1) Which piece (or piece of a piece) is it?

"Sand Nigger" by Lawrence Joseph

2) What is your angle of approach? In other words, on what do you intend to focus?

I will focus on the question of identity, and how the narrator feels both shame and pride for his Lebanese background. He is prideful of his beautiful culture, but shameful of the hostility of the civil war and racism in Detroit.

3) What would be an alternative approach to analyzing the piece and how might it produce a different meaning for it?

An alternative approach could be to analyze the topic of the poem itself more. What or who is a sand nigger? Let's walk in the shoes of a sand nigger and delve deep into his life to grasp the meaning of the term. Is the definition we take from the narrator only his description of himself or is it synonymous with the description a non-Arab would give?

1.I will be writhing on "Dead are my People" by Gibran

2.I intend to focus on the paradox that death was the Lebanese people's only rescuer and how that Gibran argues that there was nothing he could do for his people.

3.Another approach would be that this is a lamentation to remember the Lebanese people and their injustices.

1. I will be writing about 'The Sea,' by Abu Madi.

2. I want to focus on Abu Madi's internal crisis, as it relates to his faith/lack of faith in God especially.

3. It is possible that this is part of the author's search to discover the truth - but I think the end result of 'truth' is less important that the quest for it, the constant questioning of everything around him. In the end, there may not even be any truth or knowledge to be discovered.

1. The poem I will be discussing is Gibran's "The Madman".
2. I will be analyzing the many contradictions throughout the poem as an expression of the deep complexities of human nature.
3. A different approach might be to further explore symbolism in the poem and the meaning "of the seven masks" as representations of the seven deadly sins.

1) Beirut-Hell Express

2) I am intrigued by many layers of this poem, but at present I am exploring the symbolism of elements and water in particular. My preliminary thesis is that water symbolizes liberation.

3) Symbolism is by definition subjective. Without knowing the author's belief system and cultural reference points it is virtually impossible to say for sure what symbols are intended and which are coincidental. Water, storms, and sea creatures could simply symbolize her internal emotional turmoil.

I will be doing my paper on Rotating Tombs. I will be focusing on what hope means in this poem, and how having hope may fit into the circle of life, which is what the poem is talking about. Naimy contradicts himself in the poem by saying we should give up on all hope, that is what my argument will be about.

I think I'm going to write my paper on the poempby Abu Madi called "The Sea." I will probably change this thought.

1. If I keep it I will probably focus my paper on the possible discourse between Abu Madi's stance on existentialism or spiritualism, a conflict that seems to manifest itself in many of the poems by Mahjar poets. For this I will analyze the use of language and voice to determine where his true stance lies.

"The Silent Tear" is another that struck my interest for the same reason. Since this seems to be a running theme I probably will refer to both at some point.

I will be writing on the poem Rest in Love by D.H. Melhem. I plan to focus on the author's sense of cultural loss that she is experiencing through the loss of her mother. Although some might argue that this is the unavoidable result of the natural progression of culture from one generation to the next which everyone experiences (the natural evolution of culture that leads to things such as generation gaps), her experience is somewhat different because it means the end of the immigrant generation in her family.

My piece is "Dead Are My People" by Gibran.

I will be focusing on the author's defense of what could have been done. Although it is evident that the author feels or wishes he could have done more, it is my belief that the author blames himself for the deaths. Although superficially this poem appears to be a lamentation of the deaths of his people, the poem is really about the author defending his actions, or, in this case, his inactions.

Conversely, the reader could see this poem as a lamentation. By focusing on that, the poem could be about how the deaths were no one's fault.

1. I will be writing my critical essay on The Book of Khalid
2. I plan to focus on Khalid's methods of adapting in America. I will look at the aspects of his culture that he holds on to, or abandons, and the aspects of American culture that he picks up or rejects.
3. A different approach would be to look at his different philosophies and how his experiences contribute to or contradict them.

1) I will be writing on "The Book of Khalid."

2) I intend to focus on the idea of success and failure in the America, which we discussed in class. Through many different cultural references, Rihani shows that the mixing of Arab and American cultures is possible. But, if we take Khalid as our example, Rihani seems to say that a mixing of Arab and American culture is not possible. What are we to make of this paradox? Is this mixing only possible on paper?

3) Another approach is to take Shakib as the example. He seems to flourish in America. Is he the example of cultural mixing, or has he given up his essential "Arabness" in order to succeed?