I am part of Eileen’s group. We are half way through the video viewing now and are finding the concepts interesting. Although I like the videos I sometimes think they can be distracting as I try to create my own imagery for the literary pieces.
Yesterday we had a discussion following the video.
“Lost Sister” was a powerful poem with strong images. We liked the way the group managed to work together to produce the images of the elevated train since that image gave us a difficult time. This poem highlights how various cultural perspectives can be helpful while moving through a piece of literature in that we can gain insight from the experience of all immigrants.
I thought the discussion of “All Gone” was a bit less dynamic. Although I can see how one’s cultural background brings a different reaction to a piece of literature it is not necessarily enlightening to the piece in question. The story is about the dreadful effects of isolation that are brought on by many aspects of the urban experience. This was also present in the Cathy Song poem. Much is gained, but much is lost by becoming an immigrant. She presents images of loneliness in the urban environment that are experienced by many, irregardless of their individual cultural heritage. This is the point that Dixon makes in his story. There is not a specific cultural or family community for many in modern American urban settings. Thus when individuals are confronted with the truly disturbing they lack a community to support them in their time of need
One aspect of our school that presents an issue for utilizing cultural diversity as a class moves through a piece of literature is that we are not a very diverse community. We use the literature to help expand our students awareness of a wider and more diverse world.
Timothy H. Dalton
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Received on Tue Mar 22 15:35:14 2005