In this blog post, I will reflect on a short story called "My Name is Margaret" by (Maya Angelou). This story is about a young girl named Margaret, who works as a servant to Mrs. Cullinan house, a rich white woman. Everything seems to be going very well until at night when Mrs. Cullinan decides to call her "Mary" instead her real name. Margaret didn't like Mrs. Cullinan's decision and she felt insulted by this action. So she decided to claim her right by breaking something valuable for Mrs. Cullinan.
Did you agree with Margaret's choice to break the casserole dish and two green glass cups? The question if I agree with Margaret’s choice to break the casserole dish and two green glass cups I would answer no. I fully agree with Margaret’s nervousness and anger against Mrs. Cullinan, anyone in her place would feel insulted if someone wanted to change the identity without her consent and her approval. This is a violation of human dignity and human rights, so no one has this right, whoever he or she is. Although Mrs. Cullinan is Margaret’s chief, this does not give her the right to break the feelings of the young girl, Margaret is not a toy that she can do whatever she wants. Despite of the economic and cultural level, both are human beings with equal rights, and nobody has the right to harm the feelings of the other. But I disagree with the way Margaret chose to respond to Cullinan’s action. By breaking the casserole dish and two green glass cups that had a spiritual value for Mrs. Cullinan, Margaret sat down on the same level with her, doing a similar action and hurt the feelings of the white woman. If I were Margaret’s place, I definitely left the workplace because I can’t be productive in what I do in an environment where the values are not respected as human beings, regardless of the racial, economic, and cultural difference. But not breaking something valuable to Cullinan, but facing it and telling her that I will leave this job because my personality doesn’t allow me to work with people who do not value others for what they are and what values they carry, but depending on the color and the economic level. When have you made an important choice to either resist or not resist oppression, challenge the status quo, or refuse to obey an authority figure? During high school, I and my best friend wanted to study at an Italian University (which was recently opened in our country) for nurse, being a future nurse was the greatest wish of my parents. The idea that after graduation we would work and live in the neighboring country encouraged us even more. The high school went through preparations and preoccupations to achieve the highest scores, and the desire to be admitted to the university of dreams. Little by little the school was coming to the end, and we were very close to realizing our dream. In addition to the nursing, we applied into two other universities specifically for psychology (as a new field in our universities) and for journalism, but the nursing was our priority. During the period we were expected the answers from each university, as by irony of chance my cousin was hospitalized to make a surgery, and I should stayed and took care of her. During my stay in the hospital, I was faced with the practical work that a nurse does, so I realized that being a very sensitive person this would hinder me in my job, and I didn’t want this to affect the emotional state of the patient. I do not forget the day the results came and both of us were admitted to the university we had dreamed of, and I remember the face of my friend that was brilliant from joy. She was talking about the plans we had created, for the student life, and for the life we would create in the other country. She looked at me and was surprised by the lack of my enthusiasm, by my obvious passivity which was also understood by my parents. They couldn’t believe that I would study in another field like psychology (which was just opened and for the sake of truth we didn’t have much information about it). Who knows how many times I have gone up till the middle of the street to enroll in psychology and I am back from my dad’s phone calls that has asked me to think it and once before deciding. I had decided that psychology was the best choice for me, and it was the first decision I took without the consent of my parents.
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In this blog I read three readings about the author's writing processes and I will provide 9 quotes from each of the following articles:
Teach Writing as a Process Not a Product by Don Murray 1- "No matter how careful our criticisms, they do not help the student since when we teach the composition we are not teaching a product, we are teaching a process." (Don Murray) 2- "The writer, as he writes, is making ethical decisions. He doesn't test his words by a rule book, but by life. He uses language to reveal the truth to himself so that he can tell it to others. It is an exciting, eventful, evolving process." (Don Murray) 3- "You don't learn a process by talking about it, but by doing it." (Don Murray) The Daily Writing Routines of Great Writers by Maria Popova 1- "A writer who is waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper". (E.B. White) 2- "The editing, one's own editing, before the editor sees it, is the most important". (Maya Angelou) 3- "You read what you have written and, as you always stop when you know what is going to happen next, you go on from there." (Ernest Hemingway) Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott 1- "Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way." (E.L. Doctorow) 2- "Very few writers really know what they are doing until they've done it." (Anne Lamott) 3- "For me, and the most of the other writers I know, writing is not rapturous. In fact, the only way i can get anything written at all is to write really, really shitty first drafts." (Anne Lamott) My writing process: 1- "When I sit down to write, I always use the free writer method to write down every idea that comes to my mind about the topic I have." 2- "The writing process is like a musical melody, where every part of the script should be in full symphony with all the content." 3- "No matter how many drafts I have created for my writing, when it's time to type it on the computer I will continue editing it, until I am convinced that I have fulfilled my purpose. " Welcome to my blog page. This is my first blog post I am writing for the English Composition I course, and I will provide answers to The Proust Questionnaire to give you more insight about my personality, my visions and what I like to do.
_1.__What is your idea of perfect happiness? My idea is that perfect happiness doesn’t exist, because the human being is created in such a way that never to be content with what he has and constantly seek something new, and when he achieved what he wants he will find something else he wants. __2.__What is your greatest fear? My greatest fear is the loss of my beloved people and the loss of faith in God. __3.__What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? A trait that I most deplore in myself is that I trust the others a lot, and usually I’m disappointed from them. __4.__What is the trait you most deplore in others? The traits I most deplore in others are lies and arrogance. __5.__Which living person do you most admire? The person I most admire is my mom. I like her strong character and determination to lead things to the end. __6.__What is your greatest extravagance? My greatest extravagance was my honeymoon in Turkey. I and my husband spent a lot of money for a few trips during our staying at the resort. __7.__What is your current state of mind? My current state of mind is stressed and hopeful. I am stressed because I am away of my family and my country, in a distant, different and unknown country for me. On the other side, I am hopeful that in this country I will find out the possibilities for a better life for me and my family and the best education for me little daughter. __8.__What do you consider the most overrated virtue? The most overrated virtue is the determination. Life is a difficult way with different challenges that require determination to confront with them. __9.__On what occasion do you lie? I try to not lie, because the sincerity is the virtue that I want to cultivate in myself. __10.__What do you most dislike about your appearance? I most dislike my breast about my appearance. __11.__Which living person do you most despise? __12.__What is the quality you most like in a man? The qualities I like most in a man are sincerity, honesty, and intelligence. __13.__What is the quality you most like in a woman? The qualities I like most in a woman are intelligence, determination and independence. __14.__Which words or phrases do you most overuse? “Never give up, continue to try till you reach your goal”. __15.__What or who is the greatest love of your life? My daughter is the greatest love of my life. __16.__When and where were you happiest? I was happiest on October 16, 2010 when I was born my daughter. The best gift I have ever received. __17.__Which talent would you most like to have? The talent I would like to have is dancing, my dream when I was a little girl. __18.__If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? One thing I would change about myself is to be a person who takes things easy, and does not worry even for the smallest things that life serves us in our daily lives. __19.__What do you consider your greatest achievement? My greatest achievement was college graduation before 9 years ago in my country, and now being college student again in another country. __20.__If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be? If I were to die and come back, I would want to come back as an angel. __21.__Where would you most like to live? Wherever my family would be happy and in peace. __22.__What is your most treasured possession? My most treasured possession is a gold ring that my mom gave me on my wedding day. __23.__What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? I think that the lowest depth of misery is when you lose the purpose and mission you have come to this life. __24.__What is your favorite occupation? My favorite occupation is solving the problems. __25.__What is your most marked characteristic? My most marked characteristic is working hard and never give up. __26.__What do you most value in your friends? I most value the respect and unconditional support in my friends. __27.__Who are your favorite writers? Diana Culi, Khaled Hosseni and Danielle Steel. __28.__Who is your hero of fiction? I do not have one. __29.__Which historical figure do you most identify with? __30.__Who are your heroes in real life? My heroes in my real life are my parents. I am thankful for every sacrifice they have done for me and my brother. __31.__What are your favorite names? My favorite names are: for a girl is Rajna (my daughter’s name which it means “purity”) and for a boy is Maksim (my nephew’s name). __32.__What is it that you most dislike? I most dislike injustices and ignorance. __33.__What is your greatest regret? __34.__How would you like to die? I would like to die peacefully and spiritually fulfilled. __35.__What is your motto? With patience and perseverance, you can achieve everything. |
AuthorHello my name is Oljada Zani. This is my blog for my English Composition 1 class. Enjoy! Archives
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