February 11

First I feel compelled to comment on the plague that seems to be slowly decimating to St. Lawrence campus. It's apparently the flu, but my symptoms are not very flu-esque. I feel like I have been drinking sand, and the tapping of the keyboard makes my eyes water. A friend of mine went to the Health Center to get some medical aid and for his flu-like symptoms they prescribed him 'Tussin. I think I might need that extra kick from the Robo, but I'm not sure.
OK now that that's off my chest lets talk literature. I thought Alice's discussion questions and Professor Bailey's prompts facilitated a detailed and highly productive class. The parallel between White Witch and "On Lynchings" were chilling and eye opening. My own interpretation of the poem was that the witch represented white society--the epitome of freedom and privilege. The witch (white society) pretends to willingly invite blacks into their ranks and once blacks see or feel an opening white society crushes all dreams and hopes; throwing blacks back into a world of loss and pain.Nick brought up a play where a white woman seduces a black man on a train and than murders him in front of several people who do nothing to protect him.
The Du Bois section on double consciousness really hit home for me. I have found myself in different situations altering how I behave in order to fit in with the group around me. Professor Bailey told us that Dr. Bass once said to him that whenever she does something she always thinks about what it means to the black community. I identify as Black and Puerto Rican but I know I don't fit the a-typical persona; I always find myself acclimating minutely in order to feel like I fit in.