Toni Morrison Annotation

Summary: The interview was between writer Toni Morrison and Charlie Rose. In the interview, they discussed some of Toni's books, including her new one, Love. Aside from discussing the books, the two also spoke about Toni's philosophies on how she does her writing, projects she's working on now, and different aspects of her life.

Reaction: I had no idea that Toni Morrison was such an accomplished woman, she's a professor at princeton, has won all sorts of awards for literature, and on top of all that, she's extremely humble. I really liked how attached she gets to her characters when she's writing and how she describes herself like an actress when she gets into their heads.

Reflection: I don't really plan on becoming an author or anything but as I said earlier I liked how Toni Morrison says she's like an actress when she writes. If I ever have to write something involving characters I think that mentality would be very helpful.

Simpson's Critique

Summary: This critique showed how the television series, The Simpsons, related to the consumerism of the american culture. For instance, Marge was the stereotypical housewife, Homer was males personified, Lisa was reason, and Bart was the child who won't succeed.

Reaction: I definitely felt that this piece had good points. I did feel, however, that they were not well developed; when the writer used an example to support what he said, it was not thoroughly explained; I could make some connections because I know what happened in most episodes, but for someone who hasn't seen the show it was not explained well. What's more, I got annoyed with how repetitive it was.

Reflection: I have watched The Simpsons many times and now when I watch it I'm going to notice the stereotypical roles each member of the family plays. I see these roles in other programs as well; Peter from Family Guy resembles Homer, Lois resembles Marge, Chris and Meg resemble Bart and Lisa, and Stewie somewhat resembles Maggie.

The Bell Jar

There are different kinds of crazy:
Gnarls Barkley's Crazy


Love isn't as easy as many stories make it out to be:
Bon Jovi's You Give Love a Bad Name


Asylums of the past may not have been as helpful as they appeared to be:

"This is like a whole other part of humanity that's very disturbing. I can't believe people were institutionalized for having a temper tantrum. It's unsettling to think that because of their lack of knowledge in the field of psychiatric disabilities, they locked these people up for the rest of their lives."

Suitcases from an insane asylum tell of lives long lost

The other sex