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Too much to do with disabilities

I kinda started TRYING to narrow down what I wanted to do, but that backfired. I looked at so many lists of characters with disabilities, and there is a ton to do there. Everyone has their own idea of what a disability is. I am using Marvel, which I thought would limit things, but then I realized just how crazy things could get. For I WAS going to try and keep things simple. Focus on blind, deaf, amputees, and deformities. I realized I didn’t really have enough characters on my own for those categories. For blind, I could only really think of Daredevil. Deaf, I got Hawkeye and Echo. Amputees included Bucky, Echo again, Dr. Connors, and Nebula. Deformaties I was thinking Thing and Dr. Doom.

But looking at lists I realized that everyone has their own ideas, not to mention how complicated things get depending on which version of the character you use.

For variety in lists, some lists presented a great idea I didn’t think of, science experiments going wrong. I knew Dr. Connors becomes the lizard with a “failed” science experiment (technically the guy did get his arm back, but he becomes a lizard to do so… so… failed??). But there were other people who did science experiments that got crazy, so do I make that a list?
It would be an interesting topic, that people with disabilities go intense with trying to fix themselves to the point they change. That could be an interesting argument, showing the connection with disabilities and lab “accidents”.

There was also mentions of cancer. Like Jane Foster, who I knew gets cancer, but to me that isn’t a disability. I mean it does kill her, she is sick from it, but she also kinda in a way kills herself by using Thor’s powers and speeding up the cancer. So, is that a disability or just a misuse of power? Getting into tricky waters with that one.

And then people had Black Widow on their lists for having a hysterectomy. This was forced though? Like I would maybe consider it if she couldn’t have children based on her body not being able to, but to consider it based on the fact that she had a forced hysterectomy due to her awful spy program… That is a bit of a stretch to me. But does that count? Having a surgery, making you unable to do things others can? Now this is why I am including what the disabled community says on these characters. Cause not being able to have children is not what I think of when I think of disabled, which could be a whole other conversation on what people even think is disabled. My own bias of not wanting children could be impacting me to not include this on the list, but this is proving how complicated things can get.

For, to counter my own point of how Black Widow had a forced hysterectomy, we can’t just make disabilities things you are born with. That gets rid of like every one on my list. Daredevil wasn’t born blind, Bucky and Dr. Connors lost limbs in a war, Hawkeye lost hearing due to fighting in so many wars, Thing got his rock skin from being in space, heck even Professor X wasn’t wheelchair bound at birth. None of the people I have put on my own list had their disabilities at birth. Some mutants do, like Nightcrawler, which is a whooole other thing. If we do talk about mutants, they are all basically disabled, having so many changes to what we consider a “normal” human body. Some have wings, others have blue skin, some have less fingers, some have more limbs, it gets really crazy. I could just count that all as deformities, but truly we get into such crazy stuff with all of that.

Also the stories chosen depend on the disability the character sees. Like how Hawkeye is deaf in some stories but hard of hearing in others. To help out with this I might just change the categories to be “vision impairment” and “hearing impairment” which would also help to add more to the lists. Like with the vision impairment I can add Nick Furry or other characters with eyepatches. Maybe even include Cyclops because of being forced to see in red. Could also add “movement changes” as a big category. Includes amputees, those who are wheelchair bound in various ways, people with limps or needing to use crutches, or even characters like Doctor Octopus who uses a bunch of metal arms to move around.

Most of the lists I have found have been heroes or side characters, a small fraction of the lists others have made have been villains. Now, I also can’t think of too many disabled villains, but also who is counted as a villain? The Winter Solider is a villain, but Bucky is a hero, so do I include him on both the villain and hero side of things? Nebula is also both a hero and a villain. Are villains those that kill, but then what counts as killing because the Avengers have destroyed New York countless times in trying to fight bad guys. But maybe also there aren’t many villains with disabilities.
If I find that out, I might have to do diabilies seen in Marvel (to the best I can show that) and THEN disabilities seen in horror films. Those are kinda villains, just in a different genre than the superhero one. But, using the horror films would help show the disability tropes at large, and how disabilities “can be” scary.

The problem with my thesis is there is way too much going on with disabilities. Doing the horror films might be a whole other paper, but honestly any of this could be a separate paper. Like I think I am going to avoid deep diving into mental disabilities for that opens up way too much. I can’t even decide if cancer counts as a disability, I doubt I would be able to figure out what mental illnesses count as a disability. If they all do, that is soooo much to cover in one paper.

So the focus is still Marvel’s disability representation. Vision impairment, hearing impairment, and movement changes (might change the titles later, who knows). I will be seeing how these characters react to their disabilities and the conversation around that. I know the Hawkeye show demonstrated how hesitant he was to getting help with his hearing loss and how others judged him for not trying to get that help. Not learning sign language or getting hearing aids. But also studying the conversation around all that is going to be interesting. Did the hearing loss community feel like the show and the characters did them justice? This is what I want to focus on. Showing what Marvel does with disabilities and how the communities feel about it. Then use all of that to make my own story of superheroes with disabilities.

Not sure what to do with the villain aspect, if people just don’t pay attention to villains or if there is a lack of villains with disabilities. The horror stuff is very interesting, might have to be a separate thing. Not sure because I do want to show the dark side of disability representation in media, how “monsterous” or “scary” people make disabilities. But also just focusing on the villains we do get to see is interesting in itself, as the ones I have found are amputees, deformed, or science gone wrong. Haven’t really found “calm” disabilities with the villains yet, but I got more searching to do. Gotta lot of thinking to do. Might have to make my own list of disabilities which would be hard to do because I don’t want to be bias and discount disabilities, or count things in the wrong way. I would have to explain my choices in disabilities and characters, but some of the fan made lists do a terrible job at explaining why they put characters on the lists. It is all a little complicated right now, but at least I have a direction to go in. Things will find its place, I trust that.

Student Blogs

rocks in the road

These past two weeks have been rough for my household. One of my worries with all my responsibilities this semester is my personal life throwing a wrench in my academic life. And then I’d have to take a mental break to reset. Which is exactly what’s been happening over these past two weeks. I haven’t been able to make the time to mind map my thesis out the way I’d planned to. I’m barely focused on this assignment as I write it because I’m watching the weather to make sure I can shut off the electricity to parts of my house if it starts flooding. I’ll make my mind map this week and start looking into articles about the dependency on escapism this week.

On the bright side, the next Booktok book I’m reading is horrible and I get to make fun of it here. The characters are 18 and speak as if they’re in middle school. The female MC got knocked up in chapter 2 and keeps telling the baby daddy, who’s name is Sin, it isn’t his. He knows it’s his. There’s a serial killer murdering people in rituals and somehow that’s the B plot to this A plot pregnancy. There’s 300 pages left of this nonsense. I am not strong enough to finish this. I’ve hit enough tropes to add it to my thesis, though: sarcastic female protagonist, stalker/obsessed male protagonist, badly written banter, a quick, easy birth (sorry I skipped ahead to the epilogue, I was bored), the guy saying “I’d burn the world for you” at some point (pg. 373), etc. The author of this book is a doctoral student- her program must be insanely boring if she had the time to write 700 pages of sex and shock value.

Student Blogs

Week 2 Update

So, this week has been a very productive week for me. Well, actually, it’s just been “a week.”

I don’t even know where to start, so I think I’m going to use some images.

So, let’s start with Tuesday. Tuesday was fine, we had a PLC meeting, and I was able to get out of lunch duty. Honestly, mood. Then Wednesday comes… Uh oh, Back to School Night! So somehow, from 12 – 3:30 and then from 4:30 – 6:30, I’m supposed to have free time. Somehow, I ended up only being able to get one week’s worth of lesson plans done, and I also cleaned my classroom.

But Thursday… I was running on 1%. I was tired, I was barely functioning. I was trying so hard to make it through the day. And on top of that, Dr. Libbey and I were trying to figure out how to get our IRB stuff submitted. Once I figured it out, I had to go back and revise all of my documents, because they needed the Kean Letterhead. Then I needed to make a consent form… Okay cool. Bell rings for 7th period. UGHHHH. Now I realize I’m going to be staying past contract hours. Let’s just say, Thursday was nothing compared to Friday…

My thesis asks me to consider how college instructors teach writing.

Meanwhile, I work in a middle school.

This week, I had one of those days where “English teacher” somehow turned into teacher, substitute support, conflict mediator, crowd control, and—briefly—someone who probably looked far more authoritative than I actually am.

At one point, I realized my department supervisor had witnessed some of the chaos. My immediate thought was: Well, if nothing else, I hope this counts toward Domain 4.

The funniest moment came when, under an incredible amount of stress, I took charge of a situation involving a large group of students. It worked beautifully… until I looked around and realized some of the staff probably had absolutely no idea who I was.

Sorry! I promise I’m a teacher! 😭

So, while my academic life currently asks, “How do college instructors teach writing?” my middle-school life has recently been asking, “Can everyone please just calm down?”

Writing pedagogy will have to wait. I’m trying to prevent a war over here.

The thesis continues.

Anyways, onto my actual update.

Status Update

  • Literature Review – 50%??
    • Introduction – 100% Completed
    • Literature Review Section – 2/25 Sources & Annotations Completed
    • Methodology & Analysis – 100% Completed
  • IRB Approval Process – 50%?
    • Application Submitted
  • Living Project Description – Ongoing
    • 100% Up-to-Date
  • Faculty Letter – 100%
    • 100% Completed
  • Consent Form, Pre-Observation Form, Evaluation Models, all Completed

Overall, I think I am in a very good spot for my Thesis. For my presentation, I think I will share a brief overview of the evaluation models, my reflection forms, my pre-observation forms, and my project description.

It has been amazing working with Dr. Libbey. Honestly, she’s one of the coolest, down-to-earth professors I’ve ever met.

Student Blogs

I thought I could paint it red, but I couldn’t find enough goats…so I scrapped it

If you get the reference, Dear Reader, you have my respect.

So, full transparency, I was completely lost on what I was going to do for my thesis.

I had a few vague ideas but when I was sitting in that first class my view kind of shifted on what I wanted to do. Initially I was thinking of doing something that I found more challenging; the plan was to write an existential horror fiction. But I couldn’t figure out how that could tie into what I want to do professionally or what that kind of research would look like.

So I scrapped that idea.

I looked back at the thesis proposal I wrote, it was how algospeak impacts our perception of information. While I do have more of a foundation for where I could take this research, I’m not sure if that is really something I want to spend a crazy amount of time on. I also couldnt see how that ties into my job or career goals.

So I scrapped that idea.

Then their was the piece I was working on during the writers retreat. It was a horror cookbook. It was a pretty narrative heavy story but each story centered on a recipe. It kind of was supposed to be reminiscent of those food blogs that tells a whole story before it gets to the actual recipe. I was quickly running out of recipes that I felt comfortable remaking (ingredients are pricey) and I wanted it to work as a cookbook too, so the recipes would actually have to be on point.

So I scrapped that idea.

I have a bunch of writing ideas/prompts that I put down on a note for ideas over the years so I opened it and went through what I had written down.

A murder mystery that take place on a lovecraftian train (Murder on the Oriental Express meets Infinity Train)

Nah.

A YA Urban Fantasy about 2 black kids (The daughter of a witch and the don of a demon hunter) being framed by a white witch and her cop husband.

Nah.

I very quickly ran through my list of prompts.

It was time to consult a real one.

So I turned on my voice memos and started ranting.

After 15 minutes, I realized… I wasn’t actually recording anything.

I started again, with a lot of the fluff out of the way.

I talked about my goals, realistically considering how far I was actually willing to take them. The plan is to shoot for an ELA department district supervisor as a 9-5, and teach college courses at nights. As far as my education goes, I currently see at least 1 MFA, 1-2 Phd(s), and for gits and shiggles, I might just knock out a psych major (I only need 5 undergrad classes for it), but that’s just me being extra.

With that being said, I wanted to do something with relevance to both my teaching career and a field that is prominent and evolving. It didn’t take long to conclude AI would be a good topic to center in on. I deal with it in my PD’s as it intergrates more and more into our jobs. Since it is still evolving rapidly, I can see a lot of space in the research I could conduct. And of course, as a writer, I have very violent strong feelings about AI.

With the topic being chosen, I just had to figure out how I was going to approach the subject. I still wanted to do research but I really wanted to do something creative. I just find it easier and more enjoyable to write. So I played with a couple ideas but I finally settled on an anthology fiction piece that draws on real events and research (kind of like Black Mirror meets Handmaids Tail).

Dr. Sisler and Dr. Z have both given me some reading reccomendations so I will be making my way through those soon!

Since you made it all this way, the least I can do is give you some kind of treat.

The following is the rough dedication (cause all the best stories have dedications):

How does one contest with their own finality? 

How does one hear the rolling wheels of change over the cries of the countless left in their wake. Their blood, sweat, and tears acting as lubricant for the impending “well oiled machine” that harbinges their demise.

How does one find the sun and stars when the sky is blocked by the looming shadow of the grave? 

To those who will create a universe in the dark sand

Until next time, Dear Reader.

Student Blogs

Hold the Applause

Hello again! Please don’t clap. At this point, I think we all know who I am, so I will spare everyone another introduction. I’m Nas, I’m working on a thesis about care, labor, intimacy, and all the complicated things that happen when those ideas collide, and somehow I am getting dangerously close to actually finishing this thing.

Right now, I am almost finished with Part I of my thesis, which focuses on close readings and care studies. I have been working through my primary texts while thinking about care as labor, emotional investment, time, sacrifice, and something that can be both deeply intimate and deeply exhausting. I started it during our “rat summer,” and I’m still gong. My goal is to have Part I completed before the end of September. For once, that deadline actually feels realistic, which I am choosing not to question too much.

My independent study with Dr. Giunta is also giving me the space to be intentional about what comes next. Once Part I is finished, I want October to be dedicated primarily to my autoethnographic piece. This is the part I am both excited about and slightly terrified to write because it asks me to move from analyzing other people’s stories of care into examining my own. I know it will require a different kind of vulnerability than the analytical section, but I also think it may ultimately become one of the most meaningful parts of the project.

Then comes November and Part III. My goal is to spend that month developing the final portion of the thesis so that by the last few weeks of the semester, I am no longer trying to produce entirely new sections. Ideally, those final weeks will be reserved for revision, restructuring, making connections across the three parts, and probably staring at sentences I have read 47 times wondering if they are still written in English.

For now, though, I feel good about where I am. There is still a lot to write, rethink, cut, add, and inevitably overthink, but the thesis is beginning to feel less like this giant abstract project I have been talking about forever and more like an actual body of work that is taking shape. September is for finishing Part I. October belongs to autoethnography. November belongs to Part III. And then, hopefully, I revise my way across the finish line.

Student Blogs

Where I am at in research

Oh boy am I glad we get two semesters to work on this.

Summary of the research: Disabilities have bad reputation in media. I want to demonstrate that evidence and create better representation for those with disabilities in terms of creating a superhero story.

A little more detail: Disabilities have a loooot of things going wrong for them in media. For stories set in worlds where people get powers or have abilities, a lot of disabilities get healed (think Spider-Man no longer needing glasses after getting his powers), go away (think Max from Stranger Things being able to walk fine with no limp soon after waking up from a coma she was in for TWO YEARS), don’t matter as the person gets abilities to make up for the disability (is Daredevil really blind if he has advanced sensing abilities), and other various bad representations of disabilities.
In stories, disabilities are rarely seen or talked about. But when they are, there are some not great things going on. Like amputees always getting prosthetics, deaf people always getting hearing aids, autism shown in a specific way despite there being a spectrum, and so on. Even if the story is based on a real person, if it is made into a TV show or film things are changed to make the story more interesting.
For horror or super hero stories, a lot of villains have some sort of physical disability. Lots of scars, limps, hunched backs, or other deformities.
In social media, comments in videos of those who are disabled are a hit or miss. Some are supportive while others go the typical internet troll route.
Overall, a bad rep in media for representation, which leads to a lack of understanding. These people don’t get their voices heard, especially not when certain disabilities are thought of to be connected to villains.
So, the research is going to be presenting all these various examples of media doing disabilities a disservice with a deeper dive on the super hero representation of disabilities, as that genre tends to have a bigger pool of disability representation to analyze.
And then, after showing how much it all sucks, I plan to go into social media and look up how people feel about certain characters being disabled. Like, does the blind community think Daredevil is blind? Is he good representation? For those with deformities, does the Thing feel more like them than other characters with deformities? Clayface? Do they do deformities justice, with them being seen as/called monsters? How does the autism community feel about Mr. Fantastic, with all these examples of autistic people being very smart? Just get a vibe for what works or doesn’t work with the disabled community to know how to do the next part.

Which is then to take all this evidence of how representation sucks and the feedback from people and create a story that will do some justice. I doubt it would be perfect, but it will hopefully be better than what is already out there. Research and a creative aspect is the goal.

I am doing a lot, and I will probably lean more towards Marvel than DC to try and limit the super hero pool. DC I really know Batman, and not much else. Marvel I know more generally, so I feel like I can talk about all that better.
I also have to decide what I will count as a disability in terms of “do mental illnesses count”?
Cause if so, we got a LOT more to discuss. So many heroes and villains have PTSD and other various mental disorders. So many just mention it in the paper and be like “that is a whole other research paper”. Mention it just so mental illnesses don’t get ignored, but just mention it and not a deep dive so I can actually manage to get all this done.

Looking back I found a lot of stuff on deafness for the lit review, I should totally add more. More on deformities, more on the villain aspect of disabilities, more on the representation not being accurate, more is always good. I could always find more stuff. I haven’t touched the social media aspect yet, but that will probably be done before getting more literature, as I feel like the disability spaces will bring forward things I didn’t consider.

That is what my plan is/my idea of where my research is going at the moment. Demonstrate the poor disability representation, get feedback from the community, make a better story.

Student Blogs

Blog 1: New Beginnings

Hey everyone. Don’t think I need to introduce myself again so I’ll get straight to the point with this blog. When it comes to thinking about my thesis, i would be lying if I knew where exactly I wanted to go with my thesis. I feel closer to my final answer but I’m not quite there yet. I know for a fact that I want to center my thesis, around my work on the Writing Center. I’m really interested in looking into the things that allow a Writing center to a benefit to students at their respective universities. In addition, I am also super interested in doing some autoenthnograpic work in my thesis. Being able to center aspects of my project around my own personal experience as a writing tutor. I feel like it would be a great chance to bridge the creative side and the analytical work that comes with a heavily researched project like. Over the next couple of weeks I really want to hammer down my guiding question to really get the ball rolling. Based on how my research proposal from last semester came along i really think Im close to getting started. Excited to see how the next couple of weeks come along. I know this will be a struggle, but I’m sure things will work out one way or than other.

Another wrinkle with my thesis is the independent study I’m doing this semester. My project is pretty much working in tandem with my thesis which makes it easier to be completely honest. My IS is also rooted in authethnographic work so it will really help me in the process of getting through my thesis. While it is super exciting to be doing all of this work, it also is a little daunting. In both this class and my independent study, I really have to be on my A game to make the most of my time everyday. I know I signed up for all of this when I came into the program,and Im sure i can handle all of this, but it still is a bit scary to see all the work that is ahead of me. I hope you all keep me accountable with this.

If nothing else the next couple of months are going to be interesting. See yall Monday.

Student Blogs

Where I am with my Thesis

So, I will admit that I’ve jumped the gun on this process quite a bit. I honestly never thought that I’d be excited about research, so this is a very weird time for me lol.

So, where am I at? Well, Dr. Libbey and I spoke the other day, and we will be meeting in-person on Monday before our next Thesis class. Right now, I have my faculty letter (project description) completed, and I also have a more detailed project overview document completed (which explains everything about my proposed thesis plan). While I have not conducted any research yet, I am very familiar with the Charlotte Danielson evaluation model. The research I will be conducting will be based on four areas:

Charlotte Danielson Framework

  • The research/theory behind the Danielson Framework
  • Why the domains/components were selected
  • How Danielson defines effective/highly effective teaching
  • Research on the framework’s validity and reliability
  • Criticisms and limitations of Danielson
  • Research on whether highly structured evaluation rubrics accurately capture effective teaching

Kean University’s Evaluation Model

  • Obtain and study the actual evaluation instrument
  • Understand each criterion and how performance is assessed
  • Determine the intended purpose of the model
  • Research the theoretical/research basis for its criteria, if one exists
  • Determine how much evaluator judgment/discretion the model allows
  • Compare its level of specificity with Danielson

Teacher Evaluation & Classroom Observation

  • Research on classroom observations as measures of teaching effectiveness
  • Observer subjectivity/bias
  • Inter-rater reliability
  • Whether a limited number of observations can accurately represent teaching
  • Evaluation for accountability vs. evaluation for professional growth

K–12 vs. Higher Education

  • How K–12 teachers are typically evaluated
  • How college professors/instructors are typically evaluated
  • Differences in expectations between secondary and college instructors
  • Similarities in what each setting considers “effective teaching”
  • Whether practices from higher education can reasonably transfer to secondary classrooms

Methodology for My Own Study

  • Qualitative classroom observation
  • Comparative case-study methodology
  • Practitioner inquiry/research
  • Reflective practice
  • Researcher positionality—especially because you’re already trained in Danielson
  • Limitations of using four observations
  • How to avoid claiming that four professors represent all higher-education instructors

My Original Research

  • Conduct four faculty observations
  • Score/analyze each observation using Danielson
  • Analyze the same observation using Kean’s model
  • Record evidence supporting each judgment
  • Compare what each framework notices, rewards, penalizes, or overlooks
  • Identify patterns across all four observations
  • Reflect on whether one framework’s additional specificity actually provides additional useful information
  • Consider what aspects of college-level instruction could inform secondary teaching/evaluation

I know that this is a lot to be sharing right now, but honestly, there is a lot that I need to research before beginning Thesis 2. Much of the information above are genuine concerns. For example, my observations could be questioned because of my biases, or because it’s only one person conducting the observation. In addition, when observers are present, students act differently. This is also something that needs to be supported by research, and not just word-of-mouth, when I discuss it in Thesis 2, because these are all factors that can affect/influence the validity of my findings.

Overall, I think I’m in a good spot. My outline for the next few weeks is:

  1. Begin the IRB process (preferably ASAP)
  2. Get approval from professors so that I can observe them.
  3. Begin observing professors.
  4. Slowly conduct my research.
  5. Finish my literature review before December, so that I have enough time to begin refinements.

The only thing I am totally clueless about is how to start the IRB process. LOL. See you all next week!

Student Blogs

Thesis Taking Shape

This week, I focused on clearly structuring my thesis by breaking my work into five central themes. Each theme is supported by a primary text that I will close read and a set of secondary sources that will guide and deepen my analysis. This organization is helping me move from broad ideas into a more focused and intentional argument about care as both labor and intimacy.

The first theme is care as survival and forced labor, which I will explore through Kindred. In this section, I will analyze how caregiving is not a choice but a condition of survival, shaped by power and coercion. To support this, I will use Rewriting Slavery through Time, Tithi Bhattacharya’s work on social reproduction theory, and Who Cares? by Nancy Folbre, which will help frame care as labor that sustains life while existing within exploitative systems.

The second theme is absence, displacement, and emotional replacement, which I will examine through Atlanta Season 3 Episode 7, “Trini to de Bone.” This section will focus on how caregivers take on emotional roles that parents cannot fulfill, often becoming invisible until they are gone. Supporting this analysis, I will use Raising Brooklyn by Tamara Mose Brown and Mary Romero’s Nanny Diaries and Other Stories, both of which explore immigrant caregiving, community, and the hidden labor that sustains families.

The third theme is racialized care and historical labor, which I will explore through The Help. In this section, I will look at how caregiving exists within systems of racial inequality, where emotional bonds are real but shaped by structural oppression. To ground this historically, I will use To ’Joy My Freedom by Tera Hunter and Seven Days a Week by David Katzman, along with Mothercoin, to connect past and present representations of Black women’s labor and care.

The fourth theme is modern caregiving, surveillance, and performance, which I will analyze through Such a Fun Age. This section will focus on how caregiving today is shaped by race, visibility, and the performance of both care and identity. To support this, I will use And Nanny Makes Three by Jessika Auerbach and Niall Hanlon’s work on emotional labor, which will help me examine how care is both expected and managed within professional and social contexts.

The fifth theme is emotional intimacy, motherhood, and resistance, which I will explore through Lucy. In this section, I will focus on how Lucy’s strained relationship with her mother shapes her understanding of care, intimacy, and independence. To support this, I will use Of Woman Born by Adrienne Rich, The Reproduction of Mothering by Nancy Chodorow, and a feminist-postcolonial reading of Lucy, all of which examine motherhood, identity, and the emotional complexities of caregiving relationships.

Across all five sections, I will use Joan Tronto’s theories of care as a unifying framework to connect these themes. This structure allows each text to contribute something specific while still building toward my larger argument about the politics of care.

Student Blogs

Breaking the Texts, Building the Argument

This week, I began narrowing down my primary texts and organizing how I will approach each one through specific themes. Instead of trying to make each text do everything, I decided that each will focus on one key aspect of caregiving that connects to my larger thesis. At this point, my primary texts are Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid, Kindred (series adaptation of Octavia Butler’s novel), Atlanta “Trini 2 De Bone,” The Help by Kathryn Stockett, and Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid.

From the feedback from my presentation last week, I have broken these texts into themes that allow me to explore different dimensions of care. With Lucy, I am focusing on emotional intimacy versus resentment, looking at how caregiving can exist alongside resistance and unresolved identity. With Kindred, I decided to use the series version so I can do a deeper visual and narrative analysis, focusing on care as survival and forced labor, especially within systems of power. I still have two more episodes to watch before fully selecting my scenes. For Atlanta, I will focus on absence and emotional displacement, particularly how the caregiver shapes the child in ways the parents cannot. In The Help, I will explore racialized care and conditional love, paying attention to how genuine emotional bonds exist within unequal systems. For Such a Fun Age, I plan to focus on surveillance, performance, and the tensions of modern caregiving, though I still need to select specific quotes and scenes. I am also still working on identifying the most effective passages in Lucy to close read.

Moving forward, my main task for this upcoming week is to begin connecting these primary texts to my supplemental readings on the politics of care, labor, and intimacy. The goal is to make sure that each close reading is grounded in theory and contributes to my overall argument rather than standing alone. As I continue watching, rereading, and selecting specific excerpts, I am working toward building a cohesive structure where each text supports a different part of my thesis.