Jordan Miles

 Blog 30: 4/21 Read The Measure of My Days by Florida Scott-Maxwell The Measure of My Days by Florida Scott-Maxwell is her reflection and coming-of-age story. We discover her perspective as it changes and develops throughout her life. She discusses themes like aging, her existence, and death, and touches on some of her relationships.  She talks about her daily thoughts and I liked this quote she wrote that shows her point of view in light through aging. She explains, "The crucial task of old age is balance: keeping just well enough, just brave enough, just gay and interested and starkly honest enough to remain a sentient human being." I think it is so important to have these qualities no matter how old you are. To be brave and still interested in what life holds as well as being honest and well to remain happy. She shows we all need to have these qualities that we all embody a lot as a child and remain to carry into adulthood and older age. She has a unique point of view on h...

 Blog 29: From Lost in Translation / Eva Hoffman Jordan Miles  Lost in Translation by Eva Hoffman is her memoir about being a Polish immigrant in Canada and the US. H er parents were Jewish and had survived the Holocaust by hiding in Ukraine. In 1959, during the Cold War,  her parents,  Eva at age thirteen, and her sister "Alinka" at age nine immigrated to Vancouver, Canada.   Throughout her story, she struggles with identity and finding a sense of belonging. She demonstrated how she felt torn between these cultures, where she belongs, and what she thinks. She also shows how her past has shaped who she is today after immigration. She describes her move as "It was like entering a parallel universe where everything was slightly but insistently askew." She is brave to be able to start in a whole new environment that is completely foreign to her.  An example is the language barrier. It hindered her ability to communicate and understand. She showed the...

 Blog 28: Zami: a new spelling of my name / Audre Lorde Audre Lorde tells her life story in her memoir Zami: a new spelling of my name. She is a black activist and shows her feminist views through her writing and poetry. She lived through a lot of adversity including the civil rights movement facing oppression regarding sexuality, race, and gender. Her story starts with her talking about growing up and being lesbian and black in a time when these identities were not accepted and appreciated by society. She struggled to come to terms with her identities, as she felt different and less than others. She explained, "We were all Black, all poor, all trapped, but our living styles and ways of being were as different as two Blacks could be in that time and place." It is sad to see the poverty she had to overcome at a time when she was already facing many troubles in her identity. Her relationship with her mother was another problem she had to face. She hated her mother at times. She...

Blog 27: From Mules and Men / Zora Neal Hurston.  Jordan Miles Zora Neale Hurston was a great writer and anthropologist in the early 20th century. Her work, including her book "From Mules and Men," sheds light on both feminism and African-American literature. In "From Mules and Men," Hurston explores the African-American culture of the rural South through her personal experiences and research. Through her writing, she challenges the stereotypical narrative of the time that portrayed black people as less than and uneducated. Hurston shows African-American culture in the book to bring attention to all that comes with their culture, which had normally been ignored or not thought of as important by the white American mainstream. This is significant in feminist literature because she demonstrates new ideas of what is considered worthy of attention and what is important to know and read about. Hurston also wrote a lot about the experiences of African-American women, who w...

  3/29 From Meatless Days / Sara Suleri Jordan Miles  "Meatless Days" is a memoir written by Sara Suleri, a Pakistani author. In this book, Suleri shares personal essays and reflections on her life growing up in Pakistan and later studying and teaching in the United States and England. The title "Meatless Days" is about the days when her family would not consume meat due to religious or cultural reasons. However, the title, I think could be interpreted as a symbol of the different types of hardships and losses that Suleri and her family faced. Suleri talks about Pakistani society, including the effects of colonialism, religious and ethnic problems, and challenges for women. She also talks about her own experiences as a woman, showing a personal and interesting perspective of her life and what she considers her identity, racially, and as a woman. She writes, "I decided that the only way to reclaim my own voice was to write myself back into existence." This ...

 Blog 25: 3/27 From Motherwit / Onnie Lee Logan In "Motherwit," Onnie Lee Logan tells her experiences growing up as a midwife and healer in rural Alabama. Throughout the book, Logan shares insight and experiences across many lessons, such as the importance of community and the power of education. Logan relied on traditional methods to help women during childbirth and treat various patients. She believes A healer needs to have the gift of seeing beyond the physical, to the spiritual. she shows how genuinely caring she is through her writing and life's purpose.  Logan emphasizes the importance of providing support and guidance to individuals during hardship. She writes, "We were all part of a larger family, a larger body. Everybody helped everybody else out"  Logan emphasizes the importance of giving something back to the community, writing, "I made my living off the people, and it was my responsibility to give something back to them"  It is not surprisi...