Blog Reflection

For the literature class we made this blog to keep track of the work we did at the classroom. Counting this post I have 16 entries. The first blog we made was about ourselves, in which we talked about what we think we are. I said think but I feel that I’m always growing and changing and it is very difficult to express who you are. After that blog post we started to write about activities made in class, movies watched in class, and readings we had to make. Some were based in some instructions and some were freestyle. In my case I had never done a blog before, so preparing, adding gadgets, decorating, and all that was needed to make it organized, and pretty for the eye was a challenge, but I got the hang of it.

Now that the blog activity is over I went thru all the posts and realized that the posts were getting shorter, but always in the 300 to 500 words, maybe because I learned to be more precise and concise or maybe because at the end of the semester every student has more work accumulated from all classes in our shoulders and I wasn’t an exception. I also realized that we did a lot during the semester studying the class theme, journeys in literature. One of my favorite’s posts was the one about tourist for a day, because it was definitely a unique experience to act like a tourist in Puerto Rico, the country in where I live.

This blog activity was very different from the activities I do in other classes, mainly because I’m an Accounting student and literature and writing aren’t the focus of my curriculum. Because of this reason this activity was refreshing and unique. I also felt that with this method of writing and doing class work I helped the environment, because we didn’t need to print out every single post it was all on the web, going parallel with technology. I also liked that it was interactive meaning that I could receive feedback on my posts from the members of my group and that I could read their posts and see if other people have my same point of view, in what they differ, compare it with my interpretation, and that I was able to attach links, photos, and videos to make my point.

In conclusion, the blog was new and different for me, but maybe because of that I was able to learn about blogs, I was open for feedback, and I was able to express myself better. It was a great activity that should be more common in the university.

48th Annual Literary Contest

Last Wednesday, April 22, 2015 at General Studies at the University ofPuerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus took place the 48^th Annual Literary Contest Ceremony. This ceremony was dedicated to the life of Mark Wekander, a professor, a novelist, a poet, and someone who was very loved by all in the English Department. During the ceremony some students read Mark’s poems and a professor and friend analyzed them. The winners of the contest were also announced in this ceremony, the name of the student and of the work was mentioned and the first place of each section, poetry, essays, and short stories, read their work to the audience.

                The third and first places of the essay category were two of my classmates, and the first place is a member of my group in the class. Her essay was titled Do witches get financial aid? In the poetry category the winner’s work was titled “Godly Poet” and the short story first place winner was Do you got room for one more troubled soul? This last author didn’t read her story to the audience. The fist places in each category were female.

The mark Wekander’s poems that were read by students to honor his life and his work were: “”Lista”, “In Search of Here”, “Bodies and Souls Party”, “Driving On”, and “Accidents”. The main themes present in these poems were here and there, photography, animals in our life, and life and death. The professor explained all of these themes in the selection of poems made to honor Mark’s life.

After the ceremony was over there was an artistic presentation, in which two general studies students danced salsa, a social gathering with food and drinks. The ceremony was very touching, organized, and formal. The activities were to honor Mark’s life and to recognize the literary works of the students. 

Feminism in Poetry Panel

Last Wednesday I attended the ‘Feminism in Poetry’ panel at a student conference in the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus. In this panel three students read their analysis essays about feminism in three different poems. The poems were “Mirror” by Sylvia Plath, “Rape” by Adrienne Rich, and “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepard” by Sir Walter Raleigh. The one I liked most was “Mirror” in which the theme of beauty standards for women. The student explained that the author presents that these standards follows the woman in all ages. She also explained that the mirror can be very cruel because the women are looking for a certain reflection and society says what the “perfect” reflection is. Age makes it harder for women to feel beautiful in the terms of society.

The experience listening to this panel was different because it is not very common for me to attend this kind of conferences in which students present their works and knowledge. And it was different to be on the audience this time. The speakers were very calmed and what they were saying was clear. They were on an advance English class at the university. In this panel it was developed a very good discussion in the question and answer section.

Perspective about Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans Panel

For the class we made internet research about what are the perception US Americans and other citizens have toward Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans. We divided in groups and made the research in different aspects. My group and I did our research on the perspectives US Americans and Spaniards have toward Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans. We based our investigation in different aspects like tourism, culture, politics and economics. We divided the research son everybody had one aspect to study. We found our evidence on tripadvisor.com, abouttravel.com, “El País” news paper, happierobroad.com, and many other pages that had comments regarding does topics about Puerto Rico. We found that in most of the comments written by tourist about Puerto Rico were positive, but in the other hand the comments about Puerto Rico were negative. We think this happens because of difference, The difference in settings make that the tourists like the physical part of Puerto Rico, and the differences in attitude and culture makes that the tourist give negative feedback about the Puerto Ricans. We also found that the Spaniards were more educated about what is Puerto Rico than the US Americans.

 We presented our research in the classroom, but later we presented on a Student Conference at the university in a panel about perspectives of Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans. This experience was very different in comparison with other classes’ activities because we had to present in front of students and professors that were interested on the topic and then we had a question and answer part, but we didn’t had time for that part. I was more nervous to present in the conference than in the classroom, because it was more of a formal presentation in which there were going to attend more people watching. I think that was noticeable because I was a little stock with the words. 

Journal Reflection

For the class we made a journal based on the first thoughts activity in which we had to make five entries a week for eight weeks, following some anti-rules. I made 40 entries and ten life compasses, which is another activity that makes you identify how and why you are feeling some way. Throughout the time of the activity I noticed that my style and vocabulary maintained constant, but my creativity was developed in a good way. I noticed this in the way I expressed my thoughts and feelings. The anti-rules I mentioned earlier are: Don’t cross out, don’t worry about spelling, punctuation or grammar, don’t think, don’t get logical, go for the jugular, and keep your hand moving. The rules that I consider were the most difficult were the don’t cross out and forget about grammar because I automatically wanted to cross out something that I knew I wrote incorrectly and many times, some more and some less, stopped to think how to write a word mainly because I thought the word in Spanish and wanted to find the correct translation to English. At first the one about going for the jugular was difficult, because I wanted to have more of a formal entry so I wanted my thought to be fluent, but the mind is not that way. You think about so many things at one time and because of this I started to follow the rule in a natural way. There was one particular entry that I made on a Sunday before a very complicated week in terms of school work that I felt I followed all rules to perfection because of all of the stress I was feeling. In this entry I started writing and listing all the works and tests I had in that week, then I started to divide my time so I could get organized, and at the end I wrote that I needed to lower my level of stress, because I knew I could make it. This part I think happened because I was able to liberate a little of that stress. This was my longest entry because I didn’t stop to think, I went for the jugular, I didn’t worry about grammar, and I didn’t cross out. All I wanted to do was take all that stress out of my system. With this entry, this journal, and the life compasses I understood this activity was very influenced with your mood and with your internal journey. With this journal I learned that I have a style of writing, made me understood why I was feeling a certain way, and made me get out some feelings. Getting out my feelings was new for me, because I usually don’t tell people what I’m feeling and this made me understand better my internal journey. 

Jamaica Kincaid's "A Small Place"- Antiguans

In the second part of Jamaica Kincaid’s novel “A Small Place” she explains the political history of Antigua. She explains that Antigua was a colony of England during a lot period of time, but they finally were able to obtain their independence. The author explains how the English came to the little island and tried to impose their culture and their way of being. To do such thing they abused of the locals, mostly black people, because they thought their way was the only way, because they “thought” they were doing the right thing, that they were making a better environment for the locals. As JamaicaKincaid expresses herself, describing all the horrible things the colonizing we can really feel her anger towards them, because of the abuse and discrimination of the people that really belonged to Antigua, the men and women who suffered from the bad treatments of the English.

Jamaica Kincaid feels very attached to her people, the people of Antigua, because they have suffered and still suffer discrimination and disdain from the English un the colonization era and from the tourists that feel like they are superior, because of nationality, color, race, and many other factors that unfortunately are wrongly used to discriminate.  The author identifies with the Antiguans, because she has lived discrimination too.

If we compare Puerto Rico’s scenario is not that very different. Puerto Rico is a country that was colonized by Spain and was forced to adopt their language and religion. The Indians that inhabited the island when they “discovered” Puerto Rico, The Tainos, were also abused, mistreated, and were terminated. Puerto Rico and Antigua were both colonized and changed to what, in the heads of the colonizers, was the only correct way. The difference is that the Indians were terminated completely, so Puerto Ricans in the society of today don’t feel that attached to the Indians as Jamaica Kincaid feels about the Antiguans. Another difference in Puerto Rico is that we are still, in some way, a colony. We are part of the United States, we are the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. 

Jamaica Kincaid's "A Small Place"- Tourists

Jamaica Kincaid explains in her novel “A Small Place” how are the tourists that vacation at Antigua. Jamaica Kincaid expresses herself referring to the tourists in a very sarcastic and rude kind of way. It seems that Jamaica Kincaid have some resentment against tourist that visit the Island where she comes from, Antigua. In some aspects I agree with the author, because sometimes tourists believe things should be done the way they want, not having in mind the cultural differences and that different countries make things in a different way. Tourism should be a compromise in where tourists understand the culture of the place they are visiting and the locals should understand that tourists are in your country to enjoy it and have a good time. This is the part which the author, in my opinion, doesn’t understand. From the vocabulary she uses we can state that she doesn’t really like tourists. She believes that the tourists that visit Antigua don’t truly know the island or it habitants. This fact makes her mad because the tourists go to Antigua to forget the problems they leave home when they vacation, but the locals of Antigua don’t have that option to escape from their reality, because of poverty.

If we compare the attitude of the author towards the tourists that vacation in Antigua and the attitude of the Puerto Ricans towards the ones that visit our island it has many differences and many similarities. The main similarity is that the tourists that come to Puerto Rico and the ones that visit Antigua enjoy mostly the beaches and the many things we have that many tourists don’t have on their home lands. Me as a Puerto Rican that has been to the United States also agree with Jamaica Kincaid that the tourists don’t trust us, believe that we have a very bad driving, can’t imagine how we can buy expensive stuff. These examples bother the locals, both the residents of Antigua and the Puerto Ricans, because the vision they have of us is one mainly filled with ignorance. In the case of Puerto Ricans we don’t believe that it is a shortage of consideration that tourists visit Puerto Rico to forget their problems, because we can’t do the same, because a grand part of Puerto Ricans go on vacation, or do interior tourism if we can afford a trip.