I am not completely set on one book for my podcast quite yet, however I do know that I would like to focus on race as an issue. There have been several books throughout my childhood and young adulthood that have dealt with racial issues. The one that stands out to me that I may be interested in going into further would be The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson. This beautiful picture book shows race from a child's point of view. Clover (an African American child) is told constantly as a young girl to not cross the fence in her yard. However she spots another girl (who happens to be white) on the other side of the fence and throughout summer the two attempt to meet.
The story is about defying the parents' ideas of what is right and what is wrong. And even more, it is about defying the social norms of segregation. The physical fence between the two girls stands for so much more. I really like this story because I feel this is often how children react in these situations. They are not aware of racial differences and do not see the 'problems' until adults point them out and create rules that only reinforce these social norms around racism. I think this story really unpacks a lot about race and the way in which children view race, and I think it would be an interesting story to delve into deeper.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Quotable Quotes- When the Emperor was Divine
"he'd done something horribly, terribly wrong. . . . It could be anything. Something he'd done yesterday – chewing the eraser off his sister's pencil before putting it back in the pencil jar – or something he'd done a long time ago that was just now catching up
with him" [p. 57]
This quote stood out to me as it shows how the effect the internment camp has on the young boy. It is not surprising hat the young boy is blaming himself for his family being displaced. Of course he does not understand the real reason (or the supposed reason) that his family was moved to the internment camp. The boy's experience demonstrated how racism affects children. Children learn throughout their childhood that when they behave badly they are punished. So when they are punished, even if it is unfairly, children feel they are to blame. The boy is a perfect example of this as he feels guilty and is searching for the answer in something he did. The boy's experience demonstrates how this guilt and the blame children put on themselves affect their childhood and lives in general.
"We didn't want to know. . . . All we wanted to do, now that we were back in the world, was forget" [p. 133]
When the family is released from the internment camp and reunited with the father, they do not recognize him and the reunion is clearly bittersweet. The father does not want to talk about his experience and the family does not want to know about it. This quote demonstrates the family's desire and need to move on. This shows that how they, and many others who experience traumatic events, choose to move on by forgetting, or trying to forget. We've seen this through the survivors of many genocides and as this book shows- through prisoners in internment camps. When people experience traumatic experiences, people attempt to move on by forgetting, when really they need to talk about it and seek help in order to move on. We cannot forget things, especially not events such as these because our experiences impact who we are. If we ignore a major life event, we will be unsure of how this impacts us and who we are and why we act in certain ways.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
2. Hello My Names Are
My names are...
Kayla- Kayla is the name my parents gave me and the name I respond to in most situations. I go by Kayla in both formal and informal situations- classes/work/friends also refer to me as Kayla. There is no real story behind my first name besides the fact that my parents had thought it a very rare name and had decided it would fit as it belonged to both Jewish tradition and Irish culture. Growing up I attended a bilingual English-Spanish school for several years. There I was no longer "Kayla" and "Kyla" was my name. Instead of correcting my teachers and peers time after time I came to accept Kyla as a name of mine. I never was too fond of my name, however since coming to AU I have come to like my name more as I am now not always called Kayla in every setting.
KK- This is my childhood nickname. My parents and extended family/adults from my childhood call me this name. This name symbolizes my childhood to me. No one really calls me KK now, as I suppose I have grown past the name. It was not a name I neither liked or disliked as I was too young to have an opinion on the matter. By the time I assume I would have grown tired of the name, others had felt the same way.
Kay- This is the name that most of my college peers call me by. In some organizations I belong to on campus this is actually my official name. When I came to AU I started introducing myself as Kay, and in informal settings I do prefer the name Kay. Maybe in some sense I thought this would get rid of the possibility of mistake of being called "Kyla". I also see this name as a more carefree and 'fun' name. I will introduce myself as Kay across the board to my peers in informal setting.
Kray/Krayla- this is a name only my closest friends in college call me. It is a combination of "crazy" and my name. This is an endearing name given by my friends that I like. However I wouldn't want anyone else besides these friends calling me by this name. This name represents this close-knit group of friends I found as a freshman in college. I am still close with these friends even though we have all found our different places on campus.
My names are not...
Kyla- As I have already shared, for several years of my life I was referred to as Kyla. This is not my name as the names Kyla and Kayla are very different and therefore mean very different things to me. It bothers me when people mispronounce my name and call me Kyla.
Monkies/Monker- Monks is my last name, when I was teased as a young kid I was called Monkies or Monker. Although this is definitely not something that still bothers me, I prefer to not have people joke around with my last name.
Kayla- Kayla is the name my parents gave me and the name I respond to in most situations. I go by Kayla in both formal and informal situations- classes/work/friends also refer to me as Kayla. There is no real story behind my first name besides the fact that my parents had thought it a very rare name and had decided it would fit as it belonged to both Jewish tradition and Irish culture. Growing up I attended a bilingual English-Spanish school for several years. There I was no longer "Kayla" and "Kyla" was my name. Instead of correcting my teachers and peers time after time I came to accept Kyla as a name of mine. I never was too fond of my name, however since coming to AU I have come to like my name more as I am now not always called Kayla in every setting.
KK- This is my childhood nickname. My parents and extended family/adults from my childhood call me this name. This name symbolizes my childhood to me. No one really calls me KK now, as I suppose I have grown past the name. It was not a name I neither liked or disliked as I was too young to have an opinion on the matter. By the time I assume I would have grown tired of the name, others had felt the same way.
Kay- This is the name that most of my college peers call me by. In some organizations I belong to on campus this is actually my official name. When I came to AU I started introducing myself as Kay, and in informal settings I do prefer the name Kay. Maybe in some sense I thought this would get rid of the possibility of mistake of being called "Kyla". I also see this name as a more carefree and 'fun' name. I will introduce myself as Kay across the board to my peers in informal setting.
Kray/Krayla- this is a name only my closest friends in college call me. It is a combination of "crazy" and my name. This is an endearing name given by my friends that I like. However I wouldn't want anyone else besides these friends calling me by this name. This name represents this close-knit group of friends I found as a freshman in college. I am still close with these friends even though we have all found our different places on campus.
My names are not...
Kyla- As I have already shared, for several years of my life I was referred to as Kyla. This is not my name as the names Kyla and Kayla are very different and therefore mean very different things to me. It bothers me when people mispronounce my name and call me Kyla.
Monkies/Monker- Monks is my last name, when I was teased as a young kid I was called Monkies or Monker. Although this is definitely not something that still bothers me, I prefer to not have people joke around with my last name.
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