im running out of time

In conclusion: I’m bitter.

This passage makes me feel weird. I think I’m uncomfortable because it’s really real. The internalized homophobia is so evident here in the main character, David, and it is something that he has been struggling with since his early teen years. Despite the fact that Jacques himself is really annoying 90% of the time, I enjoy this small snippet of a scene with him (he immediately goes back to being kind of irritating after this). I just think the part about love is really nice to think about because most of the time we don’t feel love from others because we don’t let them love us. We shut everyone out for fear of them leaving not knowing that the act of shutting them out is what’s actually making them leave. 

I think this description of a character is so well-written and unique. The main character is obviously white, but it is never explicitly stated. The author, James Baldwin, is African American which makes a description like this all the more interesting. This is also the first glimpse I got into Baldwin’s writing style for this book. He uses a lot of commas and dashes, and everything he says is drawn out a bit longer and more vague than it needs to be.

Look, I’m not here to tell you what to do, but if you love horror stories (or hate horror stories, there are no rules), you should DEFINITELY read The Shining by Stephen King. Have you been DYING to read a book with a good plot, but a totally annoying adaption of said plot? Or maybe you love alcoholic fathers who continuously do freaky things to their family in creepy hotels? Or, and this is a real game changer, you love to think deep and try to figure what things like ‘Redrum” mean? If you love all of those things, then this book is really for you. Not only do you get a drug out, mediocrely scary development of what could have been a truly nice novel, you also end up just a tiny bit (majorly) bored for over 50% of the book. But that’s okay, because we all need something to help put us to sleep sometimes. I’m telling you, if you want the melatonin to start flowing, just pick up this horror novel, kiss your kids goodnight, and sweet dreams. 

I really want Rupi Kaur to be my poetry mentor for so many reasons. The main reason, though, is because her poetry and style reminds me a lot of my own. She writes about things I actually care about and want to read. Her poetry book is called 'Milk and Honey' which is really cute and soft. Her poetry is really comforting and she's only 23 herself, so I am going to get a perspective that I can relate to but is also more experienced and knowing than my own. I live and breathe poetry at all times I take absolutely no days off this is going to be the best unit of this entire year

Now I think that stereotypes are something certain types of people get to choose whether or not they are personally offended by. For instance, my stereotype of “you’re the whitest black person I know” bothers me to no end because of what it implies. Because I’m smart and well-spoken, because I drink Starbucks and listen to One Direction, because I’m not “ratchet” and “ghetto”, I am not black. Because no black person can be that civilized, apparently. So naturally my stereotype, this insult hidden by some twisted up compliment, would piss me off. But that’s because it paints me and my people as these dangerous hooligans and that only a few are lucky enough to be able to be honored by white people as “good enough”. I neglected to realize that this is not everyone’s stereotype. Everyone’s stereotype isn’t negative. Okay, it may be a bit annoying for everyone to assume you’re an airhead just because you’re blonde, white, and pretty, but it doesn’t have to deeply offend you. Some people are given the choice, or privilege, to decide if they want what others think to hurt them. But some of us don’t get a choice. Some of us are clumped together as some kind of vicious predator and the only way to get rid of this marking is to conform to someone else’s ideal lifestyle. And even then, no one knows who you really are until they meet you and talk to you and get to know you. So despite how “white” the kids in my math class think I am, I’ll never be white because the stereotype of my skin color comes before the stereotype of the way I act.

Any feedback or comments would be greatly appreciated.

It’s not impossible to give women the option to be unmarked some time in the distant future. But it would take years and years of a specific type of teaching from not only parents, but other adult mentors in the world as well. Despite this, I am pretty sure it would just be easier to start marking men constantly. It sounds kind of rude, but if this is going to be an argument about what is and isn’t fair, than it seems that marking men is what we’ll have to do. 

This simply means that once someone learns to not only accept themselves, but let go of their inhibitions, they no longer need to put up a front they’ve labeled as “Myself”. It takes strength and courage to not worry about what others may think, so there is a lot of soul searching and time involved in being yourself. 

The only thing that holds a woman down from being like a man is the idea that there is some distinct difference between the two. All genders are made up and are a part of a social construct so that we have the illusion that we have some kind of control over what is going on in the world. There is literally no difference between women and men other than the way we are built (which isn’t technically correct, either because not everyone with female anatomy is a female and vice versa because all genders are made up).