More Than Meets the Eye

In 1877 Henry James wrote a novel called Daisy Miller inspired out of a rumor he heard from a friend of a girl traveling to Europe with her mother and brother and getting into some sorts of flirtatious conflict with men. Henry James then wrote Daisy Miller, a rich and pretty, American girl traveling through Europe with her mother and younger brother. Daisy wants to be exposed to European high society but refuses to behave as a European lady of society. Despite this, Daisy Miller seems to have an attractive attitude of being carefree and ongoing with other people, especially men. She met a man named Winterbourne who seem to feel some sort of attraction for her because she is not easy to figure out and because of such, he is mystified by her.  Winterbourne with time start questioning, along with other individuals, the behavior of miss Daisy Miller. She acts to careless and seem to be a flirt with any man. Daisy had met a man named Mr. Giovanelli. While not much is said about him, it seems he too, is careless around and with Daisy. One night as Winterbourne was passing over a coliseum, he spots Daisy and Mr Giovanelli together. He thought of this behavior as reckless, irresponsible and self-respect lacking. However he was still concerned about the health of Daisy Miller. It was said that many people that spend the night outside in the moonlight could contract Malaria, known as “Roman Fever” He confronted Mr. Giovanelli with this and eventually left. A few days later Daisy became gravely ill and died of what seem to be Malaria. Before leaving the world behind she said some final words, directed towards Winterbourne. She said she cared for what he thought about her, even though she said nothing before. Winterbourne then, began to question if he had misjudged Daisy as a reckless woman and a flirt. It seemed there was much more to her than meets the eye. He realized, deep down she was being herself. She did not let society dictate her behavior neither as a woman, nor as a high class of society. She opted to live a life carefree of what others thought. Clearly she might have projected herself badly, but she was never a bad person. The moment she died and Winterbourne realized this by her words, he felt overwhelmed and had to leave Europe for some time, he had lived far too long in Europe. Eventually he comes back. He needed might have needed a break to find himself and think about who he and Daisy was other than individuals judged and controlled by society. This teaches us that we should never judge someone entirely by their behavior. We do not know what feeds this behavior and what background does it have. The moment you judge and try to tell others what to do, you become slave of those demanding words and actions, if something were to happen to that person. Words become a burden.

Here is a trailer of the Daisy Miller movie, not for underage people. 

Presentations of Literature Contest Winners

On Wednesday April 22, the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras celebrated the success of students that participated in the Literature Contest that took place about four weeks ago. The contest categories were: Short Story, Essay and Poem. The contestant had to choose one category and write a piece of literature with their own creativeness and ideas.

All students in the INGL3135 course, also known as Journey on Literature, had to participate in order to earn credit. Some students saw this as an obligation and submitted whatever piece of old literature or blog they could find from other literature courses. However, there are always students that are willing to give the extra miles in every little aspect of their life and in every opportunity, as random as it might be. From the INGL3135-001 course section was two winners. A third place essay winner, Ana V. Pérez and a first place essay winner, Marilú Crespo. These two young women gave their extra mile in the contest despite the very last minute notification that we had to participate.

The essay of Marilú Crespo, a young and astute accounting student aspiring to become a lawyer, was called “Do Witches Get Financial Aid?” They essay is about how some people (mostly students) get favored in obtaining financial aid over others. She establishes that maybe by being a witch and having mystical power she might land a scholarship of some sort by getting a high score on the LSAT, which might ease her law school debt. She also wrote about how law school aspiring students, have to earn a “useless” bachelor’s degree before being able to apply to law school, instead of being allowed to pursue their dreams from the first instance and focusing in passing the impossible LSAT with a score of 170-180 so they could get a chance at the so “mystical scholarship” that very few people are able to obtain through questioning means. With no doubt this was an essay winner, not only was she able to establish a situation most aspiring law students go through, but she also brought it forth with creativity and a sarcastic tone that one can easily find amusing. 

Perspective Conference: An External View

Last Wednesday on April 15, I went to the Perspective of Puerto Rico Conference at the Amphitheater of the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras. For the past four weeks the Journey On Literature course has been working on presentations regarding perspective of Puerto Rico from virtual sources such as Twitter.com, forums and travel sites. The presentations were focused on positive and negative opinions and reviews of the island from Americans and Spaniards regarding their experiences here on Puerto Rico.

On the presentation, students discussed the social, cultural, economic and political point of views and perceptions from the websites. Other groups focused on how tourists criticized the island not because of the sites and places they visited, but because of the puertoricans and their ways. Through some of the reviews, they found that some Americans do not read and get informed before commenting. For example, some comments showed that some people do not know puertorico is located in the Americas, others did not know we are a Commonwealth of the United States or that our currency is the same as theirs. Other comments criticized highly intellectuals citizens like Sonia Sotomayor and accused them of not being United States citizens, when it is the opposite. As a Commonwealth we are citizens of the United States and as such we are not immigrants when we move from the island to the states.

Reading the comments perspective and reviews of  Puerto Rico during the presentation made me a bit restless. As a non presenting participant, I got the chance of seeing all the presentations all over again. The first time it managed to make me angry. I wondered "How could there be so much ignorance still?". The second time it was easier but very disappointing. Watching all the presentations from the public was interesting because I could listen to people commenting and expressing their thoughts to their friends and colleagues. A person sitting behind me said "And we want to be part of the US, they don't even know who we are". Another comment from what seem to be a professor, said "so much hatred". I could not agree more. Together with ignorance, there seem to be projections of anger and hatred towards a whole population. This could easily be categorized as racism, the word no one in classroom dared to use.

While I did feel angry and overwhelmed by some of the negative comments presented, I refuse to speak badly of a nation and address them disrespectfully because of a few negative perspectives. I will also reserve the right to judge the people who wrote the comments as racists and I believe the number of negative point of views of Puerto Rico in the internet are as much, if not less than the number of good ones.

The Journey Journal Experience

      For the past two months I have been writing daily about the things in my mind in a ten minutes period. This was a project for my literature class that we call the Journey Journal. Let me say, it has been a journey indeed. At first you think we just write anything down until time is up and that is it. This is not the case. We had to write down our thoughts, anything that would come to mind. Good luck trying to keep up writing with your thoughts coming and going at the speed of light. Is not an easy task but like with any task, it gets better with practice & time. At first my hand would hurt because I would try to keep up with my thoughts, however there is so much you can push your hand to write faster. If you write first thing in the morning you will most likely write about your dreams because is the only thing fresh in your mind. This allowed me to remember my dreams for quite a while now and to be honest; I still remember them as clear as a day. The Journey Journal was a means of canalization for my immediate feelings. If I felt an overwhelming feeling I just grabbed my journal and write for ten minutes every thought, good or bad. What I liked the most about this project is that I was able to write about the most intimate things about myself and others without the fear they will ever find out because is a secret or private journal that only you are allowed to read. Be careful not to drop it! You might end up being either loved or hated if you wrote about other people. The journal has become a part of me in the past two months. It is now a habit to sit down and write. Words come out as fluently as water, you feel relaxed after writting and your hand is more efficient at writing speed. 

Dare to take the Journey Journal Challenge!