Solution Manual For Efficient And Flexible Reading, 10/E 10th Edition by Kathleen T. McWhorter

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Active Reading and Learning
Exercise 2–2 Analyzing Assignments
Directions: Consider each of the following reading assignments. Discuss ways
to get actively involved in each assignment.
1. Reading two poems by Walt Whitman for an American literature class
annotate as you read, compare and contrast the poems’ subject matter,
language, and meaning
2. Reading the procedures for your next biology lab
underline key steps, visualize the process, focus on overall purpose of
the lab
3. Reading an article in Time magazine assigned by your political science
instructor in preparation for a class discussion
underline, write summary notes, discover how the article connects to
course content ■
Exercise 2–3 Reading Actively
Directions: Compile a list of active reading strategies you already use. Discuss new
strategies that could be used with your instructor or classmates. Add these to your list.
Answers will vary.
■
Exercise 2–4 Identifying Levels of Thinking
Directions: For each of the following activities or situations, identify which
levels of thinking are primarily involved.
1. You are reading and comparing research from several sources to write a
term paper for sociology.
understanding, analyzing, evaluating, creating
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2 Chapter 2 Active Reading and Learning
2. You received a “C” grade on an essay you wrote for your freshman composition course. Your instructor will allow you to revise it to improve
your grade.
analyzing, evaluating, creating
3. You are translating an essay from Spanish to English.
understanding, creating
4. You are dissecting a frog in your biology class.
understanding, applying, analyzing
5. You are bathing a patient as part of your clinical experience course in
nursing.
applying ■
Exercise 2–5 Identifying Levels of Thinking
Directions: Read the following excerpt from a history textbook. Then read the
questions that follow and identify the level of thinking that each requires.
African-American Women as Writers
Phillis Wheatley was a young, African-American slave who belonged to landowner John Wheatley in Colonial America. She was also a poet and the first
African-American ever to publish a book. Her Poems on Various Subjects,
Religious and Moral was printed in Boston in 1773, three years before the
penning of the Declaration of Independence.
Early slaves were generally denied education (it was deemed dangerous), but
Wheatley was allowed by her owner to study poetry, Latin, and the Bible, and
by the time she reached her late teens she had written enough poetry to put
together a slender book of verse. Even so, publication was difficult. Proper Bostonians, fearful of a hoax, forced her to submit to a scholarly examination by
a board of educated men, including the colonial governor and the same John
Hancock who later copied out the Declaration of Independence and signed it
with a flourish. The board of judges questioned Wheatley extensively and ruled
that she was literate enough to have written the book. Only then was publication permitted.
Wheatley may have been the first, but she was not the only slave to write a
book during the growing days of the republic. Unfortunately, most of the early
popular African-American writers have been all but forgotten in modern times.
Until now. A Cornell professor, Henry Louis Gates, recently started a research
project, looking into 19th-century African-American fiction and poetry. In the
process, he uncovered numerous lost works, almost half of which were written by African-American women. In varied literary styles, the newly resurfaced
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Chapter 2 Active Reading and Learning 3
manuscripts offered a rich repository of African-American culture, recreating,
among other things, the early days of slavery and the importance of religion to
people under subjugation.
The literary finds were important. So important, in fact, that 30 of the lost books
were republished in the late 1980s by Oxford University Press. The newly reclaimed
writers range from poet Wheatley to novelist Frances Harper, essayist Ann Plato, and
outspoken feminist Anna Julia Cooper. Perhaps this time they won’t be lost.
—Merrill, Lee and Friedlander, Modern Mass Media, 2e, HarperCollins Publishers.
1. Who was the first African-American to publish a book?
remembering
2. Explain why Phillis Wheatley was forced to submit to a scholarly
examination.
analyzing
3. Name two writers who have been recently rediscovered.
remembering
4. Read two poems by Phillis Wheatley and compare them.
understanding, analyzing
5. Why does the writer of this article hope the newly reclaimed work won’t
be lost?
analyzing
6. Read a poem by Phillis Wheatley and explain what meaning it has to
your life.
understanding, applying
7. Critique one of Wheatley’s poems; discuss its strengths and weaknesses.
evaluating
8. Discuss the possible reasons Wheatley’s owner allowed her to study.
analyzing
9. Read five essays by Ann Plato, and develop a list of issues with which she
is concerned.
understanding, creating
10. Decide whether it was fair to ask Wheatley to submit to a scholarly
examination.
evaluating ■
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4 Chapter 2 Active Reading and Learning
Exercise 2–6 Monitoring Your Comprehension
Directions: Select a two- to three-page section from one of your textbooks or
choose one of the readings at the end of the chapter. As you read it, monitor
your level of understanding. After reading the material, answer the following
questions. Answers will vary.
1. In what sections was your comprehension strongest?

2. Did you feel at any time that you had lost, or were about to lose, comprehension? If so, go back to that section now. What made the section difficult to read?
3. Analyze any sections where you slowed down or reread. Why was this
necessary?

4. How did you connect the content with your background knowledge and
experience?
■
Exercise 2–7 Checking Your Recall
Directions: Complete this exercise after you have previewed the selection titled
“Types of Nonverbal Cues.” For each item, indicate whether the statement is
true or false by marking T or F in the space provided.
F 1. Spatial cues refer to the manner and posture in which we sit or
stand.
T 2. Nonverbal communication is sometimes ambiguous or unclear.
T 3. The social distance is used for nonpersonal conversations.
F 4. Voices are slightly louder and higher pitched in the intimate
distance.
F 5. The distance in which people are farthest apart is the social
distance.
F 6. Hands are the most expressive part of the body.
T 7. The author discusses four types of distance.
F 8. Personal distance can affect the behavior of other people.
T 9. Visual cues are provided by facial expression, eye contact, personal
appearance, and body movement.
T 10. Gesture and posture provide important nonverbal cues. ■
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Chapter 2 Active Reading and Learning 5
Academic
Application
Working
collaboratively
Exercise 2–8 Adapting Previewing
Directions: Working with another student, choose three of the materials from
the following list. Discuss how you would adapt your previewing technique to
suit the material. Answers will vary.
1. a front-page newspaper article
2. a poem
3. a short story
4. a mathematics textbook
5. a newspaper editorial or letter to the editor
6. a new edition of your college catalog
7. a sales brochure from a local department store ■
Exercise 2–9 Previewing A Textbook Chapter
Directions: Select a chapter from one of your textbooks and preview it, using
the guidelines included in this chapter. Then answer the following questions.
Answers will vary.
Textbook title:
Chapter title:
1. What general subject does the chapter discuss?
2. How does the textbook author approach or divide the subject?
3. What special features does the chapter contain to aid you in learning the
content of the chapter?
4. What are the major topics discussed in this chapter?
■
Exercise 2–10 Making Predictions
Directions: Predict the content or organization of each of the following sections
of a sociology textbook based on these chapter headings.
1. Inequality in the United States
The section will discuss racial and sexual inequality; it may discuss causes
or effects.
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6 Chapter 2 Active Reading and Learning
2. Nontraditional Marital and Family Lifestyles
It will contain a description of nontraditional relationships and lifestyles.
3. The Development of Religious Movements
Organized chronologically, the section will describe the movements and
discuss why they developed.
4. Education and Change in the 1990s
Organized chronologically, the section will describe major changes in the
decade.
5. The Automobile, the Assembly Line, and Social Change
The section will explain how the automobile and assembly line produced
social change.
6. Health-Care Systems in Other Countries
The section will describe health-care systems; it may compare them.
7. Computers in the Schools
The section will describe instructional uses of computers.
8. Sociology and the Other Sciences
The section will compare and contrast sociology with the natural and life
sciences.
9. The Consequences of Sexual Inequality
The section will discuss the effects of sexual inequality.
10. What Is Religion?
The section will define religion and discuss its place or function in
society. ■
Exercise 2–11 Making Connections
Directions: Assume you have previewed a chapter in a sociology text on domestic violence. Discover what you already know about domestic violence by writing
a list of questions about the topic. Answers will vary. ■
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Chapter 2 Active Reading and Learning 7
Working
collaboratively
Exercise 2–12 Activating Your Background Knowledge
Directions: Answers will vary.
Step 1: Preview one of the readings at the end of the chapter. Activate your previous knowledge and experience by
1. dividing the subject into subtopics.
2. writing a list of questions about the topic.
3. writing for two minutes about the topic, recording whatever comes to
mind.
Step 2: Evaluate the techniques used in Step 1 by answering the following questions:
1. Which technique seemed most effective? Why?
2. Might your choice of technique be influenced by the subject matter with
which you are working?
3. Did you discover you knew more about the topic than you initially
thought? ■
Exercise 2–13 Activating Your Knowledge
Directions: Connect each of the following headings, taken from a psychology
text, with your own knowledge or experience. Discuss or summarize what you
already know about each subject. Answers will vary.
1. Pain and Its Control
2. Television and Aggressive Behavior
3. Problems of Aging
4. Sources of Stress
5. Eating Disorders ■
Exercise 2–14 Writing Guide Questions
Directions: For each of the following titles or headings, write a guide question
that would be useful in guiding your reading of the material.
1. We Ask the Wrong Questions About Crime Sample Answers
What are the wrong questions? or What are the right questions?
2. The Constitution: New Challenges
How (or why) is the Constitution being challenged?
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8 Chapter 2 Active Reading and Learning
Academic
Application
3. Political Party Functions
How do political parties function?
4. Ghana and Zimbabwe—A Study in Contrasts
How are Ghana and Zimbabwe different?
5. Comparing X-Rays and Visible Light
How do X-rays and visible light compare? ■
Exercise 2-15 Writing Guide Questions
Directions: Select a chapter from one of your textbooks that you are about
to read. Write a guide question for each title and major heading. After you
have used these questions to guide your reading, identify the weak questions and rephrase them in a way that would have been more useful to you.
Answers will vary. ■
Exercise 2–16 Answering Questions About Reading Excerpts
Directions: Use the excerpts found in this chapter to answer the following
questions.
1. Reread “Communication and the Skin” (p. 56). What is the single most
important point the authors expect you to understand after you have
read the selection? How does this new understanding add to your knowledge of or experience with the topic of human communication?
The authors are making the point that humans use skin to communicate.
For many readers, who often think of communication as being
primarily verbal or facial, this will be new information.
2. Reread “African-American Women as Writers” (p. 58). Underline at least
two sentences that reveal the authors’ attitude toward the subject.
3. How could you use the information found in “Types of Nonverbal Cues”
(pp. 64–67)?
Answers will vary.
■
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Chapter 2 Active Reading and Learning 9
* The Scorecard on p. 83 enables you to compute your reading rate. In order to do so, be sure to record your starting time in the
Scorecard box before you begin reading.
Reading Selection 3 Sociology
The Sociology of Sports
John J. Macionis
About the Reading
“The Sociology of Sports” is taken from an introductory sociology textbook by
John J. Macionis. Much of college reading examines different perspectives on a topic.
This reading provides an example of multiple viewpoints on the topic of sports.
Planning Your Reading Strategy*
Directions: Activate your thinking by previewing the reading (see the Need to Know box on page 64) and
answering the following questions.
b 1. Based on your preview of the graphic included with the reading, which topic do you think the
reading will discuss?
a. the differences between baseball and football
b. racial patterns in professional sports
c. the difference between baseball’s Major Leagues and Minor Leagues
d. college sports championships, such as the NCAA tournament
c 2. Based on your preview of the reading, which of the following is not a function of sports?
a. They reflect the players’ social status.
b. They help people get into good physical shape.
c. They provide opportunities for international Olympics competitions.
d. They provide recreation and the ability to release aggression.
3. Which sport(s) do you play or follow? Do you have a favorite team? Have you ever thought about
the pros and cons of professional sports and their effects on society?
TEXTBOOK
Excerpt
■ Apply
1 Who doesn’t enjoy sports? Children as young
as six or seven take part in organized sports,
and many teens become skilled at three or
more. Weekend television is filled with sporting events for viewers of all ages, and whole
sections of our newspapers are devoted to
teams, players, and scores. In the United
States, top players such as Alex Rodriguez
(baseball), Tiger Woods (golf), and Serena Williams (tennis) are among our most famous celebrities. Sports in the United States are also
a multibillion-dollar industry. What can we
learn by applying sociology’s theoretical approaches to this familiar part of everyday life?
■ The Functions of Sports
2 The functions of sports include providing recreation as well as offering a means of getting
in physical shape and a relatively harmless
way to let off steam. Sports have important
latent functions as well, which include building social relationships and also creating tens
of thousands of jobs across the country. Participating in sports encourages competition
and the pursuit of success, both of which are
1270L/938 words
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10 Chapter 2 Active Reading and Learning
values that are central to our society’s way of
life.
3 Sports also have dysfunctional consequences. For example, colleges and universities
try to field winning teams to build a school’s
reputation and also to raise money from
alumni and corporate sponsors. In the process,
however, these schools sometimes recruit students for their athletic skill rather than their
academic ability. This practice not only lowers the academic standards of the college or
university but also shortchanges athletes, who
spend little time doing the academic work that
will prepare them for later careers.
■ Sports and Conflict
4 The games people play reflect their social
standing. Some sports—including tennis,
swimming, golf, sailing, and skiing—are expensive, so taking part is largely limited to the
well-to-do. Football, baseball, and basketball,
however, are accessible to people at almost all
income levels. Thus the games people play are
not simply a matter of individual choice but
also a reflection of their social standing.
5 Throughout history, men have dominated the world of sports. For example, the
first modern Olympic Games, held in 1896,
barred women from competition. Throughout
most of the twentieth century, Little League
teams barred girls based on the traditional
ideas that girls and women lack the strength
to play sports and risk losing their femininity if they do. Both the Olympics and the Little League are now open to females as well as
males, but even today, our society still encourages men to become athletes while expecting
women to be attentive observers and cheerleaders. At the college level, men’s athletics
attracts a greater amount of attention and resources compared to women’s athletics, and
men greatly outnumber women as coaches,
even in women’s sports. At the professional
level, women also take a back seat to men, particularly in the sports with the most earning
power and social prestige.
6 For decades, big league sports excluded
people of color, who were forced to form
leagues of their own. Only in 1947 did Major
League Baseball admit the first African American player when Jackie Robinson joined the
Brooklyn Dodgers. More than fifty years later,
professional baseball honored Robinson’s
amazing career by retiring his number 42 on
all of the teams in the league. In 2009, African
Americans (13 percent of the U.S. population)
accounted for 9 percent of Major League Baseball players, 67 percent of National Football
League (NFL) players, and 77 percent of National Basketball Association (NBA) players.
7 One reason for the high number of African Americans in many professional sports is
Figure A “Stacking” in Professional Baseball
Does race play a part in professional sports? Looking at
the various positions in professional baseball, we see
that white players are more likely to play the central positions in the infield, while people of color are more likely
to play in the outfield. What do you make of this pattern?
Henslin, James M., Sociology. 14th Ed., (c) N/A. Reprinted and electronically reproduced
by permission of Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Outeld
Ineld
Pitcher
Catcher
Whites
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0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
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African
Americans
Latinos Asians
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Chapter 2 Active Reading and Learning 11
that athletic performance—in terms of batting
average or number of points scored per game—
can be precisely measured and is not influenced
by racial prejudice. It is also true that some people of color make a particular effort to excel in
athletics, where they see greater opportunity
than in other careers. In recent years, in fact,
African American athletes have earned higher
salaries, on average, than white players.
8 But racial discrimination still exists in
professional sports. For one thing, race is
linked to the positions athletes play on the
field, in a pattern called “stacking.” Figure A
shows the results of a study of race in professional baseball. Notice that white athletes are
more concentrated in the central “thinking”
positions of pitcher (68 percent) and catcher
(64 percent). By contrast, African Americans
represent only 4 percent of pitchers and 1
percent of catchers. At the same time, 9 percent of infielders African Americans, as are 28
percent of outfielders, positions characterized
as requiring “speed and reactive ability.”
9 More broadly, African Americans have a
large share of players in only five sports: baseball, basketball, football, boxing, and track.
And across all professional sports, the vast
majority of managers, head coaches, and team
owners are white.
10 Who benefits most from professional
sports? Although many individual players get
sky-high salaries and millions of fans enjoy
following their teams, the vast profits sports
generate are controlled by small number of
people—predominantly white men. In sum,
sports in the United States are bound up
with inequalities based on gender, race, and
wealth.
Checking Your Vocabulary
Directions: Use context, word parts, or a dictionary, if necessary, to determine the meaning
of each word as it is used in the reading.
c 1. latent (paragraph 2)
a. misguided
b. expensive
c. less apparent
d. damaging
b 2. dysfunctional (paragraph 3)
a. typical
b. unhealthy
c. agreeable
d. essential
d 3. accessible (paragraph 4)
a. unnecessary
b. encouraged
c. exclusive
d. available
a 4. excel (paragraph 7)
a. do well
b. attempt
c. take part
d. go away
c 5. predominantly (paragraph 10)
a. hardly
b. poorly
c. mainly
d. secretly
Checking Your Comprehension
Directions: Select the best answer.
b 6. This reading is primarily concerned
with
a. sociology.
b. sports.
c. gender differences.
d. professional athletes.
Examining Reading Selection 3*
*Writing About the Reading questions appear in the Instructor’s Manual.
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12 Chapter 2 Active Reading and Learning
a 7. The author wrote this selection in
order to
a. explore sports as a part of our society.
b. encourage greater participation in
sports.
c. discuss discrimination in professional sports.
d. argue that Americans place too
much emphasis on sports.
b 8. For most of the twentieth century,
girls were not allowed to participate in
Little League because of the idea that
a. boys would be distracted by
female teammates.
b. girls were not strong enough to play.
c. sports would damage girls’ social
standing.
d. girls would not be able to learn
the rules.
c 9. The term “stacking” describes a
pattern in which race is linked to
a. the types of sports athletes play.
b. the number of points scored per
game.
c. the positions athletes play on the
field.
d. coaching and management
opportunities.
d 10. An example of a sport that is limited
to those with higher income levels is
a. football.
b. baseball.
c. basketball.
d. tennis.
Thinking Critically
a 11. The best guide question based on this
reading is
a. What are the functions of sports?
b. Which professional sport generates the most profits?
c. When did sports become a
multibillion-dollar industry?
d. What percentage of NFL players
are African American?
b 12. Based on the reading, all of the following statements are true except
a. Sports can have both positive and
negative consequences.
b. Women have achieved equal status with men in sports.
c. Sports can be an indicator of social standing or prestige.
d. In recent years, African American
athletes have earned more than
white players.
d 13. The purpose of Figure A (“‘Stacking’ in
Professional Baseball”) is to
a. demonstrate how baseball managers develop winning strategies.
b. illustrate the skills required at
each position in professional
baseball.
c. explain why the majority of major
league pitchers are white.
d. illustrate the concept of race being
linked to the positions athletes play.
d 14. The author’s final point is that professional sports in the United States
a. are a valid way for individual
players to become rich.
b. provide enjoyment for millions of
fans.
c. generate huge profits.
d. still have inequalities of gender,
race, and wealth.
c 15. The author’s attitude toward the subject can best be described as
a. admiring.
b. sarcastic.
c. objective.
d. informal.
Questions for Discussion
1. Discuss other functions and consequences of sports in addition to the
ones described in paragraphs 2 and 3.
Do you think the benefits outweigh
any of the negative aspects of sports?
Why or why not?
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Chapter 2 Active Reading and Learning 13
2. In what ways does society encourage
men to become athletes and women to
be observers? Do you think college and/
or professional sports are improving in
this regard? Discuss why or why not.
3. Discuss the phenomenon of
celebrity-athletes. Why do so many
athletes become celebrities? Should
professional athletes be viewed as role
models?
4. Address the questions posed in the
caption of Figure A. In your opinion,
does race play a part in professional
sports? Can you apply the concept of
stacking to other sports?
Scorecard
Selection 3: 938 words
Finishing Time: ______ ______ ______
hr. min. sec.
Starting Time: ______ ______ ______
hr. min. sec.
Reading Time: ______ ______
min. sec.
WPM Score: ________________
Comprehension Score: for Items 6–15
Number Right: ______ 3 10 5 _______%
Assessing Your Reading Strategy
1. How would you rate your comprehension
of the reading? (Circle one.)
Excellent Good Fair Poor
2. Did you find your reading strategy
effective? Yes No
3. Suppose you were given an assignment
to read another article from a sociology
textbook. Based on your experience with
this selection, how would you adjust
your reading strategy (if at all)?

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14 Chapter 2 Active Reading and Learning
Reading Selection 4 Literature: Essay
Just Walk On By: A Black Man Ponders
His Power to Alter Public Space
Brent Staples
From Harper’s magazine
About the Reading
Brent Staples is a well-known black writer and New York Times editorial columnist.
This reading originally appeared in Harper’s magazine, which often features lengthy
articles examining controversial issues.
Planning Your Reading Strategy*
Directions: Activate your thinking by previewing the reading (see the Need to Know box on page 64) and
answering the following questions.
b 1. To what type of information should you pay the most attention?
a. the people mugged by the author when he was a young man
b. the author’s experiences and what they reveal about race in America
c. the behavior of women in urban environments
d. the author’s perceptions of Chicago and New York
d 2. This reading comes from Harper’s magazine. Based on your preview, what kind of magazine do
you think Harper’s is?
a. a celebrity gossip magazine
b. a magazine geared toward businesspeople
c. a fashion-oriented magazine with many photographs
d. an intellectual magazine for educated people
3. Based on your preview of the reading, how quickly do you think you should read the selection?
(Circle one.)
Very slowly Slowly At a moderate pace Quickly Very quickly
4. What stereotypes exist for black males? How does the author encounter these stereotypes?
Magazine
article
1 My first victim was a woman—white, well
dressed, probably in her early twenties. I came
upon her late one evening on a deserted street
in Hyde Park, a relatively affluent neighborhood
in an otherwise mean, impoverished section of
Chicago. As I swung onto the avenue behind
her, there seemed to be a discreet, uninflammatory distance between us. Not so. She cast back
a worried glance. To her, the youngish black
man—a broad six feet two inches with a beard
and billowing hair, both hands shoved into the
pockets of a bulky military jacket—seemed
menacingly close. After a few more quick
glimpses, she picked up her pace and was soon
running in earnest. Within seconds she disappeared into a cross street.
*The Scorecard on p. 89 enables you to compute your reading rate. In order to do so, be sure to record your starting time in the
Scorecard box before you begin reading.
1180L/1670 words
“Just Walk on By” by Brent Staples in Ms. Magazine.
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Chapter 2 Active Reading and Learning 15
2 That was more than a decade ago. I was
twenty-two years old, a graduate student newly
arrived at the University of Chicago. It was in
the echo of that terrified woman’s footfalls that
I first began to know the unwieldy inheritance
I’d come into—the ability to alter public space in
ugly ways. It was clear that she thought herself
the quarry of a mugger, a rapist, or worse. Suffering a bout of insomnia, however, I was stalking
sleep, not defenseless wayfarers. As a softy who is
scarcely able to take a knife to a raw chicken—let
alone hold it to a person’s throat—I was surprised,
embarrassed, and dismayed all at once. Her flight
made me feel like an accomplice in tyranny. It
also made it clear that I was indistinguishable
from the muggers who occasionally seeped into
the area from the surrounding ghetto. That first
encounter, and those that followed, signified
that a vast, unnerving gulf lay between nighttime
pedestrians—particularly women—and me. And
I soon gathered that being perceived as dangerous
is a hazard in itself. I only needed to turn a corner
into a dicey situation, or crowd some frightened,
armed person in a foyer somewhere, or make an
errant move after being pulled over by a policeman. Where fear and weapons meet—and they
often do in urban America—there is always the
possibility of death.
3 In that first year, my first away from my
hometown, I was to become thoroughly familiar with the language of fear. At dark, shadowy
intersections in Chicago, I could cross in front
of a car stopped at a traffic light and elicit the
thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk of the driver—black,
white, male, or female—hammering down the
door locks. On less traveled streets after dark,
I grew accustomed to but never comfortable
with people who crossed to the other side of the
street rather than pass me. Then there were the
standard unpleasantries with police, doormen,
bouncers, cab drivers, and others whose business
it is to screen out troublesome individuals before
there is any nastiness.
4 I moved to New York nearly two years
ago and I have remained an avid night walker.
In central Manhattan, the near-constant crowd
cover minimizes tense one-on-one street encounters. Elsewhere—visiting friends in SoHo,
where sidewalks are narrow and tightly spaced
buildings shut out the sky—things can get very
taut indeed.
5 Black men have a firm place in New York
mugging literature. Norman Podhoretz
in his famed (or infamous) 1963 essay, “My Negro Problem—And Ours,” recalls growing up in
terror of black males; they “were tougher than we
were, more ruthless,” he writes—and as an adult
on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, he continues, he cannot constrain his nervousness when
he meets black men on certain streets. Similarly, a
decade later, the essayist and novelist Edward
Hoagland extols a New York where once “Negro
bitterness bore down mainly on other Negroes.”
Where some see mere panhandlers, Hoagland
sees “a mugger who is clearly screwing up his
nerve to do more than just ask for money.” But
Hoagland has “the New Yorker’s quick-hunch
posture for broken-field maneuvering,” and the
bad guy swerves away.
6 I often witness that “hunch posture,” from
women after dark on the warrenlike streets of
Brooklyn where I live. They seem to set their
faces on neutral and, with their purse straps strung
across their chests bandolier style, they forge ahead
as though bracing themselves against being tackled. I understand, of course, that the danger they
perceive is not a hallucination. Women are particularly vulnerable to street violence, and young
black males are drastically overrepresented among
the perpetrators of that violence. Yet these truths
are no solace against the kind of alienation that
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16 Chapter 2 Active Reading and Learning
comes of being ever the suspect, against being set
apart, a fearsome entity with whom pedestrians
avoid making eye contact.
7 It is not altogether clear to me how I
reached the ripe old age of twenty-two without being conscious of the lethality nighttime
pedestrians attributed to me. Perhaps it was
because in Chester, Pennsylvania, the small,
angry industrial town where I came of age in
the 1960s, I was scarcely noticeable against a
backdrop of gang warfare, street knifings, and
murders. I grew up one of the good boys, had
perhaps a half-dozen fist fights. In retrospect,
my shyness of combat has clear sources.
8 Many things go into the making of a
young thug. One of those things is the consummation of the male romance with the power to
intimidate. An infant discovers that random
flailings send the baby bottle flying out of the
crib and crashing to the floor. Delighted, the joyful babe repeats those motions again and again,
seeking to duplicate the feat. Just so, I recall the
points at which some of my boyhood friends
were finally seduced by the perception of themselves as tough guys. When a mark cowered and
surrendered his money without resistance, myth
and reality merged—and paid off. It is, after all,
only manly to embrace the power to frighten
and intimidate. We, as men, are not supposed to
give an inch of our lane on the highway; we are
to seize the fighter’s edge in work and in play
and even in love; we are to be valiant in the face
of hostile forces.
9 Unfortunately, poor and powerless young
men seem to take all this nonsense literally. As
a boy, I saw countless tough guys locked away; I
have since buried several, too. They were babies,
really—a teenage cousin, a brother of twentytwo, a childhood friend in his mid-twenties—
all gone down in episodes of bravado played
out in the streets. I came to doubt the virtues
of intimidation early on. I chose, perhaps even
unconsciously, to remain a shadow—timid, but a
survivor.
10 The fearsomeness mistakenly attributed
to me in public places often has a perilous flavor.
The most frightening of these confusions occurred in the late 1970s and early 1980s when
I worked as a journalist in Chicago. One day,
rushing into the office of a magazine I was writing for with a deadline story in hand, I was mistaken for a burglar. The office manager called
security and, with an ad hoc posse, pursued me
through the labyrinthine halls, nearly to my editor’s door. I had no way of proving who I was. I
could only move briskly toward the company of
someone who knew me.
11 Another time I was on assignment for a
local paper and killing time before an interview.
I entered a jewelry store on the city’s affluent
Near North Side. The proprietor excused herself and returned with an enormous red Doberman pinscher straining at the end of a leash.
She stood, the dog extended toward me, silent
to my questions, her eyes bulging nearly out of
her head. I took a cursory look around, nodded,
and bade her good night. Relatively speaking,
however, I never fared as badly as another black
male journalist. He went to nearby Waukegan,
Illinois, a couple of summers ago to work on
a story about a murderer who was born there.
Mistaking the reporter for the killer, police
hauled him from his car at gunpoint and but for
his press credentials would probably have tried
to book him. Such episodes are not uncommon.
Black men trade tales like this all the time.
12 In “My Negro Problem—And Ours,”
Podhoretz writes that the hatred he feels for
blacks makes itself known to him through a variety of avenues—one being his discomfort with
that “special brand of paranoid touchiness” to
which he says blacks are prone. No doubt he is
speaking here of black men. In time, I learned
to smother the rage I felt at so often being taken
for a criminal. Not to do so would surely have
led to madness—via that special “paranoid
touchiness” that so annoyed Podhoretz at the
time he wrote the essay.
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Chapter 2 Active Reading and Learning 17
Examining Reading Selection 4
Checking Your Vocabulary
Directions: Use context, word parts, or a dictionary, if necessary, to determine the meaning
of each word as it is used in the reading.
a 1. affluent (paragraph 1)
a. wealthy
b. distant
c. important
d. foreign
b 2. menacingly (paragraph 1)
a. strikingly
b. threateningly
c. obviously
d. seriously
b 3. elicit (paragraph 3)
a. create
b. bring out
c. disturb
d. draw back
d 4. avid (paragraph 4)
a. careful
b. frightened
c. fearful
d. enthusiastic
b 5. retrospect (paragraph 7)
a. looking forward in time
b. looking back in time
c. regretting an action or event
d. dwelling on an action or event
Checking Your Comprehension
Directions: Select the best answer.
d 6. Which of the following statements
best describes the reading?
a. It is an essay about why white
women fear black men.
b. It is a description of racial
tensions in large cities.
c. It is an argument for greater racial
equality.
d. It is a personal account of a black
man’s experiences and feelings
about the way he is perceived in
public places.
c 7. The author may have been unaware of
public reactions to him before age 22
because
a. he was a member of a gang.
b. he lived in a small town in
Pennsylvania.
13 I began to take precautions to make myself less threatening. I move about with care,
particularly late in the evening. I give a wide
berth to nervous people on subway platforms
during the wee hours, particularly when I have
exchanged business clothes for jeans. If I happen
to be entering a building behind some people
who appear skittish, I may walk by, letting them
clear the lobby before I return, so as not to seem
to be following them. I have been calm and extremely congenial on those rare occasions when
I’ve been pulled over by the police.
14 And on late-evening constitutionals along
streets less traveled by, I employ what has proved
to be an excellent tension-reducing measure:
I whistle melodies from Beethoven and Vivaldi
and the more popular classical composers. Even
steely New Yorkers hunching toward nighttime
destinations seem to relax, and occasionally they
even join in the tune. Virtually everybody seems to
sense that a mugger wouldn’t be warbling bright,
sunny selections from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. It
is my equivalent of the cowbell that hikers wear
when they know they are in bear country.
Complete this Exercise at myreadinglab.com
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18 Chapter 2 Active Reading and Learning
c. he wasn’t noticeable among criminals and street gangs.
d. he was shy and withdrawn.
a 8. The “mugging literature” the author
cites is
a. writings of other authors about
fear of black males.
b. crime statistics about muggers.
c. writings that present statistics and
objective facts about muggers.
d. literature describing the role of
black men in society.
b 9. The author regards the attitude that
men must be powerful and valiant as
a. a personal expression.
b. nonsense.
c. having historical justification.
d. legitimate.
a 10. The “hunch posture” as described by
the author, is a(n)
a. protective, defensive posture.
b. disrespectful gesture.
c. aggressive movement.
d. signal that assistance is needed.
Thinking Critically
b 11. The author’s primary purpose in writing the article is to
a. persuade people to alter their public behavior toward blacks.
b. describe his feelings about reactions to him in public space.
c. familiarize the reader with problems of large cities.
d. argue that public space should not
be altered.
b 12. The author whistles Vivaldi to
a. state his music preferences.
b. suggest that he is unlike typical
muggers.
c. indicate his level of musical
expertise.
d. announce that he is unafraid.
c 13. Which of the following best describes
the author’s attitude about women’s
fear of black men?
a. The author thinks their fear is
unfounded.
b. The author regards their fear as
exaggerated, as a hallucination.
c. The author finds their fear understandable but still has difficulty
when it is applied to him.
d. The author is angry and feels he is
not understood.
c 14. To communicate his ideas, the author
relies most heavily on
a. logical reasoning.
b. statistics and “mugging
literature.”
c. personal experience.
d. fact.
c 15. Which of the following would be the
best caption for the photo on page 85?
That is, which one works best with the
content of the article?
a. The author, Brent Staples, has a
beard and close-cropped hair.
b. Some black men prefer to be
called African-Americans.
c. Today Brent Staples looks more
conservative then he did as a
younger man.
d. Brent Staples.
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Chapter 2 Active Reading and Learning 19
Writing About Reading Selection 4
Checking Your Vocabulary
Directions: Complete each of the following
items; refer to a dictionary if necessary.
1. Discuss the connotative meanings of the
word victim (paragraph 1). Answers will
vary.
2. Define the word quarry (paragraph 2) and
underline the word or phrase that provides a context clue for its meaning.
definition: someone hunted or pursued
clue: “. . . of a mugger, a rapist . . .”
3. Define the word episodes (paragraph 11)
and underline the word or phrase that
provides a context clue for its meaning.
definition: stories
clue: “. . . tales like this . . .”
4. Determine the meanings of the following words by using word parts.
a. uninflammatory (paragraph 1)
not inflammatory, not arousing strong
emotion
b. unwieldy (paragraph 2)
not wieldy, unable to be managed
c. unpleasantries (paragraph 3)
things that are not pleasant, disagreeable
situations, acts, or remarks
d. overrepresented (paragraph 6)
represented in disproportionately large
numbers
e. lethality (paragraph 7)
quality of being lethal, deadliness
Checking Your Comprehension
5. Summarize the problem the author is
describing.
The author faces the problem of always
being perceived as a threat because he
is black.
6. Why was Staples unaware of this problem until the age of 22?
Staples lived in a small town where he
Scorecard
Selection 4: 1,670 words
Finishing Time: ______ ______ ______
hr. min. sec.
Starting Time: ______ ______ ______
hr. min. sec.
Reading Time: ______ ______
min. sec.
WPM Score: ________________
Comprehension Score: for Items 6–15
Number Right: ______ 3 10 5 _______%
Assessing Your Reading Strategy
1. How would you rate your comprehension
of the reading? (Circle one.)
Excellent Good Fair Poor
2. Did you find your reading strategy
effective? Yes No
3. Suppose you were given an assignment to
read another article from Harper’s magazine. Based on your experience with this
selection, how would you adjust your
reading strategy (if at all)?

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20 Chapter 2 Active Reading and Learning
was not noticeable among criminals and
street gangs.
7. In what sense does Staples use the word
victim? In what sense is Staples himself a
“victim”?
Staples uses the word victim to mean
someone who is acted on by some outside
force against his or her will. The women
are victims because the dangerous situations
and fear have been superimposed on them.
Staples is a victim because the fear others
have of him affects him adversely and he
cannot control how others react to him.
8. How has Staples altered his behavior in
public?
Staples keeps a greater distance than normal
between himself and others and, on
occasion, whistles classical music.
Thinking Critically
9. Discuss the meaning of the title. How
does Staples alter public space? How has
it affected his life?
The title signifies what Staples does when
he makes someone uncomfortable. Staples
alters public space because when people
see him at night, they try to put a greater
distance between themselves and him.
Wherever he goes, people try to stay away
from him. His life has changed because he
has to worry about what might happen to
him if someone were to misinterpret his
actions.
10. Discuss Staples’ attitude toward his
“victims.” Does he perceive them as rational or irrational? Is he sympathetic?
angry?
He is sympathetic to his “victims” and
thinks their fear is rational, but he wishes
they could see him for what he really is,
and he is frustrated that they cannot.
Questions for Discussion
Answers will vary.
1. In what other situations can an individual
alter public space?
2. What is your opinion of the behavior of
Staples’ “victims”?
3. Do you feel Staples should have altered
his behavior in public? Would you do the
same?
4. After reading only the first paragraph, what
did you think was happening?