Bonus #12: Response to Aly Bonus 8 by Kathleen Paxtor

First of all, props to you Aly for getting it together this semester. I really wish I would have gotten a better routine so I wasn’t stuck writing papers at 1 a.m. I really like how you tried out a new system and explained it. It seemed like it really worked well for you. It made me think that I should incorporate this into my next semester classes because I usually live on the motto “living life day by day” and it really does screw me over many times. I love that with this system you have more time to hang out with friends and family and relax which I think is super important. Trying to balance school, friend, family, work, and a social life are almost impossible but you seem to have it figured out. Good luck on your Law School Admission Test! I too understand what you mean with having huge ambitions and getting carried away. Growing up in a poor family and becoming a first generation college student makes me feel like I have to do a lot to make my parents proud. I plan on going to Medical School and becoming a Pediatrician. Medical school is really hard to get into and I really wish I would have had better time management throughout my school years. I think that not really knowing what I was getting myself into with college in general was terrifying because I had no one to guide me I had to figure it out all on my own and now that I have I feel like it was too late. When I first read your bonus I became really interested in your system because these next few remaining semesters really count. I need shadowing hours, community service, study for my actual classes as well as the MCAT, work, church, gym, and family time; I feel like there aren’t enough hours in a day to do everything I need to. You inspired me to really think about how I manage my time, I would too love to be stress free and sleep more. I sleep on average 4-5 hours a day and sometimes it really gets to me. Next semester I plan on removing myself from all social media by deleting my apps and Netflix if I see that my grades are slipping. I too will make sure I plan my homework 3 days ahead so I don’t fall behind. Congratulation on making healthy life choices too! I recently have as well and it only adds more things to do on my schedule. I have to work in meal prepping and gym time which reduces my sleep/free time but it will all be worth it. I have lost 40 pounds since January 12 so that is one thing that I have going for me so far lol. But either way thank you for sharing this new system and I hope that everything works out in your favor—if I ever need a lawyer I will know who to call.

Bonus #11 What makes it funny? Kathleen Paxtor

Humor is one of those things that can be taken into multiple perspectives. I think that there is a fine line between something being funny and something being disturbing. For example, the Racist Gift Basket video was funny but then I got into thinking about how wrong it really was. I noticed that when Gabriel Iglesias was talking about different races his behavior and voice immediately went into a more stereotypical voice/gestures (receptionist and maid). If this was anyone else doing it in any other context I probably would not be laughing, on the contrary, I would probably be a little irritated. But because I knew Gabriel Iglesias was doing it for laughs through a comedic perspective it did not really bother me much (I thought it maybe wasn’t necessary but I guess it added to his story). I showed this video to someone a lot older than me and they didn’t find it funny at all. There response was literally “this is the dumbest thing I have ever heard of”. In my Rhetorics of New Media class we have talked about media and the creators intent versus the audience’s perspective. I thought this was really relatable to this because not everyone will understand a joke. Every generation will understand it differently, for example the 55-year-old lady thought it was vulgar and not funny whereas I found it to be a lighthearted joke between old friends. In a book written by Jenkins et. al. called Spreadable Media the idea of a joke and humor goes beyond it being ‘just funny’. Jenkins argues that “recognizing a joke involves exchanging judgments about the world and defining oneself either with or against others”. This can be seen in jokes that have to do with suicide, racism, Hitler, sex, etc, not everyone will agree with what is being said. Some people will choose one side and others the other side. Jenkins also says that “humor is not simply a matter of taste: it is a vehicle by which people articulate and validate their relationships with those whom they share the joke”. Today in class we were actually arguing on different commercials that were deemed as “funny” and yet crossed the line of being offensive. For example, there is an Asian laundry detergent commercial of this African American man going into a washer and after using the laundry detergent comes out to be a lighter Asian man. To the content creators and market strategists they thought that this was funny and an easy way to sell their product. On the contrary, there was so much backlash because it was so controversial that they had to ban it from ever being used. The backlash went viral, not only did it reach the US but other countries as well. Basically what I am trying to get across is that I think that regardless of the content creator thinks that something is funny it can come across as derogatory. We as the audience are the ones that deem a joke to be funny or unpleasant.

Bonus #9 Who has the right? Kathleen Paxtor

This is really a profound question because of the multiple perspectives that can come from this. Personally, I believe that if a story is being told with a non-malicious intent and stems from wanting to spread awareness then it is fine. By writing about such heavy subject and getting different perspectives of it really helps understand the event. The biggest example I could think of was the Holocaust. For years people have been getting monetary gain from retelling stories based off of their experience or what they thought what happened. The positive aspect of someone telling their own personal account is that the information is probably more accurate because the lived it; but on the other hand, emotions and feelings can get in the way of telling the ‘true’ story. One take on telling a story that isn’t yours is to do it for educational purposes. For example, The Diary of Anne Frank is one of the biggest sellers and has a museum to remember her life. Personally, I believe that this is okay because people are trying to spread awareness of the Holocaust through the accounts of Anne herself. She might have not given consent to publish her life but by others doing so the Holocaust is a subject that a lot of people know about and can sympathize with. Now if someone were using Anne’s life and changing up certain things to make it more tragic to sell more then there would be a problem.

One big story that has recently popped up in the Latino community is the story of Selena. Selena Quintanilla is a huge Mexican American icon, for years people have sold product based on her life. MAC cosmetic company has made a cosmetic line using Selena to sell their products. Because she is so popular the products sold out immediately, but who gave MAC the consent to use Selena as an advertisement? After Selena’s death her family has really milked her fame and turned it into their own financial gain. There have been movies and documentaries of what happened in her life but no one can truly know what happened except Selena. Selena’s ex-boyfriend, Chris Perez, has on many accounts denounced the movie and has refused to watch the movie for almost 20 years. Apart from the movie, Selena’s murderer has also shown up in the spotlight making accusations against Selena and telling “her side of the story”. A very famous Latina news reporter, Maria Celeste, wrote a book about Selena’s life making her seem like a horrible person and writing things that could be considered false, negative accusations. Maria Celeste was recounting the story of Selena’s murderer not of the actual facts because she wasn’t there—she isn’t Selena. In this perspective Maria Celeste wanted to tell the story of Selena because she knew it would sell; her intent was financial gain. She had already signed a contract to make her book into a TV show (which was negatively received because of people’s outrage with her perspective on Selena’s life). Unfortunately, in a society where tragedy is such a big seller we the audience must come to our own terms of when something is okay and when something is not.

Group B Post 4: Outsider Looking In-Sherman Alexie's Perspective: Kathleen Paxtor

Alexie writes his poems and short stories to recount parts of his life in his perspective. He uses themes of alcoholism, racism, colonization, despair, and resentment to capture the audience into feeling what he felt. For most of Alexie’s characters they “struggle to survive the constant battering of their minds, bodies, and spirits by white American society and their own self-hatred and sense of powerlessness” (Casey). For example in the poem On the Amtrak from Boston to New York he writes with what could be considered resentment. This poem is about the overwhelming colonization of American culture overriding Native Americans and their culture. The protagonist of this poem resents the lady for bringing up the history of something that was part of his history first; she was ignorant to the history beyond what she was taught. He call this “her country’s history” not “his” or “our”. He feels the need to be quite and keep his thoughts to himself, he views the ‘white American society’ as his ‘enemy’. He writes: “while I, as all Indians have done since this war began, made plans for what I would do and say the next time somebody from the enemy thought I was one of their own;” in this he clearly separates himself from the other, the enemy vs. him (Alexie).

Sherman Alexie in his writing uses his ‘outsider’ perspective to make the reader interact with his identity. Alexie is a Native American that was born and raised in a reservation in Spokane. Alexie continuously writes himself into his characters and uses themes that have affected him his whole life; “he is roused to consciousness about his own entrapment within clichés and culturally constructed ways of reacting” (Garic). The influence his youth had on him is seen in all of his writing, he uses themes of despair, racism, and lost identity to show what it is like to be a “part time Indian” in world that is socially constricted.

By seeing things through Alexie’s eyes we can try to understand his world. Alexi writes to “understand the world and to make fun of the world (Garic). In his short story Indian Education he writes about his personal experiences at school. Victor (the main protagonist) describes his education through specific episodes of his life that really stayed with him. Much like Alexie, Victor learned lessons that didn’t necessarily come from attending school and books but from experiences and life lessons. He uses specific experiences of others and compared them to his perspective. For example, in 8^th grade Victor could hear “the white girls’ forced vomiting” and asked them to “give [him their] lunch if they were just going to throw it up”. In the end, Victor concludes with “there is more than one way to starve”(Alexie).  By using an eating disorder as a metaphor Alexie is able to show that starvation goes beyond just food; “other forms of starvation are not explicitly tied to food, as those on the reservation are starving for a real education, for dignity, and for a better quality of life” (Battaglia). While these two girls were throwing away their bodily nutrition, Victor (Alexie) saw it as throwing up opportunities. This correlates with his past because Alexie chose to go to a public school for education he had more opportunities, his friends back home were not so lucky. The opportunities that were being thrown away were ones that were wanted by others who are starving for more.

Through Sherman Alexie, you can learn life lessons through different accounts and perspectives; lessons he learned through his youth, perspectives formed from a socially constrict universe that labeled him as an outsider looking in.

References:

Battaglia, Soheila. Theme of the Short Story “Indian Education. https://penandthepad.com/theme-short-story-indian-education-1669.html. 2017.

Casey,Rob. Poetry Foundation. Sherman Alexie. Poetryfoundation.org

Garic, Vanja. "Part-Time Identities and Full-Time Narration as an Absolution in Alexie's the Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian." Neohelicon: Acta Comparationis Litterarum Universarum, vol. 44, no. 1, 2017, pp. 189