Joe

I’d say that this semester was pretty fresh overall. I liked the books we read, especially Macbeth. I really enjoyed acting it out. I thought the midterm was kind of fun. It was the first time I can remember actually enjoying doing creative writing.

Once again, another example of racism close to home was found at http://www.connpost.com/fastsearchresults/ci_4939493.

Mel Thompson, a black, active-retired member of the Derby fire department claims that he responded to a local fire on Monday morning and was “ostracized and ignored” by some firefighters on account of his race. He said that he asked other firefighters how he could help and was continuously ignored and that fire comissioner Kelly Curtis even took a picture of him, which Thompson says was “clearly an attempt at intimidation.”

Thompson became the first black member of the department when he joined 25 years ago. He admitted that it had been ”years” since he responded to a fire. Derby firefighters are given “active-retired” status when they don’t respond to a certain amount of fires per year. This is where the plot thickens. Curtis said “I haven’t seen him at a fire since I was chief in 1996 and wasn’t sure of his status.” He claims he took the picture because he wasn’t sure if Thompson was still an active fire department member and wanted to clarify his status with the department. He says Thompson’s race was never an issue.

So this is a very interesting issue. If Thompson was right and Curtis was in fact discriminating him on account of his race, then Curtis should definiately be punished. Not letting a legitimate member of the department participate in extingishing a fire, especially on account of race, is terrible. However, if Curtis actually took those actions against Thompson because he questioned his status in the department, I completely understand, especially if Thompson had not responded to a fire for many years. You don’t want strangers lurking around the scene of a fire.

Only Thompson and Curtis know who’s right and who’s wrong. I would hope they work it out.

I heard the interview with Sacha Baron Cohen when it was on the radio, and even though I have not seen Borat, I found the interview very interesting. What I didn’t know about the movie is that it was filmed “on the street” with real people, not actors. There was an excerpt from the scene where he sings “throw the Jew down the well” in a bar and everyone there joins in singing. The people at the bar weren’t actors, they just happened to be in the right place at the right time. I was surprised that people would sing along to a song like that. Cohen said that while he was doing that scene, he was surprised that people started singing along.