American History 120

9/11 Essay

It was around

10 a.m.

  I remember sitting in Spanish IV class with 28 other kids. We were getting frustrated over the in class assignment that our teacher had given us to work on in partners. Nobody understood the subjunctive form, and to make matters worse, my partner was a total doofus. The day had already gone sour. My first period I missed a pop quiz because I came in late, and I got a zero. I was quite angry, especially because it was the bus driver's fault. The day just didn't seem like it could get worse. We continued just making up answers for our sheet, and I finally got tired of it, so I decided to ask the teacher, and she abruptly walked out. She was called out by another teacher. I saw them with stern faces, and concerned looks. I figured that the most that could have happened was that our really old Spanish dept. director was going to retire, ‘about time,’ I thought to myself. It was either that or there was a fight. Either one was better than doing this work, I thought. So I sat back down in my seat expecting to hear some stupid small timer news, and instead the teacher walks in and says, “Kamal, turn on the t.v.” She gave me the biggest heart attack in the world, I thought I was in some deep trouble the second she said my name, and when she finished her sentence, my heart rate went back to normal. So I got up and turned it on, and as it should be, it was on the news channel, and all I see is a plane just being rammed into one of the towers. All I could concentrate on were the people jumping out of the buildings because of the fires. I just remember thinking, what if I were in that situation? Would I jump out? I saw people that day that had totally given up hope. That type of experience humbled me. It made me feel better about my day, I figured, this is a piece of cake. These people are dealing with being killed and put through ridiculous amounts of pain and loss because of our government’s policies and past mistakes. We sat there, for the rest of class, just in an understood silence of what was going on. The rest of the day, in all my classes we watched in awe, and in horror of what was going on. All throughout the day, the whole school was solemn.

The 80's: Wall Street

The 1980’s was the decade that spawned the ‘me’ generation, Ronald Reagan’s Reaganomics, Mrs. Pacman, and perhaps most importantly, the American corporate juggernaut, ie large corporations. These corporations helped shape and define the 80s into what we remember them as. No, they didn’t give use Fraggle Rock, or Punky Brewster, but they set the mentality of the 80’s. The 80’s was a time of greed, self interest, material girls, the cold war, and a populous striving to move up in their jobs and lives, at any cost.

The world of the 80’s was a place far different than the preceding decades, businessmen lived lifestyles that rivaled, and sometimes even surpassed that of rock stars, and they were able to achieve this by one following one mantra: Money, anything for money, meaning they achieved it through greed. The best example of this was the NYSE, New York Stock Exchange. It was the central core of commerce, and every businessman’s best friend and worst enemy. The movie Wall Street depicts the theme of greed, and the corporate lifestyle and mentality of the 80’s.

             One scene in particular sums up the theme, the message of the movie, and the essence of the 80’s in general.  It is the party scene, and Laurence Wilder, and Gordon Gecko are talking about a company called Annicot Steel. Wilder wants to buy the company, and Gekko knows this. Gekko in turn, bought up as much stock as he could, and drove up the price to ridiculous amounts. Wilder tells him that he’ll simply not pay the price that Gekko has driven it up to, and Gekko says that he’ll sit on it.  As a businessman, Gekko knows the repercussions of his actions. Holding a company in instability like this leaves the employees in perpetual chaos. Large corporations support any number of people, and in turn any number of families. Not only that, but it affects the clients that the company provides steel services to, and hurts them because they may now have to go with a more expensive company, and to make up costs they may also downsize. In short, keeping a large company like this in turmoil causes a chain reaction of events that are bad for everyone else except for Gekko. He knows this and still wants to go through with his plan, to drive up the price just for his own benefit. He does anything and everything for money, and has no regard for what the consequences of his actions are on others. The biggest reason for greed was the state of the economy in the 1980’s. Increased defense spending, cuts on social programs, and Reagan and his Reaganomics in general tended to support big business. Once the large businesses got a taste, they wanted more and more. While the lower and middle class taxpayers were hurting, guys like Gordon Gekko might put them out of a job the way he can, just to make even more money, to cap off the mountain of it he’s got in the bank. Its totally unnecessary for him, he’s just plain greedy.

That was the 80’s, a world of corporate deceit. It was where the big businessman was born and where greed ruled over all people with an iron fist; no one could escape greed. It spawned the stereotype of the ‘average worker’ as we’ve come to know him, a man in the middle class who worked in his cubical at the office of his big company from 9am to 5 pm everyday, 5 or six days a week. It has left us with large corporations that still exist today, and to this day still have a bit of that 80’s greed left in them, like Enron. In a time of turmoil, Reaganomics and a struggling economy, greed prevailed.

Interesting Links:

The Wall Street Journal

Top Ten's of the 70's

Top Ten Songs of 1970

10. "Long and Winding Road" - Beatles                            

9. "Every thing is beautiful" - Ray Stevens

8. "American Women" - The Guess Who

7. "ABC" - Jackson Five

6. "Let it be" - Beatles

5. "Bridge over troubled waters" - Simon & Garfunkel      

4. "Thank you for being my friend" - Sly and the Family Stove

3. "Venus" - The Shocking Blue

2. "I want you back" - Jackson Five         

1. "Randrops keep fallin' on my head" - B.J. Thomas

For Lyrics of the above song, click Lyrics

Top Ten Movies of 1970:                                                

10. Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice

9. Catch-22

8. The Rolling Stones- Gimme Shelter

7. Cotton Comes to Harlem

6. Love Stroy                                                    

5. Five Easy Pieces

4. Woodstock- 3 Day of Peace & Music

3. Patton

2. M*A*S*H

1. Airport      

For a plot summary of the movies above, click Plots

Note: Airport was the number in Box Office ($ 37.5) while Patton won big in the Oscars with its 6 wins. [1] Other movies in the above list followed.

Comparison of the Top Ten Movies & Songs:

The top ten songs of 1970 which includes songs from the Beatles, Jackson Five, Ray Stevens and other popular singers of that era are concentrated around the Vietnam War. The general tone of the songs is sad, yet very optimistic of the future. For example, in the song “Long and Winding Road” by the Beatles, the singer talks of the hardship, interpreted as the War, that he is going through to get to his lover, which in the context of time, we can interpret as his country, peace or his family. Another example of such a tone is the song “Let it be” by the Beatles. Again, in this song, the singer talks about how he always consults his “Mother Mary” when he is in a trouble or is going through a difficult time in his life. The following is a part of that song:

And when the broken hearted people
Living in the world agree,
There will be an answer, let it be.
For though they may be parted there is
Still a chance that they will see
There will be an answer, let it be.
Let it be, let it be. Yeah
There will be an answer, let it be.

This stanza explains the fact that when the Vietnam War is over through negotiations of both sides, namely the US and Vietnam, peace and prosperity will come again.

1950s Photo Album

Red scare: 1950's Photo Essay

Assignment #9: Comments

Comment 1: Jessica

Comment 2: Lauren

Comment3: Omar

Assignment 7: Jury Duty

When a group of twelve men and women come together in a courtroom, they probably have one thing on their minds: deciding your fate and determining how much longer you will be living. The idea of jury and jury duty traces back to the early sixteenth and seventeenth century, and is all too familiar to the United States. Probably one of the greatest examples of jury being used in a criminal case in history is the case of State vs. Rehberg (1885). In this case, Edward Rehberg was accused of severely beating and abusing her eleven year old daughter, Clara Rehberg, who died as a result of these beatings. Due to the evidence from the text of the case , both a twentieth century and a nineteenth century jury is not likely to convict Edward Rehberg guilty of murder.

First of all, from a twentieth century jury point of view, there is not enough evidence for Edward’s conviction. In the twentieth century, in order for a person to be convicted guilty of murder the following pieces of evidence have to be present: motive of the murder, a specific time and place of the murder, eye witness, and/or the instrument by which the person is murdered.

In Rehberg’s case, we see absolutely no motive whatsoever. After all, how can a person murder his own offspring who is just a kid of eleven and what harm could an eleven year old kid do to her family? None. Also, by today’s standards a time and place of murder has to be present. As seen in text, every witness that spoke during the trial, including Emma Rehberg and Joe Tiebow repeatedly said that Clara was inside all day long on Sunday while Edward was outside in the barn working on the haystack. In between breakfast and supper, Clara and Edward were never alone together. So, the chances of Edward beating Clara are very, very minimal.

Moreover, there is no eyewitness to the beating. Witnesses are present but they all prove the point that Clara was never alone with Edward. The weapon of the beating is not present as well. There is a short mention of the stove lifter in the barn by Joe Tiebow but according to the Physicians that were presented, Clara had fingernail scratches on her not stove lifter scratches.

As we can see, the pieces of evidence needed to prove Edward guilty of murder are missing. However, in today’s world Edward might be guilty of neglect because he was unaware of his child’s life despite living in the same house with her. Edward was Clara’s father and was responsible for her life. He was the one who should have taken care of his daughter thus preventing Clara’s death. But this, by no means, constitutes Edward’s being guilty of murder.

When this crime happened back in nineteenth century, the jury was still not likely to find Edward guilty of murder for the following reasons. Back then, families were very private. What happened indoors stayed indoors. People liked and preferred for their family matters to remain private and not to have the interference of an outsider, even if it was a severe case of murder such as the Rehberg case. Also, the idea of oath and a religious promise was very important to the nineteenth century jury. When Clara swore under oath and said that her dad was innocent and that she was beaten by her step-mother, this would have been greatly considered by the jury. During the 19th century, according to the Christian belief, when a person swore on God knowing that she/he was going to die, she/he was probably telling the truth. Even if Clara was only eleven years old, according to Dr. Weed, she was a very “intelligent child, and made rational answers to the questions put to her”. This proved to some extent that Clara knew what an oath was and was telling the truth.

Nonetheless, Clara’s beating was a very cruel and an unjust action that should have and could have been prevented. Even if there weren’t enough evidence in both the 19th century and 20th century standards to prove Edward guilty of murder, someone was responsible for the murder and should have gotten punished to the fullest extent.

Photo Album

Photo Album: Civil War

Post #6 : Comments

Joseph-individual post #4

Ching Hiu- Individual Post #4

jose-individual post #4

Post #3: Comments

Maria- Group Post #2
Maria- Creation Stories
O. Serrano - Creation Stories

Entry 2: "American Women"

The British were very busy for quite some time with the French and Indian war. They neglected the American colonies during the war; all their resources and power had to go into protecting their claim. This allowed the colonies to develop a sense of self, and thus a sense of independence. It was the beginning of a streak of bold actions that eventually led to the revolutionary war. These acts were viewed as rude, and disrespectful after all, Britain viewed itself as the “motherland” and felt that the colonies should obey their commands. They were even more insulted by the involvement of women in these rebellious activities. Britain viewed the colonials as rude, unruly, and uncouth because of their political Independence, and rebellion.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but in this case, it may be worth more. In the cartoon, “Society of Patriotic Women of North Carolina”, we can definitely see what the British thought of the colonists. Empty bottles of gin tossed about the scene shows what there drinking habits where thought to be. Drinking was looked down upon during those days, it suggested that a person was uncivilized, especially when the liquor is not of high quality, and the colonists are drinking home made liquor. It can also be noted that the women are drinking, which was not acceptable during those times. Both the men and the women are depicted as vulgar, but the cartoon focuses on the women.

The cartoonist depicts women doing the things that are out of their role in society. This cartoon conveys that patriotism and activism is should not have been part of a women’s life. For example, all of them have either been put in compromising positions, or they are depicted with overtly manly physical features. They are all drinking and carousing around which is a stereotypically male activities. A typical task for women in the division of labor between the sexes is that women take care of the children, yet there is a child who is being totally neglected underneath the table and making a mess of himself, and the area around him. The cartoonist believes women should stay out of the political arena, because they will become corrupted, and vulgar. The cartoonist suggests a feeling that a woman’s place in the society is in the home.

The area of political strategy used against the British in which women were able to participate the most, is the boycott. Their refusal to buy imported tea and other goods was crucial. If they had not participated, and demanded for all the goods imported from England, the boycotts would have failed. This boycott strategy hurt the British greatly, because the colonist where major consumers of British goods. Refusing to pay the heavy taxes on the goods also hurt the British economy. The difference is there is less money going directly to the government to cover the costs of the French and Indian war. They would only receive taxes from those living in England. The British felt that the colonist where trying to get away with receiving the benefits of being British citizens but did not want to make any of the sacrifices. The French and Indian war for example, it was to protect the colonies from invasion by other empirical powers, namely France. So it would only be natural for the British to feel like they were cheated and to hold resentment for what is in their minds, and unpaid debt. Almost like an unruly child refusing its parents will. England had give in the financial and political support to for the creation of the colonies and now they were being very ungrateful. All of these factors lead to the views the British and about the American colonies as being rude, ungrateful people.

http://www.americanrevolution.org/nguyen.html