Below are the 12 most recent journal entries recorded in Curtis Haynes' LiveJournal:

Sunday, December 12th, 2004
3:09 am	The Autobiography of An Ex-Colored Man I am one of the many who has never heard of the author James Weldon Johnson before. I guess I should not be shocked by that considering how the educational system works in the high schools. The selection of novels that schools pick out for the students to read are not all that diverse. However, I graduated high school in '98, which was six years ago, so things could have changed since then. Anyways, I would have loved to have read this book in high school because I was able to identify with the narrator and his concern with the issue of race. As an African American I know, personally that I am constantly concerned with how other races perceive my actions, my speech, as a black man living in today's time. If one where white one would have a difficult time understanding how the topic of race is always on the minds of blacks in America. As long as we are the minority, the issue of race will forever be on our minds. When I talk to any of my white friends I do wonder what they truly think of me and my race, it is just a concern of mine that I cannot shake. I felt very reluctant to say what I wanted to say in class because I do not like being looked at as the spokesperson for all African Americans. So I am sorry Lisa if you are reading this, and you wanted me to give my opinion on whether I thought the narrator was a sell out or not, in class Friday. I walked in class that day not wanting to say anyting for that reason. Other than that, I was interested to see what the white students' response would be to reading the book without a black person having to say something. I do have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with everyone's overall reaction to the book. :) After, I had time to actually think about it, I should have addressed the class and told them that I did not want to be the spokesperson for all blacks and then give my opinion. I probably did more of a diservice by keeping my mouth shut, so I am sorry. So, now I am taking the time to tell what I thought. I did think that the narrator's actions were to be that of a sell out to his race. However, if one were to be in the circumstance that he was in, living in times that he was in, I could honestly say that I would have done the exact same thing; regardless if it meant being dishonest with myself. It really all comes down to what the individal valued in her/his life. But that is just me. Not all blacks, just one blacks opinion. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, November 19th, 2004
6:29 pm	A Pastor's role For this week's journal entry I would like to build a little bit on the discussion that we had in class on Wednesday. I believe that one of the many responsibilities as a pastor of a church is to lead the congregation down the path of righteousness rather than leading the flock down the path of spiritual destruction. One of the best ways for a pastor through his sermon to keep his congregation on the straight and narrow is to preach from the Bible regardless as to what the congregation may want to hear. Usually the things that people want to hear said in a sermon are most often contrary to what the Bible says for them to do. The Bible even says that this is true because it is in our nature to want to lean more towards or fleshly desires rather than the desires that come from God. Therefore if a pastor is going to give a sermon that is more pleasing to the ear of his congregation rather than following the what is written God's word then that pretty much defeats the purpose of his job. The congregation pretty much doesn't need to attend church and could get an equivalent message like that from the people outside of their faith. I believe that Jenny made a great point with saying that unless a Pastor is aligned with the teachings of God in his own life, then he really shouldn't be teaching others the way toward salvation. Not to say that, pastors are perfect. Because my dad is a pastor and I do come in contact with a lot of other pastors who are friends of my dad's who have fallen by the way side in their walk with God, it happens. Absolutely nobody is perfect. I am sorry if this sounds like I have turned this into a Bible study here. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, November 7th, 2004
4:45 pm	Charles W. Chesnutt I apologize for this entry being late, I totally forgot about posting. I have no idea where my mind was. But here it is....I realy enjoyed reading Charles W. Chesnutt's short story "The Wife of My Youth". I though that it was cute and very romantic the way the story ended. I think that it is great for Mr. Ryder to embrace his African heritage the way he did at the end. However, I do not believe that he totally abandoned his European heritage. The reason why I say this is because of the way Mr. Ryder talks so highly of the benefits of being "fairer" skinned. He gives a laundry of the reasons why one would be better off if they could associate themselves with the white race. Mr. Ryder pretty much glorifies to the fullest his European part of his race. It is very easy to say that you have a new way of thinking due to somebody from your past coming back into your life positioning you to change your persective. However, life for an African American was horrible compare to that of a European American therefore why not enjoy life and take advantage of your priviledges? I guess the point of the story was that there are mulatto's like Charles W. Chesnutt, who chose to embrace their African Heritage wholeheartedly while expecting all of the misgivings that come along with it. For me to know that as an African American, that encourages me to be more proud of my race and show that one could have been a successful writer at that time by being known as an African American. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, October 29th, 2004
6:17 pm	Charles W. Chesnutt My experience with reading Charles W. Chesnutt's written work was definitely a challenge for me. I just am not use to reading old African American dialect so it was a bit if a struggle for me to get through the readings. What helped me get through the readings though was professor Campbell's suggestion of reading the dialect portion out loud. By me doing that I was actually able to hear what the character Uncle julius was trying to say. The fact that Chesnutt was able to both write using standardized English and African American dialect around that time in the manner that he did is very impressive for that time. I love how one of the overall messages in the stories that we read were that the generalized belief that African American slaves were not intellegent was challenged. One person is not smarter than another because of ones ethnicity. As crazy as that sounds for me to have to even mention that, it was very hard to except anything around the time of slavery that proved otherwise. The character Julius and the rest of the slaves are just as intellegent as the white Americans (slave owners) it is just that they (slaves) are limited by their speech which in turn limits their ability to express themselves. Paying close attention to the characters of Annie and John helped me better understand one of the many purposes these stories were being told. With Annie, playiing the wife who has an irrational take on all of Uncle Julius's stories by looking beyond the rational and looks to the feeling. And John playing the part of the husband who pays constant attention to reason. John is always generalizing about slaves in a racist way, regardless of the fact that he means well. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, October 15th, 2004
7:50 pm	Mrs. Spring Fragrance I really enjoyed Sui Sin Far's short story Mrs. Spring Fragrance for the reason that it made me both feel good about reading it while at the same time it left me frustrated. The reasons why I was able to get a good feeling about reading the story were because of Sui Sin Far's decision to place the story in Seattle, having both cultures accurately represent each others customs in a fair manner. The reason why I was frustrated was because of the fact that I really wanted Mr. Spring Fragrance to expand his mind by embracing the culture of the country in which he was living in. Regardless of the fact that it is understandable that people feel horrible about abandoning their customs however it still left me frustrated with the fact that Mr. Spring Fragrance could be so stubborn. At the same time, a part of me enjoyed getting angry at Mr. Spring Fragrance because by me getting angry with the character it then allowed me to become a participant in the story and want me to become more involved with the story. As an ending note, when Mr. Spring Fragrance gave his wife a jadestone pendant I thought that it was to symbolize his love for her and to show that the way they learned to fall in love was just as good as the American way of falling in love. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, October 8th, 2004
8:35 pm	The Revolt of Mother Mary E. Wilkins Freeman's story entitled, "The Revolt of "Mother" really stuck out to me. I believe that everyone in the class at one point had to at least feel a little sympathy for the character Sarah Penn. Well, at least that was the case for myself when reading the story. Sarah Penn was promised a new house by her husband in the exact same area that he is building a new Barn. I know that it was the custom to for women to be submissive, however the fact that she had to physically take the man from room to room to show him what they could improve on and have him not want to acknowledge the fact that she has a point is both crazy and frustarting to me. I wanted to scream for her at her ignorant husband. The fact that she had the ability to brush it off her shoulder required a lot of self discipline and patience like the character Ruth from the Bible like they refer to in the story. I am glad the way that it ended because it showed that Sarah Penn was a strong woman who stood up for what she believed no matter what anyone tried to tell her. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, September 24th, 2004
6:48 pm	Bret Harte cont'd... The story of these outcasts being banished from Poker Flat reminded me of one of the beginning stories taken from the Bible. In Genesis God banishes both Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden because they were disobediant to God. Since Adam and Eve did evil in the sight of God in a place that stood for good they had to be dealt with in a way that God saw fit. I don't know all of God's intentions for doing that but I would think that would be a great way to leave an example for others who read the Bible to learn from. One can't have a place where everything is good and have people do bad in it. That same thing was done in Poker Flat. The people of Poker Flat wanted to leave a great example of what not to do so that Poker Flat would stay a place that maintained a "moral atmosphere." This story was a good one and left me thinking if their was a subliminal message behind Mr. Oakhurst, the gambler dying the way he did. Since Mr. Oakhurst was such a hardcore gambler maybe in a way he was gambling with his life. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
6:46 pm	Bret Harte This weeks' reading was material by American authors Mark Twain and Bret Harte. I think that we all are pretty much knowledgable on works by Mark Twain but I don't think the majority of us knew of material by Bret Harte. Well, I shouldn't say that, I will say that I at least, haven't ran across any of Bret Harte's written work. Both assigned readings I found to be interesting however I have a soft spot for stories. Bret Harte's 'The Outcast of Poker Flat' was the only story. (Comment on this)
Friday, September 10th, 2004
3:29 pm	Emily Dickinson cont'd... I accidently clicked send before I finished. I didn't get to finish my thought. I was saying that an actress who had already been nominated and lost would better appreciate the award then someone who hadn't lost to the award. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
2:23 pm	Emily Dickinson My initial reaction to reading Emily Dickinson's written work was that it was very difficult to follow just because I wasn't used to her style of writing. I also have to mention that I have one of the most simplistic minds out there. I'm pretty bummed about not fully understanding Dickinson as fast as everyone else has but I will in time. I am making progess by discussing with the professor my interpretation of each poem and by listening to other people's comments in class. I totally see and understand the philosophical message in poem #67. The overall message that I got was in order for one to understand what it feels like to win one has to loose in order to fully appreciate the concept of winning. One way that helped me understand the optimistic message in poem #67 was relating it to award shows because I am very big on those. Yes, it is very sad but it's the truth. Take for instance the Oscars. If a person who won the award for Best Actress had been a new up and coming actress then her appreciation for the award wouldn't be as authentic. (Comment on this)
Friday, September 3rd, 2004
6:06 pm	Song Of Myself cont'd... I have read Walt Whitman's written works in the past and I believe he has definitely earned the right to be called the Great American Poet for a good reason. Whitman has a gift of being able to observe and expose the everyday life of not just one type of American but every American, of all walks of life. He has written about just about every kind of American and their everday tasks therefore probing readers to see themselves in his written works. I think that of the many messages that Whitman wants to have come across is that we are all the same. In "Song of Myself" Whitman opens the poem by saying "every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you." Right here, I think that Whitman is alluding to the fact that we are all made up of the same matter. Also, despite all of our physical differences, we overall share the same internal organs, as well as the same hopes, dreams and fears. (Comment on this)
6:06 pm	Song Of Myself This past week our class read Walt Whitman's long poem entitled, "Song Of Myself". In "Song Of Myself" Whitman reveals a lot of what I considered a part of who he his. Pretty much all of the poem was an okay read, however the section that I couldn't keep my eyes off of was the part in which a woman was spying on these twenty-eight naked males bathing in the water. Now since I took this poem as a reflection of Walt Whitman. I thought that by him including this section inside of his poem it was a way for him to reveal his attraction to the same sex without being too forward. In this section of the poem I believe that the only purpose Whitman had the woman act as an onlooker of the naked bathing men was for her to be a smoke screen in order to excuse his graphic description of the naked bathing men. As this section of the poem continues to progress, I began to loose sight of the woman onlooker because she is no longer mentioned about half-way through the section of the twenty-eight male bathers. Half-way into that section the woman all of a sudden dissapears (even though she is still supposedly there) and Whitman then takes this time to go into graphic detail of the description of the naked bathing males. (1 Comment |Comment on this)