Today students peer reviewed Stewart Pidd Essay 2: Pronoun Agreement. We then read Sybil Baker's "Earl S Braggs: Poet of Place," along with Earl S Braggs' "Why We All Went to War"(5-12).
We didn't have a chance to meet in Literature Circles, so the assignment is to review Dreams up to Chapter 12 and reflect on the themes and what we know about Obama so far. Take into consideration Obama as we know him know, 44th president of the United States, and his first State of the Union.
I want students to use Baker's treatment of Earl S Braggs' work, as a model. Braggs travelled a lot yet, "explored small towns and larger cities here and abroad and our collective relationship to them. As an African American, Braggs writes about place as a perpetual outsider" (Alehouse 10).
Do you think Obama is the perpetual outsider? How so, why not? Respond in a 250 word essay.
Other homework is to keep reading Dreams up to Chapter 14. We'll spend the bulk of Monday morning in discussion. Get a copy of Baker to read, if you don't have the book. No one came by the Writing Center Thursday and asked for a copy, so I presume everyone made arrangements to get a copy. I heard on the news after Obama's State of the Union that he was a president of peace, that his interests are on domestic policies, whereas Bush, always presented himself as a wartime president. Do you
agree with this analysis? How so?
Pidd homework is to continue from page 108-123. On Essay 2: Pronoun Agreement, some students didn't complete the works cited page, also they didn't use alliteration in the title. We will complete essay 3, page 153 in class Thursday, March 4: Point of View (153-172).
If you are not clear on any of the concepts, please see me and ask for more work. I have supplementary assignments I can give you to help if you need more practice work. This is a review; however, for some students, this survey of grammar is not enough. There are quizzes I have not made copies of yet, plus other work in the axillary section I need to reference, like the MLA (302...which I did).
Fieldtrip
I'll be at Black Rep on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. with Paola (8-9 class) and other students, Nely, Rebecca, and Bridgett will be attending Sunday afternoon show at 4 p.m. They exchanged numbers today. I am no sure about anyone else. Ask for the $15 price. Tell the person at the door you are my student. The $15 is not the dinner gala price--Saturday-Sunday evening.
We didn't have a chance to meet in Literature Circles, so the assignment is to review Dreams up to Chapter 12 and reflect on the themes and what we know about Obama so far. Take into consideration Obama as we know him know, 44th president of the United States, and his first State of the Union.
I want students to use Baker's treatment of Earl S Braggs' work, as a model. Braggs travelled a lot yet, "explored small towns and larger cities here and abroad and our collective relationship to them. As an African American, Braggs writes about place as a perpetual outsider" (Alehouse 10).
Do you think Obama is the perpetual outsider? How so, why not? Respond in a 250 word essay.
Other homework is to keep reading Dreams up to Chapter 14. We'll spend the bulk of Monday morning in discussion. Get a copy of Baker to read, if you don't have the book. No one came by the Writing Center Thursday and asked for a copy, so I presume everyone made arrangements to get a copy. I heard on the news after Obama's State of the Union that he was a president of peace, that his interests are on domestic policies, whereas Bush, always presented himself as a wartime president. Do you
agree with this analysis? How so?
Pidd homework is to continue from page 108-123. On Essay 2: Pronoun Agreement, some students didn't complete the works cited page, also they didn't use alliteration in the title. We will complete essay 3, page 153 in class Thursday, March 4: Point of View (153-172).
If you are not clear on any of the concepts, please see me and ask for more work. I have supplementary assignments I can give you to help if you need more practice work. This is a review; however, for some students, this survey of grammar is not enough. There are quizzes I have not made copies of yet, plus other work in the axillary section I need to reference, like the MLA (302...which I did).
Fieldtrip
I'll be at Black Rep on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. with Paola (8-9 class) and other students, Nely, Rebecca, and Bridgett will be attending Sunday afternoon show at 4 p.m. They exchanged numbers today. I am no sure about anyone else. Ask for the $15 price. Tell the person at the door you are my student. The $15 is not the dinner gala price--Saturday-Sunday evening.
posted by Professor Wanda's Posse at 11:29 PM
12 Comments:
Andre Stephens
English 1A, 9-9:50
28 February 2009
Domestic Policies versus Wartime
I agree with the analysis regarding President Obama being a president of peace and his focus being on domestic policies versus President Bush who wanted us to go to war in Iraq.
On January 20, President Obama gave his Inauguration Speech and part of it was about how he planned to reach out to all nations by letting them know that America is a friend and we will be the leader again, but he also put terrorists on notice that if they start something, we will defeat them. The President is saying that he’s not looking to start any feuds with any other country, but if a threat should occur, we will be ready to combat it. The fact that he used the word friend in his speech is an indication that he wants peace. When Obama was campaigning for President, one of his goals was to pull the troops out of Iraq. In a February 27, 2009 article at MSNBC.com, President Obama set August 31, 2010 for the conclusion of the war in Iraq. He will reduce the number of troops gradually and by the end of 2011, they should all be out. The President is focused on the things that are going on at home. Some of his domestic policies have to do with the economy, emergency funds to the automobile industry, health, energy, environmental policies, green technology, refurbishing old infrastructure such as public transportation, roads and schools, and accessibility of stimulus money (Huffington Post).
In 2003, President Bush made the decision to send troops to Iraq even though no weapons of mass destruction had been found. This was a part of President Bush’s War on Terrorism because of the terrorist attacks on 9/11. Even though President Bush came under a lot of criticism for his decision, he defended it until the end. The Iraq War has cost U.S. taxpayers over $1 trillion. In a December 26, 2008 article on Time.com, President Bush said, “The sacrifice and the expenditure on the wars have helped prevent a repeat of 9/11. We could not afford to wait for the terrorists to attack again.” President Bush believes his decision was the right one for the country. If his time had not been up, I believe this war and probably others would have continued.
Works Cited
Edsall, Thomas. “Stage Set for Obama to Exercise Immense Power Over
Domestic Policy.” Huffington Post. 30 Dec. 2008. 27 Feb. 2009
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/30/does-power-ennoble-or-
cor_n_154391.html
“Obama Sets Date to End Iraq Combat Mission.” MSNBC. 27 Feb. 2009.
28 Feb. 2009 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29371588/
Thompson/Washington, Mark. “The $1 Trillion Bill for Bush’s War on Terror.”
Time. 26 Dec. 2008. 27 Feb. 2009 http://www.time.com/time/
nation/article/0,8599,1868367,00.html
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jennifer Gonzales
English 1A 9-950am
Response to Obama as a perpetual outsider:
I do believe Obama relates to Earl S Braggs when it comes to being a "perpetual outsider" (Braggs). Obama has traveled throughout the world and has experienced many different cultures. Obama also being of different races feels permanently stuck in the middle. He feels as if he does not belong to either because he is constantly being reminded by society that Americans are one way and Africans are another way. Since Obama is both, it is very hard for him to say which he belongs to. Braggs also says, "with a keen eye for what is commonly overlooked." While reading through Obamas Dreams From My Father I noticed that he does have an intellectual understanding of many issues people face today, some of which he can relate to. Living in a diverse world may be hard and being bi-racial leaves you with doubt of where you truly belong is difficult as well.
As I read along in Dreams From My Father, I realized that Obama was reaching a point in his life where he did not feel like an outsider anymore. In chapter ten, at one of their meetings Obama wanted to share some of his life experiences with the other organizers. He did not know what they would think about him due to his background, so hesitantly and slowly opens up and shares them. From being raised by his mother and granparents in Hawaii to flying kites in Indonesia. Many of the organizers spoke about their own stories, while trying to make Obama feel more comfortable about his. He says, "As time passed, I found that these stories, taken together, had helped me bind my world together, that they gave me the sense of place and purpose I'de been looking for." I feel that Obama was now understanding his place and that being a African/American didn't matter because everyone shared the same life experiences no matter the color of his or her skin.
Rebecca Evans Eng 1a 9-10 3/1/09
A main theme in Dreams from my Father is Obama confronting worldly views and racial differences. His main bias is that of the racial inequality shown toward the black community. Obama was blessed with an accepting family and hence brought up with noble morals and acceptance. However, he shortly leaned that the world at large was not as understanding or kind. Blacks faced a difficult road, with larger obstacles than that of whites. However, blacks often felt that someone was out to get them or the white man was evil. Obama overshadowed this thought by empowering people and lifting them up to take a stand above the racist white man.
After the sheltered life of a racial accepting mother, grandfather, and grandmother Obama was faced with dilemmas regarding his own race. Having grown up with only a white mother his African roots were left unturned. He looked to friends to help him discover himself. He looked to books and great authors but could not grasp a picture of a black man’s existence in America. Ray was a proud black young man; he believed that he needed to stand up for himself and his black pride. He was upset that he gat treated different and often got upset and riled. “We were always playing by the white man’s rules. If the principal, or coach, or a teacher wanted to spit in your face, he could because he had power and you didn’t” (ch 4 pg 84). Ray suggested that one has to simply accept that he is black and thus is stuck a s a “refuge, a paranoid, militant, violent nigger”(ch 4 85).
Earl S Braggs, a famous poet and writer explored his black heritage much like Obama is exploring his throughout “Dreams from my Father”. Bragg’s writes about being, “place as a perpetual outsider, with a keen eye for what is commonly overlooked” (Baker 10). Obama does not necessarily fit in with his surrounding black friends and colleges. He does not know how to be a black man; he does not necessarily know racial injustice due to his accepting family background. He instead learns through others, he witnessed and passes no judgment instead observes the lives of others. He does not “overlook” the internal struggles of the black culture to let go of past angers at white slave owners or current racists. He instead sees a race of human beings that can come together to work as one and create a new history a common American history.
Rays thoughts and accusations were not based on guess, he lived it every day. Obama and Ray grew up in Hawaii during the 1960’s. The 1960’s was a time of great unrest. U.S. troops fought in Vietnam after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The Americans had resigned to not entering the Second World War yet when their land was attacked they quickly fought back. Many American citizens were against the fighting in Vietnam because innocent people were being killed every day by harsh new war agents such as chemicals, and nuclear power. Back on home soil however, a deep unrest was unraveling, we were attempting to prove a solid nation yet we sat on an unsettled foundation. Blacks were being outcast and forbidden of rights. In 1870, eight tears after the emaciation proclamation African American were issued the right to vote. 100 years later racial segregation had not improved if anything is was worse.
On May 17, 195 the Supreme Court discontinued segregated schools. To implement this plan they chose 9 students to integrate into an Arkansas high school. Threats were numerous; students of Little Rock High School attempted to block the entrance to the school. Military and armed guards from the president’s 101 airborne division were ordered to assist the young adults onto the school campus. On Monday, September 23, the police quietly slipped the nine students into the school. However, when protesters learned that the nine black students were inside, they began confronting the outnumbered line of policemen. When white residents began to riot the nine students were escorted out of the school.
Miles away in Hawaii Obama was facing far less racial discrimination however, as the segregation increased. He attended Occidental in Los Angeles and was confronted with his race; he worried about his racial uncertainties without the guidance of a father. He met a woman, Regina, who was disappointed with Obama’s selfish ways. She helped him form a rally to highlight racial injustices; he could not see the good in his work he could only criticize. America is known as the melting pot of the world, there is no one culture, no one language, we are accepting, open and neutral.
Unfortunately racial segregation was not just concerning blacks. Mexican, Asians, and Arabs were quickly coming into the U.S. They were faced with injustice and hardships however they found strength, they built a workforce for themselves and held on to family values to comfort them in a new lifestyle. Later in his life Obama worked as a community organizer in Chicago he saw that blacks felt sorry for themselves while the Koreans and Arabs took over the once black neighborhoods and begun to make a profit and establish their rules. Granted their stories were not exactly the same, blacks were introduced to America thought slavery and their cultures were ripped away from them however the men and woman of the time were not slaves and the white men and woman were not slave owners. There is an arrogance that some blacks carried believing they were owed for the suffering of their forbearers. Blacks needed to come together to create a culture and to make a difference.
Obama is not necessarily an outsider because he shares individual experiences with others. Obama began his journey unsure of himself. He gathers stories and experiences from others in an attempt to create his story. Now that Obama had found his individual passions he is creating his own dreams. Obama relates to Mary’s children as they too come from a white mother and black father.
Obama recognizes the need for community involvement and togetherness. A community working together is like a family. Obama recognizes this unlike Marty. Marty wanted to fix the problems without getting involved himself. Obama however recognized the need to integrate himself in order to make real change. Obama has created a community that works together; in turn he had integrated himself into the community, becoming a “family” member himself.
In President Obama’s recent state of the union he primary addressed The U.S. economic downturn. We rely on the world but more importantly the world relies on us. Nations are looking to us in our times of desperate struggle to see how we can to remedy our errors. The entire world is suffering from an economic depression we can learn from Japan who like us had a slow decline and landed in a bankruptcy and an extreme economic recession. They are now, after 14 years, coming out of it by introducing new employment opportunities including that of green energy. Obama follows suit however he promises a much quicker recovery. For the short term he plans to bail out the banks because if the banks have money than the domino effect can start. For example, a citizen who can responsibly take out a loan will in turn use that loan to build a house, the contractors and construction workers he or she hires will then earn money and perhaps they will take out a loan to buy a car or home. As people begin using each other as resources jobs will flourish again and people can easily payback their loans.
America is leading a nation in the world sphere. We are currently struggling through an unwelcomed stay in Iraq. Obama promises to remove American troops and return power of Iraq to its people. While he will not stand for terrorism or radical groups his main concern is the United States.
He offers the voice of “we” in his promises to return the nation to a righteous nation. He is putting the American people first, focusing on those struggling here at home. He offers examples of mothers who raise their children alone, of fathers who have lost jobs and can no longer support their family and of children who have had to move in to overcrowded classrooms due to school funding cuts. Obama embraces the county as a whole and sees the U.S. as a strong leader in the greater world.
He is beginning to answer my call in his determination to remedy our economy and budget by employing workers and allocating research money to alternative energy. He answers the call of every parent by promising educations for all children and he answers the heartbreak of all citizens by giving hope and calling on all of us to trust and work with each other to get back on our feet.
"Little Rock Nine." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 26 Feb 2009, 21:20 UTC. 27 Feb 2009 en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Little_Rock_Nine&oldid=273504760.
Baker, Sybil. Alehouse. San Francisco, CA: First Printing, 2009
Rebecca Evans response to Jenny eng 1a 9-10
Obama has become ingrained into his community and work more importantly though he is becoming a part of his larger black community. He struggled from not knowing himself and feeling disconnected from the larger black community. For any person not having a father or mother brings questions and curiosity. I think when Obama travels to Kenya he will discover himself even more. He needs to stabilize himself and I am excited to see him continue to grow as he is still holding himself to his father’s expectations.
Maria Mitchell
English 1a
Obama is the perpetual outsider?
I believe that Barack Obama was an accidental outsider. His circumstances throughout his life manifested a sense of lack of belonging in him. His attitude about how he should fit in only magnified this, especially during his youth. As he comes into trying to define himself within social concepts and precepts he often finds himself outside of the box.
Although he finds community in his family and his friends there is often a sense of his not belonging. His struggle to find definition to who and what he was surely created a sense of being an outsider to him. Black to the worlds eyes yet that was only half his story. How the world viewed him versus how he viewed the world certainly created division in his ability to make solid alliances.
Having survived living in Jakarta, Indonesian as well as Hawaii, Los Angeles, Chicago , Cambridge, Massachusetts, and of course eventually Washington D.C would cause him to also consistently feel like a potential outside. He was always having to introduce himself again to his new environments. That surely created both positive and negative effects for him as he developed into the man he is today. On one hand he could reinvent himself in a new locale, but on the other he would lose what definition he had found in the last. Tying these ever changing ideas about himself and his place in the world as he moved along.
His desire to find answers and define himself would lead him to creating the multidimensional man he is today. The irony is that for a long time in his life he was somewhat of an outsider by choice and by circumstances yet would come to evolve into a man who defines a new idea about inclusion. He has come to represent how we as a nation are all one, no matter what race, nor creed, nor standing. Perhaps one must be on the outside for a while to be able to see more clearly what is within.
Nely Ruiz
English 1 A
The Perpetual Outsider
Most people that are compared together have similar qualities or likeness. Qualities emerge as you dig deeper into the lives and character of the people involved in the comparison. Everyone is related if you trace the ancestral heritage far enough. President Barack H. Obama will be examined under a microscope for the rest of his life. Every president receives scrutiny. Obama is different for many reasons; many have to do with the color of his skin, and the historic election, in which he was the focal point. Obama and poet Earl S. Braggs are both perpetual outsiders; they have both been unable to fit in with any race group resulting in their moving around to try and fill the void inside.
Obama grew up in Hawaii, and Indonesia, lived in New York and Chicago and currently resides in the White House in Washington D.C. Throughout the memoir Dreams of My Father, Obama reflects on the different schools he attended in all the different setting in each location listed above. In one instance, he was the second non – white child enrolled in the school, the white children would have nothing to do with him, and he did not want to even associate with the other child who was darker than him. He did not want to be in that crowd, he was still trying to be accepted in the popular white majority of the school. Braggs has the same problem he is Native American and black and still has a problem fitting into a race specific group. He grew up in North Carolina, lived in New York and Russia. Bragg’s travels are parallel to Obama’s; both tried New York and left the United States to test out different countries. Obama was not accepted into the white society unless he became just like them and had some prestige. The black community wanted him to renounce his white middle class upbringing and become a leader who would shun all other races. Bragg’s dealt with the same issues. He wants to be a voice in the Native American community, to speak out against the rights of his people. The black communities do not consider him to be a full member because he is mixed.
Obama and Bragg’s have been products of the 21st racism that still exists to this day. The bible says you cannot serve two masters; you must hate one and, love the other. This is the truth many people of mixed heritage end up choosing one side to emulate in their dress, walk and talk for the rest of their life. Some people will even deny their actual heritage to be accepted.
Nely Ruiz
English 1 A
The Perpetual Outsider
Most people that are compared together have similar qualities or likeness. Qualities emerge as you dig deeper into the lives and character of the people involved in the comparison. Everyone is related if you trace the ancestral heritage far enough. President Barack H. Obama will be examined under a microscope for the rest of his life. Every president receives scrutiny. Obama is different for many reasons; many have to do with the color of his skin, and the historic election, in which he was the focal point. Obama and poet Earl S. Braggs are both perpetual outsiders; they have both been unable to fit in with any race group resulting in their moving around to try and fill the void inside.
Obama grew up in Hawaii, and Indonesia, lived in New York and Chicago and currently resides in the White House in Washington D.C. Throughout the memoir Dreams of My Father, Obama reflects on the different schools he attended in all the different setting in each location listed above. In one instance, he was the second non – white child enrolled in the school, the white children would have nothing to do with him, and he did not want to even associate with the other child who was darker than him. He did not want to be in that crowd, he was still trying to be accepted in the popular white majority of the school. Braggs has the same problem he is Native American and black and still has a problem fitting into a race specific group. He grew up in North Carolina, lived in New York and Russia. Bragg’s travels are parallel to Obama’s; both tried New York and left the United States to test out different countries. Obama was not accepted into the white society unless he became just like them and had some prestige. The black community wanted him to renounce his white middle class upbringing and become a leader who would shun all other races. Bragg’s dealt with the same issues. He wants to be a voice in the Native American community, to speak out against the rights of his people. The black communities do not consider him to be a full member because he is mixed.
Obama and Bragg’s have been products of the 21st racism that still exists to this day. The bible says you cannot serve two masters; you must hate one and, love the other. This is the truth many people of mixed heritage end up choosing one side to emulate in their dress, walk and talk for the rest of their life. Some people will even deny their actual heritage to be accepted.
Paola Garcia
English 1A 8:00-8:50
Barak Obama half white half African, the men that has lived in different cities and two different countries. All this makes him an outsider not only geographically speaking but he has a cultural richness that a lot of people would dream having. This as well makes him understand something that the human race has lacked for so long; being able to comprehend that we all share the same world but people has chosen to trace lines of inequality and the fact that this is happening is unbearable. He is an outsider as well because he thinks like no body else. All along he was the boy who could never settle with one answer. The young man who saw things differently and quite never understood the social dynamics from his time.
All this started it with his questions that never had an answer. With the particular environment he was put on to grow up. The more deep the book takes you it is hard not to mistake him with another young man that only wants to break rules and rebel against his life. Therefore the most precious gift from the book is not seen, because him self couldn’t see it either. Thant sense of being uncomfortable; of not belonging was only the dream of the future getting build inside him.
He is an outsider because he is unique. He is motivated by dreams and ideals. Not the ideals that people are normally used to, the men on the corner yelling Marx theories type of ideals. His ideals don’t come from utopias they come from the truth; from the heart of a man.
Eng 1A
8-9 am
Perpetual Outsider Response
As we travel through the life of Barack Obama, who is now our 1st African American president, we witness the struggles he encountered as he search to full the emptiness left behind by his father, his struggles with racial identity, and the lingering effects of racism, leaving him to become a perpetual outsider.
Throughout his life, but more commonly as a child, Barack had difficulty understanding why his father wasn't present in his life. Growing up, he heard numerous stories of how much of an inspiring person his father, who was a proud Kenyan and how he'd accomplished so much. He struggled to identify with the world because he his mother was white and his father was African, leaving him to feel as though he didn’t belong. Barack spent majority of his years living with his grandparents. Barack was raised during a time period where racial boundaries were not crossed and for very many reasons. During his years in college he experienced
I believe Barack to be a perpetual outsider. I’ve always considered him to be an underdog. During the 2008 campaign for president, he proved to be very consistent in his platform and determined to prove to the world that he was the perfect candidate suited to be president.
Andre Stephens
English 1A – 9:00 – 9:50
The Perpetual Outsider
Earl Braggs’ work used poetry to reflect on the places he’d traveled which included other countries, small and large cities in the U.S. Many times he was able to connect what he saw such as when he was in Russia and saw a lady sweeping. It reminded him of doing the same thing in his grandmother’s house. Braggs is biracial, part African American and Native America. Obama is biracial with a white mother and Kenyan father. Obama also traveled a lot while he was growing up. He lived in Indonesia and Hawaii and a small town in Kansas. Later on he lived in New York and Chicago.
Obama is also the perpetual outsider because in his book, Dreams of My Father, he is trying to figure out his identity and many times, especially when he lived in Indonesia, he didn’t find many who looked like him. His father left when he was young and Obama struggles to find out who is he. He doesn’t understand until later why his father left. In the meantime, the only thing he has to go on are the stories he’s been told by his grandparents and mother. Obama was unable to have his father physically in his life and that left a void in Obama’s life.
Braggs was disappointed about the injustices that happened to Native Americans, and Obama used his skills to confront injustices by working as a community organizer.
Donnovan Jiles
English 1A
Perpetual Outsider
Just by Obama being a black man in America make him a perpetual outsider. Throughout his life as I read the book “Dreams from my Father” Obama has moved from place to place discovering new cultures. I find similarities in Brigg’s and Obama’s life. They both moved from place to place which made them more cultured. In the book Obama questions his ethnic background he wants to know where he came from and also why his father isn’t in his life. Obama’s father not being in his life made him feel like an outsider by him seeing his friend interact with their father’s made him have a longing for a father figure in his life. I believe that Obama being a black and white make him feel like he’s and outsider to both races. Obama’s experiences in his life that contributed to him being a perpetual outsider was ultimately a great thing because he probably wouldn’t be the leader he is today with out going through that.
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