The Keeping Quilt - Review

Polacco, Patricia. The Keeping Quilt. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc., by special arrangement with Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 1988.

The Keeping Quilt is the true story of the author's family's heritage in America through a quilt. The story is told in first person and begins with Polacco's great-grandmother arriving in America wearing her favorite babushka. This babushka, along with other family articles of clothing, was turned into a quilt in honor of the family's 'backhome in Russia' that was passed through the generations of the family from mother to daughter to granddaughter and so on.

This is a warm story with positive reflections on Jewish families. It illustrates how the family's culture changed as well as remained the same through the years in America and highlighted many examples of experiences that were shared by many immigrant families. These initially included strong family bonds, the children learning English and being translators for their parents, and the creation of a supportive neighborhood community comprised of people who share cultural beliefs. Polacco's great-grandmother lived in a New York city neighborhood comprised mostly of fellow Jewish families. One tradition that remained in tact through all of the generations was the giving of a gift of gold, a flower, salt, and bread at a wedding or a birth. A tradition which changed, and was noted by the author, was that of who and how weddings were celebrated.

The concerns that I have with this text are primarily with the illustrations. Though craftily done with selective color, I am concerned that they present Jewish people in a stereotypical light. Almost every person has a rather predominantly large nose, including infants. The only exceptions to this occur in the last pages at the wedding ceremonies when it is noted that non-Jewish friends were invited. It could be assumed that these smaller-nosed people are not Jewish and that everyone is based on the rest of the book's illustrations. Other than the illustrations, I did not notice any other factors that could be considered to shed a negative light on Jewish people.

Overall, I feel that this text celebrates a Jewish family and places a positive emphasis on family togetherness and tradition. This text does not seem intent on teaching a lesson about the Jewish holidays or comparing a Jewish family to others in gray light as is often seen in Jewish-American books today. Additionally, I think that this book could be enjoyed by any young reader as well as those a little older and it would be a positive addition to any library.

Why I chose to focus on Jewish-American Literature

My initial choice was to focus on Persons with Disabilities in children's literature, but by the time I was able to sign up it was already rather full. I also wanted to learn more about a literature that I was more unfamiliar with as well as a culture that I have always been interested in knowing more about. I have always wanted to know more about the Jewish religion and culture as it has often been compared to Catholicism, which is the religion I identify with. I have had many Jewish friends and even dated a few Jewish people, but for some reason these experiences still never gave me the full understanding I was looking for. I wanted to know more and I thought that by exploring children's literature, I could get at least one step closer.

Additionally, I was in the Sydney Taylor Award research group, and I thought that by finding those books I would have a starting place to look for quality pieces of Jewish-American literature. This was accurate, however I discovered that it is very hard to find a large collection of books about this culture, even in our local libraries. I also found that it was difficult to find substantive articles relating to Jewish-American children's literature. This encouraged me to look further and in many other places. I now also feel that though the books have received an award, the merit of the book should still be reviewed and not revered simply because it has an award. The award criteria may not stand as the appropriateness of the book to be used in one's classroom.

Literature VS other Medias

So, recently, there have been several reality TV shows about dating and focusing on cultures. One of these shows is "Tila Tequila's Shot at Love." This show is about a bisexual celebrity looking for love and having competitions between straight men and lesbian women (as they state it). For some unknown reason, I tend to watch this show and every time I do I become more sickened by the sheer ignorance of many people. For example, on the first episode of the new season, one of the male competitors says that "all women crave the wang bone. Why else would they have dildos, vibrators, and things of that nature. I'm going to win because I come stocked with wang bone." I could not believe that someone would go on national television and say something like this. I found it offensive on the part of women and of the LGBTQ community but really didn't know what to do about it. I was more concerned with the youth that watch this channel throughout the day and what images and messages they receive from such shows.

Another appalling example of reality TV is contained within the show "My Big Fat Redneck Wedding." This basis of this show is to put on display the most stereotypical "redneck" families and couples there are in America. This show in no way flatters the couples. It shows them doing the most stereotypical actions, like making a camouflage wedding dress, and the way the footage of their dialog is cut, they sound very unintelligent. The host of the show even pauses the footage to make fun of these people. This show airs on the country music channel and as a fan of country music, I've often been asked if I am a redneck. I have rarely been able to answer that question and now with this show I wonder if they are trying to tell me to use this show as a role model if I do identify as a redneck. Sadly, I see how this show represents reality by ignorant people laughing at others' cultures, however, I desperately wonder how can this be turned positive.

I hope that literature in schools can combat this growing amount of disgustingly offensive reality TV. Is it possible though? If we teach our students about why such statements and moments should not happen through exploring diverse literature, will it change this realm of TV. Perhaps in the future? I fully believe that we can change the look of tomorrow by using diverse literature in schools and teaching students the importance of respectful diversity, but what can we do about the older generations that just don't seem to care as much?

Connections to Confessions of a Closet Catholic

Being able to read "Confessions of a Closet Catholic" helped to solidify my choice of a final project. I accidentally read this book out of order and over spring break. I was able to see both a window and a mirror through this book. Justine's confusion was so much like mine at that age, but it was in reverse. I was the Catholic girl wanting to know more about this "Jewish-thing" I had heard about. However, Justine's journey was a bit easier than mine. My hometown provided nothing for me to experience anything about the Jewish culture other than reading it in textbooks. There were some books in our public library that I read, but looking back from this class, I think that they were trickled with negative implications and stereotypes. I do not think they stayed with me so much, but they must have impacted me somehow. Since learning about Jewish culture was only a slight interest of mine at the time, it slowly faded to near black because of all the walls I hit trying to learn more. This desire to know more was rekindled once I came to MSU though. I feel that Justine's journey into self-discovery will continue throughout her lifetime as well.

Justine's relationship with her grandparents and their identities was one that I was easily able to relate to. My mother's parents are Catholic and thus raised my mother Catholic who in turn continued the religious tradition to her children. I was born and raised Catholic and tried to hide my curiosity of other religions from my grandparents especially because I did not want them to think I was disrespecting them. My Catholic affiliation actually allowed me to be a large part of my grandfather's funeral ceremony. Of his 20 odd grandchildren, only myself and one other cousin remained active members of his church and so we were asked to assist in the ceremony. In the last year or so, I found out my grandmother was not raised Catholic but converted. This surprised me as I had never thought about that possibility before. I tried to ask her why she did this and her answer was very vague but along the lines of it felt like the right thing to do in my heart. This to me is the real life example of Justine's journey. I also connected to the physical representations of identity, namely the necklaces in this story. I have a cross necklace that I wear often because my grandfather gave it to me and it not only connects me to my religion but to him, much like Bubbe's star did for Justine.

Thinking about these necklaces made me question how much of one's identity should be displayed and in what ways. There are always those comments about how much you can tell about a person by looking at their bathroom or something, but how true is it? How much does wearing a cross or a Star of David really indicate about a person? Perhaps that person just likes the way it looks on them and has no identifying stakes laid into it. I have not fully processed these ideas, but am interested to know what others think.

Same Difference?

During our last class I began to think about a common phrase that is used quite often. This is "same difference." To me this statement seems completely contradictory. I believe it is actually an oxymoron, though I have never fully understood the purpose of these. I started to question how this phrase impacts thought processes when people are trying to categorize others. For example, in Project Mulberry, Mr. Dixon calls Julia Chinese though she is of Korean heritage. She goes on to mention how people often assume that she is either Japanese or Chinese as if those "are the only kinds of Asians anyone has ever heard of (140)." Her thoughts about why she thought someone like Mr. Dixon who was African American and had probably felt the effects of prejudice and racism would make such a careless mistake.
This moment in the book referred me back to a scene in a movie called "The Replacements" where this happens with adult football players in the lunch room. One player, an African-American, is commenting on the weight of a teammate that used to be a sumo-wrestler and calls him "Chinaman."
Player 2 responds: I'm Japanese, not Chinese.
Player 1: Same Difference
Player 2: What?
Player 1: It's the same difference man, all that woo-ka-chow (imitates Asian Languages).
Player 2: You do know that China and Japan are two different countries, right?
Their confrontation continues for a moment and starts to get physical, until a third and fourth player intervene and try to physically separate Players 1 and 2. Player 3 has an English accent, and Player 4 is the brother of Player 1. Player 3 gets the first two to calm down by reminding them that they are on the same team.
Player 4: The Mick's right, man. Chill out!
Player 3: I'm not a Mick! I'm bloody Welsh!
Player 4: What-ever man!

I shared this moment because I think it highlights the fact that such false assumptions can be made on numerous levels in regards to this idea of "same difference." The only sense I can make of this term is that it indicates that two things or people share something in common but have more pervasive differences but the viewer refuses to acknowledge the differences and lumps the two together. As we have seen and discussed, this is a very negative thing to do. It's harsh and makes the heritage of someone feel like it isn't important, as with Julia in project Mulberry.
I really appreciated her questioning of whether the intention of the assumption mattered or not. I think she is right, that not knowing and not bothering to ask is just as bad as voicing a deliberately hurtful negative assumption.

I wonder if this phrase "same-difference" should be one to pay careful attention to when we hear our students or friends saying it. Should this become one of the taboo phrases that should not be used when discussing others' identities? I am not sure, but I am trying to figure this out for myself. Please let me know your thoughts on this, as well as other phrases or words that stand out to you in a similar manner.

A Brief Philosophy

As a MSU student issues and ideas of diversity have been ever present both inside and outside the classrooms. Prior to attending this university, I had rarely given much in depth thought to diversity in the way it is discussed here. As a strong believer in the importance of an equal and fulfilling society for all, I feel the by discussing the issues, negative and positive, surrounding diversity will help me to help create this society. As a future teacher I believe in the power of literature and what better way to break the ice for discussion with students than to have them read about issues, directly or indirectly. Literature will be so fully entwined in my future classroom that students may not be able to distinguish when we are focusing on just the literature or when we are using it in other ways, hopefully. I also know that my class will be vastly diverse and including literature that appeals to and represents my students is important to me as I know it will be to them. However, after taking the TE 348, I realized that there is so much more to selecting a piece of quality literature for students to work with. When I heard about this course, I continued to think about how much I didn't know. I sort of asked myself: "Well, if you didn't realize how much was entailed before the 348 class, and now there is an entirely separate class dealing with diversity and multiculturalism, this probably means that you know even less and will benefit from TE 448." I came to this class to learn more about how to select and use appropriate children's literature. This meant learning more about my future students and about myself to do this. I believe that a diverse and compassionate person has a much higher chance of success in today's global society than anyone else. It is also immensely fulfilling to know one's own self and to know enough about others to be able to recognize and connect through similarities or appreciate and respect the differences. I want to help my students achieve such successes and the first door to them is through literature. In short, I believe that multicultural education is the best type there is and that it exists even if it is not blazingly obvious. This type of education needs to be enriched in diverse ways and considering that literature has a hold on practically every academic subject that exists currently, and those yet to be implemented, this seems like the most logical way to provide such enrichment. One of my biggest concerns for the future is that my students will not be as responsive to diverse literature and ideas as I am and I wonder how much of a challenge this will bring about in my teaching. Now that I have a greater aptitude to locate quality resources, or at least to look for them, I am interested to see how the literature of traditionally underrepresented groups changes and grows in time. I hope that it proceeds forwards and is never halted, and perhaps I can influence one of these future writers by showing them that they do exist in the literature and it is important to tell their story.

Does reclaiming a label work?

Recently I have heard a lot about different groups of people reclaiming words that have been used offensively towards them or tends to be considered derogative. I wonder whether or not this actually works.

I know that naming and labeling can be crucial when self-identifying, so how does saying that a group is “reclaiming” a term affect the group, those affiliated with the group, and anyone else that might not be directly affiliated? How does saying that a word is being reclaimed empower the person?

The first big reclamation of a label was during a writing class about women my freshmen year here. We read “The Vagina Monologues” and watched a portion of the HBO special in class. There was an entire monologue about reclaiming the word “cunt” as a positive term for females. Even though after learning the true origins and meaning of the word and trying very hard to share this with others, I personally still do not feel that the word “cunt” is positive. If I were to poll most of my classes this semester about whether or not they feel the term is positive in either describing the female reproductive organs or a female herself, I highly doubt any would say so.

Other reclamations of terms I have heard include the terms “queer” and “fag.” People within the LGBTA community have been attempting to reclaim these terms. However, I still do not feel comfortable using these terms. Why is that? Though I would be using the terms in the newly constructed positive way, how would I be viewed by others. I consider myself an outsider to this culture/group of people, so is it okay for me to use these terms rather than the terms “homosexual” or “gay.”

After we read the excerpts from Simi Linton's “Claiming Disability,” I thought more about the terms “handicap” and “disabled people.” Through all of my classes here at MSU I have been taught to use the people first method when using labels, but these excerpts totally changed my thoughts on this. I still feel that using people first is important, but reading these really reiterated my ideas of asking people what their individual preference is. Does a community of persons with disabilities reclaiming the label “disabled” actually affect them or the community or is it still all a personal identification?

Also, the word “invalid” surprised me when I read it in the article “ . I am sharing my own ignorance to the term right now. I had heard the word pronounced by never connected it to how it was spelled for some reason. It is rare that that happens with me, but it did. When I saw the word spelled out, I started to consider how many other words have implied meaning in the spellings but are pronounced slightly different in hopes maybe to distract from these implied meanings.

There are many terms and labels that I have not included in this, but I am sure I will be coming back to this idea again in the coming weeks. There were also many other ideas in the Linton readings that I will likely be referencing. The article was well written and provided a basis for numerous topics related to names and labels.