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#granda #abroad #spain #studyabroad

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Art in Paris 

#paris #versailles #abroad

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I saw an opportunity and I took it

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(via striderepiphany)

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Cole Sprouse for the Last Magazine

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Whenever my environment had failed to support or nourish me, I had clutched at books…

Richard Wright, Black Boy (via theliteraryjournals)

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BOOK OF THE DAY:

Black Boy by Richard Wright

Originally, Black Boy was published as two separate novels (Black Boy and American Hunger). The first dealing with his childhood through late adolescents in the south. The second begins with Wright realizing his dream of moving north and his experiences in Chicago right before and during the Great Depression era rise of Communism. Black Boy is one of those “quotable” books, where almost every chapter contains words and phrases that touch your heart and mind. Wright shares experiences and insights that are so brutally and shamelessly honest, they delve into the most sacred and sensitive places of the human experience, and almost any reader can identify with timelessness of his intense struggles and small, infrequent joys. While reading/listening to Wright’s memories, I learned more than I ever wanted to know about the horror of the early 20th century south. During this time all Southern blacks lived in fear of the “White Terror.” While reading this memoir I realized that to fully understand modern social policies and the impact and meaning these policies have on the African American community, it is necessary to look closely and far into the past of our racist history, prior to the familiar events of the Civil Rights Movement. By holding nothing back, by being open despite the pain and suffering he endured, Wright helps us to understand the true criminality of the Jim Crow laws of the early 1900’s. It wasn’t just about having to sit in the back of the bus. It was about being treated less than human on a daily basis. It was about being born into a profound hopelessness that could not be fought. It was about a people who were denied the experiences and education necessary to even be able to articulate this hopelessness. Where oppression was accepted as a fact of life. Before I read Black Boy, I had never considered the lure of Communism to the African American citizens in cities during the Great Depression. The Communist Party’s doctrine of equal rights, regardless of age, race, or gender must have been an irresistible hope to the Blacks who lived in such a dehumanizing time. Wright tells us through his writing how economically poor Blacks and Whites alike where first seduced, then disillusioned, by the Red movement in the North. While the social doctrine was more humane, the economic and political policies, often enforced through fear and alienation, had meant that individuals were expected trade their personal identities, dreams, and aspirations, for the hope of more safe and “equal” community. Wright realized through his experiences in the “Party” that he was trading one form of bondage was for another. The beauty of Black Boy, is that Wright, a long deceased southern black man, who was the grandson of slaves, can artfully narrate his coming of age discoveries, raw emotions, and questioning spirit in a way that can connect with the experiences and thoughts of a 21st century, white, thirty-something woman.

by guest reviewer Maureen Brunner

Read excerpts from the book here!

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all the young dudes

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