Reflection

Hello and welcome to my E-Portfolio! I want to start by telling you a little about me. My name is Audra West and I am a single mom trying to raise a 9 year old boy on my own. I like to spend time with my friends and family and just be myself. I decided to go back to school to make a better life for me and my son. I have never really been much of a writer, not because I believe I am incapable, I just have never really liked putting pen to paper. When I do write I prefer writing with a narrative style and have found this course a challenge at times. I am taking English 101 as a prerequisite for the nursing program.

                This course has challenged my thinking of the diverse society we live in. I have learned that there is much more depth to our identities, communities, and traditions. Our identities are not only who we are, but also what others see in us. Communities contribute to our identities in the way that we conform to the specific rules specified as a condition of acceptance within them.  Our traditions are very diverse and also define us and what communities we choose to join and thrive in. I feel that I have learned a lot about academic writing in this course, even though I still do not enjoy writing.

                I have chosen a few of the pieces I have written this quarter to share with anyone who would like to read them.  Among them you will find one piece about tradition, one on community, one on being outcast, and finally one on identity. I tried to include a wide variety of both topics and types of work to showcase the depth of this course.  While I do not like to write, I have enjoyed this course and feel I have learned some valuable information that makes me a better writer in the end. Hope you enjoy what you read and hope to see some of you in future classes.

Critical Thinking

The following piece came from the Community discussion board. I chose this piece as an example of my critical thinking skills. I have had a particularly hard time with this concept this quarter and while this skill is not perfected yet I have made some headway in becoming a better critical thinker. This writing shows that I am able to take myself and my opinions out of my writing and analyze the content of what is written in a clear and concise manner. I hope you will agree.

Critical Thinking At My Best

This is a very interesting topic to ponder. Human beings have a natural need to belong and in order to do that we need to know what the rules are.
In "Befriending Barbie" by Shari Caudron, we see that are rules of conduct in serious doll collecting. Caudron infers that collectors that keep thier collection in unopened, pristine boxes are more serious about their place in this community than the others that remove the dolls from their boxes. Notice also, that in this essay by Caudron,there are certain characteristics to all "Barbie" enthusiasts, "Barbie people are really friendly"(169) and "We really, really love pink."(168) So to fit in with this community we have to be friendly and love pink. In this case I believe that in order to belong you need to have a deep love and appreciation for Barbie. 

John A. Hostetler states that in order to be a part of the amish community you must separate yourself from the "outside world."(142) You must also follow specific rules to belong, wear modest, simple clothing, do not own anything decorative, men wear a full beard, etc. If these rules are not followed, an idividual is no longer allowed to belong in this community and is "shunned". I grew up in a christian household and while I believe in some of the teachings, it is not my choice to belong in this community. 

I agree with David Berreby, in that we want to belong to our communities. In this class for example, I want to belong in this group but in order to do that I need to know what is expected of me from my professors and my peers.

Why Revise?

I have chosen to include my initial post from the Tradition discussion board as my revision piece because out of all of the assignments I have completed, this was the one that needed revision the most. The original prompt for this assignment was as follows.

Come to conclusions about the following questions, based on the readings and on the answers that your classmates pose. Participate as broadly as you can, synthesizing your readings and ideas related to the prompt question.  Remember to mention authors’ names as you bring in ideas from the readings. 
Consider the following questions:
1.  Are established traditions guiding influences or are they limiting?  Should we question the origins or purposes of our culture’s traditions?
2.  What takes precedence, our search for our own identity or our adherence to our culture’s traditions?
3.  If we shun our culture’s traditions, should we be shunned ourselves (or should we shun those who don’t follow them)? 
4.  Is society becoming more accepting of transgressions, of non-conforming behavior?

As you will see I did not fully address the prompt in my original post. I have learned a lot about revising and bettering my writing in this class and I think this revision will further demonstrate my progress in becoming a better writer.

Not My Favorite

Original Post

I think that tradition is important in our lives. With that said, I also believe that we need to question why we have these traditions and whether we should embrace them especially if they hinder our own identities. Not participating in some family traditions can for example cause a member of the family to be "shunned" and I do have a hard time with this, I don't think that you should have to participate in something you do not believe in. 

Revised Post
Are established traditions guiding influences or are they limiting?  Should we question the origins or purposes of our culture’s traditions?

This depends on the tradition in question. For example, in “Let Me Find My Own Husband” by Sarita James, we see the tradition of arranged marriage being very limited for the author. She changes a lot of her views and principles to follow along with this tradition and finds that it doesn’t work out for her. In the end she rightly questions whether this tradition is really right for her and tells her parents to “call off the search”. (James, 382)

  What takes precedence, our search for our own identity or our adherence to our culture’s traditions?

Culture is a part of our identities and for some this question is a hard one. I think that there is a delicate balance here when it comes to deciding who we are and whether our cultural traditions come into conflict with that. We have to be who we are ultimately, and if some traditions are not right for us than that is up to each of us to decide.

If we shun our culture’s traditions, should we be shunned ourselves (or should we shun those who don’t follow them)? 

 Not participating in some family traditions can for example cause a member of the family to be "shunned" and I do have a hard time with this, I don't think that you should have to participate in something you do not believe in. It would also have to depend on the severity of non-conformity. I don’t think that non-conformity should be used to measure someone’s worth.

Is society becoming more accepting of transgressions, of non-conforming behavior?

Today’s society has become very accepting of non-conforming behavior. I find this a hard subject because I do believe we need to be accepting in this area, however, if we accept everything where does that really leave us?

Why This One?

The following piece on District 9 was one of my favorite pieces to write because it gave me an opportunity to showcase my ability to analyze the true meaning and depth of this particular movie. Being a person that likes to watch all different types of movies, I enjoyed being able to watch a movie that is not in my favorite genre and still being able to see that there were deeper issues and insights underneath the main plot. This film on the surface is about getting aliens out of the way of our human lives because they are different from us.

We watch the main character go from being a respected part of the MNU community to an outcast in this movie and see a dramatic change in his thinking about himself, his colleagues, and the aliens themselves.

My analysis of this movie, while not perfect, is reflected in this piece. “When people are outcast from their community, they tend to begin to see things within those communities that they never thought were possible… Sometimes being cast out of a community can give someone a different perspective of the world around them.” This piece enabled me to write about this basic lesson that I have found particularly important in my life.

My Favorite

"District 9" defines an outsider on many different levels. We see Wikus in his normal life in the beginning being an accepted member of his community, then he begins to transform into a prawn making him undesirable to most of the people in his life. This film shows us the turmoil he goes through, first the change in his physical appearance, and later the emotional transformation that changes his thinking about the aliens.

We see the start of the physical change in Wikus after he is sprayed with the chemical the aliens made. He begins to panic due to the radical change in his hand, and is at first reassured that the doctors will be able to take care of him. He is then isolated in a compound, set "outside" to be tested. The film makes it very clear that he no longer has his own identity and that he is now physically different from everyone else.

The emotional portrayals in this movie are profound, beginning with self assurance and a secure role in his community at MNU, followed by complete panic at the changes to his body that have begun. We see his complete devastation at losing everyone that is important to him, anger that he is now an outsider, empathy for the alien leader Christopher, loyalty to his fellow outsider, and finally we see him accept what or who he is for the time being. Emotions are depicted not only in the dialogue of this movie but also by his physical reactions to what is being done to him. In this film we see a complete change in Wikus' character and even his own way of thinking.

In our discussion boards we talked about how Wikus originally only wanted to befriend Christopher for his help in getting back to being human, and how his perspective changed drastically to a more personal loyalty to Christopher's survival as well as his own. This movie affirmed what I believe it is to be an outsider. When people are outcast from their community they tend to begin to see things within the community that they never knew were possible. For example, Wikus couldn't believe that his colleagues at MNU would be willing to kill a fellow employee to find scientific answers about the alien technology. Sometimes being cast out of a community can give someone a different perspective of the world around them.