We did a forgiveness meditation today in class and I felt that it was an interesting meditation. The guy was talking about forgiveness and letting go of our grudges but I felt that I didn’t have any grudges to let go of. I tried to think of someone I was mad at whether it was myself or another person but no one came to mind. Maybe it’s just my personality but I never hold grudges against someone. If I get mad at my sister I only stay mad at her for an hour then we are talking and getting along like nothing ever happened. So I felt the video didn’t seem to help me at all.
Eve Ensler’s Message About Social Justice
Eve Ensler’s speech about social justice was very moving. Her view is that people are born innocent with compassionate feelings but as they grow older they are taught to hide their emotions. She believes that being emotional is more powerful than anything else, that young girls have overcome many obstacles because they had the compassion and bravery to do so. She tells us inspirational stories of young girls around the world who have found the capacity to hope and love. The story of a young girl in Africa who had the courage to run away from her home for a better life was one of my favorites. This young girl left her family and walked for two days straight to escape being sold by her father. But after a year away from home this same girl had the courage to return to her family and forgive them for what they had done. It takes a compassionate person to forgive their family for something like that and it is what Eve Ensler is trying to teach us. Like the other speeches she used inspiring real stories evoke emotion and compassion from the audience so that her message would be remembered.
So Far, The Research Process for me is…
The research process for me is very time consuming. I spent a good part of my day trying to find good sources I could use and even then I could not figure out a way to access some of those sources. It might be my lack of technological knowledge but some of the databases I wanted to use I could not because the search engine said there were no articles found. Also, the annotated bibliography is time consuming for me because I have to read through all the material first and then take notes. However, I understand why the annotated bibliography is important because it helps organize the thoughts and ideas you have, which will in turn make it easier to write your paper. So even though the bibliography will drive me crazy I know it will benefit me in the future.
First Three Anotations
Johnson, Allen. Families of the Forest : The Matsigenka Indians of the Peruvian Amazon. Ewing, NJ: University of California, 2003. Web.
In this novel the author writes about what life for a Peruvian tribe living in the Amazon. He focuses on the Matsigenka Indian tribe, a tribe that has lived in the Amazon for generations, living off the lands natural resources. The novel goes into detail describing the different ways the natives get their food and resources. The natives fish, hunt and grow their own food to survive. Growing vegetables is their biggest source of food because the animals they have hunted in the past have become scarce. The destruction of the rainforest they lived is probably what led to the decline in their food resources. With this novel I plan to demonstrate how the people indigenous to the Amazon need certain resources to survive and how those who are taking away their resources are affecting their lives.
“Managing Infectious Diseases.” The Princeton Guide to Ecology. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009. Credo Reference. Web. 10 October 2012.
In the section of “Managing Infectious Diseases” entitled “Harming Habitats can Harm Human Health: Tropical Rainforest Destruction and the Rise of Malaria” it focuses mainly on how the cutting down of trees in the rainforest can lead to an increase in mosquito population. The author gives such facts as the disease malaria kills over 20 million worldwide each year and there is a significant increase in mosquito population in less forested areas. The people native to the Peru have conducted studies showing that there is a mosquito biting rate 300 times more in places where the forests have been cleared. Whereas in areas still heavily forested had a significantly less amount of biting mosquitoes. Removing trees from the Amazon rainforest creates a bigger mosquito problem for the indigenous people, some of whom probably do not have the money or resources to treat malaria. Malaria is a parasitic disease that kills millions of people each year so by clearing out more forested areas it is creating more mosquitoes which are in turn affecting the health of the South Americans. I will use this reference to demonstrate how clearing out parts of the Amazon rainforest indirectly effects the health of the people who live there.
“Which industries and activities contribute to the destruction of the Amazon rainforest?.” The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather guide. Abington: Helicon, 2010. Credo Reference. Web. 10 October 2012.
In this essay the author evaluates the different companies that contribute to the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. Timber, being one of the main resources that is harvested from the rainforest, has been steadily cut down leaving the people who rely on the timber for their own lives with more limited resources. Also the people who live within the rainforest lose their home when their part of the forest is cleared out. Another product the industry has been taking from the forest is special plants used for health and medical reasons. Taking these plants might be beneficial for the people who are going to be using them but they do not take into consideration that the people living in the forest rely on these plants as main source of medicine. I will be using this source as a way to relate the industries use of these products and how the indigenous people rely on some of these products for their own survival.
The Library
In today’s visit to the library I found that there is a huge amount of information available to me online. I did not realize that there is more information available to me on the databases than in the all the books in the library. The databases have information on just about any topic you can imagine and they are from much more credible sources than the world wide web could provide. With these databases and online books I do not have to wait till the library is open to start my research, I can access them at any time with my computer. I plan on using the databases on environmental issues for my research as well as using the actual books from the library. The guide for writing a work cited in MLA format will also be helpful when doing my research.
Huey and the Lakota Indians
Huey defines social justice by describing the Lakota Indians battle for their land. He goes into detail describing the things America has done to wrong the Native Americans, such as violating treaty agreements and attacking tribes. Throughout this history, there are pictures in the background clearly depicting the modern day Indians and the problems they face. He says that the Indians still have injustice because they are unemployed and many people live below the poverty line. I think this is a sad thing to see that after all America has done to them the Native Americans are still suffering. Many of them live in run down old houses, packed together with several other families. Even though America is supposed to be the land of opportunity the Indians do not seem to be getting any of these opportunities. Living in a packed reservation and trying to find employment the Lakota have very little opportunity to improve themselves and their surroundings. In Huey’s opinion everyone in America turns a blind eye to the Lakota’s struggle and they are not doing anything to help improve their conditions. We help those people suffering in other countries but when it is in our own country we ignore it.
Stevenson’s Definition of Social Justice
Bryan Stevenson defines social injustice as something that not only goes on in the courtroom but something that all of America is effected by. He tells us of how we have come a long way from the injustice we had created such as slavery and women’s rights but we still have a lot of issues we need to work on. Issues like a thirteen year old boy being tried as an adult and sentenced to life in prison. This does not seem fair and, as he pointed out, many countries do not have this kind of strict punishment at such a young age. So why is it that Americans try young kids as adults? This, as Stevenson says, is due to the inequality and injustices in the courtroom. Also he believes another injustice is that the poor are being prosecuted more than the rich. This sends the message that it does not matter if you are guilty or innocent because if you have enough money you can get away with anything. He even goes into a story describing how he created this case for a poor young man in which he defended him as if he was a rich old man. This and many more injustices he still views as being an issue in today’s society.
In “The Bluest Eye” I feel that the conflict was not as resolved as I thought it should have been. The conflict in the story was that Pecola believed she was ugly based on society’s and her own opinion of beauty. Therefore to be pretty she believed that she needed blue eyes and blond hair. However, when Soaphead Church supposedly gives her the blue eyes she desires society still treats her badly this is because she did nothing truly changed about her. In the story she is described as going mad after she got pregnant, and I don’t believe that resolves the conflict, it just makes it worse. The climax of the story is when she gets raped by her father because everything goes downhill from there. She gets pregnant, loses the baby, and starts talking to herself because everything was set off by the climax. Pecola did not change for the better after the climax. Sure she was proud and happy with her new blue eyes but she lost a sense of reality after the climax. Claudia describes her as acting like a bird, flapping her arms in the hopes to fly. I believe that this is not a good change for Pecola because she has changed into a completely unstable person. I don’t think she discovered anything about herself except that she thinks she now has some of the prettiest blue eyes and that is why everyone avoids her. I was a little disappointed by the ending of the story. I didn’t expect a fairytale ending or everything to be magically better but, I wish that Morrison gave us a little silver lining in the end.
I found a meadow with all the vibrant flowers giving off there beautiful fragrance. The sun was high in the sky beating down on me, warming me up. There was a small path hidden underneath the flowers, it was cobbled and worn from age. I took the path deep into the forest, the air smelled of moss and light filtered through the trees into the forest. The path went on for what seemed like ever but then it suddenly veered off and came to a large clearing. It was bright and peaceful, full of flowers and the chirping of birds. There was a gradual incline which led to a big and majestic old tree. It could easily be big enough to provide firewood for a small town but it was left alone, respected by nature and admired by all. It towered over everything, dwarfing all that that came across its path. As I approached the tree my surroundings began to disappear until all that was left was me and the grand old tree. I sat down at the base of its trunk and closed my eyes and wished. As I opened my eyes again a door appeared. It was a simple wooden door covered in twisting vines and delicate leaves.
Conflict: The Bluest Eye
The conflict that Pecola faces in The Bluest Eye is that of she believes that she is not pretty or worth anything. She has been taught by her mother and society that the prettiest of people have blue eye and blond hair. For this reason I think Pecola faces man vs. self and man vs. society. She is the one who feels she is not good enough. She is the one who prays for blond hair and blue eyes and therefore she is the cause of her unhappiness. She can change a lot of things but the one she hopes for the most is something that cannot be altered. Society also plays a role in Pecola’s perception of herself. The world she lives in is not accepting of differences and they show only one kind of person. Pecola wants to be different because the image of perfection that she has to compare herself to is something the media has created. A cookie cutter image. I believe the conflict is something that still goes on today. People are always trying to change the way they look and are never happy with what they have. It would have to take a lot for a young girl like Pecola to change something that she has no control over. I believe she would have to meet someone who made her feel beautiful and unique in order to resolve the conflict she has within herself.
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