Unwieldy inheritance

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Required Journal Entry 5: Public Space

Reread Brent Staples'essay "Black Men and Public Space" on pages 160-162. Explore the ways you and individuals around you "alter public space." Include specific examples from your life. You may wish to describe a situation in which your intentions were misunderstood or when someone made false assumptions about you. Another option is to discuss times when you've had to change your behavior to accommodate someone else's needs or expectations. {2 paragraphs, 5 sentences for each)

Freewrite about the way errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation can alter the public space between writer and reader in an essay. (1 paragraph, 5 sentences)

f-Check 1

l. Exercise 10.1, on page Edit the five make them concise.

Exercise 10,2, on page or complex sentences.

210: the pairs of sente to single, compound,2.

3. Exercise 10.3, page 2!2: Add modifiers to create varied sentence in the five sentences.

10.4, on page 213: Edit the five sentences to eliminate problems with pa

(Continued)

Lesson 3

ffiU"t Men and Public Space Brent Staples

Any woman who has lived in a cily knows the fear Brent Staples qpeab ;r" but not many of us realize how that reaction afects the innocent. Staples's essayuasf* published inEarper's in 1986. He's still whistling.

My first victim was a woman-u7hi1s, well-dressed, probably in her early twenties- I came upon her late one evening on a deserted street in Hyde Park, a relativelyaffluent neighborhood in an other- wise mean, impoverished section of Chicago. As I swung onto the avenue behind her, there seemed to be a discreet, uninflarnmatory distance between us. Not so. She cast back a worried glance. To her, the youngish black rnur--a broad 6 feet 2 inches with a beard and billowing hair, botl hands shoved into the pockets of a bulky mil- itary jacket-seerned menacingly close. After a few more quick glimpses, she picked up her pace and was soon running in earnest. Within seconds she disappeared into a cross street.

That was more than a decade ago. I was 22 years old, a grad- uate student newly arrived at the University of Chicago. It was in the echo of that terrified woman's footfalls that I first began to know the unwieldy inheritance I'd come into-the ability to alter public space in ugly ways. It was clear that she thought herself the quarry of a mugger, a rapist, or worse. Suffering a bout of insom- nia, however, I was stalking sleep, not defenseless wayfarers. As a softy who is scarcely able to take a knife to a raw chicken-let alone hold one to a person's ftroat-I was surprised, embar- rassed, and dismayed all at once. Her flight made me feel like an accomplice in tyranny. It also made it clear that I was indistin- guishable from the muggers who occasionally seeped into the area from the surrounding ghetto. That first encounter, and those that followed, signified that a vast, unnerving gulf lay between night- time pedestrians-particularly women-and me. And I soon gath- ered that being perceived as dangerous is a hazard in itself. I only needed to turn a corner into a dicey situation, or crowd some frightened, armed person in a foyer somewhere, or make an errant move after being pulled over by €r g!,11qyq1.1+. Where fear and

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196 Cause and Effect

weapons meet-and they often do in urban America-there is a ways the possibility of death.

In that first year, my first away from my hometown, I was t become thoroughly familiarwith the language of fear. At dark, shac owy intersections, I could cross in front of a car stopped at a faffi light and elicit the thunk, thunk, thunk, thank of the driver-blacl white, male, or female-hammering down the door locks. On ler traveled streets after dark, I grew accustomed to but never comfor able with people crossing to the other side of the street rather tha pass me. Then there were the standard unpleasantries with police men, doormen, bouncers, cabdrivers, and others whose business is to screen out troublesome individuals bdor there is any nast NCSS,

I moved to New York nearly fwo years ago and I have remaine an avid nightwalker. In central Manhattan,the near-constant crow cover minimizes tense one-on-one street encounters. Elsewhere-i SoHo, for example, where sidewalks are narrow and tightly space buildings shut out the sky-things can get very taut indeed.

After dark, on the warrenlike streets of Brooklyn where I live, often see women who fear the worst from me. They seem to hav set their faces on neutral, and with their purse straps strung acros their chests bandolier-style, they forge ahead as though bracin themselves against being tackled. I understand, of course, that th danger they perceive is not a hallucination. Women are particularl vulnerable to street violence, and young black males are drasticall overrepresented among the perpetrators of that violence. Yet thes truths are no solace against the kind of alienation that comes c being ever the suspect, a fearsome entity with whom pedestrian avoid making eye contact.

It is not altogether clear to me how I reached the ripe old age c 22 wrlhout being conscious of the lethality nighttime pedestrian attributed to me. Perhaps it was because in Chester, Pennsylvank the small, angry industrial town where I came of age in the 1960s, was scarcely noticeable against a backdrop of gang warfare, stre( knifings, and murders. I grew up one ofthe good boys, had perhap ahalf-dozenfistfights. In retrospect, my shyness of combat has clea sources.

As a boy, I saw countless tough guys locked away; I have sinc buried several, too. They were babies, really---a teenage cousin,

Steples/Blach Men and HhTic Sp:,,

Irrotherof22, a childhood friend in his mid-twenties-allgone do u r episodes of bravado played out in the streets. I came to doubt virtues of intimidation early on. I chose, perhaps unconsciously t!'lr',.ri.: a shadow-timid, but a survivor.

The fearsomeness mistakenly attributed to me in public pla, often has a perilous flavor. The most frightening of these confusi(,ri\ occurred in the late 1970s and early 1p80s, when I worked as a joumalist in Chicago. One day, rushing into the office of a magazine I was writing for with a deadline story in hand, I was mistaken for .. burglar. The office manager called security and, with an ad hoc posse, pursued me through the labyrinthine halls, nearly to my editor's door. I had no way of proving who I was. I could only move briskly toward the company of someone who knew me.

Another time I was on assignment for a local paper and killing time before an interview. I entered a jewelry store on the city's affluent Near North Side. The proprietor excused herself and re- turned with an enormous red Doberman pinscher straining at the end of a leash. She stood, the dog extended toward me, silent to my questions, her eyes bulging nearly out of her head. I took a cursory look around, nodded, and bade her good night.

Relatively speaking, however, I never fared as badly as another black male joumalist. He went to nearby Waukegan, Illinois, a cou- ple of summers ago to work on a story about a murderer who was born there. Mistaking the reporter for the killer, police officers hauled him from his car at gunpoint and but for his press credentials would probably have tried to book him. Such episodes are not uncommon. Black men trade tales like this all the time.

Over the years, I learned to smother the rage I felt at so often being taken for a criminal. Not to do so would surely have led to madness. I now take precautions to make myself less threatening. I move about with care, particularly late in the evening. I give a wide berth to nervous people on subway platforms during the wee hours, particularly when I have exchanged business clothes for jeans. If I happen to be entering a building behind some people who appear skittish, i may walk by, letting them clear the lobby before I return, so as not to seem to be following them. I have been calm and extremely congenial on those rare occasions when I've been pulled over by the police.

And on late-evening constitutionals I employ what has proved to

I1

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198 Cause and Effect

drs an excellent tension-reducing measure: I whistle melodies fron) Beethoven and Vivaldi and the more popular classical composers. Even steely New Yorkers hunching toward nighttime destinations seem to relax, and occasionally they even join in the tune. Virtually everybody seems to sense that a mugger wouldn't be warbling bright, sunny selections from Vivaldi's Four,Secsons. It is my equiv- alent cf the cowbell that hikers wear when they know they are in bear country.

Thesis and Organization

1- Reread paragraph 1. What expectations does it evoke in the reader?For paragraph 2, state in your own words what Staples means by "unwieldy inheritance." What effects does that inheritance have?

2. The body of the essay breaks into three paragraph blocks.In paragraphs 3-5, what effects does the author's walking at night have on others?On himselfl

3. In paragraphs 6 and 7, Staples refers to his childhood. Why had he been unaware of his effect on others?What effect did the streets he grew up on have on him?

4. Staples uses examples in paragraphs 8-10. What do all three have in common?What generalizationdoes Staples draw from them?

5. Summarize the causes and effects Staples brings out in paragraphs ll and 12, and in one sentence, makes a general statement about them. What does that statement imply about being a black male?About urban life?About American culture?Consider your answers to those questions and in one sentence state the thesis of the essay.

Techniqueand Style

1- L large part of the essay's impact lies in the ironic contrast between appearance and reality. What details does Staples bring out about him- self that contrast with the stereotype of the mugger?

2. In paragraph 1, Staples illustrates the two uses of the dash. What func- tion do they perform? Rewrite either of the two sentences so that you avoid the dash. Which sentence is better and why?

.1. Trace Staples's use of time. Why does he start where he does? Try placing the time period mentioned in paragraphs 6 and 7 elsewhere in llre essay. What advantages does their present placement have?What is t ,' effect of ending the essay in the present?

4. l'' ,' ii:::,.' Staples's choice of verbs in the second sentence of paragraph 'r. ltewrite the sentence using as many forms of the verb to beas possible. '.I ir.rr differencesdo you note?

FOTNtrER* Tj$A LBXI{6 {IALIfI J$iT} HFSELi]

Eryloring theTopic

t. IIarc you stated the topic as a question drat asks why X hap pened?What are the possible causes?The probable causes?Rank the causes in order of their priority.

2- Ilflr/e you stated the topic as a qu€stlon that asks what resul{s fromX? What are the possible effects?The probable effects?Rank the effects in order of their priority.

3. Is a temtrroral relationshipinvolved?Reviewyour lisb of causes and effects and rule out any that only have a temporal relationship to your subject.

4. Which do you want to emphasize, cause or efrect?Check to make sure your focus is clear.

5. $lhd is your point?Are you trying to show that something is so or to explore your topic?

6. Whd evidence can you use to support your point?Do you need to cite authorities or quote statistics?Ifyou depend on personal experience, are you sure yorrr experience is valid, that is, representative ofgeneral experience?

7. Whd does your reader think?Does your audience have any precon- ceived ideas about your topic for which you need to account?What are they? How can you deal with them?

8. \tVh role do you want to play in the essay?Are you an observer or a participant?Is your major intention to inform, to persuade, or to en- tertain?What point of view best serves your purpose?

Draffing the Pryer

1. I(now your rcader. Figure out what attitudes your reader may have about yow topic. tr the cause-and-effect relationship you are discussing is unusual, you might want to shape your initial attitude so that it is as skeptical as your reader's. On the other hand, you may want to start with a short narrative tlat immediatelyputs the reader on your side. Consider how mueh your reader is apt to know about your topic. fyou are the expert, make sure you explain everything that needs to be explained but without doing so condescendingly.

2. Know your purpose. Adjust your tone and persona to suit your pur- pose. If you are writing a persuasive paper, make sure your persona is credible and that you focus your ideas so that they may change the mind of a reader who initially does not agree with you--or short of that, that

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216 Cause and Effect

your ideas make the reader rethink his or her position. If you are writing an informative paper, choose a personiL and tone that will interest the reader. Tone and persona are even more crucial to essays written to entertain, where the tone can range from the ironic to the lighthearted.

5. Emphasize r cause or effecL Essays that focus on cause more than likely will cover a variety of probable reasons that explain the result. Though there may be only one effect or result, you may want to predict other possible effects in your last paragraph. For instance, an essay that explores the causes ofviolence examines a number ofreasons or causes for the result or effect-violence-but may conclude by speculating on the possible effects of the rising crime rate. On the other hand, essays that focus on effect more than likely will cov€r a number of possible effects that are produced by a single cause, though again you may want to speculate on other causes. If you are writing about the effects of smoking, at some point in the essay you may want to include other harmful substances in the airsuch as coal dust, hydrocarbons, and car- bon monoxide.

r'. Check for validity. Don't hesitate to include quotations, allusions, sta- tistics, and studies that will support your point. Choose your examples carefully to buttress the relationship you are trying to establish, and be sure you don't mistake a temporal relationship for a causal one.

5. Mat<e a poinl The cause-and-effect relationship you €xamine should lead to or stem from an assertion: video games not only entertain, they also stimulate the mind and improve coordination; video games are not only habit-forming, they are also addictive.

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