Journal Posting #15. Border Patrol's Control

DearLeslie Marmon Silko,

   You brought up a topic that is so rarely mentioned, however is a topic necessary to discuss. Your personal experiences and stories throughout your essay, "Border Patrol State," brought up valid points of discussion as well as some potential arguments. Although I have never experienced Border Patrol in such a harsh manner as you, I have read articles or heard stories relatable to your experiences. One novel that came to mind as I read your essay was The Devil's Highway. The novel discussed the struggles of 26 men as they passed the borders from Mexico to the United States and randomly went missing during their attempts at freedom. Hardships were depicted, however, the severity and fear these people felt towards the Border Patrol were also portrayed throughout the novel. It seems that immigrants risk SO much just for the attempt to live freely in the United States. Not only are they risking their lives and fleeing their country, but to have to overcome the US Border Patrol is a nearly impossible task. I truly agree and believe your perceptions towards the brutality and unreasonable treatment that Patrol Officers give, especially to different races and ethnicities. However, I can also understand how suspicious these Border Patrol Officers can be towards different ethnicities. Their job involves immigrants every day attempting to smuggle, cross illegally or flee into the United States, typically from Mexico. It is no wonder that if they see someone of a different ethnicity, they would be suspicious and feel the need to question their motives. However, I am fully against the idea of their brutality and unreasonable treatment, especially after reading your personal experience. Being searched without reasonable motive by a guard dog in search for drugs and ultimately coming clean, the officers were still unsure, reluctant and unnecessarily intolerant of you and your friend. Harsh punishment or treatment is not an appropriate action from Border Patrol Officers. Their job involves detaining immigrants and allowing Federal government to determine further actions. With your personal experience, my interpretation of the novel I read, and having read articles and discussed this topic in previous classes, I feel that your depiction of the Border Patrol portrays a true light of their unnecessary and brutal, racist actions towards immigrants or people simply driving throughout the open plains of America. 

Sincerely,

Amanda Hillary

Journal Posting #14. Along the Broken Road

After reading "The Things they Carried" by Tim O' Brien, I could not help but imagine myself in their positions, or worse, my friend who is about to be in that position on January 3, 2012.  How do these men carry themselves, let alone the weight of their equipment and the burdens from their actions? O' Brien claims they cover their emotions, their deepest fears and feelings, in order to move forward and perform in a proper military fashion. Yet even First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross struggled with maintaining authority and control over his mind, his wants, and his desires. If I was apart of Jimmy Cross's group, I can only imagine that I too would bring pictures. For me, pictures are the greatest form of memory. Just looking at an image refills me with emotions from that memorable event. Furthermore, images tell stories. They relive a moment in your past, either good or bad, but always memorable and significant. I wondered if I would bring a dairy, however, I feel I am not one that would sit and take the time to write out my thoughts and feelings. A picture would be able to take my mind to a different place. A part of my brain would disappear from the worries, troubles and hardships of the war and be able to re-experience a moment in my old life by just glimpsing at a picture. What the pictures would be of, I do not know. Perhaps me smiling with friends and loved ones, to help remind me during hard times that smiling is the greatest cure. Perhaps a hero in my life, one that can help me keep moving forward in order to achieve my goals, hopes and dreams. It was rather difficult to read this story as I constantly thought about my friend leaving in two months. Experiencing the unknown, perhaps he too will be carrying his hidden fear. Will his letters be somber as he will be able to openly express his emotions to me rather than his crew? Or will he too try to cover up his fears in his letters, ultimately trying to create a persona of strength and dignity; however, after reading this story, it is quite apparent just how much these men think about, concern themselves over and yearn for.

Journal Posting #13. Living the American Dream?

"The evil spirit laughed within me when the white flag dropped out of sight, and the hands which furled it hung limp in defeat" (p. 438).

Zitkala-Sa's experience into succumbing to the "American Dream" may seem like a triumphant success as she grew into the American culture. Learning English, gaining a diploma and further expanding her education by willingly choosing college over returning to her home in the plains, Zitkala-Sa's story merely depicts her accomplishment of the American dream. However, looking closer and more intellectually within her text, discrete marks of solitude, despair and regret are discovered as she earns for her previous life before the culture shock she received. Although she laughed after winning against those who ridiculed her race with a white flag, her "evil spirit" took control of her. Knowingly she knew this new attitude and vengefulness came from the American culture. The pleasure she gains from watching these people hang their flag, "limp in defeat" depicts too much the views of Americans who gain similar pleasure in succeeding or winning. America is based on success and overcoming the unthinkable. Zitkala-Sa did just that within the culture as well. She overcame the unthinkable within her Native society and abandoned her mother and home life for education and prosperity. Furthermore, she overcame the discrimination from these people, yet her evil spirit filled her with satisfaction as the defeated them. With thoughts of regret and remorse towards leaving her home town, Zitkala-Sa truly accomplished the "American Dream," working harder for success and triumph rather than embracing the love and support from family.

Journal Posting #12. Small Steps to Overcome

"As she put me down at the entrance of the schoolhouse, I shrank from its doors, with that immediate and strange dead of the unknown so common to childhood."

We've all been there. That moment of uncertainty, no confidence and completely unsure of what the future holds. Perhaps it's the first day of school, as you stare wide-eyed and petrified by the big yellow vehicle taking you away from your mother, as if you are never seeing her again. Those horrifying bus doors open with a screeching noise, and the fear of uncertainty overcomes you. In this sentence, I felt a further dictation than just her experience of the first day of school. This was the beginning of her future. She was uncertain of what was going to come, as Kaikai "put [her] down at the entrance," she will no longer be comforted by a more knowledgeable presence. This figure, "tall, stout" and large, emphasizes that protection Liliuokalani has had from the beginning of her life. However, she immediately "shrank fro its doors," as her future became too overwhelming to her with no certainty of what lies behind those doors. That "strange dread of the unknown so common to childhood," indicates her fear of what her next moves will be. No one is ever certain of the direction their life will go. One day, life may be the most amazing, unbelievable, and overwhelming experience; yet tomorrow may hold emotions and incidents so wretched to contemplate, but no one ever knows. I feel we are always experiencing that uncertain moment, when we shrink from the doors and are filled with countless tests to learn and live by. Constantly we are living in our childhood world, where we feel smaller than we truly are in order to overcome life's struggles. Similarly, Hawaii, though scattered and small compared to the cohesive United States, was faced with the struggle of overcoming the Treaty and learning to represent themselves, no matter how small they were.

Journal Posting #11. The Perplexing Motivations of Segregation

After reading Pauline E. Hopkin's "As the Lord Lives, He is One of our Mother's Children" and Claude McKay's poems, I still feel a sense of numbness and disbelief over how specific, grim and detailed these authors' writings were. Yes, historically this event, where segregation and discrimination was so brutally common, is something that must not be "sugar coated" or kept secret of its horrific details. However, while reading Hopkin's story, I felt uneasy and in shock. For a crowd of people to be encouraged by a stranger into killing someone seems wrong and unbearable! I cannot grasp the motivation that people got to kill someone, particularly an African American. Motivational words such as "I will lead you. On to the prison and lynch Jones and Wilson," or "I have come today to assist you in teaching the blacks a lesson," seem unreasonable and incomprehensible to me (p.245). To gain such an adrenaline rush and eagerness to kill because of a stranger's willingness to kill cannot be understood for me. Perhaps this is because of the generation time that I am living in. Perhaps if I was a youth in that time, I too would have "danced round the dreadful thing in fiendish glee," being one of those "little lads, lynchers that were to be" (p.708). McKay's poem "The Lynching," goes into such detail of how people embraced the deaths of African Americans. Women would look, but "never a one showed sorrow," as the man died in the "cruelest way of pain" (p.707-708). I do not feel like I will ever be able to understand people's intentions, beliefs towards killing a different race, and motivation to do so, especially during those times of ultimate segregation.

Journal Posting #10. Aha! Struck by Realization

In both "The Wife of his Youth" and "Learning to Read" create a moment, so unexpected, in which the reader feels enlightened, reaching that moment of complete understanding mixed with emotions and ponderous thoughts. That Aha Moment. Everyone has experienced it, yet people never take the time to identify the process of such a surprising realization. Although I felt more of a surprising and unforgettable moment in Charles Chesnutt's "The Wife of his Youth," both stories easily created that moment. During "The Wife of his Youth," the story makes you believe that the main character will marry the young, affectionate, attractive and lustful woman whom he hardly knows but deeply admires. Throughout the story it is depicted that Mr. Ryder is older with experience, though still desires the young hearted beauty. Even when the older woman in search of her husband came into the story, I never imagined that Mr. Ryder was the husband that she had been in pursuit of for twenty five years. Such dedication and admiration portrays true love, in which Mr. Ryder discovers at the end of the story. Although he was supposed to ask for the young beauty's hand at the Ball, his Aha moment struck him, where true love lasted over lustful desire. For me, the Aha moment didn't occur until the last moment, where Mr. Ryder states "Permit me to introduce you to the wife of my youth." Such a strong statement and perfect way to end the story. Simplistic yet realistic, the statement brings about an Aha moment for the reader. By ending the story this way, the reader, after being struck by this moment, is able to contemplate on the rest of the story and the process of unexpectedness leading up to it. I admit that I spent the next five minutes after rereading the story to find hidden messages that I had missed the first time. Little clues are placed into the story to lead the reader one way in hopes of that Aha moment occurring. Within Frances Ellen Walker Harper's poem, "Learning to Read," the knowledge I had prior to reading gave me the conclusion that she would never learn how to read simply because slaves were not taught how or allowed to learn. Similarly, it was not until the last stanza where I felt emotionally satisfied to hear that she states that she "never stopped till [she] could read/ the hymns and Testament," emphasizing her hard work and dedication to overcome the "unthinkable." With both stories illustrating dedication, admiration and accomplishment, the Aha moment for the reader not only brought about a new way of interpreting the story, but also allowed the reader to be filled with emotional recognition and realization.

Journal Posting #9. A Woman's "Bible"

After reading the introduction, the first recognition and connection that came to my mind was how the magazine industry attracted primarily women's attention. Even during the late 1880s, "advertisements for women's clothing and accessories... fashion, housekeeping, medicine, politics" were common articles depicted in magazines (p.28). It is amazing how magazines know how to lure women into buying them, reading them, and believing the information they advertise. Even today, I wait in line to check out and find numerous magazines ranging from good housekeeping tips, food recipes, fitness workouts,  the latest fashion trends, and how to sexually appeal to society. With these mindsets being planted into women's heads during the 1800s, how can women today NOT fall for these "tips" and "secrets?" "the emergence of a series of magazines [were] specifically designed to appeal to [women's] interests and tastes" (p.27). Magazines represent the "ideal" woman; a sexually appealing, physically fit, healthy homemaker and impressive cook; all characteristics that seem easy to obtain, but only if you buy the magazine. It is because of the magazine expectations that woman, who are supposed to be strong, courageous, confident both inside and out, feel so insecure, unsure and unsatisfied with themselves or their body. Did women during the 1800s feel this way too? Perhaps this unrealistic perception only became an issue after photoshop and airbrushing were invented, which transform the already perfect "models" into even more unrealistic representable figures. These models, whom starve and suffer severe health issues, are the "models" that adolescent girls admire and wish to be. Why? Why would one dream of becoming skin and bones, suffering damage to their body, and yet still not being perfect to Magazine editors? Whether this unrealistic figure came about during society in the late 1800s or today, magazines have been able to persuade and lure the female species for centuries, and even still today, to believe in the unachievable.