Black // White

Black // White

Don't touch me i’m hurting

Don’t touch me i’m delicate

Don’t talk to me i’m in mourning

I’m black i’m dark i can’t see a way out of this

Just touch me i’m hurting

Please touch me i’m delicate

Talk to me i’m in mourning

I’m white i’m blank i’m a blank page please write on me just do something

Why are you talking to me

I’m so sad

Why aren’t you talking to me

I’m so sad

I’m so sad

I'm black

Can you just know what i’m trying to say

Even when i’m not saying it

Can my tears just trace the lines on your palms

And spell out what i need you to do

Can you hug me so intoxicatingly firm

That you would squeeze all the bad away

I’m white

We could look at it floating in the air afterwards

You could take me in your arms and we would laugh about it all

And sigh

It would be floating there but not conquering anything at all

Not demonizing any other

It would be away

Away from me and therefore from you

I'm black

Why don’t you know what to do

I don’t know what you need to do

I just need your love

I don’t always need your love

I don’t know how to let you help me

I don’t know if i want you to help me

I don’t know

I don’t know

I'm white

I don’t know and I need you to tell me

But I know you don't know either

I know I love you

And I know you love me

No matter if I'm black or white in that moment

So really...

That's kind of all I need

Killer of People and Money

Talia Gloster

Ms. Tompkins

World Literature Honors

March 13th, 2015

Killer of People and Money

“Ebola -At least something in Africa will eat tonight.” Jokes and satire relating to Ebola such as this one and countless of others are extremely prominent on the internet, and were even more so when the outbreak originally occurred. Yet, how could Americans possibly be laughing at this terrifyingly dangerous disease?  This is because the US has not experienced Ebola to the extent that Africa has. Whereas there have only been a mere two deaths caused by Ebola in America, Ebola has not only affected Africa in killing thousands of its people, but it has also left significant effects on the economy; not all are as fortunate as the United to States to have the money to contain this virus.

While Ebola was still prominent, analysis was made on what the long and short terms effects of Ebola might look like for the African economies it thrived in. The short term impact of how much money would most likely be spent on controlling and curing the disease in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone was a total of 359 million. The countries’ already fragile economies were unable to handle this. “Inflation and food prices were initially contained but began to rise in response to shortages, panic buying, and speculation.” (The World Bank, 2014) This was one of the largest reasons that “a fear of association with others [came about] and labor force participation [was reduced], places of employment [were closed], transportation [became disrupted], and [why] some government and private decision-makers [chose] to close certain areas”: fear.  (The World Bank, 2014)

But of course the people of Africa were fearful; Ebola had no known cure and killed thousands of people. In certain affected areas of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, there were “501-4,000” cases. (CDC, 2015) Of those infected, 25 to 90 percent have a 50 percent chance of getting killed by Ebola. Ebola spreads horrifyingly fast, destroying everything in its wake. Kumbah Fayiah, as an example, just became the head of a family of 21 once her husband contracted and died from Ebola after attending the burial of a family member with the virus (Sy, Amandou, and Amy Copely, 2014.) A total of 9,951 deaths have been reportedly caused by this viral disease, as of March 7th, 2015.

It is clear to see that Ebola is not a topic which can be seen in a humorous light, but that it should be seen for what it is: and that is a horrible disease which has affected not only the lives of those in Africa, but also the economy of Africa.

Works Cited

2014 Ebola Outbreak in West Africa - Outbreak Distribution Map. Digital image. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 02 Mar. 2015. Web. 07 Mar. 2015.

"News." Ebola: Economic Impact Already Serious; Could Be "Catastrophic" Without Swift Response. The World Bank, 2015. Web. 12 Mar. 2015.

Sy, Amandou, and Amy Copely. "Understanding the Economic Effects of the 2014 Ebola Outbreak in West Africa." The Brookings Institution. N.p., 01 Oct. 2014. Web. 05 Mar. 2015.

Gertrude

Gertrude: A submissive woman, Kumalo’s younger sister who fled to Johannesburg with her little son in search of her lost husband lost in the mines.”

She is the reason that Stephen comes into Johannesburg and is exposed to this new modern way of life. She is also the first introduction of conflict. She also shows that religion has caused her to be ashamed of her life and lose touch with her family, giving the reader an idea of how religion will contribute to the story. She is one of the few women in the story, and her character is presented as a very submissive person, which correlates to the time period in which this book is written. Her character represents the sexism happening at the time along with the segregation between the blacks and whites of South Africa

• “There is laughter in the house, the kind of laughter of which one is afraid. Perhaps because one is afraid already, perhaps because it is in truth bad laughter” (29).

• “She gets up and goes to the yard. She calls, but the voice that was once so sweet has a new quality in it, the quality of laughter that he heard in the house” (31).
• “I do not like Johannesburg”... she looks at him with eyes of distress… “I am a bad woman, my brother. I am no woman to go back” (31).

Open Your Mind, Close Your Mouth.

Open your mind. Close your mouth.

Old Storyteller’s Stomach

Thesis statement: Sijie uses the symbol of the old storyteller’s stomach to convey the vulnerability and openness of the storyteller. He only sang for Luo and the narrator because they showed him that they were open-minded.

Quotes

• “Our attention was immediately drawn to the contortions of his stomach, the sight of which was so extraordinary as to obliterate his voice, the tune and everything else from our consciousness. Being so thin, he didn’t actually have a stomach at all, just wrinkled skin forming innumerable tiny folds on his abdomen. When he began to sing the wrinkles billowed out, forming little waves that rippled across his tanned and gleaming body.” (p. 73)

• “We held our sides laughing. We tried to control ourselves, of course, but the giggles inside us mounted and mounted until we exploded. The old miller smiled, too, and went on signing while the skin eddied across his stomach. Luo and I rolled over the ground in a paroxysm of hilarity.”(74)

Lice

Quotes

• “Methodically he stripped off his shirt, vest, trousers and socks, and plunged them in the boiling water. His thin bony body was dotted all over with angry red bumps, and the skin was broken and bleeding and covered in scratch marks” (63).

• “”D’you know what he takes with his liquor? Pebbles! I swear it’s true… He dips them in salty water, puts them in his mouth.. and spits them out… He offered some to me, but I declined. I didn’t realise I’d be hurting his feelings…. he clammed up completely… and I spent the night in his bed”... It was not hard to imagine… the bug infested bed upon which Four Eyes lay, fighting to stay awake in case the old man happened to sing.” (p. 64-65)

Thesis statement: Sijie uses the symbol of lice to express the punishment inflicted upon Four Eyes for being close-minded and rude. When Four Eyes refused the “jade dumplings”, the storyteller deemed him as unworthy of hearing the song. If Four Eyes had not been so close-minded, he would not have needed to stay at the storyteller’s home and be subject to the merciless lice.

be.

                                                                                              you must allow whatever happens to happen

                

                                whether the course of your life allows you to blossom and thrust your potential to the world                       

                                                 or cocoon comfortably into a warm satisfaction  

                                 

                               you must let nature flow however it will  

                                    

                 trickle through your life as its path meant for it to

                                

                                             let yourself become blank                

                      will yourself to just. be.

 in order to be one with the world

           you must be one with yourself

                         to be able to let it all go

                                you must first realize what "it" means

                      to engulf yourself with knowledge of the Tao  

    

  you must define the Tao for yourself

How does our Past affect our Present?