817: Context is all

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

American Public Media

Arts, Performing Arts

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 20 February 2023

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today’s poem is Context is all by Erica Hunt. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “Today’s poem underscores the implied racial and class dynamics at the center of American life. How we are defined and claimed and rendered opponents; how the ongoing battles and struggles construct an “Us vs Them.” Even when it means abandoning an authentic selfhood separate from, yet a part of, the groups we get put into.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Major Jackson, and this is The Slowdown.
0:20.2	Here's a perplexing childhood memory.
0:22.8	One day, my baseball coach in the 10-12-year-old division told me and my friends that a local
0:30.8	TV news crew was coming to film a special game against a team from across town.
0:37.1	A human interest story about the police, athletic leagues, community involvement, and racial
0:42.7	harmony.
0:43.8	He said to make sure our parents washed and pressed our baseball suits and to play our best
0:51.0	to represent our neighborhood, which implied our race.
0:57.8	My friend Gerald played catcher, and I pitched.
1:01.6	We were an all-black team, and they were an all-white team.
1:06.8	I threw for eight innings and gave up two runs before coach substituted in Mitch, when
1:13.1	we nicknamed Stinky Lanky.
1:15.4	He was tall, and when he pitched, he contorted his body like he was dancing.
1:21.8	It was entertainment for us in distraction for the other team and led to three batters
1:27.9	striking out in succession.
1:31.4	The cameras courted all, the cheering, the sliding into bases, the ground balls, and all
1:38.6	the swing, batter, batter, batter.
1:43.1	We won by one point.
1:45.0	We celebrated on the mound, then lined up, and gave high fives to the other team.
1:50.5	Some even smiled and congratulated us.
1:55.3	In the stands, our parents were different and separate in all the ways you can imagine.
2:02.5	Different cars, different clothes.
	...

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