Thursday, November 5, 2015
Journal 10: Holding On response on our class blog from Pernale Blake
My active reading habits throughout Holding On are going fantastic so far. I have been actually trying and putting in a lot of effort into my notes and description. Whcih is already more than I can say about A Long Way GOne or The House on Mango Street. My active reading has really improved in this book, where in A Long Way Gone it was sort of sloppy. I have found out while actively reading that I am extremely talented at noticing thmes thoughout my active reading. Realizng mood, and symbolism have really sprouted in result of active reading. One thing I feel as if I need work onis characterization. Highlighting names of people, places, and things doesnt sound like it would be an impossisble task, but I just cant bring myself to remember to do it. One profiles from pages 48-82 in the book Holding On that I want to talk about is Tommie Bass. Tommie Bass was a folk doctor from Leesburg, Alabama. He was a herb specialist, and devoted his life on figuring out the effects herbs have on things. People often came to him, with hope that one of Tommie's herbs would help them. Despite Timmie's career in being a folk herb docter, he unfortunatly lived in a crappy little shack that had no running water. The reason I loved TImmie Bass's story is because he is not in it for the money, he is actually doing it for the people. He says "Never made a dime out of it, but we sure have seen people get better!" (Isay 67). To Tommie it is not about money, it is about helping others and live longer. Another profile that I want to talk about is Geneva Tisdale. Geneva Tisdale is a Cook, Located at Woodworths Lunch Counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. She was an African american durring segragation so you know for a fact she has tons of stories. She has been working behind the counter for nearly 42 years, she was a cook because at that time a black waitress was never seen. She said, "The blacks were the one preparing the food" (Isay 53). I thought this was sad because only allowing Africans to cook, and whites to serve is a horrible and terrible thing. Equal rights was around the corner, and after reading Geneva's story I relized how eager she was for it to become a reality. These two profiles are both extremely good and important. They are both similar and different in may aspects. One way Tommie Bass and Geneva Tisdale are similar is their work ethics. THey are both really hard workers, and work in their profession for nearly 50 years. They both represented pride within there work, and that is while they were so sucessful. Some ways these two profiles are different in many ways. For example Tommie is a guy, and Geneva is a women. Tommie is white, and Geneva is an African American. Life for Tommie was probably a lot easier and simpler because he is a sucessful young white male, where Geneva probably had some rough little periods of time becuase she was a black women during the segragation period. http://folkstreams.net/film,83
Journal 10 from Lexia Wilson
As of now my active reading in the book "Holding On" is going fairly well. I am doing the same things I did before such as writing down the names and places of people. I also ask some questions if I have any and I nut shell the person after I am done reading about them. The final thing that I do is figure out what category that specific person falls into eccentric, visionary, or a dreamer. Some strengths that I am seeing so far with in the book is how they use their details and questions to really make sure you understand what that person went through. I honestly have not seen any weaknesses so far...I am really enjoying this book because it is so interesting.
My two favorite stories within pages 48-82 is the one about Geneva Tisdale and the other one is the story about Donald Bean. Geneva was a cook at the Woolworth Lunch Counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. She was working there and was a apart of the sit ins during the Civil Rights Movement. During this time they would not serve black people in this restaurant they would only serve white people. "It made you feel funny-I'm not good enough to sit at the counter with them, but I'm good enough to fix their food." Though what those white people didn't know was that their food was being prepared by black cooks. Eventually so many people came into the restaurant and just sat there. So there was no longer any room to serve people so the restaurant shut down for a little bit but they found a way to solve their problem...they would serve their workers but the press didn't have to know who they were serving just as long as they knew that they were black. Before you knew it the press was there and the store was back in business. What I found to being compelling about this story is that they couldn't just serve everyone equally they had to find a scandalous way around doing the right thing.
My second favorite story was about Donald Bean. He developed a place in Moscow, Texas called the dinosaur gardens. Donald had a love for prehistoric creatures so he built this place thinking that others could share that love...but no one came. He built 11 different dinosaurs all throughout a path and around a swamp. I learned that he also spent all of his families money in order to build this attraction. It cost him about 100,000 dollars. They then had no money so his wife had to come out of retirement and get a job so they could bring in some money. Even though no one came to his attraction he would still go out everyday and visit his dinosaurs. What I found compelling about this story was that when he built this attraction he thought that people would come and share his love for dinosaurs but they didn't. I was curious to know how many Moscow's there were in the united states because when I think of Moscow I think of Russia. So the towns named Moscow could have been from Russian immigrants. What I learned from the article link at the bottom was that there are at least 30 towns named Moscow but they all are not named after Moscow, Russia only 2 of them are named for that.
The similarities between these two stories is that they both had a dream something that they wanted to accomplish. Geneva wanted to be able to serve everybody equally and Donald wanted to share his passion for prehistoric creatures with everyone else. What is different about these stories is the way that Isay puts himself in the story. In Geneva's story he starts out with a little section that is him talking about he found Geneva and finally got an interview with her by using italics. Then it goes directly into her own voice and she tells her own story. Where as in Donald's story it is Isay telling Donald's story for him. When Donald's voice is used it is put into quotations.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1987-09-02/features/8703060695_1_self-help-american-psychologist-american-demographics
My two favorite stories within pages 48-82 is the one about Geneva Tisdale and the other one is the story about Donald Bean. Geneva was a cook at the Woolworth Lunch Counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. She was working there and was a apart of the sit ins during the Civil Rights Movement. During this time they would not serve black people in this restaurant they would only serve white people. "It made you feel funny-I'm not good enough to sit at the counter with them, but I'm good enough to fix their food." Though what those white people didn't know was that their food was being prepared by black cooks. Eventually so many people came into the restaurant and just sat there. So there was no longer any room to serve people so the restaurant shut down for a little bit but they found a way to solve their problem...they would serve their workers but the press didn't have to know who they were serving just as long as they knew that they were black. Before you knew it the press was there and the store was back in business. What I found to being compelling about this story is that they couldn't just serve everyone equally they had to find a scandalous way around doing the right thing.
My second favorite story was about Donald Bean. He developed a place in Moscow, Texas called the dinosaur gardens. Donald had a love for prehistoric creatures so he built this place thinking that others could share that love...but no one came. He built 11 different dinosaurs all throughout a path and around a swamp. I learned that he also spent all of his families money in order to build this attraction. It cost him about 100,000 dollars. They then had no money so his wife had to come out of retirement and get a job so they could bring in some money. Even though no one came to his attraction he would still go out everyday and visit his dinosaurs. What I found compelling about this story was that when he built this attraction he thought that people would come and share his love for dinosaurs but they didn't. I was curious to know how many Moscow's there were in the united states because when I think of Moscow I think of Russia. So the towns named Moscow could have been from Russian immigrants. What I learned from the article link at the bottom was that there are at least 30 towns named Moscow but they all are not named after Moscow, Russia only 2 of them are named for that.
The similarities between these two stories is that they both had a dream something that they wanted to accomplish. Geneva wanted to be able to serve everybody equally and Donald wanted to share his passion for prehistoric creatures with everyone else. What is different about these stories is the way that Isay puts himself in the story. In Geneva's story he starts out with a little section that is him talking about he found Geneva and finally got an interview with her by using italics. Then it goes directly into her own voice and she tells her own story. Where as in Donald's story it is Isay telling Donald's story for him. When Donald's voice is used it is put into quotations.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1987-09-02/features/8703060695_1_self-help-american-psychologist-american-demographics
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Journal 10 From Tristen Stover.
My active reading in the book Holding On is going pretty good. In my opinion, I think that I am getting much better at writing things in the margins. I started out struggling, not knowing what to write but now I am starting to get the hang of things. I am also getting better at picking out important information from the chapter like facts and or important quotes. I am starting to be able to write good nut shells for the chapters and also I am doing much better at coming up with themes for each and every chapter. The strengths that I see in the book is how the author uses different styles to tell each profile of someone. The author is very good at grouping a bunch of separate profiles of people altogether. The book is very well thought out in my opinion. On the other hand, a weakness of the book I would have to say is how some profiles are long then some are short. In my opinion, I think that each and every profile should be around the same length as one another.
One profile that really stuck out to me was focused on Tommie Bass. I learned that he was a folk doctor that lived in Leesburg, Alabama. Tommie lived in a shack with no running water. Tommie became known as a herb doctor by running a junk business in his front yard. Tommie spent his days sitting in a chair outside of his home on the southern edge of the Appalachian mountains. All he did was wait for customers to come and visit him. "We've been in the herb business ever since 1918" (Isay 65). Tommie always referred to himself as "we". "Never made a dime out of it, but we sure have seen people get better!" (Isay 65). Another profile that really stuck out to me was focused on Donald Bean. I learned that Donald was a proprietor that lived in Moscow, Texas. I also learned that Donald opened up Dinosaur Gardens which was the park that was nearly one hundred thousand dollars to build. The park opened up in 1981. Donald stated "I always liked dinosaurs. They are large, they are big, and they ruled the world for years.. thousands of years.. Well, millions of years!" (Isay 69). Donald came up with the idea for the park in the late 1950's. It took Donald about twenty years of planning and saving before he was finally able to build his own park.
The profiles that I picked were similar because they were both based on someone running there own business that they came up with all on there own. They were different though because Tommie was a doctor while Donald was a proprietor. Also, both profiles took place in different states. On the other hand, both of the profiles that I picked from the book were both very similar in relating to how each profile was written. They were both wrote by the person being interviewed. In other words, the person that was being interviewed was telling the story on there own. The differences in the writing though would have to be is that they both started in different years. They also happen to tell different stories about how they created a business for there self and all of there steps that they had to go through for there dream to come true.
I did research on the profile of Donald Bean. I found that the dinosaur park in Texas was struggling to survive on November 30, 1986. I also found out that if Donald would have called in a team of marketing consultants he would not have invested his life savings. He wouldn't of built his dinosaur park. The nation would have lost his contribution very fast. Donald quit school after the eighth grade, and read all about dinosaurs for years and was finally able to develop descriptions and characteristics for each dinosaur. Donald was interested in dinosaurs, but even after six years in the dinosaur business he was not able to describe there appeal very good. Donald hopes the current revival of interest in dinosaurs will help his business, but he admitted that the progress had been slower then he had expected. Donald closed his park in January and February but stayed open the rest of the year.
One profile that really stuck out to me was focused on Tommie Bass. I learned that he was a folk doctor that lived in Leesburg, Alabama. Tommie lived in a shack with no running water. Tommie became known as a herb doctor by running a junk business in his front yard. Tommie spent his days sitting in a chair outside of his home on the southern edge of the Appalachian mountains. All he did was wait for customers to come and visit him. "We've been in the herb business ever since 1918" (Isay 65). Tommie always referred to himself as "we". "Never made a dime out of it, but we sure have seen people get better!" (Isay 65). Another profile that really stuck out to me was focused on Donald Bean. I learned that Donald was a proprietor that lived in Moscow, Texas. I also learned that Donald opened up Dinosaur Gardens which was the park that was nearly one hundred thousand dollars to build. The park opened up in 1981. Donald stated "I always liked dinosaurs. They are large, they are big, and they ruled the world for years.. thousands of years.. Well, millions of years!" (Isay 69). Donald came up with the idea for the park in the late 1950's. It took Donald about twenty years of planning and saving before he was finally able to build his own park.
The profiles that I picked were similar because they were both based on someone running there own business that they came up with all on there own. They were different though because Tommie was a doctor while Donald was a proprietor. Also, both profiles took place in different states. On the other hand, both of the profiles that I picked from the book were both very similar in relating to how each profile was written. They were both wrote by the person being interviewed. In other words, the person that was being interviewed was telling the story on there own. The differences in the writing though would have to be is that they both started in different years. They also happen to tell different stories about how they created a business for there self and all of there steps that they had to go through for there dream to come true.
I did research on the profile of Donald Bean. I found that the dinosaur park in Texas was struggling to survive on November 30, 1986. I also found out that if Donald would have called in a team of marketing consultants he would not have invested his life savings. He wouldn't of built his dinosaur park. The nation would have lost his contribution very fast. Donald quit school after the eighth grade, and read all about dinosaurs for years and was finally able to develop descriptions and characteristics for each dinosaur. Donald was interested in dinosaurs, but even after six years in the dinosaur business he was not able to describe there appeal very good. Donald hopes the current revival of interest in dinosaurs will help his business, but he admitted that the progress had been slower then he had expected. Donald closed his park in January and February but stayed open the rest of the year.
Journal Ten by: The Daniel Scheiderer
So far in Holding on my active reading is going pretty good but of course there is always still room for improvement. A strength is that the book is entertaining and interesting, i would say one of my weaknesses is that I'm not exactly sure what to highlight.
One of the profile that really caught my eye would have to be Mackey E. Brown, i thought this one was interesting because it was so short, and Mr.Brown had a stroke and that made him unable to talk , i thought it was cook that they still put him in the book even though his profile was only two paragraphs long. One thing that really stood out to me was that he said "I like people and I like to talk. I you have a good product, you don't need to worry." talking about how he was a door to door sales man.
Another profile that stood out to me was Donald Bean, this man had his own "Dinosaur Garden". he said that the park cost nearly $100,000 to build. i think this gentleman is very very unique, i don't think I've ever even heard of someone that likes dinosaurs as much as this man.
one thing that made these two men the same is that they both did something that was unique and different in the everyday world. one was a door to door salesmen and the other one had a dinosaur park/garden.
One of the profile that really caught my eye would have to be Mackey E. Brown, i thought this one was interesting because it was so short, and Mr.Brown had a stroke and that made him unable to talk , i thought it was cook that they still put him in the book even though his profile was only two paragraphs long. One thing that really stood out to me was that he said "I like people and I like to talk. I you have a good product, you don't need to worry." talking about how he was a door to door sales man.
Another profile that stood out to me was Donald Bean, this man had his own "Dinosaur Garden". he said that the park cost nearly $100,000 to build. i think this gentleman is very very unique, i don't think I've ever even heard of someone that likes dinosaurs as much as this man.
one thing that made these two men the same is that they both did something that was unique and different in the everyday world. one was a door to door salesmen and the other one had a dinosaur park/garden.
Journal 10: Morgan Kiehl :)
I really think/hope my active reading skills have improved since the beginning of the semester. Although, my active reading has become detailed and more in depth and I feel my comprehension skills have greatly improved .I have learned to slow down and actually enjoy what I'm reading. One of the strengths of Holding On for me personally as a reader would be the fast pace of the stories. A weakness would be that there is no real plot only stories, this is a weakness for me because I feel a lack of attachment to the characters.
One of the profiles that really stood out to be was Geneva Tisdales. I really loved Tisdales hard working attitude and patience. As an African American during racial segregation I felt that she was extremely patience, yet excited for equal rights. I also felt a connection to her and how she was private with her life and was reluctant to actually participate in the interview to begin with. Her dedication to the restraint she worked at also impressed me and how long she worked there and how excited she was when she was given simple rights, such as just eating at the counter of the dinner.
This was compelling to me because just the thought of such excitement for a small right or privilege was such a big deal for her.
Another profile that I really liked was the profile of Roberta Blackgoat. I really loved how rebellious Roberta was ! She really stood for what she believed in and her land. I loved how dedicated she was not to herself but to her children and her childrens, children. Roberta wanted nothing more than to teach those children the way of the land. This was so compelling to me because, her idea of raising children the "right way" is so different from how most of us have been raised today in modern society.
They way that these profiles were written had similarities and differences. One similarity between the two profiles were that first off they were both women, and they were both written with a sense of pride coming from within the women. The differences were obviously different values between the women. Robertas profile was written in a more of a 3rd person point of view. While Genevas profile was written in more of a first person style. I imagine the difference in point of views would come from the fact that a lot more language coming from Geneva was able to be translated into written English, while there may have been a language barrier with Roberta but her idea and values were still able to be captured by writing.
The profile that I decided to research further was Roberta Blackgoats profile and a little more about her history. Roberta stated "If you transplant me elsewhere I will not grow, Ill just die" (pg.46) this quote made me realize her deep and true love for her and her ancestors land, making me want to look further into why this land is so precious to her Native American culture and what people are actively doing to protect this land. I learned from the website linked below, that there are actually a lot of protesters out there protecting Native American sacred ground. Many protesters going to measures such as lining up tents an large teepees on the sacred land surrounded by modern housing developments.
http://newamericamedia.org/2011/08/glen-cove-a-spiritual-victory-for-the-ohlone-people.php
I really thought this picture had a deep meaning of what we have taken from Native Americans.
One of the profiles that really stood out to be was Geneva Tisdales. I really loved Tisdales hard working attitude and patience. As an African American during racial segregation I felt that she was extremely patience, yet excited for equal rights. I also felt a connection to her and how she was private with her life and was reluctant to actually participate in the interview to begin with. Her dedication to the restraint she worked at also impressed me and how long she worked there and how excited she was when she was given simple rights, such as just eating at the counter of the dinner.
This was compelling to me because just the thought of such excitement for a small right or privilege was such a big deal for her.
Another profile that I really liked was the profile of Roberta Blackgoat. I really loved how rebellious Roberta was ! She really stood for what she believed in and her land. I loved how dedicated she was not to herself but to her children and her childrens, children. Roberta wanted nothing more than to teach those children the way of the land. This was so compelling to me because, her idea of raising children the "right way" is so different from how most of us have been raised today in modern society.
They way that these profiles were written had similarities and differences. One similarity between the two profiles were that first off they were both women, and they were both written with a sense of pride coming from within the women. The differences were obviously different values between the women. Robertas profile was written in a more of a 3rd person point of view. While Genevas profile was written in more of a first person style. I imagine the difference in point of views would come from the fact that a lot more language coming from Geneva was able to be translated into written English, while there may have been a language barrier with Roberta but her idea and values were still able to be captured by writing.
The profile that I decided to research further was Roberta Blackgoats profile and a little more about her history. Roberta stated "If you transplant me elsewhere I will not grow, Ill just die" (pg.46) this quote made me realize her deep and true love for her and her ancestors land, making me want to look further into why this land is so precious to her Native American culture and what people are actively doing to protect this land. I learned from the website linked below, that there are actually a lot of protesters out there protecting Native American sacred ground. Many protesters going to measures such as lining up tents an large teepees on the sacred land surrounded by modern housing developments.
http://newamericamedia.org/2011/08/glen-cove-a-spiritual-victory-for-the-ohlone-people.php
I really thought this picture had a deep meaning of what we have taken from Native Americans.Journal (BRITTENY HANKS) :)
Holding
on is a good set of small stories about people’s lives. You see the stories of
people and about the things they accomplished in their life so far. I find the
book really interesting on the aspect that then persons story are very
different. I really enjoy the fact that the author gets very personal with each
person he comes in contact with and is willing to write story about anything
from a hobo to a drag queen. The people that David Isay and Harvey Wang meet
are different and that’s what they enjoy and you can tell that in the writing.
One thing I don’t really care for in the book is how short each story truly is I
feel like before I get into liking the character the story is already over. I just
want the stories to be a little bit longer.
Two profiles that stood out to me was Harold C. Cotton and Tommie Bass. Tommie Bas was a “folk doctor”, He knew a lot about education. His dad was a doctor. Harold C. Cotton was a store clerk for hats. He worked for a man and then he died and then he worked for the man who bought the shop, then he passed away and then the store was his. Both men worked and did things with things that they loved. I looked up what folk medication really was and it said “Folk medicine has existed for as long as human beings have existed. In an effort to cope with an environment that was often dangerous, humans, and their ancestors, began to develop ways of lessening pain and treating physical and mental problems. At first, many of the ways of treating these problems undoubtedly came through trial and error, using various plants and other methods derived from observation of how animals reacted to and treated illnesses and injuries.” As I started thinking the civil rights were going on when Mr. Cotton owned the shop it was a serious time. It was hard for people to have a business as an African American man.
Mr. Bass said, “We don’t claim to
be a doctor. Don’t have no doctor license, never dud study it. I’m just an herbiest…
Men, I am not a doctor not even a son of a doctor. All I know is how herbs has
done for us over the years.” By Mr. Bass saying that shows that he only does it
because he enjoys helping the people around him. Mr. Cotton said, “If you’re satisfied, I’m satisfied.” And
that’s all he ever said. And from then never did have one bit of trouble in her
‘bout people sittin’ next to one another. No trouble at all.” Both men had different stories but still had amazing
lifes.
Journal 10. Kayla Frea.
Journal 10
My active reading is going very well. I think I am getting
better at remembering and having information to write down in the margin. This
book is easier for me to pick out history and different subjects. I am also
getting better at nut shelling for the end of the stories. The strengths I see
in the book is the different styles he chooses to tell his stories in. It flows
very well. He is also good at grouping the stories together and all the stories
lead their themes right into the next one sometimes. The weakness of the book I
would say the portraits, I wish the photographer had taken more photos that
were not posed. He could have really shown the emotion in the stories to the
reader both through the photos and the writing. They used the photos just to
put an image of the subject for the reader. They could have told a story with
the photos and the words.
Geneva Tisdale, she was a cook at the Woolworth’s Lunch
Counter. She has been a cook there since the sit-in during the Civil Rights Movement.
I learned about her influence in the movement such as her being one of the
first African Americans to eat at the counter, “So we done that, and sure
enough it wasn’t long before the photographers and people started crowding in—and
they didn’t know it was us!”(Isay 53). I think it is a great thing that she can
say she was one of the first to be served at the counter. I want to know if she
ever did get to eat at that counter again. Harold C. Cotton, he was a hat
blocker. He loved what he did and he would keep all his customers in the same
room no matter what the skin color was. He would also keep all of his customers hats no matter what or how long that they had been at his shop. They would stay there until they were picked up by the owner.
They were both very similar in the writing style, both being
written as the person being interviewed was telling the story. They were both
took place in the same city. They both had themes of African Americans being
served the same way as anyone else. They both showed how they moved up in their
ranks in their workplaces. Both of these story’s tellers were in their place of
work for a long time, most of their individual lives. The differences in the
writing is they both started at different places in time. They also tell different
stories and they are effected by the Civil Rights Movement in different ways. Segregation
effected them in different ways.
When I was doing my research I found one website that Geneva
Tisdale was not even cited in being one of the first ones that got served, but
it did say employees were the first ones to eat at the counter. (https://www.sitinmovement.org/history/greensboro-chronology.asp). They did tell about one of the employees that she did reference was in the website, but with another last name so I do not know for sure if it was her.
I also tried to look up Bob’s Hat Shop and could not find any information on it
except for an audio of this story that we read.
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