# data[].attributes.body
"The idea of unity that brings people together to have the courage to take action on behalf of their lives is not just that they care about the same issues, its that they have shared stories."
Obama, 2017

# data[].attributes.body
When reading the quote on this page many of us will pause unintentionally, trying to relate it to our own lives and possibly our inner circles. This sets a lens in place through which we read and understand literature of any source. No one is special, it is because of this we find some literature so relatable we cannot put the piece down. This gives us the sentiment of togetherness, unity if you will. Unity compliments the fact that the feelings we have are common and our experiences are indeed alike. Readers like myself enjoy the embrace of unity between ourselves and the author. In return it is with high hopes we reflect these affections in our own writing and even relationships.  Of course we will never know unless the stories we have, are given to others.

# data[].attributes.headline
What it means to say Phoenix Arizona - Sherman Alexie

# data[].attributes.subject
What it means to say Phoenix Arizona - Sherman Alexie

# data[].attributes.body
When Victors father passes, he finds himself in need of assistance getting things in order. He finds himself in demand of an old friend Thomas. On their trip Thomas says to Victor "Your dad was my vision. Take care of each other, take care of each other". It was told Victor had cast Thomas out of his life by not defending Thomas when he needed it most. The reader can gather that despite the different paths they have gone, everything comes back and sometimes when we least expect it. It is a sort of karma that comes to remind you to protect one another because you never know when you will need the hand back. Even though they have been through trauma and back, they unify with the shared love for another.

# data[].attributes.body
This short story depicts the days young adolescents and their judgmental ways. Kids at a birthday party look to their peers as less than based on age. "I could beat you up" a six say's to a seven. The reader has surely seen or been party to such ill behavior in their lives. These kids have all been that six before, the birthday boy speaks up saying "We could easily kill a two year old." The boy is showing unity with the six by defending him from the rest. While reading the story the reader is given displays of being the oppressor versus being the child of valor. Sharing the experience and knowledge of right and wrong, we can muster the clear sense of unity in shared experience.

# data[].attributes.body
The short story written by Updike describs a boy who was ready to break through the maze of routine. He was tired of the ins an outs of a rat race life. surely a reader who has been in a situation like so, can identify with the feeling of longing for a difference. change is uncomfortable and very well illustrated in this story but many would find it necessary. this is how a change in direction or lifestyle begins. Unity in man or women longing for new is found in everyone's story.

# data[].attributes.body
When a young girl goes off to the city for school, she returns with a bang. Leaving her mom and younger sister in what seems the stone age to the main character, she returns demanding their everyday items. Specifically a quilt her grandmother made. "What will you do with them?" the mother asks, "hang them" the daughter replies. The daughter refers to herself as Wangero and rejects her true name Dee as it "oppresses" her she claims. Wangero wants to strip her mother and younger sister of their things because it tells a story of a life that she believes is no longer. She wants to hang them like a shrine. The reader is given thought behind both sides of the arguments for the articles. Breaking away from the norm can make one both proud and even forgetful. There once was unity and to return to it, we have to identify with who we are and where we are going. This means not forgetting those we love in the journey.

# data[].attributes.body
In a house on Mango street there is a chapter marked 'A House of My Own" Cisneros writes "Not a flat. Not an apartment in back. Not a man's house. Not a daddy's house. A house all on my own. With my porch and my pillow, my pretty purple petunias. My bed. Nobody to shake a stick at. Nobody's garbage to pick up after." This resonates well with me. Growing up I too had the dream of doing my own thing, being my own person and being safe. Through this passage I feel hope in a younger me or other readers. We have all been a child living in homes where we did not call the shots, we did not make the rules. Through her story it can reinstill the meaning of hope and unity that you are not the only one who dreams of brighter days.

# data[].attributes.body
In the broken environment such as the one portrayed in the story fences, it will either make or break you. With an arrogant controlling father you points his heavy hand at anyone he can but himself, you can imagine what this may do to someones self esteem. As I read this I remembered all the times I have felt not good enough or average. This is not the case. We are all doing our best in any situation, the ones who point out flaws in us are the ones who lack confidence in themselves. If I see this in a person I instantly think where is their self respect if they can be foul to others? How can I help this person, how can we both overcome. I would know someones insecurities if I ask or let them in to know mine. Building each other up is the best way unite the thoughts that live in us both.

# data[].attributes.body
"My dolls have been put away like dead children in a chest I will carry with me when I marry" Cofer writes in the perspective of a fifteen year old young lady. Having had a Quince myself as a young women when I read this I was instantly brought back in time. Standing before god in my beautiful dress, I was confused in nice clothes. I remember feeling "that's it I am grown move out of my way", yet looking for my mom for my next direction. Reading this short passage I felt the feelings I had were shared. We were both confused on the meaning this day brought us. To me the dolls in the chest symbolized my playful imagination being taken and locked away, no longer appropriate for the role God has watched me accept. I was now a keeper. A keeper of my brothers, my family secrets and most of all a keeper to the secret ingredient to mama's arros con gandule.

# data[].attributes.body
"What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up, like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore— And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over—like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode?"
When reading this short poem I thought to myself, What if all those times I said I cannot, I really gave up and did not. What if the whole world was in a space where they had no desire to fight back? When you looked out your window and saw what he describes would you close the blinds? When did it all get so off track? Seeing the deterioration of something loved can be seen in so many places and in so many ways. It reminds me of all the warriors in the world still fighting their fight. That is a discussion worth having, don't you think?

# data[].attributes.body
"Wash the white clothes on Monday and put them on the stone heap; wash the color clothes on Tuesday and put them on the clothesline to dry." Kincaid writes. When reading this I cant help but think of Quincenera. The feelings of what it means to be a female are boldly told and to be frank, true in today's world. It is stories like this that have lifted the female voice and spirit to fight back the illusion that we are more than just a prop in a "man's world". We see each other and we will make each other heard.

# data[].attributes.body
"We all move forward when we recognize how resilient and striking the women around us are." We find these truths within each other. I feel in the depths of everyone of us is a poet. We hold our truths,  we give it power. Whether our stories are of the wars we fight around us or peace we feel and see. These exchanges from person to person are the key to unlocking our understanding and mindfulness to a world in need. Literature needs everyone of us to do our part. Whether its to write, share or teach. We all share importance and we are all in this journey together.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Tracy Chapman - The Times They Are A Changin'