Procrastination Piece

Nov 8, 2021

When I chose to write about Letter From Birmingham Jail, I thought to myself, what could I actually contribute to the discussion? This was Letter From Birmingham Jail after all. This piece has been analyzed and reanalyzed by the novice and the sophisticated. What may I bring to the table that they haven’t already? I could write the paper that introduces the context of the piece, summarizes the piece, then develops an unsatisfactory thesis that reads something along the lines of "Dr. King's Letter From Birmingham Jail is a necessary text of the civil rights movement. It addresses the dominant ideology of segregation and discusses the harmful effects that it has on the black community, such as in Dr. King's words, '[it] distorts the soul and damages the personality.'" The paper would then go on to have surface level analysis that at best, paraphrases Dr. King and at worst, quotes Dr. King without adding any value. This isn't the paper I want to write. I believe this would be a high-school A paper, but it wouldn't be any good. It fits the requirements but does little more than that. I would like to add value. I would like to see the words that Dr. King writes in their true light. Because, I think every paragraph in this text has astronomical substance that's more than just "segregation equals bad." Who knew that a genius with passion stuck in a narrow jail cell alone with only his thoughts would produce such insightful and wonderfully crafted ideas. I hope that I write a paper that can see past the surface level. That focuses on ideas that few may delve into. But, you see, I am writing this in procrastination prior to writing the actual paper. Not one word of my paper has been written yet. My brain is flowing with thought and my hands are ready to craft. Only the final piece will tell which paper I write. So, let us see.