Issue #1: Sexual Harassment at School

One of the many issues that Thomas A. Jacobs goes over in his book, "Teens on Trial," is sexual harassment in schools. I found that its a very important topic because this comes up in the media quite often whether its student-teacher relationships or sexual assault by a teacher to a student. More recently, this topic has been talked about a lot due to what has happened at Penn State... But I'm not going to get into that.
In the case of gebser C. Lago Vista Independent School District, a 13-year-old girl Alida Gebser and Frank Waldrop had been working together for tutoring purposes. Over time Mr. Wldrop would make sexual remarks to Alida, in the classroom and at her home. The remarks eventually went further as the relationship progressed. It turned into kissing, fondling, and even sex. Alida did not report any of this behavior to an adult and did not tell anyone at all. This was not found out about until a police officer found them having sex in a parked car. Mr. Waldrop was fired and had his teaching license revoked. Alida and her mother then sued Mr Waldrop and the school district, "claiming negligence and discrimination based on sex. Alida and her mother also held the school district responsible for failing to prevent the teachers misconduct."
In the court decision, the Supreme Court ruled the school district not liable because they had no way of finding out. Alida never reported the incidents so there was no way of anyone knowing. The school found out of this once they were caught by the police officer, where Mr. Waldrop was fired immediately after. The courts made their ruling so that the Gebser's would be able to sue Mr. Waldrop for damages, which is what they did.
If the school was informed before hand of the sexual harassment before and did nothing about it, then Alida and her mother would be able to sue the school district. Alida is also at fault because she didn't tell anyone about these acts and let it continue for quite a long time. Once a school had knowledge of such illegal acts, they can be held responsible if no action is taken.
I think that this is very reasonable for the school district and the students. There's no possible way that a district would know that a teacher would be sexually assaulting students if nothing is reported, and if there is no past record then it would not be able to be seen. Alida should have taken responsibility and told an adult of what was going on so it could have been stopped before it had gotten too far. If a school does not treat complaints or problems then they can be sued for those problems and not recieve immunity from the court.

Invisible Children

After watching the rough cut video and clicking through the organizations website, i was at how much Deerfield High School could help. Deerfield is well known for good academics and athletics, but we also do a phenomenal amount of fundraising. The one page of the website, it shows leaders of teams and individuals who have raised the most money. The second top ranked team was a high school that raised 20,000 dollars. Last year Deerfield High School raised almost 100,000 dollars and im very confident that we will go above and beyond that number. Some things that are pushing the students is that its a organization run by the youth, and its for the youth. Also to think that our school would build enough money to have our own radio tower with the DHS name on it would impact everyone in the north shore of Chicago and that radio tower would stand tall with our name on it for a very long time. If we are able to send one student to Uganda and bring back a picture of the tower with DHS on it, it would be well worth our efforts and time.

Teens on Trial by: Thomas A. Jacobs, J.D. Post #1

I chose the book, "Teens on Trial," because it has direct relation to what our class is about, and it also has direct relation to me. The book goes over important cases that have gone to the supreme court that involved teenagers, then gives other examples surrounding the issue so that the reader may better understand it. The book covers issues that we have gone over in class such as the death penalty, Privacy in school, drug testing in school and more. The book also covers issues we haven't gone over such as sexual harassment, be hospitalized, and permanent records. I decided to use this book for my semester project because it directly relates to our class, and it would give me more understanding of what we are learning and i would be able to better understand what rights i have in and out of school.

Abortion

Between the NARAL-Prochoice America and National Right to Life websites, I think that i can't really say that one website is better than the other because they are different from each other. Obviously one is for Pro choice and the other Pro life. I think both are very convincing. National Right to Life gives "Quick Facts" on their site that can be very compelling for some. NARAL's website is very well designed and it says that they are pro choice, but they want to help stop more abortions by teaching people about birth control and giving sex education. They also say that, "We will always have to fight to keep abortion safe and legal. This means defeating attacks in Congress and in the states." Both websites impact my thoughts, but in the end i will always go straight to what i believe and that is pro choice.
As a 17 year old boy i strongly believe in a persons own decision. As far as parents go?... its a tough stop. I think it would be good for the parents to know, but its not a necessity. But i do believe that whether they know or not, the woman should be able to make her own decision on whether or not she keeps the child. I believe that because its their body and they have a right to do what they wish with their body.
Its also tough to say where the man stands because he is the other half and it is his child, but i think a child would change a womans life more so than a mans. Also, the father of the child is not always known due to rape or other reasons. Because of this, i think that there shouldn't be a need for concent from the male.
From looking at past bills on abortion, it seems that Illinois would be labeled as prolife. The website though, worked to show that the bills were unfair to woman and their health which is why the bills didn't pass. Its hard for me to argue the laws on abortions because I don't know the technicallities of the birth process but i believe that its not ok if the process of an adortion being legal is cut to the point where its very difficult to get one.

Final Death Penalty Post

I believe that the death penalty being abolished in Illinois is extremely just and right. I think that if a group of students at Northwestern University can find 17 men innocent/had a faulty trial, there is something wrong with the system that determines the life or death of a man. Some men were given unfair trials, such as black men who were put up against an all white jury.  Also, some men were given attorneys who had shortly later been banned from practicing law. Gov. Ryan gave a story that i thought was very important, that was about Claude Lee. Ryan explained how this man was clearly innocent of his crime of killing a police officer, but he was seriously ill. Lee has a history of mental illness treatment for many years and I don't think that this can be pushed aside. Gov. Ryan said something that made me believe that this was a hard decision for him and he had to toss and turn over every idea:
"But I had to ask myself - could I send another man's son to death under the deeply flawed system of capital punishment we have in Illinois? A troubled young man, with a history of mental illness? Could I rely on the system of justice we have in Illinois not to make another horrible mistake? Could I rely on a fair sentencing?"
From the facts on past cases that included the death penalty, I don't think we can necessarily rely on the justice system. I think a man/woman who has a serious illness shouldn't be put to death, they deserve help that could be provided by the courts.
We have learned through this unit that there can be many different kinds of miss trials. There can be racism, shortened appeals/trails, faulty attorneys given to the defendant, evidence from inmate to get less time, and faulty evidence. Many of these cases were found in the trials that were looked over by Northwestern and they were found in the court cases looked over in our class room. I don't think Gov. Ryan stopped the death penalty because he didn't like it, he did it because the system was so wrong that it had to be stopped and then fixed.
"But for decades, the debate over capital punishment rarely strayed from whether it was right or wrong, a moral argument that was waged mostly by a narrow group of attorneys and abolition supporters that could be easily dismissed. Public opinion polls showed little movement. Death sentences and executions hit record levels. Inmates like the serial killer John Wayne Gacy, whose guilt was never in question, were put to death and caused little controversy. But when a miscarriage of justice was discovered and a death row inmate was set free, the police and prosecutors contended that it was an isolated incident, an anomaly. They got little argument."
The 4th Amendment gives Americans the right to have a FAIR trial in front of a jury. It was found that many men weren't given a fair trial and whether they were guilty or not, it did not matter because we should all have the same treatments, rights, and opportunities. Gov. Ryan didn't end capitol punishment because he was against it, but because it was unjust in the process that the men had to go through to end up on death row. Because of the mistrials, many innocent men were on death row for 10+ years and many opportunities in America were gone because they were waiting to die. Many people wonder if the death penalty is 'cruel and unusual' but i think the bigger question is if its just. It was found that nearly half of 300 men who were on death row shouldn't have been there... That is unjust.

Death Penalty # 2: Law & Politics

The 8th amendment in my eyes comes down to an opinion of whether one thinks the action is, "Cruel or unusual." Some people think that lethal injection is a very smooth and easy death, but some think it is wrong and not right. I believe that lethal injection is not cruel or unusual, but I don't think it is necessarily right. When I think of the death penalty, I tend to think first if the crime suits the punishment. If it suits the crime, then it is not cruel and unusual. If the crime does not suit the punishment, then it is cruel and unusual. I believe that the death penalty should only come into play for some second offence murders and all third offence.
I think that the death penalty is so widely supported because it has been used for hundreds, even thousands of years. The system doesn't fail and for some people it brings justice to what they think is so wrong that someone should be killed. I think the media has a role in this because the media tends to twist and shape the news to make it look worse. Because of this, people who watch the news can be turned against a person because of a report on T.V. I think it is forgotten that the media is bias and that they have their own opinion too. The public is sucked into the medias version on a black hole to where the media shapes the oipinion of their viewers. This could be used in a good or bad way, for example: the media can show positive or negative press on a politician to get their viewers to either like them or dislike them. Or, they can shape a crime scene so that it looks like the police fail to do their job and it puts fear into the publics eyes and it puts pressure on the state government. Or, finally, they can shape the public to think that the death penalty is bad or good. We are all sucked in because when we watch this on T.V, we think its just the news.

Death Penalty

I think that the process of a serious crime is unfair to those who have committed past crimes. Police have to rely on pictures of past offenders or criminals which only targets those who obviously had previously committed a crime. But what about the other people?! Im aware that its hard to get the pictures of people who have not committed a crime, but this means that if the police don't know who committed a crime there is a good chance that they could arrest a man who had committed a previous crime and they charge him for a new one based on the fact that he might live near the scene of the crime. The police should only be able to arrest someone with evidence, not probable cause.
Aside from that, i think that the court system designed the method for serious crimes and/or death penatly cases in a specific way so that it would be difficult for an innocent man to be put on death row. I think this because he is put in course with a jury of his peers, where he must be proven guilty by evidence. If in fact he is proven guilty, there is a period where he can appeal evidence or misconduct in the court house which would make all evidence used invalid. This way if the prosecuter has a good lawyer, he should be able to get out of the suit with not guilty if he truly is not guilty.
I believe that lethal injection and possibly a firing squad is the most humane because it puts the person to sleep right away. Electricution, gas, and hangings are slow and painful therefore it would make it "cruel and unusual" I think that the firing squad is ok because if you shoot someone in the right place they can and will die immediately, even though it would be a little scarry. Finally, i think lethal injection is perfectly ok because within seconds it puts the person to sleep without harm.
I quickly noticed from the charts that the states with the most executions on death row, do not have the highest murder rate in the united states. This makes me believe that some states are more in favor of using the death penalty than others which is very true. This makes it hard to decide which cases are worth of moving to decision of death row simply because each states views each case at different extremities. California, Florida, and Texas have the most people and executions on death row, but their murder rate is only in the 5 percentile when others are higher but with significantly less executions.'
The document for the capital murder in Illinois states that basically you can be put on death row if you kill a worker of peace (fireman or police officer), or if you commit multiple crimes which would make you second offence murderer, or if the murder was cruel and unusual to a normal person, or if the murder was commited against a child, someone who could not defend for themselve, or a disabled person. I believe this is fair because it is justifiable and reasonable. These would be easy to dispute in a case and it puts the "one time killers" aside from the repeated offenders.
The charts say that 75% of people executed were white, which i believe is because of hate crimes of white people against other races and ethnicities. The difference between usage of lethal injection and other uses of is significant by almost 1000 uses. I think this is because most states find the other ways cruel and unusual. In the video we just watched, it even said that some states think that lethal injection is cruel and unusual because the death process can take a long time. Here i think is a stat that could end the usage of the death penalty,
"Taxpayers have paid more than $250 million for each of the state’s executions. (L.A. Times, March 6, 2005)"

Teens on Trial

The book i have chosen for my semester project is called, Teens on Trial by Thomes A. Jacobs, J.D. I chose this book because it is written full of court cases which is what we have been studying all year. I hope that, from the court cases in the book, i can go more in depth about laws we have debated in class such as drug testing. I was drawn to this book because its not written like a usual book. the book is cut up between different court cases and it shows the reader how the court system works, and the reader can learn about the laws that are being "put to the test." I think this could be a good idea to grow off of and i hope that the end result is unoriginal yet above expectations.

"Aspire and work hard to achieve your aspirations. Appreciate that, in our open society, no doors are closed to people willing to spend the hours of effort needed to make dreams come true." Ruth Bader Ginsburg

No Privacy?

"In any event, students who participate om competitive extracurricular activities voluntarily subject themselves to many of the same intrusions on their privacy as do athletes." This to me felt like one of the most ridiculous things I've hear. When i try out for a sport at DHS, i have never signed a sheet that says i agree to having less privacy than normal... I feel like changing in front of someone is not an invasion of privacy, but when you have to do an act like urinating in front of an adult of whom you don't know it is very uncomfortable and nerve-racking. Or in another example, when you join Mathletes you don't have to change in front of any other teammates, so why should they have less privacy? I simply just feel that this statement is absurd. Why should a student be punished because he/she wants to represent their town in a positive manner. Also, i believe that even though the school says that the test results will not be publicized, the information will get out in other ways. Its very easy to tell when a student is suspended from an event and it raises questions. Even though the school does not release the information, it could still get out which the student could feel as a major invasion of privacy and could cause major issues. Finally, from reading the court case it seems that the school does not give valid information that the school has a serious drug problem. Finding one joint on school grounds does not mean that over half of the school smokes marijuana. Our deans could give more evidence that our school has a worse drug problem! But then again I don't know the definition of a "drug problem."

Are colleges just businesses?

In class this week we watched a video that played out a setting for a panel full of professors, students, supreme court justices, university presidents, and journalists. The setting was at a made-up school, where a student started a group that believed that white men were the superior race over women, blacks, etc. They posted ads in the school news paper for their group and held a meeting in the schools social hall. Throughout the video more and more facts would be added to the list, and then the panel would discuss and decide what they would do and how they would handle the situation. From my view, there were different groups of people on the panel: the students wanted the situation to be handled immediately and wanted to shut down the group. The university president didn't want to do anything and wanted to let them proceed with their racist acts and their group gatherings. The justices and journalists simply tried to follow the law am much as possible, even if they wouldn't have wanted to. If this were a real situation and the students on the panel went with their plan, I believe they would cause a lot of "drama" on their campus and it would end up with a lawsuit against the university for restricting their rights. If the university president had his way, the university would've been a mess and fights would eventually break out between students. The group would continue to do more racist acts that could increase the risk of the students. More and more minority students would feel uncomfortable and unsafe. This video taught me that as students, what we see as wrong we want gone immediately, and university administrators will do what ever it takes to stay out of a lawsuit and from losing money... After thinking more and more about this, I don't know how I feel about giving a university money.

Class Color

In our last Issues class, we ended the period with a discussion on class colors. At Deerfield High School the freshman are white, sophomores are gray, Juniors are red, and finally the seniors are black. Mr. Kramer talked about his confusion of why we have class colors. He did make very valid points by saying that shouldn't we be united... since it is Homecoming?! My answer is yes of course we should and we are! we are united in the school and the gym for the pep rally and we all come together and wear a different part of our school colors. We do not distinguish ourselves by race or ethnicity or language, but by our class! As a class we are one. In no way is the senior class anything like the freshman class. We are bigger, smarter, older, more mature, and our decision making skills are very different (not automatically saying good or bad...) One could say that this is a settings if  miniature size compared to what happens in the world today and its what wars are fought over... In a way that's true and not true. Wars are fought over race and skin tone and power, but in high school we do not fight over why we are better than another grade, we simply just say we are better and leave it at that! As seniors we don't believe we need to explain why we are better than freshman, sophomores, and juniors because we just know and  believe we are better than them. Being a senior has been a ride of my life and I've only been a senior for 1 month! I just ended my homecoming weekend and I had a blast and it was one of the best weekends I've ever had. One half of me wants to get out of Deerfield A.S.A.P, yet the other half wants to stay a senior forever. being a senior is a "little thing" in my life and its one of those little things I'll just have to sit back and enjoy it while it lasts.


P.S. I'm fully aware of the.... outrageous cockiness in this blog post and i did it that way on purpose :) SENIORS 2012!!!!!!!

Speech code on campus

It is currently 2011... There haven't been slaves in this country in over 100 years, yet we still have problems with race and togetherness. The immature minds of young adults have made terrible decisions that they thought would be humorous, but in reality are horrific and hard to look at. I thought as a nation we were better than this. Over and done with these problems. At Auburn there was not a whole lot that the university could do to change these students minds. The university also did not take part in influencing the students to take part in these activities, so why should they be blamed. The university can't be blamed for such acts unless they were done in a school organized event. "'In the wake of what we experienced September 11th, this is the last thing we would have expected to see,' said Evelyn Crayton, president of the Auburn Black Caucus, an organization of African American faculty, staff and administrators."

https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=dc3mpv73_0f92nqdhg

Flag Burning

I am not going to write on my opinions of whether or not it should be illegal to burn the United States Flag, but during this week in class i have gathered up many questions that i can put into one question for those whom chose to burn the flag in protest:

If you decide to protest against America by burning its flag, then why do you live here?

I live in America because, besides that i live with my parents and they raised me here, i love this country and i would stand by it against other nations. I many have my disagreements with our government just like everyone else, but i do not get angry enough to burn and protest what our nation stands by. I live by the red, white, and blue. To me it represents freedom and liberty but also good and bad. Everything in our nations past makes our nation what it is today, good and bad. I doubt that there is one person that is happy with every decision that our nation has made, but what makes our nation so unique is that we made our decision together has a whole. I would say that the protesters who burn the flag are lucky enough to be able to even stand trial because in other nations u could be shot for doing such acts. Before you think about how unhappy you are with what you don't have, think about how lucky you are to have what you already have.

9-11

Even though I have seen the film before, it is still very touching and compelling. When we watch a WWII video it seems almost fake, but when we watch a 9-11 video there is a much different feeling because I lived through it and remember what happened and everything you see is identical to today. One of the most compelling and touching parts of the film is when one of the bothers in walking around in the streets and is just filming the people. People of all races and ethnicities and ages have the same expressions as each other, fear. The amount of fear that was able to be capture on film is shocking because never before have I watched ‘America fear.’ American have always seen themselves as fearless, but this is the first film that shows fear in Americans.

The article I read was about how Presidents Busch and Obama gathered at the 9-11 memorial. This is a very important gathering between presidents because they have very different views and beliefs, but they shared a crisis and had to lead the nation through one of its toughest times in its history. Something I learned from the article is that, “He is a president who banned torture in the interrogation of suspected terrorists and pledged — unsuccessfully, so far — to close the military prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, but carried out more drone strikes in Pakistan in his first year in office than Mr. Bush did in his eight years.” I never knew what orders President Obama gave to the military. Both Presidents made sure our fear was protected by doing what was right and attacking the men who though America was weak. The Presidents took the duty of making Al Qaeda fear the United States.

9-11 has given me hope in my country. It makes me feel actually safe when most people would shrivel in fear. We have men and woman who are willing to put their lives behind others. We have men and woman who will stand for freedom. And we have men and woman who aren’t afraid to say “F*** YOU!”  when rebels think they can take us down. 9-11 brought everyone together in America of all ethnicities and I believe that’s what America’s image should be.

Should I talk in class?

From various court trials that our class has read these past four days, its scary to think of how little rights students have in school. In U.S history we learned about the Bill of Rights and the Constitution and all the rights that are given to citizens. But from these court cases it almost seems as if we don't have freedom of speech. In school, we simply can NOT speak our mind. As students we are vulnerable to unfair abuse(non physical) At Deerfield High School we are lucky to have nice teachers who encourage opinions and encourage us to speak our minds. But at any moment, what we say and our privacy at school can be taken away.
From these court cases we have learned that we can use our freedom of speech in any way outside of school. But, inside of school we must stay in the "boundaries". These boundaries  consist of not promoting, or what seems to be, talking about illegal actions at all. If a student disagrees with a teacher on a topic of keeping marijuana illegal, he could get in serious trouble. If a student doesn't believe that our nation should be at war and he wants people to know that he/she strongly believes that, he/she could get into a lot of trouble based on passed events and court trials. I personally think this is ridiculous! this is a free nation, is it not? Don't we have rights in our nation that we should practice, especially in school? Its not that we are just in school but also that we are teenagers, it is easy to take advantage of us. If an adult were to speak out about the war, he would not go to jail or get fined because he has rights that he is practicing. But don't and shouldn't teenagers have the same rights too? what makes us so different? because the last time i checked we are all people growing up in the same world with all of the same problems...

Examples: In the case of Tinker v. Des Moines, two kids went to school with black wrist bands on to represent that they were against the Vietnam War. Their principle heard of this and banned kids from wearing wrist bands. The Supreme Court ruled the case in favor of Tinker because it was a pieceful protest that had no threat of an outbreak of fighting or riot. the principle in this case was trying to take away these kids right to peacefully protest and freedom of speech. No matter what age, a citizen of The United States of America has all rights given to by our founding fathers.

Intro blog to Issues In Modern America

Last school year i used my blog for my U.S History class. Now, i will be using it for my Issues in Modern America class. My blogs will go from talking about past issues, to the "now" issues. One issues that i think people don't think about its rivalries. The fights between raiders and 49ers fans is a perfect example of this. for the past few days ESPN has been exploiting the atrocity during one of the most popular shows, Sports Center. I think something that makes an American is a thirst for winning, and good competition. But, along with competition comes rivalry. I am a die-hard Chicago White Sox fan, and like most Sox fans i absolutely despise the Cubs. In the Raiders 49ers preseason game, there was a large fight in the stands during the game, and a shooting after the game. Sports, rivalries, and competition come hand-in-hand with GAMES! so shouldn't we treat it like a game? Many of us are passionate to a sport, but passion should only go so far. Killing a man because of his liking of a team is taking passion... a little too far. With rights of free speech, we as Americans also have rights of our own opinion and beliefs. In my opinion, I think the White Sox are better than the Cubs and i stand by that(mostly because its a fact), but is it wrong for me to think that? I certainly don't think so
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSoFECqjS40

Grade posts

I would like my very first and last posted to be graded because i believe that in these posts i used good text to show how i felt about the stories and interviews, and i think raised good thought from these stories. I also enjoyed reading these stories along with many others.

Larry Heinemann & Jacob Lawrence

I decided to read Larry Heinemann's story because i was interested in the fact that he was a Vietnam Veteran. I was so interested by this because, from my past experience, most if not all war veterans especially Vietnam veterans have a number of story's. Even though Larry's story's were not so much about the Vietnam War itself, i was still impacted by what he had to say. I quickly learned about Larry when he said, "In my household, there was never any political discussion. We were raised to just submit to the draft, stiffly and strict." Larry continues through his story's talking about how he took a lot of "shit" from people and how differently he had to deal with people from being at home to being in the army. Two interesting story's that he had were him talking about how he drove a convoy in the army and would have guns around him and had to watch out for suspicious activity, and when he got home he drove a bus where he was surrounded by people who pissed him off and there was not a whole lot he could do about it. The second story that really grabbed my attention was when he said, "I heard there was tear gas and cops beating up kids. When i was in Vietnam, we used tear gas to flush people out of tunnels."
I chose to read Jacob Lawrence's story not because i love art, but simple because i just wanted to see what an artist artist had to say. Something that shocked me that Lawrence said was, "It is ironic that people like myself benefited from the Great Depression." "It lasted about five years, a wonderful, wonderful period." This surprised me so much because it was the first time i heard someone say that they benefited from the Great Depression, and i feel like it will certainly be the last time.

Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do (1972) Dolores Dante, waitress Tom Patrick, fireman

Dolores Dante introduces herself as a waitress in a very interesting way. she says, "Everyone says all waitresses have broken homes. What they don't realize is when people have broken homes they need to make money fast, and do this work. They don't have broken homes because they're waitresses." Dolores acknowledges the stereotype against waitresses, and throughout the interview it is easy to see how frustrated she gets from it. She was a woman that needed to make a living for herself, and she needed fast cash. Waitress's  was a good job for her because she was able to have conversations with people, sometimes be friendly, and make a decent tip. Although, she tells stories of times when she gets into arguments with costumers, and stories of her being the waitress that everyone wanted. She showed me that in the 70's there was a need for money and you would do what would get you the most money because Dolores would what she could to get a bigger tip or to get the costumer to buy more food.
Tom Patrick talked about his experiences being a cop and a fireman. In the 70's he had to withstand many riots and protests run by anger citizens about a variety of subjects. He talked about how no matter how small the offense was, he had to make sure wouldn't do it again and sometimes go to extremes and lock them up in a cell for a little bit. He had to do this to make people follow by the rules because many people at that time had strong beliefs, such as speaking out against the war in riots, and it was Tom's job to stop these people from breaking out. Tom's interview taught me that if i'm ever to speak out about a subject, i better do it in a good manner or the authorities will get me.

Phil Stallings & Eric Nesterenko

In Eric’s interview, he talked extensively about his childhood in Canada playing hockey and how he grew up with hockey and eventually played professional hockey. The way he described hockey seemed very similar to warfare. When a hockey player (soldier) would get hurt, other players (friendly soldiers) would forget about him and not care. Younger players would go for bigger hits and pick fights for the fun and the thrill, just like how a young man at war would go to the front line to fight because he is anxious. But an veteran hockey player would be smart and hold back from a fight to protect himself so that he could keep playing, just like how an older man in war would use tactics so that he would be able to fight longer and stay alive. He also talked about how it was important to win because it’s what got him paid, and it made the fans happy because it gave them a “win” in their mind. The fans were very important to the players. The fans could impact how they played. If the fans were cheering they would play better, if the fans don’t like the player then they would be scared and nervous for their career.

Phil talks about his work in the assembly plant for Ford in Chicago. His hours are long and his work is long, constant, hard, and dangerous. Phil emphasizes the danger in his job and how if you’re not paying attention, you can get hurt. Phil’s story connects to Eric’s story because Phil’s “fan that doesn’t like him” is the head of his line. He describes how if he doesn’t like you, then you can’t get a break of any kind and you would have to keep working. Phil’s interview ends with him talking about when everyone stopped working, there was no threat to lose him job. For Eric, there would be no threat of fans no liking him if there were no players at all.

Entry 6 - Peter Ota & Betty Hutchison

For Peter Ota, being a young Japanese man in the early 1940’s was extremely difficult. His dad was sent to prison and the rest of his family (sister and mother) were sent to concentration camps for the Japanese people. Through Peter’s story and experience, he talks about moving from camp to camp and finding new jobs. At no point did he seem overly emotional, but he did seem to give off anger. But, to me this anger is extremely called for. He was forced out of his regular life because of a war, and then he was forced to register to fight for the war that was ruining and changing his life completely. People like himself and a few other non-Japanese people knew this was not right like the FBI agent that was escorting him out of the train station.

            As I read Betty Hutchison’s story, I was stuck on how great of her it was that she wanted to be an army nurse. She wants to do as much as she could, and at that time the most she could do was be a nurse. She tells stories about her being a plastic surgery nurse. These types of nurses were very important because of all the bombing and flame damages to people’s bodies. Many lost limbs and parts of their bodies were badly damaged. Betty basically described that when something like that happens, she comes in and fixes the soldier up, and she was good at it. She also talked about her “romances” as a nurse. The nurses were used as escorts to the officers, which was a big deal. Although these women were just nurses, they played huge rolls.

            If Betty knew where the two Japanese nurses went and why they had to leave, would she or you have taken a different stand on thoughts about being a nurse?

entry 5 - "The Good War”: An Oral History of World War II (1984) Peggy Terry, “hillbilly” E. B. (Sledgehammer) Sledge, Marine

When Peggy Terry said, "Now we'd have money to buy shoes and a dress..." it reminded me of when i got my first job. I was able to live normally before i got my job, but when i got it i was able to buy myself thinks that i desired. But, i certainly dont have a job that works with Tetryl, explosives, or detonators. i found it interesting, yet incredibally wrong that companys threatened workers that if they quit they would "blacklist" them and no other companys would hire them.
i love how E.B Sledge puts the war as two parts, "There was the war of the guys on the fronts lines... Then there was the support personnel." The men that we dont hear from are the ones in the front lines because most of them don't live to tell their stories. The men who died on the front lines were the true heros, not saying that all the other men wern't heros because they were. E.B went to war "to get it over with, so we could go back home and do what we wanted to do with our lives." nobody was their for the long run or to mess around. The way that E.B put fighting the Japanese it would seem almost impossible to be able to go back to normal life.

“The Good War”: An Oral History of World War II (1984) Introduction + Bob Rasmus, rifleman

Bob Rasmus's war stories hit me as very exhilarating, compelling, and to me it showed bravery within him. He talked many times about going to battle or into enemy country's in the front line as a rifleman. He said that he knew they likeliness of him dying at battle and yet he still had to guts and man power to go to battle, fight, and survive. Many times when i read stories from war vets i think about whether i think i would be able to do what some of these men have done. While reading this interview, i knew that there would have been no chance that i would have been able to go to the front lines and try to defeat a well trained enemy. As i was reading, i was also emotionally hit when Rasmus said that he had to leave his platoon because he had the flu, and later on they were hit hard and died. For myself, knowing that the flu kept me from dying in battle would make me go crazy. Then i thought, would i rather die by in a platoon with my friends at the Battle of the Bulge, or die in a different platoon in a big battle such as D-Day? After pondering this question, i could not come up with an answer. But, i do know that im thankful for the soldiers who fought in the war becuase i would rather be safe, and alive at home.

Jane Yoder, daughter of a WPA worker and Tom Yoder, Jane’s son

These stories really made me think long and hard about what i have today, and how much i take all of it for granted. Its things like clothes, having a hot dinner every night cooked, having a safe home, having my own bedroom to myself, and being able to take vacations across the United States and sometimes outside of the country. In Jane Yoder's story, she talks about how much she wanted a blanket or a coat to stay warm. When she finally got her coat, she treated it like it was worth $1,000. She also said, "I can think of the WPA... my father immediately got employed in this WPA. This was a godsend." To Jane and her family, getting a job ment survival. Tom Yoder talked about how it sounded foolish when his mom told him that her brothers would go hunting with rifles in search for food. If no food was found, then they would not eat that night. Now, we would only think that happned centuries ago or it was just something that boy scouts would do. Sadly, this happened in our country's past not too long ago. I conclude this by asking, do you think we will ever need to go back to this kind of survival in the future? Near future?

Dear Mrs. Roosevelt: Children write to the First Lady

This website truly showed how harsh and different it was for kids to grow up during the depression. Kids wrote to the First Lady because they wanted to be able to wear good enough clothes so they could go to school, but they could not afford it. The parents wanted to be able to give their children what was necessary in their life like a good education and regular nutrition, but they could not afford that. Today, we do not value what we have. Some of us are lucky enough to get a top of the line education and go to the best schools in the nation. Others, on the other hand, are not always as lucky. We do not not fully understand how lucky we are because we do not see it in our day to day life. It's important to recognize whats going on with all citizens of the United States because, after all, we are a united nation that, in order to be successful, needs to come together. People of all classes, races, and different parts of America must help each other so we can all prosper.

Arthur A. Robertson, mogul and Oscar Heline, farmer

These two articles showed me how far people would go, during the depression, to show their opinion that was not being heard. The farmers were burning their crops, the thing that they worked so hard to grow. The big business men were losing money as if they were constantly being robbed. Each group of people did what was smart, the farmers came together and helped out other farmers, and big business men came together to help each other. What i found to be impressive, was that these men who were so independent, had the guts to ask each other for help. men who own businesses and who work for themselves can be stubborn and turn down any help. But, every farmer and business owner was in a time of major help. Farmers needed to know how to make simple things like clothing from supplies around their house and land. Millionaires who lost all of their money, had to ask other millionaires for money just so they could survive and hopefully get back on their feet. As i read Arthur Robertson's interview, he told of countless amounts of times where men had asked him to barrow money. he had to turn the men down. it was too risky to lose the money, and he did not want to endanger himself even more. From how he spoke of the people, it was easy to tell that it was hard to tell the other men that he would not be able to help them. I could tell that him seeing other men fall deep and quickly in the depression affected him dramatically. The farmers, on the other hand, could not bring each other back up because non of them had money. One by one, each farmer was losing their house and their land to the banks. The loses led to insanity. The economic depression caused these men to have depression. A big time Millionaire business man shot himself because all of what he once had was gone. Farmers went so insane (and a bit tipsy) that they killed a court judge! These men could not believe what their lives had come to, and they did not want to. This shows that working men can not stand being put to shame. not being able to bring home steak dinners made these men feel worthless. Not being able to live their normal lives made them feel that their families did not have hope in them and they felt like less of a man. When business men go from being with the wealthy and high class, to the middle or low class, it makes them feel as if they have not just failed in their business but at life. The violence and problems in the public that happened during the economic depression happened because these men could not stand the feeling that they have failed and would have, and in some cases did, done drastic matters to get their pride back.

C. P. Ellis & Andy Johnson Entry 1

I found C. P. Ellis's story very compelling. The signs of harsh racism in the beggining shocked and in a way disgusted me. When he says, "I didn't want to associate with 'em. Blacks, Jews, or Catholics," i figured this was going to be a harsh interview, of just hearing of the pure rasicm for other ethnicities in the early 1900's. But, that focus was quickly changed when C. P. said, "I didn't until I met a Black person and talked with him, eyeball to eyeball, and met a jewish person and talking to him, eyeball to eyeball. I found out they're people just like me. They cried, they cussed, they prayed, they had desires."  In todays world, most people see each other as equivilant human beings, as equals. Everyone is a person and is similar in many ways, yet also different. I believe that C. P. Ellis's true turning point in his life was when he saw a black man walking down the street, and the man reminded him of his father and himself as a young boy. The clothes that the man wore were beat up and raggedy, just like his own years before and like his fathers. At that very moment, C. P. Ellis realized that being in the Klan was wrong, but he stayed in the class because it made him feel important. But, this also rises the question of what was more important to Ellis, stopping problems betweens blacks and whites? Or, did he think that it was more important for himself to be known and liked as a high ranking Klan member. I think that to himself it was more important to stop the racial problems. A true Klan member would not "listen to tapes of Martin Luther King. i listen to it and tears come to my eyes 'cause I know what he's sayin' now." A man who is strongly against African Americans and everything that has to do with the race, would not cry when he listens to the most famous and powerful Civil Rights leader make a speech.
-In Andy Johnson's interview, he shows what racism was like from an immigrants stand point. the stories of the travel from Finland to America were not pleasant. But when Johnson says, "I saw the first black man in my life on the platform at the Union Station in Duluth. i couldn't figure out why his face was black. I thought he didn't wash it or something. It didn't dawn on me at that time that people were different." Andy Johnson saying this shows the diversity in entire countries in the early 1900's. He was then introduced to racism when he saw the picture of the slaves. But besides for the racial problems, Johnson tells of the problems where people were cheated of jobs, and their rights. "When you're once fired for your political views, you're automatically blackballed with the mining companies, even if you never worked for a mining company." the lower class were being gypped of their rights and opportunities because they had to abide by the rich high class who owned businesses and companies. Andy Johnson brings up the point of "If we continue this present trend, we're gonna go straight to hell, we're gonna blow ourselves right off this earth, or we'll poison ourselves off." This is an extremely good point in which i completely agree with. If the problems back then still occurred now, there would be so much fighting on between so many different groups of people, that the existence of people in America could be questioned.