February 16, 2017 - 23:47
Reflections on reflecting again, always
Reflecting on others’ reflections, narratives, orally spoken personal stories, you name it, it’s good that we are continuing to ask questions about the ways we do this. I still feel a gnawing in my mind about the wormhole that is defining all of these words and actions. Everything we say feels very “meta” yet I know it is all too real, the things we are discussing.
The most common refrain in life, besides just our class material, is the eery similarities in Douglass’s narrative written in 1845
Writing as escaping trauma
Writing as reliving trauma
Writing oneself out of trauma//changing the past
Writing oneself into existence
Writing as a cop-out: second person,
Ownership of one’s own narrative (those you reflect about, are you respecting them? When do others’ portrayal that you paint deserve respect?)
---Then one’s narratives being owned by others, manipulated, reprinted, edited, erasing the person themself.
Anxiety about writing: how do I view my own literacy of academic writing? Do i enjoy this freedom to pick my topic and explore? Why do I still get nervous about starting projects? I am a product of my public school shitty essay formula, never asking me to prod at real questions, merely asking me to replicate some jargon I read about-- and then to never retain the information truly, never to gargle it and allow it to ferment in my mind.
Readings to reflect on//
June Jordan, “Nobody Mean More to Me than You and the Future Life of Willie Jordan.” Harvard Educational Review 58, 3 (August 1988): 363-374
In class:
Generational loss of languages:
How do we stop this? What generation will teach both the ( usually having imperialistic roots ) languages of a globalizing world with unbalanced powers, in addition to loving, teaching, and preserving peoples’ own home languages?