Response Journal 9/12/18

Ashley Hart

Professor Jackson 

Writing 2

9/12/2018

Response Journal

          Many people in this world didn't grow up with a gold spoon in their mouths or in fact anything gold, or maybe not even anything of much value, or what the world deems to be valuable. Many people do however grow to acquire these things. Through hard work, dedication, and patients. Through the blood, sweat, and tears. Looking back they often remember who they once were, what they once had, what they once wanted and couldn't get. The word blessed isn't really an easy word to define, but in this context, it could mean, thankful, or grateful are they who remember, and as a result, continue to gain. Some people just merely long for a meal to eat or a place to lay their heads, while others long for riches and wealth. Both individuals must endure, to gain. However, in the end, if they remember what they once had, they are blessed. It's as if these individuals have a sense of gratitude, they've become humbled by their experiences, and as a result, they have what they now have today. If one is cocky and affirms that all they have today is by their own doing, and they forget where they came from and who they once were can they really be considered blessed?

Response Entry 4/25

Tyler Burrell

Professor Jackson

Writing 2

4/25/18

Response Journal

            So, I’ve been listening to J. Cole’s album on repeat since its release on 4/20, and there’s a specific line in one of the songs where he raps about how the white men who tend to write history books tend to white out their sins. It is sad that Abraham Lincoln is represented as a hero for African Americans but in reality, him freeing the slaves was a war tactic. Yes, he did sign the emancipation proclamation but not for the greater good for all humanity he just didn’t want the south to win the war.  There is no doubt in my mind that the star-spangled banner is racist because everyone tends to leave out the third verse on Francis Scott’s key most famous song. We are taught to respect these songs but in reality, some of them don’t even respect African Americans as a race.

April 23, 2018 Journal

This picture of the two officers taking/deporting the Hispanic man really breaks my heart. I know a lot of people who are in America illegally…or undocumented as I'd rather say. When my parents built our house 25 years ago the land they purchased was cheap. So we have a lot of it. 11 acres to be exact, which I know most people won’t understand what that is but it’s a bit bigger than Washington Square Park. It’s hard taking care of all of the land so about 12 years ago my dad hired someone to cut the grass, trim the trees, and deal with weeds. His name is Esteban and when we first hired him he was an undocumented immigrant from Mexico. He has a wife and, now, three daughters. His daughters are American citizens because they were born on American soil and now Esteban and his wife are citizens (they obtained their green cards about six years ago now). Most of my dad’s employees at his pizza shops were undocumented for a long time, but now they all have their papers and are legally living in the states. I know my dad has a huge soft spot for people that have come to America illegally in search of a better life, because that’s exactly what he did. At the age of 16 my dad left Sicily and came to America and bounced around from job to job, state to state, trying to find himself a better life than Sicily could offer him. Because of this, he opened his arms to the people who work/worked for him. He made them family. I’ve grown up around all of his employees. A lot of them have been at my birthday parties when I was younger and to this day call me “Carmelita” whenever I come to the pizza shop. When I see pictures like the one on the screen it breaks my heart because all I can think about is how that easily could have happened to my dad’s employees who I look at as extended family. Or even scarier, it could have happened to my dad.

Journal Entry 3/26

Sudam Husain is putting children out in the battle? Well we are too. 18 years old. You don’t go from a child at 11:59 pm to an adult at 12 am of your 18^th birthday. I just turned 18 at the end of November and still call my Mom to ask her if I should tumble dry or drip-dry my jeans. I still act like a child. I don’t know how to do shit at 18. I’m still a kid but at the age of 18 I legally am an adult and have the ability to enlist and fucking kill someone? That’s twisted. I hate wars. I remember when my brother turned 18 and he had to put his name in for the draft. I remember my mom saying that if the draft had to be used and Tommaso’s name was picked she’d sneak him over to Canada to a friend’s house. My baby isn’t losing his life to war. I later asked her why she would say that because he would be defending our country, isn't that good?. She told me that he wouldn’t be doing it willingly and she said she wouldn’t let him go over there to literally die or die inside because he killed someone or saw the horrors of war. I know people in the army. My friend Judah is in the army. He just enlisted and is going through training. I respect that. But I would never want that. I hate war. It’s twisted you know? Innocent kids die in war torn countries and people lose their homes and live in fear. Innocent civilians die. It’s like we think that everyone in the Middle East, for example, is bad. Or everyone in North Korea is bad. That isn’t true. Of course you’ve got your bad bunch of apples but uh white people have you seen America? Yesterday I watched a video of two white women and their two YOUNG children go and vandalize mosques. The way these women (who were Trump supporters) talked about Muslim people made me so mad and sad that I literally cried in the middle of the Starbucks by Bobst. They talked about Muslims as if they were literal pieces of trash when in reality those fucking disgusting women were the trash. I hate war. I hate the stereotypes it brings about. Especially the war on terrorism. 

Research Question - Nick

Was there a second gunman in the John F. Kennedy assassination?
(sub question: was the gunman/gunmen involved in a larger conspiracy?)

Journal - 3.5.18 - image of Vietnam girl running naked

Susan Molina

I saw that image so many times in high school. I remember the first time seeing it was in my World History class freshman year. Because we were freshman and so many of the kids in my class were immature, our teacher warned us that there would be someone naked. But the image is actually very serious. It was photographed after a bombing in Vietnam. The girl was running naked because she got burned from the napalm, which is what comes from the bombs and burns your skin off. The guy who took the picture, afterwards helped pour water down her body and took her to a hospital so she could be treated, because the hospital she was sent to said that she wasn't going to survive the burns. This image is very impactful because it showed how the war was doing more harm than good. The image was very controversial, mostly because of the nudity and people tried to invalidate the  image. Like President Nixon, who said that the image was fake but the image was proven to be real, and ended up winning awards.

This image reminds me of the reading because they both have to do with the war. I had to read the book for high school and I remember the narrator of the story also describing harsh images like this one, but that he actually lived through. It's just so sad that wars exist in the first place, and that the ones that most get affected by them are the innocents one like this little girl.