Post-Modernism

In our recent reading of post-modern culture, the point that it brings up is how the popular culture has taken over the classic works of art and literature. It's not like that the classic books and authors lost their value but in the post-modern world, the topic that were explored really did come as a shock to its readers and gained attraction. It broke the cultural barriers somewhat and people started talking about cultural taboos in the open. More discussion lead to further research and more media attention subsequently. As the issues were explored, it gave a green signal to other taboos as well over time. Post-modernism is a theory that has traveled with time to expand and open more possibilities of research topic in arts and literature.

Writing 5

It just keeps getting better and better. We had a very well prepared tutee today who had all her paper constructed very well and required some fine tuning. We worked on better organization, better flow and some grammatical errors. She understood the assignment well it seemed. It was certainly my most enjoying tutoring session. We had only half an hour to go through it but we did skim all of it once at least. We gave her some synonym choices also and pointed out how some of her sentences could be better constructed. She was very responsive to all the comments and had a very positive attitude which made the experience even better. With that said, I really look forward to the next tutoring session.

gender related issues

All the different issues brought up in Gender and Sexuality readings focus on the identification of identities and ideological differences on the same issues. The chapter brings together various topics that are argued either way in literature with strong supporters of their own views. Starting from Feminism and ending on Queer Theory, it covers a wide spectrum of modern cultural studies on gender-related studies in the society. An interesting factor to be noted is that most of the sources "further reading" and bibliography points to studies conducted within last two decades, showing how unacceptable it was to write about gender and sexualities issues before that.

Writing 4

Yesterday was my another writing center trip. It was a really good case that my partner and I worked on. Our tutee had a speech outline to work on and had completed all of it ahead of time that allowed us to make solid recommendations to improve on it. Tutee knew what he really wanted and had gotten it proofread by his professor already. It was a rather long one and we, as tutors, did not mind taking that case. There were some challenges also while working on transitions and all and to fully understand what the tutee was trying to say in the paper. My partner worked on it very and the conversation with the tutee helped us a lot better to clear it all. We also recommended him to include the clarified lines to us in the outline as well. That way, it will be better for his audience as well to comprehend him fully. It was fun to work on that one!

Structuralism

Continuing on my discussion from last week, the definition of structuralism defines it even more clearly how culture can put meanings into words and objects. In our reading of Culture Theory and Popular Culture, Saussure argues that meanings are a part of relational theory of language. "Meaning is produced by establishing difference." I think I agree with it. Various cultures have certain meanings attached to signs/objects/words. The color white is one example that has different cultural meanings. It is a popular symbol for weddings in western cultures while in some eastern cultures, it is considered a sign or mourning.

There is a whole culture that attaches meaning to an object/color/word. Likewise, it is important to understand the literary context of a piece of literature as well to appreciate the work. Culture certainly instills meanings into words.

Writing 3

My appointment yesterday was certainly an odd one. It was my first one I was dealing with head-on and my partner was assisting me on the side. My tutee had a paper due in 90 mins when she walked in. The assignment was to select a poem, rewrite it using the selected literary devices, and write a five page analytical essay comparing both the poems. I was quite clear on how it is not possible to do so within 90 minutes and more so, she probably will be better off asking for an extension. She did seem to comprehend and left on a note that she is gonna try.

I can imagine how frustrating it is when you cannot understand the assignment well enough but working on it at such a last-minute isn't the best idea either. My recommendation to all writers is that at least have an outline ready from the beginning as soon as you get the assignment. Personally, if I know what I am going to write about, I can think about it whenever over the course of next few days and form arguments that can be the topic sentences in the paper. It just works well that way if you figure out what you are going to do early in the game. It also ends up saving me a lot of time in the end trying to cram in ideas and in turn not doing justice to the assignment.

Writing 2

It was very interesting to observe the writing process again this week. I did not get to tutor any tutee as such but I was looking over other tutor's counseling. This was a proper tutor appointment unlike the last one and the tutee was very organized in terms of addressing his concerns about his paper. He knew where he probably lacked in clarity and asked the writer how he could be more clear so that his paragraphs would flow better.

Tutor also looked over the rest of his paper just to make sure and pointed out a few grammatical errors that made the thoughts flow consistently. It was structured reasonably well already but it certainly needed to be cleared from irrelevant details that were pointed out by the tutor. Overall, it was a good session and I plan to actually tutor a person next time I walk in:)

Cultural interpretation

Readings on "culturalisms" forced me to think about how culture can shape ideologies and in turn, affect the personal lives of so many others. Culture not only ends up shaping the thoughts and actions, it also serves as an identity for the people. People learn to identify themselves with certain characteristics and standards of living; culture provides a basis for that. People also base their values according to their culture.

People might also place their own culture or the culture they identify themselves with as a benchmark for comparing other cultures. Cultural bias can also affect one’s interpretation of another culture. They might view the standards of the other culture inherent to their own culture. I don’t think there is a right or wrong way of viewing a culture but it can vary from culture to culture.