A Song Flung Up To Heaven by Maya Angelou (March 2018)
I wrapped up my project to read all of Maya Angelou’s autobiographies with this volume that picks up right after she returns from Africa and begins to work with Malcolm X. As usual, I found her absorbing writing peppered with valuable ideas and insights.
One thought I liked was Angelou’s observation that stereotypes exist to keep people comfortable. Instead of learning about others and trying to relate across our differences with new people, a stereotype encourages separation from others and keeps us in the familiar comfort zones of customs, preferences, and routines. Stereotypes also create a dangerous illusion that surface characteristics, features, or preferences permanently define groups of people. Someone who sees other groups through the lens of a stereotype strikes me as being uncomfortable with how life changes and ill-equipped to contribute meaningfully to the ongoing challenge of making the world a better place.
I felt the idea that teaching means helping a student learn to do the right thing without help was a great summation of the purpose of education. I notice a lot of teachers start to become less effective as soon as they get too involved with a lesson. Once a teacher shifts from guiding a student to showing and telling, the student becomes less likely to learn how to do something without help later. As The Good Ol’ Interwebs continues to make information more accessible, teachers must adjust by focusing less on imparting knowledge and focusing more on helping students learn what to do with the glut of information available to anyone with an internet connection.
I liked the observation that when someone tells you who he or she is, you should believe it because people know themselves. Of course, the obvious problem with the idea is that it isn’t always true. In fact, from my experience a lot of people have a somewhat deluded view of themselves and I worry that believing everyone unconditionally would only encourage more of these misguided self-reflections. Still, I believe in the spirit of the thought and I’m sure there is a better way to express the idea out there somewhere.
This final volume of Angelou’s autobiographies ends with her putting pen to paper on the first volume, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. It seemed like an unplanned ending (in the context of her plan, if she had one, when she started writing these books). As I reflected on the ending, I was reminded of some writing advice I pulled from the end of this Paul Graham essay about writing – when an ending appears, grab it.
