Ensayo En Inglés Inspirado En "Black Men And Public Spaces"

Reflection upon Brent Staples's Essay

Public spaces can be easily altered by how a person, place, or thing makes you feel. Sometimes altering public space can cause confusion, discomfort, or even anger. A person can have such an effect on you that you believe that your life is in danger. Stories like these help us become aware that even though some situations may seem dangerous, noteverybody means us harm. These situations may appear life-threatening because people tend to judge others based on their appearance. An overdramatic reaction may end up hurting people that mean no harm and ultimately end up altering their space instead of ours. Following, personal experiences will be shared to show how dangerous these can be for both parties.

One night while I was out having agood time, a self-proclaimed psychic approached my friends and I. As he told us each of our fortunes, I could not help but to feel uncomfortable, his stare, his voice made me want to quiver. Finally, it was my turn and told me bluntly that my boyfriend would harm me. Immediately my mood changed and I couldn’t rest easily. I never told anyone, nonetheless haunting my mind. Weeks later, while I wasat my boyfriend’s house, I got upset at him. When he knows something is wrong, he always tries to cheer me up by doing silly things trying to make me laugh. Suddenly, he went into the kitchen and I heard the clatter of utensils. I was blinded; all I could think about was what the man had said to me. And suddenly I was full of fear, so I reacted instinctively. When he came out of the kitchen he washolding something behind his back, I had already jumped to the door, ready to escape my attacker. I couldn’t believe the man that altered my space, would be right. The man that I loved wanted to hurt me, or so I thought. When he came out of the kitchen I noticed he was holding something behind his back. Suddenly, he pulled out his weapon out and my heart dropped as I held the door knob. I lookedclearly… he was holding a spatula, laughing. Even though I realized he was just joking, I burst out crying because I had held it in for so long. I also felt so bad because, how could I think that my boyfriend that adored me would hurt me.

He immediately came to me, asking me what was wrong. The man that I thought was going to hurt me, was the one holding me in his arms comforting measking me what he did wrong. When I explained, I could see in his face now he was the one that was in shock, the one who’s mood I had changed. I realized that I had ended up altering his space, my actions and my words had hurt him and I felt guilty. After talking we finally forgave each other, and lessons were learned.

When you have experiences in which you feel that you didn’t reactthe way you were supposed to, you tend to feel alone in that situation. But that was when I didn’t know that a classmate of mine also had a similar experience. She worked the night shifts in her job in Old San Juan, and always would walk during her breaks. The scene was dark and lonely. Walking by the sidewalk, she looked up to notice a manly silhouette only a few feet away, soon they would crosspaths. As they came closer, the man wearing weird clothes seemed to slide closer to her. Finally, she then again looked up to see the man had jumped in front of her. As he took a deep breath as if he was going to say something, she feared the worst, she thought she was about to be the victim of a robbery or maybe worse. When he spoke he let out a flamboyant hello, with a big smile on his face. Theman that was dressed in a Christopher Columbus costume stood there waiting for an amicable response, but she was frozen with a fear-struck facial expression. He left confused, and without a response.

She kept walking still analyzing what had just happened. She then remembered that he was a usual in Old San Juan and that he was just trying to make her smile. As a person that is always in...