Last post...

So this is my last blog entry and the last week of class, which consisted mostly of presentations. I really liked Stuti’s presentation on catfish, beforehand I never knew what a huge industry it was. It seems kind of strange that so many people like eating catfish because I have definitely never heard of them being served in the north or even of anyone saying they ate catfish. I also liked Joe’s presentation on sports—high school football in the south has always somewhat intrigued me because the idea of sports being so intense is just not how it was in my high school. His presentation made me think of the show Friday Night Lights, which is about a Texas football team that basically the whole town revolves around. I wonder if it’s portrayed accurately or merely an exaggeration. Joe’s presentation also made me wonder how other countries view our culture. Do they see it mainly as represented by the sports enthusiastic culture of the south or by the European copy cat culture in the north that Joe was talking about? Eric’s presentation was really interesting. Slavery and the country’s treatment of blacks is considered a blemish in our history but it’s interesting to realize that we’re still treating people in a racist, exploitative manner today and we don’t seem to even notice it. I wonder if other countries have this same issue of always needing to have an “other” that can be isolated from mainstream society and treated very differently from everyone else.

Anyway, it has been a great semester. Theo, thank you for choosing a wide variety of interesting texts that brought to light issues I might not otherwise ever been aware of. I really enjoyed class discussion—it was nice that we had a class where everyone listened to everyone else and brought up really interesting issues.

Post #12

I though L-Play was very entertaining; the stories almost reminded me of a combination of Waiting for Godot and The Stranger because things just seemed to happen almost without a logical rising action or conclusion. I liked the first story about loneliness the best because it had so much woven into a short four page story—there were all sorts of unresolved issues including Monica’s issues with men, her own family, revenge, and Joan’s own murky past and deceitful present. I didn’t really know what to make of the end at first, Monica is dead and there was so resolution to any of the problems the author brings up, but at the same time I think maybe the author just wanted his readers to get to know a character, possibly feel some sympathy for her and then feel something when she died. We haven’t yet discussed L-Play in class and I’m curious about the context of this work and how it relates to Mississippi.

In terms of the “High Lonesome” piece I wasn’t really as interested in this reading but I can kind of relate because I feel like everyone knows someone like the uncle—a man who you look up to but at the same time realize is dangerously flawed. It’s worthwhile to look at the qualities that the narrator admires in his uncle—the “savage grace,” the skill, the knowledge, the wealth. But oddly even though the narrator is young and looks up to this guy as a father figure he still manages to see the man’s flaws in particular in relation to how he treats blacks. Initially, the narrator blames most of his uncle’s problems on his wife but as he matures he realizes that she is certainly not the only reason Peter drinks and looses control. I guess this blaming sort of relates to the “Defense of Southern Womanhood” that we read. Whereas in that piece the author mentions that if a woman killed her husband it was believed that he deserved it, in this story the wife is blamed for the unhappiness of her husband. Finally, I found it intriguing how the narrator can’t seem to love or admire his father in the same way he interacts with the much more colorful uncle Peter. This might say something about what qualities people admire or are drawn to.

Lastly, the Mississippi History was worthwhile because it focused on ethnic issues, which are sometimes overshadowed by the black/white tension. After reading this we ask ourselves did Chuck overreact or was Kenny wrong for laughing? Putting myself in Chuck’s position I think Kenny was at fault but putting myself in Kenny’s place makes me blame Chuck. Sadly, I think that ethnic/race issues can be so hurtful and devastating that they really can cause an incurable rift in friendships.

Post #11

I really liked the “In Defense of Southern Womanhood,” I never realized that a woman could literally get away with murder in the South. I guess this means that part of what goes into a jury decision is image—the jury found it hard to convict a well-dressed, petit southern woman. I found it interesting how many of the women in this story claimed a black man committed their crime. This seemed weird to me because women and blacks are historically repressed groups so I would think that women would be less likely to exploit blacks. Maybe these women were exceptions because they seemed pretty insane already or I might be wrong and maybe women were just as racist and exploitive as men. Another point I found interesting was when the article noted, “southerners do not question unexplained phenomena or the mysteries of nature, human or otherwise.” Of course this is a generalization but I wonder to what extent is it true, why did this author think to include it—was it merely her critique of Southern society or is their some strand of truth to it?

I also read the Etheridge pieces and I liked “The Essential Etheridge Knight” better because I thought the poems were definitely worth reading and thinking about whereas in the second Etheridge handout I thought the part about people living off blacks’ dreams was kind of far fetched and didn’t really leave me with something to think about. Specifically, I liked “The Idea of Ancestry” which made me think about how lonely and frustrating it must be to sit in a cell and watch your relationships fall apart. Not only that, one person in jail affects and can really bring down a whole family. The “wasp” that come to visit the prisoner made me think of how just little things like this could remind the prisoners of their humanity and of the world that they’re a part of but yet at the same time cut off from. Etheridge mentions how this woman made the prisoner walk softly for a day. In other words, I think the behavior of the prisoners is largely dictated by their environment—if they’re treated “softly” then they act “softly.” This makes me question how much prison violence went on considering the terrible violence that the prisoners were subjected to.

Finally, the piece on prisons made me consider what a world without them would be like. The author makes a great point that we grow up thinking that prisoners are an essential part of society just as at one time slavery was considered a permanent part of society. It’s strange to think about how we would deal with criminals otherwise—maybe through rehabilitation or maybe there’s a world that would be possible without crime (which of course as the author mentions would require a restructuring of society at every level).

Post #10

This week I’m going to write about the Lomax readings that deal with prisons and Doc Reese’s story. First, I found the piece about prisons to be really horrible. It reminded me of the movie Shawshank Redemption and how the prison guards were corrupt and abused (and even killed) prisoners without consequence. To think that this really happened (and not too long ago) surprised me not only because it happened but also because I had never heard of this. It still amazes me about all the corruption that happens and that the media never get wind of. For instance, over the weekend I saw American Gangster, based on a true story, which portrayed the incredible corruption of the NYC police department that was widespread enough to result in the conviction of 75 percent of police officers after it was finally realized. I guess one of the things that saddened me about this chapter was the fact that prison abuse could still be going on today and we could not even know about it because most prisoners wouldn’t have access to the media and even if they could tell someone about abuse they might not be believed or more likely they would be silenced.

It’s kind of hard to believe that these people had any incentive to live; I mean their lives were so terrible I don’t know if I would have been able to wake up in the morning. It makes me mad because you only have one life to live and its so unfair that these poor men were put in jail arbitrarily and subjected to some of the worst treatment possible—especially since they were basically under the control of lower-class, racist, power hungry whites. One thing I noticed in the Doc Reese chapter was the really degrading terms the guards used to describe the blacks: “god damn your black soul…old nigger…you sorry blue-black ape.” And then when Cold Blood kills Lew I was wondering how a person can witness that sort of raw violence and then keep working. Either they become so immune to violence that they can’t even conceptualize it or they just allow their anger and resentment to fester inside themselves. It would interesting to examine the psychological aspects of people that allow them to withstand such dire conditions. There must be some human adaptation that allows people to deal with these situations. Overall, this seems to be just one more instance of terrible violence that isn’t really remembered in history books or by most teachers for that matter. Maybe if more people knew that this went on then they would be more interested in helping blacks today (for instance with affirmative action or city reform etc.).