The readings from this week were absolutely my favorite so far. As everyone’s been saying, the immigrants; the people, are what make up a certain community. I loved this week’s readings because of the fact that they focused on personal experiences and personal stories instead of neutral facts describing the general situations of community life. I think it’s much more meaningful when you hear personal stories and can establish a personal connection.
I feel so bad for Piri Thomas- he had such a hard life. And of course I’m not saying he’s a saint or anything, but he definitely wasn’t a bad person, he was just a product of his environment. (So Rebecca, to answer your question, I agree with ToniAnn- I think he was a product of his environment). He had a hard family life (his mom died, his bad relationship with his father and being thrown out), which led to him living on the streets. Of course once he was out on the streets he got caught up in his environment and one of the consequences was getting addicted to heroin, which aside from being unhealthy, also used up all his money and caused him to make bad decisions in order to get more money. Although he quit heroin at this point, I think the poverty inflicted by heroin was one of the major factors that caused him to turn to robbery for quick and easy cash. You could tell he wasn’t a bad person because he felt terrible when he beat up the old man and you could tell he regretted it.
One of the things that was the most frustrating for me was when he knocked up that girl and had to give up school to come back and provide for her and the baby. He was so close to getting out!!! He was on the path to go to school and get a job and turn his life around, but instead he was pulled back into the streets because of some stupid move.
And when Piri was in jail and the riot was happening and all the prisoners had to make a decision-join the riot, or lose their pride/reputation by going back to their cell, I was happy that Piri hesitated. I really thought he would resist and go back ot his cell so he could make parole. It would be stupid to spend another two years in jail for a pointless riot just to save face. Luckily the guards took him to his room before he could do something stupid and join the riot, which he would have done had they not stopped him.
He seemed to learn his lesson and he walked away from a fight with the barber in order to stay on good behavior to make parole. It’s just not worth it- who cares if you save face by fighting? That one punch will cause you two years in jail. Don’t be an idiot Piri.
It was also hard to see his struggle when he got out of jail- when he got out of jail (and even some points when he was still in jail), he kept saying how he wanted to go to school and better himself and make his mother proud, but when he got out he started falling into the same routine again- smoking, drinking, sleeping with random women. Even though he didn’t like the person who he became (by reverting back to his old ways), he just couldn’t change and be the person he wanted to be. It was really frustrating, but it wasn’t totally his fault- I really believe he was a product of his environment and it was hard to fight that.
Maryam- your rhyme was awesome. I really liked it. Alex– Nice touch putting in a picture from out East Harlem walking tour.
