Episode 3: Tuesday Night Show

00:00:00 - Good evening everyone and welcome to this special show today is a special day because it's the last episode of our podcast that is Tuesday night show I want to introduce the houses today my great friend Ana Porreto. Hi Lau, hi everybody, how's everything today?

00:00:32 - And me Laura Vela. Today, as I told you, it's an important day because we want to recap and we want to highlight the most important and relevant topics that we learned during the whole semester in this amazing subject that is North American Literature. So for the reason we are going to organize this podcast in four steps. First, we want to resume everything about North American

00:00:59 - Literature, Native American Literature, the relation with the human condition. Next, we want to analyze what is the influence of the things, of different words, and the relation and society. And the last, it's why is it important to keep on exploring and learning about literature. So, enjoyed. Yes Lau, thank you so much for that amazing introduction and what you said it's pretty important because we all were going to talk about North American literature and the relationship that it has with the human condition. So let's start with the first one. So from my point of view North

00:01:41 - American literature and studying about it it's pretty important and actually it changed my whole life you know my point really why yes of course because I used to think that North American people you you know those ringos seem to be like kind of ignorant or even kind of arrogant about they love their country you

00:02:07 - But they said, no, United States is the best country.

00:02:12 - Even when we're watching movies, they say, we saved the whole world and they actually, they just saved North America and they just saved USA.

00:02:21 - So at the beginning, I was kind of,

00:02:24 - I don't know, I was really into this topic, but then that we started reading about those amazing authors, about how they feel in the different eras of our society, I think it's pretty important.

00:02:40 - And learning this, it's something beautiful and it's actually necessary for all of us to know about their literature and even their history through that literature.

00:02:53 - Choralee.

00:02:54 - Choralee, and I want to add something that you're saying.

00:02:59 - In the case happened something similar, being homeless at the beginning, I'm not like a- fan reader. I liked to read, but maybe not all the literature and stuff. But in this subject everything changed my mind because I think that it was a good way to like to drive the content and I don't know maybe the things, the others and the words, the different words caught my attention and it was amazing. Something

00:03:32 - I really love is that every single word has a relation with the human condition, right?

00:03:39 - But something related with the individualism, something related with the person, the identity, and it's something that I really love and it's something that I think that we are like losing in our Colombian culture usually because of the globalization and different things we are losing our roots and I think that literature is one of the best ways to keep our roots to keep our culture with us. Yes that's completely true now I really agree with you so what you said is pretty important also I also think about the themes of all those important words that we just read in this subject for example the themes are always related to the human condition and explore aspects like nature and human experience and rituals and actually I think that they like a way that a rider tells how they perceive the reality you know exactly yes and the way that they they criticize it.

00:04:53 - Yeah, that's one of the most, like, relevant things that criticize to say what they think.

00:05:00 - I mean, when a writer writes, it's kind of difficult, you know, but maybe a lot of people is going to critic your work, your thoughts, your emotions, but you have to be brave to be a writer.

totally and imagining that age in that era. So everything I think was harder, but for example something that I want to highlight is the way that they used as an inspiration, for example the words, the civil war or yes the movement like the realism, naturalism and in that way they like adopt and and and took those social events and criticized in those social events they change minds yeah about in society and the people and the readers so I think that that's something really meaningful and and if we're related with the thing that we are doing now that it's studying a bachelor it it's important to know about literature because we are teachers and even more North American literature I think that all of we are studying North American English

00:06:19 - American English so in that way it's important to know how the English maybe change to know how for example the words different words appear so it's important to know about literature for us being teachers. Yes I agree with you love and I think that what you said about critique and it's also about morality you know to teach something I mean through history we learn a lot of things that the idea of those authors is to be able to teach something to be able to try and to change mindsets you know to to be able to excite it through literature.

00:07:08 - Totally.

00:07:09 - So, and also important, something important about literature is that of course, it helps a lot to keep our traditions, our culture, to teach something meaningful, but also it is something good for our body, for our mental health, I think so.

00:07:27 - So for example, reading literature improves our concentration, it helps us to be,

00:07:31 - I don't know, focusing different things and also in the imagination and the creativity.

00:07:37 - So we can have different words and make of those words something like a instrument for our students.

00:07:47 - So in that way, we can like to drive creativity in our students, which is something amazing.

00:07:52 - And even for us, in our case as teachers or students too, it's important to keep our brain active and healthy.

00:08:02 - Yes, that's completely true Lau and our, I mean, currently we are not really into reading nothing at all. You see, because even in social media when the posts are too long, people are not really engaged with it. So you said teaching our students like read is an important skills not just for studying it's more for our whole life to have a general knowledge about what is happening around us what happens in the past that make us this kind of society.

00:08:45 - So that what you said is pretty pretty important.

and loud. And we also, I, I want also to highlight some important North American authors.

00:09:01 - For sure. Who was your favorite one? That is like, oh, he was my inspiration.

00:09:11 - Yes. Actually, you know what? In our society, that minorities are a lot, and they are still being a minority even when they are not few people. I like women and black people like

00:09:27 - Alice Walker and this color purple is one of her famous stories. I really like it. I really like her and a man maybe Hemingway or Mark Twain. I mean those two are pretty different.

but I think as you say like general knowledge it's pretty important to see how black women live and how a white guy live with them. Yes that's a contrast and it's important to know like the different points of view so everything was totally different for them in that period so something that I hate like to

00:10:10 - If you ask me, my favorite author is Mr. Twain. I really love his stories and the way that he portrayed everything that happened in that period, but in a funny way.

00:10:21 - So I think that the use of humor is amazing and the way that he used a tire in order to criticize something is amazing and it's a talent.

he was totally gifted in that and something that I really love is that he wrote different words just to have it to have them for his kids you know like this is something that I wrote for you this is our life it was my childhood and I want to share that with my family he wanted to share

00:10:57 - And those words with his kids, and it's something that I really appreciate because he, like, every single time he took into account his family's opinion, his wife, his sons, and it's something that I really love.

00:11:13 - Like that relation with the family.

00:11:16 - Yes, that's pretty important.

00:11:18 - It's the opposite of Edgar Allan Poe, who has a terrible life, you know?

00:11:25 - And his stories are pretty... I don't know, I feel scared.

00:11:32 - Yes, like dark. But you know, it's something that I like, yes.

00:11:39 - Yes, and I appreciate it because of course it's a different literature, it's a different kind of literature.

00:11:48 - But it's a different way to criticize something with that dark side.

00:11:55 - So, for example, the use of denaturalism, derealism, something that can happen in dereality, like, I don't know, poverty, like, unemployment, different aspects, you know, Margaret's, and they portrayed those social issues in something dark, and I think that it was, it is dark because of purpose, you know, because of something.

00:12:20 - That's right.

it was like a deeper way to criticize and I think that it was like more meaningful for the readers in that period and even for us that we are reading like in the modern times.

00:12:34 - Yes that's true and basically how all those authors use all those literacy devices is pretty good you know because all of them can use the same but in different ways.

that make us feel different, that's real life.

00:12:52 - Something that I liked of literature.

00:12:55 - I know that we are talking about North America, we can live literature, but I want to talk from my experience.

00:13:00 - The first literature works that I read were from

00:13:07 - Czech school.

00:13:09 - I know that it's different,

00:13:11 - But in that way I knew like the use of a literary device, like metaphors, because it used the colors, the use of nature with something that's happened, with the feelings, with the emotions.

00:13:26 - And in that of course it's different because it's British and of course, but in America, in North America it happens the same.

00:13:33 - They use the seamless to compare something amazing just with the life or just the smell of the fragrance of a flower, with the feeling of love, and I really love those comparisons because those make me feel like really feel what I'm reading, like to live what I'm reading.

00:13:57 - And I think that that's something that we have to look for, to look for something that makes us feel that we are inside this story, to feel this story, and I think that that's meaningful to have life, to have like an active reading.

00:14:10 - Yes, that's true, and actually in the different epochs times in the United

00:14:18 - States, they all use those literacy devices in different ways. For example, let's start from the past. Indigenous people wrote about their tales, their meets their legends. Then the conquerors and the independency leadership were about the fight for freedom and it was super essential and all those things after that all those minority like black people indigenous shows their sadness and this pleasure about the current society. Then we have also the ones who had a good life but also what is pleasure as you just said about Mark Twain and finally we have our current North American literature that is where there is like a huge variety of genres which people can feel identified with as you just said.

00:15:16 - Totally for sure that that summary was totally complete and amazing, thank you so much for that and it makes me think in how every single author took everything that happened, everything with the social issue, that the things that happened and it was, yes, these things weren't their inspiration, which is something that I really like. But yes, I think that American,

00:15:43 - North American literature and in general literature is something that we have to key is something that we have the opportunity as teachers that we have like that task to provide and to have something meaningful for our students and I think that one way and one of the best ways to have that is through literature. Yes I agree with you and you know what I learned of those uh on i mean i mean in the whole time of this class i the most important thing that i learned was that every writer every person writes something that they know yes yes of course they have a sad life so they wrote sad stories or dark stories to teach something they want to have a good life also want to teach but doing like a more normal and fancy thing so one thing that I really learned about this experience. Yes Anna. So it was everything for today guys. I really want to thank you for for being here and for staying with us during all these episodes of this American literature things and topics and literature and in this both of us and we really enjoy to prepare everything for you and we really hope that you enjoy and we hope that you keep on learning and reading about literature because it's important for our life and you know that it's a way to keep our roots and to keep our culture and our identity that makes us unique. So thank you so much Anna for your analysis for every single comment and everything was meaningful and that's everything for today guys.

00:17:36 - Thank you so much and have an amazing night.

00:17:38 - Thank you, Willow. Thank you everybody. See you soon.