Short Stories

Throughout the beginning of the story, I was often confused, as to how one could recall the day they found out that they were colored, or why she was paid to sing and dance, or as to who Zora really was. I wasn’t really a fan of the story, but then it just clicked.

I absolutely love her perspective of the past of her people and the future ahead. Hurston accepts what has happened to her people, and even her grandparents, but also realizes that because since they endured this they paved the way for a better life for her, and she certainly won’t let that get away from her. She says that no one has a greater chance for glory, and she is at the center of a national stage and she will conquer all (figuratively of course, not the world and its entire people.) Even though she says that the man is “so pale with his whiteness”, which I can absolutely relate to, that’s not quite what I love about this story.

“Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can they deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It’s beyond me.” That, right there, is why, I love this. Not only does it confront the ugly truth, that there will always be discrimination, but Hurston puts a comedic light on it and realizes that it is not her fault. Basically she says “I’m absolutely wonderful, and if you don’t see that, well, that sucks for you.” It just makes sense.

After that, it just made sense and turned into one of my favorite short stories. I think it stretches far beyond your basic discrimination based upon race, but any discrimination or even simple disliking. It could be because you’re colored, or a woman, or fat, or because so and so told me that you said you thought my hair was ugly. How can you deny yourself the pleasure of my company? It’s beyond me.

King Still King?

Martin Luther King Jr., born a king, died a king, still a king. However I do believe we have strayed off of his ‘king-ness’ just a little bit.

He was probably the most known civil rights activist, between the Montgomery bus boycott, his campaign in Birmingham and his assassination, MLK never stopped fighting (peacefully of course). He’s a role model to many, and a very important person in history… which is why we get a day off of school.

All throughout grade school, around every MLK day we would always read books and essays and articles, look at pictures and movies, we knew exactly why we had a day off of school. It was almost as if they were trying to get us to appreciate him and his work for more than just the day off. But now, as bad as it may seem, it truly has turned into just a day off school, but I suppose it’s the same for all holidays. Think about it- on President’s Day, Memorial Day, Columbus Day, Veterans’ Day, do you really think why you’re not sitting in a class? Probably not, I know I don’t. It’s horrible that all these days, dedicated for a reason, are just an excuse not to have school. Now don’t get me wrong, I’ll take a day off of school whenever you give it to me, I’m not trying to say that, it’s just that I think maybe we should at least think about why we have it off in the first place.

True, come Monday I probably won’t even remember writing this blog because I’ll be suffocated by homework and Mr. C’s 57 day long Spanish final and I doubt MLK will be on my mind, but I’d like to think that he will be, because he really is still a king and has made so many things possible for us today.

So maybe I’ll stick a Post-It note saying “MLK day, woo!” somewhere in my room and hope that I find it Monday, that way I’ll think about why I have a day off of school, which is fantastic.

Short Stories

We have read six short stories about what it means to be an American, written by five different authors from seemingly five different walks of life. I like them all for different reasons, and since I really have no idea what to write about, I'll write about why I like a few of 'em.

Children of the Sea - It was probably the connection between the two that drew me in, the idea that they would always write so it would seem as if no time had passed was... remarkable. I really don't even have words for it. It sounds completely corny though, but really, what else can you say about that?

We Are Ugly, But We Are Here - Although it was extremely sad and reminded me of what's happening in the Congo, it really made me think, you never really do hear anything about the women on the news, it's always the men being represented. Any 60 Minutes, or NBC Primetime about Iraq, or Haiti, or anywhere there's trouble, or rebellion, all you see is the men. You never hear about what's being done to the women, maybe because it's absolutely despicably wretched, and by maybe, I mean most likely.

This Sacred Soil - You could hardly call me a fan of this poem, however I deeply enjoyed his last two sentences, only thirteen words; "Dead, did I say? There is no death, only a change of worlds." I love the idea of this. I hate the thought of death, the idea of death, everything related to it. I hate losing people to it, but I always convince myself that they're not gone. It's similar to the idea brought up in WAUBWAH, that no one ever dies if you remember.

Six stories down, eleven to go, woooooo!

Music Review

Oooh music reviews, what to pick, what to pick? Honestly, right at this moment, I still have no clue what song I’m going to pick. There are so many good songs, that the field is much too wide. I’m not one of those people that only listen to one type of music, on my Top 25 most played in iTunes; I have Kanye West, Taylor Swift, The Script, some random DJ, A Day to Remember, Four Year Strong, Brand New, Death Cab for Cutie and Miley Cyrus’s (ew. p.s. her bong video? hilarious!) Party in the U.S.A. I like so-called “undiscovered” stuff just as much as I like mainstream stuff. Whether the song is decades old by artists such as Cat Stevens or Frank Sinatra or released a few months ago, like Ke$ha's "We R Who We R" or Sugarland's "Stuck Like Glue". And the whole time I’m writing this I have been YouTube-ing songs that I don’t have in my iTunes, like the cover of “Creep” from The Social Network, my song is still undecided.

I think part of my indecision is that when I don’t have a specific taste that the song won’t be reflective of all of it, just a small piece. But if you read the first paragraph then you’d get it.

"Pop changes week to week, month to month. But great music is like literature."
- Ravi Shankar

So I’m going to pick an old but classic, ”Cat’s in the Cradle” written and sung by Harry Chapin from the album Verities & Balderdash. It’s the essence of folk music, it tells a story, granted not a happy one. It is about a son who wants to grow up to be just like his dad, but his dad blows him off so many times that the roles switch, and it’s the dad who is asking to spend time with the son who has grown used to not having his dad around. It often gets stuck in my head, and my brother sings it all the time, which is okay because it’s a great song.

So technically reviewing this song, I don’t find anything wrong with it. I don’t expect everyone to love it, but I do, and really that’s all that counts.

This review has gotten me YouTube-ing not only Harry Chapin, but Cat Stevens and Frank Sinatra, all great artists. YouTube them.

Harry Chapin - Cats in the Cradle
Cat Stevens - Wild World
Frank Sinatra - That's Life
Antoine Dodson - Bed Intruder
Kanye West - Power


^On repeat while writing this blog. The two groups combined is interesting... but good... but very interesting together.

Jay and Nick

Jay and Nick, Nick and Jay, its only chapter five and they seem like fast friends. It’s kind of an interesting relationship though.

They met in kind of a strange way, Jay invited Nick to one of his parties, and they were such complete strangers that Nick didn’t even recognize Jay. But I think the best of friendships start in strange ways, at least most of mine have.

Also, they view each other in strange ways. Nick really admires Jay, after all the book is written by Nick and titled “The Great Gatsby”. I suppose it’s nice to be admired, but it almost seems as if Nick is the president of the Jay Gatsby fan club, then again, my best friend Claudia is the president of the Haley Ray Thompson fan club. Another reason they view each other in strange ways is that Jay seems as if he’s personally showing the world to Nick, by taking him to the city on a hydroplane and all the other adventures yet to come. However, Jay is using Nick in a small way in an effort to get closer to Daisy. …Strange.

In a strange way, I do hope they become BFFs because they would make quite the dynamic duo, kind of like Batman and Robin, except they wouldn’t be superheroes, they’d be really cool New Yorkers living in the 1920s when “gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession.”

Winter Poem

It officially begins the twenty first,
though it feels like it started in November.
By February the novelty is gone,
much like the tans in September.
With holidays passed,
the excitement has left,
and we wait hoping for spring.
I turn on the tv and the weatherman says,
Good Morning Chicago it’s thirteen degrees!
I crawl back in bed, and think in my head,
Myrtle Beach Twenty – Eleven.
Winter please leave,
I’ve had enough of waiting outside in the cold.
So when the twenty first comes,
say: just kidding!
And go back to the North Pole.

The Trick of Writing

“Be yourself. Above all, let who you are, what you are, what you believe, shine through every sentence you write, every piece you finish.” – John Jakes

I think that’s it. When given this prompt I automatically thought, write what you think, what you feel, what you believe and the rest will come naturally. I then decided I wanted a quote, Googled “quotes on writing” and this was the first one that came up, my search was done. But I didn’t know who John Jakes was, so I Googled him, he was born in Chicago and attended DePauw in Greencastle, Indiana, which is where my sister went; (it only has 2,400 students, that’s pretty much like WY, weird coincidence).

Any who, I think if you don’t write as yourself, and no I don’t mean character wise, it doesn’t have the same feel, the same quality, it’s just not you. I also think blogs and journals are a great way to develop your own style of writing, and I’m honestly not saying this just for McCarthy, I actually believe it. Although I doubt many, if any, write nonfiction, or mysteries, or sci-fi journals and blogs, but who knows? Maybe one day you’ll grow up to write a sci-fi. But it’ll still have your voice, and you will shine through it.

Personally, I dislike writing serious type things because I’m hardly a serious person. But if you are the serious type, be the serious type and write in a serious type style. There’s a reason why people like reading books by the same author, it’s not the genre, it’s the author. That could potentially be you.

In conclusion, I’m not a professional writer in the least bit, who even knows if I’m a good writer or not? Well, you do. But anyways, I just think that when you write, you should be yourself and let it shine. “This little person of mine, I’m gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.”

That’s the trick. (I also just pulled a rabbit out of a hat.)