backyard crowing



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oh, good riddance

i'm so glad my roommate is leaving!

Langston Hughes (1902-1967) Although Langston Hughes became the leader of the Harlem writers who created the Black Literary Renaissance of the 1920s, he was born in Joplin, Missouri, and spent most of his youth in the American Midwest. He first came to New York in 1921 to attend Columbia University to study engineering or something, but he hated it and so dropped out. A year later he shipped out as a seaman and cook's helper on a tramp steamer to Africa and Europe. He lived and worked in Paris and Italy and then returned to the US, where he took a job as a busboy in a Washington, D.C., hotel. There, in 1925, he was "discovered" by the poet Vachel Lindsay, who praised Hughes's poems and advised him to devote himself to literature and to "hide and write and study and think."

Hughes had begun writing long before. In grammar school he had been chosen class poet, and while still in high school he published two poems in national magazines. His first books, "The Weary Blues" (1926) and "Fine Clothes to the Jew" (1927), won poetry prizes and brought him wide acclaim. His first novel, "Not Without Laughter", appeared in 1930. Hughes had a wide-ranging talent. He was a successful humorist and a historian of the lives of blacks. He wrote novels, short stories, poems, children's books, song lyrics, and operas. He translated foreign writers and wrote numerous plays, three of which were produced on Broadway.

Much of his best writing was journalistic. In 1937 he served as a foreign correspondent covering the Spanish Civil War for the "Baltimore Afro-American" newspaper. His most popular works were newspaper sketches written for the "Chicago Defender" in the 1940s. The sketches recounted the adventures and opinions of an innocent, downtrodden Negro, "Simple," whose penetrating views of blacks and whites provided Hughes with the means for making broad satirical and critical commentary on society and government.

Hughes was the first black American to support himself as a professional writer; in all, he produced more than sixty books. He was one of the first American writers to receive serious critical attention for realistic portrayals of blacks in the US. Through his poetry, fiction, and essays, he became one of the dominant voices speaking out for black culture in white America in the latter half of the twentieth century.

And this i wrote today in the outdoors for a change, in the back of a used bluebook:

It's hard to believe December is almost here. I still haven't called Adam back, nor Erica, nor Krista and Lisa.

Why do I do this?

Professor Schleppe told me quietly today that my "French is fantastic." That certainly put a spring in my step in walking to Literature. Langston Hughes was the mai author we discussed today, and he is quickly becoming my favorite by far. I pulled an all nighter last night to finish my last Biology homework, and I just turned it in. No more biology for this chick! I am through. Well, hopefully. All I need is a 24 out of 32 and I have my D. I skipped the class today after turning that in and went to Jamba Juice where one of the workers knew my name since he had seen me in the store quite a few times. His name is Ali, I had better not forget it. Then again, I've never seen him without his nametag, so no worries, I suppose. I have several negative things I could write here, but sometimes I wonder if writing them doesn't make it worse. Realizing my fears and insecurities on paper perhaps brings them to my mind more readily, as if I'm studying them. And what a thing to study! I'm making a flowchart:

somewhat lazy -> getting bad marks -> dissapointment and self-loathing -> frantic -> low confidence -> more bad marks because I think I can't do it -> loneliness -> alienating myself on purpose, and without a purpose -> undeserving -> unintelligent -> losing friends -> guilt -> tired -> tears -> exhausted -> apathetic -> a wanting to be spiritual -> stress -> weight gain -> good grief, what next?

so much for a positive entry.

4:16 a.m. - 2005-11-30
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