literary+luminary+week+1+and+week+2

- - I remember there was an old man living next door share my disposition. He lived alone, a gaunt, stooped figure who wore heavy black overcoat and a misshapen fedora on those rare occasion when he left the apartment. Once in a while I’d run into him on his way. - - The old man’s silence impressed me ; I thought him a kindred spirit. Later my roommate would find him crumpled up on the third-floor landing, his eyes wide open, his limbs stiff and curled up like a baby’s. a crowd gathered ; a few of the women crossed themselves, and the smaller children whispered with excitement. - - My twenty first birthday, a stranger called to give me the news. I was living in new York at the time ninety fourth between second and first part of that unnamed shifting border between harlem and the rest of manhattan. It was an uninviting block, treeless and barren, lined with soot colored walk ups that cast heavy shadows for most of the day. The apartment was small, with slanting floors and irregular heat and a buzzer downstairs that didn’t work, so that visitors had to call ahead from a pay phone at the corner gas station. - I enjoyed exchanging Spanish pleasantries with my mostly Puerto Rican neighbors, and on my way back from I’d usually stop to talk to the boys who hung out on the stoop all summer long - When the weather was good, my roommate and I might sit out on the fire escape to smoke cigarettes and study the dusk washing blue over the city, or watch white people.
 * __week 1__**


 * __week 2__**

- "As it was, many had already given up the hope that politics could actually improve their lives. much less make demands on them to them, a ballot, if it cast at all was simply a ticket to a good show. Blacks had no real power to act on the occasional slips into antisemitism or asian bashing, people would tell me and anyway black folks needed a chance to let off a little steam every once in a while man what do you think those folks say about us behit our backs?"

- "I went away for two weeks to visit my family. When I returned, I called ruby and told her I needed her to come to a meeting that saturday night. A long pause. "What about?" "You'll see, be ready by six. We,ll grab a bit to eat first. Our destination was a full hour away from ruby's apartment in one of the north side neighborhoods where jazz and blues had migrated in search of a paying audience."

- "Her eyes, deep brown were shimmering. I grabbed her gloved hand and gave it a quick squeeze before starting to drive. Nothing more was said; for the entire ride back to the south side, until I left her at her door and wished her good night we never broke that prevecious silence."

__**week 3**__ Identity Self Obama's search for his identity takes him to Kenya. He wanted to know about his roots. Education For both his parents. Education was extremely important. His mother always make sure that Obama gets the best education possible.