Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Critical Response of Race Article

I read the article about the principle who called all the students together to ask them who was planning on attending the dance with people outside of there race. He canceled the dance after many students rose there hands. The article didn't really say anything about what happened to the principle but apparently he was fired but then elected superintendent. This shocked me because this only happened 15 years ago, and the fact that he was CHOSEN to basically be the top person in the school district makes me wonder what kind of people were living in the town. I honestly don't get it because the article said that a lot of students said they were taking someone outside of there race but then this man was elected into a position. 

The article also talked about how things like affirmative action were first put into place to help minorities who have been discriminated against, but now it just seems be making things worse for some of those people. It's giving people more reasons to be racist towards them because they don't think that they deserve something like that. I think that there should be a balance, but it's hard to say what that it because ultimately it's going to be swayed one way. Another important point that the author made in the article was how races are generalized and all put into one category when there really are so many different subgroups within a race that should be recognized. I never really thought of this because I've never really been discriminated against but like for the white race I can think of many different branches that exist.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Caucasia

So far I really like this book a lot more than the other two that we have read. Even though I've never been in the same situation as Birdie or Jesse is, it's still something that you can connect to. Everyone has changed themselves in some way to fit in with other people or to be part of a certain group. I feel really bad for Birdie because she never really knew who she was because of her race, and on top of that she has to pretend she is a completely different person. Her new identity could change at any time because of a slip up on either her or her mom's part. I can't even imagine how stressful that would be knowing if she said one wrong thing, her mother could go to jail, and she would have no family.

Her mom makes me extremely angry because I hate all the secrets she's keeping. It really bothered me when she got mad that Cole wasn't telling her stuff anymore, but now she is doing the exact same thing with Birdie. I really just think her mom is crazy, because I don't know what she could have done that was so bad that she would take her daughter away from her home and make her live on the road. I think she's a really big hypocrite for falling for Jim because he could easily be part of the FEDS, and is just there to get close to her to gain information. Jim seems like he is forcing himself on their family by telling the kids from the beach that they were Birdie's parents. At that point in the book, it didn't seem like her mom and Jim were that serious to make such a bold statement. The thing with Jim confused me a lot also because I thought her mom was a lesbian, because of that Bernadette girl.

I really want to know where Cole went because she could have easily not gone to Brazil, and they could be living close to Birdie. Cole was really the only person that Birdie had, and she looked up to her so much. Because I have two sisters who I am really close with, I can't even imagine having one of them taken away during the middle of the night and not know where they went or what is happening to them. What if her dad got in trouble and Cole had no family or was left with Carmen? It's all so unclear and disconnected just like how her mother won't tell Birdie what's going on.