The events of Zone One center around the streets of New York City, specifically near the African Burial Ground Memorial. As someone who has only ever been to the city twice, I was a bit confused and never truly appreciated the details Whitehead worked so hard to create. Throughout my reading of the novel, what really sparked my interest was the mention of Buffalo. Usually, the biggest mention of my hometown I see in writing is about our wings, so it excited me to see it spoken about with such high regard, as an integral location in the rebuilding of society after the virus. I know this wasn’t the intentions of the author, but the decision of placing Buffalo as the new epicenter of civilization creates a strange connection in my head. Continue reading “Hometown Connections”
New perspectives through music
(The songs I write about in this post use foul language and some videos are very graphic. If you do decide to listen to these songs I would recommend listening all the way through.) Earlier this semester I wrote about how important communication was to work out problems. In class we discuss literature and I have learned a lot about new perspectives though our readings. Another powerful tool people are using to discuss issues is music. One of my favorite genres of music is rap and last week a song came out called “I’m Not Racist” by Joyner Lucas. It’s a very powerful song that shows people that there are always two sides to every story. Hearing people out before making generalization is very important. Taking a second and putting yourself into someone else’s shoes could change a person’s view completely. Exposure to things that a person can’t experience in their life could be portrayed to them in music and literature. Continue reading “New perspectives through music”
Acceptance
When reminiscing on the novel Clay’s Ark by Octavia Butler, I realized that the “other” animal is bought to the forefront. Post humanism oppressed co-evoution of humans with nonhumans and other forms of life. The novel shows the horrors of living and accepting a human-animal hybrid and Octavia Butler creates these characters that displays this human-animal quality. Eli, Meda, and many other characters were enhanced due to this virus and become these hybrid subject. In reality, we fear power and in this novel “the hybrids” hold power and make the humans feel like the “others” on their own land. When Media, Rane, Keira, and Eli become infected, they obtain enhanced senses, speed, strength, and telepathic characteristics. Because of this, they question what they are and wonder if they are animals in human form. Meda questions this and says “We’re changed, but we have ethics. We aren’t animals.” (pg. 39). Although they technically still have human-like appearances, they are still rejected and deemed as unnatural and evil. Jacob was born out of infected humans, but is still rejected and observed as another hybrid. The bodies of humans and hybrid children like Jacob and Joseph can also be assumed as postman bodies. Their new posthuman bodes need to interact with the new environment. For a posthuman, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they carry a new body, but that they have to accept being challenged. Both the humans and hybrids must understand each other. The non human body of Jacob stands as a barrier for the humans to accept him as one of “them.” Humanity often denies and fears deformity. Deformity is often portrayed in Clay’s Ark. Jacob had a human face but an animal body, making it almost impossible to be accepted by humans. On the other hand, Butler accepts human body, but without racial and cultural uniqueness. In reality hybrids will face a lot of problems in a human world. In a postman world, dominance of a single species is denied by Butler and multi species interaction and co evolution is exhibited. Butler challenges the theory of accepting the “other” regardless of how they look and what they do. Through her novel, she points out the flaw that many will have with accepting others based on appearance. The novel is a science fiction but relates to the class because it demonstrates how one will treat others differently based on appearance. For example the Tuskegee experiments demonstrated how white medics thought it was ok to infect african americans and neglect them treatment because they saw these people as “different” and not as one of their own. By creating this hybrid, Butler introduces ideas like human dependency, sharing, and a changed world with altered species part human.
Final Project
Reading Jennifer’s post, I was thinking that maybe I would comment, but I didn’t want to post my own blog post regarding the final. However, I have thought about it and I think that it’s important to get my thoughts out there.
Honestly, I have really struggled with this project. I feel as though everyone else had more intelligent things to say than me, and it has been a exercise in putting some of my thoughts out Continue reading “Final Project”
Pheromones are cool!
I have been interested in writing this post for a while now, but life has gotten the best of me. However, I am still interested in looking further into the idea of pheromones. This is in relation to Imago, and I’m hoping to debunk the concept that they might be creepy or predatory.
Here is what interesting information I have found from the Smithsonian’s website :
- In one study, after having females watch a sad movie in which they cried, scientists collected the tears and placed them, unidentified, under the noses of men. The men’s sexual arousal levels and testosterone levels were reduced. This shows that people subconsciously discover things other than just body odor from the way that someone smells.
The Art of Reflection through “Bloodchild”
Knowing that the end was near, I tried today to make sense of this semester’s work in what I think was the most effective way. I reread “Bloodchild.” I have heard it echoed across the blog and in the classroom that in order to make sense of what we were doing at any point, there always seemed to be value in recalling “Bloodchild.” So, I began to wonder what it was about Butler’s short story that stood out to me as emblematic of the class. Continue reading “The Art of Reflection through “Bloodchild””
Distinguishing Good and Bad
Looking back on all the information we have taken in across this semester is a daunting task, but I feel as though there are some stings of connection between all the topics we have covered. The prominence of racism in places one would never imagine it, or rather not want to imagine it. The importance of vocabulary and how the smallest detail can change an entire piece. Overall, I think the most important topic mention is how common it is for people to categorize things as good and evil. Continue reading “Distinguishing Good and Bad”
How Far we Have Come
After reflecting on my personal growth in this class in my previous blog post, I began to think about the progress of the class as a whole. Our advancement as a class was evident through our recent class activities.
In class this past week, we worked on our class collective course statement. When we began the project, we focused on Geneseo Learning Outcomes for Baccalaureate Edition (GLOBE). As we were working on this portion of the project, I began to take note of the differences from the beginning of the semester, to now. I also realized how the learning outcomes were evident in our work. Continue reading “How Far we Have Come”
Gender Binary
In the beginning of the semester, we were asked to identify the pronouns we prefer to be used when being referred to in class. It came to my attention that not enough teachers put their students preferred gender into consideration. Gender has evolved throughout history and is no longer black and white.
Across different religions and various societies, the subject of gender binary is interpreted through various lens. Gender binary is the social construction of gender in most societies in the world where gender is a contrast between male and female. Male and female gender expectations, roles, and functions are very specific. The presence of alternate genders is ignored, or made oblivious. Health, body, sexualities, education, family, work, money and law are the more predominant subtexts in culture that aid in defining gender roles. As a society, we must begin to break the stereotypes and educate one another on what the gender binary is how to conquer its strict canon.
Cultures throughout the world partake in the specific separation of the idea of only two genders. Throughout the past, gender has been seen as having only two spectrums, male and female. But as a society we are slowly adapting to the idea of the existence of more than two genders. Currently there are up to 58 ways to classify one’s gender. An example of modern day society adjusting to the shift in more than two genders is, Facebook allowing their users to customize their gender along with allowing their users to select from three different pronouns, “her”, “him”, and “their”. Facebook software engineer Brielle Harrison told the Associated Press. Harrison, who worked on the project, is in the process of gender transition, from male to female, “there’s going to be a lot of people for whom this is going to mean nothing, but for the few it does impact, it means the world”. With this slight adjustment, it helps humanity be more aware of the fact that more than two genders can exist. Another modern-day example of the slow modification of the belief of more than two genders is the creation of gender neutral bathrooms. Although gender neutral bathrooms exist, society did not react as positively as planned. Howard Blume writes in his article, “anyone looking for confirmation of the nation’s cultural divide can add education and gender-neutral bathrooms to the list of proof points. North Carolina sparked a national furor by requiring transgender people to use bathrooms corresponding to the gender on their birth certificates, citing risks to children in schools as a primary justification”. Gender neutral bathrooms are simply open to all genders to make the user more comfortable without putting stress on other users. Gender separation is a major factor to the constant assumption of only two genders. However, certain college campuses are taking a stand on banning gender separation. Freya Preimesberger states in her article, “Harvard instated a ban on all gender-segregated groups such as fraternities, sororities and single-gender clubs. UT research shows that this ban is well-founded — separation by gender is detrimental to students”. Gender separation in various cases can have its benefits along with its non-benefits. Society as a whole can work together to try and rid the idea of the existence of only two genders.
Human Rights
After reading this article titled, UN poverty official touring Alabama’s Black Belt: ‘I haven’t seen this’ in the First World, I was brought to the focus on human rights. The United Nations describes human rights as, “rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status. We are all equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination. These rights are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible.” The article on hookworm and sewage discusses the problem of contaminated water caused by sewage disposal. “‘I think it’s very uncommon in the First World. This is not a sight that one normally sees. I’d have to say that I haven’t seen this,’ Philip Alston, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.” The article then later on discussed that it is a basic human right for people to live decently. “‘There is a human right for people to live decently, and that means the government has an obligation to provide people with the essentials of life, which include power, water and sewage service,’ Alston said.”
The comments made by Alston connected me to the book, Zulus by Percival Everett. In Zulus, Alice Achitophel was stripped of her basic human rights. When the government was informed that she was carrying a baby, they wanted to take the baby away from Alice. This is a violation of multiple human rights. In specific, Alice was discriminated against due to her weight. She was overweight which was looked upon as taboo and she was treated as if she was of a lower social class. Alice was also held hostage due to her pregnancy, which is another violation of basic human rights. In Zulus, all the citizens in the communities were automatically violated when the government forced them to be sterile. Basic human rights are not something to be messing around with and can result in serious consequences when breached.