Mayahuel's Mind

I thought Kindred was by far one of the more captivating books we got to read this semester. The time travel element worked incredibly well with the heavy topic of slavery. when I first understood who Rufus was and became accustomed to what was happening, I was really interested in his character. I knew the book would follow his life and we would watch him turn into someone, but I didn't know who. Generally speaking, the theme of your environment shaping who you are is pretty prevalent throughout life, however, there are always the stories of people becoming the opposite of the environment and becoming "rebels". The part of me that wants a happy ending in every book was hoping Rufus would be the same way, but I knew there was no way he could completely transform. I even wondered for a second if Rufus' connection to Alice would be a love story and somehow Kindred would have a cheesy aspect to it. However, the biggest question I wondered was how impactful would one pe...

During our discussions, we have talked about Tralfamadorians and their connection to both Billy and  Vonnegut's trauma. Originally reading this book I thought the sci-fi element was added purely for entertainment, or to add more to a story Vonnegut was having trouble writing. As we continued to unpack its mysteries, I saw how Tralfamdore was used to illustrate PTSD in a new light. During Billy's time travel, he is thrown from place to place, without choice. He is forced to relive each moment as if it were his first time experiencing this, unaware of the memory he is in. It has become clear that these moments of time travel mimic triggering memories of people with PTSD. Aside from the one moment Billy thinks about the trigger of the bar quartet and its connection with Dresden, time-traveling seems disconnected. I then began to think about Tralfamdore itself and how their idea of moments always existing fit in. The lack of free will humans experience could be thought of as th...

The article I presented for my panel presentation created a very interesting discussion. Kameelah Martin Samuel had argued that Reed had created a womanist text without even meaning to. However, this view has many flaws as pointed out by our discussion. The main question was: How can this be a Womanist text if every black woman in Mumbo Jumbo  is oversexualized, playing into the pre-existing stereotype? (For reference, "Womanist" is a term referring to feminism as based on women of color, particularly Black women). As I thought more about this question, I began to think about both sides of the argument. I can see where Samuel is coming from, but at the same time, there's a lot she misses in her argument. Though I know very little about Christianity and Catholocism, the way Samuel frames the Atonist view of the woman showcases the incredible misogynist set of ideals for women to live up to. In her argument she highlights the traits of the Virgin Mary praised by Atonis...

As we have finished reading Ragtime, we talked quite a bit about Tateh. We discussed his motives with his silhouettes and contemplated whether or not he was a sellout. Specifically, on Thursday of last week I believe, we talked about Tateh's final idea for a movie that involved all these little kids of color. Some people in discussion brought up the point that, while the idea was good and new, it did nothing to actually change the social atmosphere. I wanted to delve more into that idea, because I feel that representation is an incredibly powerful tool, one that I think Tateh realized. While I agree with the profitable portion of his movie makes the motive seem less genuine, the overall message is still good. As a kid growing up in a largely white world, I didn't see a lot of myself or people that looked like me in the media. I remember 2 shows as a kid I could actually relate to, Maya y Miguel (Latinx twins who were smart and sporty) and Dora (everyone knows Dora). As a kid,...

As we have been making our way through Doctorow's Ragtime  I noticed his peculiar pattern of naming characters. it seemed that every fictional character had no distinct name, and every historical character (present in real life) had a full name. Take Evelyn Nesbitt, a real person in comparison to Mother. However, with the introduction of Coalhouse Walker, it seemed this pattern had no purpose. As I pondered this thought I did some research. Nobody by the name of Coalhouse Walker existed in New Rochelle NY in 1902. Furthermore, there weren't any significant bombings of firehouses in that time period either. It boggled my mind that I couldn't seem to find a reason as to why Doctorow named this seemingly fictional character. Was it to represent the population of Black musicians at the time, in reference to his occupation? Was it to present a representative of the Black population that didn't act like the stereotype present in Father's head? There didn't seem to ...