopy for which displayed the time. This gentleman, however, wasn’t the only person who didn’t wish to speak. For instance, the majority of us were listening to our iPods. Thus, rather than participating in an external conversation we consumed ourselves in an internal world, a world where no other person can penetrate.

Perhaps these rules might not apply as distinctly to children or close friends. Perhaps children might feel free to look at whomever they please, and perhaps close friends might feel free to converse openly. But on this particular morning no children were present, and no friends, if there were any, distinguished themselves. Instead, all persons boarding the train were disconnected adults; strangers who, for the most part, intuitively understood the key unwritten passenger rules. I imagine that if an adult similar to myself sauntered onto this platform possessing zero or little prior knowledge of the unwritten rules that he or she would catch-on rather quickly. After all, on this platform, no external personalities exist. Every single rider is expected act in an introverted way.

Question: The book talks about culture differences a lot. For instance, it mentions that in some cultures eating dogs is normal. If you were forced to live in a different culture do you think you would willingly/unconsciously adapt to their behaviors and beliefs? Or do you think you would stick with your own?

"Far and Away" Analysis

The dream to live a life of one’s own and not a life pre-scripted by others consumes Joseph Donnelly (played by Tom Cruise) and Shannon Christie (played by Nicole Kidman) in the movie Far and Away. In the case of Donnelly, he dreams of working a land of his own whereas Shannon desires to escape her predictable and slow-moving aristocratic pleasantries. But even though they share similar passions to emigrate to America they both face a few individual challenges when the blue-collar and indiscreet Modern America hits them in the face.

From the onset, the viewer realizes Donnelly’s dreamy personality. For instance, before his father breathes his last breath, and upon his father advising him to renounce his immature dreams, Joseph holds fast to his dreams by foretelling to his father that someday he will work his own land. More to the point, one even sees that not being able to work his own land infuriates Donnelly. First of all, he sets out to murder his landowner, Mr. Daniel Christie, who had raised rent money on Donnelly’s land, and who was the figurehead behind Stephen Chase, Christie’s first-in-command, in burning down Donnelly’s home due to overdue rents. And secondly, in a fit of rage, Donnelly knocks Chase onto the ground, steps on his throat, and proclaims in unwavering fashion that he wants his land. Thus, Donnelly’s dream to work his own land influenced his desire to leave Ireland for a freer America.

At this point one might argue that Donnelly didn’t initially flee with Shannon to America because of his disbelief in her claim about the Oklahoma land rush. But considering Donnelly’s determination to achieve his dream—his willingness to kill, to assault—it seems unlikely that his dream didn’t influence him riding off with Shannon instead of, most likely, dying in his duel with Stephen Chase.

Like Donnelly, Shannon Christie’s deep desire to live her own life influences her decision to run away to America. Her dislike for her life in Ireland unfolds with her visual obsession with what she considers different and exciting. For instance, because of her duty as a young lady to maintain her virginity, she cannot stop staring at Donnelly’s naked wounded body. Nonetheless, The best example of the former occurs when she is playing classical music for her mother’s friends and suddenly breaks into a faster and louder modern tune. And even though Shannon notices the stunned faces, especially her mother’s bewildered look, she doesn’t stop. Instead, she continues playing, thus expressing her fearlessness and wish to be different, to act modern. The latter is especially true when she declares happily to her audience that her new style of music is modern music from America. Clearly, Shannon’s wish for a different and more exciting life she emigrates to America with Joseph Donnelly.

But once Donnelly and Shannon reach America they both face a few individual challenges offered to them. For Shannon, for example, after her silver spoons are stolen, she finds difficulty adjusting to a lower status lifestyle—the same blue-collar lifestyle that Joseph Donnelly represents. For instance, she cringes after realizing that her and Donnelly must live in a small room with only one bed. Donnelly, on the other hand, is unbothered by the matter. In fact, while Shannon pouts on her bed when they are getting ready for bed, Donnelly comments that he enjoys America thus far.

Shannon’s dislike for America is shown clearly when her internal struggle with her class change convinces her to become a dancer at Mike Kelly’s place in order to prove to Donnelly that she can make as much money as him. More to the point, Shannon’s internal struggle with her lower societal status reaches a climax when Donnelly tosses her into a bathtub and asks her why she cannot compliment him for his recent economic success. In a way, Donnelly is asking Shannon why she cannot accept the possibility that a lower status man like himself can be as successful, or in this case more successful, than her.

On the other hand, Donnelly doesn’t struggle internally with his lower status, but rather struggles to accept that his new acquaintances do not respect him, but rather are using his fighting skills to make more money for themselves. For instance, when Shannon tells Donnelly that Mike Kelly and every other person for whom has acquainted themselves with him because of his success as a fighter, do not respect him, but rather are using him in order to capitalize off his success, he shrugs his shoulders and offers a smile. From his reaction, the viewer interprets that Donnelly agrees with Shannon’s opinion but doesn’t want to accept her theory. Thus, Donnelly struggles with his hope that the average person likes him for who he truly is—an Irishman named Joseph Donnelly.

Shannon’s internal struggle to accept a lower status lifestyle and Donnelly’s struggle to see clearly who respects him and who doesn’t, clearly illustrate a few of their many individual challenges in modern America before they both reach the Oklahoma land rush in the end; the moment where Donnelly achieves his dream to work his own land, and where Shannon can begin a new modern life.


Questions:

1. I’ve seen this movie a few times now and I still would’ve liked to see Joseph’s inability to read to be highlighted more as a struggle for him in America. How do you think his inability to read (possibly write too, even though that remains unclear in the film) could’ve impacted him in America?

2. Did you find it interesting that Joseph started the movie as Shannon’s companion but as the movie progressed Shannon, especially after Mike Kelly banishes them, becomes his companion? Why or why not?

Two Truths and One Lie

1. I love basketball but hate the NBA

2. I have a paranoia of stepping on worms

3. I am related to Shoeless Joe Jackson, the former outfielder for the White Sox during the 1919 Black Sox scandal.