Do We Really Want Integration?

Don't get me wrong, I love integration. I do go to Whitney Young, but I also like segregation. I see the need for it.

Why do we love integration? It's because it opens up our ignorant little minds to different ideals, cultures, perspectives, etc. Integration lovers enjoy to learn and experience new things. But without segregation, there is no such thing as integration. Segregation is needed in order to actually create the different things that are shared during integration. It's like a yin and yang thing, can't have the good without the bad and vice versa.

Civics

I feel that there is a civic duty to be courteous on the CTA. I hate it when people take up an unnecessary amount of space, or stand right in outside of the doorway obstructing those passengers trying to get off. How much common sense does it take? Half of my life is basically me on the CTA so I often see such stupid things. I mean, the CTA is a public service, a communal thing. Everyone needs to work together in order for it to run efficiently.

Open Letter to All Underclassmen

In my Ethnic Studies class, we, seniors, were asked, "what is one thing that you have learned through your experiences here at Whitney Young that the juniors should know transitioning into senior year?"

Being here at Whitney Young and remembering my first three years, I used to be so intimidated by upperclassmen. I'd be afraid to even have conversations with anyone who I thought was older. I was afraid to be judged as void just because of my lower "status" in this high school hierarchy. 

However, once I became a senior, and having no one to look "up" to, my views completely changed. I was programmed into many classes that were integrated in terms of grade level. I finally noticed that seniors do not discriminate based on age. I do not look "down" on younger people. They're just people, and people judge others based off substance. 

So I say to you, don't be afraid to talk to anyone just because you're intimidated of irrelevant labels. They're just people. Someone who can even turn out to be your best friend. Everyone has some sort of substance that shouldn't be so easily ignored because of prejudice.

Kafka On The Shore

At the end of the novel, Oshima tells Kafka, "You've grown up" [p. 463]. Kafka feels he has entered "a brand-new-world" [p. 467] Kafka has has reached "a brand-new-world" of maturity. He has gained a bit of wisdom in life through his little vacation from reality. He realized that running away from his father's evil prophecy does no good. It is just an illusion, a dream that he has to eventually wake up from.

This whole world is just Kafka's fantasy, his respite of the tangible world. It sort of makes sense. You can become anything you want in a dream, thus, he chooses to be Kafka Tamura who has an imaginary bird friend named "Crow." The entrance stone opening and closing are metaphors of falling in and out of dreams. All of the weird spirit characters or "concepts" such as Colonel Sanders are just those that keep the dream running. This novel is very magical, very metaphorical.