Nicole be Thinking...

When I was a freshman at San Francisco State, my English composition professor had us all write satire based on the practice of trying minors as adults. We also researched and wrote actual papers on the subject, but we did the satire first. I don't think I'm funny and she used The Onion  as the model so I was really intimidated by the assignment, but I turned it in and put it behind me. I don't remember what grade I got. Right now I'm compiling a portfolio for my senior seminar and I came across it. It's a little rough, but it made me chuckle a little. I decided to share. Enjoy. =]

Throughout the novel , Helga digs herself deeper into a hole as she relentlessly pursues fulfillment. Satisfaction escapes her and she can't figure out why. Much of her discontent is a result of a failure to "fit in" anywhere. Such is a common problem of biracial people, or the tragedy of the mulatto. Helga is the result of a white mother and a black father. Her father left her, and she is isolated from the rest of her family, presumably because of her mixed race: "They feared and hated her. She pitied and despised them" (41). Despite being abandoned, she identifies with black people and lives her life among them. However, Helga sees herself outside of, or even above, black people. She has trouble falling in line with them in Naxos and chooses to associate with black people of status in Harlem. Yet when she returns from Denmark, she admits that she "felt a slightly pitying superiority" over the black people there who were content with their lives. ...

Having the benefit of time and living in a Southern state affords me an interesting and mixed perspective of Frances Harper's Iola Leroy . The novel was published in 1892 and makes a case against slavery for those who would have been closest to it. Reading it now, the propaganda hits hard, but one of the most interesting things about the story is the use of setting to illustrate the complexity of slavery. "The South has not been a paradise to you all the time, and I should think that you would be willing to leave it" (203). This passage illustrates the attitude of many of the characters of the book. From the beginning, the goal of the younger oppressed generation is to move north for freedom. The north is seen as not only a beacon of freedom for the slaves, but also the center for education and culture for the rich, as Eugene has all of his fun there as a young man and Iola and Harry are sent north for school. On the other hand, the South is representative of antiqu...

It's been so long since I've posted that I wasn't even signed into Blogger anymore... [yikes!] I've been doing other things, reading more than writing. I don't want to promise that this will change anytime soon... BUT I will post my academic papers just to stay in touch. Right now I'm in a Black Women Writers course and that's where this semester's papers will come from (my other classes won't generate any interesting papers). Generally, we read a novel a week and write a response to it. They are short papers that I generally keep just in case I decide to expand and publish them. SO. They aren't super duper developed. At most, they are conversation starters, and at least you'll know some titles to some awesome books written by some awesome black women. =] first 2 immediately after this one and the rest as they come -- if I remember (aye! it's hard out here for a working stude-writer...)

(from Gail Hill) On Monday, December 06, 2010, my son was escorted by police officers upon entering his school and held in the Hillsboro High School auditorium for TWO hours for being TARDY. He missed TWO classes and was made to sign a form affirming a "new" policy that requires him to bring a note for any absences. As far as I know, the note for absences has always been the policy. Further, my son was not absent; he was tardy. My husband was told that this sweep and holding process is a new, district-wide policy. This is a problem! Is it policy for Metro police to be at the school for tardy students? My son is a good student with no discipline problems. My husband, his father, was told he “probably got caught up," implying this is nothing to be concerned about. We should all be concerned! Why are these students being criminalized? If my son has an issue with tardiness, notify me. Don’t waste two hours of a school day sitting in the auditorium waiting for the OK to go to...

A while ago, I pointed out that the main problem with a lot of writing is incorrect usage of commas . Of course, once I said THAT, I started noticing other problems that could be THE main error plaguing English writers and speakers. During Camp Nicole , as I tried to explain algebra the best way I can (in terms of language), I found myself in the weird position of explaining that "obtuse" means "intellectually dull," but that's not really related to an angle of more than 90 degrees. My brother thought it was funny and wanted to use it as an insult, but he couldn't put it into a sentence. Then, I began to notice that they sometimes have trouble transitioning a word from one part of speech to another. They would just add "-ize" or "-tion" onto a word and assume the work was done. It left me scratching my head in confusion (and decidedly against ever attempting to teach algebra again…). Without going into an in depth morphology lesson, word...

didn't go as planned. at all... but it's ok... i'm learning that a good teacher is always revising her lesson plan... stay tuned.

About two weeks or so ago (when Metro Public Schools ended classes for the summer) I had a conversation with my 14-year old brother, who had just finished his first year of high school. "So how did you do on your exams?" I asked. "Fine. I got all Bs. Well, I got a 63 on one exam, but I got an 83 in the class, so it's ok." He replied. "So… You failed?" "Naw. I passed." "Hmmm… What are you going to do all summer?" "Nothing. I'm just gonna hang out with my friends. Go to the movies. Relax." ( Images of LaTarrian Milton bombarded my brain. ) "Nothing? All summer?" "Yeah. I've been working hard for 9 months. I deserve to do nothing." And there I was. Staring at myself. All my rationalized laziness, unusually-poor work ethic, and bad grades from the Spring 2010 semester were in my brother and flipping me off. I decided I would do something to help him so that I could help myse...

I was looking through my Strunk and White (because… yeah… sometimes The Elements of Style is Sunday reading…) and I started think about how awesome we'd all be if we followed all those rules. Then my brain went on this tangent about how I don't follow all those rules and how the book is called "Elements of Style" not " Rules of Writing" and how a lot of people can't keep that stuff straight anyway and specifically how most people use commas completely wrong and how that screws up most essays and papers… ( whew… ) People hate commas. Why is that? I love English (but I am by no means a grammarian.) I don't use commas correctly 100% of the time, but I like them. They're not as difficult to use as we make it, and I think simply correcting one's comma usage can vastly improve one's writing. So… Periods tell your brain when to stop. (Or, as my over use of the ellipsis shows, when to trail off in thought…) Commas, on the other hand, tell you...

...how to write and format works cited page? Granted… MLA was revised in 2009 and different disciplines use different style guides, but how do you make it without it looking at least familiar to you? …how to write [or even recognize] a thesis statement? We learned about topic sentences and thesis statements early on. Topic sentences guide paragraphs and thesis statements guide entire papers. I mean… That's the basis of every paper I write. The three-part thesis statement is the essay formula I was given. How can it be that you were ever asked to write an essay without being taught how? …anything about ANY black writers? I'm not talking about knowing full bios. I'm not saying you have to have even read anything by one. But what's your excuse for not recognizing Maya Angelou? I mean… She was in Poetic Justice ! …how to use the index of a book? The professor gave a list of terms and said they're all in the textbook, though not all of them are highl...

My dictionary.com app (#teamiphone #folife) defines "gentrification" as "the buying and renovation of houses and stores in deteriorated urban neighborhoods by upper- or middle-income families or individuals, thus improving property values but often displacing low-income families and small businesses." I mostly see this when white folks want to "improve" something. Like the situation with Belmont and Rose Park. OH! And when white people want to be edgy and/or gritty and move to East Nashville… I don't really see it happening in other ghettos, though… Nolensville Rd. is still very Mexican... Architecture and civil engineering are interests of mine (In 3rd grade I drafted an entire city without direction or adult input…) so while I was in line waiting for my Mocha JavaKula at Borders The Plan of Nashville caught my eye. It's a great book and an awesome plan. However… does such a plan cross that line into gentrification? One of the 10 principles tha...

Last week, my Modern Grammar professor proclaimed -- to prove a point about censorship -- that he doesn't believe words hold a lot of weight. And so… he uses the word "fuck" freely. However… my Modern Grammar professor is a white man at an HBCU… He qualified his statement about words having no weight by saying that there are some words he won't use because of their impact on others and possibly himself. He said he's sure there are also words we won't use. My guess is that his list includes derogatory words surrounding race and sexual orientation. But what's on my list? Any thing? Is there anything I'd never say? Not really. To some extent, I understand what he means. Words are just words. Saying "fuck" is the same as saying "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious;" it has only the meaning we give it. However, words definitely carry some weight. If my mother were to say with some force, "Pick up these clothes!" I would prob...

My advisor wrote a veeery nice letter of recommendation that will surely aid in gaining me admission to a truly great summer program. In the letter, she mentioned that my biggest weakness is that I "turn off" in situations that aren't academically stimulating and I that I don't engage with classmates that I don't feel are on my level. Ok. So… I'm an intellectual snob. I'll be that. =] Alright, alright… Maybe I shouldn't "turn off" in boring classes. I tend to drop classes that are boring and if I have to stay, my attendance and participation suffer. I feel like I need to be working on something if I'm in school. I'm in school to get these credit hours and grades toward a degree, yes. But I would also like to be intellectually stimulated. (especially if I'm paying for it…). I love knowledge. I like learning. I don't like busy work. Classes like Chemistry and Statistics don't help me get any closer to achieving my career g...

For my Modern Grammar class I had to look up three sources that have something to do with the history of the English language or some relevant cultural phenomenon related the development of English. In my quest, I came across an article by Jack Sidnell about African American Vernacular English. AAVE has been around for a while under other names, most notably "Ebonics." (D'you remember when Oakland Unified Public Schools was considering using Ebonics to teach Standard English as a second language for black kids? Yeeeah…) The problem I have with most things that are labeled "African American" or are designated for use by black people is twofold. First… More often than not, these inherently "African American" attributes aren't all that inherent; the traits can be found in other ethnic groups also. Second, and possibly most offensive to me, is that the characteristics they give to black people are commonly found in poorly educated people across all c...