Smoke Signals

Prompt 1: Of all of the texts we've read (or watched, counting Smoke Signals) which is the text that will stick with you the most? Why? What will you take away from this text?

I believe that Smoke Signals will stick with me the most from this quarter. Not only am I a very visual person--meaning i remember more when I can visually see something--but I felt that the movie had a lot of significant meaning. I really enjoyed the character portrayals of both Victor and Thomas. They are so different in their mannerisms, dress, and personality, yet they are still set apart from the rest of their world because of their culture. This is shown through the scene where they are sitting on the bus, and talking to the women who says she was in the Olympics, and also when the two men would not move from their seat on the bus. Wherever Thomas and Victor went, they were seen as Indians, not as two distinct individuals with different personalities.

I also really enjoyed the story in general, and how the flashbacks and storytelling was so vivid and real. Both of these aspects really made me feel like I knew the characters on a personal level, and I wanted to learn more about them. This movie was a great representation of culture, traditions, and beliefs, and I loved seeing that conveyed through film.

Jancie Gould

I really enjoyed hearing some of the poems from her books. They were very personal and sort of a gateway to her life and her experiences as well. They were in all different subjects, such as her life experiences or even just the nature of places she has been or seen. I liked the way she explained to us the messages behind the poems or the events that lead up to her writing the poem. Its really good to get an insight into the writers motivation and see what inspired her to write the poem and Janice gave us that experience when she explained to us things that were happening in her life at the time that she was writing her poetry. overall, I enjoyed it...