The documentary startled me but was a reminder of problems that are embedded in my brain. When I heard we were going to be watching this documentary I said to myself “I know the premise of this documentary before viewing it.” I was correct. I knew they were going to bring up civil rights (in some manner). I knew they were going to talk about homes without fathers. I knew they were going to talk about hatred within our own race. I knew they were going to talking about African-Americans in the corporate world. But what took me by surprise in all of this was the statistics. The statistics were heart breaking if not depressing.
In America it is hard to believe we have these staggering statistics. The first statistic to grab my attention was 1 out of every 3 black male would have a criminal record. Immediately after hearing this I imagined Kwame, Jeron and myself standing against a wall. Then all of sudden one of us was randomly chosen to have a criminal record. That is what the statistic meant to me. The second statistic that stood out was black men hold 3% of management jobs in America. There are many problems that factor into that percent. Most start from elementary and just build up until high school. Some of the problems surfaced in the documentary. One of which related to me. This was the segment about hatred within our race. In 4th grade was the first time I remember a joke pointed towards me in the context of your white. After that I used to hear it all the time from classmates. One of the reasons why was (like in the documentary) I didn’t fit the stereotype. The last statistic that I took note of was 60% of black children will grow up without a father. This statistic I could relate to even more than the previous but this statistic didn’t surprise me. Sadly it didn’t surprise me because most kids I went to school with didn’t have a father figure.
After listening to the documentary I could be depressed or hopeful. I could be depressed because there was so much negativity or hopeful because there is a possibility of succeeding. Prime examples of black man succeeding were the Chief Executive Officer and District Attorney. Both of these people gave me hope. They not only gave me hope but a guideline to succession. The guideline was simple just work hard and stay on top.
In conclusion, there many topics brought up in the documentary. None of which surprised me except for one. The main part that surprised me was the statistics. The statistics were almost unbearable to watch. Even though negativity was prevalent in this documentary there was some positive points. Two of them were black man who succeeded in many aspects of life. In any case this documentary has been presented well.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Last Days of Summer Blog
In the Last days of summer the author does a superb job of writing minor details that hint towards a character's physical description, personality and feelings. The flow of the story is smooth considering this style of writing. Personally I think that the story flows like it does because of the details and letters going back and forth between characters in the book. For instance, you can tell that Charlie is not book smart because of the few remarks he makes towards his self and also his spelling mistakes made in the book. One example is on page 213 when he mentions in a letter to Aunt Carrie and Joey's mother that he can't dial numbers on the telephone sometimes. Secondly, you also can tell that Charlie is a tough guy. This is because of the newspapers that give a description of what happened in the baseballs games. It was always Charlie punching another guy or getting into a fight with them. Also when writing to Joey he always made remarks about how he was going to rough up another person or Joey. Another thing Steve Kluger does is show Joey's report cards which shows what type of personality Joey has.
You can tell because on his report cards he gets all As in every class except obedience. This showed that he was not only bright but he was mischievous. Another way the epistolary style illustrates the story is threw different characters perspectives. The two main people that this happens between is Charlie and Joey. For example when Joey was one of the top 10 students in the nation to meet Franklin D. Roosevelt and his wife in the white house. Joey writes to Hazel "don't believe anything Joey tells you". Then he goes on to tell her all the things that happened such as how Charlie kicked Joey extremely hard and how he reacted to the president. Exactly after that you see the letter that Joey writes to Hazel(which is more descriptive). When he explains the events that went on he writes about things Joey did not mention such as winking at Eleanor Roosevelt and calling her toots. Now once you have read both you can start to piece them together and fill in the empty spots. Which in turn gives you a whole outlook on how that event took place in the book.
In conclusion, the epistolary style was used in various ways by the author. I choose two of the ways he uses the epistolary style to illustrate the story. First, he used minor details in the letters to hint towards a character's physical description personality and feelings. One of the examples I used was the remarks Charlie makes against himself indicating he is not book smart. My last point was that he illustrated the story through different character's perspectives. The example I used here was the letters Charlie and Joey sent letters to Hazel on their trip to visit the President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
You can tell because on his report cards he gets all As in every class except obedience. This showed that he was not only bright but he was mischievous. Another way the epistolary style illustrates the story is threw different characters perspectives. The two main people that this happens between is Charlie and Joey. For example when Joey was one of the top 10 students in the nation to meet Franklin D. Roosevelt and his wife in the white house. Joey writes to Hazel "don't believe anything Joey tells you". Then he goes on to tell her all the things that happened such as how Charlie kicked Joey extremely hard and how he reacted to the president. Exactly after that you see the letter that Joey writes to Hazel(which is more descriptive). When he explains the events that went on he writes about things Joey did not mention such as winking at Eleanor Roosevelt and calling her toots. Now once you have read both you can start to piece them together and fill in the empty spots. Which in turn gives you a whole outlook on how that event took place in the book.
In conclusion, the epistolary style was used in various ways by the author. I choose two of the ways he uses the epistolary style to illustrate the story. First, he used minor details in the letters to hint towards a character's physical description personality and feelings. One of the examples I used was the remarks Charlie makes against himself indicating he is not book smart. My last point was that he illustrated the story through different character's perspectives. The example I used here was the letters Charlie and Joey sent letters to Hazel on their trip to visit the President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
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