Leg of transit of blog posts..for now.....

“The road of progress” –Luke H.G.

SEE: Eldorado sign, Path, bridge, another bridge, far away people.

Think: I think the sign is related to the bridge, the people are moving forward on the path.

Wonder: If the bridges are boundaries and if the path is a road of progress, if the bridges are thresholds that must be passed for progress. If the Eldorado bridge is a threshold perhaps the myth of rules and incentives because Eldorado is “The city of gold.”

This path Is Americas progress and each bridge is a threshold that must be crossed to gain new progress.

A great qoute from The Great Gatsby

SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT
So at the end of chapter 8 there is this quote/Paragraph that jumped out at me and I felt it has Significance importance.

"There was a faint, barely perceptible movement of water at the fresh flow from one end urged its way toward the drain at the other. With little ripples that were hardly the shadows of waves, the laden mattress moved irregularly down the pool. A small gust of wind that accidental course with its accidental burden. The touch of a cluster of leaves revolved it slowly, tracing like the leg of transit, a thin red circle in the water.
It was after we started with Gatsby toward the house that the gardener saw Wilson's body a little way off in the grass, and the holocaust was complete." (Fitzgerald, 162, The Great Gatsby)

I'm going to the best of my ability, to interpret this massive quote and I welcome anyone/everyone to leave there interpretations as a comment on this post.

ok. So, in this line of the quote, "There was a faint, barely perceptible movement of water at the fresh flow from one end urged its way toward the drain at the other," it is saying that the water is being filter through the pool the old water is "Urged" to one side of the pool and on the other end a "fresh flow" is being introduced to the pool. I believe this is metaphor for cycles (example. life to death, the seasons, and day to night). Now that the idea of Cycles have been brought up in the next line, "With little ripples that were hardly the shadows of waves, the laden mattress moved irregularly down the pool," It says that these "little ripples" which are so small that they "were hardly the shadows of waves." that means they are so tiny that they almost seem unnoticeable, they are less then shadows, but nevertheless the "little ripples" are able to keep the "laden mattress" moving. I think that means that the tiniest factor like "little ripples" can keep a cycle going. The Next line, "A small gust of wind that accidental course with its accidental burden," it says that the "small guest of wind" give the mattress an unplanned course. But what I think is interesting about that line is the use of the word accidental the "accidental course" and the "accidental burden." I think that means that in cycles the smallest factors can cause an "accidental course" to be taken, and that maybe cycles have many different course but no matter what you end up in the same place. The last line in the first part, "The touch of a cluster of leaves revolved it slowly, tracing like the leg of transit, a thin red circle in the water." I think the leaves symbolise the life cycle of trees, and the cycle of the seasons(fall). When the leaves are falling off that means the tree is coming to the end of its cycle and fall is near the end of the of the seasons. I bring the end of Cycles up because of these words in the line "The leg of transit," that is the last leg or end of something like a cycle (Example if you were on a train the section between your stop and the stop before yours would be the "Leg of transit."). In the last part of that line it says, "a thin red circle in the water" I think when Fitzgerald says "circle" I think he is making a reference to cycle and when he says the word "Red" it makes me the think that it is Gatsby blood and that makes me think a cycle referes to a cycle that is near the end on its "Leg of transit" that involves Gatsby. And the path that Gatsby had chosen may have been "accidental" maybe that accident was the hit an run.

In the second part there was mostly straight forward (I think), "It was after we started with Gatsby toward the house that the gardener saw Wilson's body a little way off in the grass, and the holocaust was complete." It was straight forward for all but one part of it, "The holocaust was complete." Keep in mind when Fitzgerald published this book it was before WWII and the Holocaust, so the definition I believe he is using is a destruction or loss of life. And when it says the word complete it made me come to the conclusion that this loss of life was the end of the Gatsbys cycle.

That is my interpretation of this section of the book.

Markers of Social Class

Today near the end of class we had a very interesting conversation on how different train stops show different Social class. We talked about the factors of the train station, the building, the cars in the parking lot the area around the train station (Business). And that made me think of more factors, like the quality of the Roads and sidewalks like are the Dirty vs. clean , Clear, Vs. potholes, and eventually I jumped to things that didn't have to do with train stations or the area around it. I thought what kind of pet someone has, were does that person get there food from, there personality and yes even how they talk, and there mannerisms. I ended up with a conclusion I think anything can and is a marker of Social Class, so I decided to do a very quick web search on this. The search maybe lasted 5mins, but I did find something. I found this PDF file by W. Barratt and its a list of types of things that are realated to social class like whats cloths they were, what drugs they use, were they shop, and many more. I think one of the reasons that people associate all these things with class is because we make connections through media and through life expericences. Also in the 5mins I learned social class is a very complicated issue and is hard to deconstruct. Look at the image above what class do you belevie that person belongs to? (take note of how his head is held and whats he holding what is he wearing?

AMERICAN STUDIES DAY!!!

So the title and the picture are a little miss leading I am not going to talk about American studies day because I know in class tomorrow we will have a discussion maybe even a survey evaluating the day were I can express my opioid of it. But what I am really here to talk about it is this book The Great Gratsby, so I read the second chapter as assigned and there has been one major trend I have been wanting to point out. Its the use of colors in the book. This book seems very color oriented, the Author uses the colors Red, White, and Blue many times in just the first two chapters. Those aren't the only colors being used I just want to specifically point those out, Yellow has been use to describe parts or things owned by people of the higher class and wealth. and the Color green was used to describe this well known character Gatsby in his first appearance. To be completely honest I'm not sure what the use of all these colors mean. But I do believe there is significance behind them i just have not been able to unlock what they mean yet and I was wondering if there was anyone had some incite to the use of colors in the book?


Sorry for tricking you with the American studies day! but it was great and I hope for the sake of next year AS students they do it again.

"Always Standing Tall"

So I choose this image that I took and named "Always Standing Tall". This American flag image has an ominous cloudy back ground. The background of the image means there is some sort of peril threatening the United States (which is represented as the Flag). The title is "Always Standing Tall" which in the context that I have given you means, America no matter what peril it is in will always be strong and/or Stand tall like the flag in my Photo.
These are just too more of the photos I took over this weekend I would add more but they take too long to upload.

The Flag State

Or as it is more commonly called the lone star State. Yes I am talking about Texas, so this past spring brake I was in Texas. One thing I noticed while I was there was, there were flags everywhere and not just American flags but the Texas state flag. At this point I can recognize their state flag faster then Illinois. I luckily took pictures of the flags but unfortunately it was out of a moving car. Texas reminded me of Illinois just 2 months after 9/11.
Does have more flags makes Texas a more patriotic state? (People with the letters M And X in their name can not respond) Or is Texas just a state that believes in the myth of the Cowboy and the MYTH OF THE FLAG?
Here are some pictures I took all are of poor quality due to the fact I was shooting from a moving car

For the Sake of my Paper respond quickly

So my Interviewee wants me to send her the questions Via email so she can answer them Via Email. I'm interviewing Rachel Laser of Thirdway so here are the question I'm thinking of emailing to her. Please read over and make a comment so I can get the best response possible.

1. How much affect has abortion had on politics?

2. You said in a November 30, 2006 Memo,

"These efforts include the unborn victims of violence Act, the Partial-Birth Abortion Act, and the child custody Protection Act. These bills, while having very narrow applicability and only a minuscule effect on the abortion rate never the less helped those on the right to dominate to abortion debate."

If these Acts have a "minuscule effect on the abortion rate" then why do they help the right Dominate?

3. In another memo (Winning the Abortion Grays) you mention "The battle of reasonableness,"
what is the the battle of reasonableness and how important is this battle for winning the 63% of voters who are who make up the "Abortion grays."

4. In an April 2008 Memo by you and Jim Kessler you two talk about "common Ground." If a "Common ground" is found by politicians do you think the controversy will completely dissolve or will there still be people who support/advocate the abortion absolutes?


There may only be 4 question but I think these questions will get good responses.

For the Sake of my Paper respond quickly

So my Interviewee wants me to send her the questions Via email so she can answer them Via Email. I'm interviewing Rachel Laser of Thirdway so here are the question I'm thinking of emailing to her. Please read over and make a comment so I can get the best response possible.

1. How much affect has abortion had on politics?

2. You said in a November 30, 2006 Memo,

"These efforts include the unborn victims of violence Act, the Partial-Birth Abortion Act, and the child custody Protection Act. These bills, while having very narrow applicability and only a minuscule effect on the abortion rate never the less helped those on the right to dominate to abortion debate."

If these Acts have a "minuscule effect on the abortion rate" then why do they help the right Dominate?

3. In another memo (Winning the Abortion Grays) you mention "The battle of reasonableness,"
what is the the battle of reasonableness and how important is this battle for winning the 63% of voters who are who make up the "Abortion grays."

4. In an April 2008 Memo by you and Jim Kessler you two talk about "common Ground." If a "Common ground" is found by politicians do you think the controversy will completely dissolve or will there still be people who support/advocate the abortion absolutes?


There may only be 4 question but I think these questions will get good responses.

Great News brings new Challenges Junior Theme

So NPR has been inconsistence on getting back to me on the interview so I decided to take it in a different direction, instead of waiting for them to get back to me. But to my luck Rachel Laser from Third Way, has returned my email. She Said that the phone call would not work, but she could answer the questions if I emailed them to her. So, that leads to my problem, I need help crafting interview questions.
My other problem is with citations in noodletools How would you cite a movie (I have the Scipt)

JUNIOR THEME I NEED RESEARCH HELP

So I need help with finding some research, other then im pretty set, that im waiting to hear back some possible interviewees one which is from NPR who said she is interested just needs to get back to me on dates and times. Ok so the research I need is on Abortion and Evangelicals, (I was told to look up stuff on the 1970s rise in Evangelical Xianity but i have been pretty ineffective so far). The next thing I need help with is Advances in Science and how does that make Abortion controversial, i have found a few articles that are helpful on that, the bad thing is there all about ultrasounds and a law trying to be passed so that people about to get abortions have to view the ultrasound images of the Fetus, that is all good, but I need at least another angle on Advances in Science before I am confident that I can make an effect argument.


So to hopefully to catch someones attenuation again im adding to this blog post here is my addition.
PLEASE read the comments and see you can help thank you.

Junior theme help #2

So I was writing the intro of the paper (Grabber, thesis and map) and to my surprise i was able to craft a thesis pretty quickly. My main problem is the grabber, I know in class we went over an example of a good one (it was a specific story), but i was wondering if there was another way to make a good grabber, other then that my junior theme is coming along nicely.

Junior Theme HELP!!

So over the weekend and the last two days I have been reading articles for my junior theme topic (Why is abortion a political issue? or even just abortion and politics, Let me make this clear im not right about why one side is wrong (Pro-Life/Choice) but rather why has it been such a political issue.) So I have been reading many articles, and I even came across an npr all Things Considered that was great (Political Strategies shift in New Abortion Landscape). I have started to think about who to interview and i thought maybe a political analyst would be a good person.?. please leave comments of suggestions

Symbols or the the lack off??

So today in American studies a "heated" argument arose. The argument was over with symbols can be in on the spot photography. Some people were making the claim that there cant be symbols in this type of photography because there was no "intention" for symbols to be in the photograph, and that symbols do not occur naturally in the "real" world. I disagree with this claim I think they do occur it just depends on how you interpret the photos. When I first look at the photo above, the first word I associate with it is patriotic. This association turns this image into a symbol in my mind. I think anyone who has thoughts and opinions turn any image they see into a symbol. I think its Human nature to associate any images with symbols and beliefs.

Reconstructing Huck

We turned in our Papers on Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn. When the paper was assigned we were given 5 topics to write about, I was split between two of the topics. So its only natural for me to Blog about it. "Some Have Seen Huck and Jim's friendship as an attempt to "reconstruct" the relationship between whites and blacks. To what extent is their reconstruction successful? What are the limits to such a reconstruction?"

First off the whole book is about Huck and Jim, So I think Mark Twain was writing about about reconstructing the relationship between whites and blacks. The whole book is an upward slope that peaks when Huck decides to tear up the letter and "go to hell"
(179). After that the next 11 chapters have a turn for the worst. I think all of the chapters leading up to the last 11 are what Mark Twain thunks if we put everything aside we can live together like Huck and Jim do. But Mark Twain knows this isn't going to happen in his life time and he shows it in the last 11 chapters. He also shows us that in the last few chapters that at the core whites and blacks are the same. On Page 184 Huck describes an African

American woman and her kids, and then describes a white woman and her kids as "Acting the same way the little niggers was going."

I think in the end Mark Twain was writting a book, that makes "fun of" the fact that even though whites and blacks are the same at the core, we cant "reconstruct" The relationship between whites and blacks unless we put our past (Tom, maybe) behind us.

American's finest News source (we the bloggers are not alone)

I was reading The Onion the other day, when I saw somehing that cought my eye. That something was a tiny box on page that said Black Presidents History Month. Natrually it talked about president Obama. It started by talking about true statments abou Obama, and then it had four not so true facts.

- In 1969, fellow second-grader Leon Hoyt became the first person to make fun of Barack Obama's name, referring to him as "Buttock" Obama for the entire school year.

-In High School, Obama had a special spot for making out that had the most breathtaking view of a voter-registration drive.

-Barack Obama is an admitted smoker who once set a world record by jamming 162 cigarettes into his mouth

-In addition to his many other firsts, at a preinaugural concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in January 2009 he became the first black man ever to watch Garth Brooks perform.

OK, The main thing I notced from that box of information was the line "In addition to his many firsts." Because the Onion people used that line it made me come to the conclusetion that they were poking fun at the Myth of firsts. I found it interesting that a paper use to make fun of current events, has picked up on the American myth of firsts, something that we have anylised countless times in class. With the state news papers are in I would say The Onions news is more relialble and fair then any other news station around.

Natural Selections

So I was watching the 133rd Westminster Kennel Club dog show, it is the 2nd oldest continuously held sporting event in the United States (the oldest is the Kentucky Derby). Only one Dog from each breed (Recognized by the AKC) can be entered. There are approximately 160 breeds of dogs, and they are divide into Groups; the winner of each Group moves on, and a Best in show is chosen between them. This idea of different Breeds, and different Groups reminded me of our discussion of Race in class. In particular the concept of "Best In Show" reminded me of the idea we left on in class, does race affect athletic ability. The movie we watched clearly pointed out that African Americans, have more natural athletic ability then Caucasians (example100, 200, 400 meter dash, and the mile 2 mile and Marathon). If you look at the 2008 Olympics you see a great examples of this, such as Usain Bolt (Fastest man alive holds world record for the 100 and 200). This holds true to longer distances too, if you look at the marathon world record holder is Haile Gabrselassie (Ethiopia) and then 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th fastest times are native Kenyans. I think this dominance in athletics is due to this idea of natural selection. Natural selection is the process by which favorable heritable traits become more common in successive generations. Organisms with traits that help it survive are able to pass on its genes; that means if you have two groups of the same organism are put in two different environments one with more limiting factors in it. The organism in the one with more limiting factors, will develop traits faster and better for survival then the other group. I believe this is a reason why, African Americans often posses more talent in athletics then Caucasians. Because Caucasians have always had the best living quality, and medical care, available (at the time) natural selection had less of an effect determining who dies and who lives, unlike in Africa were many nations are impoverished, which in turn cases a higher rate of natural selection. Thus often making African Americans athletically superior because they have better genes.

Feb 11, 2009
Today in class we finished the video, and it made me change my opinion of what i said in this Blog post. Instead of having better genes, its because of the Geography of were they come from. There is also non-Concordance between Athletic ability and skin color. Race is simply just a Social Fabrication, used to falsely classify people. Race is also not determined by genetics because we are too closely related.

The Best Around

In class we have talked about the "Myth of firsts" (being the first person) but there is another Myth that i think it goes hand and hand with "The Myth Of the BEST." Americans have a strong sense of patriotism towards their county, but I also think that they have a strong belief that the U.S.A is the best at whatever it (USA) sets out to do. Because of this notion that we are the best, Americans idealize those figures that lead them to glory. If you look at Michael Phelps, he is considered to be the BEST swimmer ever (14 gold medals and 7 world records). He has been heavily criticized, but the fact is that because we are infatuated over him so much shows that we idealize him. Another example is President Obama, everywhere I turn theres something to buy with his image on it weather, its a mug, plate, pencle, or even a shirt. Americans have an obsession with being the Best.

Manifest Destiny

Today in class we watched the beginning of The American Future Part 1: American Plenty (A history by Simon Schama); it reminded me of this term Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny is this belief/concept/Myth that the United States had/has a divine right to spread its values, and its people across North America.
Manifest Destiny was used to justify the Westward expansion and the slaughtering of any people group who got in the United States way. Many people believed in this "Manifest Destiny", they not only believed it was there destiny but that it was righteous or it was the right thing to do. One such person was John L. O'Sullivan (coined the term manifest destiny) in his paper, New York Morning News, he used Manifest Destiny to argued that the United States had the right to the Oregon Territory, "And that claim is by the right of our manifest destiny to overspread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty and federated self-government entrusted to us." (December 27, 1845) I believe that Manifest Destiny was once (and still maybe) one of the United States most widely believed in myths. Manifest Destiny was (is) the American myth that, we have to expand West, share our values, and most importantly we need to spread and protect DEMOCRACY.

"I think we all realize that the day has come when Democracy is being put upon its final test. The Old World is just now suffering from a wanton rejection of the principle of democracy and a substitution of the principle of autocracy as asserted in the name, but without the authority and sanction, of the multitude. This is the time of all others when Democracy should prove its purity and its spiritual power to prevail. It is surely the manifest destiny of the United States to lead in the attempt to make this spirit prevail." Woodrow Wilson "The world must be made safe for democracy."

Tokenism

So we have been discussing tokenism in class, and the big question is "Is tokenism real, and if so is it a problem." First off believe that tokenism is realm, but it is not as big of a problem as it should be. I think that it is not as big of a problem because as kids we watched T.V. that had a large amount of tokenism. As a child you do did not watch T.V. critically at all. I think as a child you just absentmindedly absorbed what you watched. And in turn I think that this absentminded absorption, led to a distortion that tokenism is OK. Now that I look at T.V. more critically, I see that this tokenism is not OK and needs to be changed.

In The Tribune

So as usual i read The Chicago Tribune every morning, or at least glance at it (I most of the time just glance at it). I noticed at the top of the front page they added something. There was an announcement at the top of the front page Recession Survival Guide (starting today and continuing this week. So I naturally flipped to it. After reading it through, I was pleasantly surprised to find it was there first marginal thing I have seen since the paper tanked. Is the Tribune starting to turn around, or have they just gotten lucky and found away to make money off the Recession.