Home » Discussion Posts

Discussion Posts

Discussion Post 1:

My first BlackBoard Post:

I don’t know why we were up so late at night. It was 3 in the morning. All seven of us were up, talking, laughing, yelling, dancing. We were doing anything we could do to delay going to bed. We knew that when we woke up our cousins from America were going to have to catch their flight back to New York. Priscilla and I were the closest in age. She was a little quiet when I first met her, but she later admitted it was because she could not understand my English through my “Nigerian Accent”. After we got a little closer, we got along so well that I just started borrowing herself without her permission. She hated that. I still did it anyways. 

On the night before she left, she was cooking something…I think it was noodles. She was making it for everyone. She could cook. Kind of. I’ll give her that. She’ll get better with time. She made the noodles and served it to everyone. We all ate. After I finished eating, I went to the bathroom. I guess nobody saw me leave. I’m kind of quiet. So, I went to the bathroom, and as soon as I came back, someone dropped a glass cup near where I was walking. Some of the pieces of glass shattered in my direction. And guess what? I stepped right on them. Several pieces. At first, I didn’t feel anything. Then, I felt the glass pierce my skin and I saw the drops of red blood hit the floor. Everyone turned to look at me, then at the blood on the floor. No one moved. Except Priscilla. She ran to get the first aid kit in the kitchen and immediately started barking orders at everyone, demanding that they put on gloves and start to pick up all the big pieces of glass on the floor, and she wanted the smaller shards to be swept up. I watched as she stood in front of me quickly removing tweezers from the kit to extract the glass from the bottom of my foot. She quickly told me it might hurt as she began to pull them out quickly, and then pressing a paper towel against the part that was bleeding. She was murmuring about how she saw them doing that on TV. The bleeding eventually stopped and she cleaned the bottom of my foot with alcohol and wrapped the foot up. I watched in awe as she did it without asking any questions, and so confidently.

“You should be a doctor”, I advised her as I stood up on my freshly bandaged foot. 

“I know.” 

Discussion Post 2: Close Reading:

“In my memory my life at Hailsham falls into two distinct chunks: this last era, and everything that came before. The earlier years- the ones I’ve just been telling you about- they tend to blur into each other as a kind of golden time, and when I think about it all, even the not-so-great things, I can’t help feeling a sort of glow”- Kathy pg 77

 The section of the text highlights the importance of Hailsham to Kathy in comparison to Ruth. Ruth evidently has less care for Hailsham, who is seen donating her Hailsham belongings. Ruth also desperately wants to fit in with the veterans, who clearly only mimic behaviors exhibited on television. Ruth is trying to extract as much as she can from life, as if she is conscious of what awaits her. It appears like she’s running from her past, even though she is aware that her past was preparing her for her predestined future. Ruth is strangely  uncomfortable with her past as Ruth accuses Kathy of dwelling on the past too much in previous chapters. Kathy is acutely aware that Hailsham is something worth holding on to because it might be the last part of their life that they have some control over. 

It was an Interesting choice that Kathy chose to separate her entire schooling only into two chunks. One would think that one’s life might be separated into five or more segments, but Kathy intentionally choose two. Did her choosing of only two segments indicate she knew the true insignificance of her life at Hailsham, therefore prompting her to compress all of the memories only into two segments? The whole novel as been reflecting on her past at Hailsham, and she oddly concluded with shrinking it so condensely. 

The reader also has to take into account that this is Kathy’s opinion. Would Tommy reflect on all his years at Hailsham with the same nostalgia? The same “sort of glow”? This would be interesting to think about as we can see how intertwined the lives of Kathy and Tommy are, but seem to be living in complete opposite lives. Kathy also seems to be extremely proud of her time at Hailsham, even though the reader has seen her make somewhat poor decisions. Although she did not do anything significant, she still considers Hailsham an accomplishment.

Discussion Post 3: The Art of Storytelling

“I’m so hungry, bro. I could eat anything right now,” said Sherish as she closed her computer. “I skipped breakfast so I could make it to Physics on time. I ended up being late to Physics and I still didn’t eat.”

“I had air for breakfast and I live in the Towers,” Priscilla quipped as she zipped up her bookbag. “ I mean I got to physics on time but for what? To show off my outfit?” 

“We should just get food, like I guess we all hungry. Should we get pizza?” Imani asked.

“No! I had that yesterday. Something different…” Priscilla chimed quickly. She was hungry but didn’t want to go too far to get food. She wanted to eat, go the Towers and go to bed.

“Wait guys, why don’t we have Thai food? There’s a really good place downtown and its halal so Mubeen and I can eat it”, 

“All the way downtown? I am TIRED!” Priscilla exclaimed as she pushed open the doors of Harris Hall. As the warm sun hit her face she smiled. She was heading to bed.

“No seriously Priscilla, you can come back and sleep. It’s actually so good, you won’t regret it. They have this really good Thai iced tea, and it’s literally the bomb” Sherish insisted as she caught up with Priscilla. “It’ll be an adventure. And we might as well, it’s freaking Friday”

“Let’s just go, Priscilla. We can just chop am and leave” joked Imani, as she laughed.

“Fine, only because I’m hungry”

*35 minute train ride later*

“This better be worth it,” grumbled Priscilla as she stomped towards the restaurant.

“You’re already here by force, so you have to eat it” Imani pointed out. “Wait, why is it empty? It should be open, its only 3:30pm”

A waitress approached them with a sorry smile, “We’re on break right now, we open back up at 4pm. If you want you can come back at 4.”

Priscilla turned to her three friends and raised her eyebrows.”Did y’all know this or…?”

“That’s fine, we should just walk around and find something to do until 4, it’s literally New York City.” Mubeen suggested. “We could go to Washington Square Park and take flicks or something. Or just sit in the grass and talk”

Everyone nodded in agreement. As they walked to Washington Square Park the enjoyed the hustle and bustle of the city around them. They took in all the sights and all the smells even the ones they didn’t want to smell.

When they got to the park, the four girls walked around looking for a good place to take a picture. They stopped in front of the fountain and watched as droplets of water were being carried by the wind. The water glinted in the sunlight and provided a perfect backdrop for pictures.

“This is the place,” Mubeen declared while she opened her camera app on her phone. “Imani, go stand over there” 

“I’m taking pictures?” Imani asked, taken aback. 

“Yes of course! Look at that yellow jacket! Pop off!” Sehrish exclaimed.

Mubeen immediately started taking pictures of Imani as Priscilla and Sehrish hyped her up in the background. 

“As you should!”

“Go off!”

“Yellow and melanin, and that’s on period!”

Imani was soaking up all the attention as she switched poses every ten seconds, trying to get every angle. “Guys! Stop! You’re gassing me too much”

“Y’all it is 4. It is time to head back and eat” announced Priscilla.

Walking back, they gushed over the pictures they took and talked about high school. They swapped stories about their families, personal lives, ambitions. 

Priscilla settled into her seat, ordered her iced Thai tea and realized she was glad she came.

Thus far, this class has truly taught me the importance of storytelling. Stories can evoke different kinds of emotions, and while I was writing this story I felt a lot of joy. Reminiscing about good times can be therapeutic and while I was writing this I was particularly stressed, thinking about all the work I have looming on the horizon, but remembering this day made me happy. It never really occurred to me before this class that one can storytell several times a day even in basic conversation. Storytelling is so ingrained in culture because it can create relatability between humans. It allows traditions, experiences, and emotions to be shared via words. People storytell to share what happened to them and stories can serve many different purposes. A story can serve as a warning or as a testimony. I’ve learned to appreciate the art of storytelling and its many forms.

It’s Okay If:

It’s okay if you are not okay

It’s okay to take the day off

It’s okay if you guys don’t work out

It’s okay if you do not want to talk about it

It’s okay if you do not like something

It’s okay if things do not go your way

It’s okay if you do not feel attached

It’s okay if you are not like someone else

It’s okay if you do not act like her

It’s okay if you don’t look like her

It’s okay if you do not get the best grades