Discussion n. 13: *CHRIST IN CONCRETE* due Nov. 9

COMMENT

Select a BRIEF quote from the second part of the book (past page 60).

Choose something that made a particularly deep impression on you and summarizes ONE of the larger themes of the book.

Explain the reason of your choice.


REPLY

When you read in the comments something YOU wish you had found first, tell the author. Maybe you would have given it a different interpretation. Explain the how and why of your reply.

Discussion n. 12: *CHRIST IN CONCRETE* due Nov. 9

COMMNENT ON:

"RELIGION, RELIGIOUSNESS and FAITH" in Christ in Concrete.

In your view, which category applies to the characters in the book?


 To avoid semantic confusion here and in class discussions we should agree on the meaning of these terms.

Here is my proposed interpretation:

RELIGION: what today is called "organized religion": the hierarchy, the buildings, the structure, the holy books, the authoritative interpretation of the holy books, the dogma(ta), the rituals, the collective prayers, the memorized instructions, the official theology, the doctrine,  the "sins," the excommunication, plus the popular beliefs.

RELIGIOUSNESS:  the general sense of belonging to an organized religion, but not completely, with deviations from the dogma(ta) and beliefs, but a strong sense of spirituality, a belief in life-after-death, in the existence of God.

FAITH: the strong belief that God exists and that s/he intervenes in human affairs, s/he can be moved by prayers and other rituals to perform miracles, to protect from evil and individual tragedies. In some cases, God acts through intermediaries, like angels, saints and prophets who can perform miracles.

POST YOUR COMMENTS: 

• Which category applies to the characters? You can speak in general or refer to just some of them.
• Are the definitions clear enough to guide us through the discussion? (We don't want to get bogged down in endless semantic disputes. Rather, we need a basic consensus on the meaning of these terms so that we can make progress.)
• OPTIONAL: do discussions about religion, faith etc. make you uncomfortable? Yes? No? Indifferent?    Tell us why.

N. 11 Due Oct 19. Sacco & Vanzetti

COMMENT

Political change -- for good or for bad -- in history is often (almost always) the result of rebellion, which means violence that goes against the "interests of the state."
The state, of course, uses preventive violence systematically to maintain order and discipline.
Examples: American Revolution (1776), American Civil War (1860), Russian Communist Revolution (1917), Arab Spring (2010).

What kind of criteria do you use to sort out the "good" revolutions from the "bad" ones?

Start with a reflection on Sacco & Vanzetti and the distance between the reality of anarchists' methods and their ideals (also Toni in L'emigrante would be a good example.)

N. 10 - Writing high standards - Due Wed Oct 19

It's all about the SIMPLICITY of genuine writing.

Excerpts from: Ashley Matos, Pajtesa Rexhepi, Solansh Moya

COMMENT:

Which of these three samples is closer to your writing style?

Are you happy with the way you write? Or do you wish you wrote more like one of these three samples? Which one in particular?

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There’s a picture at 1:37/4:46 in “The Way They Lived” that really caught my attention, where the man is laying on a bed made out of a couple of boards and two barrels, looking into the camera with a deep sadness. The picture made me stop and wonder, “Why would anyone have wanted to document this? Don’t just take pictures of how miserable they are, they know how they feel and look. They don’t need the permanent reminder.” As a journalist, that’s one thing we’re forced to do. We go into areas where people are at their worst, begging for help in some cases, and we take pictures and write stories about their suffering for our own gain. We’re unable to help, lest we become biased or tarnish the results of our research. It’s an atrocious practice, yet we do nothing to change it.

 I felt my chest tighten at the line, “Dear mother, what is money when you long for your home” in “Lacrime Napoletane.” I identify with this line, because I’m either working or in class until 8 p.m. every day. The idea of wishing to be home, but knowing you have to do work for a better future is a painful internal struggle that the songs reminded me of, but in a new context. The songs made me remember when I left home for a country I’d never been to, and the feelings of loneliness and fear as I tried to start my life over. I can’t even begin to imagine how much more painful the experience would have been if it was actually hard to communicate with my loved ones here, or if I was potentially unable to ever return.

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As I watched the pictures in the short video “The way They Lived” I wondered how a human being can be so strong to swallow all that misery. I was driven to despair by their eyes and the way they looked, so tired, yet that was just a “click” of their lifetime, just one image of their everyday reality.

When I read the book “Son of Italy” I thought I was able to visualize Pascal’s tragic experiences. However, I was aware that those were images created by me as I read his words. These pictures in the contrary bring the actual victims to my eyes and I can’t escape that reality. In them I saw the children, the mothers and the way they had to live, with sleeping beds made of thin tatters over the floor. Everything I saw and read so far is in a way stamped by these pictures, they are the ultimate proof of that tragedy lived by so many immigrants.

In the song “Lacrime Napoletane”, same as in “Santa Lucia Luntana”, there are parts of lyrics that bring the same question, if money is worth so much pain and sorrow? “Yes I have a few dollars, but I’ve never felt like such a miserable bum”. When one is away from home, money has no value. The time doesn’t reduce the lamentation for home, nor do a few dollars more especially if earning them costed ones honor.

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Through these pictures you can see how hard the immigrant experience was, from the difficult journey to America to the living conditions they had to endure. However, I admire their sacrifice. They were willing to endure hard circumstances in order to obtain the American dream. Pascal D’Angelo said, in his autobiography, “Without realizing it, I had learned the great lesson of America: I had learned to have faith in the future" (pg. 156). Faith, in sadness, is something that is depicted in these text. They feel alone and sad; they wish to go back home, but they can’t. They believe if they continue working hard they’ll give their families a better life, even if theirs is in despair.  The future is bright if you work hard and never give up. These text were more explicit than Son of Italy because we don’t see a resolution in them. We don’t know what happened to the immigrants in the end. Did they come into some luck? Did their American dream come true? We see a heartfelt ending in Pascal’s story. He endured a hard life, but in the end his dream came true. His hard work payed off. Not everyone is that lucky.

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N. 9 Due Oct 16 -- only students M-Z

COMMENT

In Moonstruck the least favorite character is Cosmo (as per previous polls.)

Are there specific TRAITS or FLAWS that you find objectionable in the other characters. major or minor.
Are these flaws small tiles of the mosaic representation of Italian Americans? In other words, are they typical (or stereotypical) of Italian Americans?

REPLY to a point of view that was particularly illuminating or infuriating (or both).

N. 8: "MOONSTRUCK" Due OCT 16

COMMENT

Is this film about Italian American men? If so, how well do they fare, according to these interpretations? 

Express a general assessment of the representation then choose in particular ONE character and discuss how he is handled in the film.

REPLY to the most or least convincing argument. Wait until at least 10 comments have been posted.

7. "L'EMIGRANTE" Due OCT 16

COMMENT

Excluding Peppino, choose a character and investigate all the possible symbolic meanings s/he carries.

Ex:
Pamela: blonde, white, rich, thrill-seeking, sex fiend, not a worry in the brain.
Two very-small-role African American characters.
Toni the Anarchist.
The moralizing sermon by Don Nicolone.

REPLY: wait until at least 10 comments have been posted before you reply to the most insightful and revealing one.

6. "THE WAY THEY LIVED" -- Due Oct 9

COMMENT

Choose a photo you would put on the cover of Son and one for a poster of The Italian. 

Describe each one so that we can recognize them clearly (this takes good skills, it's not an easy exercise) and explain the reasons of your choice.


REPLY

Choose a comment that present the best argument for the choices and explain why you think it is very effective at making its own point.

The way They Lived

5. Neapolitan Songs (Due Sun Oct 9)

COMMENT

Which of the two songs:

1) had a deeper impact on you, emotionally?

2) helped you connect with the deep sense of the immigrants' nostalgia and lonesomeness?


REPLY

Wait until at least 10 people commented. Choose the comment that is best at explaining the commenter's viewpoint.

4. ABOUT THE COURSE due Sept.21

Here is the first "best" answer I came across while I was grading.

READ it and COMMENT: how does your work on this specific task compare to this one?

What single aspect or argument got your attention the most?

I was very overwhelmed with the first assignment that I got from this course. Mostly because I was not prepared of how emotionally and mentally challenging a literature class could be. On the first day of class, I was confused when we started exploring other people’s culture (tribe) and I had to dig deeper and ponder on what it means to belong into one. I thought I would only be learning about Italian-Americans, watch italian films and read italian books but it seems that the course is much broader than that. I was perplexed at first when I was asked to learn about Black history, Irish immigrants, Chinese workforces, and Jewish pogroms and their effect in American Society. I thought to myself, “What is the relation of all these with Italian-Americans?” I wanted to learn about the culture that my stepfather grew up in and explore further the stories that they talked about around the dinner table. When we did talk about them in class, they were not the same stories that I have heard before. I wonder if my stepfather knew and just chose to not recount it because it was that part of the history when his people felt vulnerable and oppressed or maybe he too didn’t know about it. I feel that this course is rigorous mostly because of the extent of self-reflection I had to do before writing an assignment or participating in class as opposed to just typing or speaking words out of the surface of my brain based on what I know instead of what I feel. To me, it is a little exhausting because it is not something that I often do.

3. "Son of Italy"

FIND a small detail, or a quotation, that particularly impressed you. Write the reason why you chose it.
It must be something SMALL: ex. do not talk about "poverty" in general, find a tiny detail that illustrates that poverty.

1) Read all the posts before yours: DO NOT REPEAT. Find your own original item.

2) As you read the posts before yours, chose one that has not yet received a reply. REPLY and tell the writer if you had noticed or not noticed the same detail and what it means to you.

2. ON WRITING

GO to the course homepage. Read the box "ON WRITING."

Post your comment below:

1) Do you already write this way?
2) Intuitively: do you think your approach to writing is better?
3) Do you write guessing what the prof. wants you to say?

Choose one or any of the topics and write.

REPLY:  read your classmates comments.
REPLY to a comment with your counter-comments, ONLY AFTER AT LEAST 13 COMMENTS HAVE BEEN POSTED.

Don't start with "I agree" "I disagree." Be a bit more creative.

INTRODUCE YOURSELF

INTRODUCE YOURSELF TO YOUR CLASSMATES

Write your mini autobiography introducing yourself to your classmates.

Skip the details about your school and college career (courses, major, employment goals.)

Focus rather on your "intellectual" history: the books, films, hobbies and creative activities that helped you grow.

Avoid mentioning the "most important people" in your life. Keep the focus on yourself and your personal, individual, unique path, the choices you made that took you where you are.

(This may take more than the traditional 3 minutes of standard platitudes and laundry list of achievements. Actually, failures or dead-ends are more interesting than success stories.)

===

Here is a powerful example. This was the very first comment posted by a student in a previous semester: it set the tone for the entire class.

"Hello, my name is ________________. Most of my life has revolved around cancer. Although I am not a cancer “survivor” I have survived cancer. A couple of days after my sixth birthday my younger brother was diagnosed with leukemia. My life changed. At a very young age I had to learn to take care of myself. To escape the lonely feelings I started writing in a journal. Writing made me feel at peace. Music and dancing also lifted me. Performing during my recitals, parades and charity events was thrilling and liberating. As I was starting to feel in control of my life, here comes cancer again. This time attacking my mother and my aunt, which were diagnosed with breast cancer. Immediately, I had to learn how to manage my feelings of anger. As a freshman in high school, I decided to join the cheer team. Performing to express my anger worked. I moved up fast and became varsity captain. As Captain of the cheerleading team I was accountable not only for myself but also for my teammates. I improved my skills on how to be a leader, and take responsibility for my actions and words. Throughout my stages of development, I was unconsciously characterizing and identifying myself. In Piaget’s stages of cognitive development theory, children experience sensorimotor. That is when they are experiencing the world through senses and actions. That is who I was; I first observed and then determined to face my fears. I never said, “I can not do it,” I just did it even if it was a challenge I did not stop until I succeeded. Cancer was one of the many situations that helped me grow into the person I am today. Ironically someone approached me at my job a few days ago, and said “ I see the care you have for people in your eyes, not many have that.” 

1. BAD KARMA?

Click THIS LINK and read the document.

Leave your COMMENT.