Mean Ole' Jim Crow.

The Jim Crow laws were enacted after the civil War in order to keep blacks from gaining many of the freedoms that they had gained as a result of said event. They were a vicious atrocity to human rights and I, a white man more than 100 years later, still feel a white guilt as a result of them. I know I had nothing to do with it, and my ancestors had nothing to with it either, but is the way I feel justified? I don’t know. I can’t understand how people could have not done anything about it, I mean they weren’t actually a secret were they.  The only thing that gives me some relief from my guilt is the fact that it is over now.

Where is the Jim Crow section 
On this merry-go-round, 
Mister, cause I want to ride?
Down South where I come from 
White and colored 
Can't sit side by side. 
Down South on the train 
There's a Jim Crow car. 
On the bus we're put in the back--
But there ain't no back 
To a merry-go-round! 
Where's the horse 
For a kid that's black?

Short Story ReactionsT

Overall: The stories that were provided were extremely beneficial. After reading, I had to run to my computer, and immediately start work on my narrative.

I was also surprised at the lack of story line in many of the stories however, I still found myself enjoying the stories. I mean, Eggs? 

Now I have stated that these essays were good. Now I think what made these essays so good was their style. Some examples of exemplary style were.....

I never saw him eat scrambled eggs. How could he know about my story? He read it and said, "What the Hell is this?"

My father, a marine corps fighter pilot, 220 pounds, six two, a blunt instrument: a semiautomatic assault weapon. 

It felt and smelled so much better, classier, than the cheap paper books I had up till then- that funky sour stink 

issuing out of comic and big little books. 

There was also an emotional appeal to some of the essays as well. The most powerful to me was by far in the Pat Conroy, "But it was this terrible union that made me want to be writer." 

I was really intrigued by all of these essays and found them to both a good read and beneficial to me as a writer. Cheers to more in the future. 

Soo true.

As I read the Orwell version of Why I Write, I was conflicted, as I could not tell if he was addressing an audience, me, or if he was merely engaged in a self-reflection. I would argue that it was a little bit of both at times. One moment that I felt that he was truly addressing me, the reader was when he was talking about the intrinsic motivations of becoming a writer. These seemed quite accurate to me as I know that if given a choice topic, I would often choose something historical or political.  On the Dideon, the way he crafted his introduction was brilliant to me, using a sensory experience that he then forces on the reader to forge the original syntax that would be used throughout the entire essay.

College.

As we enter the new school year, I feel as if I were thrown back into a world that, even though I have been inside many times, feels foreign to me. But this school year isn't exactly the same as last year. This year is senior year, and with it comes the stresses of college applications. Applying to schools ranging from UPenn-Wharton to Gustavus Adolphus and everywhere in between while managing AP Classes and extracurriculars, makes every essay I complete feel like one step closer to freedom.

A senior slide you say,
why can't I have it that way.;

Max