Peer Review #2 (Rosita Coledan)

Link to comment: 

http://www.rositacoledan.wordpress.com/2017/08/24/blog-post-2-critical/#comments

Hey Rosita,

Since I did the same question, I was really curious as to how other students responded. Reading this engaging and thought-provoking piece of writing, I think you answered the critical piece extremely well. You made really good points such as the events and holidays (ANZAC Day and Australia Day) honouring the achievements of early European settlers and the false admiration that Cook received for “discovering the land”. I definitely agree with you in regards to Grant’s opinion of the Captain James Cook statue “speaking to emptiness and the invisibility of indigenous Australian”. I think another aspect that made this piece engaging was the fact that there were no spelling and grammatical errors. You definitely nailed this week’s critical piece and I hope to see more from you!

Peer Review #2 (Amy Raso)

Link to comment:

http://www.amyraso.wordpress.com/2017/08/18/emily-dickinson-and-zitkala-sa/comment-page-1/#comment-4

Hey Amy,

Your comparison of Emily and Zitkala-Sa was incredibly engaging and insightful. I think this was due to your extensive knowledge on visual literary techniques such as camera angles, body language and facial expressions. I also like how you provided a contextual background to your analysis for both Emily Dickinson and Zitkala-Sa. I think by doing so, it contributed to the insightful nature of your piece. Personally, I think you should have utilised paragraphs to make your piece more structured in terms of analysis. Regardless,  I think you absolutely nailed this creative piece and I certainly hope to see more of your work!

Week 4 Blog- Creative

2/ Write a poem in the style of Whitman beginning with the any of the following opening lines:

I believe a leaf of grass…

I think I could turn and live with animals…

Unscrew the locks from the doors…

The little one sleeps in its cradle…

I celebrate and sing myself…

 

Singing and Myself

I celebrate and sing myself,

You and I are not much different,

For I believe your very soul is intertwined with mine.

 

I rest my back on spears of summer grass,

Feeling the strums of existence coursing through my being.

 

I breathe the fragrances from what I assume is eternal summer flowers,

Breathing and existing,

Existing and ceasing.

 

Image Sourced From

http://www.photodoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/5-summer-photography-tips.jpg

 

 

Peer Review #1 (Lily Chester)

Link to comment: 

http://www.lilychesterblog.wordpress.com/2017/08/23/critical-a-response-to-stan-grant/comment-page-1/#comment-5

Hi Lily!

Since I chose the same question, I wanted to see how other people responded to the critical writing task. To my amazement, you’ve blown it out of the park quite literally. I think you made a really good point where you said: “we shouldn’t simply disregard that indigenous Australians were the original inhabitants of the land”. I think a lot of things were taken from indigenous Australians and to have a “proud” monument of Captain James Cook who supposedly “discovered this territory (in) 1770” is absolutely shameful. In relation to the quote: “America cannot avoid the legacy of racism. We find it all too easy to avoid”. I think, just because Australia “can” avoid the legacy of racism, it doesn’t mean we should. Hopefully, in the near future, we can all concentrate our efforts to reconcile with Indigenous Australians. Overall, your piece was very enjoyable to read and it was well structured. I most definitely wish to see more of your work!

Week 3 Blog- Critical

I passed by Hyde Park this week in the heart of Sydney and looked again on the statue of Captain James Cook. It has pride of place, a monument to the man who in 1770 claimed this continent for the British crown.

On the base of the statue is an inscription in bold letters:

DISCOVERED THIS TERRITORY
1770

It has stood since 1879. When it was unveiled more than 60,000 people turned out. The procession at the time was the largest ever seen in Sydney.

No-one present then questioned that this was the man who founded the nation.

But think about that today. Think of those words: “Discovered this territory.”

My ancestors were here when Cook dropped anchor. We know now that the first peoples of this continent had been here for at least 65,000 years, for us the beginning of human time.

Yet this statue speaks to emptiness, it speaks to our invisibility; it says that nothing truly mattered, nothing truly counted until a white sailor first walked on these shores.

The statue speaks still to terra nullius and the violent rupture of Aboriginal society and a legacy of pain and suffering that endures today.

Read the whole article at  http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-18/america-tears-down-its-racist-history-we-ignore-ours-stan-grant/8821662

1/ Do you agree with the sentiments of Stan Grant in the article above? If so why? If not why not?I undoubtedly agree with the sentiments that were expressed by Stan Grant in the article.

I undoubtedly agree with the sentiments that were expressed by Stan Grant in the article. The Captain Cook statue in Hyde Park represents an utter disrespect to Indigenous Australians. Whilst we can never erase our shameful history, we can instead do something right now in the present. Specifically, as Stan Grant subtly suggest, “tear down (our) racist history”. To me, a statue is symbolic of achievement and it represents something to be proud of. I am definitely not proud of Australia’s dark history, but I am more disappointed that we have not done anything about it. I think this statue should be taken down, and in its place, will be another statue. A statue that will honour the existence of Indigenous Australians before 1770. We as a nation have taken the first step to building reconciliation with Indigenous Australians through Kevin Rudd’s apology speech, what’s next?

 

Image Sourced From

http://www.retireearlyhomepage.com/IMG_4083a.JPG

 

Peer Review #1 (Emily Brassil)

Link to comment: https://emilybrassil.wordpress.com/2017/08/17/life-without-distraction/comment-page-1/#comment-2

Hello Emily!
Let me start out by saying I loved reading your piece and I think it was not only engaging but captivating. Its dynamic exploration of the lack of appreciation that exists amongst contemporary society is exceptional. I definitely agree that it is still achievable to apply the Native American sense of importance of nature in modern-day society. While society is becoming more connected to social media and technology, we are becoming more disconnected with ourselves. By appreciating nature, it allows us to be reconnected with ourselves and hence this highlights the significance of nature to mankind. However, I don’t think living without ALL tangible objects will allow us to live a more whole and meaningful life. More so, I think if we were to detach ourselves from these objects and develop a sense of self and appreciation in nature, we would be a step closer to living a more whole and meaningful life.

Week 3 Blog- Critical

1/ Can you say briefly (in around 250 words) how the thoughts and images of either Emerson or Thoreau (or both) have given you a clearer sense of what it is you are looking for in your own life. Maybe the sentence from Walden might be a catalyst for this: “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. (Chapter 2 Where I Lived, and What I Lived For). Or maybe the sentences from Nature captures what you wish for: “I become a transparent eye-ball. I am nothing. I see all. The currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am a particle of God.” (Chapter 1)

Through an examination of Emerson’s philosophical metaphor of the transparent eyeball, it has established a clearer sense of meaning and purpose in my own life. Emerson’s philosophical metaphor of the transparent eyeball engages explicitly with me in such a way that it facilitates a state of self-reflection, and catalyses new understandings about the nature of self and existence. This all leads to what I am looking for in my own life—happiness and peace.

Emerson’s “transformation” into an eyeball conveys he is an observer of nature but he is also transparent in the sense that he is just a visitor. By representing himself as an observer in nature, it illustrates Emerson’s value of appreciating nature rather than demanding something from it. This accentuates the underlying importance of nature for mankind to rediscover himself. Emerson’s philosophical metaphor has undoubtedly developed a deeper sense of appreciation for nature within me. I personally feel that this is an invaluable approach to nature that everyone should adopt because we can learn so many things about ourselves from just being in nature.

Through Emerson’s transparent and disembodied state of total union with nature, Emerson is able to let go of his sense of “self”. In modern-day society, I think it is because of this lack of union with nature is what gives rise to egotism. I personally think if we all make a conscious effort to live in a selfless and appreciating manner towards nature and each other, we can all achieve a happy and peaceful life.

 

Image Sourced From

http://www.muk.ac.at/uploads/pics/transparent_eyeball_Ralph_Waldo_Emerson.jpg

Week 2 Blog- Creative

3/ Take the first line of any one of the poems we have looked at in the last two weeks and use it as the first line of a poem of your own.  Where possible try to use the shape, the form of the original poem that triggered your attempt.

The poem that I have chosen is Eva Johnson’s “A letter to my mother” (1985)

 

A letter to my land

I not see you long time now, I not see you long time now

White fulla has taken possession of you, I don’t know why

Give me new home to claim

Give me new culture and name

All time I say, I want you back, they say  -‘no way’

I go to you, but you no longer here

I miss you and all them dreamtime stories

Gone is you, gone is myself and my spirit

Gone to these white people of greed

They gave me nothing compared to what they have taken

All time I say, I want you back, they say ‘no way’

I not see you long time now, I won’t see you long time now…

 

Image Sourced From

http://www.robpackerphotography.com/assets/images/front/PQL013L.jpg

 

Week 2 Blog- Creative

3/ “The delight alone or in the rush of the streets, or along the fields and hill-sides”. Use this line from Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself to compose your own short poem about what most delights you in and through your own experience of being alive.

 

Delight 

How shall I tell thee what most delights me?

From a warm embrace to a gentle smile,

To love and be loved, this sets my soul free;

A few things I’ve been longing for a while,

Sometimes I sit alone, and wonder why,

Hecate, is solitude delightful?

When all I do alone is weep and cry,

Perhaps, solitude can be insightful?

My experience of being alive,

Taught me, the lovely gift of existing,

Without living is to merely survive,

Ah Metis, is this just wishful thinking?

And thus, my experience has proven,

The delight in being a human.

 

Note: This is my extremely bad first attempt at writing a Shakespearean sonnet. I apologise.

Image Sourced From http://images.rapgenius.com/381bc14b06f4b4acce2437ed579b16e3.200x300x1.jpg