When Were We Really OK?
Did ADHD and other diagnoses and disabilities always exist, or were they just shaped in a different form, morphed into different letters of the alphabet? When did the term “idiot” turn into “profound mental retardation”? Why did the American Association for the Study of the Feeble-Minded call what we now call “profound mental retardation”, “morons”? And what was the outcome or “cure” to being labeled one of these things? What happens at the early stages of a new disability or illness, where nobody knows what you have, and give (usually controversial) treatments that may make you worse off?
Once upon a time (circa 1900), there was no such thing as postpartum depression. Instead, it was called “hysteria and nervousness.” The cure was very different from what we have today, but helped mold one woman’s personal and painful voyage into a semi-autobiographical short story that also shed light on women’s rights.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, author, feminist, mother and wife, born July 3, 1860, always wanted what was best for herself, her daughter and the female population. She was “sick and tired” of women perceived as being the “lower species.” “I agree that women are the lower species, because every society has had only a few female leaders where you can’t name many women. It’s not my critique, it’s in their societies views,” says Matt Fischofer, age 21.
However, after Charlotte gave birth to her daughter, Katherine, in 1878, she suffered from what we now know as postpartum depression. The cure called for no socialization with family, bed rest and eating, to increase fat volume. It was called “Rest Cure.” After one month, she was ordered to have her child with her at all times, lie down an hour after each meal and have less than two hours of “intellectual life.” This eventually led to severe depression where she wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper,” to share with others what it was like in that time period, living with postpartum depression.
“People should write about their illnesses, even if they have fictionalized details. If many people write about it, it will show it’s more common if it hasn’t been given a label yet,” says Brian Rubinton, 18.
Unfortunately, back then, there were no second and third opinions, especially when the doctor giving you a diagnosis was the most prestigious nerve specialist in the country. Scientific research on depression just wasn’t available yet.
At the time, some critics thought it should be censored because of its vivid details. Many of the critics were men, however.
Charlotte was often “frustrated with the public mind” and how it “moved like a slug.” Brian Rubinton agreed. “A majority of people stick to their own traditions and thoughts but it is different for urbanites. When you don’t interact with different backgrounds, you stagnate.”
In her essay “Women and Economics” she wrote, “Without going into either the ethics or the necessities of this case, we have reached so much common ground: the female of genus homo is supported by the male. Whereas, in other species of animals, male and female alike graze and browse, hunt and kill, climb, swim, dig, run and fly for their livings, in our species the female does not seek her own living in the specific activities of our race, but is fed by the male.”
Charlotte existed in a time where if a woman was lucky, she was able to take home science classes to “build strong bodies for her family.” Would classes like this exist today?
Matt said, “They couldn’t exist. It’s ethically wrong and nobody would take them.”
Brian said, “I don’t know because I feel some people would take them. A liberal arts major might. Some people might go major in it so they know how to raise a family. I might take a class or two.”
So when I asked Matt and Brian what would be different about their lives if the women in their lives stayed home and “cooked and sewed?”
“It would be terrible because they are in the work force and making contributions to society. It would be a regression,” says Matt.
“It would be weird because my mom makes more than my dad right now!” says Brian. His father is a lawyer and his mother is a property manager.
So we are on our way, females. So many changes have taken place over the last century that would not have happened without a woman like Charlotte Gilman Perkins and some men seem to agree. But now, we might have to change the term “husband” and “wife” because their original meanings are not true to today’s definition. According to a November 6, 1994 New York Times article, in 1898, husband, the noun, was originally a management title: it meant the manager of a household. The verb means to manage economically. Wife, the noun, was no title at all: in its obscure Germanic roots it simply meant “woman.” Its spousal connotation came later.
Much like how “hysteria and nervousness” is now known as postpartum depression except in this case it’s the actual definition that is obscure, not the label.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Women and Economics: A Study of the Economic Relation Between Men and Women as a Factor in Social Evolution. Boston: Small, Maynard & Co., 1898.
The Diaries of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 2 Vols. Ed. Denise D. Knight. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1994.
Berman, Jeffrey. “The Unrestful Cure: Charlotte Perkins Gilman and `The Yellow Wallpaper. The Captive Imagination: A Casebook on The Yellow Wallpaper. Ed. Catherine Golden. New York: Feminist Press, 1992. 211-41.
The Yellow Wallpaper (1891)
–Catherine Livigni
5 comments August 3, 2008
Jack London: a Man of Our Times?
Jack London: A Man of Our Times?
Nearly 100 years ago, Jack London fought for the lower class, bringing attention to the wide disparities between the rich and the poor. Now, nearly 100 years later, much of his cause has gone unresolved. With our markets in bearish trends, and our middle class eroding by the day because of soaring fuel costs, 2010 looks to be a lot like 1910. Jack London would be appalled at out current situation. If we look at his cause, we can see a parallel between then and now. We can really appreciate what he has done to give the poor a voice; and take note of it for modern times.
Jack London was born into lower class backgrounds in San Francisco, CA in 1876. His father was a disabled civil war veteran, and his mother a common house wife. He was primarily raised by an ex-slave, Virginia Prentiss. He attended grade school in Oakland for a brief time. After grade school, he was primarily self-educated. He taught himself to read and write at the public library. It was there that he came across his literary inspiration: Signa. It was about a young peasant child who rose from poverty to become a famous opera composer.
As a teen, he spent much of his time sailing the Pacific to make money. He eventually made enough to attend High School. After graduating, he went to Berkeley, but was forced to drop out due to financial restraints. This forced him to seek work in the gold mines, where he wrote his first stories. Eventually he wrote his first book: Martin Eden.
It was published. He wrote more books after his first success, most notably The Call of the Wild. Eventually, he became wealthy, a staple in the upper echelon of society. Only, he realized that his new life was no more glamorous than his old, and committed suicide at the age of 40.
As a member of the upper class, Jack found a voice in politics and social affairs. As a journalist and novelist he exposed the life of the average poverty stricken American. He also joined the Socialist Working Party in 1896. In his fiction novel The Iron Heel, he showed parallels between the rich of his time and the Oligarchies who stomped out the middle class. Though fictitious, his novel rings true, and not only back then. Much like Jacob Riis’ How the Other Half Lives, Jack wrote his own depiction of first hand accounts of poverty. His account based in London, England as opposed to New York was entitled The People of the Abyss.
Aside from writing about the social class problems, he often gave speeches to further his cause. While touring the U.S. as a member of the Socialist party, he published essays about his findings. Two of the most notable were The War of the Classes and Revolution, and Other Essays. A man once from the lower class himself, he took pride in bringing attention to the needs of the poor.
Unfortunately, the Socialist party would never become a staple in our political system, as the Cold war and other problems distorted much of our views concerning socialistic values. Jack London (also a communist sympathizer) gave money to the revolutionaries who killed off the Czar and his family amidst Bloody Sunday. He called those people his “brothers.” These brothers eventually turned Russia into a communist dictatorship. Jack London never saw this happen. The heart of his cause died out with the greed that exists in all human beings, regardless of political beliefs.
With his main ingredient for change an utter failure, why are his achievements in journalism and politics so important to us now? Aside from his political beliefs, Jack London’s problems exist now as well. There is no significant voice for the poor. Sure, many of us pick up the ladles in soup kitchens on Thanksgiving, and when it counts, but how much are you really doing? This is not even about the poor any more. It is our middle class that is slowly eroding into the poor house.
This year is an election year, the economy is a key issue. This issue was essential to Jack London as well. However, with the complete elimination of any socialist party, millions spent on campaigns, and bribes from lobbyists on both sides of the political spectrum, it would not be far off to say Jack London would not vote at all. In fact, he probably would not even stay here in the U.S. I decided to show a few people who Jack London was. I gave Ryan, a student from Albany University a look into his life socially, and politically. “I think he would move to a country like France maybe”, he says. France is a country in which Jack’s socialist views have taken a strong hold in a democratic forum. This seems to be a very accurate guess. However, it is unfortunate our government will never mimick or mock that of western Europe’s social democracies.
So, with the gap between our classes widening, we need to look back at the times before the middle class. We need to look to Jack London, a man who lived the American dream, but was still unhappy because there was so many who could not live his dream. We live in a society built on cheap gas and free markets. There will never be a democracy like France (one that Jack London would find appealing). Yet, we can still see Jack London’s voice as reason to give the underprivileged a chance to speak, and not just in the election years. Regardless of who is elected, there is a good chance that the poor will remain poor, the middle class will remain at the lower or upper ends of the medium, and the rich will remain rich. It is us, fellow Americans who need to create change from the bottom up. So long as Jack London’s cause remains important, his message remains important, more important than any of our own selfish needs.
Mary Kate
Add comment August 3, 2008
Mark Twain
Jared Albaum July 30th, 2008
Professor King English 215
Mark Twain
Today’s political satirists would not exist if it had not been for the genius and journalistic expertise of Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain. Mark Twain, whose life spanned the critical Civil War period in America, combined journalism and humor in such a way that he was able to mock politicians, American institutions, and human nature.
Clemens was born in 1835 in Florida Missouri and he and his family moved to other small towns in the South. In 1848 Clemens drops out of fifth grade and finds a job at a newspaper owned by his brother Orion. After writing a few sketches for various magazines including the Saturday Evening Post, Clemens left Missouri to work as a printer in New York City.
His career as a journalist was sporadic. His personality seemed more compatible with political satire, a genre that enabled him to blend the news with humor. After a brief time as an apprentice river boat pilot on the Mississippi River, Clemens changed his name to Mark Twain, a term used by river boat captains to signify a depth of two fathoms.
It was at the end of the Civil War in 1865 that Mark Twain found his literary voice. That year he published a humorous short story entitled “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” Many newspapers in the country ran the short story and Twain became an overnight sensation. This short story was significant in American writing because it was one of the first pieces of literature written in dialect.
The popularity of the “Celebrated Jumping Frog” allowed Twain to go on a lecture tour as a comedian. He took his comic approach in life to Europe and wrote a travel book called The Innocents Abroad in which he made fun of the ancient relics of the old world that are supposed to be so impressive to tourists. For example when traveling to the holy land, Twain humorously notes: “to reproduce a Jerusalem street, it would only be necessary to upend a chicken coop and hang it before each window in an ally of American houses.” When he visited Venice, he noted that “the gondolier is a picturesque rascal.”
Mark Twain’s most significant contribution to American literature and to political satire today occurred because of his brilliance as a novelist. Twain is the perfect example of a writer who evolved from journalism to fiction. His earlier novels such as Tom Sawyer, The Innocents Abroad and Ruffing It are mostly comical in nature and do not attack American institutions in a serious way.
Its not until the late 1800’s that Twain’s writing becomes darker and more serious in its criticisms of America. One of the reasons that his satire became sharper may be the personal tragedies that he experienced in his own life. In 1891 he faced bankruptcy, in 1896 his favorite daughter Susy dies, and in 1909, his other daughter Jean dies. In 1904, his wife Olivia dies when they are traveling in Italy. The culmination of these tragic events and Twain’s overall disillusionment with humanity served to produce some of his most successful texts and set the stage for future political satirists who would entertain America.
The key text in Mark Twain’s collection is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which some critics have claimed to be the most subversive text in American literature. Through humor, Twain uses his protagonist, Huckleberry Finn, to attack such respected institutions as education, religion, the family, and the justice system. Twain also had the audacity to pair Huck Finn, a poor white trash dropout with a runaway slave named Jim. By making these two “dregs of society” heroes in his text, Twain thumbed his nose are respectable middle class literature. The fact that he used a variety of dialects rather than standard proper English also annoyed the reading public. In an explanatory note at the beginning of the text, Twain humorously writes “In this book a number of dialects are used, to wit: the Missouri negro dialect; the extremist form of the backwoods South-Western dialect; the ordinary “Pike County”; and four modified varieties of this last. The shadings have not been done in a haphazard fashion, or by guesswork; but pains-takingly, and with the trustworthy guidance and support of personal familiarity with these several forms of speech. I make this explanation for the reason that without it many readers would suppose that all these characters were trying to talk alike and not succeeding.” The adventures of Huckleberry Finn caused such a scandal in the American Public School System that it was banned in many high schools.
If it had not been for Mark Twain and his courage to dissect American culture, today’s political satirists would have had no one to guide them. Twain fearlessly pointed out the horrors of slavery, the hypocrisy of a twisted religion that allows people to worship together under the same roof and then to go out and kill each other. Political commentators like Jon Stewart and Chris Rock often tackle contemporary issues such as political corruption, torture, and greed through comedy. These same issues characterize American culture during Twain’s years. For example Andrew Carnegie once bragged to Mark Twain that America is a Christian nation. Twain looked at him and responded by saying “so is hell.”
Today’s comedians are quite as talented in pointing out the hypocrisies and follies of human nature. In his Letters From the Earth, Twain has Satan note that man is very strange: “Man has imagined a heaven, and has left entirely out of it the supremest of all his delights… sexual intercourse! It is as if a lost and perishing person in a roasting desert should be told by a rescuer he might choose and have all longed for things but one, and he should elect to leave out water.”
Mark Twain has left such an impression on American culture that there is now a Mark Twain humor award given to the comedian who has contributed most to raising the political awareness through comedy. This years award is being given posthumously to George Carlin. One can only imagine the humorous conversations the two of them will have once they meet up in “heaven, or is it hell?”
Bibliography
“America’s Original Superstar.” Time Magazine 14 July 2008.
-Jared Albaum
Add comment August 3, 2008
James Baldwin’s Dream Became True
James Baldwin is the one of the respected writers in the World. His stories have been translated to many different languages. He only focused on the issues between black and white Americans. He was born in Harlem, New York City, on August 2, 1924. He was the oldest of nine children and from an early age he loved to read.His father was a preacher in the church, and when Baldwin became 14 he was a preacher also. He graduated from Clinton High School at the age of 18, where he had written for a magazine. After writing in a several magazines in the school the author James Baldwin realized that writing is making him very happy.Richard Wright was another important author who thinks that James Baldwin is a greatest black writer in the World for him. They became very good friends in a very short time and Richard helped him about literature. In those days It was hard to write due to prejudice in U.S so, James Baldwin decided to move to Paris where he can think and write without being discriminated.
If James Baldwin was alive he would be very happy to see a Black candidate (Barack Obama) is running for the president. The United States of America had changed a lot since civil rights. In those days It would be impossible to think this country that a Black guy is running for president. Thats what would make James Baldwin very proud of civil rights movement and the United States of America.
In one of the interviews James Baldwin indicates that he is not a political activist he is a story teller. According to Melihcan Gurcen who is 18 year s old Nassau Community College student said, ” His stories means a lot to candidate Barack Obama and other republicans. James Baldwin already told us how black and white people get along together.”
Baracak Obama has a strong support especially from college students. He has power on both white and black Americans. If he is running to president for the president it is because of James Baldwin and like those authors who used their pen to against the discrimination.
Ozzy Gezer
Add comment August 3, 2008
Truly One of America’s Greatest Authors
Journalists take a vow to be the watch dogs of society. They are supposed to provide information that is truthful, well researched, clear, honest and concise. Many journalists are also famous authors. Mark Twain, Joan Didion, George Orwell, Willa Cather are examples of such. The latter, Willa Cather, merges her journalistic skills with her literary talents. She writes simply and concisely, using words only when necessary, honestly, and clearly. She treats her literary pieces with the same respect that she does her journalistic work. In both she seeks honesty and verisitude. It’s no wonder that although she lived in the nineteenth century, her style of writing should still be practiced, especially in journalism. Her themes are as relevant as they were in the nineteenth century. Its like she said, “….there’s only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before; like the larks in this country, that have been singing the same five notes over for thousands of years. ”
A celebrated author, daughter and sister to six siblings, Willa Cather (who was originally named Wiella) was born on December 7, 1873 in Winchester, Virginia. Cather’s family acquired a large, prosperous farm in Nebraska when she was nine. Psbs.org describes the move as taking a toll on Willa. The coming years would begin to introduce clarity to her life. At eleven, she began delivering mail to the farms around Red Cloud, Nebraska. On her mailing routes she discovered the lives and talk of her immigrant neighbors. Unbeknownst to her, these stories would be later used in her writings. She learned the French language, had access to an extensive personal library, and graduated at the age of sixteen. Soon after she entered the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, she began her life as a journalist. While in college, one of her professors decided to publish one of her essays in a local newspaper. It was exactly at that moment that she decided that she would spend her life writing. What type of writing would she venture into? What would be her inspiration for writing? In order to answer both of these questions she would have to find her voice.
Early in her career, Cather wrote imitating Henry James’ style. This changed however, when she was introduced to writer Sarah Orne Jewett who told her, “you must find your own quiet center of life, and write from that.” Cather realized her quiet center was Red Cloud, NE and started using it as the heart of her writing. She began to use Nebraska as the physical and cultural setting for her work. While attending the University of Nebraska many opportunities came her way. Her work included literary editorship of the student newspaper her sophomore year and managing editor of the Hesperian. She also wrote for the Nebraska’s State Journal and the Courier. Her next big break came after college when she joined the staff of Home Monthly magazine where she prospered. Later she worked for McClure and published her first book, a collection of poems entitled”April Twilights.”
Willa Cather used her travels in life as inspiration for her writing. As she said, “Most of the basic material a writer works with is acquired before the age of fifteen.” When Cather lived in Red Cloud, NE she lived amongst immigrants. Immigration was an important topic in Cather’s time. Her literature is peppered with their talk, values, lifestyle and culture. She captured the immigrant life by including them in her novels. Often her major characters are immigrants who exhibit qualities such as tenacity, resilience and hard work. In My Antonia Cather talks about enduring people who leave everything they have ever known in pursuit of happiness and success. The main character in this novel, Antonia Shermeda, is an immigrant from Bohemia. She is based on Cather’s childhood friend named Annie. she made while living in Nebraska. In the novel, the title character had a challenging and difficult life but remained strong and independent through it all.
Immigration is a hot button issue in current American society. Immigrants from the Caribbean, Asia and the Middle East have changed the face of America today just as their predecessors from Eastern Europe did in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The stories haven’t changed. They come to America in search of a better life, in search of success. They are willing to work hard to attain both. Cather admired the immigrants of her generation, and it’s safe to say she would feel comfortable in contemporary America.
The immigrant story is one of those two or three human stories that Cather said keeps repeating themselves.
Cather wrote simply and efficiently. She valued details, but knew when to edit herself. She uses each word for a purpose, thereby making each important. Her language is full of symbols, imagery, and figurative language. She uses these techniques to get her point across, not to embellish vapid material. Her journalistic experience is obvious in her literary work. She’s able to bring words to life concisely and clearly, as good reporters are suppose to do. Contemporary journalists have a lot to learn from Cather, especially understanding her saying, “too many details can render things vulgar.” While it is true that a journalist primary responsibility is to inform, providing too much details can confuse readers, ultimately leading to indifference. Ms. Katia Luce agrees with Cather’s assessment relating to the use of details. She said, “yes I do want to know as much information on the topic that matter in current society, but I don’t have to be bombarded by them twenty-four seven. Give me time to process them and decide.”
Willa Cather is considered one the great American authors because she wrote about America. She knew using a style similar to the landscape describing “simple and beautiful.” She is a inspiration to writers and journalist alike because she wrote about the things that mattered to her and her fellow countrymen. Contemporary journalists take cue.
Journalists take a vow to be the watch dogs of society. They are supposed to provide information that is truthful, well researched, clear, honest and concise. Many journalists are also famous authors. Mark Twain, Joan Didion, George Orwell, Willa Cather are examples of such. The latter, Willa Cather, merges her journalistic skills with her literary talents. She writes simply and concisely, using words only when necessary, honestly, and clearly. She treats her literary pieces with the same respect that she does her journalistic work. In both she seeks honesty and verisitude. It’s no wonder that although she lived in the nineteenth century, her style of writing should still be practiced, especially in journalism. Her themes are as relevant as they were in the nineteenth century. Its like she said, “….there’s only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before; like the larks in this country, that have been singing the same five notes over for thousands of years. ”
A celebrated author, daughter and sister to six siblings, Willa Cather (who was originally named Wiella) was born on December 7, 1873 in Winchester, Virginia. Cather’s family acquired a large, prosperous farm in Nebraska when she was nine. Psbs.org describes the move as taking a toll on Willa. The coming years would begin to introduce clarity to her life. At eleven, she began delivering mail to the farms around Red Cloud, Nebraska. On her mailing routes she discovered the lives and talk of her immigrant neighbors. Unbeknownst to her, these stories would be later used in her writings. She learned the French language, had access to an extensive personal library, and graduated at the age of sixteen. Soon after she entered the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, she began her life as a journalist. While in college, one of her professors decided to publish one of her essays in a local newspaper. It was exactly at that moment that she decided that she would spend her life writing. What type of writing would she venture into? What would be her inspiration for writing? In order to answer both of these questions she would have to find her voice.
Early in her career, Cather wrote imitating Henry James’ style. This changed however, when she was introduced to writer Sarah Orne Jewett who told her, “you must find your own quiet center of life, and write from that.” Cather realized her quiet center was Red Cloud, NE and started using it as the heart of her writing. She began to use Nebraska as the physical and cultural setting for her work. While attending the University of Nebraska many opportunities came her way. Her work included literary editorship of the student newspaper her sophomore year and managing editor of the Hesperian. She also wrote for the Nebraska’s State Journal and the Courier. Her next big break came after college when she joined the staff of Home Monthly magazine where she prospered. Later she worked for McClure and published her first book, a collection of poems entitled”April Twilights.”
Willa Cather used her travels in life as inspiration for her writing. As she said, “Most of the basic material a writer works with is acquired before the age of fifteen.” When Cather lived in Red Cloud, NE she lived amongst immigrants. Immigration was an important topic in Cather’s time. Her literature is peppered with their talk, values, lifestyle and culture. She captured the immigrant life by including them in her novels. Often her major characters are immigrants who exhibit qualities such as tenacity, resilience and hard work. In My Antonia Cather talks about enduring people who leave everything they have ever known in pursuit of happiness and success. The main character in this novel, Antonia Shermeda, is an immigrant from Bohemia. She is based on Cather’s childhood friend named Annie. she made while living in Nebraska. In the novel, the title character had a challenging and difficult life but remained strong and independent through it all.
Immigration is a hot button issue in current American society. Immigrants from the Caribbean, Asia and the Middle East have changed the face of America today just as their predecessors from Eastern Europe did in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The stories haven’t changed. They come to America in search of a better life, in search of success. They are willing to work hard to attain both. Cather admired the immigrants of her generation, and it’s safe to say she would feel comfortable in contemporary America.
The immigrant story is one of those two or three human stories that Cather said keeps repeating themselves.
Cather wrote simply and efficiently. She valued details, but knew when to edit herself. She uses each word for a purpose, thereby making each important. Her language is full of symbols, imagery, and figurative language. She uses these techniques to get her point across, not to embellish vapid material. Her journalistic experience is obvious in her literary work. She’s able to bring words to life concisely and clearly, as good reporters are suppose to do. Contemporary journalists have a lot to learn from Cather, especially understanding her saying, “too many details can render things vulgar.” While it is true that a journalist primary responsibility is to inform, providing too much details can confuse readers, ultimately leading to indifference. Ms. Katia Luce agrees with Cather’s assessment relating to the use of details. She said, “yes I do want to know as much information on the topic that matter in current society, but I don’t have to be bombarded by them twenty-four seven. Give me time to process them and decide.”
Willa Cather is considered one the great American authors because she wrote about America. She knew using a style similar to the landscape describing “simple and beautiful.” She is a inspiration to writers and journalist alike because she wrote about the things that mattered to her and her fellow countrymen. Contemporary journalists take cue.
Accomplishments of Willa Cather
- 1891 literary Editor to the Hesperian a student newspaper at the University of -Nebraska
- 1892 Publication of Peter in the Boston magazine
- 1896 Editor of Home Monthly Magazine
- 1901 Latin and English teacher in Pittsburg high school
- 1903 Publication of collection of poems, April Twilight
- 1905 Publication of The Troll Garden, is published
- 1906 Editor of Mc Clurre’s magazine in NY
-1912 Publication of her first novel, Alexander’s Bridge
-1913 Publication of O’ Pioneers
-1918 Publication of My Antonia
- 1921 Publication of One of Ours, the war story becomes her first best-seller
-1923 awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for One of Ours
- 1925 Publication of Professor’s House
-1927 Publication of Death Comes for the Archbishop
-1930 Recipient of the Howell’s Medal of American Academy of Arts and Letters for Death Comes for the Archbishop
- 1931 Publication of Shadows by the Rock, which becomes the best-selling book in the country.
- 1932 receives the Prix Femina Americaine for distinguished literary accomplishments
-1933 receives a French literary prize honoring foreign works for Shadow by the Rock, about 19 century Quebec
- 1935 Publication of Lucy Gayheart, a love story with a tragic ending
- 1940 Publication of Sapphira and the Slave Girl, inspired by the earliest memories of Virginia
- 1944 receives the gold medal of the National Institute of Arts and Letters
- 1947 April 24, Willa Cather dies at the age of seventy three
-Belfort
Add comment August 2, 2008
Understanding Richard Wright
Wright in Paris, c. 1949.
In the southern states of America, when this country struggled with changes, people not only suffered from poverty but also endured racism and violence. These are experiences colored people had to live with; Richard Wright was no exception to that. Out of the hardship and unpleasantness, he formed ideas which became the focal theme to his literary works.
Wright was born in 1908, on the Rucker plantation in Adams County, Mississippi, just outside of Natchez. Wright’s family moved to Memphis, TN; his father Nathaniel was a sharecropper and abandoned his family. His mother Ella Wright, a schoolteacher, had to support herself and her children, forced to work as a cook.
Wright wrote his first story at the age of fifteen, “The Voodoo of Hell’s Half-Acres;” a local black newspaper Southern Register published it. He moved to Chicago in 1927. Interested in the literary contacts he made at the John Reed Club, he formally joined the Communist party in 1933. Wright moved to New York in 1937, and he forged new connections with Communist Party members there after getting established. Wright gained national attention for the collection of four short stories titled Uncle Tom’s Children (1938). He based some stories on lynching in the Deep South. In 1939, he married Dhima Rose Meadman, a modern-dance teacher of Russian Jewish ancestry, but shortly thereafter they separated.
Wright had been criticized for his works’ concentration on violence. There was complaint about Native Son because he portrayed black man in ways that seemed to confirm whites’ worst fear. Native Son opened on Broadway, with Orson Welles as director, to generally favorable reviews in March 1941. That same year (1941) he married Ellen Poplar, a Polish Jewish woman who was a Communist Party organizer in Brooklyn, NY; they had two daughters. In 1946 Wright was invited to France. After he returned to the United States he decided he could no longer tolerate the racism he experienced even in New York City. Married to a white woman and living in the North, he still was not able to buy an apartment as a black man; furthermore, he hated the stares he and his family received on the streets. He wrote his autobiographical Black Boy (1945), which described his early life and move to Chicago, his differences with his Seventh-day Adventist family, and his troubles with white employers and social isolation.
Reading the Preface of Brignano’s book, Richard Wright-An Introduction to the Man and his Works, he described Wrights life as “a search to discover whether black man could live with dignity and without fear in a world dominated by white men.”
Wright is well-known for Black Boy which remains a seminal text in our history about what it means to be a man, black, and Southern in America. From this book, I referenced a quote from Chapter 5, Black boy and asked Sandrine Dupiton, Founder, Change X: Journalism & Leadership Institute, if she felt this would have any meaning to people today.
“Having been thrust out of the world because of my race, I had accepted my destiny by not being curious about what shaped it.”
Sandrine Dupiton, Founder: Change X
Wright’s quote although disparaging is the true consequence and descriptor of much of the experience of Black people in America and other marginalized group: the abandonment of truth of one’s own humanity for the acceptance of the pervasive un-truths of the dominant society. Wright speaks of the blind conformity and acceptance of one’s role in society as lowly, or ignorant, or base, or undeserving of respect, or dignity. What is latent in the quote is the suggestion of being powerless and the feeling of being victimized in a world that is not your own, even though you’re obvious human-ness would seem to prove otherwise. The dilemma of seeing oneself as equally human and being sent the message that one is in fact, not, does damage. Even in the desire to arm oneself with truth to combat the negative messages, soon, fighting seems futile and the messages, images, and labels become one’s own and they then repeat these false truths first in thought, then in feelings and finally in action only to feed directly into the ideology of the cruel need to thrust one out of the world because of one’s race. What shapes one’s destiny is the pursuit of being true to oneself and in a place where a young black boy must peel through enormous layers to get there, along the way he chooses to leave the layers in place and follow the path that has been predetermined –becoming a victim of a psychologically self-imposed imprisonment.
I also asked a student at Nassau Community College, Jeanny Belfort, what she felt Wright was trying to convey in black Boy, Chapter 2, “When you get through, kiss back there.” She struggled with trying to understand what Wright meant by this quote, almost interpreting it as if it were a poem. She said “It is obvious he is referring to the subject of race as a black man. He dealt with atrocity focused on race. I feel that he was saying he never forgot to acknowledge his past and found a way to overcome it.”
Jeanny made a good point because today in our society there is still an issue about race. Recently CNN presented a documentary just forty years after the death of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. It takes a look at the stated of black America today—the pride, success, pain and struggle. This documentary talks about what is reality for so many African Americans as did Wright in his time.
The last work Wright submitted for publication during his lifetime, The Long Dream, a novel, was released in 1958. In this novel he portrays his strongest black father, and treats the black middle class in the setting of Clintonville, Mississippi. During his last year and a half, Wright suffered from amoebic dysentery acquired during his travels to Africa or Asia, and he died suddenly of an apparent heart attack while recuperating at the Clinique Eugène Gibez in Paris. There were recurrent rumors that Wright was murdered, but this has not been substantiated.
Although gone for quit some time know Wright’s work will always be read. He is a part of classic literature today.
Publications
Fiction
Uncle Tom’s Children (New York: Harper, 1938)
Native Son (New York: Harper, 1940)
The Outsider (New York: Harper, 1953)
Savage Holiday (New York: Avon, 1954)
The Long Dream (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1958)
Eight Men (Cleveland and New York: World, 1961)
Nonfiction
Black Boy (New York: Harper, 1945)
Black Power (New York: Harper, 1954)
The Color Curtain (Cleveland and New York: World, 1956)
Pagan Spain (New York: Harper, 1957)
Bibliography
Brignano, Russell Carl, Richard Wright: An Introduction to the Man and His Works
Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, c.1970.
http://classiclit.about.com/comod/blackboyrichardwright/a/aa_blackboy.htm
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/r/richardwright.html
http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/english/ms-writers/dir/wright_richard/
http://www.math.buffalo.edu/~sww/wright/wright_bio.html
Martine E. Antoine
Add comment August 1, 2008
Is This News??
Salem-News.com (Nov-14-2007 13:42)
Blue Ghost Recorded on Ohio Gas Station Camera
Tim King Salem-News.com
The owner told Salem-News that this isn’t the first time he has been witness to something that defied explanation.
Snapshot of the Ohio gas station ghost
(PARMA, Ohio) – Could an Ohio gas station be built atop an old Indian burial ground? That’s what one man says in Parma, Ohio, an incorporated city southwest of Cleveland, where a gas station owner caught something he wasn’t at all trying for. A security camera caught a blue ghost on video, and it seems to be in no apparent hurry; the recording lasted half an hour.
Continued at Salem News
~~~~~~
What about CNN’s report on the U.F.O. in Stephenville, Texas?
Dozens in Texas town report seeing UFO
STEPHENVILLE, Texas – In this farming community where nightfall usually brings clear, starry skies, residents are abuzz over reported sightings of what many believe is a UFO.
Several dozen people — including a pilot, county constable and business owners — insist they have seen a large silent object with bright lights flying low and fast. Some reported seeing fighter jets chasing it.
“People wonder what in the world it is because this is the Bible Belt, and everyone is afraid it’s the end of times,” said Steve Allen, a freight company owner and pilot who said the object he saw last week was a mile long and half a mile wide. “It was positively, absolutely nothing from these parts.”
While federal officials insist there’s a logical explanation, locals swear that it was larger, quieter, faster and lower to the ground than an airplane. They also said the object’s lights changed configuration, unlike those of a plane. People in several towns who reported seeing it over several weeks have offered similar descriptions of the object.
Machinist Ricky Sorrells said friends made fun of him when he told them he saw a flat, metallic object hovering about 300 feet over a pasture behind his Dublin home. But he decided to come forward after reading similar accounts in the Stephenville Empire-Tribune.
“You hear about big bass or big buck in the area, but this is a different deal,” Sorrells said. “It feels good to hear that other people saw something, because that means I’m not crazy.”
Sorrells said he has seen the object several times. He said he watched it through his rifle’s telescopic lens and described it as very large and without seams, nuts or bolts.
Maj. Karl Lewis, a spokesman for the 301st Fighter Wing at the Joint Reserve Base Naval Air Station in Fort Worth, said no F-16s or other aircraft from his base were in the area the night of Jan. 8, when most people reported the sighting. —Continued at MSNBC
A news channel covers locals’ response with a little bit of citizen journalism:
And not surprisingly, Larry King (no relation!) gets his paws in this jar:
What do you think?
4 comments July 30, 2008
No Further Features May Be Posted
THE FOLLOWING POSTS WERE ON TIME – NO LATE EXCEPTIONS!
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Ambiguously Satire: Stephen Colbert the Satirist in the Newsroom |
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Crossing the Bridge to Green: the real solution to America’s energy crisis |
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Add comment July 28, 2008
“War, Peace and Love”
If one were to turn to the wedding section of any newspaper in any town the images staring back at the reader would be that of a similar nature. A man holding his smiling wife by the hand both knowing that this picture would be the cornerstone of their wedding album to be presented to their future children and quite possibly like their love live on through the sands of time. It has been this way for many years and will continue to be popular within the traditions of America. What if one where to flip through the newspaper and see pictures of a different sort? A picture of two men or two women in held in the same embrace of love with the wedding date set below them is not a sight commonly associated with the wedding columns of main stream newspapers.
The fight for gay marriage has been long and has led to the creation of much turmoil within communities around the United States of America. Some may even say it has sparked a war within the system. It is a war that has led many to take up sides for what they believe to be the just cause. The battle grounds are the courts and churches of the states that stand for equality and freedom and the tolerance of allowing its citizens to question its laws.
Province town, Massachusetts is one of such battlegrounds that on May, 17 2004, were the first state to legally permit gay marriage. The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled it a violation of constitutional rights to not allow its citizens to marry within their own gender. However, the ruling in Mass clearly states that the marriage between a man and a man or a woman and a woman is only legal within the states border and those wishing to be married must be residents of the state or planning to relocate permanently to it. The marriage between same sex couples is not solely based on the need for acceptance among their fellow citizens. It goes beyond that and enters into the area of benefits and legal rights that are obtained when the license of marriage is issued.
Imagine a heterosexual couple that has been together for forty years. One works full time and the other is a stay at home parent or holds a job that pays less or alone will not accommodate the lifestyle in witch they live. They are entitled to each others life insurance policies and benefits that are specifically set aside for married couples. If one of them was to die suddenly or be hurt on the job the surviving member of the marriage would then be entitled to the benefits of their deceased spouse.
Now imagine a gay couple that has been together ten years longer than this such as Phyllis Lydon (83) and Del Martin (87) of San Francisco County who after fifty years together are now finally allowed the benefits of a straight couple. They were officially pronounced “spouses” for life at San Francisco city hall on 6/16 when California who was to follow Massachusetts put into affect the law that allowed the union of gay couples to take effect. Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco stated on the steps of city hall shortly after the union that “This is an extraordinary moment in history and an extraordinary moment in time.” ”They are extraordinary people who have lived extraordinary lives and spent half a century fighting for justice and equality.” This couple was the first to spark a chain of same sex marriages that took place later that week in Los Angels County, Alameda county and San Francisco County. In the case of Massachusetts it is reported that fifty six percent of the state was in favor of gay marriage.
As it is well known that in a war there are two sides. The opposition consists of groups such as the American Family Association known as the AFA for short. The AFA has recently declared a boycott on such companies as McDonalds who donated 20,000 dollars to the Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. They are backed by churches like the one run by Pastor Ken Phelps of Kansas. One of his followers reportedly brought two of her children to the San Francisco ceremony celebrating the new law and sang songs of hate to the on looking crowds. Others have come out on their own condemning same sex marriage like Luong Do who drove to San Francisco and held up signs that said “Homo sex is a threat to National Security.”
Although places like Province Town and San Francisco are strongholds for the gay community, not every gay couple wants to vacate there. Sometimes the ordinary is what people with same sex attractions look for. And yet tourists flaunt to the lights and action in Province town, community residents are their because of acceptance and knowing that their well being can be derived from people alike. Dawn Gilliam a mother of one and open lesbian in Hunting Station, New York goes to where everyday life occurs. She states, “It’s not about marriage being in the spotlight for gay couples as much as it is their lifestyle.” Some people just don’t need the social acceptance to be in a legit and loving relationship. Stars in Hollywood may flaunt their sexuality and showcase it to society but that is because they have the economic support that many average people don’t have.
Katie and Tony Johansson are one of the few straight couples who tied the knot in Massachusetts. This doesn’t mean that one has to be gay to get married there. The fact that the pastor that married them was wearing a rainbow neck ornament did make any difference in their feelings for each other. This promoted the realism that marriage is something that while economically important is also the union of two loving people.
Laura Kordowski
1 comment July 27, 2008
How Y’all Get Some Political Fixin’s
As of late, the ways in which news is distributed are ever changing. Although the media format in which news is delivered has been a major focus in recent times, the feathers of journalism itself have been ruffled by satirical comedians such as Jon Stewart, Steven Colbert, and Bill Maher. These outspoken comedians have recently taken up a role of both informational value and integrity while offering up political news stories.
In a recent telephone interview, I had the chance to pick the brain of Ellen Graser, a 20 year old film student who is a regular viewer of both “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report.” When I asked her about her sources for news, she first mentioned reading the New York Times a few times per week. After pausing for a second, possibly from being embarrassed to admit this, Graser conceded that most of her political wherewithal came from the two political satirists she watched regularly- Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert.
“I don’t realize how much I’m, well, learning,” Graser says, “at least not until I’m having a conversation with someone about politics.”
In fact, in a survey conducted in April of 2007, The Pew Research Center found that 16% of those surveyed reported regularly watching “The Daily Show” and “Colbert Report.” Of those viewers, the survey showed that 31% were college graduates while 26% were between the ages of 18 and 29.
A few days after interviewing Ms .Graser, I had the opportunity to speak to another 20 year old college student, Scott Krevat. This interview went in a slightly different direction as Krevat is not a regular viewer of either programs, but rather gets his news from websites such as Reuters.com and AP.org. When I asked him about what he thought about political satirists delivering real information and news, Krevat said, “I think if it’ll get out there in a different way, then so be it.” He went on to tell me that while political satirists may not necessarily deliver news in a better or more informative way than traditional news sources, they are indeed “just as informing as normal news.”
One of the main objectives of traditional satire is to bring important issues to light. While many people perceive satire as plain sarcasm or humor, it is much more often in the form of a witty remark or statement. In her article entitled “Smart satire skewers dumb politics; Spotlight,” Patricia Maunder makes a point when she writes that “The Colbert Report…can easily be taken as pure comic fun. But the combination of improv and tight scripting delivers some searing insights.”
That is exactly the job of good, strong political satire. While The Pew Research Center’s survey states that “the fact that a particular news source’s audience is very knowledgeable does not mean that people learned all that they know from that source.” The good news is that may not be all that matters. The upside to this all is in the extra exposure to real political issues. Shows like “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” are on the air for their values in entertainment and comedy, yet the Pew Research Center’s survey revealed that 54% of these shows’ regular viewers could be classified as having a high knowledge category. To be in the high knowledge level, the respondents had to answer at least fifteen of twenty three questions regarding politics and current affairs correctly.
“Satire doesn’t make the weak strong, it simply gives vent to their frustration and contempt,” writes Simon Edge in his article “Parodies that keep politicians on their toes.” Edge goes on to discuss the ups and downs of political satire; he writes about political disaster as well as success drawn from satire. An important note that Edge highlights is “that satirists really ought to know as much about politics as the politicians.”
It would be too simple to state how intelligent and witty a satirist needs to be in order to be successful in today’s world. Comedians like Stewart, Colbert, and Maher are all continuing on their courses for success, but we must be careful to not brush them off as simple comedians. With satirists making a push for seriousness, the task at hand is becoming clearer. Al Franken has been in the limelight for some time now. After leaving Saturday Night Live and writing a number of satirical books on politics, Franken is now in a race for a seat in the United States Senate for Minnesota. It is clear now that satirists are more than they are generally given credit for.
-adam michaelson
2 comments July 27, 2008
Shall we marry them?
Why do people get married? Individuals get married as symbols of love forever. It’s without my eternal love that we stay together through the negative and positives of our marriage. Marriage is not just a certified document signed by two people. It is a contract that two people make together, with their community and country.
I want you now to imagine your life without the possibility of marriage. More importantly I want you to re-enter your childhood but remember miniscule things such as your first kiss, first date and your first sexual encounter. Now think about any of those experiences that lead you to believe anything serious could have came of it, but think about knowing that marrying was not an option. Gen-Y.org reported findings based on exit Pew polls estimated 47 percent of adults ages 18-25 support allowing gay and lesbians to marry.
The current state of gay marriage in the United States is alive and changing the way we as a people view marriage life all together. When is the last time you heard about domesticate violence between a gay married couple? Yes, me either. Find gale group.com reports, “1.5 million a year are assaulted by their current husband or boyfriend, one in three children are born outside marriage, and so on.” Isabelle Belneau says, “ They love each other. To walk down the streets as a couple knowing the stares and comments behind there backs. That’s why you don’t hear about violence between one another they really love each other.
The only state that allows gay marriage is Massachusetts. Other states such as Connecticut, New Jersey and Vermont perform civil unions. Civil Unions is a legal status created by the state of Vermont in 2000 and in California. It provides legal protection to couples at the state law level, but omits federal protections as well as the dignity, clarity, security and power of the world marriage yffn.org.
Other states such as New York and New Mexico are classified under “Law Silent,” meaning same sex couples that wish to marry can because there is no law banning the act of marriage but there also is no recognition of the marriage. In France the country recognizes an agreement is only recognized by France and offers all unmarried couples, same-sex and opposites sex couples a legal status carrying some but not all the benefits of marriage.
There are many forms of family but as a result of modern industrial society” the modern phenomenon of the nuclear family came to light. Nuclear family includes immediate blood relatives. But with different situations come different types of families such as single parent families, co-habitating couples of unmarried heterosexual adults who chose not to marry but may also be raising other children and same-sex couples rearing children. The ties between members of family are growing weaker at very quicker pace with disaster at its footsteps. Especially, for children because soon after there lives end in delinquency and crime, sexual promiscuity education lack of employment. Not to mention physical, emotional and mental problems. As stated by usatoday.com gay marriage is also said to raise social stability by rewards of strain of social conservatism that benefits families, school, workplaces and congregation.
Research is also suggesting that in California revenue is greatly increasing due to gay marriage. According to articles.latimes.com, by some estimates, weddings and commitment ceremonies for same-sex couples generate $1 billion a year in revenue. Rings, suits, and all things not normally bought for a party is what’s generating this yearly revenue. Gay marriages are being thrown in California and cost is not being spared. Same-sex couples have been waiting for the okay to throw their huge parties and now they have it. A media and entertainment agency called PlanetOut conducted a survey about gay and lesbians and concluded that gay consumers earn 20% more than their straight counterparts, on average, and spend about 10% more on nuptials. (articles.latimes.com)
“I’ve always wanted to get married, and I resent people who may not even know any same-sex couples making decisions she said. I believe this is a civil rights issue.”(gen-y.org) America takes all this time criticizing and trying to help other countries better themselves, how about its own people? How about our civil rights? Do they not know they effect our civil rights when they tell us with whom we can and cannot marry? Conservative Americans might as well define themselves as civil rights violations. America needs marriage in its society and the best way is to encourage gay marriage in our circle.
Accepting gay marriage does not impinge on religious or moral values; it just recognizes it as a civil right. The ability to separate church and state allows citizens to live how they please even if they choose to live differently than the young man across the hall or the lady in another state. Who I marry should be my decision not the states.
-belfort
1 comment July 27, 2008
Homosexuals, gays, lesbians. Let them marry.
Ok let’s get real. If you ask around, most of “us” especially the generation Y population are in favor for gay marriage and equal rights for homosexuals. This brings us to one of the most controversial issues among America today. The “gays.” There are still many issues people want to know, questions need to be answered. Will society actually benefit from gay marriage? Perhaps. Or most importantly, is gay marriage changing “traditional” current marital sanctions? But, in my opinion there is still one question that concerns me, do we still agree with the notion that all same-sex loving, committed couples can marry?
I believe, clearly and fully that most same-sex couples, along with the gay and lesbian population would marry if same-sex marriage was legal. In a recent study the California Supreme Court concluded that gay marriage will be good for the economy. The study says that same-sex weddings will give California just that boost it needs, also creating about 2,200 additional jobs. The California study also says that same-sex couples should add about $684 million to the state’s wedding business.The study estimates that half of California’s 100,000 gay couples will marry over the next three years and on average about 70,000 come from out-of-state.
Since we know how same-sex marriage can be beneficial for the economy. We can now move on to how it is “good for gays.” A recent article by Gay Patriot, shows that gay institutions “can provide role models for gay people, after the exhileration of coming out, can easily lapse into short-term realationships and insecurity with no tangible goal in sight.” If its not obvious, marriage can provide homosexuals with legal benefits like health insurance, but most gays look for a sense of social acceptance. So why are so many Americans bothered by it? Could it be the fact that they just don’t want to see it? If two people care about each other, who cares if they are straight or not?
Author and homosexual activist Jonathan Rauch, argues that “gay marriage is not so much a civil rights issue as a civil responsibility issue.” Rauch claims, that each gay person is an individual seeking a good life. Just like the rest of us straight people who have happiness and good health, gays deserve it too. It should be a way of life that we should not object to give. Like many others of my generation, Rauch also believes same-sex marriage will “dignify gay love and sex as it has done straight love and sex.”
A close relative of mine, Tamara, 28, when faced with the question-what is the difference between gay and straight marriage? She simply replied, gender, religion, and the law. Tamara who is for gay marriage believes every human deserves the right to love, without discrimination like many people still do.
As to the idea of “traditional” marriage—the nuclear family was not seen in the USA until the early years of the 20th century. And even in the past hundred years, there have been many households that did not fit that model, like divorced and mixed family marriages. So will same-sex marriage weaken traditional marriage? Now, we do not know if gay marriage can actually improve or weaken traditional marriage. Gays marrying or not marrying should not have any impact upon the marriages of straight couples. A close friend of mine Katherine, 22, believes that same-sex marriage may actually influence straight couples to get married, as it can remind people that marriage is an important sanction between two people who share love for one another.
This brings up the reason why gay marriage would be a bad thing, and it is the same reason straight marriage is already a bad thing for many; people are not involved not true. Many people may not be prepared to deliver on their promises whether its was to stay faithful or deliver on financial affairs. Some people who do not believe in same-sex marriage in the United States claim that allowing gays and lesbians to marry would risk the institution of marriage, weaken families, and cause harm to children or loved ones.
We should ask ourselves, what really is marriage? Can the two words “I Do” change the way society views us? Can gays really “marry” without being discriminated? Those who are serious about gay marriage should not have to prove themselves to anyone, and maybe same-sex marriage can change American culture. If gay marriage is to have any meaning, society should not limit love to just man and woman.
–Raquel Ortega
Add comment July 27, 2008
Ambiguously Satire: Stephen Colbert the Satirist in the Newsroom
Ryan Hendricks
Satire is often a part of a comedic routine. However, due to the increasing convergence of media, satire has been making its way into broadcast journalism. “I often get my news from The Stephen Colbert Report with Stephen Colbert or The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, to be honest,” said Sean Hendricks, an 18 year-old college freshman. The Pew Research Center found that only 11% of those ages 18 to 29 regularly watch The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. This begs the question: what is the impact of satirical news on the youth population?
Stephen Colbert is a well known comedian who currently is the host of The Stephen Colbert Report, which is a show airing from Monday through Friday on Comedy Central. Mr. Colbert’s big break came when Saturday Night Live bought his satirical comedy sketch called The Ambiguously Gay Duo. This sketch pokes fun at homosexual superhero’s named Ace and Gary. Mr. Colbert played the voice of Ace throughout the entire series. His next big break came in 1997 when he was asked to play a part-time role on The Daily Show. His success on The Daily Show eventually earned him his own show called The Stephen Colbert Report, which has been running on Comedy Central Since 2005.
On television Mr. Colbert plays the role of a right-wing cable news personality. This character role allows Mr. Colbert to poke fun at many of the day’s major news stories. Colbert uses satire to show all shades of the political spectrum; through playing a right-wing personality he is able to give the one side of the story, and by then using satirical comedy he is able to show how the left views this issue. However, Jon Stewart and his colleague Stephen Colbert are far from journalists, and do not place the same emphasis on objectivity. Through making fun the right-wing Mr. Colbert seems to marginalize the conservative viewpoint for the sake of satire.
However, to his credit Mr. Colbert is often the media personality that most effectively performs the essential media function of government watchdog. Using satire as a cover, he is able to shed light on issues that other more formal journalist refuse to touch. This was most evident during the 2006 White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in which Mr. Colbert used satire to make important political statements. While most journalist were praising the President, Colbert used his satirical routine to attack President George W. Bush for leading the country in a direction that was at odds with the will of the American people, and he also attacked the media for not shedding a light on President Bush’s dastardly deeds. By watching The Stephen Colbert Report citizens often get to see a part of the story that would otherwise go unreported by the mainstream media.
Mr. Colbert has successfully used a form of ambiguous satire to successfully shed light on important issues. Some other journalists have seen the success of The Stephen Colbert Report and have copied his technique; most notably Keith Olbermann host of MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann who each night airs a segment called “The Worst Person in the World”. Keith Olbermann like many others in the business have realized that comedy can play an important role in how we get our news. Apparently, 11% of our 18-29 year-old population has already discovered the importance of satire in the newsroom. Through realizing the importance that satire plays in exposing unsavory activities, the youth have opened themselves up to another stream of consciousness that allows them to make more informed decisions.
Add comment July 27, 2008
What are the alternatives?
Two weeks ago oil was at $145 a barrel putting a gallon of gas at a little of 4.23. We see oil as a primary source of energy but we hear every day that there are alternatives to oil but what are these alternatives? Who will end up paying the price? There is coal, nuclear, wind, and solar energy but how do they work and what effects will it have on the environment.
When people hear of nuclear energy some of the things that come to mind is the atomic bomb, deadly radiation, alongside three mile island and Chernobyl. Nuclear energy is one of the leading form of alternative energy in France which is 75% of the energy that they produce in their country. Did you know the United States has over 100 nuclear facilities and gives us 20% of our energy. Unlike the nuclear bomb the energy in a power plant is contained and created through nuclear fission. Nuclear fission is a process by which they take an isotope known as Uranium 238 and bombard it with many atoms, as these atoms become bombarded they split and hit other U-238 atoms making a reaction which yields a large amount of energy.
One of the positive sides of nuclear energy is that it does not put carbon in the atmosphere unlike fossil fuels and its waste is generally easy to dispose of. The problem with nuclear is you hear the same thing from people saying that they would not want a nuclear power plant in their backyard. This is do to the fear that is put into them by years of hearing about nuclear disaster and the threat of a terrorist attack on nuclear power facilities. Although since the mid 1970’s no nuclear power plants have not been built due to environmentalists. This has stopped the production of new plants that would be more efficient and cost effective alongside safer.
Nuclear power has its waste highly regulated by the government as the waste from this product is sent underground. Nuclear waste passes through areas by trucks which is a big scare for people who are afraid of a nuclear explosion. Nuclear waste does not yield a nuclear reaction as in the case of the nuclear bomb if there is a crash with a truck with nuclear waste the effects of nuclear radiation occur over long periods of time and will not have any short term effects on the environment.
What is the future of nuclear energy in the Untied States and as well as the world? Well the next step seems to be a reaction know as nuclear fusion. The best way to see nuclear fusion is just the the sun, nuclear fusion occurs as a giant mass takes in hydrogen and at high temperatures produces high yields of energy. The main problem with nuclear fusion is that it we can not reach a temperature that is as high as the sun. The next best thing we can do is cold fusion which occurs at a colder temperature but yields the same result. Unlike nuclear fission or coal this releases nearly no harmful waste materials and has such a high output of energy it would replace almost all other fuel sources.
50 percent of energy in the United States come from coal, this is a statistic that shocks most people as they only see coal as something to heat their barbecues with and wouldn’t think it would be viable as a reliant power source. In the US we have the largest amount of coal supplies and is a lot more clean than many people think of. The main problem with coal is that it is hard to mine coal and leads to many deaths of people mining it. Another problem is that when you burn coal you put sulfur dioxide in the air, luckily we have better techniques now that allow less sulfur dioxide into the air then we did 50 years ago. Also the United States has enough coal for the next 200-300 years which makes it viable to use as we shift away from oil in the coming years.
Wind and Solar are two technologies that are up and coming and provide energy sources that rely on the environment to power us and produce no environmental risks. Solar energy is basically harnessing the awesome power of the sun and putting it to work. Scientists say that the the sun puts out 1360J of energy per second in to a meter squared of area on a surface. Today solar panels are used to absorb this energy to try to use it to heat homes alongside other energy sources. The main problem is that solar cells are highly inefficient and can only have an efficiency rating in the teens of percentages.
With wind power we use windmills to catch the power of the wind so we can turn a turbine to produce energy. People think this is a good idea but objection comes from people who live out in the areas that windmill farms are not pleasant to look at. These last two forms of energy have not produced the kind of energy needed for the demands of the American people.
-Matt Fischofer
1 comment July 27, 2008
Crossing the Bridge to Green: the real solution to America’s energy crisis
Crossing the Bridge to Green: the Real Solutions to America’s Energy Crisis
With oil over four dollars a gallon, many Americans are pleading for a quick fix to our growing energy problems that have reached a peak in 2008. How ever, this is an unrealistic request, seeing as it will take many steps to quench our thirst for oil and the new energies we so desperately crave. With promising technologies like cellulosic ethanol, wind, and solar energies twenty to thirty years away from having any effect, many experts suggest building a bridge to green. Though controversial, experts show just how cost efficient, quickly effective, and surprisingly environmentally friendly these solutions are.
Lets start with a button pushing issue: Offshore drilling. As of right now, president George W. Bush lifted a 27-year executive ban on offshore oil drilling. This decision came in reaction to record high prices at the pump, which were driven up due to speculation and weaning supply. Currently, 700 billion dollars of our money is being sent to hostile nations like Iran and Saudi Arabia for foreign oil. These nations refuse to increase production despite the growing worldwide crisis. In fact, king Abdullah of Saudi Arabia attributed the reasoning of his decision due to the “selfish interest, and increased consumption” of the west. Speculators see these hostile sentiments of the mid-east as ample opportunity to bet that oil prices will rise (often contributing to rising prices themselves). These problems combined equate to the suffering of oil addicted Americans at the pump. “The higher cost of energy is not just affecting Americans through the price of a gallon of gas, it’s affecting the cost to put food on their table”, says John Derrick, director of research at U.S. global investors. So, with 83% of Americans in approval of permanently lifting the ban, is it time to do so?
(CNN poling data, July 2008 )
The economic benefits of such a decision are clear: quick relief. Since the ban was lifted a week and a half ago (July 2008), crude prices dropped from 147 dollars to 123 dollars a barrel, according to market data. There is an estimated 116 billion barrels worth of oil in the OCS (outer continental shelf). Scientists from Exxon-Mobil say that some of this oil could be available within one to two years. Yet, the democratically controlled congress won’t budge. Their argument is not as compelling as it once sounded. Congress claims that the oil will not be available for ten or more years. This is false, according to scientists who have studied the area (OCS) extensively. Another faction of their argument is that oil companies already have 68 million acres of land to drill. The land has been proven to be an uncertain supplier, and possibly dried up. This has been proven due to technology that reads electromagnetic waves in the earth’s crust that detects crude reserves. Regardless of when the oil is usable from the OCS, it will bring down prices (as it has shown through the recent decline in crude prices). Speculators cannot rely on conflicts in Africa and the mid-east for reasons to bet on a rise in prices, because we will dictate our own oil market. We will have the measures in place to control our own oil production until we have alternative energy at our hands.
Aside from the fact that drilling in the OCS is cost efficient and effective, many feel it is not environmentally friendly. This is surprisingly untrue. The ban was originally set in place to combat the poorly maintained facilities on the OCS back in the 70s. Since that time, we have seen improving technology that have attributed to safer, more environmentally friendly practices. (CNN report) Since the 70s, we have seen drastic declines in oil spills from rigs. Barrels that have dropped into the sea have declined from 1,000,000 in the 70s to under 1,000 after the turn of the 21st century. In fact, only 1% of oil in the sea is attributed to rigs offshore. The majority of oil in the sea is due to tankers importing oil. (Recent study performed by the U.S. department of interior, Mineral management service, Pacific OCS). In ANWR, many residents are for the drilling in their region. According to ANWR.org, these are some of the reasons:
Only 8% of ANWR would be considered for exploration, 250,000-735,000 jobs would be created, Prudhoe Bay (explored land) studies show that there is no direct impact on animals, such as the caribou (who went from 3,000 to 32,000 animals since exploration). With these perspectives, it is tough to argue that the technology is environmentally unfriendly.
Another hot button issue is an essential piece of the bridge to green: Nuclear energy.
The founder of Greenpeace, Patrick Moore, says, “nuclear energy … remains the only practical, safe, and environmentally-friendly means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and addressing energy security.” Nuclear plants emit zero carbon dioxide into the environment. Unlike Nuclear plants, old, coal-fired plants contribute to 93% of nitrogen oxide, 96% of Sulfur dioxide, 88% of carbon dioxide, and 99% of mercury emissions, according to the U.S. clean air council. How ever, many environmentalists fear another disaster, like Chernobyl or Three Mile Island. Both of these disasters occurred due to poor design and maintenance. As of right now, over 400 nuclear reactors have operated every day without serious incident (100 of those reactors in the U.S. already). In fact 1/3rd of the cost goes to maintenance and infrastructure safety.
The environmentally safe features are proven, but what about the cost? A single facility costs around 11 billion dollars to build. Also, in order to meet with regulations, facilities have to update their reactors every 10-20 years, costing additional billions. It is not impossible to afford though. Many countries, like France have heavily relied on nuclear energy. 79% of their energy is from nuclear energy alone, and much of that is exported. When compared to the continually rising costs of solar panels, nuclear energy comes in much cheaper according to Patrick Moore. Also, nuclear power, like in other countries is subsidized, ultimately decreasing the cost.
Environmentally friendly, but a bit expensive to maintain, nuclear energy has proven already that it is a viable source of alternative energy. France has built functionally safe facilities in five years time. This means we could have clean energy that could fuel our homes and businesses as soon as 2012! The U.S. already has 100 reactors. Yet, we will need even more to make an impact.
Finally, one will need to eventually have more fuel-efficient cars in addition to wind, and solar energies. How ever, many car companies are only just beginning to switch green, as plummeting SUV sales call for a change. In Europe, they pay ten dollars a gallon for gas! Their cars are very fuel efficient, getting well over 30 MPG rated. American companies like GM and Ford build many of these cars. With the increase in production of these fuel efficient and smart cars, we can start seeing changes soon. First, legislation will need to be passed in order to prevent car companies from manufacturing cars under 30 MPG. Both candidates have a plan to make this possible. By 2012, all major car companies will have electric cars, and fuel-efficient vehicles to reduce consumption of oil regardless of any legislation. (NY auto show) In order to allow ethanol to replace oil, it will take at least 30 years. Ethanol is also very expensive (more so than oil – at its average price before 2008). It would also outsource a lot of farming in order to meet production needs. How ever, like Nuclear power, the benefits are clear. Brazil took hint at the embargo of the 70s and is completely reliant on ethanol. Like the cars being produced now here in the U.S., Brazil’s cars are flex-fuel vehicles (vehicles that can run on alternative fuels). With the car companies and farmers working together, Brazil’s success can be ours by 2030. The only con is being able to produce ethanol on farms without disrupting the production of other necessities like food. Researchers are working on a way to synthesize production in order to combat with this problem. Although solar and wind are cutting edge as well, these alternatives cannot yield enough power alone to fuel the U.S. (according to recent studies) Hopefully with enough research, we can find a way to combine solar, wind, and even hydro energy in a cost efficient and productive matter.
So, as for now the future is ethanol, and nuclear power. Both have proven to be the most effective, cost-efficient, environmentally friendly cures to America’s oil addiction. How ever, it will take some time, as that particular future is over 30 years away. So, for now we need to make the bridge to green by domesticating oil production and bringing down the prices of crude. After that, it will be up to us to increase fuel efficiency in the vehicles we drive. This will allow us to cut back on oil, and use less of our own product. Simultaneously we need to give incentives to our investment class, in order to make them put the necessary funds behind ethanol and green energy research. America is at war with it’s self. We need to stop the partisan politics and free Americans from the strangle hold of the gas pumps; and that starts here and now, with the facts about the real non-partisan, spin-free future of energy.
Mary Kate
3 comments July 27, 2008
NCLB II: Who Really Knows What’s Best?
No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) forces low-income students to be “test-takers” and learn rote tasks which, some say, are preparing them for a life low-skilled jobs and poverty while students in mid to high-income households are being prepared to be creative thinkers. With the upcoming reauthorization of NCLB and upcoming presidency, there are a lot of opinionated individuals. Have a conversation with a future policy maker, two high school teachers and a potential high school teacher and you can see everybody thinks they know what’s best for our children, but does anybody really?
Some say it’s a law that looks good on paper but its primary purpose is lost in translation or difficult to put into fruition.
Like many times before, many political observers predict that the Republican and Democratic parties will not be able to make a decision on the reauthorization of the law because it has so many intricacies such as making a school day longer to give kids time to meet the standards or giving more money to low-income schools.
Presidential candidate Barack Obama fully supports the law, but says it wasn’t executed as best as possible. If he makes it as our nation’s President, you will see the law, but with more flexibility in the application process for a student who is zoned for a “bad” school to be bused in to a “better” school.
“I do not like the idea of school choice for all who want it simply because people buy houses in areas where the schools are better. It is not fair for them because the schools will be overcrowded. This may sound harsh but you should go where you are zoned. If the schools aren’t good where you live, maybe our parents shouldn’t have had kids if they couldn’t afford them,” says a Long Island High School teacher who wants to remain anonymous.
A policy major at Nassau Community College says, “It’s a problem that we are running away from the problem.” He then continues in the other direction, “It leaves behind the children who need the help the most.”
Obama also would want to move away from traditional testing as well making the way students show what they know more of a holistic assessment, instead of one test score, which is helpful for students with disabilities and English Language Learners, who may show what they know in multiple ways, instead of a standardized test.
Presidential candidate John McCain also supports the law and even voted for the law as a senator. He believes it is a good beginning but still requires some changes such as testing children with disabilities and English language learners.
With so much money spent on education, the latest authorization may also offer more time students to meet the standards, costing $150 million a year, approximately $1,200-$1,400 per pupil a year.
John Giangrasso, a 25 year old, who is working towards becoming a high school teacher, says, “It may sound like a lot, but it doesn’t. It should be $500 million.”
“What John might not realize is the paycheck he will be receiving and the lack of it if and when yet more tax money is taken out of his already measly paycheck to sponsor such endeavors,” says fourth year special education teacher, Vicky Young.
So, with NCLB already being highly debatable among the masses, some zero in even more, focusing on the low-income students, and how this law effects them, their communities and the people who teach, or will, teach them.
Primary criticism says that NCLB can reduce effective learning because it makes teachers “teach to the test” and Vicky Young agrees. “There is no time for a teacher to want to expand on any topic because they are always preparing for a standardized test, or even a standardized practice of a standardized test. You don’t have time to build model roller coasters out of pipe insulation to teach acceleration and force or create a monster coordinate grid in the playground with chalk that they could walk on. That would be seen as “fun” and when my kids (students) were seen by the principal doing these things, who would get in trouble? Me. These are the kinds of things that get kids going, especially the kids where I work, in East New York, who could care less about test prep!”
She does believe that we are preparing low-income students how to have low-skilled jobs. But she has to stop herself, because she knows her special education students are already at a disadvantage, aside from being poor. “I think for some, we just have to focus on showing them how to attain and maintain a better quality of life for themselves, and it’s definitely not perfecting quadratic equations.”
But shouldn’t children in every school in this nation be taught the same material so they have the same opportunities? Right now, each state has different state standards. Our policy student feels the states should have autonomy and have different standards. “It’s a sticky situation that should be up to the state of New York how to spend it.”
Will education ever have simple answers? Probably not. We all come from different places and have had different experiences that shape us to disagree with even ourselves when it comes to education policy. Maybe we should leave it to the kids.
Product Of Your Environment: Different Perspectives From Different People
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John Giangrasso, Future High School Teacher |
Nassau Community College Policy Student |
Vicky Young, Special Education Teacher (4 years), low-income school |
Long Island High School teacher (10 years) |
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Age |
25 |
20 |
28 |
33 |
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Schooled at |
Valley Stream Public Schools, Community College |
Lawrence Public Schools, attended college in London |
Queens Public and Catholic Schools, was a NYC Teaching Fellow |
Flushing Public Schools, has two masters including school administration |
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Continuing arts and music in schools |
Against “When you graduate, arts and music will do nothing. I know because I was caught up on it and you’ll never be able to support yourself.”
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For “It lets people’s minds work differently. Finland’s schools focus on play and discovering the world on their own and their test scores are the highest in the world.” |
For “Studies have shown that kids who have art and music in their classrooms, do better in all of their classes because it gives them self-esteem.” |
Mixed “I don’t like limiting kid’s experiences. On the other hand, I can understand because we need to teach them to read, write, count and some higher order thinking. It’s great if a kid can sing, paint, or play an instrument, but, many consider that a hobby.” |
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Should there be merit pay for teachers of students who score high? |
Yes “That’s how they do it in the business world.” |
Yes “Teachers won’t get better without motivation.” He once had a (high school) teacher say, “I would love to stay and help you, but I would be breaking my contract.” |
No “It doesn’t take into account students with disabilities, and I would never get that raise!” |
No “This will cause teachers to cheat so they can get their bonus. Do you really blame them? What if you teach lower levels of kids? How about special ed? They will never see merit money.” |
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Did your schools prepare you? |
No “I don’t think my high school prepared me for shit. There was no emphasis on work and the future. I did awful at Nassau Community College at first.” |
Yes |
Yes “For me, I had a mixture of gifted classes, private and public schools, progressive and traditional teachers. I think the diversity helped me a lot.” |
Yes “I didn’t do crap in school but I always listened and always did well on tests. I wasn’t lazy, I just didn’t see the point in some assignments. I did fine.” |
Catherine Livigni
Add comment July 27, 2008
Gay Marriage: It’s in the Numbers
John Giangrasso Intro to Journalism
Prof. King 7/26/08
Gay Marriage: It’s in the Numbers
The statistics are alarming and speak for themselves. Half of all marriages end in divorce, 1.5 million women a year are assaulted by their current or former boyfriends, one in three children are born outside marriage, 9.68 million female single parent homes, three children a day die from child abuse and neglect and each year an estimated one million cases of suspected child abuse and neglect are substantiated. Seldom has the political manipulation of an issue been so great but as soon as the statistics behind family breakdown are raised in public, the ideological debate about the ideal family form ensues.
The three different views being debated in the churches on this issue are exploring new rites of church “blessings” for gay and lesbian couples commited to lifelong relationships, others want sacramental inclusion and most Christians still believe that the sacrament and theology of the church on marriage shouldn’t be altered. Both sides of the argument have succeeded in overstating the issue. Conservatives relating homosexual marriage to the end of Western Civilization is unfounded and some liberals say that resolving the issues of gay unions is morally equivalent to the issues of racism, apartheid, and the Holocaust. They blew it out of proportion.
So the question I want to know is whether the history of family dynamics and the statistics associated with them suggest that possibly the nuclear family is an unrealistic and unwarranted ideal form of union? Furthermore, what impact if any gay marriage can and will in the future have on the nuclear family dynamics which are already in bad shape? According to an editorial in the Salt Lake Tribune called Statistical Census Findings: Traditional Married Couples are Better Off by any Available Standard, “The latest census data show that the traditional family — a married couple and their children — constitute just a little less than one-fourth of all households. On the other hand, such families constituted just a little more than one-fourth of all families a decade ago. Any reports of the demise of the traditional family are greatly exaggerated.”
So what are the most common causes for marriages failing? A survey of experienced divorce lawyers who have been elected by their peers to the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers broke it down for us. Poor communication, financial problems, a lack of commitment to the marriage, a dramatic change in priorities and infidelity topped the list. The other causes seen a lot but not as often were failed expectations or unmet needs, addictions and substance abuse, physical, sexual or emotional abuse and a lack of conflict resolution skills. The only thing I couldn’t seem to find on the list was the high amount of divorces due to the relentless pressure felt by families in the form of gay marriages or civil unions breaking them down externally.
In his editorial, “No New Gays” Bill Maher says, “nobody seems to find it abominable about Britney Spears tounging Madonna…or anything else on the third shelf of my “library”. No, in America when a man puts something in another man it had better be a bullet.” Although it’s hysterical it does point out the fact that gay and lesbian acts are already right out in the open in our culture in the form of movies, TV shows and even professional athletes. When Conservatives talk about the moral degeneration brought on by homosexual values and how much of an impact they are having they fail to bring up one thing. In recent years the personal computer and the internet have become a phenomenon that spread faster than anyone could have imagined. It has transformed many industries for good, in some cases making people rich beyond their wildest dreams but for the mass populace a replacement. Yet what is the most visited website on the internet: porn. So much for the moral degeneration, we’re already there.
I talked to Pattie Daly of Rockville Centre whose brother is a homosexual. I asked her what she felt about her own brother being involved in a gay marriage and she said, “I would be completely relieved. He would no longer be in my hair.” I had to laugh but then she said, “he would have someone, company he desperately needs. Some people are gay by their innate nature and they shouldn’t be scrutinized to have a family life because of who they are.” I asked her what her initial reaction was when she first found out her brother was gay and she said, “I wasn’t surprised. I don’t care that he’s gay I care that he’s cheap. I don’t care what his sexual preference.” Her son Dan was there and he said, “That two gay men should not be allowed to be parents because then the child will be ridicule and find it won’t relate as well to the majority who are heterosexual couples.” Even between a mother and son we see that this issue touches as at our core and most people will voice their opinions openly on this topic.
The states themselves will ultimately resolve the legal and civil issues through legislative proceedings. One thing is for sure. Politicians and anyone with a vested interest in seeing us divided as a nation will polarize this issue to further tear us apart as a community and highlight what makes us different to keep us from rising up against all the other social intolerances that are over looked by this silly issue.
Add comment July 27, 2008
Gay Marriage… What are the Alternatives?
What is it like to grow up gay in a predominantly straight and homophobic world? Gay children struggle to envision a future that includes marriage, family, and children. Gay children who grow up in America face a serious dilemma; if they assert their sexual identity for all to see, they run the risk of public scorn, alienation from family, and civil rights discrimination. On the other hand, if they hide their sexual identity and pretend to be straight, they enjoy all the benefits that society has to offer straight people but are forced to live with a private pain that often leads to alcohol abuse, drug addiction, severe depression and in some cases suicide. Recently the topic of gay marriage has arisen as a civil rights issue and has generated a heated debate among gay activists, and religious fundamentalists primarily. Marilyn Maxwell, a former Hewlett High School English teacher, and the only openly gay person in school district 14, illustrates the complexity surrounding this issue through the difficulties she has experienced.
Like many gay adults living in a committed relationship in the United States, Dr. Maxwell and her partner are unsure as to how they should proceed regarding the issue of marriage. Dr. Maxwell and her partner have been in a committed relationship for 10 years and would like to celebrate their love for each other publicly in a formal ceremony that is acknowledged by the state of New York.
Unfortunately, many states are passing legislation in favor of gay marriage, and then cancelling that legislation. I asked Dr. Maxwell the “should 2 partners go through a same sex marriage in New York State if the voters of New York make it null in void?” She said, “New York State recently, by executive order of the Governor Pattison agreed to accept same sex couples who are legally married outside of New York State and who then returned to New York State to live.” When Dr. Maxwell and her partner heard about this development, they, like other gay couples in New York, considered traveling to those states where gay marriage is legal and then returning to New York to enjoy the benefits that straight couples have. According to Maxwell there was such an outcry against gay marriage in New York, that there is a threat that Governor Pattison’s executive order will be overturned by a public referendum in the next election.
Dr Maxwell has given a lot of thought to alternatives to gay marriage. She and her partner had a public commitment ceremony where they celebrated with 100 of their friends and family members. The ceremony was led by a minister from the Ethical Humanist Society and was conducted like a marriage. When the minister was writing out the certificate, Dr. Maxwell said that the minister deleted the word marriage and wrote “ceremony”. Dr. Maxwell and her Partner exchanged vows and rings and celebrated with their friends. However, they do not enjoy the same civil rights benefits as do straight couples. They like many gay couples, feel it is unfair that gay people must pay additional money to ensure survivor benefits for their partners. Also, when a husband or wife dies, the surviving spouse does not have to pay inheritance tax on all the goods and property left to him or her. Gay couples, on the other hand are faced with such enormous costs when a partner passes away. In addition, when a wife or husband is sick and hospitalized, the spouse is admitted into his or her room and is allowed to make medical decisions. For gay couples, each partner must pay an attorney to draw up a medical proxy that allows the partner to make such medical decisions. Gay couples at this point in time must suffer these civil rights violations because New York State and the rest of the country cannot decide on the legal status of civil unions for gay couples is unethical. Those who are opposed to gay marriage often argue that marriage is a religious ceremony that recognizes the union between a man and a woman. Dr. Maxwell, like many gay adults in New York, understands that the word marriage may be the obstacle preventing people from accepting gay unions. Her solution is “drop the word marriage and call it a civil union that entitles the couple to all the same rights and privileges given to straight couples.”
- Jared Albaum
1 comment July 27, 2008
Gays! Laws! Marriages!
1 comment July 27, 2008
Freedom (of the Press) Fighters
For centuries, citizens have relied on the media to get their news. Whether it be regarding world politics, who their favorite team is trading, or which celebrity is the newest train wreck, people turn to various sources to get information. These are mainly are from print, such as newspapers and magazines, and broadcast, which includes television and radio.
Traditionally, the pieces are delivered by writers, journalists and reporters, almost all of them professional. But in recent years citizen journalism, which refers to idea of non-professionals (usually everyday citizens) reporting, has risen dramatically.
It has become an issue today, because some feel that it is not the responsibility of the general public to report and that they should leave it up to journalists and others in the fields. Also, their stories might have a severe lack of objectivity given that the are not coming from trained or schooled sources. Others, however, see it as a free right.
Young people have taken notice, mainly because they are one group engaging in the activity.
So how exactly do they feel? Students at Nassau Community College had a lot to say, and they were privy to the seeing positives of the issue.
“ When people are not driven by agenda, they are free to write about what they really believe in.” Said Adam Michaelson.
Michaelson’s comment refers to the fact that since citizen journalists are less likely to be governed by a boss or editor, they have the choice to select what topic they would be most interested in covering, or one that might hit the closest to home. For the latter, many have set up blogs, on-line journals illustrating views on everything from day-to-day life, to opinions on movies or political races.
The internet has blasted citizen journalism into the stratosphere. Technology has given us the means to get our ideas out in the open without even having to leave our bedroom. E-mail lets stories be sent back and forth instantly, while search engines make finding a fact which might have taken hours of research to come across in earlier times available in only minutes. Blogs, which can be created for free, let a person report or commentate at whatever length and rate they choose. As many celebrities and politicians have created their own blogs, many bloggers may feel a sense of validation from the possibly growing legitimacy of blog-use.
But the internet has assisted more than just independent journalists.
“ I think the internet has helped [journalism.]” Michaelson said. “ A lot of people don’t pick up a paper, but they go online. A lot of major news organizations are relying on it.”
Indeed, news sites often ask their followers to send in their own stories electronically, to contribute to coverage, which may be a beacon of growing appreciation for citizen journalism.
Nassau students differed, through, on the subject of whether it was the citizen’s responsibility to report, particularly if they were a witness who might be one of few people prepared to report accurate facts. (For instance, a civilian who was present for a bank robbery or act of vandalism.)
“ It’s their obligation.” Samantha DeVictoria said.
Michaelson was not so quick to agree with her.
“ It depends on how sensitive the information is.”
A photographer himself, [Michaelson] also commented on the use of photography in citizen (photo)journalism.
“ It’s all in the story. You can twist any picture, and that can be a problem.”
Since cameras are everywhere, including most cell phones, many people use more than words to put stories out there.
But Michaelson picks up on one of several negatives that exist concerning citizen journalism.
“ Some of it is a lot more biased. It is harder to site sources. People can end up spewing a whole lot of untracked (expletive).”
One comment by DeVictoria added to a sense of disregard for citizen journalism.
“People don’t take what they have to say seriously. There is a big gap in between what is professional and what is not.”
Even a talented writer who may be accurate and non-biased may have his work looked over or frowned upon if he is not writing for a professional publication. But is this reasonable?
DeVictoria thinks a cue exists that professionals might take from citizen journalists, despite a widespread notion that their work is of lesser value.
“ Be more honest.”
With citizen journalism on the rise, but mixed feelings from professionals concerning it remaining the same, the two will simply have to learn to coexist.
-Amy Eiferman
Add comment July 27, 2008
