Blog 15

In the movie Forest Gump, the main character Forest overcomes many odds. When Forest is a young kid he is given braces for his legs. He has to wear them all the time, and is made fun of and stared at a lot. On top of being made fun of for this, Forest is made fun of because he is slower then the other children. His whole life Forest struggles to get past his challenges. He graduates high school, and goes on to college where he plays football. After he goes into the army and because he follows directions very well excels. He goes on to own a shrimping boat and making lots of money. Forest has a child with his childhood friend and sweetheart Jenny. After Jenny passes away Forest takes on the difficult task of raising their son alone. His life is a miraculous journey that shows that if you believe and try really hard you will succeed. Forest's odds remind me of Rukmani's struggles in Nectar in a Sieve.  Rukmani has to try and raise her children during a time where food and money is scarce. Rukmani, just like Forest, overcomes many challenges that seemed to not be possible. They managed to save their land once, and when they couldn't a second time traveled very far to another village only to find they were stranded. Ruku and Nathan then managed to save enough money to make their way back. Both Ruku and Forest overcome difficult situations.

Blog 13

In the movie Hercules, love plays a large role. Hercules is the son of Zues, but was turned into a human as a baby by the evil Hades. In the movies Hercules meets a girl named Meg, and falls in love instantly. He tries to act tough to impress her when the first meet, but it does not work. Meg does not like Hercules at first, but he grows on her, even thought she does not want to admit it. However, Meg "belongs" to Hades and is not allowed to be with Hercules. Hercules strives to be great, to be a hero so that he can become a God again and join his parents. He defeats all the monsters in Greece, and even defeats Hades himself, saving Mount Olympus. But Hercules only becomes a God when he offers to give his life to save Meg's, because he loves her so much. This movie shows that no matter how strong you are, love is stronger.

Blog 13

War is a terrifying thing, as shown in the movie Hotel Rwanda. Hotel Rwanda takes place during the civil war between the Hutu and Tutsi people. Paul Rusesabagina is Hutu but his wife Tatiana is Tutsi, causing much anger from Hutu extremists. Through out the movie you see a war torn country, where bribes and beatings are common. Through out this movie you see families taken from their homes, people killed, and people begging for their lives. It is a very emotional movie that really shows just how scary war is. Several times during this film Paul must plead for his families life, barely making it some times. Paul not only manages to save himself and his family but also refugees that were using his hotel as a safe haven. This emotional movie, brings you along a journey of terror, a very real journey that unfortunately many have had to endure. 

Research Paper Article 2

Ku Klux Klan

• White Supremacist group, uses violence
• Attacks on Jews, Blacks, Catholics, immigrants, and other minority groups
• Symbol- robes, hoods, burning of the cross
• KKK started Chritmas Eve 1865 when six confederate soldiers met in Pulaski Tennessee
• Name came from Greek word Kuklos which means circle
• 1915 KKK grew from a southern problem to a national phenomenon
• Since the 1980's Klan membership has been declining steadily
• The number of memebers is 2500-3000 today

“Ku Klux Klan.” Stop Hate. 1999. 15 Mar. 2009 <http://www.adl.org/hate-patrol/njs/kkk.asp>.

Research Paper Article 1

KU KLUX KLAN

• may 1866, Pulaski Tennessee- First branch of KKK established
• April 1867- in Nashville, an organization of local Klans was established
• Nathan Forrest, a great general in the confederate army was the first White Wizard
• members of the Klan wore masks, white cardboard hats and draped themselves in sheets
• The main objective at first was just to stop African Americans from voting
• The Klan was reformed in 1915 by William J. Simmons, a preacher
• The NAACP was the main opponent of the KKK
• The Klan became very hostile towards Jews, Roman Catholics, socialists, communists and anyone they called foreigners after World War One
• Hiram W. Evans became the Klan's Imperial Wizard in November 1922
• Klan grew rapidly under his Evans' leadership
• Klansmen were elected to political positions in the 1920's
• 1925 membership reached 4,000,000
• After the conviction of Klan leader David C. Stephenson membership dropped to 30,000
• In 1944 the KKK disbanded
• In 1950 the Civil Rights Movement caused a resurgence of the KKK
• Most important were the White Nights led by Robert Shelton
• Freedom schools were established in 1964 to try and end political struggle of African Americans
• The summer of the Freedom Schools students attending them were targets of white mobs
• 30 black homes, and 37 black churches were firebombed, over 80 volunteers were beaten and 3 men were killed
• 
  
• Spartacus Educational. 15 Mar. 2009.<http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAkkk.htm>.

Blog 12

 Imperialism is a scary thing. A country is invaded and life as they know it is uprooted. The people neither needed nor wanted the help of the outsiders but that is what they get. The definition of imperialism is "the policy of extending a nation's authority by territorial acquisition or by establishing economic and political hegemony over other nations"(American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 3rd ed.(New York: HOughton Mifflin, 1993), p.681). Imperialism began in Africa. King Leopold the Second was the first to grab land if Africa, taking the vast amount of land around the Congo River. Soon after, Africa was gobbled up. By 1914 all of North Africa was being controlled by European countries. South Africa was to be taken by Britain but not with out a fight from the native people. Like most natives who experienced imperialism and colonization, they did not want it. However after a series of bloody wars, the Europeans with their technology, succeeded in taking the south. Much of Africa is still run today by European countries, but many have escaped from the larger powers grips. They can no longer return to the simplistic lifestyles they once lived, but must continue to advance so as to keep up with the other "civilized" societies.

Western Heritage

Kagan, Donald

The Western Heritage/Donald Kagan, Steven Ozment, Frank M. Turner.-- 9th ed.p. cm

                 "combined volume."

                 Includes bibliographical references and idex.

                 1. Civilization, Western--History--Textbooks. I. Ozment, Steven E. Turner, Frank M. (Frank Miller), 1944-III.Title. CB245.k28 2006

Blog 11

 One of the biggest global issue is AIDS. AIDS was first reported in 1981. Before a name had been determined, the press started referring to it as "GRID" which stood for "gay related immune deficiency". Soon after the Center for Disease Control and Prevention coined the name the "4-H Disease". 4-H referred to the groups of people the disease seemed to single out, Haitians, homosexuals, hemophiliacs, and heroin users. It is now globally know as AIDS, acquired immune deficiency syndrome. It is also known that this disease is not limited to the 4H's, but that anyone is susceptible to it. AIDS is spread by sexual transmission, blood, and from mother to child. Globally AIDS has killed more then 25 million people since 1980.  There are an estimated 33 million living with AIDS right now. Millions of people around the globe are dying from this terrible disease to which there is no cure, most of the time they obtain AIDS because they don't know how it is spread. Help educate the world, donate to organizations that are going to countries to spread awareness.

Blog 10

One holiday that is a tradition in my family is Fourth Of July. Every year as much of my family(usually a more then half) go up to our cabin in Wisconsin. I usually don't see my aunts except for this occasion because they live out of state, or my cousins because they are at college all year. So to be able to spend three days with them is really fun. We have so much fun up there. We have a tennis doubles tournament, and a ping-pong doubles tournament as well. We go tubing, water-skiing and fishing. On the fourth of July, we get up and decorate the boat, then there is a boat parade around our whole lake, most of the cabins participate. After we have a parade with the people on our street and someone hosts a party right after the parade. After eating our fill of all of the delicious foods everyone has brought we adjourn to our cabins. Then as it becomes dark we go outside and watch the fireworks, they last a long time and are always beautiful. The next day our family gets together one last time and makes homemade ice cream. Then we leave one family at a time, looking forward to the next Fourth of July when we will be together once again.

Blog 9

Many people just assume Bollywood is the exact same as Hollywood but in India. This is not true. Unlike Hollywood, Bollywood is not an actual location. Bollywood films have had six main influences. The first of which was the ancient Indian Epics of Mahabharata and Ramayana. These have shown the popular idea of a story-within-a-story, which are main themes in Bollywood films. The second was the effect of the ancient Sanskrit drama, which combined dance and music. The effect was bollywood films being mainly musicals. The third influence was the traditional folk theatre of India. The fourth influence was Parsi theatre which "blended realism and fantasy, music and dance, narrative and spectacle, earthy dialogue and ingenuity of stage presentation, integrating them into a dramatic discourse of melodrama. The Parsi plays contained crude humour, melodious songs and music, sensationalism and dazzling stagecraft." The fifth influence was Hollywood.