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April 18, 2006

Politics of the 60's finally has a point.

Mistakenly thinking it was part of my newly adopted minor, for over two months now, I have been taking a class called "Politics of the 60's." Little did I know that not only did I not need this class for my minor, but I in fact, would probably have been better off taking a class in interperative dance. Don't get me wrong, its a fine class, but history of any sort just isn't my cup of tea.

Fortunately though, while reading "The Color of Water," some of the historic background we learned about in the class actually began to have an impact on something in my life. Just last week we had been talking about Black Power, and the huge racial tension and issues. of the 1960's, especially 1965 and 1966. One of the reasons I believe history is so boring to me is that it doesn't pick a single character and focus on him, as a novel or movie would, but instead works in sweeping generalizations, taking in changes involving whole countries and societies. Reading about how Jame's, a single person in a specific situation had to deal with these problems really brought them into a whole new light for me, making me think about the things we had learned in class in a completely different way.

It seems to be a stroke of luck that the book and my class coincided so perfectly, but I have to say that it worked out really well. Even for a diehard cynic like me, it really is nice to get a new perspective on things sometimes, espeically when that perspective makes them this much more interesting.

Posted by PaulCrossman at April 18, 2006 02:24 PM

Comments

I seem to remember that you signed up for Spurlock's 1920s class because you thought you needed it...and then realized that you didn't. May I suggest this? http://www.setonhill.edu/catalog/

Posted by: Megan Ritter at April 18, 2006 05:04 PM

I may have missed it, but was wondering how James' older siblings explained their white mother to their Black Panther/Black Power cronies. He writes about how insulated their world was despite living in the biggest U.S. City. I guess that the older children didn't have friends over often to meet the folks! P.S. It's great to see that your blog is back in action, Paul!

Posted by: Brenda Christeleit at April 18, 2006 08:58 PM

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