Self Evaluation and Reflection

I really enjoyed reading the book. I was worried that I would find it boring or uninteresting but turns out that I really enjoy the book! I think the storyline and the characters are great. I find it so creative how in each chapter, Parks uses the perspective of different characters to tell their story. I have never read a book with that type of format so that was definitely interesting. I also enjoyed following the characters on their journey and how all of their lives entangle one another. I am excited and interested to hear what Parks has to say this Thursday at the lecture!

First off, I'm sorry for this post taking so long. I hope my lateness doesn't discredit my appreciation for the trip and presence in the museum.

Our class discussion in ed, and also in english left me stuck and overloaded. So I turned to our paper assignment for english. When prompted how I read literary texts and what discipline I could rely on to unpack it, I thought to my major religion and furthermore, womanism. As I started thinking about how I wanted to write the paper and tie womanism to Beloved, I noticed that a lot of what I was reading applied to how I feel about our discussions in our ed class, and also exhibiting africa. so here's goes my approach to intersectionality and refiguring language/frameworks/mindset/conceptions of self, our true selves, our racial selves, etc.: 

First off the word play can mean being involved a wide variety of things/activities so obviously having different interpretations of this word just comes with the territory.  Play is generally set up in society to be different for childen, teens, and adults, for boys and girls, in school versus the playground, with family versus with friends, and the list goes on.  With all these different constraints that already comes with the word play adding in where someone is from and their own experiences with play makes play really problematic. Some "games" that I would consider odd and/or too dangerous to be playful others may enjoy.  This includes the time I went to Florida to visit family and was told that they were going out hunting.

I think what impressed me the most about this project, and just Kris Graves as an artist is his ability to make his work simple. I spoke with him a little bit during our class tour (Thanks Monique + Nyasa!!) and the point that stuck the most that this isn't his day job. He does his work to capture the story, to capture the moment and memory of his loved ones and friends. He told me when artists make art just to sell it, the beauty of it and magic of it becomes complicated. One of the main reasons why I hesitate to share my work or even call myself anything close to an artist is because I'm afraid of getting caught up in the label and brand of it. I appreciated how he didn't do that and clearly showed that he creates his work from a basic standpoint, that it is something he loves to do.

First off, my apologies for posting so late. This has been a rough weekend for me, starting before we even went to the museum and as I tried to write plenty of times, I simply could not find the words. However, I was reflecting back to our time spent in the Penn Museum, and I started to see parallels, connections, and points of entry. So here I go:

My childhood experience of play meant games, laughter, a time to have fun.  I used to play with almost any toy given and may have given me an even better pasttime because I was an only child. To this day I enjoy almost any game I play. I associate the word play to only good memories. I remember playing during recess in the schools yard and seeing all the kids doing all sorts of games. One game I used to really enjoy was jump rope and I remember the songs we used to sing while jumping. Overall I remember really good times during childhood play. 

Solange is a singer, actress, businesswoman, speaker of truth, my hero, and honestly my definition of a care free black girl. Recently, she wrote an essay about an experience she had at a concert, that she attended with her son and husband. As she was dancing and singing along to the music, a woman behind her began to yell out at her and through trash on her. You can read the essay here, it's beautifully written. http://saintheron.com/featured/and-do-you-belong-i-do/ 

The last few lines stood out to me the most. They read:

We belong. We belong. We belong. 

We built this. 

I was deeply conflicted/moved throughout the experience of reading the text.  Particularly the experience with the Confederate flag both reading about it and the pictures seen in the beginning. The Confedarate flag, may be a symbol for Southern culture, but its roots stem from something uglier in American history. I am somewhat new to the idea of trying explain why something so seemingly obvious would offend so many. This thought helped to guide me through the experience of someone wanting the Christmas lights turned off.  I was confused at first how it would offend someone especially because Christmas makes me think of family and happiness.  Then I realized that just like I would have been offended by the flag, this person was offended by the lights.

Just like how Jordan shifted her consciousness from race and class and gender, I’ve never stop finding who I am, but from different aspects.I’ve always wondered if there’s somebody on earth that share the same thoughts and interest and characteristic of mine. If there’s really an another ‘you’ on the planet, what should you say when the encounter happens, like a miracle? Without being aware of that question, I said ‘I like your dress’ when I first met Jing, at my age of 12.