I’m Bringing Sexy Back…haha March 26, 2007

He said sex…hehehehe. For all of us with the minds of twelve year olds, I think that this was the exact reason that Foucault wrote this. When we were younger, sex was not something we talked about, or if we did, we were embarassed by it. It was taboo. It was censored.

One main reason Foucault gave for the censorship of sex, is the Catholic Church. “But while the language may have been refined, the scope of the confession-the confession of the flesh-continually increased. This was partly because the Counter Reformation busied itself with stepping up the rhythm of the yearly confession in the Catholic countries…” (1649).   We are taught from an early age in the Catholic Church that you do not have sex until you are married.  You don’t do any act that is similar to sex, and you do not ever engage in the act yourself.  Strict, huh?

Then I thought back to high school.  Sex ed was lacking where I went to high school.  We had a health class that we were required to take to graduate, but it didn’t really focus on sex ed.  Instead we got to wear beer goggles and learn about not drinking and driving, and various other health concerns.  We did spend a few days on sex education I believe. (It was 10th grade so I’m trying to remember 5 years ago).  I remember we got to watch the movie, The Miracle of Life, for a few class periods.  I also remember being creeped out that my teacher wanted to bring the movie home to watch with his wife, who was one of my other teachers.  I was lucky enough to have had parents that talked to me from an early age about lots of stuff, sex being one of them, and explained that I could ask them questions whenever I needed to, rather than getting info from friends.  It was nice to know that I didn’t have to worry about getting yelled at for asking about it.  But it makes me angry that high schools don’t have sex ed. or if they do, it’s only taught that you cannot have sex.

Take good old Saint Rose for example.  We’re not allowed to give out condoms or birth control on this campus because it promotes sexual promiscuity.  Wow.  We’re in college.  We’re adults.  We can think for ourselves.  By not providing us with safe ways of having sex, I’m betting a lot of people on this campus have been down to planned parenthood to get tested.  We need to move into the 21st century.  We’re no longer a Catholic school, so why should there be a problem with keeping out students safe?

The end of Disgrace March 26, 2007

As I finished Disgrace, a theme appeared to stand out during most of the book.  That was that the idea of animals, mainly dogs, that was a reoccurring theme throughout the book.  On page 78, Lucy says to David, “‘Poor old Katy, she’s in mourning. No one wants her, and she knows it.’”  To me, this is the beginning of the connection between Katy and David.  It is apparent that David is not wanted either by anyone or any place.  He was kicked out of his job and left Cape Town because he isn’t wanted there.  Then he came to see Lucy, and, while she accepts his presence there as her father, he really isn’t wanted there either.  Katy is the old dog that no one wants; David is the old man no one wants.

Another connection between the two was when the attack on the house and the rape of Lucy occurs.  David is spared, why, it isn’t made clear, but he survives.  Of all the dogs, Katy is the only one that isn’t shot.  She poses no threat to the attackers like the other dogs do, and is left alive.  David poses no threat either, and so he is left to live, though he is attacked.

The final way that David and Katy are connected happened when they meet Pollux and beat him up.  The fatherly instinct in him finally comes out, and the guard dog in Katy is let loose as well.  The two fight him together to take back the damage he has caused.  Even though they cannot truly take it back, they can at least take their revenge on him.

I found this connection between the two characters pretty interesting.  Two completely different characters, one human, one animal, were able to share the same emotions throughout the novel.  Through his connection with Katy, and later the older dog he gave up to be put down, David was able to finally connect with himself I feel.  He was completely disconnected with the world around him before coming to see Lucy.  After, and once he had started to learn from the dogs, he was able to communicate better with others as well as himself.  It was a disturbing book to read, and even though it was easy to get through compared to other theorists, I am looking forward to getting back to the Norton.

Disgrace Part II March 21, 2007

I have to say that I thought the beginning of this next section started off pretty nicely.  David  leaves his job at the university, and travels to live with his daughter Lucy.  She greets him warmly, and they talk about her life at the farm that she’s been living on.  They actually seem like a father and daughter.  I think my favorite line is on page 61 where he says, “Curious that he and her mother, cityfolk, intellectuals, should have produced this throwback, this sturdy young settler.  But perhaps it was not they who produced her: perhaps history had the larger share.”  I thought that this was an interesting line because David feels that even though he and her mother were from the city, knew nothing but city-life, they were still able to produce a child who took to the land and left the city behind.  History’s pull on people to work the land and to expand to new lands was too strong on her, and their life was not what called to her to stay.

So it started off all nice and happy the first couple of pages.  But, I kept myself wary because I knew that bad stuff was coming.  Then, we finally got to the rape scene.  I don’t know if it was just me, but I was sketched out by the three men from the very beginning.  Why Lucy went inside with one of them really confused me.  She seems so smart after living on the farm by herself for so long.  So it surprised me that she would let her guard down like that.  Maybe she just didn’t pick up on the bad vibe I was getting.  The entire scene was a little confusing to me.  Everything seemed to happen at once, and then all of a sudden David’s hair was on fire.  I was just like, wow, how did that happen?

 

This whole section made me very sad.  After the rape, Lucy seemed to retreat into herself, and I don’t blame her after what she was put through.  I was upset with David for not understanding why she wouldn’t tell anyone about it.  I feel like the men took her power from her, and the only way for her to retain any sense of her former power, she needs to keep what happened inside of her.  I obviously cannot say how she feels because I don’t know, but I understand that she is scared and scarred from what has happened to her and does not need to relive it by talking about it.

Ewww Pervert! March 14, 2007

I need to begin this blog with the fact that I am sooooooo unbelievably happy with the weather we’ve been having.  On that happy note, I’m also really enjoying this book so far.  I’m glad we’ve gotten away from the text book and into an actual piece of literature.  While I enjoyed Watchmen because it was different, I think I’m going to like this even more because I love reading.

 

The quote on pages 3-4 that he shares from his Communications 101 textbook I thought was rather interesting.  “‘Human society has created language in order that we may communicate our thoughts, feelings and intentions to each other.’”  I feel like it’s déjà vu with Saussure all over again.  I read this and actually laughed out loud.  Then I felt kind of weird because I’m in a single and my neighbors were probably thinking I’ve got crazy, so I quieted down.

 

I really don’t think I like Professor David Lurie.  He seems like he’s lost.  Who else would sleep around like he does?  I felt like there was way too much time focused on how he met Soraya and how he feels when he’s with her.  I understand that she’s become an important fixture in his life, but do we really need to know how many times he’s going to bang her?  I felt it was a little much.  I liked the line, “But then, what should a predator expect when he intrudes into the vixen’s nest, into the home of her cubs?” (10).  I felt that it accurately portrayed the kind of man Lurie is: a predator.  That is proven with his student Melanie.  I can’t believe he actually slept with her.  It all seemed so sketchy to me.  Like he’s just this sexual deviant that needs to keep luring young women into his den.

 

I think so far this book has been pretty easy to read, I’m going to have to re-read what I’ve done so far because I want to make sure that I’m getting all of what is being said.

I hate that word March 14, 2007

I have to say that Franz Fanon was a bit of a shock to me when I read Black Skin White Mask.  I absolutely hate the “N” word, and to see it used in the first line of the piece pretty much made me not want to read the rest.  Nevertheless, I pushed through and finished Fanon’s essay.  I actually didn’t find it too hard to understand, which made me feel better about myself.  I like when I don’t feel like a complete and utter idiot when reading for this class.  Hooray!

 

Fanon says, “Ontology-once it is finally admitted as leaving existence by the wayside-does not permit us to understand the being of the black man.  For not only must the black man be black; he must be black in relation to the white man.  Some critics will take it on themselves to remind us that this proposition has a converse.  I say this is false.”  (110)  Fanon discusses how black men are seen as black in comparison to white men.  White men, however, do not need to compare themselves to black men.  Yet, I have to wonder, if black men had never seen white men before, how could they compare themselves to anything but themselves?  The same applies to white men. 

 

He also goes on to discuss how a Jewish person can hide their true identity from the world if they choose to.  Because they are white, they can hide their “Jewishness” that has caused them to suffer for years.  However, because he is black, there is no way to hide who he is, and therefore, he must suffer the consequences of what he looks like.  “I am the salve not of the “idea” that others have of me but of my own appearance.” (116).

 

There were many interesting parts to the Fanon piece, and I’m glad I was able to understand it from the beginning.  I still hate the fact that that word was used, but other than that, the piece was very interesting.

Midterm Report: We’re Halfway There!!! March 12, 2007

If you had told me at the beginning of the semester that I would live to see this moment, I would have laughed in your face. But, here we are, just getting done with spring break, and the end of the semester is looming. Amazingly, I’m still alive, and theory hasn’t done me in.

The reading for class this semester has been nothing like what I’m used to reading for my English classes. It has been very complex at times, and very frustrating to me because I am used to understanding what I read on either the first or second read-through. My mind doesn’t like the fact that I’m not “getting” what I’m reading right away, and then it makes it even harder for me to try to soak in what’s on the page before me. I think I’m finally getting the hang of taking the stuff we read, and breaking it into smaller chunks as I go along. It makes it that much easier to digest.

I have to say that before this class, I had never blogged before. I wasn’t sure what this was going to be like for me. Was I going to like it? Hate it? I’ve found that blogging is a good way to let off the anger I have inside from what we’ve read. I have found myself on numerous occasions wanting to bang my head against a wall because I don’t want to think anymore. By writing down what my frustrations are or what I actually get and can go with, I’m finding that it’s helping me to understand the text more than if I just read it and then went to class the next day. I’m sure I still don’t remember all of what I read, but if I’ve written something interesting I found down, I’m more likely to remember it the next day when I go to class so I can share it with everyone else.

Conversation during class, and through the blogs has also been a great help with delving into the meat of this material. I find that by bouncing ideas off one another, we’re more likely to understand what we’re doing, and take something away with us. I feel that the conversations during class have helped me greatly, because people point out things that maybe I hadn’t caught when I read it. Or perhaps they’ve interpreted something differently than I had, but it makes me think. We’re building our ideas off one another.

Our groups have been great for learning from each other as well. Breaking into our carnival groups during class has helped not only with us formulating new ideas, but also new relationships with one another. I feel that my group has grown closer since the class began, not only because of the carnival we put together, but because of the learning we have shared together.

 

In order to help myself get better at understanding what we’re reading, as well as doing better in the class, I feel that I need to ask more questions during class. I’m pretty shy when it comes to speaking up in class, and it sometimes takes me up to ten minutes to work up the nerve to add to the discussion or ask a question because I feel like I’m going to say something stupid. So I need to work on my communication with the class as a whole. I know my group well enough now that I’m not as nervous talking to them.