Gray Bahler

This was a really big part of the story that I'm surprised we didn't talk about more! Really interesting how gender dynamics and expectations/traumas are passed down.

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This story handles abortion in a nuanced & precise manner- which I think it needs.
"She wants to tell her what it was like to wake up. . . know[ing] from the lightness in her guts that her future had been wiped blank. . . recently [she'd] started thinking about the relief in her chest."

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"All those years of resentment grouted forth: emeralds green with jealousy; seething red garnets, cold blue chunks of lapis. The stones were larger now, the size of plums. I ejected them from my mouth with the force of thrown rocks. They struck Jude's chest, his chin."

YOU GO GIRL. #BSUEng490

"Don't let her speak on her own. Back her up; speak with her. Stand by her; stand with her."(260).

"We need to use the benefits we receive to support those who do not receive these benefits" (263/264)

I loved this reading-- especially the first quote. We have to back each other up.

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"Patience was all her husband needed. Poor, mysterious Samuel. . . [had] been rattling about in the airless house like the egg in the bottle." (72)

Interesting that Beatrice believes her father just needed patience as well as her husband. The repetitive egg metaphor was poignant.

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"A scar that would always remind it of what human beings of Oomza Uni had done to it for the sake of research and academics." (94).

This has me thinking about museum culture and the ways in which we value the memories and trinkets of cultures rather than the cultures themselves.

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"Ignoring the differences of race between women and the implications of those differences presents the most serious threat to the mobilization of women's joint power." (290).

I love that this quote is so strong that it gets its own small paragraph. Even the formatting highlights it. #BSUEng490

"One of the Meduse shot towards me. I watched it come. I saw my parents, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, all gathered at a remembrance for me-- full of pain and loss." (54)
What an incredible main character, thinking of her family in what could very well have been her last moments. #BSUEng490

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"There is a type of white, male, working-class solidarity that these men have constructed and maintained, that promotes and perpetuates racism, sexism, and homophobia"

a cartoon of spongebob squarepants laying on the ground next to a pizza box . ALT: a cartoon of spongebob squarepants laying on the ground next to a pizza box .

"'Then you understand the difference it made to me,' he said, 'meeting the others. The world transformed itself around me: the stakes shot up, colors were so beautiful they hurt, life became almost unimaginably sweet and almost unimaginably frightening." (C19)

ok so what if i cried RN.

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"But I can safely say that I've never got into a fight because I was so emotionally involved that I couldn't resist beating the holy crap out of someone. . . Can you say the same?" (C14)

Oh, sure, it's her emotions getting in the way of the investigation. A Typical hysterical woman 😒

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Lexie (or whatever her real name is):

"The control freak was always going to kill his wife the first time she refused to follow orders; your daughter happened to be the one who married him."

SUCH a good example of how we look over victims (as Cassie was talking about). This is just typical stuff that happens to women🤷‍♂️. #BSUEng490

"the potential of young women comes to be attached to a new form of consumer citizenship" (624)

I can think of a million examples of marketing focused on 'what girls can do', what specifically comes to mind is sports (Nike) commercials.

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"They had to be impossible to talk to; those tight, polished syncopations didn't leave room for anyone else. . . [Lexie had] rearranged them inch by inch till she made a place for herself" (85).

LOVING the writing style of this book. This quote gives such a good view of the characters.

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This! When you think about performing gender, it makes me think that you can do it right and wrong, it seems like doing something masculine as a woman would be looked down upon or vice versa
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"I take a little comfort in the fact that he chose to be lying here with me. It matters, even though I still feel lonely with him there." (173).

Freshwater's ending was not done as well as I would have liked. It threw in a lot that could have been expanded in a short amount of time.

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"I was getting a little sad. Maybe her grief was contagious." (Emezi 233)

It's always really interesting to see Asughara feeling such human emotions, especially considering that this is the event that brought her to Ada.
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"These cyborgs are the people who refuse to disappear on cue" (Haraway 352). BARS!!

I found the Cyborg Manifesto incredibly interesting. It touched on a lot of topics that are still really relevant today, despite being 40 years old. The talk of being One (52) was the good type of weird.

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I wasn't sure about Freshwater to start, but the rich inner voices of every character & the tension that they have with each other has really drawn me in. I'm not sure if I just noticed this or if it's becoming more apparent, but I love that the 'alters' have such different body languages #BSUEng490

The new characters are really interesting (and a good change of pace, I think,). They give interesting new perspectives on the Ada's issues.

"She seemed very lonely. . . To be so in love with this Christ. Why disturb herself with him if it was giving her so much pain?" (61 in mine)

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"because gender is not a fact, the various acts of gender, and without those acts would be no gender at all." (Butler 484).

"Before the christ-induced amnesia struck the humans, it was well known that the python was sacred, beyond reptile." (20).
I think this links really well into some of my discussions outside of class about The Wonder and the intricacies about indoctrination- purposeful or not. #BSUEng490

My big 4 thoughts:

1. Girls & Secret Keeping as a common form of manipulation
2. Lib having a spiritual awakening? as she burns down the house
3. Annas death / Nans rebirth as resurrection like
4. Fire destroyed Annas body while her starvation was trying to remove Pat from the flames.
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This article takes a fascinatingly odd approach to raising a child-- implying that mothers can either raise a child in a calculated, emotionally removed way, or to love the child-- but not both. It is really accurate to the struggle Lib has felt until this point in the book. #BSUEng490

"If Earth was such unworthy soil for God's best specimens, why did he perversely plant them there? What could possibly be the point of their short, blighted lives?" (133). Yet another example of Lib twisting/disrespecting their religion, but with a personal twist!
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Even with the realization of her brothers death (SO obvious,) Lib continues to look down upon the O'Donnells. AND WHATS UP with Lib calling Kitty a creature!? She did it TWICE. I know her POV serves a purpose narratively and critically but that doesn't mean I have to like reading it. #BSUEng490

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