Blog Post 5

For this post i wanted to focus on the title of the first reading we read by Wendy Rose
"Neon Scars". I definitely thought that was an interesting title for her autobiography piece. This is because at the beginning of the work she talks about how she did not really want to write a biography about herself. This is because she did not want to self pity herself to much, or expose to much about her life. But the title I think was a very clever choice. This is because she uses the word scar and neon together which are definitely not two words people put together often. Scars fade in time but they no not totally disapear. Most people try to hide their scars as best as they can because they think they are ugly and weird looking. Just like people try to hide some of their past because they think it is "ugly" and will make them look bad. Most people do whatever they can to hide physical and mental scars as best as they can. Then the word neon which is associated with lights and brightness being tagged along with scars. This shows Rose is willing to have people notice her scars, not all of them but some. She still admits to hiding her deepest and most vulnerable scars in her life. But i definitely loved the title of the first work, and the way she uses metaphors and plays with words in order to show her feelings and tell her life story.

Kenny Liszewski Blog Post 5

Wendy Rose

It is really hard to consider the hard times that Wendy Rose has gone through in her life. What surprised me the most was that these hard times were a result of her family. Your family are the people that are supposed to love you the most and be there when you need them. Families are not supposed to judge. However, in Wendy Rose's case they did. Her family mostly judged her for her appearance. Rose had darker skin than the rest of her family and apparently this was not acceptable. The fact that she was abused just put me over the top. I don't understand how a family could be so unloving and hurtful. She turned into an outcast because not even her family wanted her. Rose states how when her family threw her out she felt that every other person did as well. Rose was also mixed heritages; Native American, Irish, and Scottish. This also added to her family disapproving of her. She feels that she never grew up with a "comfortable identity" and was never really accepted for who she is.

Through "Neon Scars" Rose makes us feel a little discomfort so that we can relate to how she felt. She explained to us that she didn't want to have to write about her life. She didn't want to tell us the truth for the truth hurts; she didn't know how to explain everything that she has been through. She eventually calls herself an "Indian writer" in her attempt to find a sense of belonging. Her search for her true heritage is her way of finding that family she never had. Through "Neon Scars" she connects with so many different people. Sharing her internal pain was probably very hard but the connections she made with people helped her to find her own acceptance. Rose has had a family all along and that was her audience. Through her sharing our pain with us, we can accept Rose for who she is and the strong person she has become.

Bethany Davis (Post #5)

Blog Five: Wendy Rose

I was really surprised with the hardships Wendy Rose had to face, especially in her family. I'm shocked that she faced so much rejection and hatred for having darker skin than the others. Even dealing with being abused and how devastating it must have been knowing that no one would care or come looking for you if you ran away. To me it's weird hearing about this happening because I come from a very large family where we all love and accept each other no matter what. We get angry if someone makes a stupid choice or if we don't understand their decision but we don't reject them or shun them because of it. My great aunt is a lesbian and her coming out to her family, especially in a time period where it wasn't culturally or socially acceptable, was a big deal. My family still loves her and has accepted who she is and her partner. I can't think of any person in my family that doesn't love her because of her sexual orientation.
I do believe that Rose's search for her heritage was to grasp a real connection, maybe not with someone in particular, but to find a feeling of belonging. Since no one in her family would tell her of their family origins, Rose had to rely on herself and any information anyone was willing to share, whether it be valid and truthful or not, and seek understanding on her own behalf. Rose identifying herself as a Native American writer instead of just a poet or a writer allows her to connect with people on various levels; she connects with Native Americans, people that can relate to her feelings of rejects, a longing for acceptance, writers, poets, or anyone that is feeling ambitious to read her work. All of those people can become sort of like her new family. In the end, I do believe, whether Rose realizes this or not, that she has found acceptance.

Pam Kawalerski
Blog Post #5

Wendy Rose Prompts

1. Based on Rose's poems, why are Julia and Truganinny viewed as outcasts? (FYI: Julia Pastrana and Truganinny were real women, not characters Rose made up. She discovered their stories through her work as an anthropologist). Why is it that both Julia and Truganinny were put on display? What purpose did this serve?

2. Can we draw any comparisions between the way in which Julia was treated by her husband/manager and how Rose was treated by her family when she was growing up? Why might such a comparison be significant?

3. Rose states in her autobiographical essay "Neon Scars" and everything she writes is fundamentally autobiographical no matter the topic or style. What comparisons can be made between Rose, Julia, and Truganinny? In a sense, are these three women one in the same?

4. What is the purpose of Rose writing in the voices of Julia and Truganinny? Why write in their voices as opposed to her own? What does this allow Rose to accomplish that she otherwise could not?

Wendy Rose

I very much enjoyed Wendy Rose's "Neon Scars" which we read this week. I was able to feel the pain Rose has endured with her childhood and lack of identity. It was relatable and I felt sympathetic for her story. Rose dealt with much rejection through out her life from her family, unable to feel as though she belonged anywhere or had any sort of true identity. Coming from a childhood with a father who was very absent from my life, I could relate to her search for the sense of acceptance. Although I had acceptance from my mother's side and my stepfather's family, I was always in search of the acceptance of my father and felt as though I could not have a true sense of self until I achieved it. In reading Rose, I was touched by her emotion and it evoked that similar experience from my life.
In addition, I was taken back by how much she had to deal with in her life. Not only did she have to struggle with the lack of acceptance from family, but she had to deal with abuse. I could not imagine the pain of living in an abusive home or the damage that it does to a child.
In thinking about the title.. All of her experiences have given her these scars. Her scars represent her past - her family trouble, her conflict with herself, her search for identity and etc. They are neon because they are easily seen by who she is today. Her experiences, her tribulations and etc have shaped her into the person she has become.

Angela Feeney Post #4

ending of gilda

I believe Gilda ended just the way it should have. The only other alternative ending to her survival would be for her to ultimately die. At the end of Gomez's novel, Gilda comes to terms with who she is and she is very content. As we see Gilda struggle constantly with herself throughout the novel, it is enough to know at the end that she is happy and that the future seems bright for her. She has grown tremendously over time, and so has society. As a black person and a woman, there are incredible changes in society that could only truly benefit her. As a vampire, she is faced with both adversity and acceptance. Although vampires have been discovered and are being hunted, society in 2050 is much more accepting to different people. I very much enjoyed the ending of the novel and the result of Gilda's growth. It seems as though things could only get better for gilda from here.

Angela Feeney post 3

Blog Post 4

For my last blog post about Gilda I decided to talk about the ending of the novel and the last 2 chapters. I felt it was very interesting how Gilda found different ways to express or life and story in unique and creative ways. For example the songwriting and the writing romance novels. This I thought was a very clever way in which Gilda can remind hidden but still be able to get a message across and tell her stories to a mass audience. I think she needed to spread this message across to people because just writing in the journal wasn't good enough for her. She needed to be social and tell her story to other people it was always in her nature to be social and have relationships.
The next thing i want to talk about is what I thought about the ending of the novel. I thought the ending of the novel was very strange. Especially the talk about humans leaving the planet and the planet itself decaying. Especially with the last two chapters it was only a 30 year span and the planet had been ruined so much and everything changed to fast. But what was kind of interesting was how the author was right about the future in some aspects. Like how people didn't read as much anymore, and things like the video conferencing, and how the paparazzi is with celebrities and how important that is to people. But also how the author was wrong about things like the New York Time dying off, and the planet dying so quickly. But overall I did enjoy the novel and how it was different then a lot of vampire stories, and the themes like family and love that it portrayed throughout the novel.

Kenny Liszewski Blog Post 4