Text Interpreters Ep. 01 (Preston, Cindy, Shawn, Hillary, Zahli)

Logo:

Description: In our first episode, we discussed our impressions of Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri. During the discussion, we dived into the text, sharing common themes throughout each of the stories, while making connections to the real world. In addition, we answered each others questions and shared our views on these thought-provoking questions.

References/Evidence:
"It means loving someone you don't know." p.107-108
"Instead he thought of how he and Shoba had become experts at avoiding each other in their three-bedroom house..." p.4
Interpreter of Maladies p. 62 "Raj's. He's not Raj's son." Reference to lying in relationship and communication issues.
Podcast:

A Long Road Podcast

Group Members: Raven Tanpranadi, Kaleb Harris, Chris Jacobs, Tony Nelson, and Yasir Thomas

Our podcast episode was based on the book The Road by Cormac McCarthy in which we summarized and discussed the literary and figurative language used within the book. Whether it might be the weird mentioning of bridges that the characters never seem to cross or random burnt corpses scattered across the cold ashy barrens of this apocalyptic world. the episode is packed full of weirdly interesting events and more is to come.

Book references:

Mother quote: 57

Father’s opinion on religion: 8

Burnt Corpse: 49

Bridges that the author never seems to mention the characters crossing: 6, 41, 43, 46, 73, 76,

Our logo is the storyline diagram shown below the video. Why have we chosen it you might ask? This generic sequence of events. It is because for half of the book the story has only incorporated the exposition, lacking any rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. We chose the image to spite the author.

Story lines
Story lines

TheVision

TheVision

Book: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

James Kry, Nasir Duppins, Sukainah Hasan, & Tristan Mayberry

Podcast Summary:

In this first podcast, we covered how skin color played a huge role throughout the book and mostly the life of Pecola. In the book, if you’re not how everyone wants you to be, you get bullied for it. We went over Pecola’s very abusive father, who burned down Pecola’s home, leaving her with Claudia’s family for now. Page 5, before the actual story began, quoted “Pecola was having her father’s baby” along with her questioning how women produce babies, sparked a debate between Tristan and Sukainah about if Pecola will be impregnated by her father later on in the book. Towards the end, we predicted where the novel was going to go. It was collectively agreed that Pecola had a lot of issues that needed a backstory that hasn’t been provided just yet. So, in the pages to come, our prediction led us to Pecola gaining a larger role where her tense family situation will be revealed.

Link to Podcast:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1HUvBy8ZsDf_PPe4Z-7gYf_gtqqYUgipz?usp=sharing

My City Big News

Screenshot 2020-12-22 at 6.16.11 PM
Screenshot 2020-12-22 at 6.16.11 PM

Strengths of a strong relationship

What do you know about strong relationships with your siblings? They can be annoying a lot of the time but it’s worth it. It’s just the same with these three siblings named Grace, Maya, and Joaquin. This relationship of siblings had to be found meaning they didn’t know each other at first because they were separated. When they found each other it was a relationship they all thought they would never have, a good relationship. But it wasn’t like that when they first met, it wasn’t quite what they had expected. In the long run it was an unbreakable bond.

Tips:

Being honest (it’s key to a relationship) but sometimes it’s ok to keep some things to yourself especially if you barely know them. Don’t make them feel like they are unwanted ( just because they sometimes hurt a person and you never know you might be the only thing to a friend that they might have.

Teen relationships

Teen relationships are not always something to look forward to. They don’t always end so while Grace knows all about it. Let me tell you little about Grace, she is smart and kind hearted but has a bit of a temper. She had a boyfriend named Max. They were doing good at first but then Max got her pregnant. Yes you heard that correctly “PREGNANT”. That didn’t sit with Max’s dad at all. He wasn’t having it, so Max had to leave grace. Max didn’t even speak up for himself, he just let it happen. Grace was heartbroken because that was really someone that she loved and knew he had to go because of something he put in her. #sad Not even that there’s also relationships like Maya’s (same gender relationships). They are not always smooth to get through just because of how the world/people take things. It’s not easy being same sex in a relationship because people like to judge but in this case we need parents to support there child’s just like Maya’s parents did.

Difference Hey wonderful people! I want to just tell you about a couple of topics that came up in our new book “Far From the Tree”. These were some very helpful topics just because we all know that these things can happen in life and are listened to and learned. Those are not the only things you guys have to look out for. Bullies are what I’m talking about; they need to be taught a lesson. It’s not ok to just talk about someone explicitly if it’s personality. You can make someone fall into depression and you can throw them into trying to kill themselves. Everyone just know your never alone and if you or yourself needs someone to talk to just call 800-help now or email Ineedhelp@gmail.com That’s all we have today folks, have a great weekend and don’t forget to be on the lookout for next week’s newspaper. On born a crime by Tevor Noah

FFTT Soundtrack Sam

Far From The Tree Soundtrack - Samantha Lerner

Long Distance Love - Little Feat This song reminds me a lot of Joaquin and his relationship with Birdie. Though he broke up with her, it was because he didn’t feel like he was enough and is constantly pitying himself. This song is about being helpless and hopelessly in love, while not really being sure what to do about it. The lyrics “and her life so sweet, I wonder do she know,” made me think of how Joaquin perceives Birdie, and how he thinks her life is so perfect and that he would just be a burden to it. The chorus also makes me think of how Joaquin is so scared to reach out for help, and just drops Birdie all together even though he really likes her. “Help wanted, but not enough, you know these times are getting rough, ‘cause no matter what I do, even pray to heaven above, all I ever get from her is long distance love!”

Picture To Burn - Taylor Swift Relatable break-up song for Grace. A song about rejection and payback, I thought would fit well for how she might have felt about returning to school. Though she didn’t directly clapback at her ex-boyfriend, she made it clear how she felt towards his friends in front of the whole school. Grace is really strong for even being able to go back to school with everyone judging her, but when Adam taunted her, she confronted him and gave him what he deserved! I love when Taylor says “state the obvious, I didn’t get my perfect fantasy, I realize you love yourself more than you could ever love me, so go and tell your friends that i’m obsessive and crazy, that’s fine;” this reminds me of how Grace probably felt right in that moment. Who is Max to call her a slut when she has quite literally gone through hell as a teenager, and has received little support from the people she loves?

I’d Like To Walk Around in Your Mind - Vashti Bunyan This is personally one of my favorite songs ever, and it’s incredibly sad. I think it would be a tribute to Peach from Grace, as the song is about someone who cares for another very deeply but can’t confront them (my interpretation, at least). In chapter 16, I think, Grace talks about how she regrets not keeping Peach, and wonders if she would have been able to take care of her. “I would disturb your easy tranquility, I’d turn away the sad impossibility of your smile,” this makes me think of why Grace put Peach up for adoption in the first place, because she thought she couldn’t give her the life she deserved. “But most of all i’d like you to be unaware, then i’d just wander away, trailing palm leaves behind me, so you don’t even know i’ve been there,” this line is incredibly sad, but I think it might have resonated with Grace. Part of her wishes she could see Peach and still have a life with her, but she doesn’t think she could be able to do it.

Liability - Lorde I think this would be a relatable song for Joaquin, who clearly often feels like a liability to everyone around him. Even when his foster parents tell him they’d like to adopt him, he is hesitant still because he feels so unloved. He pushes everyone away because he’s so afraid of being a grudge and a burden. “They say, ‘you’re a little much for me, you’re a liability, you’re a little much for me’” I think this is truly how Joaquin thinks others view him, which is upsetting. “The truth is, I am a toy that people enjoy ‘till all of the tricks don’t work anymore. And then they are bored of me,” this reminds me of when Joaquin says that he feels that he needs fixing, like he is broken and unchangeable. “I know that it’s exciting, running through the night, but, every perfect summer’s eating me alive until you’re gone, better on my own,” I think this relates to his relationship with both Birdie and his adoptive parents, and that he feels that he would just be better on his own.

You Belong To Me - The 88 You Belong To Me is a perfect love song to guide the moment when Grace, Maya and Joaquin finally feel that they belong somewhere, together. They all lack a sense of belonging- Maya longing for her mother, who feels belonging when she accepts her mother and is excited to have her home. Joaquin, who always felt unwanted, feels belonging with his foster parents who he agrees to be his official adoptive parents. Grace finally feels belonging with Peach, when she visits her and notices how much they have in common. They all too find belonging with their birth mother, as they found pictures of Melissa and realized she truly did love them. “I could tell an antique lie, full of all the things I want to hide, but that would only lead to the truth, you belong to me, I belong to you.”

Hair - Lady Gaga Maya always feels like the odd one out because she’s adopted. Her parents have red hair, along with her little sister who is a biological daughter of her parents. I think this really gets at Maya, and she wishes that she could just fit in, or accept herself for looking different than the rest of her family. I think this song highlights individuality and accepting yourself from being different than everyone else. “And in the morning, I’m short of my identity, I scream Mom and Dad, why can’t I be who I wanna be?” I’m not really sure if Maya is necessarily questioning who she wants to be, but she definitely feels lost in her identity and wonders why she has to be a stranger in her own home. “I’ve had enough, enough, enough, and this is my prayer, I swear, I’m as free as my hair, I am my hair,” I love this line because I think it really represents when Maya finally meets Joaquin and Grace and sees that she isn’t so different after all. She sees that her siblings are just like her, and that she really does belong somewhere, even with her dark hair.

Thinning - Snail Mail This is a sad song to represent Maya’s depression as she struggles through her parents divorce. It’s hard to see two people you love stop loving each other, and wondering what that means for you. On top of that, she pushes her girlfriend away because she starts to doubt her love and doesn’t think that it’s enough. I think Maya was spiraling, and Thinning pretty much sums up that feeling. “Haven’t felt right in a week, and i’m thinning out, and it hurts bad, I gotta get back,” I think this is how Maya feels, especially seeing the condition her mother is in. It’s really difficult to have to deal with something like that alone and at such a young age. “I wanna spend the entire year, just face down, and on my own time, I wanna waste time.” When Claire finds out about Maya’s mother being hospitalized, she feels bad and tries to apologize because she still loves Maya. Maya just feels so hopeless and angry that she refuses Claire, I think she copes by shutting people out and forcing herself to deal with it alone.

Far From The Tree Soundtrack

Gina Zou and I created a soundtrack for the book ‘Far From The Tree’. here are the links to our project.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1XNqfAHIT8ukaAQ8hvR2kbfCOmDjH1IpLHpZFWG9xa5k/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/document/d/13gKMgVhJnQNQekF9s6fOtSTPs2mNANKFrA8Tvj3S5ro/edit?usp=sharing