Max's English blog

The conversation didn't really push any further thought. To dig further, I mean the most obvious observation is that our modern society is a lot more fair and provides much more opportunity for everyone, regardless of race or gender. The thing is though, its not fully there. I won't say its a false sense of security, but it's undeniably yet almost completely unspoken the way that these old prejudiced views and actions still linger in our modern society. Subconsciously, amongst everyone, you go in with a story. Its not just the "single story" we talked about, it's seemingly harmless YouTube videos some little kid watches, commentating over bodycam footage of a black man being arrested, making micro-aggressive remarks and jokes. Then its little teases and jokes at the front of the world's stage, little racist remarks, all slowly trickling down to the deepest level of the brain. Its the movie being played in front of a random 6 year old, where the cast is all...

 Prompt Response: When I was a child I used to believe in Santa Claus, I wish there was a bit more to talk about with that but it's just what it is. I used to believe that Santa came every Christmas and gave us all presents. That got spoiled for me pretty early on; my dad was the one who told me Santa was made up, the tooth fairy wasn't real, etc. He always likes to keep things truthful. Summary: I used to believe in Santa as a kid, until my dad told me otherwise. Reflection: I feel as if the reason my dad told me the truth was because beyond simple myths like Santa and the tooth fairy, he didn't want me to get accustomed to believing in things that simply weren't real and were there simply to provide a fake sense of awe or joy, or were ways to cope/instill hope that wasn't real.

Prompt Response: A time when I felt like I truly belonged was when I started going to hardcore and metal shows around Atlanta. For most of my life, I had always felt like I could move between different groups of people but was never completely in one. At concerts that feeling was different. Everyone looked different, dressed different, came from different backgrounds, but we were all there for the exact same reason. Nobody cared if I had eyeliner on, piercings, huge clothes, or looked completely different from the person beside me. Once the music started, especially in a packed room where everyone was screaming the same lyrics or moving together, none of those differences really mattered. Summary: I felt a strong sense of belonging within Atlanta’s hardcore and metal scene because everyone was connected through the same music and culture. Reflection: What created that feeling was not that everyone was the same as me, but almost the opposite. There was room for everyone to be different ...

 N/A, I was out sick:( but I can infer that I most likely would've been suprised or at least intrigued by some of the things my classmates had to say.

Prompt Response: A fear I have mostly overcome is the fear of being judged for the way I present myself. I had always been interested in alternative culture, but when I first tried dressing differently in middle school, the reaction from other people was exactly what you would expect. I got made fun of enough that by 9th grade I had pretty much gone back to dressing “normal.” What changed later was realizing that some of the same people around me actually thought the way I dressed was cool, they just never said anything at the time. Eventually I realized I was letting the loudest negative opinions control something that was supposed to be for me. I started wearing the band tees, piercings, jewelry, eyeliner, distressed clothes, and everything else I actually liked without caring nearly as much about whether everyone understood it. Summary: I overcame a lot of my fear of being judged for dressing and presenting myself differently from the people around me. Reflection: I still notice whe...

Prompt Response: A perspective that completely changed for me was the way I viewed race and the people outside of the friend group I had in middle school. For a long time, I was surrounded by people who held prejudiced views, and being around that constantly began to shape the way I saw other people and even myself. I started believing certain stereotypes about Black people and thinking that I was somehow different from or “better than” the people those stereotypes targeted. Once I left that group and began interacting with a much wider range of people, that entire perspective fell apart extremely quickly. I realized that people are just people. Someone's race, the way they speak, the music they listen to, or where they come from tells you almost nothing about their intelligence or character. Summary: My “single story” came from spending years around people whose prejudiced views shaped the way I saw other races and even my own. Reflection: Breaking out of that perspective felt alm...

 A time when I did something out of the norm was when I started dressing and presenting myself the way I want to. I had always been fascinated with alternative culture since I was a little kid, I didn't enjoy the music, but I still thought it was cool. When I first tried in middle school, picking up new clothes shopping for new clothes, the reaction was about what you'd expect from a bunch of middle schoolers. It was pretty bad and it affected me very poorly during that time. I ended up going back to "normal" by 9th grade. But there were these times when I'd be told from a friend that they actually thought the way I dressed back then was cool or that actually had a bit of respect for it but never spoke up. That hurts a bit, hearing those things back then would've changed my perspective on myself but nonetheless they were never said until later.