Gayness, Multicultural Education, and Community by Dennis Carlson

Premise:

• Gay, Lesbians, homosexual, queer (Others)
• Not being viewed the same way as others
• AIDS being disease given by homosexuals
• Not fitting in
• Feeling ashamed to stand up for yourself
• Escape from a normalizing community

Author's Argument:

Carlson argues that he is a gay white male who comes from a working-class background and that he is not ashamed of being gay. Carlson doesn't care about anyone else he tries to make himself as unique as possible.

Evidence

1. "I am not merely a gay person, but rather a gay, white, male with a particular working-class background and middle-class status occupation."
2. "As an individual, my identity is multifaceted and this means that i am freer to "make myself" as a unique subjectivity."
3. " I am inextricably involved in multiple cultural struggles rather than merely one."

Questions/Comments/Point to Share

I thought that this reading was a little difficult in understanding some point that Carlson were trying to make. But I think I got the gist of it, what he was trying to say is that the community makes homosexuals different even though they are not. We live in a superficial world were it's not okay to be different than everyone else. I also think that Carlson is happy being a gay white male and he could care less if anyone cares. We need to treat others as we would like others to treat us.

This relates to the other text that we read because the other text talks about silencing people and it might not be the same way but people of power are silencing people who are not like them and I find this unfair. People who are different should not stay quiet they should stand up for what they believe in.

Aria by Richard Rodriguez

Premise:

• Parents conversing with their children in their primary language
• Children feeling uncomfortable in their classroom (in School)
• Difference between public and private languages
• Learning a new language in the home
• Adults learning a brand new language for the benefit of their children
• Silence between father and children
• Ashamed of primary language
• Forgetting or losing their primary language
• Remembering their primary language

Author's Argument:

Rodriguez argues that just because a new language needs to be learned for education and survival purposes that doesn't mean that you need to forget the first language that you learned (private language). While he had learned Spanish as his first language, Rodriguez needed to learn English in order to do well in school and to survive in the real world. While learning English the family decided to also learn English for the benefit of their children. When the family was learning English Rodriguez was loosing ties to hie father because would not speak English he would just stay silent.

Evidence:

1. "Supporters of bilingual education today imply that students like me miss a great deal by not being taught in their family's language. What they seem not to recognize is that, as a socially disadvantage child, I considered Spanish to be a private language."
2. "Because I wrongly imagined that English was intrinsically a public language and Spanish an intrinsically a private one, I easily noted the difference between classroom language and the language of home."
3. "The silence at home, however was finally more than literal silence. Fewer words passed between parent and child, but more profound was the silence that resulted from my inattention to sounds."

Questions/Comments/Points to Share

What I mad of this is that Richard Rodriguez was taught Spanish as his first language and when he went to school he didn't know any English. His teacher told his parents that he should learn English and that they should speak it in the homes. While his parents were learning English for their children a bond between him and his father was breaking. Now he was only speaking English he was forgetting about his roots, his first language Spanish. Then after a period of time some one came up to him speaking in Spanish and he remembered how it felt to speak that language. This article was east to read I enjoyed it very much I also like how he told the story I made me feel like this was happening to me. What I wanted to know was the bond between him and his father recovered did he continue to speak hie native language of Spanish?

Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace After I read Amazing Grace by Jonathan Kozol , I felt ashamed about what was going on in New York. When I was reading this article it informed me about these harsh conditions that people of minority were living in. Kozol tells us that in Mott Haven there are many cocaine addicts who sells cocaine there. He also mentions that many children who live in Mott Haven knows someone who is a crack addict which I find that really sad. He also tells us that people murder other people for no reason, this place is unsafe for families and young children. Young children can't even enjoy their childhood because they have to worry about their sick family or even worry about getting killed by just simply sitting outside. Another point that Kozol talks about that upsets me is that people live in boared up houses for their safety and that in the summer it gets very hot in the houses and people have two choices they can either suffer inside the house or they can go outside putting themselves in danger and in the winter they have no heat they have to keep themselves warm by using heating blankets. After I finished this article I felt so bad for these people they are good people who are misfortunate, I wish something can be done for them.

Hey

Hey I'm Alessia and pretty soon I will be putting more stuff on this blog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!