Alexandria Dorato – Page 2

Alexandria Dorato/ Writing Prompt on “Triptych”

A. A triptych is a set of three associated literary, artistic or musical works deliberately to be appreciated together. Serpell titled this text “Triptych” because she divided it into three parts to show three different point of views. It starts with part one which is “Summertime”. Part two is “Perseus” and part three is “What Was Said”.

A1. “Summertime”

This section of the text which is the first out of all three parts is told in the perspective of the 15-year-old black girl who was tackled by a white police officer. I believe this part was told first since she is the person who was attacked and she leaves the other perspectives for later to develop the conflict. She discusses what she is observing throughout the first part of the reading and states “The heat rises up, sings against the skin. Clothes fall off, swimsuits blossoming from beneath, in colors as neon and elaborate as the sunset to come. We dance and we dance. All of this beauty, all of this rolling, dipping brown flesh, like desert dunes in the shadow or desert dunes in the sun”. She is aware of her surroundings and notices “Frowning white ladies by the pool shaking their heads at us. Country-ass dudes with bellies hanging over their shorts, with that look in their eye. We catch snatches of words from their eye”. These people were being racist which obviously made her feel uncomfortable. The girl and her friends were just minding their own business and people still had something to say of course, according to the girls perspective which is first person point of view.

A2. “Perseus”

This section is told by the racist police officer who tackled the 15-year-old black girl. He uses imagery while describing the tragic incident. The police officer stated “And swiftly, once more, I plant her. Her snakes of hair, braided like whips, fling in my face. I trap them, a web beneath my palm. Her tender torso is wrapped in thin smooth cloth the color of raw sun, her slender arms are mere vines. I root her face. Down. Into the ground. I am on my knees now. I am kneeling on her”. He still views her as a threat even though she is an adolescent.

A3. “What Was Said”

In this part, the reactions from the people who were watching the incident took place. “What is wrong. You’re hurting her. Why are you holding her down for. Can you not. Why are you dragging her”. It was obvious to me that this part of the text was in the observers point of view because everyone was asking why he was tackling her.

Extra Credit:

Serpell telling this story in three different “lenses” lead us to think differently about the main conflicts because our focus is mainly on figuring out what perspective each part is being told from. It distracts me in a way from the main conflicts due to her continuous effort on making me feel that I’m actually in the scene because of how descriptive it is. I find Serpell’s writing to be creative and I actually wanted to just keep reading because it progressively got interesting throughout the story by using different perspectives.

B. Version 1 (my perspective)

Parties, parties, parties! That is what I thought my senior year would consist of but unfortunately Ms. Corona had to ruin that along with several other things for me. My friends and I wanted one last get together to wrap up senior year so we went to seaside for the week which I know is very basic. It was the four of us on our way to Seaside and I just felt tension in the car the whole way there. No one was talking, the music was low and it was just weird vibes. I looked to my friend to the left which is the friend that my whole essay is about. She told me to look at my phone. It said “you don’t understand what it’s taking inside me to not punch her in the face right now”. I was confused. What could have possibly happened now? Look at this picture Alex, this picture just can’t be real. She was saying this out loud just so the driver which was one of our “best friends” could hear. Jess was driving us to Seaside which was who was seen in the picture with Jess’s toxic boyfriend. Would you like to explain this picture Arianna, you conniving bitch! Jess what are you talking about? That isn’t me, I would never do that to you. Oh really? There is also more pictures and screenshots of texts with your little secret. I’m officially done with you and Alex is leaving with me. Good, he never loved you anyway. And that is when Arianna got her black eye. Let’s go Alex before I go to jail. How are we supposed to get home? I didn’t bring my car so there we were, waiting on the side of the highway as I watch a tumbleweed roll by.

B. Version 2 (my other friend who was watching everything happen point of view)

I am the friend that always ends up to be stuck between all of the fights. We arrived at Seaside and it was just awkward. I was waiting for the whole situation to calm down before I called Alex to see how Jess was doing. I couldn’t wait any longer and I know they were alone so I had to call. Jess answered Alex’s phone and says “I swear if this is Arianna I suggest you hang up the phone right now before your other eye turns black”. Relax, it’s Olivia. Oh hi Liv, tell that bitch to get lost! I asked where they were and they were still in the same spot we left them at so I sent them an Uber so they could go home and it wouldn’t be in my mind anymore. Arianna had no words, she just pretended like nothing even happened. This had to be one of the most awkward moments of my life.

Alexandria Dorato/ Media Share 3

Social Media and Mental Health

In today’s world teenagers including myself are addicted to social media. In the text “My Instagram”, Dayna Tortorici discusses how addicted she is to Instagram. She stated “Each morning I woke up to my phone alarm and rolled over to tap it off and, If I had time, looked at Instagram half-asleep. I easily spent an hour on it a day—in bed, on the subway, or at my desk during lunch”. I wanted to share this article because it covers how social media could make you feel insecure even though most of the pictures are photoshopped. Social media could be toxic since it manipulates you to feel that you have to look a certain way in order to satisfy yourself and your followers. Tortorici says “in truth, my self image began to prune from swimming so long in the sea of fitstagram, I spent too much time at the gym and worried about my forward head position, an affliction common to people who spend too much time on their phones”. This quote shows how Instagram could set unrealistic expectations on what you believe you should look like after seeing such a “perfect” body. It lowers others self esteem because they feel they could never look like that no matter how much time they put in at the gym. Everyone has a different body type which is what a lot of people don’t understand. Tortorici originally only followed people she knew but then started to follow fitness gurus with photoshopped pictured which led her to feel self-conscious about herself. If you noticed, people only post the highlights of their life on social media which is another reason why low self esteem is common. Not only does social media make you feel self-conscious but it also makes you feel like you’re missing out on life. For example, when you see Kathy going on vacation three times a year and exploring the world while you’re sitting home and scrolling through Instagram. I tend to take a break from social media because I noticed that it actually helps me stay focused on my goals. It’s difficult to stay away from it but it is ultimately the healthiest option.

Alexandria Dorato/ Zoom meeting 2 Summary

If i was able to join this zoom meeting, I definitely would have shared one of my most recent dreams. I usually wouldn’t because I am more on the shy side but this dream felt so real that I thought about it for days and it is unquestionably shareable. The day before I had the dream, I was at the cemetery to visit my nonno (grandfather) because it was his birthday so I wanted to be near him. It was about 10:30pm when I last looked at my phone and I was starting to fall asleep. Note that there was a full sky of stars before I fell asleep and that is exactly what I saw in my dream but the only difference was that my nonno was next to me. We were bonding and joking around like we usually would and he started to point out the big dipper which is a prominent group of seven stars in the constellation. I was quite intrigued, space is just so interesting yet confusing to me. He then said to me “that strike of lighting that you’re going to see is just me saying hello and that I love you so don’t be nervous, I want you to see the beauty of it”. My dog always barks when he hears thunder so he woke me up with his loud barking. The chills that I had in my body were unforgettable. I got up and was trying to calm him down and then I walked up to the window. I went from seeing clear skies before I went to sleep to seeing a stormy night. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that strike of lightning, I felt like I was going crazy. I’m not sure if it was just a coincidence but I wanted to take his sign. I felt that the meaning was to tell me that he is still with me. I believe in signs from the dead and they are comforting to me because I feel like they are with me sometimes. I enjoyed hearing everyone else’s dreams too, I felt like I was “living the dream”. You grasped my attention when you stated “there is conflict evoked in irony”. I agree with you because when a writer is using irony, they use indirect references instead of direct statements to point out the problematic or conflicted relationship between the perceived and the truth. I was a little confused for Friday’s writing assignment so I would have asked what you meant when you asked for a scene related to our essay’s. I was able to figure out my question because when I hear the word “scene” I automatically think of a play (performance with dialogue).

Alexandria Dorato/ Essay 1 draft

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yGqypYrU7vr4NhLV-pFQ-txwe6slvLwWyXU3Ras42HQ/edit?usp=sharing

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Alexandria Dorato// media share 2

Butterfly Flying GIF - Butterfly Flying Wings GIFs

After reviewing Andrea Chu’s “The Pink”, I noticed that her message was change. She had difficulty explaining why she wanted to become transgender. Her best words to explain it was “i hoped a vagina would make me feel more like a woman”. Chu elaborates on the ideas of feminism. Being a feminist has a numerous amount of meanings, but feminism means advocacy of women’s rights on the ground of the equality of all sexes. The feminist movement and Chu’s physical changes related to each other because it was a process to get to both results. Transgenders changed the feminist movement because since they were transitioning to a woman, they would be a new addition to the feminist community.

I would relate a butterfly to Chu’s text. Butterflies are seen as a symbol of transformation and change. A butterfly begins as a caterpillar and transforms into an exquisite insect with unique colored wings. Andrea Chu was born a male and decided to transform into a woman.

Alexandria Dorato// Media Share 1

For my intro, I am going to use the song “Live Your Life” by T.I. feat Rihanna. I wanted to throw it back with this song because i use to always jam out to it when i was a little girl and by listening to it just made me so excited for the future. This song expands on the fact that you should be thankful about your life and how you should stop worrying about the little things. One of my favorite lines from the song is “hey, never mind what haters say, ignore ’em til they fade away”. There are some people that could be haters that just want to see you lose because they are jealous or insecure. That is why you have to ignore the negative people in your life and just live life to the fullest because at the end of the day, it is your own self who wants to succeed. Life is what you make of it, so negativity should never get in the way of your dreams. No one can change who you are except you and it is you who makes the choices to do that. This song is positive and it tells me to look forward to my future because it is me who is shaping it, no one else.

Alexandria Dorato. Monroe Street Zoom Mtg 1 Summary

After watching the zoom recording, I felt more comfortable with starting college. When I registered for classes, I was nervous about remote learning and how it would work out for me. I am glad that you went over everything, I have a clear understanding of how this course will be for me. I learned how to use open lab by simply following the steps that you provided. If I was able to attend the zoom meeting, I would have asked how to view my grades. After watching the video “Love is the Message, the Message to death” by Arthur Jafa, I understood your feelings towards the video. The message is just so powerful. A quote that stood out to me was “when in need, who will save you”. This quote makes me wonder and also feel upset for the people who feel that they are alone in this world. I also learned what is expected from you in terms of the media shares after reading your response to the video. I get a better understanding after seeing examples because it enables me to know that I am doing the task correctly. I developed a few questions after you discussed the reading “A Word’s Meaning Can Often Depend on Who Says It” by Gloria Naylor. I would have asked why the word could never be applied to a woman as she stated. Naylor gave her reasoning but it is still unclear to me.

Question: For the essay draft, do you want more of a bulleted format or write it as if we were writing the final copy? Do you want us to just revise the draft?

Also.. I am going to try to join the zoom meetings on my lunch break. I don’t think i can attend the entire meeting but i will be there whenever i get the chance to.

Author: Alexandria Dorato