Everday Metro Cakes

As human beings the way in which we gather, interpret and eventually conclude certain judgments is apart of life. We may see a person sitting on a sidewalk, in a city and assume they are homeless. We may see dark brown custard and assume its expensive chocolate and not cat food. Through the Duff Goldman event, Alice Walker’s story “Everday Use” and the poem In a Station of the Metro by Ezra Pound one realizes the way in which we make assumptions about things can be drastically wrong.
In a Station of the Metro is an interesting poem that questions the reader about how they interpret appearances. From the title alone one can assume the poem is not typical. It sounds like someone trying to over glamorize a train station by calling it In a Station of the Metro. The title is also important because without it no one would really know where the poem is taking place. The poem is also very short, as it is only two lines long. Because the poem is so short their cant really be a rhyme scheme. The two lines are slant rhyme in that “crowd” and “bough” sound similar. The poem itself is a description of a metro station. One can almost picture the poet sitting on a bench, waiting for his train, and observing the scene in front of him. The reader can assume this by each line. The first line, “The apparition of these faces in the crowd” brings a picture in the readers mind of almost blurry faces weaving in and out of one another. The word apparition is important because it denotes a ghostly figure that is out of the ordinary. Even if the reader has never been in a train station they can certainly draw moments in their life where they are surrounded by strangers who seem to be moving around them as if they aren’t real. The second line, “Petals on a wet, black bough” is very strong imagery that further shows the reader exactly what the speaker is witnessing. When one thinks of petals on a black background they may picture light pink rose petals that pop against the black. The “wet” is important because when something is wet the color appears even darker, showing that the black is even darker than a normal black. The reader can almost imagine in their mind, with only two lines as a map, exactly what the speaker is writing about. It is amazing how different humans interpret what they see. I doubt the line “Petals on a wet, black bough” is how most people would describe a train station. However that is how Ezra Pound saw it. This tactic allows the reader to look at life in a different.
The short story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker depicts a story about a single mother and her two daughters. The mother is the narrator and both of her daughters have their own unique personalities. Dee/Wagnero is the elder daughter who went to college through money her mother and church raised. She is described as a girl who, “At sixteen she had a style of her own: and knew what style was”. While the mother is, “…big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands. In the winter I wear flannel nightgowns to bed and overalls during the day. I can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man. My fat keeps me hot in zero weather,” obviously showing a clear difference in what Dee/Wangero and the mother find important. Maggie, the younger sister is a fly on the wall and is not considered the special one. She envies and hates her sister at the same time. Maggie was also the sister who was burned during a past fire. Dee/Wangero during the fire apparently watched the house fall down with a sort of happiness because she “hated the house that much”. The story surrounds Dee/Wangero (who recently got married and changed her name to the later) visiting her mother and sister at their house. When she arrives there is an almost immediate tension as she looks down on her mother and sister. When explaining her name change she states, “I couldn’t beat it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me” meaning the white owners who named her ancestors who she was named after. Interestingly enough however, Dee/Wangero also seemingly feels that her mother and sister oppress her in different ways. They obviously embarrass her on some level and she in turn oppresses them by having no respect for them. The end of the story concludes with a fight over the family quilts. Dee/Wangero wants a quilt that had decades of family history woven into it, but unfortunately for her, it was promised to Maggie. The fight eventually ends with the mother taking it from Dee/Wangero and giving it to Maggie. The main argument was that Maggie wouldn’t “appreciate” it because she wouldn’t take care of it while Dee/Wangero wanted to hang it up and honor her family. It is strange because Dee/Wangero doesn’t seem to understand that in acting the way she does she is dishonoring her family. By trying to change her real history into one that suits her style better she is disgracing her heritage. The mother decides she rather have the quilt worn out then give it to Dee/Wangero because appreciating the quilt for what it is and not what one wants it to represent is the important idea. One would assume that putting families’ heirlooms in a container would be honoring them. However Walker strives to suggest that actually living within the history, like the butter churner the mother still used, is a better way to appreciate ones ancestors. Dee/Wangero states “It’s really a new day for us. But from the way you and mama still live you’d never know it” and its ironic that she strives so much to honor her heritage yet cannot honor her own immediate family.
Duff Goldman, the host of “Ace of Cakes” went to the University of Maryland and is an acclaimed chef. One would assume the point of cakes is, to well, eat. When I think of a cake I think of birthdays or special celebrations. However Duff critiqued this idea by creating a cake replica of the Humanities Building. Both buildings, the cake and actual version look identical however are very different in content and purpose. I never thought a cake could hold such a responsibility! It allowed me to question what I took as serious and what I took as humor. I sometimes don’t take what I have very seriously because my talents and strengths are entangle. Those who are great at sports can literally be ranked or timed in their skill. Those who are exceptional at math or science can solve problems that I cant. As a result I don’t take myself very seriously. I never thought there was an issue to this, however I am having second thoughts. Maybe if the people of Baltimore did not weigh their talents on the same scale I do much more progress would be made.