English Final Project: Empathy

Below is the link to my Junior Year English class final project!
https://newtrier.ed.voicethread.com/universal/thread/12654347/

The Challenges of Reading

        Song of Solomon, written by Toni Morrison, is a challenging book in multiple ways. Not only is the content disturbing, but it is also hard to follow some of the events because of the lack of backstory, and jumping around in time. Out of those two challenging things with this book, the most challenging has probably the content itself. It has been hard for me to read some of the instances that refer to incest, violence, alcohol, and sex. When I come across a passage that has those topics included, I remember that this is usually only one person’s perspective, and that it could have not happened at all. In the passage below from chapter 3, it made me slightly uneasy that not only did Macon hit his wife, but Milkman hit his own dad. It made me think about the many possible consequences from the “fights”, which overwhelmed me, so I thought about something else (in this case it was that Milkman was maturing, and finding out what his purpose in life was). There are also other instances of abuse and sex, and at first, I skipped over them, but then I missed some key details. Now I think about how the event could have not even happened, or that some of the information is wrong. In general, Song of Solomon can be challenging due to the shifting timeline, vocabulary, and the substance.

Who I Am

My name is Lithuanian. In 1387 the country of Lithuania was Christianized from Paganism. Due to this act, many last names were changed into more Christian names: this means that my last name was changed to fit into societal norms, and is lost. Due to this change, my last name is now a Christian name. Also, my first name is based on a Catholic saint. Not only that but my name is a very common Lithuanian name (from the early 20th century). My name actually means “crown” in Lithuanian. My family is Lithuanian: my grandparents immigrated to the USA and Canada during WWII. That being said, though I would consider myself 100% Lithuanian, I am also American and Canadian. My grandparents immigrated here via boats, and came in through Ellis Island (USA) and Pier 21 (Canada). One side of my grandparents lived in Detroit and then moved to Indiana. Once they married, they moved here. For the grandparents who immigrated to Canada, they are still there. Only my mom moved to the US when she married my dad. Having said that I’m still 100% Lithuanian, I am also 100% white. Although I am a female, being white helps me be accepted by society. I am also Christian, so I celebrate Easter, and Christmas, and attend church. Being “white”, I tend to listen to classical music, and pop music (not rap), but my food is very varied due to my parents’ many travels and food experiences. Unfortunately, my family doesn’t have any legends, but we do have stories of fitting in. For instance, when my grandfather moved to Detroit, he worked at a factory, but lied about his skills so that he could get hired. This was due to society not accepting many immigrants, except those that we truly gifted. He did end up acquiring the skills needed and got a high position at work. On top of that, my grandparents in the US had to learn English to fit into society, while my grandparents in Canada had to learn both English and French. For them it was quite easy to learn without forgetting their homeland. For example, my grandparents on both sides were avid participants in the city’s Lithuanian community. They passed this love and heritage down to their kids, and eventually to my siblings and I. The fact that I’m Lithuanian has played a large role in shaping who I am today.

Gun Control, Good Or Bad?

Dissent occurs daily in the American society. It occurs in small affairs such as talking with your friends when deciding what to do, to a country dropping out of the UN. Dissent also occurs in schools. It can vary from being in a debate to advocating for a cause, like school hours.

Katie Gibson, a 16 year old from Woodcreek High School in Placer County, categorized herself as a liberal and is arguing her side of the case on gun control. Though most liberals support gay rights, Black Lives Matter, strong gun-control laws, she took the, currently, uncommon position that guns aren’t terrible. Being on the shooting team made her believe that the NRA shouldn’t stop their financial support since the NRA creates (indirectly) many opportunities to make friends and enjoy the sport. Others believe that the NRA shouldn’t give money to schools since it promotes gun usage, and they link that gun usage to gun violence (especially in schools). Katie, like not a lot of people, are thankful that the NRA provides safety equipment and training which actually minimize the gun problems in the world, while still making it fun. On the opposite side of Katie, many want to create stricter laws in regards to guns, such as raise the requirement age to purchase a gun and more regulation of guns in school. People like Katie would disagree with these new laws since they would decrease awareness and training. It would also make it more difficult to use the guns on shooting teams to make friends. Some people, like in the podcast about inmates that we listened in class, don’t want to give the murders second chances. This is similar to what is happening in the gun control situation. People are taking sides based off of just a few issues/shootings that they heard, and won’t listen to what they other side has to say. They don’t try to even understand what the others have to say and create a compromise. This makes it a very controversial subject and causes many heated debates.

How can this dissent type of cause awareness by the other side of the argument in order to reach an agreement? Why, in general, do people not listen to the other aspect/version of the case, hence causing terrible situations?

The Nobel Prize and its Connection to Women

Currently, in the United States of America, there is a great problem with sexism. It started when the country was created with “all men are created equal”. Then there were the issues that men should be seen as the providers for the family. Later, they (men) came to agreement that women should be educated. Still, women are discriminated (in education and everyday life).

One such example of this mistreatment is with Jocelyn Bell Burnell. In her case, she discovered a new transforming neutron star, which people had originally thought wasn’t real. She made the discovery but published it with her supervisor. When she didn’t received the Nobel Prize, but her supervisor got it, she wasn’t very mad. Instead, she was happy that she could get more smaller awards that elated her more. She then would use the money that she won to create scholarships for minorities to study physics. Women, like Jocelyn, are so used to being in the shadows of men that what happened to her didn’t even anger her. This entire event is just one such occurrence of chauvinism. Another time was about one month later (the beginning of October). Donna Strickland, a Canadian, had just won a Nobel Prize for physics. She was the third woman to do so ever. She didn’t even get all of the credit. Half of her prize was given to Arthur Ashkin (a male) just because he invented a certain equipment that made the discovery possible. This was just like with Jocelyn since Donna wasn’t allowed the full spotlight; it had to be shared with a man. Both of these cases prove that women aren’t viewed as equals, hence both of them having positions as assistants. In general, even in literature, women are faced with discrimination and restrained. For example, in the short story “The Story of an Hour”, the main character gets very excited when she thinks that her husband died and is no longer there to tell her what to do. She would finally have freedom to act and think as she pleased. In all the situations, women are inhibited and can’t get nor do everything that they should be able to. These situations, though less common now than they were in the past, are still occurring and suppressing females, since they are seen as inferior. Even the world woman, and female have the opposite gender in them. To conclude, sexism is still an issue in this society and should be addressed in as many means possible.

Why are women content without being in the spotlight? Why is there still segregation in most fields of life? How can we cause more confidence and equality, hence ending such borders?

The Positive Uses of “Harry Potter” in Society

This month, “Harry Potter” is celebrating its 20 anniversary of release in the United States of America. People have connected with the books and started to make references to them in real life, and to make connections between them and their own experiences.

The “Harry Potter” books have made such an impact that people changed their social and even political views. For instance, many lessons were taught through the books about inclusion, acceptance, doing good/fighting the “bad”, standing up for oneself and others, and demolishing racial, gender, social class barriers. Many people were put into environnements that caused for a change in their character and how they perceived their ways in life. For example, in the article it stated that Emma Gonzalez, a survivor from the Parkland school shooting, connected herself to characters from Harry Potter. She said “‘Ginny is strong, levelheaded and passionate (small and powerful); Luna is gentle, kind, strong and just has a wonderful worldview’”. This caused her to become more confident in herself and to start to connect with the characters on a deeper level. Not only do the “Harry Potter” books help people cope and recover from tragic events in their lives but they inspired many organizations that are part of the Harry Potter Alliance to form. J.K. Rowling herself founded the Lumos organization which helps move kids from orphanages into proper and kind homes. Many groups in the Harry Potter Alliance focus on helping this society in many ways ranging for increasing voter numbers, literacy, and girls in the STEM program to gender-neutral bathrooms to racial equality. The actual event of trying to attain equality was just like in the Frederick Douglas readings where he tried to solve matters of racial discrimination. Unfortunate for him it didn’t fully work out since a lot of his life was spent as a slave or hiding the fact that he was a runaway. The Harry Potter Alliance connect this discrimination to “Purebloods” and Mudbloods”, which all the books’ readers can easily connect to and understand. In general, I believe that most people connect to the “Harry Potter” books and impact society with them since they want to become like the “good” characters and make the world a better place.

How can “Harry Potter” books make one feel included yet also shut people out? Also, why do the “Harry Potter” books make such an impact on people's’ lives even though the books are fantasy?