James's Blog

I believe that all of the characters in the story are indirectly affected by settler colonialism and the history that is associated with it. There are specific parts of There There that demonstrate how one or more characters are impacted by settle colonialism. I didn't know that Native Americans didn't originally have last names.  This is contradictory to the European Colonists' culture. The reason Native Americans have such basic last names (such as Tommy Orange) is because they were forced to assimilate into white European culture and colors were often the last names assigned to them. Another point in There There that I thought was relevant Opal's story. Opal and her sister Jacquie had to move around constantly with their mother, Vicky. This was because Opal and Jacquie were around during the time of the passage of the Indian Termination Act and the Indian Relocation Act. With these acts put into place, it made it difficult for Vicky to provide a stable home environme...

 One thing that I found interesting while reading There There was the emphasis put on buses and BART trains. I also think it's cool that we're in an area that BART encompasses. Question: What is the significance of the BART trains and buses that are mentioned in There There? Why are these forms of transportation important to the characters of the story?

 To be honest, I'm definitely further behind on this project than I would like to be. It has been hard to find the time to do research on a long term project when there are always more pressing tasks that need to be completed. For a while, I struggled over which topic to write about. Having so many options makes it more difficult because there are also so many options that could go wrong. However, with feedback from Professor Burnham, I was able to settle on a topic that I am very excited about: female politicians. As a Political Science major, I have always found the conversation surrounding women in this field very interesting. There is a strong stereotype that politicians are often older, white men fortunate enough to benefit from generational wealth. This stereotype is often true, which makes the stories of women who manage to break the imaginary boundary even more intriguing. My next decision was deciding which text I wanted to make my home text. I should say "is deciding...

 I found these microlectures very insightful and interesting. They introduced me to a lot of material that I'm largely unfamiliar with given my cultural background. I feel that it helps me understand There There better by providing me with some context of the characters' cultural backgrounds. In general, the microlectures have also helps me understand the histories of Native American peoples. As I watched the first microlecture, I thought about our trip to the Archives and Special Collections in the library. I recall the librarian, Ms. Baughman-McDowell, introducing us to the many physical mediums used by people from all geographic areas of the world. It was interesting to see the physical mediums that Native Americans used in the microlectures. I was particularly interested to see the Pawnee star map and the Buffalo robe. I was surprised to see that there were colors used other than black in the pictographs illustrated on the Buffalo robe. It was very aesthetically pleasing to...