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Welcome back to another blog! Last week, we began to talk about poetry as a type of genre. Personally, I was not a fan of poetry because it is confusing, annoying, and the vocabularies are challenging to understand. I remember in high school, when we approach poetry, my peers weren’t as enthusiastic, and they were sighing and rolling their eyes. After that, nobody in my class paid any attention to poems.

For the past two weeks, we have looked through many poems that are written by some extraordinary writers. We read some poems regarding the nature of war, 911, and others. These poems express the devastation and sadness towards a historical event. Based on the poems we have read in our seminar, I learned that the majority of the poems are presented in the first-person point of view to convey a message or emotional experience through the use of language. What makes poem so unique is its style and technique, which catches many people attention. Evidently, rhythm has always been a great feature in poetry, the repetition of similar sounding worlds occurs typically at the end of the lines. For example: “In Flanders fields, the poppies blow. Between the crosses, row on row,” Another distinguishing feature is meter; this gives the rhythm structure of a line. There are different types of the meter such as iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter. Instead of reading a plain poem, adding some tempo to it makes the reading livelier and it allows the reader to experience the mood of the story.

Nowadays, many young people perceive poetry as the old-fashioned, outdated or even an ancient way to convey a message. When you see how society evolves through modernization, social media has become the number one platform to express individuals’ feelings and experience of cultural and political issues. The modern slang has replaced traditional, sophisticated vocabularies, leaving poetry behind, as it may not be a recognizable genre to the teenagers. Poetry is a unique genre compare to graphic narratives or novels. Poetry has short verses with various sophisticated words, which requires an effortful of imagination and understanding. Whereas graphic narratives and novels assist readers based on visual images and detailed explanation of experience or scene. Personally, I think poetry can be a form of music. You can present through lyrical approach, rhythm structure, and rhythm. Music can also be a source of expressing feelings and experience. The features involved in music are quite equivalent to poetry.

In my opinion, I believe scholars and educators should promote the art of poetry to the public and education, such as poetry festival. Therefore, the young audience would learn the value and culture of poetry, and how poetry is a new genre of perceiving knowledge and an expression platform.

Welcome back! Hope you all had a great winter break. This week’s blog, we were asked to visit the Amazonia exhibit at the Museum of Anthropology, to help us prepare and meet the exhibit’s curator, Nuno Porto, on the 19^th of January. I am looking forward to the visit and learn more about the indigenous culture and lifestyle.

On 16th of January, my friend from Hong Kong and I entered the Museum together. As he had a limited of traveling budget, I left him behind. The first object I saw was the giant totem poles located on the left side of the aisle. They were well craved by the indigenous people to represent and commemorate ancestry, history, and people. There are old pictures and descriptions displayed on the outside of the exhibit to describe the historical and cultural context of a tribe’s culture and the meaning to these people. Often, the colors and the patterns of a symbol show the prestige and wealth of the indigenous people.

At the Amazonia exhibition, many survival tools are either displayed in a container or a restricted area to prevent visitors making physical contact with the exhibits. Many exciting exhibits allowed me to learn more about their society. For me, the most eye-catching was the darts and spears. Both serve as the vital survival tools for the indigenous people; those were the “weapons” to them. Hunting was a big part of the contribution for attacking animals for their meat and skin/fur, or other intruders. Another famous traditional exhibit was the hammock, the color of the patterns was designed vividly, drawing a significant impression on it. With its flexible texture, the hammock allows itself to stretch from tree to tree, serving as a pleasurable item. Indeed, these tools represent the basic needs of the indigenous people (Amazonian).

The visit of Amazonia brings up the issue of deforestation in Amazon Tropical Rainforest, as personally, I sincerely feel attached to it. In high school geography class, we often tackled the problem of disrupting the lives of the indigenous people. Large corporations often over-exploits forest areas for logging, open lands for agriculture and infrastructure. More importantly, deforestation relocates and affects the vast majority of the indigenous people, which in many ways would disrupt their lifestyle. Also, deforestation may disturb the inhabitants of rare species, which it potentially contributes to medical remedies or other scientific research. The bonding and connection amongst the indigenous people, natural resources and species are essential to functionalize their society.

In conclusion, this valuable visit allows me to open my eyes and see the world in a more profound understanding. It is fascinating to learn the indigenous culture and lifestyle through observing different survival essential tools to meet their needs. The theme of survival and cultural context has definitely been a worthwhile lesson for me.

Welcome back to another blog! Last Tuesday, our ASTU class visited Irving K Barber Learning Center, RBSC (Rare Books and Special Collections) at UBC. This is the place where some of the rare books and special drafts are collected. Since we are reading and learning about Obasan by Joy Kogawa, it is a great way to understand the origin of the idea behind it.

Let me talk about my experience in the RBSC! When I arrived, students are required to get a locker key to put our bags. I walked into the discussion room when my coat on and the librarian, Veronica kindly told me to hang it outside, then I knew this place is extremely stringent, they even took my pen away! In the room, everyone sat in pairs work together for this period, and I am in a group with Georgia. Veronica talked about the rules in RBSC. For example, we have to wear “Michael Jackson’s” gloves whenever we handle a rare book. Therefore, I have to be extra cautious to handle the materials.

Each group has a folder of materials in front of us. The one Georgia and I got was very interesting. We had a sheet of paper that listed a number of suggested titles before Kogawa came up with Obasan, such as “Read the Forest Braille”, “If I must remember” etc. I believe choosing the right title is very important to every author because a good title achieves an establishment of a point-of-view and to be discovered more than contrived, with deep underlying meaning. The title “Obasan” is very eye-catching, as the majority of the audience would have thought the plot was surrounding the biography of Obasan. Instead, Obasan is a theme of the story – the benefit of silence. I was amused to understand that choosing a title could have gone either way, but a single-word title gives a huge impression and curiosity about the book, which I assume the reason why it becomes one of the best selling books! Another piece of paper we obtained was the summary and setting of each chapter, and it is hand-written by Kogawa. According to the original draft, chapter 2 is a Naomi’s dream, it turns out the final draft is about her career as a teacher in Alberta. I never realized being an author would be that difficult in terms of putting a massive effort into planning for years!

In general, I think RBSC is a fantastic place to explore some of the rare books. Interestingly, you can find the originality and inspiration of some of the drafts and materials, giving deeper insight into the author’s thoughts. Despite the hard work of writing an exceptional book, Kogawa also visited every printing press and found one that was willing to publish her work. Her perseverance has earned her a great deal of respect.

Hello Readers,

Welcome back to another blog! Last week in ASTU 100A, we read a comic book called “Persepolis – The Story of a Childhood”, written by Marjane Satrapi. This graphic narrative portrays her childhood during the Islamic Revolution in Iran. In my high school, we read a similar study from Khaled Hosseini’s novel – “The Kite Runner”. Both works are demonstrated through different genre with a similar historical context, but how do the writers convey their traumas to the public? War and deaths were on the line. Revolutions and wars are the major historical timeline in the Middle East, which triggers the memory of many. As for Satrapi and Hosseini, that is their denotation of trauma.

At first glance without taking out the plastic wrap, I didn’t know “Persepolis” was a comic book until I flipped to the first chapter – The Veil. This brings me back to my high school where my English teacher taught us how to analysis “Naruto” from a literature perspective. I enjoy how visual imagines and sound effects are depicted as it allows the readers to experience what is happening and what the characters are thinking. The color of black and white is very important because it often reflects the story’s atmosphere. For example: At one panel, the white color of the playground implies the freedom to the children. On the other hand, the windows and the veil are illustrated as black, which indicates Satrapi’s trauma and dark memory about her childhood. At another panel, “Whack, Whack” is demonstrated as an act of hitting their chest to show their respect and devotion to the new regime. The sound effects provide a sense of hearing to the readers, by visualizing a strong patriotic activity and painfulness to the chest (Probably leaving a big red mark!). I believe the style of comic provides senses to the readers, as it creates imagination to the individuals and it helps them to understand the situation in a more perceivable way.

Since “The Kite Runner” is a novel, it does not display any visual images in the book. Imagination is hard when your vocabularies are limited; instead, many readers like myself, have to rely on the movie version to support my understanding and a general idea about Islamic Revolution and invasion. Despite “The Kite Runner” mainly talks about Amir (Protagonist) searches for his redemption from betraying his best friend, Hassan. Islamic Revolution and invasion from the Soviet Union alter his relationship with his father, Baba, and Hassan. These historical events change the tide of Amir’s life and personal thoughts. Symbolism is a major feature in the novel; repetitive keywords are often emphasized to convey the theme and trauma. From my memory, “Kite Fighting” serves as a double entendre; many readers would think it is a traditional outdoor activity. However for Amir, “Kite Fighting” means freedom in Afghanistan but also a sign of betrayal to Hassan. Quotes in the novel are another important feature; it shows the significance of a plot towards the theme and audience reaction. Sometimes quotes can be powerful and meaningful and therefore people will remember it. Amir’s father once said “Tell him I’ll take a thousand of his bullets before I let this indecency take place,” he insists to let a Russian soldier shoots him first before raping one of the women in the truck. With the constant “T” sound, you may notice the alliteration used by Hosseini, which emphasizes the bravery of Baba, despite sacrificing himself for the woman. Thus, these features offer the readers some insight into the historical context through detailed explanation and repetitive wordings in a novel.

In conclusion, both genres show their own unique features to convey the historical context; especially when the readers have never experienced it before. Graphic narratives provide visual images and sound effects. Novels provide detail narratives with the use of diction. I think Marjane Satrapi did an amazing job of interpreting her memory through tiers of simple illustration and coloring. Also, with my experience of the novel – “The Kite Runner”, Hosseini depicted Amir’s personal struggle really well by building relationships and, cultural and historical events to his childhood life. On the side notes, I would definitely recommend “The Kite Runner” to you all! This book is an emotional rollercoaster and very enjoyable to read. Go check that out!

Hello Readers!

Welcome to my first ever blog! Last week in a joint lecture in the CAP program, we watched a documentary called “A degree of justice”. This is a part of our learning experience towards the sociological imagination whereas a student; we have to consider the interconnections between social history and individual biography and how the memory of individuals evolves into a key historical event. The documentary talks about the Japanese Canadian UBC students of 1942 who were cut out of school by the authorities during World War 2. Six former students share their touching stories about their lives in UBC and the separation of family and community.

Personally, I think Director Alejandro Yoshizawa did an amazing job of tracing the former Japanese Canadian UBC students for sharing a lot of great stories. I enjoy how the documentary is so organized in terms of editing. For example: when describing a corresponding scene, they will put the guests together to make a collaborative perspective and different experiences. The style of documentary allows us – the students to visualize the expression of the guests. Fears, tears and puzzled could all be seen on the faces. The close-up shot to the guests allows us to feel a physical presence by their side through emotion and language. Their experiences reflect the past social institution and unfair policy towards Japanese Canadian community.

While witnessing their experiences, I felt angry because of how the local authorities treated them as enemies because of the war. Innocent Japanese Communities and people were being questioned, and some of the fathers had been taken away for “investigation”. The members of the broken family involved in a traumatic experience, which it eventually stores as a memory to themselves. However, when the shared memory and experience occur to the people in the same community, this becomes a public institution. The public may arouse and criticize the past authorities, and to ensure this social institution will never happen again today, tomorrow and in the future.

As I was taught in the first week of school was memoir VS historical. Now I can clearly see the difference after watching the documentary. The guests provided their personal experience and their own subjective comments on the incident. It seems realistic and trustworthy because it comes from the witnesses. This is their MEMORY. When it comes to “historical”, it becomes a solidity public event as many witnesses were involved and provided a shared information of the same theme. But here are the counter-arguments, what if the guests weren’t telling the truth or provided information here and there? Would the whole story and perspectives of the documentary receive a different review? Would some of the social institutions be different to in our current society? Both sides of memoir and historical could provide biased judgment and statements, counterclaim might take place.

Nonetheless, after watching the documentary, I feel appreciative for today, seeing a lot of students from all over the world. Also, I am surprised how social relationships have changed so quickly for the past 70 years. Races, religion, sexual orientation and other social institutions are respected. It also teaches the societies a valuable lesson; you treat people of who they are, regardless of their history and ethnicity while still acknowledging it. Peace and love are bonded together, providing an enjoyable learning experience!

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