Reading Notes W2: Behn, Part B

Aphra Behn, Oroonoko, (225-246)

• Caesar's owner, Trefry loved to talk about love (225)
• Trefry speaks about a slave girl who he can't bring himself to use force against because her modesty and weeping are too tender to him (225)
• Trefry asks Caesar to go by the cottage of the "fair slave" girl he mentioned, but insisted that he should not approach or else he would fall in love instantly. (225)
• Caesar assured Trefry that he couldn't fall in love with her, and he thought if his heart was perfidious to love so soon after Imoinda then he should have his heart removed. (225)
• The fair slave, Clemene, turned out to be Imoinda (226)
• Oroonoko and Imoinda wanted nothing more than each other (226)
• The narrator said that they couldn't admire Clemene enough upon learning she's actually Imoinda (227).
• Caesar and Clemene got married and had a child (227).
• Caesar wanted liberty for him and his wife, and Trefry promised it would happen eventually. He claims they're just waiting for the governor. Caesar began to have doubts and feared that Treafry wanted to delay the process as long as possible to keep Caesar's child as a slave (227).
• The English had disputes with the Indians which created fear of going to Indian Towns (232).
• Naked Indians brought the narrator, Caesar, and the rest of the group to their houses and fed them food. (233)
• Caesar learned so much about what went on between the Indians and the English that there was no more fear (235).
• Caesar speaks like a captain or king when questioning why they should be slaves (236)
• It was agreed that they would seize a ship and try to fight for their freedom, since death would at least be more brave than a life of slavery (237)
• The governor pretended to be a friend to Caesar, but was now the only violent man against him (238)
• Trefry tagged along as a mediator (238).
• They fought brutally and the English would cry out "yield, yield; and leave Caesar to their Revenge" (238).
• Imoinda wielded a bow with a quiver full of poisoned arrows (238).
• Caesar said there is no faith in white men; honest men can't live among them (239)
• Caesar and Tuscan's actions showed fatal proof how far they would go (239)
• Caesar was whipped and showed little to no reaction. He believed the governor was faithless (240).
• The governor almost died of a wound from the poisoned arrow (240)
• The council concluded that Caesar should be hanged to serve as an example for all slaves (241)
• Trefry told Byam his command did not extend to his lord's plantation (241)
• Caesar kills Imoinda after thinking that she would be vulnerable after he gets his revenge and would end up being captured, violated, and then killed. He cried, she smiled, and he killed her. (242-3)
• He grieved at her side for two days before resolving to finish his revenge (243)
• Caesar tells everyone they can leave and tell the faithless governor that is arm is too feeble to to obey his heart and follow through with killing him (244)
• Caesar almost died but received medical care to keep him alive despite his wound (245)
• Banister was going to tie up Caesar but Caesar said he would remain still. He said "if you whip me, be sure to tie me fast." They threw him into a fire and cut him into pieces

Sor Juana Ines De La Cruz, De La Cruz Poems, (225-246)

Poem 145: The poem made me feel like it was trying to address a collective approval of art. As if to say we should stop believing a renowned piece of art is great simply because it's in a gallery and someone tells us that it is great. Not everything ages indefinitely through time, lasting forever. Some pieces of art lose their beauty over time and become insignificant, maintaining their admiration simply by people being told it was great.

Poem 164: The speaker of the poem has come to the realization that their words and feelings aren't getting across nor persuading their lover. They feel like their lover would only understand them if they could magically look straight into their heart. Someone must have told the speaker's lover that they were being unfaithful or have done something wrong. The speaker wants their lover to know that no matter what they here, it isn't true. They hope that their past experiences together can give their lover faith that they really wouldn't have done anything to hurt them.

Poem 92: The speaker is claiming that men don't make sense in what they expect of women. If a woman is difficult to get with, they're criticized, but if they change their mind and give you a chance, they're criticized for changing their minds easily and not standing by their own decisions. If a woman treats their man badly the man will complain, but if they treat their man well they will be mocked. When a man causes a woman to sin as desired, they'll want them to be angelic afterwards. Once the woman is with a man, there is this expectancy that they must be very reserved and modest whereas the man can do whatever he pleases. A double standard is pointed out that it's unacceptable for a woman to sell her body for money, yet it's okay for a man to pay for that same woman's services. Men are terrible since they want a woman to change while pursuing them, yet they want them to revert back as soon as they're with the woman.

Reading Notes W2: Behn, Part A

• Aphra Behn was the first professional woman writer in England. Another English writer, Virginia Woolf, said that Aphra Behn gave women "the right to speak their minds" (198)

• Oroonoko is a novella by Aphra Behn about a prince named Oroonoko. The novella tantalizes readers with the fiction of a narrator who witnesses much of Oroonoko's adventure. The novella makes a case against slavery (prior to abolitionism) while presenting the prince as a victim of enslavement.
• Little known about Behn's early life; she created a fictional genealogy for herself which made things even more confusing.
• She married a German merchant named Johannes Behn
• Restoration to the English throne of Charles II (Theater enthusiast) allowed for the period called "the Restoration" where theatrical innovation and creativity occurred.

              Aphra Behn, Oroonoko, (198-224)

• Last part of his adventures took place in a Colony in America named Surinam in the West-Indies (201)
• Coramantien, also called "a Country of Blacks" was an English fort and slave trading station in West Africa (203)
• Prince Oroonoko was called a Moor, which was used in the period to refer to Muslims or dark-skinned peoples (204)
• Oroonoko became general when the general he fought beside was killed with an arrow to the eye (204)
• Narrator claims to have been a witness to many of Oroonoko's "mighty actions" and assures us readers that "the most illustrious courts" couldn't have produced a "braver man" (204)
• Oroonoko speaks both French and English (204)
• Oroonoko had very ebony skin, eyes and teeth white like snow (205)
• Imoinda is the daughter of his foster father, the dead general
• Imoinda told the king things wont work because she was another's and that would mean he would be committing a great sin (208).
• Imoinda tried to calm him before telling who it was. He said whoever it is she would name should die (208).
• He led her into the bath anyways (208).
• When Oroonoko tried to visit Imoinda and found she wasn't there, he fell into madness (208).
• Oroonoko believed it was just and lawful as her husband to retrieve her from the Palace of the King's women (209).
• Imoinda could only think of Oroonoko as she was forced to do as asked by the King
• Onahal agreed to be a messenger for Oroonoko, to let her know what he said (211).
• Aboan informed Oroonoko how effective Onahal was in aiding Oroonoko's love with Imoinda (212)
• Onahal singled out Aboan and confessed her passion for him and said she would be ready for him at midnight (213).
• Imoinda fell from her carpet into Oroonoko's arms and was then sent to her apartment and the King told Oroonoko if he were to be found in the court one more time, he would be killed for disobedience (213).
• Onahal became worried since Oroonoko's stay was crucial in order for her to be with Aboan (213)
• The king wanted spies to keep an eye on Oroonoko (214)
• Onahal led Oroonoko to Imoinda where they got to spend alone time together. Imoinda's virgin honor was still intact. (214)
• Armed men sent by the king tried to barge in, but Oroonoko guarded the door with an ax and warned them to leave unless they wish to die. They advise Oroonoko to leave for his own safety (214-5)
• Imoinda told the king Oroonoko broke in to her apartment. The king decided to sell her and Onahal as slaves instead of killing them. (215).
• Oroonoko tells the messenger there is no account of revenge to be adjusted and that Oroonoko would hope to die first (217).
• Oroonoko was excited to be on a ship for the first time (219).
• Oroonoko was betrayed and locked up on the ship, to be sold as a slave (220)
• Prince Oroonoko felt a lot of grief and kept thinking about Imoinda and "that fatal night" (222).
• Narrator decides to refer to Oroonoko as "Caesar" going forward since that's how we was known in "our Western World" as his slave name (224).

Time Strategies - What to do?

Originally, I thought I was going to just find random spans of free time each day to finish work for this class. However, as it turns out, I have a two and a half hour window every Monday and Wednesday where I can work on assignments for this class. Seeing as how I'll be at LMC during those times with nothing better to do, it's the perfect opportunity to concentrate and get work done. I'll schedule the work depending on the due dates. Assignments with an earlier due date will be prioritized before others, and any work that I don't have time to finish at LMC can be done on Thursday when I don't have class or even the weekend if needed. If I find myself bored or extra motivated, I'll try to work ahead.

Mixed Feelings About the Growth Mindset

When watching the first video about Carol Dweck and the Growth Mindset, I initially agreed with everything she was saying. However, once I watched the second video, I became a bit skeptical. I think the idea of encouraging students to stop focusing on the "now" of whether or not they're meeting standards is a good thing, as she said. To have them focus on the "yet" and the progress they're making really does sound like something that would help student confidence as a whole. It was when Carol Dweck said "if something was easy, you already knew how to do it" and "we should have kids asking for harder work" that I began to have some slight doubts.

I feel like she knows, what she's talking about. I don't doubt that. But it seems a bit contradictory for her to propose the idea that all students are carrying a constant need of validation with them because of our current system, then to say that kids should ask for harder work. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like there's supposed to be some form of "goal" or "acceptance" by a certain point of progress. After a certain point of surpassing one's peers in a classroom setting, I feel there should be a sense of completion or fulfillment. A "you've done it!" or something. Not an "Ok. But do better now" expectancy. For me, if anything, that would just inflate my need for validation. After getting a bunch of A's on a report card I would want to know that I've met an acceptable goal, not feel like I'm still beside whoever else I've sped past.

The ideas proposed by Carol Dweck sounds great, sure. But I don't realistically see every student being able to conform into a certain dream mentality like she hopes for. I can believe that every student is capable of learning to accept that they've made a mistake and to be able to learn how to correct it and ultimately conquer whatever they're trying to learn. I don't however, believe that every student wants to aimlessly move forward without a goal in mind. Goals are a driving force. Depending on the student, the knowledge that the completion of one goal will only reward you with another goal to reach with no end in sight can be a bit draining. It's like playing a video game without a last level or final boss. To further this comparison, I'd say that the tutorial of this game would be determined by whatever point was "easy" and you "already knew how to do" as Carol Dweck said. That's fine to begin a student at a later point in the game than others. However, there needs to be some understanding of when the end of the game is. Otherwise I can see this becoming ridiculous if we keep pushing a first grader to the point thinking they have to learn calculus at their age.

To try to sum up my thoughts in a shorter way: The Growth Mindset is something we should indeed aim to achieve in schools everywhere, there just needs to be a reasonable goal somewhere along the line.

Impressions - Technology Available

The idea of blogging here on Blogger for the class didn't sound appealing at first, but it basically serves the same purpose as Canvas while allowing us to customize our blogs with our own designs. So I guess that's cool; it beats Canvas anyways. As for website publishing, that doesn't sound too hard since it's through Google. Initially I thought we were going to have to use HTML, which wouldn't have been too difficult either, but Google tends to make all of their services easy to operate.

Bookmarking is something I might as well start doing for this class. I typically only bookmark websites that I know I'll forget after a few minutes, but with this class I just keep finding the link to the class wiki through Canvas. Bookmarking would cut out the extra step of logging into Canvas. Text-to-speech readers give me mixed feelings. On one hand, they sound super convenient since it means I can relax my eyes and just listen to the words on the page. On the other hand, the monotonous voices of things like Siri and Microsoft Sam put me to sleep. I'll keep the idea in the back of my mind, but I doubt I'll realistically use any text-to-speech readers.

The Course Announcements Blog sounds really helpful. I always appreciate having reminders about what's due or what's coming up. The Center for Academic Support is something I have never bothered with. English is my strongest subject since I plan on majoring in Creative Writing, so I've never felt the need to ask for help from there regarding any reading or writing assignments. The LMC library is something I try to avoid. It's not because it's bad or anything like that. It's efficient. It's just that I dislike the idea of using library research databases. The nature of these databases are always restrictive as to what you can realistically expect to find. It's also somewhat annoying to have to constantly log back into the database when it inevitably logs you out after 5 minutes while you're still looking for other articles to use in whatever research paper you're working on. I'd much rather stick to using Google if possible, but the LMC library at least gets the job done if I'm forced to use it.

Google Docs makes me wonder why my family has bothered paying for Microsoft Word as long as they have. Google docs is a lot less tedious than Microsoft Word. It's free and doesn't bother you about product keys. It also lets you access all of your documents without the need for a flash drive, so long as you can remember your login info of course.

A Brief Introduction to Someone Who Likes the Color Green

Hi, my name's Sabian Cuevas. I go by my plain and simple first name, Sabian, because I'm always the only "Sabian" in the room and haven't ever had a desire to go by anything else as a result. A few people call me "Sabey" but that's beside the point. My parents were originally going to name me "Damian" but changed their mind because they were naming my twin brother "Sebastian" and wanted something that would sound nice when paired up with his name. "Sabian" was what they came up with, using "Damian" as inspiration for the name but making sure the name started with the letter S. They didn't even realize that someone else already beat them to the idea.

My favorite color is green for no particular reason. It used to be red when I was younger. One day in third grade I randomly realized I like green more. In High School I started picking out more green-colored clothes and I had a green binder, green mechanical pencil, green notebook, etc. My friends noticed and asked me why I was "obsessed" with the color, to which I had no real response other than "I dunno." My Spanish teacher when I was a sophomore at high school told me the color green looked good on me. My friends probably think she contributed to my "problem." Green has become somewhat iconic on me in the eyes of my friends and family to the point where it's practically a meme or a joke that doesn't end. A lot of people tell me that green is an ugly color. Their opinion clearly hasn't changed my opinion. Day one of my speech class at LMC, I spent one third of my introduction speech on the color green similar to what I'm doing now and the class didn't forget my favorite color for the entire semester.

I enjoy writing. Creative writing, just to be clear. As I've learned from my two creative writing courses with Professor Brown at LMC, creative nonfiction exists. I don't particularly enjoy it. I enjoy writing fiction and poetry. I'm currently writing a novel, though at an extremely slow pace to where I might as well consider it as being on hiatus. When sharing a few chapters in Professor Brown's intermediate creative writing class during one of our workshops, everyone seemed to like it. I can't be sure if they genuinely thought it was interesting or if they were just trying to be friendly, but I'll hope for the former. Poems are easier for me to write as opposed to continuing my novel since there's no sense of continuity between poems. Each of them are standalone pieces that I can do at any moment given the right inspiration.

Video games take up too much of my free time. I play all kinds of different video games too. Personally, I don't care too much for first person shooters, but I don't necessarily dislike them. I don't really have a favorite video game genre, but I really love the Kingdom Hearts series. I could talk about Kingdom Hearts for hours due to how overly complex the series is, and I've played the entire series about three times.

My long-term dream goal would be to have a successful video game series made after my novel. It would be the coolest thing ever to me to see the characters I've created go through their story in a video game format and have gamers everywhere enjoy my series. My slightly more realistic dream goal would be to have a career in the video game industry writing the scripts for video games even if it's not about my novel or my characters. My most practical dream is to simply graduate from San Francisco State University and become a creative writing teacher.

My Favorite Place

I'd say that I don't necessarily have a favorite place since I tend to not appreciate whatever setting I'm in until someone points out that I should appreciate some form of beauty around me. However, if I had to pick somewhere as being my favorite place, I'd have to say San Francisco because of places such as Pier 39. From what I can tell based on the things I've read, San Francisco is somewhat a nightmarish place to live in because of the costs and the traffic. I've only ever been to SF for a week, but it was fun and the weather was nice and cool for the most part. I also plan on transferring to San Francisco State University this year because of the creative writing courses they offer. So I guess I'm glad I enjoy the environment in SF seeing as how I'll be spending a lot of time there.

Test Post

This is the best test.