Tangoing with English
Readers around me were the most influential in my study of language and literature, nurture prevailing over nature. I grew up speaking Cantonese. It was the language my grandparents spoke, my main caretakers. In finding a school my parents found comfort in (the teachers spoke the same language my parents spoke), I transitioned into preschool with ease because it was a predominantly Chinese class. We all came from Chinese-speaking homes, budding ABCs (American Born Chinese).
There didn’t seem to be problems when I learned English (I attended an all English-speaking school). Honestly, I don’t remember ever being aware I had this split-tongue ability. However, I do remember being one of fifteen “Rainbow Readers” in the second grade. Instead of staying in our classroom, we were brought to the library for English and Reading. It wasn’t until my senior year, a few months ago, when I realized that “Rainbow Readers” were students who needed extra help on English/Reading. “They put him in Rainbow Readers. He’s a little bit slower”, a parent whispered to my mom after my mom asked about her youngest son.
While this was happening in my English education, my Chinese flourished. It was third grade when I was openly acknowledged for my achievements. Mrs. Blue (her Chinese is a homophone to the Chinese word for “blue”), my favorite teacher, assigned us conjunctions to learn about sentence structures. “Use the following words to create sentences. “But”, “because, “and” and “yet” were written in a row with space left beneath for our own literary creations. For “but”, I wrote, “Little Ming had two eggs but he could not finish them so put one in a bowl.” She showed it to the class as exemplary work; I was so proud.
Unfortunately, my Chinese soon dissolved into American culture. I guess it’s a matter of opportunity cost. Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel helped me unlearn my mother tongue; gradually changing the language I speak to my parents to “Chinglish” (the resulting dialect of mixing Chinese and English).
This didn’t mark the upward soar of my English skills. That began in high school. Something triggered a willingness inside of me to speak well. I wanted my grammar to represent the successful person I wanted to be. I had a new desire to be intellectually mature. Reading engaging books in my freshmen year brought me closer to that goal. If I brought my book somewhere with me, my mini-electronic dictionary would come along. All the books I read in that summer were suggestions from teachers and friends, people I usually took advice from anyway. Readers around me influenced me more than ever.
Literacy gauges intellectual ability. My parents unconsciously embedded this belief in me. Education was always my given priority. It was their reason behind making those life-changing decisions, from escaping Vietnam to working for lower than minimum wage. Successful members of society were educated and I was put on that path from the very beginning. This belief was translated to me at the same time I wanted to be intellectually mature. For lack of better example, I wanted to be novel reading, provocative-question-asking Oprah. Watching her show was inspiring. She refused to let her past stereotypically determine her present and future. Along with Oprah, I expanded my literacy to fill a void in my insecurities. Having a semi-Neanderthal mindset, I want to eventually find a “mate”. My media-inspired insecurities were stuck on physical appearances, my surface. I’ve come to the realization that I will never have Giselle’s body, Jessica’s nose or Paris’ money. So for back up, I would have smarts and intellect to “offer”.
My intellect has progressed to an all time high. My Native Son essay is a fitting example. After reading Native Son by Richard Wright, I was most inspired by his diction and syntax. He discreetly wove an exclusive few ideas into Bigger’s (the protagonist) experiences and I used my essay as an opportunity to study that. It was difficult on many levels; I had never used the Formalist lens to analyze literature before. It was a lens that forced me to step out of my comfort zone, leaving my own creativity behind and focusing on the authors. Along with being unfamiliar, this lens required detailed reading and a certain level of dexterity in the English language. I had to think of all the literal and figurative meanings of certain words/phrases, look back into the text and rekindle memories of discussions we had in class. After using other pieces by Wright and a radio commentary, my essay ended up being my interpretation of the story, what I thought certain components represented.
When attend NYU in the fall, the Morse Academic Program’s “Expository Writing Program” will be the class for which I write and “Foundations of Contemporary Culture” will be the class for which I read. Though my experiences (before high school) with school-assigned reading, I have a feeling college reading would be different. I would have been through different experiences, in a different mind set and see literature in a new light.

Native Son, Literally
“In the Great Depression the American dream had become a nightmare. What was once the land of opportunity was now the land of desperation.” (http://kclibrary.nhmccd.edu/decade30.html). The Great Depression affected issues beyond the American economy, inadvertently emphasizing racial and class struggles. Richard Wright’s Native Son, a story that takes place in 1930s Chicago, depicts this. The experiences of Bigger Thomas, a young black man living in the poor conditions of the Black Belt, are told by an omniscient voice. From the perspective of one character, Wright gives a clear and detailed reflection of real American society at that time. Through his characterization and symbolic imagery, Richard Wright shows what mainstream society failed to recognize and chose to ignore in his own society.
On August 27th, 2007, National Public Radio, or NPR, broadcasted a show honoring Richard Wright, giving him the title of “first black author to make a living writing books” (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=13975729). In it, Farah Jasmine Griffin, an English professor at Columbia University, shares what she thought was the societal significance of the many unique qualities of Native Son, one of which was the relatable realism of the protagonist character, Bigger Thomas.
“He [Richard Wright] came out like a comet…first black writer who could make his living as a writer…[Bigger Thomas was] a character feared by white Americans…also a character who a great many of black Americans did not liked either…During a time where black Americans fell victim to horrible stereotypes, some writers felt that we ought only put forward images of our best…others felt that Bigger Thomas did not really represent the humanity of black people, that he was a figure who believed everything white people had said about him, internalized those meanings…” (http://www.npr.org/
templates/story/story.php?storyId=13975729).

Griffin praises Wright for his courageously writing a piece that told a brutal, but truthful perspective. Wright did not, like other black American authors of the time, highlight all the positives and hide the negatives of the black community. By doing this, he showed his resistance towards the hatred from “everything white people had said about him.”
Wright meticulously uses various literary devices to convey a realism that no other author dared to achieve. Writing the book from Bigger’s, this young black boy’s perspective allowed him to have the most character development. However, Bigger is no ordinary character. He is a young lower class black male living in Chicago. If the reader knew this, he or she would also know that, when reading, racism would be experienced “first-hand.” The story surrounds Bigger’s life but is told through an omniscient voice. This person knows Bigger very well, therefore, giving a sense of power over him. There may be parts of the book when Bigger is powerful but it is still told through someone else, giving Bigger a weakness. An example would be when the narrator spoke of Bigger when he was walking alone. It knew what he was thinking, but beyond that, the voice conveyed Bigger’s thoughts in a way Bigger could never achieve. “He was confident. During the last day and night new fears had come, but new feelings had helped ally those fears. The moment when he had stood above Mary’s bed and found that she was dead the fear of electrocution had entered his flesh and blood” (Wright, 149). By choosing to make the most developed character a young black man from the Black Belt, Wright created an additional world of literary opportunities along with the potential he already had. Leaving no room for ambiguity, Wright wrote with detail, allowing the reader to know the exact psychology of Bigger.
From his appearance and speech to his actions and thoughts, every element of Bigger’s development can be found in the people living in Wright’s society at that time.
From the story’s very beginnings, Wright uses a situation to introduce Bigger, one that inhabitants of a real Black Belt could have easily related to. This mutual understanding, between reader and Bigger, is simple and common but shows the reader Bigger’s history, family, and societal status. “ ‘There he [a revisiting rat] is again, Bigger!’ the woman screamed, and the tiny, one-room apartment galvanized into violent action. A chair toppled as the woman, half-dressed and in her stocking feet…Her two sons, barefoot…their eyes searching anxiously under the bed and chairs. The girl ran into a corner…” (Wright, 4). The use of a rat killing to start the story established the mood of the setting. The rat symbolized the family’s poor living conditions and the struggle they go through, a struggle caused by a great force, over which they had no control.
Wright also gave Bigger qualities relatable to young black Americans through his dreams and aspirations. In this scene, he and Gus, a friend and fellow gang member, are in the street when a plane flies overhead. “ ‘I could fly one of them things if I had a chance,’ Bigger mumbled reflectively, as though talking to himself…For a moment, Bigger contemplated all the ‘ifs” that Gus had mentioned. Then both boys broke into hard laughter, looking at each other through squinted eyes. When their laughter subsided, Bigger said… ‘It’s funny how the white folks treat us, ain’t it?’” (Wright, 16-17). Bigger’s hopeless dream of being able to fly a plane one day shows a vulnerability rooted from the society which he was born into. The profession of being a pilot is elite. They are the jetsetters that drive the jets, always going places with beautiful flight attendants hanging onto their arms. There was no opportunity for Bigger to ever reach this dream and he knew it. This knowledge is the same one many other black Americans grasped very early on in their lives.
Wright conveyed this hopelessness in “The Ethics of Living Jim Crow”; an autobiographical piece documenting his experiences growing up in a segregated south.
“I worked hard, trying to please…one thing was missing…I was not learning anything and nobody was volunteering to help me…I asked Morrie one day to tell me about the work. He grew red. ‘Whut yuh tryin’ t’ do, nigger, get smart?’” (Wright).

Bigger’s mindset is a mirror image of the situation Wright experienced while working in a factory as a young man. Black Americans were looked down upon but unknown at the time, this situation reveals Morrie’s and the white racist American’s fear. If Wright were ever given the chance to succeed in society, he probably would and Morrie knew that. That fear drove him to take Wright’s potential into his own hands and hinder those chances of success. Wright placed Bigger in a similar situation because many other black Americans experienced this apparent yet unacknowledged hate. However, Wright also saw hope because sharing his story gave other black Americans a chance to make the same empowering discovery.
Richard Wright also uses imagery to convey major themes or forces in Native Son. The word “white”, on www.dictionary.com, means 1. of the color of pure snow, of the margins of this page, etc.; reflecting nearly all the rays of sunlight or a similar light. 2. light or comparatively light in color. 3. (of human beings) marked by slight pigmentation of the skin, as of many Caucasoid. 15. morally pure; innocent. A reoccurring image in Native Son is the color white. It was the color of the uncontrollable forces: the Dalton family, the white police troop, and the harsh white snowstorm, triggering the murder. In the end, this white force finally drew Bigger out of hiding after he escaped when reporters found Mary’s bones in the furnace.
When the reader is introduced to the Daltons, the family Bigger starts to work for, the white symbols are unveiled. It began with Mrs. Dalton and her cat. “Then he saw coming slowly toward him a tall, thin, white woman, walking silently…Her face and hair were completely white; she seemed to him like a ghost,” (Wright, 46). “…he was stone-still; the white cat bounded past him and leaped on the desk…” (Wright, 47). The pattern then proceeded when it began to snow, the same moment Bigger fled from the crime scene after killing the Dalton daughter, Mary. “He went out of the back door; a few fine flakes of snow were floating down. It had grown colder.” (Wright, 101). The snow represented Bigger’s altered conscience and newfound freedom. As he planned his next steps, whether to run away or write a ransom note, snow fell. The realization of the murder and its liberating consequences fell in small individual flakes in Bigger’s mind.
In addition to representing Bigger’s mentality, the snowfall represented the white forces gaining a clear connection between him and the murder. The morning after Mary’s death, Bigger “stood at the window, looking wistfully out at the feathery flakes of falling snow” (Wright, 111). However, the flakes escalated into a blizzard during Bigger’s flight in attempt of escaping captivity. “He went to the window and looked out at the swirling snow. He could hear wind rising; it was a blizzard all right. The snow moved in no given direction, but filled the world with a vast white storm of flying powder…He groped to the window and climbed into it, feeling again the chilling blast of snowy wind” (Wright, 220). As people, like detective Britten, questioned him, gaining knowledge to the truth, the snow fell harder. Wright used this versatile word to convey color, mentality and power. All the conflicts that burden Bigger are “white”.
Richard Wright has painted for readers a picture of the American society he so closely examined in Native Son. He failed in glorifying black Americans in a time when they were victims of oppression but he succeeded in showing their daily struggles society created. Writing Native Son was his chance to channel all the oppression he experienced and observed into a book that mirrored society. And in doing so, he spoke out about it. This critique on American society may seem hopeless but, on the contrary, it should be inspiration for change.

• Context
My Keynote supports my research in that audience members are able to understand the concept of the golden ratio. The ultimate proof that one fully learned something is having the ability to teach it to someone else. My Keynote shows that I’ve understood my topic at a level where I can create a documentary teaching audience members about the golden ratio.
I reflected the theme of my website onto my presentation. The background was not a provided theme, which gave me the full potential control over everything audience members were exposed. I chose a dark teal to because I had many pictures that seemed clearer on a dark background. On slides with images, they were the main focus and the dark background helped accentuate them. Since the back was dark, I figured the text would have to be light to contrast. So I chose a yellow-orange to assure visual clarity. I purposely created my website and Keynote similar to each other because they are two components of the same project and I wanted to visually connect that. If audience members saw either one at different times, I wanted them to know that both were made by the same student.
Content-wise, my documentary accurately conveyed my point of view. I began by giving a brief background/facts about phi. After I explained what the golden ratio was, I said, “too bad this is all a myth” to segue into my thesis. I justified three main myths with evidence and concluded with my stand on the entire concept.
• Technique
My presentation shows professionalism in that I used mathematical language. My script was thorough enough for a clear understanding but still organized with efficient diction. For example, I chose to use a widely known quote in the beginning (“Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder”) to hook the audience then connected it to my topic to provide relevancy.
Specific tools:
• I took Ted’s advice and duplicated slides to keep them uniform. I knew that the style of our documentaries were dependent on uniformity and symmetry. Each word was the focus point.
• I kept from using typical flashy transitions to keep the presentation professional. They could also have taken away from clearly conveying the information.
• I erased the backgrounds off most of the images for two reasons. They were the main focus and that’s how I preferred them. I wanted a flower, not a picture of a flower. I personally don’t think that a square image is clean. You can see where the picture “begins and ends” and it looks less professional, less unified with the document as a whole. To do this, I opened each image in Adobe Photoshop and “unlocked” it to allow myself the ability to delete the background. I then used the Quick Selection Tool to select everything I wanted to delete.
I tried to include pictures as often as possible because I knew that as an audience member, I like visual variety. Using pictures was helpful in explaining complicated subjects but words were used to accentuate. I did not use music because I did not think that I would find a fitting song. I had rather not have a song than distract from showcasing my work.
• Point of View
Each image I chose corresponded back to the golden ratio.
In my first slide, I used three different images I found beautiful for different reasons that conveyed different moods. I wanted to choose a famous painting to represent familiar, timeless beauty. The second picture was of natural, calm beauty. The photography of tattoos represents our generation of art and irony, that what one considers symbolic is considered ugly to others.
The first idea that forms when I think about the golden ratio is beauty. It was what drew me to this topic because it is such an abstract idea. There are no specific guidelines for it so possibly having a formula is revolutionizing, in philosophy, art, religion and architecture among others. I wanted everything on my Keynote and website to be aesthetically pleasing to correspond with phi. I used a variety of images to show the ubiquitous presence of the golden ratio.
• Reflection
I would give myself a 3 for my performance over the course of this project. I was as focused as I could be in a digital design class. I admit that there were times where I was experimenting with Google Sketchup or Adobe Illustrator when I was supposed to be listening but I knew Ted generally said. I have a presentation that shows my skill and effort along with conveying a complex concept I just learned. If there was more time, I would fix some minor defects to get a few steps closer to perfection but the resulting piece is something I personally like and will defend.

TECHNIQUE
My site shows substantial craftsmanship in that:
• I thought about the site visitor and how my site would be navigated. The home page and all connecting pages are concise. There is little scrolling (down) that needs to be done because all/most of the information is at “eye level” when the page is reached. That was important to me because quickly finding what I need when visiting a website is my main priority.
• I found a balance between aesthetics and functionality. There were certain colors I wanted to use, a technology blue-tinted grey to convey that the golden ratio was numerical and bright orange to contrast that, making it easy to see. Even though the main color was a modern “techy” grey, the pictures themselves were of nature and beautiful things. It was supposed to represent a contrast between modern and classic. The original font had no curves, similar to a digital clock, adding to the technology theme. It was a font that served its purpose while fulfilling my creative expression.
Some specific methods I used to get certain effects were:
• Gradient tool – I wanted my website to have an overall cool, modern feel. A solid background would have made it seem more one-dimensional.
• Curved edges – This was a design tip in one of the sites Ted made available to us in his Digital Design Notebook. It said that a straight-angled square is boring and that simply curving the edge makes a world of difference. I tested that out and, in hoped of making my site as aesthetically pleasing as possible, took the advice.
• Image colors – All the images were originally in color. To achieve the technology look I wanted, I adjusted the color balance in each image.
PROCESS
I began by following Ted’s benchmarks and by fulfilling those assignments; I naturally arrived at my current design. However, I did have a vision of what the site would potentially look like. I wanted the basic layout to be simple, which reflected my personal style and the modern theme, and serve its purpose, which would be to convey my topic through images and text. (Please refer to image)
On the day our websites were to be published, mine seemed far from being ready. All the previous classes we were given to work, I spent them looking for pictures on Creative Commons (for the fair use requirement) and editing them to my liking on Photoshop. Other than the bibliography, which I used to keep track of images, any actual building of the site was put on hold. I finally began building my website on that day and published it on time.
I didn’t face as many challenges as anticipated using Creative Commons. At times, it was even advantageous. After searching for pictures, I found that CC images were of high quality and had artistic appeal. People who made their images available to us had similar taste as me. However, now that I look back, my topic highly influenced my CC image-finding success. I searched for common objects like flowers and the Parthenon, where my classmates had to find representations of nuclear fission and planetary motion. I was lucky with the way things worked out.
The layout of my website would be different if I hadn’t asked Ted for feedback. The original design (image above) was missing one thing; it didn’t fully convey the images’ connection to the golden ratio. Ted suggested embedding them into the golden rectangle/spiral. It would keep the square shape of each image, which I preferred, because with each golden rectangle there is a square, while creating the visual connection. I took his feedback and, along with my own interpretation, designed the main page.
POINT OF VIEW
The website has a part of me in it in that there is craftsmanship. My designs are usually organized and clean. I try to keep symmetry in mind. Colors usually match or compliment each other and some special font is used. I believe that text is an opportunity to support one’s design and that it should be taken advantage of.
Because I wanted to keep my design simple, choices I made pertaining various design elements were of utmost importance. I had to utilize the small amount of symbols to represent my topic and thesis to their fullest potential. In TECHNIQUE, I talk about the color and font choices but each image also had significance.
• The flower and nautilus shell represents phi’s presence in nature
• The Pyramid of Giza represents its mythical presence in major architecture
• The mannequin represents the belief that the golden ratio can be found in facial feature proportions. It was also supposed to convey the potential impact it would have on society if the golden ratio were the formula for beauty.
• Lastly, the staircase represents the golden ratio’s mysteriousness and ambiguity. When I first saw that image, I was wondering whether the person who made those stairs or that building knew about the golden ratio, if having it look similar to the golden spiral was intended. That image represents the unknown golden ratio facts waiting to be discovered. Also, I used a variety of images to show the ubiquitous presence of the golden ratio.
CONTEXT & CONNECTIONS
Beauty is an underlying theme and idea I tried to keep in mind throughout designing this piece. The first idea I think about the golden ratio is beauty. It was what drew me to this topic because it is such an abstract idea. There are no specific guidelines for it so possibly having a formula is revolutionizing, in philosophy, art, religion and architecture among others. I wanted everything on my Keynote and website to be aesthetically pleasing to correspond with phi.
My website is definitely not in the Worst website category. I did the best I could at the time but it lacks the complexity and thorough craftsmanship “Best sites” have. For example, “Best sites” are user-friendly and cater to every function you want or may want. My pages have “home” buttons on them but users cannot visit another page from the current one. To fix that, I can probably have a frame, where a link menu is always available to users. Now that I look back, the links on my home page may have been unclear. It was not obvious that the pictures were links. “Best sites” are simple and visually perfect (at least close to perfect). Colors and elements flow, directing the viewer as they browse. To master this, I will need more experience and skill.
REFLECTION
I would give myself a 3 for my performance over the course of this project. I was as focused as I could be in a digital design class. I admit that there were times where I was experimenting with Google Sketchup or Adobe Illustrator when I was supposed to be listening but I knew Ted generally said. It all worked out in the end because I have a website that shows my skill and effort along with conveying a complex concept I just learned. The resulting piece is something I personally like and will defend. A knowledgeable critic would probably identify all the flaws within my piece in addition to some others I didn’t notice while writing my CONTEXT & CONNECTIONS piece.