No Name Woman

In class we just started reading Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts by Maxine Hong Kingston. So far in the first chapter, Maxine's mother has told Maxine a story about her aunt being pregnant, but the baby couldn't be the husband of the aunt's baby since the husband had been gone for years. When Maxine's aunt was about to give birth, the villagers raided her house. Maxine's mother hasn't ever told Maxine about this aunt until now. She didn't go into great detail about Maxine's aunt because she just wanted Maxine to know that she shouldn't become pregnant. If she ever did become pregnant before getting married, her family would forget about her just like how they forgot about Maxine's mysterious aunt. The rest of the chapter is about Maxine coming up with all of these different theories of how her aunt became pregnant. The main question we were supposed to think about while reading this section of the book was: What do we learn about Maxine by the way she imagines the rest of the story about her aunt?

One thing that we learn about Maxine is that she has a very wild imagination. We can see this because she comes up with so many different theories, and all of them are different from each other. Also we learn that she must care about looks because she mentions fashion and hair. One time when she mentions fashion is when she starts fabricating all of her different theories. "If I want to learn what clothes my aunt wore, whether flashy or ordinary." (Hong Kingston 6). What I don't understand is, why does she care what her aunt wore? It doesn't really change the story.

Also as I said she talks about her aunt's hair. One of her theories was that her aunt took a lot of time getting ready and her hair was beautiful compared to the other women, and thats why all the men liked her. "At the mirror my aunt combed individuality into her bob... She brushed her hair back from her forehead, tucking the flaps behind her ears. She looped a piece of thread, knotted into a circle between her index fingers and thumbs." (Hong Kingston 9). Just the way that Maxine can go into so much detail about something she is totally making up about her aunt is kind of bizarre. Also the grooming of her aunt's hair isn't even a significant part of her theories, but for some reason she goes into such precise details. This shows that Maxine has a very vivid imagination since she can go into such detail of something that she is totally making up.

Moodle

My English class just recently began using Moodle. Moodle is a safe, educational website. Yesterday Mr. Watson asked us to discuss what we think of Moodle. We were supposed to discuss creative ways we can use Moodle as a class, what we like about it, what we don't like, and what we wish it could do. Creative ways to use Moodle are communicating with classmates by sending messages to each other, turning in assignments virtually, peer editing each other's work by using a wiki, writing collaborative pieces by using a wiki, and to have discussions by using the discussion boards. One thing that my group likes about Moodle is that it is a good way to communicate with other classmates. Also we like the fact that it saves paper because instead of printing out our assignments we turn them in virtually. However there are some things about Moodle that we don't like. For example we don't like the fact that teachers can track every page we view on it. Also the wikis are very slow. When you post something on Moodle, everyone in the class has to post at different times because the system can't handle more than one person submitting something at a time. We wish that it could load faster and accept our files faster. Also we wish we could personalize it more, like how we can personalize our blogs with templates. It would also be cool if we could talk to people from other places, like how we are starting to do on our blogs.

"Lost Sister"

We just recently read a poem called "Lost Sister". It was about a girl from China that moves to America, because she disliked her life in her strict homeland. After she got to America, her life became so different and she ended up missing China and her old culture.


Important Quote

"There is a sister
across the ocean,
who relinquished her name,
diluting jade green
with the blue of the Pacific"

This quote is about when she first comes to America and how she gives up her name, Jade. This is an important quote because it marks the first change that occurs in her life after she arrives in America. The quote mentions diluting jade green. When you dilute a color, it becomes lighter and not as strong. This could signify that once she crossed the Pacific Ocean, her Chinese culture wasn't as strong as it once was. Or it could also mean that once she crossed the Pacific Ocean, she became less pure. This might be because she wasn't a strict rule obeyer anymore since she moved to a free country.


What does this poem say about how our "self" is created?

"Lost Sister" shows us how traditions and one's culture add to a person's identity. Once Jade left China, she left behind her traditions as well. This caused her to become lost, since she was alone and had nothing familiar around her. She didn't know how to function; she needed China and her family.

About Me

My name is Michelle and I go to my school. I dance ballet. I have danced for about thirteen years now. I can play the piano and the violin. I am also learning how to play the guitar now in my beginning guitar class at school. I believe that giving back to my community is very important. I am so blessed to have everything that I have and I want to share what I have with everyone less fortunate. This is why I'm also a girl scout and a Luke leader. This blog is for me to post my work from my English classes. This way I can get feedback about my work from my classmates very easily, since everyone in my class has their own blog.