Brown Girl Dreaming #3

                                   Children's Literature

      In Brown Girl Dreaming, a book by Jaqueline Woodson, we learn of a young, African American girl’s experience with segregation. Do I think this subject should be ban from a school? Not at all! I agree with the idea in class today, that suggested she “soften” the content in the book. I think that proves Woodson’s reason for writing the book in poem form, with meaning behind her words, that suggests a different, deeper context is hidden. She wanted it to be a young children’s literature, and I admire that.

          
The training- “You know you have to get those trainings, she says, and out mom nods. They won’t let you at the counters without them. Have to know what to do when those people come at you.” (p.76).

   
    In this memory, we understand that there was a specific training involved in the fight to end segregation throughout the south. Woodson doesn’t involve any type of serious violence, and imagery of violence, as she could of. So I continue to believe that there is no reason to look at this literature, as unfit for young children.

      My sister and I have different dad’s, she is molto. I want to think that racism no longer exists, and no African American has experiences segregation today, unfortunately it’s not true. I Have witnessed my sisters struggle in situations where she was named, and degraded in ways I have never experienced. The misunderstanding that African Americans are any less than white Americans, is ridiculous. I simply cannot understand at all, how a person can think like that. But, I grew up never realizing the difference in color. Calling my sister’s dad, dad, I had no clue. It’s all I knew. Until my mom asked me if I wanted to see my biological father. Shocker! I was about eight when I really thought about the difference in skin color. Though nothing between any of us had ever changed with that realization. Skin color doesn’t make up who we are.

      I think Woodson’s story is good for young reader. To me, this book serves at an important truth in our history. As a white girl, or any other ethnicity, and either gender, this is a part of our past. I would never think of this information as a threat to young readers in any way. Taking this away from a child’s knowledge would be unethical to me. 

Feminist Literary Synthesis WILD

                  Feminist Literary Synthesis WILD 

When analyzing Cheryl Strayed’s book Wild, it’s very clear that she challenged both gender roles in her experience as a hiker.  Cheryl struggles with the weight of her pack, but along the way, she builds the strength to manage her necessities on her back. When the men she met on the trail were shocked at the sight of “monster”, you get an understanding of how repulsively massive it is. So many comments were made that defined her as weak, or incapable, because she is a woman.  

       

    “We were taking bets who’d arrive first. You or the boy’s back east coming up from behind you      

    “Who won?”

    “No-one”, he said and boomed with laughter. “None of us bet on you.” (p.207)

Cheryl always seems to surprise the people she meets throughout her hike, always getting the comments of how unexpected it is that she is doing this. Doing it as a woman. Doing it alone. I think that she is an inspiration to women who enjoy outdoor activities, and her stories enlighten women’s thoughts on being capable of such an adventure in the wilderness.

      

    “I was dying to meet them of course- but I wanted to meet them as the woman who’d left them in her dust instead of the woman they’d overtaken.” (P.190)

Learning she has two men following short behind her, started around the same time, and coming from the south, Cheryl automatically wants to be seen as a woman who can hold her weight. In this experience, Cheryl pushes herself to beat the boys to camp, her expectations of being perceived as strong, influenced her to pick up pace.

I think a lot of us agreed in class, that when creating the lists of men, and woman traits, we found most of the women’s associated with a degrading, and weak characteristics. I have to say, I think there should be some kind of balance in the gender traits between both sexes. I know that in my relationship, we share a mix between the two lists, and it helps to understand one another’s feelings in situations. My significant other is more “compromising”, and “verbal”, as I am more “stoic”, and “stubborn”. Together it fits like yin, and yang, two opposites, creating a whole. I think we need to be more understanding of mixed gender traits in today's society, because today, these mixed traits are become a norm. Seeing a women as bread winners, with business success, or a stay at home dad, with household chores. These are more common today, and should be more understood, because they are becoming today's norms. 

Textual Background WILD

                                     Textual Background WILD

            “Alone wasn’t a room anymore, but the whole wide world.” (P.236)

I have to say, Cheryl’s experience in wilderness, and on the hike, was therapeutic in a way. I personally find that being with nature, helps me to find a sense of serenity. With serenity, the feeling of relaxed calmness comes over me, and I am content with the world. I thought it was interesting that in Cheryl’s writing, she recalled memories, flashbacks, of the things she needed most to reflect on, in order to move forward. I think we can all relate to the significance of needing to recollect, and reflect on instances in our lives.

I found that there are nature based therapy’s. It’s an interesting way to find therapy, and I find any kind of natural way to deal with stress and struggles, to be the best option. In nature based therapy I found animal assisted therapy, nature meditation, and physical exercise in a natural environment. I think the environment around you has a huge effect on your performance. Breathing fresh air outside, and smelling accustomed scents can be soothing. The scenery in a natural environment can be comforting, and influential in the nature experience. Clearing your mind, and finding a sense of self outdoors can be inspiring in a way that you experience epiphanies.

         

 “But hiking the PCT was hard in a different way. In a way that made the other hardest things, the tiniest bit less hard.” (P.191)

           

  “Many health care researchers and practitioners say that ecotherapy (also known as green therapy, nature therapy, and earth-centered therapy) -- a term coined by pastoral counselor Howard Clinebell in his 1996 book of the same name -- can have regenerative powers, improving mood and easing anxiety, stress, and depression.” (www.webmd.com).

Cheryl experiences pain, exhaustion, and deprivation. With all those thoughts and feelings at the time, Cheryl didn’t have any easy phase of reflecting, but she does. The time she screamed for her mother in the woods, was an emotional barrier, that she finally released in a way. I think this is a great way to deal with personal struggles, and defiantly something I would do myself.


 http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/nature-therapy-ecotherapy?page=1

Author's Information WILD

                                 Author's Information WILD

          Cheryl was born in Strangler Pennsylvania September 17^th, 1968. Later moving to McGregor Minnesota, Cheryl attended McGregor High School, where she was a sports cheerleader, and earned the votes to be homecoming queen. First attending the University of St. Thomas, Cheryl later transferred to the University of Minnesota, where she earned her bachelor degree in English. 1991 is the year she lost her significantly close mother. Struggling to cope with her loss, Cheryl turned to sex and heroin, masking the feelings of grief and denial. Committing adultery, and lacking the emotional commitment, she finalized her divorce in 1995, changing her last name to Strayed. Soon after the divorce, at twenty-six years old, Cheryl started her 1,100-mile hike on the Pacific Crest Trail. Hiking the PCT, she traveled alone three months, from the Mojave Desert, through California, and Oregon, to Washington. successfully finishing the PCT hike, Cheryl stayed to live in Portland, Oregon. In Portland, 1999, she remarried filmmaker Brian Lindstrom. With her husband she had two children, one of which acted as a young Cheryl in the movie Wild. 2006 Cheryl published her first book, Torch. Following her novel, she wrote short stories. “Munro County,” earned her the Pushcart Prize in 2010. Others appeared in such publications as The Best American Essays, The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine and Salon. In 2012, Strayed’s book Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail was published. The book hit No. 1 on The New York Times Bestseller List, and became Oprah Winfrey’s first pick for her re-imagined book club.” (www.biography.com).

             Learning the reality of the authors life, really makes the story so much more personal. Like you know the women behind the mask. The women who’d experienced the visuals you had in your head when reading. The connection between you and the book, becomes the connection between you, and the person who experienced it. That person is out there, and those situations can be life lessons, a sense of hope, or whatever the case may be. These stories are relatable, therefore, so much more personal. 



http://www.biography.com/people/cheryl-strayed

Reader Response WILD

                               Reader Response WILD

        In the reader’s responses on Goodreads, I found so much negative feedback on the thoughts of Cheryl Strayed’s, Wild. I think Cheryl’s lack of preparedness, along with self-destructive life choices, makes for a bad reputation. The way Cheryl reflects her past in writing, can give the audience a lack of empathy, assuming Strayed is looking for pity.

Such as, Nikiverse stating, “Wahhh, I did heroin and cheated on my husband and my life's a mess. Wahhh I'm too tired to even masturbate. Wah! I slept without protection and got an abortion! I lost my toenailz. I have godzilla skin on my hips because my backpack weighs so much!”

         I disagree with those thoughts on Strayed’s story. When I read the book, I felt a connection with a woman struggling from loss, suffering grief, and attempting a sense of self-fulfillment. I think those are attributes to a story of physical and psychological self-care, like Megan C. Brown suggested in her thoughts of a new sub-genre, “self-help”. These specific features in Strayed’s book, gave me a different understanding of independence, and self-reliance. The metaphors and lessons give me a different perspective on such a diverse way to cope, and grow as a woman, with struggles that so many others can relate to. 

Critical Commentary WILD

                                     Critical Commentary WILD

      Megan C. Brown suggests from a New York times article, the thought of a new, “sub-genre”, a self-help memoir. Brown writes, “These memoirs have much to say, to be sure, about physical and psychological self-care, but they also teach readers about the biopolitically linked matters of normative productivity, efficiency, and the management of relationships, particularly as these function within the context of US neoliberalism.” (360)

               

    “The memoir encourages readers to look within and find a way to be productive rather than self-destructive…” (366). I find comfort in this kind of reading, a way to cope, and to deal with similar struggles I’ve encountered. I have a dysfunctional family, I have seen firsthand friends and family struggling with drug abuse, as well as experiencing loss. With all these examples, I can relate to some of Cheryl’s experiences, and reading someone else’s perspective gives me exactly the kind of self-help Brown refers to.

              

     Page 259, Cheryl says she is like a guy sexually. DETACHED. Cheryl admits to her therapist a personal, and emotional secret. This is a time in Cheryl’s book, where she reevaluates her circumstances in comparing herself to a man, sexually. In this part of Cheryl's life, she is searching for a kind of self-fulfillment, an understanding of the way certain circumstances impacted her life. Cheryl sees the resemblance in her gender with the opposite sex. There is nothing wrong with shared gender traits between sexes, and I think Cheryl sees that when she accomplishes the 1,100 mile walk on the Pacific Crest Trail. We should be able to poses the traits of each gender without it being degrading. A woman with a lot of sexual partners is perceived as promiscuous, and has a problem, but a man, well, that’s just normal.

      

       Brown mentions the book Go Ask Alice, my all-time, go-to book as a young teen. I have looked to this particular book for some kind of security, because being able to relate, gives me a sense of liberation. Learning that you are not the only one, that there is a way to get through circumstances you thought would be the end of you, provides a feeling of freedom, of self-awareness, and acceptance. In the thought of a new sub-genre, I agree that it would benefit readers looking for a specific story, for some kind of “self-help”. From familiarity, I have read these types of books, looking for that exact self-actualization in my own life experiences. 

Wild #2

                                        Equality

When Cheryl lost her mother to cancer, she struggled to accept the truth. Cheryl went to men for comfort, walking herself into a divorce, she experimented with heroin, and took a leap deciding to walk the PCT. On a roller-coaster ride, Cheryl was looking for ways to avoid the truth; her mother, the rock that held their family together, was gone. With each of Cheryl's parents, she learned equality, and power as a woman. Recollecting memories with her parents on her journey through the PCT, Cheryl finds ways they have influenced her, building her character on the hike, and a sense of who she is, and what she wants for herself as a woman.

                 "I never got to be in the driver's seat of my own life," She'd wept to me once, in the days after she learned she was going to die. "I always did what someone else wanted me to do. I've always been someone's daughter or mother or wife. I’ve never just been me."(P.538) 

Cheryl stated these words because they stuck to her like glue. The words her mother speaks here are significant in understanding that no matter what is thrown at you, take the driver's seat in your life. Don't let someone have complete control over you, without considering what is best for yourself. This gives Cheryl a kind of power as a woman, an inspiration to follow her dreams, never letting anything stop her from what she wants. This information is important for people who go every day, pretending to be someone, for someone else. Know who you are, and fight for your most desired wishes in life. Never give that up, because in the end, you may look back and wonder what you did for yourself.

“As I stared at the flames, I thought about Eddie, the same as I did just about every time I sat by a fire. It had been he who’d taught me how to build one. Eddie was the one who’d taken me camping the first time. He’d shown me how to pitch a tent and tie a knot in a rope. From him, I’d learned how to open a can with a jackknife and paddle a canoe and skip a rock on the surface of the lake.” (P.598)

Cheryl admits that if it weren’t for Eddie she wouldn’t have found herself on the PCT. With all the background knowledge she learned from her stepdad, Cheryl had some experience in the wilderness. The familiarity she had with the outdoors was a benefit to her hiking the trail. As a young girl, Cheryl was taught to follow some masculine traits. To be familiar with the environment outside, learning some survival skills like starting a fire, and tying knots in rope, all traits of masculinity. From Eddie too, Cheryl learns power as a woman. She grows up with characteristics that are typical with a man’s traits. Here is equality between sexes. Cheryl didn’t just wear pink, and play with Barbie dolls, she camped out, and learned to use a jackknife.

I think that in Cheryl's experiences with her parents, she learned gender equality. Cheryl was not raised to be emotional, material, and weak. She was taught young, to be strong, dominant, and independent. Someone said in class, that the list of a woman's gender norms we created, seemed to be made up of mostly negative traits. I can see that. I think it is important for each gender to share all of those traits, causing a kind of yin to the yang effect, evening out those traits, and loosing those expectations of how a man or woman is supposed to be.