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03/03/2026 -- Reflections on "A Colony In A Nation".

About 2 years ago, I picked up a book called "A Colony In A Nation". I remember in my senior year, I'd volunteered to help with something, and they gave me a $40 dollar gift card to a bookstore near our school, I wasn't able to go at any point, and so I joked with one of the support workers about them picking it up for me, which they said they'd be happy to do. I requested two books, "A Colony In A Nation", by Chris Hayes, and "Women, Race & Class", by Angela Y. Davis. I knew it was a little ambitious, as I haven't been able to sit down and read since I was younger, but I thought they'd be good for me, especially as a very political person.

I just a few days ago finished "A Colony In A Nation", I read the first half or so when I first got the book, and I finished the second half over the last couple of months or so, and I really enjoyed it. It discusses systemic racism in America, a topic that while I am not super familiar with, being Australian. There was alot of insight into the War on Drugs, and Reagan's affect on America. I won't lie and act as if I remember every example brought up in the book, but I did find it incredibly interesting. It is very friendly to someone not of the time, or location. I didn't feel like I was missing any pre-required knowledge on America or it's systems, and it lays out all of it's points incredibly clearly. Learning about Broken Window policing stuck with me pretty well. I don't really wish to discuss the book at length, though I did enjoy it, but rather reflect on my process of reading the book. After all, it did take me two years.

In my final two years of highschool, I attended a school made for almost rehabilitating students that had missed alot of school. Unlike many of my peers, I had never stopped trying to learn despite my inability to go to school, so I didn't have much struggle with the somewhat simple work that I was made to do. This left me with alot of free time and with such a relaxed working environment I was left to my own devices for the most part. In this time, I read one of my favourite books, "The Courage To Be Happy", by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga. A philosophy book posed as multiple meetings of a teacher and his student, with the student arguing the teachers philosophy and challenging his beliefs. I thought this was an amazing way to posit your ideas, and have them flow through naturally one into the next. I would read through the book everywhere. On the train, the bus, while hanging out with my partner at the time, any chance I got. It fascinated me, and while it didn't open my mind to many 'new' ideas, it helped me refine a mindset and stance that I already held.

Another book that I read while in those senior years was "The Motorcycle Diaries", by Che Guevera. I tried my best to very actively read this book, and as of right now it's still full of sticky notes of reflections, things I was reminding myself to look up, and general highlights. It was an interesting look into a culture and time so very different from my own, from a man that I found very inspiring. I got through that book quite slowly, but I'm glad I did, as alot more of the work soaked in than I think it would've otherwise. It also made me very aware that I had a unforgiveable understanding of geography.

I think the next book on my shelf that I will read is "Women, Race & Class", as it has been sitting there untouched for far too long, and I remember being incredibly excited when it had first arrived. I make no promises on a reading schedule, but I will definitely try and fill voids by reading instead of Doomscrolling or what have you. I might also take notes on it, as I did with The Motorcycle Diaries, as I found it incredibly engaging, and satisfying to look at the book covered in sticky notes once I'd finished with it.