Tabatha Rowley: Standing Up

When reading a story, it is extremely important to put yourself in the place of every character. By doing this, it will be easier to comprehend his or her actions towards certain situations. When I read “Hair Chronicles” by Tabatha Rowley, since it is a story based on true life events, I grew closer to the writer and protagonist. Tabatha was a young black woman, who went to prison for seven years, after shooting her boyfriend at the time. Later on, she decided to write her autobiography through a short story.

Tabatha grew in a home where drugs, alcohol, violence and abuse where a constant variable in her life.

In my opinion, Tabatha shot her boyfriend because she was tired of being the victim, the one who was always abused by others. That day, she decided to stand up and defend herself. Was it right what she did? Off course not. But, considering everything that she told the reader about her life, I’m glad she shot him. Maybe that was the push she needed to become the better version of herself. Tabatha was in jail, yes, but look how incredible she writes, being in jail doesn’t define you, and being raped or abused doesn’t either. Tabatha is now a different woman, more mature and through her story she wants to help others from committing the same mistakes she did.

As I am writing this blog, all I can think about is the song, "Til it happens to you". In the song, the singer (Lady Gaga) criticizes everyone who says "You'll get better" to rape victims because nobody really understands what they went through, until it happens to them. So, I feel that Gaga would probably judge me if she read this article because I'm making it seem as if I understand Tabatha's situation, when I really don't (according to Gaga). But, in my opinion, it is important to at least try to understand certain situations in a person's life, whether it's a character in a story or a person in real life that you can actually help. 

To conclude, I understand why Tabatha would want to publish all the horrible things that she went through. I do not think it was to look for the pity of everyone, but to make people stand in her shoes, understand her and spread awareness.

A Vicious Circle

In the song, “Where is The Love?”, by the Black Eyed Peas, ignorant people with low moral values are criticized. The song doesn’t necessarily talks about drunk drivers, but it does mentions: the effects of making bad decisions, racism and discrimination. These three themes are also presented in the novel by Will Allison, Long Drive Home, and in the exhibition in the Lazaro Library by Fiesta II.

Sadly, racism and discrimination have gotten to a point where it’s almost normal to kill someone for being black. For example, when Rizzo indirectly accused Glen of being a racist. He insinuated that, since Glen was from Kentucky, he probably killed Juwan on purpose because he was racist. This demonstrated the reader, that people can expect the worst from others and can judge your beliefs based simply by the region where you were raised.

The song writer, also criticizes the media and makes them responsible for contaminating people’s mind and ideas with negative things. In the novel, when Juwan’s accident happened, reporters were there in a splint of a second just to broadcast the terrible accident that had just occurred. Usually, the news always focuses in the negative things and people seem to be attracted by them. On the other hand, from all the bad things, people always need to find something to learn from. That is why, the exhibition in the Lazaro library is an example of a good outcome, from something bad. Even though media, focuses on the bad things, it’s good to see that adults are educating others how to prevent a fatality that humans constantly do, such as drinking and driving. Sadly, it takes someone dying for people to realize that things do happen and people can prevent it. It only takes one decision, to change a person’s course in life, and “only one more drink of alcohol” to cause an accident. 

At some point, the speaker seems disappointed at what society has become because most people have been caught in a vicious circle that harm, themselves, others and the world. The Black Eyed Peas, released the song for the first time in 2003 and 13 years later, the main themes in the song are still relevant and present in everyone’s daily life. For example, racism, materialism, ignorance, war, violence, terrorism, among others. In examples like the novel, one can see, that some people, even though they make stupid decisions, then learn from them, and live the rest of their lives being careful not to commit the same mistake again. In the exhibition, lives were touched. For what matters, the group of INGL 3151 of the University of Puerto Rico learned the importance of making good choices at this stage in their lives, thanks to the song, our professor (Cynthia Pittmann), the novel and the exhibition mentioned previously.