Adam’s English Blog

For my reading this week, I chose to stray away from the text from my history course (because I couldn’t spend another post talking about how much I hate Amusing the Million).  Therefore, this week, I’m going to write about an article I found in the new issue of GQ (with the voluptuous Megan Fox on the cover).  The article that I am talking about is titled ‘How to be a (Well-Dressed) (Well-Mannered) (Well-Spoken) 21st Century Gentleman.’

The article recognizes from the get go that the idea of a ‘gentleman’ has deeply faded from the forefront of American’s minds.  We Americans have become so wrapped up in the hustle and bustle of everyday life that we have forgotten exactly what it’s like to be courteous to the opposite sex while still being able to kickback and drink a beer with the guys on the weekends.

The article includes 66 rules/tips/ideas for “living–and looking–like a civilized man.”  These tips include the importance of cuff links, the proper way to tie a tie, getting rid of those novelty boxers, how to rock the pocket square, the proper way to wear your hat, when and how long to open a door for a woman, and developing your signature scent (mine is John Varvatos: Eau de toilette).  These seven tips are just a few of what this article offers every man who reads it.   While this isn’t the most prevalent issue of the modern age, we males could gain a lot from reading this article.  The world needs a little more chivalry.

    This week, I began reading “Amusing the Million: Coney Island at the Turn of the Century” by John F. Kasson.  Once again, this is a text from my History class, and let me tell you it is in no way, shape or form, a good read like Booker T. Washington’s, “Up From Slavery.”

Kasson spends the first chapter describing how Coney Island was a break a way from the traditional Victorian values from the 19th century.  Then, he goes into how New York’s Central Park and Chicago’s Columbian Exposition (or ‘White City’) were escapes from the city life that so many people had grown accustomed to.  These were places where people can go and unwind from the pressures of everyday life.  However, people still kept up their Victorian street attire when they came here to unwind.  Next, Kasson begins to describe how Coney Island’s introduction drew people out of their comfort zones and gave them the ability to let ‘loose.’

This book is one of the slowest and most boring books that I have ever read.  Kasson needs to liven up his writing in order to keep his readers attention.  I mean I only kept reading because I had to and for the pictures (the book has pictures of women sticking their ‘buttocks’ out, WOW!!!).  I’m only half way done with the text, so maybe in the next half Kasson will describe the hot dog eating contest.  That would keep my attention more than anything thus far.

    This week, I finished reading Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington.  Instead of expanding on what I have previously wrote, and more analysis of the actual work compared to today’s society, I thought that I would take Brock’s advice and explain why Up from Slavery kept my attention.  Like I previously stated, I have never been much of a fan of memoirs or non-fiction for that matter.  Up from Slavery was different, though.  First off, Washington’s style of writing is very easy to read.  He uses plain language (especially for the late 1800’s/early 1900’s).  It’s hard to describe how he actually keeps my attention, but for some reason he does.  I’m sure that many people would find this read boring, but for people who are interested in history he really does a great job.

I guess the easiest way for me to describe why he does such a great job is because he relates his struggles to every day life.  He talks about the struggles of being a black man in the White South, and the problems he has with starting the Tuskegee Institute.  It’s a very interesting story, and its simplicity really holds my institution.  That’s all i can really expand upon it.  In order to understand where I am coming from, you really have to read Up from Slavery yourself.

Right now, I am reading Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington for my History 1200 course. When I first heard of this assignment I absolutely dreaded it. I am usually not someone to sit down and read a memoir. However, since I have to take a quiz over this book, I decided that maybe it would be a good idea to read it.

When I sat down with the book actually in my hand, I was blown away. Washington goes deep into his childhood memories as a slave, and then on to the rest of his life. One story, in particular, caught my eye. Washington is describing how there are few times in his life when a member of his race betrays someone else’s trust. The example he gave really got me to think about whether or not I would do the same thing, or anyone else for that manner. Here is the story:

Washington is describing a former slave in Virginia, who had since moved to Ohio. A few years prior to Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, the slave had made a pact with his master. The pact stated that the slave was allowed to buy himself by paying a set amount each year. Also, the slave was allowed to work anywhere in the U.S., so the slave headed to Ohio where he had heard that he could make more money. By the time that he was free, the slave still owed his former master about $300. The ex-slave, who was buy law free from any former debt to his master, still trudged to Virginia each year to pay his debt. The man understood that he didn’t have to pay his former master, but he had never, and would never, break his word. The man stated that he “could not enjoy his freedom” until his promised had been kept, with interest.

I really don’t think that I, or anyone, would have done the same thing in today’s society. I believe most of us would have just kept living our lives without ever giving the ‘rich white man who used to beat us’ a second thought. It’s really a sad thing to think about, the fact that our society has come to such a fast-paced, cut throat time when we can’t even bring ourselves to fulfill our promises.