The Best We Could Do: Bố and Má

The most interesting aspect of The Best We Could Do was the relationship between Bố and Má. The clashing of two very different worlds from completely separate classes in Vietnam was striking: one, the daughter of a government official who grew up in Euro-centric environment speaking French, and the other, a poor villager who lived with some of his extended family speaking Vietnamese. One who had initially had a positive outlook on life and her career, the other conditioned to fear grown men and to seek protection by grown women.

It seemed almost by fate that their worlds collided. How else was Bố able to meet his future wife at a relatively lucrative spot despite his poverty-stricken and troubled past, and for them to grow old with one another and raise four children? And not only that, but to have obstacles that could have easily caused separation (miscarriages, domestic disputes, periods of separation and isolation when attempting to immigrate to America). That, to me, is what gives this book the power and impact that it deserves.

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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: Why Were Slaves Separated from their Families?

Frederick Douglass, as mentioned at the very beginning of Chapter I, was separated from his mother at a very young age. In fact, really the only thing he remembers of her is the fact that she talked to him at nights when he was a very young boy - but when he woke up in the morning, she was gone. Unfortunately, such an event was not uncommon with slaves. Because slaves were treated as property rather than people, slave families were often separated to prevent a human bond between them, which would likely interfere with the ordering of harsh, strenuous work and even harsher punishments. Additionally, Douglass mentions the fact that slaves were to know as little of themselves as possible, in order to preserve them as property, born not to think or feel but to work. In the masters' eyes, this would have likely had slaves see the world as one to work on, and so that is exactly what they would do. Of course, slaves eventually did rebel against their masters and go to every length to de...

Out of the Amazon...and Into the Museum

Having not been to the Museum of Natural Science in a long time, I was quite excited for our trip to HMNS for the Out of the Amazon: Life on the River exhibition. And I was pleasantly surprised. To be completely honest, not at first. The exhibit looked quaint, tucked away in the back corner of the top floor of the museum. But you better think twice if that doesn't look good enough for you. The selection of artifacts available to see on display is, for a lack of a better word, stunning. The museum boasts that they have attained one of the largest collections of Amazonian artifacts in the world, and from seeing the exhibit, I can believe it. Because of the Amazon's sheer size (four times the size of Texas), many of these cultures, being so far away from one another, have developed completely different lifestyles, religions, and taboos. All of their traditions were fascinating to me, from "stinging-ant" ritual ceremonies (more on that later) to their mythologies. I scou...

Use of Formulaic Language in the Odyssey

Because the Odyssey was written circa. 800 B.C.E, it obviously wasn't meant to be read by a bunch of high-schoolers at a Montessori school in 2016 Houston, Texas. It, gathered from research by linguists, archaeologists, and historians, was almost certainly meant to be performed. I don't think anybody has mentioned that only the major or supporting characters in the Odyssey are given epithets (ie. "Owl-eyed Athena, godly Nestor, Red-haired Menelaus "), and there is quite a lot of supporting characters for a relatively short epic compared to the length of fantasy & epic literature today. Because of this, these epithets were not only used for rhythm and splendor when performing. In fact, some were likely put there to remind the audience members of characters that haven't been seen in a while. However, for the characters like Zeus, Poseidon, and Athena who appear often, the performance explanation seems to be the greatest. However, another possible reason is ...

Adventures at Post Oak High

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