Phase 1: Language & Literacy Narrative   I felt good about this assignment. I was easily able to come up with memories that connected to language. It took me a bit of time to connect these memories to bigger picture issues but after looking at a lot of the things that are going on now in the real world I was able to relate my memories to AAVE and its history. Though I had found the assignment straightforward and did it in a timely manner, I did have issues making it more narrative-like. I am used to argumentative and structured essays so having to make a story while connecting it…

Ariel in New York I’ve been in the city my whole life. Yeah the typical New Yorker you see on social media etcetera etcetera.  But with a bit of a catch. You see, I’m not allowed outside of Manhattan. My family is from Washington Heights, my school is here, my home, and all basic things like stores, doctors, dentists, and everything in between. But I live in New York City, what is the point of living in such a big city to only be limited to one borough. I have 6 older brothers, I’m pretty much the princess of the family being the youngest and the only girl. Yet every…

I have learned a lot throughout this course, picking up on new techniques for writing and better ways for analyzing other pieces of writing. Each of the phase essays has taught me something different and I have felt that my writing has only gotten stronger after each phase.  The phase one assignment introduced me to rhetorical analysis and taught me how to blend a narrative with analysis. The assignment was straightforward and structured, which allowed me to complete the essay in a timely manner as well as create a strong writing piece that met all necessary points. The June Jordan writing piece was the perfect example of a piece blending…

Is Cinderella a Feminist? Odd question right? I mean we don’t really characterize these characters into political categories or debates. But the reality is that these political debates seep into our everyday lives whether it’s simple life choices, a career choice or the entertainment we choose to watch or read, including the stories we have grown up with. In recent years Disney has been in the spotlight for political debates, specifically in regards to the gender roles and stereotypes they have implemented on their princesses. The princesses we have grown up adoring hold this disappointing idea that they are anti feminist, but some question if Cinderella falls in the same…

The Truth Behind Sleeping Beauty  Part 1: Rhetorical Analysis  Maria Tatar is a professor of German studies and folklore at Harvard University.  She is the author of The Annotated Brothers Grimm and The Annotated Hans Christain Anderson, and others, as well as contributing to the New York Times and the New Yorker. Tatar wrote the journal article  “Show and Tell; Sleeping Beauty as a Verbal Icon and Seductive Story.” Marvels & Tales, where she explores the arguments supporting and disbarring the story of  “Sleeping Beauty”.  She makes it clear that she does not support the story of  “Sleeping Beauty” but still i issue to demonstrate both arguments, explaining evidence that…

Language & Literacy as a Bilingual New Yorker Language is a huge part of us as people, we speak it, write it, read it. I mean, without language how would we communicate? But that is the basis of how language affects society as a whole, as individuals we use language differently and find different levels of importance within it. I personally find language to be fairly important as a bilingual person that also utilizes codeswitching.  A memory of my personal use of language would be speaking and writing in school. Growing up in a Spanish speaking household, school was the only place I really spoke English. I was taught that…