In our Listener Lyric unit in English, we were tasked with creating an essay that, instead of informed, elicited connection and emotion from the reader. Though shorter than a typical essay, it helped me express how I thought as well as allowed me to talk about things that are truly interesting to me.

Beyond the Eyes

Take a deep breath. Close your eyes. But don’t fall asleep.

In your mind, layers and layers of waves crash down in front of you and block your view. As soon as you get a small window to peek through, the moment’s already gone.

You open your eyes. It seems like there’s no escape from the truth of the world even in your own head.

– African Proverb

In this age, you realize you have to make a change in your behavior. You know that you have to spend time talking to people even though it might be harder. You aren’t truly among everybody else until you embrace the tough fact that there are things coming in between.

Especially now, with the virus, you are further away from reality. Your confidence has dropped to an all-time low. What should you do? You don’t know. You just retreat back into your seat for what seems like ages. Months pass. You haven’t moved. You have barely talked to anybody, including your own family.

Isn’t it a wonder?

Or is it not a wonder?

You realize that this has been said throughout time — Humans don’t communicate enough — So are you efforts in vain?

You reminisce on a time when you were younger and you weren’t so caught up in the technology of the modern day. It was still around, but you were more focused on true interaction. Where has that spirit gone?

It’s still in you, you tell yourself. You can make the change. You can be who you were.

So make it.

Don’t second guess yourself.

Just make it.

Lyrical Essay Production

In the Lyrical Essay unit, I was able to write about what I like in life and things that I believe to be true. This served as yet another reflection on what I think is important in life and what I really value. I enjoyed and appreciated having the time to sit down and write from my heart. To create my drawing, I used Adobe Illustrator to create different shapes, creating a simple landscape. Making the video enabled me to learn more about Ken Burns effects.

This is my interface for Adobe Illustrator, where I created my Lyrical Essay Production.

Honors Citizen Essay

I wrote an essay based off of Claudia Rankine’s book Citizen.

Deconstructing the Present

In the review, Race, Reception, and Claudia Rankine’s “American Lyric”, Evie Shockley compliments Rankine on the effectiveness and vividness of the book. One point that Shockley emphasizes is that Citizen doesn’t necessarily fall into one genre of literature. Instead, she explains that the uniqueness of the book enables it to mean even more. Shockley does this by connecting another review she had read of Citizen. In this review, the reviewer offered the idea that Rankine’s book might not fall under a specific genre. Shockley criticizes other reviews of Citizen because they fail to take into account the fact that the book might not be one genre of poetry; they instead think of it in terms of prose poetry. Shockley dives deep into the meaning of specific passages such as the scene where Rankine discusses going to Santa Monica to meet a friend. Shockley’s analysis of this passage is very thorough in that she considers the different interpretations of specific words. For instance, she questions how the impact and meaning could change if the “you” in the passage is black or white. Throughout her review, Shockley proves that she firmly resonates with Rankine’s message. She restates how the uniqueness of Rankine’s writing excellently portrays the message of racial inequality to the reader. Shockley’s critical analysis of Citizen remarks on how Rankine is able to defy genre and provide a lyric that effectively tells the message. I believe that Shockley’s argument is well justified because Citizen is a book that doesn’t require to be put under one category. The evidence that Shockley uses to support her claims is very strong because they come from important parts of the book. Shockley claims that Citizen is a very strong book because all of Rankine’s word choices and images have meaning and that no matter the reader’s perspective, Rankine’s message is still the same.

Shockley believes that Rankine’s ability to portray lots of meaning through seemingly insignificant text or images is displayed again and again throughout Citizen. Another section of Citizen that builds on Shockley’s argument is the picture that reads, “I FEEL MOST COLORED WHEN I AM THROWN AGAINST A SHARP WHITE BACKGROUND.” (Rankine 53) In this picture, the repetition of the words reads as if she is trying to convince herself of this idea. At the top of the picture, the background is perfectly white. However, as the writing continues down the page, the words start to smudge. When I read this part, the first thought that came into my head was that the writer was starting to cry and words started to smudge together. This piece represents the plight of African Americans in modern-day American culture. Though racial equality has relatively improved over the past few decades, the whitewashing of American culture has made for a poisonous place for people of color. This piece is very powerful because it is placed all by itself — there is no given context for this image. One main idea that Shockley pushes through her review of Citizen is that the book is, in fact, not belonging to one specific genre of writing. Throughout Citizen, there is a lot of evidence that proves this point, but one specific part that truly exemplifies this is when the style of writing changes greatly. Near the end of the book, Rankine completely shifts her style of writing. Instead of writing in short lines, she began to write in longer paragraphs separated by strips of pictures. One very significant line that Rankine writes here is, “It is the White Man who creates the black man. But it is the black man who creates.” (128) This passage is important for several reasons. It relates heavily to what Shockley discussed in her review; the separation between white and black people is something that Shockley was fond of mentioning in her writing. The capitalization of “White Man” is something that immediately stood out to me because it represents how white people have more power in society than black people. This is another junction at which I agree with Shockley; Rankine’s creative choices and subtle use of sentence structure delivers meaning with almost every sentence.

One of the key parts of Shockley’s review is comprised of the perspective of the reader. In her review, she states, “Most white readers, however, hailed by the text as a ‘You’ who is being called a ‘nappy-headed ho’ by a friend, will face quite a different psychic situation.” Rankine’s use of the word “you” throughout Citizen portrays the anecdotes of the book through the second person perspective. This is important because it puts the reader into Rankine’s shoes. Through the various stories she tells, she forces the reader to experience the event the way she does. By doing this, Rankine leaves no ambiguity as to the moral choices made by the people in her anecdotes. One example of this in Citizen is when Rankine says “Standing outside the conference room, unseen by the two men [..], you hear one say to the other that being around black people is like watching a foreign film without translation.” (50) By using the word “you,” Rankine puts the reader directly into this situation. The sentence structure of this passage makes the reader feel like they are experiencing this situation for themselves. In Citizen, perspective grants the reader a more in-depth understanding of Rankine’s stories, making them all the more powerful. Evie Shockley’s review of Citizen by Claudia Rankine reflects many of my understandings and thoughts about the book. Citizen thoroughly examines racial injustices in America, and is very unique in the way it is written. What Shockley’s review of Citizen lacks in examples, it makes up in description. I resonate very strongly with Shockley’s review of Citizen because we both believe that it is a well-thought out book while also being a captivating read.