"Identity Blues" by Janessa Jordan https://padlet.com/jjordan18/709y5z9kj4yb Look up the definitions of the words “diaspora” and “dysphoria.” Then consider the speaker’s attitude toward himself and others. How does the speaker feel about himself and the world around him? Responses should be 200-300 words. en-us 2018-08-19 16:19:32 UTC 2018-08-20 05:50:39 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Brightnessdown.png Keyaunna Morgan https://padlet.com/jjordan18/709y5z9kj4yb/wish/273919961 Alok Vaid-Meno begins by comparing the word ‘diaspora’ with ‘dysphoria’ to establish how interconnected the words are to one’s Identity. Vaid-Meno feels as though he does not have to identify with anything that is already prelabeled by those before him. In lines 10-12 the reader can imply that Vaid-Meno does not want to feel obligated to sticking to one label like everyone else who can't relate to him on a personal level, because he asks “isn’t asking what gender the same as asking where does a person come from.” Often times when someone is asked where is their native homeland they are asking from what place do you Identify with, what place is home for you? Vaid-Meno is trying to signalize that most people would easily identify with one place but for people that are similar to him would answer the question more freely and diverse. Also, Vaid-Meno is actively open about who he is as a person because in the last stanza he states that when he is often times approached with self identifying questions, “water” comes out. Water being a smooth and easy flowing substance, one is almost certain that, Vaid-Meno does not have to stumble or stutter over his answer but answer with ease and confidence. On the other hand, Meno notes the behavior of the world around him when he comments on how the world makes certain people feel. People are constantly reminded of how unwanted and insecure they are. Vaid-Meno is making a point that reflects how dictatorial the world is. If one does not fit the general description or does not follow the given trend, then they are subject to hate and cruelty. ]]> 2018-08-19 18:21:06 UTC https://padlet.com/jjordan18/709y5z9kj4yb/wish/273919961 Kamyia Rivers https://padlet.com/jjordan18/709y5z9kj4yb/wish/273920092 The author of this poem is lost in a world that does not accept him because he is not originated from the world that claims to know and reject him. He connects the ideas of diaspora and dysphoria together in line 9 by questioning the simple interconnect they share with one another. The fact of being physically removed from the land in which you consider native with individuals who understand and truly know you can bring a sense of abandonment and cause a person to be lost. The author feels that the world around him is a circle and he has become the outcast because the land in which he suppose to call home is not truly his ancestral background. Additionally, questioning him in lines 10-12 emphasize the reality of him not belonging to the world that is suppose to accept him because this is "home' right? A simple question of your gender, which is seen as a normality or common question one is asked throughout everyday life when applying for jobs or anything, is as common as asking him where he is from. Also, the question of someone asking your gender in person when its obvious that you are male or female, can illustrate how obvious it is that he does not belong in the place is currently stationed. It isn't the author fault why he is in the situation he is in, however, he realizes that diaspora is the cause of dysphoria; he will never be comfortable or at ease in his life because he is a person who has lost a part of him that will make him whole again: home. ]]> 2018-08-19 18:24:08 UTC https://padlet.com/jjordan18/709y5z9kj4yb/wish/273920092 Le’Shayla Patton https://padlet.com/jjordan18/709y5z9kj4yb/wish/273920852 The author of “Identity Blues” feels like he is a sore thumb that sticks out. I say this because he doesn’t fit into the societal standards or expectations. He feels that he is not accepted and he’s fine with that as long as he is true to himself. In the poem, the author makes a connection between the words diaspora and dysphoria. In making this connection, the author is saying that because a person is dispersed from their original homeland(diaspora) they soon feel unhappy(dysphoria). The two terms are interconnected in the sense that one's homeland is suppose to make one feel wanted yet that’s not the case because you’re not accepted, which causes this disconnect. If your native land don’t accept you then who will. Since he feels he has no home, asking him questions pertaining to his gender reminds him of questions like “where did you come from?” (Line 12) It’s supposed to be a normal question yet, when asked in person he feels people want to know where he is from exactly because he “looks” like he don’t belong. When asked this simple question a simple answer is expected but not given because diaspora and not having the original place to call home, which once again leads to dysphoria or the feeling of being unhappy. ]]> 2018-08-19 18:36:55 UTC https://padlet.com/jjordan18/709y5z9kj4yb/wish/273920852 Noah Griffin noah_griffin https://padlet.com/jjordan18/709y5z9kj4yb/wish/273922865 After looking up the definitions of “diaspora” and “dysphoria”, it makes the message behind this poem a lot more clear. The author feels like the world he is currently living in, is a place in which he does not belong. The reason being is because he does a great job with connecting diaspora, the dispersion of any people from their original land, with how the world tries to make people feel in lines 3-8. One example the author uses is “we have always been made to feel foreign in our own bodies” (lines 3-4). Using both words, diaspora and dysphoria, this can connect back to how europeans once came over to the Americas and made the Native Americans move out from their homelands and made them feel as if they no longer belonged in that area. The narrator is trying to say that the world around us tries to disconnect us from our true selves, that being our bodies that we were raised with, and tries to change us into becoming something other than what we already were. It tries to take away our comfort of living with ourselves and makes us feel as if “we don’t belong” (lines 7-8). Also in line 5, he makes a sort of connection of feeling like a “guest overstaying welcome”. This makes it feel like we, in fact, don’t own our bodies but we are just visitors in it. Sort of like in a hotel you have to make reservations to stay there but if you stay longer than the reservation you made, then something will be done to get you removed/kicked out from the hotel. Like in society/the world if you don’t necessarily belong then you will be removed like what diaspora means. ]]> 2018-08-19 19:21:24 UTC https://padlet.com/jjordan18/709y5z9kj4yb/wish/273922865 Chelsi Toombs https://padlet.com/jjordan18/709y5z9kj4yb/wish/273934135   The definition of the word “diaspora” means movement of people from their original homeland. “Dysphoria” is the state of general unhappiness with life. The two words may look the same, but in my opinion, have different meanings that can be creatively connected to potentially mean the same thing. In “Identity Blues,” the speaker says “diaspora” and “dysphoria” share the same form. For example, he says, “asking for gender is another way of asking: where did you come from?” The speakers point is that we should just stick to simple language to avoid feeling like foreigners in our own bodies. 
The speaker’s attitude towards himself is dissatisfaction with society’s identification process. The speaker is aware and alert that too many unknown words are used in the English language. The speaker is also sensitive about how people ask for identification, or the fact that people even ask you to identify yourself at all. Perhaps the speaker’s attitude towards others is that identification shouldn’t matter. Everyone and everything can be connected in some way or another. The speaker believes people shouldn’t care about the slight differences of one another because we are all really the same or share at least one thing in common. The speaker uses the example of “diaspora” and “dysphoria,” two words that look the same but have entirely different meanings to prove his point that people can seem entirely different from one another but can be connected is some way. For example, someone who is unhappy with their life (dysphoria) could take it upon themselves to move a certain group of people that they blame from their home land (diaspora). After all, this was the case with Hitler and the Holocaust. Hitler and the Jews may have seemed completely different from one another, but they both connect with the two words diaspora and dysphoria, and the fact that both unique groups of people are classified as human. ]]> 2018-08-19 22:52:15 UTC https://padlet.com/jjordan18/709y5z9kj4yb/wish/273934135 Cornesha Smith https://padlet.com/jjordan18/709y5z9kj4yb/wish/273953190  
In the text Identify Blues by Alok Vaid-Meno, the author thoughts in the text is one that is such an introvert or one that feels/ thinks like he’s an outsider, the one who’s not in the middle of the crowd, however he’s one that is stuck in the closet and not out in the opening.  In the poem the author notice that he’s abused in both matters, physically and mentally. Not able to express who he want to be in the world because the society that he was in. It was a society that was hindering people’s ideas and even  their identity. Suffocated by the world he’s into thinking their meanings of their self isn't worthy of expressing or inserting into the picture. Within addressing that he has inserted “ dysphoria”  and diaspora into the picture to show that he’s in a amguity with himself and those who don’t think he even belongs in that community.  The word dysphoria means to have many different types of uncertainty about your life. The author feels these types of emotions in life he feels like he don't belong where it is at you feel hatred and distrust within yourself . In lines 3-4 the author indicates that “ we are always made to feel foreign in our bodies”. The author inserted this line to show the way the people in society has disguised themselves to the others in the society; how they feel about others. Indicating that they has made a way for the reader to understand that they have been captured by the forgotten and brainwashed to think they aren’t worthy of expressing their full potential experience to the world.  However, the word diaspora means to be located beyond the original designated origin. For example the items that are made in a differnet country is somehow in a different sae from where ot orginal came from it can peol and even items that has came across the way the the author feels about not begina ble rto express himslef about begin in a world that has yet to accept him in the community with welcomng arms. 

 
]]> 2018-08-20 01:35:37 UTC https://padlet.com/jjordan18/709y5z9kj4yb/wish/273953190 Bryson Gilkey https://padlet.com/jjordan18/709y5z9kj4yb/wish/273954124  
Diaspora is defined as the dispersion of any people from their original homeland and dysphoria as a state of unease or generalized dissatisfaction with life. The author feels that by sorting people into categories such as race or gender we create a box that causes both  diaspora and dysphoria. Upon looking up Alok Vaid- Menon I found that he considers himself non-binary and stated in a interview “The way I understand my gender is I'm both a man and a woman, and neither a man and a woman.” This gave me a clearer understanding of the poem because the author himself feels foreign in his body yet he is expected by the world to expect what he was born into. “ we have always been made to feel foreign in our own bodies —a guest overstaying welcome,” Alok feels dysphoria and diaspora because he his stuck in a body in which he feels he doesn’t belong long and he has a resentment towards the world because many people don’t understand gender identity. “asking for gender is another way of asking:where did you come from?” The author sees the world as ignorant and intolerant because people don’t view identity the same way he does . The author feels lost and I believe he using his poem to others who think like him and to also share his ideas about identity with the world.

 
]]> 2018-08-20 01:43:01 UTC https://padlet.com/jjordan18/709y5z9kj4yb/wish/273954124 Taniah Tatum https://padlet.com/jjordan18/709y5z9kj4yb/wish/273955898     The word dysphoria means to be in a state of dissatisfaction or discomfort with a circumstance or situation. Diaspora means a forceful migration or scattering of a group of people from their native homeland. It seems that the author feels that they are a stranger in their own body as they state, “we have always been made to feel foreign in our own bodies.” They use the two words above to push their point forward when questioning the similarities of the two words. 
    From the personal standpoint of the speaker, they struggle with the body they’re born in and identity given to them. They’re going through gender dysphoria in which they feel out control of their body or that they weren’t born right or that they weren’t even born the right gender. They feel as if they’re being push out their homeland, and like many foreigners, unsure on where they belong. They feel that their gender or lack thereof has overstayed its welcome.They ask questions about their gender dysphoria like many others who go through it do, “another way of asking: where did you come from,” and a single question is only the start of a million questions until the person allows themselves to break their past gender chains and evolve into a new being completely. No matter how old this poem is I want to say to the speaker and everyone else going through gender dysphoria that your path is long and ugly, but like caterpillar you will grow beyond your former self. That was cheesy.
]]> 2018-08-20 01:58:37 UTC https://padlet.com/jjordan18/709y5z9kj4yb/wish/273955898 Tianna Smith https://padlet.com/jjordan18/709y5z9kj4yb/wish/273966163 In the poem titled “Identity Blues” the author, Alok Vaid-Meno, starts his poem off with two powerful words, with meanings that could be interpreted differently. When  looking up the word “diaspora”, the dispersion of any people from their original homeland, someone could interpret it as a foreign coming to America. While “dysphoria”, a state of unease it generalized dissatisfaction with life, could be interpreted as being stressed or dissatisfaction with life. In Vaid-Meno’s poem he made these interpretations false by stating how each word were similar. After reading this poem and looking at the background of Vaid-Meno, I noticed his attitude and feels about himself and others was expressed in this poem. In stanza two, he states that “we have always been made to feel foreign in our own bodies” saying that others have made different people or “ foreign people” not be accepted in their own bodies. Clearly expressing his attitude about others and himself. He generally feels that others are judge mental to people that are different in a various of ways, in this case, sexuality. Vaid-Meno’s attitude towards himself is that he is dissatisfaction with himself because of others actions because from looking at the title, with blues representing the emotion sad, he is sad about his identity and how he is not accepted by the world around him. This is common in society because everyone wants to be like one person and if you’re not then you are harshly criticized about how different you are. So with Vaid-Meno classified as transgender, he is harshly criticized and feel unsafe and unaccepted by the world around him because he states in stanza four, “ asking for gender is another way of asking: where did you come from” then he continues  “ sometimes when i answer water comes out.”. In other words, he is saying that when he is asked about his gender he is judge and assumed to be from somewhere he is not and is seen as an example of diaspora. The judgement and assumptions cause tears because at the end of the poem he mention “water” and that it “comes out” clearly symbolizing that he is crying and showing how others actions and words impact him sometimes. So when he mentions how similar diaspora” and “dysphoria” are he means that him having a different sexuality from others bring a state of unease dissatisfaction to his life and others who could closely relate to him. ]]> 2018-08-20 03:24:31 UTC https://padlet.com/jjordan18/709y5z9kj4yb/wish/273966163 Shari Saulsberry https://padlet.com/jjordan18/709y5z9kj4yb/wish/273966381 Within the text of identity blues, Alok Vaid-Meno evaluates the value of identity through the schemes of "diaspora" and "dysphoria." Diaspora is the dispersal of people from their native land, and dysphoria the state of dissatisfaction. In the opening line of the text, Vaid- Meno mentions how similar the two words are when seeing them "on a page." This inclusion of the absence of distinctiveness between the two words shows the connection between the two and how they will relate in his realms of identity. The author goes on to continue b saying that "we have always been... foreign in our own bodies." This statement connects back to the idea of diaspora due to the mention of "foreign in our own bodies" and diaspora is the dispersion of natives from their homeland, which makes them foreigners in another land. Vaid- Meno feels that people often come into question of their self/identity with them being unknown to who they are made to know. In the ext few lines the author inserts that we are "guest" that "are constantly reminded that we don't belong." Everyone falls victim to feeling as though that they don't belong to their self; it is not an individual feeling. The challenging of the knowledge of one's self is something that constantly happens. Moving along, the authors magnifies the idea of uncertainty among one's identity with example of how people ask for gender and how it is a way of asking "where did you come from" to exemplify the the dysphoria and aspect of diaspora with foreignness in identity. The author overall feels that people on a wide scope are always at odds with recognizing their identity and what makes of their "true self."]]> 2018-08-20 03:26:48 UTC https://padlet.com/jjordan18/709y5z9kj4yb/wish/273966381