Class Session Summary- 2/23

Today in class we started off by discussing the poem assigned for homework titled From Our Album by Lawson Fusao Inada. He is a Japanese American that was put into an internment camp during WWII at a very young age. He wrote this poem from the perspective of looking through a photo album and reminiscing about his life before, during, and after the internment camp. Inada, along with many other authors and poets of his generation, has looked to writing as a way to piece together and make sense of his history and experiences. Each section of the poem has a very distinct message and purpose that it’s looking to accomplish.

I Before the War

·      Sees dogs fading from the picture just as his family and many Japanese Americans were fazed out of society

II Mud

·      This passage has a common motif of the mud and poor conditions that he and his family were put through.

III Desert Songs- This is the longest section of the poem

·      Inada talks about being forced to do labor and about how a man was shot for straying away from the group

·      Inada uses the technique of sharing a nice image then countering that by talking about a tragedy that took place

·      Inada talks about how some Japanese men were given the option to serve in the war to prove their loyalty to America

·      Shares an image of a school which shows how they were constantly under the gaze of the people in power

IV Song of Chicago

·      The poem discusses some of the hardships faced by not only Japanese Americans, but also by African Americans, such as being dehumanized

·      Shares a story about a Japanese American man growing a mustache and calling himself Carlos as to not be associated with the Japanese

This poem used tactics similar to the novel When the Emperor was Divine such as staring normally and very matter of fact but then moving to tragedy. This technique is achieved in the novel by the author, Julie Otsuka, writing the story from four different perspectives: mother, daughter, son (longest chunk), and lastly the father. We had a class discussion about why the author may have done this. Some of the ideas included:

·      Loss of identity of Japanese Americans

·      Event impacted very people of all age groups

·      Possibly done to emphasize the reordering of the family

-Son becomes the nurturer of the family

-mother falls into deep, child-like depression

All of these possibilities seem to make a lot of sense in the context of the book. The reordering of the family seems to break the stereotypical gender roles that we have come to expect. Lastly, we watched an interview with the author of the novel, Julie Otsuka, where she talked specifically about the ending of the novel. The end seems to be very sarcastic, and angry. This is far from how most people thought the novel would, including Julie Otsuka. However, this was a very honest and accurate portrayal of what was going on during this time.

After that the class shifted topics a bit towards a broader view of our country and world today. We were tasked with answering four big picture questions about human rights. This sparked a class discussion about a few current events such as immigration, President Trump’s new policies, and our job as Christians in today’s society. A few students shared their thoughts on the immigration panel. The main message was that We should be treating refugees from other countries the way we would want to be treated during tough times. After that, Professor West asked the class about what we are afraid of and what our concerns were. Some of these concerns included fear of losing democracy, threats towards losing American identity, concerns that countries today only worry about themselves, and concerns America is no longer a place to come when you are persecuted. The class then went on to talk about some of the things we can do as Christians to make sure everyone is loved. Some suggestions included getting out of our comfort zone and giving where you can, such as service, money, or volunteering.

We ended the class by discussing some of the connections to current events. Some students asked good questions including:

·      How can we look to the past to find answers for today’s society?

·      What will get communicated to the next generation?

·      What will we think about our current day in 50 years?

·      How can we find out what the real truth is?