Views on columnist Charles Blow

There are few works that hit you at your core, at the very essence of your being. There are few places that elicit raw emotion, and they are never where you expect them to be.

It is with surprise — a delighted surprise — that I discovered such a work at my college orientation at Stony Brook University, manifesting itself in the form of “Fire Shut Up in my Bones,” a memoir by Charles Blow.

The story struck me as both distant and yet distinctly personal. I was not bisexual, but I felt the discrimination Blow felt in different forms. I was not black, but my religious beliefs put me at odds with the “establishment” in similar ways.

Blow grew up in the “Deep South,” a region of the United States notorious for its bigotry, racism and homophobia. It took a Civil War to get southern states to abolish slavery; even 50 years after the civil rights movement took the nation by storm, the vestiges of the antebellum South still remain. As an African-American, Blow knew the feeling of being racially profiled all too well. He was at once a victim of old stereotypes and the creator of new ones.

Viewed by most as “just another black,” his success in the classroom — coupled with the color of his skin — led many to perceive him as an “Uncle Tom.” This terms had been used to describe an African-American who tried too hard to be “white.” Therefore, Blow grew up confused, castigated by his own community and ostracized by everyone else.

I was filled with immense joy when I learned that this renowned New York Times columnist would give a lecture at Stony Brook this fall. Coming to what is called Commons Day at the college, there was a sense of excitement in the air. You could hear a restless murmur of college freshmen, now acclimated with their new surroundings, trying to get the best seats possible to listen to such a celebrated author. Once the students found their places, the murmuring intensified.

It was then that I saw a poem I had submitted to a creative writing contest associated with Commons Day, much to the reverence of my friends. The piece went something like this: