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I couldn't remember if we were supposed to post about "I, Rigoberta Menchu" or this Tuesday's readings so I'll just stick with posting about Rigoberta because we haven't had a full discussion about her story yet. As I looked through my notes, I came across a quote that I guess I thought was significant enough to write down. In Chapter 4, Rigoberta describes the horrid conditions of the lorry and how terribly the Quiché were treated. While my experiences will never ever compare to hers, I felt like I could relate to her when she said, "The children, who are hot and hungry, are always asking their parents for treats and it makes parents sad to see their children asking for things they can't give" (26).

A friend of mine just sent me this video, which features Steven Powers, who is the artist behind the "Love Letters" murals that you can see  from the El.

http://www.psfk.com/2011/11/graffiti-artist-paints-a-love-letter-to-brooklyn-video.html

I thought you all might like it!

Gary Snyderesque:

Hanks of dark clouds.  One glowing eye.  The full moon.  Spits of rock. Braided ribbons froth over the break water.  Storm weeps on the land. Falling, stamping its foot on the beach.  Footprint of the sky. Crash and thunder of waves, rising and swinging, seeking the soft underbreath of the waiting world.

We will never be the same. The seals give birth. Tails lift. Red bulging, writhing. Balloon of wriggling bloody seal birth. Seal pup hungers its way out, biting its placenta.  Cannibalistic. Sea gulls squawk. Greedy midwives peck and pull the afterbirth in sharp beaks. Tear it to bite-sized pieces.  Invocation to the ancient Gods, this shrine of becoming.

Based on this new piece in the Womvichorate Mode: (indebted to, departing from Snyder & some rheomode perhaps).      

(verb) To womvichorate:  (roots) woman, women, womb, belly, (vide),see, speak chorus, core, coeur, heart, orate. 

speaking as I, woman. 

vide/ seeing, eye-centering

wom/ body-centering, woman, women, womb

cor/heart-centering, emotion-centering

chor/ invoking communal speech

orate/ speech

chorate/ speaking together, centering in the body

womvi/ woman/women sight, woman/women seeing

More on the human microbiome = "your own personal ecosystem": "You’re barely human. For every one of your own cells in your body, there are many microbial ones. They not only outnumber you, but they affect your health and your mind....the Human Microbiome Project – has just unveiled the most thorough picture yet of the microscopic majority that colonises us."

At the Alison Bechdel gala hosted for frosh on Thursday night, the last question she was asked was about her bravery in coming out @ Oberlin several decades ago: She replied, "I wasn't brave. I was in a very protected place. It was like being here."

I realized today (after talking with Julia) that there might be some people in the class who don't know what posse is. Sorry if anyone felt confused/left out, if you don't know about the Posse program, please ask! If you want to check out the official posse website here is the link.  Also, Jomaira wrote a blog about posse a while ago, which was in response to some of the negativity we sometimes recieve as posse scholars (i.e: general attitude that we received a handout and that we are "lucky" to be here rather than that we "deserve" to be here).

http://news.brynmawr.edu/2012/09/27/vartanian/

This is research done by a Bryn Mawr GSSWSR professor. It ties in well with the idea of dependence that we've been discussing in Barb's class! 

As I was reading “Offending Women” I started to draw some similarities and differences from the article we read for Jody’s class, “Suspending Damage: A Letter to Communities” by Eve Tuck. Both the Need-based system and Desire based system claimed to do similar things in the way in which it reframes the way we approach women offenders. Both claim to align themselves with the marginalized in their ability to attend to their needs/desires. However, the Alliance’s institution itself seemed more to be a situation that was filled with implicit codes of dependency, disguised under the rhetoric of a needs/desire based system. They maintained power and interdependency between the women and the institution by claiming to know and attend to the “girl’s real needs.” Unlike a desire-based system, they did not bother to ask what the mothers needed. Furthermore, the implications of desire and need have more subtle but significant distinctions.  A desire does not necessarily have to be a need; a need is something deemed more necessary for living. The word need itself is limited; whereas desire can account for possibilities and hope. Need implies one only requires the bare minimum to survive, while desire leaves much more room for more abstract needs as well- such as happiness or mental stability. While I realize this may sound idealistic, I think both kinds of needs and desires are necessary.

I meant to ask you to leave w/ me what you wrote--and read--in class today;
I would like to post this as another collectively written "poem," if you are willing.
If you are, please add your answers to the questions--
"What do I need to flourish here?"
"What might we need to flourish here?"--
as comments to this post, and I'll collate them all.
Thank you all, again--
A.

Today was an emotionally intense Silence class.  It's been a few hours since class ended, but my mind is still racing, and processing.  But its 6:45 and that means my post for Barb's class is already late.  I was planning on writing a post about how the language of the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (technically last week’s reading, though I believe we’re discussing tomorrow) reading bothered me and was damage centered, but I couldn't even focus enough to pull quotes out and explain, and it seemed disingenuous to post just for the sake of posting.  But now I’m struggling with whether it’s better to not post if I’m just writing to get my checkmark or whatever, or whether it’s unfair to Barb that I am not committing enough time to her class because I feel so emotionally all over the place from another class. Should I be able to compartmentalize? Is it because the nature of the 360 that I feel I can even post these thoughts and not actually respond to the assignment? I don’t really know, looking forward to the 360 lunch tomorrow, hoping I’ll be more centered by the class time.