Recently in our ASTU class we have been reading a book called This Connection of Everyone with Lungs by Juliana Spahr. This book consists of two poems written after 9/11 leading up to the United States invading Iraq. A main theme of our class has been global citizenship and what it means to be a global citizen. I think this book does a good job at illustrating the interconnectedness of people, while also highlighting the space between us.

In her first poem, titled September 11/2001, Spahr uses a repetitive form that is similar to the rhythm of breathing to try to hypnotize the reader.  I think Spahr does this to illustrate the feeling people felt after 9/11. This idea that people were stunned, in shock or in a hypnotized state where nobody really knew what to do or what was about to happen. She focuses on the connection between everyone with lungs, yet she focuses specifically on how this connection is both lovely and also doomed. She focuses on each individual’s connection to the world and our connection to others around us. She does this by starting at a basic biological level of connectedness, “cells, the movement of cells and the division of cells” (3) then zooming out to a broader global view of connectedness “the space of the cities and the space of the regions and the space of the nations and the space of the continents and islands.” (9) I think this shows that even though we try to distance ourselves from other people, through boarders and private property, we are still connected on a basic level which we cannot separate from, like air and the particles in the air.

The rest of the book is a collection of poems which are dated from November 30, 2002, to March 27, 2003. These poems focus more on everyday news and how it is getting harder to separate ourselves from the world around us. We try so hard to privatize ourselves, our homes and even our bedrooms, yet with new technologies at our fingertips, it is so easy to invite the world in to our own space. This begs the question of responsibility, and who is responsible for what? If we see something bad happening on the news that we don’t agree with, what are we going to do about it? I think society has fallen into this trap where violence has become normalized and its become easier to turn it off rather than do something about it.

These poems highlight the growing space between people, and how even though people may try hard to separate from each other, we are still connected on a biological level. This book also helps to show what society values and thinks is important. Is celebrity news more important than all the innocent civilians being killed overseas? What does this say about the theme of global citizenship? If we view our lives above others, how does  that impact their lives? I think these are a few important questions that Spahr doesn’t answer but leaves for her readers to think about.

In our ASTU class we have started working on our final papers. My paper will be focussing on Safe Area Gorazde by Joe Sacco and how this graphic narrative shows the different ways of coping with violent events and traumas. There are numerous examples throughout the book which illustrates the impact war has on a community, however, for the purpose of this blog i’ll focus on one chapter called “Silly Girls.”

War and violence can have negative impacts on peoples lives especially emotional and physical ones. Sacco uses different techniques in order to display how the characters are able to cope with the effects of war. One chapter in particular shows how, when surrounded by violence and death, people have different ways of dealing with trauma. Sacco uses the chapter “Silly Girls” to show how the characters use laughter, partying, and other activities as a way to distract themselves from the war and violence happening around them. The chapter begins on page 50 with three girls smiling largely at what appears to be a small party. Sacco and Edin are visiting a woman named Nudjejma at her house and there are numerous other people there who are having fun, laughing and eating cake “made from bananas!” (50) He draws the girls’ smiles so big that their teeth are completely showing. In the next frame on page 51, there is six people, including Sacco and Edin, sitting around a table with their heads tilted back from laughing and again huge smiles on everyone’s faces. Later on page 56 Sacco tells the girls he will be leaving Gorazde for a bit and the girls light up with excitement and begin hugging each other and smiling even bigger than before. They asked him to please bring them back a pair of Levi’s jeans when he returns from his trip.

Nadjejma appears to handle the stress and trauma of war by hosting a party to celebrate the little victories, such as having bananas in Gorazde for the first time after the war. The two ‘silly girls’ cope with the everyday violence that they have been accustomed to by wanting normal teenage girl things, such as a pair of the popular brand of jeans. Sacco shows multiple ways people are able to recover from war, even if it is as simple as appreciating the small things in life, it helps to get back to a normal or better way of life.