Futurismnow

     The aspect of “We Travel The Spaceways” that was the most interesting to me was how LaValle worked bits of our modern society into his version of the future. The most obvious example of this is the name Grimace. I love that no matter how much the world around will change, there is always a guarantee of McDonald’s. While it brings a smile at first, it is moments like these that make the reader realize how little the future might change if we do not do the work to make it different. The story opens with Grimace’s distaste for that name compared to the other McDonald’s mascots and uses it as the set up for Grimace’s situation as a homeless black man. “I do not like that nickname… If I make a fuss about it, the local store owners would just call the police; between them and me, it’s easy to guess who’d get handcuffed” (LaValle 3). He starts with something familiar, McDonald’s, so that the presence of something even more deeply rooted in our society, racism, has a bigger ...

  My favorite aspect of “The McCoy Game” was the importance Alston gave to music. Alston sets up the reveal of this by beginning the story with logic. For the first bit of the text, the two boys are only concerned with the logic of making their way through the house. They are deliberate in which direction they go and think out every decision using only their heads rather than their hearts. Jamal provides context to this thinking by explaining his and Dre’s family worldview. Their grandfather had a theory that there are caretakers out there that had their origins in Africa in order to “teach us stuff like math and science. Basically how to survive and thrive” (Alston 45). With this Alston sets the scene that it is science and book smarts that should get the boys through the house, making the reveal that it is music that saves them even sweeter. Once again remembering their grandfather’s outlook, the boys recount a story of his about monsters as they try to fight off a breathworm. Af...

  The aspect of the second half of Pet that stood out to me the most was how performance was used as a metaphor for Jam’s guilt about hiding Pet. One of the earlier examples in this section was when Jam was eating breakfast with her family. Her parents are concerned more than anything else, but Jam still feels the weight of their watchful eye because she is anxious about Pet’s hiding.“Pet was a loud secret in her, a wrong note in the usual harmony of her house, making it discordant, guilty” (Emezi 103). Of all the metaphors, it is fascinating that Emezi chose to focus on music, specifically its creation. By portraying that the happiness in her house is something that Jam feels she must actively perform to achieve, Emezi is showcasing the roots of Jam’s anxieties in a really interesting way. A similar situation happens when Redemption is over for dinner. While they are eating, Jam notices the metaphorical mask of casualness that Redemption has put on to avoid suspicion, and once ag...

The aspect of this graphic novel that stood out to me the most was the visualization of the future. This is probably fairly obvious as most of our work this semester has been traditional written word, but seeing the future before my eyes was very beneficial. I have not read a lot of science fiction, so visualizing the futures of these stories has always been very difficult for me. Most of the futures I have imagined and the ways that I pictured our class’s texts is one centered around silver and metal. There was always something cold and distant about the future. This totally contrasts Okorafor’s vision of the future and I love that. It brought me such joy to see a future where the world is so bright and colorful. I also love, especially given our current environmental situation, to see how central plants are. Although they are as alien as they are plants, it still provides a lot of hope for the planet. I also thought the use of aliens in the novel and their parallel to immigration in ...

Grace Perry Dr. June Ellis  EN376*01 27th November  Laguardia Reflection What I really enjoyed most about Okorafor's Laguardia  was the literal use of the word "alien" to depict the ways in which our contemporary society approaches immigration. The travel notices, the banning of people from specific countries (ironically announced after the image of the Statue of Liberty, the pinnacle of freedom for most of the European immigrants coming into New York throughout the 1900's), the blatant racism in profiling travelers, and the inclusion of microaggressions paralleled against human-human interaction and human-alien interaction all contributed to an incredibly poignant commentary of the hypocrisy many Americans maintain towards their own immigrant ancestors. The graphic novel format provided an apt depiction of the degree in which the "aliens" in the novel's reality compare to immigrants within our reality. I also could not help but chuckle at Future naming ...

  Elizabeth Thompson Dr. Ellis EN 376 27 November 2023 Internalized Colonization             Okorafor’s  Laguardia  discusses the threat of the colonized becoming the colonizers with the tension between aliens and the Neo-Biafra movement. Citizen says the movement originally had good intentions to combat discrimination toward Igbos but became very rigid and discriminatory of aliens supported by Nigeria’s government. Even though Citizen is Igbo, he was targeted by protestors for having floral alien spores in his body, and his home, including the floral aliens he was caring for, was burned down by them (Okorafor). However, Citizen also has internalized prejudice against aliens as he offends Payment later on by refusing to let them hold his newborn (Okorafor). Although he later apologizes, his initial attitude demonstrates how colonization can make someone protective and defensive, giving them a survival mentality t...

Naming is a key feature: Freedom, Letme Live, and  Citizen.  Nigeria is supposed to be accepting of alien life, coexisting, and acknowledging their advancements, but there are people protesting the progressive mindset, including Citizen.Its interesting that Freedom was worried about how her grandmother was going to react to Letme Live being illegally in America--the immigration lawyer, who has a building named the "New Hope Apartments"--it highlights how deep rooted the fear is when you are an immigrant. I noted that immigrants have two names, the original and the American version. It highlights that culture and language is unique. For example, if you speak Spanish and are asked to no longer do so--there is a part of your identity (a whole other world) that no one will get to meet. Therefore, people prefer dividing their identity, rather than erasing one or prioritizing one. I think its interesting that the author choose plant-based aliens because plants depend on nature and ...

 Fisk Candau Dr Ellis EN376 27 Nov 2023 Laguardia Reflection     Something I found really interesting about the reading was the depiction of strength, resilience, and resistance. Almost all of the human characters belong to groups typically thought of as weak or lazy like women and pregnant people. However, instead of playing into the tropes that pregnant women need to be protected or that women don't have the strength or will to go out and fight for things like men do, Okorafor has every main character be a part of these groups and still have resilience and strength as one of their main character traits. With this, Okorafor fights against the characterisations/generalisations of these women, especially pregnant women, being weak or having lesser abilities than their male counterparts.     I especially found interesting how strength and resilience were tied to people's identity as part of their family, like when Future's grandmother says that of course she's com...

                    In reading  LaGuardia , I found myself so drawn into the world Okorafor and Ford created. I’m not used to reading many graphic novels, so reading  LaGuardia  was an unusual experience for me. But I found that the use of illustrations truly added to the story—especially with the aliens. Okorafor’s frame for the narrative clearly comes from Trump’s travel ban (which thankfully has been ended). But what truly interested me was Citizen’s involvement with the Biafra movement. I know relatively little about Nigeria’s history (and most of West Africa as well), but Okorafor’s use of Citizen as a complicated foil to Future brought a deeper element to the narrative that I truly appreciated. Citizen, as we learn, supports the movement to secede from Nigeria and create a “pure” land for people separate from the Nigeria full of aliens. This cause stems from the real event of Biafra’s succession and the Nig...

  Joshua Singh Dr. Ellis EN 376 27 November One of the first things I noticed in Nnedi Okorafor’s work is that she highlights the constructed, divisive belief that those who look different are different and must be treated as such. For example, when Citizen, Future, and his child are all in a room where Citizen sees aliens playing with his kid, Citizen exemplifies the othering caused by such perpetuated beliefs. He says “Hasn’t our son been exposed enough?” (my copy doesn’t have page numbers). This implies that it is not natural for aliens and humans to cohabitate, nor is it acceptable for an infant to be in such constant contact with them as evidenced by Citizen’s initial response to the aliens playing with his kid. Although this belief is strongly rejected by the aliens and those who seek to unite Nigeria without the needless othering, Citizen still believes that children should not be closely associated with them. The aliens then tell him, “Ridiculous. You haven't been here a ...

  Tyra Alexander 26 November 2023  EN*376 Dr. Ellis Laguardia Reflection Reading Laguardia really solidified the purpose of dystopia to me. A few days ago I saw a post on social media that said “Dystopian Fiction doesn’t predict the future, it critiques the present” in response to the Hunger Games series. It’s safe to say that I definitely see it manifest in this graphic novel by Okorafor. I definitely saw parallels between the novel and the travel ban that was placed during  Trump’s presidency. I also saw parallels with discrimination and microaggressions against immigrants. But after reading the afterword by the author, it was very interesting to see how one event that happened to Nnedi in Laguardia Airport transformed into a piece as such. Other aspects I wanted to touch on were the names of the characters and Future’s hair. The name’s of the characters being niche reminded me of “Pet” by Emezi. I didn’t really look into what some of them may mean but the...

     While reading LaGuardia, I found myself comparing the discrimination against the aliens to that of immigrants and colored people in America today. However, I then questioned myself as I wondered how the people in American would react to aliens entering out world today. For as much as we’d like to think we’d welcome aliens with open arms, I do not think we would. We would probably hold protests and have anti-alien bans in fear of how they could change our reality.    The setting of the airport stood out to me throughout the graphic novel as well. After doing research, I discovered that Okorafor set this story in the airport based off personal experiences . Okorafor travels a lot, and it became clear to her that airport and border crossings are more focused on control than safety. Okorafor describes that an airport is “the space between, a place of contention, a place of displacement, a place of fear, a place of identity.” The airport is a place wher...

 Ruth Owusu  Dr. Juniper Ellis  Postcolonial Literature   LaGuardia Reflection      Questioning at the airport is such a real and scary experience for many Africans, undocumented citizens, and "foreigners" who arrive in America. As much as America promotes itself as hospitable, the land of the free, etc.. its interactions and implementations are quite the opposite. Okorafor presents those truths in the contrast, yet similar lives of Future and the 3 Sudanese men who came abroad.      Although Future is a Nigerian American, a naturalized citizen, she was still interrogated by the security at the airport. Her physical appearance may have played a huge part in that but also, she lived in Nigeria for an extended period of time. Because of those factors, it gave them an excuse to inappropriately inspect her. Then the security went further to probe her about her pregnancy and the father of the child. The whole interaction was so layered a...

 (preface: this was the piece that I felt the most lost on story-line wise so please forgive this post if it parts of it seem a little off!! I tried my best 😊) Preserving the Future through the Contingencies and Constants     Given that this is a graphic novel, I find it most appropriate to discuss the impact and significance of one scene/page that stuck with me. This segment takes place across two pages and appears on pages 120-21, just before Okorafor inserted her "Afterword" piece. This is the scene in which LetMe Live passes away and all of their Floral spores greet LetMe in their final moments. These illustrations are rich in emotion that evokes senses of pride, nurture, and fulfillment. LetMe had fought so vehemently throughout this graphic novel to keep his Floral lineage alive under the pretext that his fellow Florals were extinguished back in Nigeria. For example, when Future was giving birth to her and Citizen's child, LetMe risked his life to accompany he...

 

 Fisk Candau Video link :  Pet 2nd Half Response  if that doesnt work this is the link https://youtu.be/3qixEzCCQug (sorry it wouldn't let me upload it since it was too big of a size 💔💔)

Grace Perry Dr. June Ellis EN376 Postcolonial Futurism  20 November 2023 Second Half of Pet One of the elements I really enjoyed from reading Emezi's work, is the way they focus on memory and how it is valued and maintained with Lucille. Most strikingly, the majority of these characters operate in a learned assumption of forgetting, in which they have been taught to live in a way that is not reflective of their own past. Lucille is dedicated to moving forward, yet, as we have discussed with the other works we have read, you cannot move forward without looking back to where you have come from. Emezi frames this well, specifically with the ending, in which trust and community are unsustainable without this shared past and the failure of ignorance as being beneficial to the whole of the society.  Throughout the beginning, memory was key for the way in which Jam learned from and observed her parents and her relationships, yet the moment it had to be acknowledged and carried on (Pe...

  Elizabeth Thompson Dr. Ellis EN 376 20 November 2023 Fear             Fear is brought up several times throughout  Pet , but it is not treated as singularly bad or good. For example, Jam says, “Maybe Bitter would have believed Pet more if Aloe hadn’t been contaminating everything with his fear,” but Pet responds, “Fear is human” (149).  Pet  puts fear in conversation with the rest of human nature. Jam views Aloe’s fear as a contaminant, something destructive that hinders the hunt. However, Pet does not discourage her from feeling fear as it is natural. Even if fear may be a factor that makes humans hesitate from accepting truth, the other side of Aloe’s fear is love in wanting to protect his daughter. Pet says that as long as Jam keeps moving forward, it is acceptable to feel fear (149).             Another instance of fear is when Jam processes t...

  Joshua Singh Dr. Ellis EN 376 20 November Emezi ends Pet on a thought-provoking note that is fitting for a post-colonial future class. After the revolution, one major event that occurred is the carrying on of history. Within the context of this class, that usually means that tradition rooted in the way things were is replaced with the victor’s history. Rather than culture being an inclusive aspect in one’s life, it usually devolves into a portion of their identity that they use to separate themselves from others based on differences disseminated by history’s victors.  One instance in which this morphed history causes people to use identity as a divisive tool is through the interaction between Bitter and Redemption. Because of history’s victors deciding which identities are the “correct” ones and which ones are not, Redemption must put himself out of his comfort zone and push against these notions that history has perpetuated for so long. When sharing a meal with Redempti...

            In the latter half of the book, Jam (with Redemption) discovers the monster hiding in the supposedly monster-less Lucille. But what stood out to me as the novel concluded was the exploration of right and wrong—or, rather, the approach to ethics that Pet and Jam take in their quest. As we discussed last class, the society of Lucille seems to be a sort of utopia—except there’s still danger, even though no one will admit it. Lucille’s declaration of “no more monsters” seems to be more prescriptive than descriptive, as we learn with Pet’s arrival. If this is the case, is Lucille a moral state? What rules govern this society if wrong—supposedly—has been eradicated?             I found Pet’s approach to the hunt and to monsters particularly fascinating, if not concerning. When in Redemption’s house, Pet states: “There is no right thing…There is only the thing that needs to be done” (160)...