Journal #1

"What effect poverty has on the mind; and what effect wealth has on the mind" (page 24). 

This quote stood out to me because it reminds me how the world is today. Often people want what they can't have and people who can have what they want always want more. An effect that poverty has on the mind for example, is wishing that other peoples lives were theirs not knowing the ugly truths behind everyones perfect seeming lives. Specifically, when using social media it's easy to hate yourself for your flaws because people only choose to post the best parts of their lives and edited photos. This leads to other people wishing that they had what others show on social media platforms. This can lead us to become impoverished in our minds because we forget all that we have to be greatful for when we compare ourselves to one another. I can relate to this as I have been in this position myself. Additionally, when it comes to wealth, people never know when enough is enough. For example, how many designer items does a person truly need before they realize that there are greater worries in the world that their money could help with rather than worrying about the next handbag they will add to their collection. 

Journal #2

In the close reading about The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Stetson. I think this reading is about a woman with postpartum depression, throughout the reading she shares how angry she feels that her husband is keeping her in the nursery room. She has to take medication at scheduled times throughout the day. She begins to claim that she "sees" someone but is imaging it. This is why she feels that she is going crazy. In my understanding, I think that the woman she claims to see is actually just the manifestion of the free version of herself because she feels confined to the room. This is also why I think she hates the wallpaper, because seeing it every morning when she wakes up, and every night before she closes her eyes reminds her of her lack of freedom. Also, this quote, "“The faint figure behind seemed to shake the pattern, just as if she wanted to get out” (652), could be her projecting her true feelings and desires into visions since she is declining into a state of psychosis. 

Journal #3

In the poem  ARS POLITICA, I think the overall message of this poem is to inform the reader that art is an essential part of the human experience. This poem reminds me of the importance of the artwork we close read in class last week. When diving deeper into artwork you pick up on the little details and hidden messages of the piece.  A quote from the poem that stuck with me was, "The plot will fail, the tortured will divulge our names, our story end, unless our art can right what happens in the world." To me, this is a message signaling the importance of art in our society, as we saw last class that art can preserve history and stories can be recreated visually, keeping them a part of our culture and society. Additionally, art can provide a call to action like the one we saw last class, as some students mentioned how the little girl was looking into the audience as if she were looking at us women to put our foot down and not fall into the mold that society created for us at the time, which was to be domestic housewives. Without art, it would be difficult for history to be preserved and shown to us in a powerful and visually way without having to use words to explain it. 

Journal #4

Dear Olivia, 

Right now you probably are wishing that you are at least 5 years older than you are right now. But, all I can say is that I am now wishing that I was as young as you are currently. That being said, don’t rush through life. Learn to appreciate everything around you and even the littlest things. If you spend all of your time wishing you were somewhere else or even comparing yourself to other people, that is only giving you reasons to not appreciate the life that you have right now. So, stop rushing through life and learn how to enjoy every day and every happy or sad moment that you go through because it’s only going to make you stronger in the future. 

Journal #5

Maya Angelou explores her changing sense of belonging due to her experience in St Louis. When she visited her mother with Bailey in St. Louis, she encountered her mother's boyfriend who ended up raping her. She was only eight years old when this happened and it changed the course of her life as she felt more like a woman and less like a child from very early on. After this, they went to trail and she lied and said that he had not been touching her before and that this was a one time occurrence rather than it being on-going, which gave him a lesser prison sentence, which ended up getting him killed. She felt that everything she said would end up getting people killed, so she refused to speak for a long time after her rape. This shows how she did not feel a sense of belonging as a young girl because she felt less like a kid and more like a grown woman due to her traumatic experience in St. Louis which ended up haunting her in Stamps. 

Journal #7

In the movie Persepolis, there are symbols like the two swans that Anoush gave Marjane. Before he goes to prison for the second time he gives her a swan that he made out of bread the first time that he sees her which symbolizes her because later when he goes to jail again, before his execution he gives her another swan made out of bread and says, "this is the other swans uncle" this shows their relationship and their closeness because Marjane is the last person he saw before his execution and the swams represent them and are symbols of his importance in her life. By giving her the swans she is able to have a physical reminder of her uncle. 

Journal #9 

I believe that the natural environment impacts Max greatly. I think this because in the letters he writes to Clara, his wife, he writes her long, journal like entries describing what he sees, the weather, the landscape around him, and how he himself feels in large detail. Since he is in nature, I think it also might remind him of his late mother who he shares a memory to the reader with from when he was 5 or 6, walking through the garden with her wearing his petticoat while she stresses to him the importance of knowing the names of all the beautiful things given to people by nature. By sharing this vivid memory, we may see why nature is so important and sacred to Max and why he may enjoy being a surveyor or "servant of the map" even if it is a difficult and demanding task. 

Journal #10

The natural environment places a lot of pressure on Omishto. During the panther hunt with Ama, she is forced into an internal conflict because despite it being illegal, it causes her spiritual and cultural strain. Although she respects tribal culture and traditions, she also values modern outside laws. This shows how important Omishtos environment is to her, because it plays a large role in how she thinks about the world around her and influences how she thinks and processes emotions and reasoning. This helps her start to look internally as well as to how she defines herself, because although she appreciates her culture, she also has a modern outlook on life which she has to come to terms with to full accept herself and be comfortable with her own identity. 

Journal #11

Upon first reading it, I was confused as to how the title connected to the story. Later in chapter 6 when Omishto visits the elders of the Taiga tribe, I realized the correlation to the word. I found it interesting how in chapter 5, Ama was found not guilty by the U.S court, where she would have gone to jail and faced physical punishment by having to live in those conditions where on the other hand in chapter 6 she was found guilty by the elders of the Taiga tribe and was banished. In ama's life, the tribe held more power than US justice system because to her, being banished was worse than any sentencing the US court system could have given her. This also makes me think about how power is distributed in society, becasue after all we are the ones who decide to value things and give them power over others. In the case of Ama, most people would assume that she feared the US court system more than the thoughts of the Taiga elders, as one could argue that the US court system is stronger or more powerful. After reading this novel, it definitely opened my eyes and made me realize that it is not always the stronger thing  that has the power.

Journal #12

Today for the Symposium, I attended the presentation of women's leadership in Brazil. Taking away from this presentation I will be focusing on the group who did the mission in healthcare. I thought this was so interesting to see that they went to 3 different hospitals, La Residencia Santa Cruz, Santa Marcelina hospital, and Santa Maria colegio. The hospitals provided activities, community, and need for basic care. Some key things that I took away from this presentation was that Brazil offers free healthcare, paitents with cancer recieve free chemo, and they prioritize the needs of the poor. This is so interesting to compare to this to healthcare within the US which is very different from Brazil's healthcare. An important quote from this presentation was, "every human life is sacred." Which I think is so important to notice even just by seeing for example how other people in different countries live compared to your own. It was so interesting to hear about healthcare in Brazil and what they learned through their experiences visiting Brazil.