blog week 5

Commitments

Invisible or Visible? Mr. Hemphill seems to be both. Although he doesn't mention it, one would assume that he was visible to his family. He is also visible in the photographs that hang upon the wall. Although he is visible to the eye, his presence within himself is invisible. Whats the point of attending an event if you feel alone and can't share your real self. To himself in the photos you see Essex Hemphill the flesh and bone, but what is invisible is the real Essex Hemphill. Thoughts, true self, ego, feelings, the longing of a partner that he probably wants to bring to the events but cannot because he believes that he should remain silent about his true self.

"I smile as I serve my duty." This last line explains the poem's title. He is committed to being there for his family. Waking up in the middle of the night to help them, emergencies, and graduations. I would also assume that it is his duty to keep the family connected by not coming out with his gay nature. Many families have embraced their gay family members, yet many more have rejected and isolated their gay family members. Whole families have been torn apart because someone "came out the closet". So he believes his duty is to take care of his family and not tear it apart. Those are his commitments.

Heritage

I read the poem over and over again. I can't see how one would think that last sentence contains a contradiction. It may to me worded in the best way but I wouldn't expect anything positive to end that statement. The poem is littered with negativity and don't's. Plus, how could they have had a home if the tribe was always traveling. She learned the secret of not having a home in two respect. In one respect, with the traveling tribe she never had a home as in a an abode. In the other respect, with the negativity of being told not to remember, fears of silence, and a crystal clear image of snuff spilling on her, she has not had a home in the respect of a loving family that is close to each other. I also gathered that she had a lighter skin tone than the rest of her family and most likely felt ashamed of it. You can't have shame unless someone disapproves of it.

Some times we want to describe something to someone else but the meanings could possibly be lost. It is must simpler when two people can relate on a single image to describe another image that the other person has never seen. If I told you my frog was black and white speckled versus it looks just like the granite that covers our street. We have all seen the street and know it. But you have never seen my frog. So if you picture a piece of street granite in the shape of a frog, you are one step closer to knowing what my frog looks like.