Blog Post 2 - "What's in a Name?"

My mom liked the name Sarah throughout her childhood. Not knowing whether I was a boy or a girl at birth, my mom was pleasantly surprised to have a girl and to finally use the name Sarah.  The name Sarah means “lady” or “princess” in Hebrew and it was also Abraham’s wife in The Old Testament. This name became most popular in the United States between the years of 1980 and 2000 and most popular in North Carolina in the late 1990’s. I believe that the name Sarah defines me to a certain extent since it means princess. I do not consider myself a princess, but I do incorporate the word with being a positive, determined, and composed young lady.

I consider myself an individual most of the time as very few people have the name, Sarah Grace Cox. I feel as though this name belongs to me and only me, even though in reality it probably doesn’t. Very rarely do I go to school and sit in a classroom where I am the only Sarah. Knowing that there is another Sarah in the class makes me feel a bit less like an individual and more like just a part of a larger whole. There are two Sarah’s in my Spanish class, as one goes my “Sarah” and another by “Sarita”. Knowing that I am the only “Sarita” in the class makes the feelings of being part of a whole lessen and the feeling of being an individual grow, even though it is not my birth name. I believe that it is important to be an individual, but I also believe that learning to be a part of a larger whole isn’t always a horrific thing.


Works Cited
"SARAH." Behind the Name. 21 Mar. 2014. Web. 27 Sept. 2014.
     <http://www.behindthename.com/sarah>.

Blog Post 1 - From The Archive

The photograph above is titled From the Archive. This photograph was taken by Wing Young Huie between the years of 1997-2000 in Lake Street, USA. This black and white photo shows five men standing in a line in which four of these men are Caucasian, the fifth being Asian. These men are standing at a crosswalk in front of Gap in what seems to be a big shopping area. Looking deeper into this picture, we realize that the Asian man and is mimicking the posture and gestures of the fourth, Caucasian, man by putting his hands on his hips. This shows how white men are considered higher than others and how the “others” want to be in control or be considered to have just as much power as a white man.  In The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood, “othering” is presented in a similar way as displayed in the picture. Atwood displays Offred as a character that struggles to fit in with society since women are valued much less than men, just like Asians are compared to whites.  Some readers might relate to Offred by feeling like a stranger to their community, while others could feel detached from her because of their dedication to the fit in with the culture displayed in their surrounding environment.