Two common themes we studied this term are the themes of insiders/outsiders and media representation. In Dany Laferriere’s The World is Moving Around Me, he re-tells his experience of the Haitian earthquake of January 12, 2010. During this experience, Laferriere portrays himself as both an insider and an outsider due to his Haitian-Canadian background. These two statuses allows him to link the gap between the Haitians and readers of his memoir. Indeed, the book’s foreword states how “this is a story that’s not his to tell” (10), depicting how his status as a Canadian visitor to Haiti makes him an outsider. On the other hand, Laferriere also considers himself an insider since he is part Haitian. His insider status is especially useful as it allows him to speak up for the Haitians against the media’s negative stereotypical frames. One of these frames was how Haiti was a poor and corrupt country. Although he does not object to the country’s poverty, Laferriere claims that not all the people were corrupt, only the country’s ruling class. The rest of the population still kept their dignity, and “when the country [was] insulted, they – not the rich – [felt] the sting” (75). Indeed, Laferrier uses his insider voice to depict his country’s reactions to people’s negative labels.

Laferriere further makes use of his “insider” status to fight against another of the media’s negative frames. It frames Haiti as a cursed country, associating it with voodoo, cannibalism and blood-drinkers. Laferriere states how “all some commentator has to do is say the word “curse” on the airwaves and it spreads like a cancer” (76). Laferriere challenges the notion of Haiti as a cursed country by describing the nation’s energy and dignity in dealing with the Haitian earthquake. He also states that Haiti was the first black republic in the world, and the second to win its independence in the Americas. He describes how black slaves in Haiti had to fight against Napoleon Bonaparte’s army to win their independence, with nothing but “their longing for freedom and a senseless kind of bravery” (75). Through will power, they achieved their citizenship. Indeed, by describing his country’s past accomplishments, Laferriere gives readers a new respect for it. He not only portrays negative media representations of Haiti, but also uses his insider status to fight for his people.

Laferriere, Dany. The World is Moving Around Me. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2013. 9-183. Print.

This past week in class, we have analyzed how the structure and aesthetics of MAUS contributes to its message on war’s horrors. One theme we have discussed is how MAUS’s visual elements transmit memory. Indeed, in his book MetaMaus, Spiegelman states that “the subject of MAUS is the retrieval of memory and ultimately, the creation of memory” (73). This is clearly seen in I.110, when Vladek tells Art how he created a hiding spot out of his coal storage cellar in Srodula. He takes draws for Art an exact picture of this hiding spot, saying how “such things it’s good to know exactly how was it”. We then get a large scale picture of the cellar on Art’s notebook, with detailed descriptions. Vladek further describes the cellar on the right, giving the reader more information. The present scene then changes to the actual event in the past, depicting Vladek and his family hiding in the cellar while Nazi soldiers searched his house. As Spiegelman pointed out, this transition from present to past resulted from Vladek’s retrieval of the memory and his re-creation of it. Vladek’s recalls the traumas of war in the present, as shown in how he draws the picture for Art. However, this retrieval of memory ultimately led to the re-creation of it in Art’s comic book, where the visual elements propel readers back in time to the actual narrated event. Indeed, the retrieval and creation of memory depicted through the comic’s aesthetics portrays the process of memory transition.

Since it transmits memory, MAUS acts as a link from the present to the past. In her article, McGlothlin states that although its visual elements demarcates the past from the present, it also connects the two, especially through narration. She claims that these visual images act as a supplement to the narration, relating to a problem where “the present and the past are intimately interconnected” (178). This is shown in II.25, when Vladek tells Art about how he and Anja got separated after arriving in Auschwitz. In a panel depicting an angry German’s face, Vladek describes how he had to say good-bye to Anja as the men and women were separated. However, the scene quickly jumps back to the present again. The next four panels depicts Vladek vehemently telling Art how he and Anja were never truly separated, since they were together before and after the war. The panel of the Nazi’s angry face, abruptly inserted in the midst of Vladek’s narration, reminds us of how the past and present intercepts in MAUS. Therefore, not only does MAUS portray comics as a transmission of memory, but also a bridge between the past and present.

McGlothlin, Erin. No Time like the Present: Narrative and Time in Art Spiegelman’s “Maus”. Narrative. Vol. 11, No. 2 (May 2003) Pg 177-198. Published by: Ohio State University Press. Article URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20107309?seq=2

Spiegelman, Art. MetaMaus. 1st ed. Toronto: Random House of Canada, Ltd., 2011. 73. Print.

Memoir – a self-reflective writing that personalizes history. As we have discussed in class this past week, memoirs are not only written to remember, but to remember differently. Many memoirs are used to commemorate the lives of sex-workers in the Downtown Eastside, portraying a different (and deeper) side of them. In doing so, they oppose society’s attitudes towards gender, racial and sex-work stereotypes. As Jiwani and Young argued, these stereotypes “demarcate the boundaries of respectability” (895) for women and associates them with degeneracy even after their deaths. Aboriginal women are especially susceptible to sexual violence. This is due to the stereotype of Aboriginals being an unprogressive, unreasonable and uncivilized people. In the Missing Women Case, many of the women were Aboriginals. Jiwani and Young further states that these women were “silenced victims” who failed to be active agents, perhaps because of their history of colonization and assimilation. However, their silence contributes to their representations of sex workers deserving violence. Aboriginal women in the Downtown Eastside have become invisible victims of violence, but visible deviant bodies. Sadly, these racist stereotypes are re-inforced by police and state authorities, who not only criminalize these women but also neglect their concerns.

Media and news coverage also tend to re-inforce negative stereotypes by being impersonal and highlighting deviancy. In analyzing 2002 print coverages on the Missing Women victims, Jiwani and Young found that many stories “fixed the identities of these women as troubled, abused runaways” (906). Their descriptions of the women are impersonal, and many do not link their behavior with past life circumstances, such as divorce, abuse, etc. In Missing Sarah, Maggie portrays the media’s ability to inaccurately portray one’s character. The CBC footage of Sarah only portrayed a woman dressed in slutty clothes walking down the street, looking like she was high. However, Maggie knew that that was not her sister, and was worried that it would give viewers the wrong impression of her. She claimed that “remembrance is a powerful act, but it must be done right” (254). Maggie was relieved when the documentary actually portrayed her sister as more than a “drug-addicted prostitute” during its airing.

Maggie further opposes society’s views of negative stereotypes in her memoir Missing Sarah. By providing a detailed account of her sister’s life, she shows that she was more than just a sex worker. Little incidents from Sarah’s past might also explain why she chose to leave home. For example, in grade three Sarah was given a school assignment about family roots. She was agonized about it, partly due to the fact the class was asking her prying questions. After her mother talked to her about her roots, and explained to her class about adoption, Sarah felt much better. Another incident was how Sarah secretly taped an interview with herself, in which she revealed how she felt “not too good” (36) about being adopted into a white family. She also blamed herself for her parents’ divorce. These little incidents portray how Sarah might have felt depressed about her racial difference from her family. The internalization of her family troubles may have compelled her to experiment with drugs for relief. Indeed, Sarah’s memoir opposes society’s gender, racial and sex-work stereotypes by helping us to understand her better. It not only depicts reasons for her actions, but also how she was one of us.

Jiwani, Y., & Young, M. L. (2006). Missing and murdered women: Reproducing marginality in news discourse. Canadian Journal of Communication, 31(4), 895-917. http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/docview/219564084?accountid=14656

Biotext – a form of writing in which the writer discovers him/herself. Fred Wah created a biotext of the Diamond Grill by inserting recipes, historical documents, poetry, and memories from his past. Through overlapping stories, he retold his own version of his family’s history. Indeed, not only is biofiction innovative and mobile, but also opposes the generic norms of novels and autobiographies. Wah states that he used this writing form to prevent Diamond Grill from being “hijacked by ready-made generic expectations…[of] life writing” (Afterword, 184). Besides challenging genre norms, Wah also challenged the rules of language through his ungrammatical, run-off sentences. His biotext’s context and structure definitely resisted predictable forms of narration.

Wah’s unique writing style also emphasizes the Diamond Grill’s main theme of hybridity and what it’s like to “live on the hyphen”:

“That hyphen is a real problem for multiculturalism; it’s usually a sign of impurity…and it’s frequently erased as a reminder that the parts…are not equal to the whole” (Afterword, 178).

To describe his experiences living on the hyphen, Wah incorporates metaphors and anecdotes (short stories about real incidents or people) throughout the book. It begins and ends with descriptions of the restaurant’s doors, which are metaphors for the hyphen separating nationalities. On page one Wah describes how he would kick the kitchen’s large swinging doors with a loud “whap!”. This door separates the kitchen from the restaurant’s dining area, and also resembles a racial divide between the Chinese cooks and the Canadian customers. Indeed, it seems to separate Wah’s Chinese identity (the kitchen) from his Canadian one (the dining room). However, the door can also be a connection. Wah’s love for noisily passing through it portrays how his physical appearance enables him to cross confidently across the divide to the other side. On the other hand, his father’s discretion when passing through the doors depicts how he has to be cautious when crossing to the Western world, due to his purely Chinese identity.

Wah further describes his struggles with living on the hyphen through the anecdote of King’s restaurant. Lawrence King, Shu’s son, was a pure Chinese boy who worked at the Grill with Wah. Wah’s experience visiting King’s restaurant highlights his difference with pure Chinese people, such as his physical Western appearance and inability to speak Chinese. Indeed, Wah describes how his “capability of camouflage” in Canada’s white world allowed him to be “not the target but the gun” (138). This anecdote not only highlights the differences between mixed and pure races, but also how those of mixed races have to deal with negotiating the hyphen.

By incorporating various genres into it (recipes, poetry, etc), the Diamond Grill has become a genre unto itself. Through this biotext, Wah has rebelled against typical narrative techniques to tell his life story in his own way. Nevertheless, he highlights the struggles of living in the hyphen, a hybrid nationality where the parts are just as important as the whole.

This past week, we have been studying about three digital life narrative sites: Facebook, Six Word Memoir, and PostSecret. Through my observations and classroom discussions, I realized that the life narratives of these sites are expressed in very different ways. Firstly, on Facebook people share about their life more openly. This might be because they can alter the privacy settings so that only their friends see their posts. Not only do people post personal statuses of life events, but the majority of them also have profile pictures of themselves and other personal information in the “About” page. The fact that everyone is so open on Facebook might be due to its reputation as a secure and widely-used social networking site. As seen on its own profile page, numerous Facebook stories boister its reputation. One such story, “Facebook Safety” (Dec 4, 2013) talked about how Facebook collaborated with MediaSmarts to create a guide called “Think Before You Share”. By encouraging safe sharing of on-line content among teens, Facebook is portraying itself as a safe and user friendly site. Another story, “How I Used Facebook to Talk About the Reality of Cancer” (Nov 15, 2013) depicted how a BC woman used Facebook to spread awareness of breast cancer. Facebook is not only portrayed as a way to connect with community and strangers, but also as a way to spread important news. Indeed, these stories not only boosts Facebook’s reputation, but also people’s confidence in sharing about their lives.

Unlike Facebook, Six Word Memoir focuses more on life narratives and less on personal facts. It’s confessional, therapeutic atmosphere emerged since the memoir boom of the mid 1990s, when people became interested in hearing diverse life stories. Although bloggers are confined to six words, their stories capture the essence of what they want to say. They can also elaborate more on their story through the site’s “Backstories” function. Besides being focused on life narratives, Six Word is also therapeutic. This can be seen in its categories such as “happiness, work inspirations, and love”. It also mixes the negative topic of pain with hope, and in topics like war, at least half of the posts stir up positivity. Indeed, not only does this site create a common desire to be heard, but also a light-hearted and positive environment for people to share about their life. People see trying to write a six word narrative as a fun game, lightening up the site’s atmosphere. Unlike Six Word Memoir, PostSecret has a more serious tone for expressing life narratives. The site’s black background, name, and anonymous posters give it a mysterious sense. Since some of the secrets also reveal problems in need of help, the site also provides links to counseling services, further enhancing its serious demeanour.

All in all, Facebook, Six Word and PostSecret are three very different environments for people to express their life narratives. Facebook’s reputation as a secure and popular site (supported by Facebook stories) enhances sharing of more confidential information. However, Six Word and PostSecret provides a creative outlet for people to express themselves while staying anonymous. Although both are therapeutic, the first seems more lighthearted, whereas the second seems to deal with darker issues.

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