Rachel's American Bridges and Borders Blog

Click here to listen to my VoiceThread on how my work this semester has helped me develop more of an empathetic mindset and less of a tribal mindset.

What has been most challenging thus far in your reading of Song of Solomon ?     Thus far in my reading of Song of Solomon , the most challenging tasks I have encountered have been trying to piece together the novel’s storyline and the relationships between the characters and trying to understand the significance and symbolism behind the actual events of the story. For example, on page 78 in chapter 3 of Song of Solomon , I struggled to understand what was actually going on in this passage and what the significance of it was. In the middle of page 78, Morrison writes, “The street was even more crowded with people, all going in the direction [Milkman] was coming from … He realized that nobody was walking on the other side of the street.” Initially, I was confused by this passage because I did not know whether to interpret these events as literal or figurative. Moreover, I didn’t fully understand what this passage symbolized at first. How have you addressed this challenge?     I

My full name is Rachel Danielle Miller, and there’s a bit of history behind each part of my name. As for my first name, my mom decided to name me Rachel as a tribute to her sister who passed away as a very young infant. My grandmother (who goes by “Cookie,” another interesting name story) had a daughter named Robin, who passed away when she was five months old. My mother never met Robin, because she was born after Robin had passed, but she missed having another sister. My mother’s family is Jewish, and there is a Jewish custom to name a child after a family member who has passed away, in the hopes that the soul of the loved one lives on in the child who now bears their name. As a result of this, my mother decided to name me Rachel and my younger sister Rebecca as a nod to Robin. My middle name has a pretty simple explanation; my father’s name is Daniel, and so I was given the middle name of Danielle. Unlike a lot of people, I love my middle name and sometimes even wish it was my f