America's History and it different ethnic groups

Throughout american history, many immigrants of diverse culture came to america hoping for a better life. Over the years living theire, certain groups developed different views of the American society. Some of them thought of it as a place of freedom. In the story In American Society, this is presented through many different events. The main characters father is glad to be in America and hopes that they make more money so his daughters will get to go to college. One of her fathers workers was grateful for American because he could make more money their and live a better life.Also in the color of water Rachel was grateful her children could get a better education there. Other immigratns gained a bad perspective of it because Americans often were disrespectful towards immigrants. For example, In The Color of Water, Rachel was glad her children could get a good education their, but as a teenager, she was often discriminated and treated differently. When she got married to a black man, americans rejected her and shamed her by saying mean thlings. This in some ways gave her a bad view of america.

Community can hugely be effected by it's history. It can help make it stronger and more prepared for the future. It can also change people's point of view of things. In American Society, it shows the mistreatment of their chinese family at the end. Also in the The secret Life of Bees, blacks were mistreated even after the the civil rights act was passed and over the years people had to get used to the  fact that blacks deserved the same rights that they did. Also over those years many Americans learned to treat other cultures fairly as well. If none ofthis had happened we may have still had a society like this today. It also effects the community today in that we will be more prepared for change in the future years.

Respecting others and yourself

  Respect is a very significant thing in our lives. Who we respect or are respected by can effect the lives of people around us, as well as in turn what kind of people they will respect. Many are aware that they should be respectful, to each other but unfortunately in the midst of tough times, it becomes increasingly difficult. Back in the early to mid 1900s, this was an issue between black and white people. Blacks were disrespected because of their skin color and portrayed as bad people. In response to this disrespect, some black people decided to treat white people the same mean way they were treated. As a result, many white people feared blacks and avoided them, treating them different than anyone else. 

  In Brent Staple's essay titled 37 Just walk By: Black Men and Public Space, he talks about mainly the fear he saw in white people's faces when he walked by. The first time he noticed this was when he was walking down a stranded street and a woman thought he was following her. He continued to notice this and over time found ways to make them feel more comfortable when he came by. He also described the ways that blacks were portrayed in the media as corrupt which made him have to be very aware of his actions and careful out in public. This in some ways made him feel lower and less respected as a person.

  Also, in the memoir The Color of Water, much of the disrespect blacks and whites had toward each other was shown. When Rachel, the mother of the author of the memoir, was a teenager, she generally didn't fit in because she was a Jew. She often felt disrespected and disliked by white students, but she noticed that most black students didn't judge her. They treated her fairly and kindly, which in turn lead her to gain respect for them and see that they weren't bad people. She eventually married a black man and her family was upset. She lost the respect of many other people simply because the man she married was black. Years later, when on the subway with her dark skinned children, she was insulted by black and white people alike, but she didn't let that bother her. She chose to spend more time with the poor and black people because she knew they wouldn't judge her for who she was.      

  So my question is why is it so often people disrespect or mistreat others? So often people look at ones outward appearance and judge them, choosing to put a label on them, not even making the effort to get to know them. Is out of the fear of being rejected or judged themselves? Yet, doesn't everyone deserve some sort of respect as a human being?

Looking at the Positive Side

  Every average person at certain times, struggles to look on the positive side of life, especially when things get tough. Whether its work or people causing the stress, we all have to let out these feelings from time. Even I struggle with this after long weeks of staying up late doing schoolwork.
 
  This is a normal part of life, but some have had even greater stresses to deal with. Back in the late 1800's and early 1900's, African Americans had to cope with being completely separated from whites and looked at as incapable of doing certain things that whites did. As a result, many blacks reactions were negative, expressing the bad things about being black and how unfair society was toward them. Surprisingly, even through they were discriminated, some chose to try to be optimistic about their situation and not worry about what others thought because of their skin color. Zora Neale Hurston, a writer who lived during these times, is one of these people. In her essay titled How it Feels to be Colored, she talks mainly about the fact that she is not ashamed to be black. She sometimes feels like she stands out when with other white people, but she does not let that discourage her and looks to the future.

  Hurston's essay can be related with the book The Secret Life of Bees because their are multiple black women in the book who have a similar attitude to hers about society. Rosaleen has the strength of character which Hurston. She shows this when she stands up to the white men and does not apologize even when they beat her because she doesn't care what they do, and doesn't let them make her feel ashamed of her skin color. Hurston's optimism is especially shown through August. Throughout the book, she is very positive in almost every situation, despite how difficult it is. She also in no way treats Lily different because she is white.

 So often people focus on the hard things in life, but Hurston's essay makes me think that maybe people should try be more positive when tough things come their way. It may be tough, but I'm sure that if black people could be optimistic in their even tougher situation, we can be more positive in the little things of life.

Possibilities of the Past and Today

  In the past, people often regarded ideas of the future as impossible. People who believed these ideas were possible and would become true were considered crazy or insane in some cases. They also reacted this way because the didn't want things to change.

  This relates to the Book The Secret Life of Bees because back in the 50's and 60's, many didn't think certain things were even possibility. In one part of the book, they bring up the event when Mr. Cronkite announced that the United States would send a rocket to the moon on July 28. President Kennedy also said that the U.S. would land a man to the moon. When people first heard this they thought it was crazy and that a landing on the moon was long way into the future. Lily even recalls an article about his statement which was titled Luna-tic Vision.

  Not only were certain technological ideas rejected, but so were ideas that society, laws, and beliefs would change. Through the time of slavery, and even after the civil war, most white Americans still thought blacks would always be of a lower status than them. In class we talked about the Civil Rights movement and how some people didn't want this change, so took action to stop black people's protest. When the black students were the first sent to a white school, some students simply wouldn't accept the fact that blacks would eventually have the same rights as they had and teased them. Even after the Civil Rights Act was passed whites neglected the thought that blacks could be of equal status as them.

  This was also implied in the book when Lily and Zach are having a conversation about what they want to become when they get older. Zach says he wants to become a lawyer, but doubts it because he is Negro and most people don't think blacks could be a lawyer. He even makes this statement: "Why is it sports is the only thing white people see us being successful at? I don't want to play football. I wanna be a lawyer. You gotta imagine whats never been" This connects with the Civil rights movement because before this movement, white people thought that they would always be superior to blacks and didn't think blacks had the intelligence to gain these kinds of jobs or would ever get the chance to.

  Today, much that would be unexpected back then has happened. Man has landed on the moon and technology has exceedingly advanced over the past few decades. Many laws and beliefs have changed as well. Blacks have the equal rights we have and our society has become much more accepting of change. As I have grown older I have begun to more so see the change in society and technology. Even some of the changes have begun to surprise me.
 

Just vs. Unjust laws

  At the beginning of American history, people hoped that this new country would bring a better new life, a country where everyone would have equal rights and the freedom to live as they wanted to. The Declaration of Independence made this hope a reality and brought equality and freedom to American society.

  Though it was thought to be the end of inequality, certain people continued to be considered lower based off of culture or appearance, particularly African Americans. For centuries they were sold as slaves and excluded from the freedom and equality which white people had. Even after slavery was put to an end, laws of segregation continued into the 1950's. Many protested and Martin Luther king Junior was a main figure who helped protest peacefully and end segregation. In his letter to Birmingham, he makes the point that the only reason they protest these laws is because they are unjust laws which lead people to do immoral things. Finally, in 1954 segregation in schools was outlawed, and a decade later, the civil rights act was passed which allowed blacks to vote.

  In the Book titled The Secret Life of Bees, Lily, a 14 year-old girl, lives during this period. Near the end chapter one, Rosaline, a black lady who works for her family, cares for Lily more that her father and takes Lily to town on her birthday. While their Rosaline is teased by three white men. Rosaline tries to stand up for herself, but is hurt by one of the men and is arrested. Through this event, we see that even though the Civil Rights Act had been passed, whites still felt superior to blacks back then and blacks had to still fight and stand up for their rights. This also connects to King's letter because the laws of segregation had caused whites to be against blacks, and led white to do immoral and unjust things to them.

  Today, Black people have every right a white person has. They are treated justly and almost no one would even suspect in past years that black people were regarded as less than whites. Sometimes I wonder what the people of the past would think if they came to the future and saw that black and white people weren't segregated anymore, or even if they saw the relationship between Lily and Rosaline. Would they be surprised? Would they change their attitude? What difference would it make? We will never know, but I know that the black people would be proud to see that after so many years of struggling to gain freedom that finally white and black people could come together peacefully.

Truth and Reality

   The word truth cannot be defined in one true definition. There are many ways of looking at it; multiple ideas have developed all over the world of what is true and what is not true. In the past few weeks in class, we have been reading "The Things They Carried" a book by Tim O'Brien in which he talks mainly about his and others personal experiences in the Vietnam War as well as before and after feelings about it. As you go farther in the book, he discusses that a true war story has no moral and sometimes must be changed for one to believe or understand it. He brings up that some of the stories he had written he changed and added onto so that you would feel the intense feelings that he felt in those situations.


   We also watched an interview in which Tim O'Brien read the story titled "Ambush" from his book. He again explained that many of the things either didn't occur or were changed greatly. In the story he starts out with talking about his daughter Kathleen asking if he had killed anyone. He goes on to tell that had been watching a trail behind some brush for the enemy. He saw a soldier coming on the trail and without thinking he had thrown the grenade and he couldn't stop staring at the body afterwards. In the actual event, a group of soldiers had gone on an ambush and shoot some of the soldiers coming out of the village, but they only only killed one and he doesn't even know if a bullet from his gun killed him. He never even looked at the body because he had already seen so many and was to afraid. O'Brien also has no daughter named Kathleen. He went on to explain that the reason he had changed it so much was so that the reader would feel the guilt which he felt about the man's death. The line which he mentions from Picasso states "Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth. This supports his point in that his stories may not be completely truthful, but show you the reality of war.
    When I watch movies or read books that are nonfiction, I often don't think about that it isn't real because I become so absorbed in the story line. Also sometimes when watching a movie or reading a book based off a true story, I wonder, did this really happen, or has it been added to make the story better or more clear? Although I will never know, the question still remains in my mind, but as I have read this story I begin to realize that sometimes the truth must be changed so that the reader understands what the writer was trying to get across.

Why take the time to read?

 When I was young, I found many of the chapter books I read to be boring and long particularly at the start of the story when things were being explained. As I got older, school required you read more and more chapter books and it became harder for me to focus on reading the books we were given. Shortly before the Winn-Dixie movie came out, my Mom bought me the book for me. I decided to attempt reading it since the picture of the dog on the cover caught my attention and I was pulled into the book from the first page. I started in the middle of a scene which made want to know what would happen next. This book got me more into reading and helped me realize that reading can be a fun activity if you take the time to find the right book and read at your own pace. 
 
 I now enjoy reading because I have learned that it helps take your mind off of the burdens and pressures of life. When reading you get to use imagination and creativity in thinking up how the characters might look and the setting in which different scenes take place. Another exciting element of reading is when the story reaches a point where it grows close to the climax and the story grows tense and you desperately want to know what will happen next. I especially enjoy reading when I get to these parts in a book because it fires up your imagination and is exciting. For these many reasons I like to read.
  
 Often people refuse to read simply because either they find it boring to read words, misunderstand the story, feel they don't have the time, or they have had bad reading experiences. I feel like this at times, but when I really get into a good book such as Because of Winn-Dixie, reading can be a very thrilling and at the same time relaxing experience.

Looking towards the Future

 Many of us have an idea of how we want our future to turn out and have goals and achievements to make before we can reach that point. In my future, I hope to go to college to get a good education and through that education gain a good job with higher wages. A job like this would make living and paying for things easier and less stressful and would give me time to enjoy the pleasures of life as well.
 Although with today's economy, it is more difficult to find a higher wage jobs and things are becoming more ans more expensive. It is harder to afford an education and it is becoming much more competitive among students. In the book Nickel and Dimed Barbara describes the hardships of life as a low wage worker, when she as a writer leaves her job temporarily and tries living off low wages for a certain amount of time. She talks about the struggles she goes through, trying to find jobs and less expensive apartments and then trying to gain enough money to pay for all her basic needs. She also talks about the other worker's situations in life and how they often are living with family or friends because they can't pay for rent on their own. Often the low wage workers have unfair wages for all the work they do and sometimes are disrespected. Many of these low wage workers want to go to college for a better job, but can't afford it because it is so expensive and they most likely couldn't save up enough for it.
 Some of the things she talks about may also affect our future. The expenses of college is one of the barriers that may make it harder for me and other people to finish college. Often I hear about students who decide to not go to college or don't want to and figure they'll be able to earn enough at a low wage job, but they don't realize the many problems they will face in the future. That is why it is important to focus on your education in high school and go to college so that you don't have to deal with the problems which people in Nickel and Dimed and even in today's society have to face.

Living on Low Wages

As we talked about in class, the United States was founded based on the American dream that everyone is created equal and should be treated equally, and that all would be given more rights and chances to be able to gain a better life. But even though our country is based off of these values, then why are so many people are still jobless, struggling to pay debt and don't have the chance to get a better job with higher wages? Lots of people have low wage jobs because they cannot afford college or can't find any other jobs available. In the book Nickel and Dimed, Barbra works hard in low wage jobs to pay off the rent and often struggles with stress from the job and having enough for meals. Many of the other workers she gets to know can't even afford to go to college to get education to gain a better job. This shows how many opportunities for a better future are taken away when they can't afford to pay for the education for a higher wage job. Another problem caused by the bad economy is the higher taxes and less amount of jobs available to citizens. This has lead some people to be desperate for a job and taking any one they can find, even if it is a low wage job.

          All of these job issues can relate to the upcoming elections of Barrett or Walker for governor. In the election for governor, Walker wants to lower taxes, make the government smaller, and wishes to get rid of the estate tax on retirement income. Already in Green Bay he has made a five-page, six-point plan that he hopes will create 250,000 jobs in Wisconsin within his first term. Barrett wants to make tax cuts mainly on smaller businesses and outlined $1.1 billion cuts to reduce the next biennial budget. These changes which they want to make may help increase jobs as well as lower taxes for people in debt and help them earn more money for education. This will also help people with the education find available jobs. 

The american dream still lives

Their is no definite definition for the american dream. Many people have different ideas of what it is. As we discussed in class, the American dream was not actually attempted to be defined until 1931 by James Truslow Adams in his book called The Epic of America. He defines it as a new place with a better life where everyone was given a chance have a new life, where you are not defined by your class or status in your country, but by your acheivments and abilities. Also in the writing of what is and american which we annoteated the author describes europe as the place where they couldn't afford to live and did poorly, and that america was a place where they flourished and could earn a living. Today there are many countries with people that have this dream of someday making their country more free like America and being given the chance to use their abilities to raise their status and make a better living. In India , people are restricted and defined more so by what family they were born into. Also in China they have no freedom of religion and their is much cheap labor their making it hard to find a good job and have better living conditions. Afghanistan also has more rules concering religion and with the war going on their, they are often  in danger. There are some people making the effort to try to change these rules sothey can have more rights as in america, but it is difficult to bring change and an effort from the people. This is also can relate to my life because at the church where I go, they are having the missionaries speak this week about how they are doing their and some of the struggles they are going through in the country they are working with because of all the laws of that country. This shows that the American dream of a better life still lives on.  

History's Destruction and Solidification of Community

Events in history can be a major part of solidifying a community and helping it grow. They can be a destructive force as well and can weaken a community. One thing that goes on today which is weakening many communities is the bad economy and all the debt that the government is in. People are losing jobs and things are becoming more and more expensive. As the economy continues to get worse people are struggling to pay their own debts and it is becoming harder to support their community. Another event which occurred among the Puritans was the Salem witch trials. Innocent people were accused of witchcraft and hanged because they would not confess. Out of fear some accused others to protect themselves from accusation and being hanged. This tore much of the community apart and put distrust among the people. Relating to that, recently a commitee was accused by Beijing when they gave a Nobel peace prize to someone they thought worked hard to bring peace. Beijing accused them because they believed they did it to tear a hole in Chinese society and to benefit themselves. These people were falsely accused as some of the people in the Salem witch trails were. Also some historic events can be harmful as well as building to a community. For example the civil war brought many people down since so many lives were taken and weakened the government and society, but it strengthened them in realizing what war is and prepared them for future war. 9/11 caused much pain to the people that lost loved ones, but brought so many hurting people together and over time they strengthened each other through the sorrow. Though historic events can tear communities apart it can also solidify them.