Microaggressions

It makes me happy that someone has finally put a name on it. It being the seemingly harmless comments people make. Some common microaggressions are " you're pretty for a black girl", " you're too smart to be black", or " you're strong for a girl". All of these comments have a little backlash that commentor may not notice, but the one receiving the compliment definately will. The author talks about transexual microaggressions and how to stop them. I understand need to stop them, but I don't understand how. The only way to stop them is for everyone to be open minded, which I doubt will ever happen. Instead the commentor of the microaggression should be informed how offensive their comment really was. I surprisingly haven't had any run in with microaggressions, atleast I don't think so. The author worked in technology, the last place we'd think to have prejudice employees because it's so diverse.

No name woman

"The no name woman" by Maxine Hong Kingston was an interesting. It truly is sad that the family decided I disown the woman but keep her close by and treat her as a pet. Why was the woman only blamed for getting pregnant out of wedlock? Why didn't they try and find the man we supposedly abused her? Why didn't she tell them the man's? There are so many questions that this story has brought up. I think she wasn't abused. I think she fell in love with him, but the love was one sided. She loved him enough to take his name to her grave. We can see that the father of the author is ashamed of his sister because of him not giving the aunt a name. But since the mother knew of the story they must feel some type of guilt to actually tell the story. Although the  aunt's name my have been forgotten the story hasn't been. This I feel is in honor of her memory, whether the family wants to admit that or not. The mother tells the daughter the story so she wouldn't follow in the aunt's footsteps. But I think she really tells her because she is passing down the guilt of the family. Even the author in the end says that her writing the story is to honor her unnamed aunt. Although the story is tragic, I think people  should learn from it. The lesson shouldn't be not to follow someone's mistakes, but it should be to honor all family members, even though they made a mistake in their lives. It was heart breaking when the unnamed woman decided to drown the baby too. But I can see why she decided on that decision. Like the author infered, the baby was probably a girl. But then the baby would of had a hard life either way, because it would of be looks at like a mistake, just like the aunt. I definitely find this story interesting and tragic.