Last night when we were reviewing the syllabus, I neglected to highlight Jonathan Kozol. He is speaking Tuesday, Sept. 9 at 7:30 in the Corey Union Function Room. This talk will be well worth the trip to Cortland.
Jesus Land by Julia Scheeres I'm just beginning to get into Julia Scheeres' memoir and it is so enthralling. I'm not sure whether it's the fact that I know this is her life as she lived it or if I can relate to the main characters. The time period of the memoir is less than 40 years ago and the racism and hate are still present today. It's unbelievable to think our society hasn't changed... yet it has. I'm most intrigued by the role religion plays in the memoir. It is the sole reason Julia's parents adopt two black children. It is not because they want to, but because rejecting a black baby would have been "un-Christian, a sin" (19). Religion weaves its way in and out of Jesus Land- I wonder where it will end up taking readers. Oddly enough, I just finished a novel called "Spite Fences" which takes place in the 1960s in Kinship, Georgia. The themes are simply identical: children of spiteful religious parents struggle with the concepts of freedom and racism.
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Jesus Land by Julia Scheeres
I'm just beginning to get into Julia Scheeres' memoir and it is so enthralling. I'm not sure whether it's the fact that I know this is her life as she lived it or if I can relate to the main characters. The time period of the memoir is less than 40 years ago and the racism and hate are still present today. It's unbelievable to think our society hasn't changed... yet it has.
I'm most intrigued by the role religion plays in the memoir. It is the sole reason Julia's parents adopt two black children. It is not because they want to, but because rejecting a black baby would have been "un-Christian, a sin" (19). Religion weaves its way in and out of Jesus Land- I wonder where it will end up taking readers.
Oddly enough, I just finished a novel called "Spite Fences" which takes place in the 1960s in Kinship, Georgia. The themes are simply identical: children of spiteful religious parents struggle with the concepts of freedom and racism.
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