MINE

post #13 where were you?

The day the towers were hit as well as the pentagon and a field in pennsylvania I was, like most kids, in school.  I had made it through home room and had moved on to my first class of the day which was English. Although i dont really remember the teachers name I can remember his face and I also remember that he was a pretty down to earth guy.  With about 15-20 minutes left in the class another teacher came to the door and pulled him outside. I thought this to be a little bit strange but allowed my mind to dismiss any thoughts of it.  When returned his normal cheery self had a blank look on his face.  He told us that something terrible had happened and that he was not supposed to allow us to see the news on the tv but he decided that we had a right to know what was going on. When the tc came on the first image was the first tower with smoke billowing out of it. Immediately I was confused by what was going on. Initially people thought that it was an accident and were trying to fill in the blanks of information that were layed out by the pictures we were all viewing. Then the second plane hit...  With each class came more and more news about what was going on.  Information about the towers falling, the pentagon, and the foiled attempt that crashed in pennsylvania.  For most of the day we were not allowed to watch the tv because they thought it would upset us too much. But the damage had been done. Kids were crying and calling their parents to find out if they were alright and for the day the halls of the school were complete pandimonium.

My initial feelings were anger. Why would someone want to do this to us? What did we do to deserve this?  And would there be anything else?  These questions were not so easily answered because of the biased opinions of the majority of the population of America. Most were thinking we should bomb their whole country with no second thoughts whatsoever.  To be honest I was among those people at first.  That is until I began to hear the real story that the media and the united states government wasnt telling us.  The real history behind the whole circumstance and my point of view changed from why us to how could we have prevented this. No offense but people dont just go out and bomb people and slam planes into buildings for the hell of it.  There has to be some sort of motivation towards this circumstance. And there was, and that answer was that in a sense we are the object of our own demise.  We drove a country to hate us so tremendously that they would attack us like that.  When you think about it 9/11 is not that bad comparing what the United States has done to some other countries.  Do I think what happened on 9/11 was right? no but I do feel that we brought it on ourselves

post #11 Wall Street "Greed is Good"

In 1980 Reagan was sworn in as president and brought a message to the United States, “It is time to reawaken the industrial giant, to get government back within its means, and to lighten our punitive tax burden,” he announced this on inauguration day. [1] The 80’s were a turning point economically in the country, but to reawaken the industrial giant there would be losses to the poor and lower middle class because of policy changes and the tax cuts. [2] As displayed in the movie Wall Street, greed can be a nasty thing and if one wants too much then they must take from someone else.

The movie Wall Street is about a life of a young investment banker during the mid 80’s named Bud Fox (played by Charlie Sheen). Bud is willing to do whatever it takes to become rich and successful even if it means riding on the coattails of a notorious stock market shark, Gordon Gekko (played by Michael Douglas). Smooth talking Gekko for lack of better wording could sell a lifetime supply of candy to a diabetic. He gets Bud hook, line, and sinker doing illegal things to help him (Gekko) make money until Gekko’s geed and lust for money catches up to him and turns Bud against him.

The scene shown above is in our eyes the turning point of the corruption of Bud Fox. Gekko, as seen above, is dressed in a black suit and black tie with wet slicked back hair can be easily seen as the evil yet he uses his lies to persuade the stockholders to put faith in him while in actuality he does not care about the stockholders at all. Up until this part of the movie Bud has been seen with somewhat sub par suits and plainly combed hair. Although Bud is seen like this in this scene, it should be noted that for the rest of the movie until the very end he becomes somewhat of a Gordon Gekko protégé with fancy suits and slicked back hair. Gekko’s greed for money was passed on to Bud where the lust for more and more ultimately found its limits.

This scene alone is a perfect summary of the economic conditions during this period of time. The rich got richer and the poor sank lower and lower into poverty. By the end of Regan’s second term more jobs were created, but the jobs were used for the wealthy people rather than the poor. [3] Gekko’s theory of geed is good is somewhat true but only for those greedy enough to do what it took at all costs to make money while honest people lost money hand over fist. Greed is like a plague that swallows everyone around it. If greedy people get rich, then people see that and become greedy as well trying to be as rich as them and the cycle just repeats itself. More than likely there will never be an end to greed in the world. In the words of Mahatma Gandhi “The Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.”[4]

Wall Street 20th Century Fox Pictures

Video source:
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechwallstreet.html

[1] Nation of Nations pg. 947
[2] Nation of Nations pg. 950
[3] Nation of Nations pg. 950
[4] http://thinkexist.com/quotation/earth_provides_enough_to_satisfy_every_man-s_need/181709.html

post #7 70's songs and movies

Evidence of the worlds history has been written into song and acted out in movies for as long as either one has existed. Song writers and directors create memories of historic things that came to pass in the works which they create. It has also allowed them to express their true feelings towards certain situations in time and to perhaps swing the opinions of those who view or listen to their works. Regardless of the intentions, movies and songs have left footprints of historic events in the sands of time that will never wash away.

During the 1970’s America was in the midst of the Vietnam War. It was expected that music and film created during this time would relate to tragedy and loss in the lyrics as well as on the movie screen, however, during this time period the United States had a new generation of people, hippies. The hippies brought new developments to music and film genre, such as sex, drugs, and protest. Musicians and writers used what was around them as sources of inspiration. It was natural to see the facts of the time period in the films and music on the top ten of 1970.

Most of these films and songs can be categorized by genre; they are descriptions of sexploitation, loss, love, and the music from the hippie generation. One of the top movies that linked to the Vietnam War was Airport. In this movie there was a lot of destruction and bombs, which goes along with warfare aspect from Vietnam. B.J Thomas’, "Raindrops are Falling on My Head," is one of the top music songs for the 1970’s. In the song it mentions that bad things are going to happen, but everything is in the world is going to turn out alright. Another top hit that goes along with B.J. Thomas’ song is "Everything is Beautiful" by Ray Stevens. In this song, Ray Stevens makes it seem that nothing is wrong in the world and everything is going to be fine. Those are just a few of the songs and movies that were related to the Vietnam War. For example, the movie MASH was created to be about Vietnam, but was placed during the Korean War in the film. Some of the music from the year also relates to the Vietnam War as in the song "Thank You for Being My Friend" by Sly and the Family Stone, with lyrics relating to war in Vietnam. In this song the evidence of the war in Vietnam is seen in the lyrics of the first part of the song, "Lookin’ at the devil, Grinnin’ at his gun. Fingers start shakin’ ,I begin to run. Bullets start chasin’ ,I begin to stop. We begin to wrestle, I was on the top."[1] Some of the other top hits include Chariots of the Gods, Joe, Chisum, and "I Want You Back" by Jackson 5.

The top box office grossing movie of 1970 was Love Story .This movie is about a girl who has been diagnosed with a fatal disease and was not going to recover from it. She also will not see her boyfriend again. This film can be linked to many songs of the 1970s with the same message or feeling. For example, The Beatles’ "The Long and Winding Road":

And still they lead me back to the long and winding road
You left me standing here a long, long time ago
Don’t leave me waiting here, lead me to your door,[2]

or Simon and Garfunkel’s "Bridge over Troubled Water" both about love and being by the side of your loved one. In the songs "Venus" by Shocking Blue and "American Woman" by Guess Who the lyrics are both about women. In the song "Venus," part of the song says "her weapon was her crystal eyes" and in "American Woman" a part of the song says "come sparkle someone else’s eyes." These two top hits of the 1970’s are opposites of each other. Another top song that had to do with love and woman in the 1970’s was "ABC" by Jackson 5. Since sex was part of the 1970’s era, the first ever porn made the top ten movies, Ann and Eve.

With the hippie generation came more freedom of expression and movies called sexploitation movies like Beyond the Valley of the Dolls and Myra Breckinridge. They allowed freedom of sexual expression that movies of previous times did not allow. One of the most influential movies to come out of this genre was the movie Woodstock. It was a musical film, which documented the music festival Woodstock which was held in Bethel, New York in 1969. [3]

Even today events of the present affect the movies and music that come out on the billboard charts. Inspiration knows no bounds and people can’t sit by blindly to what is around them. In 1970 what was affecting the country at that moment came out in music and on screen.

Top 10 songs

1. raindrops keep falling on my head
2. I want you back
3. venus
4. thank you
5. bridge over troubled water
6. let it be
7. ABC
8. American woman
9. everything is beautiful
10. the long and winding road 

Top 10 movies

1. lover story
2. airport
3. M*A*S*H
4. chariots of the gods
5. joe
6. ann and eve

7. Woodstock

8. beyong the valley of the dolls
9. chisum

10. myra

    breckinridge

[1]www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/sly_and_the_family_stone/thank_you_falettinme_be_mice_elf_agin.html[2] http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/beatles/the+long+winding+road_20014808.html

[3] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066580/plotsummary

             

#7 We the Jury

The trial of State vs. Rehberg was a documented murder trial in 1885. A man by the name of Edward Rehberg was being accused of beating his young daughter Clara Rehberg to death. There are facts, however, that came into consideration because in the trial itself the testimonies of the witnesses of that day were mostly females and female children. Also, social class came into consideration. On one hand, there was a doctor’s testimony and on the other hand, there were testimonies of the other witnesses in the lower social class. A 19th century jury would more likely take into consideration what the higher class said than the people of the lower class. The importance of gender, age, and social class in court cases in the 19th century vary greatly and can produce differing decisions in reviewing major cases.

It was said by some female members of the family that Edward Rehberg had an alibi for the day he was accused of beating his daughter. It was said by Emma and Bertha Rehberg that Edward Rehberg had an alibi for the day he was accused of beating his daughter.[1] Most of the testimonies of the family members put him at the time of the alleged beating at the haystacks.[2] He could still be guilty by default in a 19th century court room due to evidence that he was a male and a woman could never have done this because women had a “socially defined role as guardians of morality.”[3]

In the declaration of death by Clara Rehberg, it stated that her stepmother Louisa should in fact be the person in question for brutalizing her. A 19th Century jury might not take Clara’s confession into account however due to the fact that she is just a child. According to Mr. E.D. Weed who wrote the testimony, “She seemed to be an intelligent child of about the age of eight or nine years. I think that if the child had received any sort of moral education or training whatever, she would be received as a reliable witness in any Court of Justice.” [4] Another factor must also be taken into consideration. At the time of the declaration, Clara Rehberg was in such pain that may not have been thinking clearly. Since Clara had been beaten, the doctor had most likely given her drugs to dull the pain, and she was aware of the fact that she was going to die. Any person in her situation would be too distressed to relay the exact happening of the events; especially, for an eight or nine year old child this may have been even more difficult. Clara might also have been protecting her father, since Louisa was her stepmother and may not have been of as much importance to her as her father.

Based on that the only other person that could have been responsible for the beating of Clara was Louisa and she was discredited due to the fact of being a woman and not able in the 19th century minds to wrap around the fact that she could beat a child to death. The jury based on the evidence would convict Edward Rehberg guilty.

In the 20th century Louisa would not be discredited and social standing and Clara not being “well read” would not be as much as a problem in a court of law and her testimony would in fact be taken seriously into account. Edward Rehberg in a 20th century court of law would be found not guilty based on the evidence of having an alibi and also the death bed testimony of Clara witnessing Louisa beat her which lead to her death.

In the case State v.s. Rehberg, we the jury find the defendant, Edward Rehberg, guilty of second degree murder in the 19th century and we the jury find the defendant, Edward Rehberg, not guilty in the 20th century.

[1] Reader Hist 120 pg. 17-21
[2] Reader Hist 120 pg.18
[3] Nation of Nations pg. 320
[4] Reader Hist 120 pg. 30

#5 Barrow's Plantation

Over the years, the map of Barrow’s plantation has appeared in many textbooks, it portrays how a southern plantation evolved over time. The plantation first appeared in Scriber’s Monthly: An Illustrated Magazine for the People, Volume 21, Issue 5, in March of 1881.  From recent satellite images, you can see that Barrow’s plantation has not changed much since the Reconstruction. It has been able to keep the same shape for more than 186 years.  To this day Barrow's plantation is still operating and providing cotton for society.  From the aerial view of Barrow's plantation, it is hard to tell, but Pope Barrow's house is still located on the plantation, however we cannot tell if the other cabins are still there.

Barrow’s plantation is hard to locate. We had to start by finding information and maps about the county in which it is located, Oglethorpe County. From there we found that Barrow’s plantation is located off Route 22, between Philomath, Georgia and Maxey's, Georgia. The plantations closest edge is located approximately 1.2 miles SW of Philomath and the farthest edge is about 2.25 miles SW of Philomath. We were unable to find the exact coordinates of Barrow’s Plantation, but we found the coordinates for Philomath, which is latitude 33.724162 and longitude -82.762010 

The map in the textbooks, however, has some errors in it, the major error being its orientation. Having consulted many sources, mainly by looking at the position of the rivers, one can see that barrows plantation is not positioned correctly. Although this is the major error, there are other small ones as well. For example, there is no compass on the original map, so one cannot determine which is north. There is no scale, which every map must have.

The plantation seems to have increased in size, but the most compelling thing about it is that it is actually used and that it actually still exists. Although it has increased its size, for the most part the geographical layout coincides with the older maps. However, one is not able to see any houses with our current resources.

http://hist120miner.typepad.com/photos/barrows_plantation_photos/index.html This album includes the pictures associated with Barrow’s Plantation. The first picture is a satellite aerial view of the plantation. The next one is of the slave cabin located on the plantation. This photo was taken in 1899. The photo shows a slave cabin located on Pope Barrow's Plantation. The next picture related to the plantation is a picture of African-American children picking cotton in front of Pope Barrow's home. The Barrow's plantation was known for cotton production. The third photo associated with the plantation is a picture of Pope Barrow’s house; Pope Barrow's house is located between Athens and Lexington, Georgia and was built in 1820. And finally, the last photo is an aerial view of the plantation with its boundaries outlined. As you can see in this picture, the boundaries are almost exactly the same as it was when the plantation first started.

Satellite images of the area show that the physiographic area of the plantation has not changed very much.  The Master’s house seems to be located in the same place, the Gin house seems to have moved. If you look back at the photo of the slave cabin, it shows that it has been moved because it does not seem to have a permanent foundation. Most of these changes came about after the Reconstruction since the Barrow’s sold small plots of land to non-relatives. The smaller houses may have changed locations as well. Many changes occurred over the history the almost 200 year history of Barrow’s plantation, nevertheless, the most astounding fact is that the plantation still exists and is still being used.

Patriots Act Towards Independence

The Seven Years’ War fought between Britain and France in 1763 caused the British to go bankrupt. The British Parliament decided to then pass “the Sugar Act, the Stamp Act and other measures of the early 1760’s in hope of binding  the American colonies more closely to the empire (Nation of Nations 121).” The colonies did not approve of the idea of taxed goods because that meant less freedom for trading. The British took the colonies activism lightly at first, especially the women’s involvement. England tried to rule with a stronger hand, not knowing later they would pay the price for being so naive in thinking the colonists would not fight back.

In July 1619, the House of Burgesses was formed to help repeal the Stamp Act. After the first House of Burgesses meeting, Britain reinforced the Stamp Act even more to ensure that Britain had power over the colony’s government. The colonies, however, retorted by not purchasing any of the British’s goods.

Women were one of the biggest consumers of British goods so they decided  to take a stand in politics. The British did not take these dissenters seriously and even joked about them depicting them in a British political cartoon entitled, “The Women of Edenton”. In this cartoon, the women were depicted as scandalous, unclean, and trampy. The British believed that a female had no place in politics and was only supposed to do household chores and take care of family matters. When the women decided to boycott tea and other British goods it did not bode well for the British. The women of the colonies decided to form the “Daughters of Liberty”, who wore clothes that they had made themselves from their own material and served coffee instead of English tea.

Women were not the only ones whom the British thought they would see no trouble from. The British wanted to have a solid hold on the economic parts of the colonies, thinking it would all work itself out as they had many loyalists in the colonies. What the British did not expect is how few men it takes to change a great amount of minds.

One of the last acts to fan the flame of a revolution along with the Stamp Act was the Boston Tea Party. The Boston Tea Party was led by Samuel Adams who was a radical writer and a member of the Committee of Correspondence. He and several other men dumped 90,000 pounds of tea into the Boston Harbor disguised as Indians. This drew the Parliaments attention to the fact that the colonists wanted independence from Britain. When the Parliament tried to get a stronger hold on the colonies and punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party, flames of Revolution leapt higher, burning a path towards independence and freedom from the oppresive controlling rule of the British.

Thomas Paine once wrote, “It was the destiny of Americans to be republicans, not monarchists. It was the destiny of Americans to be independent, not subject to British dominion. It was the destiny of Americans to be American, not English (Nation of Nations 144).” This states that in Paine’s opinion America did not want a monarchy. They wanted a democracy where there opinion mattered and where they would decide what should and should not be taxed. And through these historically significant acts that fueled the Revolution, the British were shown that the destiny of Americans was not to be ruled by them [British] but by themselves and to no longer be known as English but American.

Post #1 "creation stories"

Historians have determined that history is the presence of absence of change over time.  In the times when Native Americans thrived here in North America, European influence could be seen in almost every aspect of Native American life. Such is so in the three creation stories that were selected for us to read. “The Indians of New Netherlands…”, “Origins of Ottawa Society” and “Leonard Crow Dog, Remaking the World," were all written in different times in Native American history and at different points of the European influence on them, thus changing the basis of each story greatly. With the basic principle of history being presence of absence of change over time we are able to determine the strength of the European influence.

In the first story “The Indians of New Netherlands…”, the main focus of the creation of the world seemed to lie with a women. A women who was caring and nurturing and slowly brought the new world, as we know it today, to be.  Being that this story was written in 1650 one can determine that at that particular point in history the effects of European influence were visible but not as extreme.  The Native Americans at this time seemed to be still be in tune with "Mother Nature" from whom which they believe all life came. They do however seem to have assimilated a "one supreme being" emphasis who seems to control the ebb and flow of the creation of life which could be attributed possibly to the Europeans and their Christian influence. Along with that the story also followed the lines of Christianity in the aspect of having a great flood in which all life is eliminated to be rebuilt again.

In the second story, Origins of Ottawa Society (1720), the role of women seems to have drastically decreased. Unlike the first story in which a women was portrayed as being divine and nurturing the living creatures of the world until they were able to sustain themselves. They (Native Americans) have instead used the image of a Great Hare to be there divine being. the thing that was different in this story than the other two was the lack of a great flood from which life was to flourish again. the Great Hare instead would create life from the bones of creatures that had passed on. The role of women in this story falls from divine being to being something created to do the mans bidding. The European correlation that can be made with this story again would have to be the presence of one all knowing, almighty being who controls the creation of life on earth.

The third and final creations story “Leonard Crow Dog, Remaking the World,"(1935) a drastic change from the other two before it can be seen.  There is, however, still an almighty being who controls everything.  the role of women in this story takes another drastic fall and doesn't get mentioned for anything other than just to be here for procreation. An interesting turn in this story however was that the almighty being who seemed to be able to control things absolutely, could not get the mud to create the land for himself. He had to rely on the services of the turtle to retrieve the mud to create the land.  This gives the almighty being a seeming sense of being somewhat mortal. This story does still stick with the flood in the story to spring life from.

In conclusion one could say that each of theses stories are quite different from each other easily without digging into the fact which make them so far apart in comparison.  The biggest thing between the three is the role of women and its drastic decline throughout the three stories. At first being a divine being, then a companion for men to do their bidding, to someone simply created for procreation.  perhaps from this it could be determined the originally the Native Americans valued there women greatly but through European influence there value of them dropped drastically.  The second thing that I noticed was the establishing of some mortal quality in the almighty being. perhaps with the introduction of Christianity into Native American society they began to give the almighty being in the creation stories mortal qualities and create more interaction between them and humans like in the bible when Jesus walks the earth.  Overall it is easy to see the influence of the Europeans in Native American society greatly changed the views of the Native Americans in all aspects of there lives including there creation stories

MEEEEE!!!!!!

My name is Thomas Edward Colr Jr. This is my first year at GMU although it is not my first year of college. i went to Bridgewater College for two years where I played football for them. From there I went to a community college for a year and now I am here. I play football here at GMU.  I am a administration of justice major and i want to be in the FBI or CIA someday.

muah ha ha ha haaa

hello...i am doing this because i was told to post something...but i dont know what to write so this is all you get