To the Future...

Just like in our Junior Theme conclusions where we were supposed to look to the future and beyond i am trying that here by doing the same thing. As we finish up our junior year i can actually say that i took away more than just information from this class. I realized that most of my friends classes were all about dates and years. Which is not to say those are not more important but i feel that the understanding why and how questions can help us to understand history more than dates. Thanks Bolos and O'Connor for letting us truly understand that this class is a two way street. We know that we have learned from you, and we do also hope that you have learned from us. 

Wealth Contributors

In class we have covered the fact that land ownership has a direct correlation to wealth. I began to think if any other factors so directly impacts a social status. Maybe not so directly, but a good education can help push people into the direction of perhaps owning a lot of land. 

A good education can help people also in social status because it does a couple of things, 1 if your education allows you to meet other people with the same or greater degree, than you can make strong connections helping you in getting ahead in the world. the 2nd reason is because it allows multiple options for your career. By having a greater career choice your options for attaining a more power prominent job that you actually enjoy are a little higher. 

Other that education, some things that directly relate to wealth we cannot control. Your family name and the amount of respect already placed upon you are huge impacts into your position in the world. Though in class today we learned about people from England who came over were granted land per head they brought. Someone with a lesser class could move up the ranks to a class with great wealth. This is essentially the american dream and how people wish to live their lives today, moving up that social economic latter. 

Road Trip

On my family road trip through Indiana this weekend in noticed a few things that I just had to analyze. The first thing was that the license plates have “in god we trust” in big letters written on them. I was completely shell shocked when I saw this. That would be very controversial in our area but I think that because people in Indiana are more conservative and religions that they are more partial to it than we would ever be.

Now lets relate this to my junior theme, sprawl. On the way driving down I saw many billboards and signs talking about the new development. Many Americans in this area were raised in rural areas and are not used to the idea of developments. Many children of these farm land families are deciding to move to theses developments in order to achieve the so called “American dream” of buying land

Land has been a reoccurring substance throughout the year. Just last Thursday we discussed how land was a way to climb the social latter. In the play The Kentucky Cycles, Michael asked for his life, and for land. This just demonstrates the importance of land ownership.

 Today, one of the most important factors when deciding on home ownership is the land surrounding the property. The average American lot has increased tremendously within the past few years. This is all due to the incredible demand to be viewed as “great” just like the “Great Gatsby”. People with more land have more money and everyone wants to be friends with people who have more money

Physics Day- Secret Messages...

Last friday for physics day we headed out to 6 flags. Located in Gurnee Illinois, a sprawling community I related this to my theme topic of sprawl. 

This was not the only AIS related thought i had this day though, while waiting in line at the Raging Bull, T.Vs surrounding us after playing a Beyonce music video switched over to a "Go Army" commercial. I though this was an interesting place to play those commercials. Why Great America? Why is the military appealing to their costumers and not to people who buy bulls tickets? 

Though i have no proven information or studies, i think this relates to two topics of AIS discussion, Secret Messages and Class from Geography. The Gurnee area is generally of a lower class than the north shore, people from these areas are not as well of and do not have as many advantages as other people do. The army commercials might be playing there because people after high school are at a loss about what to pursue. Around here 95% of students will attend college after high school. That is obviously not the case almost anywhere else in the United States. 

Because these students are at a loss, they are open to many more ideas and opportunities than someone who has already been enrolled in school. 

By playing these commercials at a 6-Flags, they are implying that the people who attend will not pursue a further education and would be available to join the army. This is taken from the secret messages of geographic location. 

Class Assumptions

In American communities class is often looked down towards. Many people to not feel comfortable when talking about social standpoints especially when those conversations are directed and related to wealth and class. After polling my parents about where we stand social-economically they had polar opposite feelings. When asking my father about where we stand, he said the poor one. I assumed that was a joke because of our obvious surroundings. Then he later replied by saying that we were fine.  Maybe he assumed i was asking these questions because i was worried about that. 

This relates to how Americans are curious about everyone else's situations financially. I believe that people judge other people based on classes. I mean this is obvious considering our surrounding environment. When people go to poorer areas to talk with the people their it is called community service. Granted most of community service is a great service and i highly endorse it. Some people think they they are better and because they are wealthier they are more knowledgeable. 

Connections

The past discussions we have had in class about levels in society have significantly related to my Junior Theme topic about sprawl. It might not seem like they relate but the do more than you would think. Much of sprawl is created in order to separate upper from middle from lower class. 

Americans feel more comfortable with their "own kind" some one in the middle class might feel out of place with say some one in the extreme upper class. The same goes for some one in the extreme upper class feeling uncomfortable with some one in the middle class. Because of this trend developers are now creating divisions or differently priced real-estate to accommodate these feelings.  

In Duanys Suburban Nation he created an image of a sign that showed moderate homes to the left, middle upper-class homes to the right and the largest sign was for the upper class to the north. This just further displays the separation. 

Junior Theme 3

Theses... check
Rough Intro... check
Why question... check
Book read... check

Interview...

The perfect candidate for my interview, Robert Brugemann, a professor at UIC, has still not responded to any of the emails i have sent him on his two accounts. I realize that the worst thing for me would be to hound him with so many calls and emails that he might be scared to contact me. If he is indeed not responding to me, then i need a new candidate.

My topic of suburban sprawl is kinda narrow in the professional world. I was thinking i could use a real estate agent to interview. Any thoughts on this. I think they are qualified in the field on sprawl and could tell me about the issue.

Junior Theme #2

This break i had some time to think about possible topics for my junior theme. Instead of a more suburbia related topic, i think i would like to analysis the differences of "city living" and suburb living and decide which is a better live style for children or place to raise a family. I could look closely at defining features of both areas and compare and contrast something like school systems or health care. 

Right now i think that the suburbs are the best place to have kids and raise kids in, they have better health systems and health cares. However i think i will skim "Price of Privilege" by Madeline Levine, It will hopefully give me incite to the child's thought and reasons of certain behaviors, and because the book is based in the suburbs it would tell me something about that as well. 

Right now i am really looking for a book that would tell me more about how children react to different environments, whether it be city or suburbs. Any help would be more than appreciated 

Junior Theme

Looking for topics on my junior theme, there were several things that came to mind. The first thing i wanted to focus on was right away something relating to geography so i came up with urban sprawl and suburbia. Then i decided well it would be cool to contrast the crime rates with the expansion rates and see if people are really moving away from crime. Then i thought it would be nice i include environmental effects of sprawl and maybe even heath changes. Are these all things i can include in my topic of sprawl? Is this a to narrow topic? Should i expand it to all of suburbia. I think i can find a lot of information on all of this, but i am no expert. Any advise would be helpful.  

The War of the Guns

 

With all the crazy things happenign in the world today, i decided to take a closer look at what i feel is a escalating problem in the United States. Gun Violence. Looking at the top countires with the highest murder rates. The United States ranks 24th. 24th!!!!!!!!!! That might seem low on the scale, but when you take into account that their are over 200 countries in the world, a 1st world country in almost the top 10% of most murderous countries blows my mind. Countries following our high rank go as follows... 

25. Armenia 

26. India 

27. Yemen 

28. Dominincana 

29. Azerbaijan 

30. Finland ( The only other 1st world country in the top 30 countries) 

I truly and full heartily believe that we need stricter laws that can be enforced with more ease. Though i do recognize that to some people guns are a way of live what else would gun store owners sell? How would hit men take out their targets? 

If I was president i would take away guns from all citizens, only law enforcement such as police, security, and other law enforcement agency's similar to those would have access to weapons. I can see no reason for a regular civilian to own a gun! The only thing i can see coming from that situation is a child finding it and learning to be comfortable around guns, maybe buying one later on and perhaps using it to murder or hurt people. 

This is an outrageous issue and their need to be updates laws supporting a better safer nation. If that means changing the 2nd amendment " right to bear arms" than so be it. Change is a part of evolution. 

The Good Life, For who?

Women have always been subordinate to men in society. This is apparent in almost everything you look at. From advertisement's portraying women as sex objects to society telling women that they are only perfect if the have the bodies the models do. I remember that freshman year in health class, we talked about how ads affect womens self esteem this is still apparent today.

While watching Kanye Wests music video the "Good Life" their is a women who is just viewed as a sexual object. In the video Kanye boozes her up so she is easier go get. "Whether you are broke or rich you have got to get this" pointing at the woman he was objectifying. This is a perfect line showing how women are sex symbols.

I am Patriotic, How Dare You!

This weekend while campaigning in Rhode Island, Michelle Obama responded to a comment she made earlier this week. That comment was relating to whether or not she loved America before this election. I think it is very insulting politically, and emotionally to question one love for the country they are trying to improve.

The very fact that people are arguing with this woman about her views is a clear step from many previous elections. Because i was not alive, i asked my parents if they could remember any election where their were this many women involved. Michelle is campaigning without her husband in Rhode Island, Hillary is running for president and her daughter is also playing a key role by campaigning just this week in Hawaii. 

I think its very interesting because the unit were studying now, Women and Children, directly relates to modern day occurrences though we are in U.S history, not U.S current events. This also goes to back to the beginning of the unit when we asked the question, Do women and children still come first. I think that because of all these women getting involved in politics they are beginning to break down the barrier between men and women. Do you guys feel the same? Where do women stand in societies perspective? 

STRIKE!!!

With news of the writers strike ending i felt a little misplaced. I realized it was nice to live life without having to revolve my time around my shows. I can now do things i never thought i could before!!! With no new T.V shows, i have so much more free time for more AiS homework. It got me thinking that if so many more americans were not watching their T.Vs what else they could be doing. Maybe if the strike was forever, our obesity rate would decrease, out students would be back at the top of the world. Maybe a new era similar to western Europe's renaissance age would begin. That would be rock'n

Huckleberries Adventures Through Society

The movie we watched in class brought up some very interesting points in regards to the use of the N word in his novel. I believe that this shouldn't even be an issue. People want to whitewash a primary source! That's crazy to me you cannot just forget a part of history and even thought it might hurt and you might feel offended by it you simply cannon forget it. That would be like just forgetting in 100 years from now the Darfur Genocide, or in 50 years trying to pretend the Holocaust even happened. The "slogan" of the holocaust today, i would say is "Never Forget". Why would anyone want to simply forget the hardships their people faced in the past. It just doesn't register with me.  

I also don't like how schools actually were listening to the parents about banning this book. In most districts the parents are blue collar workers. Why would educators listen to non-educators in relation to a education issue who do you think knows better, parents or teacher. 

People need to get over the offensive aspect of the book. Sometimes learning takes more that just listening to a teacher, it takes self thought and actually thinking how this word affects you today, and how this word was used in the past. 

How are Women Treated Today?

The Idea of women and children still being pushed before men in society is still applicable today. Many instances of this are apparent, Still on cruise ships, they command that women and children be but in life vests and boats before men do. In media sources, their is always more sympathy towards women rather than men. Because they are viewed at the weaker sex they need more protection. In those underdog movies, a women is usually part of the "weaker"team. A hidden message that allows people to always believe that men dominate women in most aspects. I believe that women like Hilliary Clinton and breaking that rule. Though i dont believe genderisum to be a large problem in this country at all, it is an issue that many males, and females need to be familiarized. 

Maybe VP for Richardson?

Bill Richardson the 4th place democratic candidate has just dropped out of the election now leaving 3 big runners, Clinton, Obama and Edwards. After winning a small 2% of Iowa and only 8% of NH, governor Richardson just did not see it feasible to run any more. I felt i could connect with him on a multitude of issues such as education reform and the environment. He had a proposed a starting wage of 40,000 for all new teachers in order to encourage a decrease in the student to teachers ratio. His views on the environment are strong, he calls for a 50% decrease in oil by 2020 and a 90% reduction in green house gases by 2050. He believes we should make our efforts stronger because we are leading the world, and they will be following. If people were also looking for diversity in their candidate, he was hispanic. However he did not use this fact to his advantage with in the end i believe lost him his chance. 

Maybe this drop out will not be the end for Richardson, I can only hope that if the winner is democratic, they choose him as their VP. That would be grand. 

Candidates Advantage

While looking for interesting articles on the Washington post web site. I came across the election ’08 category. There was a link to this page that could tell you the candidate your views were most similar to. I decided to try this out. In my opinion, Obama and Clinton are two of the most publicized candidates out there. Because of that I have heard very little about any of the other democratic candidates. After taking the quiz, they show the results in a bar graph and the larger the bar the more similar you are to that certain candidate. Shockingly I was more compatible with someone who I had never even heard of, Bill Richardson.

Not that I do not agree with many of the arguments of Obama and Clinton. I believe that their different characteristics than all presidents past, like skin color and gender, cause many people to only look at them for our future because Americans are tolerant and we can adapt to new ideas. Not that I do not want America to become diverse in all aspects, I just feel that because some is diverse or different, their odds at wining should be the same as everyone else. I believe that theses candidates are using their characteristics for publicity and not allowing any more room for other candidates to be in the spotlight.

Just because a candidate is more diverse does not mean they should be valued over other candidates. 

Mccandless vs. Treadwell

While in class we tried to compare Into the Wild to Grizzly Man. I really think this is just like comparing apples to oranges. Novels and Documentaries are not the same, When comparing things i believe you can only have one variable . I feel their are two variables in this case.
1. How you portray the story. One chose a movie, the other chose a book.
2. Different people created the movie and the book.

I think that the only way we could compare these logically would be to have either Karckour or the other guy create both stories for different people. Though i see how the stories relate, i don't feel they are comparable.

Happy Holidays!

Watch Them Disappear!

While browsing a magazine for holiday gifts, I came across this odd one called, Uncommon Gifts. Little did I know I would find my blog post in this, I searched the magazine for anything I could give. I came across this mug, called the "disappearing Civil Liberties" mug. I was completely shocked. 

 Could we be really making a profit off of something so drastic as disappearing civil
 liberties? To be honest, i don't see this as a bad thing, It is almost like that show on
MSNBC, how to catch a predator, The police forces say that people who watch
that show are more likely not to commit that illegal offence of i

nappropriate

sexual
 consent with a minor. Maybe if this mug isbegin used on the congress floor,
people will notice the change that has been occurring. The coincidence, once the
 liquid cools, the rights begin to reappear, Hopefully our world will began to cool

 down too.   

"Simply pour in your coffee or any hot beverage and watch the painstaking work of the  founding fathers vanish before your eyes"

Political Compass

After being introduced to the Political Compass, i found it amazing that this short quiz could determine my beliefs. I knew i was more to the left than the right just from analyzing my self. However, i never knew that i was MUCH more libertarian than authoritarian. Maybe this was just a way to stick it to my parents, Just like Chris Mccandless right? I also found it interesting how they have the 2008 presidential candidates plotted. I though for sure that Hillary and Obama would have been more to the left, it almost upset me because i had already associated them as more liberal. But i cant really base my decision off this one graph right? After all it was a short quiz and it can give you an idea of where you stand. But its only an idea. 

America, a Big Melting Pot

We as Americans pride our selves with our diversity. After all we are one big melting pot. However Much of the time I find that that is not the case, we are not as diverse as we would like to think. Classes do much more than sperate wealth, they also separate culture and beliefs. Their is a Korea Town, China town, and a Little Italy, by calling America a "big melting pot" we should only have one lets say "Korinaly Village". I do believe in individuality, we should all be able to let people know where we came from, if we want to call america diverse we cant belittle ANY groups of people. None. Gays, African Americans, Islamic, or even Latinos. Different ingredients in melting pots mix cohesively, just like we must do as people of the same nation. Instead maybe we should change to motto to this : American A big pot, with the heat turned off. (so nothign mixes together).

Annapolis Peace Settlements

This Tuesday 40 nations will arrive at the military base in Annapolis, Maryland to discuss possible war ending solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This will be the first time the United States has stepped in and organized a conference since 2000, at Camp David. Every nation will be expected to arrive except the Hamas, a military group controlling the Gaza Strip, and no one from Iran will arrive either. I think this hopefully will be a step in the right direction. Experts believe that in 2000 neither Israel or Palestine were honest in their real expectations/wants for peace. This Tuesday, hopefully the discussion of who will control Jerusalem, the Golan, Gaza Strip, and the West Bank will have, even slightly, been made more peaceful. Hopefully countries will understand where each other are coming from and we will be one step closer to peace.  

This is the link to the BBC article 

The hidden Chicago

Last weekend our class went on a field trip downtown to sample some of the 'forgotten' art. Everywhere i turned some carving on the side of a building, statue or mural seemed to actually mean something, rather than just be nice to look at. I began to critically examine works of art i wouldn't even question before. I really feel this was s turning point in my education because i was able to take the questioning we have done in class and relate it to even artwork. It just shows the connection to our first topic of the year, secret messages. Everything has a secret message, but its up to you to find it. 

I wonder if other cities have as much 'undiscovered' history and significance in their everyday artwork? What are some examples?

" The New" New Orleans

Last weekend i went to New Orleans to visit a few friends. I was freaking out because i didn't know what i was getting my self into. Going to a city so effected by Katrina, not that long after its effects, could be pretty intimidating. I was picked up at the Air port and taken to a suburb 5 min outside the city called Metarire. With about 130,000 people living their, this was more of a city than a suburb.

The whole layout of the town was so foreign. While their are a few strip malls in our area, but everywhere you looked their was one there. It was like they were just building for the sake of building. Bridges were being build in most places as well. All the homes in the area seemed to be livable by now though. I was just wondering why take the money and time to build a bridge, where it would just be a convenience, not a necessity. While their are people still living in homes taken over by mold and bacteria.

It doesn't seem like a good plan to save time and money to me.

Across The Universe

I was dragged to the movie Across the Universe, I had no idea what the movie would be about. So when the first scene began as a musical i had to restrain hitting my friends. they know how i feel about musicals. However this movie was amazing. Dealing with the Vietnam war times i immediately saw the parallels to our own Iraq war. In class i remember Mr. O'Connor speaking about how the play Crucible was written during the Cold War era. Immediately i saw how they were connected. Their is an atmosphere of mystery and accusations in both time periods.

Across the Universe showed people protesting the Vietnam War, and the police. We all know the protests from then, and similarly their are quite a few now. In one random trippy scene, a monkey randomly appears. Many people feel that President Bush looks like a Monkey. That is how i believe the movie portrayed his appearance. I feel the movie was bashing teh war because in teh end their was no shown good that came from the war. All that came was death and deportation.

Vertical Development

A key factor in McDonald's

monopolizing its

industry of fast food

has to do with the term,

Vertical Development.

When you devolpoe your

company verticaly you

maintian controll over

every single step when

creating your product.

The McDonalds you know

is the store in which their food is sold.

To be so succesful they need to

do more for them selves though,

they also own everything from the

cows to the paper food is wrapped in.

To the plastics their straws are made of.

In order for a profit to be

made Verticle development it crucial.

You could also develope your company horozonally, which would mean that your company would be developed but not in different areas. If you owned a clothing store, and you decided instead of making your own cloths for cheeper that you would open another store with a different name next to the origional store, you would be developing horozonatly. Large companies are able to thrive because of their abitlty to play teh field and search areas to employ themselves. That is how in america you can create monoplies.

Memorial Wall

The Vietnam memorial wall is a very special and unique place. Originally i was gonna do this post about the creation of the wall. So i went online to the memorial site, after searching around, i came across a list of fallen solders who's birthdays would have been today. Looking up and down the list i noticed several odd things.

1. They have posted the religion of each fallen solider

Maybe this is to get bonds between random people and solders. However in a society with a seperation of church and state, this is not ok for a pubicilly funded site.

2. They have posted race as well, now this may not see odd, however instead of African American, they have posted, Negro. Which i feel is an inappropriate term.

I really dont know why this is not changed, any suggestions?

Amnesty International

Whenever i hear the name Amnesty International, only two countries come to mind. The U.S, and Mexico. Their as i hope you all know, a large debate regarding weather or not these aliens should be welcomed into this country. Up until this summer i was indifferent on the issue. That was until i was in Israel this summer that i was sent on a "Tikkum Olam" mission or a "Fix the World" mission to go help college students outside of the capital buildings in Jerusalem, play with Sudanese refugees. I had no idea that people all the way from Sudan, which is on another Continent. When i got their everyone knew that they were thankful that they had arrived in you could say the only secured country in the Middle East. Their lives had been changed significantly. I compared that situation to the one at home. Why couldn't we just let all people in. Yes, our lives will change to, their will be more Spanish everywhere. But the isn't the essence of America just a big melting pot?

You dont Know What You Did Last Summer?

Technology's advancements have never failed to stir something up. Its no difference when it comes to a protein induced memory lose. Weather its a car crash that injured a love one or you were hit in the face with a baseball bat, their are things all of would like to forget. Well i say too bad. These incidents in your past are exactly that, your past. Your past makes you what you are so by erasing your past you have erased something you will do in your future, like maybe smash a bat into the head of the person who hit you. I strongly am against memory, it would probably get out of hand, like a lot of other things in the modern world, and people would use it for smaller accidents, such as the baseball example. Who knows, maybe this could get so out of hand that a government would use it on people who saw things they shouldn't have, or maybe people would use it on government officials who saw something they were not supposed to see.

Your invited to Josh Saitelbach's Bar Mitzvah, 9-11-04

We all will forever remember 9-11 as a turning point in American history. For my family when we were assigned 9-11 as the date when my brother and I would be Bar Mitzvahed we didn't know what to feel. At first we joked about it. Because we are not active members in our temples community, we assumed that they gave us this date because it was a "reject" date. After about 3 weeks of family meetings and deciding what was the best course of action regarding our Bar Mitzvah date, we came to a conclusion. We were given this date because we had to continue on as normal. We couldn't change our date because we as a family, apart from having to coordinate a 200 people ceremony, we needed to do it on a day when the world was changed, and have a smiling face. This shows our strength as a family and as citizans of America, if we are all strong then we cant be divided.

White House Hires the Best (looking)

To the new White House Deputy Press Secretary, Dana Perinos, looks is not the only thing that landed her the title. While we would like to all criticize the president once again for hiring the wrong person. In this day and age its embarrassing how many American people know so little in regards to our government. Maybe having an attractive woman answering Americas questions will help create an interest. I'm all for hiring the best candidate for the job and in this case with such little involvement from the public, our government needs to do all it can to spark even a glimpse of attention.



Our past White House Deputy Press Secretary, Tony Snow, is suffering from cancer. His background as a television anchor definitely helped his ability with evading questions and not letting the presidents image slide further.


The trend beginning is not all bad. Good looking people are not always bad people in politics, and they are not always the wrong choice for the American public.

Secret Message

A secret message is the double meaning you have when you do anything.

If you see someone who buys their grocery's at Whole Foods, the literal meaning suggests that they shop at whole foods, however their is much more to that statement.

Someone lugging one of the linen bags from whole foods could be wealthier than most because they can afford the organic food. They also might be paranoid because they don't trust the farmers with chemicals. I would also assume that they care about the environment because they don't want the use of pesticides in their food.

The secret message view by other people is bias. We don't really know for sure that any of this is true. We are assuming that Whole Food shoppers are Eco-friendly when they would just live close to the store and not want to drive long distances. Do not always judge by these secret messages.