Blog 6

I grew up going to church my entire life.  I am a member of Mt. Zion United Methodist Church.  Im my beliefs a relationship should be male and female.  However, homosexuality is not a huge problem to me.  If one feels that they are truly in love with another, being the same sex, just like lefty and Desdemona then they should be together.

the novel, Middlesex, so far is not one of my favorite novels.  I am not a huge fan of it as of now, however I have talked to some of my classmates who said it gets better so I am anxious to finish it.  To me, the book  just started out slower than a had hoped. I am a very impatient person.  I was getting anxious on reading about Cal's life and for a huge chunk of the beginning was about his grandparents.  Which don't get me wrong that part was needed but if it was shorter I think I would have enjoyed it more.

I was pretty shocked at the questions you gave us.  It was eye opening to see that the questions that you replaced homosexuals with heterosexuals and that in reality, those are the questions homosexuals are faced with everyday.  When I was reading over them i was thinking that these questions were weird and dumb.  However, these questions can be uncomfortable towards a homosexual when people would ask them.  Another hurtful thing was the Westboro Church.  The hatred shown by these people is terrible.  It is one thing to not believe in homosexuality, but to stand there and say they are all going to hell and God hates them is so wrong!

Blog 5

Monster and Incognegro are very similar.  These two books talk about discrimination and racism and how badly it effects peoples lives, however, both of these books express it in a completely different way.  In Monster, the racism was more said "under ones breath" when Incognegro's was more outspoken and people voiced their opinions on how they felt about black people.  I feel that the conversation was created by these two novels by the attitudes of the people within the novels.  When the reader reads in Incognegro white people just hanging them for fun and tormenting them with harsh words and language, it brings up a lot of opinions as well as anger which creates someone to voice their opinion creating a conversation.  Another way a conversation was created was in Monster.  I feel that when the author never gives the reader a clear cut answer to if Steve Harmon was truly innocent creates a lot a questions and comments which create a conversation.  Both of the examples' conversations are over the topic of racism because they all have to do with peoples feelings on racism.  The theme that is shared within both of these novels is Racism for sure, but mainly the true feelings of people out there towards racism.  Both of the books relate to our conversation about power and privilege because they have to do with a dominant race (Caucasians) and the certain privileges that blacks did not have and the privileges the whites had over the blacks.

Blog #4

I feel that the videos we watched on Racism were very eye opening.  Racism is a very controversial topic in which everyone has their own opinions on it.  The one video that really stuck out to me was, A Class Divided.  This video showed the real power behind racism an discrimination.  Dividing young children by the color of their eyes and watching them completely change their attitudes and feelings towards one another was incredible.  Seeing the kids that were good friends 20 minutes before the experiment becoming enemies shows the true power of discrimination.  It only takes a little experiment like that to show what racism really does to people.  Just because someone is a different ethnicity or color does not make them any different.  They are still human and deserve to be treated that way.  This video expressed to both an older generation as well as a younger one on the importance and seriousness of talking about racism and showing how everyone is truly equal.  Between the novels we have read and the videos we watched, they all have to do with discriminating against someone due to ethnicity or color.  They were all focused on the same topic, Racism.  However they all had a different story or situation with racism.  In A Class Divided, they discriminated using eye color to show people how racism/discrimination worked.  I was brought up in a family where Racism was considered very wrong and with the idea that everyone is equal.  This video really helped me understand the seriousness of this controversial topic and how it truly hurts someone emotionally.  I have always known racism to be very wrong and after watching this video my feelings are still the same.

The Book Thief Blog 3

The one character that suck out to me the most was Hans Hubermann. I feel that he is that character everyone likes and is happy to read about.  I feel this way because of the way he treats Liesel and deals with Rosa. When i picture Hans, I see a tall man with a soft face and soft hands.  I see the softness in him because he is always there with Liesel needs him and is very caring.  For example, when Leisel wets the bed she feels very embarrassed and afraid of how Rosa will react and yell. However, you can tell that Hans senses these fears and emotions in Leisel and he comforts her and then keeps it a secret from Rosa and everyone else.  This also shows that Hans is a very trusting person.  This also shows his views on the Nazi regime. Hans is not a part of the Nazi party.  This is a "touchy" topic within his family because his son thinks it wrong to not be apart of the party. However, Hans' friend from the war was jewish and he saw what a great person he was and he didn't feel right joining a party that was against jews. He feels sad, and in a way kind of guilty, for the jews and how they are being treated.  You can see his promise and personality within the book when he hides away his friend Max Vandenburg.  He hides him in his basement and provides food for him.  This is showing the side of Hans that he son absolutely hates because it is going against what "should" be done.  The perspectives of Hans are unique in the sense that his out different from everyone else's.  Most Germans are apart of the Nazi party and get "pumped up" when they invade a helpless jewish family and take everything from them.  Hans feels pain and hurt for the family being invaded. I feel that his perspective might have been this way if he did not meet the Jewish man during the war. Hans Hubermann is by far my favorite character of this book because of the way he treats Leisel. He is her best friend and takes care of her.  He stuck out to me right when he get Leisel out of the car in the beginning of the book.  I could tell he was going to be the one that gets Leisel through her harsh life.

Blog #2

While reading Maus, right in the very beginning i noticed the relationship between Vladik and Artie. It stated that they have not seen each other in a while. I am the kind of person who develops specific questions while i read and the one question i had was why did they not see each other in a while. At first I thought that maybe they had a falling out or did not get along. However, after reading the rest of the book, I felt that they seem to get along and Artie seemed very interested in Aladik. I feel that the relationship between Vladik and Artie did not change as the novel progressed because they never mentioned why they haven't seen each other in a while so it makes the story seem to just start out with them always seeing each other and talking about Vladik's life. Within the series of pictures on page 12, the story that is being told through that pictures is how bad Jews were treated by the Germans. I feel it is telling us that because on the one picture is zooms in on Vladik's arm which has numbers tattooed on it from the Holocaust. This picture is a very important piece to this story because it gives you a glance at how his life was and how the book is going to go. When looking at both the text and the pictures at the same time while reading, it gives the reader i better perspective on what the artist is trying to convey. When one is reading a sentence or a statement, one can take the wording in a completely different way that the author was trying to say. Having graphics to look at while you are reading , for the most part, eliminates this from happening.

About me...

Hey!  My name is Allison Herr but i go by Ally.  I am a graduate of Boiling Springs High School.  I am majoring in mathematics and getting my secondary certification.  I am a very outgoing person and very personable.  I ran track all four years of  high school and I am continuing my track career here at Shippensburg University.  The last book I read was Of Mice and Men.  I really enjoyed that book and would recommend it to everyone.  It is a quick read and it holds your interest. One thought i have about cultural diversity is the mosque being built in New York City.  I feel that this example has both positive and negative aspects.  The positive aspect of the mosque is how it is going to give the Islamic society a place to worship.  The negative aspect of the mosque is how it is creating riots and protest throughout New York City. Cultural Diversity is the differences between race, ethnicity, language, nationality, religion, etc.  I am expecting to learn about how cultural diversity is portrayed in literature.  I feel that we are going to see how different authors express cultural diversity through their writing.