User:Liberateminds/sandbox

Citation Practice
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Butler,O.E

Journal entry 1
Today has been a very exciting day. With previous ENG classes I have not felt this secure and excited to begin it course, as this course has. I truly feel guided to the concept of Wikipedia despite feeling a bit overwhelmed with the markup symbols and the heading choices. Regardless, I do not feel it is something that with practice I wont be able to conquer. I have learned a thing or two, but overall I am beginning to see these site with better clarity and understanding as pose to typically scrolling down aimlessly searching for key words. I can't wait to be a decent Wik --Liberateminds (talk) 21:17, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

Journal entry 2
I was not present in today's class. I know I'm missing a world of information, but I'll see what I can do next week to fix my mends!

Journal entry 3
Reading more of Octivia Butler has given me a broader idea of what we should fix and add to this project. I still feel a bit confused just because I have some catching up to do. Overall I am pleased to see the different perspectives several authors have on Octivia Butler. Many of the critiques have been positive and appraising to her work. Also the many recognition's she has been awarded only emphasize her workings for the literary world.

Journal entry 4
With the assignment my team and I had today, I feel motivated and overly curious to put things in order and better improvise summarizing and paraphrasing. My team has been amazing and highly concentrated especially our team leader. I was confused for the most part in the very beginning, but our team leader repeated, explained and lead us out of our confusing situations. Our professor, as always, a charm and great motivator. I do have reading to catch up with and assignments to complete, which makes me a little self doubting since spring break is right around the corner. I don't want to lose focus AGAIN, and I will try my best to stay on top my academic obligations!

Journal entry 5
During class hours, we worked picked up where we left off right before break. For some reason I feel way less confused than where I left off previously. My team- as usual, a pleasure to work with. My good team member helped me with summarizing, I believe, one or two sections within the 1980's. Today was very laid back but tons of work was accomplished. Also, perhaps this is out of topic but fledgling is getting VERY interesting. The suspense has my eye balls going 80MPH from left to right. Overall it's been a GREAT day! P.s It didn't strike me until now, that we have 5 weeks into this class. TIME IS FLYING!!!!

Journal entry 6
Excitement, that's what today's class was filled with. We read our sections out loud and welcomed any feedback in the sense of improvising and editing anything that could be better. References took a bit of time, looking for keywords and finally putting them in the correct section. For the most part I did not feel lost. It did help to hear out loud what we had down on paper. Once again, my team was nothing but great. I am excited and nervous to see the final outcome of this whole project.

Journal entry 7
Today was a special day... we REARRANGED Octavia Butler's section on Wikipedia. We removed areas, and added new ones. To be honest I feel a bit overwhelmed with the commotion at hand but as always our professor has been right by our side to guide us and ensure we made no wrong turns. Doctor "X" was excited, something that gave me a sign of relief that everything was going according to plan. I feel like I have to re read the article from assignment 4 a few more times to fully absorb and be able to complete assignment 5 successfully. I am excited and nervous as we get closer to the end of the semester.

Journal entry 8
We are moving, and were moving fast! We did a lot of work today. Many of my peers went and presented their article assigned, very good information many different perspectives. I enjoyed our group work and i just adore our professor. Shes amazing, very helpful, never lets us feel abandoned or clueless. Great day over all.

Journal entry 9
Today Dr. Sanchez Taylor came to our class today and helped in focusing on major areas within Butler's novel Fledgling. She was very helpful and very clear. We are beginning to write our sections for and I am working on Alternative sexualities. IT IS a bit weird for the simple fact that we have to specify how its alternative and in what ways it differs to typical relationships. Over all todays class was very interesting, a test of opinions and facts followed by proof. I am excited to see the final outcome.

Chapters 1-6
In the first six chapters of "Fledgling", we are presented with a very vulnerable and disorientated young lady who can not bare to move due to the physical pain she was feeling; not to mention feeling desperately hungry. This young lady can not remember anything at all, she also fears she is blind. After what seems forever to her, in her instinctual state, she feels the presence of an animal approaching her and decides to wait until the 'animal' is within her reach so that she has a successful kill. As she fed herself for several days she began to regain strength and slowly but surely she began to wander through the woods stumbling across an area where it was evident a fire had destroyed everything in its path. She wanders further and further until she finds herself in an open road where she is quickly spotted by a concerned driver. The driver, named Wright,how ever is anything but less attractive. He questions the young lady but realizes she has suffered serious injuries and had amnesia, she on the other hand insists she will be fine and only requires the need to gather information to help her remember who she is. Wright offers his home to her shortly after being bitten by her, he becomes attached by the thrill and her mysteriousness,something he finds sinfully addicting. Throughout the next few days she finds someone else, Theodora Harden, a new source to feed off of aside of Wright. Theodora becomes instantly hooked with the same intensity as Wright. Wright takes the young lady back to the area where he found her. She insists on doing some investigating of her own to see if she may find clues as to why she had been near that place as well as following her gut instinct that something of great interest was to be found there. She is quickly proven right when she sees a man with a rifle pointing at Wright. She manages to save Wright but gets shot in the process. Though her injuries aren't highly significant she knows she must interrogate this stranger. As her wounds heal. she visited her aggressor in the comfort of his own bedroom where she bit him again all in the name of getting valid information. She then discovers that there is a man with a helicopter who has assigned him to keep watch of the ruins and to kill anyone who trespasses. Raleigh Curtis, the gunman, is instructed to tell the man with the helicopter that she, the girl with amnesia, will be returning the following Friday to meet with him, and he does so.

Chapters 7-15
As we left of on the previous chapter, Renee returns to the ruins only to find a man by the name of Iosif Petrescu who claims to be her father. Iosif informs Renee that her actual birth name is Shori. She(Shori) is briefed on the species she is or what has been passed down through generations to her father from their elders, she also finds out that she is a successful genetic experiment,stronger and daytime resistant in comparison to ones like her. Iosif takes Wright and Shori to his community and shows her his home, he also gives her more insider knowledge as to how their kind work in collaboration with humans as food sources and they provide homes and protection for their symbionts. Shori also meets one of her brothers but feels helpless as her memory is still blank. Iosif tells shori she will need a home of her own for her symbionts and herself, all of which he is willing to provide within a week span. She agrees, but she decides that she must return to Wright's cabin that night so that he may collect his things and organize himself. That following Friday no one appeared to pick them up, despite the many phone calls, communication was not possible. Shori and Wright took it upon themselves to search for them. Shori with her heightened senses and incredible speed, came to an area where she felt people who did not belong there had passed with in that area. She also began to smell the scent of burnt bodies, a scent she felt was 2-3 days old. Shori realizes her fathers community had been attacked and that everyone was killed, her brother and father included. Brook and Celia appear at the community and quickly fall into grief over their Ina mates. Shori decided to take Brook and Celia under her wing as they provided an address for one of Iosif's homes located in Arlington where they can be safe while they figured what they could do. Shori knew that if both woman did not have Ina mates to provide them with the highly pleasurable bites, they would die. Though Shori did not want to bite them she knew it was necessary and proceeded to do so despite the initial rejection they both felt. Shortly after arriving to their new home, had it not been for Shori's ability to remain awake during daylight hours she would have never been able to warn them about the attack that was about to take place. Through gun fire, roaring flames and 6 assassins, Shori managed to fatally wound several attackers while a few got away and managed to escape themselves. Through a bit more of interrogation to Brook and Celia, Shori is discovers that there is more existing Ina family along the northern coast of California (Punta Nublada). Through many hours of travel they arrived to the Gordon's community. Upon arrival they are aggressively welcomed at gun point, something that makes Shori realized they are informed about the current massacres that have taken place. The Gordon's however are initially skeptical of her ability to have survived these attacks without being harmed. They soon learn about her amnesia and ask her all kinds of questions to verify that her side of the story is a concrete one. Tensions begin to ease as the Gordon family takes her word and agrees to help find the ones responsible for such destruction. Once again, as soon as she believed the waters calmed down and that they finally found the refuge they all needed, Punta Nublada was attacked!

Chapters 16-21
In the attack of Punta Nublada, Shori detects foreign movements as well as guns and gasoline. Thanks to the wonderful phone gadget she had, she was able to call the other houses to inform them about the threat presented. As she communicated with the other home she gave strict directions to shoot anyone who was carrying gallons. Soon enough the attack began. Several attackers were killed, while some were wounded and kept for interrogation. Shori bit yet another attacker to get him to cooperate and answer any of her questions. Shori discovers there were eighteen attackers all of which have been accounted for. She also learns that the attackers were not symbionts to any Ina, but rather they were tools. Based on the different stories given by the surviors, they could not recall why they were doing what they were doing but that they were somehow ambushed by a tall man who bit them and made them vulnerable to anything commanded. Shori, and all the Gordon's continue to interrogate until they reach a hint of whom may be responsible for all these attacks. Shori also discovers that it is indeed because she is a darker skinned Ina that all this madness is occurring. Someone doesn't like the idea of there being better versions of the species and is randomly biting people to get them to do the dirty work. Upon this the Gordon's decide they need to enter a Council of Judgment, but first meeting the rule of seven, in which the accused had to agree with the seven families chosen to carry out this trial like event. Shori is informed by Daniel, and Ina and an aspiring mate for Shori, the way this event is carried out and what she needs to be aware of in order for her to prove and solidify her story so that she may not look like an unreliable person to hold out her story of what has happened to her and her family. This type of event for the non Ina, becomes more of a social gathering, a place to dance, drink, interact, something Shori finds intriguingly fun. Instead she makes her way to the storage building where the trial was about to commence, one that would last a total of three days.

Chapters 22-epilogue
In the final chapters of Fledgling, the three day trial-like event takes place, and with every night, things get more and more heated between Shori and the accused (Silks family). Unfortunately one of Shori's first symbionts, Theodora, was killed and left dead for hours with a clear fatal wound to the skul. Shori's fury only ignites further and begins to hunt down the person or persons responsible for her death. Through various interrogations, she find that the Silks advocate Katharine Dahlman, sent on of her symbionts to kill Theodora. Shori asks the counsel to include this into the trial and demands justice not only for her families but for what she and many Ina's thought of as scared, the well being and innocence of a symbiont. Through much questioning and iodinating cynicism, Shori manages to remain calm and compliant to all the questions asked. On the final day of the trial, seven of the eleven families present at the counsel voted in Shori's favor. They agreed that the Silk family lied with every answer given and that Katharine did very little to hide her responsibility in the death of Theodora. As for the punishment, since it had not been unanimous, according to Preston, the punishment could not equal in death. Therefore the Silk's family were sentenced to be dissolute. The five sons would be split to different families in five different places outside of the United States, and they would no longer carry the same last names 'Silk'. The Silk's would agree to keep the peace for three hundred years beginning on the day of the last hearing. As far as Katharine's punishment, she was sentenced to be severed from the thighs down. Katharine, however did not accept her punishment and demanded a count of counsel, one which was never given due to the fact they had already voted against her. Preston tells her to return to her sisters to talk but she quickly find herself with a shot gun and sets out to end her and her symbiont's existence. Shori reaches her in time to avoid a second death of her symbionts, but in the stuggle Shori get's shot. Though she is injured she fights with all her might and hurts Katharine enough to put distance between her and the shotgun. Weak from her injury Shori wakes up in a room where Wright was present with lean pieces of meat to give Shori to feed. She is then informed that no one was hurt and that Katharine was beheaded and burned. After a suspenseful, lengthy time, Shori finally feels she can begin to build a portion of what was taken away from her in peace. Shori feels safe and grateful for the opportunity to be able to re-learn about her Ina culture through the next 2 years. Her symbionts and her community are safe, and that's all that matters.

Fledgling review
Ron Charles review on Fledgling describes the detour Octiavia Butler makes in the genre of vampirism and how she deceives the norms created by Bram Stoker and his version of vampire galore. Charles also emphasizes on the hybridity, racism, and alternative sexual relationships within this book. He also acknowledges that the relationships held between "regular" vampires and the vampires in Fledgling are very distinct in the sense that unlike the regular vampires, the "Ina's" as they call themselves, rely and protect their symbionts (volunteers). Their relationship is mutually beneficial, not to mention that the symbiont enjoys the benefits of a immaculate immune system and many healthy years of life. Charles also describes how this story unfolds little by little as it reveals the motives behind the assassins, the pigmentation of Shori's skin.

- This is Butler's typically insidious method: to create an alternative social world that seems, at first, alien and then to force us to consider the nature of our own lives with a new, anxious eye. It's a pain in the neck, but impossible to resist.