Overall lessons learned throughout this course
La Guera, Cherrie Moraga, reading
Spotify Playlist: In connection with “Kimberle”
- First Song: NF: I just wanna know
- Second Song: Katy Perry: I kissed a girl
- Third Song; Rihanna: Russian Roulette
- Fourth Song: Alec Benjamin: Let Me Down Slowly
The reason I selected these four songs was because they each connect to the story of Kimberle and the relationship to the narrator. During the story, the narrator depicts a friend struggling with suicide serious issues. (which connects to NF, I just wanna know) As Kimberle, taunts the narrator by taking her books and frustrating her with the constant removal of her items. Whenever she tries to address the missing books something traumatizing seems to happen like her Kimberle severally cutting herself to the point she must be rushed to the hospital or her running away. On top of all these tramatic tactics by Kimberle, she engages her friend into sporadic threesomes with other females and somehow with the mixture of worry for her friends mental stability and the toxicity of their escalated friendship, the narrator finds herself wanting more with Kimberle only to find that those feelings are one sided. With the ultimate end of it all in a crazy car accident and the fall killer ending it all with the murder of Kimberle right before the narrators eyes. (connects to Rihanna’s Russian Roulette) “there, above her shoulder, was this year’s seasonal kill, waxy and white but for the purple areolas and the meat of her sex. She was ordinary, familiar, and the glass of her eyes captured a portrait of Kimberle and me.”
“Kimberle, don’t you ever think about what we’re doing—about us?”
Kimberle “Us? There is no us.” (connects to the song Alec Benjamin: Let Me Down Slowly)
The reason I chose Katy Perry’s song, I kissed a girl was because the song is about a girl kissing another girl and liking it. This reminded me and connected to the part when the Narrator was having a threesome with Kimberle and another woman and the woman though asked them to kiss. After that time all she wanted to do was kiss, Kimberle. “I realized I wanted to kiss Kimberle—not for anyone else’s pleasure but for my own.”
Pandora’s Box, by Arturo Arias
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UVbOSDepqcuJqhFeLMKtq_XqskRLuyaY/view?usp=sharing
In the 1990s, the late Stanford neuroscientist Ben Barres transitioned from female to male. He was in his 40s, mid-career, and afterward he marveled at the stark changes in his professional life. Now that society saw him as male, his ideas were taken more seriously. He was able to complete a whole sentence without being interrupted by a man. A colleague who didn’t know he was transgender even praised his work as “much better than his sister’s.”
Washington Post article on “Crossing the divide do men really have it easier?”
Dulce Pinzón & Graciela Iturbide
The reason I chose these two pictures by photographers Graciela Iturbide and Dulce Pinzon is because they both somehow connect. The first picture, by photographer Graciela of Luis Hernandez dressed as the thing which is a superhero with a rockey appearance and is posing drilling through rocks. I found these two photos to be connected by it’s rocks and rubles within the shoots. Both pictures depict the rocks and ruble and many artist believe that rocks have a symbolic meaning to them. It is believed that the meaning of rocks formations often symbolize the passage from one life to the next. It’s relatable to Luis and how he’s moved on to a better life, but still sends money home to where he is from and his family. For these reasons, I feel like these two photos best connect despite being takes at two different locations, by different artist and for different purposes.
José Olivarez: “Mexican Heaven”
I Chose this poem because it’s relatable to many aspects of my personal life and how I found myself gaining weight when I fell in love and how I lost weight when out of love. Love has a way of causing you to feel a sense of comfortableness that will have you doing everything that brings you joy which many believe food provides the same sense of comfort and joy as love does Many people will judge your weight gain during your relationship and call you fat or make jokes about it. However, there’s an adverse effect that occurs when you’re heartbroken or have fallen out of love. The heartbreak can cause you do loose interest in eat and you might lose a-lot of weight due to stress or depression. Both instances create a field for people looking in to judge you. Which is why I chose the short film/poem from Blythe Baird about “When the fat girl gets skinny.” which coincides with this poem as the opposite spectrum of being fat and the adverse effects of when going from fat to skinny can become.
Porcupine Love, short story by Tatiana de la Tierra (Colombia)
In the ending of Porcupine Love, the narrator finds that although she becomes cold and disconnected when it seems like things a shifting in her relationships towards more commitment than those beginning stages of lust – she learns that she’s quite frankly not too fond of commitment and she internally builds a wall that creates a disconnect between her potential partner and her growing closer. While towards the end of the story she tries to find ways to break those barriers that hold her back from emotionally committing and falling in love after she realizes she actually did once fall in love – but ruined it. If I were to create an alternative ending to this story it would be as follows;
Instead of being fearful of losing her job, benefits, and the things that kept her from journeying out to New Zealand for her voyage of love – She would submit a letter of resignation run home pack and fly to “New Zealand, 2 continents, 3 oceans, 8,643 miles, and 31 airplane hours away.” for a second chance at love with Antenna. When she arrives, Antenna is everything she remembers her to be. Sweet, loving, and still the better half of her. Their first day together, was joyous and intense. She apologized to Antenna and pleaded with her for a second shot. Antenna seemed apprehensive as she knew that things always started off beautiful but it was after their intimacy that things would always take a turn and the disconnect would start. Surprisingly, things had stayed just as pleasant as the next couple of days past. However, something in Antenna had shifted. Her feelings had changed and as much as she wanted things to work she felt a huge void within her. As if this just wasn’t what she expected things to be. The roles had changed, where Antenna was once the one who had felt left with a huge void and disconnect and bitchy. It was as if their relationship had gone down the exact same path as it had fourteen years ago.
However this time the roles were reverse – it was Antenna who had grown distant and disconnected. All the feeling she recalls inflicting on Antenna was now being done to her. The pain was intense and the hurt she was experiencing was deep – she had been met with a sense of karma unlike ever before. She realized this is what Antenna and all the other before must have felt when they were left her by her lack of commitment. She felt numb, scrambling to find the worlds to fix this or somehow make things better. The days past and Antenna continued to withdraw and it was as if she became a completely different person. It was as it she was looking into a mirror of her soul. Days passing and the discomfort growing stronger and stronger. Everyday she tried to make things work with Antenna, but things grew darker and lonelier. Until the final days of her and Antenna where she was forced to return home with a shattered heart.
My reasoning for reversing the roles is because I’m a believer in people being able to learn from lessons that they go through themselves. Sometime we don’t realize the severity of our hurt and neglect towards others feelings until we are the ones being hurt and neglected. The narrator went to pastors and did rituals to break her toxic behavior – however I feel the only way to break those cycles is to experience that pain you’ve inflict on others.
