Maya Angelo

Summary: Maya Angelo talks about her expierence graduating grade school in her book "I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings" She is one of few people of color graduating. Even some of her teachers haven't went on to High School. She sits in her seat during the graduation contemplanting the things the speakers were saying. The first speaker that had an affect on Maya was Mr. Edward Donleavy. He talked about how the "central" (white) kids were going to succeed and get many prvilages and that the black males were going to become athletes like "Jesse Owenses and Joe Louises" (179), but Donleavy said nothing about the black girls. After everything he said the audience would say Amen and every time they did Maya choked on the words. Everything he said made her sick and angry. Maya argued the fact that blacks were only meant to be "Maids and farmers, handymen and washwomen," and anything they did would amount to nothing. She continued to tell us about how she wished certain black movement people would of died or never caught for black rights out of anger. It wasn't till Henry Reed gave his Valedictorian speech that changed Mayas persprective of her graduation day. He actually spoke to everyone and made her feel like she accomplished something and she was ready to move on to her next chapter of her life.


Response: Maya was such a strong women and she deserved to have a graduation she could be proud of. Reading this chapter made my heart hurt for Maya. She has come so far already and now she had to sit there and get all her hopes and dreams crushed by Mr. Edward Donleavy. This was her graduation too and she worked just as hard as those white kids, if not harder. As he spoke you can see her build up anger. Although she was in a mixed racial school it was still segregated and made people with color think that they would not succeed in life. The anger made her think things that were hateful, like when she talked about how she wished Gabriel Prosser and Nat Turner were killed and that she wished Abraham Lincoln was assassinated before the Emancipation Proclamation. My interpretation was that she thinks they would be better off if no one tried to make blacks equal and why did they even do it in the first place. It didn't change anything, they are always going to be looked down upon. Her future was dwindling away listening to Donleavy speak but Maya comes through at the end of the chapter when one of her peers gave his speech. Henry Reed turned away from the audience during his speech  and concentrated on the graduating class, all of them. He said a poem that moved Maya and showed her that there was a light at the end of the tunnel. Tears fell down her face and then just like that her spirits were lifted and her hope was back. I could not even imagine being around in a time where there was so little respect for black people. I can't wait to continue Mayas journey with her, even after "I Know Why the Cage Birds Sings."

Privacy

Summary: In the book "Signs of life in the USA" there is an article that talks about what is private and public on the web. Everyone these days has some kind of social media that they are checking constantly. You might be doing this from home or outside the confines of your home but how do you know who is in your personal space. Nothing is private on the web. Even though you might have all your settings set to private there is always a way to get in. In your own space you can set up guide lines and have rules but once you post things on the internet is not longer your personal space. The book adds that, "You don't insult people in their own homes, but online flaming occurs all too often." Meaning the web is a wide open space that you cannot control what people say. Unlike your home where you can kick someone out, the web is a place where there are no real rules. "Many sites and forums where people socialize and communicate are described as being like the Wild West." In other words even though the web is meant for socializing you still have to be careful of the gun slinging.

Response: No matter what you put on the web anyone can get into it and I know this personally. I had an issue with my work and the social network Facebook. Even though my page was set to private and I had my coworkers blocked, somehow they still got in. Not only did they get in but they posted mean things on my page. I had no control of what they wrote but as soon as I saw it I deleted it. I still don't know how they got in but it doesn't matter.  My personal opinion is if there is something you don't want aired publicly you should not put in online because it will finds its way to the public. I agree with the article that we do not have our own personal space anymore. Everyone is always on the web and now they can do it from anywhere. You can go on from your phone, laptops or tablets. A lot of places even have free WiFi, so you don't have to even pay for a data plan. All you have to do is have something that gives a access to the internet. Our whole world is changing and technology mistaking over. We might have some privacy now but I believe that pretty soon all our privacy rights will be gone for good unless we live in the middle of a Jungle.