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I found myself relating to Aimee Nezhukumatahil’s “The Witching Hour,” because when I was in Pre-kinder, I would go to school and told all of my little friends about the bedtime stories my grandma would tell me. I was a fearless kid so she would tell me scary urban legends that were told to kids to make them behave. When I would retell these stories, I would do so in Spanish because it was my first language and I couldn’t translate some of the words to English. My teacher would not only get upset with me because I was telling “inappropriate stories” in class but because I was also speaking Spanish when I was told I could only speak English. For those that don’t know, Pre-kinder is for kids who speak Spanish more dominantly and it’s to prepare them for English dominant classes. When I was told not to tell my stories or to speak the language I was so comfortable with, I felt a sense of having to pretend to be someone I wasn’t. Needing to suppress that part of myself is how I can relate to the author.
ReplyDeleteAlice Walker’s “Dreads” is about loving ones self and embracing who you truly are. The author mentions in her first paragraph that shes amused by her family who puts relaxers in their hair to get rid of that kinky curl they naturally have. She admits to having done this herself for a good amount of time but when she discovered the self love that Bob Marley was promoting, she learned to love herself and allow her hair to be as natural as possible; she fell in love with dreads.
Both of these stories promote being proud of who you are and being open about it. I feel that is a lesson these essays are trying to teach. I had a little trouble trying to interpret “Late July, 4:40 am,” by Reg Saner so I can’t really put too much thought into that essay. I look forward to discussing this essay in class to better understand what the author was trying to convey!
Arianna Martinez
In Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s “The Witching Hour”, I found that a child was facing the struggle of expression rather than a supernatural one that I inferred from the title. The child is pre-conditioned by the teacher to look down upon her own culture, and yet the child rebels, knowing full well that the teacher disapproves. I favored this essay for its sequencing and overall conclusion, because the child didn’t falter in the proudness of her own culture and folklore as one might call it. When Aimee states that “[Mrs. Johnson] hugged me on stage, as if nothing had happened, grinning at the principal as if she had drawn the winning poster”(229par.2), it portrays Mrs. Johnson in a light that shows her true nature, which relishes in what others deem appropriate. In “Late July, 4:40a.m.”, Reg Saner takes you on a road trip in his six-cylinder truck, focusing on the powerful nature of motion. What stood out to me the most was Saner’s reiteration of the idea of an unwavering road. In Saner’s readings of the signs the essay takes on a much darker tone, yet Saner dismisses the entire situation by stating “adversity can occur only if we stop…Which is something the road never does.”(231par.2) I think Saner did this to show that a couple of billboards won’t solve the bigger issue of starvation or any of the major worldly problems he talks about previously like our use of diesel fuel in cars. In “Dreads” by Alice Walker, I felt like I was learning a whole new language just as she was when learning to do dreads. I had never known that dreads were natural nor did I understand the notion of it being frowned upon. Sure, I’ve heard the occasional “you need to wash your hair all the time” spiel, and I have lived with it all my life, but I also have wondered about the complexity of making dreads, was it just like braiding your hair? Imagine my surprise when I find out that hair like that can only be achieved through having natural hair. I think it’s amazing that hair can work in such a way that it can weave itself, which made me question why anyone would flatten their beautiful locks of hair like Walker’s friends and family. I think Walker effectively shows the beliefs of what most people associate dreads with and shines new light on the hairstyle.
ReplyDeleteAlyssa Campos
In "The Witching Hour" by Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Aimee was just an elementary student when her rude teacher completely disrespected her. She was a child that drew this creature based on stories told by her mother. I feel like Aimee was so mature at that young elementary age to know that she wasn't really a winner for the drawing she was forced to draw. I believe children have their own little right to be able to express themselves and show how creative they can be. It's a shame she had to experience that. In "Late July, 4:40 a.m." by Reg Saner, Saner explains all the things he sees from traveling from what I understood. I liked the story, but I didn't love it. It was not simplistic, not overwhelming, but it wasn't great either. I wish I understood it more, however, the more I read it the more confused I got. I think I might be over analyzing, so I'm looking forward to discussing this during class to get a better understanding. In Alice Walker's "Dreads," Walker explains her love of dreads, going into detail about Bob Marley, famously having dreads, and the history of dreads. She talks about how people can't believe she hasn't washed her hair in 10 years and how they ask questions about how she washes it, sharing her experience asking a girl with dreads that question when she still didn't understand the simplicity of it. To me, this essay was a bit weird because it's almost considered a fetish for her, not that it's bad, it's just strange. Overall, I enjoyed these 3 essays, one more than the others, which was "The Witching Hour" by Aimee Nezhukumatathil.
ReplyDeleteSidney Carranco
The opening paragraph of “The Witching Hour” describing the aswang is vivid and pulls the reader inside instantly. I loved the ease of following the events of this essay, down to the detail of the special markers used over recess to create the very drawing the teacher forbade. However, the teacher confused me, why she didn’t realize how much of a hypocrite she was, or at least, try to explain her value system to Aimee and the other students. Aimee points out the acceptableness of Paul Bunyan (admittedly tame with his flapjacks, compared to a de-torsoed witch) and “Zeus and the gang” (decidedly more R-rated than Bunyan, more on level with aswangs). This allowance of some definite myths but not others seems illogical to me, with its blatant hypocrisy. The author showed no sympathy for the teacher, and I have to give Mrs. Johnson the benefit of the doubt that she’s not crazy, and had a reason – possibly a bad reason, but still a reason – for tearing up the drawing. Did she find it non-animal-like when the assignment was clearly about animals?
ReplyDeleteI liked Saner’s essay on movement and indomitable U.S. highways because it transported me to the road, early in the morning. I drove to Houston last year, hitting the road not quite as early as 4:40, but enough that I could relive the description of “early hour highway euphoria” pg. 230, end of para.2. What I interpreted the conclusion to mean was there is an inevitable “moving” past trouble, that not only the author, but any victims of the highway-life, take. It’s not conducive to a fast-paced lifestyle to slow down and help, or seek out a neighbor in trouble. “Impossible.” I read cynicism, but acknowledgement of a regret, on the part of Saner. Reminds me of the Good Samaritan story, with the priest and Levite passing by…
The last paragraph of Walker’s essay is almost worshipful of dreadlocks. They smell like almonds, feel both firm and soft, and apparently weave themselves. The conclusion of “the Universe” containing more in its “store” had a contagious excitement written into it. The author pulls the reader into a sense of wonder. I know someone who tried dreadlocks in her hair for about 3 years, as an artistic experiment. After seeing her successfully pull it off, and learning more about what the experience entails per the essay, I can imagine trying them out.
Natalie Roeglin
I enjoyed “The Witching Hour” by Aimee Nezhukumatathil. I like how the author first gave the description of what an Aswang was, the culture, and characteristics behind it. Also, it went into a flashback of the authors’ life when she was in Elementary and doing a class project. It kind of gave me a warm feeling while I was reading the introduction to that flashback. I remember being in Elementary and doing something like that, it took me back to the times where I thought school was fun and exciting.
ReplyDeleteI kind of didn’t get “Late July, 4:40 a.m.” by Reg Saner. I didn’t really like it either. I have so many questions pertaining to this certain essay. I got how it seemed to be about highways but I couldn’t really relate to it.
“Dreads” by Alice Walker was an interesting read and I felt like I could relate to this essay as well. I’ve never thought about doing Dreads as a hairstyle personally, but I’ve seen how they look on someone’s head and it looks pretty cool. While reading this essay I got the image of a girl who once might have had long beautiful hair and then all of a sudden does dreads to her hair. I like how the author used the movie The Color Purple to reference how she kind of got to examine dreads on a person’s head. She also takes away that misconception that people with dreads don’t wash their hair. It was entertaining, yet informative.
Ilene Guevara
These three essays, in my opinion, are some of the best ones we have read collectively as a class. Aimee Nezhukumatathil and Alice Walker use their essays to showcase their fearlessness in differing moments of their lives. For Aimee Nezhukumatathil in “The Witching Hour,” it is when she is met with the realization that her heritage tales are seen as an unappealing nuisance, leaving her to question the validity of her classmates western culture stories over the fables she grew up with that are a reflection of her Filipino roots. Aimee introduces the subject of her story by educating the reader about the aswang, a beautiful woman who turns into an evil, fetus-thirsty creature, followed by the recollection of her artistic mishap with her third grade teacher, Mrs. Johnson. Many people who are in close ties with their culture can identify with the author because so many cultures thrive on the retelling of legends and folklore, which not only terrifies but excites the youth who intently listen and express it to their friends throughout the school year. Aimee defends her artistic expression by winning the showcase with a well known western figure, the American bald eagle, and using her prize as a means of colorfully expressing the aswang in all of its glory; a truly large feat for such a young soul.
ReplyDeleteIn Alice Walker’s essay, “Dreads,” she recounts the moments in which she first fell in love with the iconic African hairstyle which gives her the courage to adapt the unique hairdo as an expression of her culture and it’s uniqueness that identifies with African hair. She marvels at the extraordinary of her people’s hair, and how it can be “both firm and soft [and] springy” (232). I truly appreciate the tone of voice in which she relays her message throughout the essay, because she is not callous or hateful towards those that are unfamiliar with dreads, since she herself used to be apart of the unfamiliar, but I enjoy how expressive and positive her choice of words reflect how much she admires her community and its differences.
As for Reg Sanger’s essay, “Late July, 4:40 a.m.,” this essay took me for a loop, especially how detailed and overall verbose his writing is. Not only is there an abundance of imagery, but he literally moves from one topic during his drive to another and another. He raises rhetorical questions, laughs at a name on the interstate he finds particularly hilarious, and describes his ever changing sights all in a matter of about two pages. I was taken aback, just as much as I was impressed. Truly, three interesting and very different essays that appeal to a wide range of audiences.
Kimberlee Salas
I found myself drawn to The Witching Hour because of how misunderstood the writer described herself. I felt isolated from kids my age due to my introverted personality and different interests, this story exemplifies the struggle i had in school. I also liked how the story alluded to other cultures such as the aswang. The Late July 4:40 a.m story didn't sit well with me. I couldn't get a clear picture of the plot due to the writer not describing his perspective in a more simple grammar. I liked Dreads because it showed the evolution girls go through when it comes to hair. it shows girls being introduced to clean hair, shampoo and different ways to style your hair.
ReplyDeleteKatia Garcia
In the first essay, "The Witching Hour" there was a very eerie vibe that didn't sit well with me. Although, I was a fan of the essay because of how fearful the teacher was. That I could relate to being scared of something that I didn't know about, and wondering how a young child could be so comfortable with the idea of it. The way this essay was organized was creepy because this child had heard the story of the aswang for their whole life and had no fear of drawing it for a school competition. It made me think as to what traumatic experiences happened to the author for them to write something so dark like this. In the second essay, "Late July, 4:40 am" I was taken to a different place. i was able to visualize a lot of the things that the author wrote because of the exquisite imagery in the essay. However, it did not interest me I did not feel the urge to read more it wasn't a page turner for me. I couldn't get an ideal feel for the story and pinpoint why it was written or what connotations were behind the words used. In the last essay "Dreads" this one was very realistic and had me thinking that this had the intentions of being an essay about cultural empowerment. There was a certain beauty that I felt from this essay about this character learning to accept their hair for the way it was. I thought it was very nice to have the character be happy forever just because of a new hairstyle that made them feel confident in their own skin.
ReplyDeleteLianna Andrade
The darkness of the first essay "The Witching Hour" kept me reading with close attention. I liked the eerie feeling that it created. It kind of hit close to home because as Latinos we grow up hearing all the different scary stories that our grandparents and parents tell us when we are young and innocent. Aimee does a good job of providing enough details about the creature to give us a vivid picture. While I was reading "Late July, 4:40 am", I felt really bored but not because the essay is bad but because of how well the author explains the boring road trip he is driving in. For a moment he is just describing what the signs on the side of the road say, as a way to distract himself from falling asleep on the wheel while driving so early in the morning. The last essay called "Dreads" made me imagine that a hippie from the 60's wrote it. The author , Alice Walker, talks about hair as if it was the most beautiful thing she has ever witnessed. She goes on and on describing the hair and comparing it to things such as knitting and saying how a machine could not possibly create something like that. It was almost like she was trying to give life to something that in reality doesn't. All three essays did a good job of creating that imagery so clear, each essay doing it in their own unique way.
ReplyDeleteFrancisco Rosales
I’m going to start off with saying I truly liked ⅔ of the stories. My least favorite being Reg Saner ‘Late July, 4:40 a.m.’ I did enjoy the imagery at the beginning of the horizon. Other than that I found it very confusing, and kind of all over the place, but it somewhat made sense? When seeing it from the driver’s perspective, there is always something different happening on a vast road that you never truly know what you’re going to see, and that can be confusing sometimes. I can see how the narrator is trying to make the scenery look from his perspective other than what the reader sees on their own usual drive around.
ReplyDeleteI loved reading Aimee Nezhukumatathil ‘The Witching Hour’ and seeing the imagery of the aswang. I felt the true emotions of sadness when the teacher degraded her aswang drawing. I physically felt a slight pang in my heart, feeling for the narrator. I liked the shot of confidence she had once she won the competition, realizing who she truly was through the aswang, and how it made her different from everyone else.
I found Alice Walker ‘Dreads’ to be so happy and uplifting because of the epiphany of seeing dreads for the first time on set of ‘The Color Purple’ and falling in love with them. I found it so sweet to be how happy she was as she stated “... I was, in a way, happy forever (232).” Seeing how happy she was made me smile. As she gained more knowledge about them, the happier she felt, and the more positive the story felt which made it more exciting to read.
Faith Ortiz
Reading the first paragraph of ‘The Witching Hour’ by Aimee Nezhukumatathil, I was expecting something like the previous essay, “In the Dark” by Pico Iyer, but I was so happy to see I was wrong. What she experienced is something I feel happens to a lot of children from other cultures. America is called the melting pot of the world and yet when these children share stories or legends from their own culture, suddenly it’s wrong? Oh, but Paul Bunyan and other American legends are okay? Then there’s the argument of, “But they teach Greek Mythology in class!” Teaching another culture’s myths and legends doesn’t excuse stopping a child from sharing theirs. ‘Late July, 4:40 am’ by Reg Saner had me confused. Even though I actually read through the essay, I was still confused. Was he a truck driver? Just a regular traveller? Where was he going? At the end of the essay I was left with more questions than answers, though that might’ve been my own fault for asking myself so many questions in the first place. I did like how much imagery he used though! I didn’t know where the essay was going but it was easy to picture what was happening. ‘Dreads’ by Alice Walker, to me, is almost like the first essay in the group. There’s a sense of cultural pride that I thought was wonderful to read through, especially in how exactly she began to respect her hair (p. 231) and how that grew into the pride it is now. All three stories have a sense of culture, specifically a minority culture, from scolding a child because they shared a legend from their culture to, what I interpreted as, the native signs along the Colorado roadway to asking how dreads are washed.
ReplyDeleteTeresa Villarreal
I forgot a part to the last sentence when I was rewriting it (my bad!) and because it'll haunt my dreams I need to fix it now:
Delete"All three stories have a sense of culture, specifically a minority culture, and how they're treated here from scolding a child because they shared a legend from their culture to, what I interpreted as, the native signs along the Colorado roadway to constantly asking how dreads are washed."
(It's still Teresa Villarreal and once again, my bad)
Growing up, my teachers always drilled transitional phrases into my brain, so seeing that “The Witching Hour” used no proper transitions, was interesting. This essay contained simple language, so I was able to comprehend the events that were occurring quite easily. I related to this story because my mother used to fill my head with folk stories, and teachers at school were never too interested to hear them. I admired the fact that the author included context before the plot began, it was much easier to understand why the teacher reacted in such a dramatic way.
ReplyDeleteUpon reading “Late July, 4:40 a.m.” I became extremely bored. I realized that maybe this was the effect that the author wanted to have on readers, since he was discussing long road trips and all. I enjoyed those moments in which he spoke about what he enjoyed, such as early hour euphora, deserts, and mountains. I noticed his topics kept bouncing, and it maybe this is just the thoughts that are in the author’s head as he travels alone; minds tend to wander on road trips where you have no one to communicate with. The final essay “Dreads” was all about self exploration, and empowerment. Walker notes the beauty of this hair style in such a way, that makes your heart feel warm. I enjoyed reading these essays, all three filled with imagery, and purpose.
Valerie Jackson
In The Witching Hour, the child presented within the essay is faced with a major problem. The project she worked so very hard on, was torn to pieces by her teacher. That work, the one which she expressed her connection to her culture, her family, was deemed invalid by someone in a position of power. So, the girl decides to conform to the rules of the game, is able to win markers and with them draw the aswang creature in a bold act of victory and defiance. I think it's surprising to read about this girl and her fixation to the aswang. In Late July, 4:40 a.m., I battled to find some rhyme or reason to this essay. A trucker, an open road and the constant desire to move. The trucker's connection to the open road and its liberation bring the trucker into a focus which neither hell nor high water could rattle. Notably, the last sentence of the essay mentions something important: to stop moving is to start decaying, Alice Walker's Dreads was an interesting read. The mix of those physical and emotional experiences can also brings to the author a complex union which fosters a spirit of intrigue, mystery, and acceptance/love.
ReplyDelete- Jose Montoya
"The Witching Hour", was a great essay. Their were two things that really stuck out to me which were the imagery used in the essay, as well as the aswang. I can picture this third grade girl in a classroom, looking up at this teacher that shows complete disrespect to this little girl and her project. Later on in the essay she is able to get a hold of markers and finishes this project with the drawing of the aswang, maybe to just spite her teacher and feel better about herself. In the "Late July, 4:40" essay, I believe it was an interesting read mainly because I could relate to it. The way the story seems kind of boring and has almost like a weird structuring to it, I believe that was intentional to show the readers how someones mind and experiences on the road for long periods of times actually occur. "Dreads" is an essay about acceptance and self-love. Reading this essay was definitely inspiring, by the end of it I felt almost empowered and this sort of warm feeling in myself.
ReplyDeleteCaesar De Luna
Three essays, with cultural appreciation exuding forth from each. The first one "The Witching Hour," by Aimee Nezhukumatathil, is written from the perspective of a third grader whose fascination with the Filipino folklore of the aswang is snubbed by her teacher during art class. This person is an inheritor of her previous generation's culture. This is a work detailing not just the appreciation of one's culture, but the relationship between its generation of storytellers and its tale; the mother and child share a distant moment - a special time - one where the mother is the child's sole giver of such a moment. This is a work of ethnocentric behavior conflicting with a child's cultural appreciation; this is the irony of the "The Witching Hour" and its art hour, an hour of creativity, yet also the time when such creativity is snubbed for not meeting a creative standard set forth by a mentor figure. And this work happens to be a telling, that in despite having overcome this cultural disrespect on a personal level, her peers are reared back into "real things," or rather, "things that matter.' (I put all these quotation marks, not because they were actually mentioned, but moreso for making an eyeful toward.) The next hour, the science hour, is a metaphor for "what matters more," as used in the last sentence.
ReplyDeleteThe second story "Late July, 4:40 a.m.," written by Reg Sanger, is another cultural appreciation essay, but this one written from the perspective of an outsider, a window passerby; this is a telling of a truck driver who makes and jabs at passing sights, using what little inside knowledge they have to make an understanding of what they see, often in a sarcastic manner. As of the opinion of the truck driver, "...slow adversity can occur only if we stop, settle down. Which is something the road never does." Despite coming to appreciate the passing cultural sights, the truck driver is only satisfied with passing glances, as he stretches his driver forth.
The third essay "Dreads," written by Alice Walker, is a cultural appreciation essay that details one single topic: hair. Hair, as in the noise that prompts one to be distracted, appreciative, or curious of. This is about hair that tells history from a glance - a sight with many stories. Fanciful wording aside, the woman goes as far to say, "Bob Marley is the person who taught me to trust the Universe enough to respect my hair..." (David Starkey. Creative Writing: Four Genres in Brief (p. 245). Bedford/St. Martin's. Kindle Edition.) Her hair is a symbolic notion of her spiritualistic nature, it is a symbol of inner peace - a symbol of one's own satisfaction and appreciation with one's self. Her hair is one of love, as she outright implies with every mentioning of Bob Marley, who she believes "...If ever anyone truly loved us, it was Bob Marley." (David Starkey. Creative Writing: Four Genres in Brief (p. 245). Bedford/St. Martin's. Kindle Edition.)
Gary Tolar
Aimee Nezhukumatahil’s “The Witching Hour” was a good essay to read it was vivid on how the aswang as child we hold those memories. I understand how the teacher wanted her to draw something real but to her it was and I wish she was not humiliated in front of a class because of it. Aimee did make the teacher to be a bad guy but in the end she got her way because she still drew the aswang and showed the class even though the teacher said it was not real.
ReplyDeleteI did not really like Reg Saner “Late July, 4:40 a.m.” for some reason I could not really get myself to read it. It constantly was changing and the imagery was nice it was just overwhelming for me to read.
Alice Walker’s “Dreads” essay was lovely to read. It goes on how she first came to love her natural hair and let it grow the way the universe will let it be. It was nice to see how an iconic musician helped that. I really loved when they spoke of washing hair and the lady gave her a straight answer. Overall the first and last essay were the best.
Andi Rubalcava
In all honesty, "The Witching Hour" was my favorite of the three readings because of how simple the writing was. There's no unnecessarily long senteces with too many commas trying to explain too much in one sentence like in "Late July 4:40 a.m.". I could really relate to the author as I myself was fascinated with mythology and cryptids as a child as well, though I was never ridiculed for it. As for the second reading, I could not get through it for the life of me. Sure, some of the imagery that the author provides is beautiful, like when he descibes the time of day before the sun rises, but I feel that most of the story is trying too hard. I find the language referring to machinery strange and the vocabulary foreign. I like a challenge as much as the next guy, but this was a little too much. I really did not enjoy this story. As for the final reading, called "Dreads", it was a little weird. But a good weird. I can't really relate to the author's opinions of dreads or say that I've thought the things she thinks about the people with dreads, but to each their own. With the whole spiel about "wanting to be natural" and "the mysteries of the Universe" and "Bob Marley", I found the authors language to be very, for lack of a better word, hippy-ish. To sum things up, dreads are cool but I wouldn't wear them.
ReplyDeleteRicardo Garcia