(no subject)
Oh gosh so I feel the need to be writing an entry but I don't really know what to say. Not that I won't come up with something because obviously there is always more than enough to say about the universe and all that is in it.
I was talking to my grandmother today, speaking of things that are in the universe, and as it turns out she dressed up as something patriotic every year for Halloween because she was born on the fourth of July. The car dealership around the corner from her house used to give away free giant cardboard hats that advertised their dealership, so Nanny would take one of the hats and cover it with red, white, and blue fabric, and Grandma would be Uncle Sam for Halloween. I was a Statue of Liberty one year, maybe this runs in the family!
Apparently in Cuba when my grandfather was growing up there was no Halloween - so the first year that he was in America he and his parents were living with some relatives who had sponsored them to move to New Jersey, and they were left alone on Halloween evening with a bowl of candy. But my grandfather's mother didn't know what to do with the candy, or what Halloween was, and was apparently scared out of her wits when lots of people in costumes kept ringing the doorbell.
Come to thik of it, Grandma tells a lot of stories about times when her mother-in-law was scared out of her wits. Plays into the idea of feminine hysteria and the inability of females to control their emotions. My grandmother's stories are so shaped by the stereotypical ways that she thinks people aught to act. Especially since she wouldn't really have been there to know how her mother-in-law really acted in these scenarios. The worst story Grandma tells is about the first time my great grandmother saw a black man. Really a disturbing story in many ways.
Anyway, it was an interesting conversation. I love talking to Grandma. Even though she doesn't seem to do anything other than talk on the telephone, she always seems to find something to say.
But enough about my grandparents. Let's talk about this book that I am reading. You ALL should read The Street by Anne Petry. It is AMAZING. I won't go into details because I don't want to ruin it, but there is so much there - from Biblical imagery to allusions to other narratives in the black protest tradition to feminism, and everything in between. I might even use it for my Transatlantic literature class and compare it to Jane Eyre, because it follows in that tradition too in a number of ways. I presents stereotypes and then breaks them down. It puts the heroine in boxes and then quickly pulls her out of them so that the reader doesn't quite know where to place her - the Jezebel, the Mammy, the vulnerable woman, the strong black woman... anyway, read it if you get a chance. And it reads very easily and fast too, which is fortunate as I need to finish it ASAP so I can move on to all the other reading I have to do for this week. But I think I'll go back to it this winter and give it the attention it deserves.
Anyway, I should get back to it now, I suppose, although I'd of course like to keep writing. If anyone wants to study with me tomorrow, I'll be around, with my books, and can always use a study buddy.
I was talking to my grandmother today, speaking of things that are in the universe, and as it turns out she dressed up as something patriotic every year for Halloween because she was born on the fourth of July. The car dealership around the corner from her house used to give away free giant cardboard hats that advertised their dealership, so Nanny would take one of the hats and cover it with red, white, and blue fabric, and Grandma would be Uncle Sam for Halloween. I was a Statue of Liberty one year, maybe this runs in the family!
Apparently in Cuba when my grandfather was growing up there was no Halloween - so the first year that he was in America he and his parents were living with some relatives who had sponsored them to move to New Jersey, and they were left alone on Halloween evening with a bowl of candy. But my grandfather's mother didn't know what to do with the candy, or what Halloween was, and was apparently scared out of her wits when lots of people in costumes kept ringing the doorbell.
Come to thik of it, Grandma tells a lot of stories about times when her mother-in-law was scared out of her wits. Plays into the idea of feminine hysteria and the inability of females to control their emotions. My grandmother's stories are so shaped by the stereotypical ways that she thinks people aught to act. Especially since she wouldn't really have been there to know how her mother-in-law really acted in these scenarios. The worst story Grandma tells is about the first time my great grandmother saw a black man. Really a disturbing story in many ways.
Anyway, it was an interesting conversation. I love talking to Grandma. Even though she doesn't seem to do anything other than talk on the telephone, she always seems to find something to say.
But enough about my grandparents. Let's talk about this book that I am reading. You ALL should read The Street by Anne Petry. It is AMAZING. I won't go into details because I don't want to ruin it, but there is so much there - from Biblical imagery to allusions to other narratives in the black protest tradition to feminism, and everything in between. I might even use it for my Transatlantic literature class and compare it to Jane Eyre, because it follows in that tradition too in a number of ways. I presents stereotypes and then breaks them down. It puts the heroine in boxes and then quickly pulls her out of them so that the reader doesn't quite know where to place her - the Jezebel, the Mammy, the vulnerable woman, the strong black woman... anyway, read it if you get a chance. And it reads very easily and fast too, which is fortunate as I need to finish it ASAP so I can move on to all the other reading I have to do for this week. But I think I'll go back to it this winter and give it the attention it deserves.
Anyway, I should get back to it now, I suppose, although I'd of course like to keep writing. If anyone wants to study with me tomorrow, I'll be around, with my books, and can always use a study buddy.