Training -- Mon 25/11/2013

The good news is, unlike my last training cycle, I didn't go ahead and break myself on this final session before comp. Also, benching immediately after squatting was not an issue for my shoulders (even though they'll probably have a cry tomorrow), so that sits well for competition.

The bad news is, everything was much harder than I feel it should have been.

Squats

10xBW
10x20kg
5x70kg
3x100kg -- These first 3 sets with the barbell all felt awkward.
1x120kg -- Belt on; awkwardness diminishing.
2x1x130kg -- First set felt awkward, so I did it again before moving up the weight.
3x1x140kg -- I was specifically aiming to be really powerful and drive up as hard and fast as I could. Instead, every rep was a grinder.

Bench Press

10x20kg
5x40kg
3x60kg
1x70kg
1x80kg
3x1x85kg -- I'm sure these must have been easier than 95kg on Saturday, but I don't recall them feeling any easier.

Deadlift

5x60kg
3x100kg
2x140kg
1x160kg
2x1x170kg -- It's like I forgot how to take the slack out of the bar. First set, I actually wasn't even sure the bar was going to come off the ground...and then it did. Second set I used straps.

Training -- Sat 23/11/2013

Rotator Cuff/Band Pull Apart

3x20/20

Bench Press

10x20kg
5x40kg
3x60kg
1x75kg
1x85kg
1x95kg -- Attempted 2 reps, didn't get the 2nd. Still a PB. Looks like 97.5kg will be my top attempt in comp.
1x95kg
1x90kg

L-Pull Ups/Incline DBBP

2x6xBW/6x25kg

Pull Ups/OHP

6x10kg/10x20kg
1x15kg/5x30kg
1x20kg

OHP/Fat Gripz Row

5x35kg/10x50kg
1x40kg/5x60kg
1x45kg/1x70kg
1x50kg/1x80kg

Training -- Thur 21/11/2013

High Bar Squat

10xBW
10x20kg
5x60kg
5x90kg
3x5x115kg

Deadlift

10x60kg
5x100kg
2x140kg
1x160kg
1x170kg
2x180kg -- Big PB. I attempted a 3rd rep, got the weight up to my knees, and then came back down. Oh well.
3x100kg
3x120kg
3x140kg
3x150kg
3x160kg

Training -- Tue 19/11/2013

OHP/Pull Ups

10x20kg/10xBW
5x30kg/10xBW
5x35kg/8xBW
3x5x40kg/8xBW

1-arm DB Press/Upright Row

10x10kg/20x8.5kg
2x10x10kg/10x21kg

CGBP/Cable Row

10x40kg/8x60kg
2x8x60kg/8x60kg

Much less shoulder pain than I've been experiencing previous weeks. I did rotator cuff exercises throughout, which I couldn't be bothered recording. I also spent about an hour walking around this afternoon.

Training -- Mon 18/11/2013

Squats

10xBW
10x20kg
5x70kg
3x100kg
1x120kg
1x135kg
2x150kg -- All time PB. Nick recorded it; will post a link when it's uploaded.

Pause Squats/Calf Raise

3x3x120kg/10x320lb

SLDL/Calf Raise

3x120kg -- DOH.
2x5x120kg/6x360lb -- Mixed grip. How unsurprising that I was able to do more reps this way.

GHR/Calf Raise

3x3xBW/12x220lb

Glute Ham Raise Video

Filmed Thur 14/11/2013

Training -- Sat 16/11/2013

BPA/RC

2x20/20

Bench Press

10x20kg
5x40kg
3x60kg
1x80kg
2x3x90kg
2x90kg -- Third rep was a miss.

L-Pull Ups/Incline DBBP

3x6xBW/8x25kg

Pull Ups

2x6x11.25kg
5x11.25kg

OHP

10x20kg
5x30kg
2x5x38kg
4x38kg

Cable Row

3x10x60kg

Training -- 14/11/2013

High Bar Squat

10xBW
10x20kg
5x60kg
5x90kg
3x5x110kg

Deadlift

10x70kg
5x100kg
2x120kg
2x140kg
1x160kg
2x2x172.5kg
1x172.5kg -- Started a second rep. Got bar 3 inches off the ground and came right back down.

Literature in the Classroom Appendages

Okay, I couldn't resist posting this up. This is one of the originals I worked from: Ania Walwicz's fairytale. Enjoy the most lovely story you'll ever read. The grammar is only my third-favourite part.

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once upon a time there was a king he had three daughters one was very pretty but the others why they were ugly as hell so he preferred the ugly ones because they were smart they were very clever indeed he said to them don't worry about getting husbands i mean all right if you want i'll arrange that no problems but you should think about studying first the beautiful one was dumb you see so he didn't like her at all not at all why don't you like me or something she asked him sorry i don't like you because you are stupid so she cried then this fairy heard her and felt sorry for her she better be sent to remedial classes or something the fairy said so she was to help her improve her spelling and stop paying attention to how she looked and all that so all the sisters were all right with the king after that and all getting good marks and scholarships to university because that's very important but the ugly ones started to worry about just how ugly they were so the king arranged for them to have plastic surgery so they looked a lot better after that and were all all right i think but then they wanted to get married after they got their doctorates only after that so that was a problem because they didn't meet many men because they were too busy at their study so the king had to think about what to do because they were driving him crazy all the time talking about getting married and worrying about being old maids so he advertised to the aristocratic gazette for handsome princes to apply so they did but the princesses didn't like them you see they were much too smart for these princes and laughed at them and so forth so that was worrying the king who was getting old by then you see he married late so by that time he was in his eighties and maybe would die he wanted to see his daughters settled so this time he advertised for very clever princes and they came but the princesses found them too ugly and said these men are very good to talk to but as far as looks are concerned forget it wouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole and the thought of kissing them just makes us sick well that was a problem what to do now what was the king supposed to do what were the princesses supposed to do and what were the poor unfortunate rejected princes supposed to do the king suggested maybe you could marry two princes apiece a good looking one for sleeping with and a clever one to talk to but that wasn't such a good idea so the princesses thought we got to think of something to do after all we got doctorates and they decided to produce perfect men for themselves the kind that would cook and be polite and wash dishes and be willing and able to tell good stories and the kind that wouldn't annoy them so they set out in the laboratory to combine all the parts of various princes to make good husbands and they worked all night but they didn't mind you see they enjoyed their work and were used to using their heads so lo and behold they made these perfect husbands by sticking all the pieces of various princes together if one had good eyes then they took his eyes too bad for him they had to do it and that was that and some prince would wake up blind too bad they said or take some prince's legs if they were nice legs they took them they would take them by special force of their minds and they took them and these men would wake up sometimes dead but it was all right for the princesses they didn't mind so they took what they liked and took brains and eyes and legs and shoulders and took hair and took feet a lot of princes died as a result and everybody thought that there was a plague and in the end the princesses had their husbands but they got bored with them and killed them because they enjoyed working in the laboratory more than marriage

Literature in the Classroom Assignments: Part 6

Foreword

Paperman Video

Above is Paperman, a short animated movie void of any script. In my final experiment, I wrote a sequel, and to contrast the lack of script in Paperman, I wrote Sans Paper void of any script. In an unusual twist, I decided not to engage with the dark side, and actually try and write something kind of nice. I think my main motivation to do that was to actually challenge the views that get my so riled up in Boy, rather than to just repeat those views.

Sans Paper

Her: “Oh, you’re here early. I wasn’t prepared.”

Him: “Yeah...sorry about that.”

Her: “Aw, don’t apologise. Come here. Mmm...”

Him: “Huh...I could get used to a greeting like that.”

Her: “Well, come on. I haven’t finished cleaning up, so the place is a bit messy.”

Him: “Oh, no, not at all. Actually, it looks great in here...ahem...like...you...?”

Her: “Haha...oh, that’s so cheesy. Here, let me show you around. Oh, just take your shoes off – Taylor gets pretty uptight about that.”

Him: “Oh, sorry.”

Her: “You don’t have to keep apologising, it’s okay.”

Him: “I’m sorry.”

Her: “Hehe. So, this is the living room. We do living in it.”

Him: “That’s a beautiful painting. How’d you come by it?”

Her: “It was a housewarming present from my parents. I asked how they got it and a very long, boring story followed. After a half hour monologue...monologue? Dialogue? They were both speaking. I wasn’t speaking. Anyway, after a half hour somethingalogue, I think the conclusion was that they bought it at the shops.”

Him: “Wow, that is exciting!”

Her: “Riveting! Here’s the kitchen. We kitch in it. Bathroom’s down there.”

Him: “Whatever you’ve got cooking smells amazing. Mmm, I smell garlic...rosemary...and definitely some kind of roast. Beef?”

Together: “Lamb.”

Him: “So...

Together: “...you had some news?”

Her: “Oh, awkward turtle.”

Together: “You go—

Him: “Mmm-no-no-no-no-no. We’re not doing that cliché.”

Her: “Okay then. I’ll go. So...I got the job.”

Him: “That’s great!”

Her: “Thankyou. After that third interview, I really wasn’t sure I’d get it. The interviewer seemed really cold. But I’m so glad they accepted me.”

Him: “The third interview...that’s the one when I was...heh...trying to paper plane you?”

Her: “Mmm, that one.”

Him: “When do you start?”

Her: “Four weeks from now. That gives me plenty of time to hand in my notice at work. Oooh, I’m so looking forward to it!”

Him: “That’s really great. I’m so happy for you.”

Her: “Uh—urgh, you’re crushing me!”

Him: “Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to...hm.”

Her: “You...don’t look very happy.”

Him: “...I just...I hope I’ll have news like yours soon. Very soon.”

Her: “I didn’t know you were looking to change jobs.”

Him: “Well, I wasn’t looking, but...apparently – who knew? – throwing all your paperwork out the window and abandoning work halfway through the day is a career-limiting move.”

Her: “O, oh...aww, come here.”

Him: “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Her: “Hey, there are plenty of jobs out there. You’ll be fine.”

Him: “That’s comforting, but I don’t think the world works that easily.”

Her: “You know what? This isn’t the end. This is the beginning of a new story. You told me that you wished for something more meaningful than stamping paperwork. This is your chance to do that.”

Him: “Do what?”

Her: “Change directions. Those paper planes led you to me. I think, maybe, they’re leading you to wherever you need to go. And wherever that is, it’s not where you were two weeks ago. Let’s make one more paper plane and throw it out the window. Wherever it lands, that’s your new job.”

Reflection of Sans Paper

Paperman is a short film without script. Inspired by it, Sans Paper is a short story featuring only script. Using only the characters’ spoken words produces significant gaps and silences, challenging the reader to use intertextuality to fill in the missing information. Likewise, as the writer I found it particularly challenging to allude towards certain actions and scenery without overtly describing it. By developing stories that highlight the gaps and silences, students learn how to evoke meaning through minimalistic language while gaining awareness of their own reading practices and use of intertextuality.

Sans Paper is a continuation set shortly after Paperman. While Paperman provides representation for two people meeting under paranormal circumstances, Sans Paper provides representation of the possible ramifications of the two meeting and beginning to know each other. Experimenting with continuations prompts students to think outside the box. In fiction, stories traditionally have a beginning, middle and end, however by practicing continuations students are encouraged to consider how people are affected beyond the immediate circumstance, which may help them to be mindful of their own decisions.

Contrary to popular gender roles in which the male is the hero and the female needs saving, in Sans Paper I have positioned the female as successful and able to help. Meanwhile, the male, as a direct result of his actions in Paperman, has recently lost his means for living and is in need of the female’s help. Instead of reinforcing a paradigm in which women are dependent on men without men depending on women, challenging gender roles in this way gives students insight into a world of interdependence.

Bibliography

Chiang, C. (writer), Hoyer, K. (writer), Kahrs, J. (director), Lasseta, J. (producer) & Reed, K. (producer). (2012). Paperman [Short movie]. Burbank, USA: Walt Disney Animation Studios.

Kincaid, J. (1992). Girl, (para. 1). In J. Kincaid, At the bottom of the river. New York: Plume.

Walwicz, A. (1985). Fairytale (para. 1). In S. Hawthorne (Ed.), Difference: writing by women. Australia: Waterloo.

Baur, L., Holmes, J. & Warren, P. (2006). Do men and women speak differently? Language Matters. Pp 146-156. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Moon, B. (2001). Literary terms: A practical glossary (2^nd ed.). Western Australia: P K Print.

Literature in the Classroom Assignments: Part 5

Foreword

In an old OSH (outside school hours) club room, I remember reading a list of...I don't know, it kind of blurred between rules and hollow affirmations for the children. At #3 on the list, it said: "You are a good person no matter what anyone says." I've written before about what I generally make of people who announce that they're good, giving my experience that such claims tend to come from people who are simply judging themselves against the evil that they don't count against themselves.

I've noticed that people can do some pretty horrible things, and even better we're really talented at hedging our stories in such a way that the horror of our horrible deeds just doesn't seem so horrible. At our best, we not only hedge away the impact of how horrible we are, but we actually make it sound like our horrible deeds are a good thing, justifying that the things that make us evil can't be held against us, and should even be glorified.

In other news, I enjoyed doing the thing that feminists generally abhor, which is to deliberately reproduce gender differences. Overtly stating this in my reflection, surprisingly, did not appear to cost me any marks from my lecturer, who is a feminist. Really thought I was going to rustle some jimmies, there.

Dear Diary,

Today finally came. For the last three months I’ve been telling myself that I’m excited, but secretly, this whole time I’ve been terrified. What if my sisters were right, that I’ve got no brains? What if the other girls hate me or laugh at me for being stupid? What if the lecturers won’t take me seriously? What if I make it through university and dad still doesn’t think I’m good enough? Dad, I’m only doing this for you – I don’t even get why it’s such a big deal! Why won’t you love me? What if you’ll never love me?

Today finally came. Now that it’s here, I don’t know whether to feel honoured or sick. I suppose I feel a bit of both. My sisters have never respected me, but now I think they’re actually jealous of me. Last month I caught them stealing my makeup and trying it on. I’ll spare you the details on how badly that worked out for them, but suffice it to say it would be polite to suggest that they looked like clowns. Oh dear. Anyway, so, today I caught them begging dad to get them plastic surgery. Why? To look more like me. Me! A big part of me is thrilled, but I’m also kind of horrified. Hehe.

Today finally came. All my friends have been dating since, like, forever, but here I am, 23, and coming home from my first date. I don’t know...after all the hype my friends have made about boys, I guess I was expecting something...better? I mean, wow, he was hot. But then...urgh!!! He opened his mouth and it all went downhill from there! Dad, I think I finally get what the big deal is. I have a friend who’s dating this guy who...he’s nice, but, I’m sorry, he’s not nice to look at. She says that the more she knows him, the more attractive he becomes. Maybe there’s something to this...

Today finally came. Smart guys, dumb guys, sensitive guys, jerks, fat guys, fit guys: I’ve had my share of first dates with them all. Guys, what is wrong with you? My sisters and I have been looking for someone to marry, but no matter who we meet he’s just so flawed. But now we’ve had a Eureka moment: if we can’t find the right guy, why not make the right guy? After all, we are beautiful, educated women, and we deserve handsome, intelligent men. Is that really asking too much?

Today finally came. Today I married the perfect man. He has the perfect body and the perfect mind. He’s perfect in every way, and so he should be – after all I did take the best parts to make him. It’s a good thing there are so many men around – on their own they’re not very good, but their pieces are great! I know he’ll always love and cherish me. And as dad walked me down the aisle, I finally knew that he loved me, too. I can’t wait for my beautiful future with my perfect husband.

Today finally came. My husband was so boring! So...I think it was just time to realise that I deserve better. Oh well. I’m so excited to see what I come up with next!


Reflection of Dear Diary,

Dear Diary, is an experiment based on Ania Walwicz’s fairytale. Fairytale is written without any punctuation and in third person limited narrative. The combination of these elements resulted in me taking a very distant, impersonal reading of the original text. This is fitting, as the characters in fairytale do not appear to value individuality in themselves or others. In Dear Diary, I chose to focus on the naturally pretty princess from fairytale by recreating the story in first person through her eyes. Rewriting a story from a different perspective challenges students to consider the varying motives and concerns of others, which may help students to engage with people they would not normally identify with.

By casting Dear Diary, as a first person narrative, I took an impersonal story and made it very personal. This allowed me to foreground the princess’s hypocritical pursuit of perfection and acceptance. By highlighting this pursuit and having her casually reject others, I have privileged her undue sense of moral supremacy and silenced any voices in the story that might challenge her morals. Through deliberately privileging and silencing certain voices in textual experiments, students develop awareness of how they may be positioned disingenuously in various contexts, and can therefore respond critically to misleading information.

As a male, I encountered certain difficulties in writing from a feminine perspective. According to Baur, Holmes and Warren (2006), feminised language tends to use hedging words to soften the impact of the language. I have worked this into the text with phrases such as “I suppose,” “kind of” and “maybe.” Reinforcing imbalanced gender attitudes, I had the narrator describe herself as “educated” and the ideal man as “intelligent,” hinting at a gendered divide between acquired (or even imposed) knowledge and innate ability. Encouraging students to identify how they modify language in relation to gender enables students to reflect upon and challenge their presuppositions about gender.

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Now that you've read Dear Diary, check out fairytale.

Literature in the Classroom Assignments: Part 4

Foreword

Here's the first part of the second assignment. While the first assignment just had as giving reflections on pieces we'd looked at in class, the second assignment had as doing experiments of pieces from class. By experiment, I mean we had to take the original and fiddle with it in some way. Examples of our options included fan fiction, prequel, sequel, cross-over, retelling the story from a different perspective, using the style to tell a different story, making a script out of it, putting the character/s in a different setting, making a comic strip, etc.

During this first piece, you'll discover that I do in fact say harsher words than "poop," and am not opposed to using them in an assignment. Because I'm sweet and innocent like that. I got really emotional while writing this, and continue to get really emotional while reading it, which, apparently, means I'm a girl.

Boy
Eat your breakfast; brush your teeth; comb your hair; put on your uniform; tie your shoelaces – not that way, this way; take your lunch; class starts at 9:00, morning tea is from 10:45 to 11:15, lunch is from 1:00 to 1:50, school finishes at 3:00; be grateful – life only gets harder after this; do your homework; play with boys; you can play tag, ride your bike, pretend to fight (just don’t let me catch you or when your father gets home you’ll be in real trouble) or use a console; girls are nice so be nice to girls; don’t swear in front of adults; don’t swear in front of teachers; don’t swear in front of girls; if you teach other children to swear you’ll be in real trouble when your father gets home; listen to your teacher in school; listen to your teacher in Sunday school; boy, she sure is pretty; don’t admit that – what, do you want people to think you’re a girl?; don’t be soft; don’t cry; you need to be strong; you need to be tough; this is how you make friends; this is how you get respect; this is how you get power (and boy do you need power); this is how you throw a punch – no, not like that, what are you, a girl?; this is how you take a punch; this is how you dodge a punch; this is how you hit a ball; this is how you catch a ball; don’t drop the ball; don’t be so clumsy; this is how you cut your steak; this is how you chew your vegetables; this food is “junk,” and by junk I mean “treasure”; ignore what they told you in Sunday school – a man doesn’t need God to tell him how to live or repress him; this is how to ask a girl out; this is how to kiss a girl on the lips; this is how to kiss a girl on not the lips; this is how to make a girl kiss you; take your lunch; boy, she sure is hot; that’s more like it; don’t be emotional – you’ve got to be strong and you’ve got to be tough; girls are emotional, men are logical; is that what logic is? are you sure you understand logic?; work hard; work hard; you’ve got to work hard!; women only want men with lots of money; women only want men with impressive careers; women only want men who are tall, dark and handsome; lie to women – do you really think they’ll like you otherwise?; fuck women – fuck lots of women and don’t forget to fuck them over, after all they don’t want you, they only want your money and your status; nice guys finish last; don’t be nice, being nice is weak; this is how to fight your way to the top; this is how fight down those beneath you; this is how to fuck a woman; this is how to love a woman; this is how to fight a woman; this is how to provide for a woman; this is how to get a woman to love you; to love me? she sure is something, but I bet she isn’t even nice enough to give me food or comfort or...; haven’t I told you to take your lunch?

Reflection of Boy

Boy follows the structural style of Girl by Jamaica Kincaid. The diction is generally simple and the instructions are clustered into short phrases in order to make the long, run-on sentence accessible so that the overarching themes would be clear to the reader. The simple vocabulary conveys the central character of a boy internalising the social pressure to adhere to certain male gender roles. Just as Kincaid presents an oppositional discourse in relation to hegemonic femininity in her culture, my central aim in writing Boy is to provide an opposition to what I feel is the hegemonic masculinity on offer to white Australian youth.

Boy is littered with binary oppositions (“be nice to girls” vs “fuck women;” “listen” vs “ignore;” “this is how” vs “don’t;” “junk” vs “treasure”) which occasionally give the character clarification on how to live, but at other times provide only confusion and frustration over what it means to be masculine. By listing the traits of their gender identity, and of the gender identity they feel they’re ‘supposed’ to have, students can gain insight into their worldview. This allows them to identify and challenge harmful or contradictory beliefs.

The phrase “take your lunch” is used repeatedly throughout the text. Through polysemy, the meaning changes each time, beginning as a caring, harmless instruction, but later taking on sexual meaning. In the final use of this phrase, “take” is used in binary opposition to “give,” confirming the social pressure for the boy to prove his masculinity through selfish ambition and treating others as things to lord over. Tasks that encourage students to use polysemous writing would help students to grasp nuance and navigate context in their reading and writing practices.

Literature in the Classroom Assignments: Part 3

Foreword:

This was one of those short stories where I'm not sure you'd actually call it a short story. I seldom read anything with split narration. Even rarer is a piece like this in which the split narration is divided between a consistently inconsistent narrator and a very beaurocratic type who has nothing better to do than to point out the problems with the consistently inconsistent narrative. Glenda Adams, y u do dis?

Reflection: “Reconstruction of an Event” by Glenda Adams

If you desire to read a conventional narrative, Reconstruction of an Event by Glenda Adams is not the text for you. A key element that may cause frustration is the presence of two voices narrating the text. Several interpretations of the voices in the text were offered in class as we discussed ROAE. One suggestion was that both voices are the author: the first voice is her narrating the event; the second voice is her censoring herself. Another suggestion was that the first voice is the daughter retelling the event to an authority (such as the police), and the second voice is the authority figure opposing her claims. My initial reading, influenced by an academic background in creative arts and critiquing creative works, was that the two voices represented a student author and a harsh teacher or editor. In this regard, I interpreted ROAE as a metafiction (Orlowski, 1996).

Between the two voices of the text there is a clear power relationship. The first voice always submits to the correctional authority of the second voice. This is not necessarily a concern in itself, as the voice in power may represent a legitimate authority. What does concern me is how I initially inferred the identity of each role based on power and gender stereotypes. The first voice is obedient, emotive and prefers to use enriching language to bring life to the story. The obedience and emotive focus of the first voice resonated with my socially constructed views of youth. I inferred the focus on the daughter and enrichment as signs of femininity (Cameron, 2005). The second voice is authoritative, objective and insists on purging any enriching language. The second voice attempts to remove life from the story. Because of this, based on socially constructed assumptions about power and authority, I’m inclined to read the second voice as older and masculine (Cameron, 2005). The most frustrating issue I encountered with the second voice is that it never gives positive feedback. Even after the final reconstruction, the second voice replies with a cold: “No.” The second voice consistently objects to anything other than the facts, which makes it ironic that none of my inferences about gender allude to any objective truth about the text. Objectively, the voices are anonymous.

After multiple readings, I started to recognise the jacaranda as a symbol of life, joy and safety (Moon, 2001). The jacaranda is introduced in the first paragraph, in which all is pleasant and there is no hint of danger: joy and safety. It is reintroduced in the tenth construction of the event in which, upon recognising danger inside the house, the mother takes the daughter outside and “leans her against the jacaranda tree”: safety. Finally, in the twelfth construction of the event, the father is taken out to the jacaranda tree where he revives: life.

While the use of suspense in ROAE was clear from my first reading, it took several readings before the use of foreshadowing became clear to me. Adams uses suspense effectively to turn thirteen lines of plain facts in the third-last paragraph into five pages of text (Moon, 2001). In my initial reading, every time the second voice opposed the first voice, I became curious about how the first voice would modify the story. Likewise, every time the first voice changed the story, I became curious about what oppositions the second voice would give. Because each construction of the event contradicts the previous construction, it took a full awareness of where the text was heading before I recognised the clues throughout the text. In the third construction, the father is introduced as a man of unrest, whose daughter is “driving him into an untimely grave” by going out at night. In his only lines of speech, he declares: “They will rue the day...and they will all be sorry when I’m gone.” In my initial reading, I took this as lightly as the family are said to take it. This may be due to personal acculturation into a society in which the Dominant Discourse sees stress in middle-age, middle-class fathers as normal and trivial (Gee, 1991). In the final construction, it is revealed that the father has committed suicide, and the daughter seemingly feels guilt for going out and later ignoring the signs of unusual behaviour the night before.

ROAE could be used in the classroom to generate discussion about how different writing techniques influence reading. Despite this, I believe it could serve more profoundly as a tool for investigating deeper social issues. Specifically, this text can open up discussions about students’ assumptions about gender and power. Sensitivity should be given to students who feel responsible for issues affecting their families, as this text alludes to the daughter’s sense of guilt without challenging or dealing with her sense of guilt.






References
Cameron, D. (2005). Language, gender and sexuality. Current Issues and New Directions in Applied Linguistics. 26(4), 482-502.

Freebody, P. & A. Luke. (1990). Literacies programs: Debates and demands in cultural context. Prospect: An Australian Journal of TESOL, 5(3), 7-16. Retrieved 2013, from http://eprints.qut.edu.au/49099

Gee, J.P. (1991). What is literacy? Rewriting Literacy: Culture and the Discourse of the Other. 3-11. Westport, Conneticut; London: Bergin and Garvey.

Luke, A. & K. Dooley. (2010). Critical literacy and second language learning. In E. Hinkel (Ed.). Handbook of Research in Second Language Learning and Teaching. Vol 2. London: Routledge.

Moon, B. (2001). Literary terms: A practical glossary (2nd ed.). Western Australia: P K Print.

Orlowski, V. (1996). Metafiction. Retrieved September 19, 2013, from http://postcolonialstudies.emory.edu/metafiction/



Adams, G. (1979). Reconstruction of an event. In G. Adams (Ed.), The Hottest Night of the Century, (pp.121 - 125). London: Angus and Robertson.

Adams, G. (1987). A snake down under. In W. Morgan (Ed.), Border Territory: An Anthology of Unorthodox Australian Writing, (pp. 102-104). Melbourne: Thomas Nelson.

Dove. (2013, April 14). Dove real beauty sketches [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpaOjMXyJGk

Literature in the Classroom Assignments: Part 2

Foreword

In Australia, we have snakes. And private schools. And private school girls. And horny private school girls. And horny private school girls who get bitten by snakes.

Now get your head out of the gutter.

Just kidding, turns out the gutter's a great place to be when reading this one.

Reflection: “A Snake Down Under” by Glenda Adams

In my first reading of this text, I made a point of not acknowledging the sexual innuendo in the title A Snake Down Under. Consequently, I initially read ASDU by Glenda Adams as a disjointed short story about protection from dangerous wildlife mixed with religion-induced sexual tension, linked only by the witty final sentence: “My friend said, ‘Did it offer you an apple?’” As I explored the text in class, group discussions pushed me to recognise the double entendre in the title and thus recognise darker sexual themes perforating throughout the whole story.

In ASDU, Adams uses polysemy and symbolism to superficially tell one story, while telling a much more sinister story beneath that guise (Moon, 2001). While a snake is literally a legless reptile, in the sense of this text I took the word snake to also mean (at varying times) phallus, temptation, sin, predator, dangerous man and sexual violation. Teachers may also be symbolic of the conventional wisdom of the Dominant Discourse (Gee, 1991). By reading these double-meanings into the narrative, my interpretation of each snake-related event changed drastically. For example, in the middle of the story a girl sits on a snake which bites her. She doesn’t tell anyone until it’s too late, and then she dies from the snake’s venom. Unlike other scenarios in the text where snakes approach girls, in this instance the girl goes to the snake, which (assuming that the snake is a sexual predator) suggests to me that she has been abused by someone she should have been able to trust. In isolation, I suspected that the snake may a family member. However, given the frequent religious references (in the setting of an Anglican school) and the introduction of a preacher later in ASDU, I think there’s sufficient textual evidence to suggest that the perpetrator is a member of the school staff or the clergy.

As a Christian, a man and a pre-service teacher, I’m inclined to take a resistant reading to this text. ASDU presents Christianity as a source of arbitrary sexual repression, and possibly sexual violation. The teachers in the text, though perhaps well-meaning, teach the girls to respond to sexual abuse passively, and in doing so enable abuse. Likewise, males are generally regarded as snakes and are never positioned in a positive light. My resistance is perhaps amplified by living in a culture where abuse in the church is a hot topic; religion is seen as arbitrary; teacher-student sex scandals frequent the news; and a man can’t photograph his children without being suspected of paedophilia. Christianity and masculinity gain no positive representation in the text, and teachers are at best misguided. From this I infer that the author is seeking to vilify religion, men (or a socially accepted form of masculinity) (Cameron, 2005), teachers, and perhaps society as a whole. Despite my inclination towards resistance, I must concede that there is truth in these aspects of the text. While many Christians, men and teachers hate sexual abuse and aspire to protect people from becoming victims, there certainly are Christians, men and teachers who commit or enable sexual abuse.

It would be foolish to recognise negativity in Adams’ assessment of those whom she represents as snakes without also recognising the way she challenges femininity. It appears to me that Adams agrees with the position that gender is a social construct (Cameron, 2005), unlike sex which is biological categorisation. From this position, I interpret her representation of conventional femininity to be resistant. ASDU shows how girls can be acculturated into behaving like silent, motionless automatons to their own detriment. The text also shows the narrator “br[eaking] the rules” by being loud, violent and unrestrained in the face of danger, which results in the snake leaving her unscathed.

In my eyes, the two most potent elements of ASDU are the literary use of allegory through polysemy and symbolism; and resistance to social constructs. By critically analysing the polysemic structure of the text, students may learn the significance of hidden meanings in texts. Students will therefore be better equipped to identify and challenge both superficial and deep elements of a broad variety of texts. Likewise, by critically analysing Adams’ representations of religious institutions, educational institutions, masculinity, femininity, ethnicity and society as a system, students may learn to question the social constructs that they take for granted and consider alternative ways of being.

Literature in the Classroom Assignment: Part 1

Foreword

Before I turned this into an assignment, I was actually going to blog about it here, a few months back when we looked at the Dove Real Beauty Sketches video in class. The desire to blog and rant about it was sufficient incentive for me to do an assignment on it, and then when I was done I wanted to share it here anyway. Now that the unit is thoroughly complete, I'll be posting this reflection, as well as the other reflections and writing experiments I did across my two Literature in the Classroom assignments. These pieces have not been edited in any way since submission, so anything my lecturer found objectionable or thought was poorly written (actually fairly little, considering I got a 6+ for each assignment), you can find objectionable, too.

Here's a link to the video for Dove Real Beauty Sketches. Watch it first, then read on:

Cliff's notes on what I had to say:

from the first draft (not the version I ended up submitting below): "After having some time for my thoughts to percolate, I believe I expressed my new interpretation of the text with sufficient strength during a group discussion in class by announcing: 'I want to punch this ad in the face!'"

Reflection: “Dove Real Beauty Sketches” by Dove

As a white, semi-middle class male in Australia, I’ve been conditioned to accept it as a universal truth that females are insecure about the way they look, to the extent that they hate their bodies. This, of course, is not universally true, however the incidence is enough that as a high school teacher I can expect to have female students and even work alongside female teachers who suffer from body image issues. Consequently, the first time I saw Dove Real Beauty Sketches, I was inspired and encouraged by seeing a campaign with the apparent aim of improving female body image. Alas, this elation was fleeting.

Superficially, DRBS is effective in its use of binary oppositions to make an overt statement about beauty (Moon, 2001). Each subject describes herself to the sketch artist in what she and the audience) perceives to be a negative way (this, in itself, warrants deeper considerations as to whether or not the descriptions given should be regarded as negative), which is juxtaposed by a second person describing the same woman in a positive light. At the end of the video, the two sketches of each woman are presented side by side in opposition to each other. Invariably, the second sketch appears more appealing to the women in the video and is described positively by each subject.

When I took a step back and considered the advertisement from a different perspective, my affections towards DRBS were replaced with an aggressive distain. As a text analyst, instead of focusing on DRBS as a solution, I considered the cause of the problem (Freebody & Luke, 1990). Having experienced serious body image issues in my own life with symptoms that match body dysmorphic disorder, it has been my experience that body image issues are frequently caused by the acceptance of the belief that beauty is a source of merit. Just as intellectual, moral and financial success are all measures used in my culture to judge oneanother, beauty is used in my culture to judge oneanother, and it is something which we can think of in terms of success and failure. While DRBS challenges the severity with which women stereotypically judge their beauty, it fails to challenge the fact that these same women do judge their beauty. More profoundly, it fails to challenge the issue of women judging their value and success as humans by their perceived beauty. Because it fails to address the deeper psychosocial issues at play, I believe the text is no more equipped to support women’s confidence than a band-aid is equipped to deal with a cleft artery.

While the video was potent in my initial white, affluent Australian Discourse, the video became impotent in my Christian Discourse (Gee, 1991). Just as I was challenged to evaluate the values taken for granted by the text, as a Christian I was also challenged to evaluate what personal values I was applying to the text in order to have my initial response. I realised that I, too, was taking for granted the belief that it is normal and acceptable for women to judge their individual worth based on perceived beauty. This is inconsistent with the very worldview that I claim to uphold. The Bible rejects the worldview that an individual’s value can be measured by how successful they are. Whether social, financial, business, familial, moral, ritual or beauty, these culturally accepted grounds for personal value simply do not apply under biblical theology. Instead, a person’s value is grounded in them being one of God’s creations, made in God’s image, for whom God has laid down His life. For the follower of Jesus, Christ is the most important thing. For DRBS, perceived beauty is the most important thing.

Placing DRBS in a classroom context produces its own challenges. Since this text reinforces idolisation of beauty, I don’t think it would work as a text used to challenge girls and boys over their attitudes towards beauty. However, it does serve a valuable role in helping children learn to decode and challenge persuasive texts. The use of binary opposition between negative and positive is a powerful rhetorical tool which, in this instance, is used to privilege one view and marginalise another. An awareness of this would help students to critically analyse a variety of texts.

Training -- Wed 13/11/2013

Band Pull Apart

4x20 -- throughout the session

Rotator Cuff

3x10, 2x12 -- throughout the session

Bench Press

10x20kg
5x40kg
1x60kg
1x80kg
2x90kg -- Tuesday syndrome strikes again. Boo.

Pull Ups

3x10xBW -- Shoulders are less terrible than they have been over the last couple Tuesdays. Not sure if that's the extra day of rest or all the time I spent massaging my shoulders Monday and today.

Klokov Press

10x20kg
2x5x25kg

OHP

2x10x25kg

Cable Row

3x10x30kg

Training -- Mon 11/11/2013

Today is remembrance day, wherein at 11am on the 11th of the 11th we take a minute of silence to remember and honour our fallen soldiers.

Turns out I'm a jerk, because, not realising what time it was, at 11am I was belting out "Please" by Staind in my car on the way to the gym.

Squats

10xBW
10x20kg
5x60kg
5x90kg
3x110kg
1x130kg
2x3x145kg -- They call that a PB.
3x130kg

Paused Squats/Calf Raise

3x5x110kg/10x320lb

SLDL/Calf Raise

3x5x110kg/6x360lb -- The big question: is your RDL still an RDL if you have a dead stop at the bottom of each rep? Turns out that's how flexible I've become without actually doing any flexibility training. RDL's are a stretch unto themselves. Since I was doing these with a dead start from the floor on each rep, I'll call them SLDL's when this happens.

GHR/Calf Raise

3xBW/12x220lb -- First ever reps without any assistance. This makes me happy.
2x2xBW/12x220lb -- Went for 3 reps on my middle set of GHR's: got stuck halfway up and had to put my hands down on the pad to assist myself back up, so not counting that rep.

Training -- Sat 09/11/2013

BPA/RC

3x20/10
1x20
1x15 -- Spread throughout the session.

Bench Press

10x20kg
5x40kg
3x60kg
1x75kg
3x4x85kg -- Some form of brief pause on the first 3 reps of each set, 4th rep bounced.
1x90kg -- Decent pause on the chest, definitely could have gone for 92.5-95kg based on the feel of it, which is how it should be.

I have a new theory for what's been going on with my shoulders: squats and/or RDLs on Mondays are putting a certain amount and type of strain on my shoulders, and my shoulders need more recovery between that and upper body sessions. That would explain why my shoulders have been playing up on Tuesdays but acting fine on Saturdays. So, I'll see what happens this coming week if I move Tuesday's session to Wednesday.

L-Pull Up/CGBP

3x6/8x60kg

Pull Ups/OHP

6x10kg/10x20kg
6x10kg/5x30kg
6x10kg/5x37.5kg

Cable Row/OHP

2x8x60kg/5x37.5kg
8x60kg --> 5x50kg drop set.

Training -- Thur 07/11/2013

High Bar Squats

10xBW
10x20kg
5x60kg
5x90kg
3x5x105kg

Deadlift

10x60kg
5x90kg
2x120kg
2x145kg
3x3x165kg -- I wanted to do sets of 4 today. Oh well.
3x3x100kg -- Speed pulls

Overhead Squat

2x10xBW
2x20kg
5x20kg
2x5x25kg -- Just cus.

Training -- Tue 05/11/2013

"You're not gonna cry this time."

^ The above video basically explains how training went today. I have a growing theory that my shoulders are allergic to Tuesday. I won't go into much detail on the actual session, although there's not much detail to go into. I did one work set of bench press: 3x85kg; instead of doing 3 sets of 4 at 85kg as I'd planned. No pull ups. Rows felt uncomfortable. A couple sets of overhead press and upright rows. A lot of time massaging my shoulders. And then I quit, came home and put on my big underpants.

Training -- Mon 04/11/2013

Squats

10xBW
10x20kg
5x70kg
3x100kg
1x120kg
2x4x140kg -- That's a PB.
2x140kg -- Was aiming for 3x4. Went for the third rep. I suspect I could have got it with more grinding and less dumping of the weight behind me.
3x130kg

Pause Squats/Calf Raise

3x5x105kg/9x320lb

RDL/Calf Raise

3x5x105kg/9x320lb -- Either my hamstring flexibility is improving or I'm getting slack on keeping my knees back. Either of these options would explain the bar hitting the floor on the last set of RDLs.

GHR/Calf Raise

3x3xThick Orange/9x320lb

Training -- Sat 02/11/2013

Bench Press/L-Pull Ups

10x20kg
5x40kg
3x60kg
10x70kg/6xBW
8x70kg/6xBW
7x70kg/6xBW -- Went for an 8th rep, ended up having to roll the bar into my hip crease to get up without dying.

Incline DBBP/Pull Ups

3x6x25kg/6x8.75kg -- Shoulders are many times happier than they were on Tuesday.

OHP/Fat Gripz Row

10x20kg/10x60kg
5x30kg/10x60kg
3x5x36kg/10x60kg

I earned my lunch today.