In class on Tuesday, we read the beginning of Susan-Lori Parks’ play, Imperceptible Mutabilities. Parks sets up a situation that forces the audience to think about their role as observers in theater, literature, or other forms of art. Mona, Chona, and Verona are watching Wild Kingdom which is a documentary series where the host “Marlin Perkins explores various animals in their natural habitats.” The naturalist/Dr. Lutsky is observing them as they watch Perkins. We are then witnessing all of these interactions on the page (or on stage). In my reading of this play, Parks is commenting on the relationship between the viewer and the performer and the inevitable involvement of the audience in the show simply by having seen it.
“S-K” IS /SK/ AS IN “AXE”
In the last week I have taken two of my teacher certification exams, so Education is the primary current running through me at the moment. As a result, I can’t help but focus my attention on Molly’s character in Suzan-Lori Parks’ Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom. Early in the play, she seems to string together a series of phrases that are unrelated to the situation at hand, such as, “I lie down you lie down he she it lies down,” and, “The-little-lamb-follows-closely-behind-at-Mary’s-heels-as-Mary-boards-the-train.” She questioned the phrases, pointing out the absurdity of a lamb boarding a train (25). Likely, these are phrases that she was taught to memorize during her formal education, and they come to mind as she recalls being thrown out of school.
Of Molly’s words, what stands out most to me is the repetition of, “S-K is /sk/ as in ask.” It’s fairly common for people, especially children, to produce the word “axe” in speech instead of “ask,” as Molly does later on. Based on what she is saying, it appears she was receiving phonics instruction intended to change this tendency. Continue reading ““S-K” IS /SK/ AS IN “AXE””
The Silent Viewer
This semester in Dr. Fallon’s English class, I’ve read multiple pieces of literature involved with the concept on worldmaking. For instance, our class read works on early European exploration and famous tales of utopias. Every reading the class has encountered plays with the notion of a new or different world. In addition to these stories of exploration and utopias, we read William Shakespeare’s famous play, The Tempest. The Tempest applies to this worldmaking context due to the formation of a new society on an isolated island after a shipwreck. I enjoyed engaging in Shakespeare’s work in Dr. Fallon’s class. Little did I know I would be looking back at The Tempest as parts of it apply to Dr. McCoy’s class as well. Continue reading “The Silent Viewer”
Response to Analiese Vasciannie’s Post “My Theory Between ‘Big Machine’ and ‘Us'”
First of all, I would like to thank Analiese for her post, specifically because I did not draw the connection between the movie being called “Us” and the U.S. This was something I overlooked on my mission to watch a Jordan Peele movie without carrying expectations of repetitiveness, like I wrote about in my last blog post on anticipation. There are probably plenty of small clues I overlooked in the Peele film. Anyway, I would like to discuss the brilliant comparison of “Us” to “Big Machine.” Both works deal with inner meanings and workings that really do apply to the overall status of American capitalist society. A concept that I think, as college students, we often have the privilege to overlook, even when it is put directly in our line of vision. Continue reading “Response to Analiese Vasciannie’s Post “My Theory Between ‘Big Machine’ and ‘Us’””
The Value of ‘Kitchen Talk’
A few weeks ago, I attended the Steve Prince lecture “Kitchen Talk: The Art of Steve Prince” in the Doty Recital Hall. I’ve been to other events of Steve Prince’s like his “Urban Garden” Community Project and I really enjoyed the way he incorporated the students of Geneseo into his artwork. He wanted us to work on the art project with him and be a part of the experience. I’ve never experienced anything like that, and it really spoke to me.
A Semiotic Reading of a Courthouse
Two weeks ago, I traveled to St. Louis with six other English students and Dr. Paku to present a paper at the Sigma Tau Delta International Convention. During the last day of our visit we went to a courthouse that had been preserved as a national landmark and turned into a museum. As it turned out, this particular courthouse held the first hearing in the case of Dred Scott v. Irene Emerson in 1846, when Scott sued Emerson for his freedom. The experience was so intense and interesting that I knew I wanted to bring into our blog, but I hadn’t yet the language necessary to make the connections to our course. However, after returning to Suzan-Lori Parks’s “Elements of Style,” I think I am ready to unpack what I saw. Continue reading “A Semiotic Reading of a Courthouse”
Suzan-Lori Parks
As I began to look over the reading that we did together in class on Friday, there were several parts I found myself drawn to that either related to something else we have done thus far in the course or in my own personal life and experiences. The first quote that I really paid attention to was, “the last thing American theatre needs is another lame play” (Parks, 7). Reading this made me think back to my high school English classes and the emphasis that they put on plays and theatre. I remember reading an array of “outside the norm” novels throughout, but when it came to the theater portion, we did the stereotypical thing and read a Shakespeare play for every year of high school.
The quote from Parks also made me think about the course epigraph, “Black literature is taught as sociology, as tolerance, not as a serious, rigorous art form.”–Toni Morrison, from a 1989 interview with Bonnie Angelo. Just as Morrison sees that black literature is (possibly) just another chapter that the sociology professors feel they have to get through, that is how theater felt for me throughout high school. Shakespeare was just another unit that we had to get through so that we could take the standardized test and move on with our lives. So personally, I think that the very thing American theatre needs is more lame plays. Maybe it will stop teachers from teaching the same play year after year and will bring some enthusiasm back into the classroom.
Another section of the text that stood out to me this week was on page fifteen of Suzan-Lori Park’s book, “dance If you’re one who writes sitting down, once before you die try dancing around as you write. It’s the old world way of getting to the deep shit” (Parks, 15). As I was writing a research paper for a class I am taking with Professor Gillin, I had this running through the back of my mind. I was not tempted to get up and start dancing around the floor lounge or my dorm room, but I did find that when I hit a “wall” that when I moved to a different part of the floor that I was more focused and I suddenly was able to write.
The last piece that stood out to me was again from page fifteen, “laughter is very powerful– it’s not a way of escaping anything but a way of arriving on the scene” (Parks, 15). There were many things that happened in my life this week, where I felt as though the only response (other than crying) was to just bust out laughing. I found that when I did this it kind of was like “oh my God this is really happening”. It made me realize that maybe the people that are laughing all the time are not always happy but are indeed masking the pain, such as smiling while running as Sean pointed out in class.
Read with yr whole experience
I’ve recently become very aware of context. Specifically, how easily something can be taken out of context. A few semesters ago, I took a class on Northern Irish Poetry. It was–and remains–one of my favorite classes that I have taken here at Geneseo. Because I was so in love and absorbed with the content of the class, the themes began to carry themselves into other areas of my life. I started to see myself making connections with the course everywhere that I went. In this case, it wasn’t a negative thing! I stayed thinkING throughout the semester.
A close RE-reading of “You and I Are Disappearing –Bjorn Hakannson”
After writing my previous blog post, “A Close Read of “You and I Are Disappearing””( https://morrison.sunygeneseoenglish.org/2019/03/24/a-close-reading-of-you-and-i-are-disappearing/ ), it was brought to my attention that I misinterpreted the author of the poem. The title of the poem is followed by “Bjorn Hakannson”, however, he is not the author of the poem. As Professor McCoy pointed out to me, the actual author is the same author as the poem “Facing It”, Vietnam War veteran Yusef Komunyakaa. After finding out this information, I re-read the poem with the correct knowledge of the author and interpreted it in a much different way than I had originally. Continue reading “A close RE-reading of “You and I Are Disappearing –Bjorn Hakannson””
Making Connections (And a Bracelet)
While watching A Raisin in the Sun on Monday, I had multiple moments in which a lightbulb went on over my head and I was jotting things down because it had reminded me of something we’ve already read or watched this semester. Connecting the film to course material from earlier in the semester had reminded me of the first day of class when Dr. McCoy had given each of us three beads and string to form a bracelet. I saw the three similarities I found between the different course material and the film as being representative of the beads and A Raisin in the Sun as being the string or thru line, tying each of the course materials together into one piece. Continue reading “Making Connections (And a Bracelet)”