P3rsonal exp3rience Blog post

"I began to grow up, I sprouted with the velocity of the mung beans we studied in Earth Science../ At night, my joints ached. I had trouble sleeping. I wrapped my legs in heating pads, smiling through the pain. Because along with my new height. something else was finally happening. Hair was beginning to appear in the required places." Pg 303

I can relate to this having gone through puberty.. wait did I even finish going through it yet? -Anyways back to the topic. I was the shortest kid in elementary school to the middle school and in the summer before 8th grade I remember growing like 4 inches before the start of the school year. Suddenly I was no longer the shortest kid. Yes, I was still short but no longer the shortest. Which was all that mattered for me. I didnt actually grow armpit hair until I would say maybe 11th or this year! To be quite honest I was not actually thrilled at this and was praying really hard to get my mothers genetics and not get any armpit hair at all. I also grew a bit more peach fuzz and some small strands of a "beard'. Its funny that I did not really welcome the hair changes as much as Cal did. I welcomed other changes such as my height and my development of some muscle.

Middle Sex Key Passage Response

Alan Cheung ` 04.19.15

Gender Lit UH1

   "The following morning, as the smoke cleared, the city's flag could once again be seen. Remember the symbol on it? A phoenix rising from the ashes. And the words beneath? Speramus meliora; resurget cineribus. 'We hope for better things; it will rise from the ashes.' " (251)

I think this passage was incredibly significant because it describes rebirth or being reborn without saying “birth or reborn”. The author also chose to repeat the phrase in Latin and English again. The author chose to keep the city flag up although it is not specifically said in the passage I can almost imagine it flapping against the wind while the city burns. It also seems like a biblical or religious text. I can see it in some form of religious text because of the use of Latin and the way it speaks about rising from the ashes. As if God or Allah had a plan to rebuild the city and to be patient and have faith in the lord. The phoenix is also a mythical creature that can is often a symbol for rebirth because they supposedly when they die they become ashes and are reborn a small baby phoenix. Phoenix's interestingly enough do not develop a sex until much later in their life. The sex they develop also may be different from the one in their previous life. These things are significant because the change is also shown in Callie, while she identifies as a female right now she later does become to identify as a more masculine identity. (AKA Cal) The author chose to include a phoenix that happens to go through a similar shift between genders with a transitional phase that the bird does not identify with either sexes.