{"id":2408,"date":"2019-10-27T17:12:58","date_gmt":"2019-10-27T21:12:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/?p=2408"},"modified":"2019-10-27T17:12:58","modified_gmt":"2019-10-27T21:12:58","slug":"the-meaning-behind-my-archive-find-blogpost-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/?p=2408","title":{"rendered":"The Meaning Behind my Archive Find: Blogpost #7"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Cup coasters I found in the Shange Archives. I reflected on each word on every coaster and realized their relationship to Shange’s work.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

I found these cup coasters in the Ntozake Shange Archives. The box I found them in said that they were found in Shange\u2019s home when her belongings were collected. As soon as I saw them, many thoughts ran through my mind. The words on the coasters read: consciousness, nonviolence, homeland, realization, environment, women, the journey, values, fulfillment, obstacles, hope, and freedom.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Each word is a theme that is shown in a plethora of her works and pieces. Perhaps she used these coasters as her inspiration when she wrote? The coasters were, in fact, found laying around her house. Maybe she used a different coaster for each piece she wrote and tried to work that word\/theme into it?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These coasters make me think about each word and how every word is a significant and powerful theme that is ever-present in Shange\u2019s pieces. The more obvious themes, to me, are the words that are almost self-explanatory: environment, women, the journey, values, fulfillment, obstacles, hope, and freedom.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, let\u2019s look at \u201cconsciousness, \u201crealization,\u201d and \u201chomeland.\u201d Consciousness and realization can be interpreted as \u201cawareness\u201d — awareness\/realization of one\u2019s self, awareness\/realization of one\u2019s body, awareness\/realization of one\u2019s surroundings, and awareness\/realization of one\u2019s capabilities– something that Shange often explores in pieces like<\/span> Nappy Edges<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>for <\/span>colored girls who have considered<\/span><\/i> suicide\/when the rainbow is enuf.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cHomeland\u201d reminds me of Shange\u2019s appreciation for black culture and tradition. <\/span>A powerful underlying theme of <\/span>Sassafrass, Cypress, and Indigo<\/span><\/i>, and in many of her pieces in Lost in Language in Sound, is the significance of cultural tradition in the lives of contemporary black people. <\/span>For example, my previous blogpost that talked about how Shange makes <\/span>it evident that the portrayal and depiction of cultural heritage strongly affects the identity and character development of Sassafras, Cypress, and Indigo, partly because of their mother\u2019s influence. As I continue to reflect on the words on these coasters, I will think of deeper meanings and ways these themes connect to Shange’s life, as well as my life, going forward in the semester.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  I found these cup coasters in the Ntozake Shange Archives. The box I found them in said that they were found in Shange\u2019s home when her belongings were collected. As soon as I saw them, many thoughts ran through my mind. The words on the coasters read: consciousness, nonviolence, homeland, realization, environment, women, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[316,58,8,57],"tags":[144,565,566,562,564,10,563],"class_list":["post-2408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive-finds","category-assignments","category-blogposts","category-student-blogpost","tag-archive","tag-archive-find","tag-blogpost-7","tag-coasters","tag-inspiration","tag-shange","tag-themes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2408"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2409,"href":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2408\/revisions\/2409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}