Author Archives: Mckaylee Catcher

“The Circular List”

Lately in ASTU we have gone through various poems and poets that have highlighted 9/11 and other traumas around the world. As well, the poetry book “This Connection of Everyone with Lungs” by Juliana Spahr has given us words that invoke thinking about how we can all relate to events that we aren’t directly associated with; that we all could have been that person killed in Palestine, yet we have the privilege of being safe and asleep in our beds at night. Throughout her poems, she allows us to read as if we are in both situations, and while her personal opinion isn’t affecting us, through her words we are able to understand why she is saying what she is:

“We wake up in the night with just each others, and admit that even while we believe that we want to believe that we all live in one bed of the earth’s atmosphere, our bed is just our bed and no one else’s and we can’t figure out how to stop it from being that way.” (Spahr, 30)

She guides us to understand our humanity, and how the way we understand the world isn’t always what it actually is or how it should be or what we want it to be. The connection that we all have is the powerlessness of not being able to control others and the negativity in the world, when in fact we all are interdependent on each other, and in a way we are all responsible for what happens to each other. The pluralization that Spahr uses with “each others,” “beloveds,” “yous” and “yours” corresponds with her ability to make us think how “embedded deep in our cells is ourselves and everyone else,” (Spahr, 31) and how effecting this knowledge should be in how we live our everyday lives.

This ability that she carries through her poetry allows for us to see the importance of such writings and how thought provoking the truth she brings is: “Beloveds, I keep trying to speak of thoughts of loving but all I speak about is acts of war and acts of war and acts of war,” (Spahr, 28) which says a lot about the way the world is today and how much we all want to love, and yet there is so much wrong occurring.

“Perhaps it isn’t the lovers in our beds that matter, perhaps it is the earth.” (Spahr, 34), which is exactly what we all need to think about more often.

-Mckaylee Catcher

Works Cited:

Spahr, Juliana. This Connection of Everyone with Lungs: Poems. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005. Print.

Trauma Transfer in Canada

Since the beginning of this term in our ASTU class we’ve been discussing the War on Terror and it’s varying components. Reading “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” by John Foer we delved into the concept of trauma transfer brought up by the scholar Saal in her essay analyzing the novel. With this ongoing conversation we’ve built upon the thoughts of how western society has been effected by 9/11 and the consequences of privilege in such devastating events; how this event has impacted North America in such a large way when in fact things like this occur on with frequency across the globe. The fact that this terrorist attack occurred on American land changed many aspects of our society, from security in airports, the countries views of Islamophobia, and how the larger society interacts with people who look a certain way.

However, for myself growing up I wasn’t largely impacted by these events in finding my perspective of the world, since the culture and people I grew up with had different issues.

Hearing my classmates tales of family members being a part of the military, being so closely effected by 9/11 in different ways, seeing news stories of the attacks as children in various parts of the world, or attributing the war on terror to a certain look of people. With all of this discussion, I realized I had been completely oblivious for much of my life on these effects since my family was effected by a different trauma: the Canadian and Aboriginal peoples relationship.

For myself, I was effected by the racism of non-aboriginal people towards my family and I, and so to some extent I can sympathize with having people generalize the you into the one, as is the case with Muslim people as well. As we’ve talked about, no trauma can or should be compared. However, depending on our surroundings we are effected by the transfer of trauma from of those around us and their experiences dictate how we go through life and perceive other traumas.

-Mckaylee Catcher

Behind the Cover, Behind the Pages

When we first entered the conference room it was difficult to understand how all of the files laying on the desk revolved around one 250-page book, however as we started to look through the documents I began to understand. The few files in front of me were in reference to the newspaper articles that Obasan was mentioned in, while the ones beside those was a draft with comments from other scholars who helped Kogawa complete an amazing final draft. While I heard classmates across the room talk about the fan letters that had been sent to Kogawa about her book, just noting some of the impact that this piece of literature had created. After flipping through some of the files I still hadn’t realized the importance of them—until I realized that Joy Kogawa had, herself, read each one of these pieces of paper and while some may have held more importance to her than others, they were all important in the context of the creation of Obasan and all had shown the impact that it’s had for those who have read it.

With this field trip I was able to explore Kogawa as a person, and see some of the process of how she worked on her book and how much work went into it. I didn’t get a change to snap any photos of the artifacts however remembering how many folders there were and how there was even more of them it would be interesting to go back and look through a few more folders (future blog post??). Overall, the experience was enlightening and gave even more meaning to Joy Kogawa’s work and how she truly added to Canada’s history and the cultural memory of Japanese Canadians and Canadians in general. Obasan was a well-put together book that contributed immensely to my understanding of the Japanese Internment camps.

Also, this interview with Joy Kogawa and how she talks about the Legacy of Obasan is miraculous:

-Mckaylee Catcher

Fear

Hi everyone,

In our ASTU class we have been assigned the book Obasan. This book by Joy Kogawa is the story of a woman named Naomi who, as a child, was labeled an enemy alien along with her family after the Pearl Harbor bombing by the Japanese. She was separated from her mother while her aunt, Obasan, assists her in surviving. Once Naomi becomes an adult who teaches in a small town, and after the passing of her Uncle, she is able to comprehend her past of adversity and accept the role that her Obasan played.

The Japanese immigrants, many of whom had established lives, were removed from their homes and had their freedom taken away after 1942; this occurred until April 1, 1949 (CBC, Japanese Internment, 2001). Knowing this while reading made me think about the History of Canada, and it made me question how such things could happen. And then the answer of fear came to mind. As a society we fear the different, we generalize and don’t account for every individual and what their vast differences could be from someone else who looks ‘like them’; we only see what we want to see.

In the case of the Japanese internment camps, this was a very unfortunate generalization. Canada and the government of that time believed that there was a problem of this group of people, just as the Nazi’s believed of the Jewish people. The injustice that was shown towards Japanese decedents whose life was in Canada was truly not right. In the story of Obasan, we see that one can accept the past and learn to live with what’s been done to them, but the tragedy is that not everyone has that capability. With this I ask myself if we are able to accept fear in our lives, without letting it control us? Wasn’t the little girl of the novel fearful of her future? How did her Obasan help her? What about those who didn’t have someone to care for them during this time? What allows one persons fear to be greater than another’s? Why do we often acknowledge a fear, with another fear?

How do we let fear control us in today’s society?

Too many questions to ask, when no one truly has the answers.

-Mckaylee Catcher.

Works Cited:

CBC. (2001). Japanese Internment. Retrieved from www.cbc.ca/history/EPISCONTENTSE1EP14CH3PA3LE.html.

Humor in Writing History

Hello, users of the World Wide Web!

As we enter a new month today, it is easy to also feel like there is a new beginning, and for us here at UBC it is imperative that we are well on our way in our learning goals for the year. During our ASTU class we have continued to speak about the scholarly article by Shazhad, but we have also begun to discuss the comic narrative “Persepolis” by Marjane Satrapi. In this comic, the onset of the Iranian Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War is presented in a new and interesting way, with the coming of age tale coinciding with the gruesome events that Satrapi was exposed to. The images she creates gives us a better insight to what’s in her head, more easily displaying what she is trying to convey. Knowing this, I wanted to learn more about why she chose this technology to share her powerful story. In the hunt, I found this video:

In the beginning of the video she describes how we, who don’t know the Middle East first hand, often have a stereotype in our mind of people who are suffering, and how she wanted to share a different story of Iran in a more humorous way. To quote her: “laughing with someone is really understanding the spirit of [them.]” And with this idea in mind when reading the comic, the element of humor is evident. To share her tale in this way expands our understanding of these events and the reality of what it is like in Iran; that people live through what we see on the news and how these events have impacted each individual differently. In the comic, she shows her young self and her parents striving for ‘normal’ goals, such as getting that new poster or cassette tape, while others are in prison and being tortured for noticeably opposing the government. Satrapi broadened the History being written (or drawn) about Iran and the time period she grew up in, and she is able to enlighten a wide audience through her comprehendible work.

Seeing the impact that this comic narrative has had globally, it makes me think of the small steps we are taking to broaden our understanding of the entire world, allowing for a variety of voices to be heard. Authors such as Satrapi are changing our views of the world for the better, but people closer to home, such as Thomas King are making an impact as well by sharing the story and histories of Indigenous First Nations people of Canada and the United States. The book “The Inconvenient Indian” is a historical narrative that reflects on the histories that haven’t been told to the fullest, that have been remembered untruthfully, or that haven’t been presented from the perspective of an Indigenous person.

Like Satrapi, King often uses humor to bring forth an edge to the history we know, highlighting the key events of that took place in North America and challenging them. To quote King:

“History may well be a series of stories we tell about the past, but the stories are not just any stories. They’re not chosen by chance. By and large, the stories are about famous men and celebrated events. We throw in a couple of exceptional women every now and then, not out of any need to recognize female eminence, but out of embarrassment.”

With these two pieces of literature, I was able to develop my knowledge and I see the value of new beginnings through a sense of humor. The use of humor in these works shows the spirit of each author as an individual, and makes the topics they discuss more relatable and easier to integrate into our personal understanding of the world. These stories and truths have acknowledged that there is more to what we know, and that we should seek to expand the history we are aware of, since there wasn’t (and isn’t always) equal representation of these realities.

Thank you for reading, if you haven’t read these texts I highly recommend them!

-Mckaylee Catcher

History Should Always Be Plural

Since the beginning of my University career, a faint two and a half weeks ago, there have been several questions brought to my thoughts that I haven’t yet been able to answer. Things such as “What is a Global Citizen?” and “How am I ever going to find enough time in the day?” being the most common, although the former being the most relevant to academia. With this larger question in mind, our ASTU 100 class has discussed how literature can be instrumental in creating a Global Citizen. As well as how memory can influence literature and other technologies such as media in distinctive ways, therefore generating responsibilities to the various genres to initiate conversations and create new ideas to build upon. This responsibility is highlighted throughout our CAP program, with Sociology and Political Science, along with ASTU, bringing their own branches of ideas and theoretical framework that interconnect in different and vital ways. To me, being a Global Citizen incorporates and highlights the importance of finding these connections and building on them, to connect and create a world that is both beneficial and educational for each individual, as well as society.

My overall idea of what being a Global Citizen encompasses is turning the word History, into Histories. Looking for every perspective, in any given opportunity. Often times there is only one History heard; that of the loudest voice, the most heroic tale, or the least oppressed opinion, and with this being taught in our schools and being constantly portrayed by the media, it’s hard to view the world in any other way. In our daily lives it’s difficult to challenge the opinions and views of the majority (or the loudest), especially with the general basis of historical memories being tainted by mob rule, which is often full of inaccuracy or bias. The way we remember things and who remembers them creates History, but often times not everyone’s truth is portrayed. An example we discussed in class was the Iran War, and how George Bush Jr. created the image of Iran as being a part of the “Axis of Evil”(Bush, 2002). There are various other examples like this which have influenced and shaped our more recent Histories like the Iran War, let alone the History we know from hundreds and thousands of years ago in different genres of literature. Tying back to being a Global Citizen, this limited opinion on such large factors of the world that we are shown through popular technologies doesn’t ever depict the whole story, and our responsibility as broad thinking individuals should be to investigate and know the full truths.

Histories should always be plural, since we all deserve the respect of being considered individuals. I’m excited to go through this year with this thought in mind; to take insight from my fellow scholars, as well as to learn about these diverse disciplines in their own light, to then bring everything together to create a horizon of potential while moving forward in the world.

A life of privilege should entail a life of responsibility.

-MC Global Citizen

Works Cited:

George Bush Jr. (2002), “The President’s State of Union Address”