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Thursday, October 27, 2011

"Black Men and Public Space" - Brent Staples

Black Men and Public Space is an essay about a young African-American man’s experience during his years as a graduate student in Chicago.  The man is none other than the author himself, Brent Staples.  In his essay, he details the issue of his placement in the community and his appearance had a great, but negative, effect on the people there.  He provides an example of an incident where he was just walking by someone, a white woman, who took his strolling by her as stalking.  Fearing for her safety, she gave Staples a few awkward glances before quickly taking off.  Staples also tells of how he could hear the sounds of shutting doors and windows as he casually continued his walk and contemplating his situation. 
            Staples, a man who appears to be of a pacifist nature, felt disappointed and embarrassed about how some people could just easily judge him based upon his appearance.  While understanding of their point-of-view and their feelings, he still felt bothered that his very existence in their presence would ignite such fear and resentment toward him.  Brent understood this all too well, as he explains how he, all too often, had to witness how the “tough-guy” image and criminal mentality installed in young black men often let to prison, death, or both.   This was something he wanted to avoid being associated with and he had made significant effort to do so.  It wasn’t until he started openly adapting certain habits that people would begin to tolerate his being in their presence. By reading the beginning of the story I felt immediately sorry for this guy. Prejudice is the basic of human classification and different treatment based on their outside appearance. But how is it possible to see the thoughts and his believes of somebody just be seeing him walking? I think that is impossible. For sure there are tendencies that you can assume how people are thinking but you never know until you know the person. With the believe that every person has something good in mind you are more likely to experience the positive side of the people and you will get treated way more friendly. I think that is important to find real friends and having a happy and satisfied life.


Tuesday, October 25, 2011

38 Who Saw Murder Didn't Call the Police by Martin Gansberg

In Martin Gansberg's story of the tragic murder of Ms. Genovese, he is explaining how society has evolved. The citzens of the neighborhood just watched as the helpless woman was repeatedly stabbed out in public over a 30 min time period. Genovese screamed "[...] help me!" (p12) as people just watched her die. Witnesses claimed they didnt know why they didn't call the police. I think its wrong to ignore such a violent act. It reminds me of the show "what would you do?" and it sort of makes us see what people would do in certain situations. Society is full of violence and people may not want to get involved but I think its kind of ignorant to bypass such things going on. It still needs more appeal for courage to stand up for your believes in right and wrong.

THE DEER AT PROVIDENCIA: ANNE DILLARD

In the narrative it speaks of such painful visions of humans and animals in such horrible pain. Annie Dillard writes this to show the suffering that animals and humans go through, and why such sufferings may exist. She explains as she goes on a trip to observe the native tribes, she is moved by such a scene. The scene was of a deer tied up, helpless and struggling to eacape. It was hung in a tree with only one leg free to barely relieve the rope that was tied so tightly around its' neck. I hate seeing anyone or thing suffer, but we can't really stop it. There's no cure found yet for certain diseases, and u can't control careless accidents, crime, or nature. I try to look at it as the only way we all can adapt and evolve to be better suited people.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain by Jessica Mitford

Behind the Formaldehyde is an excerpt from an exposé called The American Way of Death (1963) by Jessica Mitford.  It contains details on the process of embalming, what is done during the process, and what is used during the process.  An example is used to help with the explanation of the process of embalming, which can be defined as forestalling decomposition of a human corpse and making it suitable for public display at a funeral.  The example is used in the attempt to connect to the readers and show them how a deceased human’s body is expensively prepared for a funeral ceremony.  The author greatly details each and every action is taken during the embalming phase from the fixing of tissue, the draining of blood, to the replacement of missing body parts.  The author also mentions the continued restoration process taken post-embalmment.  The author then finishes by explaining how the body is then wheeled to the slumber room where the finishing touches are made to make the cadaver ready for viewership.
            After reading this excerpt, I was indeed impressed on how the author was able to detail each step taken during embalming.  I had to look up what embalming was to get a proper understanding, but after finding that out, I was easily able to get at what the author was trying to get across.  The author’s heavy detail on the many actions taken during the process of embalmment and what was used during really helps one understand how expensive such a process could be.  This perspective is also drawn from the part where the author compares embalming to cosmetic surgery.  Knowing how expensive cosmetic surgery is, helped me to understand the author’s point-of-view on the subject and it aided me in seeing how the author would probably urge people to seek alternatives on how to prepare the deceased for their final farewell.