Will Smith got his footprints cemented outside Grauman's today:



His kids are adorable, though I still can't believe he compared his little girl to Paris Hilton the other day.  NOT a good role model choice!

But it's hard not to love Will Smith.  He's hilarious, he's in a lot of great movies, he's in part of that A-list celebrity group of BFF's that I would love to be a fly on the wall with (Tom and Katie, Posh and Becks):



Anyways, I don't usually say a lot about racial issues because those things can get easily misunderstood, but the author I am presently studying (Toni Morrison) has a lot to say about race so I want to get into it.  Back to Will later.

Chloe Anthony Morrison was born in the 1930's in Ohio, and was the first woman in her family to go to college.  She went to Howard University where she changed her name from Chloe to Toni.  After getting her B.A. in English lit, she got a masters in English from Cornell.  She went on to teach at Texas Southern University where she learned "black culture as a subject, an idea, as a discipline."



This idea of black culture as a discipline was very influential for Morrison.  She didn't take an active part in the Civil Rights movement because she was uncomfortable with their philosophy of integration; she believed that integration would come only through black solidarity similar to what she experienced at Texas.

After getting married, having two sons, and getting divorced, Morrison moved to NYC where she became an editor.  Her goal was to create a canon of African-American lit and she helped collaborate "The Black Book" (1974), a scrapbook of photographs, documents, and articles from 300 years of African-American history.

As she became an editor, she also began to write more.  Eventually she published "The Bluest Eye" (1970-- a short story that another editor encouraged her to write into a novel), "Sula" (1973), "Song of Solomon" (1977), and "Beloved" (1987) which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction-- the first black women to receive this honor.

I've actually met Toni Morrison-- though VERY briefly.  She did a reading and book signing in Central Park.  I really enjoyed hearing her read.  If you've never heard an author you like read their work aloud, you MUST try it someday.

Anyways, my question regarding Will is this.  I wonder if Toni, given her stance on "black culture as a subject, an idea, as a discipline" would wish for an artist like Will to do more movies on black culture.  While I'm sure she wouldn't look down upon him for doing movies which can relate to all different cultures in America, after reading about her life it seems like she might want more black artists focusing on art that portrays black culture instead of mainstream.

What do you think?  Should Will Smith do more movies specifically on black culture?  What do you think of Toni's response to the Civil Rights Movement?

Ok, I am breaking routine today because I am not writing about celebrities.  Soon enough.  I went to the library today and got seven books.  They are due in 21 days, so that means I need to read one novel every 3 days.  I have been on a long reading hiatus, but after finding out about my Qualifying Exam for my Ph.D., I've realized I have to get my butt in gear.  If you want to see, just SEE my reading list for this exam, you can go here.  My major is 20th Century American Lit and the reading list is 3 pages long in tiny print.

Anyways, this book by Sandra Cisneros, "The House on Mango Street" (published in 1984), is a book of vignettes about a girl Esperanza who grows up in the Latino section of Chicago.  The author also grew up in Chicago: 

There are all kinds of stories about the people who live in her neighborhood and the things that happens to them.  Most of the chapters are 1-2 pages long and it's an easy read, even if you are a little ADD and overstimulated by TV like me.

I think the thing that struck me most about this book is that so many books have a theme of "I want to belong."  Because we all want to belong somewhere.  But Esperanza's thing is that she DOESN'T want to belong to her neighborhood.  She wants to leave.  But, she's conflicted-- she loves it and hates it, and it's terrible and beautiful.  And the whole book she is wishing for a new home, a house that is white with three bathrooms instead of red with one bathroom where her whole family shares one bedroom.  She dreams of leaving and never getting married and having a home that doesn't belong to any father or husband.  But everyone tells her she has to come back to Mango street someday.  Because she is one of the only ones with the ability to leave. 

This book totally brings me back to my students in Harlem, and how living in that neighborhood was both the worst of times and the best of times.  There is so much sadness in the projects, but there are beautiful people striving and dreaming and in that backdrop, it's beyond inspiring. 

Esperanza says at one point "One day I'll own my own house, but I won't forget who I am or where I came from.  Passing bums will ask, Can I come in?  I'll offer them the attic."  And even though I'm not from Harlem, not like those kids who grew up there, I think there is a part of Harlem I will always carry with me.  I hope I don't forget it.  I hope that now that I have a home of my own where I don't hear people screaming in the street, or breaking beer bottles, or continual sirens that I remember where I came from so I can appreciate the now so much more.  And I want to get involved with urban youth again soon, because I don't want to forget what it meant to love them.

Don't we all want that safe home of our own?  Sometimes I still feel for those kids back in NYC that I know don't have it.

(a former student)

I have now been in Southern California for three weeks.  I LOVE IT.  Where else can you live one hour away from a perpetually warm beach, the mountains, and a big city (L.A.)???   It's taken me a few weeks to get my sea legs, but now that I am officially accepted to my English Ph. D. program, I have even more motivation to restart up my classic book / celeb gossip comparisons.  Hopefully I will get that up and running again this week.

In other news, I thought that I would share some news that will be meaningful to any of you that watch "The Hills."  I happened to score an invite to the exclusive club Les Deux where LC and Audrina are always dancing!!!  The club promoter saw my picture on a socialite's facebook and messaged me and said, "You are hot, so I'll put you and a friend on the list for Monday at Les Deux."  How random is that???  I mean, what are the chances that a promoter for that club (the only one I care about since I'm such a Hills addict) randomly sees me and adds me as a friend??  SO he sent me a facebook invite and I was practically jumping up and down at my computer because Heidi Montag is on the list of "Maybe Attending" for Monday night.  LOL!!!  I AM THE HILLS!!  I'm hardly going to be in an episode, but I do feel good, especially after I read the Les Deux write-up on citysearch and everyone was writing about how it's impossible to get in if you're not on the list.  Fortunately for me, I am not only on the list now (along with my friend Bonnie), but I have the names and numbers of all three Les Deux promoters!!  That was a nice welcome gift from the Sunshine State.

In other news, I'm typing this in Bonnie's apartment in North Hollywood.  I am spending the night so I can register to be an extra!!  It's only $25 to sign up with Central Casting in Burbank.  I don't want being an extra to be my permanent job, but I think it will be fun for a few weeks.  I can't bring my camera on set (obvs, I could take pictures of spoilers), but I'll take pictures of myself in my extra outfits if I get any gigs.

Also: last week, Bonnie and I hiked to the Hollywood sign which was VERY fun.  Pictures of that on my other xanga are forthcoming.  You'll see that the view is very much like the intro to The Hills.

Ok that's all for now.  Assuming all goes as planned at Les Deux and Central Casting, I'll post pictures.  Then someday soon I'll be responsible again and dive back into the world of classic lit.