Author: young.2791

Text Review- Reilly Young

by

When I think of a book that has impacted me personally, I immediately think of “The Fault in Our Stars.” This book on it’s surface is about two teenagers dealing with with their cancer diagnoses’. However, this novel actually dives into the ways these characters go about finding their own self identities while they are facing some very immense challenges. Hazel and Gus- the main characters- both have dealt with being sick most of their late childhood and teenage lives. Hazel has thyroid cancer that has spread to her lungs, while Gus previously had a tumor in his bone which led to an amputation. They meet at a support group for young adults with cancer. They both don’t like the group, but luckily meet each other and a spark begins. The two grow closer throughout the novel and the climax is when Hazel uses her ‘Make A Wish’ on a trip for her, Gus and her Mom to go to Amsterdam to meet their favorite author. The trip has twists and turns, but overall it is a great experience. To avoid spoilers, I will stop the recap there.
Identity is a strong theme throughout the novel. It is already hard enough to find yourself, your passions and what you want to make of your life at an early age, but doing this while sick is even more stressful and pressuring. Hazel and Gus want to make a positive impact on the world, but in different ways. Hazel, specifically wants to help people cope after loosing loved ones to an illness, but Gus wants to be a writer. However, they both want their mark to be stronger than their illness and to go beyond being a cancer kid. At multiple times in the book they say that when they die, they want to have such a big impact that they are remembered by so many people. Gus and Hazel truly help each other find their identity just by getting to know each other and laying out what is important to them. Because of their illnesses, they think about death quite often and this drives their passion to be something bigger and make an influence on others. They are both kind, intelligent and fun kids that that can change the world for the better.
Similar to texts from this semester, identity is such an important theme in any medium of entertainment such as books, music, television, podcast, etc. Identity is something easily relatable and it gets the audience to think and reflect on their own self identity. I feel that the author’s intent was to show how cancer can affect someone at that age and that we all should be living life to the fullest because anyone could get diagnosed with a disease any day and life is short. You cant live in fear no matter what you’re going through. Also, this work inspired me to look at my identity- how I affect others and how others affect me leads to my decision making and outcomes.

Diary of Systematic Injustice- Reilly Young

by

One example of systematic injustice in my day to day life was in my dance class. I am a dance major here at Ohio State, so I take ballet as a required class. Ballet is a Western Dance form and was created in the 15th and 16th centuries in Europe. It is known to have been formed in Italy and then was brought to France. At OSU, dance majors are required to wear their hair in a bun with certain tights and leotard in ballet classes. Pink tights, leotards and buns have been the common attire for ballet since it was invented. However, it has been several hundred years since ballet was founded, so these old stereotypes should have room to be modified and changed due to being potentially discriminatory. Many non-white dancers in the department have come forward about the fact that ballet is a western art form and is not the “foundation of dance” as some people like to believe, and the attire/ hair requirements are actually discriminatory.
Specifically, some of the black students here have stated that their hair can’t go into the ballet bun that is very commonly required in class, so therefore they feel singled out and feel that they stand out compared to other dancers because their hair is different. In general, African American students could even feel stressed that their grades may suffer because they can’t put their hair in a traditional ballet bun. I have danced for about 15 years and never have I once thought about the fact that a ballet bun requirement is a form of systematic racism until it was brought to my attention by some of my peers. Why is a ballet bun necessary? Why are we still conforming to the norms from hundreds of years ago? This scenario definitely helped me to understand the ideals of systematic racism that are discussed in this class. For example, in the novel, Persepolis Marji has had to conform to many new social aspects that she doesn’t feel comfortable doing. Society wanted to require that she wear the head scarf when she didn’t want to. I feel that people should be able to dress however they choose and no one should control that.
The ballet bun was a hairstyle created by white women and was only done on white women when invented, but now dancers of all types of race practice ballet, so the hairstyle requirement should have been changed before now. I feel that requiring a specific hairstyle is a form of systematic injustice and should really be thought over. I’m sure the professors at OSU and the thousands of dance teachers around the world thought no harm in the ballet bun because it is a form of a long tradition. It specifically strips away the culture of black dancers and can have a strong impact on how they view ballet or how they approach the class.

Week 4- Interracial Relationships

by

For this week, one of the readings is called “Recitatif” written by Toni Morrison. This reading is set in the 1950’s and is based on two young girls who befriend each other. One thing that is extremely important to consider when reading this text is that the time period has a great effect on the ideas of race at the time. Racial identity, preconception and the ideas of society are all large themes of the reading. Yes, the characters’ races are kept a secret throughout the story, but using context clues and situations the reader can interpret them in whatever way they wish.

The ideas and meanings behind race start at such a young age, wether kids are educated on the matter or not- which can be seen through the characters in “Recitatif.” Simple things in everyday life shape how white and black children are treated. For example, mainly white people are seen on television, so a young, black kid may never think they can be an actor or news anchor because he’s never seen a person like him or herself represented. Or, if a child’s parent is never open about racial issues and doesn’t encourage inclusion at a young age, then that will definitely affect the child in other social situations as they get older. In the 1950’s the ideas of racism are different, yet somewhat similar as today’s.

Segregation was a very prevalent issue in the 1950’s which is when “Recitatif” was set. In most states interracial marriage was illegal and interracial friendships were frowned upon. There were separate schools for white and black children up until 1954 and for years after that, people still weren’t in favor of the idea. The characters in the book display how they don’t let race affect the way they view each other and they don’t let others impact their views on race, despite it being a time period where race was a controversial issue.

There are also many studies on interracial relationships. Most sources say that anyone can benefit from being friends with someone of another race because it can give them an insight into new scenarios and ideals. Men and women can have better communication, leadership and social experiences due to having friends of other races. It’s very important to experience events of many cultures as well. As the world becomes more diverse and finally accepts people of all backgrounds, it is important for children to grow up being exposed to these things in order to be more successful in any field.

 

Works Cited