My awful Driver's License Photo

When people see the picture on my driver’s license, they usually comment something along the lines of, “you look like an axe-murderer!” or, “some sort of crazy Russian,” or something to the tune of, “that is not a very flattering picture of you.” Well, if taking my driving test had gone the way I’d planned, I’m sure I’d look happy as a clam at high tide. But my exam wasn’t the most ideal way I’d anticipated getting my license.

Before my 16^th birthday (February 20^th, on a Friday several years ago), I had been driving for about a year, and had passed Driver’s Ed. All I had needed after that was enough hours. Almost every Sunday morning, I’d drive with my parents around an hour away to some other town to find a hole-in-the-wall diner to get breakfast. So when it came time to taking my test, I had plenty of experience and thought of myself as quite the safe driver.

It was Friday afternoon. I had gotten through school that day with all of the usual celebration and whatnot, friends congratulating me and wishing me well and all of the typical sentimental things. I’ve never liked to draw attention to myself, but on a birthday it’s almost unavoidable. Anyways, after school I went with my father to the county DMV (which is thankfully no more than 5 minutes from my house). I was also lucky, in that in the middle of February there wasn’t much snow on the roads and it was a clear day. So I began the test with the examiner in the car with me, turning right out of the parking lot of the DMV onto Winchester Road (since this is all very close to my house I know all of the roads the test took me to). Soon, I came to a stoplight. Made a full stop. Felt the rollback. I waited for the green arrow to turn so I could turn left across the intersection. Next, I turned left again onto Old Barn Circle, into Interlaken Valley. I made sure to cruise just below the 25 mile per hour speed limit. I turned right onto Elderberry Drive. I parked the car “downhill” the correct way. Next, I was directed to reverse around the corner. I went slowly, crept around the corner, but another car sped by me and had to honk its horn. This caused me to panic and I popped the back right tire up onto the curb. My heart sank. Maybe he’d forgive me, I thought, and he’d overlook it. I tried to act nonchalant and put the car in drive as the examiner instructed me to return to the DMV.

I’d failed. The car honking and popping onto the curb were enough to fail me. I was dying inside. He recommended coming back again because other than that I had performed well. Since the DMV is open on Saturdays, I decided I’d come back the next morning. So I did. I woke up at around 7, more tired than I should have been to take the driving exam. I didn’t throw a shirt on, just a big winter coat. Also, it had snowed about 5 inches that night. But I was determined to get my license. There was nobody on the roads, or at the DMV, save the employees. I took the test, and the examiner didn’t even make me back around the corner. I passed, but strangely I don’t remember the second test in nearly as vivid detail as the first.

So when the clerk at the DMV took my picture for my license, I was happy enough to have a slight grin on my face despite the sleep deprivation, and in the picture I have awful bedhead and I’m only wearing a heavy coat.

My 2nd Meeting with Mohammed

My second meeting with Mohammed. As I showed up to the University Bookstore (with a 1 liter Nalgene water bottle to forgo paying for coffee), I ran into none other than Dr. Williams himself. Shortly after, at about 5:25, Mohammed showed up and bought a lemonade from the Starbucks. And now we were ready to begin.

We chatted at first about how are weekends were. On Saturday afternoon he played soccer at the intramural fields. Then, that night, he went bowling with a group of friends. He also had to take care of his cousin who had terrible tooth pains over the weekend. Eventually, on Monday, Mohammed took him to a dentist and had the tooth removed. Mohammed mentioned that he had braces for a year, and found it strange that I had mine for a full 3 years (which I feel is fairly normal here). Later, we discussed how Sundays are lazy, relaxing days that should be dedicated to doing nothing. What struck me as odd about this is the fact that he has the same viewpoint of this day despite coming from an entirely different culture, where Saturday serves as the day of rest in their work week. On his Sunday, he just relaxed and watched TV most of the day, and studied some at the library. As we talked about our studies, and how I’m a Spanish major, Mohammed told me about his journeys to other countries aside from the US. He has been all over the Middle East, visiting Lebanon, Jordan, Syria (before the recent political strife) and several other places. He also mentioned how he wants to visit South America one day because of how beautiful his friends tell him it is. Mohammed described to me the job he hopes to get after college when he returns to his home in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. You get a salary, but the company also pays for your car, your gas, your home, your cellphone, and many other things. He made it seem like an average job at an accounting firm there.

When Mohammed mentioned that he’d forgotten to email Zhenya back, he asked me if I’d had a partner before him. I mentioned Abdulaziz, who just so happens to be his cousin whose tooth was removed. I was paired with Mohammed after Abdulaziz because Abdulaziz doesn’t know as much English as Mohammed. However, I invited Mohammed to bring his cousin to our next meeting so I could get to meet him and so they could both practice their English. 

Huckleberry Finn Questionnaire

1. Have you read the novel –Huck Finn- before?  If so where and why?

-I have not read Huck Finn before.

Answer either 2 or 3 depending on your answer to 1.

2. If you have not read Huck Finn before, surely you know something about the novel and character from references and allusions in popular culture.  What do you know about either the novel and/or character?

-(2) Just from references in pop culture and other literature classes I know that the book is considered vulgar and is banned in many schools because of its language and because of Huck being a deplorable main character. I’ve read Tom Sawyer as well so I know the general setting of the beginning of the novel.

3. What was your response to reading Huck Finn, and what do you remember from your reading?  Also, did you actually read the whole novel, or just parts of it?  Did you read Cliff Notes or Monarch Notes instead?

4. If you were assigned to read Huck Finn in a previous class, either here or in high school, how did your class as a whole react to the novel?  Why do you think your instructor assigned the novel?  How did he or she try to “teach” the novel?

-I think Huck Finn is assigned in classes because it shows a boy maturing through his experiences on the Mississippi and speaks out against racism.

5. If you were required to read Huck Finn in a previous class, what sort of assignments were you required to complete, and what exactly did you do during the classes when

Huck Finn was being discussed.

6. Huck Finn is still one of the most controversial and most banned books in America.  Why is it so controversial? 

-It is controversial for several reasons. On the surface it contains inappropriate language, using the N-word over 200 times.  Furthermore, Huck, as a main character, is not a good example to learn from as a protagonist, because of his racism in the much of the novel. Aside from Huck, many characters in the novel are morally detestable.

7. Is Huck Finn still relevant to you as college student today?  Should it continue to be taught in college classrooms?

-I think Huck Finn is still relevant in that the message it teaches about racism is still applicable in today’s society. And just because a book is antiquated doesn’t mean it can’t still teach valuable lessons. It should be continued to be taught in classrooms, not only because of the morals, but it is a unique experience to read a book written entirely in Huck’s dialect.

8.  The general consensus among critics is that Huck Finn is a brilliant and powerful novel, but also a flawed and problematic novel.  What do you think might be flawed and/or problematic about the novel?

-I think the ending of the novel is a bit of a cop-out. While the novel is well written, it seems to have no real direction for much of the book, other than south. While Huck and Jim might keep traveling down the river, they can only get further into territory where slavery is stronger. And if somehow they avoided any sort of real danger there, they’ll only end up at the Gulf of Mexico at the mouth of Mississippi. The book seems to be without a destination, and I think Twain realized that. Because he knew this, he wrote Tom in as a kind of deus ex machina to create and ending and resolve the story in some fashion.

Coffee with Mohammed

I walked into the University Bookstore ten minutes early. We had agreed to meet at 5:30, Mohammed and I. I chose the Bookstore because it is an accessible commonplace with a comfortable setting that would be adequate for meeting a total stranger.  I ordered a regular coffee, no sugar or cream. It keeps me alert and it gives me something to do with my hands while conversing. I waited around, not knowing who to look for other than what I thought a regular Arabic man would look like (given his full name is Mohammed al-Nufaei). A young, Middle-Eastern man walked in and looked around, scanning the room. I took a guess and asked if it was him. It was. He put his things down, and ordered a coffee too.

There was a bit of a barrier at first, however he quickly warmed up to the idea of talking. “Forgive me of my English, and correct me if I make mistake,” he said timidly, with obvious (and expected) nervousness. Aside from his accent, his speech was fluid enough for me to understand him. He was very soft spoken for the duration of our conversation. Mohammed is 22, from Saudi Arabia. Currently he is enrolled in only the English as a Second Language Program (Arabic being his first language). However he hopes to study Accounting here at TCU in the future. According to Mohammed, it’s been difficult coming here and leaving all of his family back home. He does have one cousin here, but he doesn’t see him that often. He misses his parents deeply and it is difficult for him to contact them back in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He lives in a house with several roommates off of Berry Street near CVS, so campus isn’t too far of a walk for him. Next year he wants to live in the Grand Marc too. In his free time, he enjoys playing soccer with his friends down at the intermural fields. Mohammed also enjoys American television shows, like House and Friends. As far as American music goes, he’s not a fan.

Overall, Mohammed is a nice guy who’s trying his best to learn English and adapt to living on his own in the US. Hopefully, the more I meet with him I’ll get to know him better and his tension and nervousness will subside.

The Beloved Raftmen

While I read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, I couldn’t help but get the notion that the dialects spoken by Huck and Jim are distinguishably similar to that of the characters in Toni Morrison’s Beloved. Although they take place some 40 years apart, on either side of the crux of the Civil War, the dialect spoken by the African Americans (whether slaves or freedmen in each) in each share many commonalities, or at least they’ve sounded the same as I picture them in my mind. Huck’s language as well isn’t too far from that of the residents of 124 Bluestone Road.

However, so far, I’ve found Twain’s work more likeable and easily understandable, as well as more coherent. Huck’s narration seems logical and linear, while in Beloved, Sethe’s goes all over the place as she reminisces about her tragic experiences while escaping slavery.  Aside from the colorful language and the realistic dialog and language of the 1840s characters, the most memorable part for me so has been the “Raftman’s Passage.”  The introduction that the Child of Calamity gives himself, with all of the metaphors and similes and descriptions of the plethora of natural disasters that he is makes him the most interesting minor character so far. What makes it particularly delightful for me is the fact that this was submitted as a short story separately by Twain, and then incorporated in the story. I also found it funny how The Child of Calamity paints this picture of how undefeatable he is and then gets quickly beaten by the man with the least imposing and threatening name: Little Davy. The irony of the whole situation, with Tom hiding behind barrels for the whole brawl, makes it my favorite part of the story so far. The absurd story of the haunted barrel, told by Ed, only makes the Raftman’s Passage more humorous. I had no idea that the man was going to pull his dead infant son out of the barrel. That was a real curveball.

Life in the 1930s

In the early 1920s, Leon Bismarck “Bix” Beiderbecke was an aspiring trumpeter who lacked direction and a definitive style to call his own. However in 1922, at the age of 19, he attended a concert in Chicago to see Louis Armstrong play with King Oliver. From that night forwarded, he absorbed the “Negro” style of jazz and swing music and created a unique and transcendent sound all his own.

Beiderbecke came from humble beginnings as the son of a poor merchant in Davenport, Iowa. At the age of the three he learned how to play the piano, and as a teenager he went to the Lake Forest Academy where he learned to play the cornet.   He left school after a year to pursue his career, where he lived a poor musician’s life, despite his hard work.  Life Magazine said, “his tone was ravishing, his taste sure, his improvisations amazingly rich.”  At the time, Beiderbecke was, “the most important of all white jazz influences.” Because of his exhausting work ethic (and also a penchant for binge-drinking), he died young at the age of 27. However, his influence on the genre was far-reaching and prevalent through most of the 20^th century.

The first major difference I noticed between this 1938 issue of Life Magazine and modern magazines is the size. Old Life magazines were noticeably larger, however not necessarily thicker. There were full color and black and white advertisements, most of which were drawings. The ads also had much more words, even long paragraphs, rather than the brief blurbs in today’s advertising. As far as the stories, they were generally shorter, with several short paragraphs surrounded by large pictures of the subject. The pictures, and headlines, were much less discreet and slightly vulgar, compared to today’s highly regulated stories.

Three Feats of Manliness

It was the summer before junior year of high school. The fog-like, Lake Michigan humidity hanging in the air made the heat even more unbearable. Despite this, the air-conditioned sanctuaries of basements could only alleviate our boredom for so long. Naturally, in a quest for something to do without having to spend our allowances on precious gasoline, we ventured into the “wilderness” that is the forests and prairies of northern Illinois.

It was agreed upon by my three closest friends (Griffin, Keller, and Patrick) and me that we owed it to ourselves to enter the second half of our high school careers as “real men.” For us, this meant that by the end of the summer, we would each complete three Feats of Manliness. What constituted a Feat of Manliness was completely subjective, (and often spur-of-the-moment), and was deemed Manly by the performer of the act and also must have been affirmed by his three peers. For all of us, they varied greatly, and at this point in time as I reflect I don’t remember all nine that weren’t my own. However, I do know that all three of my friends completed theirs and were ushered into junior year as men.

Feat 1: The Beast

On one particularly muggy day in June, Griffin, who of the three I was closest to, and I went into the enormous soccer complex behind our neighborhood. It consisted of gigantic open fields scattered amongst a fairly dense forest. This forest provided the ideal shade to escape the moist warmth that permeated everywhere else that wasn’t shaded by a canopy of trees. There was a spot in the forest with a large, dead tree that was ideal for climbing and relaxing on. We ventured inward, deeper into the woods, a stick in each of our hands (for use as a sword or staff or walking stick or whatever our imagination would allow). As we meandered about, daydreaming and enjoying the splendor of the woods, there was a rustling in the bushes near me. Griffin and I froze. The bushes kept rustling. I slowly approached the bush, gripping the stick tightly as a katana. Suddenly, the bush exploded and a masked varmint jumped out at me. As a reflex, I instinctively swung at my assailant and struck it clear in the chest, deflecting the creature and sending it to the ground. As I regained my senses, I saw that it was a raccoon, and was briefly stunned. As I crept towards it, my “blade” still raised, it rolled over, and scurried stumblingly away.  I turned around, only to see Griffin standing there speechless, slightly awed. We simultaneously conceived of the idea that this defense was my first Feat of Manliness.

Feat 2: The Arbor

On the other side of town, away from the woods surrounding the soccer complex, is a county-managed forest preserve, with a Frisbee golf course winding through it. This was also a favored activity of our foursome in the summer as it was free, outside, and was an easy way to kill an hour or two and still get exercise and work on our tans. On the ninth and final hole, there was a river which wound through the forest preserve. One day, some several weeks after the completion of my first Feat, and with the others having completed several of their own—fixing a vintage car, building a tree fort (relatively close to the scene of my first Feat), and others—we decided to explore the area around the river, essentially following it for several hours. Eventually, the ground on our side of the river wasn’t fit for traveling on, so we decided to try the other side. However, we couldn’t find an acceptable spot to ford the river. Then I noticed it: a solution. There was a tree growing right next to the river, which if felled, would make the perfect bridge to the other side. The next morning, I returned to that spot, with an axe and determination. After arriving at 10 AM, I spent close to 5 hours chopping away. In retrospect, this was most likely illegal as the tree was part of the forest preserve and therefore property of the county, but at the time it didn’t matter. I chopped nearly all the way through, and paused with just enough of the trunk left so it would fall the correct direction. I brought the other three back the next day and they all approved of it as my second Feat of Manliness.

Feat 3: The Cuban

As the summer was coming to a close, and August was well under way, it seemed like a sad reality that I may not complete a third Feat of Manliness. Thankfully, I wasn’t alone: nobody had completed a third and ultimate Feat. Classes would start in about a week, and we would be back to the humdrum of high school life. In what seemed like an all too fitting Deus ex machine, Keller brought us all Cuban cigars that a relative of his had given him as a gift. So, while sitting out by Keller’s pool on a cool summer evening, the four of us smoked our first Cuban cigars, and celebrated our own passage into Manliness. This validation, meant little, but it gave us something to strive for over the summer, and gave us a sense of pride, and bonding, that we hadn’t had before.