Ngugi

          The story "Minutes of Glory" by James Ngugi was a descent story.  The main character Wanjiru known as Beatrice, throughout the story, really was trying to find herself.  She went from workplace to workplace looking and looking.  When really Beatrice couldn't be happy until she was happy within herself.
          Beatrice is an African American woman who is unhappy with the way she looks.  I and so many women go through what Beatrice is going through in this story.  We think it is material things or a man that could make us happy.  We put ourselves down before anyone else could.  Like at the beginning of the story, where she basically describes herself as ugly and that her body was dark and full fleshed.  Also, she made it seem like she was gigantic by describing her walk as wobbly.
          The things, us, as women see on television affects our minds also.  Television make women think that you are not beautiful unless you look a certain way.  If you think about it if we all looked the same way and acted the same way, what would make us different from each other.
          For a certain time in my life I had low self-esteem.  I would, on certain days, look into the mirror and say, "today is not my day, I don't look pretty at all".  I also used to care about what people said about me or thought about me.  Until one day, I came to realize that there is always going to be people out in the world that is going to talk about you no matter how pretty you are.  What matters is what you think about yourself.
          A lot of women do what Beatrice did in the story.  Beatrice went out and bought herself a outfit to get attention.  She wanted a self-confidence boost. She wanted to feel good for that moment.  Women in this world today do the exact same thing.  They put on short shorts or skirts or come out the house half-dressed all for attention. The thing all women including myself need to realize is, yes it feels good to get that attention but when it's over if your unhappy with yourself you will still be unhappy with yourself.
          My overall opinion of "Minutes of Glory" by James Ngugi is I liked the story and would read another story similar to it.  What I didn't like though was how he left you hanging at the end wondering what happened to Beatrice after she was arrested. Stories that leave you hanging needs a Part 2!