homework #8

One of my favorite literary works is Always Outnumbered Always Outgunned by Walter Mosley. Its a compiled book of short stories about an exconvict named Socrates. The stories all follow Socrates through his daily life in the tough area of Los Angeles that he lives in. I really enjoyed this book because I felt a deep connection to it. Many different themes in the book I could relate to my life and I reall enjoyed reading about Socrates and how he helped out many of the people in his neighborhood.

The authors of this book include myself for one. I bring my own insight and interpretations to the book so my experience reading it was different than any other people who read the book. We read the book in contemporary american literature class last year and for this reason the teacher ms. Oman and my other classmates were also authors because my view was shaped a lot by the discussions we had on the book in class. Also Walter Mosley is an author for writing the book.. Another more obscure author is the history of Los Angeles during this time which is key in the book because you need an understanding of this to grasp the theme of African American life during this time period.

homework #5

Goodman sets out to argue Leroi's claim that race can be a way to describe biological variation. Goodman want to keep the concepts of race and biology completely seperate. He states that due to European's ideology about race it was believed that this was a way to classify humans. Because Europeans had this idea and they were the leading power, this concept of human diversity by race became a standard belief and was tought to others. There is scientific proof showing race is only skin deep and that characteristics of humans don't just pertain to one race, this is the way Goodman looks at race while Leroi might disagree saying race is still a valuable way to classify humans. The article goes on to talk about he factors that lead to the greatest genetic variation, and we that it mainly has to do with location. This is important but where people are from still does not explain the development of certain traits but instead it is the events that people experience. People experience similar things when they are located together which is why certain traits pertain to different regions and not different races. In summary Goodman states that his point in contrast to Leroi's is that "race is real as lived experience".

design of my blog

My blog design is a reflection of who i am as a person. The first thing to point out would be the profile picture. It's a picture of me jumping over a hurdle during a track meet. This picture depicts me jumping over the hurdle in a completely incorrect way and i was also in last place during the race. This shows that although I am black i'm not necessarily a good athlete which is a common misconception that all blacks are good athletes. The background of my profile is an outerspace image which is used to show my openness to several ideas and concepts as well as my outward thinking. On top of that background is a cover of pink that represents my feminine side which I believe is a good thing for all men to have and not to feel they have to be such tough guys. These are the things that reflect who I am in my blog.

homework #3

Number 2. Race has no genetic basis.

This concept about race shows that even though we often think they're many differences in between races that they're really are not. We all have a lot more in common than we think. Several times people make the assumption that certain characteristics such as athletic skill and intelligence are mainly attributed to a certain race. But this is not true, none of our traits or characteristics distinguish us from another group the way we think they do. Humans are genetically more alike than any other species, mainly because these other species have evolved so much over time. But even though you may look at another human and notice certain different physical characteristics which make him/her seem different to you in fact you are very alike. Belonging to a different race does not change your genetic make up or much else about you. The thing the makes us feel so different belonging to a different race is the mental aspect of it. We as peopl have been brought up to identify with the group we were born into and this has played a role in the minds of humans making us believe we are very different from other groups.