I really enjoy Alexie. When I first read it I usually have trouble understanding it, and what the point of it is. As we pull it apart in class and discuss the meaning of it I have started to understand it more and learn how to interpret it for myself. I also think that Alexie does a great job of building on points and setting us up for what he wants us to get out of his poetry. I really like the poem "Why We Play Basketball". I love sports so I enjoyed this because I could relate to what Alexie was talking about as he waits to see if the shot is good or not, and how playing a sport gives you a break from reality and it is something you can control. I liked this poem because of that, but then when we talked about the symbolism of the 5 lines and 5 stanzas I enjoyed it even more because I learned that the poem was even more profound than I realized.
Another poem that I like from Alexie was the one about the porcupines. If one of us were to pass a dead porcupine on the road we would not think anything of it. Kind of like how we do not really think about how Native Americans used to live or how different this location is now compared to when Native Americans lived here. To me this poem not only showed the importance that the porcupine had, but it also symbolized the change in the way of life for the Native Americans from before white people came to their new life on the reservations. I think that it is easy to forget that things used to be drastically different from how they are now.
The reading in Loewen has continued to be interesting to me. It looks like there are mixed feelings about Loewen. Some support him and some say that he is hypocritical. I too have mixed feelings when reading. At first I kind of thought that he was being hypocritical because he talked about how history books only tell one side and that they are boring, but he too was giving us a history lesson. However, then I was thinking about it and I realized that no matter who is writing about a subject they will always be viewed with a bias in some sense. Unless you write something that is extremely neutral there will always be someone that disagrees with you. That being said, I think that I like Loewen. Clearly he has a negative view of how American history is portrayed, and I think he has very good reason to. After reading about Christopher Columbus I was shocked about how little history I really know. Although Loewen may sometimes jump off track or say drastic things I think that his main goal is that people look for accurate, truthful history. I was horrified about how Christopher Columbus treated the people that he conquered. I knew that he enslaved some of them, but I had no idea how horrible he treated them. When I think about all the ways that the textbooks have glorified the United States it makes me wonder how different ( if different at all) our country would be if the people grew up learning the real history of their nation.
Another poem that I like from Alexie was the one about the porcupines. If one of us were to pass a dead porcupine on the road we would not think anything of it. Kind of like how we do not really think about how Native Americans used to live or how different this location is now compared to when Native Americans lived here. To me this poem not only showed the importance that the porcupine had, but it also symbolized the change in the way of life for the Native Americans from before white people came to their new life on the reservations. I think that it is easy to forget that things used to be drastically different from how they are now.
The reading in Loewen has continued to be interesting to me. It looks like there are mixed feelings about Loewen. Some support him and some say that he is hypocritical. I too have mixed feelings when reading. At first I kind of thought that he was being hypocritical because he talked about how history books only tell one side and that they are boring, but he too was giving us a history lesson. However, then I was thinking about it and I realized that no matter who is writing about a subject they will always be viewed with a bias in some sense. Unless you write something that is extremely neutral there will always be someone that disagrees with you. That being said, I think that I like Loewen. Clearly he has a negative view of how American history is portrayed, and I think he has very good reason to. After reading about Christopher Columbus I was shocked about how little history I really know. Although Loewen may sometimes jump off track or say drastic things I think that his main goal is that people look for accurate, truthful history. I was horrified about how Christopher Columbus treated the people that he conquered. I knew that he enslaved some of them, but I had no idea how horrible he treated them. When I think about all the ways that the textbooks have glorified the United States it makes me wonder how different ( if different at all) our country would be if the people grew up learning the real history of their nation.
Kasey,
ReplyDeleteThoughtful post. And long.