Jamaica Kincaid post
I grew up in the biggest town in Berkshire county its nothing like Boston, New York or even Springfield. However growing up I always felt good knowing I was from the most populous town I mean I never stopped and considered that more eastern areas of Massachusetts look at us the same way I looked at the surrounding towns in Berkshire county. Pittsfield always seemed more civilized and more urban than the vast tracts of farmland and wilderness surrounding it. It wasn’t until I was old enough to drive that I realized Pittsfield is completely insignificant. My friends and I began to take little trips to the true cities that were near us like Albany and Springfield. Even then neither of these cities are the size of Boston or even Worcester for that matter. My social context is one of misunderstanding I’ve seen just a small portion of a world that is vast beyond belief and the more I see of it the more I understand how little of it I have actually seen.
This is my rewrite of a previous post about a time I have felt marginalized. In it I will be using historical context, 2nd person speaking and questions.
Have you ever been to western Massachusetts? If I had to guess I'd assume you haven't. Some might consider Springfield, Ludlow or even Worcester to be Western Mass. I however live west of all these places. I'm from Berkshire county its a sparsely populated place on the border of New York State I live in its biggest city, Pittsfield. There's not much that has happened in Berkshire county even though its been inhabited for almost four centuries. Our biggest claims to fame are the fact that the guns used to take Boston from the British from fort Ticonderoga were dragged through the county, Herman Melville had a permanent residence there, and a trolley car almost killed president Theodore Roosevelt there and did kill one of his secret service agents making that secret service agent the first to die in the line of duty. Aside from the president thing not a lot happens. This however does not mean we are not part of Massachusetts as I have realized in college there aren't many people who are aware there is a "west of springfield" in Massachusetts they assume me to be just another New Yorker. Just because I live 20 minutes from the New York border does not make me a Giants fan. I am just as ardent a patriots supporter as the rest of Massachusetts. I am from an area with a history just as old as yours even if its not half as interesting.Â
Reflection: Writing this was really hard for me. Not only because I don't like using Tumblr for things because it makes me feel uncomfortable but also because there haven't really been any times in my life where there was a defining characteristic that made me feel apart from everyone else. I'm a white male so I've never really been discounted from anything. I'd love to live in a world where everyone grew up like me that is to say without fear of not belonging based on certain traits or for any other reason. I never had any reason to believe when I was younger that I couldn't do something when I got older I hope some day all the other people who feel marginalized based on race or gender can feel the same way I did growing up.

















