Reading Response 24

                                   Anzaldua – “The Path of the Red and Black Ink”

In her article, “The Path of the Red and Black Ink,” Anzaldua discusses how important writing is to her and to society around her. She argues that writing is related to a person’s identity, especially hers, and it though using herself as an example shows how much of an impact it can have on a person.

Synthesis

This relates back to all of the piece on identity in writing, whether it be from the feminist authors, or the racial authors, or the authors on discourse community. She is showing how writing is a key factor in your identity, and gives many examples to back it up.

A&E

1. The significance is in what is valued. This split is shown in everything that is produced in said country. The current materials, be they material or immaterial, produced in this country are still more individual, because we still value doing things by yourself, the “rugged individualism” of the past America. Everything is done for yourself, and that’s what’s marketed too.

2. No, because the personal edge to the writing allowed her to add more detail and feeling into the piece allowing her to truly show the reader and convince them of her points. It really helped having that creative side in, allowing it to flow better and make it easier to read.

Thoughts

This piece was okay, but it seems to be hammering in the same things that we’ve been talking about for a large majority of the year. I know it’s important, but it seems a little repetitive.

Reading Response 23

Cixous – “The Laugh of the Medusa”

Summary
In her article, “The Laugh of the Medusa,” Cixous attempts to show how women need to be more assertive in their writing, and show that they need to be more feminist and use their female side. She asserts that male-centered writing has jaded many female writers to use male ideals.

Synthesis

This article is similar to Flynn’s work on writing on female writing, but it is much more accusatory than Flynn’s piece was. Another thing to note is that there was a lot lost in Cixous’ article due to translation

QD

1. This piece didn’t make me uncomfortable, although it appeared that that was part of the intention of the author to do so. Her arguments were out dated compared to the society that I’ve grown up in, so it wasn’t as shocking as it was intended to be.

2. She is imploring them to put their personal identity into their writings, not societies identity of themselves into their writings. She wants women to find their own identity separate from that of androcentric society and to incorporate it into their writing.

Thoughts

It was very long, and a little confusing, but it was a lot more because of the poor translation than because of the content. I also think that a lot of the power behind her story was lost in translation.

Reading Response 22

Alexander – “Transgender Rhetorics: (Re)Composing Narratives of the Gendered Body”

Summary
In his article, “Transgender Rhetorics: (Re)Composing Narratives of the Gendered Body,” Alexander attempts to show how transgender theories in relation to feminist studies are essential to understanding gender as a construct. He asserts that this construct shouldn't be governed by gender stereotypes, and should be looked at openly, and uses student examples to help show this.

Synthesis

This article relates a lot to the last several articles we’ve read, especially the ones about identity, because this piece relates a lot to a construct about identity. It relates a lot to Flynn’s work on feminist writings, and on gender identities.

A&E

3. It makes people think about something that they took for granted more in depth. The true meaning of the topic will come forth rather than a vague assumption based on stereotypes. I feel that a wider appreciation for not only other people, but the other gender as well. The concept could then be applied to just about any social construct with negative stereotypes as well.

4. He describes gender as a construct because there are a lot of different ideas about what is correct. The concept of transgender itself shows that it is a construct because it removes all stereotypical definitions of gender. The implications of it being both personal and political are that there are more than one group of people trying to create definitions and boundaries for this construct.

Thoughts

It was long and confusing. His writing style and thought process are light years above me, and he’s obviously put a lot   of thought into this particular topic. Not too much else to comment of, straightforward concept, after I read the apparatus to help clarify.

Reading Response 21 (Delpit)

Delpit – “The Politics of Teaching Literary Discourse”

Summary
In her article, “The Politics of Teaching Literary Discourse,” Delpit attempts to show how Gee’s theories on Discourse can severely hinder minorities who aren’t born in a dominant Discourse. She asserts that, unlike Gee’s statements, teachers can have a large impact on a poor or minority student and help them to achieve economic success by teaching them ways around their difference from the dominant Discourse.

Synthesis

This piece is a lot like the Devitt et al piece, because it takes an old concept of discourse community and updates it for the more modern age, adds on to it. She addresses all of the flaws that she notices in Gee’s articles and addresses the problems, and then states her own experiences and her own spin on the idea.

QD

3. I agree with what Delpit is arguing, because it makes sense for the identity of the minorities to remain intact, because Gee himself emphasizes how important a person’s identity is to a person’s Discourse. The effective parts are her examples of success stories because they show that it isn’t as impossible as Gee makes it out to be. Her weaknesses stem from an oversight that she refers to a majority of the people as minorities, when in fact it’s not just the minorities and poor that have these problems.

4. Teachers can “acknowledge and validate students’ home language without using it to limit students’ potential.” They must also be aware of the conflict between home and school discourse and try to reduce the perceived difference.

Thoughts

This piece was interesting, and addresses a couple of holes in Gee’s theory that I had noticed when we first read it. Her solution is the common compromise style, which removes a little of the complexity, but is in itself very workable. A good piece with an interesting thesis.

Reading Response 20

Flynn – “Composing as a Woman”

Summary

In her article, “Composing as a Woman,” Flynn attempts to show that gender differences in writing are pronounced and that they need to be addressed. She claims that writing, as with most things, has been male centered, and that there needs to be the inclusion of the female perspective. She gives some examples to show the inherent differences in gender perspectives to back up her ideas. She also comes back later to write about the context in which she wrote the article, stating that the time period she wrote it in needs to be taken into consideration.

Synthesis

This piece is helping to show a little about how identity works within a person’s writing, to help back up Gee and Wardle. However, instead of conforming to the standards, which would be the male centered concepts, Flynn wants to have both male and female influenced ideas to be considered and taught.

Pre-Reading

I haven’t experienced too much gender difference in the classroom. Both genders always have different ideas to offer during a discussion, but you can say the same about two people of the same gender. I have had teachers that have treated one gender of student differently than the other, mainly being more lenient with the female students about due dates and make up work; the boys had to earn the respect of the teacher while the girls automatically had it; but it was just another quirk that you worked around, and it didn’t inhibit learning.

QD

1. Flynn is stating that for most of history, the woman’s perspective has been removed because of the stereotype of gender roles. In relation to her last comment, “difference is erased in a desire to universalize,” it shows that this marginalization could happen to anyone, minorities especially because the majority of people want uniformity, because differences lead to conflict.

Thoughts

While this piece was educational and interesting, I really had to think to try and associate it with the readings that we have been doing recently. Though it has certain inherent concepts similar, it seemed almost out of place with what we have been reading, so I was confused for a lot longer than I probably should’ve been.

Reading Response 19

Villanueva – “Memoria Is a Friend of Ours: On the Discourses of Color”

Summary

In his article, “Memoria Is a Friend of Ours: On the Discourses of Color,” Villanueva attempts to show that in using memories in your writing, it can help connect you to your past history and culture, and help solidify what your identity as a writer is. He shows this through his inclusion of past works of his own or of close colleagues which apply to his thesis.

Synthesis

This piece helps reinforce the concepts brought in by Wardle and Gee; the importance of identity, because Villanueva is showing that your past experiences will help build on your identity in ways that you never think of, and thus change what kind of Discourse you are a part of.

QD

7. By using Gee’s concept of Discourse, Villanueva’s primary Discourse is the American culture he was assimilated into and his secondary one is his home Discourse of Puerto Rico. He desperately wants to reverse this, but he can barely speak Spanish fluently, and his memories from home are few and far between.

Thoughts

This piece was slightly unorthodox with the random insertions, and with the book that it’s in, it made the text that much smaller and harder to read, but never the less, it was engaging, and it made a lot of sense. It clarified some of Gee’s ideas in a much simpler format for me, and this was very helpful.

Reading Response 18

Heilker and Yergeau – “Autism and Rhetoric”

Summary

In their article, “Autism and Rhetoric,” Heilker and Yergeau attempt to show that autism as another form of rhetoric. They argue that, though the definition of autism is mostly communicative, instead of autism being something “wrong” with someone, it merely means they have a unique way of going about communication, and this can be seen much clearer if you treat autism as a style of rhetoric. The authors both have unique perspectives on this, as Heilker has a son with autism, while Yergeau herself has Asperger’s syndrome.

Synthesis

This article pulls, indirectly, from Wardle’s concept of identity. The authors show that society treats autism as a deficit from the norm, and try to shift the reader’s perception to that of considering autism as a form of rhetoric to see that they aren’t less like people because they are autistic, but that they think different, just like variation between cultures. This idea of giving autism its own identity follows Wardle’s model of adjusting your style of writing; and in this case method of speech; to a new discourse community.

Thoughts

This piece was very interesting. I have friends whom are autistic, and though I have never disregarded them because of it, I have definitely never thought of them in this light. It was very well put together, and the bits where the authors put in a personal thought was very good, because I got to know the authors and their perspectives. Over all I enjoyed it a lot, and feel that I learned something, which is always a good thing.