"When Eating Organic Was Totally Uncool”

Its quite ironic how nowadays people pay so much out of pocket for organic foods, and like Lo states, the industry has grown to be worth over $25 billion, yet she as a child relied on organic food and she personally with her family had to hand grow their own foods and tend to their on gardens as means of survival. She grew up hiding from friends as she would be embarrassed it others found out they had to eat organic and relied on their own personal method of growing foods and eating, yet now its become quite popular and almost like a trend. She also states. "And, irony of ironies, now people’s food stamps can’t even cover the costs of organic and local produce at our markets. " This is quite funny in a way as it is actually costly to obtain food of the quality Lo had access to growing up all along. It was a necessity for her, but now is seen as a luxury by many others.

"No Name Woman"

Such a shocking story to hear about. i can only imagine the discomfort and thoughts running through Kingston's mind as she hears the forbidden story of her aunt. Even until the end, we don't find out what the aunts name is, or anything else really about her, but just her story and her death. Kingston portrays an empathy for her aunt, realizing that no one got to really hear her story or know her as she was known as forbidden. She was told the story by her aunt as a way to warn her and advise her to behave accordingly. And now that she has begun menstruating, she must not ever do what her aunt did. Its really shocking, as an outsider of much modern belief and background, to hear such a tale. The acts of the villagers, and the way the aunt enacted in response really left a lasting impact on me, as i'm sure Kingston will never forget this tale. Living in such a confined, scrutinizing and patronizingly strict community must be extremely difficult. A community that always surveillances, and one you must abide with by code for must not be easy at all, i can never personally imagine living in such a village or town.

"Fun Home"

The way in which the chapter started off was quite interesting in my opinion. In the first frame you learn that the author's deceased father may have been a queer, and the reader is presented the definitions of queer in an illustrated dictionary.  Alison Bechdel provocatively introduces the many aspects of sexual orientation and the possible discomfort, conflicts, secrets, and separations (weather mental or physical) that could come with it. Not only does she confess to her mom she's a lesbian, she finds out that her father had many sexual encounters with men and was possibly gay, or bisexual. It is obvious that Alison is facing an identity crisis, learning who she really is, and the role she plays and will play, weather in her family or in society as a whole. Many of the young people today can definitely relate to her, as although there is more sexual tolerance nowadays with better represented gay rights, and gay marriages allowed, many people find it increasingly difficult to find their identity. It seems as though instead of progression, better sense of belonging, the opposite it taking place.

"It's Not An Oxymoron"

The way in which media plays a role in so many of our lives is quite unbelievable. Darraj emphasizes this as she talks about the role of media, and the impact it has on the views and opinions on the Western world. She talks about how women are depicted in the American scope, as she never had to experience many of the harsh treatment that so many Western people are wired to believe that Middle Eastern women feel. Moreover, the wording Darrraj uses it quite interesting. She states "it seemed that the Arab women was the poor downtrodden step-sister in this family". She was referring to the family of all women and the sisterhood created for women. By making that statement, she portrays her belief of how saddening it is that Western women can place such a view on other women without much thought, this goes back to media and its impact.  Fortunately, Darraj is able to find her own unique form of feminism, with of course total respect to her heritage and culture.

Little Failure

     The title says enough. Parents usually give their children loving nicknames, but this is not however the case for Gary Shteyngart who grows up being called Snotty, and even worse "little failure" by his mother. Low self esteem is obviously present from the very get go of the memoir and the setting in which Shteyngart is placed in such an early age having just immigrated from Russia is the icing on the cake. From early suffering, pain and anguish, to later assimilation as Shteyngart is able adjust to the new atmosphere, to ultimate self realization and understanding the abilities of ones self. Although at many points i wanted to put this book down feeling lost sometimes, and even agitated by all the Russian word add ins, i felt a satisfaction in completing it and seeing the journey of the once frail and sickly Gary who no one believed in, into becoming someone much more.

Color Complex

             "1492, Columbus sailed the Ocean blue." I've remembered this saying since as far back as i can remember and in my mind i've always envisioned the Europeans coming across this new land and pleasantly exchanging gifts, goods, ideas and what not with the natives who've already resided on it. Of cource as i grew older i realized everything wasn't so black and white; there was far much more to it. I mention this because the whole notion of white supremacy and the inferiority of another race has dated back to the very beginning of America, or even before it had existed. In much later years with middle passage and the forced arrival of the numerous amount of African slaves the shocking acts continued in a viscous manor. Barbaric treatment and using ones power to humiliate, destroy, overpower another group of people is not just. It boggles my mind as i wonder if morals, and even a simple conscience was even present among the whites who looked down upon these people as "objects" and even worse: property. We talked in class of Thomas Jefferson and his writing of the Deceleration where he writes, "all men are created equal with certain unalienable rights", but himself owned various slaves. Such hypocrisy is jaw dropping. Although times have changed, and progress is evident, i feel as though there still however, a long way to go for as a society and these are the issues that the text tackles.