40 Acres and a Mule

1
A Black man I once worked with a very long time ago was fond of saying "All I want is my 40 acres and a mule." He was referring to the Freedman's Bureau Act of 1865 [1].

We both worked on our feet all day, with mandatory overtime that could stretch for hours, little pay, angry customers, and an employee body count bigger than I've ever seen before or since.

I learned a lot from him. He was a good man, bright, hard working, friendly, none of which had anything do with his color, but everything to do with his humanity. He taught me some BEV (Black English Vernacular), but I never actually used it, as he was also a prankster, and I wouldn't have put it past him to teach me embarrassing nonsense.

I don't remember his name. That's how old friendships go.

[2012-07-27]

 

2
When: 7th grade
Where: Bethel Christian School (which was at that time in the old Bethel Baptist Church at 737 E 26th Street in Erie, PA).
What: I have two distinct memories of sitting alone at the lunch table across from Cindy and Laura.

I said on one occasion My dad sells Pringles at the grocery store and he told me Pringles are only salted on one side. They looked at me like I had horns growing out of my head then went back to eating their Pringles.

On another occasion, another day, but same table, same seat, same girls, they were discussing puzzles. I said, Did you know "radar" is a palindrome and is spelled the same way both backwards and forwards?

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

They were the popular girls, and every pubescent boy in the class was enamored of them.

I don't know why I was sitting alone on those occasions. I was not unpopular. Though I suppose I may have been and just not been aware of it.

[2012-07-27]

 

3
Story idea: The Excerptist
About a copy editor whose job it is to find passages of very bad copy in otherwise healthy books and carefully remove them so the original wholeness of the books are restored. The story concludes with the excerptist seeing so much bad writing that he turns into a bad writer as well, and in order to rid himself of the horrible curse, he flings himself from a window, upon which all the bad words in the entire world float away into the aether, where they reassemble to torment another good writer who knows no better than to play with such dangerous things.

[2012-07-26]

[1]
"Passed by Congress in March of 1865, the act expressly provided that available land would be provided in forty acres to blacks and other refugees, and that they would be allowed to purchase it at reasonable cost after tending it for a period of years. ..the phrase "40 acres and a mule" has come to represent the failure of Reconstruction policies in restoring to African Americans the fruits of their labor." Source >