How We Fight For Our Lives
In the quest to teach active reading skills, I tell my students that I always annotate when I'm reading at home. Most of the time I'm lying. However, I couldn't get through a chapter of Saeed Jones' memoir How We Fight For Our Lives without picking up a pencil to underline a passage or scribble notes in the margins. Describing an unsuccessful first attempt at reading Toni Morrison in middle school, Saeed writes,
"Toni Morrison's sentences were like rivers with murky bottoms. They didn't obey the rules I was learning in school. When I stepped in, I couldn't see my feet; I retreated back to the shore."
Who hasn't felt this way the first time they picked up Morrison?
With a combination of humor and brutal honesty, Jones writes about his experiences negotiating his identity as a gay man. He writes turning his body into a weapon to defend himself against racism and homophobia that he unconsciously uses against himself. How We Fight For Our Lives is a testament to the fact that beautiful writing can transform even the most painful experiences.
"Toni Morrison's sentences were like rivers with murky bottoms. They didn't obey the rules I was learning in school. When I stepped in, I couldn't see my feet; I retreated back to the shore."
Who hasn't felt this way the first time they picked up Morrison?
With a combination of humor and brutal honesty, Jones writes about his experiences negotiating his identity as a gay man. He writes turning his body into a weapon to defend himself against racism and homophobia that he unconsciously uses against himself. How We Fight For Our Lives is a testament to the fact that beautiful writing can transform even the most painful experiences.
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