Junot Diaz

I found How to Date a Brown Girl, Black Girl, White Girl, or Halfie to be a very interesting short story. As I was reading I was placed in the state of mind of the narrator and reminded me a lot of my middle school days and the way some of my friends talked about "dating." It's always interesting to listen to someone else's experience and find out that it was fairly close to your own and I feel like this story is one that a lot of my friends growing up could relate to. The way I read the story is in a very straightforward manner for the most part. The way it was written was a bit confusing, as the narrator seemed to be changing subjects spontaneously, but then quickly got back to the topic of "dating." I thought the descriptions of how eight graders think, such as when the girl is getting dropped off and when a girl says I like you, are exactly how an eight grader thinks. He just wants to look cool and not mess anything up. The whole story to me is just a description of a boy trying to get laid and making sure he doesn't get caught by his mother. I couldn't figure out if there was a specific point to the story, a lesson to be learned, as everything seemed to work out for the narrator. I really enjoyed the story mostly because it took me back to my days in middle school and it's funny to think about the very immature way we used to think about "dating."