Emma A.

Highlight/underline or annotate as you do the readings as it gives you ideas for what to put in your Bluesky post and overall prepares you for class discussion #BSUwlit

Boy misunderstands the word "potential" when he first hears it and believes it doesn't have any as he associates it with his father. However, by no longer mirroring his father's actions, thats what makes him have potential. #BSUwlit

Boy starts becoming exactly like his father, claiming to be this idealized version of a "man" and abandoning others (Rocky and friends) because of it.
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Rocky sees the adults in the movie (like the "weirdo man" and their dad) with a clearer eye than Alamein's perspective of them, despite Rocky being younger than all of them. #BSUwlit

Its interesting to see how Alamein's dad and his dad's friends come off as more childish at their first meeting while the kids take on a more mature role of providing them with tea and inviting them in. #BSUwlit

I would definitely recommend "Zahra's Paradise" and "Convenience Store Woman." I unexpectedly enjoyed "Lieutenant of Inishmore" and "Nervous Conditions" and I would probably sell back "Death of the King's Horseman." #BSUwlit

I was so mad when those two guys came to Zahra's house and essentially said they would pay her to stay silent about her son's death. When Zahra showed them to the door 👏👏👏 #BSUwlit

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I think the use of technology is also shocking in the way that the events in the story aren't from that long ago. Even in a world of technology such as mobile phones and blogs, propaganda and surveillance are still prevalent. #BSUwlit

Page 168-169 of "Zahra's Paradise" is a great example of a splash image depicting the injustices of the legal system. You see scales of justice balanced on page 169 but right below that you see it juxtaposed with the cranes (imbalance of power). #BSUwlit

"They want to wipe Mehdi off the face of time, confiscate the sound of his name, the promise of his return," (Amir and Khalil 59). Our narrator writes his blog to document the erasure the media around him is doing. #BSUwlit

Wee Thomas being alive at the end and Donny and Davey questioning the reasoning for all the violence gets at the inverse of logic and the extremity to which people will go. #BSUwlit

Joey: ..."You can't blow up a fella just because he has a funny name. It wasn't his fault," (McDonagh 29).
- Finally, someone is thinking logically.
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I wonder why Donny wants to use Davey as a scapegoat for the cat's death, especially because he already gave a different excuse to Padraic for why the cat died. #BSUwlit

What is the impact of the mc attempting and failing to k*ll himself? Do you think this was planned before the events unfolded on the train or did this instigate a more hopeless feeling? #BSUwlit

I'm curious as to why the young man in "Six Shooter" felt the need to overly involve himself in the other characters' business. Does he represent or foil them? #BSUwlit

Craig Santos Perez's poems particularly seem to follow this idea of interconnectedness of mind, body, and nature. #BSUwlit

I noted that Seamus Heaney tends to use some poetic techniques such as quatrains and alliteration. You can also spot some repetition. #BSUwlit

"She's far happier thinking her sister is normal, even if she has a lot of problems, than she is having an abnormal sister for whom everything is fine. For her, normality—however messy—is far more comprehensible," (Murata 133). #BSUwlit

expectations. I think this even ties into the arguments we were making last class about whether Keiko's job is good for her or not. #BSUwlit

"I had to keep my body in good shape, for the sake of the store," (Murata75). Keiko says taking care of herself is for the sake of the store rather than just for herself. Though in a way, working at the store is a choice she has made just for herself, rather than appealing directly to... #BSUwlit

"I just come in every day without fail, and because of that I'm accepted as a well-functioning part of the store," (Murata 43). I think what draws Keiko to the convenience store is that fact she doesn't have to mask or try so hard to fit in. She is accepted there. #BSUwlit

I found Nadia and Saeed's breakup bittersweet. You have to wonder if nothing bad where to happen to their home, would they have remained together? #BSUwlit

"A window was the border through which death was possibly most likely to come...any spot indoors with a view of the outside was a spot potentially in the crossfire," (Hamid 71). #BSUwlit

I find it interesting how Nadia and Saeed are able to navigate their relationship while the militants take over aspects of their city. It doesn't even appear to bother them that much until their phone service is cut off, therefore cutting each other off. #BSUwlit

"Thus language and literature were taking us further and further from ourselves to other selves, from our world to other worlds," (Thiong'o). Language is rooted in our identity and by stripping it away would also be to strip from one's identity. #BSUwlit

Hsiang Lin's wife, being called this instead of her real name, shows how tied women are to their husbands and how they are seen as less than (especially without them, such as being widowed). Despite being a hard worker and doing her best to raise her son, she is still looked down on. #BSUwlit

Magical realism and symbols of light and water (especially as seen in "Light is Like Water") seems to be some of the methods the author uses to communicating the message of what it is like for these kids to feel out of place. #BSUwlit

Compared to the rest of the stories we read so far, "New York Day Women" and "Caroline's Wedding" take place in America instead of Haiti. Rather than dealing with the conflicts back in Haiti, the characters must deal with what they left behind. #BSUwlit

In "The Missing Peace," it is interesting to see how the password is no longer "peace." As though, peace itself is no longer present. #BSUwlit