Julia's Justifications

While trying to find a word that I found beautiful, I thought about when I would go with my dad to the grocery store, and we would pass by the salad dressing. When my dad would buy vinaigrette, specifically raspberry, and put it on a freshly tossed salad, I found it interesting how acidic it tasted, considering the name. It was not what I expected at all! I also always thought it was amusing that something as simple as dressing would have such an extravagant name. I chose this word because of how beautiful it sounds—like a name for an Italian ballet or a painter that creates pieces magnificent enough for a museum. I also like how seamlessly vinaigrette rolls off your tongue, and how it lingers on the latter half of the word. The word vinaigrette also does not exactly sound as it is spelled. You do not really enunciate the “ai” in the word, which I found interesting. I always knew how to pronounce it, but when I stopped to truly think, I realized how I pronounced it as “vinagrette”, and...

  While getting through whatever life throws at her, Janie has it especially hard not only because of her race, but her gender as well. Janie is now in her second marriage, however, it does not go as planned, because she is verbally abused and seen as an object. On page 71, Janie’s husband, Jody says, “Somebody got to think for women and chillun and chickens and cows. They sho don’t think none for themselves.” Janie tries to stick up for herself by saying, “Ah knows uh few things, and womenfolks thinks sometimes too!” Jody, however, believes that women are at the same level as that of dirty animals, and they “see ten things and don’t understand one” (Hurston 71). Janie has tried to fight back for herself, but it never seems to do her any good, because she will just end up getting abused more in the end. During the 1930s, this gender dynamic was very common, where men believed they had some type of superiority over women. While men went off to work every morning, women were expect...

1.   I did not enjoy solo reading as much as reading and discussing as a class, because I was not as motivated. I like that I have more freedom to read something beyond the classroom, but I did not have as motivation to pick up a book to read, than if we had to read it for class. I did not read as many books as I would have liked to, and I want to improve on this this semester. I would like to branch out of my comfort zone and try something new. 2.  I thought the workload was very manageable. I did not have to be up all night doing unreasonable amounts of reading and writing for this class. I never thought that I was not able to manage my work. 3.  One activity I really liked was when we were talking about the fences article. It was really refreshing to hear everyone’s opinions and views. I also was not anxious to speak, and it was an extremely positive experience. I would like to have more discussions like this in the future. 4.  I very much prefer Harknesses ...

  Every single year on either Christmas or Thanksgiving, someone in my family recounts the story of when my brother slept in his bed with a whole package of peanut butter crackers, which he stashed. The entire story is hilarious for the rest of us, while it being quite embarrassing for my brother. It all started when my family and I were at our cottage up in western Michigan. It was our last day there until we had to leave. While I was making the beds, I noticed that I had forgotten to make one of my brothers’ beds. While I began removing the bedding, so I could remake the bed, I noticed there was a whole package of peanut-butter crackers in his bed. Once I saw this, I practically burst into tears laughing my head off. I had so many questions; why were peanut-butter crackers in his bed? Why were none of them opened? Why, just why? I laughed it off and finished making the bed. I then went downstairs to tell my dad all about what I had witnessed, and soon after, he was burst into lau...

  Since quarantine started, I have been on TikTok a lot. I probably spend at least two to three hours a day on the app alone, because I am that bored. Something I have noticed is that “cancel culture” is very prevalent and lots of “creators” or just normal people like you and me, can get “canceled.” Cancel culture in itself should be a good thing; holding others accountable for their actions, in hope that they will educate themselves and change. However, this is almost never the case. Most of the time, people care more about bashing and “canceling” the person than the actual issue at hand. For example, some creators on TikTok have been canceled for lip-syncing the n-word. Now, that is a terrible thing, and they must be held accountable for their mistake, but I have seen first-hand that there are people who care more about canceling that person than the community that was affected. Not to mention there were people in the comments who were not Black trying the excuse the person’s beh...

  When trying to find an episode of the American Life, I wanted to find a story that was not at the top which would have probably been already picked, so I chose the Trail of Tears. In the episode, two Cherokee sisters Sarah and Amy Vowell recount their experience of driving through the Trail of Tears. Another reason I chose this particular episode is that Native American and Indigenous history overall greatly interests me and have not been educated on the Trail of Tears all that much. I can say without hesitation that the American school system has failed me in the way that I learn more about my country’s history in my AP English class than history at all. I also believe that I should not have to wait until college to hear the real, raw story—the story that Sarah and Amy know all too well. One thing that I learned from this episode is the horrific events that Sarah and Amy’s ancestors had to experience has resulted in generational trauma, yet they are conflicted. They feel a nee...

While trying to find an image to put in my blog, I ended up stumbling upon Edvard Munch's famous painting, The Scream , which universally symbolizes anxiety. I can connect this piece with myself not only because I have a diagnosed anxiety disorder, but the painting represents perfectly how I have been feeling during this pandemic. Munch was a painter during the expressionist movement, when artists expressed their inner emotions through art. Munch was famous for his passionate artworks depicting life and death, which can be seen in The Scream. During this time, I felt extremely unsure of my future and the world around me, which I tied to the man’s emotions in the painting. The background behind him is topsy-turvy and all over the place, which is where I am at mentally. The sky behind him also looks like a fire, and could represent how during times of crisis, our minds are in flames. To be perfectly frank, that is what my mind would probably look like right now, with everything rangi...