"Phenomenal Woman" by Maya Angelou

September 22, 2016
Choose one of the poems that we have studied in your reader, and analyze the title. How does this title relate to the rest of the poem, and how does it create meaning?
“Phenomenal Woman” by Maya Angelou is about standards of women and what she thinks about them in relation to herself and other women. The title of the poem has to do with the message she is trying to convey through the piece, that every woman is phenomenal no matter what they look like. I think one of the reasons why this is the title of the poem is because it is repeated and stressed so much throughout the work while it also has so much meaning behind it. Throughout the poem and the different stanzas, she makes references to how phenomenal any type of woman can be, not only the ones that fit into society’s beauty standards. Then at the end of each stanza, she says “I am a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me.” I feel that her saying this at the end of every stanza really puts power into it. It really makes you think and really gets you emotional about what she’s trying to say and puts a lot of meaning into what she is saying. I overall think this is a wonderful and inspirational poem and the title really fits the poem and the message.

How can enjambment affect a poem?

September 18, 2016
In "We Real Cool," Gwendolyn Brooks uses the poetic element of enjambment. Why do you think she does this, and how does it affect the meaning of the poem?

Enjambment plays a very big part in this poem. It changes the whole flow of the reader, it makes the way you read it much different from a “normal” poem because of it’s layout. This poem’s layout makes you read it much more fast and abrupt way, which could have great effect on it’s meaning. The enjambment in the poem makes you think the story is going much faster and also makes me think more about what is going on. This also makes me think much more about the difference in things that are happening and different things they are doing. Since the tempo I was reading the poem was very fast, I thought about the meaning as once you leave school in the beginning of the poem, everything in your life moves very fast after that until you die in the end of the poem. The enjambment in this poem makes it seem much more powerful and appealing because it is something you don’t see as often. This poem makes you really think about what the writer is trying to say because of the way it is written.

What is the difference between the speaker of the poem and the poet?

September 14, 2016
What is the difference between the speaker of the poem and the poet, and why is it important to understand this distinction?
    Something that many people can get mixed up in poetry is the speaker of the poem and the poet, yet they are two very different things. People usually think about the poet when they think of who is speaking the poem, where in some cases they could be right, but not all the time. Part of poetry is the way that the poem is being conveyed, reading between the lines. Many times, poets could be writing a poem from a person’s perspective that is not their own. Even though the poet will always know the true real meaning of the poem, usually there are ways the poem is written to be able to find out what kind of person the speaker is, although sometimes much more vague than others. This is a very important thing to understand in poetry because in certain situations, if you’re reading a poem assuming it’s being spoken by the poet, you could completely miss the true meaning of the poem. Poetry is all about emotion and if you read a poem assuming or not knowing who the speaker is, you won’t be able to feel the intended emotion being conveyed by the poet.

IHSS HMNS Amazon Exhibit

September 14, 2016

    We saw the Amazonian exhibit at the HMNS for IHSS on Monday. The Amazonian exhibit is about different tribes that live in the Amazon. THere was a lot of different information on the tribes and their way of life, but one thing that interested me the most were their rituals. There are so many different tribes with so many generations of rituals and traditions having to do with so many different things.

    One of the rituals that stood out most to me was the Wayana Apalai’s coming of age ceremony (Marake). This ceremony is where kunana (grasses weaved together with wasps and bullet ants) are made to use to sting young children. These strips will be pressed against the children’s skin, stinging them multiple times. They hold this ceremony multiple times throughout their childhood where at the last one they are expected to get through it without any sign of pain. Once they can do that, they are considered adults, and are able to go into their adult roles with adult responsibilities.

When I first heard this I was completely shocked and thought it was totally crazy, but this is their culture and their way of life which just shows how different it is from what we think as “normal”. All of these cultures have things that people from different countries would think are the most outrageous traditions and customs but they have such a rich and in depth culture that it's just totally normal for them.

Another ritual I found very interesting was the Yanomamö people's way of dealing with the dead. They bury the people that have died with leaves, then wait for bugs and animals to eat all of their flesh so they decompose to the point where it’s just bones. Once they have the bones, they burn the bones into ashes. Once a year, on the anniversary of the person’s death, they make a banana soup and sprinkle the ashes on the top. They do this every year until the ashes run out, so they are literally eating the dead person’s bones. This is another good example of the total difference in culture that we have. 

There are many other rituals, such as head shrinking which is a very well known one for its craziness. A few different tribes would practice this but the last one known to was the Shuar tribe. How this worked was they would decapitate someone that they considered “an enemy”, so pretty much everyone. Once they decapitated them they would take their heads. While running away from the people of the person’s head they took, they had this big process to shrink their head. First, they would cut it open and get everything out till there's just skin. Then they would fill it with hot water and big rocks, soon after refilling with smaller rocks, again and again, till they eventually get to sand. They would do this because they considered it good luck when fighting because they have the heads and the souls of people they have defeated around their waist. 

I really enjoyed this exhibit and found it very interesting. I was amazed at the difference of our cultures and how theirs is so secluded in a way. In the past few years they have modernized a bit, with things like watches, more modern clothes, etc. Yet they still have their original culture in them which I find fascinating.