Quiz

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/quizzes/runons_quiz.htm

Kyle Scudder Final Project Image

Microtia

Final Research Paper Overview

This is the visual pathway, from the source of input to the primary visual cortex.

This shows the "what" and "where" pathways that are associated with recognition.  This is an incredibly complex process that is not completely understood.  This includes being able to recognize objects from a variety of perspectives, object constancy, as well as being able to recognize faces and where certain objects are.  The "what" and "where" pathways also emphasize specific areas of the brain, depending upon whether the individual is focusing on a specific object (foveal vision) or something in peripheral areas.  There are a number of deficits involved with these pathways as well such as prosopagnosia (the inability to recognize faces).

I am utilizing Riders of the Purple Sage and Sea of Tranquility to show how the science behind these pathways can be exemplified through literature.  It is emphasized that Jane is metaphorically blind throughout the novel, and it could be argued that her blindness results from a failure in recognition.  While the man from Sea of Tranquility suffers from a loss of eyesight and in turn a failure of recognition when he is holding his son for the first time.  The literature provides an image of these scientific processes as well as the faults.

Response to Discussion Leading

In response to James and Emily's fourth discussion question: "In the end, is the driving need to be fertile and conceive a mostly natural one, or one that is ingrained in us by society?," I think that these days, women are becoming less expected to become mothers and have children. Society used to believe that all women had to become mothers, that all women had to conceive and raise children, and that all women had to take care of the household. These days, things are completely different. While there are some people who still hold the belief that women must become mothers, raise children and take care of the household, society has changed and women are pursing a higher education and working jobs outside of their home. Many women do not have a desire to become mothers, and they will not give in to the pressure of anyone.

On the other hand, some women have pressure from their family members like sisters, cousins, or even good friends. When family members that are close to women such as their sisters become mothers, the rest of the family may start to question that women's choices and why she has not had a child yet, whether she is in a committed relationship or not. Mothers, aunts, sisters, and even cousins can have an effect on women who have no desire to become mothers, and they can try to push them into thinking about having a child when they don't want to have a child at all. I think that although society has changed and that many people are accepting of the fact that not all women want to become mothers and raise children, that some people, like mothers who want to become grandmothers, try to force their daughters to find the "perfect man" and start a family when that may not be their ideal life path at that point in time. I think that people need to be more respectful of women's choices and not try to push them into doing something that they do not want to do or becoming something that they do not want to be.

My Year of Meats Ch 11- Epilogue Discussion Leading (James Lillin and Emily Teach)

A brief summation of the chapter: Both Akiko and Jane wake up in the hospital, Akiko from the rape and beating received by "John", and Jane from the severe blow to the head in the meat factory. Jane has a miscarriage of her stillborn baby, having died days ago. When she calls Sloan, he blows up and they become estranged, while Akiko conceives a child. Jane is fired from the show but retains enough of her slaughterhouse tape to create a documentary about the meat industry and treatment of animals. Akiko gathers the strength to leave John, and leaves to go to America where she visits Lara and Dyann, and the Beaudroux family. Jane gets back together with Sloan as Bunny's distribution of the documentary tapes sparks worldwide interest and debate. She gets closure with Suzie flowers as Akiko's child grows while she lives with Lara and Dyann, and everything appears to be resolved, although ending on a somber note with Jane reminiscing over a peak incidence age for "DES daughters".






1) "She studied the woman's battered face: the lip was split and started to heal; the fading bleed of yellow, green and blue skin that ringed both her eyes told of older battles, as did the thin white scar above her brow." This is probably the least gut wrenching description of the abuse that occurs throughout the book. Violence and sex are both extremely sensually described in the book. Did it make you uncomfortable, or was the method of description justified?

2) “There is another young husband waiting here, anxiously pacing up and down. His wife is having a baby. My heart is heavy with grief and envy. Promise me that the next time the anxious young husband will be me.” These are the last delivered words of good ol' John Wayno, written in the letter given to Akiko in the hospital. What a gigantic, monstrous asshole. The novel has a very complicated relationship with gender portrayal. Is John, in the end, anywhere near a sympathetic character, and could he have been developed better? Also, What’s the significance that Jane is unable to carry a boy to term, and Akiko is completely sure that her developing child is a girl?

3) When Jane learned of how Akiko was affected by My American Wife, she said that  “Akiko’s fax threw me for a loop… up until now I’d never really imagined my audience before… Now it hit me: what an arrogant and chauvinistic attitude this was. While I’d been worrying about the well-being of the American women I filmed as subjects, suddenly here was the audience, embodied in Akiko, with a name and a valuable identity” Both the American and Japanese characters in the book show a perturbing degree of ethnocentric and concern for only the morals and happenings in this country. Is this a natural thing? A Healthy one? How does it affect the actions of the characters in the novel?


4) "Like one of those science documentaries on television. I could see it up close in my mind from the fertilization right through the implantation, the little blastocyst burrowing deep into my uterine tissue. Well, it's going to take a while longer to really settle in there, but to all intents and purposes, I'm pregnant..."  It's appropriate that fertilization is described so viscerally in a novel that holds such stock in the importance of fertility. In the end, is the driving need to be fertile and conceive a mostly natural one, or one that is ingrained in us by society? 

5) In what is perhaps a slightly heavy-handed bit of foreshadowing, before the epilogue, in the church with Jane, Sloan, and Mrs. Helen, the choir sings “It Remains to Be Seen What He Can Do For Me”, and in the remaining section of the book pretty much everything goes right and peachy for Akiko and Jane. Jane gets with Sloan, Akiko goes and visits families from My American Wife and goes on wonderful adventures on the Chicken Bone Express (WHICH IS TOTALLY NOT A THING), settling down to watch her baby grow with the lesbian couple from the show, Jane’s documentary is a smash, Gale gets his just desserts, BEEF EX is implicated in the whole affair and a firestorm starts about their involvement, John Wayno is demoted, as is Kenji, and Suzie Flowers calls saying that she absolutely adored the show, sound effects and all, and that her husband got back with her. In the last page of the book, Jane says “I don’t think I can change my future simply by writing a happy ending. That’s too easy and not interesting.”

Did Ruth Ozeki write an overly happy ending for her? Is the epilogue a realistic and satisfying way to end the book?

Samsara Meat Video

I came across this video months ago and decided to look it up again because it fits perfectly into our class discussion we had earlier today. It's the true and disturbing reality of meat processing yet the video is very interesting even though it's hard to watch at some points.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIFVbxqAGY8

My Year of Meats Ch 9-10

I felt like these chapter were a turning point for the book. I've realized that I'm waiting for Jane and Akiko to meet, I'm waiting for Akiko to leave John, and I'm waiting for Jane to lose her job and now that Akiko has become more bold and Jane is taking her work a step further I feel like things will come together in the end.

I also felt like, with the information in Dyann's articles about the meat industry and Akiko being sick and John's reactions to the meat that someone might die in the end. That instead of enhancing, the meat will make someone really sick. Maybe John? The very thing that he lives for, basically, is the thing that will kill him in the end?

Dyann's article also said that the slogan for that particular meat industry was "You call the shots" and I thought it was funny that she said that to John and kind of compared him to the horrible meat packing industry. She wasn't really giving him any power, she was mostly mocking him by giving him what he wanted.

Victoria Thompson: Discussion Leading

Chapters 9-10:

1.) "I haven't yet aborted, although I did deposit your check." (Ozeki 208).

This quote refers to when Jane is talking to Sloan about their baby.  She sent him a fax after continuously ignoring his calls.  Why do you think Jane didn't get the abortion?  Does she actually want the baby or does she just like the idea of a baby?

2.) "I will visit Chicago and Colorado and scout both women,  I will send you my opinions, but of course, the final decision is yours.  You call the shots." (Ozeki 208).

This quote is from Jane's letter to "John" Ueno.  She is talking about the changes she wants to make to the show and her new approach.  Why did Jane tell "John" her plans for the show if she knew he wouldn't like them?  Why is she being so submissive to him when she is the one with the power?

3.) "Life is bloody, she thought, wiping her mouth.  I don't mind, because it can't be helped."(Ozeki 251).  

Here Akiko is thinking to herself days after "John" has raped her.  Why is Akiko so accepting of the rape?  Why doesn't she leave him instead of staying and taking all of his abuse?  Is this a common thing of the time or is she just extremely emotionally scarred from "John's" abuse?  

4.) "Bunny's" husband and Akiko's husband share one thing in common; a name.  Do you think they share anything else in common?  Can you draw any parallels between them?  

5.) Did this chapter change your opinion on meat?  When Jane was going through the farm did you feel differently about the meat you see as a normal part of your diet?     

 

Brea Spinelli CBI

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/fawn-weaver/what-is-the-proper-role-o_b_4993332.html


    We all recognize that My Year Of Meats its just about a closer look at the controversy with the meat industry, its about the story of Jane and Akikos self- discovery of them as women. My Year Of Meats is based around this show called My American Wife which is a cooking show about the "typical" American wife. Jane is responsible for finding American housewives who are wholesome and attractive who will open her home to the cameras and make a meal whose centerpiece is some kind of beef dish. This aspect of the book bothered me. Why is it obligation that women need to be this perfect housewife and why are women perceived as that in the media?
     I found this article from the Huff post called What Is The Proper Role of a 21st century wife?  by Fawn Weaver. The article is about how the author once attempt to be a stay at home mom, she left her job for sabbatical but still worked on several projects during it. Then somehow down the road she thought shed be a better wife and mother if she stayed at home. Her husband questioned that thought "Honey, I'm not trying to be funny but you're not built to be a stay-at-home mom. Every day, I'd come home from work and the kids would run up to me, 'Daddy, please save us from mommy! She's trying to turn us into another one of her projects!'". Then she goes on talking about her friend, Courtney Joseph, author of Women Living Well, she loves being a homeschooling stay-at-home mom and wife with sole responsibility of domestic duties. Its been her dream since she was a little girl and she's now living out that dream. The first time I met Courtney, I found it incredibly refreshing to see the pure joy in her eyes when she talked about being a stay-at-home mom and wife. Then the author goes on saying how that same feeling Courtney gets from being a domestic housewife is the same feeling she gets from sharing a business idea with her husband. She says that her friend Courtney is the perfect example of a 21st century wife and so is she...the working wife and mother. She ask the question    
So what is the proper role of a 21st century wife? Whatever you want it to be.  "Whatever brings the most joy to you and your spouse." She also quotes "You are beautiful. You are wonderful. You are unique. So don't make your role as wife look like a cookie cutter image of anyone else. Don't allow anyone outside of your home to define the roles within it."
        Reading this made me think of the two women, Jane and Akiko. Both these women are very different but both are women who are just trying to discover who they are their place. The pressure of looking perfect,being the perfect wife, and being good at her job push her too her limits. Jane cheats on john and is left with an unwanted pregnancy. Akiko on the other hand wants a child and find it very difficult to get pregnant. Akiko thinks about the episode of My American Wife! with the lesbians and realizes she cannot find happiness with her husband. As Akiko reaches this conclusion, her husband's occasional abuse.
         Having the body of a women we think have this maternal need to find a husband and get pregnant....but why is that the case. Women can have more, we can have a successful job, we can have a family, we can have happiness. There doesn't need to be this pressure to be perfect. The irony of My Year of Meats is that the show they are perceive are these perfect, attractive housewives but the women in the book are far from perfect. Like Weaver says women don't need to be some cookie cutter way.

Luke Dumke CBI

I decided to relate a specific article to Akiko's eating disorder. Throughout My Year of Meats, it is very clear that she is bulimic, throwing up everything she's eaten after she's done consuming it. However, I wanted to aim toward a different point of view because in today's society, it seems as if people only recognize disorders such as bulimia and anorexia to be conditions that only females suffer from. But that is not the case.

I found this article on the Huffington Post about someone's first-hand experience living with bulimia.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-cuban/men-eating-disorders_b_4150441.html

Within the article, it describes how people at school, and unfortunately even his own mother, used to call him fat, which eventually led him to become bulimic.

The saying "Sticks and stones" is, according to the writer, Brian Cuban, one of the biggest body misconceptions. He notes that "Words do hurt, words can cause permanent damage."

The writer of the article also goes into male body stereotypes, and how much the "norms" of being a male can affect the way younger men view themselves as.

          -Men have to be strong

          -Men are leaders

          -Men don't worry about weight

          -Men don't starve themselves

Also, mentioned toward the bottom of the article, a statistic from the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) states that around 800,000 men have suffered from bulimia and/or anorexia. Yet, as mentioned, these numbers aren't accurate because men tend to "hide in the shadows of the disorder" simply because of the stereotypes mentioned above.

So, even despite that Akiko is a woman and that anorexia and bulimia are primarily viewed upon as a disorder that women only suffer from, I found Brian Cuban's article highly intriguing. It's rare when the focus of bulimia and anorexia are centered on men, but it is very clear that not only woman suffer from the conditions.