Category: new orleans

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Our Ingrained and Unconscious Biases

One night, a father and his son were driving home from an event. It was a stormy night, and as they rounded a corner, the car skidded off the road, hitting a tree. The father dies on impact, and his son experienced significant injuries and was transported to the hospital for emergency surgery. When the ambulance arrived at the hospital, the paramedics rushed the … Read More Our Ingrained and Unconscious Biases

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Charles Chesnutt’s “Paul Marchand” and the Social Construction of Race: Part II

If you enjoy what you read here at Interminable Rambling, think about making a contribution on our Patreon page.  In the last post, I spoke some about the “legal fictions” that Charles Chesnutt highlights in Paul Marchand, F.M.C., specifically with the relationship between Paul and Julie and with the terms that the narrator deploys throughout the novel. Today, I want to continue this discussion … Read More Charles Chesnutt’s “Paul Marchand” and the Social Construction of Race: Part II

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Charles Chesnutt’s “Paul Marchand” and the Social Construction of Race: Part I

If you enjoy what you read here at Interminable Rambling, think about making a contribution on our Patreon page.  Charles Chesnutt’s Paul Marchand, F.M.C. highlights the legal fictions constructing race in America and the absolute absurdity of such constructions. Today, I want to look at some of the ways that Chesnutt illuminates the construction of race through legal fictions in the novel. Chesnutt explores … Read More Charles Chesnutt’s “Paul Marchand” and the Social Construction of Race: Part I

Multicultural Cities in Frank Yerby

Throughout his oeuvre, Frank Yerby works to deconstruct myths of the Old South and historical misinformation. Along with these goals, he also dismantles the dichotomy of Black and White; instead, he populates his works with individuals and scenes that defy a simplistic characterization. In this manner, Yerby shows that race is not a biological fact; rather, it is a social construct. One of the … Read More Multicultural Cities in Frank Yerby

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The Smoldering Embers in Our Presence

Today, I want to conclude the discussion from the previous two posts over the ways that we create memorials and remember the past, particularly in the South. In an interview with Ezra Klein, executive director of the Equal Justice Commission Bryan Stevenson commented, “What we do in the memorial spaces says a lot about who we are.” There is a lot of truth in … Read More The Smoldering Embers in Our Presence