"Watch the Spirit Move" By: Shay Youngblood

In the short story titled "Watch the Spirit Move" by Shay Youngblood, it is about the narrator's Aunt Vi and her husbands superstitious beliefs in roots and spiritual works used for healing, protecting, and both fortune and misfortune. The story takes place in Aunt Vi's bedroom where she shares a story with the narrator about some of the root works her husband, Franklin, had performed. She shares about the dilemma her husband faces where his suit goes missing in his own house. When Franklin hears that his uncle was near death, he goes to look for the suit where he last placed it. It was nowhere to be found and Franklin's Cousin Loreen and her husband Brewster who were living with them at the time also said they hadn;t seen it. He goes to seee a woman named Reverend Sister Cora who was believed to have the power to help people who have been crossed, wanted luck, get rid of strange sicknesses and find things that they've lost. She tells him he'd find everything he lost in his home in 7 days only if he followed the ritual she told him to do. On the seventh day he finds his suit, shirt, tie, and pearl cufflinks in the window of a pawn shop where he learns that it was in fact his brother in law, Brewsterwho traded them in. Franklin in need of revenge goes back to Sister Cora where he is told to boil turtle eggs until they turn blackand burn something that belonged to Brewster, along with lit candles and incense. Here we find that the main conflict is between two people, Franklin and Brewster Mack.

In the story, we learn that in times when Big Mama was busy working and Aunt Mae had a party going on the narrator would be sent to her Aunt Vi's house. The narrator would sometimes follow her Aunt Vi to a cemetery or down at a river to get ingredients like graveyard dirt, black berries, and special plants which she used for her root works. We also learn that Aunt Vi's house was filled with many objects and furniture the narrator was fascinated by and her bedroom which had an altar surrounded by candles, hervs, river rocks, and sea shells, was one of her favorite places in the house. The protagonist in the story is Aunt Vi's husband, Franklin. He is a man that didn't go to church, but was very supersitious. So superstitious that he would not even step on a crack in the sidewalk and would always get dressed on his left side first. We find that he is a man whoe likes to get even with others because when he discovers that it was Brewster who sold his suit to the pawn shop, he casts a bad spell on him for revenge. The antagonisti n the story is Brewster who is said to be a quiet and hardworking man who mostly keeps to himself. He is sneaky because when he sells Franklin's suit, he remains quiet about what he had done. Brewster thhought he'd be able to get awaay with it when actually karma was about to come back and get him for his wrong doings. In result to the spell, he looses his job, his wife Lorren runs off with another soldier leaving him with the kids, gets beat up by the Klan, and becomes jobless. Larter in the story, Franklin eventually reverses the spell and Brewster gets his life back on track.

Aunt Vi was a Christian woman who strongly believed that roots and rituals worked for healing and protecting. She was a woman who lived her life doing different rituals. For instance, at the left side of the fence gate opening of her home laid a pile of white rocks and under it buried a cow's tongue sewn together with hot red cayenne pepper with tacks folded inside. This she believed was to keep her name out of people's gossips. Another ritual she did was use holy water to mop and clean her house with every Sturday mornings to protect her house from all evil.

One growing up theme the narrator is faced with in the story is religion. BEcause the narrator was raised by Big Mama, a powerful Christian woman who had a strong faith in God, the narrator becomes curious and questions Aunt Vi's reasons for her roots works for protection when God is in fact there to hear one's prayer. Aunt Vi replies back that although God is there, the root works was a back up for God.

The narrator learns that a person's values and ethics whether it be honesty or integrity, develops ap erson's character and is reflected out through his or her life. In this story, karma occurst with Brewster, who sells Franklin's suit without consent and lies to him abotu not seeing it. Franklin in revenge casts a spell on Brewster and everything in his life goes completely bad. This teaches the narrator that the happiness and condition of a person's life is the result of the person;s moral quality and actions. For instance, if a person is always honest and trustworthy, then good karma will come out of it. But if a person is deceitful, it will bring nothing but bad karma back for what you deserve. Bringing evil or doing any kind of sinful actions upon others will get you nowhere but more evil so it's important to treat others the way you want to be treated because you never know what anyone is capable of doing to you.

"Dance"- Big Mama Stories

A growing up theme I found in the story, "Dance" is #15, experiencing life changing turning points. In the story, the narrator mentions how she didn't care much or even thought my about her blood mother Fannie Mae. None of her family were able to tell the narrator the truth about what happened to her mother because it was too much pain to talk about. As the narrator grows up, she begins to be more curious about her real mother and questions everyone trying to find out the truth about what had happened to her mother. When the whole story about her mother is revealed to the narrator from one of Big Mama's friends, the narrator cries and feels the pain that everyone feels. She starts off not really caring or thinking much about her real mother, but when she finally understands what had happened to her her, the she begins to care and look towards her mother in an entirely different way showing a life changing turning point for the narrator.

"Independent Woman"- Big Mama stories

From the story, "Independent woman," the value I learned about life is to never live your life depending on any guy no matter how cute he is, no matter the number of promises he makes, and no matter the materialistic things he gives. Men can compliment you making you feel like your the most luckiest woman on earth and they can shower you with gifts, but two questions I'd ask myself if a man treated me that way is how true is his intentions and how long will his good last. Men may say the right words and do the right things in the begining but it may be a trap. That is why I see it's important to be an independent woman because in the end a woman should be able to stand on her own and take care of herself without relying on a man.

"Devil’s Dulcimer"- By Janice N. Harrington

The “Devil’s Dulcimer” by Janice Harrington is about a girl named Nell who lived in a settlement area with mostly poor folks. The Master Fiddlers were known to entertain folks with music and they got paid just enough to get by and lived better than most of the other people in the settlement. Nell lived as poor as everyone else so she wanted to win as Master Fiddler because it meant she would no longer starve and be poor again. She receives advice from a wise old woman who tells her where to seek a man who could help give her a fine dulcimer. The road and cabin where she goes as well as the man she sees creeps her out, but yet she forces herself to keep going because of her eagerness to get that fine dulcimer. She makes a weird deal with the man who is actually the “devil” that she’d bring the head of the one she loved best in exchange for the dulcimer first. She does this knowing she wouldn’t keep her word having no idea there’d be any consequences that would follow. Although she enters and wins the contest, the devil’s voice haunts her asking of the head. In result to her not keeping her word to the devil, the next day she’s found dead, fingers worn off and headless.

The two values that I found to be important in this story is karma and greed. All Nell wanted was to become the Master Fiddle so that she could make enough money to make a living. She was desperate to do or say anything just to get her hands on the new dulcimer, so she deceits the man who is actually a devil that gives her the fine dulcimer. She makes a promise she knew from the start she wouldn’t keep. In result to her dishonesty to the devil, she is killed and is the one that suffers in the end. Greed is also a value that appeared in the story. By getting her dulcimer and lying to the devil, she thought she’d get away with it and live happily ever after with money. She thought that she was smarter than the devil to get away with what she wanted without giving anything in return and the outcome of that was her life.

The lesson I learned from this story is that when some of us go through a time in our life where we are desperate to get a certain thing, we become vulnerable to do or say almost anything. It may drive us to be greedy go great distances not realizing the consequences that can hurt us in the end

"Cindy Ellie, A Modern Fairy Tale" - By: Mary Carter Smith

The short story "Cindy Ellie, A modern Fairy Tale" by Mary Smith is a story very similar to famous Cinderella Story, but is instead based on the African culture. It's about a little girl named Ellie who loses her mother due to being sick, and when when her mother dies, many women go after Ellie's father because of his wealth. A lady with a pretty face, big legs, and big hips traps Ellie's father with her good cooking food and soon eventually got him him to marry her. This lady decides to bring her two ugly daughters into the house and kicks Ellie out of her own pretty room so her two stepsisters could sleep in their. Ellie was left to sleep on a pallet in the cellar. There was an inauguration ball held after the mayor was elected and everyone except Ellie was allowed to go. Her godma saw how sad she was because she knew Ellie really wanted to go so she uses some kind of magic to turn an onion into a Cadillac & Mercedes Benz, rats into chaufeurs, and Ellie's raggedy clothing into gown. One night, when she loses track of time, she leaves the ball in such a hurry remember that once it strikes twelve, the magic gets reversed to how it was. On her way out she accidently leaves her sandal. The mayor's son continuely searches for the owner and declares the person that fits the shoe is the one he'll marry. He eventually finds the owner, Ellie, who fits the shoe perfectly and they marry and live happily ever after.
I liked this short story because it reminded so much of the movie, "The Cinderella Story." The short story was almost exactly how the movie was played except the part that in the story, Cinderella wasn't white but African American.

New vocabulary words I found and needed to look up was...
taffeta found on pay 400 -On her head was a geelee of the rarest of taffeta standing tall and stiff and just gorgeous!"
Taffeta means a crisp smooth woven fabric made from silk or synthetic fibers especially used for women's garments.

primping found on page 397 -Oh, them stepsisters was primping and buying designer gowns to go to the ball."
Primping means to dress or groom oneself with elaborate care

Just like in the movie, I dislike the evil "stepsisters" who mistreat and disrespect Ellie in her own home. It's also upsetting and sad that Ellie's father sees the mistreatment that Ellie receives but yet does not stand up or speak up for his own daughter to his new wife. The moral of the Cindy Ellie story is that good things will always come to good people.

Flying West By:Pearl Cleage-Separatism & Invisibility

Hazel Agpaoa
Andrea Flint

Within the playwright, Flyin West by Pearl Cleage, several motifs in relation to black literature are introduced. One of the recurring motifs is separatism which is defined as people of a different group living apart from the dominant or larger group in society. In result to that, the inferior group may often seek for a separate homeland. Just like in Flyin’ West, the characters Sophie, Miss Leah, Minnie, and Will are all associated with racial/black separatism because when times got tough in the South due to racial issues, it left them and other African American woman a chance to settle in an untested region in the West, Nicodemus, in hopes for a better life and an opportunity for freedom. In act 1, scene 1, Miss Leah says, “Don’t nobody but colored folks know they been gone that long no way. Them white folks never come out here to even check and see if we’re dead or alive. You know that as the next person.” This passage shows that although both African Americans and Whites lived in the same state of Kansas, they lived in separate regions and did not really interact much with each other. In act 1, scene 5, Sophie says to Minnie, “When we got ready to leave Memphis, I knew it was the right thing to do. Memphis was full of crazy white men acting like when it came to colored people, they didn’t have to be bound by the law or common decency. Dragging people off in the middle of the night. Doing whatever they felt like doing. Colored women not safe in their own houses. Then I heard there were Negroes going West.” This excerpt clarifies the exact reasons why African Americans had traveled from the South to the West, which was just simply getting away from the racism and violence that were happening to the blacks. They were mistreated, abused, killed, and raped in the South, and when the West was opened up to them and mentioned to be a place full of only colored people in colored towns, it sounded like a better place to settle in, anywhere but Memphis.Another motif in relation to black literature is invisibility; to not be seen or recognized as a human being. The main character that relates to the motif is Miss Leah, a former slave and a settler of Nicodemus, Kansas. Miss Leah’s earlier life as a slave gives way to the motif invisibility. Being that she was a slave shows how she was once not recognized as a human being. Instead she was treated like property or an animal by her slave owner. Like any other slave, her only purpose in life was to follow the orders of her owner and tend to her task. Thus, she was invisible to the human race. Throughout the play, Miss Leah illustrates her life as a slave, in which some relate to the idea of invisibility. In Act1, Scene 4, Miss Leah tells the story of when she lost her virginity. She states,” Soon as my womanhood came on me, they took me out in the barn and put James on me….I screamin’ and carryin on somethin’ awful, and that overseer just watchin’ and laughin’ to make sure James really doin’ it.”(page 47). What was to be an intimate moment turned into a calamity of rape and entertainment. The motif invisibility sets around the idea of an individual not being recognized as a human being. Miss Leah’s character and the background of her life ideally relates to the motif invisibility

Flyin West By: Pearl Cleage Act 1 Scene 3

Definitions of the word ritual and explanations of the purpose rituals serve in general in a culture. Two specific examples of rituals from any cultures and identify by name the 2 rituals and explain their purpose

In the play, Flying West by Pearl Cleage, in Act 1 Scene lll, there is an important ritual performed together by the sisters Fannie, Minnie, and Sophie to honor and remember their arrival in Nicodemus in search for a better life away from racism. There ritual involves them standing in a circle outside their home, holding hands, as they recite to each other that they are free Negro women, who left their homes where their lives were not their own, and moved from Memphis to the West to be free women bonded with trust, strength, courage, and love. A ritual can be defined in a variety of ways depending on the situation. In the play, Flyin West, the ritual is represented as a spiritual ceremony. In every culture, there are different rituals performed that serve for a certain purpose in that culture.
According to a dictionary online, I found two definitions of the word ritual. The first one defined ritual as a set of actions done regularly which has symbolic value or meaning and is well known in religious practices. The other meaning I found defined ritual as a performance of ceremonial acts prescribed by a tradition. Each culture in the world has many different rituals each one serving as a specific purpose in their culture. Some ways people in their culture do rituals are such acts like dancing, chanting, story telling, singing, gift exchanging, praying, basically any kind of act done by a group of people all together. Rituals play a very important role because it continues the existence of a culture for many years passing it down from one generation to the other. Rituals teach younger generations about their culture’s past and history and give them a greater sense of who they are and where they came from.
Although weddings in every culture have the same purpose of combining the love and life of two human beings, each culture has they’re very own tradition and ritual of celebrating them. In the African culture, it is diverse and has various ethnic groups and because of that, specific wedding rituals vary from region to region in Africa. In West Africa, Nigeria, for instance, they have an engagement ceremony held before the wedding day which is a time of festivity and fun. After the engagement ceremony, the bride goes to the father’s house to make preparations and the groom’s family visits her and pays the bride of traditional clothes, shoes, bags, and jewelry. On the night of the wedding there is a grand party held where they have traditional music and peopling dance and singing throughout the entire night. Some may do henna designs on the hands and feet of the bride and elders of the family help bathe her before the wedding day. The wedding celebration may last for days.
In a Japanese culture wedding, spring and fall are the favorite seasons to do a wedding because it represents good luck. The ceremony itself is held in Shinto Shrines. Members of families, close relatives, and friends attend the wedding. The bride is painted pure white from head to toe to visibly declare her maiden status to the gods and wears a traditional wedding kimono called shiromuku and a headpiece covered with ornaments to invite good luck to the couple. The Japanese grooms wear black kimonos. As the two exchange vows, their families face each other instead of the couple marrying. The ceremony also includes sake drinking rituals and exchanging of wedding rings. The guests and families also drink sake to symbolize the bonding of the couple. The fathers of the groom and of the bride then introduce their respective family members to each other. Following the wedding is a reception which is a party full of games, skits, and karaoke. Each dish at the reception has a symbolic wish for happiness, prosperity, long life, and many children. For example lobster is served for its deep red color symbolizing the color of “luck.”
Rituals in every culture can involve partying, singing, dancing, or it could just be a group of people together celebrating an important and memorable event in their lives. Just like in Flyin West, Fannie, Sophie, and Minnie’s ritual was an act of just remembering who they were and most importantly where they came. Rituals may be done occasionally or regularly but the significance of them is to keep cultural traditions going from generation to generation, like Fannie, Sophie, and Minnie so that they’re stories and existence is never forgotten.