“For nothing is fixed, forever and forever and forever, it is not fixed; the earth is always shifting, the light is always changing, the sea does not cease to grind down rock. Generations do not cease to be born, and we are responsible to them because we are the only witnesses they have. The sea rises, the light fails, lovers cling to each other, and children cling to us. The moment we cease to hold each other, the moment we break faith with one another, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out.”
James Baldwin, Nothing Personal (1964)
Have you used this sample in your class? If so, please let us know how. What did you discuss? What activities did you do? How did students respond? Comment below!
Rutgers University-Camden 
Discussing this paragraph today is was an exciting experience. I had 4 students read this out loud. On the last reading, I played Miles Davis’s “All Blues” in the background. The first thing that they noted after this was the vast differences in the various readings (pauses and tone) and how those differences affected their understanding of the paragraph. I asked them to call out phrases that they remember without looking at the text. The first was the repetition of “forever” – it really sunk in for them. It guided their contextual reading of the paragraph. One student said that their brains remember the first and last things that we hear/read. The structure of the paragraph allows us to understand what is most important. One student said the paragraph is “connectable” – that the personal emotion is relatable to each reader. The imagery in this also connects the reader to the speaker. One final thought that the students had was on my choice to play music behind the text. They said because it was a happy song, it made them focus on the happy portions of the text – that we have these wonderful things now – instead of the more terrifying realizations that existence is fleeting.
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