A Lucky Lily

This semester we were tasked with maintaining a blog filled with posts based on things we discussed in class. My blog has been the place where I reflect on the readings from class and what I believe the author meant. I don't think of myself as much of a writer, so I loved the fact that the requirements of the blog were flexible, and I was able to make mine as more of a place where I post my initial thoughts. My posts range from thoughts on memories to discussing connections between separate texts. Now that I think back on my blog I realized that since I wrote my posts as more of a diary and styled it as free writing I didn’t really provide context for my audience. If I had more time I would go back and do a better job of explaining what I was discussing and thinking and how I got to that idea.   My first blog post described a place that was important to me, which was my great-grandparents house. I discussed how it wasn’t simply the place that meant so much to me, but it was...

Emotions are meant to be felt.

In both Power and Translations by Brian Friel the question of cultural identity is asked. In Translations, the character Owen grapples with his Irish identity while he is changing the names of his town to English while working for the British. Owen eventually decides to remain true to his Irish identity and quits working for the British by lying to the British officals and telling them his brother is "at a wake" (82). Similarly, in Power Omishto seems to be straddling both the modern American world and her Native American heritage and when her loyalties are questioned she must decide what culture she wants to embrace. Omishto is influenced by her Aunt Ama and fathers memory of her Native American culture. Yet, her mother pushes her to accept the Westernized ways and leave the tribe life. Although, Omishto does not live on the reservation she is still very much in tune with nature in her own way as well as her heritage being something she has left from her father. From the ch...

"Servants of the Map" and the Humans of New York Facebook post both seem to be saying the same thing. That obstacles can appear in our path and its up to us to climb the mountain to overcome the obstacle. Reading both stories reminds me of the Miley Cyrus song "Climb." "Servants of the Map" discusses how climbing a mountain and going on this type of adventure can cause someone's identity to shift and them to change as a result. While the HONY post discusses how even though this person had trained for so long there were still things he could not foresee or prepare for. These stories are true to everyday life. We can go through life thinking we are prepared but still there are things that can surprise us. These events and obstacles help shape us into who we are. We are what we've been through and survived and these stories show that.