And The Rest is History

#12 Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?

                                                       

School had just started at 8:40AM at Potomac Falls High School in Sterling, Virginia on September 11, 2001.  Mrs. Sheldon just asked our class to take out our homework, but nobody did.  (Nobody really listened to Mrs. Sheldon; we took her class because it was a joke).  Within the next couple minutes we all calmed down; we stopped talking about last nights basketball game and the fight that occurred afterwards.  Our class took out our homework and waited for it to be checked.  Mrs. Sheldon then announced today’s class topic: The World Trade Center.  She proceeded to pass out pictures and worksheets (which she was famous for doing) to complete.  I saw this as my cue to ‘go to the bathroom’.  I left and returned about twenty minutes later.  When I returned our principle came over the loud speaker (he never had anything important say, he just liked to hear himself talk).  We turned on our television as told, and my eyes started to water at the sight I had just seen.  One plane had just…WAIT NO…two planes had just hit the world trade center.  My heart felt as if it was up in my throat.  I want to cry, why was unclear at this point, because I knew nobody that lived near the World Trade Center.

                                                                                                

Fire man taking down the flag

Statue of Liber with smoke in the background

The bell rings and we all stand there in awe gazing at the television.  Mrs. Sheldon tells us we have to go to our next class.  When I arrive at my next class, my teacher announces that he will not broadcast the news, and that he is going to pretend that nothing is wrong, as if this is just a normal day.  The class went frantic.  (The freshman class had a reputation of being feisty).  “How could you do that?” “What are you thinking?” “Do you not realize….” Were just a couple of things said.  Anger came over my biology class.  Within a couple of minutes the class was full of anger, hate, tears, fear, a bunch of mixed emotions.  I saw our All-Met Defensive Line Men almost start to cry as he shouted “You suck!” at our teacher.  Finally class was dismissed.  And we went to lunch.

                                        

US flag

When we got back from lunch we were made aware that our pentagon had been taken from us as well.  I was worried because my mother was suppose to be there that day.  I was called to the office as I sat in a room.  I waited there for 2 hours, until someone came in to talk to me.  I started crying before my counselor had even said a thing.  “Someone is picking you up from school, soon.” Said my counselor.  I thought to myself “That’s it?!? That’s all you’re telling me?  No clue, no comfort, no nothing!!”  Within minutes my mother walked through the door.  I cried.  I cried a lot. 

News paper from 9/12/01

School was cancelled the following day.  All after-school activates were cancelled for the next three weeks.  And that was just the start of all that we would have to change, and turn upside down since this day.  Whenever we travel now you always hear people say “Well the terrorist…”.  Don’t really understand what would provoke someone to do something such as the events on September 11.  How could someone be filled with so much hate?  So much hate, to hurt innocent people.  I suppose I never will.  God Bless.

#11 And the Winner Is...

Media truly reflects our culture. This statement includes, but is not limited to, the top ten songs, according to the billboard charts, and top ten movies by domestic review, from 1970. The year was characterized by an overall period of unrest. In 1970, the United States was fully committed to a controversial war in Vietnam while protests to end the war and campaigns for equality were active on the nation’s own soil. Pop and rock music were the most prevalent genres of music during this time. The genres of the top ten movies varied widely. The majority of the movies fell into the categories of action (disaster, adventure, comedy, and love (romance). There are several differences between the themes evident in the top ten billboard songs and themes in top ten domestically reviewed films from 1970 which can be accounted for in three main ways.

There is an array of themes present in the top ten lists of songs and movies from 1970. One is the common connection between plots of movies and times of conflict and/or violence. Most directly, this can be seen in the prevalence of the military and major wars in the majority of the films including World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. Smaller scale wars such as fights between family members and tensions between two opposing social worlds are also evident in the films’ plots. As a result of the intense presence of this theme in the top ten movies from 1970, there is a predominantly negative feeling brought forward through the storylines about the trial and tribulations of life. In contrast, most song lyrics were optimistic, exemplifying feel-good, simpler times. Many of the lyrics promote morale boosting. This is evident in Ray Steven’s lyrics in “Everything Is Beautiful.” The lyrics read, “Everything is beautiful / in its own way…And everybody’s beautiful.” This excerpt is an example of the positive song lyrics that topped the billboard charts in 1970. Love is a dominant theme in both movies and songs; however, each portrays love in different ways. In songs, love is strongly desired and is the central focus of many of the lyrics. An example of this comes from the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” where the singer is coercing his lover to come back to him, “Oh baby give me one more chance / (show you that I love you) / won’t you please let me / (back to your heart).” Although it is sometimes out of reach, love is portrayed in a typically positive, wholesome manner. Comparatively, in films, there is constant romantic drama frequently tied to strained marriages, infidelity, and scandals.

It is clear that there are conflicting themes between the two top ten lists. One of the primary reasons for the clash in themes resides in Hollywood’s unquestionable desire to embrace ongoing conflict. As a result, Hollywood produces mass quantities of films that include storylines that eagerly embrace strong oppositions, thus the popularity of war in 1970 movies. Additionally, time of artistic creation affects differences in themes of movies versus songs. It is more time-consuming to create a full-length movie than a hit single. The time factor creates a lag behind movies that is not attached to music. As a result, music tends to address more immediate issues than events projected on movie screens. This partially explains why 1970 movies deal with historical issues. In addition, movie production costs substantially more than music production. As a result, movies generally are more conservative because there is more financially at stake. Movies tend to be less edgy because it is necessary to have a greater mass appeal to recoup the investment in the film. Movie producers often choose “timeless and universal” stories to portray in their films because they are consistently profitable; however, these productions don’t necessarily reflect the up-to-the-minute times the way music does. More cutting edge art can be found in music because there is less monetarily at stake.

The song lyrics and images on movie screens from both top ten lists convey powerful messages in their themes from personal romantic love to the horror of war. In its own way, each art form reflects a corner of the culture of 1970, a time of great conflict and longing for personal fulfillment

#10 Before There Were Cellphones

See 1950's Photos

#9 Go Duke

   Richard's Photo Album

  Ashley's Photo Album                                                  

  Asama's Group Post

Post #8: Guilty Conscience: Who killed Clara?!

    

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Salvor Hardin seems to understand the mentality of a violent conscience. Although Hardin is correct in his stipulation that the incompetent seem to turn to violence to achieve power, his diagnosis of a violent mind does not seem to include the case of The State of Montana vs. Edward Rehberg (1885). In a nineteenth century courtroom, Edward Rehberg was found guilty of murdering his young daughter Clara by means of abuse, despite the evidence and deathbed statement provided during his trial. Today Rehberg would have been found needed to be found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. He would have been innocent until proven guilty, instead of guilty until proven innocent. Unfortunately, Edward Rehberg’s social status, familial practices, and even his gender were used against him in front of a jury that convicted him of murder; but in today’s court system he would have been exonerated of the murder charge beyond a reasonable doubt.

The prosecution continually tried to suggest that Edward Rehberg was ultimately the only person capable of abusing his daughter Clara. He was a lower class, strong man who put his daughters to work on their land. His demeanor and status alone would suggest that his family would be ill-provided. The coordination of the time he spent on the haystack with Joe Tiebow corroborates with the times that Clara was alone with her step mother Louisa. When asked by the defense if Rehberg if there was any time that Rehberg could have abused his daughter at any time that Sunday Joe Tiebow responded: “A. He did not leave me at all, and I cannot say that he was in the house.” It is clear that Edward Rehberg was not even alone with the child in question that day at all, yet the step mother Louisa was almost constantly alone with the child.* One would question why exactly the step mother was not investigated, and that was so for one reason: Louisa Rehberg was a woman. Women were not seen to be as strong or as forceful as a man. Rehberg’s children did manual labor on his land, they wore overalls and tended to daily chores that most children did not do. Chronemics suggest that it is plausible to assume that the step mother would be an affable suspect to the death of Clara Rehberg. Yet the fact that Louisa Rehberg was a woman kept a nineteenth century jury from considering that she would even have the force to harm and maintain power over the child. The diagnoses of the doctors treating Clara Rehberg suggest that in fact that the child could move around and be active while sustaining the early stages of the injury. The chronemic chain of events suggests that only someone who was in the house and alone with her that Sunday morning could have harmed Clara. Edward Rehberg was never present in this situation.

Historically, children have not been reliable witnesses to crimes. The notion is that children are not mature enough to distinguish the difference between right and wrong. In addition, younger children are not yet able to determine the importance of being truthful and its consequences. The doctors who treated Clara Rehberg questioned her several times about the knowledge the death was inevitable in the near future. Upon being asked the child swore in pain and declared that her step mother had beaten her. Also, she clearly stated that she wished to see her father. Accepting a deathbed confession in the eighteen hundreds was considered valid evidence because the religious factor of death would cause a sweep of mortal honesty from the ill. Although in this case, the deathbed confession did not sway a jury to believe that the step mother alone could harm the child to such a severe degree.

In today’s judicial system, all of the evidence would have been evaluated to a much deeper degree. An investigation of all family members and friends who were present would have secured the evidence needed to exonerate Edward Rehberg. An autopsy of Clara Rehberg would show the times of the inflictions of her wounds and even the angles and degrees of which she was struck. The instrumental marks on her face and body would have been investigated, as would the work being done by Edward Rehberg on the day of her trip to the hospital. To a twentieth or twenty-first century court, the social status of the Rehberg family would have been considered an intriguing and noteworthy avenue to investigate because it would give more insight in the dysfunction of the family. The years following the women’s rights movements in the early nineteen hundreds would have opened up more cause to investigate Louisa Rehberg. In addition, the deathbed statements of Clara Rehberg would not only have opened up cause for research into the step mother, but they would set the investigation of her daily activity on that day in he correct direction.

So, is violence really the last resort of the incompetent? Surely in a nineteenth century court the answer to that would be contrary to the answer in a modern day court system, but what is definite is that the outcome of the trial in both centuries would have been worlds apart. In one case it would have been a world away from justice.

Report:

For this blog, our group decided to use writeboard to earn some extra credit. Some of the group members utilized the website more than others. This made it difficult to find out who was going to fulfill each task that was necessary for the blog’s completion. The jobs were finally worked out after a few phone calls were made. Thanks to Kath, who posted her notes on the site, everyone had the notes that pertained to the assignment. Through the writeboard, Kimberly decided that she would write the draft, Kath would proofread, Bruce would write the group report and Christian would look for links and pictures. Kyle put input into the draft of the blog and helped Kimberly. Overall, the writeboard was O.K. but it would have been more effective if people wrote more on it and/or if our group had been able to schedule a group meeting.

Case Record:

http://college.hmco.com/history/us/norton/people_nation/6e/students/primary/

#7 Definition of Hell

See Andersonville Prison photo album

#6 Whatcha Know About it...

                                             Richard's Individual

                                             Ashley's Individual

                                             Juan's Individual

Post #5: Jefferson Utopia Glee

Allforone (pronounced All-for-one) is a town located in Alabama. The community revolves around an agricultural lifestyle. Equality and a peacful co-existence most harmonious lifestyle a society can offer. The spatial arrangements of Allforone is similar to that of Jeffersonian in that it creates an equality based community centered around Catholicism in a natural, unrestricted, rustic environment.(Davidson 219-229.) There is no industrialism present in this community.  Allforone is based on crops, forests, orchards and farms. It is in a contract with the rhythms and cycles of nature. The focus of Allforone is the practice of Catholicism. The citizens lead moral lives, due to the emphasis on religion. On the map you will see that our church is in the center of the town, representing its strong importance to it's inhabitants. Outside of the church are other vital buildings such as: a schoolhouse, house of justice, and a town hall.
     Allforone is a tight-knit socialist community. This is a way to support self-agriculture (see map). Allforone is a strong community of family farms, which is Jeffersonian based. By looking on the map you will see that all the houses in the town are of the same size. In fact, men are dominant over the women, however all men are equal and all women are equal. There is not one family that is better than another or more well off economically than another. Because of the Jeffersonian ideal this community is founded upon, there is an emphasis on strong local government with a town hall and all laws stimulate democracy in the house of justice. There is an argument of ultimate perfectibility through reason in our town. Individuals take care of themselves. There is no evidence of large government in the utopia. There is no hierarchy because the community is based on roughly equal men (as previously stated). The political is entrusted to agrarian aristocracy.
     There are many concerns that are addressed through our community. For example, cities that support European social conditions want to move away from city life and go to a more rural setting. During the time of expansion, our community encourages people to move west to Alabama and co-exist in the harmony. There is not industrialization in our society, so the worry of excess of industrialization has deceased. Allforone is very sufficient, there is only one general store, and oneself can easily make everything else. The purchase of the Louisiana Territory was a great threat to liberty overbearing government. However that was not a problem for our society by using local government with a town hall. Ultimately, the governmental structure as well as the situated agriculture makes Allforone the embodiment of a rural utopia with equality and peace for all who live in it.

#4 Who's That Looking At Me In the Mirror

Change is inevitable.  The culture of society and its time has an immense affect on the outcome of history itself.  George Catlin’s painting “Pigeon’s Egg Head” (1837-1839) is an excellent example of change in America.  The time of this painting (1837-1839) was a time of growth in all aspects as America expanded towards the west, forcing the native's to either adapt or move themselves.  Catlin portrays Native Americans as respectable and strong-minded individuals prior to the settlement of the white man.

The first glance at “Pigeon’s Egg Head”, there is a distinctive invisible line down the middle of the painting, dividing the two men in the painting.  The left side of the painting has been dedicated to Catlin’s view of the Native American man before the white man’s influences have come over him.  When analyzing the Native American in the painting, one sees a very strong and powerful man standing tall and dignified, while wearing an admired tribal dress.  Catlin views the Native Americans in great respect; the stance that the Native is in, his facial expression and his outfit all aid to put this view into perspective.  Prior to the influences of the white settlements the Native Americans are very strong-minded and proud of the culture they come from.

"How's this: you teach us how to irrigate and plant corn, and we'll decimate your tribe and name a baseball team after you."

The other side of the painting seems to contradict the left side in all possible aspects.  Catlin represents the Native American in a way that is almost degrading.  The Native is standing unbalanced leaning on an umbrella, as opposed to standing upright and strong.  Also, he is carrying a bottle of booze in his back pocket and smoking a cigarette, while wearing a white man’s outfit with white gloves.  The ‘new’ Native seems to have no remorse or any attempts to hide how he comes off.  He appears to boast the cigarette he holds.  The right side of the painting gives the viewer a sense that a loss of respect for oneself and culture has taken place.  The influence of the white settlement has only influenced the Native’s in a negative way.  In no shape is there a positive attribute from the white men depicted in this painting. 

"Pigeon's Egg Head"

In Catlin’s “Pigeon’s Egg Head”, he expresses his opion about the Native Americans and their culture prior to and after the influence of the white man.  When viewing the painting, Catlin appears to admire the Native Americans by portraying them in a very respectable way.  Still, the influence of the white settlements over the Native’s one can see Catlin’s views change a great deal.  The Native Americans are seen much more negatively; the Native is shown as what we call today a ‘good old fashion drunk.’  Throughout all of this one thing does remain the same, the Native’s hair.  Perhaps throughout all change in life, there is always something that still remains as is.

Well that's all I have to say about that..

Juan, Group Post #2

Tim, Individual Post #1

Asam, Individual Post #1