Maps

Our discussion of the different kinds of maps and what they mean today in class was thought-provoking. It is interesting to try to re-think a concept that you learned at an early age and one that is very familiar to you at this stage in life, and re-process/analyze the meaning and purpose of it. Doing this, allows us to learn the concept all over again!  It was fitting for the subject matter as we discussed Translations in class that day, and that story has a lot to do with maps!!

I always think of maps as purely political, the more land you have the better off you are...a capitalistic approach. While exploring this idea, I learned that in the past,  some mapmakers had been known to enlarge the size of their respective country of origin on world maps. Its an interesting little fact that fits in well to what we discussed in class!

We talked about Gauguin's Spirit of the Dead are Watching   (1892) a few weeks ago in class.  Today in another class, we discussed the same image.  Apparently the intention of the painting is very close to what we all inferred in class!!  Gauguin intended for the audience to question which one is the spirit and who is the subject of the painting.  Art historians question who is "watching" who.  Interestingly, however, the woman on the bed was one of Gauguin's mistresses. She was 13 years old and the facial expression that she is painted with was a common expression that she made when she was frightened. Further, the textiles we see, the phosphorus yellow, are colors of the dead spirits. These colors are seen at funerals and exist to recall the dead. The spirit in the background is actually an old woman. 

Power: Ama

The discussion of Ama in class was an interesting one. It seemed like the class was in favor of Ama and saw her as a positive and wise force in the book. The comments offered by the class were very persuasive - especially in relation to O's comment about Ama being pretty one day and not pretty the next and tying that in with the western influence of pretty that she was shown in the class room. 

However, I think that she might have some special needs. The description of Ama offered by O is quite incongruous. It almost seems like O is trying to figure Ama out in a way that she has never had to figure out someone before. I get the feeling that Ama has something kind of abnormal, I am looking forward to seeing if any of this comes to light throughout the book. 

Whats in a name?

The discussion that we shared about the importance of a name in identity construction was fascinating. Everyone seemed to have a story about their name and that shows that at one point in life, we realize that we have a name that is unique to us. In a constantly evolving society focused on "egonomics" (to borrow a phrase from popular business trendster Faith Popcorn) we tend to enjoy the art of personalizing things. Whether it be through a monogrammed towel or a customized license plate donning a persons name or initials, the egonomics trend exists.  Our relationship with our names is undoubtedly a function of egonomics. Further, social networking engines such as "Facebook" use name as the first and foremost search criteria. In this case, if you know someone's name, you can get into their world. 

The conversation was one of the best that we have had this year!

Resurfacing Themes: Lucy, A Room of Ones Own, Othello

Trying to deconstruct Lucy's internal emotions and really, her identity, has really been an interesting experience. On one hand, I appreciate her honesty. She is quite cynical and that is a quality that is welcomed in some respects and I reject it in others. She is warranted in her feelings; cold, unhappy and lonely. She feels the the "other" to borrow a phrase from Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own. 

There is a bit of a race card played here as well. All the talk about yellow and light colors that Mariah wears are opposite of Lucy's dark skin. This ties into Othello when he notices that he is the only one of color and all the people around him are white. Both Othello and Lucy's race are a factor in their identity construction.

I am interested in seeing how Lucy copes with her feelings and if she is ever able to feel comfortable in the new world. It would be a bit disheartening for her to stay cynical, but as I said, her feelings this early in the story are fair and to be expected.

(Picture above is a photo of author Jamaica Kincaid)

EXTRA CREDIT: Terri Russ's (En)Lightening Beauty, Thursday March 19, 2009

I had the opportunity to attend a DSLC event last week. I chose to attend Prof. Terri Russ's seminar on the absence of ethnicity in magazine advertisements, which translates to this notion of european beauty being the only standard for beauty in America. I have taken one of her Communications classes and I just really appreciate her insight into the beauty industry and the twisted norms of what we consider beautiful. She has done so much work on this and I have always looked forward to seeing her speak about her findings and challenge the audience to become more aware of the reality that we are immune to. 

I recommend reading Prof. Russ's new book, "Bitchin' Bodies" (pictured above) its a great read and if you have any questions, you can just walk over to Moreau and ask her :)

The reading assigned for today, "This Blessed House" might very well be one of the best pieces of literature that I have ever read. I am a bit wired (attached to my email, laptop etc..) and while the emails rolled in and stacked up, I could not take my eyes off of this reading! I am not sure that I have ever been so engrossed in a reading, (short of "The Writing Life", which was another memorable piece). What I liked most about "This Blessed House" was how easily I could identify with the character, Twinkle. I am surrounded by many Sanjeev types, who, in my opinion, take life too seriously. I really loved how Twinkle felt so strongly about the religious artifacts and did not allow Sanjeev to make her feel foolish. She is a wonderful character!!

The image above is how I imagined their house to look. I really enjoyed building the image of Sanjeev, Twinkle, their home, the artifacts, the backyard and the dinner party in my imagination as Gilman continued to add small but meaningful details to her description of the setting of "This Blessed House".