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The movie’s going relatively well I guess.  Everyone’s saying the same thing-we need to work on continuity.  This is definitely easier said than done.  It’s hard to find a way to adjust your scene to fit the ones before and after it.

I enjoyed this first semester in English class. I think my favorite topic was ‘evil’.  I feel like we had really good discussions about good and bad, and what exactly evil is.  Everyone had something to say about the topic of evil.  Once we started reading and talking about books we were reading, i feel like the class got more distracted more often.  I enjoyed the book A lesson before dying but i know a lot of people didn’t really care for it.  I thought there were some good discussions on that book too, but it was hard to start the conversations.  I think ‘evil’ was easier to talk about because it was very broad, but could be broken down into more narrow topics, but also because we read several articles together so we could help each other get through it.  We got more opinions by discussing immediately after reading rather than talking about a book a day or two after reading it. 

I read the article Mr. Wasserman linked to called “New Remote Control Can Be Operated by Remote” from the Onion.  I thought the title was funny in itself and sounded extremely…lazy.  The article is all about how much of an inconvience it is to pick up your TV remote to change the chanel.  Now theres a remote that controls the television remote, because bending over to get the real remote is just too much of a hassle.  This reminded me of the movie Click.  The main character, who is played by Adam Sandler, was fed up with all the remotes to turn on the TV, fan, toys, garage etc. so he found one that controlled everything.  He fast forwarded through life because he didn’t want to deal with all the inconviences in life.  Getting back to the article…It shows how lazy humans, especially Americans, have become.  Things like this and supersize are the reason America is one of the fatest countries in the world.  having a remote that controls a remote that controls the TV makes me wonder how our parents managed to watch tv!?  there was a time when you actually had to get up and go to the TV to change the chanel or the volume.  Maybe we need no remotes in life to get Americans moving again.  In every magazine you can find articles called “how to get the body you want” or “how to lose 10 lbs”and “healthy diet!”  Obviously the public wants these articles-so then why do we need to regress and be lazy?  Basically, I thought the article was really funny. I love how it makes fun of how lazy people are. 

I read parts from the different slave narratives, but one stood out more than the others.  A True Tale Of Slavery by John S. Jacobs effected me the most.  Students learn about slavery every year, it feels like, so we have some knowledge of what happened to slaves in the 1800’s.  They were whipped and beaten for things their masters felt they did wrong, but also sometimes for no reason at all.  They were treated and considered property.  It wasn’t uncommon to be seperated from their family.  Although I knew this, one paragraph in this book helped me understand how all this feels. Not just what happens, but how it feels. 

“To be a man, and not to be a man–a father without authority–a husband and no protector–is the darkest of fates. Such was the condition of my father, and such is the condition of every slave throughout the United States: he owns nothing, he can claim nothing. His wife is not his: his children are not his; they can be taken from him, and sold at any minute, as far away from each other as the human fleshmonger may see fit to carry them.” http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/jjacobs/jjacobs.html

 This quote reminded me of Jim from Huck Finn because he was a father but had absolutely no control over what happened to either of them.  It’s hard to imagine not being able to stand up for a friend without being punished, or protect a family member from pain.  And then to have a wife/husband but not be garaunteed that he/she will be yours forever…any moment may be your last with the ones you love.  Slavery wasn’t only physical torture, but emotional as well, which makes it even worse.

I expect the slave narratives to be about how difficult it was to be a slave.  Based on the titles for some of the people, it seems like they will explain different times of their lives.  One looks like it will be about childhood under slavery and what it was like growing up, but another will be more about going from slavery to freedom.  They all seem different from one another.

Since the link for the video isn’t working for me, this will have to do…

Satire is used a lot in political cartoons.  Basically, political cartoons = satire.  The cartoonists have an opinion on a political issue, which is generally a common perspective, and illustrates their opinion through a cartoon.  There’s a video online that I never get tired of watching because it’s so funny, but I definitely think there’s a satiric backdrop to it. http://www.killsometime.com/animations/animation.asp?ID=153 This is a great cartoon because it targets teenagers, who are the leaders of tomorrow.  It gets the message across, which is that nukes are bad.  No matter how badly we want to be the most powerful, if the earth isn’t destroyed due to natural disasters, we will blow the earth up. 

I thought the article we read in class today was very interesting and I’m surprised about Bush’s reaction to it.  Based on what Mr. Olmstead told us in class, he basically dismissed the Iraq Study Groups suggestions.  Their approaches as to what to do in Iraq make sense and would probably make a lot of Americans feel more secure knowing that the U.S. has plans and isn’t just a sitting duck in Iraq.  Most Americans would rather not be in Iraq right now, but since we are we can’t just pull out.  The U.S. is in too deep, which makes it so that U.S. troops can only get out when Iraq is stable without their presence.  The External Approach the Iraq Study Group mentioned is important because America can’t, and shouldn’t, be the only nation trying to improve conditions in Iraq.  It might be more difficult to come up with a plan as to how to approach Iraq with nations working together, but the end solution will be much more reasonable with more input. 

I found an article about Saudi Arabia and the Sunnis and Shi’ites.  There are more articles you can read about Iraq as well. http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/12/13/saudi.sunnis/index.html

Everyone tries to defend minorities, especially those of different races, but do they really?  On one occassion you can find someone claiming not to be racist, but at another point in time find them making a racist slur.  At GHS we have a fairly diverse student body, but that doesn’t prevent anyone from being racist.  I think stereotypes lead to many cases of racism.  The article that I found is about a muslim charity asking the court to dismiss their charges of having ties with terrorists.  The stereotype would be that people from the middle east are terrorists.  Just because this is a stereotype doesn’t make it true, but I found a quote that I thought assumes the stereotype to be true:

“Lawyers for the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development based the request on a ruling last month by a federal judge in Los Angeles, who struck down President Bush’s authority to designate groups as terrorists.” 

 The part I want to point out is when it says “struck down President Bush’s authority to designate groups as terrorists.”  It can be taken casually, but it could also be implied that Bush feels he has the knowledge to decide if a group of people are terrorists or not.  Thinking about it, there must be requirements that would cause a group to be classified as a terrorist group, but my first impression was that Bush knew who could be called a terrorist and who was not.

People like satire so much because it’s real.  Real and serious social issues are brought up in movies like Borat.  While sitting back watching the movie, it’s interesting to see how the “actors” react to certain situations.  At the same time, it’s also interesting to see how the movie-goers react to whats happening on the screen.  People are so interested in satire because everyone contributes to it.  In some way or another, you are apart of what makes satire.  It’s bearable to watch because it’s funny and doesn’t always appear serious at first glance, but the underlying message is there and available for the audience to learn from.

“You’re looking for a place where this oppression doesn’t occur. Basically, that’s up North. So, you start looking towards getting out of this system of oppression.”

This quote is by Clifford Boxely who wrote about his personal experience in school when he was younger.  This quote reminded me of Grant.  Grant went to college so he could get more out of life than working on a plantation like his aunt and Miss Emma had.  He planned on getting and education and becoming a teacher, that way he would have more respect, not only from his students, but from society.  He wanted to escape the social structure where whites were always superior to blacks.  When Grant’s aunt and Miss Emma ask him to talk to Henri Pichot and go to the jail to visit Jefferson, Grant is reminded “this system of oppression.”  He is inspected and talked down to.