The Skin I'm in by Sharon G. Flake

The novel, The Skin I'm In by Sharon G. Flake affected me very deeply in my age of adolescence. At that age I was very impressionable and this book was the perfect message for me to hear. It depicts a young dark skinned girl struggling to find acceptance in a world that tells her she is ugly and worthless because of her dark skin. Her condition plagued her until she realized her skin color does not define who she is, or her worth. The young girl eventually overcomes the insecure feelings her dark skin brought her by realizing deep within she is beautiful and by participating in positive acts that benefited the community around her. I related to this book because I grew up around the phenomenon of light skin versus dark skin colorism that

In the article Skin Deep written by Nina Jablonski and George Chaplin, they discuss and look deeper into the diverse differences in skin color. Our skin color has developed over the years to be dark enough to prevent the damaging sunlight that has been harming our skin and the nutrient folate that it carries. At the same time out skin is light enough to receive vitamin D.

The portrait I choose is the Faces by Nancy Burson, 1992 (figure, 22.7). The portrait is the picture of two boys, and they are twins. In the description, Nancy used a cheap plastic camera for their look. The plastic camera creates a blurry effect on the subject, which is the two boys. The twins have the same shirt with the same pattern on them, and their hairstyle is similar as well. Their face features are almost identical consider they are twins. Looks closely, their face structure seems unusual for them compared to other children of their age. For example, the size of their nose is bigger and wider than the usual size. And their eyebrow bone is more arch. According to the textbook, the unusual facial structure might cause by genetic conditions, accident or disease. The twin may or may not born like this, and there are some other unknown factors decide how they look. However, this picture shows the characteristics of the children, such as pure, kind, optimistic, curious.

“What doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger” (p. 28). In the scientific novel Survival of the Sickest by Sharon Moalem with Jonathan Prince, self-acclaimed “Medical Maverick” Dr. Moalem makes in-depth analyses of current human diseases that, ironically, may have led to the survival of mankind in the past. He presents a novel concept that greatly contradicts what have been universally accepted beliefs surrounding biology and the process of human evolution for a long time. With the use of myriad scientific studies and research, he formulates surprising theories about a positive correlation between disease and humanity. Moalem narrates the scientific world’s findings that strongly exemplify his assertions, however arbitrary they may seem at first. Three of the diseases that he examines, hemochromatosis, Type 1 diabetes, and favism, could have been particularly useful for resistance against other illnesses and survival in a historically harsh environment.

As I walked into the glittery ballroom once again, trying my hardest to remove the white cat hair from my black sweater, I noticed that almost everyone had heels on and ignored the Panhellenic letter that suggested we wear “church attire.” I was already nervous about having to wear an overly conservative dress that didn`t match my style for the second day of sorority recruitment, so seeing that everybody else looked like runway models only added to my nausea. However, when I looked around the room I saw many girls who were didn`t fit in, like me; some who opted for slacks, some who decided to wear no makeup, some who just didn’t look like everyone else. We all had similar demeanors: uncertain smiles, furrowed brows, and faces that were pointed straight down, as if we were being reprimanded.

In the story “The First Day” a little girl is experiencing her first day of school. It starts off with her telling us what she is wearing, and every little detail about it. The mother puts a lot of time and effort in order to

“Black Skin, White Masks,” by Frantz Fanon is a book that explains the psychology of racism. Fanon studied medicine in France. He specialized in psychiatry. The novel looks at the minds of blacks under white rule, and the effects race has on French society. Throughout the book Fanon discusses his experience with racism in 1950’s France. He discusses many concepts like language barriers, race, dependency complexes, and other controversies between blacks and whites. The book talks of events that were dated in the 1950’s, but these concepts can help us to understand racism in America today.

“What doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger” (p. 28). In the scientific novel Survival of the Sickest by Sharon Moalem with Jonathan Prince, self-acclaimed “Medical Maverick” Dr. Moalem makes in-depth analyses of current human diseases that, ironically, may have actually been beneficial to the survival and evolution of mankind throughout its existence on Earth. With the use of myriad scientific studies and research, he formulates surprising theories about the potentially positive correlation between disease and humanity. Survival of the Sickest presents a novel concept that greatly contradicts what have been universally accepted beliefs surrounding biology and the process of human evolution for a long time. Though the associations may seem arbitrary at first glance, Moalem narrates the scientific world’s findings that strongly exemplify this concept. Three of the diseases that he examines, hemochromatosis, Type 1 diabetes, and favism, could have in fact proved useful for helping humans resist other illnesses and surviving a harsh environment.

As the bell rings, Lydia grabs her book bag and exits the classroom. She finds her mother standing outside her parked Cadillac, in the same old parking spot as usual. As she gets closer she sees the scowl on her mother’s face. She doesn’t know whether she is furious or is just about to bawl. Suddenly she thinks, What have I done? What is Mother so mad

Abigail Jay stood in front of the school on the rain drenched steps, rocking on her heels. She was waiting for Jimmy, her uncle to close the shop for ten minutes to come and get. Most of the other students had already left from the campus once the last bell rang, they booked it. Abigail was use to waiting for Jimmy, it wasn’t uncommon for him to be late and if anything she’d be worried if he was on time. Abigail tangled with the pull strings of her hoodie, an excited smile on her face.

A group of girls sit at a table at their after-school activity in early May in Brookline. As they talk about their days at school, one girl suddenly says, “Another girl got dress-coded today. She was crying in the bathroom afterwards. It’s so unfair! Her shorts weren’t even that bad, and she was dress-coded by a teacher she’d never talked to before-- in the middle of math!” Everyone else at the table looks around worriedly -- they know what’s coming. For the next two months, they’ll choose one of two routes: be way too warm in their dress-code-conforming jeans and unable to learn effectively, or go to school apprehensively every day in something that they’re not sure will pass the test, but knowing that at least physically they’ll be comfortable throughout the day.

In 1997, Dorothy Ko published an article in the Journal of Women’s History called “The Body as Attire: The Shifting Meanings of Footbinding in Seventeen-Century China”. The article is organized with a brief introduction as to what footbinding is, the negative outlook on this practice due to problematic archives, and then she discusses the examples she gives to support her thesis. Ko’s thesis was “Chinese elite males in the seventeenth century regarded footbinding in three ways: as an expression of Chinese wen civility, as a marker of ethnic boundaries separating Han from Manchu, and as an ornament or embellishment of the body.” Since Ko is a celebrated and established author on women in early East Asia, the article “The Body as Attire: The Shifting Meanings of Footbinding in Seventeen Century China” is an accurate and useful source if one is trying to study that area.

His cousins never failed to mention to him, the horrors of monotonous dresses and the strict discipline of a catholic high school, but he never paid any attention to them, partly because it was his parents’ decision, not his, to send him to St. Patrick’s high and he liked the idea of blending into the environment which, unfortunately, had trouble achieving in his middle school.

An identity defines a person’s life on who they are. We do not get to choose our identity; our identity chooses us. Whether one doesn’t get to choose their identity, it is important to be appreciative of ones identity. In the novel The Human Stain by Phillip Roth, identity is displayed through Coleman Silk actions. Coleman Silk a man that made decisions in his life such as making a racial comment while teaching, lying about his race, and having an affair. In all, he was trying to find a new identity in search for power. In results of his life decisions, Coleman Silk lost his original identity that would dawn on him forever.

The first year, the time to prove myself had arrived. Classes, rooms, teachers, and some students were unfamiliar. Eventually, minutes melted into hours, hours to days, and days to weeks. It didn’t take long before my schedule was routine, something of second nature. Humor and happiness were found in the form of my advisory family, where school was transformed into something more than going through the same motions of day to day activity. By the closing point of sixth grade, I was having a hard time letting go of what I’d adapted to. “What’s wrong?” my dad asked when I was getting into the car after being picked up early on the last day. I explained how distressed I was that my first year of middle school exceeded my expectations, and that it had to come to an end. Although his outlook viewed my reason for sorrow as trivial, I didn’t.