(bi)weekly biz

Blog Prompt #3: The New Yorker describes Lynn Nottage as having "built a career on making invisible people visible." How does Sweat accomplish this and do you think enabling visibility is important? Why or why not? The entire play is dedicated to uncovering the injustices faced by working-class Americans. Every character experiences these inequities differently while navigating life in industrialized Reading, Pennsylvania. At the beginning of each scene, Nottage includes a short snippet discussing the news, big events, and weather on a specific date. These often include political events (presidential elections/debates) or economic events (Dow Jones/stock market), but never the events taking place in the actual plot. This shows how the news only showcases events that occur on the macro level, making them visible. However, the effects of the big decisions (NAFTA, presidential elections, etc.) are not shown in national headlines, even though most Americans deal with them. Theref...

In the poem "I, Too," Langton Hughes utilizes allusions and tone to foster the inclusion of African Americans in the fabric of American society. Hughes argues that African Americans have often been excluded from the idealized version of America by alluding to Walt Whitman's poem "I Hear America Singing." Whitman's poem describes a diverse country, filled with people who do different tasks. However, Whitman fails to mention race and the role of African Americans in the building of the United States. In the first line of the poem, Hughes states, on behalf of the rest of the African-American community, "I, too, sing America." The word "too" implies that this is an assertive plea. Hughes is inserting himself in the foundation of America in a statement that is separated from the rest of the poem. This line of free verse rejects the European ideals of rhythm and meter, displaying how African Americans have their own unique identity that is part...