Feminist Manifesto, pg 1502-1505
WOW!!! First of all you must understand the conditions that women were living in in the early 1900's. The old saying that women need to be "in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant" obviously came from this era. I had wished there was more to her small biography to explain and give a bigger and more vivid picture of her life. This woman was definitely a woman scorned. I believe that she must of had some kind of tragedy created by a man just by the way she emphasizes some of her words. Mina says on page 1503 that, "Leave off looking to men to find out what you are NOT" tells me that she is upset for giving so much of her life for what, her suppression by a man. Mina Loy was definitely "outside the box" per say because of the era that she wrote this in. That is probably why it was never published during her lifetime. She takes the time to let women know that just because you like sex does not make you a whore, women should embrace sex. She states this on page 1503 when she basically says that there is no division between the mistress and the mother. This point also comes full circle when she says on page 1504, that you have to get ride of your morale excellence. I believe that when Mina says that women need to have their virginity surgically removed, she was telling young women to express themselves through what God has givin them. Mina was upset because women in this era were to live like the Bible states. Unfortunately, the whole, women are sub-servant to men issue in the Bible was mis-interpreted. Both men and women are equal but have their special skills for life in general. What Mina stood for has come full circle because in this day and age, virginity is something that is "a bonus" when a man and a women get married. The sexual revolution has brought on abortion at an all time rate, not to mention all the std's that our teenagers now live with the rest of their lives. Mina was absolutely right in trying to break the suppression of women. I wonder, if she believed in this so much to write it down on paper, then why did she not try to get it published?
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
Life at mach speed!
Robert Frost, The Wood-Pile
Ah to live in such beautiful country and not desert! The imagery that Robert Frost portrays is amazing and peaceful. The first image that I get in my head is a walk in the forest to get some me time and taking in the awe and beauty that nature provides for free. At this point you could literally hear the flap of the wing of a bird it was so quiet. As he walks through this frozen swamp to put his mind at ease here comes a little piece of what he is trying to escape. LIFE. The bird, I believe is the general public that is always suspicious of everyone and everything. It says in his small biography at the beginning that he stays away from the cities and prefers the country. That tells me that he finds people at times to be repulsive. He despises some of what the city offers. As he walks in the swamp and meets and greets his friend, his eyes are drawn to the misplaced wood-pile that had been there for years. Here again this paints a picture in my head that the wood-pile represents how people get to caught up in life that they forget the simple things. I think this reflects again Roberts idea about city life.
Robert Frost, Neither Out Far, Nor In Deep
Robert was trying to show how people look abroad for answers to their problems in life but don't realize that they are right in front of them. The analogy of standing along the sand and watching the sea all day, tells me that people are trying to find the meaning of happenings in life. Then he goes on to sat that "But wherever the truth may be- The water comes ashore." This is saying that while you waste time looking abroad for answers, the answers are right in front of you. The water comes ashore. The tone in this piece is direct. In the first and second stanza, Robert basically points out that people are always pointing the blame, per say, to someone or something else. In the third stanza, Robert says that what you are looking for is right there in front of you. By the fourth stanza, Robert comes out and says that people can be so oblivious that they forget to look at themselves. This poem could tie in with The Wood-Pile because here again people need to slow down and smell the roses.
Ah to live in such beautiful country and not desert! The imagery that Robert Frost portrays is amazing and peaceful. The first image that I get in my head is a walk in the forest to get some me time and taking in the awe and beauty that nature provides for free. At this point you could literally hear the flap of the wing of a bird it was so quiet. As he walks through this frozen swamp to put his mind at ease here comes a little piece of what he is trying to escape. LIFE. The bird, I believe is the general public that is always suspicious of everyone and everything. It says in his small biography at the beginning that he stays away from the cities and prefers the country. That tells me that he finds people at times to be repulsive. He despises some of what the city offers. As he walks in the swamp and meets and greets his friend, his eyes are drawn to the misplaced wood-pile that had been there for years. Here again this paints a picture in my head that the wood-pile represents how people get to caught up in life that they forget the simple things. I think this reflects again Roberts idea about city life.
Robert Frost, Neither Out Far, Nor In Deep
Robert was trying to show how people look abroad for answers to their problems in life but don't realize that they are right in front of them. The analogy of standing along the sand and watching the sea all day, tells me that people are trying to find the meaning of happenings in life. Then he goes on to sat that "But wherever the truth may be- The water comes ashore." This is saying that while you waste time looking abroad for answers, the answers are right in front of you. The water comes ashore. The tone in this piece is direct. In the first and second stanza, Robert basically points out that people are always pointing the blame, per say, to someone or something else. In the third stanza, Robert says that what you are looking for is right there in front of you. By the fourth stanza, Robert comes out and says that people can be so oblivious that they forget to look at themselves. This poem could tie in with The Wood-Pile because here again people need to slow down and smell the roses.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Humble
Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington, pgs 665-687
First of all I have to admit that I find his "humbleness" to be very intriguing. As I read through the different chapters, Booker had every right to be angry with the white race. From the beginning of his life he did not even know the basics like the day and year he was born. As an adult I still think birthdays are a very special day for the people involved. Here is a boy who slept on a pile of rags when they had them, lived in a fourteen by sixteen square foot, pure air filled cabin with two other siblings and his mom. His "white" dad stopped by once a year around Christmas time. Not only did Booker have lousy living conditions he also had to work because he was a slave. Here is a young child who has to ride on top of a corn bag three miles down the road to the mill to get the corn ground. It sounds like More often than not, that bag of heavy corn fell off the horse as he did as well. Waiting for a stranger in a strange land for a little child is fear in its animated form. With bad living conditions, no stable source of food except for what they raised on the plantation, and having to wear a "Flax" shirt, Booker, I believe, had a strong foundation in the Bible even though he never comes out and says it. On page 671, Booker states,
"When people ask me in these days how, in the midst of what sometimes seem hopelessly discouraging conditions, I can have such faith in the future of my race in this country, I remind them of the wilderness though which and out of which, a good Providence has already led us."
The influence that his mother had on him was absolutely profound. From his homespun cap, to his understanding of the value of money or lack there of, not going into debt, and just the fact that under no circumstances do you complain about what you don't have, but be thankful for what you have been given. On page 677, Booker states that, "The lesson that my mother taught me in this has always remained with me, and I have tried as best I could to teach it to others." He was saying to live within your means, don't let the burden of debt weigh you down because there is bigger issues in life than consuming yourself with work.
There is so much to say about Booker that it is hard to get it down on paper. As I look through and think about the excepts that I read, I think about how one man with his back against the wall, could accomplish so much. Teaching himself how to read while working a full time job, to giving the speech of his lifetime. Overcoming great odds with such a positive outlook on life established by his loving mother. Booker knew from the start that overcoming the boundaries of his color was going to be a long and time consuming challenge that he was hitting head on with education mixed with a love for humanity. Like Martin Luther King, Booker knew that to make progress with racial issues arising you have to try to do it through peaceful solutions. Booker was well aware that there were racial problems by his statement on page 687, "they should be made to apply with equal and exact justice for both races." In his speech he tells his audience that it is going to take blacks and whites getting there hands dirty to make a better place for us all.
AS more thoughts come flooding out, I will try to edit my post.
First of all I have to admit that I find his "humbleness" to be very intriguing. As I read through the different chapters, Booker had every right to be angry with the white race. From the beginning of his life he did not even know the basics like the day and year he was born. As an adult I still think birthdays are a very special day for the people involved. Here is a boy who slept on a pile of rags when they had them, lived in a fourteen by sixteen square foot, pure air filled cabin with two other siblings and his mom. His "white" dad stopped by once a year around Christmas time. Not only did Booker have lousy living conditions he also had to work because he was a slave. Here is a young child who has to ride on top of a corn bag three miles down the road to the mill to get the corn ground. It sounds like More often than not, that bag of heavy corn fell off the horse as he did as well. Waiting for a stranger in a strange land for a little child is fear in its animated form. With bad living conditions, no stable source of food except for what they raised on the plantation, and having to wear a "Flax" shirt, Booker, I believe, had a strong foundation in the Bible even though he never comes out and says it. On page 671, Booker states,
"When people ask me in these days how, in the midst of what sometimes seem hopelessly discouraging conditions, I can have such faith in the future of my race in this country, I remind them of the wilderness though which and out of which, a good Providence has already led us."
The influence that his mother had on him was absolutely profound. From his homespun cap, to his understanding of the value of money or lack there of, not going into debt, and just the fact that under no circumstances do you complain about what you don't have, but be thankful for what you have been given. On page 677, Booker states that, "The lesson that my mother taught me in this has always remained with me, and I have tried as best I could to teach it to others." He was saying to live within your means, don't let the burden of debt weigh you down because there is bigger issues in life than consuming yourself with work.
There is so much to say about Booker that it is hard to get it down on paper. As I look through and think about the excepts that I read, I think about how one man with his back against the wall, could accomplish so much. Teaching himself how to read while working a full time job, to giving the speech of his lifetime. Overcoming great odds with such a positive outlook on life established by his loving mother. Booker knew from the start that overcoming the boundaries of his color was going to be a long and time consuming challenge that he was hitting head on with education mixed with a love for humanity. Like Martin Luther King, Booker knew that to make progress with racial issues arising you have to try to do it through peaceful solutions. Booker was well aware that there were racial problems by his statement on page 687, "they should be made to apply with equal and exact justice for both races." In his speech he tells his audience that it is going to take blacks and whites getting there hands dirty to make a better place for us all.
AS more thoughts come flooding out, I will try to edit my post.
Friday, February 5, 2010
American Ignorance
I am Alone, pgs 383-384, He has filled graves with our bones, pgs 385-387
I found both of these speeches to be very interesting. To tell you the truth I am not a big American history fan but the more I read, the more interested I get. As I read both of the speeches, you could sense the emotion that was spilling out of both the tribe leaders. I know both these speeches were written a time or two later but the emotion of the Indian leaders obviously made an impression.
As I read through both of the speeches, I got upset at how the white government thought that they deserved to acquire land and material objects at the cost of human life. I know that that idea has been around for centuries but to come to an unknown land and tell the inhabitants that they have to give it up "just because" was just ignorant. As I read "I am Alone" I felt for a man who had compassion, humility and kindness. On page 384 Cochise tells of his grandfather basically saying that all mankind be accepted with friendship. Here is the leader of a great and powerful tribe just opening his arms accepting all who pass by. I felt that Cochise was a very smart but broken Indian. As I read his speech, he talks of his people fighting in several wars. Here is a man who will fight for freedom to the point of annihilation but at the same time realize that if this war with the white government does not stop, not one of his people will be left. At the end of his speech I got the sense that this was a broken man just by his tone. Cochise is tired of the war, tired of the time it is taking to establish a treaty, tired of fighting, in a general sense, with the white man. Cochise knows he has lost not only the war but their freedom. So in the end he basically bows to the whites thanking them for what they are willing to give the tribe.
On the other hand you have Charlot, who is covered with anger and rage. I think that his speech tells it in a nutshell. White man came, took, and now wants to tax us. What Charlot knew was that the white man wanted to basically kill off the unknown foreigners that they could not control. Indians did not live by white mans rules so that made the white man afraid. Charlot wants to get his point acrossed to his people by giving them very descriptive imagery of what the white man did. Not only did the white man take our land by force after quiet threats of war, they kill our people for acts of kindness. White man knows nothing but greed and violence.
Even though both of these speeches were written well after the actual speeches had been presented, and that we are not sure of their accuracy, I have a new found respect for our native American Indians.
The more I think about these speeches the more I can relate them to todays enviroment. They are very parallel to each other. Back then the government was trying and forcing their will upon people that they did not understand. They needed to control them so that they could predict every move that the tribes would make. Today, I feel it is the same way with our so called diminishing middle class. The middle class makes this country what it is today. This country was built on the backs of the industrial age hence "Blue Collar Workers". I find it ironic that we get the crap taxed out of us and now we have to bear the burden of 12 trillion dollars. The only variables that changed are the people. Whether you are an indian or middle class joe, the government wants and will get the control they so desparately desire. Governments fear the unknown!!!!! Just a thought.
I found both of these speeches to be very interesting. To tell you the truth I am not a big American history fan but the more I read, the more interested I get. As I read both of the speeches, you could sense the emotion that was spilling out of both the tribe leaders. I know both these speeches were written a time or two later but the emotion of the Indian leaders obviously made an impression.
As I read through both of the speeches, I got upset at how the white government thought that they deserved to acquire land and material objects at the cost of human life. I know that that idea has been around for centuries but to come to an unknown land and tell the inhabitants that they have to give it up "just because" was just ignorant. As I read "I am Alone" I felt for a man who had compassion, humility and kindness. On page 384 Cochise tells of his grandfather basically saying that all mankind be accepted with friendship. Here is the leader of a great and powerful tribe just opening his arms accepting all who pass by. I felt that Cochise was a very smart but broken Indian. As I read his speech, he talks of his people fighting in several wars. Here is a man who will fight for freedom to the point of annihilation but at the same time realize that if this war with the white government does not stop, not one of his people will be left. At the end of his speech I got the sense that this was a broken man just by his tone. Cochise is tired of the war, tired of the time it is taking to establish a treaty, tired of fighting, in a general sense, with the white man. Cochise knows he has lost not only the war but their freedom. So in the end he basically bows to the whites thanking them for what they are willing to give the tribe.
On the other hand you have Charlot, who is covered with anger and rage. I think that his speech tells it in a nutshell. White man came, took, and now wants to tax us. What Charlot knew was that the white man wanted to basically kill off the unknown foreigners that they could not control. Indians did not live by white mans rules so that made the white man afraid. Charlot wants to get his point acrossed to his people by giving them very descriptive imagery of what the white man did. Not only did the white man take our land by force after quiet threats of war, they kill our people for acts of kindness. White man knows nothing but greed and violence.
Even though both of these speeches were written well after the actual speeches had been presented, and that we are not sure of their accuracy, I have a new found respect for our native American Indians.
The more I think about these speeches the more I can relate them to todays enviroment. They are very parallel to each other. Back then the government was trying and forcing their will upon people that they did not understand. They needed to control them so that they could predict every move that the tribes would make. Today, I feel it is the same way with our so called diminishing middle class. The middle class makes this country what it is today. This country was built on the backs of the industrial age hence "Blue Collar Workers". I find it ironic that we get the crap taxed out of us and now we have to bear the burden of 12 trillion dollars. The only variables that changed are the people. Whether you are an indian or middle class joe, the government wants and will get the control they so desparately desire. Governments fear the unknown!!!!! Just a thought.
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