Art & Authenticy

Danzy Senna is an interesting lady to say the least. Hearing her read about her family was certainly unique. When she talked about her family, I started thinking about mine. Granted there aren’t as many overt issues as with hers, I can still appreciate and accept the idea that no family is perfect.

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Danny Senna’s Where Did You Sleep Last Night? showed us her past as a bi-racial child of a black father and a white mother. I thought it was interesting how she wrote about her family and her father’s past. Even with her father’s disapproval of the book, Senna continued with it. It seems to be me that Senna’s strength to write about this comes from her curiosity to know the past. With the family problems that she had, I thought that Senna does a great job in sharing it with us in her book. To a  lesser extreme, her story made me think about my own family. I remembered all the time s I had with my family and how my dad always said that I have a very good life compared to him when he was my age. It makes we wonder how hard my dad’s life was back then and the struggles he went through to be where he is now.

In class, we discussed how Danzy Senna’s family would get fingers pointed at them or questioned for her shockingly different appearance from her father. I knew the Senna family was open-minded but she just continued to surprise us. Her sister, marrying a Pakistani British man, like my Mr. England, was a nice shocker. Danzy Senna speaks of her life as if it’s not a big deal. I thought, “If she and her sister can follow their hearts and marry who they wanted to, I can too.” Growing up being instilled with values such as “don’t talk to boys” or “learn how to cook and clean for your in-laws” (something Abushale would agree with), I was always afraid of falling in love. Fortunately or unfortunately, I have. Danzy Senna’s beautiful memoir confirmed for me that love has no boundaries and steered me in the right direction: to follow my heart and its desires. I’m even considering writing a story about Mr. England, no matter what the end result is for us. The triumphs, the upheavals, and the tears that I’ve gone through may just be what some other young girl might want to hear – a story of hope. Senna being able to talk about her family on an open platform like she did that night, was amazing. I’m pretty open about my love life, but I always have to “think “ of the right answer. As her first nonfiction piece, I think she’s done an amazing job and this is just from a mere glimpse of the memoir. “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” is spoken about in this article.

Her memoir had a nostalgic tone, but it was different from most memoirs. Most of the blogs talk about how Danzy Senna tries to find herself, but I think by that time she had already found herself. She just didn’t know how to place herself in the midst of both worlds. I actually found it touching. I could relate to the same experience. No, I’m not from a bi-racial family, but I still have two identities. I’m Chinese-American.

It doesn’t sound too special or strange, but when I was growing up I found that I could fit into either groups too much. I didn’t have too many Chinese friends because I didn’t like their choice in music or their taste in clothes. I didn’t have too many “American” friends because of our different points-of-view. So I was really sympathetic of her feelings for her surroundings. It was nice that someone else can share a similar story.

When I read the excerpt from “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” I was immediately struck with Danzy Senna’s story, not so much because of the details of her plight, but of how much it sounded like everyone else’s.

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Danzy Senna’s Where Did You Sleep Last Night

Rating: 4.5 stars

Reason:

I was so surprised when I saw a tall, Caucasian-looking woman walking towards the podium after the name Danzy Senna was introduced. I said to myself, where is the half African American side of Danzy Senna or does it only exist on paper? Then the all the pieces in her new book, Where Did You Sleep Last Night, clicked in my head–ever since she was a kid, Senna has been battling with her own identity.

From what I have read about her family member, I was also shocked that Senna would talk so openly about them. She didn’t mind giving us a scoop on how her family is like on the night of Christmas, and how her niece was acting at the age of 14. I think that takes courage, especially for a woman who comes from such prestigious heritage in Boston.

I don’t know about you but I am definitely buying this book by Senna.

Where Did You Sleep Last Night?, as performed by Leadbelly

Being anything that isn’t white in America is hard enough, but being mixed is 10 times harder. Danzy Senna is the daughter of a black man and a white woman, and has lived her life in an infinite struggle to just live her life without having to answer questions about race. Her new book Where Did You Sleep Last Night follows her therapeutic journey to discover her black Southern roots and unravel the mystery that seems to encompass her father. While this sounds like a great story –and on paper it is– in person Senna did not make much of an impact. She lacked the charisma expected from good public speakers and seemed to barely connect to the audience. Despite her lackluster personality, I would still recommend her books to anyone looking for an interesting read. I actually look forward to reading Caucasia.

Danzy Senna took a giant step when she wrote Where Did You Sleep Last night. She put forth all of her family’s issues in a hope that others would relate. I assume she didn’t have to hope because unfortunately what she experienced in her life is not all that uncommon. I must say I have tremendous respect for her because it is never easy to speak of personal struggles, and in my opinion, especially ones you didn’t create but were handed.
I felt that Danzy had much to offer to a great variety of people depending on how you could relate to her writing. I almost felt, as fellow students questioned her, that by the demeanor of the person asking the question you could tell who has something in their life to relate to her writing. To me that portrays a very powerful subject that was written and presented very well, able to connect with the audience where you can almost feel there reactions.
What I enjoyed most about this reading was that there was a sense of resolution. Even though what happened in the past can never be altered for Danzy she has a sense of resolution no matter how late it came. This is what gives her story its flavor that something so powerful and sad can end up okay.

Looking at Danzy Senna, I would have never been able to tell that she is half-black.  And unless I read her story, I would have never believed anyone who told me so.  It was striking how beautiful she was.  But how nothing about her gave away the part of her that she considered her race to be.  After all, she did think of herself as African-American, rather than white.

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It takes tons of courage, iron guts and a lot of will power to write about your family in thye way Danzy Senna wrote about them. The book “Where did you sleep last night” gives a detailed description of Danzy’s relationship with her parents especially her fistant relationship with her father.  As she siad during the reading session, her father was not pleased by the book as  the book clearly portrays hima s a an inadequate parent.

Although I have not read the whole book, I still admire Danzy Senna for the brave action she took in deciding to write her memoirs. Tobe able to do so not only gives one an opportunity to carefully reflect on the past but may some time shelp to look at the past in anew light.