Challenges are the ones that make life interesting but doing it for a cause becomes meaningful. "Suzie Q" is one of the selections in the book Black like Us edited by Devon Carbado. In this story it points out the life of a black lesbian street woman where she lives the reality of being a prostitute. She starts as a prostitute in order to have money to support herself and her children.
I liked this story for the reason that I thought that this character was brave enough in having to go through that kind of experiences. Suzie shows to be poor where she does not have another path to choose than becoming a prostitute. Having no other choice she knew that she had to do it in order to support her children. She showed confidence in being a better person by trying to do anything for the people who she loves the most even though she had to sacrifice her body. At first I was shocked to know that she was living that kind of life since most people do that for money but her situation was a necessity.
I valued that she had the courage to go on and not to give up. Her actions in this story in choosing prostitution made me think about a lot of things. It was obvious to see that her goals could not be met making her choose prostitution over other things because of her economic need. Her character demonstrated that she is capable to do anything in order to reach beyond her limits. True bravery was shown in this character where I was able to see that she is capable of doing anything for survival.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
LGBT Literature
In the class Literature and Human Experience, we have explored literature that has been produced by LGBT writers. These writers have made a positive impact on those who have not been able to come out of the closet or intend to reveal themselves.
Reading this kind of literature has been very useful in understanding what they have gone through in revealing themselves to others. It has also made me to come aware that this kind of work does exist and that it should not be ignored. it brought back memories when I was in elementary and middle school where I would read stories and poems that Langston Hughes had written in which my favorite one was called "Dreams." My literature teachers would encourage us to read stories due to the fact that he was a good writer and was well known. But the thing that I did not know was that he was one of the many GLBT writers that wrote about their orientation and that in a way illuminated their experience.
I think that the GLBT community sees this work as an inspiration in accepting who they are in terms of their orientation. It has aslo helped in liberating those who appear to be trapped inside the closet.
Reading this kind of literature has been very useful in understanding what they have gone through in revealing themselves to others. It has also made me to come aware that this kind of work does exist and that it should not be ignored. it brought back memories when I was in elementary and middle school where I would read stories and poems that Langston Hughes had written in which my favorite one was called "Dreams." My literature teachers would encourage us to read stories due to the fact that he was a good writer and was well known. But the thing that I did not know was that he was one of the many GLBT writers that wrote about their orientation and that in a way illuminated their experience.
I think that the GLBT community sees this work as an inspiration in accepting who they are in terms of their orientation. It has aslo helped in liberating those who appear to be trapped inside the closet.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Breaking the Rules
"Breaking the Rules" is a story from the Mee St Chronicles: Straight Up Stories of a Black Woman's Life written by Frankie Lennon. The setting takes place in the narrator's high school where a conflict is caused by a social force due to the social customs of that time making her get in trouble with Ms. Fannie Clay due to her appearance.
Everyone has customs that one needs to follow depending on what meaning it has to our families and the society. In this story, the way you dressed and wore your hair showed respect to others and how you would follow the expected tradition, but in the beat culture it was the opposite since it would not matter how you would dress. This custom caused conflict with the narrator due to the fact that she broke the rules by dressing inappropriately at school. The narrator along with her friend Nikki decided to dress like the beatniks as a form of protesting how they were treated unfairly. Beatniks was a new look that was developed by wearing over sized clothes and were known for dressing in all black with sunglasses.
During the 1960s, the counterculture was known to be as a rejection towards the social norms where the beatniks became involved. At this point the narrator becomes quite rebellious by not putting much attention to her dad when he had warned her to not let Nikki get her in trouble but instead she kept listening to what Nikki had in mind. She went along with Nikki's idea not taking in consideration the consequences she would have to face with the dean and with her parents.
The narrator had the understanding that dressing as the beatniks would be for a good cause in order to show others of the injustice that was being made against them for dressing up in a different way. She also had to understand that rules were there for a reason and that they were not meant to be broken.
Everyone has customs that one needs to follow depending on what meaning it has to our families and the society. In this story, the way you dressed and wore your hair showed respect to others and how you would follow the expected tradition, but in the beat culture it was the opposite since it would not matter how you would dress. This custom caused conflict with the narrator due to the fact that she broke the rules by dressing inappropriately at school. The narrator along with her friend Nikki decided to dress like the beatniks as a form of protesting how they were treated unfairly. Beatniks was a new look that was developed by wearing over sized clothes and were known for dressing in all black with sunglasses.
During the 1960s, the counterculture was known to be as a rejection towards the social norms where the beatniks became involved. At this point the narrator becomes quite rebellious by not putting much attention to her dad when he had warned her to not let Nikki get her in trouble but instead she kept listening to what Nikki had in mind. She went along with Nikki's idea not taking in consideration the consequences she would have to face with the dean and with her parents.
The narrator had the understanding that dressing as the beatniks would be for a good cause in order to show others of the injustice that was being made against them for dressing up in a different way. She also had to understand that rules were there for a reason and that they were not meant to be broken.
Woman Dreams
"Woman Dreams" is a story from The Mee St Chronicles: Straight up stories of Black Woman's Life written by the author Frankie Lennon. In this story the narrator goes through the Steps of Integration written by James L Helmuth. One of the stages that I placed the narrator is in the Pre Coming Out stage in which she becomes aware that she is different since she is attracted to female than male celebrities like Rita Hartworth. She also begins to question herself if her friends feel the same way that she does.
I also placed her in the Coming Out to Self stage where she starts to have a crush on her female celebrities and making up romantic scripts about that certain person. She begins to show shame and fear of what her friends may think about her when she reveals her true identity. The narrator is aware that she is different than her friends but she does not know the real meaning of having a different attraction.
I also placed her in the Coming Out to Self stage where she starts to have a crush on her female celebrities and making up romantic scripts about that certain person. She begins to show shame and fear of what her friends may think about her when she reveals her true identity. The narrator is aware that she is different than her friends but she does not know the real meaning of having a different attraction.
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