Kiese Laymon narrates his experience of becoming a new eighth grade student at St. Richard Catholic School in his hometown of Jackson, MS. The classrooms in his new school were filled predominantly with white students/teachers, unlike his old school. This change of environment brought many challenges and obstacles that affected Kiese Laymon and his former classmates. Initially I was expecting Kiese Laymon to write about the common difficulties any middle schooler would experience when transferring to a new school. This would include writing about how much the new school isn’t the same, making new friends, etc. Which is something Laymon wrote about to a certain extent at the beginning of “Meager”. Similarly I found the conversation/thoughts shared among Kiese Laymon and Ms.Stockard relating to Jabari very interesting. Ms.Stockard approached Laymon with a growing concern for his friend Jabari’s well being. Admitting that several students and teachers were “bothered with his odor and grossed out” (page-74) . Kiese and Lathon were both highly encouraged to speak with him regarding improving his personal hygiene. Kiese later elaborated that his friend has always “stank and how the death of his mother affected the scent in his home”(pg-75). Laymon took into consideration how much being accepted by his white peers meant to Jabari and decided to hide this from him. Laymon added if someone smelt bad it would normally be laughed about and controlled (pg-75). Ultimately demonstrating how ignorant individuals can be and gave perspective on how a concept as simple as bad hygiene can be perceived differently.
Reading the World as a Text (Fall 2021)
ENGL 210 at The City College of New York, Fall 2021 (Prof. Dalton)
