I definitely agree with Skulski when it comes to the first article; I did not like the way it was written at all. Just in style, “The Rusted Iron Curtain” did not flow and unlike some of our previous articles, transitions were very abrupt and at times I didn’t like the way Robert Kaplan jumped to different topics. Also, I found the article pretty stereotypical. Growing up in San Diego and also traveling a lot has given me the opportunity to see a lot of the United States and other countries. In San Diego, there is definitely a blend of cultures and a lot of the time, the border towns in Mexico are not much different. Depending on where you go in Mexico, sure there is a drastic change from the U.S. to Mexico, but not usually that drastic. Nogales is a rare extreme, and it is interesting, but I didn’t like the way Kaplan wrote the article or portrayed the city.
However, I had a complete opposite appeal to the second article. I have always loved Maya Angelou and her work and this piece is nothing new to me; I have had to read parts of it before. I like how it is told in a story form to keep the reader interested. Also, Maya Angelou always throws in the dialect of the area which makes everything so much more believable. Maya Angelou also has a way of making one story have so many different meanings to so many different people. The first time I had to read “Champion of the World,” I was in middle school, and I only got a good story out of it. I imagined myself sitting in the store listening to the radio and celebrating. When I read “Champion of the World” again in high school, I actually knew the event that it was relating to. Reading it again, it took on a whole new meaning. It completely relates to everything we have been talking about in class. (Of course, why else would we be reading it) But it shows the reality of minorities having to bring themselves from being nothing, to something; even in the 1900’s when there was supposed “equality” that doesn’t even exist today. If a minority doesn’t succeed and overcome everyone else, they will be treated as though they are right back where they started from. That is just human nature and a sad fact of life, and Maya Angelou does a great job of letting us feel her pain, and tension, anxiety, happiness, and all other emotions as “her people” relied on “one of them” to make them appear as the strongest people in the world. And, as we all know, everyone’s goal is to have power and it is a constant struggle among different groups throughout the world.
Filed under: Uncategorized
