(Im)Possibilities

Gary’s lasso was sadly not the only parallel in the mishandling of bodies that I noticed between the treatment of slaves and stragglers while at the African Burial Ground National Monument. Another bothersome similarity that I noticed while on my trip was the methodology of disposing bodies in Zone One and how it resembled practices enslaved people had to similarly endure in NYC’s past. These abusive methods were a bit more noticeably wrong originally but really came to light when you realized their historic context. Going to the museum and understanding the these abuses has definitely helped me to better understand the scope of them in Zone One and in my cities past.

Continue reading “Parallels in the Discard of Bodies in Zone One and NYC’s Past”

The Ninth Amendment to the United States Constitution addresses rights, retained by the people, that are not specifically enumerated in the Constitution. It is part of the Bill of Rights. In other words, the ninth amendment is also known as the “silent amendment” due to the fact that it is rarely acknowledged by the supreme court. The ninth amendment bears directly on things like abortion, the right to die, gay rights, and privacy. The founding fathers did not believe that they were creating these liberties in the Bill of Rights, instead they were acknowledging the rights that no government could deny. The ninth amendment also deals with privacy. Basically, this amendment protects one’s natural born rights that no one can take away from them. Natural rights are rights that people supposedly have under natural law. The Declaration of Independence of the United States lists life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as natural rights. I believe that this amendment is extremely important to society because it aids to our freedom and helps to better the nation as a whole.

This connects to the book Zulus by Pervical Everett. Although Zulus was set in a dystopian society, the people of the community were stripped of this amendment. All members of this society were required to be sterilized. The only person who was not was the protagonist, Alice Achitophel. However, Alice still managed to be violated of her basic human right of consent. Alice was raped by a mysterious man and when she was, she became pregnant. The mood of the entire community shifted when they decided that they wanted to take the baby away from Alice. This backfired due to the fact that Alice was never actually pregnant with a child after all. Alice ran off and essentially killed the entire society as a result of the violation of her basic rights. It is important to respect the rights of other humans as it can cause mass hysteria.

The article, “An Unconscious Patient with a DNR Tattoo”, peaked my interest when it was presented in class. Continue reading “Interpreting DNR Tattoos”

When I was talking to my parents about our final collaborative paper focusing on voluntourism, my mom interrupted me mid conversation to correct me because she thought I was pronouncing “volunteerism” wrong. I realized then that not many people have been exposed to voluntourism, especially medical voluntourism. Continue reading “Voluntourism Survey”

While visiting the African Burial Ground National Monument I was able to realize that some of the subtler abuses of the stragglers in Zone One had a deeper historical base stemming from the mistreatment of slaves in NYC’s past. Many of us could pinpoint similarities in the way in which the stragglers were treated in Zone One to some of the other abuses we have read about throughout this semester. However, after visiting the monument I was able to realize that Whitehead incorporated more historic abuses than I had originally noticed when I first read the book. As I came to learn, there were many more similarities between the way in which his characters and real life oppressive whites mistreated the bodies of those they saw as subhuman. I will highlight these findings in two posts with this one addressing how Gary’s method for neutralizing stragglers mimicked a practice of restraining slaves and will then explain how the sweepers mistreatment of neutralized stragglers mirrored the disrespectful manner in which the bodies of deceased slaves were treated. Realizing these subtle inputs of historic abuses and how they were incorporated into Zone One helped me to better understand the deeper symbolism I believe Whitehead intended for his story and how these issues impacted people in my city’s past.

Continue reading “The Subtle Similarities Between Gary & Slave Traders”

When I read Liz’s last post, I found myself really glad that she brought up the idea of slavery again (thanks Liz!). I remember finding it very interesting (for lack of a better term because I did not know what to make of it at the time) when we read the Afterword of “Bloodchild” and discovered Butler’s assertions that she was not writing about slavery. I had not interpreted this particular short story as one about slavery, but I was intrigued by Butler’s choice to very explicitly say that it was not one. Why did she feel this was necessary?

Continue reading “When We Know What It Is Not, We Can Search For What It Is”

The events of Zone One center around the streets of New York City, specifically near the African Burial Ground Memorial. As someone who has only ever been to the city twice, I was a bit confused and never truly appreciated the details Whitehead worked so hard to create. Throughout my reading of the novel, what really sparked my interest was the mention of Buffalo. Usually, the biggest mention of my hometown I see in writing is about our wings, so it excited me to see it spoken about with such high regard, as an integral location in the rebuilding of society after the virus. I know this wasn’t the intentions of the author, but the decision of placing Buffalo as the new epicenter of civilization creates a strange connection in my head. Continue reading “Hometown Connections”

(The songs I write about in this post use foul language and some videos are very graphic. If you do decide to listen to these songs I would recommend listening all the way through.) Earlier this semester I wrote about how important communication was to work out problems. In class we discuss literature and I have learned a lot about new perspectives though our readings. Another powerful tool people are using to discuss issues is music. One of my favorite genres of music is rap and last week a song came out called “I’m Not Racist” by Joyner Lucas. It’s a very powerful song that shows people that there are always two sides to every story. Hearing people out before making generalization is very important. Taking a second and putting yourself into someone else’s shoes could change a person’s view completely. Exposure to things that a person can’t experience in their life could be portrayed to them in music and literature. Continue reading “New perspectives through music”