Quilt Bonding

People who are diagnosed with AIDS are often looked as "downgrading" or gross."   In the book, Rereading America, there is a section labeled Harmony at Home. In my Composition class we took a look at the poem, Aunt Ida Pieces a Quilt by, Melvin Dixon. My first reaction to the poem was, what was the reason the quilt was so important to them and why is this family coming together to the family member rather than look at them as "gross."

After reading this poem it made me understand a lot more about family. Obviously coming from a strong family support system I had a decent understanding about family, but I definitely made me realize many different things. A lot of things seemed to make me think as to why Melvin Dixon was writing this. Melvin Dixon (Dixon, p.) says Ida's niece Francine tells her people are knitting  all around the world. I really had to stop and think about what Ida had meant. In the beginning of the poem I had a good understanding that Ida was making a quilt with the rest of her family in remembrance of Junie. I came to realize I'm sure other family's in today's society do this. I assume t's just a way to cope with the death of a loved one.

Another idea that was exciting was how Ida had said, " On every last one of them I sew my name Ida
on the backside in red thread." Ida explains, "That every one of her quilts are made special with her named stitched on the back with red thread. I think this symbolizes Ida's strong passion for family and her love for her family.

I think after taking time to reflect on the poem, I have one thing that really stands out while I do so. Making quilts was a huge thing to Ida to get the whole family is just a symbol. I believe Ida's family resembles a quote. When I think of a quilt I think of a strong stitched, warm, security blanket. When Ida's family has a loss in the family or even a new edition, they come together because they think highly of strong emotional support to be a successful family. I don't think Ida even realizes that the quilt actually resembles her family. To Ida I think it's just like how some families eat meals as a family. Families just think it helps better their family and is the right thing to do. Ida thinks knitting quilts is just what her family has to do for a family loss or new edition to her family. Maybe it's a way to celebrate the time they had or the time they will have with their family member.

Frustration in Poerty!

In class, we are assigned to read Lorine Niedecker's poems in her book called, The Granite Pail. I personally are not very good at breaking down poems. I think it has to do with not being interested in poem's so it is really hard for me to focus. The poem I chose to write about and break down is called, "Watching Dancers on Skates."

The poem is real short and says "Ten thousand women and I the only one In boots, Life's dance: they meet, he holds her leg up." Now that I have actually told you what the poem states I want to let you know that this is not how the poem is laid out on the paper.

Throughout the whole book, Loraine breaks up her sentences in weird ways and overall I think it just makes it even more difficult to read. Seeing as I stated before that poetry is not my thing this just frustrates me even more. Another thing that just makes me so irritated about the poem is that the second part doesn't really fit to me. 'They meet, he holds her leg up."  To me, this is so confusing it makes me want to pull my hair out. One thing I do like with Lorine's poems, is if I understood them I bet they are very creative. Her poem's really make you sit and wonder what she is trying to say.

 Overall, when I broke this poem down, I feel like what she is trying to say is that she feel really out of place. It seems as if she is not as good as all the other dances and gets more opportunity to sit and watch the more talented dancers because she isn't up to their athletic ability.

 Poetry really stresses me out so doing this assignment was very difficult for me and made life stressful for quite sometime. Lorine Niedecker's way of style is a lot different then most poet's which made this even more difficult. Although I do feel if I understood poetry I would like her way of writing a lot.

Caught Between The Two!

After reading "Bros Before Hoe's," and The Guy Code, It reminded me vaguely of my childhood. Growing up with two brothers made me change how a normal girl should act. I often heard my family call me a "tomboy". When I was a little girl, I never new what that word meant but I thought I liked being called it.

I feel my life was always surrounded by the Guy Code so I just adapted to it. When I was little I didn't play with Barbie's or get all dolled up and walk around in dresses. In my childhood there was a lot of bike accidents, Band-Aids covering wounds, playing with Hot Wheels with my brothers, and catching toads. I never was the one to want to play with the Barbie's and get all cute.

This reminds me a lot of the articles I read in Composition I class. A lot of times when I would fall and scrape my knees my brothers would always make remarks like, "Get up, you're acting like a little girl!" I always tried to be just like them and they made me the strong person I am today.

Being little and not having any sense of direction, I also wanted to dress like my brothers. My mom would get really frustrated at times because I never wanted to dress like a "lady". With being brought up with two brother it was really hard to be a girl. My mom always told me how to act and would sometimes scold me for not being lady like, but I never really had a grasp on the whole Girl Code.

Being able to read these articles made me really think back on my childhood and show me how much The Guy code influenced my life. I never really thought of me being so influenced on the Guy Code until being educated on it.

Eventually, I grew out of The Guy code. I started going to school and seeing all these little girls dressing up in dresses and were very polite and quiet. I then transitioned very naturally into a girl and have never once thought about trying to act like a boy.

Is the Guy Code so powerful that influenced my life? What else can the Guy/Girl code influence? Does the Guy Code have more power than the Girl Code??

Time Changes Everything

Time honestly changes things. Last week sometime, my professor had shown us a picture of school children. The first thing I could think about after looking at it for a short time was how fast things have changed. The children were patiently waiting to get on the bus. While in class my professor told us to look deeper than what the picture is showing. She stated to look at the picture with more of an imagination rather than what the purpose of the picture actually was. So as I was sitting there all I could think about was that how much has changed compared today. For example, all the children had these extra metal lunch boxes. There was not one child that did not own one back then. Back in the day it wasn't the schools job to make sure the children were fed like it is for schools today. Another thing that caught my attention was the fact that the children actually dressed up professional for school. In today's day and age most kids go to class with wearing pretty much nothing or rolling out of bed and coming to school as is. This really caught my attention. I believe that elementary school and middle school have really came a long way in time. I feel today these schools are more of babysitters so that parents can go to work. Is it not crazy how fast time can change everything? A lot of things definitely stood out to me. Who were the men in the front and back of the line of students? They seem like they could be making sure the students were getting on the bus safe. Time can do just about anything. Time can heal and time can change. School systems have definitely changed since back then. In most cases I think it for the worst. Sometimes I feel like we are in school so our parents could make a living without worrying about us. These school system needs CHANGE.

Who am I?

Most people can't answer who they are. Some people haven't really thought about it, and others are just oblivious to who they are. Most people just want to fit in so they think they know who they are, but in reality, they're just acting like the person next to them in fear that if they don't, they will be picked on. As far as i go, I may not know exactly who i am, but i know exactly who i want to be. Through out my life I've been in and out of all kinds of sports. From running track to playing basketball, I've learned something truly important. I've learned to set goals and to work at them. If you want something you have to go get it. So what I'm trying to say is that, all though I only have some idea of who i truly am, i know who I WANT to be. So with what I've learned from sports, I will do everything I need to do, to be exactly who i want to be.