Late Post Week 15 April 21

While I am not a huge activist in saving the environment, I think it's important that we try to do so. I have done many beach clean-ups over the years, I recycle as much as I can, and I conserve water...most days.  I really got a new perspective on saving the environment after I read the blurb about Rachel Carson on pages 1166-1167. Rachel Carson wrote a book called "Silent Spring," which is about killing the environment. She got the idea to write the book after her friend told her a bunch of birds died after she sprayed a mosquito control. In her book, Carson touched on the data of the impact of pesticides on, not only natural ecosystems, but also on human health. Her book raised quite a controversy within the chemical companies, but it also started a new era. The environmental movement has been going on for quite some time now and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Nowadays, we use more safer products for our produce. We also do other things, like feed our animals better meals instead of giving them steroids, and we recycle our plastics and glasses and papers. The environment is not doing so well and we need to help it become a better place. With people like Rachel Carson leading the way, we have to do our part and take action. I only takes one person to make a change.

Late Post Week 13 April 7 Readings

The pictures in the documents of the April 7th readings all depict nations who finally achieved independence after long struggles. Africa achieved independence led by the African National Congress. The poster has many bright colors, like the flag, which stand for population (black), rich land (green), and gold that provided the country's wealth (yellow). The poster shows of a hang holding the flag, as a sign of freedom and proudness. Vietnam's struggle against the American military stopped in 1975. Their poster shows of a man in a uniform holding a bouquet of flowers high in the air. In the background, a plane on fire is going down, but the man is still smiling. In this poster, there are not as many stand-out colors like the African one, but it is just as nicely colored. The independence of Israel was in 1948. Their poster shows a wide, vast, empty land and some grapes on the side. The poster is full of wonderful colors. The emptiness of the poster--no people are in it-- is probably depicting that they are now free of impostors in their land. The last poster is depicting Arabian independence from Palestine. This poster shows a man walking under what must be a sun with an axe in his hand. This poster is not colorful; it is all black and white. It does not stand out very well against the others. I like the African one best because it really shows the happiness of the people who are now independent. You can see a lot of people in the background holding up flags, and maybe even some smiles on their faces. The hand in the center holding the African flag seems really strong and proud to be holding that flag. This poster shows the most happiness out of all the others and that is why I like it best.

Late Post Week 12 April 2 Reading

The one picture that pops out at me is the one of the woman doing work. First of all, it is known that not a lot of women worked  during this time. It was almost unheard of that a woman would work. Not only is this woman working, she is working with a mallet and chisel (if I am getting the names of those tools right). Basically, she is carving something. Personally, I have only seen this job done by a man. I'm not saying only men should do this job, but I have never seen a woman depicted as doing it. Not only that, but this is not just a picture. This is a poster that was hung in China for everyone to see. The caption on this document says "the liberation of women from ancient limitations and oppressions in order to mobilize them for the task of building socialism" (page 1081). It also says that "'Women Can Hold Up Half the Sky; Surely the Face of Nature Can Be Transformed.'" I think what the poster is trying to say, and trying to depict, is that women should do exactly what men do. They should be able to do anything a man can do, no matter what the task is. Women are here on earth and they need something to do, not just sit home and take care of the families. Put them to work, make the work equal and be done with it. And I agree with this! I think the Chinese communists were right in thinking that women need to be equal. Women should be treated as equals everywhere.

Late Post Week 11 March 24

I have always been interested in stories about the Holocaust, especially real-life accounts from the people who lived through it. Etty Hillesum was no exception. Even though the little blurb in our textbook was short, I became immediately attached to her. She was a brave Jewish girl living in Amsterdam during the time of WWII. She wasn't someone who was scared of what was happening around her, but rather, angry. She didn't like what was happening to people like her and the destruction of her home. Etty was friends with many people who offered to help her out and hide her, but she instead voluntarily went to the camps and eventually died (and of course, I cried when I read that). Etty's bravery to voluntarily go where everyone else was going is incredible. I admire Etty and her brave heart for going where death was almost certain. I am glad her story is one to tell.

Late Post, Week 9, March 12 Reading

One picture that really captures my attention is that on page 894. It shows to African boys from the Congo who have missing hands. They have missing hands because of them being severed from forced labor. Like I said in my previous blog post, I am very opposed to child labor, let alone forced labor. Labor in Africa included building railroads, constructing government buildings and transporting goods. All of these labors were forced and unpaid. In the Congo, people were forced to collect rubber. The people would be out in the forests for days without food. They would starve. And if they didn't find any rubber, or told the "white men" that they couldn't go on, the white men would come to their towns and kill, or chop off body parts of the residents. The forced labor was horrible for the people of the Congo. Reading stories about people getting their body parts chopped off for not doing their job "correctly" is awful and heartbreaking, but seeing a picture really puts in perspective what people really went through. The things these people went through were just completely awful.

Late Post: Week 7, Feb 19

The documents of chapter 17 show images depicting the Industrial Revolution. They show the technology that was developed during that time, such as trains and factories, but it also depicts how the people are feeling during these times. For example, there is a picture a family in train, with a little girl pointing out the window to what looks like a developed city. Samuel Smiles wrote "It brought the country nearer to the town and the town to the country..." What he means is that trains could now take people from one place to the next without having to take a horse and buggy, or even just a horse. The train was a magnificent invention because it helped people go from point A to point B and it is still around and used a lot today. One picture that really bothered me was the picture of women and children working in factories. Child labor bothers me to the core. I think it is just sick that people made children work. I understand that factory owners wanted all the working hands they could get, but did it have to be children?? It is just so wrong and I'm so glad that things have changed today.

Late Post: Week 4, Jan 29

In this chapter, we learned about religion. The Protestant Reformation was when people started to break away from the Catholic church and start their own movement. The Protestants believed in a monastic life, which gave women the opportunity to be nuns, instead of marrying. Reading the bible by yourself was another thing the Protestants believed in, which gave the opportunity for women to become literate. This was important because women didn't have a lot of opportunity for education outside of the family. Protestant ways were taken to North America by the New England Puritans. Their emphasis was mostly on education, moral purity, personal conversion, civic responsibility and little tolerance for competing expressions of the faith. Christianity was spread nearly everywhere around the world, including Spain, China, and Africa. I think it is interesting that so many people from different parts of the world can come together and share the same faith. I myself am not super religious, but if and when I do go to church, I feel a sense of community. I think it's important that something, anything, should bring people together as a common set of interests, and religion was and is one that will always be around for people to share with others around the world.