The Great Debaters

Yesterday I watched the movie "The Great Debaters" for the first time, and it really moved me.  It follows the story of the debate team from a small African-American college in Texas in the 1930s.  The movie goes into detail about what it was like living in the South at this time.  The viewer clearly sees the distinct social divide between whites and blacks, even though slavery was abrogated seventy years before.  The movie follows the four members of the debate team, who are extremely intelligent African Americans, and it is interesting to see how white people in the South, although much less educated than these African Americans, hectored and disparaged these people.  There was one point in the movie when the team was driving to a debate at night, and they came upon an angry white mob that was lynching an African American for no reason except for the fact that he was black.  This left a stigma upon the team, and they never forgot what they saw there.

This really helped me to understand what is currently going on 

today in our society.  When Barack Obama was elected to the presidency, I wondered, "Why is everyone making such a big deal about this?"  Yes, I understood that it was a 

historic event because he will be the first African-American president.  However, growing up in the liberal household that I did, I did not understand why he couldn't he just be someone running for president.  Why does he have to be labeled as "The first African-American President?"  I feared that all that he would be remembered for would

be his race, not his accomplishments.  However, I now understand why America was so passionate about Barack Obama.  It is one thing to learn about black oppression in history class, but it is another thing actually see it happen like I did in "The Great Debaters."   At the end of the movie, when the debate team becomes the first African-American team to not only debate against Harvard, but also win, it gave me the same feeling as I had when I watched Barack Obama win the election: A feeling of hope for the future.

Dear Bianca,

Dear Bianca,

Tap, tap, tap, tap goes the sound of my new cranberry ballet flats on the grimy floor of the hallway.  I stand there, waiting for you to come out of your art class so that we can walk up the crowded breezeway staircase to English class.  God forbid that I should leave without you, for if I do I will be castigated when you arrive and receive an infinite number of condescending glares throughout the period.  Finally you come out of the art room.  First you make some sarcastic comment, excoriating either my choice of wearing a "summer scarf" or possibly my matching abilities, and then you let me know how malcontent you are with your life.  Then you trip over a stair or get hit by a door, proving yourself to be maladroit once again.  I laugh, not because I am deriding you or getting enjoyment out of your clumsiness, but because I can sympathize.  After successfully arriving to the English room after the treacherous journey up the crowded staircase, we sit down.  We exchange amusing stories from throughout the day, and compete to determine who is the hungriest.  Then Mrs. Abrams walks in, I hear the daily "Ohh yeahh!!" from the hallway, and the class begins.

Scene 2 of The Glass Menagerie

Today in class we were having a very interesting discussion about Scene 2 of The Glass Menagerie that I just had to blog about.  At one point we were discussing whether Laura's refusal to attend school was part of her trying to be independent or if she just did not have the drive.   I believe that her absence from school was her trying to break free of her mother's shadow.  I do not think that Laura did not have the drive; I think her drive was that she did not want to end up like her mother.  In my view, Tom and Laura see Amanda as the enemy - as the exact antipode of what they hope to be.  Laura did not want to beguile her mother by not going to school, she just realized that not every woman has to follow the stereotype that Amanda wants her to follow.  She saw business school as being quixotic for her, and she wanted to follow her own path.

Samantha Bari Brown

Samantha.  Sam.  Sammy.  Sam-sam.  What more can I say?  This cameo will not be able to sum up Samantha Bari Brown's ingenue.  Sam uses bombast in order to try and impress people.  She also thinks that she is eminent compared to everyone else, and I feel like one of her minions when I am around her.  She also commandeers every situation, which can sometimes actually be a good think because she is very efficient in doing her work.  I know this may seem like a paroxysm against Sam, but I'm just kidding.  I would like to preclude saying anything else bad about her, because she is really a wonderful person, and I just needed to finish up all of my vocabulary words, to be truthful.

Sam is also a good person.  I have known her for 12 years, and we live one house away from each other.  She is always there for me, and she is a great friend.  I would not abjure my friendship with her for the world.

Samantha Bari Brown.  Is she a good person?  A bad person?  Well, one thing's for sure.  She's an enigma.