Today we reviewed They Say, chapter 1. We wrote a summary of the prologue together, then students summarized a chapter of the first section of Mighty using two templates from They Say.
Post the summaries here. Include everyone's name in the heading. Also include a works cited page.
Homework. Watch the film Pray the Devil Back to Hell. Continue reading from Mighty. Prepare a list of key characters and character descriptions. Read They Say Part 2. Complete exercises (14-15); (28-29). Note the plan posted last week. Even if we do not accomplish everything, it would be useful to note our intention.
Prologue Summary:
In the "Prologue" of Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood . . ., author, Leymah Gbowee questions our perspectiove of warfare. She states we only view surface aspects of the war, like body counts and other atastrophes, rather than internal suffering. Often the perspective, she says, is male dominated. She writes this memoir to give voice to women and children of war, to tell their stories, ones which might not be as popular; however, key to understanding what ahppened in Liberia in its entirety, one has to consider the side of the story typically left out--Gbowee's constituents.
Post the summaries here. Include everyone's name in the heading. Also include a works cited page.
Homework. Watch the film Pray the Devil Back to Hell. Continue reading from Mighty. Prepare a list of key characters and character descriptions. Read They Say Part 2. Complete exercises (14-15); (28-29). Note the plan posted last week. Even if we do not accomplish everything, it would be useful to note our intention.
Prologue Summary:
In the "Prologue" of Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood . . ., author, Leymah Gbowee questions our perspectiove of warfare. She states we only view surface aspects of the war, like body counts and other atastrophes, rather than internal suffering. Often the perspective, she says, is male dominated. She writes this memoir to give voice to women and children of war, to tell their stories, ones which might not be as popular; however, key to understanding what ahppened in Liberia in its entirety, one has to consider the side of the story typically left out--Gbowee's constituents.
Works Cited
Gbowee, Leymah, with Carol Mithers. "Prologue." Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War--A Memoir. New York: Beast Books, 2011. ix-x. Print.
Gerald Graff, and Cathy Birkenstein. "One: 'They Say: Starting with What Others Are Saying." They Say, I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. 2nd ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. Inc., 2010. 23-24; 25-26. Print.
Works Cited Notes
1. In the works cited example, I could not show the hanging indent. When the citatation is longer than one line the rest of the citation is indented and justified ("hanging").
2. Note the addition of the co-author for Mighty and the page numbers in both. Include the pages templates referenced came from.
3. Note the quotation marks for the titles in They Say.
posted by Professor Wanda's Posse at 9:42 AM
8 Comments:
Raymond Hui
Lori Nguyen
Saalihah Mays
Rigoberto Ruiz
Dijon Starks
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1A
June 25, 2012
DEXTER BOOTS
In chapter three of Mighty Be our Powers by Leymah Gbowee, “I AM TOO YOUNG TO DIE!”, the author describes her life as a young woman after being driven out of her home. Suffering through the journey of surviving in Liberia, she encounters epiphany of death, the harsh realities of war, and deterioration of the world around her. On page 39, Gbowee says “my neighbor was dressed up, clearly heading to the city. On her feet were my Dexter boots.” This implies that the horrible conditions in Liberia have forced people to take anything they can to survive. The boots represent how war turns people close to you can change drastically.
Works Cited
Gbowee, Leymah. “Part One: I AM TOO YOUNG TO DIE!” Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War. New York: Beast Books, 2011. Print.
Graff, Gerald, and Cathy Birkenstein. “They Say: Starting with What Others Are Saying.” They Say, I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. 2nd Ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2010. Print.
I like the boots analogy; however, it needs to be more thoroughly flushed out.
Tsgereda Leul
Josefina Belloso
Latasha Hodge
Yizhe Liu
Professor Sabir
25 June 2012
Summary of Chapter Four
In our group discussion of chapter Four “Trapped”, one controversial issue is Leymah Gbowee’s violent relationship with her common-law husband Daniel. By day she works with female refugees from Sierra Leone, yet, by night she is battling with her anger from her personal life. Gbowee is helping victims dissect their lives, their internal suffering and pain, while ignoring her own.
Women that Gbowee is helping see her anger but they don’t understand its source. They relate to her publically unacknowledged pain, while identifying with similar scars since they are in the process of healing. Gbowee, contends in private that her relationship with Daniel is not that bad, and the violence worth enduing for her children despite the fact that she says the opposite to the women she works with daily. Others even her boss, Tunde maintain that Gbowee may be trapped by the violence in her and Daniel’s relationship.
Gbowee is helping other women to overcome the trauma of being raped and abused, but she fails to recognize that she is trapped by her anger and the abusive relationship she is in. Defenders can’t have it both ways. In order to effectively help others, she needs to face her own mental and physical challenges in her own life.
Works Cited
Gbowee, Leymah. “Part Four: Trapped.” Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War. New York: Beast Books, 2011. Print.
Graff, Gerald, and Cathy Birkenstein. “They Say: Templates for Introducing an Ongoing Debate.” They Say, I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2010. Print.
Chris Nguyen
Monica Contreras
Manucher Khajvandi
Tiffany Chang
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1A
25 June 2012
Summary of “Helpless in a Strange Place”
Gbowee continues to tell her story in “Helpless in a Strange Place,” from Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War by Leymah Gbowee. During an ongoing war, it is common to assume that people easily give up hope and accept their current life conditions. However, Gbowee stays strong and continuously fights to support her kids. Daniel gets the family on a ship to his family’s house in Accra, Nigeria. Although she was given a roof to live under, she still feels alone in her battle for survival. With an unsupportive husband, and two toddlers, she tries to do all that she can to raise money to support her family, such as braiding hair. She endures the mental and physical abuse that Daniel gives her, and even accepts the cruelty in her family in order to take care of her kids. She sacrifices her pride to even get a scrap of food, and accustoms to a lifestyle where the families live independently, as opposed to her former helpful community. She proceeds to having her third child by herself, and even has to suffer in the hospital for a week because her husband leaves her there, unable to pay for the hospital bill. Despite all the harsh circumstances, people can still see the potential that she has, and help her with the little they can. As soon as she finds a path out of her life with Daniel, she takes it and leaves with her children.
Works Cited
Gbowee, Leymah. “Part One: Helpless in a Strange Place." Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War. New York: Beast Books, 2011.Print.
Graff, Gerald, and Cathy Birkenstein. “They Say: Starting with What Others Are Saying” They Say/I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. 2nd Ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2010. Print.
Ignore the last post! I forgot to edit the works cited portion. Here is the corrected post.
Chris Nguyen
Monica Contreras
Manucher Khajvandi
Tiffany Chang
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1A
25 June 2012
Summary of “Helpless in a Strange Place”
Gbowee continues to tell her story in “Helpless in a Strange Place,” from Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War by Leymah Gbowee. During an ongoing war, it is common to assume that people easily give up hope and accept their current life conditions. However, Gbowee stays strong and continuously fights to support her kids. Daniel gets the family on a ship to his family’s house in Accra, Nigeria. Although she was given a roof to live under, she still feels alone in her battle for survival. With an unsupportive husband, and two toddlers, she tries to do all that she can to raise money to support her family, such as braiding hair. She endures the mental and physical abuse that Daniel gives her, and even accepts the cruelty in her family in order to take care of her kids. She sacrifices her pride to even get a scrap of food, and accustoms to a lifestyle where the families live independently, as opposed to her former helpful community. She proceeds to having her third child by herself, and even has to suffer in the hospital for a week because her husband leaves her there, unable to pay for the hospital bill. Despite all the harsh circumstances, people can still see the potential that she has, and help her with the little they can. As soon as she finds a path out of her life with Daniel, she takes it and leaves with her children.
Works Cited
Gbowee, Leymah, with Carol Mithers. "Prologue." Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War--A Memoir. New York: Beast Books, 2011. ix-x. Print.
Gerald Graff, and Cathy Birkenstein. "One: 'They Say: Starting with What Others Are Saying." They Say, I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. 2nd ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. Inc., 2010. 23-24; 25-26. Print.
Anthony Gamarra
Marie Delgado
Donna Hang
Ki'Mani Kent
Tamara Qirreh
In Chapter six of Mighty Be Our Powers:How Sisterhood, Power, and Sex Changed a Nation at War, by Nobel Peace Prize Winner,Gbowee, goes through a different chapter in her life of post war poverty. It has a huge affect on her self esteem. She was at a crossroads in her life. At a point where the society she was a part of had been destroyed. Gbowee was not the only victim of this destruction, "in a survey of two hundred and five Monrovian women and girls that had been published...nearly half said they'd been the victim of at least one act of physical or sexual violence by a soldier or fighter..."(p.70).
However, there was hope for the very few left, who were educated and were able to escape and start over again. Some were hoping to find their way to Europe and the United States for a better life.
Not only is Gbowee part of a country that is looking for peace, but she is trying to find peace within herself. Her children have been through so many painful experiences,she states "they deserved so much more than they had."
Works Cited
Gbowee,Leymah. "Part One:A Glimpse
of Peace." Mighty Be Our Powers:How
Sisterhood,Prayer, and Sex Changed
a Nation at War. New York:Beast
Books, 2011.Print.
Graff, Gerald, and Cathy
Birkenstein."They Say:Starting With
What Others Are Saying." They Say,
I Say: The Moves That Matter in
Academic Writing. 2nd ed. New
York:W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.,
2010. Print.
Chie Shan Chan
Juan Santoyo
Ka Wai Ng
Marisol Mora
Professor Sabir
English 1A: Summer 2012
25 June 2012
The World Was Mine
The chapter begins with Gbowee describing her celebration of her and her cousins graduating from the one of the most well-known high school. She lives in Monrovia, Liberia on Old Road. Her family may not be rich but she gets decent meals and does not have to suffer through poverty. Gbowee describes how she used to be shy and insecure about herself but after graduating, she overcame her shyness and became ambitious for the big plans she have ahead of her life. She grew up with her mother, father, and four sisters. Both of her parents were part of the Kpelle tribe. Her father was a poor country boy but he was able to find a job later as a radio technician. Her mother was abandoned when she was very young so she was taken under the care of her father’s sister, Ma. Ma was raised in an elite household and was highly respected in the village. Her oldest sister, Geneva was shy and self-conscious of her left leg that was shorter than the other but among the sisters; she was favored the most and nicknamed, “Mammie.” Second eldest, Mala was the most troublesome and she eventually ran away and married a Lebanese man. Third eldest, Josephine, was about the same age as Gbowee, was mischevious and often bullied the younger siblings with Gbowee.
Gbowee argues that despite Liberia was established as a colony in 1822, your ancestry determined your social status in a society. There were those who came on slave boats or those who are American, who are also known as elites. Elites were treated as superior than the others and so there was great social inequality between the two classes. Gbowee’s parents worked hard to earn money that allowed their children to attend programs meant for elites. But despite the good life the parents laid for their children, their relationship between each other were not good. Her father would almost always cheat on her wife with others and left the responsibility of housework and taking care of the children all to Gbowee’s mother.
Works Cited
Gbowee, Leymah. "Part One: The World Was Mine." Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War. New York: Beast Books, 2011. Print.
Graff, Gerald, and Cathy Birkenstein. "One: 'They Say: Starting with What Others Are Saying." They Say, I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. 2nd ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. Inc., 2010. Print.
Linde Huang
Charlie Cocks
Jesse Wakefield
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1A
June 25, 2012
In Chapter two of Mighty Be Our Powers by Leymah Gbowee, “WE’LL SOON PUT AN END TO THE PROBLEM”. It starts with the author being warned that armed rebels crossed from the Côte-d'Ivoire. into Northern Liberia, being three hours away, her parents ignored this piece of information and continued with their lives. Everyone except Ma moved to the suburbs outside of Monrovia. Expecting to settle down in the suburb, the family continued to ignore resurfacing of the rebellion issue. Her father was no stranger to danger in the government. His previous boss was the president, but was later killed. He was sentenced to prison for nine months, and after he was offered his previous job, he took the offer. (He liked the prestige of the job and he was afraid to say no.)
Despite what her parents say, Geneva heard nothing but negative news from her boyfriend, who had people on the other side. Gbowee asked if her family could move because it was so easy to flee then, but when her father denied her once again, she took his answer as a final one. On a regular midsummer morning, Gbowee was at home waiting to go to school until unfamiliar sounds rang through the streets. The rebels had arrived. Soon, people who escaped sought shelter from Gbowee’s home. After some stories were exchanged, they found out that anyone from Nimba was killed on the spot. A few days later, Mama and Geneva came home due to them being caught in the middle of a gun battle. On page 21, it says “On their way to work they had stumbled into a gun battle between the rebels and the Liberian army.” They fled to the Saint Peters Church and stayed in the dormitories. But as time went on, the conditions only worsened. The book confirms this in page 25, “I was starting to understand that I was trapped- and that things were not going to get any better.”
Works Cited : Gbowee, Leymah, with Carol Mithers. "We'll Soon Put an End to The Problem" Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War--A Memoir. New York: Beast Books, 2011. ix-x. Print.
Gerald Graff, and Cathy Birkenstein. "One: 'They Say: Starting with What Others Are Saying." They Say, I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. 2nd ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. Inc., 2010. 23-24; 25-26. Print.
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