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.