I can't help but think of T.S. Eliot's poetry during this article because of how it supports the authors's argument. Much of what Eliot wrote was after WWI in the wake of all its destruction, which can be seen in some of what he writes. He wrote of deserts and rubble and ruined land which can be interpreted to a reaction to the aftereffects of the war, but that doesn't explain how it can still have a profound effect on people who have never experienced that before. Also, in today's world, some of it can even be interpreted in a reaction to what humanity is doing to the world, in reaction to pollution and global warming, which is different from the context in which Elliot wrote and might change the meaning for some.

Everybody reacts to literature and writing differently, though people may have similar thoughts and emotions, they might not be about the same things or at the same level. As the author says, different backgrounds will bring different interpretation as well, like if someone who had lost someone they loved read a poem about love versus someone who just got married, they would both bring different ideas and emotions to the same work because of their experiences.

This is very true and interesting, words don't commonly change denotation, but instead change connotation. It is one of the things that make reading older works difficult because current readers can't always understand what the writer intended. Take "awesome" for example, today it means something cool or nice, but it used to be used for both positive or negative things that brought a sense of awe.

There is a sad irony here, which the author points out really well. African Americans are looking to the past in Ghana in hopes to learn about themselves and escape discrimiantion while Ghanaians look to the future in America in hopes of gaining more wealth and to be able to provide for themselves. They both want what the others have, African Americans wan the surety that the Ghanaians have in themselves and their identity while the Ghanaians want the African Americans' opportunities to make more of themselves.

Its really interesting to see that despite the idea that they forgot where they were from, they did not forget who put them in their position. Maybe the want for revenge helped keep the myth alive.

This really stands out to me, probably because it sounds a bit unsympathetic. Ghana was a large hub of slave trading in the centuries past, and Africans helped sell other Africans as slaves. Through that, the descendants of slaves in America don't know where they really belong, in the only country they know where they are still be discriminated against, or a country of people that look like them but with which they no longer share connections. It also reminds me of the movement a few decades ago that pushed African Americans to explore their roots.

Understandable to not want to publish because of that and the racist stories, as mentioned later, but it likely reduced the size of their audience. I wonder if the stories mentioned later were only meant for other black people, as they were likely most, if not all, of the audience of those magazines, or the stories were also meant for white people to read. If so, their interaction with the stories was probably less.

And of Kindred and this class. Time travel, as said before, is a way to connect the past and the future, which is done very well in Kindred. The fact that Dana time travels is already a big way to make the connection, but time traveling and be involved in her ancestor's lives makes it even more clear. Her saving her multiple-greats grandfather despite his attitude towards slaves and how he interacts with Dana's multiple-greats grandmother fully drives the message of how the past and future connect.

Reminds me a bit of the podcast because of how what we were taught isn't true. In the podcast, they discussed how the idea most people have about racism and slavery is wrong, just as our idea about the start of science fiction and the inclusion of POC is wrong. Connects a little to the overall class theme, how racism impacts life.

Tying in the beginning of the section and the part about language in one spot is pretty powerful because it shows how he developed his argument throughout the section. At first, it wasn't very clear what he meant by the combination of words and images, but it became clearer and stronger as he continued. The language part was, personally, very supportive to his argument and really made it clear what he meant, so bringing them both back is a great way to both remind what happened in his discussion and maybe even a way to show how everything might change in the future.

Its really interesting to see the different ways images and text can be combined, specifically in comics. They all different meanings to the comics, and it would be interesting to see more in the various styles. Kindred is more of an interdependent comic, with a lot of information conveyed graphically and textually. Kindred relies heavily on the visual to show actions while using text to show thought and dialogue.

It is very nice how he brings in another argument he discussed earlier in the book (I read that section in high school) about representation and symbolism in pictures, especially in relation to what he says later about writing. In that section he talked about how ideas and images can be still be seen in very simple drawings, such as with faces (which he included on page 150), a very simple circle, two dotes and a line can be read as a person. It relates to the argument in this section because of how he discusses language and the development of it and too the overall use of images. It relates a lot to the triangle for representation and meaning because icons typically have more meaning behind them because they stand in for more than just what is drawn.

This highlights how this book is relevant to this class, as it will explore America's past, present and future, especially in relation to race, just as we are exploring in class. It will also directly show how slavery still affects modern day, similar to what was said in "The Weather" and the podcast from last week.

This is a very interesting way to right about men and the way they react to things, and is very relevant to today. It suggests that the book won't just explore race and racism but also sexism and how it interacts with racism. I can't help but agree with the quote, as there are countless times where men react to things with extreme and unwarranted anger or need to assert their dominance or power.

The narrator is bringing up the relevance of Butler outside of just literature, but as a someone who pushes the boundaries and inspires others. It also starts the discussion on race and how Butler's work is very important in that aspect.

Strong word choice, it makes the book sound very exciting and gets readers interested in reading it. It also starts a bit of the idea about how adding visuals to preexisting text will change how it is experienced.