Under a Sea of Thoughts

As we see Milkman's car break down in Charlemagne/Shalimar (I'm still confused which one is right), we get a glimpse of the rustic town that Milkman believes holds the Southern hospitality he wishes he had received in Danville. As he steps outside Solomon's General Store, he sees the "shotgun houses with wide spaces between them, a few dogs, chickens, children, and the women with nothing in their hands" and ponders on the idea of "wanting" one of the women (p 263). He specifically mentions their physical characteristics, their "wide sleepy eyes that tilted up at the corners, high cheekbones, full lips blacker than their skin, berry-stained, and long long necks", idolizing their resemblance to Pilate and fueling his desire to "want one of them". In his sex-craved scan of these women he blindly ignores every human characteristic of the women except for their elements of erotica. In fact, he is so focused on objectifying the women that w...

If you had one superpower, what would it be? The power to instantly come up with a good blog idea is obviously my first choice, but the power of flight is a close second. In 1903, Orville and Wilbur shocked the world by demonstrating that flight was very much possible for mankind. Breaking the barriers of aviation had been a long time goal, and these brothers finally accomplished what seemed to be the impossible. The ironic part, however, is that even though humans were physically capable of building flying machines, social barriers deep-rooted in racism prevented African Americans from freeing themselves from the chains of gravity for another 20 years. For them, the ability to fly was hindered by mankind, not the skies. Folklore has, however, told of African Americans once obtaining the ability, particularly the story at Igbo Landing. After suffering the Middle Passage, a group of slaves were being transported in the lower deck of a ship to be sold into slavery on the coast of St. S...

I'd like to start by saying that Art Spiegelman is one of the more weirder people I've met. While we were reading Maus in class, the panels consistently seemed to pop out of the page in unimaginable ways. From that, I always thought that this man was deeply enlightened and had wise insight on everything in life, but he's definitely a little bit weirder, to say the least. Now I'm not saying this to try to undermine his reputation as a well renowned Pulitzer Prize worthy author, but after meeting him I must say I've gotten a better idea of who he is. Take for example, the image above. In August of 1991, riots broke out between the black and Orthodox Jew communities in Brooklyn's Crown Heights, fueled by increasingly tense racial relations. In response, Art Spiegelman, editor for The New Yorker, illustrated the cover above and the magazine was released to the public. In an attempt to unite the two communities with this cover depicting a black woman and a Jew pa...

The ball is bounced multiple times on the ground as it begins to come alive. As it is tossed out of the hand of the player, it is literally air-borne into the world. Suddenly, the impact of a racket is felt as the ball quickly leaves the safety of the player. Almost instantly, 6 years go by as the ball courses through the air, remembering that just yesterday it was tossed into play. All is going great for the ball, but soon it faces the direct blunt force of an opposing racket: school. Back it goes over the net, spinning with monstrous speed, overwhelmed by the sheer pressure from the opponent. One year passes and the ball, mentally prepared now for what comes next, gets shot back towards the opponent with what seems like even more velocity and pressure: second grade. Backhand. Bam. Third grade. Years slip by in seconds. The ball begins to question more and more. Why is it constantly under pressure? As soon as it assimilates to the speed and conditions of its previous stroke, everythin...