“Don’t Get Comfortable” AACC/Discussion
Abstract: Naton Leslie tells the story of a railroad detective by the name of Charley Best. Charley worked during the 1920s on the narrow-gauge lines between Pittsburgh and Northwestern Pennsylvania. The story had been passed down from Naton's grandfather to his father. Naton's father and grandfather both worked jobs that required them to be up really high off the ground or to hang off cliffs and bridges. This is why Naton learned that in places of danger one has to make sure not to get comfortable. Throughout the telling of the story he relates experiences he, his father, and his grandfather have had, as well as the lessons he was taught. He expresses that since Charley Best got comfortable in a dangerous and unfamiliar place he has not been able to get comfortable due to his wound.
Contextual: This story or groups of stories are my kind of stories. The reason I like this is because it’s relevant to my life right now. In woodshop there is a rule not to get distracted or goof while using or being near the machines, basically not to get comfortable. It’s not just in the woodshop though, it’s throughout the school. It’s because when we get comfortable we become lazy, forgetful, and sometimes sleepy, letting ourselves forget homework or even just not do our work efficiently. It’s almost as if in order to get somewhere in life you always have to be focused and doing something.
Content: A) The author says that his grandfather was lucky to have a job in 1934 because that was right in the middle of the Great Depression. During which work, money, and even food was hard to come by.
B) Charley Best's story eventually folds out and basically it can be said that he agreed with Naton's father in that he should have been more careful and not have gotten so comfortable. Along with the other stories they told how and
Why they will never get comfortable in unknown settings.
G) Leslie's point is that he as well as his father was taught growing up about not getting comfortable or careless in dangerous or possibly dangerous places. Like how he got to comfortable and distracted while on a ladder and feel back and got hurt. It could be interpreted that he thinks we as a society forget to pay attention to the task at hand and look everywhere else due to being too comfortable and seemingly carefree.
Strategy and Style: H) People always understand one another better through the sharing of experiences and stories. Leslie tells about his and his father’s experiences to show a variety of times when becoming too comfortable can end badly, if he hadn’t included the experiences, the reader, who at times can be dumb, might just think that you don’t want to get comfortable around other people.
K) It’s true that physically at a glance the tales that the Author has been inserting don’t match up, but philosophically they do. The Author uses the tales to show how the main story of Charley Best actually affected their lives growing up. Where Charley got comfortable in a possibly dangerous place and got hurt, it told them that they need to do the same, even though at times they still made that very same mistake.
"Travelling South" AACC/Discussion
Abstract: First published in 1912, anonymously, and later it was republished under the name of James Weldon Johnson. "Travelling South" is a fictional autobiography of James Weldon Johnson's early life. In his story he travelled south to Atlanta, to attend the University there. On the way he met a Pullman car porter, he befriended him and the porter took him to a place that he could stay until the University opened. He really stressed on that when something happens due to you being naive not to dump it onto someone who can't do anything about it.
Contextual: Reflecting back on the story I believe all teenagers; actually everyone can admit that they too are guilty of doing something dumb, like James putting a lot of money in a room with random people inside of an unlocked trunk. However, that not the thing everyone has done before. This story shows us, as a society, when we experience troubles or if someone has wronged us we do what justice to be served or the problem fixed, but when those options are out we just want to vent. We almost immediately want to tell someone to make it easier on us. Though in his story he stops himself for telling the University President and basically says that telling the President is pointless, it will make himself look foolish, and mostly the President wouldn't be able to help. He points it out as almost in a satirical way, to bring to light that we all do it.
Content: G) You always hear when adults talk to the younger generations in ways like: "Wait till you’re in the real world" or "You think life tough wait till you move out and are on your own." Times when we have tastes of reality, like that lot of people are dishonest. The story really is about the narrator realizing when something goes wrong it’s his duty to deal with it, which is something all new young adults learn, usually the hard way.
Strategy and Style: K) In my opinion the details of the Young Porter's life is important. The details of his life are hinting to us that the reason narrator hit it off with him is because of the similarities of their life experiences. In the end they become even more alike in that they both have to work to go to school. It could be said that he included the detail only to reveal how he, the narrator, life had been.
Why I Write AACC Discussion
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Abstract- Elie Wiesel is a writer who writes fiction, nonfiction, drama, and poetry. He received t…
Abstract- Elie Wiesel is a writer who writes fiction, nonfiction, drama, and poetry. He received the Nobel Peace Prize for his work that was shown in "Why I Write: Baking No Become Yes." He happens to be more than an ordinary writer; he's a concentration camp survivor. His only role he said he sought was that of witness. He believed that his real purpose for surviving was to write about the holocaust so that the world would not forget them or the people who did those terrible things to them. Through his writing he wanted to bring the readers onto the side that he and fellow survivors were on, but knew that it would be impossible for the readers to understand. Though he does write so that everyone can be warned, he always first and foremost writes to wrench those victims from oblivion and to help the dead vanquish death.
Contextual- After reading this text it made me think; how is it we can read, hear, or even see something that makes us cringe and feel depressed and even still not possible imagine how someone else felt or feels. The text talks of how it’s impossible to know the way they felt or the pains they suffered; I totally agree but to not move on doesn't make it easier and sometimes forgetting things can not only make feelings of bitterness or even grudges go away. After reading the whole text I thought back to all that I have learned on this subject and I realized something that most be don't think of; how incomprehensible the emotions, thoughts, and the feelings of the victims and even more the perpetrators.
Content- 1) In this text's context witness could be basically those survivors of the concentration camps. Places in the text that show this are: “It is for them I write, and yet the survivor may experience remorse. He has tried to bear witness; it was all in vain." Another example is: "The only role I sought was that of a witness. I believed that, having survived by chance, I was duty-bound to give meaning to my survival, to justify each moment of my life."
2) I believe he says transmit rather than telling, simply because you always miss parts or leave small detail out that probably were necessary pieces. Transmitting the experience would take the whole experience down to the smallest details, leaving nothing out. He wants to transmit his survival experience as well as what those who died experienced, which makes it so much more important because it can help him heal. It’s important to humanity so that we won't allow something like it happen, if we the people can help it.
3) "Why I Write" alone doesn't feel Elie's commitment to "make no become yes." It is more on the lines of a prologue for his other book "Night" which tells his story and makes people then know of what had transpired long ago.
4) Writing for Elie is his duty because he survived and since he can't just shout it he writes his story. I believe he sees it as an honor because in his story the dead find refuge.
5) In Elie Wiesel's book, "Night" there is found on the last or second to last page a phrase that says something similar to this: "After liberation we did not seek revenge nor did we hold any ill will to anyone we only sought to live the rest of our lives." The fact that he writes books with great talent, is a concentration camp survivor, and through all of it he held no ill will or need for vengeance within him and still all he wants is to make sure we understand and remember those cruel and evil days more than qualifies him for the Nobel Peace Prize he received.
Strategies/Structures- Elie Wiesel's audience is no one in particular. His writings are a warning that we as the people in the outside will not understand the tragedies that took place. Though he does expect us to have some understanding of Judaism, like the Kaddish, the Zohar, and to even some knowledge of the Bible. Most of all he expects us to know the things that took place during World War II. At a glance it does seem that he expects a lot from us in his writing but in actuality he expects we won't just understand, but that we won’t care. He believes that no matter how much prior knowledge we possess if we can't understand the events that occurred within those concentration camps as well as why they occurred; we will just simply not care or care as much as those who do know and understand.
No Name Woman AACC Discussion
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... Content: A) The Kingston family in my opinion is ashamed of both, the pregnancy from a man tha…
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Content: A) The Kingston family in my opinion is ashamed of both, the pregnancy from a man that is not her husband and that she committed suicide. My guess though is that it started as being ashamed of the pregnancy but as the years went by they held grudges and then held themselves responsible for her committing suicide.
Engaging the Text: A) The passage I chose, they were describing the daughter or aunt as being a vain woman, spoiled, and someone determined to look good. They go into great detail of how she goes about getting ready to look as pretty as possible for the day. This passage intrigued me because how does the sister-in-law know so much about the Aunt when they eventually disowned her. It’s almost as if they either shared a room or spent a lot of time together and had become very close. When people go into detail it always makes me curious as to how and why do they know certain details.
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your family.
If in Angelou’s family this tragedy of adultery and then suicide occurred I believe that Momma would give the girl a good beating then a constant cold shoulder. They still would act similar to the culture in China but still better. Though if the girl killed herself I believe that they would mourn her and not just forget and never talk of her again.
In today’s culture family is still important only in a different way. We today think family honor is more important than unity and staying together to help one another. Culture changes as do values and even religions which both are differing from the people around them. This allows for events and problems to occur without the fear of retaliation from their neighbors or other people in their cities and towns. Another major change is that people now worry more about themselves and their own families, not saying that there not any nosey neighbors because there still is.
No Name Woman AACC Discussion
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“No Name Woman” AACC/ Discussion Questions
Abstract: Maxine Hong Kingston was born in 1940. Her …
“No Name Woman” AACC/ Discussion Questions
Abstract: Maxine Hong Kingston was born in 1940. Her parents were immigrants from China. As a Little girl she was always told stories to warn about life. One day her mother decided to tell her a story that she cannot repeat to anyone. The story was about her father’s sister, who no one acknowledges or says ever existed. The story tells about how her aunt was unfaithful or in some way raped, and that she became pregnant and shamed the family so she jumped into the well with her baby and both died. After learning of this story she would find herself reflecting on it and wondering if she is being haunted because she is continuing the family’s silent punishment of her aunt.
Contextual: Out of all the stories I have read so far to annotate this one was almost impossible to relate with, without of course telling things that others don’t need to know and can’t know. So I tell my opinions on why I can’t relate, first I’m not a girl so I don’t know how the author or her aunt, or mom felt. Second I’m not of the same time period and culture, which is way different than mine. And Last I don’t and my family doesn’t shun people for making mistakes and poor judgment and restraint. The text makes me think is this fiction or nonfiction, because the mom could have made up the story to scare the daughter into being good. It just seemed too fishy of a story for my taste.
Content: A) The Kingston family in my opinion is ashamed of both, the pregnancy from a man that is not her husband and that she committed suicide. My guess though is that it started as being ashamed of the pregnancy but as the years went by they held grudges and then held themselves responsible for her committing suicide.
Engaging the Text: A) The passage I chose, they were describing the daughter or aunt as being a vain woman, spoiled, and someone determined to look good. They go into great detail of how she goes about getting ready to look as pretty as possible for the day. This passage intrigued me because how does the sister-in-law know so much about the Aunt when they eventually disowned her. It’s almost as if they either shared a room or spent a lot of time together and had become very close. When people go into detail it always makes me curious as to how and why do they know certain details.
Suggestions For Sustained Writing: B) In many cultures your family is your status and your status with your family determines your status with others. In China family status and your status within determines honor and if you dishonor yourself you dishonor your family to the rest of the world and in a way dishonor your people. The Kingston family’s culture is that of China’s and there mystery sister dishonored them through Adultery and a pregnancy from it. The family’s reaction tells that this all happened back in the early 1900’s when family was the only real important thing, not wealth which you were considered poor if you had no ties or good status with your family.
If in Angelou’s family this tragedy of adultery and then suicide occurred I believe that Momma would give the girl a good beating then a constant cold shoulder. They still would act similar to the culture in China but still better. Though if the girl killed herself I believe that they would mourn her and not just forget and never talk of her again.
In today’s culture family is still important only in a different way. We today think family honor is more important than unity and staying together to help one another. Culture changes as do values and even religions which both are differing from the people around them. This allows for events and problems to occur without the fear of retaliation from their neighbors or other people in their cities and towns. Another major change is that people now worry more about themselves and their own families, not saying that there not any nosey neighbors because there still is.
If this had happened in my family I would like to think we would stick together and work through it. I know though that we wouldn’t cast out or condemn a member of our family, we may not approve of what they did and be sad that they chose that, but we would back them and try to help them the best we could without of course losing ourselves in the process. To my family our unity and love for one another is what is most important.
“Grandmother’s Victory” AACC
Abstract: Maya Angelou was born Marguerita Johnson in 1928, she spent most of her childhood in Stamps, Arkansas, where her family happened to own a general store. Later in her life she became active in civil rights movement and used her life experiences to help her be more effective. She and her family were raised that being dirty was a very serious sin against God. Growing up she hated the powhitetrash children and from listening to her Momma’s teachings and watching her actions she got over it and was able to learn from her experiences.
Contextual: Everyone at one point in time watched someone they admire do something in response to something that completely awed them. Though I can’t personally think of any stories that involve me, there is however one that comes to mind. It’s about a man, who happens to be an LDS bishop, who was driving home with his family around Christmas time when they were hit by a drunk driver, who happened to be a teen driver. The accident killed his wife and I can’t remember if all his kids were killed or if one survived. What taught me was that he immediately forgave the teen who had hit and killed his family. He showed me that forgiveness should be first and always come, it not only helps the offender but it also helps the victim as well. Thinking on it though I don’t know if I could forgive someone who killed my family let alone doing it immediately without pausing.
Questions for Discussion
Content: A) The story can be interpreted in many ways it can be about racism and it could be about bad behaved kids or even simply about whom the author respects the most and what time they came to respect them even more.
E) She uses the visual of the girl doing a handstand and showing her privates off. Also she described them as dirty, sassy, and unruly showing how harsh she felt about them.
Suggestions for Sustained Writing: A) My family and I moved from Sandy almost four years ago to Draper. We met our neighbors some were nice other were too wrapped up with themselves to be nice. Some of them we would see driving by and we would wave and they just so happened to look the other way immediately. It’s been almost four years from those days of being so called ignored by a great number of the people in the neighborhood, the only lucky thing is how we never had bad luck with the people in our circle. This however isn’t the story; the story starts around seven months ago. Mother had a few friends in our neighborhood; she was not used to not knowing her neighbors. The usual way for parents to get to know people are through their kids hanging out, so after my brother went on his mission and I was the only one home. I never have been too social so my mom could use me to get to know people so she started to feel shunned from the neighborhood. Especially at church, where she was a Sunday school teacher and all she did was teaching teenagers. When after hoping to get to know people she got the surprise of receiving the calling of second counselor of the relief society. This in the LDS is a huge responsibility especially when our particular ward has over four hundred active members. Since then she has been a happier person and has got to know people who she had previously seen every now and then but they had never thought to wave and know that she has to be the bigger person and make sure everyone is welcomed she has discovered traits that had been previously unknown and has been a lot more pleasant person.
