Lessons from Jane

After reading the Ernest Gaines novel The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, I learned a key lesson about how deep the roots of racism were. In the novel, a character called Tee Bob falls in love with a creole school teacher, Mary Agnes, even though she has African heritage. He doesn't seem to understand the dangers of the potential relationship, and what's worse: she doesn't return his feelings. The realizations of his family's legacy and views of race ultimately lead to his suicide.

The lesson I learned from this is the time it took for the echoes of slavery to finally die out. This fictional event took place in the 1920's or 30's, a good 60 years after slavery had ended, and yet the viewpoints and mindset were very much present.

Image Credit: The Morning News

My Favorite Thankgiving Tradition: Seeing my Family

Every Thanksgiving, my parents and I alternate between Memphis, where my dad's side of the family is, and Mississippi/ Birmingham, Alabama, where my mom's side lives. Both of these trips are pretty enjoyable.

When we go to Memphis, my grandmother cooks all the food and we gather and my grandfather's house. It's a decent- size family, so sometimes, depending on who all shows up, there won't be enough seats at the table. After dinner, not much else happens, normally we just sit in the living room and talk, nevertheless, it's fun.

The next year, we visit my mom's side of the family, and the gathering has very recently relocated to my uncle's house in Birmingham. We stay in their guest room, whilst my grandparents stay at a hotel. My aunt cooks all the food, and her dad might drop by after dinner. We stay there for about two days and spend some time as a family, enjoying the holiday.

Julius Caesar Project Evaluation

My Julius Caesar project was about Shakespeare's life and works. I made a tri- fold and put his life on one side, his works on one side, and little- known facts and about the globe theater in the middle. I also included some images of Shakespeare, the Globe Theater, book covers, and quotes.

I learned a lot from my project. I learned more about Shakespeare, as a person, and as the beloved writer we all know today.  It gave me  a better understanding of who Shakespeare was, and is. 

Youtube in 1912

If 1912 had the access to the glorious online world we call Youtube, wouldn't they have a few interesting (and hilarious) things to film? The correct answer is yes, and with that: Welcome to the blog post where I give some examples of these "happenings" people would post in 1912.

Well, we know that the natural reaction of humans today when they see something out of the ordinary is to tweet, facebook, youtube or instagram it. With that in mind, I've thought up a couple scenarios of some 1912 citizens seeing what we may call historical sites.

APRIL, 1912:

If you're a history buff, such as myself, then you know that April was the month that the "unsinkable" ship, The Titanic, sank after colliding with an ice burg in the North Atlantic ocean. I believe that the survivors would've taken as many pictures as they could of the sinking ship they were on just moments ago.

Source: Wikipedia

SEPTEMBER, 1912:

I'm no athlete, so I looked this day up online, and found out it was the day that the Red Sox pitcher, Joe Wood, tied the record for 16 straight wins. I believe that the commentators would've filmed the winning hit, and the video would've gone viral.

I'd Be Lost Without It

It's my friend when I don't have anyone else. It's comforting, real, and genuine. There's something about it that speaks to me. It can make you laugh, cry, or anything in between, and it's a remedy for a mood, a feeling, a situation, anything. It can turn a bad day around. This is why music is important to me. Without it, I don't where I'd be.

Photo Credit: Tiiabear

My All- Time Favorite Bible Verse

My favorite bible verse is undoubtedly Jeremiah 29:11; "For I have plans for you, says the lord, plans to prosper you, and not to harm you, but to give you a hope and a future." This was the verse I was dedicated with. It's my life verse, and it assures me that God has a great plan for my life, and will never let me down. Through God, I know I have a future in doing what he wants me to do in his glory, and as a christian, that's what I want to do with my life.

Photo Credit: Jamie Valendy

Summer Reading Group Project Highlights

For the summer reading project, my group did Conflict for The Outsiders.We created it using Google Presentation. The process was fairly easy, and it was a lot like Microsoft Powerpoint. It was a bit hard finding the images, though. One thing I learned was, for one, how to use Google Presentation and Evernote. I also learned what the other groups thought about the different key elements of the two stories we read. It was interesting to see their opinions and presentations.

Here is my group's presentation: