My Mark Twain Quote

"All generalizations are false, including this one."-Mark Twain. I like this quote by Mark Twain because of how often this rings true. So many times people will complain about something, or explain something with a generalization that is not necessarily true for every individual who belongs to this group. Sometimes it is like, oh, well he/she is a certain race so what do you expect. Or, well all guys are jerks and all they want is sex. Or all girls are crazy and dumb. None of these things are true for every single individual in these groups, and this is one of my biggest pet peeves. And given I do do it sometimes, but if i hear someone do it, I always try to call them on it because it just annoys me.

My Guy Jack Johnson

Now I am someone who is really into music, and I enjoy most types of music and listen to a wide variety. Recently I have been listening to a lot of Jack Johnson's music. His style is kind of like easygoing acoustic guitar with vocals and not much more. There is just something about his style of music that just relaxes me. Whenever I am just hanging out doing nothing I always put him on and it just make me happy.... I don't know why it just does. It is also great background music for doing homework, its not loud and distracting so I can do my homework and still not be disturbed. I also play guitar, and though some of his guitar parts are kind of complicated for the most part it is pretty simple so I also enjoy playing his songs. He is just fun.

Clyde Kennard

Clyde Kennard was a black American in the 1950s who, after serving in the military for 7 years, wanted to finish his college degree. Unfortunately for him, there were no black colleges in the area, and the closest white school was Mississippi Southern. So he sent in an application. The president kept on getting Kennard on stupid technicalities they would not call anyone else on. This was because other than him being black, he met every requirement needed. He kept writing and trying to get into this school, his persistence matched that of Rosa Parks or MLK. Eventually he was jailed for "going over the speed limit and being in possession of whiskey. And while in prison he developed a lesion on his colon. They would not release him however. But, as his story got out a lot of support came for him and they eventually released him early for medical reasons and he died shortly after being released. But his persistence really was important for the movement, especially in such a racist, segregated state such as Mississippi.

My Walk Through the Streets of Harlem

The first thing I found interesting looking through these two sites was "Speaker's corner" which was a corner in Harlem that is very famous for hosting prominent, important civil rights speakers voicing their opinions on step stools and soap boxes. Personally I think that's pretty interesting. Something I also found intriguing was the story about the black boxer Jack Johnson. He basically represented black people in boxing and in society, so much so that white people were scrambling to try to find a white savior of boxing. Personally I think that that is stupid, and it is honestly a shame that America split itself by trying to pit the whites against the blacks. Many white boxers wouldn't even fight him because he was black. But he just persevered through all the drama and idiocy and eventually became champion. That is just the type of person he was, eccentric, and not really caring about what was normal or accepted.

What's on my mind right now

Honestly, it is spring break right now and its kind of late while I am doing this blog because I have really been procrastinating on all of my assignments you have given us especially these blogs I'm so behind right now. And I just really hate that I actually have things to do on this break, given, I've done a lot of really fun stuff, but it's just annoying. I suppose that's just life, but still! I just wanted a break. I mean, it's not even that much, just math homework and this, but its still kind of annoying. I guess I just wanted to completely free break and I'm just not getting that right now. But whatever I guess....

Music in Harlem

here is the link to the picture of the sculpture: http://www.google.com/imgres?start=89&num=10&um=1&hl=en&biw=1440&bih=672&tbm=isch&tbnid=WyV_ijkosy2vqM:&imgrefurl=http://www.modernartimages.com/limitededitions3.htm&docid=ByIcB7Jgn3I3NM&imgurl=http://www.modernartimages.com/images/sculptureeditions/african-american-original-art-queenofjazz.jpg&w=306&h=451&ei=Zrh_T_T2NNTjggfx9-jQBw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=502&vpy=178&dur=6125&hovh=273&hovw=185&tx=95&ty=168&sig=107467425027795416133&page=4&tbnh=145&tbnw=98&ndsp=29&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:89,i:9

This sculpture of a woman playing the saxophone is a great representation of the times during the roaring 20s during prohibition. During this time rich white folk would go to Harlem and go to the speakeasies to drink and be entertained. The entertainment was many times black musicians. However the blacks themselves were not let in unless the played for the band or brought special guests. This was something the sisters were very aware of and Sadie in fact even went to one of these clubs once.