My Heritage

After reading Alice Walker's short story, "Everyday Use", it made me stop and think about my heritage. I think that it is very important to embrace and appreciate your heritage, whatever why that may be. Dee, Maggie, and Mama had different views on what they thought honoring their heritage was. I am very proud to say that I come from a very loud Italian family. My grandmother on my father's side was born in Naples, Italy and moved to the United States when she was a young girl. Even though my grandmother did not live the majority of her live in Italy, there are still many customs that she brought back with her. First of all the food is absolutely amazing! Olive Garden does not have anything on my grandma! (: I think Italians in general are known for their food and the loud, cluttered family dinners, our family is no exception. We celebrate holidays like most people would, but usually with a little bit of Italian flare to it (most of the time that means that wine is involved, no complaining here). My grandmother takes a lot of pride in where she was born, and I believe that pride is passed on through our family. Reading Alice Walker's story gave me a nice reminder to appreciate where I come from. 

Who is James Baldwin?

After reading James Baldwin's short story "Going to Meet the Man", I was compelled to find out a little more  about the man who wrote it. I thought the story was a very dark and it made me wonder what type of past Baldwin had that made him come up with something so disturbing. 

From what I could tell, Baldwin went through a lot in his early life. When he was just an infant, his mother divorced his father because of his father's history of drug abuse and they moved to New York. After starting their new lives, his mother married a preacher and they lived a very poor life. Baldwin was forced to take care of his younger siblings. At the young age of ten, Baldwin was beaten by a group of police officers. His stepfather died of tuberculosis when Baldwin was 19. During his teenage years in Harlem, Baldwin began to realize that he was homosexual. Baldwin then moved to Paris, France to try an escape the prejudice of race and sexuality in America. Baldwin's novels and plays seem to give some insight into the struggles he had throughout his life. Baldwin not only wrote about the integration of  blacks but also about male homosexuals. The strong topics he wrote about were during a time that was well before the equality of homosexuals was introduced into America. 

After getting a little more information about where James Baldwin came from, it is easier to see how a man could come up with such a dark story. Baldwin obviously came from a troubled childhood, overcoming the prejudice of race and homosexuality. Baldwin wrote about what he knew and experienced throughout his life. I like to think that Baldwin was able to overcome his troubling past and did something he had a passion for, which was writing and was able to enjoy his life after those demons were gone. 

A "Lifetime" Play

As I sit here watching some overly dramatic Lifetime movie (yes I am one of those women) I can't help but think about the play that we just read for the last pod. I feel like A Streetcar Named Desire would make a perfect Lifetime movie. There is so much drama incorporated into one story it screams Lifetime. The relationship between Blanche and Stanley is one that has been done time and time again in many movies that appear on that network. I think we should all get together and film this a movie version of this play! What do you guys say? Maybe I am taking it a little too far, but the idea is definitely valid. If any of you have seen a movie on Lifetime I think you would agree with me. Family quarrels, relationship problems, abuse, depression; all this are ingredients for a standard Lifetime Movie, and in my opinion A Streetcar Name Desire meets that criteria. I can see it now.....Mrs. S's American Literature class presents the new Lifetime movie interpretation of Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire. Maybe I'm taking this one a little too far....I guess I need to cutback on the Lifetime (:

Literature and Blogging...So Much to Learn!

Well now that I have figured out what I am doing with this thing (it helps if you remember your correct email address!), hopefully I can get back on track with the blogging thing. I wasn't kidding when I said I was new at this (: Everything that I have encountered with my blog, has indeed been a learning process, and that goes along with all of the material I have came in contact with in this class. As I stated in my first blog, reading is not really something I am too passionate about, but with that being said, being able to have interaction with you, my fellow classmates, seems to make it a little more bearable. In more than once occasion, I found myself struggling with trying to understand what the author was trying to portray in the story,especially in the poetry pod! It was so refreshing to be able to go and look at what everyone else had commented in the discussion boards and after that, I did not feel so lost. I felt like I could read a poem over and over and still not have any clue what was going on! Through the course of the class so far, I have found a new appreciation for poetry and I guess all literature in general, it helps when you understand something. So I would like to say thanks to everyone for being such an awesome class! Now that I've got a hang of this blog thing, I will write again soon.

Thanks for reading!
Em
xoxo

Newbie!

Hello everyone! I hope that I can get the hang of this blogging ordeal and not bore you all too much. If you didn't figure it out by now, I am not a blogger, nor an avid reader, but maybe through the course of this class that can change (: I wanted to give you all a little information about me just so you can maybe understand where I come, so here goes nothing.....

My name is Emily, I am 21 years old and currently live in Kokomo with my amazing husband Corey who is in the U.S. Army and I am extremely proud of him. I do not have any children as of right now, just my two furry babies Ares and Delilah. This is my last semester at Ivy Tech and I will be graduating in May with my Associates of Science in Agriculture. I work at a Veterinary clinic not too far away in Russiaville and it is my dream job! I love animals and being able to help them is what I've always wanted to do.

As you can tell from my blog title and address, I am not a big fan of reading. I usually only do it because I have to for school and that is how is has always been. I get chronic migraines and I have found that reading tends to intensify them which is probably why I have never really enjoyed it. So here I am again in a literature class trying to keep my head above water. I hope all of you can bear with me on this and not criticize too much (: I am hoping that we can all kind of help each other better ourselves through this course and who knows maybe I will find a way to enjoy reading a little more. Anyways I just wanted to give you all an idea of who I am and what I'm about. I look forward to see how this blog will develop. Thanks for reading....

Until next time,
Em xoxo