Black in America

Watching “Black in America,” helped me to realize that many people are discriminated against based solely on the color of skin. It is sad to see that skin color still contributes to our judgment in life. 

Black in America expanded on the stereotypes of African Americans. Some stereotypes that are associated with African Americans are sagging pants, drugs, sex and the possession of weapons. This is a generalization. There are many successful people in our country who have broken that stereotypical person, such as Will Smith, Oprah Winfrey and Michael Steele. Will Smith is a successful Hollywood star. Likewise, Oprah Winfrey has created a popular hit talk show. Michael Steele is an African American, who was recently chosen as the representative for the Republican National Committee. Stereotypes may discourage people from excelling, but by persevering and working hard you can become successful.

The television series demonstrated that these stereotypes are often created because of the lack of a strong father figure. For example, a little girl named Celia was born out of wedlock. The father rarely supported Celia and the mother. As the children grew older, they turned to drugs and violence to ease their pain. Only 60% of children grow up with a father figure, but what about the other 40% that don’t.

In one example from the CNN special an African American man had lived in an almost all white society, who at some points was not considered not “black enough.” He showed his children what a father figure should look like. He made them join boy scouts, and was constantly there for them. This proved worthwhile because his children became very successful. One child, Jonathan Warren became a district attorney. He served as one of two black attorneys in his county. Having a father figure around makes a difference in a child’s life because someone was there to provide an example.

 A lack of a father figure is not the only draw back, but also the treatment in schools. In the series an African American teenager was told that that he should be a sanitation worker. Other students believed that “education isn’t a black thing.” This isn’t true at all, some of the smartest men in the world are African American, and this is another stereotype. I learned that both the mistreatment in schools and the loss of a father figure contributed to this vicious cycle. This cycle has yet to be broken, and until more do these percents will remain high. Not enough African Americans have broken this trend and until they do the stereotypes will still exist. Racism surrounds our society and prevents us from looking at the accomplishments that people achieve as opposed to the color of the skin. The recent election was living proof that race is still something that is talked about.

In my opinion, it is time to put race behind us. Mistakes have been made and the media has focused too much on racial prejudice. To move forward as a society we need to recognize everyone for their individual talents and not the color of skin.

 

Last Days of Summer

The book, Last Days of Summer, is not written like a style that I am familiar with. The book uses an epistolary style, which means that it is written with letters. Although this is new to me, the author’s letters help you develop a deeper understanding of the character’s lives. When reading Last Days of Summer, you come across letters, report cards, and newspaper clippings.

The book opens with a mischievous boy, Joey Margolis, who is determined to get the attention of his favorite baseball player on the New York Giants, Charlie Banks. Joey Margolis is one of the main characters of the book. He is a smart, educated twelve-year-old boy whose father had abandoned him and his mother. Since Charlie doesn’t have a father figure in his life he turns to the help of Charlie Banks. Charlie Banks is the third baseman for the baseball team the New York Giants.

We learn that Joey makes up his own rules, because he is in a police station for peeing in the reservoir. Soon after this Joey starts contacting Charlie Banks.  Since Joey was Jewish many of the other children in the neighborhood beat him up. He would get beat up on account that he was the only Jewish boy in the neighborhood and he lived in a time of great prejudice. These are not normal beatings; these boys were causing lacerations on his face. So Joey reaches out to Charlie Banks to prevent this from happening to him. This is how the letters start. Joey makes up diseases to get Charlie’s attention, after many failed attempts Joey turns to an archivist that gives Joey information of Charlie. It doesn’t take long before you can tell that Joey and Charlie develop a good relationship because the tone of his letters changes. In the beginning, they were not nice to each other, but later they were calling each other nicknames.

As their relationship grows, each characters persona is developing. Charlie does not appear to be as well educated.  His letters contain numerous misspellings and misstatements. For example, on page 187, Charlie answered Joey’s letter and said, “This is my favorite part. But make sure it was L. Armstrong who said it because I think it might have been Satchmo.” Satchmo and Louis Armstrong are the same person!

 Charlie Banks and Joey develop a strong bond that is evident from the letters. The reader learns their political affiliation, love life, and secrets they have been keeping. On page, 85, Charlie writes to Joey saying, “Harlan was my big brother. He was the best friend I ever had and the only one I ever loved until Hazel. When he got hit in the head from a pitch he hung on for 4 days before he died. That’s what kind of kid I was.” Later in the book Joey finds out that Charlie is keeping to himself how Harlan really died.

Because the book is written in an epistolary style, the writing also exhibits attitude. The report cards tell us what kind of attitude Joey has, because the teacher comments on his behavior. The newspaper clippings that are also included the book show that Charlie is quick tempered because of the many brawls he gets in during baseball games.

The style that Steve Kluger uses allows the reader to go deeper into the character’s lives, and really understand what is happening, as they grow older. One can relate to their own personal experience and perhaps even see a little of themselves in the characters on the book.

 

Angela's Ashes

I have been reading the book Angela’s Ashes. The book at first takes place in America during a time of great poverty. This really hits the family hard so they move back to Ireland. Both Angela and Malachy are from Ireland. Malachy, the father, is from Northern Ireland, so Angela’s family often disapproves of him. This is a memoir about all of the hardships that the family has to go through in Limerick City, Ireland. It has been a very captivating, yet sad book. The family has already lost so much, three children have died and the father is an alcoholic. The experiences that this family goes through are unimaginable. They have to pick coal up off the street just to keep a fire going for the little food that they have.

I would recommend this book because Frank McCourt does an excellent job of describing the characters. He makes you feel that the characters are standing right in front of you and you are experiencing their hardships with them. It keeps you reading the book because you want to see what happens to each of these characters.

It is a very heartbreaking book, but it is also can be uplifting at the same time because you know that he will achieve success. The characters keep you emotionally attached to the book, which constantly motivates you to read it no matter how sad the theme of the book is. I believe Frank McCourt wanted the reader to be able to experience his life and go through the changes with him from childhood to adulthood.

You could compare this book to the interpretative questions for Alexis de Tocqueville’s short story Why Americans are So Restless. Alexis de Tocqueville’s argument claimed that Americans are always wanting more; in this case it was equality. Even though the McCourt family has very little money and belongings, they have the right like everyone else in Ireland to achieve success. The father often spends the dole money on pints of “black stuff,” as Frank McCourt called it as a child.

We can all learn a lesson about life, no matter the hardships that you face and the difficulties you go through, it is possible to achieve success later in life. Frank McCourt proves that everyone has an equal chance to achieve success much like Alexis de Tocqueville’s argument and in the Declaration of Independence.

So far, my experience with the book has been great, I have enjoyed the story line of Frank McCourt’s life even though it has been a struggle. The way his life was when he was a child has made the book very intriguing. 

On Studying

1.) What are some ways school encourages or discourages a person's desire to learn? What makes some objects in school exciting and stimulating and others boring.

2.) Why do human beings seek knowledge?

For some school is a way to express your knowledge and learn more. There are always new subjects to learn about, but sometimes it is hard to encourage people to actually learn the new information. Teachers try to encourage students to get interested with these topics by playing games, or using alternate teaching methods such as field trips. School can be a great place to learn, but sometimes teachers don’t realize that some of these topics can be very boring, especially if they let them. There is a difference when a teacher stands up in front of the class and lectures without any enthusiasm and no pictures to look at, from a teacher who is actively involved with their class. I have classes that there are topics that are hard to learn and the teacher is not actively engaged with their class to make the topics sound more interesting. On the other hand there are teachers who really think about how the class is really going to react with the topic, and they try to get their class actively involved so that they one retain the information and two they find the class more exciting making the process of learning more fun. One thing that occurs in many of my classes is that the teachers don’t sound as if they themselves were interested making the overall atmosphere a less of a learning environment.

Humans are naturally curious and seek knowledge. It is the reason we wake up at six in the morning and go to school everyday. As Gasset states in his short story, On Studying, that there is really no point to go to school because it is just forced upon us. Gasset later states that, “the desire does not exist unless the thing desired existed earlier, in reality or at least in imagination.”  One has to have the desire to learn in order to gain knowledge. We are constantly at competition with one another and knowledge is one way were we can “outdo” one another. It is assumed that the smartest in our world have already achieved the greatest knowledge, but in reality, we are always learning new things. We are constantly learning more and more and retaining it all, but all that knowledge goes away when we die. We have seen many people in our society that are very smart, but the only way their success in gained is how they apply the gained knowledge. It is seen in our everyday lives, the more knowledge that is applied the better the life. Everyone strives to gain knowledge, because it may lead to a successful and good life.

School is something that broadens your mind and helps you gain knowledge about your past, which in turn helps you with the present and future. This is why we go to school, to gain the knowledge we need for our life skills, and hopefully we will be encouraged from our peers to look deeper into subjects that may not always be appealing to us. 

Indiana Government Positions

1. Who are your U.S Senators? 

Evan Bayh (Democrat) and Richard Lugar (Republican) are the U.S Senators and hoth Evan Bayh and Richard Lugar are not up for reelection.

2. Who is your U.S Congressman/woman?

 Dan Burton (republican) is my U.S congressman and is up for reelection this year.

3. Who is your U.S State congressman/woman?

 Jim Buck (republican) is my U.S State congressman.

4. Which of these is up for reelection?

Dan Burton, and Governor Mitch Daniels are up for reelection this year.

5. Who is running for Governor?

Mitch Daniels (Republican) is up for reelection this year and his opponents are Andy Horning (Libertarian) and Jill Long Thompson (Democrat)

Declaration Pre-Writing Blog-Questions Three and Four

We have many rights; these rights include freedom of speech and religion. These rights are not always respected. Since the beginning of time, man has often put down those that either were different or had a different belief or opinion.

            Religion has been a point that rights have been disrespected for a long time for me because I often find myself in places that religion is not minded. It is okay to have different beliefs, but sometimes there are times when you feel mistreated and that the freedom of speech and religion boundary has been crossed.

            Although religion has historically gotten the majority of the attention, I feel there are many instances when my freedom of speech has been disrespected as well. You meet many people with very strong opinions and beliefs that in an effort to get their opinion across they force their idea upon you. It then becomes even more difficult to share your opinions without feeling consequences of our actions and we respond in different ways. In school we can choose to be quiet because we don’t want it to affect our grades. Outside of school we may join an organization that has beliefs that we share.

   It is amazing for a society that is suppressed to be “open minded,” but it is sad to see how close-minded we have actually become.

            It is difficult to get people to recognize that they have been mistreating you because it is not necessarily in the form of physical violence, but in our words and actions. The old saying, “sticks and stone may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” is not true. It is human nature to want to have people belong or a group together. In a society that is free and organized we are able to express our beliefs openly and often without the consideration of its impact on the people around us. The person listening does not agree with the belief or opinion they may be mistreated. The mistreatment may be in the form of exclusion fro a group or at school settings it may affect ones grades. If we look at the current political fight we see many politicians mistreating each other in an effort to win votes. For example, the guest politicians that appear on major news programs often have very strong opinions and are very abrupt with their answers. These men are expected to conduct themselves in diplomatic ways, but it is surprising to see these men interrupt each other with their words because they are so strong in their opinion. You can tell by the expressions on their faces that their words can hurt. This doesn’t just happen on T.V, but it also happens in everyday life, and people do it unconsciously. 

Super Size Me

Morgan Spurlock’s movie, Super Size Me, examines the fast food industries attempt to educate the viewer about the effects that fast food can have on your health and life.

Super Size Me was about a man named Morgan who decided to go on a McDonald’s splurge and eat McDonald’s for thirty days to show the side effects of the contents of their food. Morgan had stated that obesity is second most harmful self-imposed death in the world. He had his food super sized only if asked, which was most of the time. He originally weighed 185lbs and gained almost thirty pounds. The side effects from the consumption of this kind of food caused his to become sick, had liver problems, was tired and everyday tasks became more challenging.

In Morgan Spurlock’s movie he showed four young children pictures of well-known historical figures. Only two of these children were able to identify the historical figures. When Morgan presented the pictures of fast food characters, such as Wendy with her red braided pigtails from Wendy’s, each child had successfully identified Wendy and some of the other fast food chain characters that were presented to the children. This showed the power of advertising is on today’s society. McDonald’s and other fast food chains include happy characters that appeal to young children. These characters are recognized all over the world, you see them so many times on T.V it is hard not to miss the catchy tones and smiling characters.

            We, as Americans, have grown up learning about nutrition and it’s impact on our health. We have the responsibility to educate and promote healthy life styles, which may include an examination of the fast food products that are being sold today. Although Morgan understands the typical family doesn’t eat at a fast food restaurant for thirty days in a row, he attempted to show the impact of frequent visits to these fast food restaurants.

            As the former governor of Arkansas once said, “Anything that comes through your car window is food you shouldn’t be eating.” As a gymnast I try to maintain a healthy lifestyle and diet. However, in the future on the occasional stop to any fast food restaurant I will be mindful of the foods I select. Perhaps the next time I order a yogurt parfait at McDonald’s I will be sure to examine its contents.