Asymmetry – E367: Writing and Diversity

Class, Fri, 9/06

Lambeth and Pratt

In groups

Asymmetry is a keyword for both Lambeth and Pratt. Please spend a few minutes thinking and talking about how their uses of this term/concept align and how they differ.

Contact Zones, and their Arts

Fastwrite

According to Pratt, what distinguishes a contact zone from other social spaces? And what distinguishes its “arts” from other those of other social spaces?

Groups, Responses, and Comments

To Do

Mon, 9/09, class: Please read Arlie Hochschild’s “Empathy Maps”. I’m interested in thinking about her work in relation to Pratt’s, especially since where Pratt talks about “contact zones”, Hochschild talks about “empathy zones”. What’s at stake in this difference? Or might “empathy” and “mapping” somehow also be considered “arts of the contact zone”?
Mon, 9/09, 4:00 pm: Group A posts responses to Mellix’s “Outside, In”.
Tues, 9/10, 4:00 pm: Everyone else reads Group A’s responses (along with Mellix, of course) and posts comments on at least two.
Wed, 9/11, class: We will use those responses and comments to structure our class discussion of Mellix.
Wed, 9/11, 4:00 pm: Group B posts responses to Lu’s “From Silence to Words”.
Thurs, 9/12, 4:00 pm: Everyone else reads Group B’s responses and posts comments on at least two.
Fri, 9/13, class: We will use those responses and comments to structure our class discussion of Lu.

I remember when I was little, my older sister broke her arm. She had to get a cast and I thought it was the coolest thing. My childhood ignorance prevented me from seeing the pain that she had to go through in order to get the cast. I was just jealous of all the attention she got from it; everyone wanted to sign it. I even went so far as to cut one of the sleeves off one of my shirts to mimic a cast. My mom wasn’t too pleased about that. I found my older sister’s broken arm fascinating, even though it was an imperfection.

“…The grace and balance found in asymmetry,” that Lambeth talks about in her article can be found in everyday life. Some imperfections are more obvious, like a broken bone. Other imperfections are less obvious, like a freckle on your right arm, but not your left. Sometimes you can even seem the imperfections, or asymmetry, like the fact that our left lung is slightly smaller than our right to make room for our hearts. Imperfections are a necessity in life.

In Response to Asymmetry and the Power of Threes

I have always noticed the pattern of threes in my life and how it’s perfectly concise and perfectly contained. When listing something off, two seems too little and four seems to far, but three is just right. When I was younger, I saw odd numbers as a group of couples and one lonely number, but now I see them as something not as wasteful. Not everything has to be whole and even, or you can create your own sense of wholeness— As Lambeth says, “A kind of wholeness through asymmetry and time, the tension between impermanence and ongoingness.”

Since the beginning of high school, I have had a friend group composed of three core members that have never shifted or wavered or left since that year. However, we have had more joined a by one other friend—they have always shifted. They seem to leave every few years—changing or leaving. But, we three never leave. We are balanced and ongoing–no matter who decides to join us and who decides to leave us.

Imperfect Perfection

One of my favorite things to do is surfing. Since I was a little kid, I have surfed the beaches of Long Beach, New York. As I have grown up, I have purchased, sold, and broken countless surfboards, but there is one in particular I will never let go. This board is my asymmetrical surfboard from Varial Surf and it is my favorite surfboard in my quiver. Asymmetry is uncommon for surfboards, which are usually symmetrical. Even though it is asymmetrical, it has created some of the best rides and experiences of my life. The feel of the board is different, it rides down the line differently, and the turns are unusual.

When reading Lambeth’s article, I truly felt the connection that she and her dog had together. In addition, the article was a beautiful story of how two beings can connect and be foundations for each other, which I realized was in a way similar to me and my surfboard. During reading Lambeth’s article, there were many moments where my thoughts related to her writing. Specifically, when she is talking about her and her dog’s reflections in the mirror, and she says, “I soon came to simply trust and love what I saw in the glass: persistence, trust, grace.” This quote was exactly the mindset Ms. Lambeth should have had the entire time because that is what truly described the relationship between her and her dog.