One of the first things we'll be learning about each other.

 This is a poster that I like to print out for you. It shows the different ways that people can be smart. Yes, people are smart in different ways. Einstein once said, or at least, the internet tells me he said it, "Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." Is Einstein really talking about a fish? What the heck is he talking about?

The theme of one of my favorite poems is the similarities and differences between us. In Langston Hughes' "Theme for English B," Hughes' narrator talks through his poem. To whom do you think he is talking to? Why do you think he wants to make those connections, as well as those distinctions, from that person? If you were to write a poem like this to me, what would you want to make as your connection to me, and what would you like for me to know?

THEME FOR ENGLISH B

By Langston Hughes

The instructor said,
Go home and write
a page tonight.
And let that page come out of you---
Then, it will be true.
I wonder if it's that simple? 
I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem. 
I went to school there, then Durham, then here 
to this college on the hill above Harlem. 
I am the only colored student in my class. 
The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem 
through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas, 
Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y, 
the Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator 
up to my room, sit down, and write this page:
at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I'm what
I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you:
hear you, hear me---we two---you, me, talk on this page.
(I hear New York too.) Me---who?
Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.
I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.
I like a pipe for a Christmas present,
or records---Bessie, bop, or Bach.
I guess being colored doesn't make me NOT like
the same things other folks like who are other races.
So will my page be colored that I write?
Being me, it will not be white.
But it will be
a part of you, instructor.
You are white---
yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.
That's American.
Sometimes perhaps you don't want to be a part of me.
Nor do I often want to be a part of you.
But we are, that's true!
As I learn from you,
I guess you learn from me---
although you're older---and white---
and somewhat more free.
It's not easy to know what is true for you or me
This is my page for English B.
1951