Hello All!
Recently in my FIQWS class we were required to create a portfolio website. We are expected to address the course learning outcomes that we were exposed to when the fall semester began. I became worried at the thought of having top create a website. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to make a sufficient website for a good grade. I viewed making a website as a difficult task for myself because I had never created a website before. To make matters more worry-some, I had to include excerpts from my previous work to consider my website complete.
However, after using my computer at home, I focused on making a more visually pleasing website, and studying the specs on how to construct a website. I spent time trying to create the most ideal website to present the work I produced this semester. Now all I had to do was create an organized breakdown of how all the course learning outcomes had been accomplished in class. At that point my vision was clear, and I was determined to produce the best portfolio I could.
During the semester, we received an assignment that required us to address the two pieces of art- one painting and one political cartoon. Following that assignment, we were also required to write a reflection about the writing process behind the assignment. This process satisfies the Course Learning Outcome #1: “Explore and analyze in their own and others’ writing a variety of genres and rhetorical situations” and is supported by the excerpt below:
“The intended audience for my Literacy Narrative were my peers in the classroom. I kept in mind that I felt very strong about the comparison while writing. I assumed that most of my intended audience would agree that the parallelism is undeniably irrational and in return understand my narrative in greater depth. I wrote my narrative in hopes that the reader would understand my passion about the parallelism between Glenn McCoy’s cartoon and Norman Rockwell’s painting, becoming just as passionate as myself.”
This reflection process satisfies the outcome because we were able to look back on our own writing and analyze the key aspects of the rhetorical situation in our writing.
In my FIQWS class, we were also given the opportunity to bring a copy of our literacy narrative and exchange it with another student. The purpose of the exchange was to read over the other students’ work and give advice on the work. This satisfies the Course Learning Outcome #2: “Develop strategies for reading, drafting, revising, and editing.” Because we reinforced our work through drafting and bringing work to class for revision purposes. We took the input received in class from other students and edited our papers to create a more solid piece of work.
During 10108, the morning portion of my FIQWS class, we had a workshop on how to cite sources in MLA format so we can properly cite sources in the works we have done in FIQWS and onward. In the following excerpt, my works cited page has satisfied Course Learning Outcome #3: “Practice systematic application of citation conventions” where it writes:
“Murray, Donald C. “James Baldwin’s ‘Sonny’s Blues’: Complicated and Simple.” Studies in Short Fiction, vol. 14, no. 4, Fall 1977, p. 353. EBSCOhost, ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=7151144&site=ehost-live.
Reid, Robert. “The Powers of Darkness in ‘Sonny’s Blues.’.” Short Story Criticism, edited by Jelena O. Krstovic, vol. 98, Gale, 2007. Literature Resource Center, https://link-galegroup-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/apps/doc/H1420076262/LitRC?u=cuny_ccny&sid=LitRC&xid=0f72a1b2. Accessed 7 Dec. 2018. Originally published in CLA Journal, vol. 43, no. 4, June 2000, pp. 443-453.
Baldwin, James. Sonny’s Blues. Harlem: 1957. Print.
Sigmund, Freud. Five Lectures on Psycho-Analysis 1910.”
The above excerpt shows how to properly cite sources in MLA format, a staple in many assignments. Above I have cited books, lectures, and websites in a research paper I conducted for FIQWS.
In the Literacy Narrative I wrote for my FIQWS class we were required to identify our audience, the genre of the pieces of art we were identifying, and the purpose of writing. This satisfies Course Learning Outcome #4: “Recognize and practice key rhetorical terms and strategies when engaged in writing situations.” In my literacy narrative, I explicitly stated the audience in the following excerpt:
“The intended audience for my Literacy Narrative were my peers in the classroom. I kept in mind that I felt very strong about the comparison while writing. I assumed that most of my intended audience would agree that the parallelism is undeniably irrational and in return understand my narrative in greater depth. I wrote my narrative in hopes that the reader would understand my passion about the parallelism between Glenn McCoy’s cartoon and Norman Rockwell’s painting, becoming just as passionate as myself.”
The above excerpt satisfies Outcome #4 because the literacy narrative encouraged my FIQWS class to implement and identify key components of the rhetorical situation. The literacy narrative identified many more rhetorical components such as subject and what our stance is in the rhetorical situation.
In my FIQWS class, we made great usage of a process called “Peer Review”. We would bring copies of our work to class and exchange it with another student. We could correct one another’s work and provide additional input on how to improve the work. This addresses Course Learning Outcomes #5: “Develop and engage in the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes.” A student in my FIQWS class left the following comment on one of my works prior to handing in the final draft. It read “Many of the writer’s thoughts are given a reason as to why that is, as well as a clear reason for writing their essay.” The comment was left during a peer review which revealed whether my work successfully carried out the assignment or not. This satisfies the outcome because it inspired collaboration between students, and engaged us in social behaviors by helping one another in the drafting process.
Online, my FIQWS class utilizes CUNY Blackboard to host discussion boards on class related topics. On this discussion board, you can reply to another student’s post in the discussion board where you can voice your opinion on what the student has said. This online access accommodates to Course Learning Outcome #6: “Understand and use print and digital technologies to address a range of audiences”. The following excerpt is a post I made on CUNY Blackboard:
“In William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies”, Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality is most prevalent in the characters Simon (Super Ego), Piggy (Super Ego), Ralph (Ego), and Jack (Id), and through the Id’s power to thwart the Super Ego when societal pressures no longer exist.”
The above excerpt proves that I can use technology to reach a range of audiences, such as the peers in my class and my professor. Students in my FIQWS class as well as my professor can comment anything they feel would assist me in my critical research paper.
My FIQWS professor Ms.K took us to the library in the tech lab where we discovered the CCNY Databases that could be used to conduct accurate research using reliable sources. We also learned how to differentiate between reliable websites and unreliable websites, such as those that end in .com instead of .edu. this satisfies Course Learning Outcome #7: “Locate research sources (including academic journal articles, magazine and newspaper articles) in the libraries databases or archives and on the internet and evaluate them for credibility, accuracy, timeliness, and bias” because we received the proper education to do research and complete assignments such as the critical research paper. Because of the class, we can know when research is being properly conducted and we are using resources that are a good fit for our work. This is a great skill that will be very useful for my future in City College and conducting research for future assignments.
Lastly, in my FIQWS class we had to conduct research for our critical research papers. We used sources from CCNY databases such as Gale Literary Sources or Ebscohost to conduct reliable research. This satisfies Course Learning Outcome #8: “Compose texts that integrate the students stance and language with appropriate sources, using strategies such as summary, critical analysis, interpretation, synthesis, and argumentation” because we employed the strategy of critical research in order to justify our stance based on our topics.
Overall, the course has fulfilled what the it said it would when I joined the class in the fall semester. I can honestly say I learned everything that the syllabus said I would learn, and I plan to use what I learned in my FIQWS class in my future at CCNY!

Literacy Narrative Reflection

When writing my literacy narrative, I felt an unquenched deep anger and an undying sympathy. I couldn’t seem to shake the feeling that someone considered comparing racism a girl endured at age 6 to a wealthy businesswoman being unwelcomed for imposing selfish and inconsiderate plans for the U.S. education system. Although I agree with the overall message of the political cartoon by Glenn McCoy, the cartoon as a whole should have been executed differently to avoid the degrading impact on Ruby Bridges efforts.
My unquenched anger derives from two incomparable situations being compared. I couldn’t resist becoming biased based on who I am. I couldn’t resist understanding what it would have been like for a young 6 year old girl with melanated skin to experience oppression for simply attending an all-white school. As a black individual myself, I believe i have no other option but to innately put myself in her shoes. Ruby Bridges is a big contribution to me being able to attend any school or public institute where the color of my skin won’t impact the way I am treated. I truly believe that “Trying to Trash Betsy DeVos” is a poor mannered cartoon that should not have been considered to be created. I wrote my narrative in strong bias against the implicit degradation the cartoon caused to Ruby Bridges. As a black person with melanated skin, wrote feeling a certain responsibility that I had to relay to the audience my passion for this situation.
The intended audience for my Literacy Narrative were my peers in the classroom. I kept in mind that I felt very strong about the comparison while writing. I assumed that most of my intended audience would agree that the parallelism is undeniably irrational and in return understand my narrative in greater depth. I wrote my narrative in hopes that the reader would understand my passion about the parallelism between Glenn McCoy’s cartoon and Norman Rockwell’s painting, becoming just as passionate as myself.

James Baldwin’s comment on Society told through Freud in “Sonny’s Blues”

“All they really knew were two darknesses, the darkness of their lives, which was now closing in on them, and the darkness of the movies, which had blinded them to that other darkness, and in which they now, vindictively, dreamed, at once more together than they were at any other time, and more alone.” (Baldwin, 1). Black People who lived in Harlem during the drug epidemic were most at risk to be addicted to heroin, which became a means of coping with life. What seemed like just “life”, was actually the force of darkness surrounding these individuals and keeping them in the same position for generations to pass. In James Baldwin’s short story “Sonny’s Blues”, Freud’s concept of artistic gift is used as a contribution to Baldwin’s work to reveal that Baldwin views Harlem as an inescapable “darkness” whose only path is one that leads to death unless one forges a lifestyle for themselves.
In “Sonny’s Blues”, Baldwin includes the recurring theme of darkness to reflect the state of people who lived in Harlem. The darkness was the endlessness that people who lived in Harlem faced during the drug epidemic in Harlem. Darkness haunts those whose race most closely resembles that of darkness who were in Harlem when heroin conquered Harlem. The only escape from this force was through death. In order to cope with the darkness, individuals would either become subjected to heroin or dope addictions or falsify a lifestyle in order to believe that they are living the American dream. However, any route chosen when you are consumed in the darkness would result in you having the same fate as everyone else who experienced bondage to the force, eventually being dead. Becoming addicted to drugs or falsifying the American dream would just be the least stressful and easiest ways to cope with the darkness.
The bondage to the darkness was best explained by the narrator of “Sonny’s Blues” where he said “In a moment someone will get up and turn on the light. Then the old folks will remember the children and they wouldn’t talk any more that day. And when light fills the room, the child is filled with darkness. He knows that every time this happens, he’s moved just a little closer to that darkness outside. He knows that every time this happens, he’s moved just a little closer to that darkness outside. The darkness outside is what the old folks have been talking about. It’s what they’ve come from. It’s what they endure. The child knows that they won’t talk anymore because if he knows too much about what’s happened to them, he’ll know too much too soon, about what’s going to happen to him.” (Baldwin, 7) This very situation is reciprocated in “Sonny’s Blues” through Sonny’s father and Uncle, whose fates triggered a concern about Sonny in the Mother. The Mother tells Sonny’s brother “I ain’t telling you all this… to make you scared or bitter or to make you hate nobody. I’m telling you this because you got a brother. And the world ain’t changed” (Baldwin, 9) after she told the brother that their uncle had a passion for music just like Sonny. He ended up being killed by a drunk white man in a car because the Uncle’s skin was one that resembled that of darkness. The mother was weary about Sonny because she believed that Sonny would be the child who would be filled with darkness. The very child who wouldn’t be told about their Uncle’s fate because it would reveal what Sonny’s fate would be when you’re someone who is bonded to the darkness. The mother feared that Sonny would die similarly to the way the uncle died, especially since she believes the world remained the same since the incident.
Darkness is first seen within Sonny when Sonny was revealed to have a bondage to drugs. Upon the narrator’s learning of Sonny’s condition, he says “I didn’t want to believe that I’d ever see my brother going down, coming to nothing, all that light in his face gone out” (Baldwin, 1). The narrator made the remark because finding out that Sonny was drug affiliated meant that Sonny would meet the impending fate or death of everyone else who took the same footsteps as Sonny. Sonny’s addiction continued and made it to the newspaper, which was how his brother found out about his condition. He had been to rehabilitation, which Sonny’s brother was told that rehabilitation was an endless cycle Sonny was expected to eventually end up going right back to rehabilitation until he died, which was expected of someone who is stuck in the darkness. Everyone had lost hope for Sonny, believing that he would be consumed by the darkness and simply end up dead, having done nothing in life. Sonny’s mother warned the narrator of Sonny. She wanted him to take more responsibility for Sonny because she feared that he shares the same fate as their uncle. The mother saw a resemblance between the narrator and Sonny in comparison to their father and uncle. The reason for this was because Sonny realized he had a passion for music and wanted to play jazz, similarly to their uncle who played acoustic guitar. The uncle died for having skin that resembled darkness, when the people driving had skin that resembled light. Essentially, the mother wanted Sonny to have a different fate than what his uncle had.
To relieve the stress for the mother, the narrator agreed to watch over Sonny more. The narrator grew critical of Sonny’s passion for playing jazz, assuming it would keep Sonny consumed by the dark. The narrator refused to accept what Sonny had chosen to make an illusion living the American dream. Being able to play jazz would allow Sonny to falsify a living in America and it would seem like Sonny would have escaped the darkness. Playing jazz music became a coping mechanism for living in a place surrounded by drugs and death. The brother would soon understand this, that his brother would be fine. He would soon understand that he need not take so much responsibility for Sonny, that Sonny would not share the same fate that the mother envisions.
Sonny appeared to have escaped the darkness; he was no longer dependent on a drug lifestyle to live the American dream, and he was not expected to live a fate that would result in him being dead in a way that was like his uncle. Sonny embraced his passion for playing jazz through the piano, because Sonny possessed what Freud calls an “artistic gift”, which was “If a person who is at loggerheads with reality possesses an artistic gift ( a thing that is still a psychological mystery to us ), he can transform his phantasies into artistic creations instead of into symptoms. In this manner he can escape the doom of neurosis and by this roundabout path regain his contact with reality” (Freud, 2235). Freud would call Sonny achieving his goal of wanting to play jazz on the piano a wish fulfillment. Sonny was able to control everything through playing jazz on the piano and not rely on drugs to survive. From a Freudian viewpoint, Sonny had an artistic gift because Sonny was able to turn his “phantasies” of escaping the darkness present in Harlem into an artistic creation. Sonny would disguise his phantasy as a wish fulfillment, since he managed to overpower his brother who had become too overprotective over him. Sonny was able to remain in control and keep from becoming one of the average people who do drugs and eventually die. He became an individual who makes a life out of music and comes close to escaping the darkness. He was able to attain some light despite being expected to have none after being subjected to drug use. However, Sonny is still illusively living the American dream, because Sonny is still part of the darkness. He still lived in Harlem and he was still a black man while doing so. The best method to escape the darkness was to cope with the darkness either through drug use, or Sonny’s method of manipulating his talents to create a lifestyle for himself.
James Baldwin most likely views society as one that may be unfit for those who resemble and live among darkness. “Sonny’s Blues” is suggestive of a real period of time where racism, drugs, and death were prevalent in places such as Harlem. Societies like such are unfair for those who are caught in what Baldwin dubs darkness, because it is beyond their control to try and escape the impending fate. The cycle is repetitive, where generations of people repeat the same fate with no hopes or thoughts of escaping. Baldwin is suggesting that darkness is a force that haunts people who are most likely black and prevents these people from ever achieving a true American Dream. All these individuals are left to do is cope with the darkness by using drugs and becoming oblivious to the trap. However, in “Sonny’s Blues” Baldwin uses Sonny to inform the reader that there are more ways than dying or resorting to drugs to escape the darkness. Baldwin most likely wants the reader to believe that they can use artistic creations to forge their own American dream when you are expected to never achieve that dream.
James Baldwin coined darkness as a recurring theme throughout his story to relay the idea that Black people can escape the darkness that may seem otherwise in Harlem. Baldwin believes that people could use an “artistic gift” to be able to craft a lifestyle of their own to cope with the darkness and live a different fate than what is expected of people in Harlem during the Heroin epidemic.

“It Was a Different Day When They Killed The Pig” Through the Lens of a Psycho-Analyst

The day Aloisio’s father killed Noca the pig was a truly animated day. When Noca was slaughtered, the sun was bright and all the children were bustling with sanguinity. Aloisio would be the only one to experience a different day when Noca died. He was subject to incertitude about why he was so nauseous days following the event. The short story “It Was a Different Day When They Killed the Pig” by João Ubaldo Ribeiro most closely resembles Freud’s forces of repression and resistance through Aloisio’s perspective on the death of Noca the pig.
In the short story, Aloisio most closely associates the day Noca was slaughtered to the day the children ran free and the sun uniquely radiating. Aloisio awaits the slaughtering knowing it will happen, until his father breaks the anticipation indicating the time has come. When Noca was being slaughtered, Aloisio observed the gruesome view as Noca’s intestines and other body parts spilled from her body. Following the event, Aloisio runs and the narrator reveals “ He had never known one could sweat sop much while he scrubbed the stains, real and imaginary, from his vomit spewed all over the bathroom because he had hardly been able to close the door when his cheeks were filled up and before he could bend over the toilet, he exploded as if he were going to turn inside out” Aloisio witnessed the violent and gory slaughtering of Noca and couldn’t express what he felt about the situation, hence the throwing up over the bathroom.
Through a Freudian lens, we would Aloisio’s experience as a repressed traumatic experience. We can equate the killing of Noca the pig to what Freud considered as the man who disturbed the lecture on Freud’s analogy of repression where Freud says “Let us suppose that in this lecture-room and among this audience, whose exemplary quiet and attentiveness I cannot sufficiently commend, there is nevertheless someone who is causing a disturbance and whose ill-mannered laughter, chattering and shuffling with his feet are distracting my attention from my task. I have to announce that I cannot proceed with my lecture; and thereupon three or four of you who are strong men stand up and, after a short struggle, put the interrupter outside the door.” The resistance of his feelings toward the slaughtering of Noca would be when Aloision cleans up what he had spew in order to conceal what had happened from any outsiders. This can be equated back to Freud’s analogy of repression, where Freud says “But in order that the interruption shall not be repeated, in case the individual who has been expelled should try to enter the room once more, the gentlemen who have put my will into effect place their chairs up against the door and thus establish a “resistance” after the repression has been accomplished.” The blockade on the door the Freud suggests the strong men would put up block any outside interference, just as Aloisio cleaning his vomit would prevent any outsiders from intervening on what he had been trying to hide. Aloisio’s father compliments him on his maturity during the slaughtering, but this isn’t necessarily the case. Aloisio decides to not reveal what truly happens, and continues with his life.
After Aloisio had repressed his feelings about the day Noca died, Aloisio encountered a strikingly unique feeling that he had no leads on. Whenever Aloisio would experience a day where the sun was bright and the children were bustling with the same sanguinity, the narrator also reveals “Aloisio felt his eyes wet, and pride with sickness again, and pulled back to the porch not knowing what it was that he had. Maybe this is the reason why when he now sees the family gathered together on sunny holidays or when he wakes up among the noises of his children and grandchildren and parents and grandparents and all relatives. When he sits in a quiet corner and looks at all of this, his chest feels heavy and he has the impression that if someone speaks to him, he will begin to cry without ever again being able to stop” Being around the same setting he would unconsciously remind himself of the day that Noca was slaughtered along with the body parts spilling across the ground out of her body. In accompaniment with the memory, Aloisio would then have the feelings he had that day be triggered because of the radiant sun and cheery children. From a Freudian viewpoint, we can deduce what may appear to Aloisio as an indescribable feeling to be the repressed feelings rising to surface because Aloisio is essentially reliving the day Noca died. Since he never got to express the disgust he had when Noca died, he cannot help but have the same feelings once again.
When analyzing “It Was a Different Day When They Killed the Pig” as a Psycho-Analyst, we can understand that the elements of the story reveal a psychological complication rather than a character who may appear to be having a bad day. The psycho-analytic concepts of resistance and repression allow the readers as psycho-analysts to make better logic of the short story. Aloisio can be seen as a manifestation of Freud’s ideas of repression and resistance when we attempt discover why the day seemed so different to him when Noca died.

Literacy Narrative
Following the Brown V. Board of Education court case, schools became the first public facilities that underwent desegregation in the United States. This meant that people, particularly of color could attend any school, and acceptance was not based on your race. Schools would no longer be restricted to any single race, but that didn’t guarantee that the attitudes of the oppressors in previously all white schools changed after the abolition of segregation in public facilities in 1960.
Ruby Nell Bridges was the first person of color to integrate an all-white school (biography.com) in 1960. She had to be escorted to school by her mother ad U.S. Marshals in order to reach school safely. The action was inspirational as more students of color can now have access to the same education as their white peers. Ruby forged a path for students of color who wish to go to any school hey want without worrying about their acceptance being impacted by their racial background.
In 1964, artist Norman Rockwell created an informative painting called “The Problem We All Live With” that firmly grasped what it was like for Ruby to travel to school every day. The picture was comprised of a young Ruby Bridges accompanied by men who appear to be her guards to ensure she makes it to school safely Additionally, there are tomato stains on a wall that indicate a tomato was thrown at Ruby for reasons regarding race. The tomato stain was accompanied by a racial slur tagged on the wall behind Ruby Bridges that convey the level of acceptance that Ruby was welcomed to. It was clear that the people did not accept well that people of color would be attending an all-white school, and didn’t agree with Ruby becoming a student in such a school.
The purpose of the painting was to give the audience a feeling of what it was like for Ruby to attend school every day. The fairly liberal painting alluded to women of color and individuals with children of color who yearned for equal education opportunities such as those of their white peers.
However, in February of 2017 Glenn McCoy published a satirical and controversial political cartoon called “Trying to trash Betsy DeVos” that essentially became mockery of Ruby Bridges efforts during a period of racism in the United States. Glenn McCoy created a political cartoon that was comprised of Betsy DeVos traveling to a school, similarly to Ruby Bridges with similar guards accompanying her. The cartoon also included a similar tomato thrown on the wall, and “Conservative” tagged onto the wall. The political cartoonist atempted to create a parallelism between the unwantedess of Ruby Bridges in an all-white school to the unwantedness of the Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos in a Washington D.C. school.
The purpose of the cartoon was most likely to do as the title says, trash Betsy DeVos. The cartoon labelled her as conservative and well displays the feeling of being unwanted that she most likely experienced. Although degrading to the original painting, the cartoon does properly address what it intended to do. I do agree with the cartoonist on the idea that DeVos’ ideas may be considered Right-Wing and won’t be accepted in many places in Washington D.C. “Trying to Trash Betsy DeVos” could be considered a favorable cartoon to people who consider themselves liberal, and to those who oppose what Betsy DeVos is trying to impose on the education system. Additionally, the cartoon’s intended audience was most likely people who would agree that Betsy DeVos is imposing Right-Wing ideas on the education system and is potentially unqualified.
I believe the cartoon is instead disrespectful, as it compares the racism and hatred a young girl received for being black in an all-white school to Betsy DeVos being unwanted because the ideas she expressed and wished to impose on the United States education system were unwanted. A young disadvantaged girl’s suffering and civil rights efforts cannot be equated to an advantaged, wealthy, and powerful business woman’s conservative-biased ideas creating a disagreement among herself and the people of this Washington D.C. School.
The intended audience for my Literacy Narrative were my peers in the classroom. I kept in mind that I felt very strong about the comparison while writing. I assumed that most of my intended audience would agree that the parallelism is undeniably irrational and in return understand my narrative in greater depth. I wrote my narrative in hopes that the reader would understand my passion about the parallelism between Glenn McCoy’s cartoon and Norman Rockwell’s painting, becoming just as passionate as myself.
The painting fairly grasps Ruby Bridges situation, and could be interpreted as an inspiring image to Black and United States history. The political cartoon however, belittles Ruby Bridges efforts to those of Betsy DeVos, and serves as a cartoon that insults what Ruby Bridges stood for.