When I first heard that we had to write a collection for our blogs I never figured I'd want to write about stereotypes. I came up with the idea from riding the train. There were a bunch of kids not much older than ten talking and then one outbursted "What are you drinking?" to the one African- American in the group. The kid answered "Kool-Aid" and the kid said back "Yo!!!! He's drinking Kool-Aid 'cause he's Black!!!!" And just remembered thinking, Why do people always stereotype African- Americans? If it's not Kool-Aid it's fried chicken it just doesn't end. When I got off the train it was all I could think about. I wanted to do something, I realized that it wasn't just Black people being stereotyped it was everyone White, Black, Asian everyone. Out of this incident the idea came to write about stereotpes.
When I wrote my first poem had my mind set on writing a list of what things that were stereotypical in East New York since it's where i live. Writing this poem made me write about writing about different people and asking others what they are stereotyped for and how it affects them. I asked several friends and family members who live in my neighborhood and what they have been stereotyped for. From their answers evolved the poem 'East New York People.'
My second poem(Being Mixed) was actually inspired by a book I had read days before called 'Am I Blue?' A collection of stories of being gay by authors who know about it firsthand. There was one story in particular where the main character was mixed and she embraced her being different even if others did not. Being Mixed shows that not all of us can be that brave.
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