User:Japanize myself/sandbox

Research Journal Entries

Entry # 1

6 March 2015

Today was the first day of EN 103 class. I was nervous to accept that this course is based on research. I am terrible for such things but I hope that overcome that obstacle by taking this course. I created a Wikipedia account which I felt it was really interesting. My professor seems to be confident on what she expects from the class. She has a fun attitude and an interesting way to teach the class. The class took a short quiz based on the wikipedia packet the instructor passed out. I learned how to talk with other wikipedians on the Wikipedia site and how to timestamp with my signature. I learned how to use the sandbox. I learned how to cite references onto the sandbox and how to edit onto the same sandbox. At the near-end of class, the professor assigned homework due before class next week on Wikipedia. The assigned homework were distributed differently to teams. My assignment included a biographical information by Susan Gant-Britton and an essay by Butler from "Positive Obsession". I was to read both readings and report what I believe should be included in Octavia's biographic page on Wikipedia.

Entry # 2

13 March 2015

Today, Dr. X assigned each student to a team. Every student had to re-seat themselves to their corresponding team and discuss what they read from the handouts given the previous week. Then we had to type our ideas onto a workspace the professor assigned each team. My team was of five members, each one of us individually wrote down what should be changed, added, and/or deleted in Octavia Butler's Wiki page. We made sure to include all references used such as the printouts given to us in the previous class. After making sure that we had everything listed, one member of assigned team volunteered to copy and paste onto Butler's talk page; when he signed and saved the page, each other member signed the post one at a time. At the time that each team already began signing their post, the professor briefly explained the homework due before next class. The homework included: to read chapters 1 to 6 of FLEDGLING, write a summary of what we read in our own words, complete on quiz relating to those chapters, and post a message on talk pages of three people. The professor specifically chose two persons for us and third had to be any other student in class.

Entry # 3

20 March 2015

Today I had a hectic day in this class. I was in a group of four and we thought of other suggestion/ideas that either need to be changed, deleted, or added into Octavia Butler's Wiki page under the section of "Themes of Social Criticism". The team thought of many suggestions that had valid reasons to be taken in consideration. One member plus myself typed up all suggestions each member came up with, by using various references the professor gave everyone in class before pairing into teams. Then I volunteered to copy and paste my team's suggestions onto Octavia Butler's talk page. But I was having trouble the first time with saving the page onto Butler's talk page, because my post didn't show up. I asked the professor for help, she suggested to redo it again because there was probably an edit error. I did what she said and I remembered that I did not insert a "reflist" code at the end of my post. After adding that, I tried saving the page once more and it got through and was saved. I notified the rest of my team members that the post was saved and that they should sign before class ends. With few students including my team who finished posting their suggestions on Octavia's talk page, were asked to read a draft letter addressing Leslie Howle to allow the class free license to use photographs of Octavia Butler for educational purposes. Towards the end of class, the professor announced to the entire class that she was allowing an extra day to complete any assignments that have not been completed for today. She specifically said that she would be checking the work of each and every one in the class early tomorrow morning. After that announcement, the class was dismissed.

Entry # 4

27 March 2015

Today my day started off pretty overwhelming. I entered the classroom, walked towards my seat, and sat down. As I was signing into my Wiki page my professor calls me up to her desk. The first thing that popped into my mind was I probably did something wrong. When I walked closer to her, she suddenly appoints me the leader role of Team 1. "OMG!! Oh, no!!!", my inner self yelled. I was totally unprepared for such turn of events. I never thought myself as team leader material, because I mostly have been a team follower. At first I hesitated, but I didn't reject or deny the duty because I wanted to see what were my limits. I went back to my seat and began to look over the suggestions the class gathered for Octavia's biography on Wikipedia. After more than half the class was set, the professor taught us the differences between summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting. Both summarizing and paraphrasing, it requires original words of the reporter like myself. Quoting is basically copy and paste the exact sentence word for word by the author or writer in quotation marks. After spending a little more time in differentiating the three, the class went on break while the professor designated each student to a team on the board. When the break was over, the professor announced that all students should gather into their assigned groups and team leaders should begin explaining their roles. Once again I was feeling a bit nervous but I gave it a shot with the help of a fellow member of my team. She was more like a leader assistant, she helped me organize the subtopics which each member would be responsible for. After completing our draft on Microsoft Word, I copy and paste the team's work onto our assigned workspace on Google Docs. When the team agreed their submission was ready, the team asked the professor to take a look but she promised to do so over the spring break. Before the class ends, each member went to their individual sandbox and began their journal entry of the day. When everything was completed, we were able to leave.

Entry # 5

17 April 2015

Today in class, we began with the first editing draft on Butler's biography. Professor X assigned the class to edit another member's section within their assigned team. Previously I worked on Butler's death but today I proofread her childhood section. The professor suggested to add more effort and valuable information to each section, if needed After each member of my team finished their proofreading , we went over any corrections or additions with the professor in a group. Once we proofread each section, the professor next assigned us to edit the our corrections into our team workspace in Google Docs. I don't have much to write for this day because I had to leave early from class. However, the professor did notify me that I had to complete my revision ASAP so that one of team members can take it to the writing center.

Entry # 6

24 April 2015

Today I had an extremely overwhelming day in EN 103 class. I partially blame myself for leaving early last week but an emergency came up. Anyway, as soon as the professor began explaining today's class agenda, I felt tense and confused. I can't explain the reasons why but maybe I haven't taken some time to relax stress-free. I am taking five classes this semester and so much work has been assigned. Even though I do a bit a time, it feels like forever. From what I kind of understood was that each team had to partner up with another which the professor assigned us and revise the other team's works. As for my team, we were grouped with team 4 and Anne, a librarian at LAGCC and assisting the EN 103 class. Team 1 had to revise Team 4's work and they had to revise our work. Every one had to print out both teams' work, each having a hard copy. When I saw the last revisioned copy of my team done by the professor, I was surprised to found out the professor compressed majority of the work and omitted a few details. Now that every one had a hard copy, we had Anne begin the discussion starting with Team 1's work. Many of Team 4, criticized the on-running of errors, but I had yet to understand most of what they thought was wrong. I did notice a few which could have been said better but they said so many bad comments which led my team members feel troubled and making us feel that our hard effort from last week was wasteful. The professor told us that each member had to work on their own section after we have finished revising with Anne. I felt that the majority of what the professor wrote was good enough with a few minor adjustments. I spoke to my fellow Team 1 members and asked for their opinions, they also believed it was good. We did take a lot more time because we still a bit confused about before but a member of my team suggested to work as one rather than individually because it felt faster. After everything was done, the professor turned her attention to homeworks that were due today but weren't; so she notified the class that we have until Sunday morning to have everything finished. The last thing the professor went over was the fourth research assignment due by next week. She assigned each student with the responsibility of searching for their assigned article on the college library databases and printing out a hard copy of the article along with questions that must answered using the article. She strictly states that once we have answered our assigned article questions, we have to post the answers into our individual sandboxes on Wikipedia. She asked us to show her the printed articles and questions before we were able to be dismissed from class.

Entry # 7

1 May 2015

One of my fellow classmates notified that the professor sent email early this morning stating that we should come to class earlier to earn extra credit. When we stepped into the classroom, the professor was returning our paraphrasing quiz that was previously handed in. When the few students who read the professor's email settled down, Dr. X began class by reviewing the paraphrasing quiz and what can we do to avoid copying the original quote. When the professor felt that the class understood, she explained the details of the extra credit and it turned out to be a paraphrasing game. The game required to work in pairs and work with Google Docs. The professor created a form in which each pair uses to submit their answers. Dr. X suggested that one person of the pair should use an online thesaurus to search for alternative vocabulary while the other types and submits their answers. She provided the same quotes to each pair, and each pair had to submit as many paraphrased sentences as they can. My partner and I was only able to submit one answer to the first quote while other pairs were able to submit at least three. We had to do the same for two more quotes. After the game, the professor reminded the students that research assignment #4 was due today. I completely forgot to complete it, so she strongly recommended those student who forgot to complete, to do so now. However, the professor had scheduled something else to do but many students didn't finish which was a setback to the professor's plans. Even though it took me the entire class time to complete the assignment, at least its done and over with. Before leaving class, I made sure to notify the professor that I completed the fourth research assignment, so that I can credit for it.

Entry # 8

8 May 2015

Today the class had to get into groups corresponding to their readings assigned a few weeks ago. At this time we had to input our findings onto the class' talk page in Wikipedia. These assigned readings mainly mentioned themes important or equally important in Butler's Fledgling. After writing in the class' talk page, the groups were called in a numerical order, I was called second. At first, I didn't fully understand the significance of Afrofuturism feminism fiction. Later the professor instructed me to understand the meaning as she explained that Morris (my assigned reading) argued that the view of replacing something with another should be destroyed. African Americans were always viewed as a minority and unnecessary. During my groups turn, I got nervous and was unable to think clearly because I had forgotten what the professor said to me about Afrofuturism. Anyways the professor was able to help us to understand the concepts our readings meant to explain. After each group presented, I understood that we were setting up themes to include into Fledgling wikipage. Afterwards, the professor told the class to vote on themes that we, individually, believed were importantly essential to the novel, Fledgling. At the end of class, the professor announced that each student had to submit their first, second, and third choice of teams. In addition, she assigned the class to complete a quiz posted on Blackboard about "Acknowledging Sources".

Entry # 9

15 May 2015

Today we had the honor to meet Dr. Joy Sanchez-Taylor. We discussed in depth the themes involved in Butler's Fledgling and how each theme contradicts the expectations of society. Today was the first day to work on Fledgling. The professor assigned each student to a team. Each team was responsible for completing a section on the novel and two themes which the novel included. Since each team had a minimum of six members, the professor suggested that two members should work on each section. I chose to work on the theme of "difference as means of survival" with my partner. At first first, we were not 100% sure of what we needed to write on, but I asked another theme team member to show me their work to get a clear idea of what I should include. My partner and I did as much as we could and felt satisfied with what we wrote. However, we both agreed that if we later knew something interesting to add, we would add it in before the draft deadline. After adding what we wrote on our theme, we both signed it, and submitted it into our Google Docs workspace. Then, we were given the task to work on our journal entry. At last, we were permitted to leave.

Entry # 10

22 May 2015

Today in class, we continued drafting for Fledgling wikipage. However, the professor assigned each pair to revise and edit a different section. After editing the second draft, made by the professor, we were to reread and add suggestions to another team's section. The pair that read our draft of 'Reception', believed it was pretty good. My partner and I read their section 'Plot' and found that they were missing a few interesting facts. After adding our suggestions onto their printed third draft, the professor allowed us to copy and paste our respective section onto our team sandbox along with citation coding. After doing so, the professor gave us 30 extra minutes to continue working on our section drafts. She also announced that after completing our tasks, she was going to explain directions in starting our individual reflective essay.

Fledgling Summaries

Chapters 1 - 6

This section began with the protagonist lying on the ground, injured, unable to see in the darkness which blinded, naked and alone to fend for herself. After several days on her own, she arrived to a village with burnt houses, and was able to find clothes to cover herself. She knows what a house looks like but does not remember how and why. After additional days on her own, she happens to walk onto a paved road where a car stops and helps her. In this moment she meets a human man for the first time since she worked up alone in the forest. After the man constant insistance to help, she got into his car, and they drove off to his cabin he rented from his uncle. On their way, the man introduced himself as Wright Hamlin, a construction worker. She was somewhat nervous to know where Wright was taking her, so she tried to escape from the moving car but he kept grabbing her arm preventing her to jump out. On his third time grabbing her arm, she bit him and felt good doing so, tasting his blood for the first time. Wright stops the car, pulls her onto his lap, she licks and sucks blood from his neck, making him feel the pleasure of doing so. Since she doesn't remember nothing of herself, he names her, Renee. After naming her, she got back into her seat and he drove them to his cabin while preventing Renee to be seen by his relatives and other people. When they got inside the cabin, Wright sat at a table, took her shirts off and disposed them into the trash. He takes her the bathroom, places both of them in front of the mirror, Renee sees herself for the first time with fuzzy black hair, lean body, big eyes on a sharp face, and brown skin. Renee had a flat chest of a child, Wright questions her gender,so she undoes the shirt around her waist and takes off the jeans. With this, they confirm Renee was indeed a girl. Wright heads to a drawer near the bed, pulls out a white T-shirt, and hands it over to Renee. She puts the T-shirt on,but tells Wright that she wishes to wash herself before resting. After she was washed up and dressed, she heads out the bathroom and sees him eating aeal, she passes behind him towards the sink and fills a cup of water for herself. Wright questions Renee's attitude when she allowed him to undress her. She had told him that she does not understand but it felt alright for him to do since he helped her. He was not sure why either but was happy to hear that. Few seconds later, Renee abruptly tells him that she wasn't sure of how old she was but she felt that she was enough to have sex with him if he wanted, he chokes on a sandwich he had bitten into and spills a bit of his beer. She provokes him into the mood, both gets undress, she loses control from his scent, bites into his nipple, and he collapses. Renee realizes that she needs to search for more people to serve as her blood providers. She exits the cabin, walked down three houses where lights were off and people were asleep. There was no entrance unlocked on the first floor, but spotted a balcony with its window slightly opened, so she jumped to reach its rail. She slowly entered the room, saw an older woman, Theodora, on the bed, and she got closer to drink the Theodora's blood. After having control of Theodora, Renee left the bedroom, and searched for more people until she came across two males and two females on her way back to Wright's cabin. When she returned, she sat at the table, trying to recall events from the cave to the burnt village, and does remember that she returned to the cave one day after visiting the village and saw the remains of the animal she killed scattered over the ground, but she was shocked to see that it wasn't an animal but a man she had killed. By recalling such cruelty, she was afraid that she would hurt Wright but felt they had formed a strong bond that she would never be able to hurt him. After a while, Wright awakens long after he collapsed, saw Renee struggling to remember, but to no luck. He suggests her to search more using the internet, he took out a laptop from a bookcase. At a slow pace he showed Renee how to use a laptop and how to connect to the internet, and quickly learned at the first try. He got fully dressed since it was time to head for work. As a concerned adult, he points out that she should get some sleep before she starts to look information up in the web. She spent most of the morning reading articles on vampires, illnesses mistaken to vampirism, and came across an article on a fire incident in a village caused by vandals. When Wright came home, he had brought Renee a couple sets of clothes, intimates, and footwear. She reported Wright of what she was able to find out about the burnt village. They decided to go back to that village during Friday night. After Wright ate, he insinuates that he was in full strength to continue where they left off the previous night. They both leaned back onto the bed and Renee starts to suck his blood bit by bit, making both feel good and pleasure. Renee visits Theodora for a full meal because she did not want to hurt Wright. It was Friday night, they went to the village as decided to learn more of that area but to their surprised, Renee sensed that they were not alone, she was able to sense the presence of several men with firearms. She was ready to confront them and drink their blood. She got shot in the confrontation but she was able to sink her teeth in him and sucked his blood until unconscious. Injured Renee asked Wright to build a shelter and tells him to leave, she wanted to stay so she could heal and prevent overfeeding on him, at first he rejected the idea but later listened to her. Two hours after Wright had left, the gunman regains consciousness and leaves the ruins and Renee remained unnoticed. Renee began her hunting when she felt a bit better. In her hunt, she found a small animal pen with goats and feds on them. Later, she decided to search around the ruins hoping to detect a familiar scent, she caught the smell of the gunman, and follows it to the gunman's house. She looked around, located the gunman's bedroom with windows locked closed, she tried to find another way in but finds all means of entrance closed and locked. She returns to the gunman's bedroom, slipped off her jacket, wrapped her arm with it, and broke the window glass above the latch. She immediately ducks down and patiently waits to see if anyone around had became aware of the noise. When the coast was clear, she entered the gunman's bedroom, quickly jumped on the bed making the man face the pillow, and pinned him down with full force. He struggled, Renee whispered into his ears to be still, and he obeyed since she had already bitten him at t he ruins. His name was Raleigh Curtis. Renee began questioning him about why he was at the ruins, who sent him there, and why was he aiming his rifle at Wright. He was able to give her some answers but he began to cry in pain holding his head between his hands. Renee realized that he had been bitten by some other of her kind, so she stops questioning him and asked him to relax. Before leaving the bedroom, Renee tells Raleigh to inform the person who bit him first that she wants to meet and that she would be waiting for him the following weekend at the ruins. She returned back to the ruins where she was going to meet with Wright and return with him to his cabin.

Chapters 7 - 15

In this section, the story continues from the designated date to meet with the unknown person who had first bite of Raleigh Curtis. Renee and Wright returned to the ruins. Wright parked the car outside the gate, Renee decided to head first and scout the area to make sure there weren't any signs of other armed strangers. She searched all around the ruins while making short stops in-between, hoping to recognize Raleigh's scent, but with not much luck she returns to the car. Wright started the car and they drove through the gate to reach the ruins. They began searching through the rubble, searching for significance in things to have Renee's memories flow back to her. Renee discovers a small crucifix near the shelter she hid in when she was shot by a bullet. She did not know what it was and its meaning, so Wright explains her its religious purposes and adds the myth of it being vampires' weakness was not accurate. After a while, Renee sensed a copter approaching, once it landed, the man-pilot jumped down, spotted Renee and Wright and began walking towards them. The man was tall, blond, and pale-skinned. The man suddenly calls out an unfamiliar known, Shiori. Renee was lost in thought, felt the man's scent and claimed it a safe scent. She did not realize that the man was speaking to her until he kept approaching her while calling her, Shiori. He wasn't aware that she had lost most of her memories until she mentions it to him. The man introduces himself as Iosif Petrescu, Shiori's father. Then he began to tell Renee about herself, her mothers and sisters, and how the females and males of their kind live in separate communities since long ago. Wright asked Iosif about Shiori actual age since she has a body of an eleven year old but the maturity of a nineteen year old. Iosif explains how their kind age, that in actually Shiori was 53 years old, he adds that she was old enough for sexual intercourse but not old enough to bear children. Shiori asked Iosif if he would know of anyone who would be capable of killing the female community, he gave her an indefinite answer. Iosif later explains how he discovered the ruins and that he gathered several of his male symbionts community to search for survivors. He also explains what symbionts are and why they are needed. Shiori began to sadden to the blurry memory of a man who she killed and ate when she was found in the cave. Iosif senses that Shiori was troubled and asked her what she remembered. Shiori felt ashamed of she did but confessed Iosif what happened to that man who found her back when she was alone in the cave. After exchanging long stories with one another, Iosif suggests Shiori to move into his house at his community and that she could bring Wright, along with other symbionts. Wright believed that going with Iosif would be the safest thing to do but he wanted to continue his job in construction. Iosif did not hesitate to approve his willingness to continue his normal life because he felt that he would be able to protect and provide for Shiori. Iosif asked Shiori to accompany him back to his community to meet her brothers, others of their kind, and fellow symbionts. That same night, the three climbed into the copter and flew to Iosif's home miles north of Darrington. Upon entering Iosif's mansion-like dwelling, she meets two men and one woman, who immediately stands up from their seats in a fret and approaches Shiori to greet. The three newly met people were introduced as Brook, Yale, and Nicholas, and they were Iosif's symbionts. After exchanging the important details of her survival, Iosif leads Shiori through the backdoor to meet her younger brother, Stefan. Wright stayed behind with Iosif's symbionts as he learns the dangers that awaits him if he chooses to remain by Shiori's side. As Shiori and Iosif were walking past a farm, she felt sad again to the thought that the man, Hugh Tang, she had eaten back in the cave was Stefan's first symbiont. Her father told her not to mention Hugh Tang's death to Stefan that he would tell him at a later time. Once they were reunited, Shiori felt somehow pleased to know she had other relatives alive. Stefan greeted her and began to inform her of the memories she had forgotten about their mother and sisters, and the fact that they were Inas, somewhat genetically engineered form of vampires. She again asks Stefan if he knew who might have caused the disaster in their mothers' community. Stefan as well as Iosif gave her a negative response. Shiori learns that there are other Inas in Africa and other parts of the world. Shiori realizes that she had left Wright alone for very long time and asks Iosif to take her back to him because she wishes to return to the ruins as Iosif promised them to do so. Before leaving the ruins for the night, Iosif told Shiori and Wright that he would be expecting them in a week with their belongings. There was a nervous silence as Shiori and Wright walked back to his car, when they got in Wright finally broke the silence by Shiori if she had others beside him. Shiori realized that the symbionts he stayed behind with had already told him everything. She admits that she had gone out to others for blood but she does not consider those as symbionts except for Theodora. Shiori began to tell Wright about Theodora and why she liked her. Wright was surprised to hear that Shiori had slept with Theodora but not the others she mentioned for nourishment. He had an angry and bothered face, Shiori did not understand why. When they reached the cabin, they went straight to bed saying nothing else and doing nothing more. Shiori had realized that Wright was still angry, so she snugged against his back and fell asleep. However, after some time, Wright abruptly wakes up and fiercely shakes Shiori awake as well, while he expresses that he wanted to have sex. She firstly kissed his lips, then his throat; as Wright got impatient, he pushed her legs apart, and thrust fiercely into her. The harder Wright thrust her, the deeper Shiori sucked his blood. After a long intimate moment, they broke apart and both asked each other if they were hurt. Wright shared his thoughts of what Iosif and the symbionts had told him, Shiori affirms his doubts by believing what they learned from them. Iosif would be sending a truck on Friday to carry their belongings, but before that happens, she has to undo her connection with four of her alternative sources, and needs to speak to Theodora, explain her what has been happening between them and ask her if she wishes to continue their relationship by moving with Shiori once she has her own house. It was the night before moving day when Shiori visits Theodora, Shiori stepped into her home where she realized that Theodora lived in a big enough house as Iosif, and felt that it would have been better not to visit her, but Shiori wanted to give Theodora the freedom to choose. After they went into a study room, Shiori explains Theodora her story since she awoke in a cave to the current thought of living together after she has her own house. Theodora wished to go with her immediately but later understands what Renee feels, so Theodora agreed to wait as much time as needed to their reunion at a new place. Friday came the following day, the day to move to Iosif community, but no had shown up to pick Shiori and Wright up. After a few hours of no sign of them, Wright tried many attempts calling Iosif but no answer except the operator stating the number was out of service. Shiori suddenly felt weary and feared that something must have happened, so she asked Wright to drive them to the community using the directions and map that Iosif had given them. After a long drive, they were not able to locate the precise location, Shiori told Wright to park the car to the side and wait for her as she searches the community on feet, but told him to leave her behind if something or someone suspects of him. Before Wright lets her go, he suggests her that she should feed on him so that she can be at full strength for the unexpected, she agreed and bit him. It was long after entering the woods, she was able to pick up a scent of smoke and burnt flesh, Shiori follows the scent and discovered her father’s community in the same conditions as her mothers’ ruins. She entered her father’s mansion and began to search for any leads of survivors, but she was shocked to discover the burnt remains of her father and brother, Stefan. She felt pain and sadness since she was finally able to reunite with her family the week before. In addition to those remains, she discovers the remains of other symbionts she had never previously met. As she was leaving Iosif’s mansion, she presences a car coming, she sensed their familiar senses to be Brook and Celia, symbionts of Iosif and Stefan. Brook and Celia stepped out of the car with mourned faces since they saw came back to a burnt community where their Inas were killed. At first, Celia assumed Shiori was the killer since she learned of what she had done to Hugh Tang. Shiori had no choice but to lead both Brook and Celia to the areas where ash remains of Iosif and Stefan. Brook and Celia could not believe such a disaster had occurred, they screamed in pain, and cried for their loss. Shiori offered to take responsibility of both by taking them under her care and thought about turning them into her symbionts, only if they consented to the idea. The only thing that Shiori can do for the moment was to bring them with her back to the car where Wright has been waiting for her return. Shiori returned to Wright on Brook’s car, she stepped out and climbed in with Wright, then he began to follow the other car from behind to another housing the women symbionts knew of. Meanwhile, Shiori reports what had happened to her male family and their human symbionts. The day sun began to lit up, Shiori grabbed a blanket from the backseat and a pair of sunglasses from the glove compartment. Wright followed Brook’s car into a driveway of low ranch house in Arlington, he stepped out of the car, walked to Brook’s side of the car, and suggested that they should park both cars into the garage to prevent anyone of their presence in the area. Wright return to his car, knew Shiori overheard his suggestion, and includes that they would not be able to stay in his cabin anytime soon because his uncle advised him to leave since his aunt heard suspicious sexual sounds from his cabin when she dropped by one time. As the four of them settle into their temporary home since they were sure they would be hunted down soon, they began to talk about who could have done such terrible act of destroying both Shiori’s female and male families. They also spoke about the difference in venom potency among the male and female Inas. After discussing the situation, Brook went to her room, Wright walked towards the kitchen, Shori followed Celia to her room. Shiori discusses Celia about becoming her symbiont since Stefan was not around. At first, Celia put up a defense and denied it as an option, but Shiori explained that she wants her as part of her new family. Shiori somehow was able to convince her, she bit her neck, and Celia frantically struggled to resist. Then Shiori releases Celia and showed her concern for Celia. After Shiori reassured Celia wasn’t badly injured, she exits Celia’s room, washes her face, and heads to Brook’s room to feed and turn her as she did with Celia. When Brook falls asleep, Shiori leaves the room, heads to the bathtub getting herself cleaned up. Shiori took a long time before joining Wright, who sat alone watching television in the living room. She seats next to him, Wright pulls her onto his lap, and she rests her head against his chest; but suddenly she smelled gasoline, sensed the presence of several men outside the house, and slowly slipped off Wright’s lap while informing him of the presence of strangers outside. Shiori orders Wright to wake Brook and Celia from their sleep and lead them out of the house to safety once Renee signals him a clear path outside. He does what he was told and leaves Shiori in the front line of attack. She exits through the door where the men have not yet reached and hid under the shades of a tall tree. She then spots one man, unarms him, and rips his throat out as a sign of vengeance. Not long after killing her first prey, her second prey was spotted and she killed him as well. She heads back inside the house, led the others outside, but the killer had seen Wright and they exchanged gunshots. Shiori ran to the garage, signaled the other three, climbed into the two cars, and left as casually as they can, because they didn’t want to stand out, assuming the nearby residents noticed the fire or heard gunfire and had notified the ambulance, fire department, and police. They managed to escape unnoticed and headed to market to gather food and other necessities, while Wright sent Celia to buy new clothes with Shiori. After they have gathered want they needed, they parked their cars onto the roadside and rested and appointed turns to stand guard. Hours later, it was still dark, Shiori asked Brook and Celia if they could recall anyone who last visited Iosif or the Ina communities, Brook mentioned a man named Daniel Gordon who has been visiting Iosif for a long time trying to join Shiori and her sisters. Brook added that Iosif felt that Daniel was trustworthy and kept communicating with him. Shiori asked Brook if she could remember the way to Gordon’s house, Brook doesn’t remember the exact location but does remember it being along the coastline far from the San Francisco Airport. Shiori accepted it as a small lead and was determined to go there to inform them of their misfortune, and ask for their help. Eventually, Wright suggested that he should return to his cabin and notify his uncle that he was going away but wishes to resume his job when he comes back, Shiori agreed to his suggestion. She also had to inform Theodora about the situation and changes that were made.

Chapters 16 - 21

In this section, the story resumes when the Gordon community is under attack by an unknown enemy. It was late morning, three large vehicles drove into the Gordon community while all Ina were asleep expect for Shiori, whom has been on guard since the previous night. When Shiori approached a nearby window and saw suspicious people, she phoned the other houses of the Gordon community and alerted them of the current situation of being attacked. After alerting everyone, she ran downstairs where she met Wright and told him to leave the house along with Brook, Celia, and Joel. She rapidly grabbed a hooded-sweater and pair of sunglasses to protect her in the daylight, and left the house where she saw one car pulling up in front of a house. With her abilities she hurried to the house under attack to prevent another tragedy. The attackers didn't even sense her presence nearby because they were accustomed of attacking their victims while they slept during the daytime. They never expected Shiori to be present so she to waited until one of the attackers to be out of sight from the rest and attacked him first by snapping his neck. After the first kill, she continued to kill several more as they continued to set fire on the other houses. By the end of the attack, the intruders were either killed or injured, and those who were injured became prisoners of the Ina and were interrogated. After taking in prisoners, the community made sure to hide any belongings of the intruders because they didn't want stand out. Shiori requested that the prisoners should be treated for their injuries before they were questioned about their motives for attacking her other Ina families' communities. When the injured prisoners have been treated, Shiori took charge of one prisoner named Victor. She took him to her home, Celia and Brook feed him and handed him a beer. Victor was later questioned, and mentioned that he came from Los Angeles and that he was forced to attack the Ina race. When he continued to answer Celia and Brook's questions, he became unsure of what happened. He bad-mouthed Shiori and regained self-awareness soon after while he asked for Shiori's forgiveness. However, Shiori believed that Victor was not the one in control instead he was the one being controlled. This in mind Shiori led Victor to an empty bedroom where he should rest up before he confronts the Gordon family. Shiori was in her room and Brook came in, inviting her to spend the night together, and Shiori accepted. It was still dark out as Shiori wakes up to a voice calling her name, and she recognized it as Daniel's voice. They were having a telepathic conversation in which Daniel told Shiori to come to his house along with her captive, Victor. After their brief conversation, Shiori heads to Victor's bedroom, woke him up, bit him, and they left to Daniel's house. When they had entered, Shiori noticed that all the Gordons were called on but they weren't accompanied by symbionts. To the sight Victor felt nervous and scared to the possibility of being killed, but Shiori promised that she wouldn't allow that if he was able to provide information about her families' death. The Gordons began to question him and Victor answered with what he knew. Victor had told them that he didn't know the other attackers until the day that they all were gathered . Victor told the Gordons that a tall, skinny man attacked him as he was walking to the store for cigarettes. He tried to run away but the man was too strong, he was bitten, and both climbed into a large car which the strange man used as he kept scouting for other men. As Victor continued to give answers, he admitted that he had already completed three other assignments in Washington and that their means of transportation were private planes and rented cars. With so much information, Hayden asked one final question, and that was the family name that recruited Victor and the other men. Victor nervously told Hayden that he knew but he couldn't say it. However, when the Silk name was mentioned, Victor held his head between his hands, gave a big scream, and passed out. After that, Shiori decided to treat Victor, erase his memories, and send him back home in Los Angeles. Before Everyone retreated to their rooms, Shiori asked Hayden for books on Ina history and such, because she was determined to learn of her roots since she still doesn't remember many things. After a while, Hayden carried many books in Ina language over to Shiori, and to her surprise she instantly understand what was written; they spent a long time talking about the Ina history and what countries can Ina families be found. The other prisoners were questioned the next night, and concluded that Victor was answering with the truth and that all of them were pawns sent to the master's dirty jobs. Daniel strongly suggested to summon a Council of Judgment after having seven from thirteen families approve it. A Council of Judgment is an Ina trial more or less like a human criminal trial. After a long period of phoning in families and reporting the situation, the Gordons finally called the Silk family and notified them of the recent incidents, but two members completely denied to doing such horrendous actions. Just before sunrise of the following, Shiori woke up to sound of car engines approaching the community, she peeks out the window, and saw Theodora climbing out of a Hummer, so she quickly got dressed and headed to meet her outside. Shiori missed her so much, she told Theodora of what had occurred since the last time they spoke, and then shut themselves in Theodora's room spending time together after a long time. The next day, Shiori spoke to Wayne and Manning about legal manners her family left behind, Manning confirmed that her father and mother left everything for her and suggested that she should find five other symbiont after the Council of Judgment. Not long after, the day of Council began, all Ina members were summoned, but Shiori was able to gain additional knowledge of families had yet to meet or had forgotten. She meet her fathers' mothers, whom told her that her brothers mated and children of their own, but still young to attend Council gatherings. One of her distant relatives complimented on her unique capabilities and spoke of female Ina vemon being very potent when they choose to mate with Ina males. Once an Ina male is bitten, the female Ina venom makes the male impotent and infertile with other Ina females.

Chapters 22 - Epilogue

This is the last section to the novel that reveals the mastermind behind the deaths of Shiori's families and the mastermind's reasons to act up on those drastic decisions. From this section, the story continues where the previous section left off, which was that the first night of the Council of Judgment had begun. Milo Silk was the first to be presented in front of the Council members. Shiori believed that during an alternate situation she would have gladly socialize with him to learn more of Ina stories and his own due to the sole purpose of him being older than Ferdinand's marriage to Isabella of Spain. Now that he was the primary suspect to her families' death, she avoided any sort of contact to the Silk family. After every Ina and symbiont had taken their seats, Preston rose from his seat and greeted the audience and introduced the purpose the event. Milo, then, rose from his seat and spoke about the honor and principles of the Ina race. For a second time, Preston stood from his seat and introduced each Council member and the disputes that had been presented. Shiori took this opportunity to imprint facial images of the Council members to what she had previously learned from Preston. The Council members involved was Zoe Fotopoulos, Joan Braithwaite, Alexander Svoboda, Peter Marcu, Vladimir Leontyev, Ana Morariu, Katharine Dahlman, Alice Rappaport, Harold Westfall, Kira Nicolau. Ion, Andrei, Walter Nagy, and Elizabeth Akhmatova. After the introductions were made clear, Preston asked Shiori to present herself in front of the Council and tell them her story from the time she woke alone in a cave with no recollection of her life before that. She did what everyone had advised her to do beforehand, which was to tell them the story in complete honesty. Shiori sat down after finishing her story, Milo then stood up asking if she had an advocate, someone chosen to defend her, while calling her a child. She did not but before she could say anything of the sort, Valdimir spoke out accepting the duty of being her advocate because he claims that family ties are far more important than any dispute. Milo also didn't have an advocate due to his pride and rejected the idea of having one but Preston suggested that he should because the Silk family needed a stronger defense in order to protect them. Same to Vladimir, Katharine spoke out taking the role of Milo's advocate and also questioning Shiori's attendance and mental recovery. Shiori once again stated that her injuries have been completely recovered but her memory remained in limbo, thus making Milo suggest that Shiori should be revised by doctor. She rebutted by unintentionally embarrassing him with that he too should have a medical checkup since he was the only person jotting down notes from the beginning. Later, Russell replaced Milo, denying all accusations and asked Daniel to stand. Daniel answered all questions with truth, but Russell believed otherwise because he was informed that he had already bound himself to Shiori. When Shiori heard Russell's claim, she instantly suspected that someone favorable to the Silks provided them with false information to make her look bad. However, the members of the Council, took a few moments to sense the validity of Russell's claim and concluded that Daniel indeed wasn't bound to Shiori. The trial continued before sunrise, when the first night ended, Shiori was tired and hungry so she went to Celia to satisfy the hunger. Later that same day, Martin stopped by Shiori's house to see her and inform her of tragic news that would devastate her. Martin advised her that she should remain close to all her symbionts at all times. Shiori was puzzled and confused to Martin's words, she looked at her symbionts and noticed Theodora was missing. Then she understood what Martin meant and asked him about Theodora, Martin explains that a fellow symbiont wished to visit her family and buy a few things so she headed to the garage and found Theodora dead. Shiori frantically left to Theodora's dead body, once there she kneeled beside the cold corpse and demanded to seek justice. When Shiori was left alone by her request, she tried to sort out all scents that surrounded Theodora before her death in order to find out who had killed her. Shiori was able to sort out fourteen different scents. With little time left for the second night of trial to begin, Shiori assigns her symbionts to speak with other symbionts about the night events that occurred before Theodora's death. In the end, Shiori was informed that Katharine's symbiont, Jack, was lastly seen leaving a night party behind Theodora. Then she searched for Jack but was told that he left Punta Nublada in a rush to do some errands he had forgotten to do. Joel, Shiori's symboint and Martin's son, commented that was a stupid lie any symbiont had said, because no right in the mind symbiont would ever forget an errand their Ina assigned. With what Shiori had learned, she spoke to Preston about the conclusions concerning Theodora's death. After speaking with Preston, she spoke to Joan and asked her to become her advocate when needed. The second night of trial had begun, Shiori first spoke of Theodora's tragic death, accusing Katharine and her symbiont, and demanded her removal from the Council. Katharine denies the accusations and causing mischief, Preston stood up and asking the Council to take a vote in favor or not to Katharine's removal as Council member, and if she was to be removed, another member had to go to balance the numbe, and Shiori had already figured it would be her advocate, Valdimir. After the members voted, the results were against Katharine, making her shocked when she believed that she would be understood and awarded for her actions. Before the second night of trial ended, Shiori questioned the reasons of having a symbiont, was it to use them as tools to commit crimes on their Ina's orders. Time hastened to the final night of trial, being the most important because both Katharine and the Silks would be given sentence for their hatred actions against Shiori's male and female families, Theodora, and the Gordon family. Shiori questions Silks actions to object her families experiment of breeding Ina and human DNA. Shiori argues that the Silks took upon themselves to judge her families experiment when they could have the correct way abiding to their honor and principles by summoning a Council of the Goddess. Preston again stood from his seat, and asked the Council members who they are in favor of. After a few moments, the majority of seven members of Council agreed in favor of Shiori, and determined Katharine Dahlman and the Silk family should be punished for their inexcusable actions. The Council sentenced the Silk family to be disbanded and ordered the adoptions of their younger unmated sons into other families in which they lose their Silk name completely. When Russell was asked whether he accepted the sentence or not, he stood from his seat with no reply until he became fully aware that if he objects, the next sentence for his family would be death, he accepts with a defeated low voice. Katharine was next to be sentenced, but hers was much more than, it was to amputate both legs at mid-thigh. She instantly objects calling her foul actions a minor crime believing that such punishment might kill her, but others advised her that i time she would be fully healed. Preston announced the trial to a break while he advised Katharine to speak with her family and think of what she was doing. Not long before trial had to resume, there was a commotion flooding out from Henry's house, and Katharine ran towards Shiori holding a firearm in her hand. Before Shiori completely reacted to what was happening, she had been shot, but before her energy depleted she was able to yank the gun out of Katharine's hands, hit her chin hard while pulling herself to Katharine, finally sinking her teeth into Katharine's throat, and Shiori fell unconscious onto the ground. When Shiori regained consciousness, she was extremely hunger that she almost killed Wright until he shouted her to stop. Shiori then realized her surroundings and remembered how she killed and ate Hugh Tang. Wright then reports Shiori that Katharine was beheaded and burned, and Sophia, Katharine's sister, accepted the sentence in place of Katharine. Now that the criminals responsible for Shiori's unhappiness, Joan Braithwaite suggested Shiori to join her family while she learns everything of how an Ina and their symbionts must live. Shiori accepted because she knew that the Braithwaite family would truly teach her with much enthusiasm.

Research Assignment # 4

Morris, Susana M. "Black Girls Are from the Future: Afrofuturist Feminism in Octavia E.Bulter's Fledgling"

1. Morris explained that the vampire, being evil, gets to do what we (society) fer to do or what we think is repulsive or taboo to do. Historically, the figure of a vampire was seen as a horrifying being that maintains eternal life by drinking blood. They are feared to having unbelievable powers of enchantment which can control their victims. They are believed to have insatiable sexual drive which leads them to enchant my victims and make them their slaves. They tend to age at a slow rate and maintain a youthful appearance with smooth, pale-white skin. However, these vampires were mostly feared because of their objective to destroy the human race making their race the only dominant race to exist in the universe.

2. According to Morris, the current vampire images in popular culture value autonomy, race and family.

3. The "exchange" in Jewelle Gomez's vampires is not too different to the "mutualistic symbiosis" in Butler's Fledgling. Both ideas are based on a vampire feeding on a human blood which inflicts the human with relaxing sensations. However, the vampires in Gomez's and Butler's stories differ to the everyday known vampires told from myths and/or legends. The old-age vampires did not value human life or any other race than their own. They preyed on the living to replenish their energy and maintain their looks of youth, leaving their prey dead. On the other hand, Gomez and Butler portray their vampires as valuing their human partners. These humans are fed on but they continue living. They are allowed to live with their vampire counterpart under a same roof. They are also allowed to live a normal life socializing with other humans, as being portrayed in Butler's Fledgling.

4. Afrofuturism illustrates the future involvement of blacks in science fiction. The main concern of Afrofuturist writers is the continuous insistence of having people of color becoming essential to the upbringing of the society. Afrofuturist writers do not seek complete dominance of people of color over the white race but instead they feel that there should exist equality among their roles of importance. Butler's work of the Fledgling illustrate Afrofuturist feminism due to the fact that the main character is a female hybrid of black race with human and vampire blood. The heroine holds advantages that a normal vampire of white-skinned color does not. She has the ability to stay awake in the daytime while normal vampire sleep until sunset.

5. The arrangements among the Ina family illustrate Afrofuturist concerns in that the Ina cohabit with both human races of white and black color. The Ina don't discriminate both race or gender when they seek partners as their symbionts. An Ina is able to feed on and sleep with multiple human partners. However, a male Ina is allowed to have sexual intimacy with one female Ina, because once the female Ina bites into a male Ina, the male Ina becomes impotent to other female Ina.

6. Morris believes that the Ina's symbiotic relationships and Shiori's hybridity represent an Afrocentric and feminist stance against conservative views of society. In her view, Fledgling places Butler as part of a group of Afrofuturist feminist writers of speculative fiction. According to Morris, such writers as Butler convince the equal role of blacks to whites, and that women can be much more reliable than men on certain situations.

Research Assignment #6

Themes mentioned: interdependence, freedom and unfreedom, and the cost of human survival, sexually territorial

This excerpt briefly summarizes Butler's Fledgling as it is compared to other science fiction novels involving vampires. It also mentions on the newer work of Butler changed many aspects to how vampires were viewed.

Favorable quote: "In Octavia Butler's worlds, change can be and often is terrifying, but the biggest folly is to refuse it, to deny change is to abdicate one's responsibility to help shape it."

My Impression of Octavia Butler

From reading Gant-Britton biographical information on Octavia Butler , I learned many interesting facts about Octavia's life. Her full name is Octavia Estelle Butler. She was born on June 22, 1947, in Pasadena, California. She was born to Octavia Margaret Guy and Laurice James Butler. Before young Octavia's birth, her mother had been previously pregnant four times but three were miscarried and one was stillborn. At the age of seven, young Octavia's father died from excessive food and drink. Young Octavia grew up under the shadow of her late maternal grandfather, who was a strict Baptist, forbidding dancing, makeup, and movies. Such strict upbringing had made young Octavia to create her own imaginary comfort zone where she can be herself. Her vivid imagination grew much more when her mother brought home discarded books from families she did domestic work. Since Octavia's mother was pulled out from school to work in a plantation where her family worked, she wanted to make it up by giving her daughter that opportunity. Octavia's mother was the first person to encourage her to write.

In Octavia Butler's essay, "Positive Obsession" Octavia Butler's Essay , she had told her aunt she was going to become a writer when she grew up but her aunt did not take her niece seriously and replied with, "Negroes can't be writers". With such despairing words from her aunt, Octavia believed her aunt was right since she was a grown adult woman. When Octavia was thirteen years old, she asked her science teacher to help type one of her stories. He gladly did and corrected any spelling and punctuation errors that she had made.

After graduating from high school, Octavia took writing courses as addition to regular courses at Pasadena City College and achieved a History degree in 1968. Later, she took additional writing courses at the Extension and Writers' Guild West at the University of California where she had the opportunity to study under Harris Ellison. He became Octavia's mentor at the Clarion Writer's Workshop which became her starting point to become a professional writer. Butler received her first award at the age of eighteen in a college-wide writing competition.

When Octavia Butler completed college, she began employment from factory and warehouse work to office work and tutoring. Throughout this, she developed a habit of getting up from bed at three in the morning which she took the time to write. At the age of twenty-four, she was able to sell her first two short stories, which one of them, "Crossover", was published but the other did not even though she was told it would be included in Harris Ellison's anthologies. After such disappointment, she realized that writing was the only thing that mattered in her life. She even stated that she was "content to produce literature rather than children". Not long after her mother's death, Octavia moved to Seattle, Washington, in 1999.

From what I have read about Octavia Butler, I felt impressed that she was able to overcome many obstacles in life in order to accomplish her dream of becoming a writer. She had moments of doubts where she could have given up her dream but there were many that encouraged her not to, such as her mother and science teacher. Even though Octavia had published her first literature work by the age of twenty-three, she was able to prove her aunt wrong about black people can not become writers. I feel that Octavia's life story would have a great impact to others whom are in similar situations.

Citation Practice

Encyclopedia of Science Fiction

Birth of a Writer