Change is among us

Rhodes is a beautiful school. No one can deny that the architectural ingenuity is spectacular. I am amazed when I walk from class to class and am reminded of the stunning world around me. Rhodes is physically beautiful but is internally ugly. My mom always told me that it is what is on the inside that matters and I have found that to be true at Rhodes. I will always be attracted to the beauty of the school but I am more concerned with how it is run internally. Rhodes is internally flawed and we need to fix it. Several times over my time here, I have questioned whether or not Rhodes is the right place for me. I am still not sure but I do know that it is too late for me to transfer. If I am going to be stuck here, then I need to make the best of it.

I am very pleased with the decision to get rid of the Physical Education requirement and to replace it with a requirement to take part in a first year seminar. The First Year Seminar is an opportunity for Rhodes to start having important conversations with students that make up the Rhodes community. Throughout my two years at Rhodes, there have been several times where I wish the community as a whole could have important conversations. Obviously, we need to talk about race relations and how minority students feel uncomfortable by white students. We need to talk about how sexual assault is a real issue. We need to talk about the disconnect between students and administration. We need to talk about the fact that students do not feel comfortable on Rhodes’ campus.

In the fall, I will be a mentor for the first year seminar. I am incredibly excited about the potential that this initiative has. There are many important conversations that one needs to have as they come to college. We need to start having important conversations about race, sexuality, gender, sexual assault and many other things. This could be the first chance that some of the first years are choosing what they believe about these things. We need to give them this chance to determine their own beliefs. The First Year Seminar provides an avenue for these conversations to happen in a safe space. If it is laid out in the correct way, it will be obvious that student life at Rhodes is beginning to change.

Grit 'n grind

Over half of the Memphis population is African American. That was not the case in my hometown of Dallas. It was exactly half of the population that was white. Memphis has the opportunity to break down racial divides in our country if our city can come together. It would be hard but it is possible to unity the city. We need to come together behind a strong symbol, something that everyone supports and can relate to. The Grizzlies are that symbol.

The Memphis Grizzlies have the potential to unite the city. There is no other symbol that the entire city, no matter what race, enjoys. In Dallas, there were too many symbols to choose between. You could try to be a Cowboys fan or a Stars fan or a Rangers fan or a Mavericks fan. There is not one symbol that the entire city can get behind. It never felt like the city was united besides the fact that we all share Texas pride. However, the Grizzlies have a completely different feel when it comes to teams. The Grizzlies have worked so hard to get where they are. They battled the Spurs in the playoffs this year and put up a strong fight.

It is very interesting that basketball will be the sport to unite the city. There is such a strong racial stigma surrounding basketball. The white man can't jump but the black man can most definitely jump. The white guys will more than likely be the ones on the bench. Tall black guys have to play basketball. The kings of basketball, LeBron, Kobe, and Michal Jordan, are all black. A white guy has never made it to the top of the NBA ladder. All of those things are hasty generalizations that do not reflect facts. They are racists comments that cloud the NBA.

The Memphis Grizzlies’ slogan is “believe”. To me, it signifies the fact that things will get better if we believe that they will. If the city of Memphis rallies around the Grizzlies, then we can form and strengthen relationships with other people in the city. The city could be so strong if we rally. Memphis has a large population and we could take advantage of the large population by forming relationships with people in the community. Our community could be so strong and introduce some much needed Change to Memphis.

The Race Education We All Need

After taking “African-American History” and “Hip-Hop and the Post-Soul South” this semester and “Race and Ethnicity in American Society” last semester, I’ve begun to think a lot about what’s taught in our schools, why, and how. I think a lot about the kind of person I was before I took any of these classes and how much I would never want to be that person again. I was no naïve and not well-versed on the problems of race in our society. Whenever someone brought up the problems of race, I didn’t want anything to do with it because I didn’t know what to say. After taking these classes though, I welcome conversations about race because I think they’re necessary for people in American society and especially those at Rhodes.

It’s shocking to me that students aren’t required to take a class where race in American society is the main focus. In attending a majority white school such as Rhodes, I can guess many of its students attended majority white schools in the past and as a result have had very little exposure to other racial experiences. Rhodes needs to help and create that experience for students.

If I had graduated from this liberal arts college with the same experience and knowledge of race before taking these classes then I would be confident in saying that Rhodes had failed me. Experiences and learning environments like that are crucial in the development of young minds who will leave this school to try and make the world a better place. As cliché as it sounds, I mean every bit of that because as privileged, liberal arts students, we have a duty to know what’s happening in the world around us as we are taught by some of the most talented and knowledgeable professors across the country. To leave a place like this without the knowledge to have discussions or correct someone on race would be a shame. The sad truth is, I guarantee there are students who have left Rhodes without that experience. Rhodes must do better and it must require its students to do better. On that note, American education needs to change to encompass more of this from a younger age. I only began to understand the oppressive racial and gendered systems in our society to a full extent just this year, but if I had had even an ounce of that education beforehand, I guarantee the racism deeply imbedded inside me and most white people wouldn’t be quite so large. I feel that everyday I’m fighting the racial stereotypes that the south has instilled in me and I pride myself on being a progressive student and advocate who knows about these things. White people teach their children to be guarded from everyone who does not look like them and I am a product of that. Our education has a duty to change that because parents will not change their views, but perhaps what students learn in schools will help to change what that parent is teaching them and maybe, just maybe, begin to change the perspective of the parent. Racial tensions are running high in our country right now and if we don’t begin to do something for our future generations, then these tensions will burst into something disastrous that will be hard to repair.

The Evolution of Beyonce

With the recent release of her album “Lemonade,” Beyonce shows a side of herself she has chosen not to show before. She gets very personal which is something she constantly attempted to hide from the public, but with her self-titled album “Beyonce” and “Lemonade,” she has broken those barriers. She chooses to represent someone open and vulnerable for the sake of women at large but particularly black women. She wants to emphasize the importance of the vulnerability of women in our society. She especially wants to give humanity to black women because showing how relevant and important that is has become a mission for Beyonce.

Before these two albums, much of Beyonce’s work consisted of love songs and empowering black women to be sexual in a way that they always had been to American society. Not to say that Beyonce didn’t do it differently, because she did, but she didn’t always make women as vulnerable as she does in “Beyonce” and “Lemonade.”

In her album “Beyonce” she confronts what it means to be a married woman who is “Drunk in Love” while her album “Lemonade” serves as the hangover of that drunkenness. In her album “Beyonce” she shows a woman deeply and passionately in love and faithful to her man in a way she had never been before. She is sexual and loving to show how devoted she is to her marriage. In songs like “Partition” and “Rocket” she shows the world the absolute sexuality that must exist in order for a marriage to last. In songs like “XO” and “Drunk in Love,” she shows the love that it takes for that marriage to last even if the sex does too. She begins, however, to show herself in the light of her new album “Lemonade” in songs like “Jealous,” “Pretty Hurts,” and “Blue” where she becomes a vulnerable Beyonce like we’ve never seen her. In these songs she shows herself, the super power perfection we all believe her to be, as jealous, torn up, and self-conscious. The woman that so many of us women aspire to look like and be has problems of her own beyond that of a boy who doesn’t like her, which artists like Taylor Swift like to portray about themselves.

In her newest album “Lemonade,” she builds off of these three songs to create a feminist, womanist album that transcends any of her work thus far. She shows the woman all woman have been or may be at some point. She’s insecure, jealous, and lost in a relationship that used to give her direction.

The evolution of Beyonce has been quick throughout her career and she is still so young. I can only imagine where she will be in her next album with an evolution like this and how she will continue to be an idol for women both white and black for years to come. She brings her blackness to the forefront of her music followed by her womanhood and southernness to add something unique and very powerful to the music scene.