Welcome back to Slaughterhouse Four our podcast on Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. This week we analyzed chapters 5 through 8 with an emphasis on the historical context at the time.

https://www.wevideo.com/view/2920216034

Annotated Bilbliography

Nick

Eddy, Melissa. “How Dresden Looked after a World War II Firestorm 75 Years Ago.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 13 Feb. 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/13/world/europe/dresden-germany-anniversary.html.

This article was about the way that the bombing is used in modern times to excuse blame from the germans and to say the Americans did horrible things too. The book focuses on the bombing itself which was perpetrated by the Americans and it describes it as a horrific event. However, the author of Slaughterhouse Five purposefully mentions the candles made out of concentration camp victims to make sure the reader still knows the atrocities that were committed by the Germans. I think that the article gives the current German opinion on the bombing which is important because it shows how the city has recovered and changed since the bombing.

Michael

Luckhurst, Toby. “Dresden: The World War Two Bombing 75 Years On.” BBC News, BBC, 13 Feb. 2020, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-51448486.

The article talks about the Dresden bombing itself, how it was not really a unique bombing and that there were several other ones the same or worse. What does make it stand out is the “fire”bombing part. Winds were sucked out by the great flames killing over 20 thousand, and reducing the city to almost ashes. A few thousand tons of bombs were dropped, by about a thousand planes from the British royal air force and the US Air Force. This provides context for what we’ll be talking about, as well as what the book is about. We’ll be able to make a great case connecting the lens we chose to the book, by showing how the authors experience and the way he writes the book, only strengthens and improves not only the insanity and ferocity of the bombing itself.

Samson

Peter Rowe Feb. 7, 2015 11 AM PT. “Dresden: 70 Years Later, Fiery WWII Debate Still Hits Home.” Tribune, The San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 Feb. 2015, https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/lifestyle/people/sdut-dresden-70-fiery-debate-2015feb07-story.html.

The article takes us through a firsthand account of someone who lived through the war and their thoughts on it. Also some historical context and some reasons for the bombing and some explanations about what the bombing was used for strategically. It also criticized the bombing as not effective by comparing it to some similar more modern events. Finally it shows us how some people at the time from the US were sympathetic towards the survivors of the bombing of dresden like the author and the experience she shows us.

Welcome back to The Bluest Clues podcast, inspired by the book The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. Featured in this second episode are B-Band’s very own Jalen Bowman-Whitaker, Michael Rojas-Sandoval, Rylee McMillan, Sarahi Franco-Morales, and Tahlia Nguyen. In this episode, we explore the novel through a feminist lens and go through the topics of power dynamics, masculinity vs. femininity, and gender roles, just to name a few. Listen to learn more!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lmuaHZSFejhypPZJ-D1HpX6wHRUs8N2n/view?usp=sharing

Annotated Bibliographies:

Sarahi: “The history of beauty pageants reveals the limits of Black representation” article speaks on large beauty pageants in America and how the beauty standards have centered on “whiteness” for a very long time. The impact the media have had on the image of beauty is powerful. When a race is continuously excluded from beauty pageants it roots racism in our society. Women of color have historically been excluded, teaching young girls they don’t belong in the media’s definition of beautiful. As we see in The Bluest Eyes these young girls are already wishing they had blue eyes, because they believe that will make the superior and “beautiful” — a sick mindset that is instilled in young girls when they don’t see representation.

Jalen: The article “Feeling Ambivalent about Motherhood is Normal” highlights the obstacles and challenges that mothers can face during their pregnancies. From anxiety and medication to postpartum depression and suicidal thoughts, it reveals to the readers what the dark side of becoming a mother can be like. In the Bluest Eye, we are made aware of the relationship that Pecola has with her family, especially her mother. It makes us question their relationship, but more so question how this affects Pecola as she’s growing and going through her teenage years. She lacks ultimate guidance from her mother, which leaves her feeling empty, hopeless, and self-conscious in a lot of ways.

Rylee: In 1912 the Heterodoxy club was formed for the unusual and proudly unruly women. It consisted of mostly college-educated women, which was a rarity in the early 1900s. A few of the members of the group were married, some in scandalous relations, and others in same-sex unions. These women were known for their uniqueness among society with their “short haircuts and flowing batik-print tunics.” A historian and author named Joanna Scutts wrote a book about this group called “HotBed: Bohemian Greenwich Village and the Secret Club that Sparked Modern Feminism.” The article speaks about how Scutts individually went over each of the group’s most popular members and depicted their leading character traits. Ending her book off with a brief comparison of their life back then, to our life now and how women and feminists continue to fight for the rights they deserve.

Michael: This article has relevance to our podcast and conversation we’ve been having during class because it talks about how sexism fuels like a boys club. It puts these thoughts into the younger generation that they’re superior to the women when in reality it’s not like that. One quote in it is “If you do it, you’re all in.” This is peer pressuring them into doing something that’ll give them validation and power that only a man can give. But in reality it’s just a stupid club they made that excludes girls and makes them think they’re superior to them when in reality it isn’t. It relates to the book because in that time they still think men are superior to women and they do whatever they want to them without them talking back.

In this episode, our hosts explore the next pages of “The Road.” Listen with us, as we take a look at the book through a different lens!

Fassler, Joe. “Cormac McCarthy’s The Road May Have the Scariest Passage in All of Literature.” The Atlantic, 14 May 2013, https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/05/cormac-mccarthys-i-the-road-i-may-have-the-scariest-passage-in-all-of-literature/275834/.

The article is basically about how people in horror know when something is going to be scary, and compares that logic to how the author writes the story. The writer of this article describes Cormac, the author, as someone who makes his story scary without all the violence. “ But he’ll also pull back. He’ll allow some violence to take place off stage, because he knows unseen acts can be as brutal and affecting as violence that’s shown—perhaps more so.” This article breaks down into a lot of detail about how the author of the Road writes in a way where he’s not telling everything at once. This provides context as to why we don’t see a lot of extra information from the characters.

Orlean, Susan. “The Family Issue.” The New Yorker, 17 July 2022, https://www.newyorker.com/family-issue-2022.

Looking through the historicist lens, the reader can see that Cormac McCarthy’s personal life and relationship with family reflect in his writing. The relationship with the father and son is different from being vulnerable. He has children and has been divorced. In the article, it talked about different aspects in life that affect one’s relationship, like drugs, general trauma, and communications.

White, Edmund, and Rudolfo Anaya. “Cormac McCarthy | Biography, Books, The Passenger, & Facts.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 9 December 2022, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Cormac-McCarthy

This article gives background information about the author. Knowing the background of the author explains a lot about why the author may or may have not done the things he does. For example, his lack of commitment to his partners in his life might lead him to write about something similar. Or maybe he wants a better relationship with his kid and uses this book to explain that thought process. Or, his religious preference can cause him to talk a lot about God in the book. This article also gives some insight into his other work, and the reader could make some comparisons to see if there are some common themes between them. 

On today’s episode, we are investigating author Yann Martel’s identity and how it did or didn’t influence his writing in “Life of Pi.” Listen here! (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1EAULMISWyyXd6gAG2qBXqujNPMX06rwv?usp=sharing)

Bibliography

Conroy, Catherine. “Yann Martel Finds Jesus – in the Form of a Chimp.” The Irish Times, The Irish Times, 3 Mar. 2016, https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/yann-martel-finds-jesus-in-the-form-of-a-chimp-1.2555423#:~:text=Martel’s%20background%20is%20%E2%80%9Ccompletely%20secular,to%20explore%20the%20human%20condition.%E2%80%9D Links to an external site..

This interview with the author of Life of Pi, Yann Martel, told us about the author’s personal relationship with religion. The novel has many religious themes, the author’s note quoting a man saying he has “a story that will make you believe in God.” The interview states that Yann Martel himself isn’t religious, which gives us a lot to think about in terms of what he may or may not have gotten right in writing such a religious character. It may give us an explanation to some of the more religious scenes that feel very dramatized or inaccurate.

Welcome to All booked as Damola, Cole, and Giann tackle their newest series Things falls apart written by Chinua Achebe. This is part two of three of the discussion of the book.

Annotated Bibliographies:

Getachew, Adom. “Colonialism Made the Modern World. Let’s Remake It.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 27 July 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/27/opinion/sunday/decolonization-statues.html.

Damola: What this article essentially covered was it talked about how Europe colonized most of Africa and what it means for society today. This article gave multiple examples of how colonization set the stage for most of the struggles we face today. How this relates to my book things fall apart because this book is set in recolonized Nigeria and the second half of the book covers the colonization process and how Okonwo witnesses it all. In my opinion, this heightens the reading experience because in the 1950s Nigeria was still colonized and in a way, Okonwo might be a manifestation of what he misses about his country.

Giann: What this covered was Colonisation back in the day and how it affects us today. The reason why it affects us today and our book is because it’s set pre colonized Africa. Also, the article talks about how the events affect us today and why it’s important. With this, we could look at the book through the same lens as how the author is looking at this event. How we can use this for the podcast by talking about how struggles people had to go through and compare with the boo.

Cole:

Raju, Reggie, and Auliya Badrudenn. “How Africa Is Overcoming ‘Knowledge Colonialism’.” The Jakarta Post, 27 Dec. 2022, https://www.thejakartapost.com/opinion/2022/12/27/how-africa-is-overcoming-knowledge-colonialism.html

This article covers how colonialism still exists in a different form in modern Africa. It covers a concept called “knowledge colonialism” where countries in Europe often dominate the science and academic world despite there being many academic breakthroughs from African countries. Many governments in Africa also struggle to fund these scientific expenditures that could improve the lives of Africans. This lack of academic investment leads to passed-down wealth gaps where people who are less fortunate are forced to remain uneducated causing major prejudice. There is also major discrimination against non-European scientists in the academic world where their research that is related to issues that affect those outside of Europe is viewed as nonessential. These factors create a world where Europeans are basically stealing knowledge and scientific advancement for the sake of remaining at the forefront of breakthroughs.

Slaughterhouse 4 is here to discuss Slaughterhouse five and its literal and figurative elements. Please enjoy.

https://www.wevideo.com/view/2915590498

Welcome to READ OR DIE Hosted by Samaiyah, Flora, Cindy, and Yahil, we read and review our new book The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. This is episode one of our three episodes on the book.

Click here to listen to the podcast- https://www.wevideo.com/view/2915505885

Welcome to all booked as Damola, Cole, and Giann tackle their newest series Things falls apart written by Chinua Achebe. This is part one of three of the discussion of the book.