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Hay Fever: Response

2012-01-18T13:09:00.001-08:00

Hay Fever was a comical play with a strong message. The actors throughout this play steadily used others to gain their own attention. The message this play left behind after many laughs was do not use others, plain and simple.

The space was a well-constructed thrust stage however, the stage was not raised off the ground and the seats appeared to be mobile which lead to the belief that this is an Environmental Theater. As for the layout of the stage, there was a couch and a table in center stage for the first two acts, a door to the unseen outside front of the house upstage right, there were two large double doors upstage center leading to the backyard garden, and a raised floor upstage left containing a piano, a bookcase and a door leading to the home library. Stage left there was a half spiral staircase that lead up to the second floor which had a painting and lights that extended across to stage right. The second floor also contained the bedrooms for the house but the doors were not in sight. The detail was greater than expected: the hardwood floor throughout the first floor seemed to be genuine, the actual bookcase filled with real books not stage books, and the extremely large double doors with translucent glass and floral designs lead to the Garden, which featured an array of plants behind the doors. The entire space was well lit for the duration of the play; the stage took place inside the Bliss’ home so the bright lighting added a confortable feel to the inside of the house. The theatre was nearly sold out; it was hard to spot an empty seat, including the balcony and lower level seating. The crowd contained nearly an even amount of student audience members and senior citizens; there was few in the audience that appeared middle aged.

The play was well cast, the entire Bliss family did a great job showing how overly dramatic and deceitful the family had become. Each actor portrayed their character accurately; there were no standouts that didn’t match the character. Each visitor in the first act seemed to be feasible as far as the possibility of a relationship was concerned. All of the family members acted genuine. There was one actor who stood out as a perfect fit for his character. Taylor Rascher played Simon Bliss and played him perfectly. Rascher’s character Simon was a young man who was dramatic and romantic so much so it was almost to the point of ridiculousness. Rascher stole the show in the first act when he was romancing with Michelle Luz, who plays Myra Arundel. Rascher was displaying his love for Michelle Luz (Myra) in the most dramatic of fashions; he was playing the Bliss’ game of pretending to be in complete love with someone and then a moment later change his mind. Rascher was proclaiming his love with elegant speeches and coddling up next to her and eventually kissing her. Rascher made this scene particularly hilarious because he was completely over the top in typical Bliss fashion. Of course, all of this was for naught because Luz ended up kissing Joe Hubbard’s character David Bliss in act two and also Rascher proclaimed his engagement to Caitlin Stagemoller’s character, Jackie Coryton. Rascher made his voice more shrill and audible to appear to be more dramatic and create more attention for himself. In the same way, Rascher used grander gestures with his arms (flailing, waving, etc.) to cause a more dramatic effect.

The play was well interpreted by all whom were involved. Steven Wrentmore, the Director, kept the 1920’s feel by dressing in all 1920’s costumes and everyone spoke as if they were living at the time. Michelle Bisbee, the scene designer, made the inside of the home appear 1920’s because everything was grand. The Bliss’ home was grand with the spiral staircase, the very large backdoors, and the eloquent piano. The actors’ mannerisms seemed like they were portraying a silent film. In older movies, actors seemed very dramatic and had flamboyant actions to prove so; the actors in Hay Fever shared the same feel for the dramatics. As far as Stephen Wrentmore’s directing goes, he did an excellent job. The scene when Chris Karl (Richard) and Caitlin Stegemoller (Jackie) enter and are left alone to make small talk with each other is the best pertaining to directing. The two actors used the entire stage in this scene and were very awkward with one another. This was Wrentmore’s doing because you could tell he had a vision for this scene in particular because it seemed very crisp and well rehearsed. The actors played it perfect with the excessively long pauses in their awkward small talk that the crowd was laughing through the entire scene. It appeared that Wrentmore instructed the actors, to keep their pauses longer than natural to heighten the awkward tension in the scene, which made it brilliant.

The blocking throughout the play worked with the floor plan very well. All of the blocking worked seamlessly; the actors were never out of sight or in awkward positioning (ex. turned around, talking to someone behind them while face forward, etc.) even during the second act in the first scene while all eight actors were on set. One part of the set that stood out was the staircase, it is obviously very large, but the way Owen Virgin followed Megan Davis up the stairs was seamless. They both walked up the stairs with footsteps I unison, and Owen Virgin was so focused on every detail of Davis, it almost screamed out how much he was infatuated with her.

The artistic intent of this production was to entertain, and it fulfilled that intent completely. The entire audience was laughing during most of the production, I was even laughing out loud, which doesn’t happen very often. Every interaction between the characters was comical at one point during the production. An example of this playing out would be in the second act when Rascher busts through the door and proclaims his engagement. The only purpose of this is to entertain and entertain it did. The actors seemed natural moving along with their blocking and engaging with each other on stage. There was no point at which it was confusing why someone moved here or there, every movement made sense.

The overall mood that was portrayed by the combination of lighting, sound, set, and costumes was very light and cheerful; at no point did the mood drop to something darker or saddening. This is common with many comedies because it becomes hard to laugh if the overall mood is down and dreary. The theatre space was very personal. First of all, it takes place in someone’s home so it is immediately personal. Also, the stage was built into the crowd just about so the audience felt like they were living the action out as it unfolded. The scenic design showed the audience without a doubt it was the 1920’s, with the barometer on the wall, the staircase, the piano, and the lights upstairs. However, there was little evidence to show what location the play took place.

All of the costumes were well designed for the appropriate characters. Adam Espinoza did a fine job of showing how these people were all upper class with nice dresses and suits and tuxes, even when they were home alone with only each other as company. Megan Davis’ costumes represented her personality very well by drawing all attention to her with bright colors and silk-like texture. As far as the lighting goes, there were no changes to the lighting during the play, except for at the end of each act. The lighting emphasized a bright and cheerful mood throughout the play.

This production was definitely representational because it doesn’t break the fourth wall into the audience. The actors never had any asides or soliloquies that were directed toward audience. The set and lighting were representational due to the realistic feel throughout the house, everything was relatable to the average person. The Bliss’ home looked like an ordinary home from the 1920’s.

The overall message seemed to be: do not mislead people or play games with their emotions, or they will leave you. This was most clear during act three when Luz, Karl, Stegemoller, and Virgin were all discussing how uncomfortable they all had felt the day before in the house and decided to leave as soon as possible. This was due to the way the Bliss’ had romantic engagements just to get attention for themselves and did not care about the feelings of the people they were hurting.

Analysis: Buried Child By Sam Shepard

2012-01-18T13:04:00.000-08:00

Buried Child is a play by Sam Shepard first premiered in 1978 at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco, California. Sam Shepard won the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for Drama because of this play. The play was performed on Broadway from April 30, 1996 through June 30, 1996 at Brooks Atkinson Theatre.

This play is fairly recent and takes cuts at American Culture, more specifically, the American Dream. Throughout the play, everyone is constantly reminiscing on how great they were and now they are all have fallen from their former glory. For instance, Tilden, the eldest son, used to be an All-American Halfback with a bright future and now he is in his forties and living with his parents with no family of his own. Audiences of today would be able to relate to this play and how people can show promise early in their life and one event can change it all for the worse. If anything the audience could relate to a family that is growing old and growing apart. There are many problems in this family that still plague families today, even as basic as infidelity. The plot structure of this play is Episodic. There is a clear linear story of events. The action of the play occurs in the first Act at lunchtime, in the spring due to the heavy rain. The second Act takes place on the same day as the first at dinnertime, and the third Act takes place the following morning. The entire play takes place inside the family’s house in Illinois. The climate within the play is against the American stereotypes of having everything your heart desires and live happily ever after. It has a dark aspect which suggests all families have secrets and no one is truly happy.

If I were to produce this play myself, there would be one simple setting, the house. Within the house is a staircase leading up out of sight, a couch and TV and a kitchen on the other side of the stairs. The needs for costumes are fairly straightforward, everyone in the play wears one costume the entire play except the mother who changes from Act 2 to Act 3. The lighting for the first 2 Acts is simply giving the illusion of rainy, dark, dreary day, and for the final Act it is a bright morning, signaling a new beginning. The sound is an important aspect of this play, the first two Acts are very sad and hopeless with the sounds of constant raining, the final Act begins with the chirping of birds singing their morning songs to brighten up the mood of the play.

If I had to choose one character I would personally play it would be Tilden. Tilden is the lost son of the family who has come back home after getting into “trouble” in New Mexico. They never say exactly what trouble he gets into, just that he goes to jail and has to return home. He states that he felt like a foreigner and he was alone during his time in New Mexico. I choose Tilden because he is very troubled by the loss of his child, and he never recovers. This character would be a challenge for anyone to portray due to his severe emotional issues. If was to act, I would choose a character who would be the biggest challenge, and Tilden is that character.

All Tilden wants in this play is to have his old life back, everything used to be perfect for him. He was a bright, attractive, football player that had his own son who he adored. He would walk around all day with it in his hands singing to it and telling it stories. There was a slight problem; the baby was born out of wedlock. Not only out of wedlock, but Tilden conceived the child with his own mother, Haile. Tilden’s father who was still married to Haile, drowned the baby and buried it’s body in the fields in the back, never to be found without Tilden’s knowlege. The family made a pact to never talk about the incident ever again. Tilden never was the same after that, he would wander around in the fields in which he used to sing to his child. He was empty, always staring off into the distance and never had much to say. He just wanted his old life back and he didn’t know what to do to get it back, so he did nothing. Tilden’s objective is to be happy. He has no purpose in life, no friends, no son, and a family that disrespects him. He has no idea how he can be happy without his son so instead, he stares into nothing.

If he is to ever become happy or normal again he will need to start by leaving his family and becoming independent. He is treated like a child by his mother, despite being over 40 years of age. His father gives him useless tasks to do such as fetch him water because he is old and can barely stand. His brother treats him like an idiot and relishes in the fact that Tilden has long faded from his golden boy past so he can get some respect from his family. His family constantly holds him back and he never has a chance to grow and become his own man. He is living in the past and he needs to let that dark past go. There is one problem; he never wants to leave his baby boy who is buried in the field behind their house. He can never leave until he finds his boy who was taken from him.

Tilden acts like a Golden Retriever. If you look into his eyes they seem lifeless and there is not much going on. He obeys the orders of his father to fetch him this and that. He is coddled by his mother and treated like he is still a puppy, never allowed outside to wander. He is abused by his brother and Tilden despises him. Yet he stays around the house just for the opportunity to run away and search for his beloved bone that someone stole and buried a long time ago. The Retriever is very loyal and will not wrong you but if you treat him wrong, you will lose him forever.

The above picture is taken in the Mojave's airplane graveyard. It shows planes that at the time when they were built, were the top of their class, the best technology had to offer. Now they just sit there neglected and waiting to die, long forgotten by the people who once loved them. This is a very good representation of Tilden. Tilden was once an All American Football player with a bright future, no telling how high he would fly. Stories were written in the newspaper of how great he was going to become. Now he is back in his mother’s house with his family all rotting away next to him.

Tilden is an athletically built man who is in his forties, with a terrible haircut from his brother, and looks like the typical farm boy. He was known as a very intelligent man growing up, the smartest of his brothers. He hasn’t been that way recently, he has been quiet, keeps to himself, and obeys orders. This is a man who conceived a child with his own mother only to have it killed by his father and hidden from him so he is troubled to say the least. In the play Shepard states, “Something about his is profoundly burned-out and displaced.” (18) He acts like a child. Wanders in the back field all day pretending he has no responsibilities, such as taking care of his father and getting a job of his own. He cannot support himself, he tried when he lived in New Mexico, but failed and is currently living with his parents. He is in a deep dark depression that he may never recover from.

This character would present anyone who would try to play him with a great deal of challenges. The most difficult of all would be to represent all of his aforementioned emotional and psychological problems accurately and to a point where the audience would have apathy for you. Throughout most of the play he is very short with his responses and he stares off appearing to be thinking nothing. But he has multiple points where he expresses deep emotion. Such as when his mother threatens to kick him out of the house again and all of the sudden he goes from a long stare to a slow soft sob. Also, when Bradley chases him out of the house he freaks out and starts crying and runs out of the house not to be seen until the end of the play. These emotional spikes would be hard to create because there is no emotional build up, he goes from zero to crying in no time, that takes extreme emotional discipline from the actor.

There is some research needed by the actor to understand this character. He seems simple but he is actually very complicated. The actor would need to observe a football star in the late 1970’s and see how that person would carry themself. Also, the actor would need to go to Illinois and try to recreate an accent or movement by a farmer. Research would be needed to see what a man acts like if he were to tragically lose his only son. Lastly, they would have to try to act like a former All American mixed with a man who has no hope for his future.

I noted every single detail throughout this play I could think of to help me understand what the playwright was trying to convey to his audience. It helped me have a greater respect of the theatrical process that goes into every single play. I noticed little things like how lighting and sound have a huge effect on the setting and mood of the play. I would not have notice these things if I wasn’t instructed to watch carefully for these details as I studied the play.

Book in Review: Crossing the Rubicon By: Michael Ruppert

2012-01-18T13:01:00.002-08:00

Crossing the Rubicon

By: Michael Ruppert

In Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at he End of the Age of Oil, there are three main points where Mr. Ruppert tries to blame the entire tradjety of September 11, 2001, better known as 9/11, on the acting Vice President at the time, Dick Cheney. At first glance this seems to be a bold if not insane accusation against the Vice President of the United States of America, but Ruppert does make a few points that will make you think.

The first point of Ruppert is Dick Cheney had the Ability to pull off this plan if he wanted to. According to Ruppert, Cheney was acting as Commander in Chief on 9/11 due to the terrible threat on the United States. This means he was in control and was calling the shots. Ruppert also has reason to believe that Cheney was leading a “completely separate chain of Command & Control via the Secret Service, assuring the paralysis of Air Force response on 9/11. The Secret Service has the technology to see the same radar screens the FAA sees in real time.” (Kane) Ruppert claims that President Bush was kept out of a leadership position on purpose by the Secret Service men around him as he was reading to school children the morning of 9/11. He also claims that the Secret Service, acting through Cheney, had control over the FAA, Airforce (including the Fighter Jets), and President Bush. One question I would ask Ruppert is “Why?”

Why would Cheney and the Secret Service go through all of this trouble to attack his own country? The answer, according to Ruppert, is simply Oil. Cheney’s plan was to start a never-ending war to take control of the Middle Eastern oil and use it for American purposes. Ruppert claims that there was a peak in the oil reserves around the world from 2000-2007. After 2007, oil will become more rare and extremely more expensive. "By way of confirmation, people in and close to the oil industry are reporting that increased drilling is not resulting as yet in significantly increased supply." (Ruppert) Upon hearing of this news, Cheney had to go into action. He just needed the right time to plan his so called “Attack”.

According to Ruppert, the “right time” was any time that Cheney chose because as of May 8, 2001, Dick Cheney was put into control of all training exercises of all branches of military and government. This means he could set up “fake” hijackings by calling them training situations just in case anyone would ever want to hijack airplanes and fly them into buildings. Cheney did call for these training simulations, except he did it on the morning of 9/11. Also, Cheney called for another training simulation that send all the fighters from D.C. into Canada and Alaska to train just incase an attack came from Russia. This meant that the Air Force could not do anything to prevent the hijacked airplanes from crashing into anything they pleased. Also, the Secret Service had control over the FAA flight path screens and put fake hijacked airplanes in the air to confuse air traffic control. At one point the FAA thought there was 11 hijacked airplanes.

All of this was put into motion by Dick Cheney and people taking orders from Cheney. He is guilty for singlehandedly putting this plan into motion and being successful. The scary part if these accusations by Ruppert are true, is that Bush and Cheney were re-elected the following term.

Works Cited

Ruppert, Michael, Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at he End of the Age of Oil, Gabriola Island, B.C., Canada, New Society Publishers, 2004
Kane, Michael. "Crossing the Rubicon Simplifying the case against Dick Cheney." From the Wilderness. (2004): n. page. Web. 3 Oct. 2011. .

SB 1070: Addition to the Problem

2012-01-18T13:01:00.001-08:00

: Addition to the Problem
American’s were outraged about the new Senate Bill 1070 and how it was going to lead to racial profiling in Arizona. Some supported some opposed, for the most part of the citizens of Arizona, roughly 70%, supported the law. Most say the main difference with the law is law enforcement is now required to ask for documentation of legal United States Citizenship. According to President Obama’s website, there is not much change with the enactment of this bill. There were already laws in place that law enforcement could check for the documentation of legal residency during a normal encounter (ex. traffic stop) and there was a law that has been in effect since 1940 making it a misdemeanor if a person is not carrying the correct documentation. (Jones, 2010) This law is great and all, for nationalism and protecting the borders and all that “Yay America!!” stuff, but what happens when it affects legal Mexican Americans in everyday life? Are they not allowed some of the same freedoms as other Americans because they happen to be of Mexican or foreign descent? I interviewed 3 legal Mexican Americans about this subject and asked if it added to the already prevalent issue of active racism in Arizona, and even around the campus of the University of Arizona. After interviewing my fellow Americans, I arrived at a conclusion; I believe that the enactment of Arizona’s Senate Bill 1070 has increased the active racism toward Mexican Americans.

Every person I had interviewed had said they noticed a dramatic increase in the active racism towards them and people around them. I was surprised to see such an agreement with the people I interviewed because I have not realized any racism at all. Then again, that might just prove the fact that there is an increase, I just have not noticed it because I benefit from it. I never am asked for papers, yelled at to speak English, or looked down upon for being white. So I would not notice a difference unless it was staring me in the face.

Let’s begin with the first interview I conducted. One of my friends named Hector (a pseudonym); Hector is a sophomore at the University of Arizona and I have known him for about a month and we became good friends since. When asked if I could interview him on this subject, he was excited to share his thoughts and experiences on the topic. Hector is, of course, a legal resident of the United States; he was born and raised in the State of Arizona so he is a good subject for this topic. Hector’s experiences are vital because he resided in Arizona long before anyone spoke of Senate Bill 1070.

Before I could even utter the first question Hector calmly states “You wanna know about the increase in [active] racism after the 1070 bill? I have a story that may interest you.” I quickly interrupt him and explain the difference between active and active racism before he could even start. I wanted to see his understanding of active and active racism throughout this story. He claims he already knew the difference and gives me a few examples and I agree that he did indeed previously understand the differences. One note before he starts, Hector is known to add some “color” to his stories so some facts may be exaggerated, but the main points are still valid. Hector finally begins, and I paraphrase (removing most of the expletives):

“I was driving to work one day after chilling with my girlfriend for a couple hours and she was in my car with me and we were already running late. You know how that goes [wink]. Anyway, I may have been speeding slightly but I didn’t want to be late, and I still had to drop Selena [the girlfriend, and a pseudonym] off at her house. Then I pass a cop driving the opposite direction, and he gives one look at me, and whips the car around and pulls me over. As he comes to my window, he was being a big douche bag [ex. he was being very short and stern with Hector]. He asks for all of my shit [documents] and is very specific to ask for my citizenship papers. After ignoring my apology for speeding because I was running late for work, he goes into his car and I guess he was checking my documents. I swear he was in his car for like 30 minutes then he comes out and explains he is giving me a ticket and I need to leave for work earlier and have better time management, needless to say, I didn’t make it to work on time.”

I sat and thought of the significance of this story, it was sad to see how in America, the land of the free, there was this law that strictly was aimed at Mexican Americans. I get that there is a problem, but to single out one race to remove from this Nation is clearly unjust. The fact that seventy percent of Arizona’s residents agree with the law and think it is fair just shows the prevalence of institutionalized racism. Every day these citizens are looked at differently just by the color of their skin, and there are laws allowing that. In America, racism is so prevalent because white people are scared that Mexican Americans will take over the country and moreover, take over their supremacy of the nation. These laws are clearly aimed to preserve white power and hold back the advancement of the race. Every single one of the people I have interviewed are some of the hardest working people I have met. If you ask me, America could use more hard working people so we should be accepting them not turning them away. “Economic disparities show no signs of dissipating. The anti-immigrant backlash, which is in no small part an attack on all persons (immigrants and citizens) of Mexican ancestry in the United States…” (Johnson 428) This statement by Kevin Johnson shows how even to this day, whites are doing everything they can to make sure the economic disparities do not dissipate. Whites are using their power and money to enact laws and put down the Mexican race. This, if nothing else, just goes to show how active racism is increasing, whites want Mexicans out, and they are doing everything in their power to do so.

My second interview wasn’t nearly as exciting of a story. My friend Juan, who was born in Mexico, then legally moved up here with his family and then started attending U of A. Juan told me mostly about his childhood and education. He stated mostly how he took the one-year English class because all he knew was Spanish and he felt that it took away from his heritage that he was forced to learn our language or he would not survive. Then after this law has passed, he feels that not only are they removing his heritage, they are removing his people.

The way Juan felt as a child was a lot like the way Piri Thomas felt. They both didn’t understand was it wasn’t good to be whom they were when they were born. “what’s wrong with not being white? What’s so wrong with being tregeno?” (Thomas 68) Thomas did not understand the reason for this racism against him. He couldn’t understand that one race put all others down so much that it made him beat his brother until he was spitting blood back into his face. Juan was not so much angered but disappointed at the way this country was, taking away his culture and then trying to remove his people, just because they were not white. This new law in Arizona only adds to the problem of active racism. White America already thinks their way of life is not good enough to be taught in our schools, now white America has decided that simply they are not good enough to live in our country.

The final interview. Interviewing Tyler was a blast he was a very funny kid, he had me laughing the whole time, which made it very hard to take notes. He was a fourth generation Mexican American, and the first of his family to go to college. His parents taught him well that life is harder in America for a Mexican. Margaret E. Montoya states a similar experience: “Her lessons about combing, washing, and doing homework frequently relayed a different message: be prepared, because you will be judged by your skin color, your names, your accents. They will see you as ugly, lazy dumb and dirty.” (Montoya 436) Montoya’s experience is very closely related to that of Tyler’s childhood, his parents would try their very best to instill good qualities of hard work and determination into their child, because they knew he was going to need it. Tyler has done well for himself, he is an honors student and he has a 3.5 GPA, he works very hard to be the best he can be, but is still seen as inferior. Tyler’s job just became harder, after the passing of this bill, all of the Mexicans are presumed to be illegal until proven innocent. Thanks to this new law, upon first sight he is looked at as a nuisance, a criminal, and a foreigner. However, he is an excellent student, a volunteer who donates ten hours a week of his time at homeless shelters, and a resident, whose family has been on this land longer that John McCain has been alive. The fact that this racism still happens today, and is seemingly getting worse, just adds to what Montoya’s mother taught her “be prepared, because you will be judged” (Montoya 436)

These three people have many things in common with all Americans, including; they want to live their life, be successful, and be judged on their effort and accomplishments like everyone else. These are people just trying to live the American Dream, which is just made harder by this law that has been passed which just increases the active racism in this country. The 1070 law has done it’s job: making it harder for Mexican Americans to be successful and be equal to whites, through increasing active racism.

Affirmative Action: A Good Thing

2012-01-18T12:56:00.000-08:00

“Minorities worry that if affirmative action disappeared, the same old discrimination would bar their entrance into good universities. One way to fix this concern is to drop racial categories on the applications. Who cares about our race? We are people.” (Gould 1) These are the words of a student named Anna Gould writing for a website called the Badger Herald. I could quickly answer her question about who cares about race, and the short answer is everyone cares. Do the minorities not care about race when they are discriminated against or their neighbors move out once they move into a white neighborhood, or do the white neighbors care? Would a person of color care that throughout high school they had to work harder for an A because their white teacher held them to a higher standard because the stereotype against their race is that they are smarter than whites? So then the clear answer here is yes. It is also the obvious answer. Institutional racism occurs everyday, and there are hardly any ways that the institution has tried to stop that, Affirmative Action is one of them and it should not be repealed.

This Anna Gould has the same thought process as many Americans today that are not people of color. They realize that there was racism, but they decided it would be best for everyone if they never talked about race and pretended like it did not make a difference in any decision making process. Such as an employer interviewing people for a job or colleges looking through applicants for enrollment. Colorblind people assume that we are already at complete racial equality, and if they talked about race, they themselves would be racist. “Not talking about race may avoid short term conflict, but in the midst of a society that is racially structured, to say talk creates the problem will keep people from discussing what is needed for solutions.” (Hitchcock 63) How can we solve a problem without talking about it? Not talking about the problem assumes that it does not exist, which is the worst way to solve something that does exist. They also assume that a person of color, if they worked hard enough have the same opportunities as a person who is white. In a stat given in lecture by Professor Roth-Gordon she claimed that 70% of whites believe African Americans “have the same opportunities as whites to live in Middle Class America.” (Roth Gordon) What people who cling to this colorblind thought process do not realize is that ignoring it only perpetuates racism.

In 1996, when California banned Affirmative Action the number of students that were people of color accepted by the public California schools fell off a cliff. The immediate answer to this by colorblindness would be, “They were basing their admissions off of accomplishments and GPA rather than just accepting certain races because of a quota.” When in reality they are accepting the students who went to they best high schools, had relatives who went to that school, or knew someone who had some kind of pull at that college to get them accepted. Who do you think lives in the neighborhoods with the best high schools, or has the money to send their kids to private schools? White people. What race is most highly represented by public colleges in CA, therefore their kids have a better chance to get accepted? White. Lastly, what race do you think is most connected with the type of people that could get their child into a $50,000 a year school? Yet again, White. Do you see the reoccurring trend? “Exceptionally high admittance rates, lowered academic standards, preferential treatment… These sound like cries heard in the growing fury over Affirmative Action… yet no one is outraged by legacies…” (Larew 419) It would be very hard for a legacy to be made if their parent wasn’t admitted in the first place due to their race.

These are some of the biggest factors that determine what school a child get accepted into, so I could make a pretty strong argument that institutional racism is being perpetuated from generation to generation.

Another argument that could be made to counter affirmative action is that the disparities that occur are because of class, not race. The most obvious rebuttal to this statement is look at the lower class citizens. Do you see the same percentage of African Americans in the lower class as in the higher class? After finding the obvious answer to the first question, then look if you see the same percentage of whites in the lower class as in the higher class? Shouldn’t that alone tell you that there is a problem with the current way we are living? “It starts during the infant and toddler years, when hundreds of thousands of children of the very poor in much of the United States are locked out of the opportunity for preschool education for no reason but the accident of birth and the budgetary choices of the government, while the children of the privileged are often given veritable feasts of rich developmental early education.” (Kozol 45-46) Money leads to education, education leads to employment and employment leads to money. It is a cycle that many people of color are left out of because they lack the ability to acquire education, employment, and money. This is due to no fault of their own, but it is due to a lack of opportunity because of institutional racism.

“Minority students who are qualified have to endure and fight the second-guessing and white patronization that come along with preferential policies. The real shame, though, is in allowing unqualified people to take places for which they are not ready.” (Gould 1) This statement along with others made throughout Anna Gould’s paper lead me to believe that she is calling Affirmative Action reverse discriminatory. In other words, she thinks that Affirmative Action helps the minorities but make everything harder for the majority. Specifically she states, “allowing unqualified people to take places where they are not ready.” This assumes that the unqualified people are the people of color. It also assumes that they are not good enough and they should just leave those hard jobs for the white people to do because after years of inequality and benefitting from being white, they most definitely are ready.

What Anna Gould is missing and anyone holding on to their colorblind beliefs is, Affirmative Action is institutionally the only thing that has been created by the institution to stop institutionally racism. Basically, it’s the only thing made to help out racially discriminated groups and white people want to put an end to it. Because if it is helping people of color, it is hurting white privilege, and whites will go through any means necessary to save that. Sadly, whites already have, with Affirmative action being banned in five states since 1996, including Arizona in 2010, it is starting to look like white privilege will win yet another battle.

Unfortunately, whites do not realize that Affirmative Action is not meant to hurt white privilege, it is meant to help get rid of racial disparities. It tries to eliminate the consistent inconsistencies inside America, ranging from the corporate America to the Scholarly America. If we leveled the playing field for people of color, there would be an equal representation of all people in every aspect of life, eliminating privilege and disparity. That, if nothing else is the American Dream.

Book Review: Crossing the Rubricon by Michael Ruppert

2011-12-28T11:21:00.000-08:00

Crossing the Rubicon
By: Michael Ruppert
In Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at he End of the Age of Oil, there are three main points where Mr. Ruppert tries to blame the entire tradjety of September 11, 2001, better known as 9/11, on the acting Vice President at the time, Dick Cheney. At first glance this seems to be a bold if not insane accusation against the Vice President of the United States of America, but Ruppert does make a few points that will make you think.
The first point of Ruppert is Dick Cheney had the Ability to pull off this plan if he wanted to. According to Ruppert, Cheney was acting as Commander in Chief on 9/11 due to the terrible threat on the United States. This means he was in control and was calling the shots. Ruppert also has reason to believe that Cheney was leading a “completely separate chain of Command & Control via the Secret Service, assuring the paralysis of Air Force response on 9/11. The Secret Service has the technology to see the same radar screens the FAA sees in real time.” (Kane) Ruppert claims that President Bush was kept out of a leadership position on purpose by the Secret Service men around him as he was reading to school children the morning of 9/11. He also claims that the Secret Service, acting through Cheney, had control over the FAA, Airforce (including the Fighter Jets), and President Bush. One question I would ask Ruppert is “Why?”
Why would Cheney and the Secret Service go through all of this trouble to attack his own country? The answer, according to Ruppert, is simply Oil. Cheney’s plan was to start a never-ending war to take control of the Middle Eastern oil and use it for American purposes. Ruppert claims that there was a peak in the oil reserves around the world from 2000-2007. After 2007, oil will become more rare and extremely more expensive. "By way of confirmation, people in and close to the oil industry are reporting that increased drilling is not resulting as yet in significantly increased supply." (Ruppert) Upon hearing of this news, Cheney had to go into action. He just needed the right time to plan his so called “Attack”.
According to Ruppert, the “right time” was any time that Cheney chose because as of May 8, 2001, Dick Cheney was put into control of all training exercises of all branches of military and government. This means he could set up “fake” hijackings by calling them training situations just in case anyone would ever want to hijack airplanes and fly them into buildings. Cheney did call for these training simulations, except he did it on the morning of 9/11. Also, Cheney called for another training simulation that send all the fighters from D.C. into Canada and Alaska to train just incase an attack came from Russia. This meant that the Air Force could not do anything to prevent the hijacked airplanes from crashing into anything they pleased. Also, the Secret Service had control over the FAA flight path screens and put fake hijacked airplanes in the air to confuse air traffic control. At one point the FAA thought there was 11 hijacked airplanes.
All of this was put into motion by Dick Cheney and people taking orders from Cheney. He is guilty for singlehandedly putting this plan into motion and being successful. The scary part if these accusations by Ruppert are true, is that Bush and Cheney were re-elected the following term.

Compare and Contast Essay: John Updike’s “A&P”

2009-04-03T09:42:00.001-07:00

Langston Hughes and John Updike are very different writers. They are from very different backgrounds; Langston Hughes’ mother couldn’t make enough money to pay for rent, so they had to live with Langston’s grandmother. John Updike was not rich, but his family lived in their own home when he was young. Updike was born in the North and wrote about where he lived; Hughes was born in Missouri and wrote about wherever he wanted to. Where authors are born and raised has a big effect on the stories they write and the characters they create. The characters in John Updike’s “A and P” were complete opposites of the characters in Langston Hughes’ “Thank You M’am”

When you take the woman from “Thank You M’am” and the Queen from “A and P” you get complete opposite characters. In the short story, “Thank You M’am”, Langston Hughes describes the setting as a small town at night. Where there is a large woman walking home with a large purse, and he states “she has everything in it but a hammer and nails”. After the boy tries to steal her purse, he falls and the woman catches him and “shakes him until his teeth rattle”. This is saying that this woman has not been babied her whole life, she has to do things for herself and she is very independent. She is obviously strong from hard work, to be shaking that boy around like that with one hand. Then once she starts talking, Hughes makes it a point for her to be obviously talking with a southern sort of draw. In the story, it never states that she is black but you can make an immediate assumption of that just by the way she talks. She speaks as if she doesn’t have very much education, or she just chooses to speak that way, but she says she works in a hotel beauty shop, which doesn’t require a whole lot of education to work there. She is obviously not rich either when her home is described. She lives with other people, and in the last paragraph, it says she has a barren stoop which indicates the house isn’t the best in the world. There is one thing about her that is different; she is very generous to the little boy. It may be because she, in her own way, claims she has done things like what the boy has just done, but she isn’t rich and she feeds this child and gives him ten dollars. At the time ten dollars is not a small amount of money, but she just gives it to this boy whom she just meet as he was trying to rob her.

The Queen girl in the story “A and P” is obviously a completely different character than the woman from “Thank You M’am”. First of all, just the physical differences are astounding, the woman is large and probably 30-40 years old and works hard for her money. The Queen is a beautiful, thin, young girl probably about 19, the age of the cashier, and she never worked a day in her life. She is very gentle and walks slowly and daintily, she is in no rush, and she is enjoying a day at the beach. Mrs. Washington Jones on the other hand, seems like she is in a rush to go home, carries a huge purse, and shakes around a little child. The Queen is not carrying anything, she’s not even wearing shoes, and this girl must come from at least a semi-wealthy family, because she acts as if she owns the place. She walks into a grocery store with her straps off of her bathing suit, and no shoes on, and she starts strolling around the store. She is in no rush because she walks through about every aisle and then stops and asks the butcher where to go. This girl is the opposite of the woman in “Thank You M’am” in almost every way possible.

The boy in "Thank you Ma'm" is a young kid, who must be skinny because he falls to the ground when he tries to steal the purse, and he also has a very dirty face. Also, nowhere is this story does it say if the boy is black or not, but he could go either way. Judging just from Langston’s work I would say this boy is black because all the characters Hughes makes are black, unless they are the evil character in the story. Also, you can assume the boy is black because the woman relates to him very well, and she basically says she used to be in his position. She wouldn’t say that to him if he was a little dirty-faced white boy. Despite being homeless, or parentless, the boy has very good manners. He always says ma’m to her and treats her with respect. It could be because he is trying to win back her trust as it says in the story or he could’ve been raised that way and his parents just work all the time that’s why the aren’t home.

The clerk, Sammy from “A and P”, is a teenager who has been working at this store for probably a year or more. He has a bow tie on and an apron with his name stitched on it and he knows everyone in the store. He seems like the stereotypical middle class boy, because the shop owner knows his parents, so they are still together and he still lives with them, at least that’s how it seems. He is very unlike the boy because, physically, he is older and Caucasian. Also, Sammy lives with his parents and is a middle class citizen. The boy doesn’t know where his parents are, it doesn’t even say he has parents. Sammy can just go home and eat dinner with his family, when the boy has to steal food or steal money to buy food for his family.

In conclusion, these characters from either story are complete opposites of each other. If it’s race, work ethic, social status, education, or morals, these characters have very little, if anything in common.

Essay for College Application: Vibrant Community

2009-04-02T10:12:00.000-07:00

My benefits from being part in a vibrant community would be very outstanding. Many people can benefit from different cultures and ways of living. If a person would live the same way their whole life they would become stagnant and mundane. A person needs to experience different kinds of people and have varied groups of friends to become an active member of society. I believe that I can contribute to such a community by having an open mind to new cultures and beliefs. Also, by accepting other’s views one can start to relate to others and befriend others, and in turn, one can also grow from having different friends. If one has a varied group of friends you can have different experiences with different friends. In addition, one’s outlook on life can be changed by being friends with someone who has a completely different background than that person.

For instance, when I first joined the Williamstown Braves Tennis Squad, most of the players on the team were Caucasian, so when an African American player wanted to join everyone was somewhat taken back. However, there were no racial confrontations over that, everyone got along just fine, but everyone grew as a team because there were new cultures and experiences introduced to the team. Also, the player in question happened to be the best on the team, and everyone benefitted from his expertise.

A person that doesn’t know of any cultures but their own will not try to experiment and try something new. Such as when I was growing up I didn’t have a very good variety of friends, so we would hang out and the same places and do the same things all the time, so it would become very boring. Until I went to high school where I met new kinds of people from different age groups and backgrounds, and I made many new friends. When I started going to different places and experiencing different things, I realized that just by meeting new people, you can grow as a person.

What is the Right to Councel?

2009-04-02T10:09:00.000-07:00

What is Right to Counsel?

The Right to Counsel is now mostly called the right to a fair trial and where even people who cannot afford a lawyer will have one provided to them by the state.

History of Right to Counsel

In Webb v. Baird, the Indiana Supreme Court in 1853 recognized a right to an attorney at public expense for a person accused of crime, grounded in "the principles of a civilized society," not in constitutional law. The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution states: "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right . . . to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense."

Landmark Case Brewer v. Williams (1977)

The man was arrested for abducting a 10-year-old girl in Des Moines, Iowa. His lawyer advised him not to make any statements until after consulting with him upon being returned to Des Moines, and the police officers who were to accompany him on the car ride back to Des Moines. The officers agreed not to question him during the trip. During the trip, he said he didn’t want to be interrogated without a lawyer, but instead stated several times that he would tell the whole story after seeing his Des Moines lawyer. However, one of the police officers, who knew that he was a former mental patient and was very religious, wanted him to say incriminating things by stating to him during the ride that he felt they should stop and find the girl's body because her parents wanted a Christian burial for the girl, who was taken away from them on Christmas Eve. The man eventually said where the body was and was convicted for murder. Then he petitioned for habeas corpus claiming he was denied the right to counsel. The Supreme Court ruled that he was denied his right to counsel and he didn’t voluntarily waive his right.

My Opinion

I agree with the Supreme Court’s decision because this man was obviously dinied his right to counsel because he said he didn’t want to talk without a lawyer. He had agreed to tell the whole story when they got back to Des Moines, Iowa.

Essay of Robert Browning: "My Last Duchess" and "Porphyria's Lover"

2009-04-02T10:04:00.000-07:00

Robert Browning’s Theme

Robert Browning is known as one of the best Victorian era poets despite his many years being a playwright. The two poems, “My Last Duchess” and “Porphyria’s Lover” are dramatic monologues. Dramatic monologues are when a speaker speaks to a silent listener about an important experience in his/her life. Robert Browning developed his art of dramatic monologues from his many years of writing plays. They say these two poems are the best of Robert Browning’s career. These were the poems that everyone read and were very fond of in the Victorian era. The main theme in Robert Browning’s poetry is jealousy.

For instance, in Robert Browning’s poem, “My Last Duchess”, in which a duke killed his former wife because she was cheating on him with a count, shows jealousy. “Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands; then all smiles stopped together” (Browning 856). These are the words of the duke who says that she was smiling at the count and he was smiling back then he had to give order to kill her out of jealousy (Browning 856). The duke is a very egotistic man who said “I chose to never stoop” (Browning 856). When he says this he means that he won’t just keep letting this women push him around and cheat on him so he chose not to stoop and put her to death. This man is a man who can jealous easily and he inferred by their smiles at each other that they were automatically sleeping together and immediately had her killed. The poem never exactly stated that the two were sleeping together but the duke obviously thought so when he gave his order that he bragged about. This duke is so cocky and arrogant that he is bragging about killing this woman to the count’s agent. The count is the man that she was suspected to be cheating with. Then here is this duke who doesn’t care because he is so sure of himself that he can brag about killing a man’s lover to a man who works for the count. This poem is loosely based on the life of Alfonso I, the duke of Ferrara, and it has some of his direct quotes in it from that time. Some listeners said most of what is said in this poem was either said or written in letters by the duke.

Also, the poem “Porphyria’s Lover” written by Robert Browning has themes of jealousy in it. “That moment she was mine” (Browning 858). This is said because sometimes she is another man’s. This woman has just left a party where she was with other men and now trekked through the wind and rain to be with the man she claims to love. But, she had no idea that this man was plotting to make her love his forever. “And thus we sit together now, and all night long we have not stirred” (Browning 858). This was his way of keeping her from other men. He was so jealous that he decided to kill her so he could sit with her and not worry about her stirring to go to be with other men. He says that he debated before he killed her whether or not to, then he takes her hair and wraps it around her neck and strangles her with it (Browning 858). This man was so desperate for this woman love to only be with him and so jealous of the other men she was with that her decided to make her his permanently by killing her at that very moment.

However, the theme of these poems by Robert Browning is opinion, and there are some critics who have different opinions of the theme of these poems. Also, there are critics who share the opinion of jealousy as the theme for these two Robert Browning poems. An essay by Lois A. Marchino shares the opinion of the theme of “My Last Duchess”. Lois A. Marchino even uses the some of the same citations as previously stated in this essay. For example “She should have known better, he says, and ‘I choose/ Never to stoop.’” (Marchino). This reinforces the fact that the theme of “My Last Duchess” is in fact jealousy. It can be very wrong if on person writes it, but if another writes about the same thing and uses the same quotations then it is that more likely to be true. Also, when part one of this essay was being written, there was no knowledge that Marchino’s essay had been written so the idea was not stolen. “The final characterization the duke gives of his former duchess reveals his obsessive possessiveness and jealousy. He acknowledges that she smiled when she saw him, but complains that she gave much the same smile to anyone else she saw. His next statement reveals that he caused her to be killed: ‘I gave commands;/ Then all smiles stopped together.’” (Marchino).

This statement implies that the Duke was very jealous because of the smiles his duchess would give to people. She had argued that she gives the same smile to everyone but that did not sway this duke. This Duchess’s argument was probably true, because she did walk the streets smiling at everyone but jealousy clouded this duke’s mind. He then gave orders to have her killed without even thinking that the smile that she gave to that painter was the same smile she gave to everyone else. The painter in question is the man who painted the painting of the duchess that the duke is showing off in the beginning of the poem.

Furthermore, there are also some critics who agree that the theme of “Porphyria’s Lover” is jealousy. “Browning shows how apparently reasoned justification is founded on misprision, on fantasy, jealousy, fear, and aggression.” (Maxwell). This is what Catherine Maxwell writes in one of her essays about “Porphyria’s Lover” in her essay she does not state that the theme of “Porphyria’s Lover” is jealousy, but she does mention it and it sounds like she is saying that jealousy maybe a reoccurring theme in Robert Browning’s works. “Browning's insane speaker in "Porphyria's Lover" strangles his lover either out of jealousy or insanity.” (Devi). In this excerpt, Gayatri Devi writes that the reason that Porphyria is being strangled in “Porphyria’s Lover” is because her lover is jealous. Lest one forget that this is a woman that has had many lovers and a man has good reason to be jealous. This man was insane with love for this woman and when the were sitting together cuddling or whatever it may be called, he was so in love that he had to kill her to insure that she could only be with him for the rest of her life. The rest of her life of course was only about five minutes long because she was being strangled and the lack of oxygen to the brain would only let her live about five more minutes, if even that long. This man was so insane and jealous of all the other men and also so in love with her that he probably watched her die while either kissing her or staring into her eyes which where filled with terror and a question of “Why are you doing this to me, I thought you loved me?” There are not very many reasons to kill the woman you love but jealousy is probably top on list. Robert Browning was very jealous in his own life that is why he wrote so romantically of killing because of jealousy because he couldn’t kill but he could write about killing.

In conclusion, Robert Browning main theme in these two poems, “My Last Duchess” and “Porphyria’s Lover”, is jealousy. The main examples were previously stated in this essay. Robert Browning made it very clear through the actions of the narrators of his poems that they killed their lovers/wives because of jealousy. In “Porphyria’s Lover” the man had killed his lover because of the fear and jealousy of her being with another man. Also, Robert Browning gave a few hints in this poem that this man may have been somewhat insane. In the other poem, “My Last Duchess”, the duke killed his duchess because she had smiled in a way that led to the suspicion of her having an affair with a certain painter. This was the painter that painted the painting that was being discussed in the beginning of the poem. This man was very jealous of everyone that his wife smiled at and had her put to death despite her countless arguments. Robert Browning’s moral of his poems and the point he was trying to get across is that he doesn’t take to unfaithfulness very well, in fact he hates it.

Works Cited
Applebee, Arthur N., and Andrea B. Bermudez. The Language of Literature. Evanston, Illinois:
McDougal Littell, 2006. 855-856.

- - -. The Language of Literature. Evanston, Illinois: McDougal Littell, 2006. 857-858.

Devi, Gayatri. "Literary Contexts in Poetry: Robert Browning's 'Porphyria's Lover.'" Nov.-Dec. 2006.
Literary Reference Center. EBSCO. 16 Jan. 2008 .

Marchino, Lois A. "My Last Duchess." 2002. Literary Reference Center. EBSCOhost. 21 Jan. 2008
.

Maxwell, Catherine. "Browning's Porphyria's Lover." 25 June 2002. Literary Reference Center. EBSCOhost.
21 Jan. 2008 http://web.ebscohost.com/lrc/

Division Classification Essay: Two Types of Learners (Visual and Verbal)

2009-04-02T10:02:00.000-07:00

Division- Classification

There are benefits in learning if a person isn’t just one type of learner. It is better to be a mixture of both types. For instance, visual learners will come across hard times in a lecture environment, but if the person is a visual and verbal learner, than they will be able to learn equally in a lecture class or a lab. Most people are more of one type of learner than the other, so they have difficulties in certain situations, but also succeed in other situations. A reflective learner isn’t the type to working groups so if that person was put in a group with others then they would be thinking to themselves and not sharing and helping the whole group as an active learner would. On the other hand, reflective learners excel when studying alone or concentrating on the subject. However, if there was a student who perfected both dimension of learning for each classification, then that student would be fine in any situation that presented itself to that particular student. That way the student would have “the best of both worlds”. This is what every student should strive for not just excelling at intuitive learning, but also being a good sensing learner as well. That way each student would be able to learn well despite the situation.

Essay of Worst Day (at School)

2009-04-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

Writing Sample #2
My worst day of school was my freshman year. I had the worst day of school in the beginning of the year, September, to be exact. It wasn’t the first day of school but it was close. It started of as most terrible days of school start, missing the bus. It wasn’t that I just missed my bus it was that I was wearing wrinkled clothes and my hair was all messed up also.

When I actually got into the building, the one good thing happened to me, I found a five dollar bill on the floor. But that luck wouldn’t last long, I had lunch fourth period and at the end of my table there was a bunch of jerky seniors. These kids always seemed to ruin my day. They had knocked over some cranberry juice all over my wrinkled white shirt, but that wasn’t the worst of it, I didn’t have a shirt to change into after the incident. Of course, it doesn’t stop there, at ninth period, I had gym class and I didn’t have a change of clothes, so I had to wear the terribly wrinkled and stained shirt. When I got home I had loads of homework that had to be done right away because later that night my mother wanted me to watch a crappy movie on oxygen with her. These movies are of course directed toward women and try as hard as they can to make you cry. So my worst day of school ended with my mother crying over the old woman who never had loved anyone but the man she had just lost to tuberculosis.

Formal Summary: "School is Bad for Children"

2009-04-02T09:58:00.000-07:00

Summary of School is bad for Children
In “School is Bad for Children”, John Holt makes very bold statements about the education system and how it doesn’t teach children. Holt states that a child enters school with more willingness to learn and desire to figure things out for themselves than they will ever be at school. Holt also states that children do not learn own their own anymore, their learning is done for them, passively. Also, Holt states that children realize at school to be wrong or unsure is not acceptable. The school only desires the right answers and the student has to make ways to “pry the answers out of the teacher.” Holt states that children are taught to not learn from each other, to ignore other students and to focus only on the teacher. Another controversial part of this essay by Holt is that he states that children learn from school how to shut their brains off, and that eventually leads them to drug use. Then Holt gets so bold as to suggest to abolish mandatory school attendance because that would cause the children not to be forced to go to school but to want to go to school. Furthermore, he offers many strategies to fix the school problem, including: remove children from schools and bring them out to the real world, take them to meet adults besides their parents and teaches, let children work together, and let children grade themselves. His final suggestion is to abolish curriculum altogether. Then he closes with “children’s only desires are to make sense of the world and other human beings.” He believes that the best place for this would be a job or whatever way works best for them.

Expository Essay: John McCain with Works Cited

2009-04-02T09:56:00.000-07:00

McCain is the Man
John McCain stance on various topics has been obscured by all of the television advertisements and one-sided media establishments. These obscurities need to be rubbed out. John McCain’s thoughts and personal beliefs has been inspected and exposed, everything he has said or done in his lifetime, good or bad, has been brought to light. This man is in the running to be the next President of the United States of America; the voters deserve to know exactly where he stands, and make an intelligent decision on which candidate is better suited to deal with America’s enormous problems.

“In the global economy, what you learn is what you earn. . . We need to shake up failed school bureaucracies with competition; hold schools accountable for results strengthen math, science, technology and engineering curriculums; empower parents with choice; remove barriers to qualified instructors, attract and reward superior teachers, and have a fair but sure process to weed out incompetents”(Highlights). John McCain is a firm believer in higher education for America; he wants to provide bonuses to teachers that increase the test scores of their students and throughout the school itself. Also he believes that teachers that teach in intercity areas or underachieving schools should also receive bonuses to help motivate the teachers to better educate the children. John McCain wants to make it easier for people who graduate in top twenty-five percent of their classes and are parts of certain organizations to become teachers, because he feels they are more motivated to teach. These will all play a part in keeping our kids in school and out of trouble.

“[John McCain] has supported legislation to increase penalties for repeat felons who commit crimes with a firearm, or commit violent crimes on behalf of a criminal gang” (JohnMcCain.com). John McCain has stood by local police departments and done his best to empower them. His belief is that they are the ones who take care of most arrests and deserve to be treated with respect. This means that, the police don’t need the FBI jumping in on every case they can handle it themselves (except on certain occasions of course). “Terrorism, public corruption and the investigation of multi-state and international criminal organizations” are some of these exceptions and require the federal agencies aid and oversight (JohnMcCain.com). Sexual predators are becoming a bigger and bigger problem, “McCain is a strong proponent of aggressively pursuing Internet predators, for fully implementing the Adam Walsh Act including lifetime registration for child sexual offenders, and funding the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces (ICACs) that employ many sheriffs' deputies across the nation to track purveyors of child pornography”( JohnMcCain.com). He is a firm believer that our children come first when it comes to safety. The countries safety as a whole is also one of the biggest concerns for this candidate.

“As early as 2001 McCain was helping make the case for war with Iraq” (McCain’s). The democrats are using this as a bad thing but, in 2001, everyone who had a pulse in America wanted to go to war over what happened on 9/11. In addition, George W. Bush’s approval rating was actually reasonable then. So it was basically popular to stick by the President at that time because the largest attack on America’s homeland had just happened and the people of the United States wanted to make someone pay for it.
“"We both disagree with President Bush on economic policy," McCain said.”The difference is that he thinks taxes have been too low, and I think that spending has been too high"” (Issenberg). John McCain feels that of all of these situations, the ailing economy needs the most attention. The POW promises to cut government spending and help remove this government from debt and turnaround the backsliding economy. Despite the ridiculous government spending over the past eight years, Obama and McCain both voted for the $700 Billion bail-out for AIG. McCain believes that this will help keep one of the biggest companies in America afloat and keep thousands of jobs in tact. For either candidate, this economy will be a huge challenge to tackle, but the amount of dedication McCain has showed to turning it around seems promising.

So, despite what you hear on television, or on the radio, these are the cold, hard facts of Presidential Candidate John McCain’s policies. Hopefully, voters can look past all of the mudslinging from both parties and put the right candidate in office.

Works Cited
"HIGHLIGHTS OF JOHN McCAIN'S EDUCATION PROPOSALS. (cover story)." Phi Delta Kappan 90.2 (Oct. 2008): 91-95. Business Source Corporate. EBSCO. Gloucester County College, Sewell, NJ. 28 Oct. 2008 .

Issenberg, Sasha. "Final week, fervent themes - McCain calls liberals a threat to economy.” Boston Globe [Boston, Mass.] 28 Oct. 2008, A.1. ProQuest Central. ProQuest. Gloucester County College, Sewell, NJ. 28 Oct. 2008 http://www.proquest.com/

"John McCain.com". McCain-Palin 2008. October 28, 2008 .

"McCain Repeated Claims That 'Led the Nation to War Under Decidedly False Pretenses', Says Democratic National Committee.” U.S. Newswire 23 January 2008 ProQuest Central. ProQuest. Gloucester County College, Sewell, NJ. 28 Oct. 2008 http://www.proquest.com/

Compare and Contrast Essay: Gun Bans with Works Cited

2009-04-02T09:54:00.000-07:00

Gun Bans: for Better or for Worse?

Gun bans are very simple in theory, just take everyone’s guns, but the results are drastic. Removing all guns from the American Citizens hands will have effects on many aspects of life. This simple plan proposed countless times by countless politicians will make many people angry and others glad. This is great in theory, but the real life consequences will outweigh the benefits.
There are some benefits acquired by banning guns. For instance, if all guns were to be banned in the United States, then some of the simple, very preventable deaths could be prevented. For example, a child is left at home and finds a gun in his father’s dresser drawer. The child accidently discharges the gun and fatally wounds himself. This accident would be easily preventable; simply remove the culprit, the firearm. “The reason, plain and simple, is guns. We own more guns per capita than any other high-income country” (Olsen). For another example, a teenager is having trouble in high school with a bully and decides to take the pistol that’s in his house and brought it to school to solve his problem. If there were no guns in citizen’s houses, there would be no more school shootings; plain and simple.

Handguns lead to may crimes. “Hand guns have been shown to lead to crimes more frequently than rifles or shotguns.”(Olsen). They can be easily concealed and brought to the nearest convenience store for some quick cash. Handguns also prove to be the biggest crime inducing guns in the cities because of their availability and small size. In Washington D. C. they banned all handguns and required all other firearms to be disassembled within city limits in hopes to quell the enormous amount of crime there. To the legislators believed that the removal of all guns would decrease the crime rate drastically. Considering that most crimes are made with a gun in hand or the person who commits the crime has a gun in hand, this is a very logical solution.

Furthermore, the removal of guns would save many lives in law enforcement. Police officers put
their lives at risk every day because the populous has firearms in their possession. Police officers jobs would be drastically easier if the criminals didn’t have guns and the cops did. Also, Police officers are shot or killed everyday because of the amount of firepower criminals have.

Removing firearms from the equation would save a great deal of police officers lives. The amount of organized crime would go down because all of their power is derived from their use of firearms and that is a significant amount of their profit. After gun profits is removed from organized crime, they would have to resort to drug sales, which would be a lot easier to stop if the drug dealers didn’t have guns. Those in support of firearms bans argue that having no guns at all in the homes of Americans would make everyone feel safer at home and in public.

Banning guns has many benefits but the criminals could get their guns from various illegal sources, such as black market and other countries. Most of the guns used in crimes are bought illegally or stolen anyway, so that proves the ban wouldn’t affect the criminal’s ability to commit crime. The bottom line is that if criminals need a gun, they will get one. “Since 1976, it's been illegal in Washington, DC to own any handguns or to keep any type of gun in your home unlocked and fully assembled. However, Washington, DC is the ‘murder capital of the United States.’”(Kopel). This concept of banning guns has been tried and has failed terribly; it has had an opposite affect on crime rates.

There is one major flaw of the country wide gun ban; it goes against the constitution. The second amendment clearly gives us the “right to bear arms” which led us to the founding of our country. When we were ruled over by a different country that didn’t allow us the proper freedoms, the citizens rose up with their guns in hand and overthrew the British government. That is the reason that amendment is in the constitution to permit the general population to form a militia. If the average citizen was denied the right to have a gun, the military could come one day and just sweep through the country and impose a whole knew government on us without our permission or say in any part of it. Also, this would put the country at greater risk for invasion. Any country would be able to come to America and take over the country without any resistance from the citizens. This would lead to a helpless feeling among the population. That is why the right to bear arms in this country is so important to the nation.

Another drawback the gun ban would be the fall in the United States economy. The productions of firearms employ hundreds of thousands of people and are the life blood of multibillion dollar corporations. If we were to stop the production of firearms these companies would go out of business and they would have to lay off all of their employees. Corporations don’t just pay their employees, they pay millions in taxes and also pay other companies for the materials to produce guns.

Those in favor of the ban of firearms must not realize the importance of guns to the entire country. This county was built around them, with them and for them. If we remove firearms from the citizens of the United States of America it would go against everything this county stands for.

Works Cited

Kopel, David. "Will you be Safer if Guns are Banned?." International Sociey for Individual Liberty. 1995. 6 Dec 2008 .
Olsen, Terry. "Ban all (hand)guns!." OlsenOline. 17 Apr 2007. 6 Dec 2008 .

Literaty Analysis of "The Murders at the Rue Morgue" by Edgar Allen Poe

2009-04-02T09:51:00.000-07:00

Analysis of “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”

I chose to analyze the third, fourth, and fifth paragraphs of this short story written by Edgar Allen Poe. My arguable statement is that these gentlemen are not ordinary and I believe they are homosexual. These are some of the introductory paragraphs of this story. These paragraphs set the mood in the story and describe what they did during the day and the night of the first day written in this story. It also describes the situation pertaining to the housing situation that they are currently in. The bottom line is that these paragraphs have a great deal of insight and foreshadowing to the rest of the story.

When one reads these paragraphs, the first thing that jumps out is how odd these fellows are. These men are two gentlemen that are about middle aged, Caucasian, and I imagine wealthy, at least Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin is. The man invited the main character into his home to do some reading, writing and conversing with each other. Most people would think that ordinary men of their character would at least have women available to them so they aren’t “lonely”. As anyone with common sense can tell by reading these paragraphs, these men are not ordinary men. They have shut themselves inside an old creepy building to read and write and discuss what they just read and wrote. These two men closed the shudders so no light could come in to disturb them I suppose. This part especially intrigued me, these men spend all day reading and writing yet they close out all sunlight? This is not logical; a person needs light to read. So they light scented candles instead. But everyone knows no matter how many candles you light they don’t offer much light. This is even stated by the author, and he says these don’t let off much light.

So why, if a person is reading and writing all day would they shut out all daylight? This question is not a simple one to answer, but I believe that these men are having a homosexual affair together. Due to religious beliefs of these days these men would immediately be killed if they were discovered to be homosexual. This is just an inference made by these few paragraphs. There is strong evidence to back this inference however. There is a statement in these paragraphs that these two gentlemen, after daylight has finally gone, go into the streets arm in arm continuing the conversations of the day. May I repeat, arm in arm, no self-respecting man would go around the city walking arm in arm with another gentleman, no matter what time of day. These men obviously have a strong bond together, they spend their days reading and writing together so they must know each other very well.

Nowhere in these paragraphs does Poe directly state that they are homosexual, but he gives very many clues. Such as, these men light scented candles together with the blinds shut when they are the only ones in the house. They also don’t admit any visitors into the house. Also, they go around town arm in arm when everyone else has gone to bed. Also, the main character states that he gave in to Dupin’s “wild whims with perfect abandon.” This statement not normal, I would hate to look at this with a perverted eye but that statement has strong homosexual connotations.

Now all of this maybe normal for this time for upper class gentlemen that are wealthy enough to stay home all day and focus on reading and improving their intelligence. I doubt that though, I could be wrong, but these men enjoy each others company way too much to just be friends. They also don’t let any women inside the house, which is odd because if I were that wealthy, lets just say I wouldn’t stay home reading all day. The men in this story are homosexuals, Poe might not go right out and say that, but he gives us very strong clues.

Literaty Analysis of "An Arrest" by Ambrose Bierce

2009-04-02T09:49:00.000-07:00

Analysis of “An Arrest” by Ambrose Bierce

This short story written by Ambrose Bierce, An Arrest, is a very quick story of this man who is guilty of murder, and tries to escape. After he escapes, he gets captured again by a guard and kills that guard too, but instead of walking away, he turns himself in. Throughout this story Ambrose Bierce calls this man brave. Brower is brave because he tries to escape despite the fact he knows he will never be free, and because he could have gotten away after he kills his captor, but he turns himself into the guards. This literary analysis was done on the last three paragraphs of “An Arrest.”

Bravery can be defined as a quality of spirit that enables you to face danger of pain without showing fear. Throughout the last paragraphs in this story, Brower never shows fear, he is on his way to go back to prison and he does not seem fearful at all. This is a man who is described as brave multiple times in this story, yet he is a man that brutally murdered someone. Usually, brave is a term to describe people who do good things for others, not for people who murder others.

Despite this, Ambrose Bierce still describes this murderer as brave. This is a man does have those qualities of spirit mentioned above. Brower escapes from prison knowing the search for a murderer will never stop. It takes bravery to try to escape from a civil war era prison, because if you don’t successfully escape, you will surely be beaten. On the other hand, if you escape, you will be hunted down like an animal, and then you will be beaten worse for escaping.

When one is attempting to escape from a prison, the ultimate goal is freedom. What does it say about a man when he tries to escape anyway when he knows he will never be truly free? It takes a great deal of bravery and courage to try to escape a prison knowing you will be caught and beaten. The cowardly thing to do would be just sit there in your cell, and wait for your execution. This man is obviously facing pain and danger when he gets caught but he isn’t scared in the slightest. He is walking thorough the forest with one guard with him and doesn’t even turn around to look at the guard, except only once, when he knows the guard can’t see him. This man is marching to his beating without even looking back at the man who caught him to see if he can run away, or if the guard isn’t paying attention.

Brower is walking through the town and walks into the corridor of the prison. He is still being followed by his captor, and his captor is unarmed. Brower kills him. It does not take a brave man to kill an unarmed man, but it does take a brave man to do what Brower does next. After murdering an unarmed guard, he walks right into the room with all of the other guards. Well, it would have been a lot easier to turn around and run away. But, Brower learned his lesson of escaping already he will never be free and he knows it. He is now facing a great deal of danger and pain when he pushes open that prison door without anyone telling him to.

Guards are much like policemen, they consider each other brothers, so when one of their brothers get killed, they are not very nice to the dumb guy who did it. So, when Brower walks into a room full of guards after just killing one of their brothers, he is in a world of hurt. Brower was going to be beat anyway, but now he is going to be beat repeatedly until the guards get tired or Duff’s wife stops crying. You can bet the house that Brower knows this, but with that knowledge, he walks in that room facing those men and ready to take on whatever pain they can do to him and he is not showing any fear on his face.