Self-Identity

The play Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare is beautifully scripted challenging the meaning of love and gender identity. Both themes of the story are still prevalent today, with society adjusting to various gender identities all the while refreshing demonstrations of love. Loyola held an event on November 3rd called International Fest where students could go to engage and diversify themselves with a number of different cultures.

As mentioned throughout Twelth Night Shakespeare emphases on the theme of identity. Many characters throughout the play are subject to caprice. A notable example of this is when Viola disguises herself a man in order avoid having to mourn her brother in addition to getting closer to Duke Orsino. Under disguise her new name becomes Cesario and she pretends to be a male servant. Changing her identity and subsequently life as she knew it, Cesario (Viola) gains a position as one of the Dukes hands. Ironically Olivia develops feelings for Cesario, who is tasked with relaying the Dukes love for her. I can only imagine the awe and controversy Shakespeare must have endured following the release of this play. His characters break the societal norms of the time through their development of feelings despite actually being the same sex. These controversies are still being mended in today’s society and I cannot imagine the backlash received within the Shakespearean culture.

I attended the international festival with my roommate and fellow SGA members. At the on-campus event, we enjoyed many booths and activities, one of my friends even used his tickets on what he claims to have been “a magical” massage. With this weeks reading, I believe the International fest contrasts Shakespeare’s idea of fluctuating identity with the goal of I fest to diversify while staying true to your culture or nationality. This can be seen in the energy and words of the students hosting I Fest along with the numerous tables and supply of authentic cultural food in hopes of letting others gain a better understanding of their culture.

The central point of both the reading and event is still seen regularly in today’s society. As we continue to change societal norms the way we view self-identity is paralleled. I think the topic of self-identity is growing to be a conversation even greater than human understanding, in the sense of who draws the line as to what humans can identify as. With the conversation still continuing I hope one day there is a fair and transparent level of self-identity.

Blog 5

Alex Uzunoff

Service Analysis #5

I unfortunately spent the last few days in bed very sick and unable to see my Tunbridge first grade class this week. However, while reading the first two acts of Twelfth Night by Shakespeare, I was surprised how its themes connected to my previous weeks of service, as well as my daily life.

Gender roles and our identity are topics that we are exposed to every single day, whether it be with ourselves or through observing others. When it comes to gender roles, I can specifically remember being younger and being told by the boys in my second grade class that it was “weird” that I liked the “girls’ games” as well as the “boys’ games.” It almost seemed like we were all programmed to know that the color pink, dolls, and playing ‘house’ went to females as action figures and play fighting went to boys. This separation of what genders are supposed to like what was not us intentionally grouping ourselves. We didn’t know we were defining ourselves and we didn’t know why...it’s just kind of what we knew.

I can see the same types of gender roles with the first graders at Tunbridge. During the hours that I come volunteer, the students have their quiet reading time, where they can sit anywhere in the class room and read books of their choice. I’ve observed that the girls of the class, with the exception of those who choose to sit alone or have to work with Mrs. Grimm, tend to sit together on the carpet and form a “wall” with their book folders. They are not intentionally trying to not include the boys in the class, and the boys in the class are too busy forming their own groups to worry about what the girls are doing. When you are this young, I think it is more common for children to gravitate their friendships towards those similar to them—in this case gender wise.

While reading Twelfth Night, I continued to see these themes of gender and what it really means/how much it connects to who we are. In the play, Viola dresses as a male, Cesario, in order to get chance to work for Orsino and hopefully win the love of Olivia. Interestingly enough, Olivia ends up falling for “Cesario.” Shakespeare brings the idea of breaking gender roles into this play by having a female dress up and pretend to be male. In the times that Shakespeare wrote this play, the idea of same sex relationships and acting as a gender different than what you are was probably not easily acceptable. It made me think about how much our gender really plays a role in our identity and who we are as a person, contrary to the way we split each other up as kids. It also makes me wonder if Olivia will/would feel differently about Cesario after finding out his true identity. I am interested to keep examining these gender roles in the play, and connecting them to my service.

Sexuality and Gender Ambiguity

The event I attended for this blog post was the 2017 Commitment to Justice Panel: Sexuality and Justice Beyond Rhetoric discussion last Thursday. This discussion consisted of four young people speaking upon their struggles with their sexuality and how they have gotten to the point they are at today. Relating to this, Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night touches upon sexual identity and gender roles as well. While the play is lighthearted, it still raises questions about how different males and females, as well as heterosexuals and homosexuals, really are.

Each of the panelists spoke about difficulties that I can only imagine enduring, but the person whose story stood out to me most was Kathleen Ball. She identifies as asexual, and decided to use her time telling us that there we probably do not know as much as we think we know about asexuality. Even under official manuals such as the Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders, her sexuality has been considered a ‘mental disorder’ for part of her life. She explained that this caused a lot of confusion and hardship for her as she grew into her identity, which made me think about how we, as a society, perceive anyone who is different from us and how that affects their perception of themselves. Likewise, the characters in Twelfth Night often speak about Cesario’s femininity in a negative way which exemplifies the disdain that people feel towards those who are different. Yet, by the end of the story, Orsino finds himself falling for Cesario due to what he sees as similarities to Viola, who has been disguised as Cesario the entire play. Furthermore, Olivia also becomes attracted to Cesario because of ‘his’ womanliness. This speaks to the ambiguity of gender, and how it may not mean as much as society thinks.

What I take away from the panel, and my subsequent reading of Twelfth Night, is that we often allow ourselves to get wrapped up in the social constructs of gender roles and sexuality. The people who spoke to us told us that we should be concerned with leaving Loyola “better than we found it”. While I have not come across any instances of discrimination against people because of their sexuality at Loyola, hearing so much about young people coming to accept their identity makes me feel ardently about protecting their right to be the person they want to be if I ever must.

Blog #5

In today's society, sexuality has been the talk all over the place; some circumstances being good, such as legalizing gay marriage in certain states, but also some being bad like discriminating against the gay community. For myself, I knew the good and bad that was brought upon the LGBT+ community but I did not know the severity. Before I attended the event Loyola held, Sexuality and Justice Panel, I did not understand the everyday struggles. Everyone who has any type of social media constantly sees videos of people expressing their sexuality to their friends or family. As I would view these I would think "Good for that person I know it must have been hard" however, I did not know how hard. The amount of courage and bravery the LGBT+ community has to build up to express their feeling, whether it is through a video, parade, riot, or whatever the case maybe is unacceptable. They should not have to build up bravery to tell their parents, friends or family who they are; that is where our society is wrong. After reading Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, and attending the Sexuality and Justice panel Loyola offered, I was able to comprehend the seriousness of sexuality and the hardships the LGBT+ community endures. 

While I was at the event Sexuality and Justice, a small handful of speakers told their story and experiences of liking their same gender. But two girls caught my ears more than the others. The first girl talked about being pansexual, which is being attracted to both men and female genders. She told us how it was hard for her family to accept the idea of her being pansexual. Her parents did not love her any more or less, but being from such a religious background it was hard for them to grasp the reality. I felt extreme sympathy for her when she told us her family was not too fond of her sexuality. I know they don't need to be screaming in excitement but the fact that she knew they were not total fans of the LGBT+ community is saddening. She should have felt immediate support from her family but living in a society where such sexuality is often looked past or frowned upon is very wrong. As that girl spoke more through her personal experiences within her family, the second girl spoke more through the LGBT+ community as a whole and the stereotypes they deal with. She told us that she feels unaccepted and an outcast because she is gay. She is often nervous to tell people and new friends she is gay because she is nervous about their reaction. She said not all people look down on her but there is that handful who do and it is very sad. However, through all the unequal treatment, they both explained how times are slowly changing. 

Relating the speakers I heard from to the first and second acts of the Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, he writes similar stereotype that was occurring even that long ago. A character named Viola, who is gay, disguises herself as a man and pretends to be Cesario because she has feelings for a woman named Olivia. Viola does this because during this time same sex relationships were frowned upon. However, through the disguise, Olivia begins to fall for "Cesario" until finally the secrete is revealed. Olivia is shocked at the fact that she fell for a woman. Olivia degrades the love she felt because it was unacceptable during this time. The idea William Shakespeare was alluding to is Olivia had no problem falling in love with someone until she realized it was a girl, and it was considered wrong. People need to look past sexuality and accept each other for who they are. 

Listening to the speakers at Sexuality and Justice panel, and reading the first two acts of Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, I was able to see a different side of sexuality more clearly. People should be accepted for who they are as a person not what sex they are attracted to. It is a shame people apart of the  LGBT+ community feel the way they do because the society has portrayed it a bad thing for hundreds of years. Thankfully, we are seeing changes and sooner or later, hopefully, no one will have to feel embarrassed or different for being gay. The discrimination of  LGBT+ community needs to come to a halt. Calling someone a fag, queer, or gay in a negative connotation is inexcusable and our society should be the one's embarrassed that it is socially unacceptable to call someone gay. Through all the parades and riots one thing is for sure and that is those who are gay, have the freedom to be and should not feel as if its a bad thing. There should not be  a two way road when someones expresses their sexuality. Gay or straight, white or black, or man or woman everyone should be accepted as who they. Change is happening and through that idea alone should bring joy to those who are involved with the LGBT+ community. 

Blog 5!

Megan Holden

Blog 5!

Shakespeare's Twelfth Night explores the concept of love, and whether love comes from the lover's imagination or the actual person they love. Love is a really confusing and enthralling thing, and the love triangle the occurs between Olivia, Orsino, and Viola is dynamic in the way that gender influences them. Viola comes to be Orsino's servant by disguising herself as a man under the name Cesario, and Olivia falls in love with "Cesario" who is actually Viola. This is interesting because if Viola were to reveal herself to Olivia, would Olivia still claim to be in love with her even after discovering she wasn't a man? The fluidity of the characters gender and sexuality adds a layer of complexity to the story, where at moments it makes my question things like: "Did Orsino just call Cesario hot? Did he think Cesario was hot just because he had feminine features, or is he genuinely attracted to this guy?" 

When Viola and Sebastian are reunited and each end up marrying Olivia and Orsino, it made me kind of laugh because both of them are basically marrying the same person but they're opposite genders. If Viola and Sebastian are interchangeable to each couple, then does the gender of the person actually matter? Or, this could be showing the more selfish side of love, where a person only wants to be in love to feel in love and be loved in return so it doesn't even matter to them who they love. Shakespeare plays with the idea that real love might not even exist, and that its something we imagine and manifest for our own entertainment and pleasure. In the final scene when the characters easily shift their affections to new people after pining after completely different people the entire play, it made their new-found love feel completely fake. To me, it came off as very self-indulgent and transparent, since none of the characters seem to understand that true love is unselfish, unconditional, and eternal. 

On November 6th I attended the Poetry Reading from Khaled Mattawa, a poet from Libya who shared a collection of his poems, and a portion of them dealt with the highs and lows of love. He spoke of the pure and simple love that he recognized for his mother when he was small and how that love was the most "illuminating" love he had ever experienced. The love that he described in richly incarnated details, delights, and implications was one that I think is a universal feeling of unconditional love that many can relate to, but to find true in love can be fickle and far-between. To find true romantic love takes time and commitment, which I think is something our Twelfth Night characters could use a lesson on. 

Blog 5

            I was very excited to read Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare because one of my favorite movies, She’s The Man is based off the same character dynamics, although it has a modern setting of private boarding high school rather than a foreign land your home country is at war with.

            I think the dynamic between the characters is very interesting unique, especially since Shakespeare was able to create a true love triangle between Duke Orsino, Olivia, and Viola. It is very coincidental that there is a bit of a love triangle (actually more of a rectangle) between the second graders at Tunbridge I got to hear some drama about. Although the boys make fun of the girls to flirt with them rather than sending “romantic” messages through servants, unfortunately there is still some rejection happening to the boys.

            A common theme from Twelfth Night is the confusion or uncertainty of gender. With Viola playing a boy, Cisario, it makes the love triangle possible and very confusing for the main characters. I am surprised that Shakespeare wrote in such a strong story line about gender confusion because I feel like the idea of a girl pretending to be a man would not be taken very well in society back then, despite the comic reliefs that were included. Even up until recently gender has been so fixed, it makes me wonder how Olivia and Duke will react in the end when they find out Cisario is not a male but a female.

            This easily accepted gender swap in the play contradicts what I have seen about gender at Tunbridge. One day the kids were outside playing soccer and they wanted to break up into teams. They decided right away to do a boy’s team and girls team, the fact that this was their first instinct made me feel like they were very aware of their genders and the differences. I don’t know if they wanted to split like that because they thought boys and girls should be separated, or they just wanted to be with their friends (they are still at the point in their lives where you don’t interact with the opposite sex and the vast majority of your friends are the same gender as you).

            Despite two very different age groups and time periods, it seems that all of humanity can run into the same types of problems, they just differ in how they respond and approach the problems.

Twelfth Night

         After reading acts I and II of Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare my mind immediately went to the class of fourth graders at the Tunbridge Charter School. The past few months working with the students and Ms.Gladden has been eye-opening and given me a new appreciation for teachers. I go to Tunbridge on Mondays from 8-10 am which is not the best time, the early morning and on top of that it's a Monday I am tired and I can see as the fourth graders walk into class they would rather be in their beds as well.

Shakespeare's play made me think of the students and the tricks and jokes they play on each other. They laugh and giggle with each other and keep secrets. Shakespeare's play is also about romance and even though these fourth graders and around nine and ten there's romance going on in that class! The other day in class two girls sitting in front of me asked a boy sitting next to me if his friend likes her friend. I know this sounds a little complex but reading the play it immediately made me think of how even in fourth grade and the 1600’s not much has changed. Orsino is not going to tell Olivia how he feels but has Cesario tell her instead.

Service Blog 5

Jonathan Ocampo
Service Blog #5
Professor Juniper Ellis
November 20, 2017

 The Struggle to Find Ones Identity

In William Shakespeare’s comedic play, Twelfth Night, the readers are introduced to an apparent love triangle between three characters. The jealousy brought out from the triangle forces one of the characters, Viola, to ultimately change her identity to send a message. This aspect of the play reminds me a lot about the characteristic of the students in Mrs. Tates first grade class. Some students, regarding behavior, are always well behaved and get the work that has been assigned completed. On the other hand, there are some students who decide to change their attitude not take their work seriously. These students struggle in their academics and overall progress, and that is seen through the consistent uncompleted assignments I file for grades.

 In the first act of this play the reader is introduced to Viola who changes her identity to Cesario who currently works for the person she has fallen in love with, Orsino. Although Viola has these feelings for Orsino, Orsino sends Cesario on an errand to send a message of love to Olivia. This sudden change in identity reminds me of how the attitudes of the students at Tunbride can change and vary each week I see them. On one instance one of the children was paying attention and completing his work one week, and all of a sudden, the next week he was throwing a temper tantrum because he has missed his mom. I can relate to this because when I was younger I felt the same way, but was taught in private school that we were there to learn. This change in identity shows how vulnerable young children are, and that sometimes theh might need a little assistance to start their days on the right note. But at the end of the day each student at Tunbridge is doing their best to do everything the teacher says to prove that they want to become better students and learn new ideas every class period.

As a morning volunteer these types of situations happen every so often, and there are a couple of ways I help calm the situation down. As the teacher of a first-grade class, Mrs. Tate does anything to carry on the continuation of her student’s learning. When one child as a tantrum, she asks me to kindly take the student outside and speak to them personally and attempt to calm them down in order to return in the classroom. While I have the student outside I tell them to take a deep breath and walk him/her over to the water fountain for a drink. Taking these actions has not only taught me how to deal with sticky situations, but has also shown me the steps to take when my own young family members acts out in a similar way.

In conclusion, William Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night teaches readers like me that a change in identity can be harmful to your values, but learning experiences can disguise themselves in weird ways. Being a teacher’s assistant for young children has taught me about my own identity, and the person I can become if I put my mind to the important things in my life. Tunbridge has been the home of my development as a college student, and has facilitated in showing me that there is more to college than bars and “having fun”.