English 320

Who the hell is Bob Dylan?!

[sir-orfeo]

Shall we look at the moon, my little loon Why do you cry? Make the most of your life, while it is rife While it is light

Fourth of July from Carrie & Lowell, Sufjan Stevens (via sir-orfeo)

[academicssay]

Colloquia explained. Courtesy of Oslo Davis.

[cindyserrano320-blog]

@ stacey

[coocoolah-deactivated20190601]

[B]odies are never simply and literally bodies: they are always inscribed within a system of value differentiation; they are gendered and racially marked; they have weight, height, age; they may be healthy or unhealthy; they may be able-bodied or disabled.

Sara Ahmed, Differences That Matter (27)

This quote reminds me of the essay that I'm writing for ENGL 336. The topic I chose to write about the representation of bodies in two of the Chicano novels we read this semester; more specifically the way that disability is presented in the respective male and female characters of each novel. In reading both novels, I found that these characters both became disabled because of bouts with polio as children. While there are several other similarities, the most striking is that both characters are perceived as failing to meet societal and familial expectations. Each is chastised for failing to fulfill the role of the ideal man and woman, respectively. In addition, I also find that both characters don't let their disabilities prevent them from pursuing careers. Although I feel there may be something worth noting about the way that their gender effects their respective journeys I can't exactly say what that is yet.

[intothemelwoods]

If you wanna be my lover…

….you gotta be prepared for my hour-long rants about fictional female characters and why they are so important.

[cindyserrano320-blog]

This is literally all the papers I’ve written at HSU in a nutshell. 

[cindyserrano320-blog]

Inside The Hashtag Protest Of Hollywood's Asian-American Problem

"We're not doing this to just complain. We're doing this to affect change ... We want things to get better," said Keith Chow, who helped launch #whitewashedOUT.

“We’re not doing this to just complain. We’re doing this to affect change … We want things to get better,” said Keith Chow, who helped launch #whitewashedOUT.

I think at one point in the semester when we were talking about Chapter 2 in “Engagements with Narrative” we had to post on the discussion forum about what we wanted to talk about in class. I remember responding to the fact the Utell said that identity shapes narrative and talking about how it was completely confounding that old white male authors that were part of the canon thought their reality and lived experience was the thing that mattered, not taking into account that old white guys did not make up the entirety of our world. 

I feel like this fits in with the theme of whitewashing this article talks about. Lately, there has been backlash against the casting of white actors in roles that are better suited for actors whose ethnicity matches the characters, more specifically Scarlett Johansson being cast in the role of a character who is Japanese. The act of casting white actors is synonymous to the white washing in literature. It completely erases the possibility of diversity in media, or literature for that matter, and it conveys the message that being white is the “standard” and if you’re not white, than you are invisible and not worthy of representation. It doesn’t take into account that because we all live different realities we form different identities. 

[minoritiesinpublishing]

Constance Wu: 'Diversity...doesn’t Mean We Want the White People to Write Asian Stories'

Constance Wu from "Fresh off the Boat" talks diversity and representation for Asian-American actors in the latest "Bullseye with Jesse Thorn" podcast.

“[Diversity] doesn’t mean we want the white people to write Asian stories. What I want is to foster the Asian-American writers and directors and producers and actors…foster their stories to come into the spotlight a little bit.”

This explanation for the term “diversity” is very important. Please pay attention.

[micdotcom]

Webster’s dictionary adds “cisgender” and “genderqueer”

On Wednesday, Merriam-Webster caught up to speed with two words people have been using to describe their gender identity for at least a decade, adding “cisgender” and “genderqueer” to its unabridged dictionary. Among the 1,400 words, you’ve probably seen a few of them across Tumblr for a while now

[micdotcom]

Update: Apparently these additions were too much for some people.

But Merriam Webster was having none of that.

They know what it means to throw shade.

And they’ve been trolling people who hate new words all week.

[cindyserrano320-blog]

This is pretty bad ass! New vocabularies are constantly being created for the multitude of issues we face nowadays and it’s really cool too see the inclusion of those vocabularies into dictionaries; and even the support that institutions such as Merriam-Webster provide is pretty astounding.  

[ewock]

Han Solo: a summary

[ht-commonplace-book-blog]

A good example of how representation has become visual again. Lois Tyson: “To help focus your essay, find all the ways in which Han Solo is shown to be full of shit.” 

[cindyserrano320-blog]

People On Twitter Are Begging Disney To Make Elsa The First LGBT Princess

#GiveElsaAGirlfriend

I found this to be really interesting given the latest surge of LGBTQIA activism. It would be intriguing to have a Lesbian Disney princess. Several people I know have talked about the fact that the song “Let It Go” addressed LGBTQIA themes. In addition, there have been several articles which seem to support this argument, as well as others who take a more neutral approach.

I’m more inclined to agree with the LGBT readings of Frozen and its title song. It is also telling that some articles remind their readers to take into consideration the context of the film but I think the fact that so many LGBTQIA people identify with this movie is telling of the message it sends. 

The effect of making Elsa the first LGBTQIA Disney princess would overall be positive and inclusive. Disney has long stood as pillar of childhood and if this actually comes to be, they will not only influence a change in the way sexuality is viewed among and children, in addition it will influence a positive self image at seeing someone who is like them actually represented on screen.

THINK OF THE POSSIBILITIES!!!!!!

[academicssay]

[cindyserrano320-blog]

This is literally all working at the Writing Studio has been for the last month.

[academicssay]

Course evaluations. Courtesy of www.deathbulge.com.

[cindyserrano320-blog]

Beware of course evaluations!

[celebritydachshund]

[cindyserrano320-blog]

Here, have some puppies 😃  

[heavenhillgirl]

[cindyserrano320-blog]

When Humboldt makes you woke af...

[georgetakei]

If you don’t know about this age-old controversy, it’s high time you became informed. Don’t know what I’m talking about (or do but need a good laugh), then read this.

[hungry2473654eva-blog]

The trouble with commas. #ENGL320

[cindyserrano320-blog]

We literally have the same meme up in the Writing Studio, except my coworker thought the stripper’s nipple tassels were too risqué.     

[thetinhouse-deactivated20180604]

“She slept with men who only wanted to play Settlers of Catan. She slept with law students who had framed copies of the Constitution on their bedroom walls. She slept with sound architects, sound engineers, and the second baseman from her softball league. She hardly ever slept.”

–Rebecca Schliff, “Little Girl”

Read the rest here.

[rachelfershleiser]

I love this book.

[cindyserrano320-blog]

This is only a small excerpt of this piece of flash fiction by Rebecca Schliff. I really like the way the author characterized the main characters. The story provides a comprehensive list of the men this character has slept with. One of the most striking features of this piece is that the main character is never named. Therefore, she could be any woman or all women. In addition, the piece ends with a paragraph that talks about the ways that she values her body and in essence casting aside any shame that could be attributed to have many sexual partners.

[therugbyplayer3-blog]

This is just relevant to all my classes….

[disney-gif]

[cindyserrano320-blog]

A Bug’s Life (1998)

“Let this be a lesson to ALL you ants. Ideas are very dangerous things. You are mindless, soil-shoving losers. Put on this earth to serve US!”

 The other day my roommate and I went on a Disney-Pixar binge and ended up watching A Bug’s Life. As we were watching, I noticed one of the lines of dialogue sounded familiar. In the movie the villain, Hopper, starts dialoguing to the ants after their attempt to drive the grasshoppers out. He says the line “Ideas are very dangerous things.” I realized the line sounded similar to CRIMESTOP which is was something that the workers in the novel, 1984, were trained to do in order to stop any sense of independence and individual thought. Much like The Party in 1984, Hopper was letting the ants know that any thoughts of rebellion or resistance would led to the ants being killed. It may seem like a stretch and I may be reaching but the was the connection I made while watching.