Ten Years Later- September 11, 2001 Tribute

This week in class we spent our time watching a documentary on a person who had just become a firefighter. He was not experienced with his work yet and was still trying to get to know all the guys in at the fire station. This person who was filming for a documentary did not purposefully go on September 11, 2001 to the twin towers after a tower was hit by an airplane to be able to say that he got the inside look of what was going on. He was thinking that he was getting footage for his documentary. After watching this documentary it made me think back ten years ago to this date. The room was quiet after we watched the documentary and the first thing that I could even think was, “wow.” I don’t know how else to put it. I was in second grade when the twin towers were targeted by planes and I do not remember anything. I don’t even recall anything even happening on that day. That makes me feel bad inside because I think that I should have known what was going on. Those brave firemen went out there and knew that they were risking their lives and that they would probably not come back alive, and yet they wanted to go back and find survivors. In a way though, I thank my mother from protecting me and shielding me from images and news reports that were happening on the television that day because what eight year old needs to worry?  I don’t see why a parent would want their child to know that there are evil people out there in the world that do not have a care for who they hurt and why. There was one line from the documentary that I keep remembering that was said, “I didn’t know how evil, evil could be until this day.” When that line was said, all I could think about was that on this day, ten years ago our nation’s innocence has just been ripped away from us and thrown back in our faces.  America is not as safe as we think it is. And that is such a scary thought to think. This event that took place opened our eyes and our awareness that there is pain and suffering; and there was so much pain and suffering on 9/11.  

            James Barron wrote a very touching article called A Day that Stands Alone. In the article he put into perspective of how many hours have gone by since September 11, 2001. 87,648 hours, 5,258,880 minutes, and 315,532,800 seconds. That is crazy to think about all the time that has gone by. In the article Barron talks about how there was an unconfirmed intelligence tip that Al Qaeda was plotting to interrupt the ten year mark. The first thing that popped into my head is, “you have got to be kidding me” Even if it is just a possibility, that is frightening and scary to think that Al Qaeda is finding pleasure in hurting us. I do not comprehend how their mind works like that. How could anyone want to purposefully hurt those who did nothing wrong? James Barron wrote about how there were long moments of silence on the hours that the planes crashed and when the towers fell. Leon E. Panetta said, “There are no words to ease the pain that you still feel” and that is upsetting because I know that he is right. No matter what anyone says to try to make families who lost loved ones, or anyone who lost anyone, it’s disappointing to think that you can’t do anything but listen to them hurt. During the ceremony they used silver bells at ground zero to remember the passengers in the planes. One thing that this article talked about is how the twin towers took 60 years to complete. And to think that they crumbled in seconds is a miserable feeling. And to think that ten years ago it was just another morning, it’s unbelievable to me. I learned something new from this article. I had no idea that a week after the September 11 attacks, letters killed 5 people and infected other because they contained anthrax. That sort of feels like a slap in the face, because I open mail every day and I do not even think to be cautious that something harmful could be in them. This article was very moving and touching for me.

            For the past 10 years of my life, I don’t exactly know what kind of impact that it has had on my life. To be honest, before this week in class I never really thought much about 9/11 and all that it did to our Nation; and after watching the documentary and watching all the news specials this week on T.V, it makes me feel sick to my stomach. I have so much empathy for those who now have to suffer from this tragic event. I always knew that it had happened, and that it had hurt a lot of people, but I never really took the time to really think about it. I don’t think I want to give myself that chance to think about it because it’ll bring fear to me. I loved watching the documentary in class, but at the same time I hated it. It’s hard to explain. This idea of fear- I never really had to fear for my life until I watched all these documentaries. So, I feel I am not doing justice for honoring those who have died just because I pay tribute for a week, because as time goes by, I’ll start going back to living life how it was before. For those who actually lost someone, my God they have to live with that every day of their lives. I’ve only experienced one death, and I knew that it was coming. These people who died on 9/11, the only thing they did wrong that day was go to work, but no one knew that it was coming. I went to church this morning on the ten year mark for 9/11, and there was a special part of the mass where the choir sang “Amazing Grace” in honor to those who lost their lives, and there was this woman in the pew diagonal from me. She was dressed in black, and had on black sunglasses, and a black hat. As the choir started to sing, I could see tears streaming down her face. It clicked in my mind that she must have some personal connection to the events that took place on that day.  No one was sitting next to her and she looked so upset. I remembered that I had my purse with me and my mother gave me a small bag of Kleenex over the summer (which I never opened) and I went up to the woman, placed my had on her shoulder and gave her my bag of Kleenex because I felt that she needed them more than I ever would. I sat next to this woman, who I never met in my life just looking at her with such sadness. What could I do? I rubbed her back, but that doesn’t take the hurt away. We didn’t even speak to each other. When the song ended she turned to me and she told me thank you. Her thank you made me feel so much sadness for this day. I returned to my seat, but I kept looking at that woman because I wanted to make sure that she was okay. I don’t even know her name. She left before mass ended so I couldn’t go and talk to her. Last Friday our teacher asked us what we would do to honor those who died on 9/11, and I wrote that I didn’t know what I could do to make a difference and all I could think of at the time was write a poem and say a prayer; but at that moment when I was in church, I only hope that I brought a smile to that one person’s gloomy day.

Do Students Have the Freedom of Speech?

This week in my Issues class we discussed this idea of whether or not students in a school settings have all the rights they like the think they do; for instance, their freedom of speech. People tend to believe that they have this right to say whatever they want whenever they want. But, does this really give people the right to scream, “Fire” in a crowded movie theater when there isn’t one? Well, yes they can say this, but I believe that they will have to deal with the consequences of their choices that they made. This idea of being able to say what you want, but then having to have to deal with the punishment is crucial because people have to look at the intent behind peoples actions. In one particular case I looked at the different sides of whether or not the First Amendment protects a student’s right from displaying messages promoting the use of illegal drugs at a school supervised event. This was the Morse v Frederick case. A student in Juneau, Alaska, when given the chance to attend the grounds to watch the Olympic torch being carried through the streets of Salt Lake City with his school; he chose to unfold a banner that read “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” as a camera was passing them he would not take it down when asked to do so. Morse ended up ripping the banner down and giving him a 10 day suspension.

My first reaction to reading about this case in class was this is typical teenage behavior and Frederick is trying to get attention. Frederick even admitted the only reason he did what he did, was so that he could get on television. Well, that does not give him the right to do that just because he wants too. While his intent might have only been to get on the T-V, this put the school it a very hard position in whether to take action or to step down. The question of whether the school should have taken any action because they were not actually at school raises lots of concern. The courts believed that because it was a school sponsored event and there were teachers there, the school has every right to take action to discipline Frederick. I agree, I believe that if Frederick were to get off the hook, that he would not learn any respect and that the school would also be representing that they think it is okay to use drugs. No school wants to have that kind of reputation. Parents care about were their kids go to school, and if they were to go to a school where the principle did not take actions to say that promoting illegal drugs was not okay, what kind of message would that be sending to the parents? Not a good not. It would not look professional.

In this case I believe that the actions that were taken to restrict his right to freedom of speech were appropriate because Frederick was not acting proper and was promoting the use of drugs that are not allowed. There is a certain respect that students need to show their teachers in order to get it back, and Frederick is clearly not showing it. Why should he get off the hook for his actions if he is not going to get anything back? While there are some instances where I think that freedom of speech is a good thing, this is not one of those instances and the court’s final decision was fitting for the circumstances.

Memorizing Poems

This time of year, people are starting up with the new school year and there are all sorts of stresses going on. Over the summer I was told by my teacher for AP English that I had to chose a poem of at least fourteen lines to memorize and then I would have to perform it to the class. Now, this was not all the homework that I had to do over the summer, a fraction; the part that I was looking forward too. There are so many different poems that I could have chosen and for some reason, I was drawn to a poem called "Like The Water" by Wendell Berry.This poem goes like this;

Like the water
Of a deep stream
Love is always to much
We did not make it
Though we drink till we burst
We can not have it all
or want it all
In its abundance
It survives our thirst.

In the evening we come down to the shore
to drink our fill
and sleep
while it flows
through the regions of the dark
it does not hold us
except we keep returning to its rich waters
Thirsty.

We enter
willing to die
into the commonwealth of its joy.

I was really excited about picking out my poem, and I thought that if I picked this poem, then people could get a glimpse of how I feel about certain things. Picking a poem is very difficult because when you memorize it, it becomes a part of you. Once you have memorized the poem you carry that poem with you where ever you go, you some how own that poem now. Something about having the words in your own blood stream fascinates me. Other people do not know my poem that I have to recite for the class. That is something special to me. Alberto Manguel's once said, Whenever you read a book and come across any wonderful phrases which you feel stir or delight your soul, don't merely tust the power of your own intelligence, but force yourself to learn them by heart and make them familiar..." (Manguel 63). People tend to overlook this and forget to slow down and remember things. This makes for everyday life a little different. When people say things to me, I really try to hear what it is that they are saying to me, and I try to see what it is that they are saying because I want to understand and know what the person means when someone says somthing that stirs with me.

Blogs For You To Look At

Dear Mr. Kramer,


I would like you to look at Blog # 1 and my Blog # 9. I think that with both of these I master what my first thoughts on the story were and important details in the story. I also used key text evidance to support what I was talking about. I also made some connections to what I learned in class and key ideas came out in my blogs. These ones were my best I think.

Blog #9 Diane Romano / Larry Heineman

            For my last blog I decided to go with Diane Romano’s story from the Studs Terkel Book. I chose this as my first story that I read because as I was looking at the different stories I could read I saw that under race there was a story called a white mother of six children. I thought that it was strange because when I thought of race, I thought of blacks and their stories and how race affected their lives. I had to read the story, and after reading the story, the whole idea of having sympathy for the blacks, but then working in a place where it makes it so much more difficult to not judge another color to me seemed so complex and Diane seemed to be lost and didn’t know what to do. In the story Diane talked about how she had sympathy for the blacks. She’ll, “…go march with them if it’s something big. [She doesn’t] use the term “nigger” in the house, and [she] never allow[ed] it” (Terkel 459). That just seemed so big of her because most white people at the time were so against the blacks and disrespected them. However, Diane did start working to find crooks and criminals. It made it difficult to keep her beliefs of blacks being treated equally and them not being any different, difficult. Diane stated, “It’s a shame to say it, but quite a few of these are black people. They seem like they’re all involved with the negative part of living: cheating, lying, stealing, dope, that type of thing” (Terkel 461). That contradicts what she was saying at the very beginning when she said that she would support them. Diane is being influenced by the work that is being done around her. What she fails to realize is that, those crooks and criminals are just a small fraction of the entire African-American race and she is letting it get to her head. Her job must be extremely stressful and take a toll on her morals and her beliefs as she works. When Diane said, “I think it’s going to take another hundred years, maybe two hundred, before the feeling of white superiority goes-this feeling against blacks, against Mexicans, against Orientals. Because they’re different than us” (Terkel 466). I think that she is on to something. Whites have it in their mind set that they are superior and better than everyone else around them. Even in today’s society the whites are wanting to be superior and there are stereotypes of Mexicans and people of different races other than whites. I don’t think this idea of being on top of everyone else is ever going to go away, but I think that it won’t be as big as time goes on. Back when we were learning about Black History we saw that the Whites wanted to have the upper hand and that they felt what ever they did they could.  People are afraid of change, and they are afraid of those who might come out on top of them, so they do what ever they can to make them fall to the ground. It’s natural instinct. That feeling is never going to go away because we’re all humans. How people respond to other peoples actions though are going to be different.

            The second story that I chose was Larry Heinemann’s. I chose this story because as I was looking at the list again I thought that I should read a story about Vietnam War Veteran. I would get to hear about his War stories and what it was like for him to fight in Vietnam. I was not exactly told war stories, but more I was told how the war affected him at home after. In the summer of 1968 Larry got a job as a CTA bus driver. He had returned from Vietnam and he thought that it was the worst decision he had ever made because he was so used to driving around with a .45 and a shot gun. The roads were to themselves. Now, as a bus driver he would have to interact with different people, people who irritate him, and other people on the street. “The only thing they teach about bus driving is that you’re a public servant, okay? Any asshole with a fare can give you shit and you have to sit there and take it” (Terkel 417-18). That was not how Larry was used to doing things. If anyone gave him a hard time he would throw them off the bus. The affects of war and what they do to a person. I think that Larry’s perspective of the real world and how people act are being affected by his memories that happened at Vietnam and what is happening as he is a bus driver is he is putting his guard up, because that’s what he had to do when he was in Vietnam. Like when he was near Lincoln park there were cop cars and kids and he stopped the bus until the smell of carbon died down and the passengers were hollering at him to go on, but he kept saying no “You don’t want to get a snort of that tear gas, it’ll make you sick…I fully expected people were gonna get killed” (Terkel 418). That kind of fear in the world shows how going to war has a toll on people when they return. Those passengers did not even think twice before asking Larry to go back driving. But Larry was hesitant. When Larry talks about the Vietnam Veterans’ Parade and how it is supposed to be remembered as a positive experience he said, “They wanted so hard for it to be all right. It’s not. It’s going to be an evil thing in our lives and nothing’s gonna change it” (Terkel 420). That is something I did not expect him to say. When we were taught about Vietnam and about the memorial that was set up for them, it is supposed to be a good thing, and something to honor the soldiers, but in Larry’s mind it’s not. That just surprised me because I was thinking that he would be grateful for it. If you are in the war though, I think there is a different point of view on weather or not what the government and people do to show respect towards a war is sufficient enough or not though, and in Larry’s mind, it wasn’t.

Blog #8 Dolores Dante / Phil Stallings

Dolores Dante-

           Dolores Dante worked as a waitress as a way to get “fast cash.” Her husband left her with lots of debts and three children. Dolores loved her job still and was never feeling shame towards it. In-fact, this job helped her pay off the debts and make it alright at home. However, she could not stray from the fact that, “everyone says all waitresses have broken homes” (Terkel 329). Dolores makes the point though that people have broken homes because they need to make money quickly to do work, not the other way around. Dolores said, “I have to be a waitress. How else can I learn about people? How else does the world come to me? I can’t go to everyone. So they have to come to me” (Terkel 330). It is almost as if Dolores has doubts when she says this. She says that she is proud to be a waitress, yet here it seems as if she almost wishes she wasn’t a waitress and doesn’t like the idea of it; like she has lost all other hope and dreams of getting money to support her family that she would resort to doing waitressing. Dolores made sure that she pleased everyone by giving them compliments, and she rearranged food in specific ways to help with its appeal, she wanted to make a good impression on people. Dolores talked about how people say that there is no good work done anymore and she said that she didn’t believe it. I strongly agree with her statement. She states, “The man at the top, who says the people beneath him are not doing a good job. He’s the one who always said, “you’re nothing.’…if it weren’t so demeaning, why didn’t she do it?” (Terkel 334). She worked her self so hard to get people to respect her, and people started to get jealous of her. Because of her jealousy, thoughts of guilt started to creep on her, but she still kept going. She served her neighborhood well, and herself with pride and dignity. That’s what hard work is all about.

            In the story of Phil Stallings I got a different kind of feeling from this story than the last one that I read. This one, Phil did not seem to care much about his job, and really disliked it. Phil said, “I stand in one spot, about two- or three feet area, all night. The only time a person stops is when the line stops. We do about thirty two jobs per car, per unity….”(Terkel 354-55). This kind of job does not seem to be communicative like Dolores is and Phil does not get to express his feelings about how he feels about certain situations because of the working conditions he is working in. Phil did not like the intimidation or the pressure that came with his job; he especially did not like having to have to go up to someone of greater power to ask to do something because he was petrified that they would ignore him or make him hold it. The working environment is much different from Dolores in the since that she got to interact with her community and get to know people why Phil never got that chance because he was to scared to do it. When Phil talks about the foremen, I start to feel sorry for him and what he had to deal with. “When a man becomes a foreman, he has to forget about even being human, as far as feelings are concerned. You see a guy there bleeding to death. So what, buddy? That lines gotta keep goin’’” (Terkel 357). This kind of treatment is not right, and it made me think back to a video we watched in class when a group of women working inside a sweat shop got locked in when a fire started and they jumped out of the window and died. That kind of working conditions and how bad they are and how the bad working conditions have such a negative effect on your morale and outcome of life.

            From these two posts it made me think a lot about the working life and the kind of environment that I want my life to be in. I want to be an English teacher, and I want the kids the be in a safe and fun learning environment. I don’t want them to feel like Phil, where they are restricted and feel like they can’t express themselves. I want to be proud of my job just like Dolores was, even if other people think I'm crazy for wanting to teach english.

Blog # 7 Florence Scala / Tom Kearney

 In the story of Florence Scala she grew up around Hull House. Florence talks about how she loved the excitement of the city but that she also felt a detachment to the city as well. She grew up poor and talked about how, "you cannot have the nice rich people on top passing on a program for the poor, because they simply don't understand, they can't understand" (Terkel 230) this is something that I think has been a problem for a very long time- the rich having more power over the poor. That has a direct correlation to today's society when people think that they are more worthy than others. When people are rich they tend to make people feel in-superior and that is the feeling that I got from Florence when reading this. One line that sticks out to menus when Florence says, "I don't believe so much anymore. I don't believe so much in people as I used to. I believe in some people but not in all people anymore...I have to be careful about this business of believing in all people"(Terkel 234) when a person grows up poor it makes them think about who they can trust and when things : such as when the Board of Trustee's decided to take more land- like that happen, it does cause a person to become more aware of their surroundings. I think that has to do with real life too. You cannot go around trusting everyone because then some people are going to take you for granted and that's not fair to yourself.

In the story of of Tom Kearney I really liked the lay of this story. It was different from the other ones we've read so far in the sense that it was a question and answer type story. Tom was a police man and i thought that it was really neat to see a perspective from him and what he thought about race and what he thought about change. Those were the two things that I pulled out of this story. Was that the times are changing from when he was a child. "it's changing rapidly. Look at the city. Of course everyone resists change good or bad" (Terkel 266). My question for you guys is do you think that change is a bad thing? In the sense of society and technology. That is something that is always changing and affecting people and the way that they act. When Tom talks about change he talks about he has colored friends but that he doesn't know what they think of him. That is something that I've never thought of. What the other side of the view is on this situation. When Tom was at a party he was talking with a black women and she told him, "you're my Caucasian enemy" (Terkel 268). That surprised me because I would never think that a black would say that. I don't know why I think that, maybe it's because when learning about the way whites treated the blacks and how innocent the blacks were it just seems weird to me that they would say something like that. What was your reaction when reading that part of the story? Did you have a different reaction?

Blog # 6 Peter Ota / Betty Basye Hutchinson

In the story of Peter Ota it talks about the Japanese concentration camps and what it was like for him. He talks about how his father was at a wedding and the FBI agents rounded up people and took them to the county jail. Peter's father was a very outgoing person and had worked so hard to get the life that he did and how in the blink of an eye it just went away. Peter remembers thinking, "at the time we [his sister and him] didn't know were we were going, how long we'd be gone. We didn't know what to take. A toothbrush, toilet supplies, some clothes. Only what you could carry. We left with a caravan" (Terkel 206). This shows how sudden it was when during WWII the American Japanese citizens were being treated. It disgusts me to even think that we would do something like that to our own people. We were fighting against the Japanese, and people feared that maybe the American-Japanese citizens were giving away information, but even if that were true, the entire American Japanese citizens did not have to suffer. I remember watching a video clip in class of the Japanese citizens lining up at the railroads to go to the camps that they were assigned. How cruel. They were treated with no respect and they were so innocent and were not doing anything wrong. It was the way everyone else in the world viewed them The Japanese people would get looks and people saying things to them like "dirty jap's". It would be very hurtful. It makes me feel ashamed of America that we did this to them.

In the story of Betty Basye Hutchinson she became a nurse after she realized what had happened at Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor is when America got involved with WWII because they were attacked. American citizens started to sign up for war and do things to help with the war. Betty became a nurse and helped in that way. Betty, "wanted to really have something to do with the war" (Terkel 212). Her dedication and how she is being tested. One thing that I never really thought about was how the men reacted when they saw the women. Betty said that it was important to the men to have young nurses around them. I feel like that is because they are off fighting in the war and they are away from their home and their everyday life. Betty had a really busy life and, "you could never get the father of [her] four children to talk about the war. it was like [they] had put blinders on the past" (Terkel 217). Sometimes it is difficult to pick up the pieces from where you left off and certain topics are just left unsaid. War was difficult to talk about because so much emotion and memory go along with it and people have a hard time coming to terms with their own feelings alot of the time.

Blog # 5 Peggy Terry / E.B (Sledgehammer) Sledge

In the story of Peggy Terry she worked at a shell-loading plant in Viola, Kentucky. This was during WWII which meant that women had started to take charge in the work force and do more at the home front. In class we watching video's about how women were still not getting the proper respect in the work force, or as much money, but they were working. Peggy, her mother and sister had to take turns working because they had children at home that needed to be watched. This just shows how strong and how much stress was put upon women at this time. The men were off fighting in the war, and then here the women are trying to balance work, family and trying to make sure there is enough food on the table. Peggy, "think[s] of how little [she] knew of human rights, union rights" (Terkel 191). The working conditions that she worked in were not the best and must of been difficult. This was a time that was changing for women and it was a time when many people were frightened because of the war that was going on. The women, like Peggy did in her story helped the men build bombs for the men off at war. Without these women off working, there would be no help for the soldiers off at war. One part of the story that shocked me, or that I never really thought about and that we never really talked about in class, was how soldiers acted when they returned home after the war. Peggy recalls, "When he came back he was an absolute drunkard. And he used to have the most awful nightmares....I'd just sit for hours and hold him while he just shook....He started slapping me around and slapped the kids around. He became a brute" (Terkel 194). The caution that these men that were off fighting now have, and their whole culture shock change is so different now. It has got to be so difficult. I feel so bad for them.

I really enjoyed reading the story of E.B (Sledgehammer) Sledge because you really got a sense of what it felt like to be off at war and the emotions behind it. You could feel how at the battlefront the soldiers were being tested during this war. E.B. at the beginning of his story talked about how there is nothing “macho” about war at all. People have these perceptions about if you go off to war that you are going to become a man and that it is not that bad. But that is clearly not the reality of it until you are in the midst of it. E.B said, “We were in it to get it over with, so we could go back home and do what we wanted to do with out lives” (Terkel 197). E.B did not find anything glamorous or macho about it and just was doing what he was told to do to get it over with. E.B got to encounter the Japanese and the war he was in was a total savage. His drill instructor at boot camp would tell him, “You’re not going to Europe; you’re going to the Pacific. Don’t hesitate to fight the Japs dirty…It’s not sportsmanlike. Well, nobody has taught the Japs that, and war ain’t sport. Kick him in the balls before he kicks you in yours” (Terkel 199-200). This shows the struggle and the hatred that people had towards the Japanese and yet they did not even know them. It was a war and the Americans were just told to fight against them and so they did. A lot of men did not know what they were fighting for when they were off at war, and this just shows how the men were being tested at the battlefront.

Blog # 4 Introduction / Robert Rasmus

Introduction-

In the introduction to the "Good War, An Oral History of World War Two 1984" I got a little taste of what life was like for soldiers.  When reading I learned about the typical American Soldier and I learned that it wasn't about getting another Japanese soldier or getting another Nazi that made a soldier fight; it was the, "sense of not wanting to fail your buddies. There's a sort of special sense of kinship" (Terkel 164). I really enjoyed reading that, and got a sense of pride that soldiers were looking out for each other. Also, I remember reading about the tough circumstances when a person was a war prisoner and what was going through their mind. When we read in class we read about the cruel treatment and how the enemy would have no mercy. But, I never actually took the time to think about what must be running through their minds. Food. "In camp first thing you talked about is what you wanted in your stomach...this was a big topic all the time" (Terkel 165). This just shows how mal-nutrioned the soldiers that were captured were. It just goes to prove that they were always wanting some sort of food. Who could blame them? It must take a lot of discipline to not eat what you are used to before you go to war.

Robert Rasmus-

Robert remembers his mother telling him that he would be in the war. He was only 14 years old. That is an extremely young age to go off to war. That is so sad because a fourteen year old boy is not mature enough and should not have to go through the pain and suffering. That's not fair to them. A little boy like that should be learning about himself, and should not have to grow up so fast. Reading about that made me believe that young boys who went into war had a loss of innocence because they would be rudely awakened when they went into the real world of fighting and learn about death. Robert recalls, "I was hoping she'd be right (go off to war) At that age, you look forward to the glamour and have no idea of the horrors" (Terkel 177). Robert remembers that he was constantly behind the lines and then moved up. There were always people before him and as soon as he thought that he was getting closer to the action, his platoon would be there. He though, "this is incredible. We've got these great masses of troops, of quartermasters and truckers and tanks and support troops, and then all of a sudden it's so lonely..." (Terkel 186). I think that Robert started to miss the everyday life and what went on. When you are out at war for so long, and you think that you are fine with your troop around you, it is not enough to make up for the loss of doing things. When you are at war, you can not do much except wait to do what you are told to do. I really liked reading this chapter.

Blog #3 Jane Yoder / Peggy Terry And Her Mother, Mary Owsley

Jane Yoder-

In this short story we learn about the struggle that took place during the great depression. While reading this I remember feeling appreciative of what I have got. When Jane was in fourth grade she was extremely cold and she had no blankets, and no coats. Her older sister bought a coat and Jane remembers taking the coat in order to be warm. She, "...took that coat home and [she] waited till Sunday and wore it to church. And then everybody laughed. [She] looked horrid" (Terkel 127). At this time, Jane did not care how she looked, or how others viewed her as a person. Jane needed to do, what she needed to do in order to stay alive. If that meant that she had to wear an ugly coat in order to stay warm, then she would do it. I commend Jane for not caring how others viewed her. She had a strong sense of what was important in life. She didn't understand how people could have thirty blouses, or ten sweaters because she would think, "I have no desire to think where I'd hang them" (Turkel 128). When reading this I thought of how selfless Jane is and how she doesn't see the need to have so many things. I think that has a lot to do with what she already had, and how she learned to accept what she had and learned how to survive. When reading "Tom Yoder, Jane's Son" he said something that stuck with me. "But it's only human nature that we all want to go on and find something better" (Turkel 130). Do you believe that statement is true??

Peggy Terry And Her Mother, Mary Owsley-

I really enjoyed reading reading this. There was something that started Terry's thinking. It was when she was reading about President Roosevelt's cuff links. She had read that some of his cuff links were rubies and precious stones. She will never forget. She recalls, "I was sitting out there in the hot sun, there weren't any trees. And i was wondering why it is that one man could have all those cuff links when we couldn't even have enough to eat" (Turkel 144). That would make me angry too if I read that. If I was in her position reading about how the president is going by with out any suffering that I would despise the president. I would be thinking how unfair it is that the president isn't doing anything, and things that are not that important (like cuff links) are being made for him with rubies and stones. A little later on in the story she read "Grapes of Wrath" After reading this book she became proud of poor people, and she never thought that she would ever do that. She said, "I think that's the worst thing that our system [government] does to people, is to take away their pride. It prevents them from being human being" (Turkel 145). People who grow up poor never feel a sense of pride and joy because they are always comparing themselves to those of higher status. It's always a competition as to who is better than whom. I think that is why it built some self esteem in Terry after reading that book, and it's what she needed to help her feel good about herself. What do you guys think?

Blog #2 Arthur A. Robertson / Oscar Heline

Arthur A. Robertson-

In Arthur A. Robertson’s story it showed us how rich men fell apart from the Stock Market crash. The people who worked with him would count millions and the average person would be struggling to count their quarters. Robertson talked about his friend John Hertz. Hertz, “at one time owned ninety percent of the Yellow Cab stock…..he was reputed to be worth $400 to $500 million. He asked me one day to join him on a yacht” (Turkel 102). This just shows how little the upper-class cared about those who were struggling during a time when money was scarce. All these business men cared about was making as much money as they could. They didn’t care about anyone but themselves, selfish. When the stock-market crashed though, they went down hill. “On wall street, the people walked around like zombies” (Turkel 101). This shows how difficult it must have been for people to accept their once high class life and be faced with such a bad future and having to have to learn to deal with it. Many people thought it would be easier to commit suicide to make their problems go away, like Jesse Livermore. He had lots of money, and then he was shattered. He could not handle what was given to him, so he killed himself. It was a time when people were struggling and learning to cope with different emotions than what they were used too.

Oscar Heline-

The struggles that farmers faced in this story were unbelievable. Farmers were not treated with any sort of respect. So many farmers were in debt and it caused a lot of stress and struggle for the farmers. “The farmers became desperate. It got so a neighbor wouldn’t buy form a neighbor, because the farmer didn’t get any of it” (Turkel 121). That just shows how sad of a time it was. I could not even imagine what it would be like to walk a day in farmer’s shoes. The government would take your farm, livestock, and farm machinery. Farmers were left with nothing. It is so sad, because everyone needs crops and everyone needs those kinds of food, yet the farmers were treated so badly. Some farmers gathered one day and decided to talk to the court about how they were being treated badly and they said, “We’re not concerned whose court this is. We came here to get redress from your actions. The things you’re doing, we can’t stand to have done to us anymore” (Turkel 126). This shows how much people wanted to stand up for them selves, but it only ended these people behind bars. I do give these farmers credit though, and I think the courts should listen to them and that this is a great example of courage. With out courage to stand up to those who are superior to you, you’ll never get a chance to have change. That’s all the farmers wanted, change.

What was the lasting legacy of the New Deal?

The New Deal has been a major contributing factor in building structures across America and building bridges, tunnels, roads, hospitals, museums and schools. The New Deal was almost as if it was a new beginning for the United States. There were all of these different structures being built to help American citizens with their everyday life. These buildings, and roads and schools that were built were all made for the benefit of the citizens and their wellbeing. During this time the Great Depression was going on. After the stock market crashed thousands of lives were affected. Steel industries were coming to a close, farmers had difficulty selling their crops and thousands of citizens were out of work. This New Deal project was put into effect to help America get out of the depression they were in. At that time more people were leaving America than coming to America because there was not a lot that was going. During a film about the depression there was a story that stood out to me. There was this young girl who was eleven years old and she was the only one in her family that had money in her piggy bank. Her father was out of work and her family needed money in order to survive. The girl had come home from school one day and went to shake her piggy bank, but found there was nothing in it. Her dad had taken the money from her so that he could ride down to try and get a job. From this story we can see that times were rough. Her father didn’t want to take her money, but she was the only person who had money available. Her dad said that he would pay her back, but never did. During this time of despair lots of young people wrote to First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. When they wrote to her children were asking for asked for clothing, money, and other forms of assistance. At the peak of the Depression 25% of the nation’s workers was unemployed. Because so many people were unemployed, about 250,000 young people were homeless because families could not support them any longer. When the children wrote to her, they never got any replies from Eleanor Roosevelt. Instead, she supported them differently; she worked to establish government programs for young people, the NYA. The depression was filled with sorrow, begging, and a look of pain and misery in their eyes and faces. The New Deal did leave a lasting impression because at the time it was a time of sorrow and sadness and this was an uplifting thing that was going on.

Blog # 1 C.P Ellis / Andy Johnson

C.P Ellis-

The story of C.P Ellis is interesting. When I first started reading this story I thought that Ellis had all of his morals wrong. He had a bad outlook on life. When a person has a bad outlook on life they tend to have this negative outlook on things. He grew up poor, and he knew he was by the clothes that he wore, and I think that that was what started him out on his negativity. When he grew up he got married and had a family, but it was difficult for him to make enough money. Ellis said, “you gotta have somthin’ to look at to hate. The natural person for me to hate would be black people, because my father before me was a member of the Klan” (Turkel 65). It seems to me that he didn’t know any better. If your parent raised you in a house hold where they didn’t like a certain type of person, then the likely hood of you growing up to do that too, is very high. Kids look up to their parents for guidance and security. Ellis joined the KKK and became very involved. So, when later on in the story I find out that he was going to have to work with a black woman, Anne Atwater, I was stunned. My first reaction was that he was going to say no and that he was not going to work with her because it would go against everything that the KKK believed in and what he was supposed to believe in. Instead, to my surprise he accepted the offer. He thought, “Ain’t no way I can work with that gal. Finally I agreed to accept it, ‘cause at this point, I was tired of fighting, either for survival or against black people or against Jews or against Catholics” (Turkel 70). Because he accepted this, the first thought that came to mind were, what would happen to his family? How would they be treated? I found out that his kids would come home from school crying because they would be made fun of. That’s very harsh and I felt bad for them. However, this was a major turning point on Ellis life because now he accepted the blacks and was willing to work with him. This relates to the time period of when people never accepted blacks; and now Ellis, wants to work with them. That just shows how people can work together and that there does not need to be hatred. Because of this decision good things came of it. His life changed and he became even more determined. He never got past an 8^th grade education, but he got that and went to high school where he did graduate with a diploma. My opinion on Ellis started off not so well, but I grew to like him because he started to have the same outlook on the situations with racism, that they be treated equally. I really enjoyed this story.

Andy Johnson-

Andy Johnson was the story of a young boy who was born in Finland and came to the United States in 1906. A quote that really stuck out to me was at the very beginning, "The poorest, the most miserable came here because they had no future over there. To them, the streets of America were paved in gold" (Turkel 38). This stuck out to me because when I think about how America looked then, it is nothing compared to how it is now. People in America who looked at how it was structured would want to do a lot of different things to make it look nicer and better, yet here are all these immigrants coming over and thinking it is luxury. It really makes you appreciate what you have in your life and how much people take things for granted. When Andy was talking about his trip over to the United States and the process that he went though, it almost seemed as if he didn’t think it was that big of a deal. He said, “There was a doctor at Ellis Island, and he took a spoon and shoved it in my eye, along with the others, to see if we had any illness. Those that had were returned” (Turkel 39). To me, if I were to be writing about my experience I would talk about the importance of being able to come over to a new place, and how passing the doctor exam meant having a future of not. Andy did not seem to have a lot of emotion behind it. It’s amazing how sheltered people are from the world and how little they know if they are an outsider. When Andy encountered his first black person, he was confused and that he didn’t wash his face. I like that he felt compassion for the blacks and sympathy because when he looked at pictures he said he didn’t like the looks of people in the picture. Andy can, “see a wonderful future for humanity, or the end of it” (Turkel 42). He was made fun of the way he talked and criticized. Andy realized that he had independence and should use it, so that’s what he did. He was saying that even if we can’t do a big thing to change something, which does not mean that it’s not making a difference. I enjoyed this short story about Andy Johnson.