aleks474

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  • in reply to: Toni Morrison, “Recitatif” #1056
    aleks474
    Participant

    This was such a wonderful story with the themes of childhood, motherhood and race recurring throughout. Toni Morrison’s chose not to affirm the race of her characters – as a reader, I caught myself assuming Twyla to be black and Roberta to be white for parts of the story but then some elements made me question this assumption and their races switched in my head for a few scenes. Just as I made assumptions based on my expectations and prejudice, the two women in the story make their own about the character of Maggie, who seemed particularly important to this class. Twyla and Roberta treat other people as below themselves at different moments of the story and though race is mentioned only very few times, it’s clear it pays an important part in their perception of each other. They do that to each other from the start, when Twyla says “My mother won’t like you putting me in here.” about having to bunk with a girl of a different race. She also writes of wanting to kill Bozo and her mother, overreacting in a childish way, probably not knowing what her words would imply. Later it’s Rebecca who looks down on Twyla when they meet in Howard Johnson. This back-and-forth contempt lasts till the end of the story, reappearing in all vignettes. The one thing that brings the women together is the few months they spent at St. Bonnie’s, the most vivid moment being when they saw the older girls kick Maggie. In Twyla’s and Rebecca’s shared perception of Maggie her race is invisible, or rather it goes completely unnoticed when they were children and so they can’t remember it as adults. Maggie’s disability overrides her race and her belonging to that minority is more important to the two girls than belonging to a racial minority. In their differing perceptions of race and racial identities, Maggie’s race is not important in their shared memory. As children, they mock the old woman and view her not as a person but rather through as her disability and her body. I think that at certain moments Twyla feels like her experience mirrors Maggie’s in some ways, as she (being less well-off and secure) is now treated by Rebecca with the same disregard she treated with Maggie as a child.

    in reply to: Black Man in a White Coat, 153- 245 #1032
    aleks474
    Participant

    Like Lauren, I was thinking about Dr. Tweedy’s relationship with Adrian and Henry and how he writes about it. Just like when describing his teenage homophobia, Tweedy is so self-reflective and ready to change for the better, both in his private and professional life. When writing about Adrian, wondering if he could’ve done anything else to help him stop smoking, Tweedy thought that maybe he became cynical. He is constantly questioning himself, looking for ways to be a better physician – I find that truly admirable. I think that’s what makes him a great doctor and storyteller – he has so much empathy and is ready to reflect on his actions. The self-reflective moments in the book were my favourite ones. Reading about Tweedy’s own struggles with patients and the emotions he experienced was so helpful in understanding his point of view as a black doctor. I think Dr. Tweedy inspires not only other doctors but all of his readers to self-reflect and be more empathetic. After reading some chapters, I found myself wondering what kind of patient I was during my doctor visits and if (especially as a teenager) I was a difficult patient.

    in reply to: Daniel Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year #1015
    aleks474
    Participant

    The writing in A Journal of the Plague Year struck me as very journalistic and devout of emotions and personal stories. I found myself longing to find out stories of what happened to individuals affected by the plague: how they felt and they dealt with the disease emotionally. The narrator doesn’t reveal how he personally dealt with the plague and whether anyone from his family died. The author’s cold, matter-of-fact attitude to disease and death made me wonder if that was the general public attitude towards it. Was death so prevalent and everyday that people treated it with no strong emotions? The writing is comprehensive and full of facts that must’ve been well-researched even though the book is a imaginary reconstruction of historical events. H.F. is almost obsessive in his writing, especially when he discusses the specific increase in the death count and inserts tables with numbers of deaths.

    Despite this journalistic, at times almost scientific approach I enjoyed reading the piece. H.F. writes of people’s behaviours changing in face of the crisis. These fragments reminded me of the current pandemic and at times I thought the narrator could easily be describing the Covid-19 Year instead of the Plague. When I read parts of the Decameron I remember Bocaccio wrote about the different ways people dealt with the plague and death knocking on their door in Florence. Some indulged in decadence, partying every day to make the most of what could be their last days on Earth and some left the city in fear – those who could afford it locking themselves in countryside mansions. Both Bocaccio’s and Defoe’s writing reminds of what’s currently happening around the world. This comparison shows that people’s attitudes to crisis never really change and history repeats itself. H.F. writes of s people leaving the city as if it was “doomed to be destroyed from the face of the earth, and that all that would be found in it would perish with it.”. I’m reminded of the big city middle and upper-class leaving for their summer homes in small towns because of covid-19 lockdowns. Many Parisians and New Yorkers did so, putting strain on the permanent residents of those towns, buying out stock from their small supermarkets and potentially overwhelming the local hospitals. The author also writes that people were too reliant on prophecies in times of the plague, saying that “books frightened them terribly”. Isn’t this similar to how many people would rather follow fake news about coronavirus that listen to science? The madness that develops in face of a crisis was present as much then as it is today, albeit in a different way.
    The narrator also mentions that after plague passed, people on the streets tended to be fearful when they saw others covering their faces, or those with plague wounds out and about. I suppose that when the pandemic ends many will want to pretend as if it never happened. Behaviours such as still wearing masks will attract strange looks and I’m actually already noticing this where I live. Because I’m currently living back home in New Zealand where we have seen a significant decrease in cases rising with almost no community spread, hardly anyone wears a mask in public places. When I go to a park (happy that the crisis has been dealt with and trying to forgot the difficult times from weeks ago) and notice someone wearing a mask, fear of the pandemic strikes me again – I wonder if I’m doing something wrong.

    Ref.
    Defoe, Daniel. A Journal of the Plague Year. London, 1722. (Class e-version)

    in reply to: Tell us about your experiences! #798
    aleks474
    Participant

    I was an exchange student this year at UNC – my entire family lives in Poland, however my university is in the UK while my long term partner is from New Zealand. I feel extremely privileged to have traveled so widely and have friends and family all around the world – however this also means I have in recent months heard and seen how the pandemic affects literally everyone I know in all corners of the world. In early February, I was aware of the fears and problems of my friends in China, many of who were unable to return to their universities abroad due to covid-19.

    Poland closed borders and made flights unavailable very early on – the case count was around 100 when that happened. Many of my Polish friends abroad hurried home. I was still attending classes at UNC then and knew I would not be able to return home with my partner (who was with me at UNC) – as a same-sex couple we wouldn’t be allowed in even if we had a marriage certificate. I could return home by myself but charter flights to Poland were only going from NYC, a place I didn’t want to go to as the coronavirus was spreading so quickly there. And who knows how long we would be apart if we decided to fly to different places?

    My little brother, who still lives in Poland, last year contracted the H1N1 flu virus: he was in a coma for 3 weeks and on a respirator for almost 2 months. Even before cover-19 came to Europe, my family was very worried because we all knew that if my brother contracted the virus he would likely die. When I was still in the US 1.5 week ago, my brother called me in the early morning telling me that he had a fever, nausea and difficulty breathing. We were cried on the phone together, my 18 year old brother telling me that he accepted his death and to promise him I will always remember him. I couldn’t come home to see him, I couldn’t say goodbye, hug him or kiss him. When he was in a coma one exactly one year ago, the doctors told my mother his son would die. She didn’t tell anyone. She raised me and my brother almost by herself, my father wasn’t present for a lot of the time – we are her entire world. When she called friends who are doctors and nurses, people that took care of my brother last year, no one wanted to come check on him – everyone was afraid of contracting the virus.

    Two days later, my brother completely recovered. His fever was gone and he even went for a walk. I don’t even think he had the coronavirus – perhaps it was just a stomach flu.

    My partner and I decided to fly back to New Zealand last weekend. Though they also closed borders, I was allowed in as a de-facto partner of a New Zealand citizen. I knew we couldn’t stay in the US, we have only been living there for a few months and with UNC closed and our student visas expiring in June, there was no option but to leave while we still could.

    My family and friends are in Europe and I don’t know when I will be able to see them in person. I feel safe here in New Zealand, a small country that has been able to learn from the mistakes of Europe and I am hopeful that the virus will be contained here. Everyone is quarantined since Wednesday and the country is committed to running as many tests as possible, prime minister Jacinda Ardern and Dr Ashley Blomfield responding quickly to the outbreak and informing New Zealanders clearly of what to do to prevent the spread.

    I feel lucky to be able to quarantine with my loved one, with a family that welcomed us with open arms. I know that this time of isolation is especially difficult for kids that live with abusive and unaccepting parents. I’m also thinking about young LGBTQ+ people in Poland, where the issue of the so-called “LGBT-free zones” established in Polish towns was making international news days before the covid-19 outbreak in Europe.

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