Royalty

This has nothing to do with American Conversation....
... but I can't help but devote my "extra" post to Kate Middleton and the Royal Wedding. Although I didn't wake up at 4:30am to watch the ceremony, I spotted some pictures of her dress later in the day. Beautiful dress on a beautiful girl!

Dan Rather: Live at St. Olaf College

Tonight I went to hear what the PAC speaker, Dan Rather, had to say. Although Rather mainly centered on the life story of his career, I found myself thinking about AmCon after many of his points of advice that he gave out to us as students. Namely, he urged all of us to be involved and active in public, government and in our communities, because they need it now more than ever. I could practically hear Tocqueville and Putnam whispering in my ear: this is what we've been saying all along. I find it almost humbling to remember that still, even in today's society, people must unite and work together. That people cannot do all great things alone, and that individuals are not as powerful as organizations. I believe that Dan Rather would probably agree with this statement. We are not a nation of individuals, but a united nation. The United States of America, to be correct. Let's start taking action to fit the name.

Black Elk Finds a Watch

One unique aspect of the book Black Elk Speaks, is Black Elk's nonchalant attitude about death at a young age. I don't find myself seeing a whole lot of distraught by Black Elk over these many war deaths of either the Oglala Sioux or the Wasichus. In fact, Black Elk is very proud of his first scalp and decides to show it off to his mother. I have recognized that throughout the book, Oglala Sioux and other Native Americans have a overwhelming sense of pride for their culture. They are proud of the things that they must do, even if it means murdering a Wasichu. They've been taught by elder members of the tribe to be prideful in their accomplishments.

In spite of the brutality of these wars between the Wasichus and the Oglala Sioux, Black Elk finds beauty. In chapter 9, Black Elk is removing a dying man's coat when a Wasichu solider pushed him away and took the coat instead. Black Elk spots something interesting hanging from the solider's belt and pulls it out. It's bright, yellow, round and ticks. Black Elk keeps the object around his neck to wear as jewelry. He notes in this passage that he later finds out what "it was and how to make it tick again."

This paragraph makes me realize just how isolated the Native American tribes truly were. They have absolutely no technology, and must utilize everything from the earth itself. To come across many of these new inventions for the first time must have been overwhelming for the Oglala Sioux, but apparently not enticing. It's funny how technology can seem only interesting but still useless to people such as Black Elk who rely so deeply on Mother Nature.

Long Hairs

As I began to read chapters 1-7 of Black Elk Speaks over Easter break, the most interesting part of the Ogalala Sioux to me was the introduction of people that were given the name "long hairs." In the preface of the 1961 edition, Neihardt spoke of a certain Lakota type of people he had come into contact with called the "long hairs". "Long hairs" were the people that not only refused to cut their hair, but also maintained their way of life as Lakota men during the late-nineteenth and early twentieth century. The cutting of their hair or change to Euro-American style of dress was symbolic of their acceptance of white man's culture. By 1930, only a few men refused to cut their hair.

Neihardt chooses to focus an entire chapter of the process of the Euro-Americanization found in Lakota culture during chapter 9, "The Rubbing Out of the Long Hair." I thought that the use of the term "long hairs" has been one of the most interesting parts of Black Elk Speaks because it portrays perhaps the greatest fear of these Native Americans. To become one of the Wasichus is to no longer be a part of the Ogalala Sioux. It is to disrespect the tribe, and conform to society out of fear and weakness. More than being killed or kicked off of their land, I believe that this is what the Native Americans were the most afraid of. When Black Elk talks about the change of people such as Spotted Tail into Wasichu, it sounds as though the rubbing out of the long hair is the final step before becoming a Wasichu. The whole idea of growing long hair is a testament to the Native Americans great spirit, and to cut off the hair is to no longer have those spiritual powers.

A Mother's Prayer by Tina Fey

As I'm sure all of you know, Tina Fey is a hilarious SNL cast member. But as many of you might not know, Tina Fey recently wrote a memoir titled "Bossypants". I want to read this book! So please, if you're thinking of giving me a random gift or anything spontaneous like that, then this would do the trick (Joking). :)
In the meanwhile, I just read a piece by her titled "A Mother's Prayer" and it was quite funny. It may be a little PG-13, but hey, we're in college now and it's worth a good laugh.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/8kFwcb/melodygodfred.com/2011/04/15/a-mothers-prayer-for-its-child-by-tina-fey

Copy and paste the above link into the search bar. Unfortunately, my blog does strange things and won't let me post links.

Native Americans

Today during class we spoke about the different depictions of Native Americans found in 19th century paintings. We gave extra attention to the last painting on the powerpoint slides, containing a illustration of America's land and people being led from east to west by the Columbian angel. DeAne posed the question to our class if whether or not we thought that this painting should be in every household in America. I just wanted to take the time on my blog to elaborate on what I feel is the importance of this painting in today's society. First of all, I believe that the painting is a reminder of the oppression of Native Americans during the 19th century and throughout the Westward Expansion. What do I believe that Americans should do with this information? I guess I simply believe that Americans should know all of the history, all of the truth about what happened to Native Americans, and what happened to New Englanders in this time period. Americans should know struggles of the Native Americans, and they should recognize the wrongness in many of our actions. Because not all of what happened was right or just for either race. Americans should recognize the value of that land to the Native Americans, and what it meant for their culture. And maybe people should recognize that Native Americans deserve something to "pay dues" for what happened in the past, but perhaps Americans should not think of Native Americans as just a race that was oppressed, but a race of rich history and cultural backgrounds. Instead of a painting depicting the worst of times for Native Americans, I would prefer to have a painting of Native American's greatest accomplishment in America, because I want a positive reminder of what Native Americans have done for our country.

April Blizzards Bring May... ?

Yeah... This adult is a reflection of me now-a-days. I think some of you can relate.

Click to and zoom to enlarge image.

Thoreau, Ms. Alcott, and Christopher McCandless

When I read Louisa May Alcott's "Transcendental Wild Oats", I didn't think it was very funny. After reading these serious philosophical pieces by Emerson and Thoreau, I wanted to take her piece "Transcendental Wild Oats" literally. Needless to say, after discussing the article during class today, I gained a better understanding of the many different levels of humor in the piece. After discussing Alcott's article more in class with Chris, I think that my favorite line from it was:

"'I shall wait till it is made clear to me. Being in preference to doing is the great aim, and this comes to us rather by a resigned willingness than a wilful activity, which is a check to all divine growth,' responded Brother Timon.
'I thought so.' And Mrs. Lamb sighed audibly, for during the year he had spent in her family Brother Timon had so faithfully carried out his idea of 'being, not doing,' that she had found his "divine growth" both an expensive and unsatisfactory process."

As we were discussing in class on Wednesday, I know that others and I believe that simply "being" is not enough. This philosophy made me think of the wonderful non-fiction book (and movie) "Into the Wild", which chronicles the life of Christopher McCandless. I remember from the book that the main character Christopher McCandless believed in many Thoreau-esque transcendentalist ideals throughout high school and college, and Louisa May Alcott's satire about "being, not doing" made me think of a particular passage from "Into the Wild" similar to this one. There's a passage in the book (which I cannot seem to find online) about McCandless's high school band teacher. He said that his teacher would tell the students statements such as "now imagine yourself playing your instrument. Imagine yourself playing this piece." Now anyone who's ever tried to become an accomplished musician knows that this notion is utterly ridiculous because practice is ultimately key to improvement. The irony is that McCandless eventually quit band even though his teacher obviously had similar philosophies to himself. I guess the point that I'm trying to make is that it's nearly impossible to live Thoreau's standards even if a person desires to do so. And in my mind, simply being, is not enough.

Also, please read "Into the Wild"! It's a great book that displays the life of a modern-day transcendentalist.

^Can't we just all be friends?

Bleeding Kansas

DeAne brought up the history of Bleeding Kansas today in class because of its strong connection with the Civil War. Although our class will not be reading a book about Bleeding Kansas, I thought that I would take some time in my blog to discuss the importance of Bleeding Kansas in American history. Growing up in northeast Kansas, Bleeding Kansas is particularly significant to the morals of the people that live in that area today. Bleeding Kansas divided the state during the civil war era between pro and anti-slavery (eventually becoming a "free state" in 1861). Although today Kansas remains to be mostly conservative, "the state embodies a curious blend of the Religious Right’s “culture wars” with Koch Brothers free-market fundamentalism," as stated in the Lawrence-Journal World. Kansas was John Brown's propaganda territory (Thoreau was a supporter of John Brown). Today, the history of Bleeding Kansas has created some moral issues via abortion laws. Two years ago, infamous late-abortion Dr. George Tiller was killed at a Lutheran church in Wichita, KS. Abortion laws have become hot-bedded issues in Kansas today. Other remnants of Brown's influence remain in the rivalry between University of Kansas (KU) and University of Missouri-Columbia (MU). Lawrence, KS (home of KU), was the place of the pro-slavery raid in an anti-slavery town. Western Missouri was stereotypically pro-slavery during this time while eastern Kansans were strong abolitionists.

So there is a bit of the history behind pro/anti-slavery in Kansas and its effect on today's society! And here is a mural of the controversial John Brown, which can be found inside of the Kansas state capital building:

More Emerson: Nature

What a wonderful piece to read on a beautiful spring day! This piece made my happy because it emphasized nature which made me think of all of the wonderfully nice spring days that we've been having lately :)

"As when the summer comes from the south; the snow-banks melt, and the face of the earth becomes green before it, so shall the advancing spirit create its ornaments along its path, and carry with it the beauty it visits, and the song which enchants it; it shall draw beautiful faces, warm hearts, wise discourse, and heroic acts, around its way, until evil is no more seen."

This is a quote drawn from Emerson's "Nature", which I found a particularly strong personal parellel with. Nature, according to Emerson, connects to God, art, landscape and science. It is the soul and spirit found, untouched by man, which gives life and beauty to mankind. Ahhh... As I read this, I can't help of think of Emerson's work as a love poem devoted to nature. It evoked natural landscape images that made it visually beautiful to read. I thought that in addition to being a poem devoted to nature, Emerson's "Nature" was inspirationally speaking to mankind with philosophical advice. Well done, Emerson, well done.

Emerson

Yesterday in class we discussed authors Emerson, Thoreau, and Hawthorne's opinions on 19th century trains. I found that although each author spoke about similar aspects of trains, their interpretations were quite different. When we formed groups of three with each person representing a certain author that they focused on, it became clear that each author had their own thoughts about trains and what they mean for the future. Although I focused on Thoreau during the assigned reading, I found Emerson to be more interesting and certainly more positive about the future of trains in America. Emerson presented a unique look at trains because he felt that their existence proved the correlation between trains and nature. I thought that Katie brought up an interesting perspective when she said that she didn't think that Emerson would like the influence on internet on today's society. Most other groups in our class (mine included) thought that Emerson would have a great appreciation for the social connectedness found in today's civilization. Even though the internet does not seem to incorporate nature, it psychologically connects us to other people across the world. I think the true question is whether Emerson would consider nature or connectedness of people to be more important for society.

Bronx Zoo Cobra

Just something to lighten a case of the Monday's...

The Bronx Zoo Cobra is the funniest thing I have paid attention to in the past week. The zoo's Egyptian cobra went missing last week and was widely publicized in the national news, and rightfully so: The snake's venom can kill a human in a mere 15 seconds. Yikes! The good news was that zoo's officials had said that the snake did not escape the Reptile Room of the Bronx zoo. Regardless, one individual took time last week to make the Bronx Zoo Cobra a Twitter account that made light of the situation. The Twitter account, which has an unrevealed account owner, created several tweets throughout the week chronicling the snake's faux adventures using the hashtag #snakeonthetown. Tweets such as "Getting on the ferry to Ellis Island. Let's hope that this goes better than that time on the plane. #snakeonthetown", added hilarity to the situation.

If you have some extra time or need a good laugh, click on the link to the Twitter page posted above. Although the snake has now been found (thankfully in its reptile room perimeters), #snakeonthetown no longer exists, but the hashtag has cleverly been renamed as #snakeatthezoo.

Trains and Democracy: What's the Connection?

Today we spoke of trains as a major symbol of 19th century American life. To my American Conversation group, trains were the leader of the industrial revolution and aided in the rise of urbanization in America. In Mary Klein's article, she spoke of trains with admiration for their developments of several cities, such as Chicago and the entire Rock Island area. As we stated in class today, I agree that it that trains provided an economic development during the 19th century for many cities/towns not surrounded by a waterway. This machine could transport agricultural goods across the country at a whopping 20 MPH! The railway system was obviously a huge innovation for Americans because it created a bridge between agriculture and industry.

With the rise of the industrial age and the U.S. railway system, the people controlling the train stations gained high status in society. Many of the systems were run by the wealthiest people in the country, such as the Vanderbuilt's, and created monopolies of the economic system. Although these economic gaps between citizens do not seem to foster democracy, they did help to create the rise of unions in America. The actions of the workers fighting for their rights at their train station jobs is certainly a demonstration of democracy at work in America. The grand scale of the railway system across America's territory helps to literally unify the country as a whole, instead of dividing it based on the many state boundaries.

Not a 19th century train, but regardlessly still an awesome one!