The Other America

The book so far is about the homeless of America and how they are invisible to the government. The poor numbering 50,000,000 have no voice and have no face. Since the poor are not seen and are considered invisible they do not see as well. There view is narrower because of this having less and less hope as time goes on. One other reason why the poor stay poor is because just like everyone else they become sick just like everyone else but because of poor medical care they are sick longer. So they lose wages and job opportunities.

I went to the Springfield Lawyer play/reading

I decided tot post something about going to this play because I fond it interesting tat Lincoln doesn't appear much in the 1960's movements even though I think that since he was all about freedom, there would be a connection between him and the social movements of the 1960s like that of Martin Luther king. However, the guest speaker Scott R. Irelan pointed out Lincoln reappears in times of crisis and America doens;t hold on to the image of Lincoln or other deceased because we have people making changes that are alive during those times .

That makes sense since we did have a high level of activism, for example an amazing speake- Martin Luther king JR., but Lincoln is still reaping in the shadow of Obama ( literally in a drawing my brother pointed out to me) today. I mean clearly we are in a time of crisis, but does this mean that we don;t have people now in day grabbing on to these ideas?

I think we do have lots of examples not only in politic, but also in the media tat are making a change and advocating for the poor, unwanted, and depressed citizens of America.

Aslo, there was discussion about whether freedom needs religion and religion needs freedom. I think they do need each other , but others disagree.

What do you guys think? I'm very interested in knowing what arguments others can come up for or against this idea.

example

Besides the volunteers themselves, one example that really stuck me was that of Fanie Lou Harner. In fact, one of the est lines in the book, I think, is "I question America" (119). I think it's what we're really doing in today's society with things like lobbying or political cartoons and If we're not, then we need to be or we won't be thinking criticaly.

Freedom Summer Pictures

After observing the pictures in the book they are all very emotional and are very good I think.
It shows the reader visuals of what was going on during and before freedom summer. Giving faces with names heard in the book. Some of the pictures show that they know what kind of trouble to expect from the people who will oppose their cause. Seeing these pictures was good for the book i think.

Freedom Summer

One event I have noticed that they tried in Freedom Summer was the freedom vote, the freedom vote was a away for the group to try to get America's attention on their cause because they knew that they could not fix the problem in Mississippi without help. This taught them that they would have to work together to fix the problem. The freedom school project showed the group how many people wanted to solve the problem, they expected about 1000 people to show up when they got 3000. I thought that was interesting to see the amount of people that showed up for support.
Dealing with the sexism in freedom summer some of the personal accounts were interesting and history books from high school never talk about sexism in the civil rights movement.
But getting back to the events that caused the group to change their view on the subject was the amount of violence that was taken out on them. It made them realize and see again that this wasnt going to be easy.
For example kidnappings, murders and public beatings.

Freedom Summer reading

Throughout the entire reading, after reading the prologue. I just kept asking myself how do the civil rights activist have such strong willpower not to retaliate violently against the people who have attacked them and treated them so badly. They must really believe that what they are doing is truly right and put everything they have and more to stop the problem. This reminds me of Gandhi and his non-violent rebellion against the british.

Freedom Summer Prologue

Before I begin reading Freedom Summer I am going to ask a question about the book. Does this book also go into the civil rights movement and which part of it impacted the civil rights movement the most. From what ive read on the covers of the book I think this will be a book that will keep my attention and make me wonder about how people can impact such a great movement and how much willpower it took to keep on the right track for what they believed in.

Reconsidering the Civil Rights Movement

As I continue to read or and more of Freedom summer, I have leaned not only some statistics tat I would have not originally considered even looking at like that the volunteers were most likely to allight themselves with specific groups (p 63). For example, they already had a political party.

Still, what caught my interest in particular was the complications that gender role put into play. I find it quite interesting how women, white women in particular during the sixties, were used as an excuse to attack Black men. It didn't seem like there were less complications with black women dating white men rather that the other way around.

I believe this is still prevalent in today's society as black men are still being stereotyped against. For example, I remember reading an article in high school (although I can't remeber the name) written in the perspective of a black man and how he doesn't want to be feared. He starts out with an anecdote about how a woman starts to speed up her step and take preclusions when she notices him walking in her shadow. She had been taught by society that she should automatically feel victimized.

Also, I find the movements of the 1960 very similar to all of that changes that are going on today. Reading the responses by the actual students makes it easier to relate to the students of that time. I believe we are going through some of the same types of changes. It's like we can get "cocky" (14) too because we are living and breathing the changes.

I compare the civil rights, student, women's, and gay rights movements to those of r today. For example, there is change in the political field starting with Obama as an African- American president (and the fact that Clinton was actually very close to achieving representation as a woman), the protests and commotion about gay marriage and children adoption, the marches and sanctuary "sit-ins" for Immigration reform, and finally the environmental movement that has this country thinking "Green".

CAP Readings...Change

From the way things were going in the 1950/60's I think that baldwin would be surprised in alot fo ways of what has happened to the United States and its advancement towards a country that doesnt care about skin color. Though rascism is still around it has changed alot towards the better. Baldwin would be especially surprised towards african-americans in political positions especially the recent election of Borak Obama. He might be upset though with how some of the ways that parts of african-american society has changed. Not bashing rapping but it has gotten out of hand. Degrading of women and songs about killing people doesnt shine good light on african-americans and i think that Baldwin would be a little upset about this. But Baldwin would see that the sacrifices of the past have bettered the future.

Thinking About Baldwin, Thinking About Today

Thinking About Baldwin, Thinking About Today
I think Baldwin would be glad about the social changes evident in our society in 2009, particularly with our new president taking charge and demonstrating that we are step closer to a society that doesn't judge as harshly when it comes to racial divisions. I think that optimism is the type of perpective that Baldwin would take just becauuse he could take these changes as a positive reflection on what our society has acheived and he would have "HOPE" for the future.

college

This semester is going pretty well although it has started out slow. It took me a long time to get back in the schoolwork mentality. I’ll be honest I was just lazy, but I’m back on my feet and definitely ready to work. I want to know exactly what all my assignments done so that I can get a head start.
Like for Cap 123 for example, I would love to know what the writing assignments are going to be/ look like because without knowing how I will need to apply them later I feel lost. I need to know what particular information I should be retaining so that I’m in the right mindset when I have write papers. Especially since I have to travel so much because of my teeth (ugh 5 more months of braces!)
That brings me to Nobody Knows My Name by Baldwin. Although there were some interesting points made about defining himself, I’m not particularly fond of the book. This doesn’t make it to my list of recommendation. Still there is one statement at the end of the book that just stands out to me and I agree with it. “One can never really see into the heart, the mind, the soul of another….we do have a responsibility…to those who are coming after us” (240-241).
I’ll post a blog on the readings later because they were great!

There is just so much I want to do, but I tend to get too excited and overbook myself in things to do!
I really go by the motto: Work hard, Party hard!

CAP Readings

Throughout this book it was very hard for me to read and keep focus on the book itself. But somehow I managed to get it read. In this book the author at the beginning is confused about who he is but than he accepts who he is. But to me this book seemed very racist he wrote about how bad white people were. That is one of the reasons why the book was hard to read. The author did have his reasons to bash white people though. In the time the book was written racism was running rampant through the United States. But the author was in Europe for a portion of the book trying to find out who he is. This society seems so alien to me in every community I have been to racism isnt even present. It was interesting for the first chapter or so than it became so hard to read I was barely able to do it... hopefully the next book is more enjoyable.

College so far...

College so far has been quite enjoyable this semester is alot different than last semester. Last semester i only had three day weekends. This semester I have 5 day weekends...its crazy how much free time I have so much free time I really need to get a job very soon. No one should have this much free time. Ive been doing very well this semester about keeping up on all of my assignments for classes. My favorite class this semester probably has to be my CAP class Walls. It is very interesting and talks about the barriers that appear in our lives. I enjoy the reading for that class it is very interesting. Hopefully this semester I will enjoy my classes as much as I did last semester. Im ready for another semester of college =)