span312

everything into the garbage! YAY!

2010-08-17T21:25:00.000-07:00

One day, I realized how much "garbage" I had collected. Most of them were notes, projects, brochures, essays, and scrap paper that had collected throughout my 16 years of schooling. They were DUSTY and they took up TOO MUCH space. OMG...i swear the amt I threw out can add up to 3 whole garbagebag-fulls.

Once in a while, I'd regret throwing them out. They were the remnants of my school life, kinda, because it cited what I had been learning, my progress, my ideas, my memories....they were things that contributed to my schoolin!! Going through my old works was a rewarding experience that I'll never forget. But i swear I will never go through that load again!! What a pain! once is enough already.

On the other hand, they were merely junks that I had barely touched. I might as well turn those into "recycled products" *neat*

My last blog for span312

2008-04-13T14:38:00.001-07:00

well, school is finally over, and now there are finals. Good that my other class, like span 312, dont have finals either. But then, because we had to do time-consuming projects instead of exams, the last 2 wks of school was crazy for me. Anyhow, at least i get to hang out when other ppl are busy studying.

Before I took the course, I thought it is going to be boring,but then i didnt know anything about spanish so I was very curious. It turns out that the old books are not that bad. I like the president and the feast of the goat the most. I thought i'll absolutely hate the supreme, but then I like how it ends, and all that meaning behind it that we discussed in class. I think the philosophy is very interesting, but if only we dont need to read the book...the prof could just explain it all to us instead of reading it cuz i didnt get it after reading it any ways.

Well, these books taught me the history of south america and the significance of power. Power can influence people, creates dictators, influence dictation, influence texts, influence writing, in turn they both changes history.....etc. I also learned about the reality of political corruption and the disguisting nature of humanity in some people, such as the the torturing scenes in the dictator novels.

I really learned a lot from this course, and is very impressed by the prof, of how he could make some boring texts interesting.

and I could see how much time and effort he put into this course. So Thankyou very much.

O but one important question. what wil happen if i forgot to sign the attendance sheet on some days? Cuz i didnt miss a class the whole term other than the last wk of school.

Hope all our wikipedia prj turns out well! HAGS!

the feast of the goat continue

2008-03-31T17:15:00.000-07:00

The story is pretty ironic. Trujillo was like the King. His family can do whatever they want. But Trujillo ended up assassinated by some of his closest people. Also, despite such a horrible father he is, his elder son revenges for his death. And little did he know, his family lived very poorly after his death. His wife hid lots of money from the family at the Royal Bank, and still didn’t let the sons know after Trujillo’s death. She died, and her money became the bank’s. The sons are poor, got beaten. I actually feel sorry for the sons. They both lack fatherly love as well as a mother’s. The daughter somehow turned out to be the most fortunate, ministering to people on the streets, but people think that this shouldn’t be something for her to do, and laughs at her.
Something fake about this story is how Urania can kept on talking and talking to her father who couldn’t speak or give much response back? Not only this, what she talks about is ….well…a lot of stuff… more like too much.

the feast of the goat, first half

2008-03-24T23:04:00.000-07:00

although a big novel than the general in his labyrinth, it feels easier to read. I like how it began with Urania’s story. It’s unique in that Urania is a female, and the book started in a the modern setting. Even the writing style is more modern compared to the other dictator novels (well, it IS written in the modern day). The dialogue between her and other people brings back a lot of memories of the past. And with proper punctuation marks and stuff….this story is pretty easy to grasp. However, right when I start reading chapter 2, I got a bit confused. It is a different storyline. We went back to the Dominican times…and then Trujillo shows up… I understand why the author uses this structure in his writing. It allows us to think in different perspectives, adding some from each storylines, little by little. But really, it turns out confusing when I didn’t expect the novel to have such a structure. It made me go back and read the beginning over again to make sure what was happening.

Reading it again the second time, I realized that the beginning of chapter one already hints something about rascism: Urania complaining about her name. I later found out that Trujillo, the Dominican dictator himself, also cares a lot about his race: He wants to look whiter. He’s like making a white regime, ruling with a lot of outside influence..

Like other dictators, he is very egocentric. He made his followers offer their wives and children to him for pleasure, and even boasts about it. What made me more stunned was the fact that those husbands allowed this to happen, and some even say that it is an honor. Urania’s dad knew that this sexual violation is wrong (he was very afraid when Trujillo’s eldest son kissed Urania’s hand), yet he is still loyal to the dictator.

Trujillo’s eldest son committed lots of crimes. Trujillo himself, have even said that he regrets about having a family like his, that his sons are not supportive. Well, guess what, he is not a supportive father either.and easy to read. The Feast of the goat is a very interesting novel.

the general continue

2008-03-18T00:02:00.000-07:00

as i continue to read "the general...", he continues to be sick with insomnia and dreams a lot. He says in p182 "The only thing lacking is for me to die". He continues to be physically weak, exposed, and seems to die soon, but he still have some strength or power at times that some people think that he might be faking the sickness. Well, he dont like to feel that he need anyone and he enjoys doing some things by himself and keeping a personal distance from even his jose palacios. However, there are parts in the book where the General seems so out of shape and especially lost. For example, in p153, "[Manuela] arrived in Santa Fe de Bogota just in time to save the little life remaining to the General on the evil night of September 25. Six years had gone by since they had met, but he was as aged and full of doubt as if it had been fifty, and Manuela had the impression that he was wandering without direction through the mist of solitude." At other times, he is ambitious to achieve something, to go somewhere. Later on the book, he gets weaker...more pains, suffers a vertigo attack, worn out and skinny,. Wilson says, "disease was the only enemy the General feared, and he refused to confront it so that he would not be distracted from the greatest enterprise of his life." (212)

At parts of the book i can also see how the general is quite a stubborn person, possibly from nationalism, using most of the money left to him, and refusing to auction his scant resources(210).

Lastly, throughout the book, the General still enjoys looking at beautiful women and women were given descriptive descriptions. Still, no women could make him stay or love. (183) He is not committed to them no matter if he kept them in his memory, sent them passionate letters or gifts...

The general in his labyrinth

2008-03-10T22:22:00.000-07:00

This book is way easier to read than "I, the Supreme", phew~! The first day I started reading this book, I almost read half of the book. On the other hand, when I was reading I the Supreme, I could stay on two pages the whole day, and drift off to some other place.

What's distinct with this book is the writing style. It is more simple and the chapters are all focused on what happened to the General (It stays on topic and have less name to recognize). What I found interesting about this dictator is how he loves so many women. Something I dont get is the part where he slept with a slave and thus given her freedom. First of all, why didnt she scream when someeone naked walked to her and start kissing her and why would one of her only words were telling him that she is a slave? And then how she didnt leave with him afterwards could make the general disappointed? But this (and other stories of him) however tells me that the General is very observant of women and also likable by women too. For example, someone's wife would sleep with him.

I also dont get how he can be sick for so long...yet the stories continue.
Anyhow, this book is still easier to follow and somewhat interesting too.

It shows me the power of the General. He can set slaves free. Women comes to ask him for favours. He can make people die whenever he likes. But then, the power of this general is less horrendous than the dictators from the previous dictator books that we've read.

Oh, there's a part that reminded me of the President. Remember that part where he was saved from an assasination because he was busy talking to the beautiful Miranda (was it her? a possible spy?), while his friend was in the general's room and was mistaken as him at that time, and died instead of him? Well, this made clear of how easy it was for the government to accuse the death of the colonel in the beggining of "The President" must be an assasination, and that no one would believe that it was just a tragic accident...that it was actually the Zany who killed him...cause politics were corrupted and assassinations could be prevalent.

continue...I, the Supreme,

2008-03-03T23:12:00.000-08:00

After the class discussion, I learned to recognize some of the humoor in the book. Not that the book was not confusing...it still is. However, the stories shows me things that i would never have thought of. it showed me a lot of creative thinking, probably because the thoughts came from someone who was CRAZY. From this book, i learned a lot about the qualities and characteristics that dictators might have. But over all, even the Supreme was just all crazy about power and wanting everything his way. He was too proud of himself, very egocentric, and very critical indeed (although at times showed* his tolerant for Patino). I wonder if its the need of power that made him this way or if he was just born with such an ambitious personality and wanting unreasonable things. He does think things in peculiar ways.

It has other parts that reminds me of Facundo and the President. Talking about war and Paraguaya...etc. reminds me of the importance of geography and history. Along with the facts, documents, historical figures, and compilers notes, etc. kept I, the Supreme in the middle of fiction and non-fiction,,,and always kept me wondering what had happened, what was true and what was made up. On the other hand, I hate names! Names got me so confused for Faaaaacundo. In the Supreme, it refered to many famous people that i felt guilty of not recognizing, while some of these people might have believed to have existed. For example, it talked about Cain from the bible, who sounds familiar. Lastly, it talked about the death of El Supremo, which reminds me of how the book, Facundo, talked about how the dictator (Facundo) died too.

There were parts that reminds me of the President, such as using symbolism and repetitions. In the president, it kept on using words like "devil", "demons", "Lucifer"...In the Supreme, it kept refering to the "skull". I remember there was a part where someone died and the Supreme wouldnt let the relative take back the corpse. That reminded me of the President too.

Beggining of I, the Supreme.

2008-02-25T23:23:00.000-08:00

The beginning of the book (that piece of note) is very unique. However, not having an introduction or subtitles for chapters, made this book kind of hard to follow. As I continued reading, I was extremely irritated by the dialogues. It was really hard to follow who was talking. It took my quite awhile to read it. This book is very confusing.

However, there were some things that made it interesting. For example, it contains many deep thoughts and statements: about history, religion, power, language, writing, etc., which reminds me of the previous two dictator books we read about (Facundo and The Prsident). I also like how it all started with a mystery: who forged that piece of note? Who will want so many people dead? What was more creepy was that the handwriting was the same as the Supreme. I kept asking myself, who can get into the office to the papers and the watermark (p64)? Could it be one of the characters who showed up already? If its someone under the Supreme, his "civil and military servants", then wont he be like asking for death himself too?

The book also have some exciting part, such as when (was it Patino? I think so) who let the pen take control...his writing was flowing uncontrollably. It's also interesting....how the writing of the book talked about writing.

Overall, the concept of the book is new and interesting but the writing is completely frustrating and dragging. There is no hints to whats going to happen next..no headings. I dont really know what to look forward to. Is there going to be lot of people dying like in Facundo and The President?

Last half of The President

2008-02-04T22:22:00.000-08:00

As I continue to read this novel, i start to like Angel Face more and more. He is the charcter who brought hope to the poor Camila (was she only 15 when all her relatives abandoned her?) On the other hand, Camila brought brightness and love into Angel Face's life. Together, this couple made the novel more emotional and helped separate humanity with animality (is this a word?).

on page 234, the Judge Advocate said to his servant "...I don't like your sympathizing with people. You musn't encourage them to hope....there are never grounds of hope for any description for anyone. It's only possible to holding a position like mine if you obey orders; the President's rule of conduct is never to give grounds for hope, and everyone must be kicked and beatened until they realised the fact..."

The above quotation clearly states what you should be like in order to survive at the time of the president's rule. He has spys everywhere, you can only obey and believe what he wants you to believe.

But in spite of that, there are people who have awakened in mist of such a society. For example, near the end i remember somwhere in page 281 it says "...Nothing left of his corpse...without air, without sun, without movement, suffering from dystentery, rheumatism and neuralgia, practically blind, the last and only thing that remained alive in him was the hope of seeing his wife again, that love which sustains the heart against the emery-power of suffering." This is a very strong passage. Love can be this strong! that even the suffering people experiences is in no match for! Although terrible things happened to Angel Face...the hope that he carries out throughout the book is still there.

first half of The President

2008-01-28T21:16:00.000-08:00

The President (1963), by Miguel Angel Asturias, is easier to understand. The author uses a lot of repetitions, imagery, dialogue, and humor!...to make the book less formal, and easier to understand. It's unlike Facundo's non-fiction, documentary style.

By repetitions, i like to emphasize how the idea of "the devil", "lucifer", etc... was repeated again and again.

From the author's use of imagery, i can feel the people of the time. I can see what the street was like. I can understand what the officers were like. I can feel the pain and fear that the people felt without human rights. The author can be very descriptive at times, such as describing the "idiot", the officer, how people were forced to comply to what the superior wants to hear, how people died. I remember reading about this person being tortured...some half body...ewww~.

Similar to the atmosphere in Facundo, the people in The President have low human rights. People were given lashes, and deaths occured frequently. Unlawful rulers are like bombs that can explode any moment, and if you are beside it...good luck!

In the beginning of the book, i asked myself who is the "idiot" cause he seems so mysterious. What was it about calling mother? that part is a bit confusing to me. I am still wondering whats wrong with him.

last half of Facundo

2008-01-21T17:31:00.000-08:00

The last half of the book has too much politics and war! And there were places with weird names again! I am really bad with names. I wonder how I can improve?

Any way, I still enjoy reading about the author's optimistic perspectives on the despotism that went on in early 19th century South America. For example,

I also like how the author led us to empathize the people of the time. For example, he would go back to remind us about how those people grew up: soldiers' hardened hearts came from their cruelty in slaughtering cattles in childhood, Rosa's weird personality was built from the years of loneliness in childhood without intimate care from his mother, etc. This reminds me of what i learned in psychology... of how experience can influence your personality.

Thus, in a way, we shouldn't blame those "barbarians", but rather sympathize on how they were brought up (lack of education and love, or even their lack of civilization etc.)

The author also wanted us to accept what had been done already (in a way) by thinking on the positive side. For example, he described how Rosas, although beast-like, is also a "...great and powerful instrument of Providence, which accomplishes everything important for the future of our homeland" (p238-239). Rosa's extablished the unitarist system that Rivadavia wanted. He made people including caudillos of the interior fear him, and he broke corespondence in the land, which in turn eliminated montonera and caused the people to become closer to eachother!

The history of the dictators taught the future what the people need: education, rights, morals, faith, etc...

Sermiento was right. Rosas had a huge influence to his homeland, compared to the previous leaders. Too bad he was a tyrant, but still, he did contribute somewhat to a brighter future (despite the downfall of the economy) by setting the stage for new government!
span312

span312- first half of Facundo.

2008-01-19T00:29:00.000-08:00

Im currently reading a book called Facundo: Civilization and Barbarism by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento…..it was written in Spanish around the 19th century, and then later translated to English. I currently reading the one published in 2003. When I first heard of the name, Facundo, I thought it is very amusing. I still love pronouncing that name….everytime I want to read that book, my heart will yell out its name “where’s FACUUNNNDDDO?”

This book is full of facts! I am especially overwhelmed while reading the facundo’s introduction. It is hard to keep myself awake while reading that introduction because it jumps around too much….sometimes history, sometimes politics, sometimes philosophy….and then weapons and stuff….i don’t even remember what I read…..and there are so much facts and history that I have never heard of before. In addition, there are no subtitles to organize it. The translators introduction is easier to read as it is separated by subtitles. However, I would like to say…”too long!”.

Anyhow, I have to admit that the south American history is very interesting to learn, especially of how a place can change so substantially…barbarious to civilized to barbarious….with blurry boundaries. Hmmm…What constitute if someone is civilized or barbarious? It raises questions about human nature too.

The information in chapter one is still hard for me to process, especially when there are so many names that I cannot pronounce and those places that I have no idea where it is. The map is quit helpful though. Chapter two is what made me more into the story. I think those different kinds of people and their unique qualities are somewhat interesting. It even makes doubt if those qualities, such as tracking someone down from footsteps, are real. The structures in their life are so obscure. Those people seems uncivilized if you ask me. However, what do they think? I mean, who would think themselves as uncivilized?

Anyway, later on the book I’ve learned about Juan Facundo Quiroga (call him Fucundo Quiroga or juan instead of just Facundo, or else we might mistaken the person with the book title). He loves to gamble! And he seems kind of inhuman too because he is so aggressive and uncaring. He doesn’t even care about faith or respect in his society. He doesn’t obey commands from others. It seems like no leaders want him to live, yet the government (or whatever it was called) still sees him as an ally. Talk about weird people! He just freaks me out. He bashes people’s head, mean to his family members, and makes no sense. Anyhow, I learned something from him: when you are winning money, don’t insist on gambling with him if he wants to stop. He’ll just win back the money and then kill ya! So yea, stay away from him at all cost.
But Juan is not all so bad. He is just like a dictator, wanting to do everything his way, yet it works on getting the people to follow. It is just that people when suppressed too long will rebel and want change. It is just that the resources of a place wears down when someone do not realize what sharing and relationships means.
span312