Jessie Dzura, blog 3: Nuestra America

As someone who strongly believes in education, reading, and learning, I advocate for the use and study of (powerful) language. The question for today's blog,  as posted by the professor, is: Do you speak English? I think a series of more appropriate questions is as follows: How does your English change depending on the context? Do you speak another language? If so, why? Do you relate to this other language. My answer to the professor's question is yes. Of course I speak English. I would not be attending this class, at our College, if I did not speak English. However, my English changes on the context in which I am speaking it. With my friends, I adopt a more casual, slang-ridden, maybe even obscene version of English. With professors, parents, etc. my English is more formal, calculated, structured, "advanced", whatever you would like to call it. With children, English becomes simple, short, basic. Why do these changes matter? The changes matter because the WAY in which you speak English (or whatever language you speak) fosters community with those you are speaking to. My friends rely on a more colloquial method of communication; parents and professors require more tact and thought; children simply require understanding.

On to my next question for discussion. Do you speak another language? Yes. I am bilingual in English and Spanish. Why? In middle school, my parents wanted me to learn Spanish because it is the "language of the future". For their future it was, for mine, I probably should have gone with Chinese. However, I feel an intense connection with the Spanish language and culture. I have an "in", if you will,  with people thousands of miles away. We can speak together, experience culture together, gossip... and the list goes on. Because of my language skills, I consider myself bi-cultural. I relate very strongly to both American and Spanish culture, and any other branch-offs of the "typical" traditions. Using Benedict Anderson in this example, a state or nation becomes a community with common language. On page 47, he describes this union: "All, including the USA, were creole states, formed and led by people who shared a common language and common descent..." For me, descent does not matter so much as language. With language, people have a door into another world and another people with whom they relate.

This brings me to literature and print. Both are essential in the formation of a communal identity. They offer a method for sharing information, interpretation, and other day-to-day things for people who share a language identity. In the USA, print and literature are used to share all kinds of information that is inaccessible to those that cannot understand our language. In cook-books, we pass down cultural traditions; in magazines, we pass along gossip and stories of our heroes; in newspapers, we share the news of the community. Print plays a large role in forming our identity, especially in art. Literature becomes a symbol for a nation. The Federalist Papers created the foundations of the USA, for example. The syllabus for this class becomes the foundation of "our nation".