379 Blog Post #1 How Dare the Sun Rise

1. What personal characteristics, qualities, or elements of personal history might be relevant to the reading of the text?

Sandra lives in a country where war is an everyday reality. She has relatives in the army fighting for their country. I have been thankful enough to have never witnessed a war in my country and I have no immediate relatives who are or have been in the army. Sandra lives in a refugee camp where conditions are less than acceptable. Though I have never lived in a refugee camp, I did grow up super poor where there were days my parents did not know if they would have enough food for supper. I also have had first-hand experiences with refugee students. Last semester in my 321, I had four refugee students in my classroom. One of the refugee students could not write or read any language. He could only speak his own language so I did a lot of work with him in helping him adjust to such a different scene. Sandra is a fighter. When she is faced with a situation she shows her strength by not giving up. I am the complete opposite. If I have the chance to fight or take flight, I will choose flight every time. 

2. What textual properties might affect the reading or response? 

Sandra used words throughout the book that I had never heard before. I really liked it when she would say things in her own language. It sounded so beautiful and it is always such a great experience to hear someone talk in their native tongue. Her use of her own language throughout the book draws the reader in and makes them interested in the things she is saying and how to properly pronounce them. Sandra is very good at making the reader actually see what is happening in the story. Throughout the whole book, I could imagine everything that was happening but there were two instances that really stood out to me. The first one was at the very beginning of the book when she was describing the attack on her camp. It felt so real. I felt like I was in her shoes watching everything. The other part that really caught my attention was when she talked about meeting former President Obama and the first lady. She created such amazing imagery when she described how her hair was in braids on top of her head and how she had chosen to wear a white dress that everybody loved. I googled her after reading that part and I found pictures from that event. She, in fact, looked beautiful and it increased the amount of imagery I had when reading the rest of the book. 

3. What contextual properties may have affected the reading?

I am dyslexic and that makes me a slow reader so I decided to get the audiobook for this book. While I was listening to this book, I was curled up on my couch with my favorite blanket, drinking a warm cup off coffee and knitting. Knitting, while I was listening to this book, helped me concentrate on what was going on. This was a super helpful strategy for me to get the book done in a timely manner and to understand what I was reading. It took me three days to finish the book with the audiobook. If I would not have used the audiobook it probably would have taken me three weeks to complete on my own. I think I am going to start using audiobooks from now on.