The Author Tayari Jones is an Atlanta native and  is an award winning author for her novel “Leaving Atlanta”. The author Tayari Jones was a Spelman College graduate, she has several degrees such as a Ph.D from the University of Iowa. She has received awards for her writings such as the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Debut Fiction in 2003 and the Lillian C. Smith award in 2006 .Tayari Jones creates books for the young African American reader like myself. Jones generally generates African American literature. Her writing is geared towards young women who have overcome personal struggles in lives.  She creates books to make you feel like achieving your goals is possible and can be easily obtainable.

In her novel “The Untelling” the lost of a family member is tragic, but losing a parent is even more devastating. Living as a young lady growing up without your a father, experiencing “teenage things” has taken Ariadne for a loop. The death of her father not only affects her, but also her now widowed mother and older sister Hermione. After the death of her father the two sisters relationship with their mother began to go down hill. The three women need to learn how to deal with their difficulties and continue to live their lives in the best way possible.  

Going to her mother’s alma mater, Spelman College, Aria receives a degree. Aria deals with the medical issues that will affect her future, and she debates telling her new fiancé Dwayne. The main character Ariadne (Aria) has been though a lot of bad life experiences and she is scared that could potentially cause more misfortune in her life. Aria in her mid twenties watches everyone progress in their lives and families and struggles with the outcome of her life.   

From start to finish the main character Aria Jackson has been authentic. She seemed so real and her story was very effective to me.  As I read I felt like I was Aria and I was dealing with her life. Aria seemed very credible , despite her dishonestly to her fiance.  I would strongly recommend anyone who is into realistic fiction and tragedies to read this book. Several times throughout this story I did shed a few tears. I genuinely felt like helping her with her issues ,knowing there was nothing I could do.  

I truly believe that this book can be relatable to all people. I have always wanted to go to a HBCU, like Spelman College, where several of the characters in the story attended ,and also where the author attended.  The author does a great job using realistic life circumstances. I felt like I was the main character, like I was her dealing with her tough life challenges. Tayari Jones does a great with her tone of writing. Throughout the story I felt anxious, wondering what was going to happen next and anticipating the next big challenge. The author revealed a lot of controversial medical issues, such as abortion. Knowing that that topic is well disputed ,and that I love to debate or discuss controversial topics , I felt like this book was a great match for me. The author also used a very informal writing style, her use of profanity and slang understanding considering I am teenager and am around that type of language all of the time.  

Towards the ending of the book I began to become disappointed. Throughout the whole plot I was anticipating a happy ending, however I was very disappointed after the story concluded. In some ways the story exceeded my expectations by having relatable situations and making me feel sympathetic towards the characters life circumstances. I really enjoy happy endings. In this case the book did not exceed my expectations. I would have preferred if the book had more of a predictable ending.   

While reading this story the question of “Is it okay to lie?” became very present. While reading I contemplated the idea if it really was okay to lie if you are trying not to hurt someone. I then realized that it not okay. It means more to people that you tell them the truth, rather than just lying at first, because that will make the situation more complicated.

This story was recommended to me by Ms. Rami, because of her knowing that I am into very realistic types of writings. I am very happy that she recommended this book to me and am very glad that I completed this book.

Title: The Untelling

Author: Tayari Jones

Publishing: Grand Central Publishing, 2006

Date of publication: 2005

Genre: Fiction

Creative:

Link to "The Untelling" Blog

My community is very diverse and has a wide range of cultures, and ethnic backgrounds. Living in Philadelphia I take all of the Historical Monuments and figures for granted. I live in walking distance to everything. Live in Southwest Center city, some people like to refer to to where I live as Center city. My neighborhood is so white. All I see parked outside my door are “Priuses” and “Subarus”. I can’t the closes Poppy store is 4 blocks away.  In the hood there is one within every 3 feet. I love the fact that I live near  near everything, but the only people that live in my neighborhood are middle aged white people . I can walk to the center city in like 10 minutes. I live 10 to 15 minutes away University City.

Joie Nearn

January 15, 2014

Silver

The U.S court system has continued to get progressively biases toward certain cases. Being that in America there has been several cases that have displayed\ racial injustices such as Emmitt Till, Oscar Grant, Troy Davis and the most recent Trayvon Martin trail. The Trayvon Martin trial has enabled America to express their bias, towards discrimination.

Ironically the vast majority of the jurors that have taken part of the trail, were white americans. Meaning that they racially could not relate. According to a news article written by  Richard Gabriel one of the jurors stated “And it is a combination of skin color, idiom, nonverbal behavior, and personality that causes this cultural outgroup divide, not just her race.” These jurors wronged them the fact they could not relate with the witness Rachel Jeantel, which  based their verdict decision. Knowing that Zimmerman is much more similar, in race and background, the jurors disregarded everything that she testified. This allowed five out of six of the jurors to rule in favor of George Zimmerman.

Stereotypes have taken a major role in how the jurors and Americans function. Knowing the history of African Americans had their past with the law enabled the jurors of the trail to be more lenient towards Zimmerman. According to an article written by the Huffington Post “ The infamous Juror B-37 said that Zimmerman was not racially profiling young Trayvon, but was merely profiling him based on the fact that black men had been involved with burglaries in that neighborhood.” Knowing that Trayvon was African American made this juror believe that Zimmerman was automatically in correct for murdering him. Knowing that African Americans in the past have had serious issues with criminal behavior, made the jurors believe that Trayvon Martin’s death was vital.

Knowing that America became very involved, in this historic trail. Society began to believe that this outcome of this trail was because the jury was bias. There was only one juror of color on this trail. According to The Huffington Post “as the only juror of color states that George Zimmerman "got away with murder" and as the nation lurches through yet another tragic episode that forces us to deal with our racial legacy -- new ways of viewing race are surfacing.” Being that this juror was the only one of color she could relate in some way with Trayvon Martin which made her very remorseful for this young man's death.

The Implicit Association Test has been used to display your blind spots, in terms of our personal biases. Theses test are developed by Harvard University in Cambridge Massachusetts. These test are used to measure someone's automatic association between to objects. For example, in class we taken the Race IAT test, to measure Pleasant words and Unpleasant words with, African American Children and European American Children. While studying the results of this test it has been indicated that European Americans have a bias towards pleasant words and European American People. This demonstrates how the juror of this cases allowed bias to affect their decision against Trayvon.

In conclusion The  Trayvon Martin trail was one of the most controversial and disputed trails in the US history. The US court system is very unfair and bias.  The Trayvon Martin trial has enabled America to express their bias, towards discrimination. This has displayed that America needs to reavaluated their injustices.

1. "Trayvon Martin Case (George Zimmerman)." Trayvon Martin. N.p., 21 Jan. 2014. Web. 21 Jan. 2014. <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/trayvon_martin/>

2. "Race, Bias and the Zimmerman Jury | Houston Style Magazine | Urban Weekly Newspaper Publication Website." Race, Bias and the Zimmerman Jury | Houston Style Magazine | Urban Weekly Newspaper Publication Website. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2014. <http://stylemagazine.com/news/2013/jul/16/race-bias-and-zimmerman-jury/?page=3>

3. Paterson, Eva. "Trayvon Martin and Implicit Bias." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 05 Aug. 2013. Web. 21 Jan. 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eva-paterson/trayvon-martin-and-implic_b_3692331.html>

4. "Implicit Association Test." Implicit Association Test. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2014. <http://projectimplicit.net/nosek/iat/>

“OMG I AM SO HUNGRY AMY!!!!”

NO, I’ve gotten so far with this I’m not going to start eating now. You know I just make cupcakes for Susana’s birthday and I just want one!! You know what Amy you don’t understand me you’re skinny . well… I’ve been doing good all week and my period is about to come on so I am PMSing its okay, this always happens. just one. (takes one bite) This shit is good as shit. mmmmm mhhhh mmmm … I can bake. (after  finished eating  it walks into the bathroom) ….No What am  I doing. Get it together TARA… but Why am I so fat.It is crazy how hard I starve myself and try everything in my power to loose weight. why can’t I be like those white girls who are so skinny.  I want to eat what I want and when I do I have to throw it right up?

Waking up everyday and looking in the mirror and not liking what I  see is aggravating. I hate how I look. I hate walking the the Halls and feeling like I don’t belong. Last year when I was a freshman people used to say I looked like a monster. I don’t appreciate being constantly made fun of by them because of how I look. Being constantly criticized by them does not make me feel better about myself. I should not wake up everyday feeling like I don’t belong. The life I live is horrible. I hate when people” say awww your not fat you’re just thick”. No my favorite is when the skinniest person says “I’m so fat” Well what the hell am I than?.

You know what I’m doing for a fun tomorrow! Yeah that sounds like a plan...running NO… but I hate running. I hate sweating. What is it called perception, no persperate. I don’t like to perspire. Well, guess thats that. I need to be skinny. I am so fat. I want to stick my finger down my throat but I’m scared. My fat fingers are too big to be shoving down my throat like sausage links.

Why can’t I wake up look in the mirror and love myself. I should not feel like everyone around me is better. I should feel confident enough to feel like being me and live my life. Being skinny is all I want to be.

Growing up and listening to how everyone around me spoke was always very interesting to me. I love to listen to different peoples tones of  voices and the way they say certain words. I like to say that “Philadelphia is a melting pot of all different types of people.” People all over this city are different and say things differently than the way I may. I do not judge the different ways in which people speak, I actually find it very appealing. I love how the “South Philly accents” sound as they talk.

When I was in middle school, I used to call it “Little Italy,” because south philly is known for its large population of Italian-American families. It seems like whenever they say certain words they add an extra “aw” in the middle. For example if an Italian-American from South Philly says the word because, they are actually saying it as  “becaawse!” Another thing I picked up on from the Italian Americans in my neighborhood was that they will make up, that they truly believe are correct! It gets passed down from the generations and they pick up the way the people around them and speaking and start using  words like yous, which everyone else would just say as you guys or yall. Listening to this has always been very appealing to me. I have no idea why, but I love to hear them talk.

Going to Girard Academic Music Program, I spent a lot of my time around a lot of Italian American dialect, specific to South Philadelphia. Starting off in 5th grade I really did not understand what was going on. Being new to a school would sometimes make me feel like I was obligated to be friends with everyone. I would quite often code switch my dialogue to mimic how all the Italian-Americans spoke. I would sometimes add an extra “aw” in between my words to make it sound like I was one of them. I remember in the 5th grade I sat next to a young Italian American girl named Melissa Pantalone. I wanted to have friends so badly I tried to speak like them.

“Hey guys what are yous tawlking about?” I would say.

But in reality I would normally great my friends with “What are y’all talking about?” Because of these experiences I understand Italian-American dialect better that most people that never grew up around it. It bothers me when people comment on how they speak because everyone is allowed to be different. Going to G.A.M.P has made me more understanding to how Italian -Americans speak.

In some ways people in Philly use some of the same language, or the same pronunciations of certain words. For example, in Philadelphia a lot of people say “wooder” unlike every other region in the US that says just “water.” It is so hard not to say “water” like “wooder” because I have been living in the heart of Philadelphia my entire life. It seems like in Philly we make everything have a long “a”. When I speak I can’t help but to pronounce certain in the “Philly way”. Living in Philadelphia we use a lot of slang. I find it very tempting  to use a lot of it in my everyday speech. I love saying the word “jawn” or phrases like “you gonna ride”. I feel like we are just talking about absolutely nothing. We say a lot of phrases and words that a lot of people would not understand like “ocky,” “poppin,” “trizzy” “old head,” and “young bull.” Surprising me, a lot of what Philadelphians say, is not known throughout the country.

Always living in Philadelphia, it is very difficult for me to understand that people do not speak as we do everywhere. Some slang that we use is spoken throughout the nation. In America we tend to say the word “like” at the end of every sentence we use. For example everyone may say. “That is cute so, like.” I hear this everywhere and not just in Philadelphia. There are some things that we collectively use as a country as slang.

When I am around certain people I code switch my dialogue. I may be talking to different people about the same thing but it may sound different. For example if I am with My friend Greta our conversation way go like this.

“Hey girl” Greta may say.

“Hey girl heyy” I may say say.

“OMG her hair is literally disgusting.”

“Yess girl she needs to not”

The same conversation may be between my friend Gabby and I may go like this.

“JOIE” Gabby may say.

“Yesss girl” I may say.

“Tell me why that girl’s hair looked a mess this morning.”

“Where was her head at this morning?, She played herself.”

I am practically having the same conversation but with different people. It is weird how I do this. I don’t mean to change how I speak to different people. It seems like I change the tone of my voice when I am around certain people. Greta is a white American and lives outside of Philadelphia. Greta’s parents grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, which has influenced her to speak “white.”Because of who her parents are and their life experiences, it causes her to  speak the way she does. Greta uses standard english, but to others this is “Philadelphian standard English.” Gabby is African American with Jamaican descent. Her father grew in Kingston, Jamaica. They use similar dialect there that they use in Philadelphia.  Her mother is Philadelphia. This results in her using a lot of slang in her day to day dialect.

Philadelphia has a very diverse population, which can result in all different types of slang. They may use different dialect in Southwest Philadelphia and North Philadelphia, but we all still essentially live in the same city. This is something that is unexplainable. People always adapted to where they lived and created language to support their surroundings. My experiences have lead me to the ability to process the endless Philadelphian dialects around me.  

Se llama Mia. Ella es muy inteligente, cómica, y extraña. Ella le gusta leyendo, escribiendo, y durmiendo. La trabajo de sus sueños es actriz profesional. Tiene un perro, y vivo con su mamá. Le gusta cuidad grande, la playa, y el centro comercial.

Está casa es en Beverly Hills, California. La casa está cerca de la playa, del centro comercial, el supermercado y un parque, pero lejos de la escuela. La casa es muy grande, divertida, y bonita. La cocina es moderna porque ella es muy talentosa en la cocina.

1. En la cocina hay mucho armarios, dos estufas, y un nevera grande.

2. En el dormitorio hay mucho lugar. También tienes una murado crema habitación. Hay dos ventanas grande, y un guardarropa, una televisión, y un espejo.  

3. En la sala es mucho, mucho grande. la sala hay una sofá y, ocho sillas. También un télévision en la pared.

4. El comedor es grande, hay diez sillas, una ventana, y una puerta.

5. En el jardín, un piscina con una cascada grande, mucho sillas, y mucho árboles.

6. En el garaje, hay tres carros, ferrari rojo, bug amarillo, y silver Maserati silver.

7. En la oficina hay una computadora, una silla y una mesa.

Contacto

Señorita Joie y Señorita Jackie

Teléfono: 123-456-7890