"Predators"

"Predators", a short story in the book The Mee Street Chronicles: Straight Up Stories of a Black Woman's Life by Frankie Lennon, describes the feelings people had back in the day about homosexuals. The author describes one of her days at Allen's Lounge. While waiting for her usual drink, the CBS Evening News came on. Walter Cronkite, the newscaster, started off the evening with the story of the "Save Our Children" campaign. This was a campaign ran by Anita Bryant. Frankie and the usual people at the bar became interested in the news as the word homosexuals rolled out of Cronkite's mouth. Everyone in the bar was against homosexuals and thought that they were freaks. Frankie on the other hand had fear building up inside of her. She was hiding a very important fact of her life from all of her buddies at Allen's. She hid the fact that she was one of them, the homosexuals.

I enjoyed reading this story because I got a feel for the way people felt about homosexuals back in that era. The narrator explained her hidden feelings to let us know what she was experiencing during that night at the bar. I found it ironic that everyone became so interested in the news as soon as Cronkite said the word homosexual. No one ever paid much attention to the news at the bar. I didn't like the story only because of the people that were badmouthing homosexuals. Other than that, I thought this was a great story to share with the rest of us.

While reading this story, I found two words that were new to my vocabulary. Piety was one of them and it is defined as the quality or state of being pious as a fidelity to natural obligations. Another word I found new was basso. This word was defined as a bass singer, especially an operatic bass.

I want to say that I can kind of understand what Frankie was feeling at this point. She had something big hidden under her sleeve, but she couldn't exactly tell just anyone. I myself come across this kind of situation once in a while. From my own experience of being in a relationship with a girl, it's not that easy to just tell anyone that you are with a girl instead of a boy. I feel uncomfortable sometimes when people ask me if I have a boyfriend. When they ask me this question, I don't know what to tell them. Sometimes, I have the courage to just tell people without being afraid of what they think. Other times, I feel exactly like the narrator: scared, confused, and alone. Towards the end of the story, the narrator is so angry with the people at the bar that she just wants to confront them and tell them that she herself is a homosexual. I can relate to that and I understand how it feels when people talk bad about being gay and lesbian. It hurts you inside when you cannot express what you're feeling. Homosexuals have feelings too, don't think otherwise.