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Aimee Nezhukmatahil recounts her experience as a third grader in “The witching hour”. The author is asked to draw an endangered species for a class art competition. Aimee decides to draw the Aswang, an urban legend in Philippine culture. When her teacher asks her what her endangered species in, Aimee beings to tell the stories she grew up hearing about the “creature of fantastic evil.” Mrs.Johnson grew upset and tore up the drawing, ordering Aimee to draw a “real” animal and to “never speak those lies ever again”. Aimee subjected and drew a prize winning bald eagle. To Aimee, the Aswang was not some mythical creature, it was real. I found The witching hour and Dreads to be very connected by culture appreciation. Walker admits in the beginning of her essay that she too used to drench her hair in relaxer to get it to lay flat and get rid of the kink. After her exposure to dreadlocks, Walker began to appreciate the texture of her natural hair. Both these essay’s show how society molds us into what is “acceptable” Whether it be what you draw or wearing your hair straight. In the end, both authors prevailed and accepted who they were and where they came from. Aimee drew several pictures of the Aswang with the Markers her teacher gave her for winning the competition and Walker wore her dreads.
ReplyDelete- Arianna Martinez
All of the selections were very interesting but I had trouble finding out the point for each one.
ReplyDeleteIn "The Witching Hour" I looked up what an 'Aswan' is and found out it was an evil spirit like a vampire or witch. I did not expect it to be so dark, especially since the author was in third grade. While reading I kept forgetting that the author was a girl, I guess I would find it more normal for it to happen to a little boy instead. It was interesting how everything in her life was rushed except whenever her mom was telling the stories, I wonder what that means.
"Late July, 4:40 a.m." was kind of hard for me to get into in the beginning. Im still not entirely sure what this story is supposed to be portraying. What I got out of it was that the roads have so many opportunities and possibilities if you just keep on trying and not stopping for anything or anyone.
When I saw the title "Dreads" I don't know why but I didn't expect for it to e about dreadlocks. I thought it was going to be about something being dreaded on. I found it kind of beautiful reading about how the dreads made the author feel. I interpreted that it was about not following the status quo and embracing who you are and not letting the world and society dictate who you are or become.
Rebecca Muniz
After having read all three essays I can say that each one was less unique than the last. The first one, “The Witching Hour” was my favorite. We follow our narrator recounting events from her 3rd grade year where she is shunned for drawing a unique creature. Throughout this entire essay you can really feel with what the author is feeling. There are parts in this essay that are so emotional that it brings a tear to your eye. I really enjoyed it a lot, it’s something that uses pathos effectively and it completely works. Late July 4:40 a.m. was one that I didn’t like it was just a truck driver talking about driving on the open road, and all the things he saw, it is an excellent example of descriptive language but beyond that I was not a huge fan. In Dreads the author talks about the importance of dreadlocks, it is a powerful essay in terms of identity. In this essay we take the author’s hair and we use it as the basis of an entire essay, it is easy to overlook this piece but I really leaked hearing someone’s perspectives on their own identifying features.- Jesús Iván González
ReplyDeleteWhen you’re small you have imaginary friends and when you’re older you have imaginary enemies. And I think that’s the case for the author of The witching hour. The essay felt overdramatized especially in the part of the story when the teacher rips her drawing and tells her “don’t repeat these lies ever again.” It felt like she was trying to victimize herself, so she could have something to overcome. But anyways The idea of a teacher being mean to s student is so cliché. It felt too much like the author was trying to create a “I made something out of myself even though all my teachers told me I wouldn’t amount to anything” type of story.
ReplyDeleteIn the story late July, 4:40 a.m. I really liked how it was written. Cause unlike the story the witching hour, it made a story about nothing seem interesting. To quote our professor “It made the ordinary extraordinary.” I like imagery in lines like “with dawn at my back, a full moon low in the west, well rested, undersides of the eyelids not grainy with fatigue, I ride the adrenaline rush of the early highway euphoria.” To me its like poetry without the rhymes.
-Eduardo Guerra
I thought that the Witching Hour was a very powerful story rich in the writer’s culture. The writer captures the magical aspect of her culture through the aswangs story. The Witching Hour has an undertone of racism in my opinion because of the teacher’s reactions to Aimee’s’ beliefs. Aimee’s experience resonates with how the USA always wants to whitewash students’ culture and “Americanize” every culture as if only the USA matters. The way Aimee draws the bald eagle the most American symbols there can be after the teachers scolding and the reaction, she gets just strengths the political undertone of the story. I loved how in the end Aimee rebels and shows the teacher that although they want to suppress her culture is strong within her and she is free like the aswaang. Reg Sagners’ story I think is very political. Its not very clear in what direction the story is going but slowly he sets the pace and it seems that just as the signs he is reading he is wondering in what kind of country do we live? In the story he is juxtaposing the ways of the American. It is truly genius but, in my opinion, I did not enjoy the story much. I enjoyed the freedom of Walkers story in Dreads. I like the political undertone of being free and natural trough your hair. Even something as simply as your hair can become a political statement that you are natural, you are free. Alice Walkers message in the story is that of freedom and not conforming to societies standards.
ReplyDelete-Maria Ramirez Montoya
“The Witching Hour” by Aimee Nezhukumatathil was not what I initially expected. Just by reading the title, I expected this story to have some type of haunting vibe to it. I had no idea what a “aswang” was while reading the story, so I decided to do some research on it. An aswang, a shapeshifting monster, is actually pretty terrifying for a third grader to be drawing, especially for a project that is supposed to persuade people to help endangered animals. I also found it humorous that after she won the first place in the competition, she chose the markers her teacher had as a reward and drew the very same thing her teacher ripped.
ReplyDelete“Late July, 4:40 a.m.” by Reg Saner included a tremendous amount of imagery and detail of what a truck driver sees while driving along western Kansas. It was thoroughly an enjoyable read, and it made me feel as if I was sitting passenger side of the driver. I always find essays that hold a lot of imagery about nature interesting. Seeing the world in a different perspective can be fascinating.
“Dreads” by Alice Walker instantly captured my attention. My first thought was, “Who doesn’t brush their hair for ten years?” Then I remembered the title and made the connection. It is interesting how someone can feel so powerful just by their hair, it almost made me feel empowered. I enjoyed how she talked about her culture and explained that Bob Marley and Peter Tosh were the first people who captured her curiosity for dreads. Overall, I found all three essays just as entertaining.
Angela Milan
In all three reading it contained information about how the characters involved emotion to the situation or topic they were talking about. In the reading “The Witching Hour” the little girl was proud of the drawing she contributes to draw the “aswang” she believed that it was an animal that deserved to be seen and be recognized. The teacher in the story was not too happy about it and made her redo the project which disappointed me while reading this because I one day want to become a teacher and I want to be able to encourage my students to be creative and do what they think is best for themselves in school work. I liked how in the end the young girl mentions that she draws the aswang over and over again in different forms, that made her happy and I like that she continued to draw what made her the artist she was. I really enjoyed reading “Dreads” it developed a story of how the character felt about his hair. I like the way the character involved characters from a film and described the hair the women had in it. It intrigued him to know how people handle their hair back then and talked about how they handle it now. I found it important that he mentions in the beginning of the reading that he hasn’t touched his hair, I saw this as an opportunity to understand what the reading will be about.
ReplyDelete-Karla Romero
Reading “The Witching Hour” was a trip through half-forgotten memories and a chance to rekindle the innocent beliefs of tales growing up. The words convey the indignation of a child wronged while bringing up issues of the suppression of not only the imagination and creativity of children, but oppression of a people’s culture and ways of growing up. We create tales to make sense of the world, and tell them so others may learn of the unknown. Much of what we believe may be misguided, but they are the words of our ancestors and the soul of our culture. A similar experience could be felt when reading “Dreads,” where there is a reunion with our roots and a rebirth of the heart and soul of ways that were deemed barbaric by others that knew little of us. Writing and reading can bring forth an empowerment to someone and make the daily struggle a bit lighter. It can also help us remember and appreciate our roots, our past, and our ancestors, while not constricting us and forcing us to assimilate to whatever major power may currently be at play. We do not have to forget to move forward, and we do not need to doom ourselves for remembering where we come from.
ReplyDelete- Hubel Gonzalez Jr
“The Witching Hour” was great! I like the rebel attitude this third grader had at that age. She was inspired to draw an aswang because that’s part of her culture. At least that’s the impression I got when she talked about her mom reading bed time stories for her. Sure, the assignment was to draw endangered species, but did they have to be real? Stunned creativity as the teacher reprimanded her for such an act, it brought the writer to tears. The writer extends part of her memory and its nice reading about her triumphant end as she “sticks it to the man” when she draws an even better, colorful painting of what she was neglected to do in the first place. I felt like a student in her class, witnessing everything that transpired. “Late July, 4:40am” is a story about a truck driver making his way from Kansas into Colorado. I felt a bit bored reading through his descriptions of the landscapes and what he saw as he traveled. Glad I made it to the end as the writer starts to criticize society as drives by the country. He even mentions that the “adversity” some of these places possess would only befall him if he were to stop and make way for them. But he’s on the road, and there’s no way he’s not going to keep moving forward. “Dreads” is…well…about dreads. The writer shows us how she became to adore this hairstyle and makes us appreciate it with her writing.
ReplyDelete-Leonardo Torres
This week’s readings were very interesting! In “The Witching Hour” I was interested in the narrator’s character. She seemed very fascinated in the aswang creature, which, at first, I thought was strange. I got the feeling she may have been haunted by this aswang creature which gave the story an eerie feeling. When her teacher got very upset and disturbed at her drawing, it just enhanced my suspicions. But, as I see the characters emotional reaction towards the teacher’s judgment and her compliance with the rules, those haunting thoughts began to dwindle. She goes on to win the competition for her class/overall elementary with an image that was satisfying for her teacher. I was interested when she shares an intimate memory of a tradition w her and her mother have of storytelling of the aswang. I saw this as her mother teaching her folklore and stories about their Phillipino heritage. I found that endearing and helpful in understanding the narrator’s point of view. The best part of the story was when she claims her prize markers from her teacher, and continues to draw beautiful pictures of the aswang, whilst gaining praise of the artistry and skill from her classmates as her disapproving teacher expresses a look of disgust and turns away. This was geared towards a fight between ethnicities. “Late July: 4:40” reminded me that even though you aren’t a poet, you can find poetry in anything. A truck driver is the narrator. Let’s face it, truck driving isn’t the most stimulating of jobs, yet the narrator describes his surroundings in great detail, and grace. Though this essay is fairly political in regard to farmers in America, and the freedom associated with the road, I believe the story has a larger motive. “Dreads” depicted a powerful, modern woman who accepts her natural self as she is. Her progress through her desired journey to rejecting socially accepted beauty standards.
ReplyDeleteCassandra Ramos
My favorite essay was “The Witching Hour”, it actually reminded me of all the different things I got scolded for while I was en elementary school and even kindergarten. Aimee was in third grade when this happened, when she draw an aswang for her “save the animals” poster competition. Apparently, she had good drawing skills, and she used them to draw this creature which wasn’t of the teachers’ approval. I can understand why the teacher disliked this drawing but she may have overreacted because Aimee is only a child, and when we are children we believe in many things and we are curious about the world and what’s in it. I also liked the ending a lot when she draw again this creature.
ReplyDeleteThe second essay, “Late July, 4:40 a.m.” did not really caught my attention as the last essay did.
“Dreads” was interesting to read, and I actually found it funny when she asked the lady how she washed her hair because then Alice thought it seemed like a stupid question, but I had friend in high school who had their hair like that and I always wondered about how they washed it. I liked how she embraced her hair, and I felt a connection because I always wanted to change my hair and I was always trying to straighten it but I have learned with the time to accept it the way it is, as this essay ends.
Paulina Longoria
This half of the week's essays have by far been my favorite. While normally I am incredibly negative and become nitpicky with every detail that I see, I can honestly say that I enjoyed this group of essays. My favorite this time around was "The Witching Hour," mainly due in part by the fact that I found it so incredibly relatable. I too was that child in school that made art I was so very proud of. I too had unique ideas that could not be trodden down on my society. I too, hold the British English and Chinese cultures of my mother that she passed down to me near and dear to my heart-- such stories and memories that are almost my own. I enjoyed the childlike innocence of called an Aswang endangered. The witchy creature that consumes fetuses, to the author, is a creature that is rare, endangered, and should be protected. Ironically enough, the very teacher is the actual embodiment of an Aswang: a witch-like creature with arms like wings looking to prey on a fetus-- or in the case of the story, the innocence of our dear bright-eyed narrator.
ReplyDeleteOutside of this story, I can say that I also really enjoyed the common theme that all three essays had in common: the expression of culture.
One being the folklore of a creature, another being the Midwestern roads and trucking life of America, and the other being the frequently denied culture that belongs to the kinks and curls of African hair.
- Hannah Daniel