The original article I found was whether or not DUI roadblocks were abiding within the terms of the Constitution. It corresponds with the last chapter we had just read which was chapter two. It is similar how the founding fathers did not want to grant too much power or control to the government. It also pertains to the fourth chapter which we have yet to read. Chapter four covers the Fourth Amendment which guarantees there are to be no unlawful search and seizures and fairness of trials. These can all be argued this article as a government issue. These sobriety checkpoints can be considered an invasion of privacy and argued that it is illegally unfair judgment being assumed without actually having probable cause-which is the only thing that grants an officer to intrude without having a search warrant. The case of Sitz vs. Michigan fought back and freed a man who had been in the same situation and plead there was a violation of his Constitutional rights. I have since then found another article that brings to the public’s attention that some officers carry discrete devices that test for alcohol in the breath-an easy way to catch anyone under 21 drinking where their level only has to be .01%. Pens, flash lights, etc carry the hidden devices. Officers are suppose to ask to administer such tests or ask for permission to search cars or locked areas of a car so this can without a doubt be seen as unconstitutional in many perspectives. On the other hand, officers are there to serve and protect; does this not prevent as well any possible accidents or tragedies before they happen? If you have done nothing wrong, then you have nothing to hide being the law abiding citizen you are. It is argued that the end justifies the means. If you can turn a blind eye to the slight violation and see the bigger picture, it does a greater deal to allow this. We are all affected under this, and there are many sides to argue and technical details that can arise that change the scenario. We find it insulting, we find it a loss of freedom, and at the same time many find it a blessing and a great public service. As of now, the stance on this issue is still in limbo and under much review.
1.) http://www.articlelistonline.com/politics-government/article2706.htm
2.) http://www.articlesbase.com/law-articles/police-take-covert-breath-samples-to-detect-dui-256747.html
Monday, September 14, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
lack of decency
If the world has taught us one thing during our lifetime, it is that there is always another side to the story. A girl I once knew was visiting Texas over spring break. She had been drinking heavily and while under the influence, met some friendly people who bought her a few rounds and hung out with her the rest of the day. Somewhere in between, one of the guys had stolen a few kisses and to her there seemed no harm had been done. A few days later upon awakening, she was very upset to see marks around her mouth. Fearing she had contracted a sexually transmitted disease, she had visited a doctor who needed not one, but two separate opinions before confirming his belief that the disease was one contracted from contact to human corpses. Authorities were notified and days later this once thought to be nice guy was arrested on accounts of cannibalism and the discovery of a few dead bodies within his home. Red Sammy had it right when he said “A good man is hard to find” (O’Connor). The world as we know it rarely has that humble, story book-happy ending because evil can be found not only in the forsaken slums, but behind closed doors. Movies like Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining or Flannery O’Connor’s story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” portray media our society assumes to be entertainment but in fact desensitize us from the harsh reality that horrors similar to these happen on a daily basis and the argument that truly sincere men or women are a rarity.
As children, we were raised never to talk to strangers because there are very many dangerous and bad people out there that will come and get you. As a feeble minded child we did not know any better, but now as adults, we know all too well that it was an understatement. “’It isn’t a soul in this green world of God’s that you can trust,’ she said. ‘And I don’t count nobody out of that, not nobody,’ she repeated” (O’Connor). The grandmother from O’Connor’s story has been around long enough to know people can mask what they are behind a very convincing smile. Similar to Kubrick’s film, Jack Torrance is a loving family man with high recommendations, references, and seems to be very “normal,” eventually losing his grip on reality and wields an axe as he attempts to hack his family to bits (The Shining). The idea that someone you love and are very close to can turn out to be such a person demonstrates how anyone can break down. To put it simply, human nature is to serve one’s self in order to survive or seek pleasure if tested.
In our times of desperate need for comfort or support, people cannot always find answers from family or friends so they reach out to God through their religion. When a person thinks of a church, the first thing on their mind would hopefully be peace that sets their mind at ease; however in such a world as this, can we be so confident in anything? Allegations of sexually abusive priests have been around but as of 2002 they have really began to surface. A shocking fact shows “An estimated 13,000 victims and some 5,000 abusive priests since 1950” (Kingsbury) are known to be documented and it is more than likely that is merely a scratch on the vast surface of decades left out. To add to the statistics, “Six dioceses around the country have been forced into bankruptcy because of abuse costs” (Kingsbury). Who can we turn to when our most holy churches and houses of prayer are tainted with sin? Questioning and doubting faith begins as we wonder where God has allowed so much evil to happen. Towards the end of O’Connor’s story, the grandmother begins to reconsider her faith, “’Maybe He didn’t raise the dead,’ the old lady mumbled, not knowing what she was saying and feeling so dizzy that she sank down in the ditch with her legs twisted under her” (O’Connor). After witnessing the cold blooded murder of her entire family, she wonders where God is for none of her prayers seem to help matters. Not only verbally, but psychically her mind and body are now are twisted as her faith has been shaken.
As our world has advanced and the complexity of our world grows as each day passes along, one would could not help but expect we are growing more and more civil as well. Shamefully, as strong as a nation as we are, we still fail when it comes to reaching a peaceful compromise with neighboring countries. After eight years ago upon the attacks on U.S. soil, we continue our war campaign in the Middle East. As of February this year, current President Obama has decided to “’deploy an additional 17, 000 troops to Afghanistan,’” in order to meet expectations of his Intel’s “’anticipated rise in violence’” for this up and coming spring. It is also noted by experts that 2009 is going to be a “’tough year’” (Waterman). The departure of our troops in this seemingly endless war remains a mystery. As a fellow citizen who once was in favor of the move, we the people cannot help but ponder the fearful thought whether or not our strenuous efforts will pay off in the long run. Where are morals and ethics? Perhaps we were once animals, but have yet to evolve into intelligent human beings that can solve problems with our brilliant minds. We have merely grown to more efficiently defeat one another, inevitably a destructive species looking to dominate! People like to blame it on the next generation, “’In my time,’ said the grandmother, folding her thin veined fingers, ‘children were more respectful of their native states and their parents and everything else. People did right then’” (O’Connor). Little things like respect was lacking then, wars occurred, and general disposition was never the text book definition as old folks like to recall. This world is inhabited by creatures that fend for themselves when put on the spot. Eventually, the grandmother pleas for her own life selfishly, while the Misfits orders the execution style murders of her family, granting her extra time. Where is the notable respect and love of the past she so emphasizes?
The grandmother portrays one of O’Connor’s beliefs in which, “individualism leaves people as self-focused wanderers without community who use others as means to their own ends. For O’Connor, this individualism is the cause for much of the rottenness in the world” (Hooten). Every moment she spoke was literally on her behalf whether it be her complaining about the trip or worrying about herself being killed over her young, and much deprived of life grandchildren. When the grandmother appears to be very concerned, she is in fact very manipulative, “’I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida and you read her what he did to these people. I couldn’t answer to my conscience if I did’” (O’Connor 186). She plays the sympathy card and it almost seems cruel since we are aware of her intentions as it so clearly states she does not want to go to Florida, but wants to go to Tennessee. She cares nothing for their safety and she displays individualism that O’Connor regards as the corruption of the world. In The Shining, Jack Torrance also shows this characteristic. He has frightened his family and at one point Danny, his son, seems to be ill, however Jack goes on about himself in a frantic rage, “’Have you ever had a single moments though about my responsibilities? Have you ever thought, for a single solitary moment about my responsibilities to my employers? Has it ever occurred to you that I have agreed to look after the Overlook Hotel until May the first’” (The Shining). Jack rants on about himself in his delusional state and his mind is not his. He has been influenced by the evil spirits left behind in the hotel in exchange to help him accomplish his work. Their screams cannot shake him out of the induced trance; his psychological state is far too gone. To help his own mind, he must kill them. We must never forget the fact that stranger things have happened and the will of one when put in survival mode may resort to any tactics necessary. It is a sad world when you hear of family men who would rather give up someone they love or for this matter, loved in order to satisfy one’s own self.
The sought after honest, good willed, unselfish men and women who pledge to not only clean up, but maintain our nation is one we greatly hope we can place trust into and not have to worry. Time and time again, we are shocked by some scandal or corruption in what we were lead to believe was a secure refuge and symbol of hope. The badge the police officer is worn over the heart and reads sworn to protect. All across the nation, trials are pending and or already processed and keep proving that badge is worthless. Chicago 1974, there were “convictions of 48 cops in the past 3 years and the firing or forced resignations of 407 members of the force” (Time). Around the same time, many other cops have been convicted of nearly everything involving: police graft, connections to prostitution, narcotics, stolen goods, and burglaries (Time). As it happened then, the corruption on all levels has not strayed too far. In recent news, Illinois Governor has been under heat for quite awhile and was finally indicted in 2009. After promising to help our already corrupted government status, he had fallen into the trap to help serve his own self- a reoccurring theme among all the mentioned so far. It was said he “illegally pressured people to make campaign contributions,” and most shocking, caught “Scheming to sell an appointment to Obama’s Senate seat for campaign cash” (Wills). The promise of protection and help was lost among the greed to benefit one’s self. Our trust was put on edge years ago and it has yet to reach out to its people and pull through fully. How have we ever flourished this long in prosperity? We simply disregard the poor, while the powerful are spotlighted and run the world. We can further relate this to Kubrick’s film along with O’Connor’s theme of selfishness and the idea that our demons can get the better of us no matter who we are or what we think we can handle.
The idea a friendly looking face or a close loved one can turn their back to us is hard to conceive. It is also hard to believe the fact that such a bright, up and coming normal looking person can commit such ghastly crimes. Philip Markoff, or the Craigslist Killer, as he has been dubbed, had murdered one and attacked at least two others. The hard to believe culprit was “A 22 year old med student engaged to be married” was captured and found to have no prior record (Ford and Pearson). The son of an upstate family was caught on camera as “The clean-cut, 6-foot-tall suspect strolling casually to and from the three crime scenes peering into his Blackberry” (Ford and Pearson). It is certainly hard to imagine how or why such a successful young man could do such a thing. Some were lead to believe it was for financial gain. In relationship to appearances, the grandmother in “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” sees the Misfit, who is a killer, as a good man even though his heart is pure evil. At one point, she says “’I know you’re a good man. You don’t look a bit like you have common blood. I know you must have come from nice people.’ ‘Yes mam,’ he said, ‘finest people in the world.’ The he smiled and showed a row of strong white teeth. ‘God never made a finer woman then my mother and my daddy’s heart was pure gold,’ he said” (O’Connor 192). She goes on saying he doesn’t look the type and he seems nice, but the true identity is always masked and hidden from reality. We are not transparent; one must be careful of deception. Similarly, could you imagine a loving husband and father attempt to slaughter his young family? Torrance has already lost his mind and the voices in his mind scream kill! As his wife, Wendy, is scared and trying to retreat back to her room, Jack follows her with a demonic look, “’Wendy? Darling? Light, of my life. I'm not gonna hurt ya. You didn't let me finish my sentence. I said, I'm not gonna hurt ya. I'm just going to bash your brains in’” (The Shining). There is a devil inside us all we cannot see, but don’t let it fool you because when you least expect it, his face will be shown through actions of people.
We constantly come face to face with the ugly truth that, we as people are what corrupt and taint this beautiful world and gift of life. We can keep running from it, keep the fact silent, or avoid the topic, but we must expose and come to terms with it. I have no solution because in the heat of the moment, there is no telling what people or even I for the matter. We try to live as a model person, but hit a dead end every now and then. The main saddening idea I wish to point out is that, in this world a truly good hearted and sincere man or woman, no matter color, shape, or size, is a rarity not only in this present day, but also the past. Some of the most sadistic will be hidden behind a beautiful face and a great big smile. The story of the grandmother and the Misfit, along with Jack Torrance and his family show how anyone from a friendly face on the street, to family living under the same roof as us can surprise us with horrific acts of violence and downright evil individualistic intentions. There is a lack of decency in people.
As children, we were raised never to talk to strangers because there are very many dangerous and bad people out there that will come and get you. As a feeble minded child we did not know any better, but now as adults, we know all too well that it was an understatement. “’It isn’t a soul in this green world of God’s that you can trust,’ she said. ‘And I don’t count nobody out of that, not nobody,’ she repeated” (O’Connor). The grandmother from O’Connor’s story has been around long enough to know people can mask what they are behind a very convincing smile. Similar to Kubrick’s film, Jack Torrance is a loving family man with high recommendations, references, and seems to be very “normal,” eventually losing his grip on reality and wields an axe as he attempts to hack his family to bits (The Shining). The idea that someone you love and are very close to can turn out to be such a person demonstrates how anyone can break down. To put it simply, human nature is to serve one’s self in order to survive or seek pleasure if tested.
In our times of desperate need for comfort or support, people cannot always find answers from family or friends so they reach out to God through their religion. When a person thinks of a church, the first thing on their mind would hopefully be peace that sets their mind at ease; however in such a world as this, can we be so confident in anything? Allegations of sexually abusive priests have been around but as of 2002 they have really began to surface. A shocking fact shows “An estimated 13,000 victims and some 5,000 abusive priests since 1950” (Kingsbury) are known to be documented and it is more than likely that is merely a scratch on the vast surface of decades left out. To add to the statistics, “Six dioceses around the country have been forced into bankruptcy because of abuse costs” (Kingsbury). Who can we turn to when our most holy churches and houses of prayer are tainted with sin? Questioning and doubting faith begins as we wonder where God has allowed so much evil to happen. Towards the end of O’Connor’s story, the grandmother begins to reconsider her faith, “’Maybe He didn’t raise the dead,’ the old lady mumbled, not knowing what she was saying and feeling so dizzy that she sank down in the ditch with her legs twisted under her” (O’Connor). After witnessing the cold blooded murder of her entire family, she wonders where God is for none of her prayers seem to help matters. Not only verbally, but psychically her mind and body are now are twisted as her faith has been shaken.
As our world has advanced and the complexity of our world grows as each day passes along, one would could not help but expect we are growing more and more civil as well. Shamefully, as strong as a nation as we are, we still fail when it comes to reaching a peaceful compromise with neighboring countries. After eight years ago upon the attacks on U.S. soil, we continue our war campaign in the Middle East. As of February this year, current President Obama has decided to “’deploy an additional 17, 000 troops to Afghanistan,’” in order to meet expectations of his Intel’s “’anticipated rise in violence’” for this up and coming spring. It is also noted by experts that 2009 is going to be a “’tough year’” (Waterman). The departure of our troops in this seemingly endless war remains a mystery. As a fellow citizen who once was in favor of the move, we the people cannot help but ponder the fearful thought whether or not our strenuous efforts will pay off in the long run. Where are morals and ethics? Perhaps we were once animals, but have yet to evolve into intelligent human beings that can solve problems with our brilliant minds. We have merely grown to more efficiently defeat one another, inevitably a destructive species looking to dominate! People like to blame it on the next generation, “’In my time,’ said the grandmother, folding her thin veined fingers, ‘children were more respectful of their native states and their parents and everything else. People did right then’” (O’Connor). Little things like respect was lacking then, wars occurred, and general disposition was never the text book definition as old folks like to recall. This world is inhabited by creatures that fend for themselves when put on the spot. Eventually, the grandmother pleas for her own life selfishly, while the Misfits orders the execution style murders of her family, granting her extra time. Where is the notable respect and love of the past she so emphasizes?
The grandmother portrays one of O’Connor’s beliefs in which, “individualism leaves people as self-focused wanderers without community who use others as means to their own ends. For O’Connor, this individualism is the cause for much of the rottenness in the world” (Hooten). Every moment she spoke was literally on her behalf whether it be her complaining about the trip or worrying about herself being killed over her young, and much deprived of life grandchildren. When the grandmother appears to be very concerned, she is in fact very manipulative, “’I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida and you read her what he did to these people. I couldn’t answer to my conscience if I did’” (O’Connor 186). She plays the sympathy card and it almost seems cruel since we are aware of her intentions as it so clearly states she does not want to go to Florida, but wants to go to Tennessee. She cares nothing for their safety and she displays individualism that O’Connor regards as the corruption of the world. In The Shining, Jack Torrance also shows this characteristic. He has frightened his family and at one point Danny, his son, seems to be ill, however Jack goes on about himself in a frantic rage, “’Have you ever had a single moments though about my responsibilities? Have you ever thought, for a single solitary moment about my responsibilities to my employers? Has it ever occurred to you that I have agreed to look after the Overlook Hotel until May the first’” (The Shining). Jack rants on about himself in his delusional state and his mind is not his. He has been influenced by the evil spirits left behind in the hotel in exchange to help him accomplish his work. Their screams cannot shake him out of the induced trance; his psychological state is far too gone. To help his own mind, he must kill them. We must never forget the fact that stranger things have happened and the will of one when put in survival mode may resort to any tactics necessary. It is a sad world when you hear of family men who would rather give up someone they love or for this matter, loved in order to satisfy one’s own self.
The sought after honest, good willed, unselfish men and women who pledge to not only clean up, but maintain our nation is one we greatly hope we can place trust into and not have to worry. Time and time again, we are shocked by some scandal or corruption in what we were lead to believe was a secure refuge and symbol of hope. The badge the police officer is worn over the heart and reads sworn to protect. All across the nation, trials are pending and or already processed and keep proving that badge is worthless. Chicago 1974, there were “convictions of 48 cops in the past 3 years and the firing or forced resignations of 407 members of the force” (Time). Around the same time, many other cops have been convicted of nearly everything involving: police graft, connections to prostitution, narcotics, stolen goods, and burglaries (Time). As it happened then, the corruption on all levels has not strayed too far. In recent news, Illinois Governor has been under heat for quite awhile and was finally indicted in 2009. After promising to help our already corrupted government status, he had fallen into the trap to help serve his own self- a reoccurring theme among all the mentioned so far. It was said he “illegally pressured people to make campaign contributions,” and most shocking, caught “Scheming to sell an appointment to Obama’s Senate seat for campaign cash” (Wills). The promise of protection and help was lost among the greed to benefit one’s self. Our trust was put on edge years ago and it has yet to reach out to its people and pull through fully. How have we ever flourished this long in prosperity? We simply disregard the poor, while the powerful are spotlighted and run the world. We can further relate this to Kubrick’s film along with O’Connor’s theme of selfishness and the idea that our demons can get the better of us no matter who we are or what we think we can handle.
The idea a friendly looking face or a close loved one can turn their back to us is hard to conceive. It is also hard to believe the fact that such a bright, up and coming normal looking person can commit such ghastly crimes. Philip Markoff, or the Craigslist Killer, as he has been dubbed, had murdered one and attacked at least two others. The hard to believe culprit was “A 22 year old med student engaged to be married” was captured and found to have no prior record (Ford and Pearson). The son of an upstate family was caught on camera as “The clean-cut, 6-foot-tall suspect strolling casually to and from the three crime scenes peering into his Blackberry” (Ford and Pearson). It is certainly hard to imagine how or why such a successful young man could do such a thing. Some were lead to believe it was for financial gain. In relationship to appearances, the grandmother in “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” sees the Misfit, who is a killer, as a good man even though his heart is pure evil. At one point, she says “’I know you’re a good man. You don’t look a bit like you have common blood. I know you must have come from nice people.’ ‘Yes mam,’ he said, ‘finest people in the world.’ The he smiled and showed a row of strong white teeth. ‘God never made a finer woman then my mother and my daddy’s heart was pure gold,’ he said” (O’Connor 192). She goes on saying he doesn’t look the type and he seems nice, but the true identity is always masked and hidden from reality. We are not transparent; one must be careful of deception. Similarly, could you imagine a loving husband and father attempt to slaughter his young family? Torrance has already lost his mind and the voices in his mind scream kill! As his wife, Wendy, is scared and trying to retreat back to her room, Jack follows her with a demonic look, “’Wendy? Darling? Light, of my life. I'm not gonna hurt ya. You didn't let me finish my sentence. I said, I'm not gonna hurt ya. I'm just going to bash your brains in’” (The Shining). There is a devil inside us all we cannot see, but don’t let it fool you because when you least expect it, his face will be shown through actions of people.
We constantly come face to face with the ugly truth that, we as people are what corrupt and taint this beautiful world and gift of life. We can keep running from it, keep the fact silent, or avoid the topic, but we must expose and come to terms with it. I have no solution because in the heat of the moment, there is no telling what people or even I for the matter. We try to live as a model person, but hit a dead end every now and then. The main saddening idea I wish to point out is that, in this world a truly good hearted and sincere man or woman, no matter color, shape, or size, is a rarity not only in this present day, but also the past. Some of the most sadistic will be hidden behind a beautiful face and a great big smile. The story of the grandmother and the Misfit, along with Jack Torrance and his family show how anyone from a friendly face on the street, to family living under the same roof as us can surprise us with horrific acts of violence and downright evil individualistic intentions. There is a lack of decency in people.
Monday, May 4, 2009
all the sites..thank u
Ford, Beverly, Erica Pearson, and Helen Kennedy. "Cops have Philip Markoff, suspected 'Craigslist Killer' of model Julissa Brisman, in custody." New York News, Traffic, Sports, Weather, Entertainment and Gossip - NY Daily News. 23 Apr. 209. 26 Apr. 2009 .
Hooten, Jessica. "Individualism in O'Connor's A Good Man Is Hard to Find." 2008. LION. Moraine Valley Community College, Palos Heights, IL. 27 Apr. 2009.
Kingsbury, Alex. "The Pope Confronts the Priest Sex Scandal - US News and World Report." US News & World Report - Breaking News, World News, Business News, and America's Best Colleges - USNews.com. 18 Apr. 2008. 26 Apr. 2009.
Making Police Crime Unfashionable - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. 6 May 1974. 25 Apr. 2009.
O'Connor, Flannery. Literature Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Comp. Robert DiYanni. Second ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages, 2006.
The Shining. Dir. Stanley Kubrick. Perf. Jack Nicolson, Shelley Duvall, and Danny Llyod. DVD. Warner Brothers, 1980.
Waterman, Shaun. "Obama sends 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan - UPI.com." Latest Headlines, Top News, Entertainment, Health, Science and Sports News - UPI. 18 Feb. 2009. 03 May 2009
Wills, Christopher. "Illinois Governor Blagojevich Bounced From Office - US News and World Report." US News & World Report - Breaking News, World News, Business News, and America's Best Colleges - USNews.com. 29 Jan. 2009. 28 Apr. 2009.
Hooten, Jessica. "Individualism in O'Connor's A Good Man Is Hard to Find." 2008. LION. Moraine Valley Community College, Palos Heights, IL. 27 Apr. 2009
Kingsbury, Alex. "The Pope Confronts the Priest Sex Scandal - US News and World Report." US News & World Report - Breaking News, World News, Business News, and America's Best Colleges - USNews.com. 18 Apr. 2008. 26 Apr. 2009
Making Police Crime Unfashionable - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. 6 May 1974. 25 Apr. 2009
O'Connor, Flannery. Literature Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Comp. Robert DiYanni. Second ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages, 2006.
The Shining. Dir. Stanley Kubrick. Perf. Jack Nicolson, Shelley Duvall, and Danny Llyod. DVD. Warner Brothers, 1980.
Waterman, Shaun. "Obama sends 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan - UPI.com." Latest Headlines, Top News, Entertainment, Health, Science and Sports News - UPI. 18 Feb. 2009. 03 May 2009
Wills, Christopher. "Illinois Governor Blagojevich Bounced From Office - US News and World Report." US News & World Report - Breaking News, World News, Business News, and America's Best Colleges - USNews.com. 29 Jan. 2009. 28 Apr. 2009
loss of decency draft
If the world has taught us one thing during our lifetime, it is that there is always another side to the story. A girl I once knew was visiting Texas over spring break. She had been drinking heavily and while under the influence, met some friendly people who bought her a few rounds and hung out with her the rest of the day. Somewhere in between, one of the guys had stolen a few kisses and to her there seemed no harm had been done. A few days later upon awakening, she was very upset to see marks around her mouth. Fearing she had contracted a sexually transmitted disease, she had visited a doctor who needed not one, but two separate opinions before confirming his belief that the disease was one contracted from contact to human corpses. Authorities were notified and days later this once thought to be nice guy was arrested on accounts of cannibalism and the discovery of a few dead bodies within his home. Red Sammy had it right when he said “A good man is hard to find” (O’Connor). The world as we know it rarely has that humble, story book-happy ending because evil can be found not only in the forsaken slums, but behind closed doors. Movies like Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining or Flannery O’Connor’s story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” portray media our society assumes to be entertainment but in fact desensitize us from the harsh reality that horrors similar to these happen on a daily basis and the argument that truly sincere men or women are a rarity.
As children, we were raised never to talk to strangers because there are very many dangerous and bad people out there that will come and get you. As a feeble minded child we did not know any better, but now as adults, we know all too well that it was an understatement. “’It isn’t a soul in this green world of God’s that you can trust,’ she said. ‘And I don’t count nobody out of that, not nobody,’ she repeated” (O’Connor). The grandmother from O’Connor’s story has been around long enough to know people can mask what they are behind a very convincing smile. Similar to Kubrick’s film, Jack Torrence is a loving family man with high recommendations, references, and seems to be very “normal,” eventually losing his grip on reality and wields an axe as he attempts to hack his family to bits (The Shining). The idea that someone you love and are very close to can turn out to be such a person demonstrates how anyone can break down. To put it simply, human nature is to serve one’s self in order to survive or seek pleasure if tested.
In our times of desperate need for comfort or support, people cannot always find answers from family or friends so they reach out to God through their religion. When a person thinks of a church, the first thing on their mind would hopefully be peace that sets their mind at ease, however in such a world as this, can we be so confident in anything? Allegations of sexually abusive priests have been around but as of 2002 they have really began to surface. A shocking fact shows “An estimated 13,000 victims and some 5,000 abusive priests since 1950” (Kingsbury) are known to be documented and it is more than likely that is merely a scratch on the vast surface of decades left out. To add to the statistics, “Six dioceses around the country have been forced into bankruptcy because of abuse costs” (Kingsbury). Who can we turn to when our most holy churches and houses of prayer are tainted with sin? Questioning and doubting faith begins as we wonder where God has allowed so much evil to happen. Towards the end of O’Connor’s story, the grandmother begins to reconsider her faith, “’Maybe He didn’t raise the dead,’ the old lady mumbled, not knowing what she was saying and feeling so dizzy that she sank down in the ditch with her legs twisted under her” (O’Connor). After witnessing the cold blooded murder of her entire family, she wonders where God is for none of her prayers seem to help matters. Not only verbally, but psychically her mind and body are now are twisted as her faith has been shaken.
The sought after honest, good willed, unselfish men and women who pledge to not only clean up, but maintain our nation is one we greatly hope we can place hope into and not be distraught.
As children, we were raised never to talk to strangers because there are very many dangerous and bad people out there that will come and get you. As a feeble minded child we did not know any better, but now as adults, we know all too well that it was an understatement. “’It isn’t a soul in this green world of God’s that you can trust,’ she said. ‘And I don’t count nobody out of that, not nobody,’ she repeated” (O’Connor). The grandmother from O’Connor’s story has been around long enough to know people can mask what they are behind a very convincing smile. Similar to Kubrick’s film, Jack Torrence is a loving family man with high recommendations, references, and seems to be very “normal,” eventually losing his grip on reality and wields an axe as he attempts to hack his family to bits (The Shining). The idea that someone you love and are very close to can turn out to be such a person demonstrates how anyone can break down. To put it simply, human nature is to serve one’s self in order to survive or seek pleasure if tested.
In our times of desperate need for comfort or support, people cannot always find answers from family or friends so they reach out to God through their religion. When a person thinks of a church, the first thing on their mind would hopefully be peace that sets their mind at ease, however in such a world as this, can we be so confident in anything? Allegations of sexually abusive priests have been around but as of 2002 they have really began to surface. A shocking fact shows “An estimated 13,000 victims and some 5,000 abusive priests since 1950” (Kingsbury) are known to be documented and it is more than likely that is merely a scratch on the vast surface of decades left out. To add to the statistics, “Six dioceses around the country have been forced into bankruptcy because of abuse costs” (Kingsbury). Who can we turn to when our most holy churches and houses of prayer are tainted with sin? Questioning and doubting faith begins as we wonder where God has allowed so much evil to happen. Towards the end of O’Connor’s story, the grandmother begins to reconsider her faith, “’Maybe He didn’t raise the dead,’ the old lady mumbled, not knowing what she was saying and feeling so dizzy that she sank down in the ditch with her legs twisted under her” (O’Connor). After witnessing the cold blooded murder of her entire family, she wonders where God is for none of her prayers seem to help matters. Not only verbally, but psychically her mind and body are now are twisted as her faith has been shaken.
The sought after honest, good willed, unselfish men and women who pledge to not only clean up, but maintain our nation is one we greatly hope we can place hope into and not be distraught.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
cantigny baby!
On a lovely afternoon in April, a good friend of mine, Mike-who is also in our class, decided to take a tour of the First Division Museum of Cantigny with me for our humanities project. After commonly butchering and slandering the name all day in front of people looking like fools, we would later come to discover the ‘g’ is silent. Pronounced can-tee-knee, the 500 acre lot is well kept and maintained at all times and serves as a lesson in cultural arts as it stands itself. The grounds contain very elaborate gardens filled with sculptures and other artistic displays. A mansion owned by Colonel Robert R. McCormick turned museum along with a war museum that takes you through every war America has been involved in starting with the First World War which the colonel was in.
Mr. MacNamara decided to carpool to the museum together since it was quite a hall out to Wheaton from our hometowns. Undecided and cutting it close, I remembered a really cool exhibit I had once seen before (Cantigny) and we went on Tuesday the 28th of April. The really cool thing about the place was that it is this huge open area and the landscape is just amazing. Every inch of the place was so well kept and very well and the wooded lot makes a beautiful place just to walk around on any nice day. It is also free admittance besides the five dollar parking fee, other than that, what a goldmine!
The story of Cantigny we had learned from a tour guide was a war hero and highly influential figure, Robert R. McCormick, had inherited the lot originally named Red Oaks. He was a colonel during the First World War and fought in the battle of Cantigny in France. He was very moved by his experiences by the battle so he named his home after it. The home and all the land would later be donated and turned into a museum. He was extremely wealthy and well known figure well liked by the people and represented a generation as a great figure in time-similar to the many outspoken and notable characters of the past we have learned over the course of the semester.
We ended up spending a few hours just bumming around and checking out the museums. The war museum of the First Division is extremely cool because it is a huge walk through museum you can go at on your own pace. It is similar to walking through a time portal with each next consecutive room leading into the next war. They are each decorated and portrayed as you are a bystander during the each era. For example there is a room decorated like Omaha Beach with tanks and men and bullets scattered on a beach landscape or even a Vietnam room that is filled with plush greens and trees in a bog to represent the jungle. Each room shows off heroics of men and their stories like we hear of long ago about Achilles or Odysseus and the advancements in technology as far as warfare. Similar how guns have advanced, so did the type of weaponry of the past, from bronze to iron or the idea of use of animals or ships to help give advantages during wars.
The First Division is a group of soldiers who were well known for their strength and courage is the beginning of our military. They were strong and taught well to be warriors for our country like the disciplined Spartans or the Mycenaean culture. Just like the story goes the brave 300 Spartans held off and army of thousands, the battle of Cantigny in France was against odds and held its ground (although unlike the 300, they were not betrayed and all slaughtered). Many of the battles and wars are very famous as well as the courageous acts of our time like the past wars like the Peloponnesian or Punic war we learned about. They had all great impacts in the times they had occurred and shape our history and culture.
Just like the Herodotus, the said to be father of history, the once home to McCormick now museum is a collection of history. McCormick loved to collect things especially his wives who were very much into the arts. The house is scattered with paintings or sculptures and books that cry artistic devotion. The rugs, the furniture, walls and ceilings are all highly detailed and overall architecture is an over whelming vision of arts from all over like we have studied the past months. McCormick also loved collecting swords or guns. The love for violence or the hunt has never left mankind since the time of the gladiators we studied. Like Democritus who was ahead of his time with the idea of atoms, McCormick was very involved with new technological advancements. His mechanical fireplace, his hidden bar, the electricity, and the modern day remote for his television and many others throughout the mansion not only show high class, but concepts and theories and ingenuity like the many marvelous minds we have studied like Da Vinci or Democritus. He was also very hospitable like the Greeks and threw many parties and invited guests over or stay the night.
We had a lot of fun going through the two museums and around the grounds. Surprisingly, we found out how much of the material we learned can be found all around. I would highly recommend a visit to Cantigny. The whole area is beautiful, it is extremely interesting to see all the old stuff in the buildings, and personally the 20’s were my favorite American era so I loved it.
Mr. MacNamara decided to carpool to the museum together since it was quite a hall out to Wheaton from our hometowns. Undecided and cutting it close, I remembered a really cool exhibit I had once seen before (Cantigny) and we went on Tuesday the 28th of April. The really cool thing about the place was that it is this huge open area and the landscape is just amazing. Every inch of the place was so well kept and very well and the wooded lot makes a beautiful place just to walk around on any nice day. It is also free admittance besides the five dollar parking fee, other than that, what a goldmine!
The story of Cantigny we had learned from a tour guide was a war hero and highly influential figure, Robert R. McCormick, had inherited the lot originally named Red Oaks. He was a colonel during the First World War and fought in the battle of Cantigny in France. He was very moved by his experiences by the battle so he named his home after it. The home and all the land would later be donated and turned into a museum. He was extremely wealthy and well known figure well liked by the people and represented a generation as a great figure in time-similar to the many outspoken and notable characters of the past we have learned over the course of the semester.
We ended up spending a few hours just bumming around and checking out the museums. The war museum of the First Division is extremely cool because it is a huge walk through museum you can go at on your own pace. It is similar to walking through a time portal with each next consecutive room leading into the next war. They are each decorated and portrayed as you are a bystander during the each era. For example there is a room decorated like Omaha Beach with tanks and men and bullets scattered on a beach landscape or even a Vietnam room that is filled with plush greens and trees in a bog to represent the jungle. Each room shows off heroics of men and their stories like we hear of long ago about Achilles or Odysseus and the advancements in technology as far as warfare. Similar how guns have advanced, so did the type of weaponry of the past, from bronze to iron or the idea of use of animals or ships to help give advantages during wars.
The First Division is a group of soldiers who were well known for their strength and courage is the beginning of our military. They were strong and taught well to be warriors for our country like the disciplined Spartans or the Mycenaean culture. Just like the story goes the brave 300 Spartans held off and army of thousands, the battle of Cantigny in France was against odds and held its ground (although unlike the 300, they were not betrayed and all slaughtered). Many of the battles and wars are very famous as well as the courageous acts of our time like the past wars like the Peloponnesian or Punic war we learned about. They had all great impacts in the times they had occurred and shape our history and culture.
Just like the Herodotus, the said to be father of history, the once home to McCormick now museum is a collection of history. McCormick loved to collect things especially his wives who were very much into the arts. The house is scattered with paintings or sculptures and books that cry artistic devotion. The rugs, the furniture, walls and ceilings are all highly detailed and overall architecture is an over whelming vision of arts from all over like we have studied the past months. McCormick also loved collecting swords or guns. The love for violence or the hunt has never left mankind since the time of the gladiators we studied. Like Democritus who was ahead of his time with the idea of atoms, McCormick was very involved with new technological advancements. His mechanical fireplace, his hidden bar, the electricity, and the modern day remote for his television and many others throughout the mansion not only show high class, but concepts and theories and ingenuity like the many marvelous minds we have studied like Da Vinci or Democritus. He was also very hospitable like the Greeks and threw many parties and invited guests over or stay the night.
We had a lot of fun going through the two museums and around the grounds. Surprisingly, we found out how much of the material we learned can be found all around. I would highly recommend a visit to Cantigny. The whole area is beautiful, it is extremely interesting to see all the old stuff in the buildings, and personally the 20’s were my favorite American era so I loved it.
Friday, May 1, 2009
self assessment
With the upcoming freshman year of college and the question of “What’s your major” constantly pummeling me left and right, I chose to enter Moraine Valley Community College earlier this fall with an undecided stance. I felt it was the best bet for me seeing that I could save money and knock off a few ‘GENEDS’ while also working at my local job and go from there. Along the way, I began to become more and more interested scanning available classes for the future as fall enrollment was beginning to open up. Criminal justice caught my eye and all the branches the field spreads into.
Before taking the class, I was originally signed up for a biology class which I would later find out I would be unnecessary for graduating purposes. I needed a last minute change, but had no idea what to take as far as a class to fill in the gap. It hit me later that I could check and see if a criminal justice course had opened up. The idea of taking a course I was interested in as a major just to get my feet wet before I transfer to a university and find out if I am serious about it or not. To be honest, I was not sure what to expect. I was worried it was an early class and the fact that it was a last minute decision.
First entering class, when I found out you were a former cop, I felt a bit intimidated like most people are. Later on I would find out you were a real cool teacher who was pretty laid back and straight forward when it came to teaching the course. I really liked your form of lecture; you were very down to earth when you explained the ideas. Most teachers would give you a very formal book definition that would leave a student still scratching his or her head. However, you would say forget that because you’ve been around and from experience you know what you’re talking about. I also thought it was cool how you just got to the point of important things. You knocked out some of the technically stuff like the court dates that relate to the things we were studying. You know that we will never use that later and that we don’t care. You stuck to the basics and if you can get to that it might stick with us a little longer.
I really thought the class might have been a bit harder. To be really honest, the class was too easy. I am not sure who will pass the class, but I think a lot of the students took advantage of your laid back status. I cannot say I showed up to every class nor was I always on time, but too many people walked in late or ditched the class. Grant it the class was 8am and had it been later I know that more would show up or be on time. Participation would have been upped I’m sure had it been later in the day as well. I felt bad no one really spoke up. You would just stand up there and try to provoke us and we would all just sit there starring or sleeping. You did a good job at keep on trucking through the power points and lectures.
You really presented things well in the class. Definitely keep up with the power points because they are a really great way to learn things visually and with the concept that you have the notes up there. I would suggest that you keep the notes up there a bit longer for the students to copy down possibly or throw more hints out whether it may or may not be on the test. That way you can help keep some of the kids dosing off to get their act together and jot down a few notes. I also really liked how you in cooperated little examples from everyday life or you tube videos along with other movies that you had on you. You should maybe give out a worksheet to go along with the film-that will ensure students stay awake for it and make us pay a bit more attention. I felt myself bobbing my head back and forth at times not because they were boring, but mainly because I don’t get enough sleep and 8am is early for me. If I have to pay attention and it means points are at stake or possible test questions for later, I will make sure of it that I am awake and conscious. You should not feel bad for kids who just blow everything off, they are slackers. If they don’t care about learning then they shouldn’t pass. I try everyday and take notes and so forth; I feel that if they pass and they were not involved whatsoever, I feel pretty pissed.
The black board site is awesome. I love being able to check my grades and the idea that homework assignments or announcements were on there. I check it all the time to keep on the up and up with class or my grades. I would have to argue that you give too much of a window of opportunity for slackers though. Homework online was really an easy way for you and us, but I think that you should grade them rather check them for participation. I know for a fact some of the other students took advantage of you allowing them time and or grading them less harsh because of participation. I know most of those kids did not even open their book to glance over before the chapters quiz was due. They would fill in just anything knowing you still give them 10/10 for completion. Knowing that I am interested in the course as a major I did read through all the chapters. I would have to also say that the tests were too easy. I think you should not follow those online quizzes so strictly as being what’s on the test. I think the test questions should come directly out of your notes you give during class and maybe throw a study guide out to the kids. I felt it was too easy and the reason kids blew off class so much was because they knew they could get away with it by getting some participation grade that will pass them. They don’t care if it’s a low grade, just as long as they get by and receive credit for the year.
In closing, I did enjoy your class and still feel a calling towards criminal justice. I like how you are very involved with the class and that really helps a student knowing that you are there for us and care. I think you should not be so nice though when it comes to homework and tests. I feel a student should at least some effort to show up or pay attention and do work. Don’t get me wrong because I hate homework, I just do what I have to do and I don’t like to screw around. Thanks for a good year; you kept it interesting-crack the whip next year!
Before taking the class, I was originally signed up for a biology class which I would later find out I would be unnecessary for graduating purposes. I needed a last minute change, but had no idea what to take as far as a class to fill in the gap. It hit me later that I could check and see if a criminal justice course had opened up. The idea of taking a course I was interested in as a major just to get my feet wet before I transfer to a university and find out if I am serious about it or not. To be honest, I was not sure what to expect. I was worried it was an early class and the fact that it was a last minute decision.
First entering class, when I found out you were a former cop, I felt a bit intimidated like most people are. Later on I would find out you were a real cool teacher who was pretty laid back and straight forward when it came to teaching the course. I really liked your form of lecture; you were very down to earth when you explained the ideas. Most teachers would give you a very formal book definition that would leave a student still scratching his or her head. However, you would say forget that because you’ve been around and from experience you know what you’re talking about. I also thought it was cool how you just got to the point of important things. You knocked out some of the technically stuff like the court dates that relate to the things we were studying. You know that we will never use that later and that we don’t care. You stuck to the basics and if you can get to that it might stick with us a little longer.
I really thought the class might have been a bit harder. To be really honest, the class was too easy. I am not sure who will pass the class, but I think a lot of the students took advantage of your laid back status. I cannot say I showed up to every class nor was I always on time, but too many people walked in late or ditched the class. Grant it the class was 8am and had it been later I know that more would show up or be on time. Participation would have been upped I’m sure had it been later in the day as well. I felt bad no one really spoke up. You would just stand up there and try to provoke us and we would all just sit there starring or sleeping. You did a good job at keep on trucking through the power points and lectures.
You really presented things well in the class. Definitely keep up with the power points because they are a really great way to learn things visually and with the concept that you have the notes up there. I would suggest that you keep the notes up there a bit longer for the students to copy down possibly or throw more hints out whether it may or may not be on the test. That way you can help keep some of the kids dosing off to get their act together and jot down a few notes. I also really liked how you in cooperated little examples from everyday life or you tube videos along with other movies that you had on you. You should maybe give out a worksheet to go along with the film-that will ensure students stay awake for it and make us pay a bit more attention. I felt myself bobbing my head back and forth at times not because they were boring, but mainly because I don’t get enough sleep and 8am is early for me. If I have to pay attention and it means points are at stake or possible test questions for later, I will make sure of it that I am awake and conscious. You should not feel bad for kids who just blow everything off, they are slackers. If they don’t care about learning then they shouldn’t pass. I try everyday and take notes and so forth; I feel that if they pass and they were not involved whatsoever, I feel pretty pissed.
The black board site is awesome. I love being able to check my grades and the idea that homework assignments or announcements were on there. I check it all the time to keep on the up and up with class or my grades. I would have to argue that you give too much of a window of opportunity for slackers though. Homework online was really an easy way for you and us, but I think that you should grade them rather check them for participation. I know for a fact some of the other students took advantage of you allowing them time and or grading them less harsh because of participation. I know most of those kids did not even open their book to glance over before the chapters quiz was due. They would fill in just anything knowing you still give them 10/10 for completion. Knowing that I am interested in the course as a major I did read through all the chapters. I would have to also say that the tests were too easy. I think you should not follow those online quizzes so strictly as being what’s on the test. I think the test questions should come directly out of your notes you give during class and maybe throw a study guide out to the kids. I felt it was too easy and the reason kids blew off class so much was because they knew they could get away with it by getting some participation grade that will pass them. They don’t care if it’s a low grade, just as long as they get by and receive credit for the year.
In closing, I did enjoy your class and still feel a calling towards criminal justice. I like how you are very involved with the class and that really helps a student knowing that you are there for us and care. I think you should not be so nice though when it comes to homework and tests. I feel a student should at least some effort to show up or pay attention and do work. Don’t get me wrong because I hate homework, I just do what I have to do and I don’t like to screw around. Thanks for a good year; you kept it interesting-crack the whip next year!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Hypnosis
History
· Hypnosis has been around for thousands of years. The Ancient Greeks and Romans used it for a therapeutic benefit in about the fourth century B.C.
· Many cultures have used chanting or the beat of drums during spiritual rituals in order to induce a hypnotic trance.
· In Germany around the seventeenth century, troops traveling between towns drew crowds with demonstrations of controlling animals. Hypnosis was also used to calm animals before slaughtering.
Myths and Theories
· Hypnotists do not have complete control over you, but can be anyone who is skilled with using language, capturing another person’s imagination or who has authority over you can be known as a Hypnotist.
· Many people think that when you are hypnotized that you are not aware of anything, but if this were true you would not be able to follow instruction.
· No one has ever permanently been stuck in hypnosis.
Treatment and Procedure
· Normally used to help patients with managing pain psychologically (people with burns/cancer/stress or anxiety/obese/women during childbirth).
· The process begins with the reassurance of relaxation and/or concentration on colors or objects to help place patient in desired mellow state of trance.
· The induced experience one of two main hypnotic states: Dissociation (one’s consciousness splits in two-a part that listens and a part that acts involuntary) or Sociocognitive (personal beliefs and influence of hypnotist leads to a role play/Q&A).
Affects on the Brain
· Hypnosis is characterized by a shift in brain activity from anterior (front) to posterior (back), human experiences are reflected in some way on the brain – seeing colors or motion are emphasized by activity in the visual cortex and feeling fear is mediated by activity in the amydygala, thus having observable effects on the brain.
· People who are susceptible to suggestion, show that when they act on the suggestions, their brains show profound changes in how the information is processed.
· The way information processes (from lower regions to higher region) exist for sensory information, creating a conscious impression, that moves from top to bottom.
History
· Hypnosis has been around for thousands of years. The Ancient Greeks and Romans used it for a therapeutic benefit in about the fourth century B.C.
· Many cultures have used chanting or the beat of drums during spiritual rituals in order to induce a hypnotic trance.
· In Germany around the seventeenth century, troops traveling between towns drew crowds with demonstrations of controlling animals. Hypnosis was also used to calm animals before slaughtering.
Myths and Theories
· Hypnotists do not have complete control over you, but can be anyone who is skilled with using language, capturing another person’s imagination or who has authority over you can be known as a Hypnotist.
· Many people think that when you are hypnotized that you are not aware of anything, but if this were true you would not be able to follow instruction.
· No one has ever permanently been stuck in hypnosis.
Treatment and Procedure
· Normally used to help patients with managing pain psychologically (people with burns/cancer/stress or anxiety/obese/women during childbirth).
· The process begins with the reassurance of relaxation and/or concentration on colors or objects to help place patient in desired mellow state of trance.
· The induced experience one of two main hypnotic states: Dissociation (one’s consciousness splits in two-a part that listens and a part that acts involuntary) or Sociocognitive (personal beliefs and influence of hypnotist leads to a role play/Q&A).
Affects on the Brain
· Hypnosis is characterized by a shift in brain activity from anterior (front) to posterior (back), human experiences are reflected in some way on the brain – seeing colors or motion are emphasized by activity in the visual cortex and feeling fear is mediated by activity in the amydygala, thus having observable effects on the brain.
· People who are susceptible to suggestion, show that when they act on the suggestions, their brains show profound changes in how the information is processed.
· The way information processes (from lower regions to higher region) exist for sensory information, creating a conscious impression, that moves from top to bottom.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
sites btw
1 http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/2008/04/18/the-pope-confronts-the-priest-sex-scandal.html
priest scandals
2 http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/national/2009/01/29/illinois-governor-blagojevich-bounced-from-office.html?PageNr=1
blago gov scandal
3 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,943698-1,00.html
police corruption
4 http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/04/20/2009-04-20_massachussetts_police_arrest_suspect_in_craigslist_killer_case.html
outrageous, craigslist killer 5http://0lion.chadwyck.com.library.moraine.cc.il.us/searchFulltext.do?id=R04085061&divLevel=0&queryId=../session/1240867195_26129&trailId=1204EF403A7&area=abell&forward=critref_ft
good mans hard to find
priest scandals
2 http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/national/2009/01/29/illinois-governor-blagojevich-bounced-from-office.html?PageNr=1
blago gov scandal
3 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,943698-1,00.html
police corruption
4 http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/04/20/2009-04-20_massachussetts_police_arrest_suspect_in_craigslist_killer_case.html
outrageous, craigslist killer 5http://0lion.chadwyck.com.library.moraine.cc.il.us/searchFulltext.do?id=R04085061&divLevel=0&queryId=../session/1240867195_26129&trailId=1204EF403A7&area=abell&forward=critref_ft
good mans hard to find
6-8 sources but i have 5
Ford, Beverly, Erica Pearson, and Helen Kennedy. "Cops have Philip Markoff, suspected 'Craigslist Killer' of model Julissa Brisman, in custody." New York News, Traffic, Sports, Weather, Entertainment and Gossip - NY Daily News. 23 Apr. 209. 26 Apr. 2009 .
Hooten, Jessica. "Individualism in O'Connor's A Good Man Is Hard to Find." 2008. LION. Moraine Valley Community College, Palos Heights, IL. 27 Apr. 2009.
Kingsbury, Alex. "The Pope Confronts the Priest Sex Scandal - US News and World Report." US News & World Report - Breaking News, World News, Business News, and America's Best Colleges - USNews.com. 18 Apr. 2008. 26 Apr. 2009.
Making Police Crime Unfashionable - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. 6 May 1974. 25 Apr. 2009.
Wills, Christopher. "Illinois Governor Blagojevich Bounced From Office - US News and World Report." US News & World Report - Breaking News, World News, Business News, and America's Best Colleges - USNews.com. 29 Jan. 2009. 28 Apr. 2009.
Hooten, Jessica. "Individualism in O'Connor's A Good Man Is Hard to Find." 2008. LION. Moraine Valley Community College, Palos Heights, IL. 27 Apr. 2009
Kingsbury, Alex. "The Pope Confronts the Priest Sex Scandal - US News and World Report." US News & World Report - Breaking News, World News, Business News, and America's Best Colleges - USNews.com. 18 Apr. 2008. 26 Apr. 2009
Making Police Crime Unfashionable - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. 6 May 1974. 25 Apr. 2009
Wills, Christopher. "Illinois Governor Blagojevich Bounced From Office - US News and World Report." US News & World Report - Breaking News, World News, Business News, and America's Best Colleges - USNews.com. 29 Jan. 2009. 28 Apr. 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
hypnosis process and treatment
The ever controversial therapist tool will forever be the use of hypnosis. Many will argue they are none other than a parlor trick or some sort of hoax that catches attention and fools, however others state that they can be very powerful if used correctly and by professional. Loosely defined, hypnosis is a procedure in which a hypnotist will induce a patient in a relaxed state and suggest certain changes that can help the patient alter and hopefully change certain behaviors they wish to ‘fix.’ These behaviors mostly consist of mental states such as perceptions, thoughts, feelings, but can also include sensations like pain (168). The theoretical idea of hypnosis is based upon personal opinion and belief at this point in time. The strength and effectiveness is all up to the eye of the beholder.
More Background Info
The idea of hypnosis is sometimes taken out of context and certain patients do not take effect to the treatment quite as easily as others or sometimes don’t take affect at all for reasons unknown. Many times the process will be a test to understand the performance of or the inability to perform certain acts while in the relaxed state of hypnosis. Before one can conceive the main point of the treatment or process, the misconceptions should be noted. Most researchers will discredit the idea of increased memory, the idea that the induced perform acts requested against their will, nor will it make one re-experience long ago events (168-169). The main point and purpose is to help psychological and medical problems. The process begins with the reassurance of relaxation and sometimes the concentration on colors or objects to put the patients in the desired mellow state. Once induced, pain management is a task of hypnosis to control. People with burns, cancer, women in childbirth, people with stress or anxiety, along with obese people and so forth will participate in a lesser stereotypical sort of hypnosis which helps them manage these pains or psychological problems.
Dissociation
One of the main ideas of what goes on during a hypnotic state would be classified as disassociation. An easy way to think of the radical idea is when one’s consciousness splits into two parts. One part of the brain listens and the other acts involuntarily to the one observing. A well known experiment done by Ernest Hilgard involved hypnotized subjects placing their arms into what would be painfully freezing water for any normal conscious mind. The subjects, once aware of their surroundings again, claimed to not feel discomfort (169-170). The idea is that the subject is split between the observer’s words and their own personal control of the situation.
Sociocognitive
The next most widely regarded theory as to explaining hypnosis is sociocognitive. In order to be induced, it strictly relies on one’s own belief in the possibility of hypnosis. A patient who firmly believes in the idea along with the influence of a hypnotist will affect the output. This idea is similar to one who leads a role play (170). The patient will typically have unexplained dreams or puzzling symptoms that they are looking for answers and once in these hypnotic states the role leader can try to work around finding the cause or purpose and analyze it.
Treatment by hypnosis will vary and seem notable similar to a stress management to a hoax in which men will walk around and quack. Influence and affectivness are credited by personal belief. There are many arguments against it, with researchers that still agree it can be affective. Through disassociation or sociocognitive, there are still unanswered questions out there that still leave it hard to fully deny the skeptics of the mind wandering experimentation.
More Background Info
The idea of hypnosis is sometimes taken out of context and certain patients do not take effect to the treatment quite as easily as others or sometimes don’t take affect at all for reasons unknown. Many times the process will be a test to understand the performance of or the inability to perform certain acts while in the relaxed state of hypnosis. Before one can conceive the main point of the treatment or process, the misconceptions should be noted. Most researchers will discredit the idea of increased memory, the idea that the induced perform acts requested against their will, nor will it make one re-experience long ago events (168-169). The main point and purpose is to help psychological and medical problems. The process begins with the reassurance of relaxation and sometimes the concentration on colors or objects to put the patients in the desired mellow state. Once induced, pain management is a task of hypnosis to control. People with burns, cancer, women in childbirth, people with stress or anxiety, along with obese people and so forth will participate in a lesser stereotypical sort of hypnosis which helps them manage these pains or psychological problems.
Dissociation
One of the main ideas of what goes on during a hypnotic state would be classified as disassociation. An easy way to think of the radical idea is when one’s consciousness splits into two parts. One part of the brain listens and the other acts involuntarily to the one observing. A well known experiment done by Ernest Hilgard involved hypnotized subjects placing their arms into what would be painfully freezing water for any normal conscious mind. The subjects, once aware of their surroundings again, claimed to not feel discomfort (169-170). The idea is that the subject is split between the observer’s words and their own personal control of the situation.
Sociocognitive
The next most widely regarded theory as to explaining hypnosis is sociocognitive. In order to be induced, it strictly relies on one’s own belief in the possibility of hypnosis. A patient who firmly believes in the idea along with the influence of a hypnotist will affect the output. This idea is similar to one who leads a role play (170). The patient will typically have unexplained dreams or puzzling symptoms that they are looking for answers and once in these hypnotic states the role leader can try to work around finding the cause or purpose and analyze it.
Treatment by hypnosis will vary and seem notable similar to a stress management to a hoax in which men will walk around and quack. Influence and affectivness are credited by personal belief. There are many arguments against it, with researchers that still agree it can be affective. Through disassociation or sociocognitive, there are still unanswered questions out there that still leave it hard to fully deny the skeptics of the mind wandering experimentation.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
the death penalty
The cornerstone of our nation was founded upon freedom and rights to all its’ people. Generations that have come and gone attempted to base these concepts on typical moral codes, however that have been known to conflict. One of the most heated debates we still pursue is the elusive answer to whether or not the death penalty is an acceptable punishment.
Since the States first began keeping records, more than 18,800 people have been executed within the 38 of the 50 states that still use the death penalty as of 1608. The state is typically in charge of deciding which methods to put to use consisting of lethal injection as the most popular followed by electrocution and there is also hanging, the gas chamber, along with a firing squad. The question though is whether or not they are cruel or unusual types of punishment which would conflict with the prisoner’s rights and amendments. Many arguments have been raised attempting to abolish the death penalty with the first recorded effort in the home of former president Benjamin Franklin during a meeting in 1787.
The six main arguments that counter the death penalty include: people on death row have been proven innocent later on, death is not an effective deterrent seeing how people still commit the crimes, by nature our legal system is arbitrary, it is discriminatory against minorities where they well outnumber whites, and the main point is that life is sacred and killing criminals makes you no better than the condemned.
The average time to sit on death row is approximately 10 years and 8 months which is a considerable amount of time to stew it over. A case between Elledge and Florida in 1998 was questionable whether a man awaiting the death penalty was being deprived the right of a speedy trial and so forth after being denied an appeal after the 23rd year when they filed it (now it has been even longer, 33 years!) In order to help reduce the time and other delays, during the case of McClesky vs. Zant in 1991 the number of appeals was limited and 2 months later during Coleman vs. Thompson, procedural default was eliminated which covers missing filing deadline appeals on time-solidifying a more certain ruling more so.
To contribute to the fight against the death penalty, the discovery of 124 innocent people within 25 different states have been freed from 1973-2007 especially with the new method of DNA testing paving the way to scientific truth. Eye witnesses have always been around, but there is no hiding from definite scientific reason. The jury is also there to make the decision and when the judge during the case of Ring vs. Arizona dismissed them, Ring found a loop hole to buy himself more time and open hundreds of over cases in which the judge made a sole decision also. What one man is worthy to decide another’s life is for the taking?
The death penalty has its pros and cons and I agree there are many men and women you just cannot seem to solve what to do with them, but at times death is just not morally the right thing to do. Vengeance for closure, the fact that some people just deserve it, and to protect others from the criminal to commit any more violent acts are reasons to rid ourselves of criminals if needed. The costs to use execution or to even have the possibility of its use runs extremely high along with the fact that obviously people still commit the crimes despite being aware of the outcome it presents. I for one argue the moral stance we take when allowing it and like to point out the dent it puts in a taxpayers wallet when it doesn’t scare these criminals. I feel punishment should take a different route because our jails are packed and those who do come out rarely are successfully rehabilitated.
Since the States first began keeping records, more than 18,800 people have been executed within the 38 of the 50 states that still use the death penalty as of 1608. The state is typically in charge of deciding which methods to put to use consisting of lethal injection as the most popular followed by electrocution and there is also hanging, the gas chamber, along with a firing squad. The question though is whether or not they are cruel or unusual types of punishment which would conflict with the prisoner’s rights and amendments. Many arguments have been raised attempting to abolish the death penalty with the first recorded effort in the home of former president Benjamin Franklin during a meeting in 1787.
The six main arguments that counter the death penalty include: people on death row have been proven innocent later on, death is not an effective deterrent seeing how people still commit the crimes, by nature our legal system is arbitrary, it is discriminatory against minorities where they well outnumber whites, and the main point is that life is sacred and killing criminals makes you no better than the condemned.
The average time to sit on death row is approximately 10 years and 8 months which is a considerable amount of time to stew it over. A case between Elledge and Florida in 1998 was questionable whether a man awaiting the death penalty was being deprived the right of a speedy trial and so forth after being denied an appeal after the 23rd year when they filed it (now it has been even longer, 33 years!) In order to help reduce the time and other delays, during the case of McClesky vs. Zant in 1991 the number of appeals was limited and 2 months later during Coleman vs. Thompson, procedural default was eliminated which covers missing filing deadline appeals on time-solidifying a more certain ruling more so.
To contribute to the fight against the death penalty, the discovery of 124 innocent people within 25 different states have been freed from 1973-2007 especially with the new method of DNA testing paving the way to scientific truth. Eye witnesses have always been around, but there is no hiding from definite scientific reason. The jury is also there to make the decision and when the judge during the case of Ring vs. Arizona dismissed them, Ring found a loop hole to buy himself more time and open hundreds of over cases in which the judge made a sole decision also. What one man is worthy to decide another’s life is for the taking?
The death penalty has its pros and cons and I agree there are many men and women you just cannot seem to solve what to do with them, but at times death is just not morally the right thing to do. Vengeance for closure, the fact that some people just deserve it, and to protect others from the criminal to commit any more violent acts are reasons to rid ourselves of criminals if needed. The costs to use execution or to even have the possibility of its use runs extremely high along with the fact that obviously people still commit the crimes despite being aware of the outcome it presents. I for one argue the moral stance we take when allowing it and like to point out the dent it puts in a taxpayers wallet when it doesn’t scare these criminals. I feel punishment should take a different route because our jails are packed and those who do come out rarely are successfully rehabilitated.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
fuck english
beseeching His aid in our good cause” is Twain’s condemnation of hypocritical patriotic and religious motivations for war. It was not published until after his death because of his family’s fear of public outrage, to which it is said Twain quipped “none but the dead are permitted to tell the truth.” Though he never renounced his Presbyterianism, he wrote other irreligious pieces, some included in his collection of short stories Letters From Earth (1909);
“Man is a marvelous curiosity. When he is at his very, very best he is a sort of low grade nickel-plated angel; at his worst he is unspeakable, unimaginable; and first and last and all the time he is a sarcasm.”
Mark Twain grew to despise the injustice of slavery and any form of senseless violence. He was opposed to vivisection and acted as Vice-President of the American Anti-Imperialist League for nine years. Through his works he illuminates the absurdity of humankind, ironically still at times labeled a racist. Though sometimes caustic “Of all the creatures that were made he [man] is the most detestable,” as a gifted public speaker he was a much sought after lecturer “information appears to stew out of me naturally, like the precious ottar of roses out of the otter.” —from his Preface to Roughing It (1872). He is the source of numerous and oft-quoted witticisms and quips including “Whenever I feel the urge to exercise I lie down until it goes away”; “If you don't like the weather in New England, just wait a few minutes”; “Familiarity breeds contempt — and children”; “The past does not repeat itself, but it rhymes” ; and “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” Twain is a master in crafting humorous verse with sardonic wit, and though with biting criticism at times he disarms with his renderings of colloquial speech and unpretentious language. Through the authentic depiction of his times he caused much controversy and many of his works have been suppressed, censored or banned, but even into the Twenty-First Century his works are read the world over by young and old alike. A prolific lecturer and writer even into his seventy-fourth year, he published more than thirty books, hundreds of essays, speeches, articles, reviews, and short stories, many still in print today.
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Early Years and Life on the River 1830-1860
Mark Twain was born in Florida, Missouri on 30 November 1835, the sixth child born to Jane Lampton (1803-1890) and John Marshall Clemens (1798-1847). In 1839 the Twain family moved to their Hill Street home, now the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum with its famous whitewashed fence, in the bustling port city of Hannibal, Missouri. Situated on the banks of the Mississippi river it would later provide a model for the fictitious town of St. Petersburg in Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.
When Twain’s father died in 1847 the family was left in financial straits, so eleven year old Samuel left school (he was in grade 5) and obtained his first of many jobs working with various newspapers and magazines including the Hannibal Courier as journeyman printer. “So I became a newspaperman. I hated to do it, but I couldn't find honest employment.” He also started writing, among his first stories “A Gallant Fireman” (1851) and “The Dandy Frightening the Squatter” (1852). After traveling to and working in New York and Philadelphia for a few years he moved back to St. Louis in 1857. It was here that the lure of the elegant steamboats and festive crowds drew his attention and he became an apprentice ‘cub’ river pilot under Horace Bixby, earning his license in 1858. As a successful pilot plying his trade between St. Louis and New Orleans, Twain also grew to love the second longest river in the world which he describes affectionately in his memoir Life on the Mississippi (1883).
“The face of the water, in time, became a wonderful book — a book that was a dead language to the uneducated passenger, but which told its mind to me without reserve, delivering its most cherished secrets as clearly as if it uttered them with a voice. And it was not a book to be read once and thrown aside, for it had a new story to tell every day.”
An important part of a river pilot’s craft is knowing the waters and depths, which, for the mighty Mississippi and her reefs, snags, and mud are ever changing. To ‘mark twain’ is to sound the depths and deem them safe for passage, the term adopted by Clemens as his pen name in 1863. In 1858 his brother Henry died in an explosion on the steamboat Pennsylvania. Life on the river would provide much fodder for Twain’s future works that are at times mystical, often sardonic and witty, always invaluable as insight into the human condition.
Beyond the Banks in the 1860’s
With the outbreak of Civil War in 1861 passage on the Mississippi was limited, so at the age of twenty-six Twain moved on from river life to the high desert valley in the silver mining town of Carson City, Nevada with his brother Orion, who had just been appointed Secretary of the Nevada Territory. He had never traveled out of the state but was excited to venture forth on the stagecoach in the days before railways, described in his semi-autobiographical novel Roughing It (1872). Twain tried his hand at mining on Jackass Hill in California in 1864, and also began a prolific period of reporting for numerous publications including the Territorial Enterprise, The Alta Californian, San Francisco Morning Call, Sacramento Union and The Galaxy. He traveled to various cities in America, met Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Charles Dickens in New York, and visited various countries in Europe, Hawaii, and the Holy Land which he based Innocents Abroad (1869) on. Short stories from this period include “Advice For Little Girls” (1867) and “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calavaras County” (1867).
Marriage, Tramping Abroad, and Success
In 1870 Twain married Olivia ‘Livy’ Langdon (1845-1904) with whom he would have four children. Three died before they reached their twenties but Clara (1870-1962) lived to the age of eighty-eight. The Twain’s home base was now Hartford, Connecticut, where in 1874 Twain built a home, though they traveled often. Apart from numerous short stories he wrote during this time and Tom Sawyer, Twain also collaborated on The Gilded Age (1873) with Charles Dudley Warner.
A Tramp Abroad (1880), Twain’s non-fiction satirical look at his trip through Germany, Italy, and the Alps and somewhat of a sequel to Innocents Abroad was followed by The Prince and the Pauper (1882). Hank Morgan, time traveler in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889) reflects Twain’s friendship with pioneering inventor and electrical engineer Nikola Tesla and interest in scientific inventions. Twain also continued to uphold a busy lecture series throughout the United States. In 1888 he was awarded an honorary Master of Art degree from Yale University.
For some years Twain had lost money in various money making schemes like mining, printing machines, the Charles L. Webster Publishing Co., and The Mark Twain Self-Pasting Scrap Book though he never lost his sense of humour. In 1892, friend and fellow humorist and author Robert Barr, writing as ‘Luke Sharp’ interviewed Twain for The Idler magazine that he owned with Jerome K. Jerome. Twain’s novel The American Claimant (1892) was followed by The Tragedy of Pudd'Nhead Wilson (1894), first serialized in Century Magazine. Tom Sawyer Abroad (1894) was followed by Tom Sawyer, Detective in 1896. His favourite fiction novel, Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc (1896) was first serialised in Harper’s Magazine. By 1895, unable to control his debts, he set off on a world lecture tour to Australia, Canada, Ceylon, India, New Zealand, and South Africa to pay them off. Following the Equator (1897) is his travelogue based on his tour, during which he met Mahatma Gandhi, Sigmund Freud, and Booker T. Washington.
With another successful lecture tour under his belt and now much admired and celebrated for his literary efforts, Mark, Livy and their daughter Jane settled in New York City. Yale University bestowed upon him an honorary Doctor of Letters degree in 1901 and in 1907 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters by Oxford University. The same year A Horse's Tale and Christian Science (1907) were published. While traveling in Italy in 1904, Livy died in Florence. For Twain’s 70th birthday on 30 November 1905 he was fêted at Delmonico’s restaurant in New York, where he delivered his famous birthday speech, wearing his trademark all-year round white suit. That year he was also a guest of American President Theodore ‘Teddy’ Roosevelt at the White House and addressed the congressional committee on copyright issues. He was also working on his biography with Albert Bigelow Paine. His daughter Jane became very sick and was committed to an institution, but died in 1909 of an epileptic seizure. In 1908 Twain had moved to his home ‘Stormfield’ in Redding, Connecticut, though he still actively traveled, especially to Bermuda.
Mark Twain died on 21 April 1910 in Redding, Connecticut and now rests in the Woodlawn Cemetery in Livy’s hometown of Elmira, New York State, buried beside her and the children. A memorial statue and cenotaph in the Eternal Valley Memorial Park of Los Angeles, California states: “Beloved Author, Humorist, and Western Pioneer, This Original Marble Statue Is The Creation Of The Renowned Italian Sculptor Spartaco Palla Of Pietrasanta.” Twain suffered many losses in his life including the deaths of three of his children, and accumulated large debts which plagued him for many years, but at the time of his death he had grown to mythic proportions as the voice of a spirited and diverse nation, keen observer and dutiful reporter, born and died when Halley’s Comet was visible in the skies.
“Death, the only immortal who treats us all alike, whose pity and whose peace and whose refuge are for all—the soiled and the pure, the rich and the poor, the loved and the unloved.” —Twain’s last written statement
Biography written by C.D. Merriman for Jalic Inc. Copyright Jalic Inc. 2006. All Rights Reserved.
“Man is a marvelous curiosity. When he is at his very, very best he is a sort of low grade nickel-plated angel; at his worst he is unspeakable, unimaginable; and first and last and all the time he is a sarcasm.”
Mark Twain grew to despise the injustice of slavery and any form of senseless violence. He was opposed to vivisection and acted as Vice-President of the American Anti-Imperialist League for nine years. Through his works he illuminates the absurdity of humankind, ironically still at times labeled a racist. Though sometimes caustic “Of all the creatures that were made he [man] is the most detestable,” as a gifted public speaker he was a much sought after lecturer “information appears to stew out of me naturally, like the precious ottar of roses out of the otter.” —from his Preface to Roughing It (1872). He is the source of numerous and oft-quoted witticisms and quips including “Whenever I feel the urge to exercise I lie down until it goes away”; “If you don't like the weather in New England, just wait a few minutes”; “Familiarity breeds contempt — and children”; “The past does not repeat itself, but it rhymes” ; and “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” Twain is a master in crafting humorous verse with sardonic wit, and though with biting criticism at times he disarms with his renderings of colloquial speech and unpretentious language. Through the authentic depiction of his times he caused much controversy and many of his works have been suppressed, censored or banned, but even into the Twenty-First Century his works are read the world over by young and old alike. A prolific lecturer and writer even into his seventy-fourth year, he published more than thirty books, hundreds of essays, speeches, articles, reviews, and short stories, many still in print today.
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Early Years and Life on the River 1830-1860
Mark Twain was born in Florida, Missouri on 30 November 1835, the sixth child born to Jane Lampton (1803-1890) and John Marshall Clemens (1798-1847). In 1839 the Twain family moved to their Hill Street home, now the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum with its famous whitewashed fence, in the bustling port city of Hannibal, Missouri. Situated on the banks of the Mississippi river it would later provide a model for the fictitious town of St. Petersburg in Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.
When Twain’s father died in 1847 the family was left in financial straits, so eleven year old Samuel left school (he was in grade 5) and obtained his first of many jobs working with various newspapers and magazines including the Hannibal Courier as journeyman printer. “So I became a newspaperman. I hated to do it, but I couldn't find honest employment.” He also started writing, among his first stories “A Gallant Fireman” (1851) and “The Dandy Frightening the Squatter” (1852). After traveling to and working in New York and Philadelphia for a few years he moved back to St. Louis in 1857. It was here that the lure of the elegant steamboats and festive crowds drew his attention and he became an apprentice ‘cub’ river pilot under Horace Bixby, earning his license in 1858. As a successful pilot plying his trade between St. Louis and New Orleans, Twain also grew to love the second longest river in the world which he describes affectionately in his memoir Life on the Mississippi (1883).
“The face of the water, in time, became a wonderful book — a book that was a dead language to the uneducated passenger, but which told its mind to me without reserve, delivering its most cherished secrets as clearly as if it uttered them with a voice. And it was not a book to be read once and thrown aside, for it had a new story to tell every day.”
An important part of a river pilot’s craft is knowing the waters and depths, which, for the mighty Mississippi and her reefs, snags, and mud are ever changing. To ‘mark twain’ is to sound the depths and deem them safe for passage, the term adopted by Clemens as his pen name in 1863. In 1858 his brother Henry died in an explosion on the steamboat Pennsylvania. Life on the river would provide much fodder for Twain’s future works that are at times mystical, often sardonic and witty, always invaluable as insight into the human condition.
Beyond the Banks in the 1860’s
With the outbreak of Civil War in 1861 passage on the Mississippi was limited, so at the age of twenty-six Twain moved on from river life to the high desert valley in the silver mining town of Carson City, Nevada with his brother Orion, who had just been appointed Secretary of the Nevada Territory. He had never traveled out of the state but was excited to venture forth on the stagecoach in the days before railways, described in his semi-autobiographical novel Roughing It (1872). Twain tried his hand at mining on Jackass Hill in California in 1864, and also began a prolific period of reporting for numerous publications including the Territorial Enterprise, The Alta Californian, San Francisco Morning Call, Sacramento Union and The Galaxy. He traveled to various cities in America, met Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Charles Dickens in New York, and visited various countries in Europe, Hawaii, and the Holy Land which he based Innocents Abroad (1869) on. Short stories from this period include “Advice For Little Girls” (1867) and “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calavaras County” (1867).
Marriage, Tramping Abroad, and Success
In 1870 Twain married Olivia ‘Livy’ Langdon (1845-1904) with whom he would have four children. Three died before they reached their twenties but Clara (1870-1962) lived to the age of eighty-eight. The Twain’s home base was now Hartford, Connecticut, where in 1874 Twain built a home, though they traveled often. Apart from numerous short stories he wrote during this time and Tom Sawyer, Twain also collaborated on The Gilded Age (1873) with Charles Dudley Warner.
A Tramp Abroad (1880), Twain’s non-fiction satirical look at his trip through Germany, Italy, and the Alps and somewhat of a sequel to Innocents Abroad was followed by The Prince and the Pauper (1882). Hank Morgan, time traveler in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889) reflects Twain’s friendship with pioneering inventor and electrical engineer Nikola Tesla and interest in scientific inventions. Twain also continued to uphold a busy lecture series throughout the United States. In 1888 he was awarded an honorary Master of Art degree from Yale University.
For some years Twain had lost money in various money making schemes like mining, printing machines, the Charles L. Webster Publishing Co., and The Mark Twain Self-Pasting Scrap Book though he never lost his sense of humour. In 1892, friend and fellow humorist and author Robert Barr, writing as ‘Luke Sharp’ interviewed Twain for The Idler magazine that he owned with Jerome K. Jerome. Twain’s novel The American Claimant (1892) was followed by The Tragedy of Pudd'Nhead Wilson (1894), first serialized in Century Magazine. Tom Sawyer Abroad (1894) was followed by Tom Sawyer, Detective in 1896. His favourite fiction novel, Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc (1896) was first serialised in Harper’s Magazine. By 1895, unable to control his debts, he set off on a world lecture tour to Australia, Canada, Ceylon, India, New Zealand, and South Africa to pay them off. Following the Equator (1897) is his travelogue based on his tour, during which he met Mahatma Gandhi, Sigmund Freud, and Booker T. Washington.
With another successful lecture tour under his belt and now much admired and celebrated for his literary efforts, Mark, Livy and their daughter Jane settled in New York City. Yale University bestowed upon him an honorary Doctor of Letters degree in 1901 and in 1907 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters by Oxford University. The same year A Horse's Tale and Christian Science (1907) were published. While traveling in Italy in 1904, Livy died in Florence. For Twain’s 70th birthday on 30 November 1905 he was fêted at Delmonico’s restaurant in New York, where he delivered his famous birthday speech, wearing his trademark all-year round white suit. That year he was also a guest of American President Theodore ‘Teddy’ Roosevelt at the White House and addressed the congressional committee on copyright issues. He was also working on his biography with Albert Bigelow Paine. His daughter Jane became very sick and was committed to an institution, but died in 1909 of an epileptic seizure. In 1908 Twain had moved to his home ‘Stormfield’ in Redding, Connecticut, though he still actively traveled, especially to Bermuda.
Mark Twain died on 21 April 1910 in Redding, Connecticut and now rests in the Woodlawn Cemetery in Livy’s hometown of Elmira, New York State, buried beside her and the children. A memorial statue and cenotaph in the Eternal Valley Memorial Park of Los Angeles, California states: “Beloved Author, Humorist, and Western Pioneer, This Original Marble Statue Is The Creation Of The Renowned Italian Sculptor Spartaco Palla Of Pietrasanta.” Twain suffered many losses in his life including the deaths of three of his children, and accumulated large debts which plagued him for many years, but at the time of his death he had grown to mythic proportions as the voice of a spirited and diverse nation, keen observer and dutiful reporter, born and died when Halley’s Comet was visible in the skies.
“Death, the only immortal who treats us all alike, whose pity and whose peace and whose refuge are for all—the soiled and the pure, the rich and the poor, the loved and the unloved.” —Twain’s last written statement
Biography written by C.D. Merriman for Jalic Inc. Copyright Jalic Inc. 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Monday, March 30, 2009
HUCKKKKKKKKK boom baby
During the Second World War, my grandfather was growing up in Poland which had been enduring great hardships. Not only was the country taken over by the Nazi regime, but my grandfather’s home and whole town had been wiped clean of the map and is now but a mere memory today. Eventually, he and his family were captured and put into camps which they later escaped and fled to America. Symbolism is all around us and it gives meaning to many things; holding up your index and middle finger is well known as the peace sign. America represented freedom to my grandpa and it does the same for many others. In the land of the free, we formed this country to grant ourselves and all who wish to come, freedom. However, over the years we have taken steps backwards. Mark Twain’s, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” a beloved novel and many others like it are threatened by censorship and banishment from schools and libraries year after year. Rights and freedom is what our nation swore to protect and with the attempt to censor these books we go against all we stand for.
The man behind “Huck Finn,” is masked behind a pseudonym and better known as Mark Twain. His real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens and he was born in 1835 and died in1910- both on the day the famous Hailey’s Comet is closest and visible from Earth (The Literature Network). As a boy, he grew up during the Civil War in Hannibal, Missouri which was a slave state at the time. The south had deeply influenced Twain and it was said that for this reason he received most ideas and also some personal experiences of his own which he incooperated into his novel about Huckleberry Finn (The Literature Network). The boy in the story grows up in a town much like Twain’s and deals with life on the Mississippi and other travels much like Twain (Kirby).
The book itself had taken some time to complete, but it was published in 1885 and right away began to take heat. One of the most controversial moments is when he allows a slave to go free and state he would rather be in Hell created an outburst. The culture of Huck’s society is represented by everything he rebels against, “He is defying the white, Christian, slave-holding morality of his day” (Kirby). The boy within the story rebels against his society he feels is corrupt. The book was outrageous at the time, “Twain attacked everything America held dear-family, religion, politics, money” (Kirby). This being the culture at the time were things most important to people. Obviously they were slave holders and giving African American’s rights especially a young white boy was wrong because it gave the wrong idea to other youths which most feel the book was intended for.
The cultural and social economic culture at the time of the books publication is realy represented within the book itself. The south in the 1880’s was for the most part represented by experiences Huck and Jim deal with. Twain attempts to capture accurate accounts what life was like and incooperate it within the novel. Through an explanation of the two on a raft, you can get an idea of what the south was like which Twain originated since most of the story mimics some of his childhood, “ Society driven by bigotry, violence, exploitation, greed, ignorance, and a sort of pandemic depravity” (Kaplan). The south was a crude place to live in during these times, but to others the raft in which the two floated on represented that freedom they sought. It was never fully proved whether Twain was racist or not-if anyone could be, but I do not believe he was.
The first banning of the book was in 1885, the year of its publication, by the Concord Massachusetts Public Library. The book was said to have “’Coarse language’” and “Use of common slang was demeaning and damaging” (Time). The idea that it would be an insult in a way if others were to read it and embarrass the southern states which it came from was something they did not want. Many things done by Huck were controversial as well as mentioned earlier how he rebels the southern morals and later called “’immoral and sacreligious’ by a Denver preacher” (Katz 99). It was also claimed by Parrington that “’The rebel Huck is no other than the rebel Mark Twain” (Katz 102). Mark Twain was a widely known figure beloved and hated at the same time. Today the reasoning behind the banning is now against the “N-word” in which it appears over 200 times which never raised questioning years ago when published (Time). In 1955, CBS TV made a version of their own story of Huck Finn which “Lacked single mention of slavery, or even African American cast members portraying Jim” (Time). This was done in order to keep a revised copy edited for the public-I feel they ruined the book by doing so.
In closing, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain was written during a different time then ours and we can clearly see it through the representation of the story itself which is fiction, but an accurate description of life in the south during the 1880’s. Covering up the book with censors and or banning or editing it to any degree is taking away our freedom and right to live. It is a misrepresentation of what true America is and what it suppose to be. If you don’t like the book, don’t read it!
The man behind “Huck Finn,” is masked behind a pseudonym and better known as Mark Twain. His real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens and he was born in 1835 and died in1910- both on the day the famous Hailey’s Comet is closest and visible from Earth (The Literature Network). As a boy, he grew up during the Civil War in Hannibal, Missouri which was a slave state at the time. The south had deeply influenced Twain and it was said that for this reason he received most ideas and also some personal experiences of his own which he incooperated into his novel about Huckleberry Finn (The Literature Network). The boy in the story grows up in a town much like Twain’s and deals with life on the Mississippi and other travels much like Twain (Kirby).
The book itself had taken some time to complete, but it was published in 1885 and right away began to take heat. One of the most controversial moments is when he allows a slave to go free and state he would rather be in Hell created an outburst. The culture of Huck’s society is represented by everything he rebels against, “He is defying the white, Christian, slave-holding morality of his day” (Kirby). The boy within the story rebels against his society he feels is corrupt. The book was outrageous at the time, “Twain attacked everything America held dear-family, religion, politics, money” (Kirby). This being the culture at the time were things most important to people. Obviously they were slave holders and giving African American’s rights especially a young white boy was wrong because it gave the wrong idea to other youths which most feel the book was intended for.
The cultural and social economic culture at the time of the books publication is realy represented within the book itself. The south in the 1880’s was for the most part represented by experiences Huck and Jim deal with. Twain attempts to capture accurate accounts what life was like and incooperate it within the novel. Through an explanation of the two on a raft, you can get an idea of what the south was like which Twain originated since most of the story mimics some of his childhood, “ Society driven by bigotry, violence, exploitation, greed, ignorance, and a sort of pandemic depravity” (Kaplan). The south was a crude place to live in during these times, but to others the raft in which the two floated on represented that freedom they sought. It was never fully proved whether Twain was racist or not-if anyone could be, but I do not believe he was.
The first banning of the book was in 1885, the year of its publication, by the Concord Massachusetts Public Library. The book was said to have “’Coarse language’” and “Use of common slang was demeaning and damaging” (Time). The idea that it would be an insult in a way if others were to read it and embarrass the southern states which it came from was something they did not want. Many things done by Huck were controversial as well as mentioned earlier how he rebels the southern morals and later called “’immoral and sacreligious’ by a Denver preacher” (Katz 99). It was also claimed by Parrington that “’The rebel Huck is no other than the rebel Mark Twain” (Katz 102). Mark Twain was a widely known figure beloved and hated at the same time. Today the reasoning behind the banning is now against the “N-word” in which it appears over 200 times which never raised questioning years ago when published (Time). In 1955, CBS TV made a version of their own story of Huck Finn which “Lacked single mention of slavery, or even African American cast members portraying Jim” (Time). This was done in order to keep a revised copy edited for the public-I feel they ruined the book by doing so.
In closing, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain was written during a different time then ours and we can clearly see it through the representation of the story itself which is fiction, but an accurate description of life in the south during the 1880’s. Covering up the book with censors and or banning or editing it to any degree is taking away our freedom and right to live. It is a misrepresentation of what true America is and what it suppose to be. If you don’t like the book, don’t read it!
mark twain stupid paper
5 "Mark Twain - Biography and Works." The Literature Network: Online classic literature, poems, and quotes. Essays & Summaries. 30 Mar. 2009 http://www.online-literature.com/twain/.
1 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Banned Books - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. 30 Mar. 2009 http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1842832_1842838_1844945,00.html.
3 Katz, John Stuart. "Controversial Novels and Censorship in the Schools." ERIC. Moraine Valley Community College, Palos Heights, IL. 23 Mar. 2009 http://0-firstsearch.oclc.org.library.moraine.cc.il.us/WebZ/FSPage?pagetype=return_frameset:sessionid=fsapp6-49451-fswt6uwj-x7p6hg:entitypagenum=4:0:entityframedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eric.ed.gov%2Fcontentdelivery%2Fservlet%2FERICServlet%3Faccno%3DED064261:entityframedtitle=ERIC:entityframedtimeout=10:entityopenTitle=:entityopenAuthor=:entityopenNumber=:
2 Kaplan, Justin. "Born to Trouble: One Hundred Years of Huckleberry Finn. The Center for the Book Viewpoint Series No. 13. Lecture Presented at the Broward County Library (Fort Lauderdale, Florida, September 11, 1984)." ERIC. Moraine Valley Community College, Palos Heights, IL. 23 Mar. 2009 http://http://0-firstsearch.oclc.org.library.moraine.cc.il.us/WebZ/FSPage?pagetype=return_frameset:sessionid=fsapp6-49451-fswswt8v-ln3g40:entitypagenum=3:0:entityframedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eric.ed.gov%2Fcontentdelivery%2Fservlet%2FERICServlet%3Faccno%3DED262416:entityframedtitle=ERIC:entityframedtimeout=10:entityopenTitle=:entityopenAuthor=:entityopenNumber=:
4 Kirby, David. "The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn By Mark Twain (1884)." LION. Moraine Valley Community College, Palos Heights, IL. 22 Mar. 2009 http://0-gateway.proquest.com.library.moraine.cc.il.us:80/openurl?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2003&xri:pqil:res_ver=0.2&res_id=xr i:lion-us&rft_id=xri:lion:rec:ref:ETN0005
1 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Banned Books - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. 30 Mar. 2009 http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1842832_1842838_1844945,00.html.
3 Katz, John Stuart. "Controversial Novels and Censorship in the Schools." ERIC. Moraine Valley Community College, Palos Heights, IL. 23 Mar. 2009 http://0-firstsearch.oclc.org.library.moraine.cc.il.us/WebZ/FSPage?pagetype=return_frameset:sessionid=fsapp6-49451-fswt6uwj-x7p6hg:entitypagenum=4:0:entityframedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eric.ed.gov%2Fcontentdelivery%2Fservlet%2FERICServlet%3Faccno%3DED064261:entityframedtitle=ERIC:entityframedtimeout=10:entityopenTitle=:entityopenAuthor=:entityopenNumber=:
2 Kaplan, Justin. "Born to Trouble: One Hundred Years of Huckleberry Finn. The Center for the Book Viewpoint Series No. 13. Lecture Presented at the Broward County Library (Fort Lauderdale, Florida, September 11, 1984)." ERIC. Moraine Valley Community College, Palos Heights, IL. 23 Mar. 2009 http://http://0-firstsearch.oclc.org.library.moraine.cc.il.us/WebZ/FSPage?pagetype=return_frameset:sessionid=fsapp6-49451-fswswt8v-ln3g40:entitypagenum=3:0:entityframedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eric.ed.gov%2Fcontentdelivery%2Fservlet%2FERICServlet%3Faccno%3DED262416:entityframedtitle=ERIC:entityframedtimeout=10:entityopenTitle=:entityopenAuthor=:entityopenNumber=:
4 Kirby, David. "The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn By Mark Twain (1884)." LION. Moraine Valley Community College, Palos Heights, IL. 22 Mar. 2009 http://0-gateway.proquest.com.library.moraine.cc.il.us:80/openurl?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2003&xri:pqil:res_ver=0.2&res_id=xr i:lion-us&rft_id=xri:lion:rec:ref:ETN0005
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
BETCHES
Works Cited
Graham, Mary G. "Sleep Needs, Patterns, and Difficulties of Adolescents." 2001. EBSCO. ERIC. Moraine Valley Community College, Palos Heights, IL. 18 Mar. 2009.
Banks, Karen. "What Research Says About Teenagers and Sleep." Mar. 2001. EBSCO. ERIC. Moraine Valley Community College, Palos Heights, IL. 19 Mar. 2009.
Hamilton, Nancy A., et al. "Insomnia and Well-Being." Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 75.6 (2007): 939-946.
Graham, Mary G. "Sleep Needs, Patterns, and Difficulties of Adolescents." 2001. EBSCO. ERIC. Moraine Valley Community College, Palos Heights, IL. 18 Mar. 2009
Banks, Karen. "What Research Says About Teenagers and Sleep." Mar. 2001. EBSCO. ERIC. Moraine Valley Community College, Palos Heights, IL. 19 Mar. 2009
Hamilton, Nancy A., et al. "Insomnia and Well-Being." Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 75.6 (2007): 939-946.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
quiz 2
1. He sees queen Dido, hes lost in amazement at all her beauty and the crowds of warriors that surround her-must have been some site to see.
2. He was separated from his men bc of a storm while at sea, they feel he may be dead. They still like him though.
3. Respects the men, feels pity, even offers them to stay on their land.
4. Believes Juno may use Dido to impede on Aenea’s quest to Italy.
5. Made Cupid look like Ascanius so he can switch places and then make Dido fall in love with Aenas so to not side with Juno.
6. Guards the rivers and waters of the underworld. Ferries the dead across.
7. He went in search of his father.
8. Yes-they were given such a beautiful gift which is life and then they throw it away foolishly.
9. Learn to be just and not to slight the gods.
10. Because he shot him with one of his arrows.
11. She is turned into a tree.
12. He thought a lion killed her and blamed himself for it so he kills himself and she sees he killed himself over her so she in turn kills herself also.
13. Because they died under it and the gods were moved by their actions, from now on theyre purple.
14. Provides rules and instructions for everyday life and the prophets, which represents the sayings of writings of seers who understand to be the voices of god.
15. All deal with nature of gods existence and power, relationship of god and humans, and the role god plays in the lives of humans and history.
16. Both include struggles similar to renouncing temptation-Jesus and Job don’t give in, heroes.
17. He blessed it and called it holy-day of rest.
18. Dust from the earth, then he blew the breath of life into his nostrils. He used a rib of Adams to create Eve.
19. Told her she wont die from eating the fruit, she would become divine like god.
20. Says Eve gave it to her.
21. The worlds people were corrupted with evil and he wanted to end it.
22. He sees him as a faithful and righteous man.
23. Because god gives him nothing but fortune and without he would blaspheme god.
24. He says nothing to Job.
25. Restores his fortune twice what he had before and blessed the rest of his life.
26. In order to prove to god they are worthy of his blessing, if so, he shows them great mercy and provides them with fortune.
27. Blessed are those pure in heart, for they shall see god. I think people are normally good because they expect to gain the same benefits . its hard to truly want to do good for others out of the kindness of your own heart without expectations of being reimbursed.
28. Don’t brag about giving, don’t show off with praying, and don’t pray empty phases.
29. Cant blame or persecute others, think of your own thoughts youre blinded from.
30. To enter heaven is a task, but path of destruction is easy and many follow this. The path to heaven is much harder and fewer make it in.
2. He was separated from his men bc of a storm while at sea, they feel he may be dead. They still like him though.
3. Respects the men, feels pity, even offers them to stay on their land.
4. Believes Juno may use Dido to impede on Aenea’s quest to Italy.
5. Made Cupid look like Ascanius so he can switch places and then make Dido fall in love with Aenas so to not side with Juno.
6. Guards the rivers and waters of the underworld. Ferries the dead across.
7. He went in search of his father.
8. Yes-they were given such a beautiful gift which is life and then they throw it away foolishly.
9. Learn to be just and not to slight the gods.
10. Because he shot him with one of his arrows.
11. She is turned into a tree.
12. He thought a lion killed her and blamed himself for it so he kills himself and she sees he killed himself over her so she in turn kills herself also.
13. Because they died under it and the gods were moved by their actions, from now on theyre purple.
14. Provides rules and instructions for everyday life and the prophets, which represents the sayings of writings of seers who understand to be the voices of god.
15. All deal with nature of gods existence and power, relationship of god and humans, and the role god plays in the lives of humans and history.
16. Both include struggles similar to renouncing temptation-Jesus and Job don’t give in, heroes.
17. He blessed it and called it holy-day of rest.
18. Dust from the earth, then he blew the breath of life into his nostrils. He used a rib of Adams to create Eve.
19. Told her she wont die from eating the fruit, she would become divine like god.
20. Says Eve gave it to her.
21. The worlds people were corrupted with evil and he wanted to end it.
22. He sees him as a faithful and righteous man.
23. Because god gives him nothing but fortune and without he would blaspheme god.
24. He says nothing to Job.
25. Restores his fortune twice what he had before and blessed the rest of his life.
26. In order to prove to god they are worthy of his blessing, if so, he shows them great mercy and provides them with fortune.
27. Blessed are those pure in heart, for they shall see god. I think people are normally good because they expect to gain the same benefits . its hard to truly want to do good for others out of the kindness of your own heart without expectations of being reimbursed.
28. Don’t brag about giving, don’t show off with praying, and don’t pray empty phases.
29. Cant blame or persecute others, think of your own thoughts youre blinded from.
30. To enter heaven is a task, but path of destruction is easy and many follow this. The path to heaven is much harder and fewer make it in.
Monday, February 9, 2009
The Terrible Reality
The real world is a place that can be clouded or opaque. The future starts out bright, shining with optimism and dreams, but all too quick this is snatched away with age and the understanding of what this world truly holds. Peril and evil lurk along with confusion and moral decisions. Choices have to be made and the realization that the world is not as simple as we are lead to believe, but a complex one; David Kaplan’s Doe Season plays host to this concept through nine-year old Andy’s while on her first hunting trip. Andrea for the first time has a glimpse of the real world and loses her innocence when faced with questions and undergoing her own physical and mental changes finding out who she really is.
In order for a character to become its own identity it has to begin to grow by wondering which in turn creates this idea of self. At moments in the story you come across the two kids, Mac and Andy, where their age is truly shown. They do not know what they are supposed to be doing so they tend to watch the older adults and mimic them. Mac who wants to be seen as an older kid is caught repeating his father at times, “’Too late to go after them,’ Charlie muttered. ‘It’ll be dark in a quarter hour. Damn!’ ‘Damn,’ Mac echoed” (Kaplan 306). Andy was also caught in the act, “Andy held the cup the way her father did, not by the handle but around the rim” (Kaplan 305). This far in the story, both of these characters are still children learning. They do not fend for themselves yet whatsoever. They copy their parents and cannot yet act on their own. However, Andy begins to speak on her behalf as the story prolongs showing growth. Mac begins to test her and she starts opening up, “Mac said into the darkness, ‘I bet you really didn’t see no deer, did you?’ She sighed. ‘I did, Mac. Why would I lie’” (Kaplan 306). She voices her own un-influenced thoughts and not only thinks them but says them with authority. She is beginning to define her own personal self; she is growing up.
Andy lives within a small, narrow mind only seeing so little. She is merely emerging from her shell and stepping out into the real world and now picturing how vast it really is. Andy’s world begins with her house and the patch of woods behind her house and that’s the way she liked to think of it. She goes on saying, “They stretch all the way to here, she thought, for miles and miles, longer than I could walk in a day, or a week even, but they are still the same woods” (Kaplan 302). She is unaware of the sheer magnitude of landscape this world holds. Andy is confronted with something she does not quite understand when she first steps out of this enclosure while on a trip to the ocean, “Everything lay hidden. If you walked in it, you couldn’t see how deep it was or what might be below” (Kaplan 305). Upon leaving her sanctuary she is greeted with this place she did not know existed and it scares her. It also can be a metaphor for the future. We tend to fear things we do not see or understand. Andy cannot see what lie under the water, nor can she see what the future hold in store for her. It signifies a moment in her life when she begins to realize life does not revolve around her. This moment of growth begins to set in motion and sets the stage for her next upcoming life lesson.
As children, we are hidden to many things and it seems like life is okay and we are hand fed everything, making it simple. When things are simple, nothing wrong can happen because things go right over our heads. Andy first seems eager to go hunting and never complains. She wants to prove she is old enough. She doesn’t know what this means; does she truly know the grisly end of the deer or the site of the deer being gutted? On the trip to the hunting grounds, we see how blind she really is and her age shows, “There has to be one moment when it all changes from dark to light, Andy thought. She had missed it yesterday, in the car; today she would watch more closely” (Kaplan 308). She is still so very young and is trying to understand things like how day turns to night. This is also a metaphor, she is still very young and this moment she is looking for is her seeing the world as it truly is. When she says she says she will watch more closely, perhaps she considers she is going to begin to search for answers. She is through being told things are alright, she wants to know the truth. This truth is the complexity of the world.
Andy begins to see and feel things after she is forced to make a moral decision. This moment was the shooting of the doe. It is the moment her life begins to turn upside down here now and after, “He was looking at her; they were all looking at her. Suddenly she was angry at the deer, who refused to hear them, who wouldn’t run away even when it could. ‘I’ll shoot it’” (Kaplan 310). She is pressured, she has to speak out for herself and define herself as a person. In the beginning she was hopeful and thought nothing of the hunt, but now she is becoming her own identity and thinking on her own without words begin put in her mouth. She goes ahead with the shot, but is soon faced with the killing of the doe in a nightmare later. The idea of watching something so beautiful and graceful shot down, and run scared shatters her childhood innocence introducing her first hand to evils within the world.
Along with the shooting of the deer, Andy was also faced with another question, “’She’s always been Andy to me,’ her father said. Charlie spoon was still grinning. ‘So what are you gonna be, Andrea? A boy or a girl’” (Kaplan 309). Andy’s father speaks for her saying how she has always been Andy to him, but this is not said by Andy. She is beginning to change from following along with her father and have a say with her life. There is also a meaning behind doe season rather buck season. Andy is faced with being asked, are you going to be a boy or girl when you grow up. Killing the doe signifies killing her future of being a woman. She hunts and fishes like the men and now she would be killing off her own existence as a woman with the pull of the trigger. Andy is in a dilemma and is beginning to go against the hunt.
The moment Andy finally makes her decision that she clearly stands out and defines herself is the last scene of the story. The men gut the deer in front of Andy who is horrified and runs off. They begin to call her, but she makes her choice, “crying Andy, Andy (but that wasn’t her name, she would no longer be called that)” (Kaplan 314). She wants to be a woman, but now is vaulted into a whole new world of confusion because she is now on her own; she is not following her father’s choices, but hers alone. It is once again like the sea where she is afraid and out of her comfort zone, “all around her roared the mocking of the terrible, now inevitable, sea” (Kaplan 314). Andrea, as she is called now, feels lost once again and sees the world as it is. The world, it is vast, filled with evil, and the unknown-which we fear.
Andy is a dynamic character who we can all relate to. We begin our youth as ignorant people, unaware of what lies outside our narrow minds. As we begin to grow, we see things we cannot yet understand and begin to be curious. Once we reach out and think and act on our own, we see things we have not yet seen before. We learn that there are things we cannot control and bad will happen. It all seems to hit us like Andrea thought the light just turned to dark. We soon grow to learn that the inevitable sea, the future, will hold certain death and the rest be unknown. It’s a scary place out there, and we slowly build it up until it hits us all at once.
The real world is a place that can be clouded or opaque. The future starts out bright, shining with optimism and dreams, but all too quick this is snatched away with age and the understanding of what this world truly holds. Peril and evil lurk along with confusion and moral decisions. Choices have to be made and the realization that the world is not as simple as we are lead to believe, but a complex one; David Kaplan’s Doe Season plays host to this concept through nine-year old Andy’s while on her first hunting trip. Andrea for the first time has a glimpse of the real world and loses her innocence when faced with questions and undergoing her own physical and mental changes finding out who she really is.
In order for a character to become its own identity it has to begin to grow by wondering which in turn creates this idea of self. At moments in the story you come across the two kids, Mac and Andy, where their age is truly shown. They do not know what they are supposed to be doing so they tend to watch the older adults and mimic them. Mac who wants to be seen as an older kid is caught repeating his father at times, “’Too late to go after them,’ Charlie muttered. ‘It’ll be dark in a quarter hour. Damn!’ ‘Damn,’ Mac echoed” (Kaplan 306). Andy was also caught in the act, “Andy held the cup the way her father did, not by the handle but around the rim” (Kaplan 305). This far in the story, both of these characters are still children learning. They do not fend for themselves yet whatsoever. They copy their parents and cannot yet act on their own. However, Andy begins to speak on her behalf as the story prolongs showing growth. Mac begins to test her and she starts opening up, “Mac said into the darkness, ‘I bet you really didn’t see no deer, did you?’ She sighed. ‘I did, Mac. Why would I lie’” (Kaplan 306). She voices her own un-influenced thoughts and not only thinks them but says them with authority. She is beginning to define her own personal self; she is growing up.
Andy lives within a small, narrow mind only seeing so little. She is merely emerging from her shell and stepping out into the real world and now picturing how vast it really is. Andy’s world begins with her house and the patch of woods behind her house and that’s the way she liked to think of it. She goes on saying, “They stretch all the way to here, she thought, for miles and miles, longer than I could walk in a day, or a week even, but they are still the same woods” (Kaplan 302). She is unaware of the sheer magnitude of landscape this world holds. Andy is confronted with something she does not quite understand when she first steps out of this enclosure while on a trip to the ocean, “Everything lay hidden. If you walked in it, you couldn’t see how deep it was or what might be below” (Kaplan 305). Upon leaving her sanctuary she is greeted with this place she did not know existed and it scares her. It also can be a metaphor for the future. We tend to fear things we do not see or understand. Andy cannot see what lie under the water, nor can she see what the future hold in store for her. It signifies a moment in her life when she begins to realize life does not revolve around her. This moment of growth begins to set in motion and sets the stage for her next upcoming life lesson.
As children, we are hidden to many things and it seems like life is okay and we are hand fed everything, making it simple. When things are simple, nothing wrong can happen because things go right over our heads. Andy first seems eager to go hunting and never complains. She wants to prove she is old enough. She doesn’t know what this means; does she truly know the grisly end of the deer or the site of the deer being gutted? On the trip to the hunting grounds, we see how blind she really is and her age shows, “There has to be one moment when it all changes from dark to light, Andy thought. She had missed it yesterday, in the car; today she would watch more closely” (Kaplan 308). She is still so very young and is trying to understand things like how day turns to night. This is also a metaphor, she is still very young and this moment she is looking for is her seeing the world as it truly is. When she says she says she will watch more closely, perhaps she considers she is going to begin to search for answers. She is through being told things are alright, she wants to know the truth. This truth is the complexity of the world.
Andy begins to see and feel things after she is forced to make a moral decision. This moment was the shooting of the doe. It is the moment her life begins to turn upside down here now and after, “He was looking at her; they were all looking at her. Suddenly she was angry at the deer, who refused to hear them, who wouldn’t run away even when it could. ‘I’ll shoot it’” (Kaplan 310). She is pressured, she has to speak out for herself and define herself as a person. In the beginning she was hopeful and thought nothing of the hunt, but now she is becoming her own identity and thinking on her own without words begin put in her mouth. She goes ahead with the shot, but is soon faced with the killing of the doe in a nightmare later. The idea of watching something so beautiful and graceful shot down, and run scared shatters her childhood innocence introducing her first hand to evils within the world.
Along with the shooting of the deer, Andy was also faced with another question, “’She’s always been Andy to me,’ her father said. Charlie spoon was still grinning. ‘So what are you gonna be, Andrea? A boy or a girl’” (Kaplan 309). Andy’s father speaks for her saying how she has always been Andy to him, but this is not said by Andy. She is beginning to change from following along with her father and have a say with her life. There is also a meaning behind doe season rather buck season. Andy is faced with being asked, are you going to be a boy or girl when you grow up. Killing the doe signifies killing her future of being a woman. She hunts and fishes like the men and now she would be killing off her own existence as a woman with the pull of the trigger. Andy is in a dilemma and is beginning to go against the hunt.
The moment Andy finally makes her decision that she clearly stands out and defines herself is the last scene of the story. The men gut the deer in front of Andy who is horrified and runs off. They begin to call her, but she makes her choice, “crying Andy, Andy (but that wasn’t her name, she would no longer be called that)” (Kaplan 314). She wants to be a woman, but now is vaulted into a whole new world of confusion because she is now on her own; she is not following her father’s choices, but hers alone. It is once again like the sea where she is afraid and out of her comfort zone, “all around her roared the mocking of the terrible, now inevitable, sea” (Kaplan 314). Andrea, as she is called now, feels lost once again and sees the world as it is. The world, it is vast, filled with evil, and the unknown-which we fear.
Andy is a dynamic character who we can all relate to. We begin our youth as ignorant people, unaware of what lies outside our narrow minds. As we begin to grow, we see things we cannot yet understand and begin to be curious. Once we reach out and think and act on our own, we see things we have not yet seen before. We learn that there are things we cannot control and bad will happen. It all seems to hit us like Andrea thought the light just turned to dark. We soon grow to learn that the inevitable sea, the future, will hold certain death and the rest be unknown. It’s a scary place out there, and we slowly build it up until it hits us all at once.
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