Please plan to meet this Friday during lunch in my room (209).
I am worried that if we don't meet this week, Spirit Week and the week before break will overwhelm us and we'll never be together in the same place. I will email you as well, but please plan on this and let me know ASAP if there is a compelling reason you can't attend.
There are some amazing opportunities that I'd like to discuss!
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Monday, January 30, 2017
Changing the Narrative of Iran
I'm sure you have been reading about the order from President Trump that has closed American borders to refugees and citizens from a number of predominantly-Islamic countries. If you need a primer, here is one report from The New York Times.
Iran is one of those countries.
Throughout history, America has always made broad generalizations about other countries (I am referring more to the perspective of the general citizenry than the government, though there's certainly a longer conversation to be had there as well). In the 1980s, the idea of the Soviet Union was so deeply embedded in the national consciousness that it was almost comical--even though the vast majority of people had never met anyone from the Soviet Union.
On Saturday, a woman named Mona, who was one of my high-school classmates and teammates, posted this as her Facebook status:
Of course, this country wouldn't want any more 1st female Fields Medal recipients (Maryam Mirzakhani), first employees at Google and executive chairman at Trump's beloved Twitter (Omid Kordestani), former #1 tennis players (Andre Agassi), inventor of Lasik eye surgery (Gholam Peyman), founder of ebay (Pierre Omidyar), first middle eastern SNL actors (Nasim Pedrad), president of Expedia (Dara Khosrowshahi), Oscar nominated directors who can no longer attend the ceremony!, doctors, writers, professors, physicists, lawyers, inventors, humanitarians, nobel peace prize winners, mothers, fathers, and let us not forget inventors of the beloved all-American Hot Pocket (David Merage). And you certainly wouldn't want someone like ME or my FAMILY. #iran
It got me thinking about this larger idea of "Changing the Narrative." When most people think of someone who is Iranian, I'm fairly certain they don't think of the people Mona mentioned, or even someone like Mona herself--an entrepreneur and successful businesswoman, a distance runner, a loving mother, and just a generally badass lady who we'd all be lucky to know. And I have to believe a reason for that is that the dominant narrative (in whatever form that takes) is that an Iranian person is not a successful and valuable contributor to American society.
This is just a Facebook post, but I see this as a step in changing that narrative.
Here's the other facet of this situation that I have to be honest about: I knew Mona and her family were middle Eastern, but I couldn't have told you she was Iranian until this post. Part of that, I'm sure, is simply that we weren't close enough that I ever hung out at her house or met her parents, and we were in different grades, so we wouldn't have been in class together where this might have come up in conversation. But something I fear is that when I see someone who's successful, I don't see their whole identity--especially the aspects of their identity that might classify them as other.
For those of you who took American Literature with me, I see this as an unsettling parallel to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, when Huck decides to stand up for his dear friend Jim, but does so with the perspective of I knew he was white inside. Because to Huck, being black was still obviously a problem--a fact which escapes a lot of readers, not to mention Huck himself.
I think it's easy--too easy, problematically easy--to look at someone like Mona and simply say, "oh, well, she's an American," because a) she is and b) she fits our narrative of what an American should be. However, it also conveniently lets us avoid re-evaluating our perspective of Iran.
One of my best friends from high school was Lebanese, and I was close to her family and life experiences in a way that forever changed my perspective on that country--when I hear reports of news in Lebanon I know (and not just intellectually know, but know on a deep human level) that is her family. Those are people just like her family. Those are people she loves. That is her. The news report that someone involved in a terrorist attack is Lebanese has never caused me to evaluate the whole nation of people through that lens because I know more. I know better.
The point of all of this is not that I wish I'd been better friends with Mona in high school, though that's undoubtedly true. Rather, personal relationships are one powerful way we change the narrative, and creating the chance to cultivate such relationships is imperative. But there are other ways to change the narrative, and telling and listening to personal stories is a major step in that process--and a crucial part of why this class exists.
This is perhaps something we'll return to when we delve into Persepolis in a few weeks, but it was on my mind now and you were the best group of people I could think to share these thoughts with.
Iran is one of those countries.
Throughout history, America has always made broad generalizations about other countries (I am referring more to the perspective of the general citizenry than the government, though there's certainly a longer conversation to be had there as well). In the 1980s, the idea of the Soviet Union was so deeply embedded in the national consciousness that it was almost comical--even though the vast majority of people had never met anyone from the Soviet Union.
On Saturday, a woman named Mona, who was one of my high-school classmates and teammates, posted this as her Facebook status:
Of course, this country wouldn't want any more 1st female Fields Medal recipients (Maryam Mirzakhani), first employees at Google and executive chairman at Trump's beloved Twitter (Omid Kordestani), former #1 tennis players (Andre Agassi), inventor of Lasik eye surgery (Gholam Peyman), founder of ebay (Pierre Omidyar), first middle eastern SNL actors (Nasim Pedrad), president of Expedia (Dara Khosrowshahi), Oscar nominated directors who can no longer attend the ceremony!, doctors, writers, professors, physicists, lawyers, inventors, humanitarians, nobel peace prize winners, mothers, fathers, and let us not forget inventors of the beloved all-American Hot Pocket (David Merage). And you certainly wouldn't want someone like ME or my FAMILY. #iran
It got me thinking about this larger idea of "Changing the Narrative." When most people think of someone who is Iranian, I'm fairly certain they don't think of the people Mona mentioned, or even someone like Mona herself--an entrepreneur and successful businesswoman, a distance runner, a loving mother, and just a generally badass lady who we'd all be lucky to know. And I have to believe a reason for that is that the dominant narrative (in whatever form that takes) is that an Iranian person is not a successful and valuable contributor to American society.
This is just a Facebook post, but I see this as a step in changing that narrative.
Here's the other facet of this situation that I have to be honest about: I knew Mona and her family were middle Eastern, but I couldn't have told you she was Iranian until this post. Part of that, I'm sure, is simply that we weren't close enough that I ever hung out at her house or met her parents, and we were in different grades, so we wouldn't have been in class together where this might have come up in conversation. But something I fear is that when I see someone who's successful, I don't see their whole identity--especially the aspects of their identity that might classify them as other.
For those of you who took American Literature with me, I see this as an unsettling parallel to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, when Huck decides to stand up for his dear friend Jim, but does so with the perspective of I knew he was white inside. Because to Huck, being black was still obviously a problem--a fact which escapes a lot of readers, not to mention Huck himself.
I think it's easy--too easy, problematically easy--to look at someone like Mona and simply say, "oh, well, she's an American," because a) she is and b) she fits our narrative of what an American should be. However, it also conveniently lets us avoid re-evaluating our perspective of Iran.
One of my best friends from high school was Lebanese, and I was close to her family and life experiences in a way that forever changed my perspective on that country--when I hear reports of news in Lebanon I know (and not just intellectually know, but know on a deep human level) that is her family. Those are people just like her family. Those are people she loves. That is her. The news report that someone involved in a terrorist attack is Lebanese has never caused me to evaluate the whole nation of people through that lens because I know more. I know better.
The point of all of this is not that I wish I'd been better friends with Mona in high school, though that's undoubtedly true. Rather, personal relationships are one powerful way we change the narrative, and creating the chance to cultivate such relationships is imperative. But there are other ways to change the narrative, and telling and listening to personal stories is a major step in that process--and a crucial part of why this class exists.
This is perhaps something we'll return to when we delve into Persepolis in a few weeks, but it was on my mind now and you were the best group of people I could think to share these thoughts with.
Thursday, January 26, 2017
Week Two Assignment
Please complete all parts of this assignment no later than Thursday, February 1.
Read: Twilight: I’ve tried to pick accounts
that line up with the segment of the film you’ll watch, but don’t hesitate to
read around in the book or zero in on particular passages you’re most
captivated by.
- Anonymous Man, “Your Heads in Shame” (juror); Gil Garcetti, “Magic” (district attorney); Stanley K. Sheinbaum “Hammer” (former president of LA Police Commission) pp. 70-80
- Reginald Denny, “A Weird Common Thread in Our Lives” (pp. 103-112) – if you don’t know who Reginald Denny is, do a quick google search to understand his place in the riot.
- Mrs. June Park “And in my Heart for Him” (p. 147)
- Maxine Waters “The Unheard,” “Washington” (p. 159-169)
- Elaine Young “The Beverly Hills Hotel” (pp. 150-155) – we saw bits of this piece in the first segment of the film.
Watch/Write: Twilight: from minute 23 (where we left off last time)
to 56:35 (after Elvira’s narrative)
Craft a blog post (create a new post: don't reply to this one) on one of the following topics or really
anything else that Twilight makes you
think about. Also, respond to at
least two of your classmates’ posts. Let’s see what different conversations we
can get going and how the blog lets us continue and deepen these talks. Shoot
for at least 400-500 words to start.
-
In the first segment, the person Smith portrays is
a witness to the King beating. She is then not
asked to testify because her perspective conflicts with the account of the
highway patrol. “Let the jury hear the facts!” she urges. Consider how the
court creates a narrative of its own and what (or who) contributes to this
creation.
-
In the second segment, Smith portrays an anonymous
male juror. How does this portrayal help humanize this aspect of the
process? What might it be like to be a
juror on a trial like this?
-
Around minute 38-39, Smith shifts back and forth
between portraying two different characters in the same moment. How does this “layering”
of dialogues help us understand or think about how conflicting narratives and
perspectives exacerbate the pain of situations like this? We’re talking a lot
about alternative facts in society
right now, but it’s clear that different individuals have very different views
of the truth of a situation. How can
a community deal with this?
-
What’s the role of elected officials in situations
like this? You can think specifically about Maxine Waters (or President George
H.W. Bush, who we’ll see footage of in this section), or you might even think
of the role Senators and Representatives have played in more recent circumstances
of civil unrest. What can they do? What should
they do?
-
At 47 minutes, Smith portrays a character of
privilege (Elaine Young). Do you think this presentation could be seen as
mocking—why or why not? How does seeing Smith, as a woman of color, portray a
white woman of privilege enhance our thinking about how different people
experience situations like the LA riots? What’s the effect of transitioning
right from this narrative into that of Henry “Keith” Watson, who was one of
Reginald Denny’s assailants?
Think: When I
run this class on an everyday basis, my sense is to have Twilight be our first studied text. Think about what would be helpful
to you as a class member as far as background information, historical context,
etc. Think about whether you think it would work best to watch the film in one
stretch (over several days) before the book, or alongside the reading as we’re
doing. Do you think students would benefit from reading the whole book,
excerpts, etc? I’ll ask for more formal feedback when we finish the text, but
start thinking about these ideas now!
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
1/25 Update
Hi class,
You should all have posted your first piece of writing and commented on the Week One post by tomorrow. My objective is to post each week's assignment on Thursday, and you'll complete that work by the following Thursday--ideally by the end of the school day.
Alexa and Kayla, please return that form to me asap so I can add you to the blog.
I'd like to aim to have a meeting as a group before winter break. Friday at lunch is looking like a universally open time, so I will bring snacks and maybe one of those days will work.
Let me know -- here or in person -- if you have any questions or concerns.
You should all have posted your first piece of writing and commented on the Week One post by tomorrow. My objective is to post each week's assignment on Thursday, and you'll complete that work by the following Thursday--ideally by the end of the school day.
Alexa and Kayla, please return that form to me asap so I can add you to the blog.
I'd like to aim to have a meeting as a group before winter break. Friday at lunch is looking like a universally open time, so I will bring snacks and maybe one of those days will work.
Let me know -- here or in person -- if you have any questions or concerns.
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
Week One Assignment
Please complete all parts of this assignment no later than Thursday, January 26.
Write: Who are
you to other people? Who are you to yourself
(on the inside)? Please post this to the blog. Shoot for around 500-600 words. Note: while you don't need to comment on each others' posts, please feel free to -- and do make the effort to at least read everyone's post.
Read: Twilight: selected pages:
Introduction, Prologue, The Territory (pages available from Susannah, but order the text soon)
Watch: Twilight (first 22 minutes, stop at “Indelible
Substance)
Via Great Performances on PBS
After reading and watching, respond to the following question by commenting on THIS blog post:
What is your response to Twilight so far? How
does Anna Deveare Smith’s form of writing and/ or performance facilitate communication and
discussion about difficult social issues?
No required length for this response, but your answer should be thoughtful and address all parts of the question. If your peers respond first, you can reply to their ideas, but you should also offer thoughts of your own.
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