Thursday, 02/02/2006 - 10:35 PM PST

English 1A

Audience

Although I am exceedingly fond of this class, and I am off the topic of Langston Hughes, I must comment on a certain miscue I see around me at the Peraltas, having to do with people's perceptions of education.
There is no reason that people in community college cannot get an excellent education. The teachers and the students are among the best people the planet has to offer.
I've only been at this student thing for a short time. Before I'm done I would like to hear one teacher say:
It's not about the grade. I will grade you based on some standard that whether stated or unstated, will, at best, reflect 50% of the truth. You are not here for a grade. You are here for an education. It will take a little passion for you to get out of it all there is to get. You are not here to please me. Please yourselves and grades will take care of themselves.

Monday, 06/02/2006 - 9:51 PM PST

okay. so now for langston.

Although, Langston Hughes' poem "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" looks at first glance to be about rivers, the conjuring of time before us suggests that a river holds the wisdom of the ages, as does the author's soul.
Since writing that, someone told me that LH wrote this poem as a 17-year-old, riding on a train from his father's house in Mexico to Columbia University. And there is more. His father was not living as a black man. He was passing, not for white, because that would not be required in Mexico, but passing just the same. To me, this explains why he put "negro" in the title, as an admonishment:
Dad! ( a whole new puntuation mark is needed here, something that signifies eye-rolling.)
This bit of knowledge has changed my perception of the poem dramatically. Now I can sit on a train, look out the window, see the sun on the river, feel the threads tying me to my past, and looking into the future. The river is an unbroken ribbon through ancient time, the tracks a noisy line through modern time and space, with a beat. As with any LH poem I can remember, the words flow on a rhythmic tide, forced from the mind and out the fingers on a river of ink.

Friday, 10/02/2006 - 3:35 PM PST

the sudden but very deep need for that eyerolling punctuation has caused me to propose one (or two):
^ ^
or
^!^
please, can we have one of these or another idea. the important thing is that it be agreed upon and adopted so we can begin using it.

Saturday, 11/02/2006 - 8:38 AM PST

I would check to verify the information about Hughes' age and motivation for the work. The reference definitely deepens our understanding of his "purpose" doesn't it?

If this information about motive is actually true then perhaps the "eye rolling" makes sense. Hughes was raised to be a proud black man, so if his estranged dad was passing this probably hurt him. Perhaps the poem's list of rivers addresses the ancient and wonderful as well as painful (re:Mississippi) history of these rivers. Maybe he is saying: Dad, don't be embarrassed about your African roots... they're noble and honorable.

W. Sabir