Friday, October 08, 2010

 

Cyber-Assignment for Monday, October 11, 2010 8 AM to 8:50 AM class

We are still contemplating privilege. Think about how Wideman uses the term "privilege" in a different way here in a three paragraph response on the anniversary of Chris Columbus's stumble, October 11, 2010.

It is due 10/11/2010 by 9 AM. If any student decides to go to the sunrise ceremony, this assignment is optional.


October 6, 2010
The Seat Not Taken
By JOHN EDGAR WIDEMAN

AT least twice a week I ride Amtrak’s high-speed Acela train from my home in New York City to my teaching job in Providence, R.I. The route passes through a region of the country populated by, statistics tell us, a significant segment of its most educated, affluent, sophisticated and enlightened citizens.

Over the last four years, excluding summers, I have conducted a casual sociological experiment in which I am both participant and observer. It’s a survey I began not because I had some specific point to prove by gathering data to support it, but because I couldn’t avoid becoming aware of an obvious, disquieting truth.

Almost invariably, after I have hustled aboard early and occupied one half of a vacant double seat in the usually crowded quiet car, the empty place next to me will remain empty for the entire trip.

I’m a man of color, one of the few on the train and often the only one in the quiet car, and I’ve concluded that color explains a lot about my experience. Unless the car is nearly full, color will determine, even if it doesn’t exactly clarify, why 9 times out of 10 people will shun a free seat if it means sitting beside me.

Giving them and myself the benefit of the doubt, I can rule out excessive body odor or bad breath; a hateful, intimidating scowl; hip-hop clothing; or a hideous deformity as possible objections to my person. Considering also the cost of an Acela ticket, the fact that I display no visible indications of religious preference and, finally, the numerous external signs of middle-class membership I share with the majority of the passengers, color appears to be a sufficient reason for the behavior I have recorded.

Of course, I’m not registering a complaint about the privilege, conferred upon me by color, to enjoy the luxury of an extra seat to myself. I relish the opportunity to spread out, savor the privacy and quiet and work or gaze at the scenic New England woods and coast. It’s a particularly appealing perk if I compare the train to air travel or any other mode of transportation, besides walking or bicycling, for negotiating the mercilessly congested Northeast Corridor. Still, in the year 2010, with an African-descended, brown president in the White House and a nation confidently asserting its passage into a postracial era, it strikes me as odd to ride beside a vacant seat, just about every time I embark on a three-hour journey each way, from home to work and back.

I admit I look forward to the moment when other passengers, searching for a good seat, or any seat at all on the busiest days, stop anxiously prowling the quiet-car aisle, the moment when they have all settled elsewhere, including the ones who willfully blinded themselves to the open seat beside me or were unconvinced of its availability when they passed by. I savor that precise moment when the train sighs and begins to glide away from Penn or Providence Station, and I’m able to say to myself, with relative assurance, that the vacant place beside me is free, free at last, or at least free until the next station. I can relax, prop open my briefcase or rest papers, snacks or my arm in the unoccupied seat.

But the very pleasing moment of anticipation casts a shadow, because I can’t accept the bounty of an extra seat without remembering why it’s empty, without wondering if its emptiness isn’t something quite sad. And quite dangerous, also, if left unexamined. Posters in the train, the station, the subway warn: if you see something, say something.

John Edgar Wideman is a professor of Africana studies and literary arts at Brown and the author, most recently, of “Briefs.”

From http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/opinion/07Wideman.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

Comments:
Adalie Villalobos
Professor Sabir
English 201B (8-9a.m.)
12 October 2010
The Empty Seat
The way that John Edgar Wideman uses the term “privilege” is different than the way the class has been defining it. Wideman uses the term the same way as we have been using but the emotion behind it is not the same. When someone is privileged, they embrace and enjoy it. He tries to enjoy the luxury of the extra seat to himself but he still feels that it is odd that no one wants to sit next to him every three-hour journey. Although there is perks about the empty seat, the simple fact it is vacant somewhat bothers Wideman.
Wideman is not complaining about the privilege of having the empty seat. He is simply questioning why nine times out of ten people will shun the free seat next to him. The privilege of having the empty seat next to him is not really a privilege to Wideman. Wideman probably figures that it is, in a way, a complement to sit next to someone when there is not one seat left. The only thing that seems to be stopping every person from sitting next to him is the color of his skin.
Privilege is an advantage, a benefit, an opportunity, but Wideman does not see it that way. The way Wideman views privilege here is something he cannot accept. Usually people who have a privilege take full advantage of it, but not this case. The emotion behind the term is different from the way that we have defining it. Wideman’s usage of the word “privilege” is used in an unfortunate way rather than benefiting from it.
 
Vanessa Dilworth
Professor Sabir
English 201A 8-8:50am
12 October 2010

Privileged?
The word privilege means special rights are granted because of a certain class or standing. At the moment this word takes on a negative connotation with me. One factor could be because we are studying it in a racist spectrum. The Known World, by Edward P. Jones and John Edgar Wideman’s, The Seat Not Taken, both have the same theme, privilege, Wildeman even mentions how the man in his story is, but though similar it is looked upon in very different ways.

In the book, The Known World, privilege is looked upon as a negative theme, though a theme none the less. In the book a white patroller by the name of Travis, sold a free man from slavery, by the name of Augustus. Even though it was against the law that he was to withhold, he could get away with it because of his skin color. Slavery was an institution that discriminated against black people and was racist in every sense of the word. Its hold on black people almost crippled their progress as a race.

In The Seat Not Taken, the theme privilege takes on a different face. The man in
the story was a middle class black man with the privilege to have a luxurious seat as he traveled to work everyday. He had enough money to travel comfortable, as well as live, unlike the slaves in The Known World. As he traveled he couldn’t help but notice the
seat next to him was always empty, even if the train was full. The reason for this was his race. Though privilege he was discriminated against.

The Known World and The Seat Not Taken have two very different ways of looking at the theme privilege. Augustus didn’t like the power that Travis had over him
because of his race. In contrast the black man in The Seat Not Taken liked having the ability to, “savor the precise moment when the train sighs…and I am to say to myself, with relative assurance, that the vacant place beside me is free, free at last, or at least free until the next station.” What he did not like was awakening at times from his amnesia and
remembering why the seat was vacant, though privilege in a certain sense he still endured
the racist aftermath of slavery, the prejudice that came with his skin. He, though free from the bonds of slavery unlike Augustus, was not free; he was isolated from his white caste.

These two stories take the word privilege and tie its meaning together in very different ways. In The Known World and The Seat Not Taken both black men encounter privilege, they both are in a way, but at the same time are not. Augustus suffered from it and was brought back into slavery and the other man relaxed because of it. They both dealt with it in varies degree. When the man on the train mentions privilege he states,
“Of course, I’m not registering a complaint about the privilege, conferred upon me by color….”
 
Vanessa Dilworth
Professor Sabir
English 201A 8-8:50am
12 October 2010

Privileged?
The word privilege means special rights are granted because of a certain class or standing. At the moment this word takes on a negative connotation with me. One factor could be because we are studying it in a racist spectrum. The Known World, by Edward P. Jones and John Edgar Wideman’s, The Seat Not Taken, both have the same theme, privilege, Wildeman even mentions how the man in his story is, but though similar it is looked upon in very different ways.

In the book, The Known World, privilege is looked upon as a negative theme, though a theme none the less. In the book a white patroller by the name of Travis, sold a free man from slavery, by the name of Augustus. Even though it was against the law that he was to withhold, he could get away with it because of his skin color. Slavery was an institution that discriminated against black people and was racist in every sense of the word. Its hold on black people almost crippled their progress as a race.

In The Seat Not Taken, the theme privilege takes on a different face. The man in
the story was a middle class black man with the privilege to have a luxurious seat as he traveled to work everyday. He had enough money to travel comfortable, as well as live, unlike the slaves in The Known World. As he traveled he couldn’t help but notice the
seat next to him was always empty, even if the train was full. The reason for this was his race. Though privilege he was discriminated against.

The Known World and The Seat Not Taken have two very different ways of looking at the theme privilege. Augustus didn’t like the power that Travis had over him
because of his race. In contrast the black man in The Seat Not Taken liked having the ability to, “savor the precise moment when the train sighs…and I am to say to myself, with relative assurance, that the vacant place beside me is free, free at last, or at least free until the next station.” What he did not like was awakening at times from his amnesia and
remembering why the seat was vacant, though privilege in a certain sense he still endured
the racist aftermath of slavery, the prejudice that came with his skin. He, though free from the bonds of slavery unlike Augustus, was not free; he was isolated from his white caste.

These two stories take the word privilege and tie its meaning together in very different ways. In The Known World and The Seat Not Taken both black men encounter privilege, they both are in a way, but at the same time are not. Augustus suffered from it and was brought back into slavery and the other man relaxed because of it. They both dealt with it in varies degree. When the man on the train mentions privilege he states,
“Of course, I’m not registering a complaint about the privilege, conferred upon me by color….”
 
Vanessa Dilworth
Professor Sabir
English 201A 8-8:50am
12 October 2010

Privileged?
The word privilege means special rights are granted because of a certain class or standing. At the moment this word takes on a negative connotation with me. One factor could be because we are studying it in a racist spectrum. The Known World, by Edward P. Jones and John Edgar Wideman’s, The Seat Not Taken, both have the same theme, privilege, Wildeman even mentions how the man in his story is, but though similar it is looked upon in very different ways.

In the book, The Known World, privilege is looked upon as a negative theme, though a theme none the less. In the book a white patroller by the name of Travis, sold a free man from slavery, by the name of Augustus. Even though it was against the law that he was to withhold, he could get away with it because of his skin color. Slavery was an institution that discriminated against black people and was racist in every sense of the word. Its hold on black people almost crippled their progress as a race.

In The Seat Not Taken, the theme privilege takes on a different face. The man in
the story was a middle class black man with the privilege to have a luxurious seat as he traveled to work everyday. He had enough money to travel comfortable, as well as live, unlike the slaves in The Known World. As he traveled he couldn’t help but notice the
seat next to him was always empty, even if the train was full. The reason for this was his race. Though privilege he was discriminated against.

The Known World and The Seat Not Taken have two very different ways of looking at the theme privilege. Augustus didn’t like the power that Travis had over him
because of his race. In contrast the black man in The Seat Not Taken liked having the ability to, “savor the precise moment when the train sighs…and I am to say to myself, with relative assurance, that the vacant place beside me is free, free at last, or at least free until the next station.” What he did not like was awakening at times from his amnesia and
remembering why the seat was vacant, though privilege in a certain sense he still endured
the racist aftermath of slavery, the prejudice that came with his skin. He, though free from the bonds of slavery unlike Augustus, was not free; he was isolated from his white caste.

These two stories take the word privilege and tie its meaning together in very different ways. In The Known World and The Seat Not Taken both black men encounter privilege, they both are in a way, but at the same time are not. Augustus suffered from it and was brought back into slavery and the other man relaxed because of it. They both dealt with it in varies degree. When the man on the train mentions privilege he states,
“Of course, I’m not registering a complaint about the privilege, conferred upon me by color….”
 
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