User:X Rush/sandbox

Entry#1-
Today I learned how to create my own Wikipedia account. After I managed to create my brand new Wikipedia account I created my user page and began figuring out how "sandbox" works. So far I learned the basics, how to change the heading, format, font, how to cite,how to enter a signature and time stamp,etc. In general today I got to taste the waters; experiment with Wikipedia figure out how things work, what to do what not to do.Today was basically a preparation for future use of Wikipedia. I am excited to see how I can sharpen my Wikipedia editing skills and to see how much of an improvement of how much growth I've made in this class from today where I knew close to nothing about Wikipedia and come my last day of class where I hope to become a master at Wikipedia editing.

Entry#2
Today we focused on team work, we read two sections of Octavia Butler's biography and analyzed which information was missing and which should be added. We later took our focus on how reliable the source was. We had the option to either delete, replaced, or simply should more be added. Next we got together with our teams and divided the two sections of the biography we created a few suggestions of aspects of Butler’s life that need to be reviewed or changed. As a team we managed to brainstorm a few points that definitely needed to be added into Butler's biography, we also found a few points that needed to be taken away and replaced. We also had to make sure to cite our information to end our assignment.

Entry#3
Today I learned about the things that make Butler notable, significant,and outstanding. The class was broken down into groups and we basically had to the difference leads that we were given. We had to focus on what each author decided to highlight when it came to Octavia Butler. We noticed that some authors made some points that were more subjective than factual.We broke down the articles and each of us gave all our attention to a particular thing that Butler helped to contribute to. We looked at the themes and actually broke them up into a large variety of themes.

Entry#4
Today we started our journey as researchers for Octavia Butler's Wikipedia page. First we got into what to do and what not to do when paraphrasing. We learned about how easily one can mess up when paraphrasing and fall into eventually plagiarizing. I must say, paraphrasing is not as easy as some people might make it look like. After our introduction on paraphrasing we were assigned into our groups and we were given a few topics or themes to research and paraphrase. My group is group number 2 and honestly at first our task was bit confusing. I had an understanding of what we were going to be doing, but I wasn't one hundred percent sure if I was on the right track. Eventually we got the hang of it with the help of Professor X and Ann. After finally getting a better understanding of what we were supposed to be doing everything became slightly much more simpler, our whole group began to write and paraphrase what could be useful to add to Octavia Butler's biography. Like I said earlier paraphrasing is not so easy, I had to make sure that the source that I was using would strongly support the theme that I was working on. Not every source would match our particular theme with the correct information needed to help us paraphrase it onto the biography. At the end of class we all copy and pasted our progress on google docs on our group page, we are looking forward to seeing how our work looks after we get everything down organized and in order. Oh! we also had delicious cookies hahaha.

Entry#10
Today was a tough day, we began working in groups of two on the bibliography. We were writing about certain topics, my topic happened to be Speciesism as criticism of racist supremacism. A title I honestly think is way too long and kinda difficult to work with. When we began writing it was a bit difficult to come up with something that would make sense because everything seemed be perfect, I felt like there was no need for me to change things because everything seemed perfect. We took a break and when that break was over I was able to start writing it was like an idea came to my head and then I was able to keep going. My teammate also began finding things to write about. We eventually finished our draft and printed the paper for other teams to revise it and give us much needed feedback. We also reviewed other teams papers the first one had a few things that they could work on or needed to fix and the last paper we revised was great that team did an excellent job on their topic. We were not able to make any changes to our paper because class ended and our paper really needed good revision, so I'm actually glad that I can work on it next week and am looking forward to making the changes that are needed to be made.

My Impression Of Octavia Butler
As class continues I learn more and more about Octavia Butler, after reading Butler's "Positive Obsession" and the bibliography by John Pfeiffer I felt like intrigued by her writing and how other people really look up to Butler's work.In so little time I have come to admire Butler not just for her writing, but also for the person that she is, the things that she does to help others. I like how she gives back to workshops that helped her get started, it shows that she is humble and although she has had a successful career she isn't going to forget those who helped her reach her success. I personally like her line of work because I'm interested in science fiction. In "Positive Obsession" I discovered that she was a shy child, but she had a great imagination, which is awesome and shows why her books are so great. Also it goes basically into how she started her passion for writing, how she started as a kid with a big imagination living in a rough time period. I personally like cheering for an underdog and I feel like Butler was definitely an underdog. She didn't have a jolly childhood because of the segregation at the time. However, even though she had a few obstacles to get over in order to get the success that she has now, she didn't give up and coming from the ground and build your way to success makes it all even sweeter. The aspects in her life that should be highlighted I believe should be her first attempt at publishing her first book because your first attempt is tells a lot it shows one how long they've come after so much work.

Summary on Fledgling Chapter 1-6
As I began reading Fledgling I was introduced to a weak girl with amnesia. Her first thought or feeling was hunger, sure she was beaten up, weak, cold, in pain, but hunger was the one sensation that stood out for her. The girl was weak and she needed to eat because she was starving.She was in a cave where she killed what she believed to be an animal drinking its blood and eating the creature gave the girl some of her memory and some strengths. The girl discovered that the more she ate the more she remembered and the faster she healed. The girl decided that she wanted to find a human, she believed that she wash't the only person in town. After awhile she came across a man named Wright Hamlin, who decided to help her. Wright pointed out that the protagonist appears to be around 11. Wright wants to help this girl out and mentions taking her to a hospital, the girl with not much memory wanted nothing to do with a hospital or a police station. After struggling to get out of the car the girl bit Wright on the hand Wright surprisingly enjoyed the sensation that came to him while getting bitten. The girl admitted that she had no name and Wright gave her the name Renee, meaning reborn. Wright revealed to her that she's a vampire. Renee wanted Wright to take care of her and Wright couldn't say no. Wright decided that he would take her to his cabin and keep her safe. Renee was attracted to Wright and his blood and Wright enjoyed the feeling that came when she sucked his blood. The terms that Wright gave Renee were simple, she couldn't go out during the day and she couldn't hurt any other human. Renee knew that if she kept getting blood from Wright he would die, so she decided to go after other people. One night she went out and "collected" an older woman named Theodora, Theodora really took pleasure while she got the bite and got really attached to Renee. Renee didn't feel satisfied with Theodora so she went out and "collected" four more humans to satisfy her hunger. Although she made a deal with Wright Renee knew that she couldn't depend on him forever.

Research Assignment #4
1)In paragraph 5, Bast explains that “[t]he potential for agency lies in an individual’s ability to knowledgeably work within the discourses [for instance, racism and sexism] that define his or her existence.” Is self-determination, then, the same for every person on the planet? In this case, self-determination is actually still the same for every person on the planet, the only thing is that everyone has their own way to go about it. Ultimately everyone has the opportunity and ability to make their own choices and decisions, people have the chance to do what they want, how they want even the circumstances are different we still have a responsibility to our own self-determination.

2)Bildungsroman is a literary genre that centralizes on a characters progress throughout the story. The protagonist usually has to deal with emotional, psychological, and moral growth in these stories. The character usually has a problem with society and ends up accepting society through the process of maturity. That is basically what bildungsroman is, a characters growth throughout the story, mental,moral, and emotional growth are what we mainly see in bildungsroman stories.

3)Xenophobia was one of the obstacles that was in the way of Shori's self determination, one example of how this was an obstacle was when she started talking to Wright, she was afraid that Wright wouldn't approve of her because she might not be a human, however she did get over that one obstacle pretty quick because of the connection she had with him. An example of ignorance of self would be when Shori was living with Wright in his cabin, she didn't know anything about herself because of the amnesia, so it made it harder for to try and figure out who she was and why she was different from others. She wasn't sure if she was a vampire or a human or something else.

4)Shori's awakening at the beginning of the novel represents her confusion. Shori woke up and didn't know anything, she was lost and didn't know how to feel, all she knew was that she was hungry and in pain, so hungry that she ended up eating a man without even thinking about it. Her awakening after protecting herself and her symbionts from Katherine represents growth. Short had matured and was doing a lot of growing up her character developed into a character with more knowledge and more self-determination, one can see the big changes in maturity that Shori has made when you look at how in the beginning of the story she was weak and ate the first thing that she saw without even knowing what it was, after her awakening from the fight with Katherine Shori could've attacked the first person she saw,but she didn't and that shows how much she has changed.

5)It is important that Fledgling is a first-person narration because it helps the reader focus on the protagonist, the reader is able to envision and feel what the main character is going through making the story feels more realistic by giving the reader the opportunity to be able to connect with the protagonist emotions.

6)The way that Shori has to read books to find out about who she is reflects the historical experiences of African Americans. Shori had to read to find out about what she was she also needed information from elders, like her father to tell her about her people. African Americans also had to depend on their elders and on books in order to know about their roots.

7)Wright's "normal" agency is undercut by his relationship with Shori, by making him feel like he's not as in control as he should be. Normally the man is supposed to be in charge and is often viewed as the head of the household, but in Wright's case he has to admit that Shori is stronger than him and he needs her as much as she needs him. Also another way his "normal" agency is undercut because of his relationship is the way that he doesn't care that her skin color is darker than his. Lastly another example would be how Wright doesn't play as big a role that most of us thought he would since he was with Shori since the beginning, usually his "normal" agency would have him be the center of attention.

8)The biological urges that complicate agency for the Ina is that they need to feed on humans blood in order to stay alive and avoid getting weaker. On the other hand the biological urges that complicates agency for the humans is that they become addicted to the saliva that makes them feel good, but it can also be the cause of their death because it can result in a stroke.

9)One example that proves that Ina are in charge of the relationship would be the way that the symbionts usually have to agree with whatever Shori decides because they can't be without her, for example at first Wright was upset because he didn't want to have to share Shori with anyone else,but he had to eventually be ok with it because he we still wanted to be with Shori. Another way would be how the symbionts are addicted to Shori's saliva which means that they need her they can't live without her, we saw this with Theodora when Shori first bit her she was excited and wanted more of Shori. Last thing that shows that Ina are actually in control would be that they are able to pick who they want as symbionts the symbionts don't really have a say in who else gets to join the family.

10)In my view Shori's symbionts are pretty happy with their dependence on Shori because nobody actually shows any sign that would lead us to believe that they weren't happy with how things are, for example Wright had to see Shori who he felt should only be his, with many other symbionts, yes at first he wasn't pleased about this but eventually he ended up being ok with it. Another example would be how they all need Shori rather it be for the saliva or emotional connection they still need and depend on Shori because each of them has their own connection to her.

citation practice
Encyclopedia of science fiction

Octavia