A Small Place

This is actually my favorite piece of reading during the semester. I just found the entire thing funny. I don't think Kincaid meant for the entire thing to be funny but I pretty much laughed throughout. Laughing is one of my favorite things so that probably why this reading was the best for me. Also growing up in the Caribbean, while not Antigua, some of this I could identify with. I know only a little about Antigua but Trinidad had some of the same problems that Kincaid was addressing in here unique style. The sorting of priorities is probably the main thing I identified with. That was a problem I found existed in Trinidad even as a kid. I never understood why the government would spend so much money on unnecessary hings and never put enough money it things like roads and hospitals. 

Response to Arab Feminism

This was a very intriguing read and gave me a good insight into how some Arab women may view feminism. The main thing that I got from this piece was that there is no "one size fits all" when it comes to complex maters of race and quality. This is especially true in a country as diverse as America. There are so many different cultures, races, ethnicities as well as a vast range of economic levels that it is sometime hard to separate them in discussions as they are often intertwined. For Darraj, what is of value to many white feminists(in 2nd wave feminism), who are typically middle class, does not automatically line up with her just because she is female. Her point that so many are judged by preconceived notions, which usually comes from a lack of understanding for another culture or race outside their own, really resonated with me. Not only have I seen others guilty of doing that but I myself have fallen victim to such line of thinking. It is easy to fall in the trap of judging others based on perception instead of reality. I think that one way the issue of prejudice and description in America can be addressed is by education of of the masses of different cultures. Idealistic I know but it's better than the alternative of the status quo continuing.

Comparing Versions of Coraline

I read the Coraline text version first before reading the graphic novel. It is always interesting to see the adaptation from text to a more visual medium. Of course a graphic novel is not like a movie or a TV show but it still relies on images to tell the story and express emotions. I felt like I enjoyed the text version slightly better, though the graphic novel did seem to move a bit faster. I also found interesting what the graphic novel chose to emphasize and what not too. For instance I found the the text version was funnier when it came to the joke about her name. The graphic version did put it in there but it didn't have the same feel or flow. The graphic novel also seemed to be less dark or intense as the text. Maybe it's the colors that were used but I was not as tense when I was reading it.