For my piece, I have been researching and writing about Louis CK, Aziz Ansari and the #MeToo movement. I am analyzing the apologies by both men after their allegations came out. I felt it was important to highlight the things that were missing from their apologies. I am also bringing in the Rebecca Solnit piece that we read for class called Men Explain Things To Me. I feel that there is a good connection between the men that Solnit writes about and the comedians in question in my piece. I was able to get based views on these men by holding a discussion during one of my other classes that is about comedy. All in all, the comedians in question who were once admired are now somewhat touchy people to talk about in public.
Author: Michael Amati
Favorite Passages
“earning some money so that you could stay in this place (Antigua) where the sun always shines and where the climate is deliciously hot and dry for the four to ten days you are going to be staying there; and since you are on your holiday, since you are the tourist, the thought of what it might be like for someone who had to live day in, day out in a place that suffers constantly from drought, and so has to watch carefully every drop of fresh water used”
Jamaica Kincaid, “A Small Place”
“As we step further and further into our adulthood and closer to the practices that elicit opportunity we are understanding that unfortunately the structures that rule the ‘real world’ remain unchanged, they just transpire on a more discrete level. Older generations might mark us as oversensitive yet we see it as a fight that we did not choose to take part in. Within the generation that is currently blossoming are various new identities and ideals that are unconcerned about the feuds and tensions of the past, it is frustrating to have to continue cleaning up when we do not feel associated with these evils.”
Anthony, “The Big Uneasy”
Aziz Ansari Video
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfMDe8Unrv0
The video I chose to share with the class is from ET Canada in July of this year and it discusses the Aziz Ansari apology and beginning of his new comedy special where he addressed the situation. If anyone does not know, this incident came about from a woman who accused Ansari of sexual misconduct after a date went bad the night before.
I feel that this will be a main part of my final piece because not only does it show Aziz’s apology and his reflection on the incident but it also shows the reactions of the two news anchors after they saw it. While personally I felt this was a very heartfelt message from Aziz to his audiences, the anchors thought otherwise which is why I believe it is so interesting personally. This piece will also be important because it really puts into effect the theme of my essay which is somewhat related to and surrounded by the MeToo movement that has spread.
I feel that this will be interesting for the class to form their own opinions based on the incident that happened with Aziz Ansari and this aftermath where he discusses it. I feel that either way the class sides, they might be able to form an opinion on how the apology was discussed by the news anchors.
Solnit Response
Solnit’s piece, called Men Explain Things to Me, explores the theme of the arrogance of men in society. Through her examples, we can see how men have oppressed and overlooked women when it comes to a multitude of different topics.
“Yes, guys like this pick on other men’s books too, and people of both genders pop up at events to hold forth on irrelevant things and conspiracy theories, but the out-and-out confrontational confidence of the totally ignorant is, in my experience, gendered.” I feel that this statement is very true for many men in society. I feel that this might not be the case for most men, I feel that this can be said for close to the majority. When we are passionate about something, sometimes we can get blinded by our own attempt at proving our points. I feel that this article is pretty different from the ones we have read so far this semester. Besides for the Baldwin and Buckley debate, I feel that this article has taken the strongest stance towards their topic. Solnit takes strong stances and she uses strong examples to prove her points.
Baldwin and Buckley Response
In the video of the debate between James Baldwin and William F. Buckley, it talks a bit about the possibility of one person’s sense of reality being eliminated for another. In a quote from James Baldwin, “whatever one’s reaction to this proposition is, has to be the question of whether or not civilizations can be considered, as such, equal, or whether one’s civilization has the right to overtake and subjugate, and, in fact, to destroy another”.
I feel that this is somewhat similar and different from Gloria Anzaldua’s piece How to Tame a Wild Tongue. The similarity I feel is the clashing between two different civilizations and between two languages in Anzaldua’s case. Baldwin is speaking of the possibility of one person’s way of life or civilization overtaking someone else’s. The difference I see from Anzaldua is that she speaks of the combination of her two cultures and how they make a culture of their own. Baldwin’s comment about domination is a lot more bleak as well.
Min-Zhan Lu Response Post (Group B)
In Min-Zhan Lu’s piece From Silence to Words: Writing as Struggle, she talks about her struggles with the use of language in different situations and her family’s struggles during the Cultural Revolution. She tried hard to distinguish her “language of home” and her “language of school”. Lu’s report in school particularly showed the wedge she drove between her two languages. Lu goes on to tell that even her daughter faces a struggle that is a bit more toned down. “ Not long ago, my daughter told me that it bothered her to hear her friend “talk wrong.”” Lu’s daughter had heard her friends and some teachers speaking improperly by saying words like “ain’t”. The daughter’s struggle is smaller in comparison to what her mother went through having to distinguish between her two languages.
I feel that the part where Lu talks about her “language of home” and her “language of school” is very similar to when Barbara Mellix talks about the two different types of english that she speaks at home versus at school. Both of these writers have to distinguish between the language that they are comfortable with and the language they use outside the house.
I can connect to Lu’s piece because of my many years of having taken Italian courses. While I can not speak Italian fluently, I can make small talk and have simple conversations. When I traveled to Italy, I noticed that many people speak english or they speak italian with a different dialect than I was taught. When having a conversation with someone over there, I could not make out much of what he was talking about. I felt very uncomfortable just as Mellix did when having to speak proper english. I also felt that I could relate to Lu’s struggles in differentiation of language because of the amount of times during Italian class that I needed to speak english to ask for confirmation of something. While I did not have difficulties differentiating, I still felt that it was not correct to use english in that class.
Lambeth and Egg
One object that holds a lot of beauty if an egg. This egg has been painted on with flowers and other things and it came from my Nanny’s (grandma’s) house. That was the last thing I took of my Nanny’s to remember her by when she passed. I had always seen it in the house, and it was going to be left on the entertainment center when we were moving all of her things out of the house. While the egg might not be painted perfectly and it might have a chip or two, I feel the strongest connection to it. It didn’t have to be perfect because it is merely a token that I keep to remember her by.
I feel that my egg can relate to Lambeth’s story because just as her story involves beauty in asymmetry and imperfection, mine does too. The one line that struck me from the text was the line “there is beauty in this change, the grace and balance found in asymmetry” (Lambeth, Three-Legged Dog). The egg I had might not have been in perfect condition, I still find the beauty in what it represents.
E367: Writing and Diversity 