Edwidge Danticat Bio

Edwidge Danticat was born to Andre and Rose Danticat on January 19th, 1969, in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. When she was two years old her father immigrated to New York, Fleeing from the oppressive regime of Haitian dictator Francois Duvalier.   He was followed by Danticat's mother two years later, who joined him in a heavily Haitian American neighborhood in New York City. At the age of 4, Edwidge and her younger brother Andre Jr. moved in with their aunt and uncle. Edwidge would remain in Port-Au-Prince until she was 12 years old, when she moved to New York City to live with her mother and father. It was while she was living in Haiti that she discovered and honed her passion for writing, and her love for the subject would remain a constant in her life. She published her first short story at the age of 14, in NYC's New Youth Connections, a magazine for teens. Danticat would later receive a bachelor's degree in French Literature from Barnard College and a Masters in Creative Writing from Brown University.

Danticat's experience as a refugee and immigrant had a huge impact on her life and as such the immigrant experience features as a common theme throughout her writing. Danticat also heavily incorporates Haitian culture and tradition into her writing. She has taught creative writing at NYU and the University of Miami in supplement to her career as an author. Her writing has won international acclaim, racking up an impressive list of awards and commendations that includes two National Book Awards and an a=honorary degree from Yale University. Her most famous works are Breath, Eyes, Memory, Krik? Krak!, and The Farming of Bones.


"Edwidge Danticat." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2015.

Biography.com Editors. "Edwidge Danticat Biography." Biography.com. A&E Television Network, n.d. Web.

Questions:

1. How would Ka react to her father throwing out her sculpture if she were her man?

2. Is Ka's father the oppressed or the oppressor? How is his character an analogue for colonialism?

3. How do the lives of the narrators parents reflect the social disorder and poverty found in Duvalier controlled Haiti?

Comedy-Sydney Taylor

My favorite line in The Importance of Being Earnest is what Jack says to Algernon after insulting his aunt. "My dear boy, I love hearing my relations abused.  It is the only thing that makes me put up with them at all.  Relations are simply a tedious pack of people, who haven’t got the remotest knowledge of how to live, nor the smallest instinct about when to die." I find it funny because of how relatable it is. That is exactly how I feel about my own relations, put it in a much wittier statement.
For modern humor, I'm a fan of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. It's a satirical talk show that analyzes all the important events of the previous week and usually ends with some new mascot running around the stage or someone singing to overly-dramatic music.

Comedy - Anthony Tamasi

In the Importance of Being Earnest, I enjoy the puns, especially in the name Ernest. Wilde uses some humor just for fun like the play on words in "As far as the piano is concerned, sentiment is not my forte." However, with the name Ernest, it is a longer running pun, and wraps it all up at the end, completing the joke and the story. I also enjoy the higher comedy in the play, with the attack of the high class people of the time. Being of high status, they seem to think they are intelligent and overall better than others, however are generally just greedy and ignorant, and are the brunt of many jokes by Wilde. 

I never really think of myself having a particular fondness for certain types of humor; really, whatever is funny is funny. However, I guess I tend to gravitate to jokes that continue in a series, building on itself and within a longer period of time. For example, in the show Archer, this is done often with Archer mentioning the Danger Zone (song by Kenny Loggins) whenever he can in witty ways. 

Saving Sourdi Bio

Isabelle Rinker, Emily Salamanca, Kate Sommer

May-lee Chai

May-lee Chai was born in Redlands, California and is the oldest daughter of an Irish American mother and Chinese political scientist father. She has lived in fourteen states in the U.S. and four countries. She majored in Chinese and French Studies at Grinnell College in Iowa, then went on to receive an M.A. in East Asian Studies from Yale. Chai is both a writer and professor. She has taught at San Francisco State University, the University of Wyoming, and Amherst College in Massachusetts. She has published multiple short stories, journals, magazines, anthologies, essays, and books. Her eight books, including three novels, My Lucky Face, Dragon Chica, and Tiger Girl and two works of memoir, The Girl from Purple Mountain and Hapa Girl; document the lives of East Asian immigrants and Chinese culture. May-lee is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Grant in Literature. She is currently working on a character-oriented crime novel dealing with international cover-up. 

When asked about what advice she would share with upcoming writers, she responded,

"1) Write every day. Even if it’s just a paragraph, start writing! Then keep writing every day so that it becomes like eating or breathing, a part of your life that you can’t live without.

2) Write what you love and want to write about. Don’t try to second-guess the market. Your passion will come through if you’re writing about something you truly care about.

3) When you revise, think of it as an opportunity to re-envision your story, to explore a new path. Don’t think of it as a chore.

4) Don’t give up!"

Chai, May-lee. "May-Lee Chai Biography." May-Lee Chai Biography. 2007. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.

"May-Lee Chai Biography." May-Lee Chai Biography. University of North Carolina Wilmington. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.

Chai, May-lee. "Author Bio." May-lee Chai's Blog. 18 Nov. 2013. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.

Sharif, Medeia. "Interview with Author May-lee Chai." Medeia Sharif. 3 Oct. 2010. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.

Chai, May-lee (mayleechai). "@typicalgirlname just sent you a direct message! Thx!". 26 Oct 2015, 20:29 UTC. Tweet

Questions

1) How would Nea's relationship with her family change if she were male?

2) How is Nea's family defined by cultural constrictions?

3) How would you describe the relationship between the two sisters?

Comedy | Gates Sweeney

Oscar Wilde's excellent usage of satire, farce, comedy of manners and puns all contributed to a hilarious critique of upper class society. Elements of satire were scattered all throughout the play, with absurd lines like "I never travel without my diary. One must always have something sensational to read in the train."  I also liked Gwendolen's comment near the end of "I never change, except in my affections." and Cecily's reply of "What a noble nature you have, Gwendolen!" I enjoyed this obvious, exaggerated sarcasm that came with it.

For me personally, humor is a part of not every day of my life, but rather every 10 minutes of my life. Throughout the day, I bet I get a laugh in every 10 minutes on average, thanks to all the types of humor I enjoy. Irony, wit, sarcasm, cynicism, satire, parody, dry, etc. I love 'em all. Much of this humor comes from social media sites like vine and twitter, but some also comes from YouTube. Some of the funniest things I've seen are just random accounts on YouTube, but one of my favorites is a satirical account called doctordub.

Comedy Blog Post

To be quite honest, I very much enjoyed Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. The writing and the subjects the play broaches are far ahead of it's time, given the Victorian Era in which it was written. Despite its age, the play was accessible and exceedingly humorous, and in my opinion so much so that I'm hard pressed to pick a single scene from the play as my favorite. Needless to say, I was quite impressed (and very amused) by the play. The scenes that immediately come to mind are the exchange between Jack and Algernon regarding the consumption of muffins in a calm manner and the multiple quips about the irritating nature of relatives. I'm especially fond of Algernon's observation on the subject: "....I love hearing my relations abused. It is the only thing that makes me put up with them at all. Relations are simply a tedious pack of people, who haven't got the remotest knowledge of how to live, nor the smallest instinct on when to die.' Not only is it amusing (and more accurate than I'd like to admit), but it is incredibly accurate given the fact that the plot centers around Jack's invented brother Ernest, whom he intends to "kill off" but never seems to be able to rid himself of.

I love all types of humor, from the farcical and outlandish to the high brow and dry. Irony, wit, sarcasm, cynicism, satire, parody, you name it. I even have a running list of jokes that are so bad they're funny on my phone. My general philosophy on comedy is that if it makes me life, I like it. I really enjoy reading The Onion and watching Monty Python, as well as It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. They all satirize different aspects of society, dare I even say all aspects of society given how varied each form of media is.

Comedy Blog Post- Kayla Beebout

The Importance of Being Earnest is full of every type of humor, and I personally think it was all done well.  However, if I had to choose a scene that amused me the most, it would be the classic muffin scene.  This scene includes satire, comedy of manners, and physical humor; aspects of both “low” and “high” comedy.  Algernon and Jack have just been exposed as frauds to their fiancées, and Algernon begins eating Jack’s muffins to console himself.  When Jack berates Algernon for calmly eating muffins after what they just went through, Algernon responds that he “can’t eat muffins in an agitated manner” because “the butter would probably get on [his] cuffs” (pg 67).  This satirizes the lack of emotion men were expected to have at the time, in order to keep up their appearances.  The comedy of manners comes in when Jack expresses his wish to eat some of the muffins.  Algernon tells him to eat tea-cake instead, but Jack responds that he doesn’t like tea-cake.  Algernon then exclaims that he shouldn’t be serving things he doesn’t like to his guests, which Wilde used to criticize the habit the upper class had of acting generous while really just getting rid of things they didn’t like in the first place (like clothes or food).  The physical humor is, of course, the way the two men fight over the muffins, taking the plate from each other and acting, yet again, like children bickering over a toy.

The YouTube channel “How It Should Have Ended” creates very clever videos critiquing the most popular films in Hollywood.  Many of these films have plot points that seem very convenient, or that fall apart with a bit of thought.  For example, in “How Thor the Dark World Should Have Ended,” they point out the absurdity in Thor believing his brother Loki was dead, after he had just displayed his powers of illusion pretending his hand had been cut off.  This satirizes the superficiality in our culture as seen in mass media: our entertainment no longer has to abide by logic or reason, it merely has to keep the plot moving.  If the characters had done the logical thing and checked to see whether Loki was really dead or not, there wouldn’t have been a plot for the next movie.  In “How The Battle of the Five Armies Should Have Ended,” they satirized the shallowness of Tauriel’s love for Kili.  She insists her love was real, but when asked what his last name was, she can only respond with “the Dwarf?  Kili… the Dwarf?”  This can also be seen to satirize the trend in modern culture of creating romances that have no substantiality to them.  Check out the link below to enjoy parodies of your favorite movies:

https://www.youtube.com/user/HISHEdotcom

Comedy - Emily Salamanca

 Earnest provides both a low and high humor that isn't typical of the Victorian times. On page 1 of any printing of the play, Wilde uses a pun, "As far as the piano is concerned, sentiment is my forte." Already, the audience recognizes the humor of the play. The jokes commence with the plot. There is no idling. Similarly, at the play begins with an aristocratic man who lacks skills at a somewhat noble endeavor. One would expect Algernon to be well-trained at the piano, but instead we find later that the servant, Lane actually holds the musical talent. We already have a sense of reversal of roles that provides the high humor. Earnest highlights the duplicity of the upper classes: they are said to be well-cultured, but are often ignorant and indulgent. It is ridiculous that Cecily and Gwendolen require a suitor named Ernest, a pun in itself. Similarly, by luck, Jack happens to be Ernest himself, which makes him earnest. This is an example of how Wilde mixes high humor with low humor.

To me, humor ranges from low to high. Although I often find physical humor and slapstick to be easy and simple, if employed cleverly, they can make a play. I dislike watching videos where people get hurt and the audience is supposed to laugh. I prefer low humor in the form of farce, like when two characters are in close proximity and have to deal with an unfortunate circumstance. High humor can also be trying too hard, like when textbooks try to crack jokes. Satirical humor makes me laugh hardest because I enjoy laughing at my own fascination with pop culture.

The Importance of Being Earnest - Emily Salamanca

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde is enjoyed best when the actors feel comfortable in their roles and the audience accepts the nuances of an old, slightly out-of-context play. The University of Kentucky’s production of Wilde’s original script at the Singletary Center for the Arts not only captured the show’s deep irony, but also its light-hearted humor.

The performance on October 17, 2015 at 7:30 pm was the second to last showing, but this was not obvious. The actors portrayed their characters with the same intense emotion and expectation as one would expect in its first rendition. At the end of the play, when Gwendolen Bracknell (Cassady Gorrel) and Jack Worthing (Curtis Lipsey III) embraced one another at the back right of the stage, while Cecily Cardew (Alexis Slocum) and Algernon (Peter LaPrade) mirrored them on the left, both sets of couples reacted naturally to the tension when Lady Bracknell (Jessica Agro) was deciding the fate of her daughter’s engagement to Jack. The couples reacted not only to the Lady, but also to their respective lover. This made the scene crisp, as the audience and the actors seemed to receive the answer at the same moment. No one reacted too soon or with too much expectation.

Lipsey carried off Jack Worthing with a particular ease that anchored many of the other, more eccentric characters. His reactions to LaPrade’s absurdity about Bunburying were particularly stellar. While LaPrade graced us with a very dramatic spiel about the process, Jack did not rise to the level of energy and instead merely dismissed his friend. This dismissive attitude kept the humorous speech at a more natural level and prevented the play from trying too hard to be satirical. In regards to his lover, played by Gorrel, Jack continued his relatively stoic behavior. He embraced her, but never fell head over heels and made the love story sappy. Outside the context of the play, Jack would have seemed more passionate, but in relation to the other characters, he kept his charm.

LaPrade gave perhaps the most convincing performance of all. Unlike Lipsey, LaPrade accentuated the absurdity in his character, but still kept Algernon intelligent and shrewd. When indulging in the muffins, LaPrade made a particular point to chew hastily, but without distracting the audience. The audience could understand his faked British accent with an ease; his voice was frankly pleasant to the audience, especially in comparison to the shrill voice of Agro’s Lady Bracknell. LaPrade pumped a lightness and humor into his boyish performance that was necessary to relieve the seriousness conveyed by Lipsey.

Agro vivified Lady Bracknell with an over-annunciation that left every audience member chilled to the bone. She was stiff, vaguely cranky, and hilariously proud of her status and her accent drew the attention we all know Bracknell herself would command. By contrast, her daughter Gwendolen would have faded into the background were it not for her faint giggling, gentle blushes, and obnoxiously blue dress. Gorrel came off a bit dopey, but this could be to highlight the infatuation her character had towards Jack. Still, this seemed a bit forced, especially since Jack called her, “…a sensible, intellectual girl! the only girl I ever cared for in my life…” Perhaps Jack’s statement was meant show how in love he was, rather than the truth of Gwendolen’s personality.

Cecily, unfortunately, also became a bit stereotypically ‘blonde’. However, I found her performance more convincing than that of Gorrel. Cecily had her head up in the clouds and her slight immaturity mirrored Algernon’s personality quite well. As she posed for Bracknell to stare her down, she seemed almost doll-like. When she plopped sugar into Gwendolen’s tea, she seemed snarky, but not wrathful. As her heels clicked across stage, I had no trouble identifying her quirky disposition and wakeful personality.

Miss Prism (Emma Stumpf) and Reverend Canon Chasuble (Taha Mandviwala) kept a severe concentration on their duties as tutor and preacher, respectively. While Stumpf kept her stoicism in check for the entire performance, Mandviwala promoted the Reverend’s sneaky duplicity in a way that was not laugh-out-laugh funny, but added yet another satirical layer to the play. His demeanor made his ridiculous lines even more hilarious. He never noticed his own absurdity.

The series of coincidences that are revealed at the end of the performance were delivered with an incredible fortitude. All of the characters reacted in an innate way. Jack became elated when her realized that he was, in fact, Ernest and that Algernon was his true brother (a moment that brought that broke the fourth wall, since Lipsey and LaPrade were obviously not of the same race). However, the reaction from Algernon was surprisingly understated. Obviously, this was Jack’s omega point, but I think Algernon should have acted in a more inflated manner, given the way LaPrade chose to convey the character.

Lane (Michael Main), Merriman (Wright Williams), and the added maid (Faith Gingrich-Goetz) helped carry the overly stiff and noble atmosphere. What Victorian society would be complete without the relationship between the aristocracy and its loyal servants? The minor characters were convenient for simple scene changes and funny side characters that held distinctive personalities of their own. Lane, obviously the most well-developed, provided a nice cushion for Algernon’s exuberance.

The costuming was somewhat gaudy, but I assume that this was to further point out the absurdity of the aristocracy. Only Ernest and Prism seemed dressed for quotidian life, while Algernon, Lady Bracknell, and Gwendolen obviously were trying to show their wealth. Unfortunately for the costuming department, Gwendolen’s dress popped a seem at the back, proving to be a little funny for the audience. The costuming was smart, but perhaps a bit overdone. The bright lights during Cecily’s garden scenes hightlighted the shiny material of the women’s dresses and the dimmer lights at Algernon’s study provided ample light to the men’s contrasting fashion senses.

The set, on the other hand, was sparing, perhaps because director Christina Ritter wanted the audience to envision a scene much more elaborate than a UK theatre budget could amply provide, or just because Guinol Theatre happens to be quite oddly-shaped. Regardless, the lack of set was hardly a problem, as the actors used every inch of space in the square enclosure. Excess set would have been deliberating for the actors.

The UK performance of The Importance of Being Earnest ended up being a great production that stayed true to the original published manuscript and dealt with the humor wittily. The actors portrayed their characters with ease. When they rejected naturalism in exchange for a sense of aristocratic ignorance. One could barely tell that the actors were merely students. In general, I agreed with all the artistic details that Ritter decided to add. I would give the performance an A- since it was a good production overall, but torn a bit at the seems. Quite literally.

Comedy blog post- Isabelle Rinker

In "The Importance of Being Earnest", humor varies from satire to farce, to witty banter. Particularly, I enjoyed the proposal scent between Jack and Gwendolyn, which my friends and I decided to act out for Lit class. This scene contains a lot of satire, critiquing the members of the "high society" during that time period. For example, the character I portray, Gwendolyn, says during that scene, "In fact, I am never wrong." The characters act extremely pretentious, and the snooty dialogue satirizes the way people of "high society" acting during the time. This is a common theme throughout many Hollywood films, such as "Mean Girls", where the "higher class" individuals act pretentious, which may or may not be a conscious choice by their directors to satirize the "high society" people of real life. In "Mean Girls", the Plastics ostracize anyone who is not a member of their clique, saying snooty things such as "You can't sit with us."

Interpreter of Maladies (Character Perspective) - Anthony Tamasi

Anthony Tamasi

Interpreter of Maladies

               The inner desires of Mr. Kapasi, through whom the story is told, control the short story by Jhumpa Lahiri. Throughout the story, Mr. Kapasi, tour guide for the Das family, is absolutely enthralled with Mrs. Das, the mother. His thinking of her dominates the majority of the story. His thoughts progress throughout the novel as they continue to consort, from as a casual flirt, to entertaining the idea replacing his resentful wife with Mrs. Das.

               Kapasi begins to show interest when Mrs. Das questions him on the nature of his job. “Tell us more about your job…” (p. 438). As the story progresses, the level of flirtation and level of detail he describes Mrs. Das does as well. Similarly, they become closer and closer, more intimate in not only conversation but also physical closeness. By the end of the short story, Mrs. Das is sitting right next to Mr. Kapasi, alone, talking about her illegitimate child, an agreeably very intimate subject, especially considering that Kapasi is the only one besides Mrs. Das who knows; including her husband. As this is occurring, as the story moves along, the husband becomes more and more distanced from the action, perhaps characterizing one of the signs of a failing marriage. While Mr. Das is interacting at first, by the end he has moved along with the kids, looking at different attractions in the hills at Udayagiri and Khandagiri, when Mrs. Das and Kapasi have the intimate conversation about her son Bobby.

               Mr. Kapasi’s desire for Mrs. Das stems from his job as an interpreter, which Mrs. Das believes is a very noble profession. Showing characteristic signs of failing marriages, Kapasi informs the reader about his wife and how she is unappreciative, demanding, and makes him feel almost unworthy, describing his job as merely a “doctor’s assistant” (p. 440). Feeling unappreciated and lowly during his marriage, he is immediately attracted to Mrs. Das even when she shows the slightest interest in his work, as a guide and an “Interpreter of Maladies.” The two cases of dying marriages seem to allow Mr. Kapasi and Mrs. Das to grow closer, as he picks up on the signs of her marriage, and relates them to his own.

               

Interpreter of Maladies Bio

Sydney Taylor, Anthony Tamasi, Michael Dickson

Jhumpa Lahiri Biography

Nilanjana Sudheshna Lahiri was born on July 11, 1967 in London, England to Bengali parentage. Jhumpa was the nickname her family gave her. She won the Pulitzer Prize with her debut collection of short stories, Interpreter of Maladies. Her parents immigrated to the United Kingdom from India and then moved the family to Rhode Island when Lahiri was a small child. Lahiri attended Barnard College and Boston University. After moving to New York, Lahiri published her first novel The Namesake in 2003. She switched back to writing short stories quickly though, with Unaccustomed Earth, a No. 1 New York Times bestseller. Returning to novels, Lahiri wrote The Lowland in 2013, a finalist for the National Book Award. 

Interpreter of Maladies shares a look into the lives of characters in both India and the United States. Lahiri is renowned for her use of prose, especially that in her best-selling short story Unaccustomed Earth which focuses on immigrant clans and United States-raised children. She won the Pulitzer Prize with her debut collection of short stories, Interpreter of Maladies. In a press conference in Calcutta in January of 2001, Lahiri said, "No country is my motherland. I always find myself in exile in whichever country I travel to, that's why I was tempted to write something about those living their lives in exile". This idea of exile along with issues of identity in the Disapora community are prevalent in Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies. Lahiri is a member of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities and is currently a professor of creative writing at Princeton University. 

"Jhumpa Lahiri: A Brief Biography." Post Colonial Web. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2015. 

Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2015. 

1) What do Mrs. Das's actions toward her children at the end of the story contribute to the theme?

2) How do Mr. Kapasi's interactions with Mr. and Mrs. Das show the differences between the upper 

and working classes?

3) How does Mrs. Das's role as a woman define her relationships with her family?

Who's Irish Bio

Gish Jen Biography

Ben Grossman, Max Kaufman, and Skylar Mays

    Born Lillian Jen in 1955, she is a second generation Chinese American. Her parents emigrated to the States in the 1940s. She grew up in New York, mainly in Long Island, Queens, and Yonkers. Now the author of four novels, a collection of short stories and a volume of lectures, she has posted in The Best American Short Stories of 1988, 1995 and 2013, as well as The Best American Short Stories of the Century, edited by John Updike. She is widely taught and has been nominated for and has won numerous book awards.

    The following was said in a Q and A with her:

Q: Does that mean you write about the immigrant experience?

A: It means that I write about but also out of the immigrant experience.I grew up, not just with a desire to tell my own story, or my family’s story, but fascinated in general by culture and cultural change – by ways of seeing and speaking, and not seeing and not speaking, by family making and unmaking.

Her stories focus around issues of culture and identity. They depict individuals, families, and communities that struggle to answer questions of race, religion, and change. She writes about the adaptation to American culture.

Here is a link to a short interview of Jen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLi08sq6qtM

Questions:

1. How is the grandmother’s culture different from her daughter’s?
2. In what ways is the grandmother struggling to fit the cultural model imposed on her?
3. How would the story be different if the narrator was a male?

Jen, Gish.”Gish.”GishJen. N.p., n.d. Web.20 Oct. 2015

“Gish Jen.” Blue Flower Arts Rss. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2015