1. Brent Staples Black Men and Public Space English 1302 Mrs. N. Puder

2. Brent Staples Born in Chester, Pennsylvania Oldest of Nine Children
Father Lost His Job as a Truck Driver along with 40,000 Other Workers in the 1960’s due to Plant Closings in the Area
Family Reduced to Poverty
Did Not Consider College Until a College Professor Took Interest In Him

3. Brent Staples Received a B.A. from Widener University
Awarded a Danford Fellowship for Graduate Study
Received a Ph.D. in Behavioral Psychology from the University of Chicago

4. Brent Staples
Taught Psychology at Several Colleges in Pennsylvania and Illinois.
Reporter
Chicago Sun Times
New York Times
Wrote Opinion Pieces on Race, Social Problems, Politics, and Contemporary Culture
Author
Parallel Time: Growing Up in Black and White

5. Title Definitely About African- American Men
I Like the Play on Public Space
Should We All Be Able to Navigate the Same Space

6. Summary: Say What? Revolves Around the Writer’s
Ability to alter public space in ugly ways
His uncomfortable encounters
How he deals with being profiled as a danger.

7. Audience African-American Men Others Who Have Had Similar Experiences
More Importantly, Women
Published in two women’s magazines
Ms. Magazine
Feminist
Harper’s
Focus on Intellectual Articles

8. Thesis: Revealed
“And soon I gathered that being perceived as dangerous is a hazard in itself” (1).

9. Support for Thesis and Rhetorical Modes
Mistaken for Burglar
Racially Profiled at Jewelry Store
Journalist Friend Pulled Over as Suspect
Narration
Description
Cause Effect
Argumentative

10. Tone: Significance
Nonchalant
Serious
Non Threatening

11. Diction: Significance
Intellectual
Impoverished
Affluent
Labyrinthine
Quarry
Cursory
Accomplice
Ad Hoc Posse
Berth
Elicit
Alienation
Instead of
Poor
Rich
Maze Like
Victim/Perused By
. . .

12. Syntax: Sentence Structure
Complex and Emotionally Revealing
“ As a softy who is scarcely able to take a knife to a raw chicken – let alone hold one to a person’s throat- throat – I was surprised, embarrassed, and dismayed all at once.

13. Imagery Reveals How Being Perceived As Danger Feels
“I could cross in front of a car stopped at a traffic light and elicit the thunk, thunk, thunk of the driver – black, white, male, female, p hammering down the door locks”(1).