Outside Reading #1
"I was a conundrum, a pile of insecurities about not being Black enough or pretty enough or anything enough: too light to be dark and too dark to be light...Inside, I still had the little "bourgie" girl from Queens who wanted desperately to belong with the in crowd... I also wanted to find that 'other' - the man who was supposed to, if not take me away from all this, be a partner, as my parents were." Jessica B. Harris, My Soul Looks Back: A Memoir, p.54.
In the book, My Soul Looks Back, Harris tells the story of her life and her relationship with the Black intelligentsia during the 1970s. She discusses the role that her upbringing, education, and race play as she reiterates the story of her life. Her book as a whole is an articulation of her own journey, struggling to develop community and identity. The quote above in particular articulates how Harris was in constant confliction about who she was, the identities she chose and inculcated at times warring against each other. Furthermore, she establishes her desire to travel the journey of her life alongside someone else. Harris seems to articulate the struggle for the formation of an identity. It requires an appropriate interpretation of past experiences, an interpretation that may only be possible when one steps outside of their current environment. She also expresses the community aspect of this journey. She writes about the world-changers that she interacted with - Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Maya Angelou. The conversations and experiences that she shared with these individuals helped shape her own identity. Thus, we do not develop identity in isolation but rather in community, both with the people around us and with God.
In the book, My Soul Looks Back, Harris tells the story of her life and her relationship with the Black intelligentsia during the 1970s. She discusses the role that her upbringing, education, and race play as she reiterates the story of her life. Her book as a whole is an articulation of her own journey, struggling to develop community and identity. The quote above in particular articulates how Harris was in constant confliction about who she was, the identities she chose and inculcated at times warring against each other. Furthermore, she establishes her desire to travel the journey of her life alongside someone else. Harris seems to articulate the struggle for the formation of an identity. It requires an appropriate interpretation of past experiences, an interpretation that may only be possible when one steps outside of their current environment. She also expresses the community aspect of this journey. She writes about the world-changers that she interacted with - Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Maya Angelou. The conversations and experiences that she shared with these individuals helped shape her own identity. Thus, we do not develop identity in isolation but rather in community, both with the people around us and with God.
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