While in a remarkable interview, Christina Mc’Vay gives her inputs and thoughts about black women and literature. Mc’Vays expresses her opinions and thoughts about working with the African descent in the Pan – African department. She preferred working with the African American minority rather than her own ethnic race because she felt no connection when she taught black literature. She described it as talking about an “alien universe.”McVay talked about how languages in the black community could be so creative. She believes that our language, which we call “slang” comes from slavery as well the as the Jim Crow laws and the oral tradition. However, the current generation uses to shorten words or phrases. Some instances she make to help black women feel comfortable with their literature, is they have to make them feel a connection with their inner man, and heritage, beauty, and historical background and tradition. I made to connections with McVay. She first started off with a song by John Lennon, that her students believed were the Temptations, that stated, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” McVay had a conversation at a bar with the coordinator of Communications Skills. She ended up working in the Pam African English Department. I felt a connection with her circumstance. I look at it as, when you have something else on your agenda, and it’s not what God has set for you, then you can’t go against his will. While in high school, I had my mind set for attending Clark Atlanta University. I only applied for two schools which were Spelman College and Clark Atlanta. Being accepted into Spelman and not Clark left me confused. However, attending Spelman has open up many doors for me. I have turned my life around, and has become more verbally, and religiously literate. Another connection I saw in the interview was that Joanne gave back to her students. As they were sowing knowledge into her, she was also giving them knowledge, opportunity, and wisdom. While growing up, my great-grandmother raised me. The things she showed in me, still rubs off as a young women. Now, I am able to give wise advice, wisdom, and skills to anyone who I see struggling in those areas.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Woman To Woman
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I agree! Life does happen when you stop having your own personal agenda and you decide to let God have control. I am reminded of Jeremiah 29:11 that says, "He knows the thoughts that He thinks towards us, thoughts of peace and not of evil to give us an expected end!" All of us have an "expected end" which consist of a life journey that has been planned and decided just for us by Jesus. I also like how Joanne gave back to her students. Joanne is not a teacher that would have been featured in the "Pedagogy of the Opressed," where the students are just trash receptacle; only being required to take in knowledge, but not give any in return. Through Joanne's method of teaching she learned a lot about her environment and even though she was suppose to be the person who is teaching, the best leason learned was what she learned from these particular students.
ReplyDeleteRaven Jackson
I really connected to this blogg for one I too applied to only two schools Clark and Spelman. Accepted into both I had a choice to make. God chose for me and I've been on this road ever since. McVay had her own agenda and like you said God plans are not our own.He put her on the path that only he made for her.THat's why she's such a good teacher. By:Shaniqua Burton
ReplyDeleteThe quote “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” also stood out to me. You can plan your entire life out only to have something totally different happen to you. This tells me that you are not really in control of your destiny, but that God is. Another quote that comes to mind when thinking about this is "If you want to make God laugh just tell him what you've got planned." This means that while you still have to make the right decisions in life your ultimate destiny is not in your hands.
ReplyDeleteVernee Pelage
The blogger's interpretation of the reading sparked great interest in me because the relation she built between herself and Mc'Vay. The connection she built only made her response stronger which allowed others to see into her perspective and focus on the quote "life is what happens when you busy making other plans".
ReplyDeleteThis quote speaks truth into my life because no matter how much I plan out my life, my life is already on a set path and there is no changing. I constantly tell myself that I am going to do this or that, all the while I know that God has a plan for me and that I can not change my fate.
-Yvonne Patrice Ivey
I can relate to this blog because when I was applying to colleges I thought I wanted to go to this particular school. This school was closer to home and had an outstanding business school. I later realized that, culturally, I needed to attend Spelman College. I realized the endless opportunities of attending such an amazing school. I don't regret coming here. In the interview, Mcvay notes that because she studied African American literature, she changed as a person.
ReplyDeleteI can also relate to the quote that Mcvay states in the interview,"Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans". When I was little my mother would always tell me that if you want to make God laugh tell him your plans. We can plan and prepare for something but if its not aligned with what God has planned for each of our lives then we cant experience it. We can only trust in him as he guides us to where he wants us to go.
ReplyDelete-Darcye S
For some particular reason this blog stuck out the most to me. While reading this blog I came to a few realizations myself. I believe that McVay was a strong instructor respected by all of he students not because she knew everything, but because she had no boundaries or limitations for herself. In the interview McVay talks about how she was a German major, and how she studied many different languages. She was not disappointed to find that her career would not be in all the languages she studied in school. She approached her opportunities with strength and confidence that she would succeed in whatever she did. In another perspective, she did not limit her teaching to just student she felt she would be comfortable with and would be confortable with her. This is not to say that she wanted to intimidate her students. McVay's instructing approaches allowed her students to get comfortable with her and also allowed her students to realize that they too love language and literature. As we discussed in Monday's class, literature and language don't have a race or ethnic; understanding literature only involves the students and the instructor.
ReplyDelete-Sojourner Ballard