The House I Live In

The House I Live In, directed by Eugene Jarecki, was a very eye opening documentary. It opened my eyes to America's war on drugs, and what appears to be a war on racial backgrounds as well. As Jarecki points out, drug crimes seem to follow a trend of criminalizing certain races based on the drugs that have a popularity within their cultures. For example, opium was a drug that was used primarily by middle aged housewives and successful whites in the 1800's. It wasn't until Chinese immigrants, who were hard working and willing to work for very little pay started using the drug in California that the drug became illegal. It would stand to reason that white people were feeling threatened economically by these immigrants, and therefore they needed to find a reason to put them in prison to protect themselves.

My view, at least in generations moving forward, is that we need to be focusing on educating people about the harmful effects of drugs. Not just the effects of using, but also the dangers of selling drugs. I think Jarecki made some very interesting points, but to further his ideas, I would have liked him to elaborate more on education and prevention rather than just blame the racial issue.

Invention of Wings

I can’t really say I particularly identify with any of the characters in the novel “The Invention of Wings” by Sue Monk Kidd. This book contains a large spectrum of characters from the cold hearted Mrs. Grimke to the kind hearted and brave Sarah Grimke. If I had to choose a character I wish I could identify with, it would have to be Sarah Grimke. As a young girl, she knew in her heart that the way things were in her society were not right. At the age of eleven, for her birthday, she was bestowed a gift of her very own slave girl, Hetty (Handful). Sarah immediately knew that it was wrong and she opposed owning another human being, so in a valiant attempt to free Hetty, she wrote a note to her father proclaiming she has set Hetty free from slavery. Of course the note only backfired on her and she found it torn in half in front of the door to her bedroom when she woke up the next morning. To have such strong morals at such a young age, despite societal norms, is a very honorable quality. Sarah exhibits a great amount of courage throughout the entire novel, and her early attempt to free Handful was only the beginning of the courageous woman she would grow to be. One day I hope I will have as much courage and determination as Sarah.