Roshan Redefining Reality

As I'm reading Invisible Man,  which is full of intentional irony and everything seems incredibly socially conscious, there's one ironic element that sticks out like a sore thumb and I'm not sure it's intentional. In a world full of thoughtfully built male characters, we've seen maybe three women in the entire book so far. One had sex with the narrator, and one of them was naked. I'm not trying to be that person that says "yeah race is cool, but wHaT aBoUt GeNdEr??" But like what about  gender? I just got a little tired of reading about marginalized people not being seen as individuals when literally the only female character with a name or any substance is Mary, who took the narrator in like a mother-figure and encouraged him to grow his own character until he decided to have nothing to do with her. Again, I'm not trying to sound over-sensitive or anything, but the irony is not lost on me. I was going to let it go because it didn't have en...

I read "The Question of Identity" by Kristin Lattany and then I read it again. Then I read it once more as a strange feeling of elation grew inside me. I wasn't elated by the content in the poem, which I found quite upsetting. I was elated because the subject matter resonated with me and my experiences so much. Like when you have trouble articulating your point and someone spells it articulately out and it feels so good. We all want to be understood, and I felt like this poem, and Lattany, understood me. I am not Black, but as a person of mixed-race, people often tell me I'm "racially ambiguous."  I have had so many of the same experiences that this poem talks about, and I feel the same frustration about  having to tell so many well-meaning people my race. I often wonder why it's so important for people to know. The conclusion I have come to (and the one I think the poem conveys) is that people want to know so they can, even subconsciously, put me in...