Letter to the Principle

Dear Dr. Rhinehart,

Today I am writing to you to address my concern on whether history books used in school should be censored. History class is a very important class. It is also very informational. In the class we all learn about past events that have made our nation the nation it is today. We learn about mistakes Empires made that lead to their downfall. What books don't contain in them however is the horrendous things nations have gone through. Take for example, The Rape of Nanking. Where the Japanese invaded a Chinese city, Nanking, and ruined the beautiful city it once was. The Japanese would play games, games of death. They would compete to see who could decapitate the most people in the time given, Sixty seconds. Believe it or non, they would decapitate as many as 100 people in that time limit. They raped the women. Made children have sexual intercourse with there mother. Made the children watch the Japanese rape their mother. They had no respect for these people. While it may be a really bad thing to talk about, it is best if we learn about it. It is part of our history. Part of World War II. Believe it or not, there was so much more to it. There are moments where the United States have been the bad guys. Moments the United States has surrendered, but when do we ever hear about those times? Never.
 Now you may say, "these sort of events only happen in the past, since we were so ruthless." That however is incorrect. Currently in the world there are many situations where genocide is happening. For example, in Rwanda, women have been brutally raped, families have been entirely killed. People suspected of being Tutsi were killed. Just for suspicion, imagine how many non-tutsi have been killed.
Text books, in no shape or form should be censored. Texts books should include the truth. They should include all the times, the good and the bad. Not just from foreign nations, but from our own nation, the United States, as well.

 Thank you for your time,
               Sincerely,

                            Randy M. Gonzalez

Intervention between Countries in problem

I believe that if a country is having problems, such as problems with Genocide, a higher power should come to the help. The United States should be able to intervene because someone has to stop the fighting. The US has one of the largest and strongest Army/ Forces, and they would be able to stop the situations. With the Unites States aid, countries should be able to solve problems, while saving thousands, if not, millions of civilian lives.

Project of the Holocaust I made

Hello Mr. Meechin,
This is a project I had for Mrs. Model's class. The project was to make a picture pile on any subject we wanted. I chose the Holocaust as my subject. I submitted this project to the "Arts Alive" show, but sadly, they did not accept it as they thought it was too gruesome. "The title text by itself is just too overwhelming" is what the judges said to me. Well I don't want this to be counted as a blog grade, just thought this would be the easiest method to use to show you the project since it is relevant to what we are learning.(I'm Sorry if its hard to see, I think the images are pretty clear though)

Video of movie Critique (Cinderella Man)

Cinderella Man Outline

-Movie intro is Jimmy Braddock wining a fight
-Movie skips to September 1933, 4 years into the Great Depression.

• People show up in the mornings at loading sites for job opportunities.
• Jim's son talks to him about being sent away, and is scared to be sent away.
  
• Jim broke his fist while fighting (Hit the skull of a man)
• Jim gets a shift at the loading sites.
• Wife sends children off to her families
• Jim takes a boat to Madison Sq. Garden
• Goes to ask his boxing friends for money to recover his children, he needs about $19

-Kids around the neighborhood are sharing a birthday party.

• Jim gets offered to fight for a paycheck of $250

-At the fights

• June 14,1934
• Jim wins the fight against griffin
• Wins another fight against Louis
• Fights Lasky and wins

-Jim keeps building his Rep.
-He takes a trip to the Hoovervilles.
-He is put in the Heavy Weight category.

• Gets the chance to fight for the title of Heavy Weight Champion
  
• The fight is against Max Baer (Baer has killed several people in the ring in the movie, in reality he only killed one person in the ring). [I believe the video is the video of the ORIGINAL fight. not a mock video.]
  
• Jim wins the fight after a long 15 rounds and the judge's final say.

-With the money from the fight, Jim bought a house where they spent the rest of their life.

Sacco and Venzetti trial

The infamous rock...

Alcatraz, what many thought to be inescapable. Men could get around the gaurds, but once they got around them, they had to find a way to swim a mile or so to land. The problem? Well the island is surrounded by a cold body of water. If you try to swim through it, you would probably end up dead of hypothermia. Besides the water being cold, there is also currents in the water. If you get caught in one, off you go into the ocean. Gaurds were also the top-notch gaurds. If they saw you running, they shot on sight.

Organized Crimes Reflection

Organized crimes began in the 1920's. These were plotted by the gangsters. By organizing crimes, gangsters were able to get away with crimes they committed. One example is the Al Capone gang that dressed up as policeman and mad people stand against the wall, then mowing them down with a machine gun. Others such as Pretty Boy Floyd, Bonnie and Clyde, and John Dillenger were able to get away with robbing banks, killing officials, and even escape being caught by the FBI. Of course, they all died in gun battles, but thats a given.

Topic 07, Concept Guide

The Scopes Trial

• Teacher arrested for teaching evolution theory.

Prohibition

• Begins January 1920.
• Women organizations pushed it
• Henry Ford was the biggest component to stop drinking
• 18th amendment banned manufacture & sale.
  Did not ban Possession, Consumption, and Transportation
  
• ISSUES WITH ENFORCEMENT
  -IRS was in charge
  -Could possess and consume it.
• Prohibition produces more bars than there was before the 18th Amendment.
• 1933 the 21st amendment was passed, which made the 18th invalid.

Flappers

• Paintings of Women in the 1920's
• Women who dressed rebelliously.

Economic Issues (1920's)

• 3 Factors
  -Credit available to the consumer
  -Low interest rates
  -Introduction to the 'installment plan'
  

Dust Bowl

• CAUSES:
  -Drought
  -Over Farming
  -Mechanization (Machine Work)
  -Over Farming did not let the soil recover after they had gathered the crops, thus loosening the soil.
  -Mechanization would loosen the soil more.
  -Drought would keep the soil dry without water and nutreints.
  -If you combine these three, you get very loose soil, that could easily be picked up by strong winds, and carried Miles across United States.
• 'KKK' comes back
  -No one is safe
  -Jews
  -Immigrants
  -Catholics
  -Divorcees
  -1923 had 3 million members
  1930 had 45,000 members
  -'Grandmaster' gets arrested and causes decrease in members
  

Agricultural Issues

• Malnutritioned soil would cause for crops to be very hard to grow, almost impossible.

Immigration Policies

• Limited immigration to the U.S.
  -Why?
  -U.S. could thrive without immigrants
  -Opposition to quotas disappear.

Nativism

• Opposition to Migration
  
• WWI limited immigration to the U.S.
• Afraid of the spreads of communism
  

Significant Literary Works (1920's)

• Jacob Ris
  -Wrote books on how the poor lived in the cities.
• Raulph Nater
  -Wrote "Unsafe at any speed"
  -Has to do with car safety.

The Great Migration

• Migration of African Americans from the Rural South to the cities in the North.

Harlem Renaissance

• Celebration of African American arts, poetry, music.

Sacco and Vanzetti

• Italians who were murdered because they were believed to be anarchist.
  

Labor Issues (1920's)

• Unemployment rate reached 5%
• Wages increased as hours decreased
• Strikes
  

The Red Scare

• Bolshevik Revolution
  -Lenin comes to power in Russia
  - Russian Becomes the USSR.
• Palmer Raids
  -'Un-American' people were picked up and charged for crimes.

Schneck v. The U.S.

• Espionage and sedition acts were declared constitutional by the Supreme Court

Roaring Twenties/ Prohibition Acrostic Poem

Rich men and women buy stocks to gain money
Others less fortunate work all day
Although they have their differences,
Rich and poor both like to party
Into the night they wander
New forms of entertainment were thought of,
Ground rules previously established by parents are no longer in place.

Teens rebel to their parents
Women no longer wear long dresses down to their ankles,
Every belief once held by society is now worthless,
New beliefs are now viewed by the younger ones of their generation
The bars are now full of women,
In this matter, men are going crazy,
Evolved men are now going to to bars to get satisfaction,
Sensually that is.

________________________________________________
Rich men,
Overcome a deep resentful feeling they hard towards each other,
Hatred that is,
In this time they now go to speakeasy's together,
Both enjoying drinks they now call hooch,
Indulging every sip they take,
The women join men to now drink and smoke
Inside the store, are brewers, who make the beer,
Only they are the cause for all this illegal drinking,
No one is complaining though, they have giggle water to have a good time.