Journal #1

Bade him anon return and here speak with me,

The which he promised. Do but encave yourself,

And mark the fleers, the gibes, and notable scorns

That dwell in every region of his face.

(Look out onto the audience) For I will make him tell the tale anew

Where, how, how oft, how long ago, and when

He hath, and is again to cope your wife.

I say (whisper low to Othello), but mark his gesture. Marry, patience,

Or I shall say you are all in all in spleen,

And nothing of a man.

This whole soliloquy will be spoken somewhat to Othello. Iago should speak this in a low and devious voice, almost whispering to him.

Journal #2

Barbantio

In the beginning sequences of the play, Barbantio is told by Roderigo and Iago that The moor is having sex with his daughter. This makes Barbantio angry and causes him to send out a search party for his daughter and Othello. Once he finds them, Othello is taken to the duke where Barbantio expresses his disgust and anger. It may have been different had he been told that the moor “fell in love with Desdemona”.

Journal #3

My Role: Othello

Othello is a Moor. The word "moor" is a word for the black people that inhabited Europe during that time period. The Moors brought over a lot of new cultures and ideas, including warfare techniques. This is was allowed Othello to serve as a general in Venice. Before, Othello was a slave of the Persian’s. The army of Venice and the Persian’s were at war, with the Persian’s losing severely. Othello was one of the last men standing, with no intentions of holding back. Barbantio took notice of this. With Othello’s blade staring down the face of one his soldiers, Barbantio commanded him to stop. He then asked Othello to stop killing his men. Barbantio offered to make him a general in the Venetian army. That was the birth of his new life in Venice.

Journal #4

The way I perceive Othello is nothing like myself. I’ll try to overcome this by standing up very tall and straight, to show his masculinity and firm build. Also, My voice is not as low as I imagine Othello’s to be, so I’m going to make my voice a little deeper. As a prop, I’m going to try and find a turban or a kufi. More than any of the props, I hope that our understanding of the lines will make our scene stand out from the others.

Journal #5

“Why, why is this? Think’st thou I’ld make a lie of jealousy, to follow still the changes of the moon with fresh suspicions? No, Iago; I’ll see before I doubt; when I doubt, prove, and on the proof, there is no more but this,-- away at once with love or jealousy!”

 I said this line as if I was telling Iago he was jumping the gun. He was making too many assumptions. Our scene went exactly as planned. We all played our parts as we rehearsed. If I had more time, I’d have memorized my lines so that I could make contact with the other actors. The language in the book is a little hard to read so, acting it out gave me a sense of what the characters’ words actually meant.

When I heard that this project was going to be about crossing boundaries, I wasn't sure who I'd interview. So I began to think about people who had a set a boundaries placed around them. Immediately, I thought of people who belong to a religion. Most of my family is apart of the Christian religion, but then I had to think of someone who'd broken a rule. My aunt came to mind. Fornication is a big sin amongst Christians,  and that was a sin that she'd committed. 

I learned that my aunt is very devoted to her faith and her religion, but her love and devotion for her children is even more powerful. Although she may have been ashamed at first to be carrying a bastard child, she was no longer ashamed once the children arrived. Not because she didn't want the child to feel unwanted, but because she was genuinely happy to have brought them into this world.

“That’s some skittle-cake!” I shouted in a room full of relatives, grandparents to the newly born girl sitting with her mother in the corner of the room. According to my mother, my teammate was making too many gestures as she gave the clues. “We should get those points!” I argued. I was always very competitive when it came to playing Taboo, but no one was worried about the score at that moment. They wanted to know what I’d even meant by shouting ‘skittle-cake’.

“Skittle-cake? Is that some new word ya’ll using?” My aunt asked. I would’ve said yes, but honestly, no one I knew used the word besides me. Which was a good thing. That word was the first way I discovered how to separate myself from crowds and trends.

            When I think of the people who speak the “better” English, those are the people who use it in a clear and educated way. When you’re educated in the English language, it gives you a bigger canvas to express yourself. You can’t play a Jimi Hendrix song on guitar if you only know three notes. However, becoming an English Linguistics major isn’t the only way a person can become better equipped to express themselves through language. As a teenager, I’m beginning to form my own self- image. Part of that is trying to be different than everyone else in every way possible. One of the ways I’ve found effective in doing so is with the way I speak. “I like dem shoes! They tough daddy!”. The usual response I get after I say something like this is, “ ‘Daddy’? What Thomas?”. While some may use loud clothing or wild hairstyles to stand out, I use language to express who I am to the world.

            In, If Black English Isn’t A Language Tell Me, What Is?, James Baldwin states, “Language incontestably reveals the speaker.” Different patterns and dialects can automatically be pinned to certain people. With your eyes closed, you could tell your listening to Obama speak just by the deep, calming tone he speaks in. With accents we can tell where a person is from. If actors are using words like jive and right on, you know you’re watching an American 70’s movie. Before even using any words to describe ourselves, people can tell something about us from whatever uniqueness you have to your diction.  The less unique, the less we stand out.

            . Slang is something that we all use, which sort of accompanies regional accents. We, here in Philadelphia, have our own set of words and phrases that we also use. However, one thing that I value is being unique. I was never one to follow trends or become too involved in pop-culture. One thing that makes me distinct is the language I use. I’ve transformed what some may call a Philadelphian accent into my own distinguishable speech. I may use the word daddy to represent something I think is cool or nice, or just use it as the suffix to a word due to my goofy nature.

            “It’s nip-daddy! I should’ve wore my coat this morning”. My friend stare at me, puzzled by the jibberish I’d just spoken.

“Nip-daddy? What, Thomas?” asked Ashley. Once the confusion passed, a burst of laughter erupted from everyone who’d heard me say it, the reaction I was hoping for. That’s the kind of laughter I like. Not the kind that’s ridiculing and harsh, but the kind that gives you a sense of belonging in your community.

“I guess we can add that to the bank with scrumptious” replied my friend Pierce. Scrumptious, as the average English speaker knows it, means to taste delicious. For me, the meaning is slightly different. I’ve transformed it into a phrase used to describe something attractive, from people to inanimate objects. Though this word currently exist in the English language, I’ve compromised it’s formality to create my own slang.

            Although English is something we all speak, it is spoken in different ways for each person. For me, I use my language to define my uniqueness. I bend and twist words into unorthodox patterns. With my clothes, music, and food choices I’d be an outcast. With language I’ve become a trend on my own.

Well, I usually start by telling him how much I like his Burlington Coat Factory necktie, or how delicious the cornbread is that his wife made. Honestly, that’s what I want to tell him. It’s what I’m used to, quick and easy, but I get the feeling that it won’t be a loaf of cornbread sitting on his living room table and his necktie will probably be Ralph Lauren or Nautica. We’re standing on this porch two inches from the rest of our lives and the only thing I want to say is… Is this outfit okay? (chuckles) Yea, that’s a question the girl would usually ask. I wasn’t even this nervous when I introduced you to my parents. My mom used to always say “If she can’t use a comb, don’t bring her home” (chuckles). I was surprised at how okay she was with you. All throughout high school I was so afraid to bring home anybody who wasn’t black. I knew my mom would smile in her face, but as soon as we were alone she’d call the whole family and complain about how all the good black men never want a black woman. One day I asked her, Did she ever think that women aren’t categorized by race? Did she ever think that the same human traits aren’t subject to race? I guess her reaction to you today was some type of new understanding she has. Have you ever been with a black guy? I mean I know my family has some issues with race, but you guys get the most hell about having problems with another race. I used to think that women like you were only nice to us black guys in order to stay on societies good side. I thought that, because of my skin color, I was only limited to a certain selection of females. I don’t know if you can understand this,  but when I met you it was one of the lowest points in my life. I knew I loved you immediately, and I hated myself. I hated myself because I felt that my skin color was keeping us apart, and at that moment I would’ve done anything to shed my skin so that you might be able to see me for the person I truly was. Amazingly enough, you did. Maybe you get it from your father. (Knocks on the door)