You notice how no one wants to engage on this subject. They're afraid. People would rather take a beating that say what is, for fear of being called a racist.
I didn't comment because I always hesitate when I don't particularly like a piece. This one seemed to go nowhere. Besides your fear, the suspense of whether he will attack you, the interesting action sequence, I wanted more. Maybe to connect the book event to the after the book event event, to bridge the obvious racial overtones, which would bring some irony into it, if that was your intention, since this author is known for blaming whitey for the ills and anti-social behavior of the black community. But you didn't do that. Without this connection, this kid could be any angry jealous fool, fucking with a book-reading (presumed) privileged person, so the message falls flat. I kept thinking though, this would make good fiction, where you could play with the dialogue. Maybe there's a tussle, the kid ends up with the book in his hand, he wants to know about it, and whatever exchange (or missed exchange) occurs. So many possible outcomes. The kid hates the book (but so do you?) The kid can't read, makes you read him a few lines to him, a discussion ensues. The kid takes the book and runs away. Or whatever. As is, though, you challenge the reader, but not in a thoughtful way. They can excuse the harassment, which risks sounding stupid, or (like this commenter says) they can take the 'no comment' route, which risks the racist label. IMO by presenting these two limited options, it appears you are going for provocation, rather than substance. My comment on this one is: Do better!
Wow. Interesting reply. Thanks for the honest feedback. I genuinely do appreciate that. I need to think about what you said here! I think I was partially going for irony, the irony of the white guy doing his due diligence and going to see the Black author who he genuinely respects as a writer and thinker...but then being, as Conservatives say, "mugged by reality" (almost). And yes, this is a little memoir snippet, recalled to the best of my (imperfect) memory circa 2019, not fiction.
So it went nowhere. Maybe it went nowhere because it went nowhere. It read to me like an 'experience,' not a story. My point was that this experience, if the writer wants to have it published, can only be turned into one kind of story. In my opinion.
Your comment reminds me of 'advice' I've gotten over the years from woke editors and writers who believe that minority characters can only be written as victims and white characters as victimizers.
I'm at a point in my life where I don't give a damn what people think. There's too much at stake in this cultural war to be bothered by somebody's opinion on something.
You are speaking to a vehemently anti-woke person. Maybe even more anti-woke than Michael, maybe even more than you. Be careful. Your reaction is exactly as the woke would react-- assuming that anyone who has a differing or nuanced opinion must be a worthless idiot from the other side. These are complex issues, there's much to explore and discuss here. Why take such a narrow, defensive position?
Okay, I don't know where in your reply I got off on the wrong track. Apologies for that. I thought your comments (to him) were to me. That's where I screwed up.
Let me ask you, are we in agreement that Michael's post was inconclusive. It was more of an experience. It wasn't a story. I think we agree with that.
And I'm saying that if he wants to turn that into a story with a resolution, there is only one template that will get through the liberal editor phalanx.
For me the constant complaining (whining?) about the liberal editors is getting old, Yeah it's a drag, but the bitching about it (as an art form?) is not that interesting. And It only serves to feed a silo. When rejection comes, it's too easy to blame "them." We are in difficult times right now, with the obnoxious lefties pulling the strings, but the pendulum always swings, and is currently swinging (if you haven't noticed). IMO, there are always great, universal stories to tell, ones that transcend the confines of political debate. the cream always rises to the top.
Interesting and somewhat bold for writing and posting it. Maybe you should have told 'the kid' that you were reading Ta-Nehisi Coates' tome on Reparations. I know, it likely would not have changed anything. But writing a 'story' like that, about how you and 'the kid' bonded, would likely sell, maybe to The Metropolitan Review. Anyway, I think just continuing to walk and not engage was the best strategy. It's what I would have done.
So, Coates wrote a warning book (to his son) about 'being Black in America.' Maybe someone should write a warning book about 'being a lone white boy walking down a long, long street in Harlem at night.' But we both know no one would ever publish it.
Your post did remind me of myself as a young man going to an Issac Hayes concert at the Spectrum in Philly with a couple of friends. It was a mostly black crowd, and everything was fine. But when we left and started walking home, we got jumped by a bunch of black dudes, about a dozen of them. We were taking a beating and had to run out into traffic to get away. Nobody helped us, of course. I think you were lucky.
By the way, the America I grew up in was not as diverse as it is now, but it was just fine, better, some would say, than what we have now.
I'm curious. What is your plan in case something like that happens again?
Personally, it seems like a lose-lose situation.
Things like that are why I now live in the desert. I'll give up the golden diversity of NYC and Shakespearian-like literary gems in exchange for not getting beaten half to death for being a 'white motherfucker.'
Thanks again for sharing your experience. It's a good cautionary tale.
You notice how no one wants to engage on this subject. They're afraid. People would rather take a beating that say what is, for fear of being called a racist.
Yeah. Disappointing.
I didn't comment because I always hesitate when I don't particularly like a piece. This one seemed to go nowhere. Besides your fear, the suspense of whether he will attack you, the interesting action sequence, I wanted more. Maybe to connect the book event to the after the book event event, to bridge the obvious racial overtones, which would bring some irony into it, if that was your intention, since this author is known for blaming whitey for the ills and anti-social behavior of the black community. But you didn't do that. Without this connection, this kid could be any angry jealous fool, fucking with a book-reading (presumed) privileged person, so the message falls flat. I kept thinking though, this would make good fiction, where you could play with the dialogue. Maybe there's a tussle, the kid ends up with the book in his hand, he wants to know about it, and whatever exchange (or missed exchange) occurs. So many possible outcomes. The kid hates the book (but so do you?) The kid can't read, makes you read him a few lines to him, a discussion ensues. The kid takes the book and runs away. Or whatever. As is, though, you challenge the reader, but not in a thoughtful way. They can excuse the harassment, which risks sounding stupid, or (like this commenter says) they can take the 'no comment' route, which risks the racist label. IMO by presenting these two limited options, it appears you are going for provocation, rather than substance. My comment on this one is: Do better!
Wow. Interesting reply. Thanks for the honest feedback. I genuinely do appreciate that. I need to think about what you said here! I think I was partially going for irony, the irony of the white guy doing his due diligence and going to see the Black author who he genuinely respects as a writer and thinker...but then being, as Conservatives say, "mugged by reality" (almost). And yes, this is a little memoir snippet, recalled to the best of my (imperfect) memory circa 2019, not fiction.
Thank you for your encouragement.
So it went nowhere. Maybe it went nowhere because it went nowhere. It read to me like an 'experience,' not a story. My point was that this experience, if the writer wants to have it published, can only be turned into one kind of story. In my opinion.
Your comment reminds me of 'advice' I've gotten over the years from woke editors and writers who believe that minority characters can only be written as victims and white characters as victimizers.
I'm at a point in my life where I don't give a damn what people think. There's too much at stake in this cultural war to be bothered by somebody's opinion on something.
You are speaking to a vehemently anti-woke person. Maybe even more anti-woke than Michael, maybe even more than you. Be careful. Your reaction is exactly as the woke would react-- assuming that anyone who has a differing or nuanced opinion must be a worthless idiot from the other side. These are complex issues, there's much to explore and discuss here. Why take such a narrow, defensive position?
Okay. I was confused. I thought your comments (to Michael) were to me. Sorry to go off on the wrong track.
No problem:)
Okay, I don't know where in your reply I got off on the wrong track. Apologies for that. I thought your comments (to him) were to me. That's where I screwed up.
Let me ask you, are we in agreement that Michael's post was inconclusive. It was more of an experience. It wasn't a story. I think we agree with that.
And I'm saying that if he wants to turn that into a story with a resolution, there is only one template that will get through the liberal editor phalanx.
Can we agree on that?
Again, sorry for the confusion on my part.
For me the constant complaining (whining?) about the liberal editors is getting old, Yeah it's a drag, but the bitching about it (as an art form?) is not that interesting. And It only serves to feed a silo. When rejection comes, it's too easy to blame "them." We are in difficult times right now, with the obnoxious lefties pulling the strings, but the pendulum always swings, and is currently swinging (if you haven't noticed). IMO, there are always great, universal stories to tell, ones that transcend the confines of political debate. the cream always rises to the top.
It's a terrible feeling not to trust our fellow human beings. Life has become so muddled, we don't even know if we should trust our intuition.
Interesting and somewhat bold for writing and posting it. Maybe you should have told 'the kid' that you were reading Ta-Nehisi Coates' tome on Reparations. I know, it likely would not have changed anything. But writing a 'story' like that, about how you and 'the kid' bonded, would likely sell, maybe to The Metropolitan Review. Anyway, I think just continuing to walk and not engage was the best strategy. It's what I would have done.
So, Coates wrote a warning book (to his son) about 'being Black in America.' Maybe someone should write a warning book about 'being a lone white boy walking down a long, long street in Harlem at night.' But we both know no one would ever publish it.
Your post did remind me of myself as a young man going to an Issac Hayes concert at the Spectrum in Philly with a couple of friends. It was a mostly black crowd, and everything was fine. But when we left and started walking home, we got jumped by a bunch of black dudes, about a dozen of them. We were taking a beating and had to run out into traffic to get away. Nobody helped us, of course. I think you were lucky.
By the way, the America I grew up in was not as diverse as it is now, but it was just fine, better, some would say, than what we have now.
I'm curious. What is your plan in case something like that happens again?
Personally, it seems like a lose-lose situation.
Things like that are why I now live in the desert. I'll give up the golden diversity of NYC and Shakespearian-like literary gems in exchange for not getting beaten half to death for being a 'white motherfucker.'
Thanks again for sharing your experience. It's a good cautionary tale.