Monday, 25 May 2009
Final Post!
Firstly I'd like to say, I've really enjoyed our group meetings. I've learnt alot from the lectures, but most of all I've learnt alot from the different views from everyone in our group. It's helped me understand how diverse the topics in our lectures can be. :)
Now, after that heart-warming moment, my final blog. And amazingly enough, its NOT about healthcare!
My website that I've chosen, doesn't typify America, not in a conventional way anyway, I think it shows a different side to America, one that isn't always visible and is considered slightly tabboo to talk about. I will try and explain as best I can...
Frank Warren set up Post Secret, a mail art project. Initially he placed blank postcards in libraries, banks and shops with written instructions and addressed to himself. The intructions said to remain anonymous. They also said to write a secret down that you had never told anyone and try to make it as creative as possible. Immediatley Frank began to recieve secrets, and he recieved more than the amount of postcards he had given out. He then began to exhibit the postcards in art galleries, on a small scale. The idea behind post secret then became extremely well known through a music video, by All American Rejects- Dirty Little Secret, which showed postcards from Frank's first book PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives.
After this, Frank set up a blog spot, where every Sunday he posts 20 new secrets. To date he has exhibited over 2,500 postcards, and recieved hundreds of thousands.
According to Youth Trends' February 2008 "Top Ten List Report" PostSecret was the 10th most popular site amongst female students in the USA, with 7% of those polled naming the site as their favorite. Frank Warren is currently hosting events at numerous colleges to speak about the many different secrets of today's society. An art exhibition, also currently traveling the country, showcases many of the hundreds of thousands of secrets Warren has received.
Frank has released 4 books, and is currently compiling the 5th book. However the publishing of the books lead to people placing their own postcards with their secrets on in the actual books, allowing the person who buys it to keep their own anonymous secret.
The subjects of the secret could be anything, ranging from hopes and regrets, embarrassing habbits and criminal activity, memories from childhood and sexual misconduct. The only rule is they must be true and they must never have been told to anyone.
Ive been following Post secret for around 3 years now. I have the books and regularly read the blog spot. Some of the secrets are funny.
Some are shocking.
When Ive read some of the secrets, I can imagine them to be cathartic for people. Its not just Americans, everyone has secrets, but Postsecret has allowed for confrontation of the self, it has allowed people to take a look at themselves and not be so worried. Its a typical situation of 'I'm the only one'. Post secret enables people to band together and realise that our secrets arent really secrets atall. They are unifying qualities amongst people.
I think it does typify America in a way. Its the unseen America, the things that people dont want to talk about, but know is there and wont go away.
Post secret has made me laugh, it has made me cry but most of all has shown me that people dont have to unite over social groupings, religious views or have to be a slave to the media, but can find a common ground in their secrets. Shameful, embarrassing, shocking, funny and cringeworthy. :)
http://postsecret.blogspot.com/
Have a look, maybe see if the library has any of Frank's books, you should definitley have a look at them.
Now, after that heart-warming moment, my final blog. And amazingly enough, its NOT about healthcare!
My website that I've chosen, doesn't typify America, not in a conventional way anyway, I think it shows a different side to America, one that isn't always visible and is considered slightly tabboo to talk about. I will try and explain as best I can...
Frank Warren set up Post Secret, a mail art project. Initially he placed blank postcards in libraries, banks and shops with written instructions and addressed to himself. The intructions said to remain anonymous. They also said to write a secret down that you had never told anyone and try to make it as creative as possible. Immediatley Frank began to recieve secrets, and he recieved more than the amount of postcards he had given out. He then began to exhibit the postcards in art galleries, on a small scale. The idea behind post secret then became extremely well known through a music video, by All American Rejects- Dirty Little Secret, which showed postcards from Frank's first book PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives.
After this, Frank set up a blog spot, where every Sunday he posts 20 new secrets. To date he has exhibited over 2,500 postcards, and recieved hundreds of thousands.
According to Youth Trends' February 2008 "Top Ten List Report" PostSecret was the 10th most popular site amongst female students in the USA, with 7% of those polled naming the site as their favorite. Frank Warren is currently hosting events at numerous colleges to speak about the many different secrets of today's society. An art exhibition, also currently traveling the country, showcases many of the hundreds of thousands of secrets Warren has received.
Frank has released 4 books, and is currently compiling the 5th book. However the publishing of the books lead to people placing their own postcards with their secrets on in the actual books, allowing the person who buys it to keep their own anonymous secret.
The subjects of the secret could be anything, ranging from hopes and regrets, embarrassing habbits and criminal activity, memories from childhood and sexual misconduct. The only rule is they must be true and they must never have been told to anyone.
Ive been following Post secret for around 3 years now. I have the books and regularly read the blog spot. Some of the secrets are funny.
Some are shocking.
When Ive read some of the secrets, I can imagine them to be cathartic for people. Its not just Americans, everyone has secrets, but Postsecret has allowed for confrontation of the self, it has allowed people to take a look at themselves and not be so worried. Its a typical situation of 'I'm the only one'. Post secret enables people to band together and realise that our secrets arent really secrets atall. They are unifying qualities amongst people.
I think it does typify America in a way. Its the unseen America, the things that people dont want to talk about, but know is there and wont go away.
Post secret has made me laugh, it has made me cry but most of all has shown me that people dont have to unite over social groupings, religious views or have to be a slave to the media, but can find a common ground in their secrets. Shameful, embarrassing, shocking, funny and cringeworthy. :)
http://postsecret.blogspot.com/
Have a look, maybe see if the library has any of Frank's books, you should definitley have a look at them.
Tuesday, 19 May 2009
The coca cola company
As company's still exploit there customers and workforce, we need to look at exactly how they sell there products in the first place.
The coca cola company which first started in 1886 in Atlanta was at first marketing there drink as a medicinal drink which then later became the coke we know today.
The coca cola company also made other types of coke to attract other markets for example cherry coke and vanilla coke etc there are over 15 different types of coke on the market today including raspberry and orange.
The company's adverts have also change over time as well.
This is the older version of many well know ads like the Christmas Santa truck.
Other adverts are mainly based on TV and have also changed over time.
This is one of the newest adverts which is of a strange world which only makes coca cola and should how much effort the strange looking characters go to to make coca cola.
This ad is trying to show that by drinking coca cola you are a part of the world and that you can all make music together.
The coca cola company which first started in 1886 in Atlanta was at first marketing there drink as a medicinal drink which then later became the coke we know today.
The coca cola company also made other types of coke to attract other markets for example cherry coke and vanilla coke etc there are over 15 different types of coke on the market today including raspberry and orange.
The company's adverts have also change over time as well.
This is the older version of many well know ads like the Christmas Santa truck.
Other adverts are mainly based on TV and have also changed over time.
This is one of the newest adverts which is of a strange world which only makes coca cola and should how much effort the strange looking characters go to to make coca cola.
This ad is trying to show that by drinking coca cola you are a part of the world and that you can all make music together.
American Consumerism is a topic I find really interesting to deconstruct and analyse as when considering any form of advertisements produced by American for brands such as Mcdonalds, Wal-mart, Apple etc, there is always a hidden meaning hidden within the product which is most commonly found within the American Dream. I have chosen to research the food outlet "Wendy's" as firstly it is a brand which is easily recognised on a high street and secondly I feel it is a brand which most typifies America."Wendys" began its long history in Nov 15th 1969 when Dave Thomas "Opened the first Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers Restaurant, he created something new and different- high quality food made with the freshest ingredients, served the way the customer wanted". With the 6000th Wendy's restuarant introduced in 2001 the statement above reflects a somewhat replected notion of fast-food restaurants throughout America, trying to create a restaurant which produces high quality food yet is aimed at the mass market. Wendy's in itself is therefore not just a brand, but an identity. Not only does it produce food, it creates and recreates an ideology of American society.
When researching the "Wendy's" website, you are immediatly drawn to the homepage portraying a selection of 3 burgers at a cost of 99 cent each (which from my calculations is about 50p each?) Each burger and its fillings look mass made whereby the ability to create a burger at this cost questions its use of ingredients, staff and manufacture costs, therefore in producing the ideology of fast-food chains within America. what affect is this having on people's income?
Monday, 18 May 2009
Consumerism in America
When thinking about consumption in America of commodities, instantly springing to mind is Mcdonalds, Starbucks, Apple and Walmart. Iv done my blog on the clothing company GAP.
GAP was founded in 1969, by Donald Fisher and Doris F. Fisher, and has since become the largest apparel retailer in America. There are 3465 GAP stores across the world in over 15 countries.
In 2003, Gap was sued by sweat shop workers in Saipan, The allegations included "off the clock" hours, where workers were not paid for working overtime, unsafe working conditions, and forced abortion policies. However in 2006, Gap was named in the top 100 most ethical companies. However in 2007, a documentary broadcast on the BBC, showed child labor in India in GAP factories.
The idea of GAP as a lifestyle rather than the products themselves really showed in an advert campaign from around 4 years ago
The ad campaign features Madonna and Missy Elliot, the idea of the advert is that if you buy GAP jeans you could look like Madonna and Missy Elliot, (Although I'm not too sure if there are many people out there who would volutarily look like Madonna, and if GAP make jeans big enough to fit Missy Elliot how come I struggle so damn much to find them?!) The advert epitomises the consumerist society, the advert is not selling clothing. It's selling an ideology and a lifestyle.
GAP was founded in 1969, by Donald Fisher and Doris F. Fisher, and has since become the largest apparel retailer in America. There are 3465 GAP stores across the world in over 15 countries.
In 2003, Gap was sued by sweat shop workers in Saipan, The allegations included "off the clock" hours, where workers were not paid for working overtime, unsafe working conditions, and forced abortion policies. However in 2006, Gap was named in the top 100 most ethical companies. However in 2007, a documentary broadcast on the BBC, showed child labor in India in GAP factories.
The idea of GAP as a lifestyle rather than the products themselves really showed in an advert campaign from around 4 years ago
The ad campaign features Madonna and Missy Elliot, the idea of the advert is that if you buy GAP jeans you could look like Madonna and Missy Elliot, (Although I'm not too sure if there are many people out there who would volutarily look like Madonna, and if GAP make jeans big enough to fit Missy Elliot how come I struggle so damn much to find them?!) The advert epitomises the consumerist society, the advert is not selling clothing. It's selling an ideology and a lifestyle.
Tuesday, 12 May 2009
Crash review
Crash review
BBC Review
It's hard to describe Crash without it sounding earnest. But while this provocative drama tackles racism, class and looking beyond appearances, it's anything but worthy or dull. Following several lives as they, yes, crash together during one day in LA, it's fuelled by powerhouse performances from an outstanding cast. Sandra Bullock is startling as a bitchy housewife, Don Cheadle brings beaten-down grace to the role of a weary detective and, as a racist cop, Matt Dillon's steely presence holds everything together.
Some critics have criticised Crash for its reliance on coincidence. Which, given it's a deliberately structured modern parable, is a bit like damning War Of The Worlds for having aliens. Writer/director Paul Haggis (who scripted Clint Eastwood's Oscar-winner Million Dollar Baby) sets out to address difficult issues: why middle-class whites are afraid of working-class blacks, why being racist doesn't necessarily mean being inhuman, and how politics confuses the truth ("What are you, the ****ing defender of all things white?" yells William Fichtner's scheming internal affairs officer at Cheadle).
"FEW FILMS ARE AS DARING"
It perhaps isn't as accomplished as Magnolia (a great film, which revels in its absurdity) or Short Cuts (another LA story dominated by a twisted cop). But Crash's problems (a self-important score and overwrought finale) pale next to its emotional impact. Few films feature scenes as powerful as the contrasting car clashes between Dillon and Thandie Newton (both moments heart-in-mouth horrifying in different ways ). Few films are as daring. Few films this year are as deserving of your attention.
Although this is a good review of crash it does not look at class and how this effects the characters and the issues.
It also doesn't look at how smaller issues effect the characters such as area,age and educational background.
BBC Review
It's hard to describe Crash without it sounding earnest. But while this provocative drama tackles racism, class and looking beyond appearances, it's anything but worthy or dull. Following several lives as they, yes, crash together during one day in LA, it's fuelled by powerhouse performances from an outstanding cast. Sandra Bullock is startling as a bitchy housewife, Don Cheadle brings beaten-down grace to the role of a weary detective and, as a racist cop, Matt Dillon's steely presence holds everything together.
Some critics have criticised Crash for its reliance on coincidence. Which, given it's a deliberately structured modern parable, is a bit like damning War Of The Worlds for having aliens. Writer/director Paul Haggis (who scripted Clint Eastwood's Oscar-winner Million Dollar Baby) sets out to address difficult issues: why middle-class whites are afraid of working-class blacks, why being racist doesn't necessarily mean being inhuman, and how politics confuses the truth ("What are you, the ****ing defender of all things white?" yells William Fichtner's scheming internal affairs officer at Cheadle).
"FEW FILMS ARE AS DARING"
It perhaps isn't as accomplished as Magnolia (a great film, which revels in its absurdity) or Short Cuts (another LA story dominated by a twisted cop). But Crash's problems (a self-important score and overwrought finale) pale next to its emotional impact. Few films feature scenes as powerful as the contrasting car clashes between Dillon and Thandie Newton (both moments heart-in-mouth horrifying in different ways ). Few films are as daring. Few films this year are as deserving of your attention.
Although this is a good review of crash it does not look at class and how this effects the characters and the issues.
It also doesn't look at how smaller issues effect the characters such as area,age and educational background.
Crash Movie Review
When researching the movie Crash, I found the "Rotten Tomatoes" film review website to be of great help. Not only does it give numerous reviews of the film from various critics, but also states its popularity (on the Tomatometer) and the number of positive reviews (75%) circulated after its initial theatrical launch in 2005. One particular review which caught my eye detailed the difficulties with having a multi-culturalist society where unspoken racial disagreements exist:
"A film teeming with solemn recognition of the nasty complexities of living in a multi-cultural society, and much of what remains unspoken racially in America being neatly shoved under a complacent rug"
"A film teeming with solemn recognition of the nasty complexities of living in a multi-cultural society, and much of what remains unspoken racially in America being neatly shoved under a complacent rug"
Crash
"Set logically in LA, the road rage capital of the world, Crash weighs in on the explosive mix of cars and race that notoriously tends to play out there. Paul Haggis, who just struck it rich with his screenplay for Million Dollar Baby moves on from baby's skid row to for his directing debut in a movie that weaves in and out of the harrowing and yet often deeply touching high anxiety network along the California race and class divide....Haggis, unlike the typical filmmaker who sees no value in connecting to the larger world around him, let along history, creates raw candid and bracing drama out of all the unspoken race and class tensions that surround and on occasion intrude into our waking lives. This is by no means a simple task, and Haggis is sometimes lured into the pitfalls of emotional excess and contrived coincidences. Latching onto the current popularity of inverted narrative, where a connection among the characters is revealed later rather than sooner, Haggis builds his story with a measured and haunting pace. Spontaneous racial hostility and fear break out around a series of car crashes. A pair of young ghetto carjackers cause otherwise upstanding elites, like the wealthy housewife played by Sandra Bullock, to morph into perpetrators of foul racism, as against the Latino locksmith securing the newly paranoid women's front door. Matt Dillon, a cop who is stressed out by a medical bureaucracy that isnt properly caring for his ailing Father, irrationally retaliates by hurling mean spirited racial epithets over the phone to a Black medical office worker, and further on later works of his resentments by molesting an affluent Black female motorist (Thandie Newton) under the pretext of frisking her. These are just some examples of a film teeming with solemn recognition of the nasty complexities of living in a multi-cultural society, and much of what remains unspoken racially in America being neatly shoved under a complacent rug. But far from just a self-critical expose, Crash is also a search for goodness even in the darkness heart in real world we live in. And potential redemption that is in no way the easy happy ending, but tentatively seeks to lead in that enormously difficult direction"
by Prairie Miller, May 22nd 2007
As we can see from this review, Crash is not simply a film highlighting racism, but racism in all its forms. It reflects the need for a multi-culturalist society, to prevent the seperation of different cultures but also shows the inevitable difficulties whereby each race is taken advantage of and no respect is given or recieved. Focussing particularly on Sandra Bullocks character, we see a strong independant women fearful of her families safety within their own home after a car robbery, whilst on the contrary, the thieves themselves feel anger towards people sterotyping and being fearful of them because of their background. This presents a somewhat interesting analogy whereby sterotyping different cultures prevents the initial problem from being solved and in many ways makes the problem worse through exaggeration (i.e. Bullock wanting the locks changed again after she chooses not to trust the Latino locksmith).
The film poster above I also found to be quite iconic, where the man pictured holds his daughter in a strong embrace, at the part of the film when he thinks she has been shot, obviously reflecting gun crime as a major part of society. This is one of many film posters of which may in particular cause a discussion as the the film title does not immediatley relate to the image depicted, therefore creating controversy around the proposed reading of the text and what the director is trying to say to his audiences through this portrayal.
Monday, 11 May 2009
As the movie was heavily centred around issues of race, i decided that to throw a unique twist on this weeks blog task, i would endeavour to track down a review from an organisation such as the KKK. I wasn't able to find any review from their site but i found this one from a white supremacist.
The review is very long and is often filled with nothing more than racist rhetoric. I have however, placed intersting sements of this review in italics to make it easier to read. I would though, consider the whole interview to be read.
Crash : Hollywood makes a Racist Movie
by Shaun Walker
American Dissident Voices Broadcast of March 18, 2006
(Racist American website)
A scene from Crash
Hello, welcome to American Dissident Voices, I'm your host, Shaun Walker.
The Academy Award for the best film produced in 2005 was a big surprise this year. The movie Crash won three Academy Awards. It won Best Picture, Best Editing and Best Original Screenplay. The Jews in Hollywood are not omnipotent and occasionally good movies are made. About 10 years ago, the movie Braveheart swept the Academy Awards. Braveheart, written and directed by Mel Gibson, had many historical errors, but the content of White men, acting as healthy White men, without any pro-Jewish messages, made that a really good film. But, Braveheart wasn't racial.
Prior to this Academy Awards ceremony, the Jew newspapers and TV shows started to build up a really sick movie that is openly pro-faggot. That movie is called Brokeback Mountain. I have not seen that film, but if all the Jews and powerful government officials in America agree that it is a film that portrays faggots in a good light, then it must be very sick.
Personally, I don't care for horror movies. I just think they are pointless and socially speaking they have nothing of value to add to our society. I recall the Russian President Putin has stated that the horror movies that Hollywood produces are sick and demented and only harm society. He went further to state that the very productions of these sick horror movies are socially irresponsible and, I agree, although I really haven't given the matter too much thought.
The matter of judging movies for their moral contents is not popular with Americans. America's culture has a deep-rooted sense of independence that some see as anarchistic. But, however one views this, it is a fact that Americans do not look at movies from a sense of "right or wrong," but rather from an entertainment value alone. In this regard, the comments by President Putin might sound cold and authoritarian to many Americans. Americans are really quite unaware of the fact that movies, just like TV shows, music, books, etc., are media tools that mold public opinion and can be very influential, both good and bad. Americans view certain politicians as being "Right-Wing" or "Liberal," and some Americans view some newspapers and magazines in the same manner. There is a very rare case where the movie director and producer, Michael Moore, has been labeled as being very liberal and his movies reflect this. In the same manner, the Negro Producer/Director Spike Lee is viewed as having a bias for his Negro race, which he does. Also, after the movie The Passion of the Christ became so controversial, Mel Gibson is now regarded as the most "Right-Wing" of movie producers.
This really is nothing new. Throughout the existence of making films, like all written and spoken words, movies are biased to the views of the person that makes them. But, great directors such as Alfred Hitchcock or Francis Ford Coppola have never been labeled as such. The greatest of all the Silent Movies was directed by D.W. Griffin and called Birth of a Nation. This movie was openly pro-White and still holds the unbeatable record of being continuously in the movie theatres for over 29 years non-stop. With home entertainment what it is today, it is practically guaranteed that there will never be another movie to ever be in theatres that long again. But still, D.W. Griffin wasn't really labeled as a Liberal or Conservative. He was really just mainstream. When Birth of a Nation was made, Americans were very racially aware and proud, so the movie didn't shock anyone. It was just a film about the when the Negroes went ape after the Southern states were conquered and the cruel period called the "Reconstruction." The KKK was a natural manifestation from Southern Whites to stop the violence that the Negroes were committing against them. Birth of a Nation was simply a film of this event, taken from a popular novel around that time called The Clansmen, written by Thomas Dixon. It was a good film, but certainly not revolutionary or out of the norm for its time.
There have been a few movies that do seem to sneak under the Jewish radar and make it through. The movie Crash is one of those types of movies. There was a movie made in the 1980s, starring Tom Berenger and Debra Winger, called Betrayed. This movie was a fairly good movie that very loosely portrayed the life of Robert Mathews and The Order, also known as the Silent Brotherhood.
There was another movie in the 1980s called They Live starring the then famous wrestler, Rowdy Roddy Pipper. In the film Mr. Pipper was the blue-collar worker who stumbled upon a pair of glasses. When you put the glasses on, they showed that all the media was controlled by one group of people, who were using the power of the media to totally control the planet. The movie They Live was science fiction, because it had the group that controlled the media as space aliens. But, if you were to just look at the ugly space aliens as Jews, then the entire movie is very, very poignant to our current struggle against the Jews. Both of these movies are very much worth watching for racially aware people. And, so is this new movie Crash .
The two movies I just mentioned from the 1980s were both laced with many aspects that were basically "political disclaimers," which lowered the social value for our racial struggle, but the movie Crash doesn't really have any of those blatant falsehoods. In fact Crash has so many different angles going on at once, that it really reminds me of Russian literature. I'm not saying this was as convoluted and mysterious as Russian literature, but Crash really did have a sense of unknown and variety, while maintaining a solid plot. For those White Nationalists that are not familiar with Russian literature, you are missing out. If you want to treat yourself, then read anything written by Michael Lermontov. Not only was Lermontov the greatest Russian writer during the peak of the 19th century Russian classics, but he also was very racist, very nationalist, and hated the Jews with a passion.
But, this is what makes the movie Crash so unique. I don't know when I have seen a Hollywood movie that reminded me of classic Russian literature.
During the 1990s there were a few movies that delved into the dynamics of racism a bit further. The now very famous actors Russell Crowe made his big break into film with the now skinhead classic film called Romper Stomper. It is very fitting that this film was made in Australia about a group of young Aussie skinheads trying to keep their country White. With all the racial violence in Australia that is currently taking place, Romper Stomper has proved prophetic.
A '90s film that touched on racial problems was Falling Down starring the Jew Michael Douglas. This wasn't nearly as racist as Romper Stomper, but there were some really powerful points in the movie. Falling Down was also very strongly loaded with political disclaimers.
Of all the movies I've cited, Falling Down has a story plot more on the same lines as Crash . Now I don't want to get into details about Crash , because I would like you, the listeners to watch this movie. I've always hated when people give away the movie plot or tell me what is going to happen next, so I'll avoid doing that. But in Falling Down and Crash they are just a series of events taking place in Los Angeles, California. Both have racial problems that come to the fore. But, after that is where Crash becomes a soon-to-be cult classic of it own.
I know other cult classics, such as Clockwork Orange has a deeper message within it, but Crash isn't the same. Crash is just a never-ending series of very normal events, very good acting, very interesting circumstances, and this movie seems to intentionally avoid those annoying political-disclaimers. In fact, this might be the most Politically Incorrect movie made since the German classic "Jud Suss," which was back in 1944. There are so many little racial digs and cut-downs throughout the movie Crash , that I literally just sat waiting to see some very unrealistic political disclaimer thrown in, to neutralize the overtly racial material. Crash didn't do this. Instead there were some scenes of deep emotional circumstances with non-Whites, which might slightly annoy hardcore White Nationalists. In fact, there are so many non-Whites in this movie, that when most White Nationalists look at the video cover when renting a video, they would probably pass it by because of so many non-White actors.
Actually, the cast in Crash was really surprising with so many big names such as Matt Dillon and Sandra Bullock. These people all play believable characters and there is one more twist to this story. For those listeners that enjoy Ancient Greek classics or have ever read an Ancient Greek Tragedy, then you will be familiar with another aspect of Crash .
Most films made in Hollywood these days are just simple with their plot. They are so simple that they all repeat the same message. It's almost like a childhood "right and wrong" where the good guys always win and the bad guys are always caught. I am so sick of these stupid plots. These films are not reality therefore they cannot teach anything. In reality, there is a little good and bad in everyone. In the Ancient Greek Tragedies, it was hard to find a good guy and often, the entire cast was a pack of backstabbers. William Shakespeare brought events into focus with a similar manner, which is why his stories are so powerful, aside from his unique, masterful command of the language. Shakespeare's plays, the event and characters are timeless and realistic. All the Hollywood "shoot-em-up" action movies are so focused on explosions and special effects that a plot is often left out.
I once saw an ancient Roman play performed that was just done for historical purposes to show how they were conducted. It was only about five minutes long. After that another play of sorts called a "mime" was performed, also about five minutes long. I don't recall the name of either of these, but that's not important. These were plays that survived intact and I was amazed at how, in just five minutes, a few actors in togas could grab my attention and form a complex plot. The "mime" was even less so, materially speaking, but just as powerful. The "mime" was one single actor on stage, which never talked. There was a loud voice that boomed out behind the stage that represented the "thoughts" that the acting "mime" was thinking. It was fantastic. It also showed how much more intellectually superior was the Roman entertainment compared to our own.
This is one obvious fact in America, since the trouble-filled 1960s, in which the US has lowered the standards for US schools to such a low level that allows the majority of Negroes to graduate. At this lower, dumb-down level, everything has been lowered, including literature and movies. Hollywood can produce a movie costing $100 million dollars that might bring $200 million in profits, but has the stupidest plot. This is just a part of the decline of America, and with the Jews at the helm, this is unavoidable.
In Crash , the plot does not revolve around any of the characters in the story. The different scenarios taking place in the movie form a mosaic of a society that is being torn apart by racial conflict in the most subtle manner. This is similar to "death by a thousand pin-pricks." All of the scenarios have true-to-life racial strife imbedded within them. This movie goes out of its way to be racial. Many of these racial matters are very subtle and are not highlighted. There are cases were very openly racial dialog starts, but there are cops that are trying to suppress that angle and they do just that in the movie. This gives a very true-to-life ring in the movie. There are parts of the movie where non-Whites share a tender moment with other family members. Those scenes are not racial, but they are needed to build up those particular characters for other aspects of the movie. There is one particular disgusting sex-scene that only lasts about five seconds between a light-skinned Hispanic and a Negro. But, that again is used to set the stage for racial statements. And the best part to all the racism in Crash is it is almost all funny. This is a movie that White Nationalists can and will laugh loudly while watching. And it is so, I mean, just SO rare to have Hollywood produce such a high quality film, that uncovers so much racial tension and social animosity. This movie shows the Jew-led America in 2006, which has been transformed from a race-based White America of the 1950s to an anti-White America of 2006, but it doesn't apologize or try to sneak in Jewish PC disclaimers. The world that the Jews have now created is an anti-cohesive nation. There are no aspects about "diversity" that have united America in any fashion, but the Jews just stick to their plan and pretend it is a marvelous success. The Jews have pushed the diversity propaganda so far that it is just gone stale. It doesn't fit into any day-to-day problems and is nothing other than a Jewish pipe dream. Racial diversity is quite simply racial conflict with one race being overwhelmed and dispossessed by many other races. There is absolutely nothing beneficial to racial diversity and this movie, Crash , in one subtle content after another, portrays this in a very believable manner.
I don't recall when this movie was playing in the theatres. I never heard about it. Only after it won Best Picture did I hear about it. I rented it, with the thought that I might stop the movie midway, as it most likely was just another Hollywood film about nothing. But, after about 10 minutes of watching this film, I knew why it won Best Picture.
The thing is, this is not a film that would have ever been produced by a White Nationalist, and in that is a problem. If a White Nationalist made a film today, they would make another Triumph of the Wills, which was produced by the late Leni Riefenstahl. But, that would be a waste. Americans have been conditioned and are now a brainwashed society, who tries to make sense of the world with a hundred and one disjointed, illogical Jewish myths. This makes many White Nationalists angry at the portion of the White public that is non-racial. White Nationalists will say these people are stupid, which they are not. The non-racial White masses of America are a cross section of every aspect of this country, with very brilliant and very responsible people in the non-racial category. The oversimplification of labeling these people as "stupid" is useless. These people have been brainwashed with lies and errors and the vast majority of them can be brought back into our White family. But, there needs to be media produced that they can find, that they can relate to, and if it's going to be a movie, it also has to be a movie that they can enjoy. Such a movie has to be able to present racial intricacies in such a manner that it starts from a point of what they think to be true of racial matters. White Nationalists have such a clear understanding of the topic of race that we are just way above their heads on this topic. This is like having one physics research team discussing technical problems with their nuclear accelerator, and then having it filmed and made into a movie. Without any real understanding of this field of physics, the subject matter will bore everyone. Hollywood knows this, so when they produce such a movie, they avoid the many vast technical aspects to the job of the physicists and instead make a love story to surround the movie to keep people's interest. This is something that most White Nationalists don't understand. I've often seen many White Nationalists who try to talk to the general public with racial information that was too far removed from the public's understanding on the existing Zeitgeist on race. I've seen this problem in the most glaring manner. I really do believe we will need to eventually set up an entire school of our own where we can teach "public interaction on the topic of race, 101."
That is why Crash is good for White Nationalists to watch Crash . It is made at a starting level of racial understanding. So many stereotypes on racial matters, which most White Nationalists dismiss as meaningless, are used in this movie. White Nationalists don't address the topic of the evil racist White cop, because we know the truth about this matter. But herein again is the failure with communications. The general public believes in this mythos and it is a big issue to many. Therefore it is a topic the vast majority of Whites can relate to. So, in many regards the movie Crash , is a "back to the basics" of race conflict in America. And, this is something we really need to do in the White nationalist outreach.
There are rules in advertisement and when we promote a socio-political message those same rules for advertisement apply. We must present our message to the public in a manner they understand. If the way we package that message is done poorly, it will be useless. If the subject matter is too advanced for the people it reaches, it is useless. If the material presented does not interface with the public's existing Zeitgeist, then that gap in understanding also makes the material presented useless.
Crash is not a movie designed to help our racial struggle, but the brilliant and fresh approach to presenting the topic of race, as done in Crash is just right on the mark with where the public understanding is racially. I would like to urge all White racial activists to watch Crash and think about how they present OUR CAUSE to the public. I personally think Crash is easily the best movie Hollywood has done on race this decade. Rent it for yourself.
Thanks for listening today, this is Shaun Walker for the White race.
The review is very long and is often filled with nothing more than racist rhetoric. I have however, placed intersting sements of this review in italics to make it easier to read. I would though, consider the whole interview to be read.
Crash : Hollywood makes a Racist Movie
by Shaun Walker
American Dissident Voices Broadcast of March 18, 2006
(Racist American website)
A scene from Crash
Hello, welcome to American Dissident Voices, I'm your host, Shaun Walker.
The Academy Award for the best film produced in 2005 was a big surprise this year. The movie Crash won three Academy Awards. It won Best Picture, Best Editing and Best Original Screenplay. The Jews in Hollywood are not omnipotent and occasionally good movies are made. About 10 years ago, the movie Braveheart swept the Academy Awards. Braveheart, written and directed by Mel Gibson, had many historical errors, but the content of White men, acting as healthy White men, without any pro-Jewish messages, made that a really good film. But, Braveheart wasn't racial.
Prior to this Academy Awards ceremony, the Jew newspapers and TV shows started to build up a really sick movie that is openly pro-faggot. That movie is called Brokeback Mountain. I have not seen that film, but if all the Jews and powerful government officials in America agree that it is a film that portrays faggots in a good light, then it must be very sick.
Personally, I don't care for horror movies. I just think they are pointless and socially speaking they have nothing of value to add to our society. I recall the Russian President Putin has stated that the horror movies that Hollywood produces are sick and demented and only harm society. He went further to state that the very productions of these sick horror movies are socially irresponsible and, I agree, although I really haven't given the matter too much thought.
The matter of judging movies for their moral contents is not popular with Americans. America's culture has a deep-rooted sense of independence that some see as anarchistic. But, however one views this, it is a fact that Americans do not look at movies from a sense of "right or wrong," but rather from an entertainment value alone. In this regard, the comments by President Putin might sound cold and authoritarian to many Americans. Americans are really quite unaware of the fact that movies, just like TV shows, music, books, etc., are media tools that mold public opinion and can be very influential, both good and bad. Americans view certain politicians as being "Right-Wing" or "Liberal," and some Americans view some newspapers and magazines in the same manner. There is a very rare case where the movie director and producer, Michael Moore, has been labeled as being very liberal and his movies reflect this. In the same manner, the Negro Producer/Director Spike Lee is viewed as having a bias for his Negro race, which he does. Also, after the movie The Passion of the Christ became so controversial, Mel Gibson is now regarded as the most "Right-Wing" of movie producers.
This really is nothing new. Throughout the existence of making films, like all written and spoken words, movies are biased to the views of the person that makes them. But, great directors such as Alfred Hitchcock or Francis Ford Coppola have never been labeled as such. The greatest of all the Silent Movies was directed by D.W. Griffin and called Birth of a Nation. This movie was openly pro-White and still holds the unbeatable record of being continuously in the movie theatres for over 29 years non-stop. With home entertainment what it is today, it is practically guaranteed that there will never be another movie to ever be in theatres that long again. But still, D.W. Griffin wasn't really labeled as a Liberal or Conservative. He was really just mainstream. When Birth of a Nation was made, Americans were very racially aware and proud, so the movie didn't shock anyone. It was just a film about the when the Negroes went ape after the Southern states were conquered and the cruel period called the "Reconstruction." The KKK was a natural manifestation from Southern Whites to stop the violence that the Negroes were committing against them. Birth of a Nation was simply a film of this event, taken from a popular novel around that time called The Clansmen, written by Thomas Dixon. It was a good film, but certainly not revolutionary or out of the norm for its time.
There have been a few movies that do seem to sneak under the Jewish radar and make it through. The movie Crash is one of those types of movies. There was a movie made in the 1980s, starring Tom Berenger and Debra Winger, called Betrayed. This movie was a fairly good movie that very loosely portrayed the life of Robert Mathews and The Order, also known as the Silent Brotherhood.
There was another movie in the 1980s called They Live starring the then famous wrestler, Rowdy Roddy Pipper. In the film Mr. Pipper was the blue-collar worker who stumbled upon a pair of glasses. When you put the glasses on, they showed that all the media was controlled by one group of people, who were using the power of the media to totally control the planet. The movie They Live was science fiction, because it had the group that controlled the media as space aliens. But, if you were to just look at the ugly space aliens as Jews, then the entire movie is very, very poignant to our current struggle against the Jews. Both of these movies are very much worth watching for racially aware people. And, so is this new movie Crash .
The two movies I just mentioned from the 1980s were both laced with many aspects that were basically "political disclaimers," which lowered the social value for our racial struggle, but the movie Crash doesn't really have any of those blatant falsehoods. In fact Crash has so many different angles going on at once, that it really reminds me of Russian literature. I'm not saying this was as convoluted and mysterious as Russian literature, but Crash really did have a sense of unknown and variety, while maintaining a solid plot. For those White Nationalists that are not familiar with Russian literature, you are missing out. If you want to treat yourself, then read anything written by Michael Lermontov. Not only was Lermontov the greatest Russian writer during the peak of the 19th century Russian classics, but he also was very racist, very nationalist, and hated the Jews with a passion.
But, this is what makes the movie Crash so unique. I don't know when I have seen a Hollywood movie that reminded me of classic Russian literature.
During the 1990s there were a few movies that delved into the dynamics of racism a bit further. The now very famous actors Russell Crowe made his big break into film with the now skinhead classic film called Romper Stomper. It is very fitting that this film was made in Australia about a group of young Aussie skinheads trying to keep their country White. With all the racial violence in Australia that is currently taking place, Romper Stomper has proved prophetic.
A '90s film that touched on racial problems was Falling Down starring the Jew Michael Douglas. This wasn't nearly as racist as Romper Stomper, but there were some really powerful points in the movie. Falling Down was also very strongly loaded with political disclaimers.
Of all the movies I've cited, Falling Down has a story plot more on the same lines as Crash . Now I don't want to get into details about Crash , because I would like you, the listeners to watch this movie. I've always hated when people give away the movie plot or tell me what is going to happen next, so I'll avoid doing that. But in Falling Down and Crash they are just a series of events taking place in Los Angeles, California. Both have racial problems that come to the fore. But, after that is where Crash becomes a soon-to-be cult classic of it own.
I know other cult classics, such as Clockwork Orange has a deeper message within it, but Crash isn't the same. Crash is just a never-ending series of very normal events, very good acting, very interesting circumstances, and this movie seems to intentionally avoid those annoying political-disclaimers. In fact, this might be the most Politically Incorrect movie made since the German classic "Jud Suss," which was back in 1944. There are so many little racial digs and cut-downs throughout the movie Crash , that I literally just sat waiting to see some very unrealistic political disclaimer thrown in, to neutralize the overtly racial material. Crash didn't do this. Instead there were some scenes of deep emotional circumstances with non-Whites, which might slightly annoy hardcore White Nationalists. In fact, there are so many non-Whites in this movie, that when most White Nationalists look at the video cover when renting a video, they would probably pass it by because of so many non-White actors.
Actually, the cast in Crash was really surprising with so many big names such as Matt Dillon and Sandra Bullock. These people all play believable characters and there is one more twist to this story. For those listeners that enjoy Ancient Greek classics or have ever read an Ancient Greek Tragedy, then you will be familiar with another aspect of Crash .
Most films made in Hollywood these days are just simple with their plot. They are so simple that they all repeat the same message. It's almost like a childhood "right and wrong" where the good guys always win and the bad guys are always caught. I am so sick of these stupid plots. These films are not reality therefore they cannot teach anything. In reality, there is a little good and bad in everyone. In the Ancient Greek Tragedies, it was hard to find a good guy and often, the entire cast was a pack of backstabbers. William Shakespeare brought events into focus with a similar manner, which is why his stories are so powerful, aside from his unique, masterful command of the language. Shakespeare's plays, the event and characters are timeless and realistic. All the Hollywood "shoot-em-up" action movies are so focused on explosions and special effects that a plot is often left out.
I once saw an ancient Roman play performed that was just done for historical purposes to show how they were conducted. It was only about five minutes long. After that another play of sorts called a "mime" was performed, also about five minutes long. I don't recall the name of either of these, but that's not important. These were plays that survived intact and I was amazed at how, in just five minutes, a few actors in togas could grab my attention and form a complex plot. The "mime" was even less so, materially speaking, but just as powerful. The "mime" was one single actor on stage, which never talked. There was a loud voice that boomed out behind the stage that represented the "thoughts" that the acting "mime" was thinking. It was fantastic. It also showed how much more intellectually superior was the Roman entertainment compared to our own.
This is one obvious fact in America, since the trouble-filled 1960s, in which the US has lowered the standards for US schools to such a low level that allows the majority of Negroes to graduate. At this lower, dumb-down level, everything has been lowered, including literature and movies. Hollywood can produce a movie costing $100 million dollars that might bring $200 million in profits, but has the stupidest plot. This is just a part of the decline of America, and with the Jews at the helm, this is unavoidable.
In Crash , the plot does not revolve around any of the characters in the story. The different scenarios taking place in the movie form a mosaic of a society that is being torn apart by racial conflict in the most subtle manner. This is similar to "death by a thousand pin-pricks." All of the scenarios have true-to-life racial strife imbedded within them. This movie goes out of its way to be racial. Many of these racial matters are very subtle and are not highlighted. There are cases were very openly racial dialog starts, but there are cops that are trying to suppress that angle and they do just that in the movie. This gives a very true-to-life ring in the movie. There are parts of the movie where non-Whites share a tender moment with other family members. Those scenes are not racial, but they are needed to build up those particular characters for other aspects of the movie. There is one particular disgusting sex-scene that only lasts about five seconds between a light-skinned Hispanic and a Negro. But, that again is used to set the stage for racial statements. And the best part to all the racism in Crash is it is almost all funny. This is a movie that White Nationalists can and will laugh loudly while watching. And it is so, I mean, just SO rare to have Hollywood produce such a high quality film, that uncovers so much racial tension and social animosity. This movie shows the Jew-led America in 2006, which has been transformed from a race-based White America of the 1950s to an anti-White America of 2006, but it doesn't apologize or try to sneak in Jewish PC disclaimers. The world that the Jews have now created is an anti-cohesive nation. There are no aspects about "diversity" that have united America in any fashion, but the Jews just stick to their plan and pretend it is a marvelous success. The Jews have pushed the diversity propaganda so far that it is just gone stale. It doesn't fit into any day-to-day problems and is nothing other than a Jewish pipe dream. Racial diversity is quite simply racial conflict with one race being overwhelmed and dispossessed by many other races. There is absolutely nothing beneficial to racial diversity and this movie, Crash , in one subtle content after another, portrays this in a very believable manner.
I don't recall when this movie was playing in the theatres. I never heard about it. Only after it won Best Picture did I hear about it. I rented it, with the thought that I might stop the movie midway, as it most likely was just another Hollywood film about nothing. But, after about 10 minutes of watching this film, I knew why it won Best Picture.
The thing is, this is not a film that would have ever been produced by a White Nationalist, and in that is a problem. If a White Nationalist made a film today, they would make another Triumph of the Wills, which was produced by the late Leni Riefenstahl. But, that would be a waste. Americans have been conditioned and are now a brainwashed society, who tries to make sense of the world with a hundred and one disjointed, illogical Jewish myths. This makes many White Nationalists angry at the portion of the White public that is non-racial. White Nationalists will say these people are stupid, which they are not. The non-racial White masses of America are a cross section of every aspect of this country, with very brilliant and very responsible people in the non-racial category. The oversimplification of labeling these people as "stupid" is useless. These people have been brainwashed with lies and errors and the vast majority of them can be brought back into our White family. But, there needs to be media produced that they can find, that they can relate to, and if it's going to be a movie, it also has to be a movie that they can enjoy. Such a movie has to be able to present racial intricacies in such a manner that it starts from a point of what they think to be true of racial matters. White Nationalists have such a clear understanding of the topic of race that we are just way above their heads on this topic. This is like having one physics research team discussing technical problems with their nuclear accelerator, and then having it filmed and made into a movie. Without any real understanding of this field of physics, the subject matter will bore everyone. Hollywood knows this, so when they produce such a movie, they avoid the many vast technical aspects to the job of the physicists and instead make a love story to surround the movie to keep people's interest. This is something that most White Nationalists don't understand. I've often seen many White Nationalists who try to talk to the general public with racial information that was too far removed from the public's understanding on the existing Zeitgeist on race. I've seen this problem in the most glaring manner. I really do believe we will need to eventually set up an entire school of our own where we can teach "public interaction on the topic of race, 101."
That is why Crash is good for White Nationalists to watch Crash . It is made at a starting level of racial understanding. So many stereotypes on racial matters, which most White Nationalists dismiss as meaningless, are used in this movie. White Nationalists don't address the topic of the evil racist White cop, because we know the truth about this matter. But herein again is the failure with communications. The general public believes in this mythos and it is a big issue to many. Therefore it is a topic the vast majority of Whites can relate to. So, in many regards the movie Crash , is a "back to the basics" of race conflict in America. And, this is something we really need to do in the White nationalist outreach.
There are rules in advertisement and when we promote a socio-political message those same rules for advertisement apply. We must present our message to the public in a manner they understand. If the way we package that message is done poorly, it will be useless. If the subject matter is too advanced for the people it reaches, it is useless. If the material presented does not interface with the public's existing Zeitgeist, then that gap in understanding also makes the material presented useless.
Crash is not a movie designed to help our racial struggle, but the brilliant and fresh approach to presenting the topic of race, as done in Crash is just right on the mark with where the public understanding is racially. I would like to urge all White racial activists to watch Crash and think about how they present OUR CAUSE to the public. I personally think Crash is easily the best movie Hollywood has done on race this decade. Rent it for yourself.
Thanks for listening today, this is Shaun Walker for the White race.
How did this pretentious drivvel win an Oscar? [Insert Ali-G-ism here]
I have some pretty major issues with this film. I will try and set them out as clear as possible.
1. The high level of racist attitudes within this film- I found that every character in this film attributed an event to race. I.e. The black guys not getting served because they were black, the Asians getting raided because they were Asian. I don’t think this is a relevant attitude in modern day society. I don’t believe everyone attributes negative events solely to ethnic minorities. The only people who tend to do this, are the older generation who grew up with racist beliefs and the hardcore racists which make up a very very insignificant part of society.
2. The Ali G approach to racism- ‘is it cuz i is black’. Attributing other’s attitude to the colour of their skin, the black guys say they didn’t get served in the restaurant because they were black. I know its only a film but maybe the waitress was busy? Maybe she hadn’t seen them come in?
3. Stereotypes- each and every skin colour in this film was played up to in a relentless way
• If your white you must be a racist
• If your black you must be a criminal
• If your Asian you must be controlling and ignorant
• If your oriental you must be stupid
• If your Latino you must be in a gang
I hated the way people were portrayed to match their stereotype. Within 2minutes of the black men entering the film they had stolen a car and produced guns, all opinions aside, in America black men make up a large proportion of the crime. So why play to this stereotype? This film shows that the only way an ethnic minority man solves a problem is through violence (the black guys with the guns, the Asian shooting the Latino) yet another stereotype played up in this film. Why play up to the stereotype? Why not dispel them? Why not show a black man doing well in his life? Why not show a white man being nice to a black woman? Why not show an oriental woman in a high powered job?
4. Everything reduced to issue of race- the exploitation of race in Crash is unrelenting. There’s a part where a TV show or film is being made with one of the main black male characters. The producer/director talks to him about a fellow actor saying he’s speaking less ‘black’ so their worried about black people being able to relate=attributing success as an actor because of ‘how black’ he is. Realistically, this doesn’t really occur. I don’t attribute my success to the fact I’m white, or the fact that I got a job over a black person because I’m white. My success is down to my hard work, the fact I managed to get a job is because I possess the skills others didn’t.
5. Generalisation- shortly after Brendan Fraiser’s car is stolen, he is offered a media deal to show that he doesn’t have negative views of ethnic minorities, because of his car being stolen by a black man, is told all they can get is an ‘Iraqi’ called Saddam. And just because of Saddam Hussein, Fraiser decides that he won’t go near press like that because he doesn’t want anything to do with Hussein, therefore generalising the whole Asian population in with a vicious dictator. This generalisation is grossly unfair, it is also a very odd view to have. I don’t think views like that are evident in society today. Just because Al-Qaeda flew into the twin towers, doesn’t mean that the whole of Iran and Iraq is going to do the same.
Rick: Fuck! Why do these guys have to be black? I mean, why? No matter how we spin this thing, I'm either gonna lose the black vote or I'm gonna lose the law and order vote!
Karen: You know, I think you're worrying too much. You have a lot of support in the black community.
Rick: All right. If we can't duck this thing, we're gonna have to neutralize it. What we need is a picture of me pinning a medal on a black man. Bruce? The firefighter - the one that saved the camp or something - Northridge... what's his name?
Bruce: He's Iraqi.
Rick: He's Iraqi? Well, he looks black.
Bruce: He's dark-skinned, sir, but he's Iraqi, his name's Saddam Hassif.
Rick: Saddam? His name's Saddam? Oh, that's real good, Bruce. Yeah, I'm gonna pin a medal on an Iraqi named Saddam. Give yourself a raise, will you?
6. Thinking that most white people are owed something by black people- Matt Dillons character in an exchange with Shaniqua the HMO, says –
Officer Ryan: You don't like me, that's fine. I'm a prick. But my father doesn't deserve to suffer like this. He was a janitor. He struggled his whole life. Saved enough to start his own company. Twenty-three employees, all of them black. Paid 'em equal wages when no one else was doing that. For years he worked side by side with those men, sweeping and carrying garbage. Then the city council decides to give minority-owned companies preference in city contracts. And overnight, my father loses everything. His business, his home, his wife. Everything! Not once does he blame your people. I'm not asking you to help me. I'm asking that you do this small thing for a man who lost everything so people like yourself could reap the benefits. And do you know what it's gonna cost you? Nothing. Just a flick of your pen.
Shaniqua: Your father sounds like a good man. And if he'd come in here today, I probably would've approved this request. But he didn't come in. You did. And for his sake, it's a real shame! Get him the hell outta my office!
This was one of the most confusing things I found in this film, the stereotype that white people take the ‘glory’ of freeing black people. It’s just not relevant as a view because I don’t believe it exists.
Crash just creates fictional events, to manipulate people into thinking this is relevant. I found the whole thing extremely frustrating. I think it shows the power of the word ‘nigger’ in the film industry. The only reason this film is successful is because is shows racism in its most extreme form, and everyone admits to liking it because it is that, entirely fictional. If everyone agreed with the racist attitudes in the film they wouldn’t admit to liking it through fear of being persecuted by society. It frustrates me, because we saw it again this year at the Oscars. The Wrestler, Mickey Rourke’s comeback film, was the clear winner by a mile, personally its one of the best films I’ve ever seen, it was a dead cert. But Milk won it. Why? Milk wasn’t even that good a film. It won because it showed Homosexuals getting segregated from society and the fight of one man, not surprisingly, who was gay, fighting for gay rights. But oh god forbid, if the Academy ignored the fight of Gay Pride, all hell would break loose. I’m not saying that both Crash and Milk won purely based on their messages, but it has a lot to do with it. I find Crash pretentious and imposing, it portrays a completely fictional and insignificant attitude to racism that frustrated me. I hated the way stereotypes were rammed down my throat, I hated the way everything negative was reduced to race, I hated the way black were shown, white people and Asian people were shown. Asian people got it worse; they were shown with little or no redeeming qualities. I found the whole thing to be a massive racial slur against anyone of any colour. I felt incredibly insulted as I was watching it, I don’t need to be told there is racism in this world because I know it is, but its not as extreme as it makes out to be. I cant decide whether the director is racist or incredibly clever and manipulative, because he’s made enough money from it to merit a glorious retirement. It has began the trend of politically motivated films which frankly are no better than the next film, but win massive appraisal ‘because their showing it like it is’ and ’ its real and deep’. I don’t need this constantly flung at me all the live long day. I go to the cinema to enjoy it, not receive a lecture in social politics.
1. The high level of racist attitudes within this film- I found that every character in this film attributed an event to race. I.e. The black guys not getting served because they were black, the Asians getting raided because they were Asian. I don’t think this is a relevant attitude in modern day society. I don’t believe everyone attributes negative events solely to ethnic minorities. The only people who tend to do this, are the older generation who grew up with racist beliefs and the hardcore racists which make up a very very insignificant part of society.
2. The Ali G approach to racism- ‘is it cuz i is black’. Attributing other’s attitude to the colour of their skin, the black guys say they didn’t get served in the restaurant because they were black. I know its only a film but maybe the waitress was busy? Maybe she hadn’t seen them come in?
3. Stereotypes- each and every skin colour in this film was played up to in a relentless way
• If your white you must be a racist
• If your black you must be a criminal
• If your Asian you must be controlling and ignorant
• If your oriental you must be stupid
• If your Latino you must be in a gang
I hated the way people were portrayed to match their stereotype. Within 2minutes of the black men entering the film they had stolen a car and produced guns, all opinions aside, in America black men make up a large proportion of the crime. So why play to this stereotype? This film shows that the only way an ethnic minority man solves a problem is through violence (the black guys with the guns, the Asian shooting the Latino) yet another stereotype played up in this film. Why play up to the stereotype? Why not dispel them? Why not show a black man doing well in his life? Why not show a white man being nice to a black woman? Why not show an oriental woman in a high powered job?
4. Everything reduced to issue of race- the exploitation of race in Crash is unrelenting. There’s a part where a TV show or film is being made with one of the main black male characters. The producer/director talks to him about a fellow actor saying he’s speaking less ‘black’ so their worried about black people being able to relate=attributing success as an actor because of ‘how black’ he is. Realistically, this doesn’t really occur. I don’t attribute my success to the fact I’m white, or the fact that I got a job over a black person because I’m white. My success is down to my hard work, the fact I managed to get a job is because I possess the skills others didn’t.
5. Generalisation- shortly after Brendan Fraiser’s car is stolen, he is offered a media deal to show that he doesn’t have negative views of ethnic minorities, because of his car being stolen by a black man, is told all they can get is an ‘Iraqi’ called Saddam. And just because of Saddam Hussein, Fraiser decides that he won’t go near press like that because he doesn’t want anything to do with Hussein, therefore generalising the whole Asian population in with a vicious dictator. This generalisation is grossly unfair, it is also a very odd view to have. I don’t think views like that are evident in society today. Just because Al-Qaeda flew into the twin towers, doesn’t mean that the whole of Iran and Iraq is going to do the same.
Rick: Fuck! Why do these guys have to be black? I mean, why? No matter how we spin this thing, I'm either gonna lose the black vote or I'm gonna lose the law and order vote!
Karen: You know, I think you're worrying too much. You have a lot of support in the black community.
Rick: All right. If we can't duck this thing, we're gonna have to neutralize it. What we need is a picture of me pinning a medal on a black man. Bruce? The firefighter - the one that saved the camp or something - Northridge... what's his name?
Bruce: He's Iraqi.
Rick: He's Iraqi? Well, he looks black.
Bruce: He's dark-skinned, sir, but he's Iraqi, his name's Saddam Hassif.
Rick: Saddam? His name's Saddam? Oh, that's real good, Bruce. Yeah, I'm gonna pin a medal on an Iraqi named Saddam. Give yourself a raise, will you?
6. Thinking that most white people are owed something by black people- Matt Dillons character in an exchange with Shaniqua the HMO, says –
Officer Ryan: You don't like me, that's fine. I'm a prick. But my father doesn't deserve to suffer like this. He was a janitor. He struggled his whole life. Saved enough to start his own company. Twenty-three employees, all of them black. Paid 'em equal wages when no one else was doing that. For years he worked side by side with those men, sweeping and carrying garbage. Then the city council decides to give minority-owned companies preference in city contracts. And overnight, my father loses everything. His business, his home, his wife. Everything! Not once does he blame your people. I'm not asking you to help me. I'm asking that you do this small thing for a man who lost everything so people like yourself could reap the benefits. And do you know what it's gonna cost you? Nothing. Just a flick of your pen.
Shaniqua: Your father sounds like a good man. And if he'd come in here today, I probably would've approved this request. But he didn't come in. You did. And for his sake, it's a real shame! Get him the hell outta my office!
This was one of the most confusing things I found in this film, the stereotype that white people take the ‘glory’ of freeing black people. It’s just not relevant as a view because I don’t believe it exists.
Crash just creates fictional events, to manipulate people into thinking this is relevant. I found the whole thing extremely frustrating. I think it shows the power of the word ‘nigger’ in the film industry. The only reason this film is successful is because is shows racism in its most extreme form, and everyone admits to liking it because it is that, entirely fictional. If everyone agreed with the racist attitudes in the film they wouldn’t admit to liking it through fear of being persecuted by society. It frustrates me, because we saw it again this year at the Oscars. The Wrestler, Mickey Rourke’s comeback film, was the clear winner by a mile, personally its one of the best films I’ve ever seen, it was a dead cert. But Milk won it. Why? Milk wasn’t even that good a film. It won because it showed Homosexuals getting segregated from society and the fight of one man, not surprisingly, who was gay, fighting for gay rights. But oh god forbid, if the Academy ignored the fight of Gay Pride, all hell would break loose. I’m not saying that both Crash and Milk won purely based on their messages, but it has a lot to do with it. I find Crash pretentious and imposing, it portrays a completely fictional and insignificant attitude to racism that frustrated me. I hated the way stereotypes were rammed down my throat, I hated the way everything negative was reduced to race, I hated the way black were shown, white people and Asian people were shown. Asian people got it worse; they were shown with little or no redeeming qualities. I found the whole thing to be a massive racial slur against anyone of any colour. I felt incredibly insulted as I was watching it, I don’t need to be told there is racism in this world because I know it is, but its not as extreme as it makes out to be. I cant decide whether the director is racist or incredibly clever and manipulative, because he’s made enough money from it to merit a glorious retirement. It has began the trend of politically motivated films which frankly are no better than the next film, but win massive appraisal ‘because their showing it like it is’ and ’ its real and deep’. I don’t need this constantly flung at me all the live long day. I go to the cinema to enjoy it, not receive a lecture in social politics.
Obama week 8
I enjoyed reading The audacity of hope as it seem to flow well and obama laid out his arguments well.The only problem I did find with some of his arguments were that the policys he wished to introduce wouldn't all beable to fit into one term of office.
Learning about parts of his life help me to understand the new president more but I could see that he was trying to win over the reader with these parts of the book.
Obama's first 100 days show us how he can impliment policy and get results weather the results are good or bad.
Obama's first 100 days: Foreign policy
By Kim Ghattas
BBC News, Washington
Barack Obama's presidency has been dominated by the economic crisis, but that has not stopped him from trying to launch a massive recalibration of US foreign policy.
Mr Obama has been reaching out to America's foes
The breadth of issues he has tackled in this short time is unprecedented, prompting former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to write recently in the Washington Post that "the possibility of comprehensive solutions is unprecedented".
There is no guarantee that any of it will lead to success over the next four years, but the new administration is aiming high.
Within a few days of his inauguration, Mr Obama started checking off the long to-do list he had discussed during his campaign.
Mending relations
He announced the appointment of a special envoy to the Middle East to tackle the intractable conflict, declaring that peace in the region was "important to the United States and our national interest [and] important to me personally".
He shifted attention away from a war he opposed, in Iraq, back to the "clear and focused goal, to dismantle, disrupt and defeat al-Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan," a mission started under President George W Bush but which lost steam as the Iraq War unravelled.
He reached out to the Muslim world and started mending America's image around the world, declaring he would close the controversial detention centre in Guantanamo Bay.
The administration has launched the country on an important diplomatic enterprise. It now needs to fulfil its vision with a diplomatic plan
Henry Kissinger
Former secretary of state
He sought to reset relations with Russia - and mark what could be turning points in America's relations with Cuba and Iran.
On every foreign trip, in every meeting with a foreign leader, President Obama has said he wants to listen, not dictate, hoping to set the stage for a more co-operative foreign policy.
"I think it's been very important, the tone that President Obama, Secretary Clinton, Secretary Gates have fashioned," says Wendy Sherman, a former Clinton administration official who is now a Principal at the Albright Group, a global strategy firm.
"It is a tone of leading and listening... [Understanding] that the world is a complicated place [and] the United States alone cannot solve all of these problems," she says.
"But also understanding that the US has a responsibility to lead, accepts that responsibility, will be held accountable for that responsibility.
"So, I think they've gotten off to a tremendous start in probably the most complex world I've seen in my lifetime."
But critics say that President Obama's attempts to reach out to allies to win their co-operation is a gamble that has not (so far) paid off.
Commentators writing about Mr Obama's trip to Europe said it was a success on many levels, but he had still come home empty-handed on issues like European troop commitments for Afghanistan.
Changing landscape
So far Mr Obama has delivered plenty of foreign policy vision, but less in the way of substance.
Many experts say that is what the first 100 days are all about - but the gaps need to be filled out soon.
"The administration has launched the country on an important diplomatic enterprise. It now needs to fulfil its vision with a diplomatic plan," wrote Mr Kissinger.
Complicating some of the policy formulations is a fast-changing world.
Crisis and conflicts have erupted in Mexico, Pakistan and even Iraq where violence is rising again.
Elections are changing the political landscape in which the administration has to operate and the interlocutors it ends up with, from Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel to potential new governments in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and Iran.
Mr Obama made a video message aimed at reassuring Iran
By the president's side is a straight-talking secretary of state with her own star-power and some 60,000 air miles already under her belt - Hillary Clinton.
The administration's new emphasis on diplomacy means the state department is squarely back at the heart of America's efforts to engage with the world, from allies to rivals.
The policy formulation in this administration is a tightly controlled process, closely co-ordinated between the White House, the National Security Council and the Pentagon, with everybody so far seemingly on-message.
The rivalries that plagued the first term of George W Bush have been avoided, despite a cast of very powerful players.
Contrition 'does nothing'
But as he undoes past policies, Barack Obama is also facing criticism, albeit from expected sources.
"I think going abroad and being so contrite for so many alleged sins of the United States is not something that Americans want to see in their leaders when they're travelling abroad," says John Hannah, who was an adviser to former Vice-President Dick Cheney.
He added that the policy of contrition was not even proving effective in changing the behaviour of countries in the world that were of concern to the US, like Iran or Cuba.
President Obama has tried to engage with America's long-time foe, Iran, issuing a video address to both the people and leaders of Iran and calling the country by its official name, the Islamic Republic Iran, to signal that Washington was not seeking regime change.
On Cuba, he has lifted restrictions on travel and remittances for Cuban-Americans, but his handshake with Washington's bete noire, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, prompted critics to say the president had to avoid turning engagement into pandering.
The new approach is helping to change the mood and perhaps even the internal dynamic in places like Tehran and Havana, as Cubans and Iranians start to debate the benefits of engagement with the US.
On her first trip abroad, Mrs Clinton said that by engaging "something positive might actually happen, you never know".
"But if you stand at opposite sides of the room and refuse to engage, it's guaranteed nothing will happen," she added.
The momentum and goodwill are still there and the vision has been laid out in the first 100 days, but the next 1,000 days will determine whether this administration will be able to implement its vision and achieve results or whether it has bitten off more than it can chew in a complex world.
The biggest tests are yet to come.
I agree.
Learning about parts of his life help me to understand the new president more but I could see that he was trying to win over the reader with these parts of the book.
Obama's first 100 days show us how he can impliment policy and get results weather the results are good or bad.
Obama's first 100 days: Foreign policy
By Kim Ghattas
BBC News, Washington
Barack Obama's presidency has been dominated by the economic crisis, but that has not stopped him from trying to launch a massive recalibration of US foreign policy.
Mr Obama has been reaching out to America's foes
The breadth of issues he has tackled in this short time is unprecedented, prompting former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to write recently in the Washington Post that "the possibility of comprehensive solutions is unprecedented".
There is no guarantee that any of it will lead to success over the next four years, but the new administration is aiming high.
Within a few days of his inauguration, Mr Obama started checking off the long to-do list he had discussed during his campaign.
Mending relations
He announced the appointment of a special envoy to the Middle East to tackle the intractable conflict, declaring that peace in the region was "important to the United States and our national interest [and] important to me personally".
He shifted attention away from a war he opposed, in Iraq, back to the "clear and focused goal, to dismantle, disrupt and defeat al-Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan," a mission started under President George W Bush but which lost steam as the Iraq War unravelled.
He reached out to the Muslim world and started mending America's image around the world, declaring he would close the controversial detention centre in Guantanamo Bay.
The administration has launched the country on an important diplomatic enterprise. It now needs to fulfil its vision with a diplomatic plan
Henry Kissinger
Former secretary of state
He sought to reset relations with Russia - and mark what could be turning points in America's relations with Cuba and Iran.
On every foreign trip, in every meeting with a foreign leader, President Obama has said he wants to listen, not dictate, hoping to set the stage for a more co-operative foreign policy.
"I think it's been very important, the tone that President Obama, Secretary Clinton, Secretary Gates have fashioned," says Wendy Sherman, a former Clinton administration official who is now a Principal at the Albright Group, a global strategy firm.
"It is a tone of leading and listening... [Understanding] that the world is a complicated place [and] the United States alone cannot solve all of these problems," she says.
"But also understanding that the US has a responsibility to lead, accepts that responsibility, will be held accountable for that responsibility.
"So, I think they've gotten off to a tremendous start in probably the most complex world I've seen in my lifetime."
But critics say that President Obama's attempts to reach out to allies to win their co-operation is a gamble that has not (so far) paid off.
Commentators writing about Mr Obama's trip to Europe said it was a success on many levels, but he had still come home empty-handed on issues like European troop commitments for Afghanistan.
Changing landscape
So far Mr Obama has delivered plenty of foreign policy vision, but less in the way of substance.
Many experts say that is what the first 100 days are all about - but the gaps need to be filled out soon.
"The administration has launched the country on an important diplomatic enterprise. It now needs to fulfil its vision with a diplomatic plan," wrote Mr Kissinger.
Complicating some of the policy formulations is a fast-changing world.
Crisis and conflicts have erupted in Mexico, Pakistan and even Iraq where violence is rising again.
Elections are changing the political landscape in which the administration has to operate and the interlocutors it ends up with, from Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel to potential new governments in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and Iran.
Mr Obama made a video message aimed at reassuring Iran
By the president's side is a straight-talking secretary of state with her own star-power and some 60,000 air miles already under her belt - Hillary Clinton.
The administration's new emphasis on diplomacy means the state department is squarely back at the heart of America's efforts to engage with the world, from allies to rivals.
The policy formulation in this administration is a tightly controlled process, closely co-ordinated between the White House, the National Security Council and the Pentagon, with everybody so far seemingly on-message.
The rivalries that plagued the first term of George W Bush have been avoided, despite a cast of very powerful players.
Contrition 'does nothing'
But as he undoes past policies, Barack Obama is also facing criticism, albeit from expected sources.
"I think going abroad and being so contrite for so many alleged sins of the United States is not something that Americans want to see in their leaders when they're travelling abroad," says John Hannah, who was an adviser to former Vice-President Dick Cheney.
He added that the policy of contrition was not even proving effective in changing the behaviour of countries in the world that were of concern to the US, like Iran or Cuba.
President Obama has tried to engage with America's long-time foe, Iran, issuing a video address to both the people and leaders of Iran and calling the country by its official name, the Islamic Republic Iran, to signal that Washington was not seeking regime change.
On Cuba, he has lifted restrictions on travel and remittances for Cuban-Americans, but his handshake with Washington's bete noire, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, prompted critics to say the president had to avoid turning engagement into pandering.
The new approach is helping to change the mood and perhaps even the internal dynamic in places like Tehran and Havana, as Cubans and Iranians start to debate the benefits of engagement with the US.
On her first trip abroad, Mrs Clinton said that by engaging "something positive might actually happen, you never know".
"But if you stand at opposite sides of the room and refuse to engage, it's guaranteed nothing will happen," she added.
The momentum and goodwill are still there and the vision has been laid out in the first 100 days, but the next 1,000 days will determine whether this administration will be able to implement its vision and achieve results or whether it has bitten off more than it can chew in a complex world.
The biggest tests are yet to come.
I agree.
Wednesday, 6 May 2009
More on feminism...
As I just logged in to my email a big new page popped up and one of the topics was this...
http://entertainment.uk.msn.com/tv/features/article.aspx?cp-documentid=13842140>1=61503&ocid=msntoday
'Where have all the strong women gone?'
I suppose quite relevant from a media point of view too, and considering the topic of todays lecture, quite useful!
and for once its not about healthcare!! :)
http://entertainment.uk.msn.com/tv/features/article.aspx?cp-documentid=13842140>1=61503&ocid=msntoday
'Where have all the strong women gone?'
I suppose quite relevant from a media point of view too, and considering the topic of todays lecture, quite useful!
and for once its not about healthcare!! :)
weeks 8 and 9 blogs....
Week 8 Blog- Barack Obama
Considering Obamas political campaign message was for ‘change’, from what I can tell change is happening. His top priorities were health care and carbon emissions, both of which are massive issues in America. I think he is the right president but appointed at the wrong time. If the world wasn’t in a massive economic crisis I think that he would be able to make bigger changes quicker if he didn’t have to deal with the economic recession. He still seems to be a beacon of hope for the American people. 100 days, in my opinion, is not enough time to make any significant changes to base a whole presidency on, however I still think he has made vital decisions to have an impact on Americans. The closure of Guantanamo bay was something which people welcomed, it showed that he wasn’t just sitting around in the white house planning the new desk for his office, but was actually doing something (which I think in our government is quite a rarity!!!) this was on his second day of presidency. One of his main objectives which I agree with is his views on healthcare. He wants universal health care for all Americans. In the podcast I have previously posted, there was talk about introducing a government funded insurance system, (not too dissimilar to the NI payments we make from our wages) but would be an opt in system for the poor and those in poverty. In the book ‘The Audacity of Hope’ he talks about merit systems and strategic placements of teachers for under-achieving schools. Even if he doesn’t achieve this, the way he writes and is presented in the media, gives you faith in him. He seems liked a honest descent politician (yes I know who would have thought those words in the same sentence!!!) I like Obama, I think he is exactly what this world needs, he’s not offering radical and fantastical ideas of positive change, he’s not even a guarantee of a total optimistic change, but he is a friendly, honest and hardworking man, who provide hope if not permanent solutions for the long term.
Week 9- Feminist Figures
I’ve picked Jennifer Aniston for my feminist figure. Open any magazine or look at any celebrity news pages and Aniston always seems to have a spot. I think in a way she represents the women of our era, better than anyone from sex and the city. Similarly to them, she’s beautiful, successful and is adored by many people. But unlike them, in the real world, she’s been through a very public divorce from Brad Pitt, (once voted the sexiest man alive). I am firmly on team Aniston when it comes to this divorce issue. I believe she is a role model to many young women, unlike sex and the city, she’s happy being single, and is happy with her career, rumour has it Pitt wanted children and Aniston didn’t want to give her career therefore Angelina Jolie made an appearance! I think she’s incredibly dignified, she lost her husband to someone who let’s face it, is a bit mad, (full of French kissing her brother, the crazy blood stuff with her ex.-husband etc.) She married the all American heart-throb, had a beautiful wedding, then lost it all very publicly, but has managed to keep her dignity and her success. She played the comic part ’Friends’ and was highly liked as Rachel, she played Justine in ‘The Good Girl’ showing a sincere side to her acting ability. In a day when female celebrities would rather be known for their partying skills rather than their talent, I think Aniston stands quite well in stardom.
Considering Obamas political campaign message was for ‘change’, from what I can tell change is happening. His top priorities were health care and carbon emissions, both of which are massive issues in America. I think he is the right president but appointed at the wrong time. If the world wasn’t in a massive economic crisis I think that he would be able to make bigger changes quicker if he didn’t have to deal with the economic recession. He still seems to be a beacon of hope for the American people. 100 days, in my opinion, is not enough time to make any significant changes to base a whole presidency on, however I still think he has made vital decisions to have an impact on Americans. The closure of Guantanamo bay was something which people welcomed, it showed that he wasn’t just sitting around in the white house planning the new desk for his office, but was actually doing something (which I think in our government is quite a rarity!!!) this was on his second day of presidency. One of his main objectives which I agree with is his views on healthcare. He wants universal health care for all Americans. In the podcast I have previously posted, there was talk about introducing a government funded insurance system, (not too dissimilar to the NI payments we make from our wages) but would be an opt in system for the poor and those in poverty. In the book ‘The Audacity of Hope’ he talks about merit systems and strategic placements of teachers for under-achieving schools. Even if he doesn’t achieve this, the way he writes and is presented in the media, gives you faith in him. He seems liked a honest descent politician (yes I know who would have thought those words in the same sentence!!!) I like Obama, I think he is exactly what this world needs, he’s not offering radical and fantastical ideas of positive change, he’s not even a guarantee of a total optimistic change, but he is a friendly, honest and hardworking man, who provide hope if not permanent solutions for the long term.
Week 9- Feminist Figures
I’ve picked Jennifer Aniston for my feminist figure. Open any magazine or look at any celebrity news pages and Aniston always seems to have a spot. I think in a way she represents the women of our era, better than anyone from sex and the city. Similarly to them, she’s beautiful, successful and is adored by many people. But unlike them, in the real world, she’s been through a very public divorce from Brad Pitt, (once voted the sexiest man alive). I am firmly on team Aniston when it comes to this divorce issue. I believe she is a role model to many young women, unlike sex and the city, she’s happy being single, and is happy with her career, rumour has it Pitt wanted children and Aniston didn’t want to give her career therefore Angelina Jolie made an appearance! I think she’s incredibly dignified, she lost her husband to someone who let’s face it, is a bit mad, (full of French kissing her brother, the crazy blood stuff with her ex.-husband etc.) She married the all American heart-throb, had a beautiful wedding, then lost it all very publicly, but has managed to keep her dignity and her success. She played the comic part ’Friends’ and was highly liked as Rachel, she played Justine in ‘The Good Girl’ showing a sincere side to her acting ability. In a day when female celebrities would rather be known for their partying skills rather than their talent, I think Aniston stands quite well in stardom.
Susanna Wilkerson Dickinson
Full Name: Susanna Wilkerson Dickinson
Location: Section:Republic Hill, Section 1 (C1)
Row:V Number:1
Reason for Eligibility: Survivor of the Alamo; Concurent Resolution
Birth Date: 1814
Died: October 7, 1883
Buried: Cenotaph
Biography:
DICKINSON, SUSANNA WILKERSON (ca. 1814-1883). Susanna Wilkerson Dickinson (Dickenson), survivor of the Alamo, was born about 1814 in Tennessee, perhaps in Williamson County. Her first name has also been recorded as Susan, Susana, and Suzanna; her maiden name is sometimes given as Wilkinson. On May 24, 1829, she married Almaron Dickinson before a justice of the peace in Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tennessee. The couple remained in the vicinity through the end of 1830. The Dickinsons arrived at Gonzales, Texas, on February 20, 1831, in company with fifty-four other settlers, after a trip by schooner from New Orleans. On May 5 Dickinson received a league of land from Green DeWitt, on the San Marcos River in what became Caldwell County. He received ten more lots in and around Gonzales in 1833 and 1834. The Dickinsons lived on a lot just above the town on the San Marcos River, where Susanna took in at least one boarder. A map of Gonzales in 1836 shows a Dickinson and Kimble hat factory in Gonzales. Susanna's only child, Angelina Elizabeth Dickinson, was born on December 14, 1834.
Susanna and her daughter may have joined other families hiding in the timber along the Guadalupe River in early October 1835, when Mexican troops from San Antonio demanded the return of an old cannon lent to Gonzales four years earlier. The resulting skirmish, the battle of Gonzales, was the first fight of the Texas Revolution. Susanna said goodbye to her husband on October 13 as the volunteers left for San Antonio under command of Stephen F. Austin. She remained in Gonzales through November, when newly arriving troops looted her home.
She joined Dickinson in San Antonio, probably in December 1835, and lodged in Ramon Musquiz's home, where she opened her table to boarders (among them David Crockett) and did laundry. On February 23, 1836, the family moved into the Alamo. After the battle of the Alamo on March 6, Mexican soldiers found her-some accounts say in the powder magazine, others in the church-and took her and Angelina, along with the other women and children, to Musquiz's home. The women were later interviewed by Santa Anna, who gave each a blanket and two dollars in silver before releasing them. Legend says Susanna displayed her husband's Masonic apron to a Mexican general in a plea for help and that Santa Anna offered to take Angelina to Mexico.
Santa Anna sent Susanna and her daughter, accompanied by Juan N. Almonte's servant Ben, to Sam Houston with a letter of warning dated March 7. On the way, the pair met Joe, William B. Travis's slave, who had been freed by Santa Anna. The party was discovered by Erastus (Deaf) Smith and Henry Wax Karnes. Smith guided them to Houston in Gonzales, where they arrived after dark about March 12.
Susanna Dickinson probably followed the army eastward in company with the other Gonzales women. Illiterate, without family, and only twenty-two years old, she petitioned the government meeting at Columbia in October 1836 for a donation, but the proposed $500 was not awarded. She needed a male protector, and by June 1837 she was cohabiting with John Williams, whom she married about November 27, 1837. He beat her and Angelina, and she petitioned in Harrisburg (later Harris) County for a divorce, which was granted on March 24, 1838-one of the first divorces in the county.
By 1839 Almaron Dickinson's heirs had received rights to 2,560 acres for his military service; they sold the land when Angelina reached twenty-one. Subsequent requests to the state legislature in November 1849 were turned down. Susanna tried matrimony three more times before settling into a stable relationship. She wed Francis P. Herring on December 20, 1838, in Houston. Herring, formerly from Georgia, had come to Texas after October 20, 1837. He died on September 15, 1843. On December 15, 1847, Susanna married Pennsylvania drayman Peter Bellows (also known as Bellis or Belles) before an Episcopalian minister. In 1850 the couple had sixteen-year-old Angelina living with them. But by 1854 Susanna had left Bellows, who charged her with adultery and prostitution when he filed for divorce in 1857. Susanna may have lived in the Mansion House Hotel of Pamelia Mann, which was known as a brothel, before marrying Bellows. The divorce petition accuses her of taking up residence in a "house of ill fame." Nevertheless, Susanna received praise from the Baptist minister Rufus C. Burleson for her work nursing cholera victims in Houston, where he baptized her in Buffalo Bayou in 1849.
Susanna's fifth marriage was long-lasting. She married Joseph William Hannig (or Hannag), a native of Germany living in Lockhart, in 1857. They soon moved to Austin, where Hannig became prosperous with a cabinet shop and later a furniture store and undertaking parlor; he also owned a store in San Antonio. Susanna became ill in February 1883 and died on October 7 of that year. Hannig buried her in Oakwood Cemetery, and even though he married again, he was buried next to Susanna after his death in 1890.
Deborah Meaden ( dragons den lady)
Deborah's career to date
From a very early age Deborah Meaden knew she wanted her own business. Having left school after O-Levels Deborah studied at business college and following graduation worked as a sales room model in a fashion house before moving to Italy.
At the age of 19, with very little capital she launched her own glass and ceramics import company supplying upmarket stores like Harvey Nichols. Dissatisfied with the franchise model, Deborah sold her share to her business partner. With several successful businesses in the leisure and retail sector under her belt, she joined her family's business.
Starting out on the shop floor, Deborah eventually became Managing Director of Weststar Holidays. In 1999 she went on to acquire the major shareholding in a management buyout, later selling the company in a deal worth £33m whilst retaining a 23% stake.
Deborah still retained an active role at Weststar, but began to devote more time to finding good investment opportunities, including those she found on Dragons' Den, which she joined from Series Three.
In August 2007, she sold her remaining stake in Weststar Holidays for £83m, before making her first investment in a market research company, reflecting her interest and experience in marketing, brands and communications.
Deborah supports a number of charities and this year she has been mentoring entrepreneur Sarah Lu on her new range of youdoodogs, with £1 from each doll sold going to the Dogs Trust.
This is the view of Deborah from the Dragons den website and paints her in a good light a strong power full women who has lots of business experience and power in the business sector.
Deborah Meaden has also had some failure as she and another dragon invested into an entrepreneur and lost out with 5 figure looses.Although deborah is a female buissness idol this also shows that not all women including herslef make buisness mistakes.
Buisness women also have problems with family copmitments and work they are discriminated against for haveing children or getting married while working for or owning a buisness.
From a very early age Deborah Meaden knew she wanted her own business. Having left school after O-Levels Deborah studied at business college and following graduation worked as a sales room model in a fashion house before moving to Italy.
At the age of 19, with very little capital she launched her own glass and ceramics import company supplying upmarket stores like Harvey Nichols. Dissatisfied with the franchise model, Deborah sold her share to her business partner. With several successful businesses in the leisure and retail sector under her belt, she joined her family's business.
Starting out on the shop floor, Deborah eventually became Managing Director of Weststar Holidays. In 1999 she went on to acquire the major shareholding in a management buyout, later selling the company in a deal worth £33m whilst retaining a 23% stake.
Deborah still retained an active role at Weststar, but began to devote more time to finding good investment opportunities, including those she found on Dragons' Den, which she joined from Series Three.
In August 2007, she sold her remaining stake in Weststar Holidays for £83m, before making her first investment in a market research company, reflecting her interest and experience in marketing, brands and communications.
Deborah supports a number of charities and this year she has been mentoring entrepreneur Sarah Lu on her new range of youdoodogs, with £1 from each doll sold going to the Dogs Trust.
This is the view of Deborah from the Dragons den website and paints her in a good light a strong power full women who has lots of business experience and power in the business sector.
Deborah Meaden has also had some failure as she and another dragon invested into an entrepreneur and lost out with 5 figure looses.Although deborah is a female buissness idol this also shows that not all women including herslef make buisness mistakes.
Buisness women also have problems with family copmitments and work they are discriminated against for haveing children or getting married while working for or owning a buisness.
Tuesday, 5 May 2009
Michelle Obama as a female public figure
When researching Michelle Obama as an influential female figure and role model, I was surprised to find numerous websites detailing much more than her husbands polotics and principles, yet instead Michelle's own reasons and purposes for getting involved in the day to day running of American society. One website in particular which grasped my attention was an article written within Newsweek entitled "Baracks Rock, she's the one who keeps him real, the one who makes sure running for leader of the free world doesnt go to his head. Michelles story".
"Part of Michelle Obama's appeal- she routinely draws audiences of 1000 plus supporters even when she's campaigning on her own - is that she comes across so normal despite the withering glare of a national campaign. As a political spouse she is somewhat unusual. She isnt the traditional stepford booster, smiling vacantly at her husband and sticking to a script of carefully vetted blandishments....she travels the country giving speeches and attending events....but resists staying away for more than one night at a stretch....Michelle has made it her job ensure that Barack, who now lives full time inside the surreal campaign bubble of adoring crowds and constant attention, doesnt himself loose sight of whats normal"
This is a great statement in favour of Michelle Obama reflecting her many abilities as not purely wife and mother but also diplomat and political role model for women world wide. Since her husband came into power earlier this year, the media has portrayed this couple as a team rather than individuals of which go their seperate ways, consequently representing the architypal presidency whereby family values are enstilled within their every day lives and in many ways create stability for the public. In relation to feminism, we can see a somewhat liberating yet traditional appproach to the roles which women are expected to play within society. We see Michelle being a spokeswomen, public speaker, and style icon whilst first and foremost being a wife and mother, portraying two sides of the equation which within the earlier days of society would be seen as impossible.
"Part of Michelle Obama's appeal- she routinely draws audiences of 1000 plus supporters even when she's campaigning on her own - is that she comes across so normal despite the withering glare of a national campaign. As a political spouse she is somewhat unusual. She isnt the traditional stepford booster, smiling vacantly at her husband and sticking to a script of carefully vetted blandishments....she travels the country giving speeches and attending events....but resists staying away for more than one night at a stretch....Michelle has made it her job ensure that Barack, who now lives full time inside the surreal campaign bubble of adoring crowds and constant attention, doesnt himself loose sight of whats normal"
This is a great statement in favour of Michelle Obama reflecting her many abilities as not purely wife and mother but also diplomat and political role model for women world wide. Since her husband came into power earlier this year, the media has portrayed this couple as a team rather than individuals of which go their seperate ways, consequently representing the architypal presidency whereby family values are enstilled within their every day lives and in many ways create stability for the public. In relation to feminism, we can see a somewhat liberating yet traditional appproach to the roles which women are expected to play within society. We see Michelle being a spokeswomen, public speaker, and style icon whilst first and foremost being a wife and mother, portraying two sides of the equation which within the earlier days of society would be seen as impossible.
Thursday, 30 April 2009
Podcast on Obama's Plans for Healthcare or my constant rambling about healthcare... :)
I couldnt work out how to link the actual podcast file in this blog so I've searched high and low for it online. Hopefully this link should work but no guarentees I'm afraid!
Have a listen, its quite good! Full of information which I suppose is quite relevant to Obama's first 100 days.
If not go to the bbc homepage and type in 'Health check' into the search bar, and it should take you to the homepage, the podcast is called President Obama & Health Reforms in the US.
Hope you find it useful
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p002ptkf
Have a listen, its quite good! Full of information which I suppose is quite relevant to Obama's first 100 days.
If not go to the bbc homepage and type in 'Health check' into the search bar, and it should take you to the homepage, the podcast is called President Obama & Health Reforms in the US.
Hope you find it useful
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p002ptkf
Tuesday, 28 April 2009
We were way before our time
The Times Tuesday April 28th 2009
Obama Bounce
Barack Obama's election has prompted a rise in applications for American studies courses, according to George Lewis of the University of Leicester. Dr. Lewis said that there was a 22% increase nationally and a 60% increase at Leicester.
With Obama's 100 days reaching us tomorrow, he has been busy and certainly more successful than Regan who was the target of an assasin on his 100th day and has certainly fared much better than the 9th president who only lived to see his 32nd day in office before 'man flu' killed him.
I have just chosen a few significant events from his last 99 days, although Obama has been much busier than the list below represents. He has also travelled to Europe, revoked at least five orders of the previous government, taken presidency during a time of conflict on at least three fronts, not to mention keeping an eye on North Korea and Iran and their nuclear ambitions and taken on a role that the world will be watching to lead the way out of a global economic crisis.
Obama has come into office it would seem as just man, a man who wants to do the right thing but has shown that he is not a soft touch and although would appear as a man who would rather seek alternatives to conflict will not baulk at the idea of sending in the troops.
I was initially concerned when he won the presidential election, not for what he would do but for what that would be done to him. I still have my fears but would like to see Obama live to prove me wrong.
The biggest challenge and most pressurised decision was to fulfill his promise to his family to get a new dog. Obama fulfilled his promise and Bo, the 'first dog' moved into the White House on April 14th.
Day one of presidency saw Obama freeze the pay of senior White House officials earning $100,000 or more per year.
3rd day he signs executive order announcing the closure of Guantanamo bay within a year.
on day 4, Obama orders and airstrike on Pakistani territory, targetting insurgents using the border to cross between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
29th January sees Obama sign a bill promoting fair pay within the workplace regardless of sex or age.
4th February - Caps pay of senior executives at financial institutions that have been bailed out by the Federal government.
6th February - creates 'Presidents economic recover advisory board' to give economists outside of Washington a voice.
17th February - signs $787 billion into the economy with the 'Recovery and reinvestment Act'
He also approves the deployment of 17,000 troops to Afghanistan.
10th March - He meets for the first time the UN secretary.
12th March - renews sanctions on Iran
13th March - Outlines a new legal standard for detaining the suspected terrorists held at Guantanamo. Suspects are now detained under international law.
26th March - Holds online town hall meeting at the White House for the first time.
12th April - Approves Navy SEALS to rescue ship captain from Somalian pirates.
Obama Bounce
Barack Obama's election has prompted a rise in applications for American studies courses, according to George Lewis of the University of Leicester. Dr. Lewis said that there was a 22% increase nationally and a 60% increase at Leicester.
With Obama's 100 days reaching us tomorrow, he has been busy and certainly more successful than Regan who was the target of an assasin on his 100th day and has certainly fared much better than the 9th president who only lived to see his 32nd day in office before 'man flu' killed him.
I have just chosen a few significant events from his last 99 days, although Obama has been much busier than the list below represents. He has also travelled to Europe, revoked at least five orders of the previous government, taken presidency during a time of conflict on at least three fronts, not to mention keeping an eye on North Korea and Iran and their nuclear ambitions and taken on a role that the world will be watching to lead the way out of a global economic crisis.
Obama has come into office it would seem as just man, a man who wants to do the right thing but has shown that he is not a soft touch and although would appear as a man who would rather seek alternatives to conflict will not baulk at the idea of sending in the troops.
I was initially concerned when he won the presidential election, not for what he would do but for what that would be done to him. I still have my fears but would like to see Obama live to prove me wrong.
The biggest challenge and most pressurised decision was to fulfill his promise to his family to get a new dog. Obama fulfilled his promise and Bo, the 'first dog' moved into the White House on April 14th.
Day one of presidency saw Obama freeze the pay of senior White House officials earning $100,000 or more per year.
3rd day he signs executive order announcing the closure of Guantanamo bay within a year.
on day 4, Obama orders and airstrike on Pakistani territory, targetting insurgents using the border to cross between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
29th January sees Obama sign a bill promoting fair pay within the workplace regardless of sex or age.
4th February - Caps pay of senior executives at financial institutions that have been bailed out by the Federal government.
6th February - creates 'Presidents economic recover advisory board' to give economists outside of Washington a voice.
17th February - signs $787 billion into the economy with the 'Recovery and reinvestment Act'
He also approves the deployment of 17,000 troops to Afghanistan.
10th March - He meets for the first time the UN secretary.
12th March - renews sanctions on Iran
13th March - Outlines a new legal standard for detaining the suspected terrorists held at Guantanamo. Suspects are now detained under international law.
26th March - Holds online town hall meeting at the White House for the first time.
12th April - Approves Navy SEALS to rescue ship captain from Somalian pirates.
Audacity of Hope - short assessment
When reading through numerous chapters of Obama's latest book "Audacity of Hope" I found his writing style and initial delivery to his audience to be somewhat of a friendly and laid back nature. Rather than being quite autocratic and domineering in order to get his points across he in many ways wishes to portray to the audience his humble and gentle side when going about his daily life as a politician. In particular, when reading chapters such as Faith and Race he seems to present a two-sided story to any arguement, therefore portraying in many ways an ideal leader with which listens to his supporters. On the contrary to this view, chapter 1 (Republicans and Democrats) is where Obama alternatively tries to get his own views across relating to his policies of which, I in particular, found quite difficult to get the hang of, purely because he seemed to address a whole host of how he wants areas of the American government to change without focussing on a few and going into detail. I found there to be too many areas of the American life that he wanted to change and therefore couldnt all be achieved immediately, which we may suggest gives false hope to his supporters. Therefore in tracking Obama's first opening weeks as President I've found it of great importance to look at the Politifact website and one particular section entitled "The Obameter: Tracking Obama's Campaign Promises". Not only does this give an over-view of the 514 promises Obama has said will become reality but also tracks their progress on an easy to read meter. So far, he is stated as keeping 27 promises such as to "Expand loan programmes for small businesses" however is seen to have broken 6 of his promises. From this wesbite we can therefore suggest that his first few weeks in office have in fact been monitored closley to ensure validity and ensure that he keeps to his word. We may also suggest, as mentioned in the lecture, that Obama initially became more popular for his personal dealings and his personality rather than purley for his policies and is therefore considered to be more of a celebrity figure. Consequently, I feel that Obama's first opening weeks in office will have proved to be of great difficulty to Obama in meeting his supporters expectations, in particular with websites such as Politifact of which will be watching his every step to determine whether his Presidency will be a success or failure in weeks to come.
Friday, 24 April 2009
Catch up on blogs because I’ve been a bit naff with them...
My first blog will be from week 2, the historical images of the west.
This photograph shows the Mexican border in 2008 and 1898. Its the Nogales border of Mexico and Arizona. I thought this was interesting as you can see the direct split of the two countries in 1898. It shows the direct distinction between America and Mexico, which is still so relevant today. I think this is a good image of the west as it still shows that America wanted to be distinguished as its ‘own country’. In 1898 anyone could cross the border, there was no border control, and however there was still the need to differentiate between America and other countries. The Turner’s frontier plays on this by saying that America was made through ‘Manifest Destiny’ rather than European influences. I find it interesting that even back in 1898 there was this visible separation of America and the rest of the world. The settlement shown in Arizona, (the left hand side of the photo) is very built up, this surprised me was I never expected to find a photo of the west, showing a village/town that was so built up. This suggests to me that not the entire west was arid wasteland, with a few houses dotted across vastness.
Secondly I found a very interesting webpage, about a town called Virginia City. It accounts events within the city and its place in history and in the west.
This image is a painting of ‘C’ Street, I believe it is from the early 1900’s although no specific date is given, (I’m sure the automobile specialists amongst us will be determined enough to date this picture from the cars shown!) I found this image interesting as despite it being up to 20years after the first image it paints a different picture of the west. Obviously the first image is black and white, but this is shown with blue skies, orange sunset, calm and peaceful settlement. Also the cars in this picture suggest that residents in western towns, cities and villages weren’t entirely isolated from modern technology (as many films, pictures and stories depict). They also have either telephone masts or electricity pylons, which suggests technology defiantly wasn’t absent in west.
The website I found these images on is
http://www.greatstreets.org/MainStreets/MainVirginiaCityHistory.html
It actually makes quite an interesting read.
My next blog is from week 3, concerning the first person narrative on the west.
Once again I returned to my ‘first-person-narrative’ problem, again Google is trying to make me buy books, books that I cant afford, and randomly a pc game called ‘Call of Juarez’ a western themed first-person shoot em’ up! (not quite what I had in mind, someone is going to have to show me where all these first person narratives are!!!)
However I’ve managed to find a website all about life in the west, old, modern, stories, poetry, tales and films, Rope and Wire A Western Lifestyle Online Community.
http://www.ropeandwire.com/index.html
The website is run by Scott (no second name given I’m afraid!) who originally set up the website to create networking amongst farmers and ranch owners, however in his words ‘Well, I’ve come to the conclusion that either no one likes to brag or no one lives on a farm or a ranch. Whatever the case, no one submitted an article so I felt it was high time to try something different.’ He’s created a space in the internet for people to write fictional stories about the west, poetry, factual accounts of life in the west and appealing to my interest, jokes about life in the west. Despite it not being a truly academic, historical first person narrative, I think the website in itself shows the impact the west still has on modern Americans. I also emailed the website asking them a few questions-
Hi my name is Tiffany and I was wondering if you would be able to answer a few questions for me. I'm a student at Winchester University in the UK, and am writing about the American West in an assignment. I am also asking for your permission to put the questions and answers into my blog, it would be really helpful and I'm really grateful for the time you’ve taken to read this.
How many members/visitors have you had to website since you started it?
Do you get many visitors from anywhere other than Western America on your site?
Do you think that Western Lifestyle and Culture has a place in Modern America? Can modern Americans learn anything from Western Lifestyles?
Thankyou for taking the time to read this, I look forward to a reply if you choose to do so.
Many Thanks
Tiffany
About 18 hours later I received a reply from Scott
Tiffany
I'd be glad to answer your questions as best I can.
How many members/visitors have you had to website since you started it?
Although I don't have exact numbers as to the total number of visitors, I can tell you that Rope and Wire gets thousands of visitors each month. We have increased our viewership each month for the past two years.
Do you get many visitors from anywhere other than Western America on your site?
Rope and Wire has been visited by over 120 countries worldwide. The United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France and China are our biggest fans.
Do you think that Western Lifestyle and Culture has a place in Modern America?
Absolutely. I'm not sure how the UK sees America, but I can tell you, modern America is more than just big cities and shopping malls. A large percentage of this country is open land. We have millions of acres of forested lands and open prairies. The stories found on Rope and Wire are reminiscent of how things were as the western portion of this country was being settled, during the 1800's. It was a time some people refer to as the "wild west". It's not like that now but there is still a western lifestyle and culture in this country that grew out of that time in our history. Like most things, it has changed over time and it's place in "modern America" may not be as prominent as the culture that promotes the lifestyle of those who live in cities like New York or Los Angeles, but believe me, the western lifestyle is still alive and well.
Can modern Americans learn anything from Western Lifestyles?
I think modern Americans can learn a whole lot from western lifestyles.
In my opinion, over the years, this country has drifted away from its core values.
There is something called "the code of the west". It's an unwritten code, I guess you could call them guidelines to certain rules of conduct that western cowboys held onto back in the day. I don't know if you have heard of it, but it's something that holds true to those who live the western lifestyle even today. They go something like this...
Be there for a friend when he needs you.
Honesty is absolute - your word is your bond, a handshake is more binding than a contract.
Do not practice ingratitude A cowboy always helps someone in need, even a stranger or an enemy.
Live by the Golden Rule.
There are more, but this is the jest of it. It's basically a moral compass and that is something I believe modern America is losing, or quite possibly abandoning. Quite frankly, it scares the hell out of me. I think modern America needs to take a look back to its western roots and rediscover its values. In my humble opinion, It's riding off the trail.
I hope I did you some good.
Scott
I find it interesting that someone can have so much passion in a lifestyle that helped create an American identity. I also find it very interesting when Scott talks about how America needs to take a look back to its western roots to rediscover its values. I think in turn this provides me with an insight into western lifestyle. Its not just about ‘cowboys and indians’ or pig farming or tractors, it’s a set of strong beliefs about your friends, your country and your morals. It makes me kind of happy in a way, that Scott believes in this so strongly, I don’t think enough people think of the events, the people in history who helped create their ideology and their culture. And I also agree with Scott on his last statement, ‘I think modern America needs to take a look back to its western roots and rediscover its values. In my humble opinion, It's riding off the trail’. During economic crisis I don’t know if people would make the time to ‘rediscover their values’, I don’t know if people of any country in the world thinks their values matter anymore. With the exception of highly religious people the only value that seems to be prominent in the world is ‘more money, more wealth, bigger car, bigger tv, latest ipod, latest film- more, bigger, latest’. And that’s why it makes me happy to see someone like Scott, who truly has faith in what he believes in.
My final missing blog is week 5, about the controversial issues in the west today.
I took my usual route of looking at healthcare within rural areas. Its well known that because areas in the west are sparsely populated healthcare is difficult to administer to those in need. I found a website which states that 1 in 3 adults are ‘poor to fair health’ and nearly half have at least one major chronic illness.
http://www.ahrq.gov/research/rural.htm
I found another website which includes data from all states concerning child poverty, pre and postnatal care, infectious disease rates and cancer death rates.
http://www.americashealthrankings.org/2008/index.html
Another issue that came to my attention was suicide rates in the west. One website I found covered West Virginia, but there were statistics available for other states.
http://organizedwisdom.com/Suicide_Statistics_in_West_Virginia
As I’ve said before in previous blogs, healthcare is of particular interest to me. Reading the first website, it made me wonder whether or not healthcare in rural areas is just a fantasy or an achievable vision. I don’t think its possible to put a hospital in a town with a small population, that has every kind of outpatient clinics, surgical theatres and doctors there is. It just wouldn’t be economic. Which lead me on to think as to how this could be dealt with? I think that maybe towns in the west, with small populations should make healthcare part of education in schools. I could be being naïve as I’m not sure if these kinds of classes already occur in American schools, but to tackle healthcare I think basic first aid should be taught in schools. At least that way if someone suffers from an injury at least the basic knowledge would be there to treat it. Also education about lifestyle is necessary. Smoking, drinking and drugs needs to be tackled, as well as eating habits and exercising. I think these things should be installed in the minds of young people at an early age in school.
This photograph shows the Mexican border in 2008 and 1898. Its the Nogales border of Mexico and Arizona. I thought this was interesting as you can see the direct split of the two countries in 1898. It shows the direct distinction between America and Mexico, which is still so relevant today. I think this is a good image of the west as it still shows that America wanted to be distinguished as its ‘own country’. In 1898 anyone could cross the border, there was no border control, and however there was still the need to differentiate between America and other countries. The Turner’s frontier plays on this by saying that America was made through ‘Manifest Destiny’ rather than European influences. I find it interesting that even back in 1898 there was this visible separation of America and the rest of the world. The settlement shown in Arizona, (the left hand side of the photo) is very built up, this surprised me was I never expected to find a photo of the west, showing a village/town that was so built up. This suggests to me that not the entire west was arid wasteland, with a few houses dotted across vastness.
Secondly I found a very interesting webpage, about a town called Virginia City. It accounts events within the city and its place in history and in the west.
This image is a painting of ‘C’ Street, I believe it is from the early 1900’s although no specific date is given, (I’m sure the automobile specialists amongst us will be determined enough to date this picture from the cars shown!) I found this image interesting as despite it being up to 20years after the first image it paints a different picture of the west. Obviously the first image is black and white, but this is shown with blue skies, orange sunset, calm and peaceful settlement. Also the cars in this picture suggest that residents in western towns, cities and villages weren’t entirely isolated from modern technology (as many films, pictures and stories depict). They also have either telephone masts or electricity pylons, which suggests technology defiantly wasn’t absent in west.
The website I found these images on is
http://www.greatstreets.org/MainStreets/MainVirginiaCityHistory.html
It actually makes quite an interesting read.
My next blog is from week 3, concerning the first person narrative on the west.
Once again I returned to my ‘first-person-narrative’ problem, again Google is trying to make me buy books, books that I cant afford, and randomly a pc game called ‘Call of Juarez’ a western themed first-person shoot em’ up! (not quite what I had in mind, someone is going to have to show me where all these first person narratives are!!!)
However I’ve managed to find a website all about life in the west, old, modern, stories, poetry, tales and films, Rope and Wire A Western Lifestyle Online Community.
http://www.ropeandwire.com/index.html
The website is run by Scott (no second name given I’m afraid!) who originally set up the website to create networking amongst farmers and ranch owners, however in his words ‘Well, I’ve come to the conclusion that either no one likes to brag or no one lives on a farm or a ranch. Whatever the case, no one submitted an article so I felt it was high time to try something different.’ He’s created a space in the internet for people to write fictional stories about the west, poetry, factual accounts of life in the west and appealing to my interest, jokes about life in the west. Despite it not being a truly academic, historical first person narrative, I think the website in itself shows the impact the west still has on modern Americans. I also emailed the website asking them a few questions-
Hi my name is Tiffany and I was wondering if you would be able to answer a few questions for me. I'm a student at Winchester University in the UK, and am writing about the American West in an assignment. I am also asking for your permission to put the questions and answers into my blog, it would be really helpful and I'm really grateful for the time you’ve taken to read this.
How many members/visitors have you had to website since you started it?
Do you get many visitors from anywhere other than Western America on your site?
Do you think that Western Lifestyle and Culture has a place in Modern America? Can modern Americans learn anything from Western Lifestyles?
Thankyou for taking the time to read this, I look forward to a reply if you choose to do so.
Many Thanks
Tiffany
About 18 hours later I received a reply from Scott
Tiffany
I'd be glad to answer your questions as best I can.
How many members/visitors have you had to website since you started it?
Although I don't have exact numbers as to the total number of visitors, I can tell you that Rope and Wire gets thousands of visitors each month. We have increased our viewership each month for the past two years.
Do you get many visitors from anywhere other than Western America on your site?
Rope and Wire has been visited by over 120 countries worldwide. The United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France and China are our biggest fans.
Do you think that Western Lifestyle and Culture has a place in Modern America?
Absolutely. I'm not sure how the UK sees America, but I can tell you, modern America is more than just big cities and shopping malls. A large percentage of this country is open land. We have millions of acres of forested lands and open prairies. The stories found on Rope and Wire are reminiscent of how things were as the western portion of this country was being settled, during the 1800's. It was a time some people refer to as the "wild west". It's not like that now but there is still a western lifestyle and culture in this country that grew out of that time in our history. Like most things, it has changed over time and it's place in "modern America" may not be as prominent as the culture that promotes the lifestyle of those who live in cities like New York or Los Angeles, but believe me, the western lifestyle is still alive and well.
Can modern Americans learn anything from Western Lifestyles?
I think modern Americans can learn a whole lot from western lifestyles.
In my opinion, over the years, this country has drifted away from its core values.
There is something called "the code of the west". It's an unwritten code, I guess you could call them guidelines to certain rules of conduct that western cowboys held onto back in the day. I don't know if you have heard of it, but it's something that holds true to those who live the western lifestyle even today. They go something like this...
Be there for a friend when he needs you.
Honesty is absolute - your word is your bond, a handshake is more binding than a contract.
Do not practice ingratitude A cowboy always helps someone in need, even a stranger or an enemy.
Live by the Golden Rule.
There are more, but this is the jest of it. It's basically a moral compass and that is something I believe modern America is losing, or quite possibly abandoning. Quite frankly, it scares the hell out of me. I think modern America needs to take a look back to its western roots and rediscover its values. In my humble opinion, It's riding off the trail.
I hope I did you some good.
Scott
I find it interesting that someone can have so much passion in a lifestyle that helped create an American identity. I also find it very interesting when Scott talks about how America needs to take a look back to its western roots to rediscover its values. I think in turn this provides me with an insight into western lifestyle. Its not just about ‘cowboys and indians’ or pig farming or tractors, it’s a set of strong beliefs about your friends, your country and your morals. It makes me kind of happy in a way, that Scott believes in this so strongly, I don’t think enough people think of the events, the people in history who helped create their ideology and their culture. And I also agree with Scott on his last statement, ‘I think modern America needs to take a look back to its western roots and rediscover its values. In my humble opinion, It's riding off the trail’. During economic crisis I don’t know if people would make the time to ‘rediscover their values’, I don’t know if people of any country in the world thinks their values matter anymore. With the exception of highly religious people the only value that seems to be prominent in the world is ‘more money, more wealth, bigger car, bigger tv, latest ipod, latest film- more, bigger, latest’. And that’s why it makes me happy to see someone like Scott, who truly has faith in what he believes in.
My final missing blog is week 5, about the controversial issues in the west today.
I took my usual route of looking at healthcare within rural areas. Its well known that because areas in the west are sparsely populated healthcare is difficult to administer to those in need. I found a website which states that 1 in 3 adults are ‘poor to fair health’ and nearly half have at least one major chronic illness.
http://www.ahrq.gov/research/rural.htm
I found another website which includes data from all states concerning child poverty, pre and postnatal care, infectious disease rates and cancer death rates.
http://www.americashealthrankings.org/2008/index.html
Another issue that came to my attention was suicide rates in the west. One website I found covered West Virginia, but there were statistics available for other states.
http://organizedwisdom.com/Suicide_Statistics_in_West_Virginia
As I’ve said before in previous blogs, healthcare is of particular interest to me. Reading the first website, it made me wonder whether or not healthcare in rural areas is just a fantasy or an achievable vision. I don’t think its possible to put a hospital in a town with a small population, that has every kind of outpatient clinics, surgical theatres and doctors there is. It just wouldn’t be economic. Which lead me on to think as to how this could be dealt with? I think that maybe towns in the west, with small populations should make healthcare part of education in schools. I could be being naïve as I’m not sure if these kinds of classes already occur in American schools, but to tackle healthcare I think basic first aid should be taught in schools. At least that way if someone suffers from an injury at least the basic knowledge would be there to treat it. Also education about lifestyle is necessary. Smoking, drinking and drugs needs to be tackled, as well as eating habits and exercising. I think these things should be installed in the minds of young people at an early age in school.
Tuesday, 24 March 2009
Illegal Immigration
Although America was made for immigration of different peoples which we have seen from the first landing in Virginia to the influx of Irish and Italians America does not seem as friendly to Hispanics from any states.This could be because of the language ,cultural or educational gap but America is determined to keep them out hence the American-Mexico border and the border petrol's that go on there.I was trying to find out if there was any way to find out in a year how many illegal immigrants died trying to cross the border but I couldn't find any hard statistics.
I did find these pictures showing a dead dehydrated Mexican man and the border fence.
I also found this small article by Alan Wall explaining approx how many border crossing deaths there are.
The U.S.-Mexico border is a killing field. The Border Patrol reports that, in the past seven years, 2, 994 (at last count) illegal border crossers have perished on the border. About a third of them (1,133) died crossing into Arizona.
According to the New York Times, which ran a recent article on border deaths,
"Pima County, which includes the Tucson area, is one of the busiest areas for illegal crossings along the 2,000-mile border. The medical examiner’s office handled 177 deaths of border crossers in the first eight months of this year, compared with 139 over the same period last year and 157 in 2005, the year the most such deaths were registered." [At the U.S. Border, the Desert Takes a Rising Toll, By Randal C. Archibold, New York Times, September 15, 2007
First person narrative accounts of Immigrantion to the USA
I found it hard to find first person narratives of what it was like on the journey to America but found these two extracts on what it was like at Ellis Island where the Immigrants got processed.I found these 2 extracts on a site called immigration their stories.
They also questioned people on literacy. My uncle called me aside, when he came to take us off. He said, "Your mother doesn't know how to read." I said, "That's all right." For the reading you faced what they called the commissioners, like judges on a bench. I was surrounded by my aunt and uncle and another uncle who's a pharmacist-my mother was in the center. They said she would have to take a test for reading. So one man said, "She can't speak English." Another man said, "We know that. We will give her a siddur." You know what a siddur is? It's a Jewish book. The night they said this, I knew that she couldn't do that and we would be in trouble. Well, they opened the siddur. There was a certain passage they had you read. I looked at it and I saw right away what it was. I quickly studied it-I knew the whole paragraph. Then I got underneath the two of them there-I was very small-and I told her the words in Yiddish very softly. I had memorized the lines and I said them quietly and she said them louder so the commissioner could here it. She looked at it and it sounded as if she was reading it, but I was doing the talking underneath. I was Charlie McCarthy!
-Arnold Weiss, Russian, at Ellis Island in 1921, age 13
An official-looking lady came toward me and said, "Is somebody waiting for you?" I said, "Oh, yes, my relatives, they're waiting for me." And nobody was waiting for me, nobody. I had nobody. Then I saw the officials approaching another man and they asked him, "Are you Jewish?" He said, "Yes." "Anybody waiting for you?" "No." The official said, "Well, we'll take care of you. We have a Hebrew sheltering organization. Come with us, we'll feed you and take care of you until your relatives pick you up."" Then sheepishly I said to the woman who had approached me before, "I lied to you, because of what I've been through in Hungary." She put her hand on my shoulder. She understood. I didn't realize I was free, I wasn't going to be put in prison.
-Endre Bohem, Hungarian, at Ellis Island in 1921, age 20
The 2 extracts are very different as one explains how hard the tests and scrutiny was of immigrants coming into the country and the other explains America in a free and democratic light giving hope to people who have known and looking after their immigrants.
They also questioned people on literacy. My uncle called me aside, when he came to take us off. He said, "Your mother doesn't know how to read." I said, "That's all right." For the reading you faced what they called the commissioners, like judges on a bench. I was surrounded by my aunt and uncle and another uncle who's a pharmacist-my mother was in the center. They said she would have to take a test for reading. So one man said, "She can't speak English." Another man said, "We know that. We will give her a siddur." You know what a siddur is? It's a Jewish book. The night they said this, I knew that she couldn't do that and we would be in trouble. Well, they opened the siddur. There was a certain passage they had you read. I looked at it and I saw right away what it was. I quickly studied it-I knew the whole paragraph. Then I got underneath the two of them there-I was very small-and I told her the words in Yiddish very softly. I had memorized the lines and I said them quietly and she said them louder so the commissioner could here it. She looked at it and it sounded as if she was reading it, but I was doing the talking underneath. I was Charlie McCarthy!
-Arnold Weiss, Russian, at Ellis Island in 1921, age 13
An official-looking lady came toward me and said, "Is somebody waiting for you?" I said, "Oh, yes, my relatives, they're waiting for me." And nobody was waiting for me, nobody. I had nobody. Then I saw the officials approaching another man and they asked him, "Are you Jewish?" He said, "Yes." "Anybody waiting for you?" "No." The official said, "Well, we'll take care of you. We have a Hebrew sheltering organization. Come with us, we'll feed you and take care of you until your relatives pick you up."" Then sheepishly I said to the woman who had approached me before, "I lied to you, because of what I've been through in Hungary." She put her hand on my shoulder. She understood. I didn't realize I was free, I wasn't going to be put in prison.
-Endre Bohem, Hungarian, at Ellis Island in 1921, age 20
The 2 extracts are very different as one explains how hard the tests and scrutiny was of immigrants coming into the country and the other explains America in a free and democratic light giving hope to people who have known and looking after their immigrants.
Healthy Changes or Change in Unhealthy Habit for Latino Immigrants?
Having worked in a hospital full time for over a year, (before I started university) I've always had interest in the hospital system in America. So I began to look at the current 'health' of Latino immigrants in America. I found some interesting sites, all of which I will post the links to, however it did make me think about wether or not Latino immigrants have the same rights to medical care as Americans, or if the American health care system actually provided any help atall to Latinos.
One website I found states that latino women are less likely to abuse drugs, however latino men who were born in America, (not in mexico) were more likely to have high rates of substance abuse, and 'Studies have found that Latino youth experience proportionately more anxiety-related and delinquency problem behaviors, depression, and drug use than do non-Hispanic white youth'.
This also goes onto say...'In 1990, about 40% of Hispanics either did not speak English at all or did not speak it well. While the percentage of Spanish-speaking mental health professionals is not known, only about 1% of licensed psychologists who are also members of the American Psychological Association identify themselves as Hispanic. Moreover, there are only 29 Hispanic mental health professionals for every 100,000 Hispanics in the United States, compared to 173 non-Hispanic white providers per 100,000.'
I find it interesting that Hispanics, despite making up a massive proportion of America, still, do not seem have access to appropriate medical care. The substance abuse in young latinos, suggests that there is not the appropriate lessons in school to teach about the dangers of drugs. (have a read of all the facts they are quite interesting)
http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/cre/fact3.asp
Another website I found from washingtonpost.com talks about latinos adopting America's bad habits. Latinos appear to be getting fatter, especially latino children, who traditionally, if fat, were seen as healthy and called 'gordo' or 'gordita' meaning fatty. it also says 'One of the ironies of emigrating from poor rural life in Central America to poor urban and suburban life in an area such as Washington is that it doesn't necessarily make you any healthier -- it just changes the ways in which you are unhealthy, according to health-care providers and immigrant families here.
Instead of weeding fields and walking long distances, which make you burn too many calories, you vacuum floors and take buses, which make you tired and lazy. Instead of cooking rice and beans, which lack many vitamins, you stop off for pizza and fries, which have too much fat. Instead of catching tropical infections, you are at greater risk of developing diabetes and heart disease.
You have acquired the habits of the promised land, and they are slowly killing you.'
To me this suggests a severe lack of education when it comes to teaching immigrant latinos about unhealthy lifestyles.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/04/AR2008080402002.html?hpid=sec-health&sub=AR
Another website suggests that latino healthcare is declining rapdily, with many latinos not able to recieve the healthcare they need, especially concerning diabetes which is on the rise in latinos.
http://www.fresno.ucsf.edu/latinocenter/research/Latino%20health%20care%20is%20being%20left%20behind.htm
The final website I found which is interesting is a website documenting culture bound syndromes, and it has a list for Latino Americans, which no doubt, wont be treated within the American Healthcare system.
http://homepage.mac.com/mccajor/cbs_cul.html#LAx
One website I found states that latino women are less likely to abuse drugs, however latino men who were born in America, (not in mexico) were more likely to have high rates of substance abuse, and 'Studies have found that Latino youth experience proportionately more anxiety-related and delinquency problem behaviors, depression, and drug use than do non-Hispanic white youth'.
This also goes onto say...'In 1990, about 40% of Hispanics either did not speak English at all or did not speak it well. While the percentage of Spanish-speaking mental health professionals is not known, only about 1% of licensed psychologists who are also members of the American Psychological Association identify themselves as Hispanic. Moreover, there are only 29 Hispanic mental health professionals for every 100,000 Hispanics in the United States, compared to 173 non-Hispanic white providers per 100,000.'
I find it interesting that Hispanics, despite making up a massive proportion of America, still, do not seem have access to appropriate medical care. The substance abuse in young latinos, suggests that there is not the appropriate lessons in school to teach about the dangers of drugs. (have a read of all the facts they are quite interesting)
http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/cre/fact3.asp
Another website I found from washingtonpost.com talks about latinos adopting America's bad habits. Latinos appear to be getting fatter, especially latino children, who traditionally, if fat, were seen as healthy and called 'gordo' or 'gordita' meaning fatty. it also says 'One of the ironies of emigrating from poor rural life in Central America to poor urban and suburban life in an area such as Washington is that it doesn't necessarily make you any healthier -- it just changes the ways in which you are unhealthy, according to health-care providers and immigrant families here.
Instead of weeding fields and walking long distances, which make you burn too many calories, you vacuum floors and take buses, which make you tired and lazy. Instead of cooking rice and beans, which lack many vitamins, you stop off for pizza and fries, which have too much fat. Instead of catching tropical infections, you are at greater risk of developing diabetes and heart disease.
You have acquired the habits of the promised land, and they are slowly killing you.'
To me this suggests a severe lack of education when it comes to teaching immigrant latinos about unhealthy lifestyles.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/04/AR2008080402002.html?hpid=sec-health&sub=AR
Another website suggests that latino healthcare is declining rapdily, with many latinos not able to recieve the healthcare they need, especially concerning diabetes which is on the rise in latinos.
http://www.fresno.ucsf.edu/latinocenter/research/Latino%20health%20care%20is%20being%20left%20behind.htm
The final website I found which is interesting is a website documenting culture bound syndromes, and it has a list for Latino Americans, which no doubt, wont be treated within the American Healthcare system.
http://homepage.mac.com/mccajor/cbs_cul.html#LAx
Is there such thing as Latino Identity? by Otto Santa Ana
"Within the community of people termed Mexican or Mexican-American, the latter phrase connotated someone willing to turn their back on their heritage, their family, their home language"
Whilst researching Latino identity, I came across this website named "American Family, Journey of Dreams". This is actually a TV series which is said to be the "first drama series ever to air on broadcast television featuring a Latino cast, and the first origional primetime American episode drama on PBS in decades". Yet what caught my eye the most is a section of the website written be a Professor titled "Is there such thing as Latino Identity":
"What is identity? Why do Professors insist on questionaing what is obvious? Arn't we just individuals, born male or female, unique selves from infancy, who grow up interacting with others...Isn't our unique identity a whole thing that is part of us from the beginning that really doesnt change across time?
The Linguistic problem of identity complicates this picture in two ways that I will mention. First I spoke about the issue of community: identity is usually associated with a community who have a locale or one shared community. Then there is the issue of lables, all ethnic and racial terminology changes over time...Our uniqueness as a person is not the same as our identity. Our identity changes across time. Our identities as human beings are fluid, not a fixed thing"
As we can see from the comments made above, definining identity is a topic which requires great thought and deliberation as the whether our identity changes over time to adapt to different circumstances or not. In particular, when associated with Latino identity, in order to create a new life within America, can we argue that their identity needs to adjust to America's current values and ideologies, whilst leaving behind their own heritage and their own values in pursuit of a better way of life? This in many ways is what is represented within the essay above, taking on a different persona in order to make a living, yet are unable to carry their own traditions as this may lead to exclusion within society.
Whilst researching Latino identity, I came across this website named "American Family, Journey of Dreams". This is actually a TV series which is said to be the "first drama series ever to air on broadcast television featuring a Latino cast, and the first origional primetime American episode drama on PBS in decades". Yet what caught my eye the most is a section of the website written be a Professor titled "Is there such thing as Latino Identity":
"What is identity? Why do Professors insist on questionaing what is obvious? Arn't we just individuals, born male or female, unique selves from infancy, who grow up interacting with others...Isn't our unique identity a whole thing that is part of us from the beginning that really doesnt change across time?
The Linguistic problem of identity complicates this picture in two ways that I will mention. First I spoke about the issue of community: identity is usually associated with a community who have a locale or one shared community. Then there is the issue of lables, all ethnic and racial terminology changes over time...Our uniqueness as a person is not the same as our identity. Our identity changes across time. Our identities as human beings are fluid, not a fixed thing"
As we can see from the comments made above, definining identity is a topic which requires great thought and deliberation as the whether our identity changes over time to adapt to different circumstances or not. In particular, when associated with Latino identity, in order to create a new life within America, can we argue that their identity needs to adjust to America's current values and ideologies, whilst leaving behind their own heritage and their own values in pursuit of a better way of life? This in many ways is what is represented within the essay above, taking on a different persona in order to make a living, yet are unable to carry their own traditions as this may lead to exclusion within society.
Monday, 23 March 2009
From poverty to paradise
I posted this news broadcast from an Hawaiian TV network as I found it incredible that Hawaii woul dhave an illegal immigration issue as it is so many miles form mainland USA. The issue truly exisits and Hawaiian immigration officials have their work cut out for them. The 21 illegal immigrants found at the construction site were not the first as 200 were rounded up previously. Out of these 21 that were arrested, many came from Mexico, some from Brazil and one from Slovakia. The determination is great to enter America and it now seems that the issue is not just limited to mainland America and it's borders.
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
Tuesday, 17 March 2009
Immigration Narrative
I tried to find a first person narrative online, but failed. It was hard!! So I investigated famous immigrants to America, and I've researched Charlie Chaplin. I understand its not first person narrative, however I still found his story interesting because of his exile from America.
He was born in 1889 in London.
"Charles Spencer Chaplin was a British actor who was famous worldwide for his comedic silent films. Though successful in his adult life, Charlie had a difficult childhood. His alcoholic father died when he was twelve, and his psychotic mother was confined to an asylum when Charlie was seven. However, one characteristic he inherited from his parents was the ability to act (both had been performers in their healthier years).
Charlie went on several overseas trips during his career. In 1910, he went on his first U.S. and Canadian tour with the Karno Troupe. It was followed by a second tour in 1912, after which Chaplin decided to stay in California and didn't return to Great Britain with his troupe. On a 1917 immigration record, he is listed on a ship arriving from Honolulu. Charlie also traveled to England in 1921 to bring his mother to America. In the 1930s, Chaplin toured the Orient where he met and married his third wife, Paulette Goddard. Although no records were ever made public validating the union, the couple both claimed the foreign marriage when they divorced in 1942. A 1936 immigration record shows that Chaplin was indeed in Japan around that time.
Chaplin was famous for many years until his popularity turned to infamy because of his perceived political opinions. In 1940, Chaplin produced and starred in the film, The Great Dictator. Political figures considered the film to be a method to influence Americans to support going to war and was branded as communistic. In 1942, journalist Westbrook Pegler wrote widely-read articles encouraging Chaplin's deportation. Pegler insinuated that Chaplin displayed un-American sentiments and didn't support the American ideals of home and family because he had divorced three times. Chaplin's public image rapidly declined until many people considered the formerly beloved comedian to be little more than a morally bereft communist. In 1952, Chaplin was barred from the United States while he was on a visit to England. His re-entry permit was revoked on the trip as punishment for his supposed communist sympathies and questionable character. Chaplin subsequently exiled himself to Switzerland.
In 1972, Chaplin's film, Limelight was re-released. Despite the controversy surrounding the film in 1951, the theme song became a hit and won an Academy Award in 1972. Eighty-three-year-old Charlie returned to the U.S. without resistance to claim his Oscar. In 1974, his name was restored to the Hollywood "Walk of Fame" from which it had been removed in 1958. Then, in 1975, Queen Elizabeth II recognized Chaplin's achievements and knighted him Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin. England was proud of its native son who, despite years of living elsewhere, had never given up his British citizenship. Chaplin lived the remainder of his life in Switzerland where he died on Christmas Day in 1977.
Earlier immigration records show that Charlie's North American tours may have been similar to the tours of his actor/singer father, Charles Spencer Chaplin Sr. In an 1890 immigration record, a twenty-four-year-old actor named "Mr. Chas. Chaplin" from England is listed among several other actors and a director. This record is too early to have been Charlie, but it seems likely that it was his father."
(taken from http://www.ancestry.com/learn/contentcenters/contentcenter.aspx?page=immigration&sp=chaplin)
Charlie Chaplin was originally welcomed into America, because of his talent and ability to entertain, but then year later refused entry because of his 'un-americanness'. He went through divorces and seemingly had 'anti-america' and 'pro-war' views. America is the land of liberty and freedom, until of course you are 'un-american' in your lifestyle. They removed his star from the walk of fame, and later on in his life won an Oscar for one of his films which was re-released.
He was born in 1889 in London.
"Charles Spencer Chaplin was a British actor who was famous worldwide for his comedic silent films. Though successful in his adult life, Charlie had a difficult childhood. His alcoholic father died when he was twelve, and his psychotic mother was confined to an asylum when Charlie was seven. However, one characteristic he inherited from his parents was the ability to act (both had been performers in their healthier years).
Charlie went on several overseas trips during his career. In 1910, he went on his first U.S. and Canadian tour with the Karno Troupe. It was followed by a second tour in 1912, after which Chaplin decided to stay in California and didn't return to Great Britain with his troupe. On a 1917 immigration record, he is listed on a ship arriving from Honolulu. Charlie also traveled to England in 1921 to bring his mother to America. In the 1930s, Chaplin toured the Orient where he met and married his third wife, Paulette Goddard. Although no records were ever made public validating the union, the couple both claimed the foreign marriage when they divorced in 1942. A 1936 immigration record shows that Chaplin was indeed in Japan around that time.
Chaplin was famous for many years until his popularity turned to infamy because of his perceived political opinions. In 1940, Chaplin produced and starred in the film, The Great Dictator. Political figures considered the film to be a method to influence Americans to support going to war and was branded as communistic. In 1942, journalist Westbrook Pegler wrote widely-read articles encouraging Chaplin's deportation. Pegler insinuated that Chaplin displayed un-American sentiments and didn't support the American ideals of home and family because he had divorced three times. Chaplin's public image rapidly declined until many people considered the formerly beloved comedian to be little more than a morally bereft communist. In 1952, Chaplin was barred from the United States while he was on a visit to England. His re-entry permit was revoked on the trip as punishment for his supposed communist sympathies and questionable character. Chaplin subsequently exiled himself to Switzerland.
In 1972, Chaplin's film, Limelight was re-released. Despite the controversy surrounding the film in 1951, the theme song became a hit and won an Academy Award in 1972. Eighty-three-year-old Charlie returned to the U.S. without resistance to claim his Oscar. In 1974, his name was restored to the Hollywood "Walk of Fame" from which it had been removed in 1958. Then, in 1975, Queen Elizabeth II recognized Chaplin's achievements and knighted him Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin. England was proud of its native son who, despite years of living elsewhere, had never given up his British citizenship. Chaplin lived the remainder of his life in Switzerland where he died on Christmas Day in 1977.
Earlier immigration records show that Charlie's North American tours may have been similar to the tours of his actor/singer father, Charles Spencer Chaplin Sr. In an 1890 immigration record, a twenty-four-year-old actor named "Mr. Chas. Chaplin" from England is listed among several other actors and a director. This record is too early to have been Charlie, but it seems likely that it was his father."
(taken from http://www.ancestry.com/learn/contentcenters/contentcenter.aspx?page=immigration&sp=chaplin)
Charlie Chaplin was originally welcomed into America, because of his talent and ability to entertain, but then year later refused entry because of his 'un-americanness'. He went through divorces and seemingly had 'anti-america' and 'pro-war' views. America is the land of liberty and freedom, until of course you are 'un-american' in your lifestyle. They removed his star from the walk of fame, and later on in his life won an Oscar for one of his films which was re-released.
First Person Immigrant Narrative
Irish Immigrant First to Pass through Ellis Land
http://www.ellisisland.org/genealogy/annie_moore.asp
"A ROSY CHEEKED IRISH GIRL THE FIRST REGISTERED - ROOM ENOUGH FOR ALL ARRIVALS - ONLY RAILROAD PEOPLE FIND FAULT"
This is the headline found within the New York Times on January 2nd 1892 covering the story of the first immigrant to arrive in the USA and the importance and use of the newly-constructed Immigration Bureau built on Ellis Island. I felt this story to be of most significance due to a 15 year old capturing the headline of one of New York's main newspapers, reflecting that the younger generation will surely prosper within such a diverse culture no matter what there background or past difficulties. The young girl depicted in the photo (click on link) is named Annie Moore who spent 12 days at sea with her two younger brothers before reaching the shores of New York. Her story was depicted within the New York times reflecting her excitement along with her brothers.
"The steamship that brought Annie Moore arrived late last Thursday night. Early yesterday morning the passengers of that vessel were placed on board the immigrant transfer boat John. E. Moore. The craft was gayly decorated with bunting and ranged alongside the the wharf of Ellis Island amid a clang of bells and din of shrieking whistles.
As soon as the gangplunk was run ashore, Annie tipped across itand was hurried into the big building that almost covers the entire island. By a pre-arranged plan she was escorted to a registry desk which was temporarily occupied by Mr Charles M. Hendley, the former private secretary of Secretary Windom. He asked as a special favour the privilege of registering the first immigrant and Col. Weber granted the request.
When the littel Voyager had been registered Col. Weber presented her with a 10 dollar gold piece and made a short address of congratulation and welcome. It was the first United States coin she had ever seen and the largest sum of money she had ever possessed. She says she will never part with it, but will always keep it as a pleasent memento of the occassion.
http://www.ellisisland.org/genealogy/annie_moore.asp
"A ROSY CHEEKED IRISH GIRL THE FIRST REGISTERED - ROOM ENOUGH FOR ALL ARRIVALS - ONLY RAILROAD PEOPLE FIND FAULT"
This is the headline found within the New York Times on January 2nd 1892 covering the story of the first immigrant to arrive in the USA and the importance and use of the newly-constructed Immigration Bureau built on Ellis Island. I felt this story to be of most significance due to a 15 year old capturing the headline of one of New York's main newspapers, reflecting that the younger generation will surely prosper within such a diverse culture no matter what there background or past difficulties. The young girl depicted in the photo (click on link) is named Annie Moore who spent 12 days at sea with her two younger brothers before reaching the shores of New York. Her story was depicted within the New York times reflecting her excitement along with her brothers.
"The steamship that brought Annie Moore arrived late last Thursday night. Early yesterday morning the passengers of that vessel were placed on board the immigrant transfer boat John. E. Moore. The craft was gayly decorated with bunting and ranged alongside the the wharf of Ellis Island amid a clang of bells and din of shrieking whistles.
As soon as the gangplunk was run ashore, Annie tipped across itand was hurried into the big building that almost covers the entire island. By a pre-arranged plan she was escorted to a registry desk which was temporarily occupied by Mr Charles M. Hendley, the former private secretary of Secretary Windom. He asked as a special favour the privilege of registering the first immigrant and Col. Weber granted the request.
When the littel Voyager had been registered Col. Weber presented her with a 10 dollar gold piece and made a short address of congratulation and welcome. It was the first United States coin she had ever seen and the largest sum of money she had ever possessed. She says she will never part with it, but will always keep it as a pleasent memento of the occassion.
Thursday, 12 March 2009
FROM WALES TO AMERICA
The original document was owned by Barbara LAVIERS and is now in the special collections of University of KY, Lexington, KY.
Transcribed by Huw Daniel 1999.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
May 6th 1863
Six of us Welshmen arrived at Taff station, Merthyr, South Wales. We were enroute for Liverpool. We met a young woman at the same station. She was going to Liverpool also, so the time was spent in talking about America.
When we arrived at Chester station there was a very large crowd awaiting the train, enroute to the Chester races that day. There not being enough coaches to accommodate everybody we were overly crowded, which was not pleasant to us. We arrived at Liverpool the same evening, and met the shipping agent, Thomas LLOYD. We could not stay with Mr. LLOYD that night as had been pre-arranged, his wife having died that day. We took quarters at the Talbot Hotel.
After making all arrangements we went into the shipping office, and payed our passage to America. This took all the money the young woman had, which caused her to feel very sad. So I being the only single man in our company I consoled her by telling her I would defray her expenses until we boarded the ship next morning. Her name is Mary LAMEY.
May 7th
We boarded our vessel, the Vanguard, and after the elapse of four or five hours, we hove out into the river Mannon and cast anchor for the night, which was spent in dancing. This annoyed us very much for the fact that we could not get our bedclothes, causing us to sleep in the clothes we had on, the first time I did such a thing in my life.
I brought six pounds of cheese from Merthyr, and Jim brought three pounds, which cost quite a sum. In Liverpool we bought one loaf of bread apiece. That cost us six pence; we also bought a barrel with a key and lock to it, to hold our provisions.
May 8th
We arose in the morning after sleeping in our clothes on the bare planks of our berths. Which made us feel very sore not being accustomed to such. About ten o'clock a steam tug came out to us, with more passengers. And among them was one of our company, Richard HUMPHREYS. He brought with him one shillings worth of red herrings, which added much to the luxuries of our larder, and also a six penny loaf. The day was spent in preparing for the voyage.
Such as making our beds, and lashing our trunks in such a manner that they might resist the motion of the vessel. Feeling well satisfied with our days work, we retired for the night.
May 9th
In the morning we were all up on deck to receive our rations, but we were doomed to disappointment, as the Captain would not take time to serve us. At about twelve o'clock the tugboat came to pull us out into the open ocean, and remained with us until the next morning. While we were up on deck our carpet sack and provision barrel were robbed of their contents.
The vessel was searched today for stowaways. Parties trying to steal their way to America, without paying their pass. Six were on board. They were handcuffed and sent back to Liverpool on the steam tug. As they left they wished that the Vanguard and all hands would go to the bottom before they arrived in New York.
May 10th
We were very sick in the morning. Towards the afternoon we received our rations, which consisted of meat and peas. We made a mess of them, and took it to the galley fire to have it boiled, and after waiting for several hours, finally had it placed on the fire. But before it boiled, kettle and contents were stolen. So we had no breakfast or dinner. At about eight o'clock we received our kettle, but it was empty. So our provisions for that day consisted of a cracker apiece. We retired for the night, but did not get much rest. The young ladies in the next berth made too much noise and kept us awake.
May 11th
The morning was clear, and this being my 23rd birthday. One which I shall never forgot by the incidents which occurred during the day. We were far out in the Irish Channel. We soon discovered that it was useless to try and cook our food on the passengers galley. So by paying fifteen shillings to the Captain's cook, he agreed to do it for us, which he could easily do, as we received but half rations.
Now about four o'clock in the afternoon there arose a big storm. The vessel was pitching and tossing as though it would capsize. The night was spent in religious exercises. Especially by the Irish Passengers, counting their beads and making liberal use of their holy water.
May 12th
Storm still raging, and everybody upside-down. Twelve o'clock. The storm is abated to a calm, and we are at a standstill. WE occupied the balance of the day in cleaning up our berths.
May 13th
We are still waiting for the wind to arise. Ah! The wind is rising. The day closes, nothing strange has happened.
May 14th
We were driven up on deck while the sailors cleaned the lower decks, and disinfected them by throwing a mixture of sulphuric acid and lime around.
May 15th
The wind has calmed, and we are at a standstill. The day has been spent in dancing, and singing. We did not enjoy it, still we participated in it to drive away the gnawings of hunger from our minds. We are not the only ones that are in this sad plight. All the passengers on board are hungry. With the exception of a few who brought plenty with them, and were wise enough to watch that it was not stolen from them.
May 16th
All the passengers were driven up on deck for a few hours to allow the foul air to escape that had accumulated below. Dick HUMPHRIES (one of our company) and myself had a mess of oatmeal and water cooked, but we could not eat it as we had neither spoons or plates to divide it among us. So there I stood with my kettle of hot porridge in my hand, and my eye on the sailor who kept watch on the hatchway that led into the cooks galley. Finally he was called away. This was our opportunity. Dick and George THOMAS and I swung ourselves down by a rope, as the ladder had been removed, and it took but a moment to procure the implements necessary to enter upon our feast. I soon divided it, and our share was soon gobbled. Then I had quite a time to save Stephen, Will and Jim's share, which I had on plates, as the wrangle was going on. The watch returned, and you bet we had to skedaddle. But I got them their share safe. This was about two o'clock in the afternoon, and this was the first we had had to eat since yesterday afternoon.
The captain was on his watch when the Dr. in making his rounds caught a man lighting his pipe under deck, and informed the captain. (Now this was strictly prohibited) Whereupon the captain ordered him brought up, drawing his revolver, said "You g_d d__m bugger, why don't you smoke up on deck until h__l freezes over, and chew below." He ordered him up on main mast, but he refused to go, whereupon two burly sailors laid hold of him, and lashed a rope to him, and hoisted him up like they would a sail, and as they did it they sang, "Come down my bonnie bunch of roses." He remained there for the greater part of the night and it was very cold.
May 17th
This is Sunday and we have fared better today than usual, for the simple reason that we have had three meals. We oatmeal and water (burnt) for breakfast. For dinner we had meat and potatoes. For supper oatmeal and water. This is the first time we have enjoyed three meals a day since we are on board.
The evening is clear and there is an eclipse on the sun, which we can see very plainly, and after it had ended the sun set very red. The passengers were all on deck. One of the company had in his possession a bagpipe, he was requested to play it, which he did, and all the passengers engaged in dancing until it was dark.
At this time a quarrel arose between the ship's carpenter and one of the passengers, his name was Thomas SILK, but quarrel was all there was of it, as it did not come to blows. This ends all that occurred today.
May 18th
In the early part of the night of the 17th the third mate caught two men in the act of stealing water and provisions. One of the culprits being the same one that had been punished previously for lighting his pipe below deck. They were lashed fast in the captains boat, at the stern of the ship until morning, when the captain called a jury of six which were as follows: 1 Englishman, 1 Scotchman, 1 Welshman (that being myself), and 3 Irishmen, one of the Irishmen being foreman. The reason the captain did this was to exempt himself from all blame from the passengers. He also gave the jury the power to administer the punishment, and also charged the jury to take into consideration that the water and provisions which they had stolen were from the store that was to feed the passengers, which would run short as it was.
They were brought before the jury and found guilty, and sentenced to seven days in irons, with one cracker, and a pint of water each a day. But they had friends, and they gave them plenty, when no one was around. I was secretly warned that I was to be thrown overboard. Whereupon I borrowed a dagger, which I carried on my person until we landed.
About nine o'clock in the morning the wind arose, and we were going at about six miles per hour. At the bow of the ship we saw quite a number of porpoises. The third mate being a good hand with the spear speared one, which the sailors drew up on the deck. After spearing the one, the rest disappeared. This is all the proceedings of the day.
May 19th
The wind is still the same, only a little stronger. Our boatswain is sick and not able to be on duty. We are all on deck, as the usual cleaning of the hold is in progress. Dick and I had an opportunity to slip down the hold. We intended to prepare a mess of peas and meat, thinking to boil it for dinner, but before we had commenced we heard a terrible row, we ran at once to learn the cause of it. There had been one of the passengers sitting in the galley door, and being in the way of the ships cook, he had thrown boiling water on him, and scalded him.
This had caused the passengers anger to rise, and they made a rush at him, but the ships crew rushed into the midst of them with drawn cutlasses, which made them fall back, so that saved the old cook from getting his just dues. Just then the captain appeared, and after learning what was the matter, struck the cook a severe blow. This was done to pacify the passengers, he also ordered him handcuffed and locked up for six hours. This knocked us out of our dinner that we were about to prepare. The captain would not allow his cook to do any more cooking, for any of the passengers, so this act caused us to do our own cooking, and on the passengers galley. But we got back 10 shillings from the cook out of the 15 that we had given him to do our cooking.
May 20th
Our captain has issued new orders this morning. The passengers were divided into six parts. Each part to have one hour to cook their victuals. When the hour was up, the galley was to be closed for the next. This caused a great deal of victuals to be spoiled, some was half cooked, some burnt, and others not warmed at all.
After this rule went into effect, we were very much annoyed with the second mate, the galley was always crowded, and he having to pass, we were in his way, so for his fun and to clear the way, he would throw a bucket of salt water over us. Now I will explain why the captain made such a rule. You see there were a great many of the passengers that were better off than the rest, and when they came on board, they brought with them lots of food. And these were the parties that always had possession of the galley, and us that had nothing but the ships allowance could not get to cook it for these people, as they always had possession of the galley, cooking their extras.
May 21st
The wind is still in our favor, and this is the only thing. I had a bucket of salt water thrown over me this morning, while trying to get my breakfast cooked, which I finally succeeded in doing. After partaking of our breakfast, we were on deck washing our kettle and plates, Jim threw the water overboard, the wind blew some of it on the ropes. Whereupon a sailor administered a vigorous kick in his posterior, and with an oath warned him, if he did the like again he would throw him overboard. Oh! How Jim wished they had been on land when he did it. He would have had all the kicking he wanted.
May 22nd
The morning is clear, and the wind is blowing a stiff breeze. Everything is as usual. Where we are sailing now, the water is quite warm, the wind has abated and it is quite cold.
May 23rd
This morning the wind arose, and by eight o'clock was blowing a stiff gale, and it increased until now a storm is raging. We are now on the banks of Newfoundland, and we are below deck. We are amused by the whistling of the wind, and flashing of the lightening which lights up the deck so that a pin could easily be seen, then the darkness would be intense. Above all the noise of the storm, the prayers of the Irish could be heard. We are under lose reef, and the storm is still raging.
May 24th
Storm still raging like it was yesterday.
May 25th
Same as yesterday.
May 26th
The storm still continues as if it would never cease.
May 27th
The wind and storm has abated this morning. I can scarcely write, we are so hungry, our diet having consisted of one dry biscuit and a few drops of water and half of that tar. These are the miseries we have had during the five days of the storm.
May 28th
The vessel is nearly standing still, as there is scarcely any wind, every sail is set, and we are making one mile per hour. This gives us chance to cook a little to eat, and to get washed, as we are in a plight, everything being upside-down after the storm. There are hundreds of small birds flying and sitting on the vessel, the sailors call them sea swallows. As the old sailors say, "We always have a calm after a storm."
May 29th
We are getting very thin for the want of food. The lice are creeping all over our bodies. The captain says, with pure wind and plenty of it, we could reach New York in three days. It is a common thing to hear many of the passengers praying for wind, and saying by the help of God, and the good luck of the Vanguard, we will soon reach New York.
May 30th
The wind is calm, and this is the warmest day we have had since we started.
May 31st
At about three o'clock this morning a large iceberg was sighted. It was one mile long, and as high as the topmast of our vessel. It was a beautiful sight as the moon shone upon it. In it's wake followed a smaller one, they passed on the weather side of our vessel, at the rate of about two knots an hour, and about half a mile away. We also passed a whale, which the sailors called a thin-backed whale, shortly after we passed the whale there arose a dense fog.
June 01st
The fog is very thick and the sailors are on watch on all sides of the vessel, besides the bell rings every minute to warn others so that they will not run into us.
The captain has lost his smoke pipe, one that he paid four pounds for (Almost twenty dollars in American money). He had occasion to go under deck and he laid it on the capstan. Someone of the passengers stole it, and he is swearing terribly, and says he will search every box on board, but what will he find.
June 02nd
The fog is as thick as ever, and scarcely any wind, and what there is, is against us. All at once the spouting of a whale was heard at the stern of the ship, his spouting was like the puffing of a large engine. We could not see him as the fog was too thick.
The doctor caused quite an excitement today, about dinnertime he stated that the fever was on board, and that he would make money now, as he would receive 10 dollars for everyone that died. There are notices in all parts of the vessel stating that the fever is on board. There has been more cleaning done today than has been since we started.
The captain plumbed the water here, there is forty fathoms he says. We are on the banks of Newfoundland, we are looking for the French fishermen. They are blowing the horn at the bow of the ship.
While I am writing there is a terrible row amongst the Irish, they are fighting like dogs.
There are five fishing boats seen, one with sails, four with oars. They told us there are five fishing boats ahead of us at anchor.
There was nothing strange until about ten o'clock in the evening. The fog horn was blowing as usual, when another blew in answer to it, the captain ordered the ship stopped. When a little boat drew near this caused much rejoicing on our ship. All the passengers were under the impression that it was the pilot, imagine our disgust when we learned it was fishermen who had lost their vessel. They were taken on board. There arose a storm, had they not been lucky enough to run across us, they would have been lost. The captain called them d-m (sic) fools to risk their lives in such a shell as that.
June 03rd
The storm has ceased, and the fog is as thick as ever, it falls on the deck like rain.
I have spent the forepart of the morning picking lice off our bedclothes, for we are nearly eaten up alive.
The fog cleared about four o`clock this afternoon, which gave us a chance to look around us.
June 04th
The wind is in our favor, the ship is sailing at the rate of ten miles an hour. At eight o`clock the fog came on again. In the evening the wind started to lull. The fog is getting thicker than we had it at all, now the wind has lulled into a dead calm, we are lying like a log on the water.
June 05th
We are still in a calm, not making any headway at all. We all feel very melancholy today, as our provisions has run out. We have made our breakfast on a handful of peas, and have another handful left.
I cut George THOMAS` beard with a shears, as they were in his way.
June 06th
It is cloudy, and scarcely any wind. Many got a bucket of salt water thrown over this morning in place of breakfast. This is the work of the second mate, he delights in doing it. This evening the wind has risen and is blowing a stiff gale, it is blowing so hard that the captain has ordered all the sails taken down.
June 07th
The fog is gathering this morning, and as the day is advancing the wind is dying away. While we are on board we are forced to watch our water and food by turns of two hours each. Today being my turn and having nothing to watch, as we have had nothing to eat for two days, and lying in a cam, my thoughts run as follows:
(Composed by Thomas LAVIERS)
If old mother Neptune the God of the sea,
Would give us fair wind we more happy would be
But the happiest day I think I shall see
Is the day we are landed when ere it shall be.
For here we are suffering with hunger and pain,
Caused by the roll of our ship on the main.
We are weary of waiting, sick and unclean,
Such objects of misery my eyes never seen.
Half `lowance we get, this is put on our card,
And our biscuits taste strong, and awfully hard;
And the little we get, just fancy our look,
When we go to the galley, and can't get it cooked.
Such miserable thieves, I never thought there were such,
For one of our company is always on watch;
And with the all the watching, I just now have said,
They will steal your water from under your head.
The doctor will drive us like dogs up on deck,
And we dare not resist or we're caught by the neck;
They just use us here as they seem to think fit,
And get their food always, though we don't get a bit.
We look at each other as hard as can be,
And say "it will change when we cross o`er the sea."
But one think (sic) is sure if riches I get,
This lesson I've learned will ne`er be forgot.
We have had mass this morning it being Sunday. Today makes one month since we came on board. The vessel has been lying still all day, but the wind is rising, and the fog is still very thick, and falling on the deck like rain.
June 08th
The wind calmed as the sun arose, and we are lying on the water like a log again. About four o`clock in the evening the fog cleared a little.
We have sighted a Prussian barque, she is about a mile and a half away.
June 09th
The fog has cleared and we all feel glad as we see around us. There is a schooner close by going in the same direction as we are.
We can see five large whales close by, spouting water up into the air. When they passed by our ship I was on the bowsprit looking at them. They were as long as the long-boat, and about three times as broad, the fins on their backs were about four feet square.
Now we are having a fight between an Irishman and an Englishman, the cause of it was, the Irishman threw lice into the Englishman's rice. They were finally stopped.
We are compelled to take off our shirts quite frequently, to pick off the lice, such a thing we never did in our lives before.
We are going to bed tonight very sick, Jim and I.
June 10th
This morning I am a little better, but Jim is about the same. When he went up on deck after being in the close air all night, he nearly fainted.
We are lying waiting for wind. Everybody feels melancholy, everything is as silent as the grave, and the deck is bespattered with blood. All the provisions we have is about half a pound or rice, and we have to live Wednesday, Thursday and Friday on that. We have not tasted ship bread for three days.
There was a poor woman fell down the hatchway. She was carried to her bunk in an unconscious condition, in which she remained about one hour.
The wind blew so hard we had to reef our sails. We are in sight of four vessels, English, French, Portuguese and Prussian. The Prussian vessel is for the same place as we are; they hailed us and asked if we had plenty of provisions, our captain answered yes, if he had, we did not. There were a few more questions exchanged and they bore away, but we soon left them behind out of sight, because our ship could stand more wind than theirs.
June 11th
The wind is still the same, only it is warm in place of cold, which has been the usual thing. The water we are in is quite warm also. We are very hungry, after considerable coaxing we bought four biscuits off a sailor for a shilling. Shortly after we made the purchase, the young lady (Mary LAMEY) which accompanied us from Taff Station, and the one that I had paid expenses for in Liverpool before we came on board, made us a present of eight biscuits, ten pounds of rice, and a sackful of oatmeal. I can tell you, this was the most acceptable present I ever received in my life.
Two others of our company procured twenty-two more biscuits by giving a muffler each. These are hard times here, but we are not the hardest up, as there are some that has neither victuals or tobacco. There are a great many of the old sailors smoking tea, which is plenty, as no one uses any of it.
June 12th
It is very cloudy and dismal today, we can't go up on deck as it is raining very hard.
June 13th
There was an accident this morning. A woman while going to places where she had no business, fell down the hold of the ship, from which she sustained serious injuries.
We have a great many fights on board, too many to keep account of.
I have been trying to beg a little tobacco for George THOMAS and Stephen JONES, which I succeeded in doing.
June 14th
The wind is still in our favor, there was a shoal of porpoises passed the ship this morning. Our breakfast consisted of oatmeal and water, for dinner we had peas and meat, and while we were eating the dr. and second mate came with a lot of tar and set fire to it in the hold. This was to purify the ship, it made such a smoke that we could not finish our dinner up on deck and let our meal go until tomorrow.
This is the sixth Sunday we have spent on board, and the most miserable one I ever spent in my life. The Irish held mass after dark. When we go to bed we are annoyed by them, as they take down the lamps and play cards. This is the way they carry on. They will hold mass, and then at night they are going about like devils.
June 15th
The wind has turned against us. The sun is nearly overhead us, I never saw it so high. The evening was very clear, and as the sun went down we could see sparks like fire in the water, the sailors call it brine. When it was dark the captain threw sky rockets up into the air, these are signals for the pilot to come on board, and at intervals the Dr. wheels a large ball of fire around on each side of the ship.
June 16th
At about five o`clock this morning the pilot came on board, which made us all jubilant, as we knew then that we were not far from land. In the evening we could see land like a small cloud, and when it grew dark we could see a lighthouse. We expected to arrive in New York that night, but the wind calmed and the tide carried us back out of sight of land by the next morning. We were very much disheartened.
June 17th
The wind arose again this morning and we are making better headway than any of us thought we would. About ten o`clock the tug boat came out to us, the pilot was received with joy, but the tug with more, as we knew that we would stop again until we got into the river. We got into port about two o`clock in the afternoon.
Then the doctors came on board from Staten Island.
We saw a great many soldiers going down the river to war.
We cast anchor about five o`clock that evening. The captain told us we could land that night, so we threw everything overboard, and Dick and Will had put on a white shirt and their best clothes, but the Lucy Thomson got in ahead of us so we were compelled to stay on board until morning. Dick and Will had to sleep in their good clothes, we called them clergymen. When we cast anchor the captain and the pilot went on shore, so we did not get our allowance, but the sailors gave some biscuits to the passengers. Dick and Will got our and would not give them to us, so we had to do without, but there was a boat came out with bread, and we had silver we could buy, but Dick and Will had nothing but gold and they would not change that, so they had to do as we did when they got the biscuits, sit and look on. This was the first fresh bread we got since we came on board.
June 18th
The steamboat came alongside and about four hours were spent shipping our boxes on a hungry stomach. We landed at last in Castle gardens, and after being asked where we were going, and paying our fares, we had breakfast on bread and warm milk, this was a treat, yum! yum! We scarcely knew when we had enough. We then went to Thomas William's home and took a bath, after which we took in the sights of the city, and returned to the same place for supper.
June 19th
We spent the greater part of the day in castle gardens going about seeing what was to be seen.
June 20th
This morning I found a purse with sixteen dollars in it, at breakfast I returned it to the owner. After breakfast we took the train for Pottsville Pa.
June 21st
This is Sunday, we went with some folks to the Old Dart, so we spent our Sabbath happily.
June 22nd
We went to Sinclair to look for work, did not get it, so we went to Greenberry Valley, and succeeded in procuring work here, for two. We lost George JONES and Stephen GRIFFITH. We spent the night with William MERRIMAN, a brother to Hugh D. MERRIMAN.
June 23rd
We went to Minersville to look for work and failed, went to Swatara, there we succeeded. We then returned to Pottsville, and spent the greater part of the night in dancing and singing.
June 24th
At nine o`clock we started with the stage for Swatara arriving safe. We took quarters at Abe WILLIAM's hotel at Swatara Falls.
June 25th
We have started work, and with this, ends the ups and downs of our travels from our Mother Country to Free America.
Signed: James and Thomas LAVIERS
As a Welsh man, I found this narrative of particular interest.
It was interesting to know that Welsh families and individuals had been pursuing freedom in America. Between 1789 and 1802, harvests in Wales had been particularly poor and this in itself had encouraged thousands of Welsh to emmigrate to America. Utica in NY was initially settled by Welsh families. This departure from Wales was to continue for many years as this narrative from 1863 shows.
Life was hard in Wales during the 19th century and the Welsh had also lived under a particular oppresive English regime. George Washington once quoted that 'a good Welsh man makes a good American'. The Welsh, due to their industrious nature were ideal for progressing personally thorughout America but also in the progression of America.
Such is the influence of the Welsh in America there is an annual 'The North American Festival of Wales' which this year is being held in Pittsburgh, PA Sept. 3rd-6th 2009,i might just have to go and drag Carter with me!! The video i have posted is one from last years Eistefodd held in America.
There have been at least eight U.S. Presidents with Welsh ancestry including Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, and James Garfield. Confederate President Jefferson Davis was also of Welsh extraction. (http://wapedia.mobi/en/Welsh_American)
Tuesday, 10 March 2009
Issues Facing the American West
"Reconciling explosive growth with often majestic landscape defines New Geographies of the American West. Geographer William Travis examines contemporary land use changes and development patterns from the Mississippi to the Pacific, and assesses the ecological and social outcomes of Western development.
Unlike previous "boom" periods dependent on oil or gold, the modern population explosion in the West reflects a sustained passion for living in this specific landscape. But the encroaching exurbs, ranchettes, and ski resorts are slicing away at the very environment that Westerners cherish.
Efforts to manage growth in the West are usually stymied at the state and local levels. Is it possible to improve development patterns within the West's traditional anti-planning, pro-growth milieu, or is a new model needed? Can the region develop sustainably, protecting and managing its defining wildness, while benefiting from it, too?"
Unlike previous "boom" periods dependent on oil or gold, the modern population explosion in the West reflects a sustained passion for living in this specific landscape. But the encroaching exurbs, ranchettes, and ski resorts are slicing away at the very environment that Westerners cherish.
Efforts to manage growth in the West are usually stymied at the state and local levels. Is it possible to improve development patterns within the West's traditional anti-planning, pro-growth milieu, or is a new model needed? Can the region develop sustainably, protecting and managing its defining wildness, while benefiting from it, too?"
Major issues facing the American West:
The region houses the nation’s largest national parks, monuments and wilderness areas.
Population will double in the next 40 to 50 years.
Natural areas near developments have become fragmented, vital wildlife habitats converted, and more subjected to invasive species.
The ecological footprint of a North American city (including Tucson, Salt Lake City, Denver and Boise) is between 10 and 20 times the actual physical area.
All developments create disturbance zones, meaning the habitat is less suitable to most of the native wildlife. The cumulative effect of multiple developments can be reduced by clustering.
The region houses the nation’s largest national parks, monuments and wilderness areas.
Population will double in the next 40 to 50 years.
Natural areas near developments have become fragmented, vital wildlife habitats converted, and more subjected to invasive species.
The ecological footprint of a North American city (including Tucson, Salt Lake City, Denver and Boise) is between 10 and 20 times the actual physical area.
All developments create disturbance zones, meaning the habitat is less suitable to most of the native wildlife. The cumulative effect of multiple developments can be reduced by clustering.
This extract is taken from a review of a book written by William Travis called "New Geographies of the American West" detailing important issues which he feels need to be addressed in order for the West to become a more envirnomentally friendly place to live. He focusses less on the need to encourage more people to move to the West due to a predicted increase in numbers which he fears will destroy the natural habitat of the West, therefore in many ways trying to prevent the influx of a growing population. What Travis hopes to convey through this thought-provoking book is the disturbance to nature by trying to increase the West's popularity, of which we could argue either way causes advantages and disadvantages as to the suvival of the West, if the population decreases, what will become of this landscape? Yet if more communities settle and become established, how will nature cope?
Thursday, 5 March 2009
Derek Black, left, gets help from his father, Don, on his Internet radio show Sunday in Lake Worth Fla. Don Black is a former Ku Klux Klan leader, and Derek holds a seat on the Palm Beach County, Fla., GOP committee.
By Steve Mitchell for USA TODAY
White supremacists target middle America
USA TODAY
The white-power movement is changing its marketing strategy to broaden its appeal.
The USA's largest neo-Nazi group is ditching its trademark brown Nazi uniform with swastika armband for a more muted look in black fatigues.
In Pennsylvania, the Keystone State Skinheads is changing its name to Keystone United to attract members.
The nation's largest white-power website, Stormfront, has a new feature that lets members create social-networking pages. The site has had as many as 42,700 unique visitors in a 24-hour period this month, a steady rise since it started in 1995.
Supremacist groups are on the rise as they market themselves to middle America, according to leaders of the groups and organizations that monitor them. They are fueled by the debate over illegal immigration and a struggling economy.
"Many white supremacist groups are going more mainstream," says Jack Levin, a Northeastern University criminologist who studies hate crime. "They are eliminating the sheets and armbands. … The groups realize if they want to be attractive to middle-class types, they need to look middle-class."
Levin estimates fewer than 50,000 people are members of white supremacist groups, but he says their influence is growing with a more sophisticated approach.
From 2006 to 2007, the number of such groups rose by 5% to 888, says the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which tracks them through news reports and other sources. The number is up 48% since 2000.
The FBI knows of about 24 domestic terrorist groups. Spokesman Richard Kolko would not say how many are white supremacists.
Jeff Schoep, head of the National Socialist Movement, says the government classifies his group as a domestic group of interest, not domestic terrorists. The FBI would not comment.
Interest in the group "has really spiked up," says Schoep, who would not say by how much.
"Historically, when times get tough in our nation, that's how movements like ours gain a foothold," he says. "When the economy suffers, people are looking for answers. … We are the answer for white people.
"And now this immigrant thing in the past couple of years has been the biggest boon to us," Schoep says. "The immigration issue is the biggest problem we're facing because it's changing the face of our country. We see stuff in English and Spanish. … They are turning our country into a Third World ghetto."
The National Socialist Movement is the largest neo-Nazi group in the USA, according to the SPLC and the Anti-Defamation League, which works to fight bigotry. The NSM has chapters in 38 states, its website says.
Mark Potok, director of the SPLC's Intelligence Project, says the debate over immigration has led to a rise in hate groups.
In Pennsylvania, where the Hispanic population increased by 41% from 2000 through 2007, Keystone United has been busy.
Members distribute fliers calling on residents to fight crime they say is committed by illegal immigrants, gangs and drug dealers. In September, members joined a rally against illegal immigration in Shenandoah that was organized after four white teens were arrested in connection with the beating death of a Latino illegal immigrant.
"A lot of these small working-class towns are being invaded by different types of people," says Douglas Myers, one of Keystone United's founders. He says the group speaks out for the rights of whites being pushed aside by newcomers.
"It appears they are tapping into and fanning the flames of mainstream America's fear of immigrants," says Ann Van Dyke of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission. "They are increasingly using the language of Main Street, things like, 'We want safe communities to raise our children.' "
Myers says the group is organizing family-friendly activities, rejecting the violence that made skinheads notorious. For example, they plan gatherings in public libraries.
"It's not the footage from the '80s with people burning crosses. It's a very healthy environment," Myers, 26, says.
The renewed activity includes a boom on the Internet, says Don Black, creator of the Stormfront website. The site has 144,000 registered members.
"Many people in this country, even if they were upset with the country's immigration policies, never felt that threatened until now," Black, 55, says. "White people were the majority. That's rapidly changing."
Black says the candidacy of Barack Obama has raised his site's profile.
In the past year, members have posted 337 entries on Stormfront related to Obama, ranging from whether an Obama victory will start a revolution among whites to whether the candidate will take away gun rights.
Black's son, Derek, 19, was elected to the Palm Beach County, Fla., Republican committee in August. Local Republican leaders are trying to unseat him after learning of his white supremacist ties.
Don Black, once a Ku Klux Klan leader in Alabama, says he's encouraged by the enthusiasm he sees.
"We see a lot of people coming out of the woodwork," he says.
I found this article of interest as it is a long survivor of antebellum frustrations. White supremacy has always had it's place in American society but has largely gone unnoticed and ineffective since the end of the 1960's. As in most cases, when a country suffers an economic downturn and recession, the people look for an answer to their problems as far away from home as possible. It could never be their greed and capitalist ideals that has caused this downturn, it must be an ethnic group that is bleeding their country dry of money and resources.
White supremacist groups have often been seen as cross burning, sheet wearing or skinheaded thugs intent of causing mayhem and destruction on the streets in the hope of punching at least one ethnic minority member in the process. This routine attracted few people and the groups have recently learnt this much in the same why as the BNP in the UK. Groups have had to adapt to appeal to another class of people, middle class, men and women with families, 9-5 jobs, 2.4 children and a dog called Tucker, drivers of SUV's and convertibles and wearers of suits and not sheets.
The Keystone Skinheads hace adopted a new name, unfortunately, it sounds too much like the bumbling cops, The Keystone Cops and to a British ear, sounds very much liek a football team, and wherever football teams go, an element of thuggery goes with it too. They are however attracting members, this may simply be a knee jerk reaction to the election of Barack Obama or maybe Americas desire to blame a group for the hardships being felt across the globe.
Tuesday, 3 March 2009
Close range review
Anna Mundow,
New York Daily News, Close Range is not one long dirge simply played in eleven different keys. Each story presents a subtle change of mood and each character inhabits a particular world, a world that Proulx constructs with graceful, devastating sentences.
Anna Mundow believes that the book describes other world but it describe the west and hardship of life that come with living in a frontier state.
Dan Schneider
She, in effect, has written a book that a tourist might, as they drove through the state, and eavesdropped on the local bullshitters- getting all the surface details but lacking any true insight.In short, she would be far better off, literally, trying to emulate someone like Sherwood Anderson, whose almost-stereotypical characters at least had soul, and were capable of rising above their stations- however mediocre or degraded they might have been.
He has a very negative view of Annie Proulx as a person who knows nothing of the environment of her characters or of the land and its local culture.I believe that just by her having years of experience of American life and the research she must have had to do to write this book would mean that she was not lacking insight at all.
New York Daily News, Close Range is not one long dirge simply played in eleven different keys. Each story presents a subtle change of mood and each character inhabits a particular world, a world that Proulx constructs with graceful, devastating sentences.
Anna Mundow believes that the book describes other world but it describe the west and hardship of life that come with living in a frontier state.
Dan Schneider
She, in effect, has written a book that a tourist might, as they drove through the state, and eavesdropped on the local bullshitters- getting all the surface details but lacking any true insight.In short, she would be far better off, literally, trying to emulate someone like Sherwood Anderson, whose almost-stereotypical characters at least had soul, and were capable of rising above their stations- however mediocre or degraded they might have been.
He has a very negative view of Annie Proulx as a person who knows nothing of the environment of her characters or of the land and its local culture.I believe that just by her having years of experience of American life and the research she must have had to do to write this book would mean that she was not lacking insight at all.
Annie Proulx: Close Range and other stories
"The violent and the violated inhabit "Close Range", often in the same person. Proulx conveys sensibility, but she does it from the outside. Soul is exoskeleton, it works inward from the body and from the world that bruises, fractures and wears the body down to a husk....This is spendid material set out with pain and compassion but above all with a shrewdness of observation that brings the harsh upland life to us in the traditional way that stories are brought: a stanger comes to the door and tells us of a place we do not know. The comfortable America of a rising stock market and a falling awareness of whatever lives outside its concerns cannot even conceive of it. Proulx knows what she could only know not just by living in Wyoming but by the infrared that allows a very few writers clear sight into the dark of the imagination."
Dont Fence Me In
Annie Proulx's collection of stories discovers that the new West is not all that different from the wild one.
May 23rd, 1999
By Richard Eder
As we can see from the review taken by Richard Eder on the book "Close Range" by Annie Proulx, there are many interesting and controversial viewpoints surrounding the true identity of the West. In particular, there is predominantly the view of wealth and success within America, suggesting anything is possible to achieve through the "American Dream". However, stories such as Close Range represent a somewhat different reality whereby there is a continual struggle for survival with families living hand to mouth in order to earn a living and support their children. Consequently, we may argue that Annie Proulx presents a number of stories of which can be seen as a true representation of the West.
Dont Fence Me In
Annie Proulx's collection of stories discovers that the new West is not all that different from the wild one.
May 23rd, 1999
By Richard Eder
As we can see from the review taken by Richard Eder on the book "Close Range" by Annie Proulx, there are many interesting and controversial viewpoints surrounding the true identity of the West. In particular, there is predominantly the view of wealth and success within America, suggesting anything is possible to achieve through the "American Dream". However, stories such as Close Range represent a somewhat different reality whereby there is a continual struggle for survival with families living hand to mouth in order to earn a living and support their children. Consequently, we may argue that Annie Proulx presents a number of stories of which can be seen as a true representation of the West.
Monday, 2 March 2009
Close Range: Wyoming Stories
by Annie Proulx
(Scribner, $25) ISBN 0-684-85221-7
Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Proulx departs from her usual milieu and offers a collection of eleven short stories in Close Range. It is an album of love stories, but in this anthology -- instead of the usual hero and heroine -- the lover is the author and the adored is the State of Wyoming where she lives.
Great distances, unforgiving spaces, vicious winters, searing summers and barren soil are characteristics of the violence of the Wyoming environment. These are the same ingredients that spawn the loneliness of its inhabitants. But to suggest that the ruthless environment is solely responsible for shaping her characters is a trite oversimplification of her concept of fate. Annie Proulx is so much more complex than that.
These qualities of violence and loneliness, however, are centerpieces of many of the stories. Her characters are drawn from bars, rodeos, ranches, and their stories draw upon the traditions and folk tales of Wyoming, the day-to-day details of ranch work, and their characteristic toughness and persistence in the face of adversity, set against the values of the new West.
Two of the stories, "The Blood Bay" and "The Half-Skinned Steer" leave you with the same reaction that O. Henry does. All leave you with profoundly differing emotions…from awareness of the hopelessness of uphill struggles to understandings of obsession, or the wrong types of love. Proulx's imagery is incredible, and she uses it not only to capture the essence of her characters but also to tie her stories together.
The style is unrelentingly gritty, fashioned by a compassionate and exceptionally skilled observer. It was not until I personally had the privilege of hearing Proulx read her third story "Job History" and respond to questions, that I understood: that each character's voice is truly hers; that she has an enormous amount to say; and that I would be greatly enriched by listening. This is a compilation that I read in eleven different sittings, leaving time to value each one before the next was started.
--Thea Davis
I found that this review was interesting as it tended to steer clear of the obvious story later made into the film 'Brokeback Mountain'. It is interesting that the author of this review reads the stories at different settings so that each may be valued as opposed to reading the book as a whole. It throws a new light onto the love affair that Proulx has with the state of Wyoming and how that love affair has shaped the content and imagery within her stories, as it has shaped the characters within.
by Annie Proulx
(Scribner, $25) ISBN 0-684-85221-7
Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Proulx departs from her usual milieu and offers a collection of eleven short stories in Close Range. It is an album of love stories, but in this anthology -- instead of the usual hero and heroine -- the lover is the author and the adored is the State of Wyoming where she lives.
Great distances, unforgiving spaces, vicious winters, searing summers and barren soil are characteristics of the violence of the Wyoming environment. These are the same ingredients that spawn the loneliness of its inhabitants. But to suggest that the ruthless environment is solely responsible for shaping her characters is a trite oversimplification of her concept of fate. Annie Proulx is so much more complex than that.
These qualities of violence and loneliness, however, are centerpieces of many of the stories. Her characters are drawn from bars, rodeos, ranches, and their stories draw upon the traditions and folk tales of Wyoming, the day-to-day details of ranch work, and their characteristic toughness and persistence in the face of adversity, set against the values of the new West.
Two of the stories, "The Blood Bay" and "The Half-Skinned Steer" leave you with the same reaction that O. Henry does. All leave you with profoundly differing emotions…from awareness of the hopelessness of uphill struggles to understandings of obsession, or the wrong types of love. Proulx's imagery is incredible, and she uses it not only to capture the essence of her characters but also to tie her stories together.
The style is unrelentingly gritty, fashioned by a compassionate and exceptionally skilled observer. It was not until I personally had the privilege of hearing Proulx read her third story "Job History" and respond to questions, that I understood: that each character's voice is truly hers; that she has an enormous amount to say; and that I would be greatly enriched by listening. This is a compilation that I read in eleven different sittings, leaving time to value each one before the next was started.
--Thea Davis
I found that this review was interesting as it tended to steer clear of the obvious story later made into the film 'Brokeback Mountain'. It is interesting that the author of this review reads the stories at different settings so that each may be valued as opposed to reading the book as a whole. It throws a new light onto the love affair that Proulx has with the state of Wyoming and how that love affair has shaped the content and imagery within her stories, as it has shaped the characters within.
Dan Schneider's review of Annie Proulx's Close Range
http://www.hackwriters.com/closerange.htm
My online review is written by Dan Schneider, in October 2005.
He immediately criticises Proulx for ‘style over substance’, which I somewhat agree with. As I read I found that detailed descriptions won over actual story telling, and at times I found it slightly confusing! But all the same, I enjoyed Close Range.
He goes onto say that because of the strange names of all the characters, their actual personalities are left unexplained. I agree with this also. I think Proulx left it up to the reader to create the character, based on views and expectations held by the reader which could lead to the characters being quite flat and uninteresting.
Schneider also criticises her use of clichés. However I disagree that with the subject matter of the stories, clichés are ultimately unavoidable. Proulx is writing about western America. An area typified by cattle ranches, cowboys, isolation and vast, bare landscapes.
One of Schneider’s main criticisms (and most scathing at that) is of Brokeback Mountain. He says, ‘It is really, really bad, yet has been praised by PC Elitists who miss how utterly cardboard the characterizations are, especially their first sex scene, because one dare not criticize a story that says gaybashing is wrong,’ and ‘Yes, this amateur gay porno scene is the extent of the emotional depth the two characters exhibit. Is it any wonder simple-minded and PC Hollywood has taken to this story in the book the most?’ I think this is very unfair and overly harsh view of Brokeback Mountain. I really enjoyed the story, admittedly I preferred the film more, but I still enjoyed them both. He slates the descriptions of their secret romantic affair. I’m not a gay cowboy (I hope this would be obvious!!!), but I’m pretty sure that if that was ‘a new thing’ for Ennis and Jack, it’s not going to be the most spectacular and beautiful event that’s ever occurred. Proulx captures the awkwardness of it all and puts it onto the page in terms a heterosexual audience can understand.
I agree with Schneider to the point that Proulx sometimes focuses too much on detail rather than developing the story, and left the characters too bare to sometimes create imagery of them, however I think that the criticisms made of the clichés, and non-realistic stories are slightly unfair. The idea behind the stories is that the people and characters in them are going to be slightly eccentric. Isolation and wilderness will obviously encourage characters like this. In parts Close Range was a difficult read, but it didn’t make it a chore.
My online review is written by Dan Schneider, in October 2005.
He immediately criticises Proulx for ‘style over substance’, which I somewhat agree with. As I read I found that detailed descriptions won over actual story telling, and at times I found it slightly confusing! But all the same, I enjoyed Close Range.
He goes onto say that because of the strange names of all the characters, their actual personalities are left unexplained. I agree with this also. I think Proulx left it up to the reader to create the character, based on views and expectations held by the reader which could lead to the characters being quite flat and uninteresting.
Schneider also criticises her use of clichés. However I disagree that with the subject matter of the stories, clichés are ultimately unavoidable. Proulx is writing about western America. An area typified by cattle ranches, cowboys, isolation and vast, bare landscapes.
One of Schneider’s main criticisms (and most scathing at that) is of Brokeback Mountain. He says, ‘It is really, really bad, yet has been praised by PC Elitists who miss how utterly cardboard the characterizations are, especially their first sex scene, because one dare not criticize a story that says gaybashing is wrong,’ and ‘Yes, this amateur gay porno scene is the extent of the emotional depth the two characters exhibit. Is it any wonder simple-minded and PC Hollywood has taken to this story in the book the most?’ I think this is very unfair and overly harsh view of Brokeback Mountain. I really enjoyed the story, admittedly I preferred the film more, but I still enjoyed them both. He slates the descriptions of their secret romantic affair. I’m not a gay cowboy (I hope this would be obvious!!!), but I’m pretty sure that if that was ‘a new thing’ for Ennis and Jack, it’s not going to be the most spectacular and beautiful event that’s ever occurred. Proulx captures the awkwardness of it all and puts it onto the page in terms a heterosexual audience can understand.
I agree with Schneider to the point that Proulx sometimes focuses too much on detail rather than developing the story, and left the characters too bare to sometimes create imagery of them, however I think that the criticisms made of the clichés, and non-realistic stories are slightly unfair. The idea behind the stories is that the people and characters in them are going to be slightly eccentric. Isolation and wilderness will obviously encourage characters like this. In parts Close Range was a difficult read, but it didn’t make it a chore.
Tuesday, 24 February 2009
Eyewitness accounts of Western settlers
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/californiagoldrush.htm#
This particular website is of great importance when analysing the voyage Western settlers embarked upon in order to gain prosperity and a better standard of living during the 1800's. This eyewitness account focusses on a man named James Marshall and the Gold Rush in 1849.
In January 1848, James Wilson Marshall discovered Gold while constructing a saw mill along the American River northeast of present day Sacramento. The discovery was reported in the San Francisco newspapers in March but called little stir as most did not believe the account.
“(We) proceeded up the river in canoes rowed by the natives , and enjoyed the scenery and howling of the monkeys & chattering of parrots very much. We pitched our tents at Gorgona & most of out party stayed there several weeks . S.Miller & myself went onto Panama to look out for a chance to get up to San Francisco. Of our ill success you have probably been informed & consequently of our long stay there, & of the deaths in our party. Yes, here Mr Crooker, J. Miller & L. Alden yielded up their breath to God who gave it.
After many delays & vexations, we at length took passage on a German ship & set sail again on our journey to the Eldorado of the West. We went south nearly to the Equator, then turned west, the weather was warm, the winds light & contrary for our course. Our ship was a slow sailor & consequently our passage was long and tedious.....
On the 85th day out we hove in sight of an object that grealtly attracted our attention & ere long the green hills of San Francisco bay began to show their highest points, & soon we were gliding smoothly along between them, down the bay, & when the order came to let go anchor, we brought up directly in front of the City amidst a fleet of vessels, of all kinds and sizes.”
When looking through this passage we can immediatley see a resembelance between America values and ideologies and the interpretation of a new found land, with which Marshall states as being “a journey to the Eldorado of the West”. The definition of Eldorado is “an imagingary place of wealth and opportunity; sought in South America by 16th-century explorers”, yet as we can see is still evidently present and set within the minds of these explorers in finding a somewhat perfect and free land for growth and industy, hence increasing profits.
This particular website is of great importance when analysing the voyage Western settlers embarked upon in order to gain prosperity and a better standard of living during the 1800's. This eyewitness account focusses on a man named James Marshall and the Gold Rush in 1849.
In January 1848, James Wilson Marshall discovered Gold while constructing a saw mill along the American River northeast of present day Sacramento. The discovery was reported in the San Francisco newspapers in March but called little stir as most did not believe the account.
“(We) proceeded up the river in canoes rowed by the natives , and enjoyed the scenery and howling of the monkeys & chattering of parrots very much. We pitched our tents at Gorgona & most of out party stayed there several weeks . S.Miller & myself went onto Panama to look out for a chance to get up to San Francisco. Of our ill success you have probably been informed & consequently of our long stay there, & of the deaths in our party. Yes, here Mr Crooker, J. Miller & L. Alden yielded up their breath to God who gave it.
After many delays & vexations, we at length took passage on a German ship & set sail again on our journey to the Eldorado of the West. We went south nearly to the Equator, then turned west, the weather was warm, the winds light & contrary for our course. Our ship was a slow sailor & consequently our passage was long and tedious.....
On the 85th day out we hove in sight of an object that grealtly attracted our attention & ere long the green hills of San Francisco bay began to show their highest points, & soon we were gliding smoothly along between them, down the bay, & when the order came to let go anchor, we brought up directly in front of the City amidst a fleet of vessels, of all kinds and sizes.”
When looking through this passage we can immediatley see a resembelance between America values and ideologies and the interpretation of a new found land, with which Marshall states as being “a journey to the Eldorado of the West”. The definition of Eldorado is “an imagingary place of wealth and opportunity; sought in South America by 16th-century explorers”, yet as we can see is still evidently present and set within the minds of these explorers in finding a somewhat perfect and free land for growth and industy, hence increasing profits.
A first narrative of a western settler
http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/leconteemma/menu.html
This was a great site for first person narratives of western settlement but I was unable to download any.
I also found many books with different narratives of western settlement,most of the ones I could find were on outlaws like Daniel Boone and others.
It was on the first of May, in the year 1769, that I resigned my domestic happiness for a time, and left my family and peaceable habitation on the Yadkin River, in North-Carolina, to wander through the wilderness of America, in quest of the country of Kentucke, in company with John Finley, John Stewart, Joseph Holden, James Monay, and William Cool. We proceeded successfully, and after a long and fatiguing journey through a mountainous wilderness, in a westward direction, on the seventh day of June following, we found ourselves on Red-River, where John Finley had formerly been trading with the Indians, and, from the top of an eminence, saw with pleasure the beautiful level of Kentucke. Here let me observe, that for some time we had experienced the most uncomfortable weather as a prelibation of our future sufferings. At this place we encamped, and made a shelter to defend us from the inclement season, and began to hunt and reconnoitre the country. We found every where abundance of wild beasts of all sorts, through this vast forest. The buffaloes were more frequent than I have seen cattle in the settlements, browzing on the leaves of the cane, or croping the herbage on those extensive plains, fearless, because ignorant, of the violence of man. Sometimes we saw hundreds in a drove, and the numbers about the salt springs were amazing. In this forest, the habitation of beasts of every kind natural to America, we practised hunting with great success until the twenty-second day of December following.
Although seen as an outlaw and savage because of his associations with native Americans,Daniel Boone also worked for the English as a translator of sorts.In his narrative he explains how he and others were traveling though Kentucky and how resourcefully it was with lots of animals and land. Although he does talk about the violence of men he doesn't talk about how violent both Indians and Americans were to each other he just see the area as a paradises of sorts.
This was a great site for first person narratives of western settlement but I was unable to download any.
I also found many books with different narratives of western settlement,most of the ones I could find were on outlaws like Daniel Boone and others.
It was on the first of May, in the year 1769, that I resigned my domestic happiness for a time, and left my family and peaceable habitation on the Yadkin River, in North-Carolina, to wander through the wilderness of America, in quest of the country of Kentucke, in company with John Finley, John Stewart, Joseph Holden, James Monay, and William Cool. We proceeded successfully, and after a long and fatiguing journey through a mountainous wilderness, in a westward direction, on the seventh day of June following, we found ourselves on Red-River, where John Finley had formerly been trading with the Indians, and, from the top of an eminence, saw with pleasure the beautiful level of Kentucke. Here let me observe, that for some time we had experienced the most uncomfortable weather as a prelibation of our future sufferings. At this place we encamped, and made a shelter to defend us from the inclement season, and began to hunt and reconnoitre the country. We found every where abundance of wild beasts of all sorts, through this vast forest. The buffaloes were more frequent than I have seen cattle in the settlements, browzing on the leaves of the cane, or croping the herbage on those extensive plains, fearless, because ignorant, of the violence of man. Sometimes we saw hundreds in a drove, and the numbers about the salt springs were amazing. In this forest, the habitation of beasts of every kind natural to America, we practised hunting with great success until the twenty-second day of December following.
Although seen as an outlaw and savage because of his associations with native Americans,Daniel Boone also worked for the English as a translator of sorts.In his narrative he explains how he and others were traveling though Kentucky and how resourcefully it was with lots of animals and land. Although he does talk about the violence of men he doesn't talk about how violent both Indians and Americans were to each other he just see the area as a paradises of sorts.
the Indians give a very formidable account of the strength and ferocity of this anamal, which they never dare to attack but in parties of six, eight or ten persons; and are even then frequently defeated with the loss of one or more of their party. the savages attack this anamal with their bows and arrows and the indifferent guns with which the traders furnish them, with these they shoot with such uncertainty and at so short a distance,...that they frequently mis their aim & fall a sacrefice to the bear....this anamall is said more frequently to attack a man on meeting with him, than to flee from him. When the Indians are about to go in quest of the white bear, previous to their departure, they paint themselves and perform all those supersticious rights commonly observed when they are about to make war uppon a neighbouring nation.
I found that this extraction talking of the dangers of discovering the West. It must have been a fearful time for these men, especially in the knowledge that the Native Indians were also unable to defend from bear attacks unless in large, organised groups. Without the knowledge or facilities to store food in air tight containers, this group must have often been concerend by the attraction to bears that their presence caused. These men themselves were soldiers and had knowledge of how to fight but for anyone who was to settle this land in small pockets of habitation, the the possibilty of fighting off a 700lb Brown Bear was small.
I found it interesting that the Indian tribe in this extract had travelled so far North that they had encountered Polar Bears.
Six good hunters of the party fired at a Brown or Yellow Bear Several times before they killed him, & indeed he had like to have defeated the whole party, he pursued them Seperately as they fired on him, and was near Cattching Several of them one he pursued into the river, this bear was large & fat would way about 500 wt
Not only were several Native tribes hostile towards the process of settling, but nature was also. Both of these obstacles would go a long way in creating the mentality of the West in it's approach to taming the West.
Monday, 23 February 2009
One painting and One picture of the west
Both these images depict the movement of American settlers to the west in the painting we see the ideal image of a group of settlers with cows,horse and a dog showing that they have a lively hood that they can up keep.Within the painting there are also other wagon behind the first which shows that others are traveling with them which indicates a community movement.These kinds of paintings would have been shown to potential settlers and to people in Europe to show how great settling in America was as they would have a lively hood neighbours and a family.
The second image a photo hows the wagons moving along the land heading to the west.It shows lots of cattle and horses many people would have bought along all of there possessions and there family members old and young and many would have died or fell ill along the great journey to find suitable land.
Tuesday, 17 February 2009
One painting and one photo representing the American West
The images shown represent one painting and one photo of the American West during a time of great curiosity and discovery over what was argued as the "free and untamed land".
The photograph at the top of the page can be seen to reflect a desolate and isolated section of land within the West during the late 1800's and the initial struggle to survive within a complicated and unforgiving terrain. In particular, when analysing the initial migration to the West we need to take into account the transporting of animals aswell as goods across the land in order to create settlements elsewhere whereby providing basic necessities such as food and water along the way could pose as a problem due to its scarcity.
The painting below named "View of the Yosemite Valley" by Thomas Hill has been stated as an image which "reflects the majestic landscape of the American West and the dawn of a new era". Yet what is most memorizing about this image is its attention to detail whereby the artist is seen to have presented such a promising portrayal of the "free land" for which settlers could establish as their home land and the eventual profit-making opportunities. However, we may also consider the great difficulties associated with this land such as its un even floor whereby growing crops would become impossible, whilst even passing through this land to establish more settlements of greater quality would create harship.
Consequently, although each image presents problems as to the initial transportation and forming of new settlements within an alien environment, we can identify that greater importance was placed on the new opportunites that would arise and the eventual-profit making advantages, resulting in the American West in many ways representing the values and ideologies currently held by America and the imminent "American Dream" encouraging consumers to live out thei dream no matter what the cost.
Scientific American Frontiers
Science and medicine have always provided means of creating new goals and achievements to succeed in across the globe. America being the richest western world country will obviously have the ‘upper hand’ when it comes to investing in medical and scientific experiments.
I was researching American medical achievements online when I found this website.
http://www.pbs.org/saf/index.html
Unfortunately I was unable to watch any episodes online, however I’m sure the determined amongst us will eventually find something on the net!
Some episodes discuss nerve surgery, stem cell research, the use of bionic limbs and prosthetics and studying animal behaviour. Christopher Reeve also features in one episode discussing his desire to walk again. He used his stardom to promote the technology and research into spinal cord injuries and also promoted embryonic stem cell research. The fast moving medical industry, ensures that new goals are always being made, the cure for cancer and for HIV and AIDS.
According to America Against The World by Andrew Kohut, 19% of Americans believe that science and technology have been the greatest achievement in the twentieth century.
Goals and progress in medicine and science is being tracked constantly, it provides many with a goal which hopefully can be achievable, and a goal which actually benefits society, the cure for cancer cannot be argued to be a bad thing. From the frontiers of the last 1800’s, it can be said that they set up the future, created modern frontiers. It also provided American society with the determination to overcome problems and complications to achieve success.
I think the idea of frontiers can be defined quite nicely in a quote from Christopher Reeve, used on this course before, but I think it encapsulates the view of someone who himself was involved in a critical frontier in medicine and technology.
I urge you to read the whole speech! :)
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/christopherreeve1996dnc.htm
“Now, America has a tradition that many nations probably envy. We frequently achieve the impossible. That's part of our national character. That's what got us from one coast to another. That's what got us -- that's what got us the largest economy in the world. That's what got us to the moon.
Now, on the wall of my room when I was at rehab, there was a picture of the Space Shuttle blasting off, and it was autographed by every astronaut now at NASA, and on the top of that picture, it says, "We found nothing is impossible."
I was researching American medical achievements online when I found this website.
http://www.pbs.org/saf/index.html
Unfortunately I was unable to watch any episodes online, however I’m sure the determined amongst us will eventually find something on the net!
Some episodes discuss nerve surgery, stem cell research, the use of bionic limbs and prosthetics and studying animal behaviour. Christopher Reeve also features in one episode discussing his desire to walk again. He used his stardom to promote the technology and research into spinal cord injuries and also promoted embryonic stem cell research. The fast moving medical industry, ensures that new goals are always being made, the cure for cancer and for HIV and AIDS.
According to America Against The World by Andrew Kohut, 19% of Americans believe that science and technology have been the greatest achievement in the twentieth century.
Goals and progress in medicine and science is being tracked constantly, it provides many with a goal which hopefully can be achievable, and a goal which actually benefits society, the cure for cancer cannot be argued to be a bad thing. From the frontiers of the last 1800’s, it can be said that they set up the future, created modern frontiers. It also provided American society with the determination to overcome problems and complications to achieve success.
I think the idea of frontiers can be defined quite nicely in a quote from Christopher Reeve, used on this course before, but I think it encapsulates the view of someone who himself was involved in a critical frontier in medicine and technology.
I urge you to read the whole speech! :)
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/christopherreeve1996dnc.htm
“Now, America has a tradition that many nations probably envy. We frequently achieve the impossible. That's part of our national character. That's what got us from one coast to another. That's what got us -- that's what got us the largest economy in the world. That's what got us to the moon.
Now, on the wall of my room when I was at rehab, there was a picture of the Space Shuttle blasting off, and it was autographed by every astronaut now at NASA, and on the top of that picture, it says, "We found nothing is impossible."
Monday, 16 February 2009
Wagons West
The first image that I have chosen is because it shows to me the utter solitude and emptyness of the journey West. I can only imagine that it is West but I am unaware whether or not that the mule driver is a trader or maybe someone that is heading West to set up home and start a better life. The image strikes me as lonely and dangerous as the driver is vulnerable not only to hostile attacks from Indians, criminals and animals but hostility from the environment too. The ground is littered with cactus, the ground looks arid and there seems to be no shelter available at nighht.
The photograph intrigues me as it contains both European looking individuals and Native Americans. Both seem comfortable in each others company but it is impossible to ascertain if they are all travelling together or that the carriage has stumbled across a Native Indian settlement. The background also looks harsh, it seems to be mountainous and forested which would make travel difficult and arduous and not a journey that could be endured by the light hearted and the weak. The men look hard men but the question I would ask is whether or not that the country has made them hard or that the only men to cross it were hard men.
The video is one that I came across on youtube, it is both interesting and poignant.
Pushing the 'frontiers'
I chose the images above even though it is an image of one of a possible five million orphans that have been created since the invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq. America has continually pushed it's frontiers from East to West of the North American continent, across the Pacific to Hawaii and I believe also across many parts of the rest of the world including Iraq and Vietnam. This could be blamed upon or credited to the belief of 'Manifest Destiny' and of it 'spreading democratic ideals in a world where autocratic governments were rife' (A new introduction to American studies, H. Temperley & C Bigsby, 2006).
I am a believer in the war on Iraq being just and can be justified with the words of the Declaration of Independence 'But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.'
However, the results of such actions are also found in the history of America where thousands of Native American Indian orphans were created due to the spread of the frontier. The top image is of Lost Bird and her story follows below.
In the spring or summer of 1890, Lost Bird was born somewhere on the prairies of South Dakota. Fate took her to Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Reservation on Dec. 29, 1890.
On that tragic day, hundreds of Lakota men, women and children died in a confrontation with U.S. troops and the woman who likely was the child’s mother was among them. But as she was dying, she and her baby found some scanty shelter from the bitter cold and wind in the bank of a creek.
Four days after the massacre, a rescue party found the infant, miraculously alive, protected by the woman’s frozen body.
The infant was passed from one person to another and her sensational story attracted the attention of powerful white men. Eventually, this living souvenir of Wounded Knee ended up in the hands of a National Guard general.
The image is harsh as is the reality, but both images are of orphaned children that are the byproduct of pushing the frontier. Unfortunately, even with the acknowledgement that the treatment of Native Americans was wrong and in fact genocidal, lessons have not been learnt to the fullest and history once again repeats itself with thanks in part to the 'Frontier Mentality'.
Sunday, 15 February 2009
Evidence of the persistence of the "frontier mentality" in the US today
John Nieto – “Fancy Dancer”
The history of the West within modern day society can be interpreted in many controversial ways through past writings, images and myth’s of which have presented an imaginative portrayal of a once perceived desolate land available for opportunity. Yet, in particular, images and paintings are of great importance in gaining a thorough understanding of the West, or the “untamed land” as it was also named. John Nieto, an artist within the 21st century whose family history descends from Native American’s, provides a modern interpretation of the west and the importance of understanding America’s roots and identity, as well as the influence which it has had to create such as diverse culture. His paintings are embellished with bright, bold, blocks of colour in order to represent the West in a perplexing way in order to gain a reaction from the audience. The painting above is one piece of art collaborated by Nieto named “Fancy Dancer”, yet something of great importance is where the audiences focus lies which in particular is how the subject is represented in a somewhat beautiful manner whereby this particular Indian of which would be seen to exist within the untamed land and a threat to the expansion of the Frontier, is in fact reflected in a different light to show his deity and the detailing and beauty of the Indian culture and character. Yet, we may also see within this painting, a form of myth and imagination surrounding the Natives with which we make assumptions and exaggerations as to the real existence of the Indian culture and whether historical accusations are indeed correct. The importance of this painting is therefore to ensure the American identity is never forgotten.
Sunday, 25 January 2009
End of the Module
http://www.facebook.com/
Okay, laugh all you want, but honestly what better way to really know America than to speak to Americans themselves? I remember when I was in elementary school and we were all given pen-pals from far-away states; it was so cool to talk to someone who lived a very different life from my own. Sure we both went to school and had families and such, but even within America our customs were different from each other's. My younger sister Rebecca had the same thing when she was in first grade.
I know that I have learned more from actually BEING in England and speaking to real English people than I ever could have from watching Bridget Jones's Diary or reading Harry Potter. So, maybe in the future, an assignment can be to go on facebook, find an American to become friends with, and see where it goes.
Being an American myself, I did enjoy being in this class so much, especially the small group. I felt like I learned so much from you guys just from listening to your opinions and ideas, debating back and forth about different topics, and I liked being able to throw my own personal knowledge in there occasionally. I hope to see all of you again someday soon. Until then, take care. :)
Okay, laugh all you want, but honestly what better way to really know America than to speak to Americans themselves? I remember when I was in elementary school and we were all given pen-pals from far-away states; it was so cool to talk to someone who lived a very different life from my own. Sure we both went to school and had families and such, but even within America our customs were different from each other's. My younger sister Rebecca had the same thing when she was in first grade.
I know that I have learned more from actually BEING in England and speaking to real English people than I ever could have from watching Bridget Jones's Diary or reading Harry Potter. So, maybe in the future, an assignment can be to go on facebook, find an American to become friends with, and see where it goes.
Being an American myself, I did enjoy being in this class so much, especially the small group. I felt like I learned so much from you guys just from listening to your opinions and ideas, debating back and forth about different topics, and I liked being able to throw my own personal knowledge in there occasionally. I hope to see all of you again someday soon. Until then, take care. :)
You sicko...
“SiCKO,” Michael Moore’s latest film, will probably make you laugh. It may make you cry. You should leave the theater outraged. It is a powerful and often humorous indictment of our health insurance industry, riddled with corruption and pitiless abuse of the sick by rapacious, profit-mad corporations. But it is propaganda. In “SiCKO,” as in all his films, Moore violates the contract between reporter and audience: to tell the truth. His inaccuracies and lack of nuance give his detractors a glaring target to strike, making it easy for them to dismiss his message.
Michael Moore is an entertainer. He reduces complex issues to a vaudeville act with transparent villains and heroes. His goal is to amuse. Facts are malleable. He employs the techniques of advertising and propaganda, the same techniques that have corrupted our news and political campaigns. Truth and fiction blur at both ends of the political spectrum. You can believe what you want and discard what you don’t. This illusion of truth and knowledge is far more dangerous than ignorance. And although I happen to sympathize with Moore’s concerns, his methods only provoke the rupture of American society into two slogan-chanting camps.
...
The United States has sunk to No. 37 on the World Health Organization’s ranking of health systems. Moore’s camera pans down the list to zero in on the shameful No. 37. It slides too quickly for most viewers to catch that Canada is No. 30, and the frame stops just short of No. 39: Cuba.
-Truthdig, Eunice Wong June 29, 2007
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20070629_movie_review_michael_moores_sicko/
I have read both good and bad reviews of Michael Moore's Sicko, but Wong really gets his facts straight about why Sicko might not be the best, or most honest, of movies. Sure it gets people's attention (what controversy doesn't?) and there are things in it that we can all relate to, such as the loss of a loved one due to denied healthcare. It's also spiced with humor, one of the most irresistable charms a movie can have.
However, as Wong points out, Moore could have used a little more truth and a little less humor to get his point across and make it stick. In the review Wong criticizes the scene where Moore takes three boats of sick Americans to Cuba to receive free healthcare. Moore says that the Cuban doctors did for the Americans exactly what they would have done for any other Cuban. However, Wong has a quote from a Miami doctor who used to practice in Cuba, stating that the treatment Moore's group received was done specifically for them, and was not how normal Cubans would have been treated. “If you’re a Cuban citizen and need a prescription drug, most doctors either tell you to ask your relatives in the U.S. to ship it to you or recommend alternative herbal remedies. That’s the degree of scarcity on the island.” -Dr. Julio Cesar Alfonso, June 22 interview with Miami Herald.
Wong then points out how when Moore shows the audience that America is down to 37 in the WHO's ranking of health systems, you can see that Cuba is in fact even lower, at number 39.
So, entertaining, yes. Something we can relate to, yes. Completely honest? Not so much.
However, it has grabbed lots of people's attention on the issue of healthcare in America. Now, whether or not something will be done is yet to be seen.
Michael Moore is an entertainer. He reduces complex issues to a vaudeville act with transparent villains and heroes. His goal is to amuse. Facts are malleable. He employs the techniques of advertising and propaganda, the same techniques that have corrupted our news and political campaigns. Truth and fiction blur at both ends of the political spectrum. You can believe what you want and discard what you don’t. This illusion of truth and knowledge is far more dangerous than ignorance. And although I happen to sympathize with Moore’s concerns, his methods only provoke the rupture of American society into two slogan-chanting camps.
...
The United States has sunk to No. 37 on the World Health Organization’s ranking of health systems. Moore’s camera pans down the list to zero in on the shameful No. 37. It slides too quickly for most viewers to catch that Canada is No. 30, and the frame stops just short of No. 39: Cuba.
-Truthdig, Eunice Wong June 29, 2007
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20070629_movie_review_michael_moores_sicko/
I have read both good and bad reviews of Michael Moore's Sicko, but Wong really gets his facts straight about why Sicko might not be the best, or most honest, of movies. Sure it gets people's attention (what controversy doesn't?) and there are things in it that we can all relate to, such as the loss of a loved one due to denied healthcare. It's also spiced with humor, one of the most irresistable charms a movie can have.
However, as Wong points out, Moore could have used a little more truth and a little less humor to get his point across and make it stick. In the review Wong criticizes the scene where Moore takes three boats of sick Americans to Cuba to receive free healthcare. Moore says that the Cuban doctors did for the Americans exactly what they would have done for any other Cuban. However, Wong has a quote from a Miami doctor who used to practice in Cuba, stating that the treatment Moore's group received was done specifically for them, and was not how normal Cubans would have been treated. “If you’re a Cuban citizen and need a prescription drug, most doctors either tell you to ask your relatives in the U.S. to ship it to you or recommend alternative herbal remedies. That’s the degree of scarcity on the island.” -Dr. Julio Cesar Alfonso, June 22 interview with Miami Herald.
Wong then points out how when Moore shows the audience that America is down to 37 in the WHO's ranking of health systems, you can see that Cuba is in fact even lower, at number 39.
So, entertaining, yes. Something we can relate to, yes. Completely honest? Not so much.
However, it has grabbed lots of people's attention on the issue of healthcare in America. Now, whether or not something will be done is yet to be seen.
Tuesday, 20 January 2009
Gettin' Rich and Fulfillin' the Dream....or Not?
Sometimes it seems like the solution to all your problems can be solved with money. "If I could just make a little more money I wouldn't have to worry about this or that and then my relationships would be better because we weren't stressed and the world would be filled with chocolate-coated unicorns!" or some such silly idea like that.
But even though it sounds silly, so many people strongly believe in this very notion, and so websites or companies advertising Self-Help and Get-Rich-Quick schemes sound so very tempting, as though by reading this book or joining that club you will soon have all your problems erased.
http://www.myeducationnetwork.com/learn_to_be_rich/GA/augusta/42413/
This website was being advertised on yahoo. It presents a pretty nice package--a free seminar and CD-Rom explaining how to "make your money work for you." Who can deny free stuff that might help them increase their finances? However, when you read the fine print, you’ll see that it’s not really guaranteed to “get you rich.” A very subtle disclaimer basically says that results may vary depending on the people who use it, and that the “Success Stories” are not actually verified by the company. And as for being free, that’s just a sham. What they will do is introduce the concept to you just barely in the seminar, and then offer to sell you the actual products and books that really go into detail on how you can supposedly make lots of money. What the book should say is “Tricking people into buying these books is how you make lots of money!”
http://www.getrichquick.net/
This website actually offers upfront information, advice, and tips on the get-rich-quick scheme. It is not an advertisement offering the advice, but simply posting it straight on the website. As stated on the Home Page, "This website is designed to show some of the dangers of trying to get rich quick and some of the opportunities of getting rich quick." The website tries to take on a realistic, this-is-possible-for-you-too kind of stance, showing that getting rich isn't just something that happens to people like Carnegie and Rockefeller, but is a possibility for anyone who can learn the tricks and tumbles of the financial world.
There are all kinds of Self-Help, Get-Rich websites--some are advertisements, while others are a storehouse of useful information. Americans are raised with the ideals of the American Dream, but few actually ever get to live it. So is it just that, a dream that only the extreme minority experience, or is it really a reality for anyone who's driven enough to use the resources available to them, including the endless websites and books often advertised on the sides of webpages? I can honestly say that I've never heard any millionaire say that they made their fortune after taking advice from a get-rich website, but then again I don't speak to many millionaires. Everyone is so eager to live the American Dream, and to help others live it too, to the point where people spend weeks, months, possibly years, devoting their lives to figuring out the secrets of success and wealth.
Personally, I have higher, more realistic priorities.
But even though it sounds silly, so many people strongly believe in this very notion, and so websites or companies advertising Self-Help and Get-Rich-Quick schemes sound so very tempting, as though by reading this book or joining that club you will soon have all your problems erased.
http://www.myeducationnetwork.com/learn_to_be_rich/GA/augusta/42413/
This website was being advertised on yahoo. It presents a pretty nice package--a free seminar and CD-Rom explaining how to "make your money work for you." Who can deny free stuff that might help them increase their finances? However, when you read the fine print, you’ll see that it’s not really guaranteed to “get you rich.” A very subtle disclaimer basically says that results may vary depending on the people who use it, and that the “Success Stories” are not actually verified by the company. And as for being free, that’s just a sham. What they will do is introduce the concept to you just barely in the seminar, and then offer to sell you the actual products and books that really go into detail on how you can supposedly make lots of money. What the book should say is “Tricking people into buying these books is how you make lots of money!”
http://www.getrichquick.net/
This website actually offers upfront information, advice, and tips on the get-rich-quick scheme. It is not an advertisement offering the advice, but simply posting it straight on the website. As stated on the Home Page, "This website is designed to show some of the dangers of trying to get rich quick and some of the opportunities of getting rich quick." The website tries to take on a realistic, this-is-possible-for-you-too kind of stance, showing that getting rich isn't just something that happens to people like Carnegie and Rockefeller, but is a possibility for anyone who can learn the tricks and tumbles of the financial world.
There are all kinds of Self-Help, Get-Rich websites--some are advertisements, while others are a storehouse of useful information. Americans are raised with the ideals of the American Dream, but few actually ever get to live it. So is it just that, a dream that only the extreme minority experience, or is it really a reality for anyone who's driven enough to use the resources available to them, including the endless websites and books often advertised on the sides of webpages? I can honestly say that I've never heard any millionaire say that they made their fortune after taking advice from a get-rich website, but then again I don't speak to many millionaires. Everyone is so eager to live the American Dream, and to help others live it too, to the point where people spend weeks, months, possibly years, devoting their lives to figuring out the secrets of success and wealth.
Personally, I have higher, more realistic priorities.
Monday, 12 January 2009
End of Module
www.youtube.com
Although YouTube has been utilised already during this module, I felt that it was the most valuable website used, in terms of gaining understanding for research and sources. Whereas YouTube is primarily seen as a source of entertainment - which it undeniably is - it also holds a vast amount of intellectual and educational videos. These videos allow us to gain access to information regarding American politics, history and economical issues - which have a great relevance to the AMS1111 module. It also creates a vast opportunity for the individual to speak their mind, putting forward their opinions often in the form of satire.
What also further adds weight to YouTube's relevance is how it is the individual who creates the website, leaving their mark and their ideology on their footage. This in theory creates a forum for discussion and debate, although unfortunately turning to a petty squabble on a regular basis.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=y39vdTFQLos
Although YouTube has been utilised already during this module, I felt that it was the most valuable website used, in terms of gaining understanding for research and sources. Whereas YouTube is primarily seen as a source of entertainment - which it undeniably is - it also holds a vast amount of intellectual and educational videos. These videos allow us to gain access to information regarding American politics, history and economical issues - which have a great relevance to the AMS1111 module. It also creates a vast opportunity for the individual to speak their mind, putting forward their opinions often in the form of satire.
What also further adds weight to YouTube's relevance is how it is the individual who creates the website, leaving their mark and their ideology on their footage. This in theory creates a forum for discussion and debate, although unfortunately turning to a petty squabble on a regular basis.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=y39vdTFQLos
Wednesday, 7 January 2009
Slave Memoir: Tempe Durham
"We had a big weddin'. We was married on de front po'ch of de big house. Marse George killed a shoat an' Mis' Betsy had Georgianna, de cook, to bake a big weddin' cake all iced up white as snow wid a bride an' groom standin' in de middle holdin' han's. De table was set out in de yard under de trees, an' you ain't never seed de like of eats. All de niggers come to de feas' an' Marse George had a for everybody. Dat was some weddin'. I had on a white dress, white shoes an' long while gloves dat come to my elbow, an' Mis' Betsy done made me a weddin' veil out of a white net window curtain. When she played de weddin' ma'ch on de piano, me an' Exter ma'ched down de walk an' up on de po'ch to de altar Mis' Betsy done fixed. Dat de pretties' altar I ever seed. Back 'gainst de rose vine dat was full or red roses, Mis' Betsy done put tables filled wid flowers an' white candles. She spread down a bed sheet, a sho nuff linen sheet, for us to stan' on, an' dey was a white pillow to kneel down on. Exter done made me a weddin' ring. He made it out of a big red button wid his pocket knife. He done cut it so roun' an' polished it so smooth dat it looked like a red satin ribbon tide 'roun' my finger. Dat sho was a pretty ring. I wore it 'bout fifty years, den it got so thin dat I lost it one day in de wash tub when I was washin' clothes.
Uncle Edmond Kirby married us. He was de nigger preacher dat preached at de plantation church. After Uncle Edmond said de las' words over me an' Exter, Marse George got to have his little fun: He say, 'Come on, Exter, you an' Tempie got to jump over de broom stick backwards; you got to do dat to see which one gwine be boss of your househol'.' Everybody come stan' 'roun to watch. Marse George hold de broom 'bout a foot high off de floor. De one dat jump over it backwards an' never touch de handle, gwine boss de house, an' if bof of dem jump over widout touchin' it, dey won't gwine be no bossin', dey jus' gwine be 'genial. I jumped fus', an' you ought to seed me. I sailed right over dat broom stick same as a cricket, but when Exter jump he done had a big dram an' his feets was so big an' clumsy dat dey got all tangled up in dat broom an' he fell head long. Marse George he laugh an' laugh, an' tole Exter he gwine be bossed 'twell he skeered to speak less'n I tole him to speak. After de weddin' we went down to de cabin Mis' Betsy done all dressed up, but Exter couldn' stay no longer den dat night kaze he belonged to Marse Snipes Durham an' he had to go back home. He lef' de nex day for his plantation, but he come back every Saturday night an' stay 'twell Sunday night. We had eleven chillun. Nine was bawn befo' surrender an' two after we was set free. So I had two chillun dat wuzn' bawn in bondage. I was worth a heap to Marse George kaze I had so many chillun. De more chillun a slave had de more dey was worth. Lucy Carter was de only nigger on de plantation dat had more chillun den I had. She had twelve, but her chillun was sickly an' mine was muley strong an' healthy. Dey never was sick."
Tempe Herndon Durham was born in the 1820’s, and was 103 years old when the interview took place. The reason I chose this entry was because so often when people think of slavery, we imagine something like Uncle Tom’s Cabin with lots of cruel masters whipping the negroes into submission and starving them pretty much to death, et cetera. However, in this memory the master, “Marse George,” and his wife are making a very special day of Mrs. Durham’s wedding, putting out decorations, cooking up a big feast, dressing Mrs. Durham up in a beautiful dress, and then afterwards joking around with the newlyweds about who will be the “boss of the house.”
Mrs. Durham reminds us of their slavery though when she recalls how Exter had to leave to go back to his plantation and was then only able to visit her on the weekends. Still, they were able to have eleven healthy children, and after the Civil War they managed to save enough money to buy their own farm.
Mrs. Durham goes on to say that she actually thinks the slaves shouldn’t have been freed, because they were better taken care of and didn’t act out “fightin' an' killin' like dey do dese days.” However, I think that Mrs. Durham’s opinion is somewhat biased because from what she says in her interview, her master and his wife were very good to her; they even gave her and Exter some food and furniture when they left after being freed.
Uncle Edmond Kirby married us. He was de nigger preacher dat preached at de plantation church. After Uncle Edmond said de las' words over me an' Exter, Marse George got to have his little fun: He say, 'Come on, Exter, you an' Tempie got to jump over de broom stick backwards; you got to do dat to see which one gwine be boss of your househol'.' Everybody come stan' 'roun to watch. Marse George hold de broom 'bout a foot high off de floor. De one dat jump over it backwards an' never touch de handle, gwine boss de house, an' if bof of dem jump over widout touchin' it, dey won't gwine be no bossin', dey jus' gwine be 'genial. I jumped fus', an' you ought to seed me. I sailed right over dat broom stick same as a cricket, but when Exter jump he done had a big dram an' his feets was so big an' clumsy dat dey got all tangled up in dat broom an' he fell head long. Marse George he laugh an' laugh, an' tole Exter he gwine be bossed 'twell he skeered to speak less'n I tole him to speak. After de weddin' we went down to de cabin Mis' Betsy done all dressed up, but Exter couldn' stay no longer den dat night kaze he belonged to Marse Snipes Durham an' he had to go back home. He lef' de nex day for his plantation, but he come back every Saturday night an' stay 'twell Sunday night. We had eleven chillun. Nine was bawn befo' surrender an' two after we was set free. So I had two chillun dat wuzn' bawn in bondage. I was worth a heap to Marse George kaze I had so many chillun. De more chillun a slave had de more dey was worth. Lucy Carter was de only nigger on de plantation dat had more chillun den I had. She had twelve, but her chillun was sickly an' mine was muley strong an' healthy. Dey never was sick."
Tempe Herndon Durham was born in the 1820’s, and was 103 years old when the interview took place. The reason I chose this entry was because so often when people think of slavery, we imagine something like Uncle Tom’s Cabin with lots of cruel masters whipping the negroes into submission and starving them pretty much to death, et cetera. However, in this memory the master, “Marse George,” and his wife are making a very special day of Mrs. Durham’s wedding, putting out decorations, cooking up a big feast, dressing Mrs. Durham up in a beautiful dress, and then afterwards joking around with the newlyweds about who will be the “boss of the house.”
Mrs. Durham reminds us of their slavery though when she recalls how Exter had to leave to go back to his plantation and was then only able to visit her on the weekends. Still, they were able to have eleven healthy children, and after the Civil War they managed to save enough money to buy their own farm.
Mrs. Durham goes on to say that she actually thinks the slaves shouldn’t have been freed, because they were better taken care of and didn’t act out “fightin' an' killin' like dey do dese days.” However, I think that Mrs. Durham’s opinion is somewhat biased because from what she says in her interview, her master and his wife were very good to her; they even gave her and Exter some food and furniture when they left after being freed.
Monday, 5 January 2009
Youtube Vid: American Style!
This video is of a man, Iguana Mike, who has gone beyond normal piercings. Americans are known for their strive to find/be something new and original, and this video is a perfect example of them going for that individualism once again (though it does seem a bit extreme...)
Thursday, 18 December 2008
Review of Module
http://www.imdb.com/
I think that in this module there should be some tasks relating to American film. This is because i feel that you can learn alot from the overexaggerated tales of American life. Although most films are not based wholly on real life it seems that the majority of facts are taken from what the writers will know about. The above website is full of information on all the films you could possibly think of. I think that with a task like this, people could develop their knowledge on American film and use it to discuss how the topic or details could link to American real life.
I think that in this module there should be some tasks relating to American film. This is because i feel that you can learn alot from the overexaggerated tales of American life. Although most films are not based wholly on real life it seems that the majority of facts are taken from what the writers will know about. The above website is full of information on all the films you could possibly think of. I think that with a task like this, people could develop their knowledge on American film and use it to discuss how the topic or details could link to American real life.
Sicko
Review of Advanced Screening: Sicko
Director: Michael Moore
Review URL: http://tinyurl.com/23grj7
Michael Moore has until now has been seen as a controversial figure, especially after his last film Fahrenheit 9/11. If you support the current President, you hate Moore, and vice-versa.
This latest film will likely bring Moore towards the center of the American spectrum because it deals directly with something no one can avoid or ignore: our health.
Moore emphasizes this early on in the film, telling viewers that this film is not about those without insurance, or those who have lost their jobs. Instead, Sicko is meant for those of us who have insurance; those who feel that they with jobs and who feel protected because they have job with benefits.
Moore seriously questions this notion with three points:
1. The current state of health care is an invention of HMOs starting during the Nixon presidency. The reason it works is because it makes a profit, and in order to make a profit, patients must receive as little care as possible. Otherwise, the insurance companies suffer what they call a "company loss." To health insurance companies, losing your life is not a loss, but them losing a few buck is certainly a loss.
2. Other industrialized nations, including Canada, the UK, and France, have "socialized" national health care that work not just adequately, but better than our American system of private health insurance. One example of this is that doctors are paid more if the patient suffers less and is happier. Waiting time is less, usually no more than an hour in the emergency room, and doctors are paid well enough to live a pretty good life, full of flat-screen TVs, wining and dining, and luxury automobiles.
3. The HMOs have bought the federal government and have ultimately stopped any talk, let alone action, towards nationalized health care. Using a combining of propaganda and fear mongering, private health insurance companies like Kaiser have prevented any move that would end their reign of endless profits at the cost of American lives.
Sicko immediately changes your view of the value of life in the US. It delicately offers humor and tragedy with real-life stories of the average American who doesn't fall through the cracks of health care in the US, but is "intentionally swept into a crack created by the health care industry," as one person who worked inside that industry describes.
Moore will most likely be assailed by conservatives and nationalists for his favorable view of Cuba in this film. This is the one weakness in the film, as Moore looks to outside nations for solutions. If there is one Achilles heal, it is Moore's discussion of Cuba as a model for health care. Moore cleverly wraps the subject of September 11 around this discussion, so it now remains to be seen how conservatives will respond.
With the 2008 elections looming next year, Moore's latest documentary will likely put the question of national health care front and center, and Presidential candidates (including Hillary Clinton who is featured prominently) would be wise to start formulating to their answers.
This review has been written by InfoSage and was found through links from the International Movie Database. This review clearly states that the subject of the film is far too real for people to ignore. It seems that this film will evidently provoke many questions about the way in which America views its health care situation and with more people than ever talking about politics especially as the film was brought out just the year before the biggest elections in America. You can tell straight away that there will be alot of questions that need answering. This film could be the one that changes the way things are. It has been said already that this film will relate to anyone in Americawho watches it. Not just because of how well it is made but because it is about an issue that will relate to every single one of them. It questions the standard of the health care and peoples views on the lifestyle in America. Maybe its not as good as eveyone seems to think?
Director: Michael Moore
Review URL: http://tinyurl.com/23grj7
Michael Moore has until now has been seen as a controversial figure, especially after his last film Fahrenheit 9/11. If you support the current President, you hate Moore, and vice-versa.
This latest film will likely bring Moore towards the center of the American spectrum because it deals directly with something no one can avoid or ignore: our health.
Moore emphasizes this early on in the film, telling viewers that this film is not about those without insurance, or those who have lost their jobs. Instead, Sicko is meant for those of us who have insurance; those who feel that they with jobs and who feel protected because they have job with benefits.
Moore seriously questions this notion with three points:
1. The current state of health care is an invention of HMOs starting during the Nixon presidency. The reason it works is because it makes a profit, and in order to make a profit, patients must receive as little care as possible. Otherwise, the insurance companies suffer what they call a "company loss." To health insurance companies, losing your life is not a loss, but them losing a few buck is certainly a loss.
2. Other industrialized nations, including Canada, the UK, and France, have "socialized" national health care that work not just adequately, but better than our American system of private health insurance. One example of this is that doctors are paid more if the patient suffers less and is happier. Waiting time is less, usually no more than an hour in the emergency room, and doctors are paid well enough to live a pretty good life, full of flat-screen TVs, wining and dining, and luxury automobiles.
3. The HMOs have bought the federal government and have ultimately stopped any talk, let alone action, towards nationalized health care. Using a combining of propaganda and fear mongering, private health insurance companies like Kaiser have prevented any move that would end their reign of endless profits at the cost of American lives.
Sicko immediately changes your view of the value of life in the US. It delicately offers humor and tragedy with real-life stories of the average American who doesn't fall through the cracks of health care in the US, but is "intentionally swept into a crack created by the health care industry," as one person who worked inside that industry describes.
Moore will most likely be assailed by conservatives and nationalists for his favorable view of Cuba in this film. This is the one weakness in the film, as Moore looks to outside nations for solutions. If there is one Achilles heal, it is Moore's discussion of Cuba as a model for health care. Moore cleverly wraps the subject of September 11 around this discussion, so it now remains to be seen how conservatives will respond.
With the 2008 elections looming next year, Moore's latest documentary will likely put the question of national health care front and center, and Presidential candidates (including Hillary Clinton who is featured prominently) would be wise to start formulating to their answers.
This review has been written by InfoSage and was found through links from the International Movie Database. This review clearly states that the subject of the film is far too real for people to ignore. It seems that this film will evidently provoke many questions about the way in which America views its health care situation and with more people than ever talking about politics especially as the film was brought out just the year before the biggest elections in America. You can tell straight away that there will be alot of questions that need answering. This film could be the one that changes the way things are. It has been said already that this film will relate to anyone in Americawho watches it. Not just because of how well it is made but because it is about an issue that will relate to every single one of them. It questions the standard of the health care and peoples views on the lifestyle in America. Maybe its not as good as eveyone seems to think?
Get Self-Help
http://www.mentalhelp.net/selfhelp/
This website is set up for Americans seeking to help themselves out of problems and issues from everything you can think of between A and Z. It shows you that in America it is believed that anyon can achieve what tey want through helping themselves. Much like in the 'American Dream' where all people are free, equal and able to do whatever it is and become whatever they want. The 'American Dream' has changed over the years going from being about freedom and the future to money and matieral objects. This particular website hosts a quote, 'Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of overcoming it.' This is the words of Helen Keller. A women who must believe in money to say such a thing. Suffering comes under many different branches one of which for those believers in the 'American Dream' used to be the inablity to be free. It seems that these selp-help type websites are indicated more to overcoming the bad luck you have to deal with in life rather than building a better place for the future. Self-help websites seem to make people feel like they are not good enough but the beloved 'American Dream' would tell us that no matter who you are or what you believe that you should be allowed freedom and a valued opinion. In terms of the self-help websites, it is rather that you are expected to help yourself out of a situation. From another point of view it could be going along with everything and saying that everyone deserves the right to help themselves out their problems in other words fulfilling the 'American Dream' that everyone is free to be who they want to be.
This website is set up for Americans seeking to help themselves out of problems and issues from everything you can think of between A and Z. It shows you that in America it is believed that anyon can achieve what tey want through helping themselves. Much like in the 'American Dream' where all people are free, equal and able to do whatever it is and become whatever they want. The 'American Dream' has changed over the years going from being about freedom and the future to money and matieral objects. This particular website hosts a quote, 'Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of overcoming it.' This is the words of Helen Keller. A women who must believe in money to say such a thing. Suffering comes under many different branches one of which for those believers in the 'American Dream' used to be the inablity to be free. It seems that these selp-help type websites are indicated more to overcoming the bad luck you have to deal with in life rather than building a better place for the future. Self-help websites seem to make people feel like they are not good enough but the beloved 'American Dream' would tell us that no matter who you are or what you believe that you should be allowed freedom and a valued opinion. In terms of the self-help websites, it is rather that you are expected to help yourself out of a situation. From another point of view it could be going along with everything and saying that everyone deserves the right to help themselves out their problems in other words fulfilling the 'American Dream' that everyone is free to be who they want to be.
Getting Rich
The American dream, a notion sold as reachable for anyone, seems to be made out as quite straightforward as long as you "follow these steps" or have great determination combined with a bit of luck and talent, but realistically how are these moneymaking plans and past stories of success going to help a majority who can barely afford healthcare?
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/moneymag_archive/2005/05/01/8257869/index.htm
This article emphasises on points such as getting a good education in college and statistics to prove the American dream is still "alive", for example, "8.2 million households have a net worth more than $1 million.." congratulations, but if you could compare that to the number of Americans who have attempted and failed the American dream, would the statistic be as impressive? The website is limited to the number of people that have the opportunity to invest in real estate, or skilfully become self-employed, so it may appeal to the target readers - supposedly the middle class.
http://www.gettingrichinamerica.com/ As i read this website i could imagine some American with a tacky suit and a greasy combed back hair advertising how easy it is to get rich, if you just "buy his book", you will "get on the path to riches immediately". I can imagine there are some wiling to try the schemes churned out in the media, but I can't imagine them being taken too seriously, or wouldn't everyone be rich? The website envisions the rich as if they know something the rest of struggling America don't, "The fact is that what you may not know about money and how it flows and how it grows could keep you poor the rest of your life..." eccentric much? I assume the context of this book is slightly mythical in what it "promises", as the American dream is seen to be, especially by the majority struggling to get by on what they have.
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/moneymag_archive/2005/05/01/8257869/index.htm
This article emphasises on points such as getting a good education in college and statistics to prove the American dream is still "alive", for example, "8.2 million households have a net worth more than $1 million.." congratulations, but if you could compare that to the number of Americans who have attempted and failed the American dream, would the statistic be as impressive? The website is limited to the number of people that have the opportunity to invest in real estate, or skilfully become self-employed, so it may appeal to the target readers - supposedly the middle class.
http://www.gettingrichinamerica.com/ As i read this website i could imagine some American with a tacky suit and a greasy combed back hair advertising how easy it is to get rich, if you just "buy his book", you will "get on the path to riches immediately". I can imagine there are some wiling to try the schemes churned out in the media, but I can't imagine them being taken too seriously, or wouldn't everyone be rich? The website envisions the rich as if they know something the rest of struggling America don't, "The fact is that what you may not know about money and how it flows and how it grows could keep you poor the rest of your life..." eccentric much? I assume the context of this book is slightly mythical in what it "promises", as the American dream is seen to be, especially by the majority struggling to get by on what they have.
Sicko
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/film_reviews/article1815998.ece
The review I found of Micheal Moore's Sicko is from the Timesonline and paints anti american picture the same as how Micheal Moore documents his findings,The times describes the documentary as "the makings of a great West End musical"and doesn't really take it seriously.The times points out that Micheal Moore hasn't actually been in any of these situation and that the NHS which he paints as the best kind of health care also lets down the public and as with American health care British health care is also awful.
The article also shows how Moore missed the republicans politcal agenda and made one of his own through out the whole film.
I think that the film was more of a fairy tale idea of the Usa health care as it can be much worst than he portrayed with people dieing everyday from different illness which they have no health care for overall this film wasn't very good.
The review I found of Micheal Moore's Sicko is from the Timesonline and paints anti american picture the same as how Micheal Moore documents his findings,The times describes the documentary as "the makings of a great West End musical"and doesn't really take it seriously.The times points out that Micheal Moore hasn't actually been in any of these situation and that the NHS which he paints as the best kind of health care also lets down the public and as with American health care British health care is also awful.
The article also shows how Moore missed the republicans politcal agenda and made one of his own through out the whole film.
I think that the film was more of a fairy tale idea of the Usa health care as it can be much worst than he portrayed with people dieing everyday from different illness which they have no health care for overall this film wasn't very good.
Get Rich
Many Americans use the American dream to show themselves as a hard working nation who with there hard work can get rich relatively quickly.
We can see through the many self help and get rich quick guides that Americans need help getting rich and that maybe the American dream is just a way of people feeling better about themselves for putting loads of effort into something and not getting much or any ind of reward.
http://www.usaweekend.com/99_issues/990815/990815finance.html
The USA weekend magazine published an article called "How to get Rich in America
8 sane, sensible steps to wealth" which shows Americans 8easy ways to get rich quick but the article also warns that you must put all your effort into making these tips work again showing that the American dream also comes into get rich quick schemes.
http://money.cnn.com/2005/04/07/pf/getrich_0505/index.htm
CNN also did an article which trys to explain Americans overwhelming need for wealth and how it has effected the American dream, I think both of these articles explain how the American dream motivates Americans to get rich.
We can see through the many self help and get rich quick guides that Americans need help getting rich and that maybe the American dream is just a way of people feeling better about themselves for putting loads of effort into something and not getting much or any ind of reward.
http://www.usaweekend.com/99_issues/990815/990815finance.html
The USA weekend magazine published an article called "How to get Rich in America
8 sane, sensible steps to wealth" which shows Americans 8easy ways to get rich quick but the article also warns that you must put all your effort into making these tips work again showing that the American dream also comes into get rich quick schemes.
http://money.cnn.com/2005/04/07/pf/getrich_0505/index.htm
CNN also did an article which trys to explain Americans overwhelming need for wealth and how it has effected the American dream, I think both of these articles explain how the American dream motivates Americans to get rich.
Thursday, 4 December 2008
Self Help or Get Rich Quick?
The individual is central to the American being, and the American Dream - that a person can achieve anything they set their sights on, and prosper. As mentioned in the lecture, the American Dream is not necessarily that of economic success, but can take the form of moral and personal success. This is embodied in self-help, where one strives to overcome their personal difficulties. This is shown in http://www.selfhelpmagazine.com/index.php, a magazine devoted to self-help and improving the individual. However, it does raise questions of whether the individual is bettering themselves for their own ends in their own manner, ending in a personality they are themselves happy with, or the doctrine that their society subscribes to.
The world of the "Get Rich Quick" is a rather dubious subject as shown in http://homebuying.about.com/od/investmentproperties/qt/0DownSeminars.htm, where an organisation will invite a person into their fold with the promise of riches when the reality is that the organisation has little money, but appears as if they had so as to exploit an individuals naivety. This ideal conflicts with the American Dream, and the general American ethos, as it is a country which has an image of honesty and justice where people are striving against one another for personal success in a monetary form. This then leads us to wonder whether this American Dream is reliable and can work, or whether it is a symbol of greed and unfairness.
The world of the "Get Rich Quick" is a rather dubious subject as shown in http://homebuying.about.com/od/investmentproperties/qt/0DownSeminars.htm, where an organisation will invite a person into their fold with the promise of riches when the reality is that the organisation has little money, but appears as if they had so as to exploit an individuals naivety. This ideal conflicts with the American Dream, and the general American ethos, as it is a country which has an image of honesty and justice where people are striving against one another for personal success in a monetary form. This then leads us to wonder whether this American Dream is reliable and can work, or whether it is a symbol of greed and unfairness.
Thursday, 27 November 2008
Slave Memoir
Richard Toler
"But ah did talk to Lincoln, and ah tol' him ah wanted to be free, and he was a fine man, 'cause he made us all free. And ah got a ole history, it's the Sanford American History, and was published in 1784. But ah don't know where it is now, ah misplaced it. It is printed in the book, something ah said, now written by hand. And it says, 'Ah am a ole slave which has suvved fo' 21 yeahs, and ah would be quite pleased if you could help us to be free. We thank you very much. Ah trust that some day ah can do you the same privilege that you are doing for me. Ah have been a slave for many years.
I chose Richard Toler's account of slavery as it struck me as interesting as how he had a knowledge of the political system of his time, in which he cared about. It is in this extract where he speaks of meeting Abraham Lincoln during the civil war, and General Grant. From this political following he speaks of, one can see how he himself abhorred slavery, and refused to allow it to condition him. He speaks earlier in his testimony of running away from his slave owners when being threatened with corporal punishment, threatening the owners themselves if they actually did attack him. This is the main reason why I find Toler to be an interesting character, because he may have been born into slavery, he did not bow down to it, and allowed himself to be counted as a man.
"But ah did talk to Lincoln, and ah tol' him ah wanted to be free, and he was a fine man, 'cause he made us all free. And ah got a ole history, it's the Sanford American History, and was published in 1784. But ah don't know where it is now, ah misplaced it. It is printed in the book, something ah said, now written by hand. And it says, 'Ah am a ole slave which has suvved fo' 21 yeahs, and ah would be quite pleased if you could help us to be free. We thank you very much. Ah trust that some day ah can do you the same privilege that you are doing for me. Ah have been a slave for many years.
I chose Richard Toler's account of slavery as it struck me as interesting as how he had a knowledge of the political system of his time, in which he cared about. It is in this extract where he speaks of meeting Abraham Lincoln during the civil war, and General Grant. From this political following he speaks of, one can see how he himself abhorred slavery, and refused to allow it to condition him. He speaks earlier in his testimony of running away from his slave owners when being threatened with corporal punishment, threatening the owners themselves if they actually did attack him. This is the main reason why I find Toler to be an interesting character, because he may have been born into slavery, he did not bow down to it, and allowed himself to be counted as a man.
Extract of a slave memoir
Archie Moore
"But I ventured to say, in as a respectful manner as I could, that as we had finished our regular tasks, it seemed very hard to give us this additional work. This put Mr Stubbs into furious passion…he sprang from his horse, and catching me by the collar of my shirt – the only dress I had on, - he began to lay upon me with his whip. It was the first time that I had been exposed to this degrading torture. The pain was great enough, the idea of being whipped was sufficiently bitter, these were nothing in comparison with the sharp, and burning sense of the insolent justice that was done to me…it was the utmost difficulty, that I restrained myself…what in a freeman, is a most justifiable act of self defence, becomes in a slave, unpardonable insolence and rebellion…”
I chose this extract because it shows an example of the inhumane actions taken upon slaves for petty things such as answering back. Although treated like animals, Archie as an example-had the intelligence to know what was right and wrong – as a human does – yet was still subjected to these forms of torture, evoking emotion and pain that would have been just as hard to take for a white man, as it was for a black man. This made me think of Jeffersons statement about Black people being "dumb", and showing hardly any emotion, slave memoirs show us the emotion was there, hidden within.
http://www.archive.org/stream/slavememoirs01hildrich
"But I ventured to say, in as a respectful manner as I could, that as we had finished our regular tasks, it seemed very hard to give us this additional work. This put Mr Stubbs into furious passion…he sprang from his horse, and catching me by the collar of my shirt – the only dress I had on, - he began to lay upon me with his whip. It was the first time that I had been exposed to this degrading torture. The pain was great enough, the idea of being whipped was sufficiently bitter, these were nothing in comparison with the sharp, and burning sense of the insolent justice that was done to me…it was the utmost difficulty, that I restrained myself…what in a freeman, is a most justifiable act of self defence, becomes in a slave, unpardonable insolence and rebellion…”
I chose this extract because it shows an example of the inhumane actions taken upon slaves for petty things such as answering back. Although treated like animals, Archie as an example-had the intelligence to know what was right and wrong – as a human does – yet was still subjected to these forms of torture, evoking emotion and pain that would have been just as hard to take for a white man, as it was for a black man. This made me think of Jeffersons statement about Black people being "dumb", and showing hardly any emotion, slave memoirs show us the emotion was there, hidden within.
http://www.archive.org/stream/slavememoirs01hildrich
Youtube clips - American Individualism
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPRge_OYsSs&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sitJEF9ASZo&feature=related
The reason I chose these youtube clips is because I think this is a good example of individualism, a documentary about a boy who’s genuinely different than people his age and knows it. “Im not black, not white, not foreign, just different in the mind – just different brains, that’s all…”
The outcome of this is solitude, as his ideas and imagination seem too weird to just be accepted by people his age, I think there’s only so much individuality society can handle, whether through appearance or mind, before it starts to judge and criticise.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sitJEF9ASZo&feature=related
The reason I chose these youtube clips is because I think this is a good example of individualism, a documentary about a boy who’s genuinely different than people his age and knows it. “Im not black, not white, not foreign, just different in the mind – just different brains, that’s all…”
The outcome of this is solitude, as his ideas and imagination seem too weird to just be accepted by people his age, I think there’s only so much individuality society can handle, whether through appearance or mind, before it starts to judge and criticise.
A slave memoir
Mary Renyolds extract
"Slavery was the worst days was ever seed in the world. They was things past tellin', but I got the scars on my old body to show to this day. I seed worse than what happened to me. I seed them put the men and women in the stock with they hands screwed down through holes in the board and they feets tied together and they naked behinds to the world. Solomon the the [sic] overseer beat them with a big whip and massa look on. The niggers better not stop in the fields when they hear them yellin'. They cut the flesh most to the bones and some they was when they taken them out of stock and put them on the beds, they never got up again.
"When a nigger died they let his folks come out the fields to see him afore he died. They buried him the same day, take a big plank and bust it with a ax in the middle nough to bend it back, and put the dead nigger in betwixt it. They'd cart them down to the graveyard on the place and not bury them deep nough that buzzards wouldn't come circlin' round. Niggers mourns now, but in them days they wasn't no time for mournin'.
"The conch shell blowed afore daylight and all hands better git out for roll call or Solomon bust the door down and get them out. It was work hard, git beatin's and half fed. They brung the victuals and water to the fields on a slide pulled by a old mule. Plenty times they was only a half barrel water and it stale and hot, for all us niggers on the hottes' days. Mostly we ate pickled pork and corn bread and peas and beans and taters. They never was as much as we needed.
"The times I hated most was pickin' cotton when the frost was on the bolls. My hands git sore and crack open and bleed. We'd have a li'l fire in the fields and iffen the ones with tender hands couldn't stand it no longer, we'd run and warm our hands a li'l bit. When I could steal a tater, I used to slip it in the ashes and when I'd run to the fire I'd take it out and eat it on the sly.
Mary tells in the first paragraph of how slaves were transported in shackles and how they were kept in order by beatings.She also mentions that others slave could hear them but dared not do anything for fear of being beaten.She also describes how theses beatings often killed the slaves.
In the second paragraph Mary explains how when a slave died there bodies were treated poorly and that many were eaten as they weren't buried deep enough,she also explains that many people mourn for there relative now as there was now time then.
She then goes on to say how there was not enough food to feed all the slaves on her farm and that they had to obey there Master otherwise they would get beaten .She also explains that when seasons changed they would have a fire in the fields but wouldn't be able to use it very much.
"Slavery was the worst days was ever seed in the world. They was things past tellin', but I got the scars on my old body to show to this day. I seed worse than what happened to me. I seed them put the men and women in the stock with they hands screwed down through holes in the board and they feets tied together and they naked behinds to the world. Solomon the the [sic] overseer beat them with a big whip and massa look on. The niggers better not stop in the fields when they hear them yellin'. They cut the flesh most to the bones and some they was when they taken them out of stock and put them on the beds, they never got up again.
"When a nigger died they let his folks come out the fields to see him afore he died. They buried him the same day, take a big plank and bust it with a ax in the middle nough to bend it back, and put the dead nigger in betwixt it. They'd cart them down to the graveyard on the place and not bury them deep nough that buzzards wouldn't come circlin' round. Niggers mourns now, but in them days they wasn't no time for mournin'.
"The conch shell blowed afore daylight and all hands better git out for roll call or Solomon bust the door down and get them out. It was work hard, git beatin's and half fed. They brung the victuals and water to the fields on a slide pulled by a old mule. Plenty times they was only a half barrel water and it stale and hot, for all us niggers on the hottes' days. Mostly we ate pickled pork and corn bread and peas and beans and taters. They never was as much as we needed.
"The times I hated most was pickin' cotton when the frost was on the bolls. My hands git sore and crack open and bleed. We'd have a li'l fire in the fields and iffen the ones with tender hands couldn't stand it no longer, we'd run and warm our hands a li'l bit. When I could steal a tater, I used to slip it in the ashes and when I'd run to the fire I'd take it out and eat it on the sly.
Mary tells in the first paragraph of how slaves were transported in shackles and how they were kept in order by beatings.She also mentions that others slave could hear them but dared not do anything for fear of being beaten.She also describes how theses beatings often killed the slaves.
In the second paragraph Mary explains how when a slave died there bodies were treated poorly and that many were eaten as they weren't buried deep enough,she also explains that many people mourn for there relative now as there was now time then.
She then goes on to say how there was not enough food to feed all the slaves on her farm and that they had to obey there Master otherwise they would get beaten .She also explains that when seasons changed they would have a fire in the fields but wouldn't be able to use it very much.
Wednesday, 26 November 2008
An Extract of A Slave Memoir
http://www.murraycountymuseum.com/ms.html
MY LIFE AND TRAVELSIN 1861 IN 1861 I saw a troop of soldiers drilling west of Spring Place, Georgia, near the place where I am now living. That was the first group of soldiers I ever saw. When I was a boy, an old colored man wanted a white boy and me to get some whisky for him, as the colored people could not get any whisky in those days. So Bill Ellis the white boy that went with me, he was about my age, bought the whisky and had it put in a jug. We started on back, and on our way we had to pass through a place called "the haunted holler." There we stopped and began to draw us some of the whisky. We had a bottle but could not see how to pour the whisky, so we drew it out in our mouths and then emptied it into the bottle until we had the bottle full. We then took up our load and began to travel. When I got home and sat down by the fire it made me sick, and "Miss Rebecka" asked me what was the matter, so I told her that I had been to town and some one had shocked me on the shocking machine. She said, "all right, I will see about it," and Mrs. Scythe Luffman came along and told her that she had seen Bill and me with some whisky, so she asked me again and I had to tell her the truth. She then asked Bill about it and made it so plain that he had to tell her just how it was. I tell you Mrs. Rebecka was hard to fool, but we sure did fool her about Watch (the dog) killing her sheep.
This is an extract from a slave narrative (book) called "My Life & Travels" by Levi Branham. It is a journal of his life as a slave and how hard it was for a man of colour to do something with his life. He talks about how he was disrespected and how people were disgusted by him just because he was black. It was people like him who wrote these type of memoirs that remind people that people other thsn white, had to fight for their freedom and that this racial history has been going on for many years.
MY LIFE AND TRAVELSIN 1861 IN 1861 I saw a troop of soldiers drilling west of Spring Place, Georgia, near the place where I am now living. That was the first group of soldiers I ever saw. When I was a boy, an old colored man wanted a white boy and me to get some whisky for him, as the colored people could not get any whisky in those days. So Bill Ellis the white boy that went with me, he was about my age, bought the whisky and had it put in a jug. We started on back, and on our way we had to pass through a place called "the haunted holler." There we stopped and began to draw us some of the whisky. We had a bottle but could not see how to pour the whisky, so we drew it out in our mouths and then emptied it into the bottle until we had the bottle full. We then took up our load and began to travel. When I got home and sat down by the fire it made me sick, and "Miss Rebecka" asked me what was the matter, so I told her that I had been to town and some one had shocked me on the shocking machine. She said, "all right, I will see about it," and Mrs. Scythe Luffman came along and told her that she had seen Bill and me with some whisky, so she asked me again and I had to tell her the truth. She then asked Bill about it and made it so plain that he had to tell her just how it was. I tell you Mrs. Rebecka was hard to fool, but we sure did fool her about Watch (the dog) killing her sheep.
This is an extract from a slave narrative (book) called "My Life & Travels" by Levi Branham. It is a journal of his life as a slave and how hard it was for a man of colour to do something with his life. He talks about how he was disrespected and how people were disgusted by him just because he was black. It was people like him who wrote these type of memoirs that remind people that people other thsn white, had to fight for their freedom and that this racial history has been going on for many years.
YOUTUBE Video on Individualism
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=8IqrGIOI8rM&feature=related
The reason why I picked this video is because it shows a form of individuality, it is a music montage of a film called, "Hustle & Flow" about a pimp who's trying to make something of himself and the way he finds that is by using his lyrics and voice and making music which is a form of freedom of speech. It is about one man trying to live the American Dream because he doesn't like what he does even though this may be a fictional story, it is inspired by real people's stories.
The reason why I picked this video is because it shows a form of individuality, it is a music montage of a film called, "Hustle & Flow" about a pimp who's trying to make something of himself and the way he finds that is by using his lyrics and voice and making music which is a form of freedom of speech. It is about one man trying to live the American Dream because he doesn't like what he does even though this may be a fictional story, it is inspired by real people's stories.
Friday, 21 November 2008
To embed youtube clips
Highlight, copy and paste into your post the URL headed "Embed" which is on the right of the youtube video, just below URL. Take care to copy it all
Thursday, 20 November 2008
Youtube
When deciding what would indicate American individualism I was at first lost for thought. However, as America is a country built on the free rights of man, I felt that free speech was an apt feature of individualism, as it allows the individual to separate themselves from the rest of the population. To me, one man which has taken his free speech was Malcolm X (as I will invariably refer to him over the duration of the course), it was his own individualism and determination which allowed him to earn his free speech.
However, it is not just Malcolm X which has the spirit of the individualism, but conveniently enough it is "Youtube" which embodies individualism. For example, I was drawn to the "comments" section of the videos, in which any viewer can leave their impression of said video. On many of the videos devoted to Malcolm X there are racist slurs towards the African-American race. This then raises the question of, is it good for a universal individualism and free speech to exist, or just an individualism and free speech for those who deserve it?
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TO6Co8v2XjY
However, it is not just Malcolm X which has the spirit of the individualism, but conveniently enough it is "Youtube" which embodies individualism. For example, I was drawn to the "comments" section of the videos, in which any viewer can leave their impression of said video. On many of the videos devoted to Malcolm X there are racist slurs towards the African-American race. This then raises the question of, is it good for a universal individualism and free speech to exist, or just an individualism and free speech for those who deserve it?
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TO6Co8v2XjY
Declaration of Independence
Equality
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…”
Equality in America is getting better, most noticeably with the recent annunciation of a black president. Compared to the 18th century when coloured people were looked upon as no more than “animals”, this is a big step. However, it’s obvious people in America still feel all men are not in fact equal, for example Ku Klux Klan and white supremacy, It doesn’t even have to be that extreme of course. The contradictory statement in the declaration of independence relates to women as well as other ethnic minorities, certain jobs are still dominated by class or gender.
Pursuit of Happiness
“Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” The pursuit of happiness is a principle still embedded in a large part of American character, they are encouraged to strive to do the best they can, materially as well as personally. Considered a right to be happy, America’s independent attitude towards going out and making something of themselves shows their refusal to let others reap the benefits of what hard work can bring. However mythicized, many Americans' success is motivated from the attitude historically present in American society.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…”
Equality in America is getting better, most noticeably with the recent annunciation of a black president. Compared to the 18th century when coloured people were looked upon as no more than “animals”, this is a big step. However, it’s obvious people in America still feel all men are not in fact equal, for example Ku Klux Klan and white supremacy, It doesn’t even have to be that extreme of course. The contradictory statement in the declaration of independence relates to women as well as other ethnic minorities, certain jobs are still dominated by class or gender.
Pursuit of Happiness
“Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” The pursuit of happiness is a principle still embedded in a large part of American character, they are encouraged to strive to do the best they can, materially as well as personally. Considered a right to be happy, America’s independent attitude towards going out and making something of themselves shows their refusal to let others reap the benefits of what hard work can bring. However mythicized, many Americans' success is motivated from the attitude historically present in American society.
You tube
My first video is of Chris Crocker explaining why he loves Britney so much this shows how Americans can be utterly devoted to a celebrity and worship them publicly.The second is of Seth Green doing a spoof of the clip I thought this showed how American media is an open network were individuals can express themselves freely.
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