Teach a Text (Letisia & Patty, Danielle & Alyssa)

Magic Madness-
I have not witnessed a live magic trick, so I will share my thoughts on the 'Walking on Water' video we watched today in class. Criss Angel is known for performing crazy stunts, such as walking on water. I don't know whether or not I believe in 'magic' itself. I second guess everything I come across, so after watching Criss Angel walk on water I partially want to believe he actually did it...but the idea of a glass platform is lingering in the back of my mind. Yes, it is quite impressive but I can't really believe it. If I was in the pool when he had done this stunt, then my thoughts would be different. Don't get me wrong, I could easily watch magic tricks and be entertained but the idea of actually performing 'magic' is a little...odd for me. I have seen Criss do other stunts (life threatening ones) and have wondered how he does this. He is putting his life, literally, on the line and does stunts with such caution and doesn't seem nervous. I don't believe I would ever want to reenact magic tricks which could potentially put my life in danger, but I have to say magic is interesting.

Broken Families-
I really enjoyed looking at these statistics and was really shocked at the numbers. Some were insane; mother and stepfather (5.3%) while a single mother reaches 5.79%. I do believe that if one lives with his/her mother, the child will have a less chance of falling into substance abuse rather than living with one's mother and stepfather. From what I have seen, mothers are more involved, so to speak, in what their child engages in. My parents are together so I cannot say much about mothers always being there, but I know my mother would be constantly worrying if she hadn't heard from me rather than my dad who wouldn't be as concerned. (Then again my mother is very over-protective). Overall, I do believe these statistics are somewhat correct but I can't relate to them.

Guaman Poma translation

Arrival of the Spanish in Tumbez (page 46)

   This story, repeated on page 375 is allegorical. The discoverers Columbus, Vasco Nunez de Balboa and Juan Diaz de Solis, explorer of the Yucatan and Brazilian coasts, are along side the explorers of Peru. Despite being mistaken by the exact dates, Guaman Poma has not mistaken the chronology of these events; finds the discovery of the New World by Columbus in the year 1493, in the Pacific by Balboa in 1512 and the River of Silver by Diaz de Solis in 1513 (p 370, 374). That is why we interpret this drawing as an allegory: All of the expectations formed a single phenomenon; the voyage of Columbus was the navigation that brought Europe to America.

The Things They Carried-Final Essay

Mary Anne Bell is an innocent and sweet girl, more commonly known as Mark Fossie's girlfriend. She is introduced in "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong" and flies in from Ohio as part of Fossie's wish. Everyone loved her, Fossie, Rat and the other servicemen. Rat described her as "...a very attractive girl. Too wide in the shoulders, maybe, but she had terrific legs, a bubbly personality, a happy smile...she gave off a kind of come-get-me energy, coy and flirtatious" (95). Mary Anne had been a curious child, but as she began to experience the real-life scenario of being a soldier, she was curious about things such as the Vietnamese. Lieutenant Cross’s “fictional girlfriend” Martha, appears in a few chapters but has more of an effect on Cross during the short story “The Things They Carried”. She is his fantasy and has nothing to do with the war; in fact she makes him “leave” the war so to speak while he daydreams about her. She represents escapism. Although he resides in Vietnam, for the time being, Cross fantasizes how she can be. “Her legs, he thought, were almost certainly the legs of a virgin, dry and without hair, the left knee cocked and carrying her entire weight, which was just over one hundred pounds” (4).

In “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong”, Mary Anne is still the innocent sweet girl servicemen thought her to be. She had the same characteristics as Martha. Everyone loved her. She became comfortable being around incoming casualties and aided as they came in. This womanly presence by Mary Anne is said to be comforting to the servicemen. As the third week rolled along, Mary Anne had a change of character. She became overpowered by the nature of Vietnam; the culture, the war, the land. She is consumed by Vietnam. After Fossie “compromises” with Mary Anne, he tells the servicemen there would no longer be ambushes or late nights from her. “The next morning she was gone. The six Greenies were gone, too” (105). Mary Anne went on her own adventure exploring with the Vietnamese. Little did any of the servicemen know she wouldn’t be the innocent sweet girl any longer. “Rat listened for a time, then shook his head. ‘Man, you must be deaf. She’s already gone’ “(112). To the servicemen Mary Anne represented the ideal woman, such as Martha to Lieutenant Cross.

Both women presented in The Things They Carried were a form of distraction from the Vietnam War; Martha to Cross and Mary Anne to Fossie and the servicemen. Martha is the ultimate form of escapism for Cross. She’s the ideal person for Cross but is unaware of how the situation with her really is and how she can be different. She provided him strength all throughout the war. The contrast between Martha and Mary Anne was very much similar but diminished when Mary Anne’s lack of care and fearless behavior came into play. Fossie longed for the ‘old’ Mary Anne as she changed and began to take part in the late-night ambushes. The image of his innocent girlfriend from Ohio became abated. Mary Anne showed many of Martha’s characteristics to the men before she herself began to show those of the men. Mary Anne is the incarnation of American arrogance. She was consumed by the Vietnamese culture. The behavior of the servicemen altered much to their first impression of her as the innocent seventeen year old girl.

Vietnam War photo

Seeing as how I don't precisely like anything that pertains to war, I decided to look for a relatively humorous (more like one that makes me smile) picture with such effect.

Name of photograph: 0309

This photograph demonstrates that the lives of the soldiers was inevitably difficult during the Vietnam War but some still managed to have faith every day they were out there fighting. Moses Sassoon, the young officer pictured in the photograph, is an enthusiastic 19 year-old boy who never thought he would be fighting in a war let alone the Vietnam War. He comes from the small town of Gibson, Arkansas, population 3,543. Moses is very family oriented so when he received the news of being sent away to fight, he was in deep shock. Struggling to keep his head up, Moses cherished each and every moment he got to spend with his family and friends. Out of all the two hundred male students on their way to complete their first year of college, Moses had been the only one drafted for the war. Sure, the thought of being the 'chosen one' was frightening but Moses felt cherished in a way. As the morning of May twelfth arrived, Moses said his goodbyes and hopped on a bus. 

 

The photograph pictures Sassoon shaving at the An Khe base camp while using a mud puddle as both a sink and mirror. Although Moses longs for his family on a daily basis, he does not utter how much he doesn't want to be there. He thought himself as being cherished but little did he know he would be anything but cherished when drafted.
 

What will stick with me is the smile Moses bears. The surroundings are damp and muddy. Tents have fallen down and trees are no longer within sight; but although Moses has no relatives with him only smelly other guys, he still manages to smile...even when he is shaving after a long day of combat.

Racial Profiling

From three of the sources I read online about racial profiling in addition to an editorial and a person essay, I came to the conclusion that racial profiling is unnecessary and inequitable. Reading articles from different situations where airport security has occurred has furthered my knowledge in this unfair treatment towards people of a different race.

• "In a time of declared war, the United States may imprison or deport nationals of enemy nations". I completely understand how the United States is protecting its citizens but we should also take into account that there are others who mean to do no harm to our country.
• In this article, David Harris argues that racial profiling is "unnecessary an an ineffective tool in the fight against terrorism".
• "But our actions must pass a basic test that racial profiling fails: they must help, not hinder, our efforts to fight terrorism and keep Americans safe". Here Harris states the unimportance of racial profiling.
• the United States is going through unnecessary actions by profiling people; we can't see past anyone if we don't talk/interact with them.
• Okey Ifionu expresses her experience through airport security in Terrorism-Profiling Won't Help.
• " 'Do you have any dangerous substance with you?' Did he expect me to say yes even if I did? " Ifionu realized that just because she was Nigerian, the immigration officer at the airport assumed the worst of her and questioned her more than her colleagues from Latin America and Europe.
• As Ifionu states, "There is definitely something bizarre about a policy that discriminates against people on the basis of their colour and religion". In addition, people should see past the physical look of someone and not assume the worst.

Book progress #2

As promised, here is the Power of Context and its attributes to social epidemics. Malcolm Gladwell states that the Power of Context is the idea that epidemics are sensitive to the context, or the time and place in which they occur. In other words, if the context of something is not right it is very likely that the "tipping point" will not occur. An example Gladwell uses to further the significance of the third rule of epidemics is crime in New York City. He introduces the Broken Windows theory and explains that maintaining and monitoring urban environments in a well-ordered condition may stop further vandalism and the increase into more serious crime. In an effort to decrease crime rates and practice the Broken Windows theory, the New York Transit Authority hired George Kelling who then proceeded to establish the theory. The company obliged and hired David Gunn, a subway director who would oversee the subway system. As he "investigated" throughout the city, advocates told Gunn to not worry about the graffiti. In other words, focus more on the larger questions of crime. Perplexed, Gunn insisted he do the opposite. "The graffiti was symbolic of the collapse of the system. When you look at the process of rebuilding the organization and morale, you had to win the battle against graffiti" (142). The city began removing graffiti from subway trains and nabbing fare-beaters one by one. By changing the context of subways, the crime rate declined in New York City.

Senior Project #3

As time progresses I keep pushing Senior Project to the back of my mind, seriously. I haven't met with my mentor other than the day I interviewed him or really put much thought into getting in shape/training for my run. I did start running once again but not as long distances as I ran before my injury. I should call Greg and go on a run with him one of these days. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow? No, I will call him tomorrow. I need to pick it up. These past three weeks have been dedicated to college and scholarship applications ergo no time to work on my project. As soon as I complete applications my entire focus will be on my project. Research paper? Who has time for that? I know, I'm a slacker. I plan to check out books regarding the epidemic of obesity and healthy living. My paper will focus on how the importance of fitness has increased with the rise of obesity. I plan to read books and newspaper articles on how obesity in America has increased over the past decade. As I keep running I can feel myself getting stronger, striving to accomplish my goal of finishing a half marathon. Another problem I have come across is picking an event. I would like to run here in Napa but I would need to pick half marathons before May. I also have to take into consideration the weather; do I really want to be running 13.1 miles in the rain? Seeing as how the forecast is very unpredictable in Napa I hope to run in either late March or early April.