Immigration Project Reflection

Immigration Project Reflection

Honestly, my experience with my LC book, this time around, was great! I was entirely comfortable with The Woman Warrior and enjoyed reading it very much. I was, in a way, able to connect to the author on a personal level, and enjoyed visualizing how the author handled certain situations. I also enjoyed reading this book because I was able to travel back in time and kinda get a feel for what it might have been like to be a young Chinese girl trying to fit in with an American lifestyle, yet still trying to balance out her culture at home. One thing my lit circles group has taught me, has been to think things through and really take the time to view situations from all perspectives and not just one. In The Woman Warrior, Maxine really struggles to stand out and feel wanted by her family. She got good grades and always strived to succeed in life, and so by reading this book, I have also taken into account that you only have one life to live and what you do with that is up to you. Maxine could’ve made different decisions. She could’ve dropped out of school or left the house, but she didn’t which really tells us that she is a very strong woman.
Throughout the lit circle process, I believe that we could’ve had some time in class after posting blogs to just have a face to face, open- discussion, to talk or comment more about the book or make predictions about what might happen next. I loved the fact that we were able to do a blog post this time. In my opinion, it made responding easier and made the entire lit circles process so much more organized. Before I always had to keep track of my dialectical journal slips and everything would get misplaced. Although blogging was fun, sometimes I would find myself in a situation where my internet was down or I did not have access to a computer.
I found the idea of reading my peers interpretations of the book almost fascinating, or as if exploring new heights. After reading what my fellow group members had to say about the same quotes or about the passage I chose, it opened my eyes to a different way of emotionally connecting to the passage. It made me think of all the different ways you may use to solve a mathematical solution but with words. Also, with the posts being online, I could always go back and re-read something that I liked or enjoyed. It made it helpful to have access to it outside of school.
After reading all of my options that I had to choose from for my art piece, I finally set my mind on making a new book cover because it felt as though it was something that I could make complex, yet simple. I really felt as though I could put some of my thoughts and what I visualized while reading the book, on the book cove that might intrigue other readers. I think that if you know both the countries involved in The Woman Warrior and what role the play throughout the book, I feel as though the connection between the book and my art piece should be clear. Other than that, absolutely; I do feel as though there is a connection between my literature book and my art piece. Reflecting on my painting, I believe I did a fairly-well job, but also feel as though I could’ve added more either towards the top or bottom of the painting. The material I used was a mixture of oil pastels and acrylic paint so it made it difficult when painting in the miniscule details. I do enjoy the way my final product turned out to be. I think it, overall, looks like a decent book cover. Something that could’ve enhanced the quality of my painting might have been to be more detailed or to accent the detail. Overall, I like the idea of being able to express your thoughts about a book or get your take of that book and put it onto a canvas and make it a painting of your very own. I learned that all books, no matter what genre it may be, each have a certain emotion that they portray you to feel and that after reading that book, it makes you want to paint what your feeling.
In terms of the interviewing process, I must say that I got a bit aggravated just because it was difficult communicating with my lady. It felt as though I was trying to force two parallel lines together to make them intertwine somehow. My schedule is busy enough without the hassle of trying to set up a time with a lady who has a FULL time schedule. Despite all the aggravation, I liked the idea of trying different interview methods. I opened me up to try to things and also because a better communicator. Number one: I learned that you can never rely on a email sending the perfect copy ONCE so always send it twice, just in case. Number two: I learned that you REALLY have to listen intently to what the person is saying while talking on the phone but that you have to listen 3 times as hard if they have a hard accent. And number three: The moment you meet your person and know that you are going to need to take some free time to meet them, ask them if they plan on traveling in the next month. Since my lady is a family friend, I was glad that she opened up to me for a project. In some countries, individuals just need to immigrate to another country for personal reasons and it made me realize, “Hey, although all these people have immigrated here to the U.S, that doesn’t mean America isn’t having problems. Of course every situation has their pros and cons, but we need to make sure we made the right decisions that will make a positive impact on our lives.” Interviewing an individual who has immigrated here to America just made all of the studies we learned that much more REAL. My lady was able to share with me her thoughts about America, and her own country, and just all of the emotions she felt when coming to America. The hardships, the laughter, and the friends that she made, those are really personal experiences and I’m just really glad that she was willing to share so much with me.