In Lynda Barry’s Common Scents, she considers scents a demon for many reasons. One reason being that everyone has his or her own scent preference and scent in general, yet we also judge the way that other people smell. When the woman whose house smelled like a fresh bus bathroom talking about the smells of different Asian people’s houses, Lynda notes that she was “free with her observations about the smells of others” (18). She sprays her house with disinfectant sprays and air fresheners, which to her smells better that whatever her house smelt like before, but to others, such as Lynda’s grandmother, these smells are too strong and are trying to hide the fact that not everything smells good all the time. Scents are a part of my identity
“Canadians have a favorite pastime, and they don’t even realize it. They like to ask – they absolutely love to ask – where you are from if you don’t look convincingly white.” (Hill np). Race is never a really straightforward issue in Canada and hardly a matter of the past. Issues of racial identification and “mixed race” are engaged by Lawrence Hill in the text “Black plus White, ...equals black” an excerpt from his novel “Black Berry, Sweet Juice: On Being Black and White in Canada” (HarperFlamingo, 32$). He has struggled to develop his own sense of identity through various experiences, one of them was “straightening out his hair” which was encouraged by his father. From my perspective, although Hill’s father’s action stemmed from good intentions, it resulted in a negative effect on Hill’s confidence with regards to his appearance and his own differences as a child; despite that, generally speaking, his parents still made a great influence on Hill’s identity.
My personal choice memoir was The World is Moving Around Me by Dany Laferrière, it was a memoir about the Haiti earthquake. Throughout the memoir Laferrière conveys not only his emotions, but his peers. His choice of words and phrases made this novel not only about the Haiti earthquake, but the country of Haiti and its people. His fixed descriptions show this event didn’t only move him physically, but mentally. Lastly, Laferrières connection to the people out side of Haiti, specifically the United States is key to show the world wide impact.
Laura Deeb’s An Enchanted Modern: Gender and Public Piety in Shi’i Lebanon seeks to rectify post-9/11 notions of political Islam as anti-modern and incongruous with Western formulations of secular modernity. Specifically, Deeb is writing in opposition to a Weberian characterization of modern secular Western societies as the development of bureaucracies through social rationalization and disenchantment. Within this Weberian framework Deeb asserts that Shia communities are in-part modern because of the development of beuorocratic institutions to govern and regulate religious practice. However, Deeb makes a stronger argument oriented towards dislodging the assumptions "that Islamism is static and monolithic, and that
The poem "Bitch" by Carolyn Kizer describes the heartache in which most women get out from her former lover, who she had not seen in a long time. The tone of the poem is sad because of the horrible things about her relationship. She describes herself from the outside, pretending that everything are okay, "Fine, I’m just fine, I tell him". However, in her inside, she is fighting and struggling with her feelings, wanting to curl up to him, remembering their time together. An example of this is when she says, "She wants to snuggle up to him, to cringe" . getting to the end of the poem she left and felt indifferent about this man. Another metaphors that Carolyn
Elizabeth Svoboda, the author of “Scents and Sensibility” develops her claim that true happiness in love is based on scent by supporting her opinions with a scientific experiment and its results as well as identifiable and relatable facts. In the cleverly-named article, Svoboda describes the highlights of a study in which women were asked to identify the “attractiveness” of a multitude of T-shirts worn by several different men. After outlining the basis of the study, Svoboda states the profound results, including how “far more than often would predict, the women preferred the smell of T-shirts worn by men who were immunologically dissimilar to them” and that “the smell of their favorite T-shirts also [suggested] that MHC (major histocompatibility
“The Sleep” by Caitlin Horrocks is a short story, written in the first person. In this short story the Rasmussen family lives in a small town called Bounty, which seems to be someplace that is very dark and cold in the winter season, most likely someplace north. The Rasmussen family are going through hard times with the sudden death and the tragic loss of Al’s wife and their children’s mother. The family decides to take the winter season off from work and school in order to sleep, Al seem to believe that this will help heal the family. The people of Bounty see how well the sleep worked for the Rasmussen family, so some of them decide to do the same thing the next winter season. People usually sleep when they are depressed, the
With concern over global warming growing, people are starting to turn a more serious eye toward cleaner sources of energy. Instead of solar power making a comeback as the ideal form, we are seeing a growth in the use of wind power. Wind farms are beginning to crop up all around the country. This new trend has gathered significant attention. Questions are being raised concerning the effects wind farms may have, from critics and supporters alike. Michelle Nijhuis, in the article “Selling the Wind” discusses the arguments on behalf of and in opposition to the increasing use of wind power, addressing what the consequences may be on the United States.
When Divakaruni moved to the United States, tried to abandon the smells of her childhood in favor of acculturation. She realized this is a mistake when she has a child of her own. She eventually comes to appreciate the smells’ abilities to comfort, give joy, and motivate. One smell in particular she told about is how the smell of iodine reminded her that “love sometimes hurts while it’s doing its job.” In rearing her own offspring, she intentionally tried to replicate the “smell technique” with her own twist in hopes that her children reap similar benefits. One example is how she filled the house with the aroma of spices and sang American and Indian tunes with her
Science is used to explain everything. However, there are some topics which are disputed in the scientific community. One such topic is the proposed question, “How do we, humans, smell?” As for the answer to this question, there are two main theories which should be mentioned. The first is a theory based on the idea that the shape of a molecule determines it’s scent in the human nose (TED). The second such answer is the theory that smell is linked to the vibrational frequency of a molecule (TED). This latter notion is one argued effectively by Luca Turin, a biophysicist who is part of the perfuming business (TED). Turin is the chief modern scientist when it comes to this vibrational theory, though he was not the first to realize the idea’s possibility as an accepted piece of scientific information (TED). Not only is he experienced when it comes to the matter, having written multiple titles, such as The Secret of Scent, but he also discussed by other authors, as seen in The Emperor of Scent by Chandler Burr (TED). Clearly, he is a man that is has had much influence in discovering information about how the sense of smell works. Moreover, he will continue to expand his discoveries as he has plans to take part in the attempt to create an artificial nose at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (TED). With this in mind, it is without a doubt that Turin’s theory of scent based on the vibrational properties of molecules is true.
‘’The woman thing’’ by Audre Lorde reflects more on her life as a woman, this poem relates to the writers work and also has the theme of feminism attached it. The writers role in this poem is to help the women in discovering their womanhood just as the title say’s ‘’the woman thing.’’ The poem is free verse and doesn’t have a rhyme to it and has twenty-five lines.
During Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, Max tries to be able to fend for himself and becomes independent because his mother decided to leave him without any supper or attention. Since he wasn’t getting attention, Max left on his trip to the land of where the wild things are. While he is in the land, he becomes the leader and discovers that he is lonely since his mother was always there to give him love. When he realizes he feels lonely and hungry, he gives up all of his leadership of the wild things and goes back home to where he will get something to eat and not have to be independent. Max is not independent because he relies too much on his mother.
Throughout this extract, the narrator seems to evoke a secret and an elusive sense of smell which in turn creates interest. As the narrator seems to reflect on his past, he asks the daughter about the familiar smell without revealing reasons. This may suggest that
My father spoke in a baffled tone. He did not believe that simply cleaning a painter’s studio would make the smell linger on my clothes, my skin, my hair. He was right. It was as if he guessed that I now slept with the oil in my room, that I sat for hours being painted and absorbing the scent. He guessed and yet he could not say. His blindness took away his confidence so he did not trust the thoughts in his mind.
Educators have an influence on their students that will follow them from childhood to adulthood. In “Models for writers,” Rowen, Carl T. “Unforgettable Miss Bessie,” Raymond, David. “0n Being 17, Bright and unable to read,” and Murphy, Erin. “White Lies,” all influenced a life, however, one of them changed a child’s life for the better and the others could have turned a child future upside down. They still all had the same goals in teaching children, but not the same desire. When adults teach children, it doesn’t always turn out positive. They can either guide a child to success or leave them with low self-esteem and unable to understand a complicated world.
We all know about those rotten smells that are so bad you have to cover your nose so you don’t puke, well