“I am saying that the ultimate connection cannot be the enemy. The ultimate connection must be the need that we find between us. It is not only who you are, in other words, but what we can do for each other that will determine the connection.” –Report from the Bahamas, June Jordan

“I am saying that the ultimate connection cannot be the enemy.” (Jordan)

Elena Luedy

Professor Jody Cohen

Changing our Stories

9/3/15

Report from Elena

(2015)

Societal Assumptions

“I am reaching for the words to describe the difference between a common identity that has been imposed and the individual identity any one of us will choose, once she gains that chance” (Jordan 47).

            This quote from June Jordan’s Report from the Bahamas articulates the fact that not everyone fits into a common stereotype or follows an assumed identity. Each individual has their own identity, which may or may not fit into the ‘common mold’. Everyone has their own hopes or dreams for the future, has things they are good or bad at, and has things they love or hate. This is what makes each person unique. This is what makes us human.

“Please rate me: Excellent. Good. Average. Poor. Thank you” (Jordan 46). Olive’s feelings about her own evaluation are unknown, but June Jordan’s Report from the Bahamas hints at the inherent desire to be rated as it relates to individual and assumed identity. Jordan responds by flipping the class distinction, “How would ‘Olive’ rate me?” (46). This thought rejects the goals of colonization, forcing and manipulating the oppressed to aspire to the lives of their colonizers. Jordan explores this idea in the beginning of this chapter, describing the agenda driven photo of a black man happily serving guests in the Sheraton British Colonial, and the name’s imperialistic undertone couldn’t be more obvious (39).

“And if unity on the basis of sexual oppression is something natural, then why do we women, the majority people on the planet, still have a problem?”

“We are not women anymore; we are parties to a transaction designed to set us against each other”

 Until my O Levels, I had been enrolled in a school following a blend of the notorious, some what 'extremist' approach to Islam and the centuries old regressive notion of gender inequality. Being a Muslim myself, my interpretation of my religion was vastly different, so when the school's female administration blatantly discriminated against students of their own gender, I could not comprehend how these women could bring themselves to debase their own identity like this. 

“We are not particularly women anymore; we are parties to a transaction designed to set us against each other.”

       I met Debbie on the first day of my summer internship. I had applied to this internship over a year ago, had purchased a new blazer to wear to the office, and had built overwhelming excitement for what this summer could hold.

              Debbie received me at the front desk – if eye-rolling and exasperated sighs can be called receiving. When I told her I was the new intern for the office, her expression grew darker. Sarcastically, she mumbled, “Another intern, great.” I was taken aback, but pretended to not have heard the comment.

“I am reaching for the words to describe the difference between a common identity that has been imposed and the individual identity any one of us will choose, once she gains that chance” (Jordan 47). 

In June Jordan’s essay, “Report from the Bahamas” from the anthology On Call, she addresses the assumptions of identity based on appearance, reflecting on experiences during her vacation and from her home in Brooklyn. Jordan’s musings resonated with me since society does set humans up to associate with those who share the same skin color or eye shape while simultaneously congratulating those who break away from the stereotypic molds we grow into as members of the world.

During English classtime on Thursday, we will be skyping with our Creative Consultant, Sheila Pinkel, who will tell us about her work, and begin to offer some guidance towards the artistic collaboration we will be working on this semester. Sheila will help us figure out how to begin collecting quotes, information and images which we can use to generate art work focused on issues of incarceration.

“Yes: race and class and gender remain as real as the weather. But what they must mean about the contact between two individuals is less obvious and, like the weather, not predictable”