Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

It's amazing how far we've come from lynching black people for racist reasons, to electing them as Presidents of America, showing our 360 on how we view race. Just like voting, race comes first and gender comes second, so I guess we can plan to see a female in office not too far from the present. Nonetheless, Roll of Thunder, Hear Me Cry is a good children's fictional work that depicts the elements of racism in the 1930's so well. A Child's imagination can not possibly imagine humans torturing other humans, whether it is burning them alive, the way they speak and act towards them or how they could frame each other, children aren't really exposed to that sort of thing, and are in fact more innocent. I believe this book would hit the strongest notes with teenagers ages thirteen to fifteen, because they can connect the dots and realize why people act the way they do, while shaping their views going into adulthood. They can connect with Stacey whether it be the fact that he is facing a life dilemma of growing up or staying a kid, or the fact that T.J is a trouble making "friend". We all have had our share of "friends" who we may no longer talk to for one reason or another, and that's one aspect that is not given enough light to children, I believe. But that was not the purpose of the book, and instead it choose to tackle racism and the overcoming of that trench of darkness.

In McDowell's analysis of the child agency in the novel, she speaks about how the oppressive standard of living strengthens the characters. An interesting point she makes is how the oral tradition of history is more beneficial than the learned book tradition of common day students in that it is a "lived" history and students/family members are able to memorize dates and connect with the events because it is real, alive and special to them. I think it is important to note how she examines the "infantizing" of African Americans. I never gave it too much thought before but that is a good connection, and a fine way to explain how whites have treated blacks, for lack of a better word, in the last century. Everything they do is aimed to "inferiorize" (my word, add it to Websters) the blacks as much as possible. White supremacy was very much a real attitude and still is in certain parts of the world. It's been a long way coming, and we still have a long way to go, but this novel is a good starting point for children looking to gain a sense of the past, while trying to shape their outlooks for the future.

Understanding the Ojibwa

Although fictional, you have to believe that this book stills gives a good overview about the Ojibwa. One thing I had trouble with is the lack of affection adults have towards different cultures or the history of cultures. Anytime I think about Native Americans  I always remember my childhood, whether it be books, movies or storytellers alike. Why do we stop caring about Native Americans as we get older? They too care about family. They too have stories to share that discipline the youth and give us scruples to follow. Regardless, in almost a paradox, here I am as an adult learning or relearning about Native Americans, although I can't say I remember Ojibwa Indians as a child. Its good to see Erdrich spread her culture and explain to the world her customs and traditions, I think. It was cool to get the two views right back to back, between ordinary white folks, and ordinary Native Americans. The Indian life reminds me of the country life, where you work hard, play well, and enjoy the simple things in the world. Can you imagine The Ingalls or Omakayas family working in downtown Detroit at Quicken Loans  No, they are above that lifestyle. Can you imagine how weird it would be to explain small pox or malaria and the reasons for it's spread or how to cure yourself from getting it? I'm sure they would prefer hearty soup, a blanket and a fire place to sweat it out rather than some Tylenol and antibiotics for everyday sicknesses.(Well everyday to us. They were deadly to them.) But about the book, I believe the writing style can be appreciated for its enticing narrative. There's something about "the struggle" that is so contagious when reading, that the reader wants all to go well, but subconsciously enjoys overcoming hardships, whether its disease, or food shortage or property problems. By having these stories filled with morals the reader is forced to read with a purpose, and aggressively engages in the book.

Little House

You want to talk about nostalgia? This book takes me back to grade school when we would read Little House and play "The Oregon Trail" on our computers. I was never into this book as much as other kids were, but I have a new found respect for it if you will. I recently moved for the first time in my life and I had some hard emotions giving up the only house I ever knew, with all the memories and good times. The security of moving into an unknown area felt weak at best. I can only imagine how the family felt from the point of view of everyone in the house. As a father I'm sure Ol' Pa Chuck had a lot on his plate to bear, not knowing the Unknown. Ma was trying to gather the family and keep them together during the rough times and the kids were worried about insignificant oddities outside of survival. I think its cool though looking back now how as a kid I seen this as a book, but now I can appreciate it's historical merit. We tend to stop telling the youth stories now through families and I see a noticeable shift to computers as the means of sharing social stories and whatnot. What would have happened if Ma, Pa and Mary couldn't tell Laura the story? We would lose out on one of the greatest American Historical series in literature. As I said on day one I am a fanatic of words and language, which is why I believe I have such an eclectic taste in music, so from this book I can extract what language was like in the 1800's and that is so unique. I'll never live in the past, at least I don't think. This book tells a story that is so important for that regard. Shouldn't we all write our stories down? Won't our stories be meaningful to students of the year 3000 learning about the 21st Century? These are all things I believe we should do in order to follow the lead the Ingalls shared.

Kim

Being at Wayne State we see plenty of homeless people. The other day I was eating at Epicurious which has a $5 one topping large pizza. I ordered it and couldn't finish it all by myself so I took a carry out with food with me. As I walked to the UGL I seen a homeless man picking for cans. I figured I was full and he could use the meal so I asked him if he would like some pizza. The man nodded and took it graciously and sat down instantly to eat the meal. I really had nothing to do that day so I decided to talk to him, and try to understand why he was where he was. As I spoke I noticed he had a hard time talking. After about 15 minutes I had conversed with the man (his name is David) to write a short story about his life. Turns out he was impaired as a child and went to a special school because he couldn't talk. He likes Wayne State and every Sunday a man gives him $50. He seemed content with his life for the most part but I couldn't shake that this man probably went through his entire life thinking this is how life is. For him this struggle was not so. It was normal. He told me his favorite food is pizza and hamburgers. I'll be sure to take him out to eat sometime if I catch him again.

I could connect to Kim the same way I connected to David. I admire the toughness of being able to adapt to life, and accepting whatever life you live. Sometimes I wish I would have served my country rather than come to college, for I feel a larger sense of nobility sacrificing my time for a greater purpose. I had a tough time with this book, not because the language was hard, but I couldn't read it without pondering life every 30 minutes. I don't know if anyone has ever been through specific hardships but if anyone could tell me about life as an orphan from personal experience I'd love to hear.

What William Blake Showed Me

You ever have a person who uses a particular vocabulary or even their own created language that rubs on you? William Blake is that type of guy. With his works, the more I read, the more I begin to speak like him and suddenly my life becomes a poetic, illustrative dialect. Unfortunately, nobody seems to like the way I speak after reading Blake so it doesn't go very far. But one thing I picked up on is his love for language and bringing nature into his works. For the last two days I've been referring to every child as a lamb, which even in modern day society may make sense, its still very unusual. He seems to incorporate the lamb and the child in his works quite frequently, most notably in "the lamb" "spring" and "tyger" I felt (excuse the lack of capitalization). But the language is capturing, and his word choice rings with me, for example:

When he says, "He is meek, he is mild" (The Lamb). I love the word meek here because although meek and mild (alliteration) are pretty similar to the palate, he sifts these words out that somehow still contrast each other. It's kind of like when you find two things that are similar, but after a complex and critical review you seem to find a distinction. Meek is definitely a word I'm adding to my temporary (hopefully longterm) vocabulary.

The connotation I get with a lamb is somehow innocence, which I think plays well with his whole Songs of Innocent/Songs of Experience classification. There's depth in his works and I see how he relates to the idea of a child in his poems. The one thing I would rather see him do however is have a much more lost train of thought so to speak. I want to see him explain things to the child (Uhh I mean Lamb) in an unfiltered stream of consciousness. Too late to request things from Blake now, I suppose :/