Directions: Please view "The Danger of a Single Story" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and comment on the ways in which we judge others/authors/characters by a single story. Think about people that you have judged by one moment. How do you define them? Now, think about novels. How have you judged authors/characters by a single reading? Have you had any experiences where your opinion changed for people and authors?
Next, peruse my global website. Please comment on something you found interesting and would like to ask me for more information.
"The Danger of a Single Story"
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Culture. The word originated with the definition"to cultivate land," and evolved into a "cultivation of the mind." Today the word is ambiguous, referring to our attachment to a place, traditions, and beliefs. It also has ominously been used to discuss an "otherness" through stereotypes.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie shares her experiences with the notion of culture in "The Danger of a Single Story" in an important TED Talk that will explain the importance of global intelligence.
"Mr. P. Goes Global"
by Eric Pellerin
Julia Campbell
ReplyDeleteI specifically remember when I was in fifth grade and the school had an author come and read some of his book. I recall the first chapter being very boring so I just zoned out for the rest of the class. The next day one of my friends got the book and started obsessing over it, she encouraged me to read it so I did reluctantly and I actually really enjoyed it and ended up reading the whole series. In a way, me hearing the first chapter of this book was like me hearing only one story instead of many.
I liked reading your entry because sometimes you have to stick with things even though books can have a boring start when they are just introducing the main characters.
DeleteThat was Drew Wachtel
DeleteLucy Elerath
DeleteI understand, I have had that happen to me as well. I don't get into books as easily so I either am really committed to getting through it or it's gotta have a great beginning.
Davis Blanch
ReplyDelete1.) One moment that I judged someone by one story was, I heard that someone was really annoying and mean. But when I met the person I had heard stories about I found that they were pretty nice, quiet, and a bit shy. I judged a character by when I read about them they were prejudiced towards people because the way they looked, but when they learned about what they were doing, they changed and started being nicer to the people around them and started apologizing to everyone he offended.
2.) The website looks good, it has a lot of information about where you went and what you did while traveling. I learned about what the IRAX program is and what they do.
In your first paragraph I agree to what you are saying. I think that people tend to make quick assumptions towards people without even getting to know them first.
DeleteThat was Peyton Levental^^^^^^
DeleteLucas Kaufman
DeleteI had a very similar personal experience to the one you wrote about. Me and the person I had assumptions about are now very close friends.
Julia Campbell
DeleteIn your first paragraph I think that alot of other people do it and there are studies that prove that we judge someone based on their appearances within a tenth of a second. I'm not sure why we do this but we do.
Julia Campbell
ReplyDelete2) I liked the website, it shows beautiful pictures from spectacular places. I also learned about GCED. :)
Drew Wachtel
ReplyDelete1) One time when I got judged by a single story I played a bad game in hockey and my teammates and my coaches judged me on that one bad game. My teammates never had the some trust in me that they did before that bad game. Since my teammates didn’t have the same trust in me that made me not have the same trust in myself. Even though I didn’t have another bad game the rest of the season I still had a doubt in my mind that I was going to play bad again.
2) Something that I found interesting about Mr. Pellerin’s website is that how he made a impact on other people's lives that live in another country. I learned about the IRAX program as well.
Jayden Cho
DeleteI agree to on your first paragraph how its so easy for others to judge, and it seems to be very easy to do so in sports. It seems as if teammates see you doing something bad all the time, and when you do something really good they seem to ignore/don't care.
Davis Blanch
DeleteI have had a similar experience with having a bad game or making a bad play and my team not being happy with me.
Peyton Levental
ReplyDeleteWhen I first heard about Mexico it wasn't a good first impression. People would tell me that everyone was a bad drug addict. They would also tell me that all Mexicans would constantly try to cross the border illegally and bring guns into the US. This is far from the truth. I've been to Mexico three times and have gone into their town markets and have tried to explore the most of the actual culture I could while I was there. Mexico is a beautiful place filled with happy and kind people and we shouldn't let the stereotypes take over our thoughts for all of Mexico as one.
While I was roaming your website I thought, what did the the children in indonesia think about America before Mr. Pellerin had explained some key points about where we live? How do they think we live and how do they think we behave or act? I thought it was so cool to see what their life was actually like and not just let the bad rumors take over our thoughts.
Jayden C.
DeleteI also agree since I went to Mexico over the summer. Since the news and Donald Trump always broadcast how Mexicans were "Filty, dirty, illegal immigrants. However, I only experienced the kindhearted people you would expect from the movie "Coco". Everyday everyone was celebrating and having parades and such, and it was a wonderful experience.
Evan Brenner
DeleteI had a similar experience like this before as well, I judged the Dominican Republic before I have even been there before.
I was surprised too when I first went to Mexico
Delete^^sophia lakos
DeleteSAME
DeleteJulia Campbell
DeleteI've never been to Mexico but when I was little I remember holding the same ideas that trump talks about.
i thought this was really good and i thought the same way james kiladis
Deletei thought the same thing
Deletejames kiladis
ReplyDeletewhen i first heard about mexico i thought it was very dangerous and i never wanted to go there. people would tell me how bad mexico was with all the drugs and the bad people. but people in mexico are not like that we just assume all of them are bad when they really arent.
2. something i found interesting was when you helped the kids in Indonesia and how they have schools for different religions and i thought that was really interesting james kiladis
DeleteGannon Sylvester
ReplyDelete9/13/18
Freshmen English ©
One time my family and I had to go to New york for my uncles wedding, and it would be my first ever time in the state. I wa only 8 and I knew that i was going to a hotel and would be staying in a nicer area, but what I had perceived from some parts of New york that were not as nice as i had thought. I had thought that almost all of new york was a city with mean people out on the streets and lots of apartments and buildings. I personally don’t like the city and knew that I wasn’t going to have a good time, until I got there. I spent the day with my uncle in the city and we had done a lot of fun things. We had gone to the movies and out to lunch and we got to go see time square and hangout there for a while. Soon i realized that I had completely judged new york by what I had heard and seen in the movies, but it can actually be quite beautiful.
2. When I was into the diary of a wimpy kid series, i learned to know that the author of the books was Jeff Kinney. And i remember that used to not take him seriously, because of how goofy his books were about a boy in middles school. Then i found out the he also used to write many biographies about himself and many other people, and only started writing children's books when he had kids and wanted them to have something to read when the grew up.
Lucy Elerath
DeleteI agree with what you wrote for #1 sometimes when people are going to a new place they either know all the bad things about it or all the good things. Based on their little knowledge it skews how they think their experience will be.
Lucy Elerath
ReplyDelete1. When I was little (third grade) reading was hard and I did not like it so would read what was required, but the books I was assigned were boring. Since I thought all books were boring, I decided to suffer through it and never read unassigned things. One day my dad told me about a book series he read when he was a kid The Hardy Boy Books and I was interested so I read the first book and found I was really into it. From then on I payed attention to what the books were about before deciding not to read them. But because all the books I had been reading were on a reading schedule and pre chosen so I gave up on them, until my dad showed me all the different options.
2. Something I found interesting was the Walking Tour of Kota Tua I think the culture and the style of things that were used for the live performances.
Julia Campbell
DeleteI had a similar experience with disliking school books until i read one from one of my favorite authors
Lucas Kaufman
ReplyDelete1. One time I had a misconception about someone because of a single story was when I was in 4th grade. My sister, also in 4th grade, had this girl in her class who was really mean to her throughout the year. Because of all the things I had heard about her, I started to have some of the same feelings toward her as my sister. The next year, when I was in 5th grade, the girl was in my class. I was scared at first because I didn’t want the same experiences as my sister had had, but as I got to know her she was very kind and funny and now she’s one of the closest friends me (and my sister) have.
2. As I was scrolling through the website, I read the section titled, “Why Global Education?” and it got me thinking about how all the things it said were challenges of today’s youth were true. There are a lot of problems our generation will have to deal with, and the global education program is a good step towards making us a little less oblivious towards all of this.
Ben Worthley
ReplyDeleteWhen my family and I went across the country I was scared to be stopping in the Midwest. From all the TV shows I have watched over the years and the books I have read they all seem to show the people in Midwest to have half their teeth missing, live in a trailer park, and shoot people that step on their lawn. So I was naturally scared. When we got to the midwest though I could not believe my eyes. I did not see one trailer park people were nice and fernley. That is of misconception of a single story.
2. I read some of your Day to Day blog and what surprise me was that Indonesia has schools for the different religions in the country and that religion is a big part of their curriculum. What also surprised me was the school that you visited had a ceremony that they perform music. This was really surprising to me.
Sophia Lakos
ReplyDeleteThere is a really specific time I remember judging someone based on their looks, and they completely surprised me. I had a family friend over and she was talking about her friend Rose, going on and on about how cool Rose was. Jill my family friend said she had invited her over to my house to hang out by the pool. I remember meeting her she had seemed like just a regular person, she looked and acted very free-spirited. Very nice and had a lot of confidence which I was taken back by. I did not talk to her too much I kept to myself most of the time. Later on, after Rose had left Jill goes “You really didn’t recognize her?” I was confused and thinking to myself why would I recognize her, that was the first time we had met. It turns out Rose is a celebrity, She was the main actress in the Show Reign on Netflix. Looking back on it I wish I did not judge her so much, Rose had such a cool career and I did not talk to her enough to figure it out.
I think when you go to visit the University there was very interesting. Just to see the differences between the US and there must of been amazing.
One single story I have is last year when I visited South Korea. This was relatively the time when the tension between North Korea and the U.S. had been increased, and so there were many stereotypes created as well. Even from the start I was worried about the flight, since my 8th/7th grade mind was scared of the possibility of a North Korean missile… I remember right as I step foot onto South Korea, I could feel a presence that could only be described as, calm and relaxed. This totally blew my mind since I thought everyone would be hiding in their basement, yet the country seemed to have no fear whatsoever. Throughout my visit, I recall asking relatives and family what they thought of about the North Korean topic, and my Grandfather replied with his thoughts about it,(Loosely translated) “If North Korea were to even lay a finger on one of USA’s ally, they would have completely lost their minds for they would be basically waging war on the US. North Korea doesn’t have the guts to do it, which is why all the civilians go around minding their own business.” At that moment, I had been enlightened, and realized how I had only a single story, a single perspective on South Korea.
ReplyDelete2.) I watched the Ted-Talk called “Do not ask me where I’m from, ask me where I’m local. In this video she talks about how when asked this question, it’s more connecting to say where you are local. She says how being local to places vs where you are from are completely different, and thinks that saying where you are local shows more connection with the other person. This caused me to think where I am local. I was born in the capital of South Korea, yet from 3-7 years old lived in Boston, and then moved to Wellesley throughout elementary and middle school, and moved again to Andover. I would say I am local to Massachusetts but especially in Wellesley, since I lived and matured there for almost my whole life.
That was Jayden Cho^
DeleteEvan Brenner
ReplyDeleteWhen I first heard that I was going to the Dominican Republic for a vacation. I didn’t know how to think of it. My first impression was that I thought it was all run down and not very nice. Also I didn’t know how I was gonna be able to communicate because I knew a lot of people spoke Spanish and I spoke English. When I got to the Dominican Republic I realized that it wasn’t so bad and was really nice. After the vacation was over I realized that I judged the Dominican Republic by just one story that I heard or one article.
When I was reading the website one thing I found interesting was the floating market. I was surprised that the floating market is still in decent sharp even though it was I saw a picture of it in 1941.
Frankie Huntress
ReplyDeleteOne way i juged someone was a few years ago i thought that all mexicans were poor. Then i went to a summer camp and i met someone who came all the way from mexico. I new that mexico wasnt super poor but i thought it was like lawernce. Then one day we where messing around with google maps then he broght up his house and it was acculy very nice. Thats how i had a single story view on mexicans.
Rene Roustand
ReplyDeleteWhen I was my early teen years, I sometimes judged my mother and older brother by a simple story. They told me how life was like in Kenya, what they ate, what they learned in school and what their old home was like. I thought life in Kenya was tough, they have little food, their school systems were poor and their homes were straw-roofed huts or shacks
So this is what you thought it was like, what was the truth.
DeleteMitch Keamy
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts of the Bahamas was a beautiful tropical island with great weather and fruit hats and no worries. At least when you are in the Atlantis resort. The moment my dad and I stepped out to get some cheap sweatshirts we were bombarded by poverty, crime, and drugs. And also no fruit hats.
Lucas Kaufman
DeleteI have also been to the Bahamas, but it was only for a day and everything was scheduled, so I didn't experience the "true Bahamas" you were talking about. I also like how you had to say there were no fruit hats.
Sean Wilen
ReplyDeleteMy single story happened in 7th grade when I found out I had this teacher that so many people hated and told me that she was really rude and strict so I went to class thinking she was a grinch she was actually one of my favorite teachers she was only demanding if you were being mean in class or distracting so then it taught me that my friends that said awful things about her was just because they did not listen in class
thats how i felt about my 8th grade science teacher. except it turned out to be true sooner in the year. However, someones a persons negative opinion may be their own fault.
DeleteMitch Keamy
This was a very good example
ReplyDeleteAbhi Sharma
ReplyDeleteHave you ever been judged because of something stupid you did? Well I have been just by playing one bad game of basketball. In this game I played really bad I was missing my shots, layups, and a lot of fouls. Then after the game I got hated on got trashed talk. This honestly made wanted to quit basketball and never play again. Then my next game I played better was not missing my shots and wasn't fouled out and scored 20 points. I went to the people and went to say "Where is the trash talk know".