A Small Place

     In her book, A Small Place, Jamaica Kincaid talks about her native Caribbean island, Antigua. She does this through the perspective of a tourist, this being the main theme present in the reading, aside from the political theme which is present as well. In this post I will discuss three quotes that caught my attention, regarding the tourist topic, as I did the reading.

"Oh, what a marvelous change these bad roads are from the splendid highways I am used to in North America" (Kincaid 5).

     In this first quote, Kincaid is giving us an example of a thought that a tourist may have in relation to the change in scenery and roads between their homeland and Antigua, the place they're visiting for vacation. For me this quote is very relatable because in Puerto Rico most of the roads are in a bad state. Therefore, the times that I've been in other places one of the first things I notice is the difference in the quality of the roads. Usually they're smoother and it feels like you're walking on clouds. Nonetheless, coming from a tourist a comment like this one may be interpreted the wrong way by a local. It may seem to them kind of ignorant for someone to actually enjoy traveling on a bad road, when most likely they want it fixed and have been waiting for a long time for the government to take action.

"The thing you have always suspected about yourself the minute you become a tourist is true: A tourist in an ugly human being. You are not an ugly person all the time; you are not an ugly person ordinarily; you are not an ugly person day to day" (Kincaid 14).

     Indeed, a tourist can be an ugly human being, especially from the point of view of the native. One may ask why or in what sense? Well many people see tourists as ignorant individuals mostly because when they vacation somewhere, they tend to think the place is perfect based on what little time they spend there and the handful of pre chosen places they visit; meanwhile being completely oblivious to the political, economical and social problems that local people endure every day. Nevertheless, this doesn't mean that they're like that in their every day life. Countless Puerto Ricans feel this way toward tourists. However, it's important to recognize that not all tourists are the same. There are those who are informed and know about those types of problems.

"That the native does not like the tourist is not hard to explain. For every native of every place is a potential tourist, and every tourist is a native of somewhere. Every native everywhere lives a life of overwhelming and crushing banality and boredom and desperation and depression, and every deed, good and bad, is an attempt to forget this. Every native would like to find a way out, every native would like a rest, every native would like a tour. But some natives -most natives in the world- cannot go anywhere" (Kincaid 18).

     Certainly, there are locals who do not like tourists. In fact, they think that they are a hindrance and that they damage the view and landscape of the city. Every native can be a tourist and every tourist is a native. Kincaid establishes that every native would like a tour but that most cannot go anywhere. This is most likely due to economical reasons. Also, it may be a factor that fuels the locals dislike of tourists. They want to travel, get to know other places and relax just like the vacationers that come to their country, but sadly it is out of their reach. This is the case of many natives all over the world.

Literary Contest Reflection

     This past Wednesday I attended the English Literary Contest Awards Ceremony. Our class group was there in support of three of our classmates who got recognized for their participation. The awards given were distributed into the following categories: essay, poetry and short story.  In general, the activity was good and mostly organized. It began with an introduction and then it was followed by a presentation with tips on how to improve as a writer. They exhorted aspiring writers to enter in literary contests, seek mentors and read contemporary fiction or poetry, among other things. The tips given were really nice and I found they were very helpful if you’re someone who is interested in that area. 

       After that, came my favorite part of the whole activity. The university's Tuna band performed a few songs and it was great as always. I never get tired of seeing them preform and I enjoy listening to the music they play. When they finished their part, it was time to present the winners of the competition and hand them their awards. One thing I noticed during this part was that most of the winners were girls. Every time one of the winners would get called to go onstage the people in the audience clapped very loudly. It was pleasant to see that many of the people in the audience were the parents of student who were being recognized.  All of them were there in support of their children, beaming with pride and joy. I was happy to see my classmates get acknowledged for their participation. The activity ended right after that with the whole group of winners being photographed onstage.

     In short, this was the first awards ceremony of any sorts that I’ve attended in college up to now. It was brief and precise but very enjoyable. I think it is important to do activities like this more often, where students are recognized for their literary creations. There are many with great creative minds and immense potential who need to be heard.

   

The Roots of Caribbean Identity

     In his book, The Roots of Caribbean Identity: Language, Race and Ecology, Peter Roberts talks about what type of criteria is commonly utilized today to identify human beings with. The ones he mainly mentions are: country, language, race, and sameness/difference. All of these intertwine and have a correlation with each other. In the following, I'll discuss three quotes that stood out to me the most from the reading.

"Language therefore establishes bonds between all communities of human beings but at the same time set up barriers between communities. Human beings, however, are not restricted to use of a single language and cross barriers" (Roberts 2).

     In this first quote, Roberts basically says that people who speak the same language can be united by it, and those that don't can be separated by it. Nevertheless, that doesn't mean that there aren't people who learn more than one language and break down the barriers between communities. For instance, when Puerto Ricans and individuals from other nationalities, move to another country and have to learn another language, at the beginning they tend to be tight knit with those that share the same one as them and separated from those that don't; until they start learning the new language and become a part of more than one community, breaking down the barriers. I think that when you're an immigrant you need to learn the language of the place you're going; and if you are one of the locals you have to be more accepting of those who try their best to fit in. This is something that everybody should always remember.

"The perception of sameness logically implies the perception of difference, which in turn implies that those who are perceived as different are treated differently" (Roberts 3).

     You can't have sameness without difference. Indeed, those who are perceived as different are treated differently. Morally it's the wrong thing to do, but I've seen it happen. A good example can be the way- I emphasize NOT ALL- but some Puerto Ricans perceive immigrants that come to the island. When they don't find sameness with them, most of the time they get treated differently. Nonetheless, the same happens with immigrants almost everywhere including Puerto Ricans. Most of the time I think it's because people have very little acceptance for those who have different cultural identities and beliefs; because they don't want to be influenced by them and think they may be damaging to their own culture. However, I think one should treat those who you perceive the same, as those who you perceive different. That's how I try to be, equal with everybody.  

"While behavior may in some objective way be the best criterion for judging sameness, it is the sense of sight (color/race) and sound (language) that provided the initial and usually most deep-seated conclusions about sameness and difference in identity" (Roberts 5). 

     I couldn't agree more with what he establishes here. We as individuals tend to make assessments of how similar or different a person is from us based on appearance and make conclusions based on that. But the reality is that it isn't a good way to judge sameness because not having similar appearances doesn't mean that you won't share the same type of behavior. In fact, I think it's something that we get influenced on by society from a very young age. They say that we shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but most of the time that's what we as people do. It's a defective quality to possess as a person, but it's one that's sadly present in many Puerto Ricans and individuals from other nationalities too. Personally, I tend to judge sameness and difference in identity based on behavior and personality instead of doing it by sight and sound, because humanity is composed by such a wide array of color, race and language that if that's the first thing you look at then you'll always notice the difference first instead of the sameness.

My Journey Journal

     Hello! Welcome to my blog. My name is Natalia Soler. I am currently in my sophomore year at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras campus; and I major in Environmental Science. Once you get to know me I am a nice person who is always willing to help those in need. I started this blog as a project for my Journey in Literature English class. One of the objectives of this class is to make us, the students, discover and reflect about our life journey. It can be divided into internal and external journey. The first assignment we did to represent this was a journey journal and we had to cover it with pictures that reflected our journeys. These are some pictures of my journal:

    

     The collage making process was really fun. I truly enjoyed searching for the right pictures to represent my journeys.  I consider my internal journey to be self-discovery. I want to know who am I really, what inspires me, what fills me and what moves me. I want to find my own way. That's what the compass picture represents. The picture of the owl to me represents wisdom, something I hope to achieve. I love the idea of wisdom being something that you gain through life experiences and self-growth. It's a quality that you accumulate throughout your lifespan. Moreover, my external journey is world travel. I would like to travel the world, learn about different cultures and meet new people. We as individuals are always learning and growing and I think it's very important to exploit that to the maximum. Never stop learning and never stop growing. Lastly, I hope that this class will help me expand and acquire new knowledge. I am really excited to see what is in store for me this semester.