Confessions of a Closet Catholic

The text “Confessions of a Closet Catholic” refers to a young girl striving to find herself and struggling to figure out what exactly she believes in religiously. In order for Jussy to find what exactly she believes in she researches and experiments with different religious than Judaism. She reads about Hinduism and Buddhism as well has practices Catholicism. Her eagerness to be Catholic goes as far as her pouring out her sins to “Father Ted,” her stuffed teddy bear. Jussy does this while wearing her mother’s white napkin on her head to resemble a nun, and taking grape juice and matzo for communion.

My question toward the text was “Do you think the author used “chocolate” as a metaphor to represent Jussy’s search for her religious or self-identify viewpoint throughout the text?” Throughout the novel Sarah Darer Littman made reference to chocolate. I wondered while I was reading if this had any significance toward her religious beliefs or search for self-identity. A passage that I concentrated on was on the first page, page 3, when Jussy is saying she would rather give up being Jewish then chocolate like Mac is doing. Do you think her inability to give up chocolate refers to her borderline feelings about her faith or denote her being uneducated on Judaism and doesn’t really know what she believes? Another example is on page 122-123, when Jussy is explaining how she hasn’t eaten chocolate since Bubbe died and is willing to give it up for the rest of her life. Does this symbolize her growth as a person? Was Bubbe the person that helped her find her self-identity because she listened to her and loved her? Has Bubbe’s death made Jussy realize her true spiritual beliefs? And lastly, look on page 184 when she thinks about resorting back to eating brownies. Does her urge to want brownies symbolize that people always question their beliefs and there isn’t always one clear cut answer? Or does it stand for her not fully have found her self-identity completely and that she is accepting that?

Schneider Book Award

There is not an official website for the Schneider Family Book Award, but there are other resources that provide information about the award; such as www.ala.org/ala/awardsbuket/schneideraward/schneidercriteria.htm and www.ala.org/ala/awardsbuket/schneideraward/schneiderawardmanual.doc . The second link is a manual. It answers questions about the history of the award, discusses the responsibilities of the members of the committee, and provides insight to their ideas about what to look for in a good book. This is a newer award and has only been given out since 2004. It was started by Dr. Catherine Schneider, who has been blind since birth. She wanted to sponsor an award that would show that the disability is a part of the character’s life, not the focus of their life. The Schneider Family Book Award honors an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child or adolescent audiences. Three annual awards are given in birth through grade school (age 0-8), middle school (age 9-13), and teens (age 14-18). The disabilities can be physical, mental, or emotional. The most important piece of criteria of the award is that it is not aimed to have the audience sympathize with the characters. Instead, it is aimed to portray their perspectives and everyday life experiences. Some books that have received this award are: Dad, Jackie, and Me, written by Myron Uhlberg and illustrated by Colin Bootman and Looking Out for Sarah, by Glenna Lang. You can look up past award winners at www.ala.org/ala/awardsbuket/schneideraward/schneiderawardrecipients.htm

Response to "Muslims protest reprised role as terrorists in '24'"

After reading "Muslims protest reprised role as terrorists in '24'" by Wayne Parry in the Lansing State Journal I found myself having mixed feelings about the issue. I can understand the Muslims concern about the outlook it may have on them being represented as terrorists in the series 24, and how they may feel uncomfortable going out in public based on all that has occured here in the United States dealing with terrorist attacks. But my main issue with that is that it's pretty clear to the audience that this television show is fictional. Some people I feel do take some shows literally and to heart, but for the most part society knows reality from fiction. If these Muslims are afraid to go out in public I don't feel that it is because of the story line of 24 but in fact the incidents that has occurred in the United States. For example, Sireen Sawaf from the Los Angeles-based Muslim Public Affairs Council says that she is a big fan of 24 and she replies"It's a great show, and I do realize it's a multiimensional show that portrays extreme situations." She continues to support the fact that 24 has used other ethnicities besides Muslim when she states "They have gone out of their way to have non-Muslim terror cells." So in no way do I feel that 24 was trying to represent Muslims as evil and being very dangerous. Also, 24 has incorporated many different ethnicities and religions throughout their series such as Baltic Europeans, Germans, Russians, Islamic fundamentalists, and Anglo-American citizens. If their purpose was to portray this hidden messages to Americans about all these different kinds of ethnicities and religious groups as being dangerous then why has there not been more controversy about this television show. There are many movies and television shows that portray certain cultures in a negative way just for entertainment, most people don't take it seriously. If that were true then we wouldn't be able to have most of our movies or television shows out there because we would be generalizing every group out there. Some movies have black african american boys murdering people, and caucasian boys robbing banks. This isn't to say that all the boys from both ethnicities are going to follow in those footsteps and be criminals but it is a fact that crimes like that have occurred. Bad things happen in all areas of the world, no matter what the culture or ethnicity is and it's in the hands of the audience to be able to say that the way the people in particular movies or television shows are shown is not a clear depiction of all the people within that group. Overall, I believe that people are taking things shown on television way to seriously and aren't seeing it as entertainment anymore.

Information from "Muslims protest reprised role as terrorists in '24'" by Wayne Parry.

Insider vs. Outsider - Thoughts Before And After

Before reading the Insider vs. Outsider Debate I really believed that something written by an outsider wouldn't be very reliable information because they didn't experience it themselves. Some experts in certain areas even have some misconceptions about what truly happened in the situation/event or some unanswered questions. I think that it can be very difficult for people on the outside to write about specific topics that others have experienced because they could accidentally say things or address issues that are offensive to those it happened to. After reading the Insider vs. Outsider Debate I have changed my outlook on authors of diverse literature. Of course things presented by someone who actually experienced it is going to be the most accurate because they witnessed it themselves and would probably be the best answer to finding out true information. After reading I no longer believe information written by an outsider is invalid information. Even though some of the things written may be assumptions and not really the truth I think that it can be good that the concept or situation is being addressed as best as possible, taking into consideration that things aren't exaggerated too much. For example, the topic in class about Pocahontas was a good example of not really presenting the whole truth about a period of time but it's getting across the main points so that children are aware of particular history. People that didn't experience slavery, or grow up handicapped should also become aware of what life is like for those who have lived through it. It's important to know because it makes society as a whole more understanding and really shapes us to become better people with positive views and opinions about people different from ourselves in race, gender, ethnicity, or culture. So I've learned that it can be very beneficial to be presented with information from an insider and an outsider.

About Me

Hello! My name is Tricia Riesenbeck. I am a senior here at MSU majoring in education. My concentration is on learning disabilities hoping to eventually get an endorsement in cognitively impaired. I am graduating in the spring and hope to travel out of Michigan to pursue my career. I love traveling and seeing new things! I spend my spare time working and hanging out with friends. As I'm getting older I find that it's hard to stay in contact with people close to you due to lack of free time. And of course I love my family. Any chance I get to spend time with them I take advantage of it. They have always been there for me and supported me in all my decisions. All in all I'm a very caring person that cares about people's feelings. I've been told that my biggest downfall is caring too much and giving too many chances. I'm a friendly person and look forward to getting to know all of you a lot better throughout the semester.