The Jim Crow Laws overflowed the "Douchebag Jar"

Minstrel show - comedic show that had skits, musical numbers, along with dance performances performed by white people who acted 'black' by putting on dark make-up for American entertainment.
^This is absolutely awful. At first when I read "minstrel show", I had no idea what it meant so I turned to Wikipedia to enlighten me. But the term extremely racist, which is terrible.

While reading through the list of the Jim Crow Laws provided, I was just disgusted. The laws just seem so ridiculous and not logical. I'm surprised that they were even allowed through. They violated freedom, which is promised to citizens of the U.S.. White and colored people were allowed very little interaction.

I don't even know if there was an actual, valid reason for segregating people with different skin colors. It just sounds weird because we're all human beings who deserve equal rights. A modern day equivalent to the Jim Crow Laws would be me talking or associating myself with anyone who doesn't like what I do or doesn't dress like I do. Teresa's example: Wow I really hate celery. Ohh... You like celery? (cue disgusted face) I can't be friends with you then...

If I was the person getting the hate about liking celery, I would feel so lonely and small. I could imagine that this is how African-American people felt, especially interracial couples. The Jim Crow Laws implied that interracial couples were committing the highest crime. The Laws didn't even want white people to look at an African-American, so it's easy to picture the difficulties faced by interracial couples. But to be honest, interracial couples are really neat to me. It's amazing to me how people can step outside of their culture and mingle and maybe date people of other ethnicities. It also helps that I love mixed babies. They're so beautiful! Every physical feature is so interesting and different compared the normal single race child.

So, it's been over a decade, but has America learned its lesson about racism? Not at all. There is still evident racism in America, especially towards non-white nationalities. As a minority, I hear it everywhere. It's OK if it's for comedic purposes; however when it gets out of hand and people actually mean to cut me down, that's where I draw the line and (mentally) tell them to add a dollar to the "Douchebag Jar" (New Girl reference).

Banal "Eggs", Jer-ry-mire, & Fictional Incest

I don't really know what compels a person to write a bland short story about a guy ordering eggs, but I guess William Kennedy felt this way. Throughout the first page of the short story, I was extremely confused. Of all things Collier's Magazine could publish, they decided to publish an uninteresting and mediocre story that has almost no plot. However, I was relieved to read that it didn't get published. I don't intend to be mean towards the author but the way he described the story wasn't in a way that anyone would be like, "Wow! I dying to know what happens next!"
On a more positive note, it was really helpful to see how Kennedy went through the revision process for "Eggs" because it showed how it's OK if your first piece isn't amazing and getting all sorts of recognition. Kennedy took valid advice from Eudora Welty; mystery is an element to include in pieces that can make what you write a little more interesting. It was kind of sad how he got sentimental at the end when he was saying how he was sorry that his parents (mostly mom) didn't get to see him progress and develop as a writer. But ending on a funny note by mentioning his dad brought the short essay full circle since he had previously mentioned how his dad hated "Eggs".


Jer-ry-mire. I laughed so hard at this. I thought there was something wrong with it when I first saw it, but after reading it out loud several times I realized that the intended name was 'Jeremiah.' Besides the funny names of his mother's relatives, this essay was really dark.
There was definite shock factor when the "seven children, six miscarriages" was mentioned. It was definitely shocking to me. Who in the world could handle seven children, almost the same amount of miscarriages, and a rough marriage? It's just exhausting and mentally draining to even think about. I felt sad for the children because I could just tell that they had an awful home life just by the mention of one of the children saying that the miscarriages were the lucky ones. They were somewhat compensated (but not really) by being able to become a successful poet and writer.


The thing that really struck me about Maurice Sendak's essay was the weirdness of him and his brother Jack's story that they wrote when they were seven and twelve (respectively). I think that it's really neat that they were able to be so creative at a young age, but I was just deeply disturbed by the 'incest' in the story. How did they not find it strange that they were writing about being in love with their sister? What made it even worse was that their parents were proud of this story. I can understand that it's an achievement of their kids', but as a parent I would still think it's unusual for my two sons to write a story about them being in love with their sister. It's even more disturbing that they would even think of having their sister commit suicide because the brother is dying. Starting young for writers is a good thing, but Sendak's start was just concerning.

Why I Write

So... why do I write...?

I can honestly say that I don't have a clue. I don't really write much on my own time so most of the time it's because I have to for class.

In general, I don't really like writing. But the idea of writing as an imaginary world where anything can happen is fresh compared to reality. There's freedom to make the characters do whatever I want them to or make the story go where I want it to go. It's a relieving feeling that makes me sometimes enjoy writing. However, I only get this 'freedom' when I can write about anything I want to.

I think I don't like writing because I associate it too much with standardized testing and the stress that comes with it all. The prompts from the standardized tests are so vague and I'm not given much time to write the essay. It's so stressful that it makes me dread writing.

Since writing isn't something that I particularly enjoy, I think that I'll stick to reading what other people write because I know I'll enjoy that far more than trying compose my own work.

FIRST!

Here's my first post on my first official blog where I'll blog about stuff I guess.
I feel like a rebel because Blogger is the type of site that I thought would be blocked at school. But I'm on it at school!!!! I could have even of been on my personal Tumblr wasting class time, but that'd be bad. Haha.

Bye for now...?