When the hurly-burly’s done

Some more thoughts from the ENG213ers, aggregated for your convenience.

Brayden:

The mindset that was fed into the young children who were slaves is very shocking. They were taught to think like they were lower than everyone else and they were the dirt below the white people’s feet. By creating this sense of inadequate being, the slaves felt as though they never stood a chance against a race that was “obviously much superior”.

Patty:

I have no idea what i would do if someone took me away from my country, pressured me to get rid of my human qualities, and made my work from dawn to dust. That doesn’t even cover what slaves like Issac Mason went through. What saddens me the most is to think that some slaves really did not do anything about it since they were so used to the conditions that they thought nothing could change.

Ryan (whose post you definitely should read, as it not only analyzes several quotes from different narratives, but also responds directly to what Ryan and Jon wrote about them as well–a great example of student blogging):

We often take for granted things that most slaves were deprived of, such as family and friends. After reading Isaac’s narrative, I also realized how bad it really was to form an alliance with a slave over escaping.

Kristina:

It’s hard to imagine not being able to stand up for a friend without being punished, or protect a family member from pain.  And then to have a wife/husband but not be garaunteed that he/she will be yours forever…any moment may be your last with the ones you love.  Slavery wasn’t only physical torture, but emotional as well, which makes it even worse.

Kristen:

  It seems like every year when we take American History, we spend a large amount of time studying slavery, since it’s such a big part of American history.  When we were younger, we just learned the basics, like that slaves escaped on the underground railroad, and they had to work in cotton fields.  Learning this didn’t really have an impact on me, partly because I was young, but also because I didn’t learn specific stories about how badly the slaves were treated, and get to know what it was really like to be a slave. 

While I’m sure that many of you have taken it upon yourselves to write your final satire blog post about, well, whatever’s been on your mind regarding satire, I’ve got some suggestions of web resources that might catch your fancy.  Pick any of the following and write a blog post on your reactions, questions, concerns, etc.

Interview with Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat, Da Ali G Show) on NPR’s Fresh Air

Interview with Ben Karlin, former executive producer of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, also on Fresh Air

Despair, Inc.

“New Remote Control Can Be Operated By Remote” (from The Onion)

Eric:

Teaching should be logically consistent with what we do.  I find that many teachers ask their students to do things that they themselves would never want to do or would never have any need to do.  The system drives us to this level of stupidity, I think.  If we are writers, then our teaching about writing should follow from that, and our methods of instruction should be logically consistent with how we write … or how we learn, how we art, how we do whatever it is we do…

Teaching should be about that which is important.  This shouldn’t need to be said, but unfortunately must be said.  We spend far too much time in the classroom “stressing out” both ourselves and our students over things that don’t really matter, so much so that everyone loses sight of the things that do matter.  As a result, students walk away having no real understanding of the larger picture, of the major concerns of each discipline, of the connections and influences among the disciplines, or how these things fit into life and its living.

I’d write something pithy on this, but I can’t think of a better way of putting it.  Just read his whole post.

The following are American slave narratives that I found on the ‘net. Between now and the time we get back from vacation, please look through these narratives (read as much of each as you can) and write a couple of blog posts. Your first blog post should come before you start reading the narrative and should address what you expect to find or learn about in the piece, what you know about slavery already, etc. Your second post will be after you’ve done some reading. In it, please address whether (and how) the narrative enhanced your understanding of slavery in America, how it might relate to Huck Finn and Twain, and any other connections you can make. In that second post, quoting from and linking to your narrative, as well as a post from another ENG213 student (plus, if you find any other resources, some of them) will make this much more effective. Feel free to comment on one another’s blogs, as well.

I survived the Habitat trip pretty much unscathed, with the exception of a Mexinfection above my right eye that threatens to swell the whole thing shut. Hopefully the antibiotics I picked up at the hospital this afternoon will do the trick and I’ll be okay by the middle of the week.

The trip was incredible. I’d never encountered the poverty of the developing world first-hand before, and living in it for three days really put a lot in perspective. Going from Tijuana to a nice New Year’s Eve party in Carroll Gardens was disorienting, to say the least.

This picture is of a house in the general neighborhood of where we were working. There are plenty more pictures online if you know how to find them. In the meantime, enjoy your running water and electricity.

I’m looking forward to the new year. I didn’t have very much time to myself over the break, but I feel mostly refreshed and ready to go back to teaching and learning.

Let’s rock.