What Can Virtual Reality Do That Books Can't?

Upon watching “Crossing the Line: Untold Stories of Refugees”, I was particularly drawn to the story of two women who had come to America to seek asylum from the rampant gang violence in Mexico; but when night fell at the border, they told by a border agent to go to Mexican immigration that night and come back the next day. After fruitless pleading, they returned to Mexican immigration. The people there called the two women a taxi which, they discovered upon boarding, was affiliated with The Gulf Cartel. That same night the two women were kidnapped. One recalls being held hostage for 18 days. She has been held in an immigration detention for over a year and her case is still pending.

Something I have heard this year more than ever is students claiming they don’t enjoy reading because they can’t form pictures in their heads. That the words aren’t enough. I think virtual reality is a sufficient response to this growing mentality. Especially in “Crossing the Line”, hearing a story directly from the source’s mouth and seeing it illustrated all around you eliminates the need for excess imagination or brain power. It is a somewhat sad ideation, but if someone truly can’t enjoy literature due to the inability to imagine, then virtual reality might be a feasible solution.

Thoughts About Frankenstein

Before going to see the play Frankenstein, I had a different idea in my mind on how they were going to show it. When we actually got there and started watching, I realized it wasn't anything like I thought. They displayed it in a very unique way. A way I've never seen before. Even though it wasn't like a normal play that I'm used to, with people acting on stage, I think it was really cool. Having it be manual cinema, we really got to see exactly what and how they were doing the things behind the scenes, instead it was actually on stage in front of us. Though there was no dialect, I still was able to follow the story. I also think that it was really great how it was an all female cast. Girls rock, of course.

What do White People ACTUALLY Know About Black People?

The thing about a book like Citizen is that in theory is a nice book. But in actuality it isn’t. The book give a light glimpse of black life. It it only feeds into the one negative the black women live this side life filled with filled with racial adversity. And as a black women, I believe I can say we are more than this. What about your first love? Your first heartbreak? First swim of the summer? Failing a test? All of this thing make up a person and I do not believe this book helps capture this much need picture. Growing up I never saw this images of black women.

This thought bring up one question for me, What do non-black people actually know about black people? The answer to that is very little if anything. The one lens they are shown in classrooms and in the media is a stereotypical. Black people are never aloud to be well rounded characters. Instead they are the butt of jokes about how "ghetto", that character is. Where are the black girl next door characters? Where are the dark skin black characters? Where are the 'strong black leades' (as Netflix calls them)? What lacks is lacking in Citizen is the ability for black people to be who they are, people.

Different Responses to Loss

In the beginning of Stranger, the main character, Meursault, looses his mother and doesn't have a big reaction about it. It could be because of shock, the missing closeness between the two, or doubt. Looking back on my own personal experiences with losses of my loves ones, I cried a lot with the deaths close to home, where I saw the person or animal at or after the time of death. When I lost my aunt in Germany, it did not set in until the funeral and I realized that she had actually passed. I wanted to doubt it and the shock of that the person or animal is actually gone. I miss my aunt, my dog, my cat, and other loved ones all the same but my mourning wasn't the same. Each person reacts to mourning differently, which also depends on their past. Though there is the whole "men don't cry because they have to be tough" facade, it is his mother. We would hope that there would at least be a tear or a feeling of loss shown in the main characters actions. Instead, Meursault lack of empathy for his mother's death results in him being labeled as abnormal. This causes the main character to become ostracized from his peers. This unexpected reaction to his mother's death also leaves the audience with a sense of disbelief as the reader attempts to understand the main character's apathy.