Maus I Discussion

For anyone who wants a break from studying on Monday and wants to continue thinking about Maus:

Schuler Comic Book Discussion Group Meeting
(Eastwood store)
Monday. December 10. 7:30 p.m.
Join us for a meeting of our monthly Comic Discussion Group, exploring and investigating the publishing industry’s biggest boom medium - comics and graphic novels! This month’s title is Maus: A Survivor’s Tale by Art Spiegelman, completing our discussion of the Big Three comics that changed the comics industry in the mid-80s.

I talked to the woman who is organizing the event. She was very knowledgeable and excited about graphic novels. She also said that she was planning on having the group read American Born Chinese next!

Since I can't seem to leave a bookstore without a couple of purchases, I picked up The Invention of Hugo Cabret and The Arrival. I promise I'll finish working on the final projects before I open them up.

Responses from authors

We've had two responses from authors this week: David Levithan replied to a question about Boy Meets Boy from a student in Monday's section and Sarah Littman responded to our class questions about Confessions of a Closet Catholic!

Since both of the responses were sent as emails, I'm not going to post them here. Rather, I'm going to put them up on Angel.

It's really exciting for me to hear authors respond to questions posed by the class!

What was it like to talk with your group on-line?

For those of you who held your discussion on-line what was that experience like? How was it similar or different from meeting in class? What seemed to be gained or lost? How might this experience impact how you think about your own future teaching?

The Holocaust in Literature

Choosing which novel to use for the week on Jewish American literature was difficult. As you'll see in the memo that you've been assigned for session 12, one of our considerations was whether to choose a book which focused on the Holocaust or whether to choose a book that was contemporary realistic fiction. Although we chose the latter, the ways in which the Holocaust is remembered is obviously a significant part of Jewish American culture. (Or, more broadly, American and world history.)

In addition to the books listed in the memo on Angel, you might check out:

• "What makes a good Holocaust book?: Beyond oral history". (Posted on Angel and available through MSU electronic resources.)

• Art Spiegel's Maus: A Survivor's Tale is an interesting text to consider because it is such a compelling example of a memoir told in the form of a graphic novel. (We didn't consider it for the class because it is really adult or maybe young adult reading.)

• "Michigan Teacher's Workshop on Holocaust Education". This day-long event is a chance to meet with other educators who use literature related to the Holocaust in their classrooms. The year I attended the focus was on the use of memoir. Although we did discuss students' responses to texts, the focus was much more on our readings and what is intellectually and ethically complicated about representing such a significant and horrific historical event. Spaces are limited and there is an application process. If you are interested, check the MSU Jewish Studies website for information early next semester. (And if you do want to attend and want help writing your personal statement, email me!)

I'll add to this list as I think of other resources. We can also have a conversation around the topic. What resources do you know of to support this type of work? What questions or concerns do you have?

A story you don't often hear about the Holocaust

I came across an article in the LSJ last week called "Exhibition honors Muslims who saved Jews from Nazis". Since I had spent part of the day rereading some books about the Holocaust written for children, my mind jumped to the idea that this is a story that doesn't get told. (Both in its particulars and in a more general sense that the Muslims in the story are the heroes and don't see Jewish people as enemies.)

Publishers and books

A friend who is a librarian sent me this email and then gave me permission to post it here for our class' consideration:

Here are some interesting articles from Publisher's Weekly about publishers and books. (just in case we had any doubt that publishing was not about the bottom line...)

The Book That Takes Off Running
Read the full article at:
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6492857.html.html?nid=2788&

MySpace Does Branded Book with HC
Read the full article at:
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6493884.html?nid=2788&

Identity Crisis? Not Really
Read the full article at:
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6492859.html?nid=2788&

Weight as a disability?

I'm still thinking about our discussion about how weight might be considered a disability. (For those who weren't there, we weren't talking medically, but about how people's bodies are sorted into those that are "normal" and those that are "unacceptable" socially.)

I'm not going to do a full review, but I think The Earth, my Butt & other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler treats weight in an interesting way. The main character, Virginia, struggles with how people see her as well as how she sees herself. Although she loses weight in the end (trope of disability), she does so on her own terms and makes a clear statement to others about whether her body is up for discussion.

I wonder if it is "possible" to write a story about a "person of size", as I've heard say, and not have them "resolve" their weight "problem"? (Take the quotes seriously!)

This is a fun read. I would love to talk about it! (And if anyone wants to take on the challenge of thinking about size and disability, it might be an interesting project. I would want to talk about what might be tricky about how it is framed.)

Reactions to Charlie's POV (Monday section)

Since we didn't have time to do share everyone's reactions to From Charlie's POV, let's continue the discussion here on our blog.

• What were your reactions to From Charlie's POV? What ideas captured the interest of your small group? What new questions do you have about the book? Does anything seem unresolved?
• Does listening or reading the speech "Blindness: Is Literature Against Us?" by Dr. Kenneth Jernigan, former head of the National Federation of the Blind, add anything to how you read the text? I found the first 15 minutes and then the conclusion to be the most relevant. (Wow. He talks about "the blind detective" as a trope!)

I said this in class, but there were so many different reads of the text! I hope people will share!

Address for audio:

http://www.nfb.org/Images/nfb/Audio/BanqSpeech/BSP-1974.mp3

Address for list of banquet speeches:

http://www.nfb.org/nfb/Speeches_and_Reports_Banquet_Speeches.asp?SnID=4

What do we mean by "ally"?

In our discussions of how one's own identity impacts one's reading of the text, people have used the term "ally". I'm worried that we haven't explored what we mean by that term! Here's one definition:

An ally is someone who speaks up or takes action against oppression not target towards themselves. (Yeskel, 1997, p. 249)

Often people who use the term emphasize that being an "ally" means working with and listening to members who belong to the oppressed group. It is often connected to the idea of recognizing and responding to privilege.

For me the term is helpful in thinking about how I acknowledging my own privilege as a white person and how/why I might work to end racism, for example. As a woman, it also helps me think about how men can be a part of dismantling sexism.

Here are some other resources that I found which might help you think about the term and what it helps you see or do:

• A more developed definition of ally from Bishop
• A list of "characteristics of an ally" from "Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice", p. 108. I don't have an electronic copy of this (and it's too long to quote), so I'll bring the book to our next class..
  
• Adversary vs Ally, a list of concrete actions one can take from the University of New Hampshire Residential Life page
• A lesson plan from Teaching Tolerance that explores how you might think of the concept with students

Feel free to comment with questions, ideas, connections to literature, etc.

Rowling "outs" Dumbledore

A friend just sent me a link to an article about a comment that J.K. Rowling made stating that her character from the Harry Potter series, Albus Dumbledore, is gay.

Keeping in mind that he is a fictional character, I'm trying to think about how he is being constructed and how what it means to be gay is being constructed in her comments, the text, audience comments, and the media. I'll post on this later after I've had some time to mull it over.

Read the article and let me know what you think!

Reactions to Al Capone Does My Shirts

Wednesday session:

Since we didn't have time to do share everyone's reactions to Al Capone Does My Shirts, let's continue the discussion here on our blog.

• What were your reactions to Al Capone? What ideas captured the interest of your small group? What new questions do you have about the book? Does anything seem unresolved?
• Did viewing Autism is a World make you think in new ways about Al Capone? If so, how?