English 346 Fall 2002

Responses to presentations on Brothers and Keepers October 21, 2002

I really enjoyed the relationships between each of the different presentations
that were given today in class. Although there were four different
presentations given today, they all seemed to fit together in an absolutely
fantastic way, along with representing the major ideas of the book in very
developed fashions. I was very impressed with Emma and the other lone
presenter’s (sorry I don’t remember his name) ability to expose their very
personal experiences with us as a class. It was very interesting to hear two
true-life stories from classmates that so closely related to the different
characters in the book. One directly supporting the ideas of oppression that
are present in our society, and the other supporting the idea that two
brothers can be completely different even though they come from the same
environment. Their personal stories alone encapsulated and further developed
the two main ideas present in Brothers and Keepers. It was very moving and
powerful. The other two group presentations did a great job in relating the
topic of music with the subjects in the book. I thought the group that
created a rap out of the text in the book really captured the essence of the
writing style used throughout the novel. It was a very unique and creative
way to show that rap, and music as a whole, was a major element in the writing
of Brothers and Keepers. It was also a very fun way to get the class involved
in the presentation. Very well done!

James Cole

The presentations were excellent. I enjoyed Emma's
presentation because she made a strong connection to
her own life. Michael's presentation made me analyzed
my relationship with my sister. I am the oldest in my
family, and I am able to identify with John in many
aspects of my life. This book is about family,
relationships, and life. All the presenters made
interesting connections to their own life experiences.

Aury Dominguez

I always find autobiographical pieces very interesting. Both Emma and Michael
shared
personal aspects of their lives with us. That takes so much courage! I liked
that even
though they were both of the same genre, they were also very different from one
another. Emma's story offered us a glimpse of a life to which I cannot relate
directly.
Her specific background made it also very pertinent to the novel. The
connection she
made between her father and John was very interesting. Michael began his
presentation with the statement that his story, although autobiographical, was
more
about his brother than himself. In fact, his story told just as much about him
as it did his
brother. I think the same could be said about John's story of Robby.

Megan Cooper

I want to respond to the rap presentation of Brian and Pam. I thought it was a
wonderful idea to create an original piece of work inspired directly from the
text and present it in a way that best describes one of the strong undertones
in the story. They both did a good job of introducing the history and
presenting their composition. They did a great job!

Anthony Inde

I am responding to Emma's presentation. I particularly enjoyed her
presentation since she was able to relate it to her life. I appreciate the
fact that she talked about a subject that was obviously emotional to her.
Great job!

-Chris Vaughan

I thought the presentations about rap music were very informative. Jaime and
Megan's presentation showed how "black" music hasn't changed which I thought
was very interesting. The songs "Family Affair" and "Life goes on" talked
about the same kind of stuff even though they were written 25 years apart.
The second presentation about the evolution of rap from the "call and
response" type to the gangsta rap was very informative. I especially like
the part were they rapped parts of the book.

Lionel Gabrillo

The presentation that compared the speaker's brotherly relationship with John
and Robby's revealed similarties in my life. Similar to the speaker and John,
I was the child who supposadly followed the rules, while my brother was wild
and faced many challenges because of it. It seems as though this situation is
very common.

Nathan Mohle

I enjoyed all the presentations. I liked the way Emma and Michael related their
lives to the story. In a way or another we can all relate to this story in a
positive or negative aspect. There will always be struggle between brothers or
sisters.

Alma Ramirez

I really enjoyed both of the autobiographies. I think that it takes a lot of courage to stand up and let us into your lives, even if
only for a few minutes. I am not sure what his name is, but thank you for writing about your brother, that is actually what I
did mine on and it is nice to know that I am not alone with these feelings of helplessness and despair. Emma you did a
fantastic job and you made me think about how in many ways the world is not that much different, even though we would
like to think that we have evolved so much.

Kelly Lopas

I am responding to the last presentation which focused on the history of rap
music compared to the rap today. I thought it was interesting to hear the
evolution of rap. It seems that it started as a number of instruments
playing a new style of music, good rhythm, not really focusing too much on
the lyrics, in my opinion. Of course, the words were not meaningless, they
just didn't grab my attention as much as the instruments. The next step was
to incorporate the audience, having them experience the song as they perform
it. Listening to the rap of today, it seems, there is a tremendous
difference in the lyrics and their focus as well as the instruments used.
They did have similar topics, but they were expressed differently. Rap
music now uses more intense language and gives vivd detail of what the
gangster life is all about. Over the years, "hip-hop" has morphed to allow
anyone listening to experience in a different way, a day in the life of an
African American in the ghetto, while entertained at the same time.

I found the autobiographical presentation by Emma on Brother's Keepers to be very
relevant to the story. Emma shared how the trials in her own life as an
African-American woman paralleled those of Robby's.
It is interesting how both did what they could to be accepted in society. Emma by
adopting white mannerisms and speech, Robby by living the gangsta lifestyle. Each
just used very different methods to try to solve the same problem. A problem that
can't be fixed until the festering wound of racism heals.

-Samantha Yale

Emma had a very pertinent account of her life to give us. Being relocated, as
a child, to a predominately white community raised many of the same
black/white issues as in Brothers and Keepers. Although the circumstances
were different, John chose to put on a separate face while in the university
of Pennsylvania, while Emma was brought up by her father speaking proper
English and not using the dialect of black ghettos, both show us the way
ethinic minorities have to change in order to assimilate into the dominate
culture. This face-changing also relates back to the Joy Luck Club with Lindo
switching from her Chinese to American face, depending upon the situation.
The linguistic teacher had an interesting point to say about all this;
different groups choose different registers of speech depending on the
participants and the setting. I think this rule also applies to "faces."
People can put up different faces based on the circumstances they are in. As
John says, "I figured which side I wanted to be on when the Saints came
marching in (27)."
Pennie Tovar

All presenters were very creative and organize during the
presentation. Emma’s presentation was very interesting and
vivid. The way she tied in her own life to the story reflects how
she can relate to it. In the story John mention how his life was
different from his brother’s and how the circumstances shaped
them in different ways. Then Emma explains the way her life was
different from her relatives, who lived in the South,and how she
didn't unterstand those differences.
Raquel Villalpando

For my response I choose to write on Emma's presentation. Emma wrote a letter
of her childhood and how it changed dramatically when her father move her
family to a new neighborhood considered to be a white neighborhood. I like
how she described the vast racist differences between the North and the
South. How the new area she was in was not extremely racist, but how people's
mannerisms describe their true feelings. Some examples she gave where the
tightened grips on women's purses as a group of blacks walked by and the looks
of surprise that her friend's parents gave her when they found out that she
was black. I could truly see the passion she had through her letter, voice,
face, and tears. I really felt for her as she spoke and I thought she did a
great job presenting.

Michael Becerra

Good afternoon Dr. Marx and classmates,
I'm sure you were all as impressed with the student presentaions as I was.
I'm going to focus on the presentation by Ema. As an African American she was able to look at Widemans work in a
completely different context than most of the students in the class. She compared her childhood experiences
growing up in a predominantly white society to those of John and emphasized how her father placed so much
importance on education to help avoid the stereotypes of society. Robbie seemed to fall into a lot of those
stereotypes, failing to fallow the path of his older siblings. He didn't listen when people were giving him
advise and fell into societies traps. The emotion with which she spoke about her experienes was touching, but
made a little uncomfortable.

Glenn Matthews

All the presentations were well done and interesting, but the ones i want to comment on are emma's and
micheal's. They both did an exellent job personalizing the book in different ways. Emma's story,
directly relating to the african amerian/white struggle, and Micheal's taking a different approach and
touching on the generality of different types of family troubles that exist in all families. Both of these
presentations were very personal and it is always neat to learn a little more about your classmates, who
they are and where they come from. I appreciated greatly their bravery to get up and talk about such
personal stories, something that i find especially hard to do in front of basically strangers.

--elisa chapman

I enjoyed the third presentation because of the emotion and insight into the
presenter's life. His experience, although different than the books, was just
as touching. I also liked the way Bryan and Pam had such an entertaining
presentation and had the class participate

. -Kimberly masculine

I thought all of the presentations were really good. Both of the
presentations on music were interesting and different. The rap was pretty
funny. I also really liked both of the autobiographical essays. Emma's
was very touching and she really expressed how she felt growing up. The
other autobiography was really good also. I liked how it related to the
book.

Jaime Crosson

A thought on the presentation by Jamie and Megan. The 2 Pac song was a
good choice and the ability of the presenters to relate that song so closely to
Robby's life. It is sad that even after 20 years we see people take the same
path as Robby did in his time.In 2 Pac's song it is clear that the life in the
hood has not changed a bit since the past 2 deacades.Now, the question I
pose to myself and others, " Should we blame the leaders of society and
ourselves for not having done enough to relieve people like Robby from
their struggle to survive but turn them into rebels instead, or can we sit back
and say that we've done what we could to help?". And if we do blame
ourselves, then where do we start or what should we do to help improve
this situation?

Gufran Vanjara

I really enjoyed the presentations on the autobiographical essays. They both
brought in a very different perspective to the book and how they related to
it. Both stories were every touching and emotional.

Rosanna Durant

The presentation, on Brothers and Keepers, by Bryan and Pam was attention
grabbing. They gave a short history of Rap music that I felt was covered very
well. They also did something that had very good audience participation, this
was their rap or song that they did for the class.
Most of the presentations were centered around music, as that was a re-
occurring theme in the book. Nevertheless, two of the presentations were
autobiography type papers. Emma’s presentation was intriguing and gave a quick
snapshot on how her life was growing up as a minority in the United States. It
was interesting since her parents raised her in such a way that was strict in
the way she would act and talk, unlike most others in her minority group.

alex siegal

I really enjoyed the third presentation made on monday that was the
story of the two brothers and just how different they are. I felt that it
really
related to the book "Brothers and Keepers" because it shows that these
sorts of family differences are very common in life, but not always with
such an extreme level. When he described how it was these differences
between him and his brother that made him want to detatch himself from
their relationship I could really relate to what he was saying. This is
because I've been there myself. Probably the best part of his paper was
where he talked about how he wishes that he had supported his brother
and how he is going ot make the effort to rekindle their relationship. This
is very similar to the growth that John makes in the book when he
accepts Robbie into his household. It is a reflective and growth point in
his life.

Erica Strohmeier

I liked all of the presentations but the one that stood out the most was the
first one. I was moved by her words and honesty about her life growing up as
a sheltered African American Woman. I had the rare opportunity due to the
position of my seat to see both her emotional response as she shared her
story as well as the reactions on the faces of my fellow students. Her
detailed and descriptive story, use of examples that compared and contrasted
little powerful details of what she experienced growing up made it easy for
me to understand a little bit about where she was comming from and what she
has been through. I very mush enjoyed her openess and willingness to be
vunerable which she showerd thru her tears and the sharing of the painful
memorie of what went on in her early years and how things have not really
changed.

Regina Zendejas

I found Brian and Pamela's presentations on the origins of rap very interesting. It
amazed me how long ago some of the most basic parts of hip hop and rap originated.
Not to mention that their own personal rap was very interesting. It was especially
interesting because of the use of dialog from the book in the rap. I feel because of the
rap's use of the Brother's Keepers dialog it gave the rap a unique personality that fit
in well with the book.

Greg Blevins
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