Thursday, October 15, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
AMS205 Is an Order of Occurrence...
Josh Wilson and I partnered for our Team Presentation centered on the paper by Dickenson, Ott, & Aoki titled “Memory and Myth at the Buffalo Bill Museum”. We worked well together and decided to partner up for the website project. Our initial working title was “Deconstructing the Matrix.” The premise was to examine the media-driven influences in constructing a matrix of false perception about the American Frontier, the Wild West, and the American cowboy. Inspired by the authors of the above mentioned article, plus the many writers we learned about in class, including Gloria Anzaldua, Pat Mora, and Patricia Nelson Limerick, we would look to exploit the cracks that exist in the matrix, and hope to aid in its destruction. We would make Morpheus the new King of the Wild Frontier.
Josh and I started working independently for a week conducting research, and composing our thoughts. I was armed with a stack of books from the Hamilton campus library (I’m bringing them back, I swear. Stop the emails Rentschler) on early influences that shaped our perceptions. I learned about spaghetti westerns and films from Sergio Leone. I read scholarly quotes about the improper portrayal in books and western film that the cowboy was singularly white. I even had a cool web page name picked out: "White Men Can Jump, and Black Men Can Lasso".
But it was all for naught. Dr. K. warned us that we should be keeping a fairly narrow focus based on the time constraints of the project. Josh and I thought we knew better. We were bursting with enlightenment, and intended to prove it. However, the only thing we ended up deconstructing, was our website. We were less than two weeks away from deadline and we hadn’t even reached Buddha’s belly button.
So, where are we now? We’re expanding on an idea that was part of our Team Presentation. During our presentation, we put on a short skit based on the movie starring Ben Stiller titled “Night at the Museum”. Being the clever guys we are, we inserted “Buffalo Bill” in between “the” and “Museum”. In the real movie, historical figures, including President Theodore Roosevelt, come to life at night and interact with the night watchman played by Stiller. In the movie, the viewer doesn’t really learn much about the characters’ roles in history. With our website, we hope to provide a fun, but teaching opportunity.
The story within the site is that of a homeland security student who takes a job as a night watchman at the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody, Wyoming. His name, Joshua Thomas Page, was inspired in part by reality – my partner, Josh Wilson is a homeland security major at Miami, and in part by Sherman Alexie’s novel. Our night watchman’s middle name is Thomas, borrowed from Alexie’s character Thomas Builds-the Fire. His last name, Page is synonymous with messenger.
The website is structured around our night watchman’s journal of his first week on the job, thus there are five distinct pages – one for each day of the week. In retrospect, our title “Night at the BBM” is slightly confusing because we document five nights. I would love to say that we intentionally used “Night” to mean “night time”, but in truth it was just a working name. After I told Josh Wilson that I was ready to change the working title to our final title, he pointed out that we would need to reconstruct the entire site to do so. As I pointed out earlier in this posting, I’m finished with the business of deconstruction and reconstruction.
With six days to go until deadline, I think we’re at least seventy-five percent of the way finished. We have five pages (days) of content ranging from the night watchman’s interaction with John (Manifest Destiny) O’Sullivan and Frederick (Freddy Frontier) Jackson Turner, to his interaction with (We Can Dance if We Want To) Sitting Bull. I’m not sure which is worse at this point: Nicknames for these historically significant men, or the Men without Hats reference. Either way, it’s a sign to end this blog post, and possibly seek professional help.
Josh and I started working independently for a week conducting research, and composing our thoughts. I was armed with a stack of books from the Hamilton campus library (I’m bringing them back, I swear. Stop the emails Rentschler) on early influences that shaped our perceptions. I learned about spaghetti westerns and films from Sergio Leone. I read scholarly quotes about the improper portrayal in books and western film that the cowboy was singularly white. I even had a cool web page name picked out: "White Men Can Jump, and Black Men Can Lasso".
But it was all for naught. Dr. K. warned us that we should be keeping a fairly narrow focus based on the time constraints of the project. Josh and I thought we knew better. We were bursting with enlightenment, and intended to prove it. However, the only thing we ended up deconstructing, was our website. We were less than two weeks away from deadline and we hadn’t even reached Buddha’s belly button.
So, where are we now? We’re expanding on an idea that was part of our Team Presentation. During our presentation, we put on a short skit based on the movie starring Ben Stiller titled “Night at the Museum”. Being the clever guys we are, we inserted “Buffalo Bill” in between “the” and “Museum”. In the real movie, historical figures, including President Theodore Roosevelt, come to life at night and interact with the night watchman played by Stiller. In the movie, the viewer doesn’t really learn much about the characters’ roles in history. With our website, we hope to provide a fun, but teaching opportunity.
The story within the site is that of a homeland security student who takes a job as a night watchman at the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody, Wyoming. His name, Joshua Thomas Page, was inspired in part by reality – my partner, Josh Wilson is a homeland security major at Miami, and in part by Sherman Alexie’s novel. Our night watchman’s middle name is Thomas, borrowed from Alexie’s character Thomas Builds-the Fire. His last name, Page is synonymous with messenger.
The website is structured around our night watchman’s journal of his first week on the job, thus there are five distinct pages – one for each day of the week. In retrospect, our title “Night at the BBM” is slightly confusing because we document five nights. I would love to say that we intentionally used “Night” to mean “night time”, but in truth it was just a working name. After I told Josh Wilson that I was ready to change the working title to our final title, he pointed out that we would need to reconstruct the entire site to do so. As I pointed out earlier in this posting, I’m finished with the business of deconstruction and reconstruction.
With six days to go until deadline, I think we’re at least seventy-five percent of the way finished. We have five pages (days) of content ranging from the night watchman’s interaction with John (Manifest Destiny) O’Sullivan and Frederick (Freddy Frontier) Jackson Turner, to his interaction with (We Can Dance if We Want To) Sitting Bull. I’m not sure which is worse at this point: Nicknames for these historically significant men, or the Men without Hats reference. Either way, it’s a sign to end this blog post, and possibly seek professional help.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
GUILTY AS CHARGED
A week or so before the start of fall trimester, I picked up a copy of The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven. Admittedly, I asked one of the book store helpers to confirm that it was indeed on the list for the class, AMS 205. After receiving confirmation, I needed additional reassurance that the price listed on the used copy I had in hand was correct. Confirmation again received. On the jacket cover, I saw a salmon soaring across a basketball hoop. I like salmon and I like basketball, but could this really be collegey material? My Mom’s been gone for over a year now, and I’ve been an adult for 25, but I swear I heard her reprimanding me for judging a book by its cover. Unfortunately, the book store employee thought I was rolling my eyes at him.
I became a fan of Sherman Alexie’s two pages into his novel’s introduction. On page xii of the intro, I laughed out loud at the line “….so I chose the third most lucrative pursuit: small-press poetry.” I had just started reading the book and was already making mental snow angels (a reference to page xviii). Acknowledging that our weekly blogging assignments need to be a little more thought provoking than “I dig his style”, I’ll get back to business. My previous blog posts have been a mixture of reading assignment summarizations, personal interpretations, and research notes. This week, I was compelled to do something a little different. Other than The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, my only other reading source was excerpts from Children of the Sun by David Wynecoop available at http://www.wellpinit.wednet.edu/sal-cos/cos_ch03.php. All of the short stories in Alexie’s novel influenced this blog post, but “A Train is an Order of Occurrence Designed to Lead to Some Result” caused the first key strokes on my Dell computer. I don’t know if it was right for me to include Thomas’ Story in completion of my blog. I feel a little like a virtual trespasser, and even whiter than I did the night I saw the 10:00 PM showing of “Boyz in the Hood”. But I’m hopelessly hopeful. And this spot belongs to me.
***
I make my living as a hotel maid. Every morning, I leave my tipi and wipe each room clean of dirt and waste. But the hotel owner keeps taking money from the drug dealers and prostitutes, not understanding that its warmth lasts no longer than a sip of whiskey, and inflicts equal the damage. “Why are you here, sister?” I asked the young Spokane women walking down the stairs. “I used to watch you jump so high that I knew you had enough medicine to soar above and beyond the reservation. Why did you never take flight?” I say to her, “Colonel Wright’s guilt is evident, but we are on trial.” I ask my tribesmen to drive past the hotel and join me by the fire. On this night, I will be your customer, but make one request: Dance with me. Dance with me. But only my own old, tired face can be seen in the flickering light. Not enough to awaken our ancestors. Not one buffalo stirs.
Some man-made things break down quickly. Once discarded, disappearing with the first heavy rain. Once the soul leaves flesh and blood of God’s creation, there is at least some physical proof left behind, signaling that life was once here. But what remnants can be found from broken spirit, or cultural decay? Where lay the death markers of our pride? We shield our bodies from the bone chilling winds that carry them. We close our eyes to what has become, so that we cannot see what once was. So, what to become of those full of wind and light? I, too, surrender to the west-bound train.
I’m at a great, long table. We are feasting. I recognize some of the faces, but can’t hold onto a single thought long enough to grasp a name or a place. My mouth is full of fresh meat. My stomach is full. I’m warm and dry, yet I am crying. Not from sadness or pain. I have forgotten how to speak to the people around me. Only tears. A man looks at me and laughs. The eldest woman brings more fry bread to the table and turns a reprimanding eye to the laughing man. “Leave him alone Wovoka”, she says. “He’s only just arrived.” The man named Wovoka stops laughing. Not suddenly, more like the ocean’s tide slowly pulling back from the beach before rejoining the rest of the water. He puts a hand on me and says, “Look at that distant light.” I strain my eyes but can’t quite determine what I’m looking at. Words now form in my throat. Is it a fire, I ask? “No, but one day it will be. That light you see is Thomas, your grandson. Listen to what he is saying to the gathering crowd.”
The Uprising, Thomas’ Story
The train derailment was the most exciting event in the boys’ young lives. There were men in suits, shaking their heads. “Craziest damn thing I’ve ever seen,” one of them said. “I didn’t think there were any wild herds left in these parts.” White police moved the reservation police forty yards from the scene of the accident. The reservation police moved the boys forty yards further.
“How did this happen?” one of the boys asked. Thomas pushed himself into the center of the circle and spoke. “I know what happened. I saw it all from my bed last night. My grandfather stood here, singing an ancient song, but I couldn’t understand the language. The ground started to tremble, and then shake. Large bones rose from crevices in the ground and started to take shape. Ribs attached themselves to other ribs. Legs joined shoulder and hip. They were horses…lots of them. My grandfather continued to sing, and the horses snorted and bucked. I could see their muscles twitching, and I thought that soon they would leave in a cloud of dust. Instead, they blew short bursts of smoke through their nostrils, and moved with purpose. The largest of the heard nudged my grandfather, who quickly took mount. He sat tall and proud at the front of the line with hand held high in the air. To the east of them was a small light that grew larger as it moved west. A soft roar became audible that grew louder with each passing second. When my grandfather’s hand dropped to his side, his horse reared back on his hind legs, and then leapt forward. All eight hundred and one of them charged in unison, towards the light. “
Thomas opened his eyes to see if anyone was still listening. The small boys stood there, mouths open, shivering with excitement. The older boys listened too, but tried to look disinterested. The smallest of the boys finally spoke. “Tell us another story, Thomas.” As Thomas closed his eyes again, one of the older boys said “You’re drunk, Thomas.” Another said “No, you’re just full of buffalo manure.” But they stayed. They all stayed.
I became a fan of Sherman Alexie’s two pages into his novel’s introduction. On page xii of the intro, I laughed out loud at the line “….so I chose the third most lucrative pursuit: small-press poetry.” I had just started reading the book and was already making mental snow angels (a reference to page xviii). Acknowledging that our weekly blogging assignments need to be a little more thought provoking than “I dig his style”, I’ll get back to business. My previous blog posts have been a mixture of reading assignment summarizations, personal interpretations, and research notes. This week, I was compelled to do something a little different. Other than The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, my only other reading source was excerpts from Children of the Sun by David Wynecoop available at http://www.wellpinit.wednet.edu/sal-cos/cos_ch03.php. All of the short stories in Alexie’s novel influenced this blog post, but “A Train is an Order of Occurrence Designed to Lead to Some Result” caused the first key strokes on my Dell computer. I don’t know if it was right for me to include Thomas’ Story in completion of my blog. I feel a little like a virtual trespasser, and even whiter than I did the night I saw the 10:00 PM showing of “Boyz in the Hood”. But I’m hopelessly hopeful. And this spot belongs to me.
***
I make my living as a hotel maid. Every morning, I leave my tipi and wipe each room clean of dirt and waste. But the hotel owner keeps taking money from the drug dealers and prostitutes, not understanding that its warmth lasts no longer than a sip of whiskey, and inflicts equal the damage. “Why are you here, sister?” I asked the young Spokane women walking down the stairs. “I used to watch you jump so high that I knew you had enough medicine to soar above and beyond the reservation. Why did you never take flight?” I say to her, “Colonel Wright’s guilt is evident, but we are on trial.” I ask my tribesmen to drive past the hotel and join me by the fire. On this night, I will be your customer, but make one request: Dance with me. Dance with me. But only my own old, tired face can be seen in the flickering light. Not enough to awaken our ancestors. Not one buffalo stirs.
Some man-made things break down quickly. Once discarded, disappearing with the first heavy rain. Once the soul leaves flesh and blood of God’s creation, there is at least some physical proof left behind, signaling that life was once here. But what remnants can be found from broken spirit, or cultural decay? Where lay the death markers of our pride? We shield our bodies from the bone chilling winds that carry them. We close our eyes to what has become, so that we cannot see what once was. So, what to become of those full of wind and light? I, too, surrender to the west-bound train.
I’m at a great, long table. We are feasting. I recognize some of the faces, but can’t hold onto a single thought long enough to grasp a name or a place. My mouth is full of fresh meat. My stomach is full. I’m warm and dry, yet I am crying. Not from sadness or pain. I have forgotten how to speak to the people around me. Only tears. A man looks at me and laughs. The eldest woman brings more fry bread to the table and turns a reprimanding eye to the laughing man. “Leave him alone Wovoka”, she says. “He’s only just arrived.” The man named Wovoka stops laughing. Not suddenly, more like the ocean’s tide slowly pulling back from the beach before rejoining the rest of the water. He puts a hand on me and says, “Look at that distant light.” I strain my eyes but can’t quite determine what I’m looking at. Words now form in my throat. Is it a fire, I ask? “No, but one day it will be. That light you see is Thomas, your grandson. Listen to what he is saying to the gathering crowd.”
The Uprising, Thomas’ Story
The train derailment was the most exciting event in the boys’ young lives. There were men in suits, shaking their heads. “Craziest damn thing I’ve ever seen,” one of them said. “I didn’t think there were any wild herds left in these parts.” White police moved the reservation police forty yards from the scene of the accident. The reservation police moved the boys forty yards further.
“How did this happen?” one of the boys asked. Thomas pushed himself into the center of the circle and spoke. “I know what happened. I saw it all from my bed last night. My grandfather stood here, singing an ancient song, but I couldn’t understand the language. The ground started to tremble, and then shake. Large bones rose from crevices in the ground and started to take shape. Ribs attached themselves to other ribs. Legs joined shoulder and hip. They were horses…lots of them. My grandfather continued to sing, and the horses snorted and bucked. I could see their muscles twitching, and I thought that soon they would leave in a cloud of dust. Instead, they blew short bursts of smoke through their nostrils, and moved with purpose. The largest of the heard nudged my grandfather, who quickly took mount. He sat tall and proud at the front of the line with hand held high in the air. To the east of them was a small light that grew larger as it moved west. A soft roar became audible that grew louder with each passing second. When my grandfather’s hand dropped to his side, his horse reared back on his hind legs, and then leapt forward. All eight hundred and one of them charged in unison, towards the light. “
Thomas opened his eyes to see if anyone was still listening. The small boys stood there, mouths open, shivering with excitement. The older boys listened too, but tried to look disinterested. The smallest of the boys finally spoke. “Tell us another story, Thomas.” As Thomas closed his eyes again, one of the older boys said “You’re drunk, Thomas.” Another said “No, you’re just full of buffalo manure.” But they stayed. They all stayed.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
That’s Entertainment
Gilda Radner’s Emily Litella editorial.
Timing is everything. In his article titled “What Would Jack Bauer Do?” Michael Brendan Dougherty points out that the first season of television show 24 debuted shortly after the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001. The producers of the show couldn’t have asked for a better advertisement than the one delivered on the night of September 11 by President Bush. I happen to think that his 9/11 speech, followed by his 9/20 presidential address in front of Congress and the American people, were President Bush’s finest moments in his 8-year presidency. (To read the transcript, please visit http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/09/20/gen.bush.transcript/) He told the nation what it needed to hear. His messages were strong, calm, and comforting. He took great pains to point out that we are not at war with a religion, race, or nationality: “The enemy of America is not our many Muslim friends. It is not our many Arab friends. Our enemy is a radical network of terrorists and every government that supports them.” Our president then attempted to rally united support from the world community: “This is not, however, just America’s fight. This is civilization’s fight. This is the fight of all who believe in progress and pluralism, tolerance and freedom.” Our president in both venues was Gary Cooper in High Noon. Unfortunately, we didn’t receive much more support than did Cooper’s High Noon character, Will Cain.
In the words of the legendary rock band The Who “How many friends do I really have?” “Not many” was the unfortunate answer. How ironic is this? Our best, most loyal friend in the world community is Great Britain. They sent us to colonize America, and we basically kicked them off our lawn at gun point. Ever since, as my 16-year old daughter would say, we’ve been “besties.” Go figure!
Back to President Bush…
He truly rose to the occasion. But, there was also specific language that served as foreshadowing for not only our acceptance for vicarious retribution through the hit television show 24, but also for the events that followed at Abu Ghraib prison. On 9/11, President Bush assured us that we would take “every precaution to protect our citizens from further attacks.” For the first time, we were at war not with another country, but rather an organization. We were ready for a fight, but unsure who it was exactly we were fighting. Our President initially gave us an abstract answer. We were fighting evil; evil doers who hate our freedoms.
During his 9/20 address, President Bush told us, “Our grief has turned to anger to resolution. Whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done.” We were then given something a little more concrete and learned about the terrorist organization, al Qaeda. We learned about the Taliban, ready to imprison or kill all those that went against the perceived will of their God. The show 24 has lasted 8 seasons, but the Talibans of the world have lasted millennia. We still needed more. Everything was still a little abstract for us. Then we got what we thirsted for: A name, a face… Osama bin Laden. Let’s get him! This is where I personally became disappointed with our leadership. When our president, my president, assured us that we would find bin Laden and bring him to justice, he went from Gary Cooper to Gary Busey. That is to say, a little hard to understand. I don’t mean to be disrespectful. President Bush needs to be credited with making sure that we didn’t adopt a lynch mob mentality following the events of 9/11. I’ve voted for more Republicans than Democrats. I bought the “weapons of mass destruction” hysteria hook, line, and sinker. But we were told to be patient, and then given a goal that set us up for failure. Our nation needed a win. We can’t bring bin Laden to justice, so we’ll just have to settle for a little payback Jack Bauer style. Bauer is just the right cowboy for the job. The following quote was written as part of a study of Western film, but is certainly applicable to Bauer's character in 24.
“One major focus of the Western….is on the justification of acts of violent aggression. In other words, one of the major organizing principles of the Western is to so characterize the villains that the hero is both intellectually and emotionally justified in destroying them.”
"Ten Gallon Hero" by David Brion Davis
Television is a business. If a show gives us more violence than we want, we’ll simply change the channel. If enough people turn the channel, the show will be replaced with a sitcom. The sitcom will undoubtedly contain language and images too sexually graphic in nature. Eventually, it will be replaced by either another cop show or lawyer show. I think there are only 4 or 5 hospital shows right now. There must be room for another. If the gratuitous violence in 24 turns your stomach, you may want to skip the film, “Reservoir Dogs.” You may also want to skip a few pages of the Bible. The point is, the show 24 hit a nice juicy fastball delivered right over the heart of the plate. If they swung a season earlier, or a couple of seasons later, it probably wouldn’t have reached its current level of success. I enjoyed the first season of 24 immensely. I ate it up with a spoon. It was fast paced, well written, and superbly acted. I sort of enjoyed the next couple of seasons, but felt like I was watching slightly edited versions of the first season. Watching a fourth would have been…..well, torture.
Timing is everything. In his article titled “What Would Jack Bauer Do?” Michael Brendan Dougherty points out that the first season of television show 24 debuted shortly after the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001. The producers of the show couldn’t have asked for a better advertisement than the one delivered on the night of September 11 by President Bush. I happen to think that his 9/11 speech, followed by his 9/20 presidential address in front of Congress and the American people, were President Bush’s finest moments in his 8-year presidency. (To read the transcript, please visit http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/09/20/gen.bush.transcript/) He told the nation what it needed to hear. His messages were strong, calm, and comforting. He took great pains to point out that we are not at war with a religion, race, or nationality: “The enemy of America is not our many Muslim friends. It is not our many Arab friends. Our enemy is a radical network of terrorists and every government that supports them.” Our president then attempted to rally united support from the world community: “This is not, however, just America’s fight. This is civilization’s fight. This is the fight of all who believe in progress and pluralism, tolerance and freedom.” Our president in both venues was Gary Cooper in High Noon. Unfortunately, we didn’t receive much more support than did Cooper’s High Noon character, Will Cain.
In the words of the legendary rock band The Who “How many friends do I really have?” “Not many” was the unfortunate answer. How ironic is this? Our best, most loyal friend in the world community is Great Britain. They sent us to colonize America, and we basically kicked them off our lawn at gun point. Ever since, as my 16-year old daughter would say, we’ve been “besties.” Go figure!
Back to President Bush…
He truly rose to the occasion. But, there was also specific language that served as foreshadowing for not only our acceptance for vicarious retribution through the hit television show 24, but also for the events that followed at Abu Ghraib prison. On 9/11, President Bush assured us that we would take “every precaution to protect our citizens from further attacks.” For the first time, we were at war not with another country, but rather an organization. We were ready for a fight, but unsure who it was exactly we were fighting. Our President initially gave us an abstract answer. We were fighting evil; evil doers who hate our freedoms.
During his 9/20 address, President Bush told us, “Our grief has turned to anger to resolution. Whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done.” We were then given something a little more concrete and learned about the terrorist organization, al Qaeda. We learned about the Taliban, ready to imprison or kill all those that went against the perceived will of their God. The show 24 has lasted 8 seasons, but the Talibans of the world have lasted millennia. We still needed more. Everything was still a little abstract for us. Then we got what we thirsted for: A name, a face… Osama bin Laden. Let’s get him! This is where I personally became disappointed with our leadership. When our president, my president, assured us that we would find bin Laden and bring him to justice, he went from Gary Cooper to Gary Busey. That is to say, a little hard to understand. I don’t mean to be disrespectful. President Bush needs to be credited with making sure that we didn’t adopt a lynch mob mentality following the events of 9/11. I’ve voted for more Republicans than Democrats. I bought the “weapons of mass destruction” hysteria hook, line, and sinker. But we were told to be patient, and then given a goal that set us up for failure. Our nation needed a win. We can’t bring bin Laden to justice, so we’ll just have to settle for a little payback Jack Bauer style. Bauer is just the right cowboy for the job. The following quote was written as part of a study of Western film, but is certainly applicable to Bauer's character in 24.
“One major focus of the Western….is on the justification of acts of violent aggression. In other words, one of the major organizing principles of the Western is to so characterize the villains that the hero is both intellectually and emotionally justified in destroying them.”
"Ten Gallon Hero" by David Brion Davis
Television is a business. If a show gives us more violence than we want, we’ll simply change the channel. If enough people turn the channel, the show will be replaced with a sitcom. The sitcom will undoubtedly contain language and images too sexually graphic in nature. Eventually, it will be replaced by either another cop show or lawyer show. I think there are only 4 or 5 hospital shows right now. There must be room for another. If the gratuitous violence in 24 turns your stomach, you may want to skip the film, “Reservoir Dogs.” You may also want to skip a few pages of the Bible. The point is, the show 24 hit a nice juicy fastball delivered right over the heart of the plate. If they swung a season earlier, or a couple of seasons later, it probably wouldn’t have reached its current level of success. I enjoyed the first season of 24 immensely. I ate it up with a spoon. It was fast paced, well written, and superbly acted. I sort of enjoyed the next couple of seasons, but felt like I was watching slightly edited versions of the first season. Watching a fourth would have been…..well, torture.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Quote:
"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it."
Mary Flannery O'Connor
US Author (1925-1964)
Mary Flannery O'Connor
US Author (1925-1964)
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Quote:
"I look out at it and I think it is the most beautiful history in the world... It is the history of all aspiration not just the American dream but the human dream and if I came at the end of it that too is a place in the line of the pioneers."
- The Notebooks of F. Scott Fitzgerald, ed. Matthew J. Bruccoli. New York and London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich/Bruccoli Clark, 1978. p. 332.
- The Notebooks of F. Scott Fitzgerald, ed. Matthew J. Bruccoli. New York and London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich/Bruccoli Clark, 1978. p. 332.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
NOW I'M NOT SAYING SHE'S A GOLD DIGGER...
Nick Carroway, narrator and character in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, comes back from the war and moves to New York to learn the bond business. Everyone he knew was making money selling bonds, so in the spring of 1922; Carroway heads out to get his piece of the pie. Post war America was marked by a period of consumption to the point of excess. The first time I read this novel, (1982, I think) the fact that the period of overconsumption and greed lead to the Great Depression was lost on me. Remembering The Great Gatsby was an uncomfortable read the first time around, and realizing that I’ve added a matured perspective since my high school days, I realized I was in for an unpleasant return visit to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s story.
Anyone else having trouble blogging about an entire novel without writing a blog longer than the original novel?
Back to the novel. After some life experience of his own, Carroway decides that his home in the “Middle West now seemed like the ragged edge of the universe”. Early in the novel (page 5) we learn that he decides against renting an apartment in the city – the practical thing to do, and ends up by chance living on Long Island Sound, which is composed of two oval land masses, called East Egg and West Egg. East Egg is inhabited by old money, meaning families that have been wealthy for multiple generations. West Egg is inhabited by new money. Carroway rents a small house on West Egg, and again by chance, becomes a neighbor of the Great Gatsby’s. Carroway sees Gatsby for the first time on page 20, and delivers one of my favorite lines in the novel. “Something in his leisurely movements and the secure position of his feet upon the lawn suggested that it was Mr. Gatsby himself, come out to determine what share of his of our local heavens”. Later in the novel, we learn that there is nothing leisurely or secure about Jay Gatsby. Much like Bill Cody transformed himself into Buffalo Bill, James Gatz transforms himself into The Great Gatsby. Bill Cody’s model was Wild Bill Hickok, and his inspiration was fame. James Gatz’ model (page 98) was Dan Cody. His inspiration: to reclaim a lost love. Gatz met Cody whose yacht was anchored on Lake Superior. It can’t be coincidental that Fitzgerald uses the name Cody here. Dan Cody is a hard drinking guy endlessly adrift. Carraway remembers that when he was in Gatsby’s library, he saw a picture of Gatsby with Cody on Cody’s yacht. Carraway describes Cody in the picture as “a gray, florid man with a hard, empty face- a pioneer debauchee, who during one phase of American life brought back to the Eastern seaboard the savage violence of the frontier brothel and saloon.” This must be Fitzgerald’s description of Bill Cody’s own gift to the east via Buffalo Bill’s Wild West.On page 23, we’re introduced to another important piece of geography. Half way between West Egg and New York, a “desolate area of land” known as the “valley of ashes” exists. It’s described as dark and crumbling. I thought about this area of land as already being consumed by the fire, knowing that the flames would eventually touch everyone.
East Eggers – rich, fabulous, and seemingly untouchable, are represented by Carraway’s cousin, Daisy, and her husband Tom Buchanan. Daisy had promised herself to a young Jay Gatsby before the war, but decided to marry a sure bet, the wealthy Tom Buchanan. Now I’m not saying she’s a gold digger, but she aint messin’ with no west, no west egger. The man she marries, Tom is a wonderful fellow – if you like a good bully, racist, and elitist. Tom pulls his mistress, Myrtle out of the valley of ashes, puts her in a clean dress, and places her in a city apartment. At this apartment, Myrtle and her sister pretend to be something they are not. They feel to be somehow above who they really are. Fitzgerald, thru Nick Carraway’s eyes deeply explores the idea of social status. East Eggers look down their noses at the newly made West Eggers. While reading Gatsby, I was reminded of the character, the Unsinkable Molly Brown from the movie, The Titanic. Even though she had a ton of money, the “old money” passengers viewed her as crude and beneath them. It’s ironic that the motionless act of inheritance was held in higher regard than the arduous actions of the self-made man. (Only slightly borrowed from Dr. K’s site!)
Carroway doesn’t speak directly to Gatsby until page 47 of the novel, when he’s invited to his party. In the pages to follow, Gatsby is portrayed as a sort of producer of a play. He put the party together, but doesn’t necessarily participate in it. On page 61, it’s casually suggested by a guest of another Gatsby party that the source of his money was bootlegging. On page 65, Gatsby picks up Carraway for lunch and proceeds to tell him that he’s from a wealthy family from the Middle West and was educated at Oxford. Carraway, being a Middle Westerner himself, asks Gatsby specifically where in the Middle West he was from. When Gatsby responds, “San Francisco” we learn that Gatsby is indeed lying about his past, and probably isn’t educated at all. A little later in the novel, Jordan Baker reveals to Carraway that Gatsby had been in love with Daisy before he went off to war. She also tells him that Gatsby wants Carraway to arrange a meeting with Gatsby and Daisy at Carraway’s house. We now have the revelation that Gatsby builds his mansion and throws lavish parties in order to attract Daisy like a moth to a flame. Fitzgerald uses a great metaphor for this. At the bottom of page 92, and top of 93, Daisy tells Gatsby that she notices the green light that always burns at the end of his dock. She can see it from across the bay at night. I may be wrong, but I think Fitzgerald uses a green flame, suggesting the best bait to catch Daisy’s eye is the color of money.
Just like in the movie High Noon (recently viewed in class), the action in Gatsby picks up in the heat of a summer day. Gatsby, Carraway, Tom & Daisy Buchanan spend an afternoon in New York. There, Gatsby publicly confesses his love for Daisy, and tells Tom Buchanan that Daisy has always loved him, not Tom. On the way back to Long Island, Daisy, behind the wheel of Gatsby’s car, accidently strikes and kills Tom’s mistress, Myrtle Wilson. Ironically, Myrtle’s husband planned to get her out of New York within a couple of days because he suspected that she was having an affair. Earlier in the novel, when we learn about the valley of ashes, there’s mention of a billboard which portrays an eye doctor peering down over the crumbling scenery. As Mr. Wilson agonizes over the sudden, brutal death of his wife, he replays a conversation he shared with her when confronting her about her marital indiscretion. At the bottom of page 159: “God knows what you’ve been doing, everything you’ve been doing. You may fool me, but you can’t fool God!” Mr. Wilson connects the billboard with the eyes of God, peering down in judgment. Wilson, deciding that the man who owned the yellow car that killed his wife (Gatsby), must have been the same man she was having an affair with. He figured that Gatsby hit her intentionally as a way to dispatch of her. Wilson passes some judgment of his own, and shoots Gatsby dead while in the swimming pool. Wilson’s dead body is found close the pool and we’re left to assume that he kills Gatsby and then turns the gun on himself.
Although Gatsby’s house was constantly filled with party goers, Carraway can’t find anyone to attend his funeral. Nobody in New York knew James Gatz, the man that was buried, and Jay Gatsby was only a character played by Gatz. In the PBS film on Bill Cody, we learned that later in life, he left the comfort and illusion of the Buffalo Bill character to spend time and sleep with the Indians he employed. There, he could just be Bill Cody. But Jay Gatsby could never be James Gatz again. Daisy would have never left Tom Buchanan for James Gatz. I can’t help wondering what would have happened if Gatsby had lived, and successfully won back Daisy. Would Daisy’s old money ties finally make the character of Jay Gatsby real and credible? Would they have seen their kids grow up to be senators, even President? Sorry…. I couldn’t resist!
Earlier in this blog, I made mention that East Eggers were seemingly untouchable. In the face of tragedy – the deaths of Gatsby, Daisy’s old love, and Myrtle, Tom’s mistress, and Myrtle’s husband, the Buchanan’s are seemingly unaffected. Although Carraway is disgusted with what the Buchanan’s represent, he suggests at the novel’s close, that we will continue reaching for the elusive green light at the end of the dock, not knowing that we’re reaching for nothing more than an illusion.
Nick Carraway, considers himself non judgmental, and completely honest. Throughout the novel, I couldn’t help but be bothered by his sense of moral superiority. After all, he describes the Midwest as the “ragged end of the universe”. He must have felt that New York was much more fitting for a refined intellectual. At novel’s end, he returns to the Midwest, single & disillusioned, with the remainder of his youth buried beneath the valley of ashes. I think I’m ready to read something a little less depressing, Sophie’s Choice perhaps.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
DECONSTRUCTING THE MATRIX
An Interactive Game of Chosen Reality
Welcome! This website contains two distinctly different experiences. Your experience is dependent upon your chosen path of navigation. To launch the experience that’s right for you, simply click on either the blue or red page below. Before proceeding, please take a moment to read the overview for each navigational direction.
Blue Page
Howdy Partners!
Long ago, the American pioneer, with the spirit of wild stallions, broke free of European influence and conquered a vast land. From sea to shining sea, guided by the hand of God, we hacked out an existence from wilderness and savagery. From the womb of these heroic labors, we bore civilization. Out of this, our great conquest, we formed more than the land that represents the United States. We also gave birth to the great, American spirit. Our work was completed when we reached the Pacific, marking the end of the American Frontier. Along this path, we evolved into rugged, independent-minded, freedom-loving people. We claimed the land and its riches. The laws that we formed, and the characteristics that became uniquely American, undoubtedly formed the powerful skeletal framework of our nation. Sure, we probably could have treated the Indians a little better, but when threatened, protected our women and children at all costs. And, yes, plenty of Hispanics occupied land that we eventually claimed as ours – creating geographical & cultural barriers between families- but we gave them a darn good reason to learn the English language.
That was a long time ago. We need to draw a line in the sand between past and present; one that stretches even farther than the border protecting the southwestern corner of our country. Today, and each day hereafter, the most important thing we can do is remember our proud past, and celebrate the rugged pioneer and the little Cowboy or Cowgirl in all of us. Join us as we salute Buffalo Bill, one of the great heroes of the American Frontier. CLICK HERE
Red Page
Long ago, we broke free of European govern and cultural influence. As we consumed vast portions of the North American Continent, the American legacy was built. The land that we settled, and the laws that we wrote, still stand as the skeletal framework of our nation. While consuming vast expanses of land, we also consumed media fed images glamorizing our conquest of earth, beast, and all non-Anglos. In that process, significant events evaporated from our historical recount, and thus, the myth of the American Frontier was born. We have chosen to use the myth to cover a still open wound on the American soul. Missing from popular history is the destruction of both indigenous life and culture that long predated the Anglo American invasion. Over time, the myth of the American Frontier intertwined with both body and soul, providing us with a simulated reality of our nation’s westward expansion, forming The Matrix.
The intent of the Red Page section of our website is to remove the deceptive comfort of our simulated reality. By studying and owning all of our actions, past and present, along the many frontiers that served as battle lines while the United States was formed, we can deconstruct the matrix, allowing for the continued healing of our nation’s soul. What we constructed during westward expansion is strong but not without fault lines. It’s beautiful, but not without flaws.
Feeling a little uncomfortable? Here’s the good news: The frontier is never really complete. The American character continues to grow. But to reach full maturity, which may be our true Manifest Destiny, we must first deconstruct the Matrix. To continue traveling down the red path, CLICK HERE.
Welcome! This website contains two distinctly different experiences. Your experience is dependent upon your chosen path of navigation. To launch the experience that’s right for you, simply click on either the blue or red page below. Before proceeding, please take a moment to read the overview for each navigational direction.
Blue Page
Howdy Partners!
Long ago, the American pioneer, with the spirit of wild stallions, broke free of European influence and conquered a vast land. From sea to shining sea, guided by the hand of God, we hacked out an existence from wilderness and savagery. From the womb of these heroic labors, we bore civilization. Out of this, our great conquest, we formed more than the land that represents the United States. We also gave birth to the great, American spirit. Our work was completed when we reached the Pacific, marking the end of the American Frontier. Along this path, we evolved into rugged, independent-minded, freedom-loving people. We claimed the land and its riches. The laws that we formed, and the characteristics that became uniquely American, undoubtedly formed the powerful skeletal framework of our nation. Sure, we probably could have treated the Indians a little better, but when threatened, protected our women and children at all costs. And, yes, plenty of Hispanics occupied land that we eventually claimed as ours – creating geographical & cultural barriers between families- but we gave them a darn good reason to learn the English language.
That was a long time ago. We need to draw a line in the sand between past and present; one that stretches even farther than the border protecting the southwestern corner of our country. Today, and each day hereafter, the most important thing we can do is remember our proud past, and celebrate the rugged pioneer and the little Cowboy or Cowgirl in all of us. Join us as we salute Buffalo Bill, one of the great heroes of the American Frontier. CLICK HERE
Red Page
Long ago, we broke free of European govern and cultural influence. As we consumed vast portions of the North American Continent, the American legacy was built. The land that we settled, and the laws that we wrote, still stand as the skeletal framework of our nation. While consuming vast expanses of land, we also consumed media fed images glamorizing our conquest of earth, beast, and all non-Anglos. In that process, significant events evaporated from our historical recount, and thus, the myth of the American Frontier was born. We have chosen to use the myth to cover a still open wound on the American soul. Missing from popular history is the destruction of both indigenous life and culture that long predated the Anglo American invasion. Over time, the myth of the American Frontier intertwined with both body and soul, providing us with a simulated reality of our nation’s westward expansion, forming The Matrix.
The intent of the Red Page section of our website is to remove the deceptive comfort of our simulated reality. By studying and owning all of our actions, past and present, along the many frontiers that served as battle lines while the United States was formed, we can deconstruct the matrix, allowing for the continued healing of our nation’s soul. What we constructed during westward expansion is strong but not without fault lines. It’s beautiful, but not without flaws.
Feeling a little uncomfortable? Here’s the good news: The frontier is never really complete. The American character continues to grow. But to reach full maturity, which may be our true Manifest Destiny, we must first deconstruct the Matrix. To continue traveling down the red path, CLICK HERE.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
WOULD THE REAL WILLIAM CODY PLEASE STAND UP?
Bram Stoker's Dracula (as played by Gary Oldman)
Bill Cody
My blog entry title is in reference to a televised game show that was on when I was young. In the show, three people all claimed to be a person responsible for some type of special achievement. One was really that person, and the other two would pretend to be. A panel of celebrities (B & C list as I recall) would get to ask a series of questions from each of the three contestants before guessing which one was the real McCoy. After making their choices, the host would ask the real person to please stand up and reveal themselves.
In Memory & Myth at the Buffalo Bill Museum, authors Dickinson, Ott, & Aoki examine the museum, located in Cody, Wyoming, as a reflection and perpetuation of the myth of the American Frontier. They suggest that by omitting so much of the real American Frontier story from the museum, the real William Cody does not stand up. While accepting the Buffalo Bill version of Western Expansion, we as a nation fail to stand up. In sensationalizing select events from our push westward, featuring William Cody aka Buffalo Bill as the leading man, meaningful facts evaporates from our historical recount. Sadly, we were more than happy to substitute myth or partial truths over whole truths. –And why not? The Buffalo Bill version is fun. It’s certainly easier to digest. It allows us to feel good about ourselves as we relate with the admirable characteristics like ruggedness, determination, and self-sufficiency. Once we add the characteristics like “land thieves”, or “Indian & buffalo slaughterers”, it’s a little more palatable to claim self defense and go back to focusing on the good stuff. To me, the most distasteful part of it all: We justified our actions through Manifest Destiny, and portrayed ourselves as victims at the hands of savages, fighting to do God’s will.
It’s really not hard to figure out why we choose to accept the myth of the American Frontier, but how did a few historical events evolve into Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, playing to cheering crowds home & abroad? Secondly, how has the myth been perpetuated so long? Hell, most of us admire Indians now, and wish to feel a spiritual connection to the earth we inhabit.
We’ll start with how the myth was built. William Cody “had the goods” on which to build a legend. He was on the front line of western expansion. He left home in 1857 at age 11 and herded cattle in Kansas. My 12 year old son can’t even keep his room clean. Later, he was a driver on wagon trains and crossed the Great Plains several times. He became Cody The scout, Cody The Hunter (earning his name Buffalo Bill), Cody The Hunting Guide, Cody The Pony Express Rider, even Cody The Avenger (remember the drawing of Cody triumphantly holding the scalp of Yellow Hand?). Today, platinum record selling pop starts who can’t sing well, write well, or play an instrument are created through a stream of presented images. Cody, thru the help of dime store novelist Ned Buntling, and thru his own self promotion, was a star ready to rise. Through Buntling’s effort’s and Cody’s eager willingness, “more dime store novels were written about Buffalo Bill than any other western character”. Evidently, Buntling was so enthralled with Buffalo Bill that he helped create and perform in Buffalo Bill’s first theatrical show – before Buffalo Bill’s Wild West was launched. Maybe Buntling had a little “man crush” going on.
In addition to the many men Cody was throughout his life, how about this one: Cody the Vampire? I came across an interesting article titled “Did Buffalo Bill inspire Dracula” that appears in the Casper Star-Tribune online out of Casper Wyoming. www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2003/07/13/news/wyoming/7613bdfc83189dd4cb15d85ba1f0a2ff.txt
The article suggests that Bram Stoker was not as enthralled with Cody as was his English countrymen. To Stoker, “Cody…symbolized the transformative power of the frontier, the way that going west and conquering could make Americans something more free and powerful. According to Louis Warren, a professor at the University of California, “The vampire was Bram Stoker’s dark vision of the same frontier transformation, the shifting of self into other, the loss of will and restraint before a new self that was soulless, consuming, irresistible….The ghost of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West haunts this greatest work of vampire fiction.”
In 1883, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West was launched. Of great importance in the paper by Dickinson et al., “Cody never referred to his Wild West as a show”. Cody looked the part, played the part, & was a superb storyteller….A true ringmaster, much like P.T. Barnum. He had the characters and props to entertain all. Hey ladies, tired of being portrayed as a helpless victim? I give you Annie Oakley. Oakley before joining Buffalo Bill’s Wild West in 1885, the same year as Sitting Bull, travelled with the circus and teamed with fellow sharp shooter named Baughman as the “Champion rifle dead-shots of the world.
BBWW became so popular in America; the performers packed up and played in front of huge British crowds. According to the BB Museum & Grave web site, this tour was credited for improving British & American relations. Cody, now known by all as Buffalo Bill, continued capitalized on his growing fame, and a legend was born.
Cody the man, who indeed lived much of the rugged life portrayed at the museum & in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, probably would have been remembered regionally for a few generations. Buffalo Bill, the legend lives on even today, and with it, the myth of the American Frontier. The dime store novels have long since faded. It’s been a century since the last Wild West show. So how, exactly, is the myth so strongly perpetuated? According to the Dickinson et al. paper, we need to look no farther than the Buffalo Bill Museum. Are you ready for the first piece of irony? The museum was funded in part by William Robertson Coe, an Englishman. This guy really liked playing Cowboys & Indians! Dickinson et al. write “…Coe believed that Americans took their traditions for granted…He saw the Buffalo Bill Museum as a powerful site for this pedagogy (legitimate education).” The authors of the paper use the term pedagogy several times and take great pains to warn us that the Buffalo Bill Museum should not be viewed as a Mecca for those seeking an education on the American Frontier.
In closing, William Cody was many things. Was he a hero or a villain? The complicated answer to this seemingly easy question, is yes.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
American Patriot....Anzaldua?
Before analyzing the week 2 reading, Borderlands/ La Frontera, I needed to organize by mind a little by getting some background information. While researching Texans of Hispanic descent (Tejanos), I found that 1820 Texas was primarily populated by Tejanos. But in the decade that followed, American settlers moved steadily into Texas, and soon outnumbered the Tejanos 6 to 1. Both groups rebelled against the authority of Mexico City. This led to the Texas War of Independence in 1835 and 1836. After the Texian (this looks like a typo but that's what they were called) army, led by General Sam Houston defeated the Mexican army, the Republic of Texas was formed. American settlers and Tejanos now had a pretty large chunk of land to enjoy freely… for a few years anyway.
As our class learned that first Sunday over coffee and doughnuts, John O’Sullivan coined the phrase, “Manifest Destiny” 9 years after an Independent Texas was formed. O’Sullivan used the phrase as he strongly approved the recent addition of Texas into the United States. He, along with others, including newly elected President James Polk, believed our expansion should continue west, and into what was then part of Mexico. This obviously led to conflict with Mexico, and eventually, war. From the spoils of our war with Mexico, we gained significant lands on the west coast, and in the process, created new borders. These new borders not only separated countries, but in many cases, families and cultures that found themselves on separate sides of the fence.
To better understand Anzaldua’s paper (which in my estimation was fairly heady), I found and read an article written by Antonia l. Castaneda, St. Mary’s University. The full article can be accessed thru the following link: http://www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/aftermath/violence.html
If you’re short on time (who isn’t) there are a few specific lines I found to be educational. “….the war was about territory…access to the ports of the Pacific & ownership of all the wonderful minerals & riches that were in the soil.” But in Castaneda’s view, “it was also about profit for some. We have to understand that the war between the United States and Mexico was about violence, racism…. The war was about labor, acquiring or making wealth, about capitalist development and what that means. The war was about profit for some groups and in that process then there were people who were violated. The violence was not just military, but it was a violence of the soul — a violence of the spirit by those who committed that violence as well as by those who were on the receiving end. We live with the consequences of that conquest. We all live with the impact and the effects of the acquisition of that land, the displacement of the people on it, the appropriation of their labor at less than livable wages. In fact, in a sense, we continue to fight the war over and over and over. “
In the future, I’ll try not to include so many quoted lines in my paper, but I think it’s a very descriptive and easily understood narrative into the mindset of Hispanics that were called different things (from Mexican to Tejano to Mexican American, or just American) as we pushed the American border further west. This undoubtedly all plays an important role in forming the very complex psyche of Chicano poet Gloria Anzaldua. After my first read thru the article, I thought about the fact that it’s still a struggle for all the different ethnicities and cultures to coexist in our country. We undoubtedly grow more tolerant, even appreciative of our diversity. But at the end of the day, many of us enjoy the comfort of returning to our White,Black, Asian etc. neighborhood.
As a class, we’re studying the concepts of borders as they relate to western expansion and the formation of today’s America. Anzaldua writes of her struggles with “psychological borders”. She speaks of the difficulties facing La mestiza including undergoing “a struggle of flesh, a struggle of borders, an inner war.” But the real message to me is strong, heroic even. She believes her role, “the work of mestiza consciousness” is not to choose sides of the border, physically, culturally, or even frame of mind. Instead, she states that the work of the mestiza is to transcend these inward borders and struggles and through this process, become the newly evolved American that serves as the seed to end racial and gender strife. Going back to the article by Castaneda, the US Mexican war was not just physically violent, but as importantly, spiritually violent. Anzaldua concludes that the mestiza, while reconciling her own past, will form a new strong spirit that will not only serve to be self healing, it may be uniquely capable of healing our nation.
While Anzaldua wrote of psychological borders, our other week 2 reading, Magical Urbanism, Latinos Reinvent the US City by Mike Davis, primarily focuses on the physical transformation of America’s largest cities and counties as Latinos continue to populate them in great numbers. The photo used on the first page of the article was quite the eye catcher. At first glance, I realized that the woman of Hispanic descent represented by the huge, completely nude structure was obviously not Brazilian…but I digress.
Even though the Davis article is now several years old, admittedly, I had no idea that the population growth of Hispanic/Latino Americans had been so substantial. The one statistic in the article that was stunning: US Latinos will account for the third largest Latino population in the world, behind only Brazil and Mexico. Based on the continued movement of new Latinos migrating to the U.S., paired with the statistic mentioned by Davis regarding Mexican women’s greater fertility rate, it’s very possible that U.S. Latinos will surpass Mexico by 2050 or shortly thereafter. As Whites have in many cities around the country, moved to the suburbs, Latinos are populating the same major cities. As the dominant portion of populous cities, Latinos will have the opportunity to steer social, cultural, and economic influence. Has America become the new Latino frontier? A strong tie-in with some of the points made by our other article written by Anzaldua, was Turner’s inclusion of a quote from Brazilian futurist Alfredo Valladao. He “sees the new Spanish-language ‘beechheads” in US Cities as research laboratories for the cross-fertilization of North & South American cultures”….resulting in “a Pan’American twenty-first century.”
While many Mexican Americans – some recently, some for generations, enjoy their relationship with today’s American, the Mexico they left behind has not benefited from the same relationship. As Turner points out “Mexico adds 1 million more new workers each year than it can actually employ in its formal economy.” The jobs made available by U.S. companies (maquiladora) operating low wage factories on the Mexican side, has certainly inflated profits for those companies, but has done very little to provide incentive to keep the Mexican worker from seeking better opportunity on the north side of the border. Which brings us to the most important point made by Davis: We need Mexican labor in the U.S., and U.S. companies want access to the work force residing in Mexico. Do we really need armed guards at this intersection of supply and demand? During our period of western expansion, we formed laws, and developed culture to benefit the Anglo American. As Mexicans and others of Hispanic decent continue to position themselves to shape future policy, my guess is that the U.S./Mexican border will one day go the way of the Berlin wall.
As our class learned that first Sunday over coffee and doughnuts, John O’Sullivan coined the phrase, “Manifest Destiny” 9 years after an Independent Texas was formed. O’Sullivan used the phrase as he strongly approved the recent addition of Texas into the United States. He, along with others, including newly elected President James Polk, believed our expansion should continue west, and into what was then part of Mexico. This obviously led to conflict with Mexico, and eventually, war. From the spoils of our war with Mexico, we gained significant lands on the west coast, and in the process, created new borders. These new borders not only separated countries, but in many cases, families and cultures that found themselves on separate sides of the fence.
To better understand Anzaldua’s paper (which in my estimation was fairly heady), I found and read an article written by Antonia l. Castaneda, St. Mary’s University. The full article can be accessed thru the following link: http://www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/aftermath/violence.html
If you’re short on time (who isn’t) there are a few specific lines I found to be educational. “….the war was about territory…access to the ports of the Pacific & ownership of all the wonderful minerals & riches that were in the soil.” But in Castaneda’s view, “it was also about profit for some. We have to understand that the war between the United States and Mexico was about violence, racism…. The war was about labor, acquiring or making wealth, about capitalist development and what that means. The war was about profit for some groups and in that process then there were people who were violated. The violence was not just military, but it was a violence of the soul — a violence of the spirit by those who committed that violence as well as by those who were on the receiving end. We live with the consequences of that conquest. We all live with the impact and the effects of the acquisition of that land, the displacement of the people on it, the appropriation of their labor at less than livable wages. In fact, in a sense, we continue to fight the war over and over and over. “
In the future, I’ll try not to include so many quoted lines in my paper, but I think it’s a very descriptive and easily understood narrative into the mindset of Hispanics that were called different things (from Mexican to Tejano to Mexican American, or just American) as we pushed the American border further west. This undoubtedly all plays an important role in forming the very complex psyche of Chicano poet Gloria Anzaldua. After my first read thru the article, I thought about the fact that it’s still a struggle for all the different ethnicities and cultures to coexist in our country. We undoubtedly grow more tolerant, even appreciative of our diversity. But at the end of the day, many of us enjoy the comfort of returning to our White,Black, Asian etc. neighborhood.
As a class, we’re studying the concepts of borders as they relate to western expansion and the formation of today’s America. Anzaldua writes of her struggles with “psychological borders”. She speaks of the difficulties facing La mestiza including undergoing “a struggle of flesh, a struggle of borders, an inner war.” But the real message to me is strong, heroic even. She believes her role, “the work of mestiza consciousness” is not to choose sides of the border, physically, culturally, or even frame of mind. Instead, she states that the work of the mestiza is to transcend these inward borders and struggles and through this process, become the newly evolved American that serves as the seed to end racial and gender strife. Going back to the article by Castaneda, the US Mexican war was not just physically violent, but as importantly, spiritually violent. Anzaldua concludes that the mestiza, while reconciling her own past, will form a new strong spirit that will not only serve to be self healing, it may be uniquely capable of healing our nation.
While Anzaldua wrote of psychological borders, our other week 2 reading, Magical Urbanism, Latinos Reinvent the US City by Mike Davis, primarily focuses on the physical transformation of America’s largest cities and counties as Latinos continue to populate them in great numbers. The photo used on the first page of the article was quite the eye catcher. At first glance, I realized that the woman of Hispanic descent represented by the huge, completely nude structure was obviously not Brazilian…but I digress.
Even though the Davis article is now several years old, admittedly, I had no idea that the population growth of Hispanic/Latino Americans had been so substantial. The one statistic in the article that was stunning: US Latinos will account for the third largest Latino population in the world, behind only Brazil and Mexico. Based on the continued movement of new Latinos migrating to the U.S., paired with the statistic mentioned by Davis regarding Mexican women’s greater fertility rate, it’s very possible that U.S. Latinos will surpass Mexico by 2050 or shortly thereafter. As Whites have in many cities around the country, moved to the suburbs, Latinos are populating the same major cities. As the dominant portion of populous cities, Latinos will have the opportunity to steer social, cultural, and economic influence. Has America become the new Latino frontier? A strong tie-in with some of the points made by our other article written by Anzaldua, was Turner’s inclusion of a quote from Brazilian futurist Alfredo Valladao. He “sees the new Spanish-language ‘beechheads” in US Cities as research laboratories for the cross-fertilization of North & South American cultures”….resulting in “a Pan’American twenty-first century.”
While many Mexican Americans – some recently, some for generations, enjoy their relationship with today’s American, the Mexico they left behind has not benefited from the same relationship. As Turner points out “Mexico adds 1 million more new workers each year than it can actually employ in its formal economy.” The jobs made available by U.S. companies (maquiladora) operating low wage factories on the Mexican side, has certainly inflated profits for those companies, but has done very little to provide incentive to keep the Mexican worker from seeking better opportunity on the north side of the border. Which brings us to the most important point made by Davis: We need Mexican labor in the U.S., and U.S. companies want access to the work force residing in Mexico. Do we really need armed guards at this intersection of supply and demand? During our period of western expansion, we formed laws, and developed culture to benefit the Anglo American. As Mexicans and others of Hispanic decent continue to position themselves to shape future policy, my guess is that the U.S./Mexican border will one day go the way of the Berlin wall.
Friday, August 28, 2009
THE PICTURE THAT ASKED A THOUSAND QUESTIONS
Picture (Left) : Lakota/Sioux Ghost Dance
While viewing the images from this week’s assignment, I found myself coming back to the picture of Sitting Bull & Buffalo Bill. Everyone knows the story of Sitting Bull’s victory over General Custer at Little Big Horn. My perception of Buffalo Bill was strictly as a showman. After skimming the surface thru Wikipedia, I learned that Buffalo Bill was also an American soldier. So why in the world are these two pictured together deep in peaceful interaction? As it turns out, Sitting Bull fled to Canada after his victory over Custer. He later returned to America and surrendered to American authorities. Then at some point, he joins Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show??!!
I continued skimming on the internet (sorry, Dr. Kulbaga…I intend to do more than Wikipedia searches) and started reading about this peace movement lead by prophet Jack Wilson, formerly known as Wovoka before adopting an American name. There was mention of a ghost dance, which ultimately lead to Sitting Bull’s shooting death at the hands of reservation police.
So basically, I’ve got the battle at Little Big Horn, a prophet, a ghost dance….I’m in! If approved, I would like to turn this into my presentation assignment. At what point in the frontier movement (Turner’s definition) did the battle at Little Big Horn take place? How did his appearances at Buffalo Bill’s shows not start a riot? I assume he was vilified, giving everyone an opportunity to boo and hiss, but I’ll find out. I’m particularly fascinated by Lakota Sioux and their attempt to draw from spiritual intervention and protection from the bullets of the American soldier. Did other tribes take the same approach during our westward expansion? I’m also interested in seeing how the French and Indian war (against England) played into everything, although it might have ended before American westward expansion really got going…. But again, I’ll find out. All I know from the French and Indian war is that my wife and daughter have watched the film, Last of the Mohicans about 20 times.
While reading more about the Ghost Dance I ended up hitting a link to the Wounded Knee Museum. There are some fairly powerful and haunting images there. Take a quick look if you have the time. Here’s the link to the site: http://www.woundedkneemuseum.org/main_menu.html
Sorry for the rambling. Who knew at age 43 I would get excited about this stuff again?
I continued skimming on the internet (sorry, Dr. Kulbaga…I intend to do more than Wikipedia searches) and started reading about this peace movement lead by prophet Jack Wilson, formerly known as Wovoka before adopting an American name. There was mention of a ghost dance, which ultimately lead to Sitting Bull’s shooting death at the hands of reservation police.
So basically, I’ve got the battle at Little Big Horn, a prophet, a ghost dance….I’m in! If approved, I would like to turn this into my presentation assignment. At what point in the frontier movement (Turner’s definition) did the battle at Little Big Horn take place? How did his appearances at Buffalo Bill’s shows not start a riot? I assume he was vilified, giving everyone an opportunity to boo and hiss, but I’ll find out. I’m particularly fascinated by Lakota Sioux and their attempt to draw from spiritual intervention and protection from the bullets of the American soldier. Did other tribes take the same approach during our westward expansion? I’m also interested in seeing how the French and Indian war (against England) played into everything, although it might have ended before American westward expansion really got going…. But again, I’ll find out. All I know from the French and Indian war is that my wife and daughter have watched the film, Last of the Mohicans about 20 times.
While reading more about the Ghost Dance I ended up hitting a link to the Wounded Knee Museum. There are some fairly powerful and haunting images there. Take a quick look if you have the time. Here’s the link to the site: http://www.woundedkneemuseum.org/main_menu.html
Sorry for the rambling. Who knew at age 43 I would get excited about this stuff again?
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
My analysis of our week 1 reading assignments:
This week’s reading assignments involve in depth discussions of the American frontier, and the significance of America’s westward expansion in shaping our country. The articles were published by two very different authors from very different eras.
I’ll start with Frederick Turner’s “The Significance of the frontier in American History”. Our class could probably spend all eight Saturdays discussing this one paper. Mr. Turner’s 1893 article initially points out that the most recent census, published in 1890, almost insignificantly mentions that our nation’s clear westward movement had been completed, and that a frontier line no longer existed. Turner obviously felt compelled to shine a bright light on the importance of the vast and westward moving frontier in the formation of our country. He lends an almost sentimental reminiscence of our march west. His words paint a very patriotic picture of how we forged our new, American identity. The pioneers left the Atlantic sea board, and in doing so stripped themselves of any European identity. Initially, they were much like savages, hacking out new settlements out of the wilderness, doing whatever necessary to survive. Eventually, these tough pioneers helped form new laws meant to “meet frontier needs and demands”. In forming laws, settlements, & commerce, the new Americans became truly independent of England. Fueled by the opportunity to build and shape our country, the pioneers of western expansion as Dr. Lyman Beeher noted in 1835 and credited by Turner in his article, moved like “the rushing waters of a flood.”
In the middle of his paper, Turner includes some published words from Alexander Hamilton that were almost chillingly prophetic. Hamilton speaks of the immense opportunity afforded by democracy and liberty, but warns of “...its dangers as well as benefits. Individualism in America has allowed a laxity in regard to governmental affairs which has rendered possible the spoils system……the influence of frontier conditions in permitting lax business honor, inflated paper currency and wild-cat banking.” Free commerce unchecked and lightly regulated mixed with greed, came very close to bringing our country to its knees with the sub-prime mortgage fiasco that has kept our nation in a state of severe recession.
A century after Turner published his article; Patricia Nelson Limerick published “Adventures of the Frontier in the Twentieth Century”. While reading the article description at the top of the page, I was a little confused by the comments “…Limerick explicitly rejects...Turner’s influential thesis…and claim that the frontier essentially closed at the end of the 19th century.” I personally read Turner’s article as an attempt to summarize the significance of our western expansion in forming the America he knew as of 1893. He cites the 1890 census as the source of opinion regarding the end of the frontier.
While reading the first few paragraphs, I was a little uncomfortable with Limerick’s comparison of American knowledge of the frontier to Velcro and Frontierland in California’s Disneyland. Fortunately, I got past my initial “bristling” and accepted some very valid points. The Disneyland comparison really served to note the continually advancing frontier of American sensitivity to racial and cultural intolerance, and ignorance. Limerick points out that one attraction features a log cabin on fire. When the attraction opened, the park guests are told that savage Indians attacked the home. In the years since the attraction opened and Limerick’s paper was published, she notes that the guide manning the attraction suggests that “…the cabin was on fire because the settler had been ecologically and environmentally careless.” Limerick also uses Disney’s Frontierland to note the mixed messages and confusion Americans continue to work through regarding our past actions on the frontier throughout westward expansion. Just as I began to settle into the paper, Limerick again registers on my bristle meter with “…the work of academic historians has had virtually no impact either on Disneyland’s vision of the frontier or on the thinking of Disneyland visitors. That cheerful and complete indifference to the work of frontier historians may in truth be the secret of the place’s success.” I think there are better places to look than amusement parks to gauge our nation’s historical enlightenment. I just returned from Orlando’s Universal Studios with my 12 year old son. His favorite ride was The Mummy – we rode it four times in one day. However, he most certainly doesn’t believe the ride is an accurate depiction of ancient Egypt.
In the end, Limerick is obviously accurate that the average American’s perception of the frontier, and westward expansion, includes visions of the Anglo American pioneer being almost solely responsible for our successful expansion. However, Turner does point out in his paper that the pioneers’ survival was dependant on learning from, and adopting the ways of the Indians. The pioneers also learned from and followed the trails and practices of the French traders. Turner’s paper served to explain how westward expansion shaped our country from government, to free trade, to true independence. Limerick’s paper serves to shed a light on the importance of the many people other than Anglo Americans that helped shape and influence our country’s growth during expansion. How these people were perceived and treated during our westward expansion, particularly Indians cannot be changed. At the least, they can be properly credited for their contributions. I’m afraid I can’t remember and properly quote the author, but remember reading something close to the following several months ago: “Our nation has a huge problem with illegal immigrants. Just ask the native Americans.” I’ve provided a link that does just that. It’s an article written a few years ago on illegal immigration written by a native American.
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/3821
Our nation’s frontier of understanding and acceptance continues to move in a positive direction, but certainly has plenty of room for expansion. Today, I find it much more relevant to discuss our last presidential election as a reflection of our growth in comparison to changes to amusement park attractions.
I’ll start with Frederick Turner’s “The Significance of the frontier in American History”. Our class could probably spend all eight Saturdays discussing this one paper. Mr. Turner’s 1893 article initially points out that the most recent census, published in 1890, almost insignificantly mentions that our nation’s clear westward movement had been completed, and that a frontier line no longer existed. Turner obviously felt compelled to shine a bright light on the importance of the vast and westward moving frontier in the formation of our country. He lends an almost sentimental reminiscence of our march west. His words paint a very patriotic picture of how we forged our new, American identity. The pioneers left the Atlantic sea board, and in doing so stripped themselves of any European identity. Initially, they were much like savages, hacking out new settlements out of the wilderness, doing whatever necessary to survive. Eventually, these tough pioneers helped form new laws meant to “meet frontier needs and demands”. In forming laws, settlements, & commerce, the new Americans became truly independent of England. Fueled by the opportunity to build and shape our country, the pioneers of western expansion as Dr. Lyman Beeher noted in 1835 and credited by Turner in his article, moved like “the rushing waters of a flood.”
In the middle of his paper, Turner includes some published words from Alexander Hamilton that were almost chillingly prophetic. Hamilton speaks of the immense opportunity afforded by democracy and liberty, but warns of “...its dangers as well as benefits. Individualism in America has allowed a laxity in regard to governmental affairs which has rendered possible the spoils system……the influence of frontier conditions in permitting lax business honor, inflated paper currency and wild-cat banking.” Free commerce unchecked and lightly regulated mixed with greed, came very close to bringing our country to its knees with the sub-prime mortgage fiasco that has kept our nation in a state of severe recession.
A century after Turner published his article; Patricia Nelson Limerick published “Adventures of the Frontier in the Twentieth Century”. While reading the article description at the top of the page, I was a little confused by the comments “…Limerick explicitly rejects...Turner’s influential thesis…and claim that the frontier essentially closed at the end of the 19th century.” I personally read Turner’s article as an attempt to summarize the significance of our western expansion in forming the America he knew as of 1893. He cites the 1890 census as the source of opinion regarding the end of the frontier.
While reading the first few paragraphs, I was a little uncomfortable with Limerick’s comparison of American knowledge of the frontier to Velcro and Frontierland in California’s Disneyland. Fortunately, I got past my initial “bristling” and accepted some very valid points. The Disneyland comparison really served to note the continually advancing frontier of American sensitivity to racial and cultural intolerance, and ignorance. Limerick points out that one attraction features a log cabin on fire. When the attraction opened, the park guests are told that savage Indians attacked the home. In the years since the attraction opened and Limerick’s paper was published, she notes that the guide manning the attraction suggests that “…the cabin was on fire because the settler had been ecologically and environmentally careless.” Limerick also uses Disney’s Frontierland to note the mixed messages and confusion Americans continue to work through regarding our past actions on the frontier throughout westward expansion. Just as I began to settle into the paper, Limerick again registers on my bristle meter with “…the work of academic historians has had virtually no impact either on Disneyland’s vision of the frontier or on the thinking of Disneyland visitors. That cheerful and complete indifference to the work of frontier historians may in truth be the secret of the place’s success.” I think there are better places to look than amusement parks to gauge our nation’s historical enlightenment. I just returned from Orlando’s Universal Studios with my 12 year old son. His favorite ride was The Mummy – we rode it four times in one day. However, he most certainly doesn’t believe the ride is an accurate depiction of ancient Egypt.
In the end, Limerick is obviously accurate that the average American’s perception of the frontier, and westward expansion, includes visions of the Anglo American pioneer being almost solely responsible for our successful expansion. However, Turner does point out in his paper that the pioneers’ survival was dependant on learning from, and adopting the ways of the Indians. The pioneers also learned from and followed the trails and practices of the French traders. Turner’s paper served to explain how westward expansion shaped our country from government, to free trade, to true independence. Limerick’s paper serves to shed a light on the importance of the many people other than Anglo Americans that helped shape and influence our country’s growth during expansion. How these people were perceived and treated during our westward expansion, particularly Indians cannot be changed. At the least, they can be properly credited for their contributions. I’m afraid I can’t remember and properly quote the author, but remember reading something close to the following several months ago: “Our nation has a huge problem with illegal immigrants. Just ask the native Americans.” I’ve provided a link that does just that. It’s an article written a few years ago on illegal immigration written by a native American.
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/3821
Our nation’s frontier of understanding and acceptance continues to move in a positive direction, but certainly has plenty of room for expansion. Today, I find it much more relevant to discuss our last presidential election as a reflection of our growth in comparison to changes to amusement park attractions.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
A Little About Me
I'm married to the greatest woman on the face of the earth, and have a beautiful 16 year old daughter (who wants to attend Miami in a couple of years), and a fantastic 12 year old son.
I grew up in Wyoming, OH and currently reside in Deerfield Township, just outside of Mason. We built a home in 2006 that could accommodate my aging parents, along with my family of four, our three Briards (French Sheepdogs) and our green cheeked conure (bird).
My son, Andrew, with Nick and Tazi.
I was the world's worst student my first go-around at Miami's Oxford campus. After building a family business over the last 20 years, I recently sold it to one of my principal suppliers. At age 43, I may be one of the oldest students, but am confident I won't be the world's worst this time around.
I grew up swimming for the Cincinnati Marlins, fishing with my grandfather, and traveling to dog shows with my parents. My wife, two kids, and I all earned our black belts after studying for five years with past national TaeKwonDo champion, Master Sun Park.
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