Independent Reading Discussion: Ghetto Nation

In a way, Ashley I agree to your new perspective on the book. Daniels gives us an open view of ghetto and its many meanings and takes in our urban and not so urban society. She definitely gives us a detailed analysis of the word ghetto but she leaves it to the reader to make the statement that we should change our culture since she does not exactly state anywhere in the text that we should change. Though in her words, she obviously denounces it but at the same time she admits that she is ghetto in an ironically proud way. “It allowed me the pleasure to rant and rave at what did prove to be degrading trash in the comfort of my own bedroom while munching on a damn good samich. (I be ghetto.)” (100) At the same time she is being ghetto yet she is opposing the being ghetto by bashing on the movie Hustle and Flow. She refused to watch the movie because it portrayed a stereotype of black people and ghetto. How pimps would beat their hos. When she saw the preview, she thought “there was no way I was going to increase box office revenue by going to see such degrading trash.” (100) Her actions both point in different directions. By refusing the see the movie she points out that she opposes such items that portray ghetto as glamorous to the public eye but then by buying a bootleg copy of the movie to see how trashy the movie was at home with a “samich” in hand, she is fulfilling one of the stereotypes of what it is to be ghetto. Do you guys have any thoughts on this?

Oh yeah back to the cover. Actually, I never really took a hard look at the cover and I never realized that it was Uncle Sam all blinged up. Now that I do look at it, it does look disgraceful to me. An old man making urban hand gestures and to have the apparel of the urban and ghetto kid seems really awkward yet is oddly attractive. The thing about this cover I like the best is the quote on the bottom. “A journey into the land of bling and the home of the shameless.” (cover) This really sums up the book and is nicely worded. I like how she called our capitalistic society as “the land of the bling.” Everything in America is money. We all work hard for it and the ones with the most land on top of the rest. The glamorous people are all rich and portray this image of bling in one way or another be it nice cars to castles as homes, diamonds, and expensive apparel. Yet on the other end of it is the shameless, the ghetto people of our nation. They do embarrassing things yet feel no shame and actually boast about it proudly. For example, kids will rob candy from stores yet brag to their friends.

If I were to sell this book, I would most likely paint a picture of dilapidated projects and the proud and blinging kids that live there. Those are probably the two things most associated with ghetto. The bling and the projects, is what I think of when I think ghetto. The media with their movies and rap songs have presented those two things to be ghetto the most. This I think would grab a lot of interest with teenage kids which I would definitely recommend to. I think they would benefit most from this book. What about you other people?