(The book, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek can be read on Google Books)
“Curiosity gets the best of us,” or so they say. Innocence is the domineering element that wanders in the darkest shadows of every person, maybe even within that curiosity. This innocence, it lingers with good intentions, it appears with unfortunate results. An element purely depicted like innocence, bears such evil consequences.
Annie Dillard's excerpt from “The Fixed” in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is the entity of this very innocence that causes such guilt at the hands of its outcome. Dillard recollects a childhood memory of a moth's cocoon which in the curiosity of children was given a detour in fate, and in the protection of a glass jar was paralyzed into misery.
In the excerpt, Dillard presents her memory with a conviction of the innocence playing such a murderous role on the abrupt interference with natural cycles. Dillard uses finespun rhetorical strategies to produce her discontent and guilt regarding the innocence and the implications on natural cycles.
First, Dillard makes use of invigorating imagery throughout the excerpt. This imagery develops the innocence of the students, and splashes color on this portrait of the moth. In line 2 of paragraph 1, Dillard immediately exposes her desire to add a lot of imagery to the excerpt, she states the month is January, but continues by adding the description of “doily snowflakes taped to the schoolroom panes.” As the reader, you develop the sense that the children are young, and it is just a normal, innocent classroom. It is an image that almost anyone can relate to, and it feathers the situation for what comes later in the text. By adding this minute imagery, Dillard creates her guilt later in text by giving contrast to what the children should be acting like in this learning environment to how they interfered with a natural cycle. She shows how she now knows as an adult that the innocent behavior they performed in an elementary setting only gives her remorse and discontent with the situation. Like the previous example, Dillard's explanation of the moth's character creates a foundation for Dillard to later tear down the innocence with her attitude of guilt and discontent. “The Polyphemus moth in the picture looked like a mighty wraith, a beating essence of the hardwood forest, alien-skinned and brown, with spread, blind eyes,” (Line 11, Paragraph 1). The preceding example is the imagery that Dillard uses to make clear what the moth will look like. A very important piece to this imagery is the “mighty wraith” that she outlines. The addition of strength to the moth, only makes the disruption of its natural cycle all the more solidified. It is important that Dillard doesn't just use the moth's strength to create its image, but also she uses many descriptions of beauty which again develops the guilt and discontent she reveals later in the text. She provides powerful imagery with a delicate touch, and then uses this imagery as a base on which to reveal her discomfort. The images she provides in the beginning is a specific strategy she designs to lead into the image of the moth crawling down the driveway. This last line of the excerpt is the brain-child of several rhetorical devices, but they all act in summing up the author's guilt. The guilt being enlarged at the end is powered by the imagery that she had used at the beginning of this excerpt as mentioned.
Speaking of the last line, it is the last line that uses repetition demandingly which lets all the light shine on her guilt for the situation and her uneasiness of this final image. “The Polyphemus moth is still crawling down the driveway, crawling down the driveway hunched, crawling down the driveway on six furred feet, forever,” (Line 44, Paragraph 6). When Dillard writes this line, she puts to paper her own replay of an image she cannot extinguish from her memory. The moth in reality is not at all still crawling, but within her own memory, within this text it is “forever” crawling. This line distinguishes guilt in a bold fashion; this is the line that concludes her attitude and the effect she and her classmates had on this moth's natural life cycle. Another thing that makes this line powerful is the fact that it wasn't something she had seen happen, she observed the moth receding down the driveway for a short while, but the repetition of it crawling is something she thought to be inevitable. The inevitability she infers only projects the depth to which they interfered with the moth's life. The use of repetition makes the line stick out to the reader, and it is able to drive at the importance it has on the author. It is one of those lines that can't be forgotten; it is one of the only lines in the text that really drives throughly at emotion, attitude, and impact. Another use of repetition in the excerpt is the point of this very large moth, she uses its name, Polyphemus, nearly each time she refers to the moth, and she describes it to have strength and legs “shaggy as a bear's.” When Dillard continuously makes reference to the moth's size and strength with a simile like the bear example, she exemplifies her discontent to how young innocent students were able to disrupt this large creation's life. This excerpt is in large scale a repetition of a memory that Dillard would seemingly rather forget.
Next, Dillard's style of syntax reveals her attitude towards the innocence and the interference of natural cycles. Her short sentence structure at the beginning of all the paragraphs, except for the first and last, many times shapes the path in which she slowly reveals her guilt and discontent. “It was coming. There was no stopping it now, January or not,” (Line 22, Paragraph 3). The beginning to this paragraph exposes Dillard's guilt in a very straight forward, reality directive. She makes reference to her discomfort with the situation that she caused by warming the cocoon, and also brings forth the guilt that comes when you are the cause of something bad. The sentence structure puts forth the scenario at hand, and allows for Dillard to be held at large for her disruption in a natural cycle. “The teacher fades, the classmates fade, I fade;” (Line 24, Paragraph 3). This line's specific sentence structure, and arrangement expresses Dillard's attitude of the subject. Dillard first of all uses herself last in the sentence; by doing so, she sheds light on the importance of the event to her life. It shows the reader that this event is truly imprinted upon her memory. Like the context of the sentence, the line seems to descend and also fade away, and if she uses “I” first, the longer words at the end would hinder the effect of the fading tone. In conjunction to her attitude, this sentence structure portrays Dillard as the focus, and by doing so, Dillard's craft ministers her guilt and discontent on the burden placed on the moth through an innocent disruption of its life. Dillard's syntax ultimately flows together well in order to create the ever lasting final image of the moth's forever journey.
In her use of diction, Dillard creates a parallel of words that would make reference to her adult-self, and words that can be associated to a young innocent child. For example in line 16 of paragraph 2, Dillard uses the words “warmed” and “squirmed,” these are words that would be used by a young child. When placed in the situation of the text; it only makes sense for Dillard to use these words, because she is attempting to relieve the guilt from her adulthood onto her childhood. She understands that the movement of the moth were clear signs to not continue to hold the moth so tightly, yet she does, thus disrupting a natural cycle. Dillard's guilt in the situation causes her to avoid the memory by fading it with childish verbs. In line 23 of paragraph 3, Dillard uses the words “frayed” and “furious,” these are words that would be coming from the adult version of herself. By using these words, Dillard is taking notice of the situation, and with the focus zeroed in on the moth, it means that the guilt doesn't have to be applied to her childhood. However, the two words still provide that point of the moth's strength, and in turn relates back to Dillard's intrusion of the natural cycle. Although she tries to advert her guilt, like the memory, like the moth crawling, it is inevitable.
Lastly, a language device that Dillard uses becomes a directive towards her attitude of innocence and its disruption of natural cycles. Dillard uses the teacher as a symbolic figure of the topic at hand. She turns the teacher, the authority figure, into the person that stands by and is ignorant towards what is happening. “She put it, still heaving and banging, in the ubiquitous Mason jar,” (Line 21, Paragraph 2). “Someone—it must have been the teacher—had let the moth out,” (Line 39, Paragraph 5). These two lines show an obvious ignorant character, who had not known what to do in any situation regarding the moth. The teacher had let the kids take the cocoon, because they were getting restless, and then she allowed them to warm it without supervision causing it to breakout too soon. These descriptions are symbolic to the people that choose to avoid problems, or only do what they feel is satisfactory for the moment. This depiction of the teacher supports a part of Dillard's attitude of discontent with having a teacher, who took no recognition of the opposing results of her actions on the moth's natural cycle. There is a sense of frustration from Dillard to the teacher, but by assuming the teacher let the moth go, it is interrupted that Dillard already knows the teacher to lack in responsibility as an authority figure.
Dillard's guilt and discontent is intertwined in her rhetorical strategies in order for them to be read as her deciding attitude of innocence and its interference of natural cycles. The rhetoric embodies her attitude and gives way to the address of innocence and its effects. Ultimately, the attitude leads to successfully sending the message of thinking about your innocent actions, because the results might be the moth forever crawling.
Friday, August 20, 2010
A mirror for empathy
THE STORY: http://www.oregonlive.com/mask/
The humming of the projector sounds, it illuminates an image onto the screen, and each word dictates the birth of the next frame. Whether it be through the sound of one's words, or the ever lasting wave of text, language is the soul for the manifestation of entry to another's life.
Like the character, who rises from poverty to establish a place in this world, a relationship is developed with the audience. An audience, that has probably never personally experienced the hardships, and deniable tastes of homelessness, is immersed into the heart of the man. It isn't a feeling of grief that holds one side by side with the character, it is the art of the intellectual use of language that places the reader into the identity of the subject.
In Tom Hallman's article, The Boy Behind the Mask, language powers the projector, and its reader is traced through the life of Sam Lightner. The boy's life seems impossible to coincide with readers, but Hallman turns an article for a daily newspaper into a mirror for empathy.
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”-Bonnie Jean Wasmund
As I read this article, with an eye scoped for the design of Hallman's use of language in conjunction with the production of empathy, a theme is noticed that isn't blatant to the forefront of the article, but is very much relevant. It is this theme of Sam that Hallman creates which becomes the catalyst of empathy. Sam impacts those around him, changing their lives, and leaving an impression that can never be forgotten. It is this theme that sits as the source for empathy, but certainly it is the language devices within the text that are the building blocks to the success of creating the entity of this empathy.
There is not one use of a language device that out weighs the other; they embody each other, fulfilling the portrait painted by Hallman. Sentence structure in the article plays a distinctive role, and stands as the facade to the article. Hallman does not use many sentences that are long or complex, because he doesn't want the tone of explanation to set in. If Hallman were to explain a lot, the article's effect changes, and it takes the reader out of the text. Hallman keeps things simple in sentence length, but does not allow it to prevent the intelligence of the sentences. The sentences remain powerful, and thoughtfully designed.
“But this boy, a 5-foot, 83-pound waif, has learned never to draw attention to himself. He moves like smoke.” (Paragraph 2, Part I)
In the above excerpt, Hallman begins his sentence with “But,” not allowing it to connect with the sentence before, and does not combine the last sentence with the sentence that precedes. This gives emphasis on the fact that Sam avoids drawing interest to himself, and then more importantly the simile of Sam to smoke. If the sentences were to be all one, the affect it holds on the reader changes greatly, and the emphasis of each part is lost. In order to develop empathy, it is important for Hallman to keep the reader in the atmosphere of the events; explanation and long sentences just becomes a distraction. Instead, the description of Sam's size, and how he avoids being the center of attention connects itself to the simile without the use of conjunctions.
“All the blue veins showing through Sam's waxen skin worried him.” (Paragraph 76, Part II)
The above line is an example to the specific arrangement of words in a sentence. The line above is one of many sentences that are designed for the way Hallman wants them to be read. If the sentence read, “He was worried of the blue veins showing through Sam's waxen skin,” the influence on the reader changes. By providing the description of the veins within this “waxen skin” at the beginning of the sentence, the reader is able to draw the image, and then also feel the worry that Dr. Mulliken feels. In this case, rather than feeling empathy for Sam, you are able to identify with the worry of Dr. Mulliken thanks to the precise sentence structure.
I also hinted above to the pacing of this article, and the sentence structure plays a part in dictating the speed of the writing. Again, to the first example above, if all of it becomes one sentence structure, the pace changes dramatically, and throughout the writing the changes in speed are noticed. One of the areas, where the pace of the article sees a distinctive change, is during Part III, and the intensity of the surgery. Unlike, the rest of the article, this part consisted of rarely any extra details not relevant directly to what was happening. The rest of the article consists of transitions of extra details and background information, but this scene had bared an anxious and pressured pace. The significance of the pacing in scenes, such as the surgery, is to again, put the reader in the text. If Hallman adds a bunch of extra stuff to a climatic scene, the reader would not feel the empathy towards what is happening. However, during the surgery it is a natural physical and mental feeling as if you were actually in the surgery room. The bags of blood that signify time, but also the pressure on the doctors. The search for the nerves, and the hope not to cut one. The feeling that it is an improbable surgery, but still the desire to move forward remains. It is all created through this fast moving scene, and the empathy that is stimulated is not for Sam, but you are toe to toe with the surgeons. Yes, you are pulling for Sam to make it, but that is why the doctors continue with time closing in on them, it is all or nothing. It is this part of this article, where language is highly crafty, and the empathy is felt strongly.
“She wept.” (Paragraph 67, Part I)
It is a transition like the one above that Hallman uses extremely effectively. First of all, it creates a unique structure, a two word sentence with so much meaning. The organization of using lines like this one, gives the reader an opportunity to shift with the text. It also signifies to the reader that there is some importance to why the line has been left all alone. When you read the section, and then you hit the transition, it provides the full impact of what is happening. This transition followed a description of Mrs. Lightner covering up the deformity on Sam's face in a picture to see what he was suppose to look like; it hits hard, but the simplicity of the sentence gives delicacy to the situation. All of this contributes to the empathy of the specific example, which is the wonder to why it is her son that has been given such a burden, and the sadness of knowing he is going to have to live with it the rest of his life. It is a feeling that can only be created through the specific organization Hallman uses.
Another very obvious thing that Hallman does with organization, he uses the order in which the events take place. He doesn't take the ending put it first, he starts with the present building the reader's connection to the 14-year old Sam, and then goes to his birth, and then takes off from there. He doesn't go day by day, or year by year, but he highlights the meaningful events of the overlaying article. This organization creates empathy by establishing the reader with a sense of knowing the history, it is difficult to relate to something that you don't have the knowledge of, but Hallman assures his reader with what is happening, and then from there he creates the empathy through the events in Sam's life.
“The mass was soft. It jiggled. Debbie thought it looked like Jell-O.” (Paragraph 64, Part 1)
There is an abundance of literary devices in this piece that enhances the clarity of imagery. It builds the feeling of actually being apart of what is happening. In the example above, Hallman describes Debbie's experience of touching the deformity when Sam was an infant. This description introduces the reader to the mass that would be otherwise difficult to picture, but it can be conceived in this simile. Hallman presents “Jell-O” as something most anyone can relate to in order to successfully make the comparison concrete. These images play such an important role to the text, because without them the reader can't capture the atmosphere and can't completely depict the images that they are feeling empathetic towards. A reader needs comparisons of things relative to their own lives that way they can distinguish the items in the text. It is literary devices that complete the empathy of this piece of writing by inviting the reader into the image of each word.
“A huge mass of flesh balloons out from the left side of his face. His left ear, purple and misshapen, bulges from the side of his head. His chin juts forward. The main body of the tissue, laced with blue veins, swells in a dome that runs from sideburn level to chin...” (Paragraph 10, Part I)
This is just one example of several used by Hallman to create imagery for his reader. This one above is easily the best in the article. First, he uses it at the beginning of the article which is going to be a bit of shock for his reader; he doesn't ease into it, and by not doing so he makes his reader judge just like everyone else that meets Sam would. The imagery however, is very clear, and the reader is able to quickly come to terms of just what this deformity looks like. As the reader you can almost feel this growth on your own face which develops the empathy of being Sam. It is powerful imagery like this that holds the boldest impact on the reader, and gives them a passage towards empathy. If there was never a description of the deformity, it would be nearly impossible to feel the burden placed upon Sam which means feeling empathetic also becomes difficult; reasons why imagery is needed to solidify a connection to the article and ultimately empathy.
“The 14-year old lay motionless in his bed at Portland's Legacy Emanual Hosipital & Health Center. (Paragraph 2, Part II)
The strong and powerful use of word choice that can be created, like “motionless” in the above line, gives way to the reader's portrait of imagery, and their empathy towards the subject. The informal diction of the writer can or cannot produce the right flow to the piece. In Hallman's article, his word choice is impeccable, because each adjective, each detail, and every word used allows for the successful creation of empathy. In the example, if “motionless” were to be removed, the impact on the reader is entirely different, but with the word, the reader can see the child laying in bed, and they understand his state. Word choice is a device in language that can make or break the affect, and Hallman most definitely makes his article. Each word grabs the reader into the story and leaves them with so many different impressions, and so many images. Without the right word choice, feeling as though you are one with the subject becomes vague. Hallman ensures his piece to be as clear, and definitive as possible giving way to the reader's empathy.
The details that Hallman uses ties into the word choice, and together they make the combined effort of dragging in the reader. In Part II, Hallman sets the reader in the middle of Dr. Marler's plead to get the hospital's top doctors to take on the case. Hallman doesn't simply state that after hours of negotiation and deliberation, they decided...instead he brings the deliberation to the text. He makes it clear that it wasn't something they just said “oh well” to, but it was in fact a highly complicated decision to make. Through details like these, the reader again develops empathy to the specified subject, and can also weigh the situation at hand. Everything comes to life to the reader through Hallman's precise use of details.
“I'll wait,” Sam says firmly. “This is where I belong.” (Paragraph 129, Part IV)
Considering this is a journalist piece of writing, dialogue is a must, but what it adds to this piece is just a tremendous bonus. This truly brings the text to the reader, and establishes the feeling of everything happening in the present. Hallman uses dialogue extensively through the surgical procedure which further advanced that scene, because the doctors set the mood for the difficult and dangerous surgery. In the line above, Hallman uses a piece of dialogue from Sam that gives parallelism to this piece, because at one point Sam is trying to keep himself unnoticed, but in this part, a shift in behavior is experienced. Through the use of dialogue the reader is only more compelled to feel empathy towards the piece, because the words of the characters speak so much more loudly than the anything else in the text. It brings character to the characters, and allows the reader to make identifications with them. An understanding is created, and through the words of the characters, the reader is engulfed by the writing. The overall feeling and emotions are felt by the reader when Hallman uses these quotes to establish the full interaction of each time frame.
Through a boy with a deformity that never seemed to relate to anyone, Hallman uses Sam's life to create empathy in the reader, and leave the footprint of Sam on the hearts of everyone.
With language at hand Hallman holds us to a mirror of empathy.
The humming of the projector sounds, it illuminates an image onto the screen, and each word dictates the birth of the next frame. Whether it be through the sound of one's words, or the ever lasting wave of text, language is the soul for the manifestation of entry to another's life.
Like the character, who rises from poverty to establish a place in this world, a relationship is developed with the audience. An audience, that has probably never personally experienced the hardships, and deniable tastes of homelessness, is immersed into the heart of the man. It isn't a feeling of grief that holds one side by side with the character, it is the art of the intellectual use of language that places the reader into the identity of the subject.
In Tom Hallman's article, The Boy Behind the Mask, language powers the projector, and its reader is traced through the life of Sam Lightner. The boy's life seems impossible to coincide with readers, but Hallman turns an article for a daily newspaper into a mirror for empathy.
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”-Bonnie Jean Wasmund
As I read this article, with an eye scoped for the design of Hallman's use of language in conjunction with the production of empathy, a theme is noticed that isn't blatant to the forefront of the article, but is very much relevant. It is this theme of Sam that Hallman creates which becomes the catalyst of empathy. Sam impacts those around him, changing their lives, and leaving an impression that can never be forgotten. It is this theme that sits as the source for empathy, but certainly it is the language devices within the text that are the building blocks to the success of creating the entity of this empathy.
There is not one use of a language device that out weighs the other; they embody each other, fulfilling the portrait painted by Hallman. Sentence structure in the article plays a distinctive role, and stands as the facade to the article. Hallman does not use many sentences that are long or complex, because he doesn't want the tone of explanation to set in. If Hallman were to explain a lot, the article's effect changes, and it takes the reader out of the text. Hallman keeps things simple in sentence length, but does not allow it to prevent the intelligence of the sentences. The sentences remain powerful, and thoughtfully designed.
“But this boy, a 5-foot, 83-pound waif, has learned never to draw attention to himself. He moves like smoke.” (Paragraph 2, Part I)
In the above excerpt, Hallman begins his sentence with “But,” not allowing it to connect with the sentence before, and does not combine the last sentence with the sentence that precedes. This gives emphasis on the fact that Sam avoids drawing interest to himself, and then more importantly the simile of Sam to smoke. If the sentences were to be all one, the affect it holds on the reader changes greatly, and the emphasis of each part is lost. In order to develop empathy, it is important for Hallman to keep the reader in the atmosphere of the events; explanation and long sentences just becomes a distraction. Instead, the description of Sam's size, and how he avoids being the center of attention connects itself to the simile without the use of conjunctions.
“All the blue veins showing through Sam's waxen skin worried him.” (Paragraph 76, Part II)
The above line is an example to the specific arrangement of words in a sentence. The line above is one of many sentences that are designed for the way Hallman wants them to be read. If the sentence read, “He was worried of the blue veins showing through Sam's waxen skin,” the influence on the reader changes. By providing the description of the veins within this “waxen skin” at the beginning of the sentence, the reader is able to draw the image, and then also feel the worry that Dr. Mulliken feels. In this case, rather than feeling empathy for Sam, you are able to identify with the worry of Dr. Mulliken thanks to the precise sentence structure.
I also hinted above to the pacing of this article, and the sentence structure plays a part in dictating the speed of the writing. Again, to the first example above, if all of it becomes one sentence structure, the pace changes dramatically, and throughout the writing the changes in speed are noticed. One of the areas, where the pace of the article sees a distinctive change, is during Part III, and the intensity of the surgery. Unlike, the rest of the article, this part consisted of rarely any extra details not relevant directly to what was happening. The rest of the article consists of transitions of extra details and background information, but this scene had bared an anxious and pressured pace. The significance of the pacing in scenes, such as the surgery, is to again, put the reader in the text. If Hallman adds a bunch of extra stuff to a climatic scene, the reader would not feel the empathy towards what is happening. However, during the surgery it is a natural physical and mental feeling as if you were actually in the surgery room. The bags of blood that signify time, but also the pressure on the doctors. The search for the nerves, and the hope not to cut one. The feeling that it is an improbable surgery, but still the desire to move forward remains. It is all created through this fast moving scene, and the empathy that is stimulated is not for Sam, but you are toe to toe with the surgeons. Yes, you are pulling for Sam to make it, but that is why the doctors continue with time closing in on them, it is all or nothing. It is this part of this article, where language is highly crafty, and the empathy is felt strongly.
“She wept.” (Paragraph 67, Part I)
It is a transition like the one above that Hallman uses extremely effectively. First of all, it creates a unique structure, a two word sentence with so much meaning. The organization of using lines like this one, gives the reader an opportunity to shift with the text. It also signifies to the reader that there is some importance to why the line has been left all alone. When you read the section, and then you hit the transition, it provides the full impact of what is happening. This transition followed a description of Mrs. Lightner covering up the deformity on Sam's face in a picture to see what he was suppose to look like; it hits hard, but the simplicity of the sentence gives delicacy to the situation. All of this contributes to the empathy of the specific example, which is the wonder to why it is her son that has been given such a burden, and the sadness of knowing he is going to have to live with it the rest of his life. It is a feeling that can only be created through the specific organization Hallman uses.
Another very obvious thing that Hallman does with organization, he uses the order in which the events take place. He doesn't take the ending put it first, he starts with the present building the reader's connection to the 14-year old Sam, and then goes to his birth, and then takes off from there. He doesn't go day by day, or year by year, but he highlights the meaningful events of the overlaying article. This organization creates empathy by establishing the reader with a sense of knowing the history, it is difficult to relate to something that you don't have the knowledge of, but Hallman assures his reader with what is happening, and then from there he creates the empathy through the events in Sam's life.
“The mass was soft. It jiggled. Debbie thought it looked like Jell-O.” (Paragraph 64, Part 1)
There is an abundance of literary devices in this piece that enhances the clarity of imagery. It builds the feeling of actually being apart of what is happening. In the example above, Hallman describes Debbie's experience of touching the deformity when Sam was an infant. This description introduces the reader to the mass that would be otherwise difficult to picture, but it can be conceived in this simile. Hallman presents “Jell-O” as something most anyone can relate to in order to successfully make the comparison concrete. These images play such an important role to the text, because without them the reader can't capture the atmosphere and can't completely depict the images that they are feeling empathetic towards. A reader needs comparisons of things relative to their own lives that way they can distinguish the items in the text. It is literary devices that complete the empathy of this piece of writing by inviting the reader into the image of each word.
“A huge mass of flesh balloons out from the left side of his face. His left ear, purple and misshapen, bulges from the side of his head. His chin juts forward. The main body of the tissue, laced with blue veins, swells in a dome that runs from sideburn level to chin...” (Paragraph 10, Part I)
This is just one example of several used by Hallman to create imagery for his reader. This one above is easily the best in the article. First, he uses it at the beginning of the article which is going to be a bit of shock for his reader; he doesn't ease into it, and by not doing so he makes his reader judge just like everyone else that meets Sam would. The imagery however, is very clear, and the reader is able to quickly come to terms of just what this deformity looks like. As the reader you can almost feel this growth on your own face which develops the empathy of being Sam. It is powerful imagery like this that holds the boldest impact on the reader, and gives them a passage towards empathy. If there was never a description of the deformity, it would be nearly impossible to feel the burden placed upon Sam which means feeling empathetic also becomes difficult; reasons why imagery is needed to solidify a connection to the article and ultimately empathy.
“The 14-year old lay motionless in his bed at Portland's Legacy Emanual Hosipital & Health Center. (Paragraph 2, Part II)
The strong and powerful use of word choice that can be created, like “motionless” in the above line, gives way to the reader's portrait of imagery, and their empathy towards the subject. The informal diction of the writer can or cannot produce the right flow to the piece. In Hallman's article, his word choice is impeccable, because each adjective, each detail, and every word used allows for the successful creation of empathy. In the example, if “motionless” were to be removed, the impact on the reader is entirely different, but with the word, the reader can see the child laying in bed, and they understand his state. Word choice is a device in language that can make or break the affect, and Hallman most definitely makes his article. Each word grabs the reader into the story and leaves them with so many different impressions, and so many images. Without the right word choice, feeling as though you are one with the subject becomes vague. Hallman ensures his piece to be as clear, and definitive as possible giving way to the reader's empathy.
The details that Hallman uses ties into the word choice, and together they make the combined effort of dragging in the reader. In Part II, Hallman sets the reader in the middle of Dr. Marler's plead to get the hospital's top doctors to take on the case. Hallman doesn't simply state that after hours of negotiation and deliberation, they decided...instead he brings the deliberation to the text. He makes it clear that it wasn't something they just said “oh well” to, but it was in fact a highly complicated decision to make. Through details like these, the reader again develops empathy to the specified subject, and can also weigh the situation at hand. Everything comes to life to the reader through Hallman's precise use of details.
“I'll wait,” Sam says firmly. “This is where I belong.” (Paragraph 129, Part IV)
Considering this is a journalist piece of writing, dialogue is a must, but what it adds to this piece is just a tremendous bonus. This truly brings the text to the reader, and establishes the feeling of everything happening in the present. Hallman uses dialogue extensively through the surgical procedure which further advanced that scene, because the doctors set the mood for the difficult and dangerous surgery. In the line above, Hallman uses a piece of dialogue from Sam that gives parallelism to this piece, because at one point Sam is trying to keep himself unnoticed, but in this part, a shift in behavior is experienced. Through the use of dialogue the reader is only more compelled to feel empathy towards the piece, because the words of the characters speak so much more loudly than the anything else in the text. It brings character to the characters, and allows the reader to make identifications with them. An understanding is created, and through the words of the characters, the reader is engulfed by the writing. The overall feeling and emotions are felt by the reader when Hallman uses these quotes to establish the full interaction of each time frame.
Through a boy with a deformity that never seemed to relate to anyone, Hallman uses Sam's life to create empathy in the reader, and leave the footprint of Sam on the hearts of everyone.
With language at hand Hallman holds us to a mirror of empathy.
The lone survivor
(Could not provide the passage, you'll have to go purchase Rachel Carson's book, The Rocky Coast)
The structure's name is rightfully given, a skyscraper. Walking through the city that never sleeps, and looking up at the buildings that never end, the view casts a roaring shadow on all that rests below. It fuels your mind to question, how it is that the half-an-inch long ant exists in contrast with the 1,000 foot tall giants.
In the passage from The Rocky Coast by Rachel Carson, Carson immerses into a natural formation unmasking the world that fits within its closure. A place unknown to the world is penetrated by harsh waves, the tides shift in and out, and the rock walls expand until the pain of dislocation is felt. It is not just the timeless rock that constructs this sea cave, there is life inside that also endures the inevitable crashing of the tides.
Carson channels an abundance of description, creating a distinct imagery of a dynamic existence. She takes the description and fuses language instruments into her writing which gives voice to her message. The message is that in an unkind reality, the appearing dominance is not always the survivor. The simplest of organisms continue to leave the largest footprint on the chronology of this planet.
The foundation of this writing is laid by the accumulation of description and detail. Carson in every facet of the passage constructs her use of other devices from the description and detail she provides. Through the use of this detail and its connection to other language devices, Carson is able to project her message to the reader. “The waters of the pool are never still. Their level changes not only gradually with the rise and fall of the tide, but also abruptly with the pulse of the surf.” (Line 24, Paragraph 4). Carson's description of the waters in which engulf the cave supports the impact of her message. She shows the strength that the water holds, and later exemplifies the small simplistic sponge, who has survived in this destructive environment for centuries. In addition, as in the example of the description of the water, Carson uses very specific word choice, and develops an important use of imagery. Carson's choosing of the word, “abruptly” provides emphasis on the unpredictability of a powerfully independent tide, and in turn solidifies her description. The way in which Carson's description overlaps into other language devices leaves much discussion in her one use of this language device.
Another language device that Carson uses to convey her message is her tone. More importantly, it is the fact that she uses a shift in tone in the piece which outlines her message. “Waves entering a confined space always concentrate all their tremendous force for a driving upward leap: in this manner the roof of the caves are gradually battered away.” (Line 55, Paragraph 9). At this point in the passage, Carson is still using a tone that enrages the waves, and gives portrayal of its dominance. She creates this cave of constant movement, and the life inside forever struggling for survival. She provides an example of the mussels that are attached to the cave's ceiling; they fasten themselves to the top with the inclination to never let go. “As I lie and look into the pool there are moments of relative quiet, in the intervals when one wave has receded and the next has not yet entered. Then I can hear the small sounds:...” (Line 69, Paragraph 10). This line shows a distinct shift in tone. Carson is now leading to something; she is driving at her point. She takes this place of endless commotion, and turns it into an almost silent existence. It is within this shift of tone that Carson is setting the stage for the introduction of the main character to her overriding message. It is this creature, even more hidden than the cave itself, that has survived in silence for an overwhelming number of years. This new tone leaves Carson a path in which to present her message without deception.
Continuing from the shift in tone, Carson then provides a repetition of one specific word choice. “But seemingly most fragile of all are the little calcareous sponges that here and there exist among the seaweeds.” (Line 91, Paragraph 16). The repeated concept of fragility develops a structure for which Carson can render the message of the simplistic sponge living like a vase on the brink of falling to the floor. Carson describes many of these creatures in the cave as fragile, and most of those she considers fragile are the creatures of smaller size. The baby mussels are presented as fragile, which is interesting , because earlier in the text the adult mussels are shown to be almost senseless creatures. Carson then fixes her lens directly on the sponge's fragility. By focusing on the sponge, she is able to later present its long existence on Earth. This repetition hits a specific idea over and again, until Carson drives the reasoning of the repetition into the ground. Another example of repetition used by Carson in a more discrete way is the creation of some sort of mystery. “Perhaps behind a thick curtain of concealing weeds.” (Line 4, Paragraph 1). The repetition of an underlying question, a presence gone missing, is placed within the text for the reader to find. What this does to the text is makes the reader question there own strength. Something that humans (“to the view of the casual passer-by”) have ignored is forced into reflection by Carson's repetition of such an unknown world. Carson follows up on this questioning by providing the reality of humans time on this planet to be insufficient, and despite the dominance we present, not even we can survive in all environments. “The concealing weeds” represents our denial to the truth of our existence. Carson crafts this questioning, and presentation of denial from the beginning and carries it throughout, and finally shows it as she lifts the curtain on the fragile, but long existing sponge.
A final key to the passage is the metaphor Carson uses to depict the sponge as a clock which seeks no set ending point. “But it is the sponges that give to the cave and its pool their special quality—the sense of a continuing flow of time.” (Line 104, Paragraph 18). It is this direct reference to the sponges timeless structure that conveys Carson's message of the fragile, simple, concealed creature outlasting the most domineering life forms. Carson continues off of this line by describing how the sponge is unchanged, and she makes a highly probable prediction by saying they will remain this way for thousands of more years. “...all that remains when the living tissue is gone—are found in the first fossil bearing rocks...” ( Line 113, Paragraph 19). This line alludes back to the sponge's endless existence, and it adds emphasis to even when the sponge is gone, it will remain apart of the cave. This entire creation of the sponge's durability leaves the reader with Carson's final line, which unlike the rest of the passage uses a specific syntax. “The tide was rising.” (Line 124, Paragraph 22). This line is very short, unlike the rest of the sentence structure, but it is forward, discrete, and leaves the impact of the message. The line embodies the message that the all so powerful human, who believes to be immortal, can't endure, and cast its shadow over all aspects of life. When the tide rises, unlike the sponge that has called the destructive cave home, the human must exit. The line also provides reference back to the short existence of humans on the time line of Earth, and the ever immortal existence of such a simple lone survivor.
As the waves crash, as the tide swirls with anger, it isn't the man who built the ever so large building that survives. As the buildings come toppling down, the simple fixtures of life, the sponge will forever be the guest to this planet.
The structure's name is rightfully given, a skyscraper. Walking through the city that never sleeps, and looking up at the buildings that never end, the view casts a roaring shadow on all that rests below. It fuels your mind to question, how it is that the half-an-inch long ant exists in contrast with the 1,000 foot tall giants.
In the passage from The Rocky Coast by Rachel Carson, Carson immerses into a natural formation unmasking the world that fits within its closure. A place unknown to the world is penetrated by harsh waves, the tides shift in and out, and the rock walls expand until the pain of dislocation is felt. It is not just the timeless rock that constructs this sea cave, there is life inside that also endures the inevitable crashing of the tides.
Carson channels an abundance of description, creating a distinct imagery of a dynamic existence. She takes the description and fuses language instruments into her writing which gives voice to her message. The message is that in an unkind reality, the appearing dominance is not always the survivor. The simplest of organisms continue to leave the largest footprint on the chronology of this planet.
The foundation of this writing is laid by the accumulation of description and detail. Carson in every facet of the passage constructs her use of other devices from the description and detail she provides. Through the use of this detail and its connection to other language devices, Carson is able to project her message to the reader. “The waters of the pool are never still. Their level changes not only gradually with the rise and fall of the tide, but also abruptly with the pulse of the surf.” (Line 24, Paragraph 4). Carson's description of the waters in which engulf the cave supports the impact of her message. She shows the strength that the water holds, and later exemplifies the small simplistic sponge, who has survived in this destructive environment for centuries. In addition, as in the example of the description of the water, Carson uses very specific word choice, and develops an important use of imagery. Carson's choosing of the word, “abruptly” provides emphasis on the unpredictability of a powerfully independent tide, and in turn solidifies her description. The way in which Carson's description overlaps into other language devices leaves much discussion in her one use of this language device.
Another language device that Carson uses to convey her message is her tone. More importantly, it is the fact that she uses a shift in tone in the piece which outlines her message. “Waves entering a confined space always concentrate all their tremendous force for a driving upward leap: in this manner the roof of the caves are gradually battered away.” (Line 55, Paragraph 9). At this point in the passage, Carson is still using a tone that enrages the waves, and gives portrayal of its dominance. She creates this cave of constant movement, and the life inside forever struggling for survival. She provides an example of the mussels that are attached to the cave's ceiling; they fasten themselves to the top with the inclination to never let go. “As I lie and look into the pool there are moments of relative quiet, in the intervals when one wave has receded and the next has not yet entered. Then I can hear the small sounds:...” (Line 69, Paragraph 10). This line shows a distinct shift in tone. Carson is now leading to something; she is driving at her point. She takes this place of endless commotion, and turns it into an almost silent existence. It is within this shift of tone that Carson is setting the stage for the introduction of the main character to her overriding message. It is this creature, even more hidden than the cave itself, that has survived in silence for an overwhelming number of years. This new tone leaves Carson a path in which to present her message without deception.
Continuing from the shift in tone, Carson then provides a repetition of one specific word choice. “But seemingly most fragile of all are the little calcareous sponges that here and there exist among the seaweeds.” (Line 91, Paragraph 16). The repeated concept of fragility develops a structure for which Carson can render the message of the simplistic sponge living like a vase on the brink of falling to the floor. Carson describes many of these creatures in the cave as fragile, and most of those she considers fragile are the creatures of smaller size. The baby mussels are presented as fragile, which is interesting , because earlier in the text the adult mussels are shown to be almost senseless creatures. Carson then fixes her lens directly on the sponge's fragility. By focusing on the sponge, she is able to later present its long existence on Earth. This repetition hits a specific idea over and again, until Carson drives the reasoning of the repetition into the ground. Another example of repetition used by Carson in a more discrete way is the creation of some sort of mystery. “Perhaps behind a thick curtain of concealing weeds.” (Line 4, Paragraph 1). The repetition of an underlying question, a presence gone missing, is placed within the text for the reader to find. What this does to the text is makes the reader question there own strength. Something that humans (“to the view of the casual passer-by”) have ignored is forced into reflection by Carson's repetition of such an unknown world. Carson follows up on this questioning by providing the reality of humans time on this planet to be insufficient, and despite the dominance we present, not even we can survive in all environments. “The concealing weeds” represents our denial to the truth of our existence. Carson crafts this questioning, and presentation of denial from the beginning and carries it throughout, and finally shows it as she lifts the curtain on the fragile, but long existing sponge.
A final key to the passage is the metaphor Carson uses to depict the sponge as a clock which seeks no set ending point. “But it is the sponges that give to the cave and its pool their special quality—the sense of a continuing flow of time.” (Line 104, Paragraph 18). It is this direct reference to the sponges timeless structure that conveys Carson's message of the fragile, simple, concealed creature outlasting the most domineering life forms. Carson continues off of this line by describing how the sponge is unchanged, and she makes a highly probable prediction by saying they will remain this way for thousands of more years. “...all that remains when the living tissue is gone—are found in the first fossil bearing rocks...” ( Line 113, Paragraph 19). This line alludes back to the sponge's endless existence, and it adds emphasis to even when the sponge is gone, it will remain apart of the cave. This entire creation of the sponge's durability leaves the reader with Carson's final line, which unlike the rest of the passage uses a specific syntax. “The tide was rising.” (Line 124, Paragraph 22). This line is very short, unlike the rest of the sentence structure, but it is forward, discrete, and leaves the impact of the message. The line embodies the message that the all so powerful human, who believes to be immortal, can't endure, and cast its shadow over all aspects of life. When the tide rises, unlike the sponge that has called the destructive cave home, the human must exit. The line also provides reference back to the short existence of humans on the time line of Earth, and the ever immortal existence of such a simple lone survivor.
As the waves crash, as the tide swirls with anger, it isn't the man who built the ever so large building that survives. As the buildings come toppling down, the simple fixtures of life, the sponge will forever be the guest to this planet.
The Greater Depression?
Lines round the street corners, the hungry in ragged clothing wait their turns for a scoop of soup. Once a millionaire, a man with a beaten suit stands selling apples, hoping to earn enough money to feed his family. Hoovervilles engulf New York City, shacks made from a variety of materials become the homes for millions. Farms are dried up by a massive drought, the dust bowl sweeps the Midwest leaving families fleeing and animals dead. World War I Veterans (Bonus Army) embark on the capitol begging for their bonuses, President Hoover commands for them to leave, two infants die from tear gas. Families, millions of families are without heat, electricity, and jobs. The Great Depression lasts over a decade; it reveals the very shattering of an economy.
While the United States economy of today heads into its 17th month of what Federal Reserve economist William Strauss defines as a “recession”, the swirling whispers of a depression protrudes through the media. The Blue Chip Forecast, which successfully predicted the recession, has indicated that it will have a life of 18 to 21 months. With this valuable economic prediction, and several new indications of the bottom being met, the notion of comparing today's economy to that of the Great Depression is invalid.
October 29, 1929—Black Tuesday, the stock market plunges, sending its value $30,000,000 downward within a two day period. It took three days for the stock market of 1929 to drop a little over 30%. 11 well-known Wall St. investors commit suicide.
October 1, 2008, 10 days of stock market decline sends flares into the sky over Wall St. A longer state of decline than 1929, but the results don't a line, the market falls 24%, 6% less than the mere three days it took the market of 1929 to bottom out. More importantly the Republican President George W. Bush has few months remaining in the Oval Office. Three years were had by Republican President Herbert Hoover as he grasped to his failed economic policies; the same policies that would be paraded by Republicans for many years to come. As Mr. and Mrs. Hoover were served seven course meals for dinner, citizens couldn't afford a slice of bread. “...the lesson should be constantly enforced that though the people support the government, the government should not support the people,” said President Hoover (---)
The reasoning for why the market crash of 1929 gave out so easily and produced a domino effect is very simple, the “Roaring Twenties.” In 1924 the market begin its slow march to a boom. “By 1927, the bull market is jumping all the fences. Stocks are doubling and sometimes doubling again” (Part 12, Freedom: A History of US). With the economic experts declaring that the bull market will just go on and on, millions of people begin to purchase stock. 2/3 (600,000) of investors get it for a cheaper cost as they buy on margin, borrowing most of the money and receiving more shares. By the summer of 1929, people are buying stock in anything; the market is one large balloon waiting to pop as stocks sell at 50 times their earnings. And so it does, in the fall of 1929, everyone begins looking to sell their stocks, but no one buys. The market rips apart, and those who bought on margin now owe money to the banks. The majority of citizens not involved in the market lose their savings as banks had been lending money to speculators who can't pay their debt. This collapse proves more penetrating than the crash in 2008.
But the 2008 stock market plummet was still a large blow to the economy, so why not worse than the Great Depression? The United States today has the Great Depression to thank for an economic situation of less trauma. During the Great Depression there were no safety nets for citizens as the economy disintegrated. “That safety net was built by the New Deal and whatever the New Deal's flaws it has helped to prevent another collapse by allowing people to keep spending,” said Temple University professor of history and director of American studies Bryant Simon(---) The New Deal reformed the United States, and insured the future. The stock market becomes regulated, work hours are limited, child labor is shutdown, fair wages secured, bank deposits are insured, unions advance, electricity is introduced to places like Tennessee, farming is reborn, and a pension policy, the Social Security Act is implemented. Several of these initiatives, and many of the programs introduced by President Roosevelt caught the citizens of today from free-falling. The Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) in 1933 offered re-financing of citizens' home on the brink of being lost to foreclosures. “...one of the reasons cited for some in the House [of Representatives] initially voting against the bailout package last fall,” said Simon (---) These indications of President Roosevelt's rescue plan saving our economy from a complete collapse is just the mere surface of reasoning for why the comparisons made between the two time periods are unsound.
Today's economic faults are attributed to three specific offenders; the crash of the real estate market (excessive building), Wall St. speculation, and credit defaults. Whereas in the 1930s the deep wound on citizen's confidence within the economy played a leading role in the struggle for a rebound. The 2009 economy has a bruised confidence, but there are signs that show the pain isn't all that deep. For the first time since the crash in 2008, the stock market has risen back over the 8,000 point mark; at one point the market was wandering in the 6,000 point region. While consumers are spending less than they did before the economic downturn, the past two months have shown a 1.2% increase in consumer spending. In the month of March the Consumer Confidence Index rose to 26% after several months of decline. In the housing market, the past three months have shown a 1.2% increase in home sales according to the most recent Existing Home Sales Report. These are dim changes in the economy, but they are reassuring to the confidence and state of the current situation. Debt, securitization, and credit were all highly dependent on the real estate market, and thanks to quick reactions through bailouts, and bank policy these categories were not released to an overwhelming crash. In the bank department, banks have wisely made loans more difficult to get; this prevents someone from receiving a loan, when they have horrible credit. As the economy reemerges, again more and more loans will be dispersed wisely. The refinancing of homes again comes into calculations, because of the many home owners eligible for housing foreclosures. With quick action being taken by many different sectors the confidence being reestablished is evident through the results. “Strauss conceded that the Federal Reserve is exercising authority it hasn't had to use since the Great Depression, but he was optimistic that a crisis like the 1930s will be avoided.” (Link) There remains confidence in the economy and the government, which proves today's economy to be stronger than the economy of the 1930s. “Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” (Hakim) This notification made by President Roosevelt in his inaugural address pinpoints the importance of confidence in the economy being either make or break. Confidence was near nonexistent during the 1930s, but today it stands much more firmly, contributing to the restrengthening of an economy that isn't validly compared to the Great Depression by pundits.
Another important item of the economic agenda is on the global scale, and today's global economy is faced with great hurdles. But the sitting establishment of cooperation between nations indicates the efforts will reform the falling global economy. In the 1930s, the global economy was melting, and the collaborative effort for fixing it was minuscule, and as a result Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany promising a fix for Germany's economy. Summits like the G20 meeting that took place during the first days of April are affirmative steps in the direction of restoring the global economy. “The World Bank senior economist says a positive outcome of the G20 meeting would be seeing some confidence restored and signs the financial markets are moving up once again.” (CNN) The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expectation for 2009 is a drop of 1.6%. In 1930, GDP fell by 27% in the United States. This concludes that today even the global economy is in better shape at least in the light of the United States' perspective. While the confidence of the economy in the United States is stationed in higher spirit, on the global scale it lacks. “Basing decisions around fear is not the right way to go. We are going to get through this difficult time,” said President Barack Obama. (---) President Obama's message to the global community is one he hasn't used often in the United States which shows more concern for global confidence. With confidence not being a focal issue in the United States, it provides strategists the opportunity of tackling issues that aren't abstract, and instead solving issues that have more approachable answers in the path to an economic recovery.
Conjunctively, several key figures depict a clear outlook of a current economic crisis that shares no state as detrimental to that of the 1930s. An overwhelming 50% of banks between 1930 and 1933 closed. More importantly, these banks closed with every last penny locked inside. Without accounts insured, every citizen with deposits in the bank had lost what they transacted. This is something that didn't happen in today's economy, because of the FDIC which was established during the Great Depression. Again, today the FDIC was used during an economic crisis as deposits are temporarily insured up to $250,000 until January 1, 2010. However, the banking industry isn't nearly comparative to the 1930s as only .5% of banks have closed, and this can be accredited to the bailouts that took place in order to prevent banks from caving in. Reassuring the stability of the banking system was an obvious lesson learned from the 1930s and hastily protected in today's economic scenario.
Conclusively, the evidence presented of such completely differing time periods and a much more demoralizing economic crisis expresses the fallacious comparison being made by many media sources and pundits. The current economic situation is not to be made out for less than what it is, but it certainly isn't needed to be portrayed for something it is not. The pure struggle of survival in the first severe economic crash of this country's capitalistic system will forever be the deepest cut in history until there is an absolute dissolving of the economic system. The 2008-2009 economy is not the Greater Depression, it is a recession.
“One vivid, gruesome moment of those dark days we shall never forget. We saw a crowd of some fifty men fighting over a barrel of garbage which had been set outside the back door of a restaurant. American citizens fighting for scraps of food like animals” said Louise Armstrong (Hakim)
http://www.augustana.edu/x11866.xml.
http://www.voanews.com/english/Africa/2009-03-31-voa32.cfm.
http://www.temple.edu/newsroom/2008_2009/0%20stories/ComparingtodaytotheGreatDepression.htm.
http://money.cnn.com/news/storysupplement/economy/recession_depression/
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2008-11-03-economy-depression-recession_N.htm
http://www.vancouversun.com/office+booming+economy+goes+downhill/1360359/story.html
http://books.google.com/books?id=RHINtHpq8p0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=great+depression#PPR14,M1
http://books.google.com/books?id=pT8gMTpQ5L0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+great+depression#PPA3,M1
http://www.money-zine.com/Investing/Stocks/Stock-Market-Crash-of-2008/
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE52Q2XI20090327
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/national/stories/040209dnintobama.420b4b5.htm
http://www.realestateabc.com/outlook.htm
Freedom: A History of US by Joy Hakim
While the United States economy of today heads into its 17th month of what Federal Reserve economist William Strauss defines as a “recession”, the swirling whispers of a depression protrudes through the media. The Blue Chip Forecast, which successfully predicted the recession, has indicated that it will have a life of 18 to 21 months. With this valuable economic prediction, and several new indications of the bottom being met, the notion of comparing today's economy to that of the Great Depression is invalid.
October 29, 1929—Black Tuesday, the stock market plunges, sending its value $30,000,000 downward within a two day period. It took three days for the stock market of 1929 to drop a little over 30%. 11 well-known Wall St. investors commit suicide.
October 1, 2008, 10 days of stock market decline sends flares into the sky over Wall St. A longer state of decline than 1929, but the results don't a line, the market falls 24%, 6% less than the mere three days it took the market of 1929 to bottom out. More importantly the Republican President George W. Bush has few months remaining in the Oval Office. Three years were had by Republican President Herbert Hoover as he grasped to his failed economic policies; the same policies that would be paraded by Republicans for many years to come. As Mr. and Mrs. Hoover were served seven course meals for dinner, citizens couldn't afford a slice of bread. “...the lesson should be constantly enforced that though the people support the government, the government should not support the people,” said President Hoover (---)
The reasoning for why the market crash of 1929 gave out so easily and produced a domino effect is very simple, the “Roaring Twenties.” In 1924 the market begin its slow march to a boom. “By 1927, the bull market is jumping all the fences. Stocks are doubling and sometimes doubling again” (Part 12, Freedom: A History of US). With the economic experts declaring that the bull market will just go on and on, millions of people begin to purchase stock. 2/3 (600,000) of investors get it for a cheaper cost as they buy on margin, borrowing most of the money and receiving more shares. By the summer of 1929, people are buying stock in anything; the market is one large balloon waiting to pop as stocks sell at 50 times their earnings. And so it does, in the fall of 1929, everyone begins looking to sell their stocks, but no one buys. The market rips apart, and those who bought on margin now owe money to the banks. The majority of citizens not involved in the market lose their savings as banks had been lending money to speculators who can't pay their debt. This collapse proves more penetrating than the crash in 2008.
But the 2008 stock market plummet was still a large blow to the economy, so why not worse than the Great Depression? The United States today has the Great Depression to thank for an economic situation of less trauma. During the Great Depression there were no safety nets for citizens as the economy disintegrated. “That safety net was built by the New Deal and whatever the New Deal's flaws it has helped to prevent another collapse by allowing people to keep spending,” said Temple University professor of history and director of American studies Bryant Simon(---) The New Deal reformed the United States, and insured the future. The stock market becomes regulated, work hours are limited, child labor is shutdown, fair wages secured, bank deposits are insured, unions advance, electricity is introduced to places like Tennessee, farming is reborn, and a pension policy, the Social Security Act is implemented. Several of these initiatives, and many of the programs introduced by President Roosevelt caught the citizens of today from free-falling. The Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) in 1933 offered re-financing of citizens' home on the brink of being lost to foreclosures. “...one of the reasons cited for some in the House [of Representatives] initially voting against the bailout package last fall,” said Simon (---) These indications of President Roosevelt's rescue plan saving our economy from a complete collapse is just the mere surface of reasoning for why the comparisons made between the two time periods are unsound.
Today's economic faults are attributed to three specific offenders; the crash of the real estate market (excessive building), Wall St. speculation, and credit defaults. Whereas in the 1930s the deep wound on citizen's confidence within the economy played a leading role in the struggle for a rebound. The 2009 economy has a bruised confidence, but there are signs that show the pain isn't all that deep. For the first time since the crash in 2008, the stock market has risen back over the 8,000 point mark; at one point the market was wandering in the 6,000 point region. While consumers are spending less than they did before the economic downturn, the past two months have shown a 1.2% increase in consumer spending. In the month of March the Consumer Confidence Index rose to 26% after several months of decline. In the housing market, the past three months have shown a 1.2% increase in home sales according to the most recent Existing Home Sales Report. These are dim changes in the economy, but they are reassuring to the confidence and state of the current situation. Debt, securitization, and credit were all highly dependent on the real estate market, and thanks to quick reactions through bailouts, and bank policy these categories were not released to an overwhelming crash. In the bank department, banks have wisely made loans more difficult to get; this prevents someone from receiving a loan, when they have horrible credit. As the economy reemerges, again more and more loans will be dispersed wisely. The refinancing of homes again comes into calculations, because of the many home owners eligible for housing foreclosures. With quick action being taken by many different sectors the confidence being reestablished is evident through the results. “Strauss conceded that the Federal Reserve is exercising authority it hasn't had to use since the Great Depression, but he was optimistic that a crisis like the 1930s will be avoided.” (Link) There remains confidence in the economy and the government, which proves today's economy to be stronger than the economy of the 1930s. “Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” (Hakim) This notification made by President Roosevelt in his inaugural address pinpoints the importance of confidence in the economy being either make or break. Confidence was near nonexistent during the 1930s, but today it stands much more firmly, contributing to the restrengthening of an economy that isn't validly compared to the Great Depression by pundits.
Another important item of the economic agenda is on the global scale, and today's global economy is faced with great hurdles. But the sitting establishment of cooperation between nations indicates the efforts will reform the falling global economy. In the 1930s, the global economy was melting, and the collaborative effort for fixing it was minuscule, and as a result Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany promising a fix for Germany's economy. Summits like the G20 meeting that took place during the first days of April are affirmative steps in the direction of restoring the global economy. “The World Bank senior economist says a positive outcome of the G20 meeting would be seeing some confidence restored and signs the financial markets are moving up once again.” (CNN) The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expectation for 2009 is a drop of 1.6%. In 1930, GDP fell by 27% in the United States. This concludes that today even the global economy is in better shape at least in the light of the United States' perspective. While the confidence of the economy in the United States is stationed in higher spirit, on the global scale it lacks. “Basing decisions around fear is not the right way to go. We are going to get through this difficult time,” said President Barack Obama. (---) President Obama's message to the global community is one he hasn't used often in the United States which shows more concern for global confidence. With confidence not being a focal issue in the United States, it provides strategists the opportunity of tackling issues that aren't abstract, and instead solving issues that have more approachable answers in the path to an economic recovery.
Conjunctively, several key figures depict a clear outlook of a current economic crisis that shares no state as detrimental to that of the 1930s. An overwhelming 50% of banks between 1930 and 1933 closed. More importantly, these banks closed with every last penny locked inside. Without accounts insured, every citizen with deposits in the bank had lost what they transacted. This is something that didn't happen in today's economy, because of the FDIC which was established during the Great Depression. Again, today the FDIC was used during an economic crisis as deposits are temporarily insured up to $250,000 until January 1, 2010. However, the banking industry isn't nearly comparative to the 1930s as only .5% of banks have closed, and this can be accredited to the bailouts that took place in order to prevent banks from caving in. Reassuring the stability of the banking system was an obvious lesson learned from the 1930s and hastily protected in today's economic scenario.
Conclusively, the evidence presented of such completely differing time periods and a much more demoralizing economic crisis expresses the fallacious comparison being made by many media sources and pundits. The current economic situation is not to be made out for less than what it is, but it certainly isn't needed to be portrayed for something it is not. The pure struggle of survival in the first severe economic crash of this country's capitalistic system will forever be the deepest cut in history until there is an absolute dissolving of the economic system. The 2008-2009 economy is not the Greater Depression, it is a recession.
“One vivid, gruesome moment of those dark days we shall never forget. We saw a crowd of some fifty men fighting over a barrel of garbage which had been set outside the back door of a restaurant. American citizens fighting for scraps of food like animals” said Louise Armstrong (Hakim)
http://www.augustana.edu/x11866.xml.
http://www.voanews.com/english/Africa/2009-03-31-voa32.cfm.
http://www.temple.edu/newsroom/2008_2009/0%20stories/ComparingtodaytotheGreatDepression.htm.
http://money.cnn.com/news/storysupplement/economy/recession_depression/
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2008-11-03-economy-depression-recession_N.htm
http://www.vancouversun.com/office+booming+economy+goes+downhill/1360359/story.html
http://books.google.com/books?id=RHINtHpq8p0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=great+depression#PPR14,M1
http://books.google.com/books?id=pT8gMTpQ5L0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+great+depression#PPA3,M1
http://www.money-zine.com/Investing/Stocks/Stock-Market-Crash-of-2008/
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE52Q2XI20090327
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/national/stories/040209dnintobama.420b4b5.htm
http://www.realestateabc.com/outlook.htm
Freedom: A History of US by Joy Hakim
THE ROAR: 'Go Greene'
That phone call startled many back to consciousness on the mild summer morning of June 30, 2009. The 1 a.m. ringing of the phone sounded like an alarm—always unwelcome. The voice of regret and despair pieced words together. The listener heard them slowly as if time had been stretched. But the message was clear, Derek Greene, 21, and his brother Gage Greene, 19, had been killed.
In the wake of death—murder, the friends and family of Derek and Gage Greene are not weeping in silence. Instead, through the community service team “Go Green,” the memory of the Greene brothers rests not in the darkness of a crime scene, but in the radiance of doing good for Biddeford.
“Being a person that was always on the streets, I thought it would be a good opportunity [joining Go Green],” said Eli Copeland said.
According to Go Greene advisor Laura Kimball, the Greene's encounter with alleged murderer Rory Holland may have been avoided if there was a group reaching out to youth on the streets. Seeing the absence of such a group and searching for strength, Tammy Cole, the mother of Derek and Gage, initiated Go Greene.
“She [Cole] wants to better things for the kids in the community,” said Kimball, “so they don't have encounters with unsafe situations.”
Through Cole's vision and hope for youth in the community, the strength she has needed after the death of her sons is no longer absent; Go Greene is a reality. With the condolence she gained through the group, the youth recognize Cole for what she means to them.
“We are her kids,” said Sydney Proctor. “She is like another mother.”
And to each other, they consider Go Greene their family. During their Tuesday night meetings and community service projects, they work together, laugh together, and most of all remember why it is they wear the shirts that read 'Do work' on one side and 'Go Greene' on the other.
“I think they [Derek and Gage] would be proud of us,” Kerry Chambers said.
The work that Go Greene continues to do around Biddeford has changed not only the appeal of the city, but the lives of the young adults that once spent their time on the streets—the same young adults that saw the bodies of Derek and Gage lay motionless. One day of removing graffiti from a brick wall is one more day that Derek and Gage have left their memory on this community. It is one more day that such tragedy has provided refuge for youth like Copeland who would otherwise be at risk.
“We've taken a negative action and turned it into a positive action,” said Proctor. “Instead of lashing out, we are doing projects that are helping the community.”
The group has been given opportunities from many different people. Tiffany Pelletier served on a youth panel in October that asked questions of the four Biddeford mayoral candidates. Go Greene planted flowers around Biddeford High School. They continue to clean graffiti off the walls and bridges around the city, and Rick Lachance had the team helping at Westbrook Skating Rink. However, Kimball described one person that has given the group something more than just an opportunity.
“Charlotte [Bourgault] placed her trust and confidence in Go Greene,” said Kimball.
As Director of In-a-Pinch, Bourgault was depended on by the community for her devotion to serve the public. For many years, she coordinated a Christmas gathering that provided children of less fortunate families presents. This year, Bourgault asked Go Greene to help coordinate the gathering, however; she passed away only days before. The project she took great pride in, Go Greene now carried the responsibility and expectations. And just as before, Go Greene rose to fill the void of a loss. Joy could be seen in the faces of the children and the community expressed their appreciation for Go Greene's work.
“Couldn't have done it without you,” Lachance said.
When candlelight burned bright in remembrance of Derek and Gage and tears represented more than words, the family that was born could not have been predicted. The appreciation and confidence in this group of youth could not have been foreseen. The strength and vision of Cole could not have been fathomed. And that phone call did not relate the message of lost lives, instead; it called for the memory of Derek and Gage to be carried forward. It called for the community service family, Go Greene.
“At that moment, we had two friends that were never coming back,” Proctor said.
Now, they have two friends that will never be forgotten.
In the wake of death—murder, the friends and family of Derek and Gage Greene are not weeping in silence. Instead, through the community service team “Go Green,” the memory of the Greene brothers rests not in the darkness of a crime scene, but in the radiance of doing good for Biddeford.
“Being a person that was always on the streets, I thought it would be a good opportunity [joining Go Green],” said Eli Copeland said.
According to Go Greene advisor Laura Kimball, the Greene's encounter with alleged murderer Rory Holland may have been avoided if there was a group reaching out to youth on the streets. Seeing the absence of such a group and searching for strength, Tammy Cole, the mother of Derek and Gage, initiated Go Greene.
“She [Cole] wants to better things for the kids in the community,” said Kimball, “so they don't have encounters with unsafe situations.”
Through Cole's vision and hope for youth in the community, the strength she has needed after the death of her sons is no longer absent; Go Greene is a reality. With the condolence she gained through the group, the youth recognize Cole for what she means to them.
“We are her kids,” said Sydney Proctor. “She is like another mother.”
And to each other, they consider Go Greene their family. During their Tuesday night meetings and community service projects, they work together, laugh together, and most of all remember why it is they wear the shirts that read 'Do work' on one side and 'Go Greene' on the other.
“I think they [Derek and Gage] would be proud of us,” Kerry Chambers said.
The work that Go Greene continues to do around Biddeford has changed not only the appeal of the city, but the lives of the young adults that once spent their time on the streets—the same young adults that saw the bodies of Derek and Gage lay motionless. One day of removing graffiti from a brick wall is one more day that Derek and Gage have left their memory on this community. It is one more day that such tragedy has provided refuge for youth like Copeland who would otherwise be at risk.
“We've taken a negative action and turned it into a positive action,” said Proctor. “Instead of lashing out, we are doing projects that are helping the community.”
The group has been given opportunities from many different people. Tiffany Pelletier served on a youth panel in October that asked questions of the four Biddeford mayoral candidates. Go Greene planted flowers around Biddeford High School. They continue to clean graffiti off the walls and bridges around the city, and Rick Lachance had the team helping at Westbrook Skating Rink. However, Kimball described one person that has given the group something more than just an opportunity.
“Charlotte [Bourgault] placed her trust and confidence in Go Greene,” said Kimball.
As Director of In-a-Pinch, Bourgault was depended on by the community for her devotion to serve the public. For many years, she coordinated a Christmas gathering that provided children of less fortunate families presents. This year, Bourgault asked Go Greene to help coordinate the gathering, however; she passed away only days before. The project she took great pride in, Go Greene now carried the responsibility and expectations. And just as before, Go Greene rose to fill the void of a loss. Joy could be seen in the faces of the children and the community expressed their appreciation for Go Greene's work.
“Couldn't have done it without you,” Lachance said.
When candlelight burned bright in remembrance of Derek and Gage and tears represented more than words, the family that was born could not have been predicted. The appreciation and confidence in this group of youth could not have been foreseen. The strength and vision of Cole could not have been fathomed. And that phone call did not relate the message of lost lives, instead; it called for the memory of Derek and Gage to be carried forward. It called for the community service family, Go Greene.
“At that moment, we had two friends that were never coming back,” Proctor said.
Now, they have two friends that will never be forgotten.
THE ROAR: 'Los Cuatros Fantasticos'
Around 80 orphans, three bedrooms per house, two bunk-beds per room, and living their young lives in the poorest of conditions, Aldea Infantil de San Miguel is the home away from home.
In the summer of 2005, Biddeford High School Spanish teacher, Kathy Foss traveled to San Miguel, El Salvador. Foss spent the week with three friends at the orphanage, where they did what they could to bring forth change.
“Everything is run down,” said Foss. “It just needs a little TLC.”
The buildings are concrete and tile. The windows have no screens. The weather is “so hot.” The dry season causes the wood inside the homes to curl and peel; the torrential rains sneak their way through the roof and windows and into the homes. The conditions expose the children to health problems, insects carrying disease, such as the deadly illness of malaria.
“The little kids came running over,” said Foss. “They didn't know who we were, they just thought 'new friends!'”
60 children in the orphanage are under the age of 15, and about 20 are 15 or older with the oldest being 19. They are living at the orphanage for a number of reasons, but it is the country's sunken economy that causes many them to seek refuge at the orphanage. Foss' family is from Ecuador, a country very much like El Salvador with a slightly different in accent in dialect. Like El Salvador, Ecuador is also struggling economically.
“Do you have a car?” Foss' cousin asks.
“Yes,” Foss says.
“And your sister has a car too?”
“Yes.”
“And your boyfriend has a car?”
“Yes.”
“Wow, you must be millionaires!”
Foss is one of 35 first cousins. Her family in Ecuador, like many families in the country, cannot afford to own a vehicle. The children at the orphanage ask similar questions about the United States. Their questions graze the surface of what they believe the country is like.
“Is it true it is so cold in the United States that your bones freeze?” One of the girls asks.
None of the children want to travel to the United States, they all fear of freezing. They don't understand that the country includes such differing climates.
“Is it true everyone has a car?” Another asks.
Foss describes their questions as “cute”, but at the same time it awakens a sense of sadness within her; she knows it is luxuries such as a car that these children don't have.
“We spent the week doing odd jobs,” Foss said.
Foss, her friends Annie, and Eli organize futbol and basketball competitions for the kids. Foss says the events are equally as competitive to those in the United States. The three of them also clean up after a food vendor, who serves El Salvador's national dish, pupusas(stuffed tortillas).
“They[the children] were like sponges,” said Foss. “They observed everything we taught them.”
The children do not have any means of learning about environmental issues, or the knowledge to take a stance against these issues. So, Foss, Annie, and Eli teach the children about the environment around them, and how they can help. The children that can go to school, do, and they don't come outside to play until all their homework is complete.
“The children were the best to acclimate us to the country,” Foss said.
El Salvador is a country that in 1980 to 1992 endured a long, deadly civil war. The lives of more than 70,000 people were taken, including high ranking religious figures. The United States provided aid to the country, but once the US stopped fostering the country, El Salvador's economy fell. The El Salvadoran government took whatever money the citizens had. Most of the orphans do not understand the history of violence, but their faces are the images of such negligence.
“I felt very foolish,” said Foss. “I know so much, and then I get there, and I see four pictures of priests that had been murdered.”
Foss attended St. Michael's College, her professor was from El Salvador. The fourth person they had with them in El Salvador during the week was her professor's brother, Boberto. He shares stories with the group of hiding in ditches from gun fire; friends going into hiding, and activists being slaughtered. Foss' professor was attending college in El Salvador for her doctoral in philosophy and Spanish, but was exiled from the country for studying a subject of 'free thought,' and in addition, women were not allowed to attend school.
“I learned not to take my job for granted,” said Foss. “I don't take anything for granted.”
Her professor began this program as a service trip for students at St. Michael's College, but Foss could not attend, because of her major. Foss spent a lot of her time studying El Salvador. Once she graduated, her professor set her up with the trip.
“When I finally leave this world, I would like to leave it better than I found it.” Foss said.
During one of the days in El Salvador, Foss and her friends bring 20 of the children, and the “mother superior,” who is the leader of the orphanage, to the movies. They spend $80 at the movies, essentially $3 per ticket. “It was very cheap.” The children treat it as a very big deal, so they dress up.
“They looked very nice,” said Foss. “They were showered, and put together.”
They go to see The Fantastic 4. On the way back to the orphanage, the children in a show of appreciation and thanks coin the name, 'Los Cuatros Fantasticos' for Foss, Annie, Eli and Boberto.
“What do you say to these people that have taken us to the movie?” Mother Superior asks.
No answer, Mother Superior gets upset.
“No one has done this for us, I guess we just don't know what to say,” one of the children murmurs.
Foss describes how she found the children's expression of thanks by the way they present themselves. She thinks to herself, “it is just a movie.” It shows her more clearly what people take for granted; $16 for Foss to spend at the movies in the United States, would be used by the children at the orphanage to buy food for three weeks.
“All I can do is share that experience as a Latin American, as an American, and as a teacher,” Foss said.
In addition to an opportunity of returning to El Salvador with her professor, Foss is going to send a 'care-package' to the orphans in May. Students at BHS have and continue to bring in clothing, and other odds and ends. The children are enduring the struggles of living in an orphanage of a poor country, but they share their smiles, and release their endless gratitude.
“They are just so simple, you appreciate the beauty.”
In the summer of 2005, Biddeford High School Spanish teacher, Kathy Foss traveled to San Miguel, El Salvador. Foss spent the week with three friends at the orphanage, where they did what they could to bring forth change.
“Everything is run down,” said Foss. “It just needs a little TLC.”
The buildings are concrete and tile. The windows have no screens. The weather is “so hot.” The dry season causes the wood inside the homes to curl and peel; the torrential rains sneak their way through the roof and windows and into the homes. The conditions expose the children to health problems, insects carrying disease, such as the deadly illness of malaria.
“The little kids came running over,” said Foss. “They didn't know who we were, they just thought 'new friends!'”
60 children in the orphanage are under the age of 15, and about 20 are 15 or older with the oldest being 19. They are living at the orphanage for a number of reasons, but it is the country's sunken economy that causes many them to seek refuge at the orphanage. Foss' family is from Ecuador, a country very much like El Salvador with a slightly different in accent in dialect. Like El Salvador, Ecuador is also struggling economically.
“Do you have a car?” Foss' cousin asks.
“Yes,” Foss says.
“And your sister has a car too?”
“Yes.”
“And your boyfriend has a car?”
“Yes.”
“Wow, you must be millionaires!”
Foss is one of 35 first cousins. Her family in Ecuador, like many families in the country, cannot afford to own a vehicle. The children at the orphanage ask similar questions about the United States. Their questions graze the surface of what they believe the country is like.
“Is it true it is so cold in the United States that your bones freeze?” One of the girls asks.
None of the children want to travel to the United States, they all fear of freezing. They don't understand that the country includes such differing climates.
“Is it true everyone has a car?” Another asks.
Foss describes their questions as “cute”, but at the same time it awakens a sense of sadness within her; she knows it is luxuries such as a car that these children don't have.
“We spent the week doing odd jobs,” Foss said.
Foss, her friends Annie, and Eli organize futbol and basketball competitions for the kids. Foss says the events are equally as competitive to those in the United States. The three of them also clean up after a food vendor, who serves El Salvador's national dish, pupusas(stuffed tortillas).
“They[the children] were like sponges,” said Foss. “They observed everything we taught them.”
The children do not have any means of learning about environmental issues, or the knowledge to take a stance against these issues. So, Foss, Annie, and Eli teach the children about the environment around them, and how they can help. The children that can go to school, do, and they don't come outside to play until all their homework is complete.
“The children were the best to acclimate us to the country,” Foss said.
El Salvador is a country that in 1980 to 1992 endured a long, deadly civil war. The lives of more than 70,000 people were taken, including high ranking religious figures. The United States provided aid to the country, but once the US stopped fostering the country, El Salvador's economy fell. The El Salvadoran government took whatever money the citizens had. Most of the orphans do not understand the history of violence, but their faces are the images of such negligence.
“I felt very foolish,” said Foss. “I know so much, and then I get there, and I see four pictures of priests that had been murdered.”
Foss attended St. Michael's College, her professor was from El Salvador. The fourth person they had with them in El Salvador during the week was her professor's brother, Boberto. He shares stories with the group of hiding in ditches from gun fire; friends going into hiding, and activists being slaughtered. Foss' professor was attending college in El Salvador for her doctoral in philosophy and Spanish, but was exiled from the country for studying a subject of 'free thought,' and in addition, women were not allowed to attend school.
“I learned not to take my job for granted,” said Foss. “I don't take anything for granted.”
Her professor began this program as a service trip for students at St. Michael's College, but Foss could not attend, because of her major. Foss spent a lot of her time studying El Salvador. Once she graduated, her professor set her up with the trip.
“When I finally leave this world, I would like to leave it better than I found it.” Foss said.
During one of the days in El Salvador, Foss and her friends bring 20 of the children, and the “mother superior,” who is the leader of the orphanage, to the movies. They spend $80 at the movies, essentially $3 per ticket. “It was very cheap.” The children treat it as a very big deal, so they dress up.
“They looked very nice,” said Foss. “They were showered, and put together.”
They go to see The Fantastic 4. On the way back to the orphanage, the children in a show of appreciation and thanks coin the name, 'Los Cuatros Fantasticos' for Foss, Annie, Eli and Boberto.
“What do you say to these people that have taken us to the movie?” Mother Superior asks.
No answer, Mother Superior gets upset.
“No one has done this for us, I guess we just don't know what to say,” one of the children murmurs.
Foss describes how she found the children's expression of thanks by the way they present themselves. She thinks to herself, “it is just a movie.” It shows her more clearly what people take for granted; $16 for Foss to spend at the movies in the United States, would be used by the children at the orphanage to buy food for three weeks.
“All I can do is share that experience as a Latin American, as an American, and as a teacher,” Foss said.
In addition to an opportunity of returning to El Salvador with her professor, Foss is going to send a 'care-package' to the orphans in May. Students at BHS have and continue to bring in clothing, and other odds and ends. The children are enduring the struggles of living in an orphanage of a poor country, but they share their smiles, and release their endless gratitude.
“They are just so simple, you appreciate the beauty.”
THE ROAR: Ryan from the vault
At the turn of that eighth year, I often wonder what becomes of the President of the United States. The end of a job that demands responsibility, achievement, commitment and integrity. A scrutiny of every move ends (for the most part).
I once wondered; however, now I know. Just like our Commander-in-Chief, my term ends. The days of deadlines, editing, layout, reporting, picas, keeping others focused, and the red pen awaits the next. The experience and the growth that the position of Editor-in-Chief provides I will forever cherish. Yet, my work rests only at the end of this final column.
In the fall, my journey embarks on Washington, DC, where I'll be studying political science. Of course, by the time I arrive, Senator McCain's probability of life will have decreased by 70% according to the official reports from the 2008 election's 'Candidate Life Expectancy' report. Senator Scott Brown will have voted with the Democrats on every piece of legislation. Americans will remain brainwashed into the belief that President Obama's policies caused the recession. Health care reform will begin showing signs of success. Arizona's legislators will draft a bill legalizing the use of a taser on anyone who looks like an illegal immigrant. The illogical reasoning to slash hundreds of thousands out of the local school budget will be just that—illogical. And I will still not have my driver's license (just hilarious).
So I suppose this being my last column, I should push all sarcasm aside. These past few years of writing for The Roar never disappointed. In fact, many of my previous political allusions apply to my journalism experience.
When entering Journalism I my freshman year, the guidance department released their student “Course Drop Expectancy” report. According to the report, I had a 75% chance of dropping the course.
My political opinion appeared conservative; however, like Scott Brown, every single one of my columns expressed liberal ideals. The lack of newspaper readership wasn't caused by the last newspaper regime, instead, my misspelling of “Biddford” caused the turn-off.
When handing out newspapers, the ink collected on my fingertips caused speculation as to my citizenship. Suddenly, I found myself running from many border control officers with Tasers—for some reason they were in Maine.
In reference to illogical reasoning, the many pieces of writing that I have read with no clear angle and poor reporting could make the local government seem articulate.
Lastly, I managed to report on basketball games from Portland to Old Orchard, spend hours upon hours after school, and attend a thousand meetings without... my driver's license.
Oh, how I'll miss these days.
I once wondered; however, now I know. Just like our Commander-in-Chief, my term ends. The days of deadlines, editing, layout, reporting, picas, keeping others focused, and the red pen awaits the next. The experience and the growth that the position of Editor-in-Chief provides I will forever cherish. Yet, my work rests only at the end of this final column.
In the fall, my journey embarks on Washington, DC, where I'll be studying political science. Of course, by the time I arrive, Senator McCain's probability of life will have decreased by 70% according to the official reports from the 2008 election's 'Candidate Life Expectancy' report. Senator Scott Brown will have voted with the Democrats on every piece of legislation. Americans will remain brainwashed into the belief that President Obama's policies caused the recession. Health care reform will begin showing signs of success. Arizona's legislators will draft a bill legalizing the use of a taser on anyone who looks like an illegal immigrant. The illogical reasoning to slash hundreds of thousands out of the local school budget will be just that—illogical. And I will still not have my driver's license (just hilarious).
So I suppose this being my last column, I should push all sarcasm aside. These past few years of writing for The Roar never disappointed. In fact, many of my previous political allusions apply to my journalism experience.
When entering Journalism I my freshman year, the guidance department released their student “Course Drop Expectancy” report. According to the report, I had a 75% chance of dropping the course.
My political opinion appeared conservative; however, like Scott Brown, every single one of my columns expressed liberal ideals. The lack of newspaper readership wasn't caused by the last newspaper regime, instead, my misspelling of “Biddford” caused the turn-off.
When handing out newspapers, the ink collected on my fingertips caused speculation as to my citizenship. Suddenly, I found myself running from many border control officers with Tasers—for some reason they were in Maine.
In reference to illogical reasoning, the many pieces of writing that I have read with no clear angle and poor reporting could make the local government seem articulate.
Lastly, I managed to report on basketball games from Portland to Old Orchard, spend hours upon hours after school, and attend a thousand meetings without... my driver's license.
Oh, how I'll miss these days.
THE ROAR: Ryan from the vault
Chopping away at the keys, CNN.com awaits in the URL box. Enter.
A few moments of loading, or should I say one palya of loading; “slow computer!”
I pace back and forth across the room. Sweat blazes paths down my face. My vision becomes distorted, or was it always like that? The anticipation is killing me!
Finally, the page appears with the expected news headlines on the right-side. My eyes quickly gaze over them, and then I find myself face-to-screen with a red box screaming “DEVELOPING STORY.” I am very excited; this beats the story regarding Obama's gazillion-dollar spending plan and that one about rabid kangaroo flu, they call it 'swine flu'. I really want to know who let Kangaroos into Mexico. I guess they jumped the border.
Anyway, the media player appears with live coverage of the highly important, super, monstrous, paramount event. At first the live feed from the helicopter isn't exactly clear. I assume that they are chasing after something, a criminal, or a tornado, perhaps. The camera begins to focus in on a subject. The subject is moving at a high rate of speed. It is a fast fella. Zooming in closer, the pixels begin to form a clear definition of the character at hand.
“A bird? A plane?” I ask myself.
“No, it can't be you fool, it is on foot,” I reply.
CNN's premier live coverage of the day is a man in a sausage costume (I would later find out, his name is Chorizo). The costume is taller than the average person, possibly around 6 feet tall. This sausage sports a sombrero, a large nose, a goatee, an awkward smile, and two beady eyes. Arms poke out on each side, and legs occupy the bottom.
Chorizo is dashing across the traffic of a busy highway. He gracefully leaps, and glides through the air. It is unapparent to me how exactly he knows where to run. He is outrunning motorcycles, vans, and formula 1 cars. It is a synchronized routine of great running.
Growing tired, energy nearly depleted, oxygen fading, and helicopter fuel wasted, the sausage reaches its destination, Miller Park, home of Major League Baseball's Milwaukee Brewers.
This live coverage of the historic event had me laughing to nearly the point of tears. But I was not laughing just at the sausage, I was laughing, because CNN had made alerting coverage out of a sausage race. The unexpected coverage held me merciless at its humor. War in Iraq? Failing car companies? Unemployment? Steroid use in baseball? Superstar: President Obama? Kangaroo Flu? Who cares, when you have a story like racing sausages?
A few moments of loading, or should I say one palya of loading; “slow computer!”
I pace back and forth across the room. Sweat blazes paths down my face. My vision becomes distorted, or was it always like that? The anticipation is killing me!
Finally, the page appears with the expected news headlines on the right-side. My eyes quickly gaze over them, and then I find myself face-to-screen with a red box screaming “DEVELOPING STORY.” I am very excited; this beats the story regarding Obama's gazillion-dollar spending plan and that one about rabid kangaroo flu, they call it 'swine flu'. I really want to know who let Kangaroos into Mexico. I guess they jumped the border.
Anyway, the media player appears with live coverage of the highly important, super, monstrous, paramount event. At first the live feed from the helicopter isn't exactly clear. I assume that they are chasing after something, a criminal, or a tornado, perhaps. The camera begins to focus in on a subject. The subject is moving at a high rate of speed. It is a fast fella. Zooming in closer, the pixels begin to form a clear definition of the character at hand.
“A bird? A plane?” I ask myself.
“No, it can't be you fool, it is on foot,” I reply.
CNN's premier live coverage of the day is a man in a sausage costume (I would later find out, his name is Chorizo). The costume is taller than the average person, possibly around 6 feet tall. This sausage sports a sombrero, a large nose, a goatee, an awkward smile, and two beady eyes. Arms poke out on each side, and legs occupy the bottom.
Chorizo is dashing across the traffic of a busy highway. He gracefully leaps, and glides through the air. It is unapparent to me how exactly he knows where to run. He is outrunning motorcycles, vans, and formula 1 cars. It is a synchronized routine of great running.
Growing tired, energy nearly depleted, oxygen fading, and helicopter fuel wasted, the sausage reaches its destination, Miller Park, home of Major League Baseball's Milwaukee Brewers.
This live coverage of the historic event had me laughing to nearly the point of tears. But I was not laughing just at the sausage, I was laughing, because CNN had made alerting coverage out of a sausage race. The unexpected coverage held me merciless at its humor. War in Iraq? Failing car companies? Unemployment? Steroid use in baseball? Superstar: President Obama? Kangaroo Flu? Who cares, when you have a story like racing sausages?
THE ROAR: Ryan from the vault
PREFACE: A big thanks goes out to George W. Bush and the Republicans for creating the "Recession 2000" and even greater thanks for sending out the first round of "aid" to Wall St.
These past five months have been rough for all of us; the stock market took a turn onto streets that can be found across America with holes and bumps end-to-end. The unemployment rate has hit a 16 year high, and best of all we all took witness to $700 billion being given to failing companies.
Companies that were paying their CEO's outlandish salaries, spending large sums of cash on advertising and as for the banks, they were handing out loans to any Joe Schmo who walked in. It amazes me that after The Great Depression we would repeat the same mistakes more than 70 years later. Going through all the mistakes, disappointments, responsibilities(or lack there of), and use of the money by companies afterwards would be a novel, so allow me to stick to my main complaint. The United States of America claims to be a capitalist nation, however; we sent life boats out for every company found with stocks on Wall St.
So I ask to the government of our nation to instead do what a true capitalist society does, and allow those companies to fail, and allow banks to close. With the security nets and with a competitive market, we can easily rise from the tough times. Never should we or should we ever again pass our money out to those who failed themselves. If a small business here in Biddeford, a business people depended on, had to close, the government wouldn't send a check to make sure they stayed opened. The auto industry got snubbed when they came off their private jets with tin cans, and it should have been the same case when the big companies made themselves out to be, dead or alive.
Instead, it would be to the benefit our country to invest money in the parts of it that are governmental bodies rather than flunked companies. A stimulus package that includes money for the state governments, to then trickle down to the city governments and then into public works projects, education and jobs would provide much more for people than money that never saw the light of day when it was sent to Wall St.
Failing companies need to point the finger at their chief executives, failing schools need to point the finger at their government. There is a huge difference here, one has absolutely nothing to do with government while the other depends entirely on the government and the taxes of their local people to fund and maintain a usable environment. Maybe if the government would have chosen one less company to save on Wall St., we could have seen a $39 million bailout for renovations to our school. Maybe if the government chose to not save three less companies, our unemployment rate wouldn't have sky rocketed and jobs could have been created for those folks now having no way to pay bills.
Rushing through a bailout package was the most unwise thing our government has done in the last 20 years. So the next time Wall St. sees a bad day make sure to get on the phone, and call your senator and make sure they vote to decline any rescue package, because it seems rather clear that first lift raft sank.
These past five months have been rough for all of us; the stock market took a turn onto streets that can be found across America with holes and bumps end-to-end. The unemployment rate has hit a 16 year high, and best of all we all took witness to $700 billion being given to failing companies.
Companies that were paying their CEO's outlandish salaries, spending large sums of cash on advertising and as for the banks, they were handing out loans to any Joe Schmo who walked in. It amazes me that after The Great Depression we would repeat the same mistakes more than 70 years later. Going through all the mistakes, disappointments, responsibilities(or lack there of), and use of the money by companies afterwards would be a novel, so allow me to stick to my main complaint. The United States of America claims to be a capitalist nation, however; we sent life boats out for every company found with stocks on Wall St.
So I ask to the government of our nation to instead do what a true capitalist society does, and allow those companies to fail, and allow banks to close. With the security nets and with a competitive market, we can easily rise from the tough times. Never should we or should we ever again pass our money out to those who failed themselves. If a small business here in Biddeford, a business people depended on, had to close, the government wouldn't send a check to make sure they stayed opened. The auto industry got snubbed when they came off their private jets with tin cans, and it should have been the same case when the big companies made themselves out to be, dead or alive.
Instead, it would be to the benefit our country to invest money in the parts of it that are governmental bodies rather than flunked companies. A stimulus package that includes money for the state governments, to then trickle down to the city governments and then into public works projects, education and jobs would provide much more for people than money that never saw the light of day when it was sent to Wall St.
Failing companies need to point the finger at their chief executives, failing schools need to point the finger at their government. There is a huge difference here, one has absolutely nothing to do with government while the other depends entirely on the government and the taxes of their local people to fund and maintain a usable environment. Maybe if the government would have chosen one less company to save on Wall St., we could have seen a $39 million bailout for renovations to our school. Maybe if the government chose to not save three less companies, our unemployment rate wouldn't have sky rocketed and jobs could have been created for those folks now having no way to pay bills.
Rushing through a bailout package was the most unwise thing our government has done in the last 20 years. So the next time Wall St. sees a bad day make sure to get on the phone, and call your senator and make sure they vote to decline any rescue package, because it seems rather clear that first lift raft sank.
THE ROAR: Ryan from the vault
I will be posting some of my writing from my time as the Editor-in-Chief of Biddeford High School award-winning newspaper, The Roar.
The trend sweeping the nation, the “cool” thing to do, become a fan of President Barack Obama. It isn't the hula hoop craze of 1958, or the revolution of fans The Beatles created in the 1960's. Then again, maybe it is.
President Obama's campaign in the fall of 2008 had a force of youth voters. These hypnotized voters are still following the rockstar they created leading up to and after election day. Whether they understand his policies, or not, it does not matter. They are drawn into his rhetoric and promise of “change.” They continue to purchase his memorabilia and fix themselves to the television as he speaks.
The fascination is seen throughout Biddeford High School. Students with the pins on their backpacks, the t-shirts, and some have President Obama as their cell phone's wallpaper. On the largest networking website, Facebook, students from BHS click to attend the President's speeches. As I watched President Obama give his first Address to Congress, I received text messages from his 'fans'. They praised and hyperventilated over the President as he spoke of the same things he has for the past 6 months. Even Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi looked like a hysterical President Obama fan, leaping out of her seat to applaud over and over again.
I support President Obama. I want him to succeed. I want our country to succeed. The selling of President Obama action figures, I do not support. The celebrity status he has been given, I do not support. The supporters who can't intellectually speak on behalf of the President's policies, I do not support.
The direction and the intentions President Obama has for our country is highly commendable. President Obama is going to make mistakes. He is going to have great achievements. We need to support him not for who he is, but what he can do for our country. It is ridiculous to even consider our President as some type of cultural icon as he sits in the Oval Office, deciding the fate of our nation.
If you want to drive the hype and the fad by becoming a President Obama fan, it should be done once he is out of office. Creating this fame for the President as he is only three months in office shows no outlook on the future he could be leading us to. The 'followers' of President Obama will be notorious not for their support, but for the hysteria created, despite the many years left for him to create error.
How will the fans feel if our country is paralyzed by his policies? The beloved celebrity no longer the savior of mankind, no longer the legend of greatness. The entity of the icon would be torched, and the fans will be frowned upon for the excitement they created without the support of a conclusion. I ask the fans of President Obama that they judge our President after his time in office is complete not as he sits in office with his hands clenched on our future.
It all seems irrational to go crazy for the President of the United States. However, as we enter the third month of his time in office like the devastating fourth month of the hula hoop and the 1970 breakup of The Beatles, the craze may all come to an end.
[Edit for relevancy] Or the misconceptions created by the right will spark a craze of another sort: Hate.
The trend sweeping the nation, the “cool” thing to do, become a fan of President Barack Obama. It isn't the hula hoop craze of 1958, or the revolution of fans The Beatles created in the 1960's. Then again, maybe it is.
President Obama's campaign in the fall of 2008 had a force of youth voters. These hypnotized voters are still following the rockstar they created leading up to and after election day. Whether they understand his policies, or not, it does not matter. They are drawn into his rhetoric and promise of “change.” They continue to purchase his memorabilia and fix themselves to the television as he speaks.
The fascination is seen throughout Biddeford High School. Students with the pins on their backpacks, the t-shirts, and some have President Obama as their cell phone's wallpaper. On the largest networking website, Facebook, students from BHS click to attend the President's speeches. As I watched President Obama give his first Address to Congress, I received text messages from his 'fans'. They praised and hyperventilated over the President as he spoke of the same things he has for the past 6 months. Even Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi looked like a hysterical President Obama fan, leaping out of her seat to applaud over and over again.
I support President Obama. I want him to succeed. I want our country to succeed. The selling of President Obama action figures, I do not support. The celebrity status he has been given, I do not support. The supporters who can't intellectually speak on behalf of the President's policies, I do not support.
The direction and the intentions President Obama has for our country is highly commendable. President Obama is going to make mistakes. He is going to have great achievements. We need to support him not for who he is, but what he can do for our country. It is ridiculous to even consider our President as some type of cultural icon as he sits in the Oval Office, deciding the fate of our nation.
If you want to drive the hype and the fad by becoming a President Obama fan, it should be done once he is out of office. Creating this fame for the President as he is only three months in office shows no outlook on the future he could be leading us to. The 'followers' of President Obama will be notorious not for their support, but for the hysteria created, despite the many years left for him to create error.
How will the fans feel if our country is paralyzed by his policies? The beloved celebrity no longer the savior of mankind, no longer the legend of greatness. The entity of the icon would be torched, and the fans will be frowned upon for the excitement they created without the support of a conclusion. I ask the fans of President Obama that they judge our President after his time in office is complete not as he sits in office with his hands clenched on our future.
It all seems irrational to go crazy for the President of the United States. However, as we enter the third month of his time in office like the devastating fourth month of the hula hoop and the 1970 breakup of The Beatles, the craze may all come to an end.
[Edit for relevancy] Or the misconceptions created by the right will spark a craze of another sort: Hate.
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