Weirdest thing I realized yesterday tying into the course's theme of Food and Feasting.
I was visiting my boyfriend's mom, and as I sat in her kitchen I noticed her having alot of pictures and metal decor of fruit or baskets of fruit. I reminded me of the fruit we've been seeing in paintings and on the cover of The Edible Woman. It also reminded me how my mom has pictures of fruit in her kitchen. Her kitchen tiles even have them! So I concluded, these pictures are so common in kitchens as it ties into the theme of feasting. Like we talked about in class, kitchens are centers of preparations for feasts and where people/families are brought together by the notion of food and feasting. So, the fruit and the fruit baskets represent that notion and symbolize the unity and welcome people to come and share the fruit from the basket. What a trip!

HOW TO MAKE FISH COUSCOUS

Hey class!

After watching The Secret of the Grain, I wanted to try this famous fish couscous! I found a simple video that walks you through the process step-by-step. For anyone that is interesting in cooking and from our class presentations, several of you guys were, I would recommend making this dish. It may not be as notorious as Slimane's ex-wife's dish, but it's a starter! Enjoy.

fish couscous recipe

"Children: With more than one, you're a sitting duck."

I came across this article on Lauren Sandler, who recently released a book titled One and Only about wanting to have only one child and the judgment she receives from society because of her supposed selfishness. To quote, "she fiercely challenges society's judgments"on a woman. I found this article so, so relevant to what we talked about in class throughout the quarter regarding the female stereotype, and what we've been trying to move away from -evidently we have not done a very good job so far. Regardless, I think Sandler's book will make for a great read over the summer!

Some excerpts from the article:

Woman, Make Me a Sandwich!: Women's gender role as perceived by media (Presentation)

Here's a copy of my group's presentation if you would to check out any of the interesting pictures/videos!

http://prezi.com/cj9niili9fth/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Vampyres in House of Night Series

There are so many books, TV shows, and movies about vampires that are popular today. I personally love these and watch/read a LOT of them (Twilight, Vampire Diaries, True Blood, Vampire Academy...)

However, out of all the shows and books I watch/read, I found the series I'm currently reading, House of Night, to be the most interesting in relation to the topic of our class.




In this series, the drinking of blood by a vampyre is extremely pleasurable for both the vampyre and the human. The consumption of blood is described almost like how sex would be described:

"This time I leaned into him and touched my tongue to his lip, taking the drop of blood into my mouth where it exploded ― heat, sensation, and a rush of pleasure I'd never known."

"The taste exploded in my mouth. As my saliva touched the shallow wound his blood began to flow more quickly, and with a moan that I hardly recognized as my own, I opened my mouth and pressed my lips to his skin, licking up the delicious scarlet line. [...] His head fell back and I heard him groan "yes." One of his hands cupped my butt and the other one went under my sweater to squeeze my breast. 

 His touch only made it better. Heat slammed through my body, setting me on fire. Like someone else was in control of my movements, my hand slid from Heath's shoulder, down his chest, to rub over the hard lump that was in the front of his jeans. I sucked on his neck. Rational thought flew from my mind. All I could do was feel and taste and touch. Somewhere in the depths of my mind I knew I was reacting on a level that was almost animalistic in its need and ferocity, but I didn't care."

It is obvious in these quotes that the consumption of blood is linked to sex and fulfills the hunger for not only nutritional needs to survive but also sexual desires.

What's more interesting is that in the world of House of Night, females dominate the vampyre society. The most powerful vampyres are females rather than males. So unlike what we typically saw in class this quarter, the females are the ones that consume the males and use males for pleasure. Highly ranked vampyres called High Priestesses (always female) typically have two men in their lives. One that they are together with (boyfriend or husband), and a human consort literally just for the purpose of fulfilling the vampyres' bloodlust.

- Dain (Jennifer) Kwak

A "Woman's" Food

I was on Youtube and encountered this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMRDLCR8vAE

It has an interesting discussion of how certain foods are paired with specific genders.  Check it out!

 I see a lot of these funny ecards on social media sites online and happened to look into a few relating to our groups presentation of chocolate. Most of the ecards I just found funny, or they show the relationship chocolate has to sex, valentines day, love, indulgence, and women. This first image is piggy backing off of Evan's post about chocolate being related to the divine or "god like."

Speaking of Hooters...

So a friend of mine on Instagram checked in to Hooters today, and she posted this picture of a sign inside the restaurant.

 It clearly shows the different treatment of males and women, relating to their bodies.

O'Hara's in Westwood--Just Like Hooters?

Hey guys,

I came across this video that has to do with the Burger and Boobs group's presentation. Basically, a female bartender at O'Hara's, the local bar in Westwood, is suing the bar for the inappropriate dress code, fans that would blow the female's skirts and expose them, and other policies in the bar. The reporter says that the O'Hara's policies were established to boost sales.

I think this shows another example about how the industry caters to men, allowing not only to consume food and drinks but also their bodies--to make money. Sex sells. Also, I felt that the example of Hooters feels far removed from UCLA and the students here. However, it's clear that the objectification of women can hit very close to home.

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2012/06/27/dnt-bartender-sues-over-skimpy-skirts.kcal.html

The Art of Consumption :)

http://www.naturalnews.com/038092_hot_chocolate_superfood_health_benefits.html

This article further expands on the health benefits of Chocolate. However, the main reason I was 

drawn to this article for was due to the wording that the author chose to use throughout the whole article. 

The wording was sensual or very lofty and praising chocolate as divine and godlike. It is praising 

addiction to chocolate as a sign taht your body knows when something is "good". "The Heavenly Elixir"

title for one of the sections also further emphasizes the use of chocolate as a link to the divine. 

Also, the recipe sounds absolutely delicious. 

The Impossible Decision

I came across this article in The New Yorker about going to graduate school for English or Comparative Literature, and it immediately reminded me of Duncan, Fischer and Trevor in The Edible Woman and the class, because we are taking Comparative Literature -although only at the undergraduate level.

In short, the author, Joshua Rothman, starts by writing about how graduate school is a "bad idea in the long run." He does this very interestingly by quoting a hedge fund friend who responded with the following statistics when asked if postgraduate studies in English or Comparative Literature is worth it:

"... focus on the “base rates”: that is, on the numbers that give you a broad statistical picture of outcomes from graduate school in the humanities. What percentage of graduate students end up with tenure? (About one in four.) How much more unhappy are graduate students than other people? (About fifty-four per cent of graduate students report feeling so depressed they have “a hard time functioning,” as opposed to ten per cent of the general population.) If you take a broader view of the profession, it seems like a terrible idea to go to graduate school." 


The "depression and hard time functioning" part of his spiel here really reminded me of Duncan and his rant about how things in graduate school get "more and more stale" and how he could not write more than a sentence a day (102).

Although it might seem as if one should be completely put off by the idea of attending graduate school in the humanities here and that Duncan is right, Rothman also brings forth the upsides of attending graduate school based on his own experience, which needless to say, is as, if not more, compelling than the cons of attending.

Granted, the article is not directly related to the theme and content of the class, but I still found it quite an intriguing, lighthearted and somewhat ironic read and thought it worth sharing, especially after seeing the minute connection to The Edible Woman. 

P.S. Approach the article with a pinch or two (or even three) of salt and don't use it to analyze your own situation or let it deter you from applying!

P.P.S. I do not think it is a "terrible idea to go to graduate school" at all.

The Girl in the Picture

Source: http://digitaljournal.com/img/6/8/7/0/1/4/i/1/1/6/o/Kim_Phuc.jpg

Source: http://alivewithwords.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/viet.jpg

As I read Yocandra in the Paradise of Nada, I could not help but draw parallels to Denise Chong's The Girl In The Picture, which I read a couple of years ago. Chong chronicled the life of Kim Phuc -the girl in that iconic photograph of the Vietnam War- during and after the war. Many aspects of Phuc's life and those of the Vietnamese at the time resembles those of the Cubans in Valdes' work. Among the many striking similarities I found in the two books were the lack of food under militant rule, confiscation of funds earned by individuals (Phuc and the Traitor's) and property (seen in Havana: The New Art of Making Ruins) by their respective governments as well as a yearning to leave their homelands. 

So as to not spoil too much of the book, I will cut straight to the end where we learn that Phuc successfully managed to seek political asylum in Canada -much like how many Cubans did in the United States. However, this was only after she was sent to the University of Havana -Fidel's alma mater- to study as part of an agreement between like-minded Vietnam and Cuba at the time. Phuc spoke quite fondly of her experience on the island, in that, a substantial chunk of the book is dedicated to her time in Havana, which I personally find to be interesting, as I was able to also see Cuba through a foreigner's eyes.

All in all, I highly recommend this book if you have not read it, as it sheds light on how similar life was like under military dictatorship on the opposite side of the globe and reminds us that we are not so different after all.    

Yoani Sanchez- Generation Y

A few quarters back, I had to read a couple of excerpts from Yoani's blog. She's a blogger from Havana. She talks about the current situation in Cuba, and deals with the topics of censorship, propoganda, rationing, etc.



Some excerpts:

"I often complain about this self-sufficient little fatty  in every Cuban home — the television — and its excessive influence on our lives. This week, for example, the nightly programming has been saturated with political messages that we later hear repeated in schools, workplaces, offices… in the infinite spiral of ideological propaganda"

"“The chocolate is over!” screamed my two friends, as I opened the door that night of July 31, 2006. They were alluding, with their improvised slogan, to the latest plan pushed by Fidel Castro to distribute a chocolate quota to every Cuban through the ration market."

It's super interesting! Check it out if you have time!

http://www.desdecuba.com/generationy/

Chocolat

I just thought I would share this link for Chocolat for those who wanted to finish watching it! Just click the "Close Ad and Watch as Free User" Button to play.

http://www.solarmovie.so/link/play/570015/

Suite Havana (2003)

Suite Habana is a 2003 Cuban documentary directed by Fernando Pérez

 

 

Buena Vista Social Club

The New Art of Making Ruins

Dear Students,

Havana—The New Art of Making Ruins (2006) is a documentary directed by Florian Borchmeyer and Matthias Hentschler. The documentary tells the story of the ruins of Havana and the people who inhabit those ruins—from a homeless man who lives in an abandoned theater (in which Italian tenor, Enrico Caruso once sang to Cuba’s high society), to an expropriated landowner, to a young woman living in one of the rooms of an old hotel. We also hear from Cuban writer and poet (and ruinologist, according to him), Antonio José Ponte. In recent years, Havana’s ruins have been romanticized and valued for their magical decay, for its poetic evocation of a glorious past now lost, in particular in Buena Vista Social Club (see the post that refers to this); however, for the people who inhabit them, there is very little poetry left in these ruins. What we see is the conflation of the voice of the people whose stories we hear with the ruined city itself, a product of both the passing of time and the absolute neglect by the state. This documentary will help us contextualize Zoe Valdes’s Yocandra in the Paradise of Nada. Hunger in these works comes in many disguises and it is our challenge to make connections between the images we see in this documentary (as well as what we see in Suite Havana—the third post) and the graphic sexuality of a novel such as Yocandra.

 

 

 

Cuban ballplayers also cite over-stimulation, food, in tales of defection to U.S.

I -- and clearly many of you -- enjoyed the Professor's story about leaving Cuba today. It was great to hear directly from a primary source on the subject, and it reminded me of other similar stories I've read over the years.

I'm a baseball geek -- I not only watch, but read everything I can about the sport and used to write at a national baseball blog.

I've long been fascinated with the Cuban baseball players who defect from Cuba and come play in America, leaving their past lives behind and often their families too. Cuba is one of the few countries in the world where baseball is a major sport and selfishly as a fan, it's always disturbed me we don't get to see many of the best players in the world compete. Obviously, baseball is just a small reason to care about Cuba with so many families affected by the dictatorship, but baseball is one of the more prevalent ways Cuba is discussed in American media.

I thought I'd share some of my favorite stories of Cuban ballplayers defecting and tie them to a theme Professor Drissi mentioned -- initial over-stimulation (like at the Costa Rican market) -- and highlighting references to food as it has been a theme of this course.

Julia Child on Instagram

Saw this on Instagram...thought it was cute

Julia Child was a famous American Chef. Her kitchen, designed by her husband, is pretty famous; it's now on display at the National Museum of American History.
See her kitchen here

Romeo and Juliet (Act 2, Scene 3; Act 5, Scenes 1-3)

http://www.scribd.com/doc/134296337/Romeo-and-Juliet-Excerpts?secret_password=6nn3uj9m5ozetmjajn4

Welcome!

Dear Students,

Welcome to Comparative Literature 4DW! I look forward to our weeks together. I invite you to take a few minutes to browse through our introductory postings. Please make sure to subscribe to the blog!

See you soon,

Dr. Drissi