Hello everyone!

I’m posting really early since the next two weeks would be crazy hectic for me and everyone else. Let’s get down to the last blog posts of our first year!

Majority of the bloggers (Magda, Elizabeth, Erin, Paolina, Alex, Inneke, Kate, Maria, and Isaiah) chose to reflect their year in ASTU and the insights they have gained. One blog that gave me that “aha” moment was Joseph’s. He brought up an interesting point regarding how “aha” moments are usually associated with good ideas and not the ‘dark’ topics we talked about such as terrorism, trauma, and war. He concluded with the “need to search through this darkness for a light more permanent that the little sparks of greatness that give us hope to keep going.” Very poetic! This is a great way in looking at the world especially as global citizens.

Another topic that some bloggers touched on is of course, one of the most interesting novels we’ve read this year: The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Sandra analyzed the character of Chris and the cause of his death. Melissa looked at the romance genre and made a connection between the relationship of Changez-Erica and America-Middle-East. Martin crticized those Americans who are prejudiced against Middle-Easterns and look at them as “terrorists.”

In connection to the novel, two bloggers (Jackson & Clara) wrote about a subject that I can 100% relate to: immigration. Clara focused on the struggle of identity that most immigrants felt and questioned who determines their identity. She brought up an interesting question as well that is very relevant to my experience: “If I consider myself Canadian can I lay claim to being French, Korean, Deutsch and Scottish? Is it the the percentage of your ancestry that is from a certain place that determines whether you can claim that heritage?”

Overall, this year has been amazing! All blogs were written well and showed how much we’ve learned in ASTU. Good job everyone! (give yourself a pat on the back, we’ve made it haha)

P.S. I tried to include everybody since it’s the last one

Therese

Hello Everyone!

As expected, everybody blogged about their field trip experience. Since I wasn’t there, reading the blog posts helped me picture what it was like exlporing the Kogawa fond. The archives described were composted of letters by readers and editors, newspaper articles, and drafts.

Most of the bloggers didn’t think about the process and energy that writers put into their book before seeing the archives. According to Martin, this is because we are caught up with the book itself and tend to overlook the process and experiences of the author in creating the novel. Seeing the drafts however “makes authors seem less like machines producing well crafted sentences, and more like people writing and labouring over a story” (Isaiah). On one hand, Ryan felt that seeing the author’s handwriting on the page made it more authentic and satisfying especially now that the internet has decreased the value of artworks. Isaiah touched on this idea as well. He claimed that we don’t think about the beauty and complexities behind a piece  of work because everything is accessible with media.

Other than appreciating the work that writers put into their work, a number of bloggers talked about the effects of Obasan into the lives of people. Erin for one described the appreciation of Japanese-Canadians to Kogawa, “Kogawa encourages the remembrance of history as a means to improve on the past, rather than forget events that are seemingly too painful for the people to remember”. Maria agreed with Erin on the importance of not forgetting. She stated, “no matter what year Obasan is read by a person affected by a social event, they are able to connect the novel with the importance to never forget events that caused casualties in their own societies.”

I also want to focus on two blogs that were thought-provoking. One is by Joseph who attempted to understand a letter from one of Kogawa’s readers in a form of a poem. The poem questioned why there are divisions in society and why we insist on having them. The sun was used as a metaphor for togetherness and how it was unreachable. As Joseph put it, “There was an air of desperation, of waiting, of hope in clinging to the warmth of fleeting fire and light on earth.”

The second blog I found interesting was Paolina’s. She came up with the conclusion that Naomi’s story didn’t start at the beginning of the book rather it began with Kogawa’s research, the notes she took, and the letters she received. For Paolina, the end of World War 2 and the Japanese-Canadian misery did not mark the end of the story. The story is still continuing through professors, scholars, and even us, students who analyze its meaning.

Reading everyone’s blogs made me realize that this is what memory is about. We, university students, are part of it by addressing what happened and by exploring the truth.

– Therese