Final Blog 2130 "Reflective Self"

“The day that you consider that you know everything…you can do anything without any practice, I think you are closing the doors to improvement” (Sadeed, Raz: HISD teacher).

This applies to everyone. I especially want to (& have) learn from my students, schools, & classes, every year (or semester). 

You will likely be my last college students, or at least for a good while. Bittersweet! :(  I have enjoyed debating modern issues with you all & hearing your thoughtful discussions about sometimes "ancient texts;" hopefully you can see the legitimacy of appreciating literature. Plus, either things come back around in "fashion," or are tragically "timeless" repetitions of history. 

I would love to keep up with your lives (goals/dreams). I love seeing people make history, show passion for their logical ideas, & build others up! Feel free to find me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or even just email me occasionally. Whatever your dreams are, don't quit! You will fall or fail sometimes, though. 

For this, your final IN CLASS blog A) Tell me what you learned either in this specific class, from me, fellow students, or even a new found understanding you have of yourself. B) Discuss new ideas or life goals you may have. (If you want to share something personal [not with the whole class], you may email me at j.d.hanson@hotmail.com; however, you still need to comment on other student's blog posts)!

Remember, it takes integrity & hard-work to TRULY accomplish goals. Anyone can be GIVEN a trust-fund or the easy route with everything; it is what you earn & strive for that mean something. 

Never compare yourself/compete with others; push yourself; no one else can force you to strive, work, & achieve goals in real life, but, luckily you have a choice, everyday! 

I will miss teaching college, but am ready for my next adventure! I hope you're ready for yours. + I'll be your biggest cheerleader, if you need one, & feel like no one believes in you. 

The "New Savage-Slave" Self Blog

DUE Sunday April 26th, 11:59 PM. 

Since there has been confusion with the course calendar, I want to clarify; we have been going by this course calendar all semester; it just got confusing (for some) after Spring Break, due to overlapping of topics. For example, we would finish one discussion/quizzing on a Tu/next week's Th & then begin a new lesson/ "self." Then people were blogging on the works out to the side of the old "self," even though it said those works would be quizzed on the NEXT meeting (with dates to think ahead about) & we were still discussing that self/being quizzed THAT night; nothing changed in that regard; the course calendar has been stuck to completely, even with weather issues.

To ensure NO POSSIBLE ERRORS on the last blogs, here are the available texts to choose from:

The "New Savage-Slave" Self Options

1. Wheatley's history/poetry (if some did her incorrectly on child self I told them to save & copy & paste for this blog); however, you will have to add to it in regards to the FULL assignment. 
2. Longfellow's poem "The Slave's Dream"
3. Slavery, Race, & the Making of American Lit (can include discussions of clips shown in class--"bonus time" discussion. 
4. Douglass' "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July"
5. Chopin's "Desiree's Baby" 
6. Toomer's From Cane poetry/or "Fern" 
7. Hughes' Negro Speaks of Rivers" 
8. Hayden's "Middle Passage" 

You will look at one of these texts alongside this very modern article: http://www.bustle.com/articles/76683-walter-scott-a-black-man-was-shot-to-death-but-my-white-husband-also-walter 

Many in class were still arguing during the M.L.K. Jr. speech (Leadership self) discussion that "white privilege no longer exists...that race is not that big of an issue in modern society." 

This will be a personal lesson hopefully or additional knowledge you already have a foundational grasp about (or sadly first hand experience), but also a practice for the final paper! 

• Jean & Grayson's blogs on the BONUS one discussed their personal experiences as young black males (the currently predominantly discriminated race/sex). Many others discussed their experiences as black/Hispanic females, whites unsure of their place in society, or even LGBTQ issues. However, many cannot relate. If nothing else, you should ensure history is not forgotten, whether that be teaching a young relative about it, future students, or your children. 
• Detail your opinion about the author's point of view in the article (agree/disagree) with specific quotes & then imagine replying in a LETTER format as one of the author's above. You must use a quote from one of the 8 works, when arguing. 
• I have posted this early because I DO NOT want to see people procrastinating in the last hour or even afternoon. Put some time/ effort into it. You should not skim the article; read it; it is not that long! 

ENGL 2130: Blog for Readings [Child Self]

We viewed several different examples of children for the readings you were quizzed upon last Thursday, April 9th & tonight, Tuesday, April 14th. I would like you to select one of those works. 

Discuss why you felt a personal connection (while reading--you did not have to experience what they did) with whatever character you associated with "childhood." It could be psychological immaturity and not necessarily age that affects this decision. 

Either way, back it up with textual evidence. The quote on the image above is telling; remember, each of those people were affected in some way; they are humans & have errors (like we all make) that make them each have unique experiences; right or wrong, their choices may have been affected by something deeper. 

This is due Sunday April 19th at 11:59 pm, like normal. 

Ms. Hanson 

Tonight's Discussion/ Thu's Readings [Quiz/Blog]...

Tonight's discussion got a bit heated; I feel the videos I tried to discuss with everyone speak better for themselves; we cannot relate to things often due to our own race, biases, where we grew up, or what we were taught. Just always try to think of yourself in someone else's shoes! MLK Jr. would not want people saying race no longer matters; color-blindness is just as powerful as racism. Just because something does not effect you, does not mean it is not still an issue; I also alluded to other groups that are still facing discrimination! We must always care about others; it could always have been or be us in future. 

The Application: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YRUUFYeOPI Some take voting for granted; imagine having that right taken away. 

Bloody Sunday 60 Minutes Spot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtIVcOT_o0M 

Glory Song Grammys 2015: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgDTvj3W87M

Also, we discussed religious hypocrisy tonight & I hope those things did not offend anyone; however, those issues are still abounding in today's society too. If you research the meaning behind this modern song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYSVMgRr6pw [Take Me to Church], marches for gender (LGBTQ) and women's rights, etc...voices are still needed to fight for civil rights for ALL. 

I feel it is my duty as an instructor to share history, push for equality, etc... 

In this recently published poem (YESTERDAY on Facebook) by famed African American author Alice Walker (alongside this article about covered up prisoner's assaults- http://www.nationofchange.org/2015/03/21/four-corrections-officers-sentenced-to-prison-for-covering-up-inmate-abuse/_ she makes me see this is ALWAYS something that must go on. We can't forget or quit teaching history. Remember, it is American (or perhaps more importantly- HUMAN) history--no color breaks needed.

"Welcome To The Picnic
2015 by Alice Walker

I can never banish the image
Of you, manacled, between two psychopaths
Being marched to a defenseless
Beating
That will leave your brain injured.
Try as I might, your lonely walk,
Blind justice not even stumbling
Behind
Or anywhere in the neighborhood
Will forever haunt me:
As you face two, three, four,
A dozen
Soulless creatures
Who enjoy beating you
To the ground; when your hands are not only tied,
But, demonstrating their true courage,
Fastened behind your back.
Of what are we reminded:
The enslaved men worked to death
In seven years
Their heads bashed in
When they could no longer work
Their bodies, their bones, turning up
White with time; and directly underneath
Where they fell: Where, but Wall Street.
Or the plantations
And hundreds of years of this.
Beatings. Beatings to death.
Beatings to incontinence. Beatings to brain damage.
A friend tells me she never uses the word
Picnic for this very reason: that the mothers
And fathers and brothers and children of the psychopaths
Came to the beating, hanging, quartering
Eviserations or whatever else could be imagined
To entertain at a lynching
And brought baskets of food
To enjoy with the show. The torture of the Picaninny was
The eagerly anticipated attraction.
If they were lucky, these picnicking families, they
Got to take home trophies. Trophies sometimes seared from
The flames. Fingers, ears, toes.
A foot. Remember how DuBois saw those human feet in a
Butcher’s window in downtown Atlanta?
Brother, Sister, Children,
You are not crazy to feel crazy
Here.
Understanding this, may you realize
A greater exterior calm
And an unshakeable inner peace. We have lived within the soul
Of brutality from the beginning of our connections here.
The harshness of knowing our journey
Could easily steal our joy. To learn not to extend
Our disaster!
That is what teachers
Are for.

Recommended: It is crucial to have a meditation practice of some sort to deal with our relentless psychic wounding. The Dalai Lama, Jack Kornfield, Pema Chodron, are excellent guides. Google."

NEXT CLASS

The readings (as warned on the course calendar) are very long for some of the plays; there is one Thursday; the poems that go along with it are really short though. 

I told some that stayed late that there will not be a blog due this weekend for the readings/ quizzes we finished tonight, to give you all a break, since the readings will be long! I recommend watching or listening to plays on YouTube, to understand them better; sometimes visualizing is better than reading, as plays were meant to be performed. 

If you so desire (for BONUS) you may blog about what we discussed in class & I have posted further about tonight, regarding either religion or race. Try to make personal connections and to the texts, if you choose to do so though. You would have to respond specifically about one of the videos shared here as well. 

It still has a due date if you choose to do it for bonus (Sunday April 12--11:59 PM). 

ENGL 2130: Blog for Week #7 Readings [Worker Self]

A)Choose a reading from the worker self readings (what you were quizzed on tonight & last Thursday).

B)As Conner did in class, compare one of these works with another reading you may have done in this class or something you personally enjoy & related one of these to.

C)Use a quote from each work to prove your relation or summarize succinctly. These should be NO MORE than 10-12 lines TOTAL.

D)As always, reply to a fellow student's comment.Due Sunday April 5th (11:59 pm central)!

ENGL 2130: Blog for Week #6 Readings...(During/After Class)

A) Please choose one reading from either Thursday's quiz materials or tonight's on the "Nature Self."

B) Some of you are comfortable with this creative writing already, as evidenced in your quizzes, emails, texts, & essays; however, everyone else will have to practice, now! Choose a first line from
http://thefirstline.com/ (you can also use the Spring 2015 they already published-removed on main part: Fairy tales hardly ever come true for quiet girls.)

C)This must be the first line of your short, creative work; you must practice creating a piece of literature to analyze [alongside the work of your choice]. This should be similar to your midterm essay & expectations for your final. Have fun.

D) Limit yourself to no more than 6-10 sentences for your story & then analyze how it was possibly influenced by the "Nature Self" piece you selected, in no more than 4-5 sentences.

Due Sunday March 29th [6 pm], along with a comment to a fellow student.

Remember, the "Worker Self" quiz/material is Thursday March 26th, so now our blogs will be in weird, over-lapping weeks. You will not be blogging upon that material until next week(end) though.

"Naturalism aimed at giving the primitive wishes full play but failed because these wishes are too primitive, too infantile, too inconsistent with themselves to be satisfied even by the greatest license." --John Desmond Bernal

--Ms. Hanson

ENGL 2130: Blog for Week #5 Readings...

Please choose one reading from each night's selections from the Psychological/ Imbalanced Self that spoke to you; it could have horrified & shocked you or intrigued you. You do not have to have "liked" or "disliked" either text. 

Analyze each in no more than 5 sentences each. 

And, follow up with a fellow student's blog, like normal. 

This will be due, Sunday March 1st by 5:45 pm (72 hours from the end of tonight's "class"). I want you then to begin looking back at texts you enjoyed or would like to research further, as next week we will be work-shopping ideas for your midterm papers. 

DO NOT skip class, just because there is are no quizzes; otherwise, you will STILL forfeit the pre-discussions prior to quizzes after we return from Spring Break. No breaches of contracts, please! :) 

--Ms. Hanson