"Plaits"

In "Plaits" the author is discussing personal experiences as an African American female and the ties with the obsession of American beauty. Frankie is not what you would call the "American Beauty", so that is what we as society have been led to believe. Frankie doesn't have long blond silky hair and large bouncy curls but has dark and braided hair, which seem to be less then beautiful compared to a female who has blond silky hair. Frankie went through feeling doubtful of her appearance because she wasn't like the "girls in the magazines" but in reality not even the girls in the magazines look like the girls in the magazines.

American society has programmed females to see the models and images on television and in the newspaper which wrongfully shapes one concrete image of beauty. The truth is that every person in the world is their own individual and to try and label beauty based on a few images like this society has is wrong.

In "Plaits" author Frankie deals with racism in America. Her hair color and skin tone isn't represented in the media as being something beautiful but rather the opposite. American society functions with the ideas that the lighter a women is the more beautiful she is, this placed Frankie at the heart of racism and another statistic with societies ignorant image of beauty. "Plaits" is a perfect example of how young women are shaped to be ashamed of who they are and what they look like. American society has programmed our thoughts of beauty and allowed racism by promoting it throughout images in society.

Wrong Perception

Growing up I was taught English, never another word from any other language but English. Going to school wasn't a struggle for me because I spoke standard english yet though I find myself transforming the only language I know based upon situation.

Last week was my friend Jennifer's birthday and she invited me to her house for a formal dinner. As I walked in her house I immediately greeted everyone with "Hello everyone, greetings, and it's a pleasure to be here." Normally proper greetings wouldn't even jump into my head, saying "hello" would but nothing like "it's a pleasure to be here." Looking back I realized why I had to change my English, I had to change it because the idea of first impression was at stake and I wanted to be represented as an educated, respectful serious individual.

Yesterday my friends and I went out to Denny's in celebration of ending midterms. We were all around the table laughing and making jokes about one another, nothing I would do with a professor or parents present. I can get away from using proper English while I'm with my friends because I know my words like "sike and weirdo" wouldn't be counted against my personality and schooling." My personal perception wouldn't be mislead by my humorous expressions.

During the course of my life I see that even though I was taught English as a single language there are numerous ways of speaking it. I realized that in certain situations my English needs to change in order for my, thoughts and ideas to be clearly understood.