RE: Butterflies and life

From: Dorie Evensen (dhd2@psu.edu)
Date: Mon Apr 04 2005 - 14:20:02 PDT


David - The book is about the author's experience as a child of Mexican
immigrants educated in quite traditional Catholic schools in California
(1960s). It's the story of his "losing" his family and ethnicity as he
came to embrace the discourse of traditional (and mostly classic)
education. The book has undergone criticisms because of Rodriguez'
position against affirmative action - he was admitted to (now here is where
my memory fades), I think, Yale (I also think it was a graduate program)
under affirmative action protocols - his argument is that af. ac. should
not be for people like him. He winds up refusing the position. Rodriguez
works now for the Pacific News Service and does occasional essays on the
The News Hours (PBS). What remains with me about the book is his vivid
sense of loss coupled with a strong desire for the new development he is so
aware of having experienced.
Dorie

At 05:02 PM 4/4/2005, you wrote:

>Dorie,
>Sorry for not knowing the person, but could you please say more about
>this book?
>David
>
>David Preiss
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>-
>Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile: www.puc.cl
>PACE Center at Yale University: www.yale.edu/pace
>Homepage: http://pantheon.yale.edu/~ddp6/
>Phone: 56-2-3544605
>Fax: 56-2-354-4844
>E-mail: david.preiss@yale.edu, davidpreiss@puc.cl
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Dorie Evensen [mailto:dhd2@psu.edu]
>Sent: Monday, April 04, 2005 1:38 PM
>To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
>Subject: Re: Butterflies and life
>
>
>
>I wonder if people think that Richard Rodriguez' autobiography, Hunger
>of
>Memory, provides some insights into losses associated with development?
>Dorie
>
>
>
>At 01:28 PM 4/4/2005, you wrote:
> >Well, those butterflies and some notion of an elsewhere or other that
> >is unfettered... Would that it were so. I am especially fond of the
> >Monarchs -- an endangered species precisely as they travel across
> >space. Actually, the butterflies - we could think of them as actants in
>
> >some species of ANT - part of the system and with no autonomous agency
> >-- feed along the way on milkweed, treated with pesticides as a
> >"noxious weed", as well as genetically-modified corn that produces a
> >protein toxic to the larvae of monarchs, and their habitat in their
> >wintering grounds in Mexico is being lost to devastating logging,
> >resulting in a huge drop in the population of Monarchs.
> >
> >And so here we have a kind of cautionary tale about the impacts of
> >"development" <science, construction, the economy> on forms of life and
>
> >living. The kinds of loss produced by "development" produces an
> >interesting line of inquiry.
> >
> >Mary
> >
> >On 4/3/05 7:48 PM, "Marie Judson" <mjudson@ucsd.edu> wrote:
> >
> > > It does relate to the topic, Kris, in the sense that
> > > the butterflies come across the border freely, unlike
> > > the humans.
> > >
> > > Marie
> > >
> > > --- Kris Gutierrez <gutierrez@gseis.ucla.edu> wrote:
> > >
> > >> THIS IS OFF TOPIC BUT IT CAN'T GO
> > >> UNNOTICED--SOMETHING CLOSE TO HOME
> > >> FOR THOSE OF US IN THE SOUTHWEST and hopefully
> > >> something else to
> > >> ponder: KRIS
> > >>
> > >> Soldados Mexicanos Muertos en Irak" (Xenophobes of
> > >> the Minutemen
> > >> Project want to play soldiers on the
> > >> Arizona-Mexico border, hunting
> > >> down "illegal aliens." Meanwhile, Mexicans are
> > >> dying in Iraq for the
> > >> US government) -- FULL TEXT:
> > >>
> > >
> <http://montages.blogspot.com/2005/04/soldados-mexicanos-muertos-en-> > >>
> > >> irak.html>
> > >> --
> > >>
> > >> Kris D. Gutierrez
> > >> Professor
> > >> GSE&IS
> > >> Moore Hall 1026
> > >> UCLA
> > >> Los Angeles, CA 9009501521
> > >> 310-825-7467
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > > Marie Judson
> > > Ph.D. Candidate
> > > Department of Communication
> > > UCSD, Mailcode 0503
> > > 858.643.9090
> > > mjudson@ucsd.edu
> > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > >



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