Portfolio 2

Coverage

Here are the links to all the blogs assigned this semester based on our readings and novels. There is a total of 7 blogs, all of which have been completed.

Blog: Talking Back

http://poojasivhlenglish.blogspot.com/2010/10/aint-i-woman.html

Blog: Klaus Barbie

http://poojasivhlenglish.blogspot.com/2010/11/our-barbies-ourselves.html

Blog: The Beauty Myth

http://poojasivhlenglish.blogspot.com/2010/11/beauty-myth.html

Blog: Blame it on Feminism

http://poojasivhlenglish.blogspot.com/2010/11/just-your-average-samantha-jones.html

Blog: Extract Deconstruction

http://poojasivhlenglish.blogspot.com/2010/11/rough-commentary-falling-women.html

Blog: How Fiction Works

http://poojasivhlenglish.blogspot.com/2010/11/how-fiction-works.html

Blog: Review on The Road

http://poojasivhlenglish.blogspot.com/2010/11/dystopian-or-post-apocalyptic-review-on.html

Depth

http://poojasivhlenglish.blogspot.com/2010/10/aint-i-woman.html

I chose this blog for depth, because not only was it my longest blog, but also because I felt it was the most thoroughly analyzed. I went very in depth when analyzing the two feminist essays, comparing and contrasting them in great detail. I also compared such treatment of wives to the Hindu tradition of ‘Sati’, which is a tradition that still horrifies me.  I used secondary sources to learn more background information on this custom, so that I could provide it as an example of the mistreatment of wives in India.

Interaction

http://poojasivhlenglish.blogspot.com/2010/11/just-your-average-samantha-jones.html

I chose this article for my ‘Interaction’ post because my ideas were influenced by both Jorina’s blog and Julie’s IOP presentation. Jorina and I started a discussion on her own blog, and the ideas presented in this discussion really helped me elaborate on some of my thoughts and connections. In addition, many seemed to find parallels between this blog and their own ideas on the ‘Blame it on Feminism’ article.

Discussion

http://poojasivhlenglish.blogspot.com/2010/11/dystopian-or-post-apocalyptic-review-on.html#comments

This blog of mine seemed to spark a lot of controversy about The Road. It is a very unique book: you either hate it or you love it. It seems as though my harsh and critical review on the novel evoked a discussion between my peers.

Xenoblogging

http://hlenglishmonique.blogspot.com/2010/10/talking-back-and-sins-of-silence.html#comments

My comment on Monique’s blog, I felt, was very thorough. I spent quite some time analyzing her ideas, and comparing them to my own. I feel that my comment on Monique’s blog was quite meaningful, and received a good amount of feedback, for it was followed up with replies from both Monique and Aishwarya regarding my ideas.

Wildcard

http://poojasivhlenglish.blogspot.com/2010/12/fisherwoman-vignette.html

This piece was a vignette I wrote some time ago. I am quite proud of this piece, and I felt that it related to the feminist essays we’ve been reading. It is a scene of two girls in the bathroom, and I felt that it illustrates many of the key aspects portrayed in the feminist essays we have been reading. This idea of beauty and make up is portrayed greatly in the novels and essays of this semester, and I thought that a personal adaptation of these aspects in a high school environment would be a good expansion on this concept of feminism. 

Fisherwoman: A Vignette

The second floor bathroom reeked with the smell of hand sanitizer with a hint of lemon. The lighting was dull apart from the stream of yellow sunlight shining through the top window. A tanned girl stood in the corner, wearing a short red dress and gladiator sandals. Her back was arched forward, and her face was angled towards the mirror. Her mouth was slightly open as she carefully lined her eyes with blue eyeliner, stretching the skin underneath her eye with her left hand.

The door creaked open and a redhead girl walked in. Her sneakers squeaked slightly against the floor. She wore baggy jeans and a flimsy top, hanging loosely on her reedy body. She ducked her head down so that her long red hair would cover her face, and meandered over to the mirror. Her back was slumped forward, eyes restricted to the sink as she slowly washed her hands, taking her time to lather with soap. The tanned girl gave the redhead a half-hearted smile and said, “I really like your top” in a tone more enthusiastic than her smile.

The redhead adjusted her top and muttered a ‘Thank you’. She ducked again so that her red hair would hide her face. The tanned girl coughed and ran her hands through her hair, scrutinizing herself in the mirror. She turned sideways and pinched the sides of her hips. She looked at the redhead through the mirror and whined, “Oh god, I hate my love handles so much. I hate you, you’re so skinny.”

The redhead smiled awkwardly. “You’re really skinny too…” she muttered.

The tan girl made a hideous face in the mirror, and then laughed abruptly. “Shut up, are you kidding me? Ughhh, why am I so ugly?” she carped.

The redhead chortled uncertainly. “You’re not ugly! Don’t say that!”

Instead of responding to her comment, the tan girl put away her eyeliner and muttered “Whatever.”

The bell screeched loudly and broke the silence in the bathroom. The tan girl quickly put her make-up away and picked her cloth bag up off the floor. She looked at herself once more in the mirror, scrunching up her hair. “I’ll see you later,” she said as she walked out the door.

The redhead responded with a slight head bob, and listened to the door shut behind the tan girl. She lifted her head, and straightened her back. She adjusted her top once again, pulling it down over her jeans. She lifted her head so that her red hair was not completely obstructing her face from view. She then walked out of the bathroom quickly, her sneakers still squeaking against the floor.