Brian Condrey's Academic Weblog
Monday, September 19, 2005
Topic Proposal Weblog Now Up and Running
For my MW Rhe306 class.
Check it out here.
But before you do, you should read this.
Especially if you didn't get the email. ¶ 7:52 PM 0 Comments
Check it out here.
But before you do, you should read this.
Especially if you didn't get the email. ¶ 7:52 PM 0 Comments
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Thursday, September 01, 2005
Their Eyes Were Watching God
"The wind came back with triple fury, and put out the light for the last time. They sat in company with the others in other shanties, their eyes straining against crude walls and their souls asking if He meant to measure their puny might against His. They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God.
As soon as Tea Cake went out pushing wind in front of him, he saw that the wind and water had given life to lots of things the folks think of as dead and given death to so much that had been living things. Water everywhere. Stray fish swimmin in the yard. Three inches more and the water would be in the house. Already in some. He decided to try to find a car to take them out of the 'Glades before worse things happened. He turned back to tell Janie about it so she could be ready to go.
[...]
"Janie took a big needle and ran up a longish sack. Found some newspaper and wrapped up the paper money and papers and thrust them in and whipped over the open end with her needle. Before she could get it thoroughly hidden in the pocket of her overalls, Tea Cake burst in again.
''Tain't no cars, Janie.'
'Ah thought not! Whut we gointuh do now?'
'We got tuh walk.'
[...]
"Janie was tired and limping but she had not to do that hard swimming in the turbulent waters, so Tea Cake was much worse off. But they couln't stop. Gaining the fill was something but it was no guarantee. The lake was coming. They had to reach the six mile bridge. It was high and safe perhaps.
Everybody was walking the fill. Hurrying, dragging, falling, crying, calling out names hopefully and hopelessly. Wind and rain beating on old folks and babies. Tea Cake stumbled once or twice in his weariness and Janie held him up. So they reached the bridge at Six Mile Bend and thought to rest.
But it was crowded. White people had pre-empted that point of elevation and there was no more room. They could climb up one of its high sides and down the other, that was all. Miles futhrer on, still no rest.
They passed a dead man in a sitting position on a hummock, entirely surrended by wide animals and snakes. Common danger made common friends. Nothing sought a conquest over the other."
Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
¶ 11:13 AM 0 Comments
As soon as Tea Cake went out pushing wind in front of him, he saw that the wind and water had given life to lots of things the folks think of as dead and given death to so much that had been living things. Water everywhere. Stray fish swimmin in the yard. Three inches more and the water would be in the house. Already in some. He decided to try to find a car to take them out of the 'Glades before worse things happened. He turned back to tell Janie about it so she could be ready to go.
[...]
"Janie took a big needle and ran up a longish sack. Found some newspaper and wrapped up the paper money and papers and thrust them in and whipped over the open end with her needle. Before she could get it thoroughly hidden in the pocket of her overalls, Tea Cake burst in again.
''Tain't no cars, Janie.'
'Ah thought not! Whut we gointuh do now?'
'We got tuh walk.'
[...]
"Janie was tired and limping but she had not to do that hard swimming in the turbulent waters, so Tea Cake was much worse off. But they couln't stop. Gaining the fill was something but it was no guarantee. The lake was coming. They had to reach the six mile bridge. It was high and safe perhaps.
Everybody was walking the fill. Hurrying, dragging, falling, crying, calling out names hopefully and hopelessly. Wind and rain beating on old folks and babies. Tea Cake stumbled once or twice in his weariness and Janie held him up. So they reached the bridge at Six Mile Bend and thought to rest.
But it was crowded. White people had pre-empted that point of elevation and there was no more room. They could climb up one of its high sides and down the other, that was all. Miles futhrer on, still no rest.
They passed a dead man in a sitting position on a hummock, entirely surrended by wide animals and snakes. Common danger made common friends. Nothing sought a conquest over the other."
Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
¶ 11:13 AM 0 Comments
David Brooks on "The Storm After the Storm"
From the NY Times:
Hurricanes come in two waves. First comes the rainstorm, and then comes what the historian John Barry calls the "human storm" - the recriminations, the political conflict and the battle over compensation. Floods wash away the surface of society, the settled way things have been done. They expose the underlying power structures, the injustices, the patterns of corruption and the unacknowledged inequalities. When you look back over the meteorological turbulence in this nation's history, it's striking how often political turbulence followed.
Free subscription may be required. ¶ 11:07 AM 0 Comments
Hurricanes come in two waves. First comes the rainstorm, and then comes what the historian John Barry calls the "human storm" - the recriminations, the political conflict and the battle over compensation. Floods wash away the surface of society, the settled way things have been done. They expose the underlying power structures, the injustices, the patterns of corruption and the unacknowledged inequalities. When you look back over the meteorological turbulence in this nation's history, it's striking how often political turbulence followed.
Free subscription may be required. ¶ 11:07 AM 0 Comments
