The readings for Tuesday's class, especially the Rose Marie Garland-Thomson reading I found very interesting. She brings up the clash between feminist studies and disability studies when she talks about how pro-choice could mean that the disabled people might not have been born. It is an interesting question that I have been struggling with. The question of how disabled women and feminists can fight for the same cause, because they are both minorty groups and are both being subjugated by different "gazes", is an intersting one. I think that people need to remember that both disabled people and women are subjected to this gaze. Women and disabled people can be spectables; objects of either the male gaze or the object of the stare. They are both being subjegated so they both have to accept each other's differences and help each other in their fight for equality. Disabled women, like many people who reside in two different minority groups have chances to speak up and their voices are not heard as well. Many times they are forgotten or simply seen as a disabled person because that is the more visible part of them. 

As mentioned today in class, we'd like you (please) to consult your calendars,
and come to class next Tuesday able to tell us when you are free to attend
the Nicole Canuso performance of The Garden--
possibilities include 7:30 & 9 p.m. on Fris, Nov. 1, Nov. 8, Nov. 15,
6 & 7:30 & 9 p.m. on Sats, Nov. 2, Nov. 9, Nov. 16
4:30 & 6 pm. on Suns, Nov. 3, Nov. 10, Nov. 17
6 & 7:30 on Mons, Nov. 4, Nov. 11
7:30 & 9 on Thurss, Nov. 7, Nov. 14.

Also we'd like to know if you could be free and available to fulfill Mark's fantasy of a final gathering of us all,
@ the same time, in a special place, for a special meal and conversation, in the city on December 6-8?

Thanks!

A&M

Every so often, throughout my reading of NW, a sentence or phrase would jump out at me, and I’d underline it. When I finished the book, I typed up and compiled all these sentences into one document and sorted them into themes. One of the themes I found has to do with economic concepts, and because in my other classes I am dealing a lot with economics and economic theory, I’d be interested in applying theories of human economic thought and behaviour into analysing the characters of NW. I have five main quotes of sentences from the book, and I plan to focus on the closely surrounding passages from which they come to see how much depth I can to the characters in terms of their participation in the economic system, both in the city and globally. I want to explore how consideration of these characters (and upon reflection, ourselves in real life) in terms of their economic function can serve to reorient the reader’s perception of their emotional, social, romantic, and/or familial behaviour.

When I read this book, I am really interested in the relationships of various sorts throughout the book. The friendship between Lean and Natalie\Keisha is complex, because of the great difference between their worldviews. The connection among the four characters is also subtle and valueable to be analyzed, because although their experience seems to be apart, they do interact each other. Moreover, the relationships I mention are not only  among people, but also between the city and the stories,the minds and realities.

I want to focus on the different vision from Leah and Michel.It's interesting that they have a different consideration,different race and not loving each other but still like to be with each other. Leah wants to stay eighteen, but Michel is hoping to move to the next step. Their marriage is between two totally different spirit---- one longing for freedom needs no boundary and one well-planned.When I read about Leah, I thought she would not be someone needs marriage, like other normal women. She seems to have a spirit that wants something more. And Michel is a good-looking man that every woman would like, he can easily find someone suits him better than Leah. I want to find the reason of their marriage---what are they expecting out of this marriage. Even it led to a tragedy because they want different things, it should not meant to be a total mistake.

Reading NW, I found myself wanting to know more about the more minor characters. I was curious about the background of the Felix/Annie relationship, and why exactly Annie could still have such a strong pull on Felix to the point that even though he was completely in love with his girlfriend, he would have sex with Annie on the roof. Even more, I wanted to know how Annie got to living in the state that she was, drinking and smoking and doing drugs constantly.

Anyway, most of that can't really be answered in class, or by anyone other than Zadie Smith herself. So I suppose what I would like to look at and figure out is what we do see of Felix and Annie's relationship. How they treat each other, etc.

When reading NW, and even more so when we discussed it in class, I found myself very intrigued by the structures Zadie Smith choose to use throughout the book. To break a mold and rebuild it is in some ways astonishing to me, and she certainly explored what it meant to be a chapter, a section, a dialogue. Some of her chapters were numbered while others were named or mis-numbered. She did not use quotation marks of any sort, some of her descriptions were stream-of-consciousness focus on one thing or another, and some of her chapters were made up entirely of google map directions, or a web page, or stream-of-consciousness senses along a certain path. I would love to explore in more depth the tools she uses, and where and why she might use them.