What Are They Up To Now? Nuns

Peggy Wood was played Mother Abbess in the Sound of Music. She was a part of the Vicious Circle. So, was Dorothy Parker. How cool is that? Very cool. It seems like Sound of Music was her last movie. Her voice was dubbed because she could no longer sing. She later died.

Sister Margarette was played by Anna Lee. She later became very well know for her part in the Soap Opera General Hospital. She died at the age of 71.


Sister Berthe was portrayed (see how I changed it up there)  by Portia Nelson. She really didn't do much after that. She died in 2001.


Wasn't that exciting? 

What Are They Up To Now? Von Trapps

There are many actors and actresses featured in the movie. These range from little Gretel to Ralph to the Captain. The question at hand is what did they do after the movie? I mean if you look at Hollywood after this movie was made you don't see a lot of the actors and actresses again. Let's start with the van Trapp family.

Desire vs. Duty

Desire vs. Duty is present in much of the film. It is shown in the characters of Maria and Leisel.

Liesel is shown with a lot of the conflict of duty and desire. It is her duty in the family to be the perfect older sister. She is not allowed to go out and see boys (or anyone else for that matter). She also has to the duty to act as a grown up for the other children. I think that her childhood was taken away by the death of her mother. Her main desire in the story is to be with Ralph, the telegraph delivery boy. I think that she would also like to not always have to be the one in charge.

Maria also suffers from the internal conflict of duty vs. desire. She believes that her job in the world is to be a nun, then a governess, and then a nun again. Throughout the story she finds herself falling in love with the Captain. Once she realizes this she goes back to the abbey to go back and become a nurse. I will spell it out in case you have not already got it, Maria's desire is to be with the Captain. What she thinks is her duty is to become a nun.

Life in the Magnifying Glass

      There is stuff that is private and there is stuff that there is public. There are also things that fall into both categories. In the von Trapps life a lot of follows the fine line of public and private. There are private joys of happiness and the public image to uphold. The public image is the good, Austrian family against the Nazis. They have to uphold this image in order to gain respect. The Captain tells his friend Max that he is against the Nazis. Whereas, Max treats it like something that cannot be helped. I think that the Captain is right. I think that something could be done to of stopped or slowed down the attack of the Nazis in Austria. Max on the other hand makes faces like "It is what it is." Which by the way, is a terrible phrase.
 

Kettles and Kittens

     "My Favorite Things" is one of the most well-known songs from the classic film The Sound of Music. It is sung by Maria. This happens when Gretel and the rest of the children are scared by the thunderstorm. To hear the song click here. It happens to be one of my favorite songs.

     This song holds much historical meaning even though it doesn't sound like it.  The song talks about brown paper packages tied up with spring and girls in white dresses with blue sashes. These are things not commonly seen today. Today, girls wear jeans and t- shirts Packages nowadays come in the blue, red, and white postal boxes. Therefore the things that were favorites back then do not apply today. Now we would talk about loving iPods, phones, and movies.
     This is a song that can get stuck in my head so easily. Like I can hear it and then hear it going round and round in my head all day. Also many of my interests are in the song. I like getting packages, and kittens, and roses. I don't like bees. On the other hand I don't mind if a dog bites and I don't often feel blue.

The innocent gazelle

One of the most memorable scenes from the sound of music is the one of Liesel running into the arms of Ralph. During that scene they dance around on the grounds until a thunderstorm strikes over head. After that they run into the gazebo and sing the song "I am sixteen going on seventeen." To see the lyrics of the song click here. While they are singing this there is a sense of lingering doom overhead. This could have to do with the impending thunderstorm or what would happen if they were found out about.
     This scene makes me think of those nature programs where you see the nice little gazelle out there on the African Savannah. You just know that there is a lion just waiting for the right time to pounce on the nice gazelle. And you are right the lion does pounce of the gazelle. That really sucks.

Google Search: Sound of Music

This is a new series of posts on the classic film The Sound of Music. This film stars Julie Andrews as Maria a nun who plays a nanny to a family of seven kids. The first thing that comes up when you search The Sound of Music is the IMBD website for the movie, then the wikipedia page, and finally the recording studio under the same name. Wow!* Who knew that would happpen? I did. Lets face it IMBD and Wikipedia are slowly taking away the really imformative part of the internet.
Moving on about the movie, in the end there is a happy ending. Maria marries the dad of the family and they live happily ever after. How sweet. <3 <3 <3 (gagging noises in background from Alex).

There are also many famous songs that were introduced in the movie. This includes the song "The Hills Are Alive." It can be seen if you click here. This version only shows pictures from the movie. You have to watch the real movie to see the scene. Another famous song is "Climb Ev'ry Mountain." This can be viewed here. Everytime I hear this song, I think of my dad singing it. Kinda disturbing. You wil hopefully enjoy it more than I did.

Yeah.... So that's all I really have left to say.





*I type this in a sarcastic tone of voice.

History Repeats Itself

This post is about how the primary source reflects America today or yesterday. It doesn't really matter what day as long as it is within 2 years or soo. Whose war talks about how the common man doesn't really like war that much. This is still somewhat true. Here in Oak Park, the people are mostly liberal and non-war hippies. In places like Texas (no offense to people in Texas, Charles told me to write it. Of course, I listened to him) people are very pro-war. Reed also talks about how war is bloody, horrible, and dumb. He is still right. War is still stupid. Of course now with computerized missals, we don't see the blood as much. How brilliant are we? Another point that Reed brings up is that England got away with illegal stuff during the war. Now, we (America) are in England's position. We went into Afghanistan under the presence of sorting out this "weapons of mass destruction" stuff. Now we have changed our position and basically stayed in the Middle East for 9 years. Fun stuff this war is. We also killed inocent civilians and our own country men. I think I will leave you on that note.

Dorothy Parker- Crazy Woman

    Yesterday I was told about a woman by the name of Dorothy Parker.  Of course being the wellish- read person that I am, I had never heard of her. After extensive (kinda, not really) research (wiki) on her, I have found out that she was loony. It turns out that she was a alcoholic, suicidal, writer, who got married three times. I would like to take the time point out that during the 20s, the 18th amendment was passed. This made alcohol illegal. So.... in short, I guess she was also a criminal. Yes, I choose to phrase it that way. Also two out of her three marriages were to the same person. On the up side... she wrote for Vogue, Vanity Fair, and influenced David Sedais. To wrap it up, Dorothy Parker was a a criminal, alcoholic, suicidal, three marriage, type gal.









Picture from: http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/43/21543-004-56AAC180.jpg

The Music Mirror: Music that reflects the piece

Now is the part where I tell you about music that I believe reflects the primary source. Fun Stuff.

Okay. Here it goes.

1. Revolution by the Beatles. I absolutely loooooooovvvvvvveeeeeee that song. I chose this song because it talks about seeing a plan that is not there. A lyric in the song is "You asked me for a contribution." I think that this lyric represents the primary source because the rich asked the SIMPLE, ordinary people to fight for them.

2. Yesterday by the Beatles. Another one of my personal favorites. This song talks about how in the past everything was so simple. "Now it looks as if my troubles are here to stay." Well... just to point out WWI was very troubling. And the effect of it lasted for a very long time. In fact its effects are still probably here.

3. Help! (the exclamation point is very important) by the Beatles. More Beatles, wow, they are amazing for this kind of stuff. "Help me get my feet back off the ground." That is what the elite few said during WWI. Except it was more like "Help me get my investments back so that my feet don't touch the ground."

Aren't the Beatles Great? That wasn't a question. They are its a fact.

Two Words

This is the part where I ATEMPT to describe the source in two words. Okay... First atempt.

The words Simple and Disowned:

Simple. I chose this word because that is basically the word that tells about people at the time. According to Reed, most people at the time were simple or ordinary. There were only an few elite people at the time. The rest were SIMPLE!  There was also a SIMPLE problem. We were in war. Of course, we DISOWNED the problem. Another thing is that WWI was not as SIMPLE as we thought it was. In fact there was much more that was under the suraface. Like secret alliances and money and other fun stuff like that.

There is a line that Reed says repeatably. "This is not our war." That shows us DISOWNING the war. Of course that could mean that we sound slightly unpatriotic but... what isn't ours isn't ours. You know what I am saying?

A lesson for all the semi- bright forth graders in the world.

This is a lesson to all the semi- bright forth graders in the world. It is about "Whose War" by John Reed. The speach is about  why war is bad. Do you understand? I- a-m- t-y-p-i-n-g- a-s s-l-o-w a-s p-o-s-s-b-l-e. Okay, so moving on, the man who wrote the speach was angry. He says that ordinary people, like you my young, naive friend and I, do not care for/about war. Reed (the angry man) also says that England gets away with way too much. Like a kid in your forth grade class who just gets away with passing notes, while you get caught and get put in detention.  Another thing that Reed says is that World War 1 was not our fault. That it was the fault of the powerful taking advantage. This is like the kid in your class who just always gets your class into trouble. I hate kids like that.

Part 1: The Main Idea

    Every thing ever written has a main idea. "Whose War?" by John Reed is no exception. There are three main ideas in the text.
      First, that the World War I was not a common man's war. That the ordinary person is disinterested in the war. The ordinary person being an average person, not rich, not poor, in the middle. When it does come up in conversation, people think of it as disturbing and horrifying.  In fact, Reed states that "We are simple folk. Prussian militarism seems to us insufferable..." This supports the statement "The war is not a common man's war." God, I love having support for my arguments. It makes me feel so smart.  Another side of this statement was John Reed's statement "The rich become richer, the poor poorer, and the cost of living higher." This shows that the people that benefited were the rich and not the poor. Proves you got to have money to make money.

Whose War? A series of posts on John Reed's Speach.

    This is the first of many posts about John Reed's speech "Whose War?" If you don't know what I am talking about than go to this link. http://www.marxists.org/archive/reed/1917/masses02.htm. That is where you can find a copy of the speech.

Here is how the series will work out:

1. Main pointes and ideas of the speech
2. Two Words
3. How to teach it to a semi- bright fourth grader
4. Pieces of music that reflect the source
5. What the source says about America today

Image from: http://www.vladimir-vysotsky.de/bilder/reed1.jpg

Yellow Journalism

Yellow journalism is either writing a story that is based on fact but is not necessarily true; or writing sensational headlines in order to get readers; or both. It was started by a man named Joseph Pulitzer. who remarkably now has a prize named after him. Pulitzer wrote scandalous, thrilling stories. His rival was William Randolph Hearst. Hearst wrote for the New York Journal. He often tried to top Pulitzers headlines and stories. The two reporters often focused on  Cuba. Going on about the practices with the  prisoners  and about how there was blood everywhere. In fact they even made a comic about the practice of yellow journalism. It was called the yellow kid.
   The theme that yellow journalism represents is "Economics drove the expansion." Once again I don't know what they where expanding to but economics drove it. They wanted people to buy their newspaper. Buying things is drives the economy. Economy sounds kinda like Economics. Therefore, yellow journalism represents this theme.
 


Picture from:https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/vbitters/www/001YellowKid.jpeg

Fox News- History often repeats itself

   I have never in my life seen Fox News. My parents do not allow me to watch it. From what I have gathered though. Fox News is a modern day version of yellow journalism. Their reports, though based on what I have understood through their website and my parents, are real but told one sided. The stories are based on fact but only tell the side that makes Republicans look sweet and innocent. Fox News doesn't hold prestige. In fact now it is just a branch of the Republican Party.
    The theme that Fox News represents is "Economics drove the expansion." Expansion to where I am not quite sure, but economics completely drove it. They make sensational stories to get viewers, therefore money.
 

   from: http://www.zahipedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/zahipedia_fox_news.jpg

Isolationism- Where we don't get invovled.

    Isolation is when we do not get involved with other countries. Because we are a country of following orders.  President Washington told us not to get involved because things could get ugly. So we Americans stood silently. Watching from the sidelines. God, I feel like I am in advisory, talking about STAND and stuff like that. I heart advisory.
   Isolation goes against the theme "Foreign version of Manifest Destiny." This is due to the fact that we did not go off and expand our so called "greatness" on the rest of the world. Instead, we just stood on the sidelines watching wars, won and lost. Of course after all that happened we took over.

Imperalism-

Imperalism is when a nation builds an empire by taking over political and economical control of people. An example of this is Napoleon, a fellow short person. But, that is besides the point. What I am getting to is that America stood as a bystander. We didn't do anything as France, England, and other countries made an empire for themselves. No, we took the advice of our president George Washington, who warned us not to get involved with foreign affairs.  Later in  time though, we looked back at the advice as more of... guidelines per say. We began to take on more of a foreign manifest destiny. This was after conquering the Manifest Destiny. We began to look at expansion into foreign nations.
    This is an example of the theme "Foreign version of Manifest Destiny." This is because the Western Frontier was  conquered.  We then spread to  foreign  nations  in order to look  like  we were expanding America's views. We had a duty to expand our greatness.

Alaska- Another place I will not go

   Alaska was the 49th state to join the union. We purchased it from Russia for 2 cents an acre. Even so it was still 7.2 million dollars. Which is quite a lot of money even though it might not seem it. Yeah, so if Alaska cost 2 cents an acre now, many rich people could buy Alaska. The man behind buying Alaska was Secretary of State William Seward. He was a strong advacate of US expansion. When he bought Alaska, some people thought it was a big mistake. Just a big, frozen wasteland. But, those people were wrong. Alaska turned out to be full of gold and oil. Silly Americans.

     Alaska represents the theme "Economic intrest drove the expansion." It represents this theme because Seward bought it beacause he thought it would be a jump in trade between Russia and America. As stated a lot in the past few posts trade = economics. So economics drove the expansion of the US into Alaska.

Open Door Policy- where the door is ajar

The Open Door policy was issued first in a message from the US Secretary of State. At the time that was Mr. John Hay. He wanted China to leave an "open door." Hay meant that he wanted to have equal trading rights between nations. Most nations responded by neither saying yes or no. Being neutral like Alex is in most things. In the end Hay declared that the "open door policy" had been accepted.

   The theme that this represents is "Economic interests drove expansion." This all Mr. Hay wanted was to secure trading rights for the US. As shown in a previous post trade = money. Money is economics therefore Mr. Hay is showing economic intrest in China. Therefore economic intrests are driving the policy of the government.


JUST IN CASE: I think I forgot to metion this before China is an amazing country


Picture taken from:http://www.wellesley.edu/Polisci/wj/China/Images-ChinaLinks1-07/china-map.jpg

The Spheres of Influence-

   China emerged from an unsuccesful war in the late 1800s. So the other countries decided to take advantage of China. That was really mean of them. I don't want to single out anyone but Japan and many European countries were ones that tried to take advantage. They forced sweet, innocent China to give them land and trade rights. Horrible, bad countries they were. They decided to split China into spheres of infuelence. Spheres of influence is where a country has power over a economics and politics.

     This is an example of the theme "Economic intrests drove the expansion." This is because the other countries just wanted free land and money. Woah it sounds funny to say free money. Anyway the expansion was just made up of other countries trying to take advantage of China's weakness. That is just like the foxes killing the little, hurt bunny.

Dollar Diplomacy- Diplomacy on the cheap

   Taft was a big proponent of dollar diplomacy. Dollar diplomacy was the idea that economics was the best way of expanding American influence. He used American businesses  and banks to invest in Asia (best continent) and Latin America. Dollar diplomacy led to Roosevelt's big stick. This happened when a revolution in Nicaragua. The US sent in troops to protect their investments. No, not the people, the INVESTMENTS. Shame on us greedy Americans.
   Dollar diplomacy is an example of the theme "Economic interests drove the expansion." This is because when Nicaragua was in trouble we went to protect the investments. THE INVESTMENTS!!!!!

Protectorate- a mix of Progess, tectonic plates, and decorating

Protectorate (n.)- an independent country whose policies are controlled by an outside country.Really, that does not sound like an ide that would work or is good. An example of one of these countries is Cuba. The United States forced Cuba to include the Platt Amendment in its new constitution. This gave the US the power to intervene in Cuban affairs. It also limited the powers to borrow money and make treaties.
   It is an example of the theme "Foreign version of Manifest Destiny." America put itself in charge of Cuba. This was America spreading the notion of greatness to Cuba. Now American expansion had spread to a foreign nation.

Queen Liliuokilani- The power of a name

    Liliuokalani WAS the queen of Hawaii. She was a strong supporter of Hawaiian Independence. Unlike her brother, she wanted to restore the monarchy and reduce the influence of outside nations.  Liliuokalani was also an advocate of many female causes.  These include, a female college, a maternity home, and a woman's bank.
    Liliuokalani shows the other side of " The American pursuit of freedom was seen as something that seemed to only apply to America." This is because American expansion was threatening the way she ran her country. Apparently the US went through with the threat because Hawaii became a territory of the United States.

Hawaii- A Place I Will Probably Never Go

Hawaii was the 50th state to "join" the union. It is made up of five little islands in the North Pacific. Hawaii is know throughout the world for its beauty, sunshine, and beaches. To the US it is known as a military base. The islanders used to live in peace, then we came. First, there were the missionaries trying to "convert" the native people. Then, after that didn't work out for us we started sugar plantations.
   Of course, being the nice people that we are,we thought that Hawaii should be ours.We got 50 marines to override the queen and set up a pro Of course, it's illegal to do this. so,  President Cleavland rejected a proposal to annex Hawaii. Later, President McKinley singed a treaty to annex it. Hawaii became the 50th state of the US.
    Hawaii represents the "Turner Thesis." This is because Americans wanted to "tame" the natives and bring Christian values to them. Also the space that Hawaii provided was the new frontier that America had conquered.


Picture from:http://www.go-travel-blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/hawaii.jpg

India- The other part of ASIA

   Today in class, one of my fellow students made a rather... ignorant comment during class. Oooh I sound smart. I probably just ruined it by saying that. The comment was that India is not in Asia. Therefore saying that you, Mr. Kannan, are not Asian. Being Chinese, I am considered a stereotypical Asian human being. You being Indian, are not. We then spent the rest of class trying to show that you are Asian. It didn't really work that well. The student than began to think that India was part of China. Much hope for the future generations I think not. All I can say is that I am sorry for the ignorance of my classmate... and GO ASIAN PEOPLE!!!!

Mathew C Perry- I don't have anything relatively witty to put about him in the title

   Mathew C. Perry was commanded a squadron (that is a funny word) of heavily armed warships. I think that his boat in reality would tip over because if you have so many arms then you are top heavy. That is really not good. If your boat tipped over that would suck. Well... anyway he eventually got to Japan. Japan is not nearly as cool as China. Or India for that matter. While there, Perry gave the Japanese a letter from the president to grant trading rights. The Japanese were amazed by the powerful ships. In 1854, Perry returned and signed a treaty about opening Japan for trade with the US.
    After this, Japan realized that they needed to be as technological advanced in order to make it in the modern world. Or as modern as the 1854 world was. Look at them today. Making cars, televisions, and comic books.
 
   Perry represents the theme "economic interests drove expansion." The only reason he went to Japan was to try and get them to trade with the US or us. Trade = Money. Money = Economics. Therefore Trade= Economics. During this time, everyone cared about money. Even the president, who is part of the government. Proving that economics controlled government policy.

Picture from www.teachersparadise.com/ency/en/media/a/a1/matthew_c__perry.jpg

Now We Start Ch. 20- Oh Joy

   We are now starting chapter 20 in our textbooks. According to Mr. Kannan, this chapter is sandwiched between the two greatest chapters in the book.  From what I have found skimming through it is about America, expansion, war, and of course IMPERIALISM. A word that I still don't quite know what it means. This chapter has a lot about other countries. Whereas before in chapter 19 it was all about us. Greedy Americans. Oh I am very excited for this chapter.

Muckraker- the power of a name

   Muckraker-(n.) a term for a crusading journalist. The word got put into place by Teddy Roosevelt who compared the journalists to people who raked through muck. Wow... way to be creative. Anyway, is it pronounced muckraker or muck raker? Important question. This highly esteemed group of people included Ida Tarbell, Upton (what a funny name) Sinclair, and Jacob Riis. Ida Tarbell wrote about the unfair business methods of John d Rockefeller. Sinclair wrote about the practices in meat packing plants. "The Jungle" makes not want to eat meat ever again. Riis took photos of America's slum life.
These people represent the theme "the Progressives proved that nothing gold can stay." First because these people were progressives. Second, because they were all about change. They did not do these things for fun. Third, they thought that the workers should feel the benefits of the work done.

Picture taken from: http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/images/loc_ida_tarbell_23feb07_150_se.jpg

City Bosses

City Bosses. Not country bosses, CITY BOSSES. Is that clear? Anyway city bosses, were bad, no-good, lying, thieving people. Understood? They made themselves popular basically through bribery. Sure they handed out turkeys at Thanksgiving, but then they took money out of your paycheck. Now which would you rather have. A turkey or money? The Bosses (it sounds like a television show on TLC, Anna's favorite channel) also handed out coal at Christmas. Sounds to me like they are calling their workers bad children. Because of this, the workers often voted for the bosses' favorite candidate.
The City Bosses represent the theme "America was moving forward, going nowhere." This is because only they made money during this time. I would like to pointe out that this is because they stole money out of the workers paychecks and basically made life not worth living. No more Mr. NiceGuy now punk. The bosses were the 1% of America that held the wealth. Really nice of you to share it with the rest of us.

The Gilded Age- Covered with a thin layer of gold paint

   The gilded age is basically what the whole chapter is about. Gilded meaning "covered with a thin layer of gold paint." Age meaning "a time measured in years." So the gilded age is basically "a time measured in years covered in gold paint." During the Gilded Age people enriched themselves at the public's expense. That really sucks. American's worried that big bosses and government workers were hiding the problems of our country. This is like when He- Who- Must- Not- Be- Named takes over the Ministry of Magic. You see, after he takes over the Daily Prophet (comparable to the Chicago Tribune- Well known newspaper, full of fluff) it stops printing actual news. Covering up the murders, and torturing that actually happens.

   This represents the theme "America was moving forward, and going nowhere." This is due to the fact that only politicians and city bosses were the only ones who got anywhere. Provided for some that this place was jail. I mean, what did the innocent factory workers get out of this situation. Absolutely nothing. They just work all day for money that a person couldn't live off, while greedy people stole money from them.



God I almost typed theme. Identifications are getting to me.

Photos taken from: http://www.bookstellyouwhy.com/pictures/10854.jpg
http://www.bogdanpitaru.ro/wp-content/uploads/daily-prophet.jpg
http://www.glenbrook225.org/south/Athletics/GirlsTeamPages/GirlsSoccer/PublishingImages/ChicagoTribune.jpg

The Right to Vote Does Not Make Us Equal

   In 1920 the 19th amendment was passed. This came after tons of hard work put in by suffragettes. The National Woman Suffrage Association was started by two very smart ladies. The two ladies were Elizabeth  Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Both women spoke all over the country and were sometimes jailed for it. 
   However in the West, some women already had the right to vote. Their states were intelligent. They knew of the hard-work that their women put in. Wyoming even refused to join the Union if the US would not allow their women to vote. Actually, I am very surprised that Wyoming even had enough people to join.
   Anyway, after the first generation of suffragettes died or got sick or whatever, joined the cause. A lady called Carrie Chapman Catt (the triple C or the CCC) made a very detailed plan to get the vote. All the suffragettes followed her plan and slowly the states allowed women to vote.
    The suffragettes are an example of the theme "Power comes from the bottom up." This is due to the fact that the government did not recognize that women deserved the right. In fact they were the last to realize it. Also, the suffragettes wrote and spoke to the public. They got women across the country involved. So many, that the government had to say yes.

Photos from: http://www.coveringthemouse.com/images/ss03.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v297/ribinder/xprs-suffragettes.jpg

The Spoils System- How dumb are we?

   The spoils system was put into effect during the Age of Jackson. That's right ANDREW JACKSON! Don't kill me. Please, please, please don't kill me. Actually you can't kill me, it's illegal. Well , anyway moving on, the spoils system gave government jobs to the President's supporters. Of course, there are only so many government jobs to go around. So there are a bunch of angry people in Washington (adding to the many angry people there already are).  This became so intense that a crestfallen supporter actually shot a president. Bit too much if you ask me.
   The spoils system represents the theme "To the victors belong the spoils." This phrase was said by a Jackson critic. This thing states that if one has won, then all it is fair. In the spoils system, when a president wins the election, all his supporters win as well. In a perfect world of course. If your president wins, then you win. Basically, what the spoils system is.

Immigrants- Those Darn Foreigners

   Immigration rose rapidly during the Progressive Era. The Mexicans came because of the revolution, and Japanese came because of the hope of a better life on the mainland. It caused our all- white nation to be integrated with people of tan skin. OH NO!!! That's not good. When the immigrants came they thought that in America "the streets were made of diamonds." After a while they saw that the golden facade American promise. "What did they do about that?" you say. Well, the Mexicans got mad and striked. Actually, so did the Japenese. But, only when the protest could of caused an international inccedent did the government look in to it.
   The immigrants represent the theme "Nothing gold can stay." When they came the dream was clear to them. After they sat down and stayed awhile, the immigrants that they might never reach the goal. They proved that nothing good can ever last. I guess it is true, America is too good, to be real. The immigrants showed us that in the Gilded Age, the dream of a good life cannot last.

Picture from: http://johnseiler.com/images/immigrants.jpg

The Woman's Christian Temperance Union- I finally understand why they use acronyms

   The Woman's Chrisitian Temperance Union was formed in 1874. Frances Willard became the president of it in 1879. She was big on having state laws ban the sale of liquor. She worked hard to close saloons and bars. Willard also joined the suffrage movement and brought many women in the WCTU with her.
   Carry Nation took a more, well...um physical approach to the matter. She chose to walk into saloons with a hatchet and smash beer kegs. This won her much publicity, but it caused embarrassment to the WCTU.
   After many years of effort,  WCTU leaders  convinced Congress to pass the 18th amendment. That amendment banned the sale and consumption (eating and drinking) of alcohol. It was ratified in  1919.

   The theme that  the WCTU represents is  "Power comes from the top up." This is due to the fact that the leaders of the WCTU inspired others to join the cause. They also public spoke and got the crowd involved. The WCTU realized that they had the power, and that the government would do what they wanted. It worked as well, which is very important when you are trying to get something done. As stated before, the 18th amendment was passed. Of course the 21st amendment changed all that, but the 18th amendment was still passed.

Booker T Washington- The Man Who Makes Us All Look Bad

Booker T Washington, was one of those people who looks like they are made of unicorns, sugar, and all things nice. He he was a self taught reader. He later went on to work in coal mines, and attened schoool where it was offered. In 1881 (reads the same way back and forth) he founded a school for African Americans to learn agricultural and industrial skills. He said that African Americans should learn trades and try to move gradually. Washington (I feel that I am talking about the president) said that someday they would have the power and money to move up in society. His approach gave him the support of Rockefeller (like 30 Rock. I love 30 Rock <3)  These rich, so called philanthropists, allowed him to build schools for African Americans. Presidents also got some of their advice from him. If you ask me Mr. Washington looks slightly crazed.

The theme that Mr. Washington represents is "The pendulum of power is capable of swinging from one side to another with the proper amount of force and voice." This is due to the fact that he thought that with the proper amount of training and money, African Americans could move up in society. The pendulum started on the side of the industrialists and now hopefully it would be on the side of African Americans everywhere. Yeah, like that would happen.



Picture taken from: http://sethpickens.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/booker20t20washington12.jpg

W.E.B Du Bois- What those intials stand for anyway

Well who knew, W.E.B stands for William Edward Burghardt. Well Mr. Kannan you probably did, but I did not. W.E.B Du Bois was the first African American to get a Ph. D from Harvard University. That is  some major breakthrough that I don't quite understand. I think the wording in the book is kind of off. Was he the first to get a Ph. D? Was he the first to go to Harvard and graduate? I am confused. Anyway, He sided with Booker T Washington in saying that the people needed "thrift, patience, and industrial training." However, he thought that Washington was wrong in urging people to fight for their rights. That kind of rhymed. In the end he joined reformers (a name for people that are really goody two shoes, but you are not allowed to say that because they are considered saints) to build the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People or NAFTAOC. The acronym is as long as a big word.
   Moving on,  the theme that he represents is "Long Live the Fight." This is due to the fact Du Bois was all like "don't let segregation live on, fight it." He thought that instead of waiting for segregation to end, that the people should fight it themselves. Du Bois believed that desegregation  will come from waiting. He thought it would come from fighting.

Picture taken from: www.nps.gov/hafe/historyculture/images/dubois285.jpg

Initiative- Give the people a voice, and the governemnt ears fall off

   The initiative was created to give voters a direct voice in lawmaking. Well, it should give voters a direct voice in lawmaking. Whether it works is questionable. For example, in the whole health care debate, where many wanted a public option, we did not get a public option. Hmmm... so where exactly is this voice? Well, I don't know but it should be there. In order to perform an initiative a citizen has to collect a certain number of signatures on a petition. That sounds like a lot of work for a citizen who just wants something done.
   The initiative represents the theme "Power comes from the bottom up." This theme says that power comes form the people. With the initiative, it gives people the power to put a bill into Congress. Well, as stated before, it should.

Boos Tweed- The man who shows what fabric is on top.

   William Tweed, the man better know as Boss Tweed, was a man who showed how extreme corruption could go. He managed to cheat New York out of over 100 million dollars. Really how low can you get, cheating innocent, hardworking people out of their hard earned cash. This man is like a modern day Rod Blagojevich. That is not a good thing. Journalists exposed his crimes and he was arrested. Funnily enough, the same thing happened to Blago. It's like history repeating itself. After Boss Tweed was arrested he fled to Spain. Where he was caught and put in jail. He later died in 1878 and was mourned greatly.

   Tweed represents the theme "To the victor belongs the spoils." This is due to the fact that he believed since he was this big, tough industrialist he deserved the money of the city. I think that just because you win something, does not give you the excuse to take everything.

Teddy Roosevelt, Father of the Modern Day Stuffed Toy

 Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt  was born to a wealthy New York family. He was a sickly child and lifted weights in order to make himself stronger. Being the iconic good citizen that he was, Roosevelt then wanted to serve the public. So, at the age of 23, he got elected to the New York legislature. He went on to serve on as the head of the New York Police Department (a department made famous because of the popular television show NYPD Blue).
   Roosevelt ran for president in 1904. His campaign was based on the square deal. Where everyone would have the same chance to succeed.  Roosevelt took time during his presidency to help preserve the natural areas. He did not run for reelection in 1908.

   The theme that Teddy Roosevelt represents is "Power comes from the top down." He believed that the government can do good things for the American population. For example, he believed that the government should take control of the bad trusts (trusts that took advantage of workers) or get rid of them all together.   Another example of him representing this theme is when he publicized the unhealthy conditions in meat packing factories. Roosevelt is the positive spin on the power from the top idea.
Picture of Roosevelt: http://theamalgam.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/teddy-roosevelt1.jpg
Picture of the national park: http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/theodore-roosevelt-national-park-ga-258.jpg

Another fun fact: The teddy bear was named for Theodore Roosevelt

The Keyboard is Mightier than the Pen (and Paper)

Edward Bulwer- Lytton once wrote "the pen is mightier than the sword." Well I say that the keyboard is mightier than the pen. First, whenever I go to write something with a pen it takes me five minutes to find a pen. It also takes me five to ten minutes to walk all the way around my house to find a piece of paper. Of course, after that I then realize that I have paper in my backpack. Then, I feel dumb. See, writing with a paper and pen makes people feel bad about themselves. Whereas, with a keyboard I can just pull up my blog and start typing. No need to climb stairs or get frustrated, just sit and type. A keyboard also makes for faster writing, or in this case blogging. I know for a fact that I type faster than I write. Typing is also neater than writing because whenever I write something there a bunch of scratch outs, smudges, and doodles. Not the prettiest paper in the world.   In the end, let us remember than the keyboard is mightier than the pen.

Blogging vs Writing

   Writing. That is what teachers tell me to do. They tell me to write a story, a poem, an essay. Then, the teacher judges my writing. Judges it on a rubric against the standard student. Writing also does not allow me to open up. It does not allow people to tell people my story. Writing does not allow show a window into my life. Writing is like hiding behind what you know people want to hear.

   Blogging. That is what I choose to do. Blogging lets me show a more creative edge to my work. Yes, it is still text on a page, but to me it is a friendlier format. Blogging provides an easy way to show visuals and link to movies. Blogging allows me to put my feelings out there more. I know when people read it they will judge me, but they probably won't point out all my flaws. And if they do, they won't say them to my face (except for you Mr. Kannan).

   Blogging is more like a journal that opens a window into my life for everyone else to look in through. Writing is like a closed door.