Author: Daisha

Analyzing Vietnamerica

Although the assignment Analyzing Vietnamerica was the most time consuming, it is by far one of the best of the assignments. I completely had no idea of what an “autoethnography” was until I was forced to grasp the Carolyn Ellis article. After grasping the meaning of postmodernism and auto ethnography, I completely knew what I would write about. Through my analysis of assessing whether Vietnamerica was autoethnographic, I showed how this text embodies the post modernist goals and ideas. I argue that Vietnamerica is somewhat autoethnographic , but I further that argument to show how it is not to support my postmodern claim. I found examples of how GB Tran actually argues for and against the term “autoethnography”, which proves that it did not completely fulfill the auto ethnography model. I am happy with my final product and I hope you guys are too. Here it is!

Mapping Fun Home

In Fun Home, the most important patterns that stuck out to me was how important her dad’s actions were in her life even though she did not realize it in her youth. As she constructs the memoir, she focuses on how she think that his death was a result of her coming out. By constructing the album, Bechdel captures the objective reality of Allison while playing with the memories in the book. Allison is yearning to connect with her father. so  hints at certain mannerisms, which starkly differ from her actions in order to convey a cycle.

page 15
Page 15- Allison recalls the memory of her at 4-5 years old. She focuses on the differences between her and her father.

For example, on page 15, At a young age she notices how different her and her father were. He liked her to wear dresses, while she preferred trousers. He liked to keep things tidy and she was messy. She recalls herself as being the “Spartan to her father’s Athenian”.

 

page 117
Page 117-  Allison reflects on her fathers effeminate tendencies vs. her admire for masculine charm. She realizes her beginning.

While later on in the book, on page 117, she reflects the idea of her father’s death being her beginning. Moreover, she clarifies that “the end of his lie coincided with the beginning of my [her] truth.” She is able to locate her personal narrative in history, as she notices the life of her father. My abstract model successfully conveys how her personal narrative comes alive throughout her focus on her dad’s life. Although this assignment was extremely difficult, it was well  worth it for my understanding of the book. Enjoy!

Citations:

Bechdel, Alison. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006. Print.

 

Sunday Funny 6: Visualizing a Quote

For this Sunday Funnies assignment, I decided to quote Mahatma Ghandi.

“Be the change you want to see in the world.” – Ghandi

I live by this quote because it inspires me to better myself as an individual. If I could change one thing in this world it would be how people of different ethnicities interact with each other politically, socially, and economically.  This quote has made me realized why I should accept people for who they are no matter what.

Citations:
“Mahatma Gandhi.” BrainyQuote.com. Xplore Inc, 2015. 22 March 2015. <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/mahatmagan109075.html
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/citation/quotes/quotes/m/mahatmagan109075.html#jPp eHfpycq1zdPI.99>

Photo by SDSU News Center

Photo by Diversity at AARP

Photo by Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

 

Revised Tracing Persepolis

After taking the time to review my Tracing Persepolis project, I decided to make a few changes. With the help of my professor, David Morgen, I simplified the splash page by getting straight to the theme that I created titled “A calm before the storm”. I fixed mechanical things on my page such as the links and organization of the subpages to make it easier for my readers to understand. I changed my project from having two pages full of text. Instead, I incorporated the images(specific panels) to directly connect with the points I make in the text. Finally, I added actual sentences to the captions of my pictures instead of having it say “figure 1″. I liked how it showed the main point in a caption on Lily’s project so I decided to incorporate that in my project, especially since we chose the same pages to annotate.

Reflection on Tracing Persepolis

difference in tone

When we originally discussed the project in class, I underestimated how long the process would take. The most difficult part for me was putting it on the domain. I did not know how to make subpages and the hyperlink process was annoying. I really enjoyed the tracing and annotating part, even though it was tedious. In order to appeal to readers of my domain, I realized that in order for my project to flow I needed to have a theme and a metaphorical representation of the pages that I annotated. This assignment forced me to think critically and I am actually proud that I overcame challenges of the process.

I traced and annotated two pages with similar themes in order to focus on how the features of a panel can affect the tone of the pages. I metaphorically related the theme to a storm in order to make it more relatable to readers and to create a deeper meaning of the text. In my analysis, I argue that the facial expression, arrangement of panels and the shading are effective in the way they can convey a message to the reader. These features reflect the tone of the page from panel to panel. I connected my pages with lead paragraphs before my next point in order to make my project easy to digest. Although the project was frustrating at times, I am proud of myself and I am happy to share my first draft of Tracing Persepolis.

Comments are always welcome :)

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