Blog Assignment #5: Planning an Interview for a Personal Profile

For this assignment, I'm planning on interview a close friend on their interest in music. They're name is Adam Diaz. They want to be a performer. Adam sings and plays guitar as well as writing their own songs I've heard some of their work and I was quite impressed, though they're a bit modest about it. My main question would be something like "what made you want to get into the music industry. My next questions would depend on their answer, having the interview flow like a conversation. The paper would be more like a story, and myself, the interviewer, would be a character. I would be sure to describe their physical appearance, ask about their background, and talk about other interests and hobbies.

Blog Assignment #4 What's Inside, You Brother?

          Reading "What's Inside You, Brother?" was a very interesting experience.  Touré writes in first person at first, but then switches to third person. Touré constantly battles himself and his peers in a search for his identity. Because he went to a predominantly white school, hung out with his white friends, and had white girlfriends all of his life, his peers are now trying to erase his blackness. Many people in today's society think a black person has to 'act black' in order to actually be black. They tell these black children who don't 'act black' that they are a white person in a black body.
          This is extremely harmful to someone's self esteem. This way of thinking that a black person has to act a certain way in order to be deemed black is a form of racism. There isn't some sort of 'black code' that we follow in order to be called black.
           As a Dominican, I know many fellow Dominicans who deny their black roots. I grew up thinking of myself as 'just latino'.  It wasn't until my middle school social studies class where I learned about the Transatlantic Slave Trade and how the seeds of our family trees were planted by criminals guilty of the rape and massacre of slaves and indigenous people.
            Acting a certain way causes different reactions depending on the person. To fellow people of color, I act "too white". But to white people, I am profiled and stereotyped because of the way I look. It's difficult not being able to fit in with the society around you. So I can somewhat relate to Touré's struggle with cultural identity.

Blog Assignment #3 Describing a historical photo

I chose a photo from Edward Kelty's Photo's of Circus People. I enjoy the amount of contrast in the photo. Major Mite, the supposed 'smallest man in the world' is standing next to Sky High Jack Earl, someone who is almost quadruple the height of Major Mite. To me, Major Mite just looks like a baby in a top hat and a suit. Sky High Jack Earl is wearing what looks like a soldier's uniform. Both seem prett content, though i cant really tell with Major Mite, considering that he has a literal baby face. From the looks of this photo,  I would think both Major Mite and Sky High Jack Earl live happy lives, which is pretty odd to me. If I would part of a "Freakshow" I don't think I would be happy being showcased and degraded at the same time. Just being called a "freak" is so humiliating. These people didn't have a choice to be "normal". Sometimes joining the circus is the only choice for people who get rejected by society for being themselves. I'm sure Major Mite knows it. I'm sure Sky High Jack Earl knows it. But looking unhappy isn't going to get the circus any more customers, so for now, they fake it. They hide their sorrow for just a few moments.

Blog Assignment #2

The essay I chose for this blog assignment is "Demetria Martinez's "Inherit the Earth; The Things They Carried". A quote that grabbed my attention was the second sentence of "The Things They Carried".
"At First Christian Church in Tucson, a museum-quality display hold, among a number of objects, the following: empty plastic water jugs, a backpack, a baby bottle, soap, Colgate toothpaste, a hairbrush, a sardine can, a sock and used AeroMexico tickets."
I found this sentence interesting because of the string of items in the display hold. They are ordinary objects found in a home. It made me wonder why exactly the items were on display.  The first sentence of "Inherit the Earth" also caught my attention.
"The Arizona sun is melting like a pat of butter on the mountain flanks Tucson's west side."
The line made me imagine butter melting on a pan. It was almost as if I was there watching the sun set.  The last line "The desert holds letters lost or left behind. "I love you," reads a handwritten letter in Spanish. "I need you... I hope that very soon we can be together forever." This line ended the essay in a very good way. It shows the the large amounts of loved ones lost in the journey through the desert.
The writer's story attracted me because I am familiar with stories of immigration. Being latino, I think I can relate better to latinx writers.

Hello readers! Welcome to my blog!

In this blog I will be posting my think pieces for this class's assignments. I've never used blogger for a class before and I'm a bit nervous to be showcasing my thoughts to everyone in the class. However, I'm excited to see how this all plays out! This has been a blog post.