Category Archives: Uncategorized

My first reaction after reading James Baldwin and Gloria Anzaldua back to back was to seriously question Professor Vander Zee’s motives for having us read these two stories together.  Baldwin’s autobiography is written from the perspective of a black man … Continue reading →

When I was seven, (it’s always seven when I recount any story from my childhood and I wonder why that is) I got lost in the woods between my grandmother’s house and the beach attached to Cold Spring Harbor. One … Continue reading →

“Don’t ever die,” Frazier said to his father one year when he was eight.  Frazier had heard it on an episode of the Wonder Years when Fred Savage told his father never to die.  Frazier liked that line, he liked … Continue reading →

Having long been disenchanted with the idea of working in the food industry, I opted out of city life to spend last summer at my mom’s country house in western North Carolina.  Don’t let the name fool you–this was no … Continue reading →

  My ears are freezing, snot is running down my face, I’m sore already, and I swear I just saw a rattlesnake or something in the bushes I just whizzed past. I owe this pleasant memory to my lovely father … Continue reading →

Bang spoons onto pots, half naked and siting at the kitchen counter while your baby sitter from Barbados cooks up grilled cheeses and sings country music’s top ten favorite hits. You will have heard her sing this one before, blasting … Continue reading →

I have to admit that I was much more of an outdoors person when I was child. With air conditioning and computers, I tend to veg inside more now. Yet, when I was a kid, I loved to play outside. … Continue reading →

Whenever I go into the woods, or escape the borders of the city for that matter, I tend to pay much more attention to nature. During one of my freshman English classes at a small university in New Hampshire, my … Continue reading →

Within his book, The Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B. Du Bois begins every chapter with an excerpt of a song. These paratextual inclusions are particularly telling of Du Bois’ own experience and the tone which the respective chapter takes. Chapter … Continue reading →

I would be lying if I said I was an angel when I was a kid. I am the youngest amongst a very close-knit network of cousins and admist their 5+ year older voices, I was constantly trying to find … Continue reading →