We, Too, Sing America: A Reader for Writers

by DIVAKARUNI CHITRA BANERJEE

• ISBN13: 9780070170841
• ISBN10: 0070170843
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-09-01
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages

Summary

Divided into ten thematic sections, this freshman reader illuminates the ways in which lives connect in spite of the differences that derive from ethnicity, community, age, class, or gender. Contemporary and deeply involving for all students, these sections move from simple to more sophisticated concepts, for example from the issues surrounding family to language to identity. Each reading was carefully selected to expose students to lifestyles, values, concerns, and problems different from their own, while encouraging them to make meaningful contributions to class discussions and in their written assignments.

Table of Contents

Introduction: To the Reader: Some Notes on Effective Reading and Writing

UNIT ONE: YOUTH AND AGE

Alfred Kazin: "The Kitchen"

Anthony Brandt: "Children of Divorce"

Ellen Tashie Frisina: "‘See Spot Run’: Teaching My Grandmother to Read"

Lawson Fusao Inada: "Grandmother" (poem)

Louise Bernikow: "Never Too Old: The Art of Getting Better"

Katherine Barrett: "Old Before Her Time"

Brenda Anne Le Blanc: "Circle of Children" (student essay)

UNIT TWO: FAMILY

Julia Alvarez: "Hold the Mayonnaise"

Susan Chira: "The Good Mother: Searching for an Idea"

Michael Dorris: "The Train Cake"

Shelley Moore: "Father and Child"

Tom Morganthau: "The Orphanage: Is It Time to Bring It Back?"

Lindsy Van Gelder: "Marriage as a Restricted Club"

Trang Vo: "Vietnamese Families: The Gap and the Bridge" (student essay)

UNIT THREE: MEN AND WOMEN

Ashley Montagu: "American Men Don’t Cry"

Shirley Chisholm: "I’d Rather Be Black than Female"

Joy Harjo: "Three Generations of Native American Women’s Birth Experience"

Adair Lara: "Cheap Men"

Steve Tesich: "Focusing on Friends"

Charnjeet Bhogal: "Boys and Girls, Indian Style" (student essay)

UNIT FOUR: LIFESTYLES

Lore Segal: "Modern Courtesy"

Andrew Lam: "They Shut My Grandmother’s Room Door"

Eugene Morris: "Kwanzaa: Holiday of ‘Principles to Live By’"

Jeannine Stein: "Shaved Heads and Pop Tarts"

Paula Gunn Allen: "Womanwork" (poem)

Barry Lopez: "My Horse"

Leticia Reyes: "Mi Pueblo" (student essay)

UNIT FIVE: EDUCATION

Elizabeth Wong: "The Struggle to Be an All-American Girl"

Carl Rowan: "The Unforgettable Miss Bessie"

David Raymond: "On Being Seventeen, Bright, and Unable to Read"

Leonid Fridman: "America Needs Its Nerds"

Malcolm X: "My Prison Studies"

Tom Morganthau with Marcus Mabry, Laura Genao, and Frank Washington: "Race on Campus: Failing the Test?"

Billy McClelland: "Japanese and American Preschools: What’s the Difference?" (student essay)

UNIT SIX: AT WORK

Rick Heredia: "Earth Ambassador Aiding Indian Youth"

Eric Bigley: "Give Us Jobs, Not Admiration"

Manning Marable: "Racism and Corporate America"

Steve Olson: "Year of the Blue Collar Guy"

Martin Espada: "Who Burns for the Perfection of Paper" (poem)

Annette Fuentes: "Equality, Yes--Militarism, No"

Roz Batt: "Fishy Business" (student essay)

UNIT SEVEN: AT PLAY

Arthur Ashe: "Send Your Children to the Libraries"

Time: "Comes the Revolution"

Kate Rounds: "Why Men Fear Women’s Teams"

Curry Kirkpartrick: "The Best Player of Her Time"

Jeff Greenfield: "The Black and White Truth about Basketball"

Gary Soto: "Black Hair" (poem)

Dan Frank: "Violent Idols: Negative Effects of Professional

Athletes on Children" (student essay)

UNIT EIGHT: LANGUAGE

Amy Tan: "My Mother’s English"

Charles Berlitz: "The Etymology of the International Insult"

Rose del Castillo Guilbault: "Americanization is Tough on ‘Macho’"

Joyce Maynard: "His Talk, Her Talk"

Ellen Goodman: "Breaking the Hungry Teen Code"

James Willwerth: "It Hurts Like Crazy"

Juan Chavez: "Do You Understand? (student essay)

UNIT NINE: IDENTITY

William Raspberry: "The Handicap of Definition"

Margaret Gibson: "Cultural Barriers and the Press to Americanize"

Jack Shaheen: "The Media’s Image of Arabs"

Richard Rodriguez: "Does America Still Exist?"

Brian Courtney: "Freedom from Choice"

Aurorar Levins Morales: "Child of the Americas" (poem)

Bill Vourthis: "A Taste of Greece" (student essay)

UNIT TEN: DEALING WITH DIFFERENCE

Langston Hughes: "I, Too, Sing America" (poem)

Lewis P. Johnston: "For My Indian Daughter"

John Naisbitt and Patricia Aburdene: "The Culture of Cuisine"

Chang-Lin Tien: "America’s Scapegoats"

Jeanne Marie Laskas: "Fire, Hope and Charity"

Jose Burciaga: "My Ecumenical Father"

Noga Eshban Laderman: "It’s a Long Way from Jersusalem to San Francisco" (student essay)