(Im)Possibilities

“Golden” as copied, pasted, and defined from Wiktionary.com:

Please note that all of the blue words can be clicked on and take you to a more detailed and specific definition of that particular word.

Adjective

golden ‎(comparative more golden or goldener, superlative most golden or goldenest)

1. Made of, or relating to, gold.

   She wore a golden crown.

2. Having a colour or other richness suggestive of gold.

   Under a golden sun.

3. Marked by prosperity, creativity etc.

   The Renaissance was a golden era.

   the Golden Horseshoe

4. Advantageous or very favourable.  [quotations ▼]

   This is a golden opportunity

5. Relating to a fiftieth anniversary.

   It’s not long until our golden wedding.

6. Relating to the elderly or retired.

   After retiring, Bob and Judy moved to Arizona to live out their golden years.

7. (Britain, slang) Fine, without problem

Continue reading “GOLD / GRAY”

Something I’ve noticed come up in the assigned readings thus far is the emphasis Violet and Joe both place on choice. What’s ironic is that Violet talks about choosing Joe, while Joe talks about choosing Dorcas. It gave me an image in my head of a sort of circle– as Violet pursues Joe, Joe pursues Dorcas. It also brought me back to the whole concept of churning that happens in Toni Morrison’s novels.

The first mention of choosing that caught my attention was when Violet was describing the funeral and attempting to explain why she did what she did. On page 95 she says, “That’s why it took so much wrestling to get me down, keep me down and out of that coffin where she was the heifer who took what was mine, what I chose, picked out and determined to have and hold on to. . . ” (Morrison). I’ve bolded all the words here that I believe have relevance to this concept of choice. Initially I thought this language was bizarre. Nowhere does Violet use the word “love.” Instead, all of her language points to possessiveness.

Continue reading “Idea of “Choice” in Jazz”

I saw this TED talk and was particularly interested in Stefon’s Harris’ points about listening and reacting, and how the characters in Jazz seem to function like a jazz band on the bandstand in that sense.
Continue reading “Jazz and Listening”

As an African American male raised in Harlem, the bustling, culturally diverse environment that Morrison has painted in Jazz is easy for me to visualize despite the large gap in time. A troubling truth that Morrison grapples with–and this connects to her mission to write for black people–is the intraracial war happening between men and women of color. In response to physical and emotional abuse from their male counterparts, the women take matters into their own hands–this, in a way, manifests itself into the form of Violet’s knife; the same knife she shoved into Dorcas instead of Joe Trace. I think it’s quite important for us to realize and acknowledge that Jazz is perhaps the closest we’ve ever been to truly experiencing a text about/for black people this semester. In much the same vein, prolific writers James Baldwin and Audre Lorde sat together in 1984, to talk about the very issues that run rampant in this novel. The interview still haunts me to this day; what does it mean when men and women within a single ethnic group commit acts of violence against each other? I don’t know the answer; and I argue that Morrison, Baldwin, and Lorde are just as troubled and dumbstruck by the situation. But I also think that all three are working towards understanding the problem before they can ultimately solve it, as best they can. Here is the interview. Enjoy and, hopefully, as I was, be enlightened.

In class today we spent some time discussing contradictions and dichotomies, and how the concept of “both/and” subverts the concept of “either/or.” The short film, “Rochester: A City of Quality” that Professor McCoy showed us in class today was filled with contradictions. Here are the links to the specific ones I noticed in the short film:

“An artist glacier / volatile glacier”

“Tough / gentle surgery”

“Controlled abundance”

“Tough / tender”

I also wanted to share this parody video I found called “Rochester: A City of Poverty” which serves to contradict the original short film created in 1963.

Continue reading “Rochester: A City of Quality & Poverty (thoughts on contradiction)”

In class today, I brought up the dichotomy of two forms of protection utilized by the women in Morrison’s works- those with mental walls, and those wielding physical weapons. It seems to be the case that the “strong Woman”, even Hillary Clinton, has been subject to adjectives like cold, and crazy. Those who have put up these psychological walls are looked upon poorly, the feminist movement taking the brunt of this blame. On the opposite side is those who choose to wield weapons like knives, guns, and pepper spray to protect themselves. This takes little to no blame (aside from gun control advocation as a whole) as people understand women to be physically disadvantaged, and in need of such protection. And so it follows, that society thinks that women do not need to protect their minds and autonomy, and become defensive of their right to exist mentally equal to men; but they should protect their physical vulnerability. And this could easily carry into a discussion of rape and the vile concept of women “asking for it” based on clothing choice, but that is a lengthy and heated discussion for a different post. I found this interesting because it is 2016, and women still need to put up these walls, to carry these weapons; if society has not grown past the gender inequality that transcends race, religion, nationality, etc, how can it hope to make it past the plethora of other instances of inequality as well?

In addition to this, I found an article discussing the differences in the instances of mental illness in men and women, written by Jason and Daniel Freemen. They cite the Center for Disease Control in stating that women are far more likely to suffer from illnesses like depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and insomnia than men. Whereas their male counterparts more often suffer from alcoholism, violent tendencies, and anti-social personality disorder, which are markedly more prone to displays of their issues. They cite stigma (like that of the “crazy woman” persona), lower pay, higher body expectations, and difference in home life responsibilities as reasons why women may tend to keep their illnesses to themselves, whereas men may have more freedom to express themselves without as great a cause for worry. Think about it, what sounds more like an illness: Alcoholism, or Bipolar Depression? Each is a serious mental illness that requires extensive treatment, but one carries more of a “sickness” label than the other. This is not to say that men can’t have depression and women can’t be alcoholics, but the instance of each illness is more prone to the opposite gender.

In a research study by the US National Library of Medicine, Medical professionals discuss specifically African American Women’s beliefs concerning mental health, it stated that “They believed that an individual develops depression due to having a “weak mind, poor health, a troubled spirit, and lack of self-love.” These women also identified stigma as a significant barrier to seeking mental health services.” This attitude is a learned behavior, meaning that it is likely rooted in cultural beliefs and child-rearing practices, which have taught much of the African-American population, like all women but African American women specifically here, that the only way to survive in a world that they are born into pre-stigmatized, is to build walls and remain strong, even when in truth they should be seeking help. And such is the ultimate stigma to mental health, regardless of gender or race- people are terrified that once they allow themselves to be labelled ill, they become less of a person. And this is an especially painful concept to Women around the world, and the African American community, and by no means should be this way. Mental illness deserves recognition and kindness, just like any other physical illness. Its like considering someone to be less than who they are, just because they have fought and survived cancer.

 

~Here are some articles discussing mental illness, women, and stigma:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/witw/articles/2013/10/19/the-stigma-of-mental-illness-and-women-s-health.html

http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/genderwomen/en/

~This last one addresses specifically African American Women’s views on mental health:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2854624/

In my reading of Jazz up until the requirements for today’s class, I have been trying to unpack a reoccurring instance that has caught my attention, Violet’s Parrot. I began with a rather obvious initial question– Why a parrot? In an attempt to better understand Morrison’s intent in including the bird in the text, I began my search with a reading of a New York Times Review “My Parrot, My Self: 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/books/review/Gottlieb-t.html

From the article, it is clear that the author believes that the allure of parrots exists in both the literary world and the “real” world. The author speaks of the BBC covering dozens of stories about parrots, almost every one “prefigured in a folk tale, novel, or poem.” The author specifically focuses on “Speke Parrot”, a poem written in the early 1520’s by Henry VIII’s poet laureate, John Skelton. In this poem, the parrot uses many different languages, and comes to serve as a complication to the argument that the general difference between humans and animals is the acquisition of language. This aspect, layered with the mention of birds in Dante’s inferno in the ring of the lustful, suggests that the Parrot’s inclusion in Morrison’s text highlights the animalistic nature of submitting to lust. Further, this relates to our class discussion about what actually defines the “pure and impure”. As a class, we concluded that Morrison creates many dichotomies when dealing with purity. Thus, the Parrot contributes the muddying of “innocence” when referring to sexuality and virginity within the text.

Continue reading “Violet’s Parrot”