Foster Care: Injustice

    At my mom's office, a foster care kid, James, was an intern.  His story is truly inspiring.  My mom learned about the horrors of foster care system he went through.  He has almost no money and he got himself into a special full scholarship program at Brandice University.

    He had nowhere to go for a Thanksgiving dinner, so my mom invited him to come to our Thanksgiving. He is a smart nice guy.  We went to the park and played football and came home for our dinner.  That thanksgiving was perhaps the most interesting I have experienced.

     He told us about his struggles in foster care.  He is black and openly gay.  He said that he was turned away from some religious foster care homes because of this.  He has lived in 13 different foster care homes from age 13 to 18.  He said his current foster brother will probably only get a tuna sandwich for dinner, so we packed up some leftovers for him.

     From what I learned about the foster care system, it's completely socially unjust and needs improvement.  It makes me easy how easy my life is compared to less fortunate people.  James made it to a great college, and worked himself out of the Foster Care system, but the vast majority don't.  For every success story of this sort, there are many more of the opposite nature.  The whole system sets people up for failure and as better off people, we have to do our best to change that.

    James and his Foster brother are coming to Thanksgiving next year.

Masters of War

"Masters Of War"

Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build all the bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks.

You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly.

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain.

You fasten all the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion'
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud.

You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins.

How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
That even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do.

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul.

And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand over your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead.

    I love this song, but I'm not sure I agree completely with it.  My brother is in ROTC, an army college program in which you become an officer.  I find myself being very patriotic towards the military.  I understand however that this was a much much different time.  With George W. Bush as President I felt similarly.  


    A line that really interests me is "A world war can be won You want me to believe."  I really am interested in this line because it discusses so many complex issues in just a few words.  It talks about patriotism and misleading a people as well as death.  It also talks about war in general.  From this one line I know Dylan's position.  He thinks that war can't be won because there is death and loss and therefore no winner.  


     A metaphor I like is "I just want you to know I can see through your masks."  Obviously they don't actually have masks, but I think he is referring to reasons and explanations for wars.  I think the masks are patriotism and service because the "Masters of War" don't themselves serve or put their lives at risk.  


     All in all, this poem makes me intrigued, but uncomfortable, because I believe in humanitarian values which often need military intervention.  I do think there are those who profit from war, but the song exaggerates the concept.  I think service is the most patriotic and honorable thing a person can do.  The song highlights the evils of war.

Citizens United

     An issue I care about a lot is fair elections.  I think that my dad may have instilled this value in me.  He heads a group, The Brennan Center For Justice, that basically fights for voter rights.  The Brennan Center has had many Supreme Court and state level cases pertaining to voting rights and elections.  I think the most important was the outragous supreme court decision Citizens United.

     The 5-4 Supreme Court ended the ban on unlimited campaign donations by companies and unions.  In this decision, the court set the precedent that corporations have the same rights as citizens.  This is absolutely ridiculous.  Corporations now pump money into lobbying and all sorts of unfair acts.  The decision not only gave companies more "rights," but it took away the equality, power and voting rights of the common man.  Once could relate this issue with Occupy Wall Street.  By giving these corporations the power to secretly pump money into campaigns, they are taking political power from the 99%.  The 99% doesn't have the money to make ads or lobby.  They can vote and give the little extra that they have, if they chose to a campaign.  But all of this money flow corrupts the system.  Elections can now be won by appealing to corporations who care about selling oil, or eliminating unions, or lowering taxes instead of by appealing to the people and the people only.

     This 5-4 court has been moving back from much of the progress we've made in the last 60 years.  Now it has taken the case that argues the Obama Health Care bill is unconstitutional.  I am really scared.  The whole issue of Citizens United outrages me.  The Supreme Court is supposed to interpret the Constitution, not make decisions because of biases.  I hope that Justice Kennedy, the more progressive of the 5 sees the Health Care case for what it is and not as a party case.

http://www.brennancenter.org/content/resource/citizens_united_v_fec/
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/us/politics/22scotus.html

     

Two sided poem

I don't like the mexicans who cross the border
When I was 5 my mom snuck me across the border 

My dad lost his job at the construction company, he says they're hiring aliens under the table.
My dad owned a deli in Mexico City.  They killed him in a robbery.  He wouldn't give up the cash register.

America is supposed to be a land of the equal.

But my Dad is not equal to fugitives.
But people call me names and at school, they make fun of my name.

My mom works hard.

She works a thirty hour week.  
My mom gets home from her job after I go to sleep and leaves before I wake up.

I love America.

They don't have to come.
We were starving in Mexico.  I hope America will accept me someday.






     With the election coming up, Illegal Immigration from mexico is a huge issue.  It's a really interesting issue.  On one end, we don't want them to come here illegally as apposed to applying for a visa, but on the other, many of these people have no other options.  There's around 11 million illegal immigrants in America, so we have to figure out what to do with them.  They're treated extremely unfairly here, making far less than minimum wage.  You can't give them all citizenship, because that would encourage more to come.  There are also those who were just kids when their parents took them across the border.  It's a really difficult and confusing issue.

     I feel that we cannot be in any circumstances bigoted or we will automatically be wrong.  I'm not sure what to do about letting them stay or not.  We have to have humanitarian values in making laws, but we still have to enforce them even if we feel bad.

Prep

     Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld has a very interesting main character.  The book starts off with Lee being a bit lost, however I think it was a deliberate choice to make Lee the most stable character in the book.

    Even the seniors at Ault Academy are portrayed to be a bit nuts.  I think the purpose of Lee's character is to highlight the environment of a fancy white boarding school.  I am not done with the book, but I don't think Lee will succeed at Ault.  I think she is too sane for Ault.

    The story highlights class and race unfairness.  It shows more though that when on a level playing field, in a place like a boarding school where there isn't much money to be spent, class has no affect on the success of people.  I feel like this book and animal farm are similar in a distant way.  Without saying directly, it deals with many intense and interesting issues and realities.

    I am really enjoying this book.  It's interesting how the author finds a way to make the environment of the school constantly on edge.  It makes the book more and more interesting.

Rich in Impact on the World

    I know a woman named Donna.  She's my mom's friend.  Donna inspires me in many ways.  She is nice, compassionate and good hearted.  When Donna was 28, I wasn't born yet.  She had graduated Harvard Law School.  She was on her way up.

     Donna took a job as an Assistant District Attorney of New York.  This was a position many fought for. In her job, she prosecuted criminal defendants.  At this point she was not rich, but she was financially well off.  While she worked as an ADA, she got 6 job offers to work in law firms.  However, she objected morally.  She spent ten years as an ADA.  Then, she got two more job offers.  She got an offer to be a legal aid defense lawyer and making one million dollars a year at a law firm.  She chose to work as a legal aid lawyer.

Interview(conducted over the phone)

Me

What was it like being an ADA?

Donna

It was fun and really interesting.  But I felt like I was on the wrong side of many issues.  I found myself playing legal games and sometimes convicting those who did not deserve to go to prison.

Me

Why didn't you want to work at a law firm?

Donna

Working at a law firm can be interesting to some, but not to me.  I believe in public service.  Working at a law firm does no service to the public.

Me

Do you have an objection to making lots of money?

Donna

No.  However I believe its more important to enjoy, feel good about, and believe in your work than to make a lot of money.

    I respect and look up to Donna a great amount.  She's nice, smart, idealistic and strict to her values.  I hope to some day be like her.  She defends those who deserve a fair trial.  She makes very little money for a lawyer.  She may not rich in currency, but she is rich in happiness and in her impact on the world.

Twelfth Night

     Of all of Shakespeare's plays, "Twelfth Night" is surely the weirdest I have read.  However, I believe it is the best written and one of the most interesting.  What I find most interesting in the play is the contrast of funny to serious characters and how they really affect the plot and end result.

   It's sort of weird how despite the plays genre, comedy, the main characters but for Toby and Andrew are very serious.  Even the fool in the play is not very funny.  I found myself waiting for Sir Toby and Andrew's lines.  For much of the play, Toby and Andrew provide humor, but the straight characters provide the plot.  Some of the stuff coming out of Sir Andrew's mouth is just extremely weird, but for some reason it is funny.  Shakespeare combines Toby and Andrew's sub plots with the main, slower plot.  

   Feste the fool and Orsino would seem like funny characters, but they aren't.  This makes the story even more interesting.  Most comedy's have the straight guy, however very rarely are they as ridiculous and colorful characters and Feste and Orsino.  Orsino is a lovesick rich man and Feste is a dry, clever fool.  I wanted to chuckle at these characters but I didn't.  I think Shakespeare didn't give them funny lines for a reason. I think it was to add texture to the play.  He succeeded if that was what he was trying to do.

    

Two Blogs That I Enjoyed

One of the blogs that i liked a lot was Olivia's blog http://coolerthanejup.blogspot.com/.  I liked it for many reasons. First, it was well organized and there was a clear theme.  Second, she went very deep in the blog and said what she thought of the book.  Third, she summarized the book at the beginning.

Another blog I liked was Siena's blog http://reach-forthe-stars.blogspot.com/.  I enjoyed the poem at the beginning.  The poem was very interesting and in it, she analyzed both the main character of her book and herself.  In the paragraphs below the poem, she connected with the character even further.  The thing that I liked best about Siena's blog post was that she judged her character in an interesting way and sort of criticized the main character at the end.

Comparing "Dreams" and "Let America Be America Again"

     "Let America Be America Again" and "Dreams"by Langston Hughes are my favorite poems.  They are both interesting and different in many ways.  Both Poems have the message of hope.  However, they present this idea in different ways and have clear, but different themes.  Both of the poems inspire me and make me want to believe or to act.

     "Let America Be America Again" tells the story of the depression and America not being an America of the free.  It speaks for the lower class and the minorities who had no protection.  Hughes presents these ideas in a beautiful way.  He writes      
    "Who said the free? Not me? Surely not me? The millions on relief today? The millions shot down when we strike?" However, what I admire about these poems and especially this one, is that he empowers people rater than just commenting on trends and ideas.  He says that America needs to be an "America of the free."  I read this in fifth grade and was empowered, but I didn't really understand the poem.  This poem starts off seeming to be pessimistic, talking about all of the things that was wrong with America and what America wasn't. However it ended positively.  


    "Dreams" starts off empowering and then goes on to describe what happens if people don't dream.  I believe that the two poems are written in these different ways for a reason.  He wrote "Dreams" when he was a student.  Dreams shows a knowledge of what could happen if people gave up.  "Let America Be America Again" shows what did happen when people gave up; when people were not protected.  He calls on Black people like himself and all other lower class Americans to rise up, to dream and to act.


Both Poems addressed a dream.  I think "Dreams" addressed black people dreaming to move up in society whereas "Let America Be America Again" addressed the lower class be a people.  The idea of "Let America Be America Again" is egalitarian.  The beginning of it is sort of a reaction to the dreams set up in "Dreams."  Hughes dreamt so much of an America of the equal that the America of the depression made him speak.   

Let America Be America Again

by Langston Hughes

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed--
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark? 
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek--
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean--
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home--
For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the free."

The free?

Who said the free?  Not me?
Surely not me?  The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay--
Except the dream that's almost dead today.

O, let America be America again--
The land that never has been yet--
And yet must be--the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME--
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose--
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!


O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath--
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain--
All, all the stretch of these great green states--
And make America again!

Dreams
 
by Langston Hughes

Hold fast to dreams 
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.


Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.