Harry Wardwell
Professor Center
English 110
November 9, 2018
Appiah and Yoshino
Setting: A musty closet in the DMV, Appiah is sitting on an overturned mop bucket, but this does not matter as the only light coming in is through the cracks in the doorway. He waits for his good friend Yoshino to arrive for their weekly meeting.
LOUDSPEAKER: Now serving 37B.
APPIAH: Where is he? I need to get that scoop for the next article.
(The door creaks open slowly, and YOSHINO peaks inside)
APPIAH: Kenji my friend! Quick, we haven’t much time.
YOSHINO: Of course Kwame, how long do you have?
APPIAH: Only about 2 to 3 pages I reckon.
YOSHINO: Alright. So the fresh idea you were looking for,
APPIAH: Yes, the readers are always looking for something new.
YOSHINO: Have you ever heard of covering?
APPIAH: Like if you were to put something such as a cloth or lid on top of or in front of something in order to protect or conceal it?
YOSHINO: Exactly, to cover is to tone down a disfavored identity to fit into the mainstream.
APPIAH: That’s an interesting conce-
LOUDSPEAKER: Now serving 12A
APPIAH: but what could we apply it to?
YOSHINO: Assimilation is a very valuable tool, but if we look closely, we will see that covering is the way many groups are being held back today.
APPIAH: So there’s an expectation that different groups should assimilate the way they have been conditioned to accept?
YOSHINO: Sort of, I recognize the value of assimilation, which is often necessary to fluid interaction, to peaceful coexistence, and even to the dialogue through which difference is valued.
APPIAH: This results in people being treated as members of that group, like the gay community.
YOSHINO: Gays must articulate invisible selves without the initial support of our immediate communities.
APPIAH: Oh I’ve read the literary theorist Barbara Johnson’s writings on this. She wrote, “If I tried to ‘speak as a lesbian,’ would I be processing my understanding of myself-
LOUDSPEAKER: Now serving 13A
APPIAH: -media-induced images of what a lesbian is or through my own idealizations of what a lesbian should be?”
YOSHINO: Impressive memory Kwame.
APPIAH: Thanks, I eat lots of blueberries.
YOSHINO: Anyways, you bring up a very interesting point with the “speak as a lesbian” thing.
APPIAH: Of course, but it appears as we’ve spoken for about a page and a half, you must get to the point. My article.
YOSHINO: Right, your article. How about we focus on that phrase, “As a”
APPIAH: Yes! That would work.
YOSHINO now sits crossed legged on the floor, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small journal and a smaller pen. He squints his eyes to make out the paper in the dark.
YOSHINO: Right, we are aware that racial minorities are pressured to “act white,” but what if we flipped that on its head.
APPIAH: Kenji, that’s brilliant. Members of a given identity group have experiences that depend on a host of social factors, they’re not the same.
YOSHINO: Well that’s difficult. I could easily see someone saying he was covering his african-american identity by studying something so esoteric and highbrow. But it was clear to me he was studying Romantic poetry because he was seized by it.
APPIAH: And that’s why we have to think about intersectionality, which stresses the complexity with which different forms of subordination relate to one another. You’ve really given me quite a lot to work with. Always you’ve been so loyal to me.
YOSHINO: Loyalty? What do you mean by this?
APPIAH: Always you’ve given me the hottest takes. First. But-
LOUDSPEAKER: Now serving 28F
APPIAH: -I hear about Roxane Gay’s article. Bad Feminist.
YOSHINO: (panic in his voice) I’ve never even read her work.
APPIAH: But you’ve heard of her. Maybe shared these ideas with her. Thought you could-
YOSHINO: Stop. Fine. I admit it. You don’t have to pay for this one.
APPIAH stands up, and blocks the closet door. It’s pitch black, but the anger in his face is bright red.
APPIAH: I’m definitely not paying for this, but someone has to.
YOSHINO: C’mon, I just gotta get him to talk for one more line. We’ll end on a cliffhanger.
APPIAH grabs YOSHINO by the collar of his shirt and pulls back his fist.
YOSHINO: You fool! You’ve wasted all your precious time on a stage direction!
APPIAH: Nooooooo!! how could this have happened!!
