Heather’s Blog

As i look back at the first semester, i realize that i have learned alot. After reading Macbeth, A Lesson Before Dying, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, i was able to analyze numerous themes that seemed to come up. The assignments that Mr. Wasserman was able to come up with really got into the “meat” of everything. Evil as a means of social control, fate vs. free will, racism, and satire, were all themes that i had little knowledge on, but after 213, getting ready to graduate to 223, i could easily explain the aspects of each. As for the 2nd semester, im looking forward to learning more from Mr. Wasserman and constantly being exposed to his wacky side. Maybe we can even improve on starting class on time…

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I was a bit nervous when i read Mr. Wasserman’s blog and noticed that what we were to do for our final satire post was different from what i was used to. I soon found myself laughing after reading the article, “New Remote Control Can Be Operated By Remote.” This article, which was published in a news source called “The Onion,” was about a remote control for a television being controlled by another remote. It was said that this would never make you need to reach for the coffee table again for the remote, and that sony, the company mentioned, would even give you a third remote just incase you can’t find the first two.
After about the first few paragraphs, i immediately noticed and understood why this article is considered satire. Whoever the author was, they were trying to send a very humorous message to all people about how they need to stop being lazy and instead of watching tv all day and not even lifting a finger or moving for 5 seconds to reach for a remote control, they be up getting exercise. I think in a way, though it isn’t what i would consider satire, the author was making note of the amount of technology we have today and how easy and laidback everything is. The quote:
“Constantly leaning forward to pick up the remote control from the coffee table is a tiresome, cumbersome chore that will soon be a thing of the past,” was one of my most favorite and one of the main examples of satire written in this article. I just hope that we won’t amount to this much lazyness in the future.
a remote control for a remote control?..it just doesn’t make sense

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http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-girl23dec23,1,2079804.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

It was said in this article that an innnocent 14-year-old girl had been shot and killed when she was shot by a Latino man. After reading this, i was very shocked. In the article it says how the recent graffiti writings of “NK” had suggested a local Latino gang with a reputation of racism. I just couldn’t begin to imagine this happening. To still be hearing news that suggests the racism of some people is very depressing. The only somewhat uplifting statistics this article provided were:
“Citywide, hate crimes were down 10% in 2005, and are expected to have dropped by 8% this year, according to preliminary figures, he said.”
This was the only part that made me begin to feel “easy” about this event beacuse it’s giving hope that the amount of hate crimes are expected to decrease, something that would be a great advancement in not only racism but everything. I just hope to see the percent of these hate crimes to soon reach 0.

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After reading the slave narratives of Annie L. Burton, and thinking back about what i had predicted i would read, for the most part i was right.
“The slaves got their allowance every Monday night of molasses, meat, corn meal, and a kind of flour called “dredgings” or “shorts.” Perhaps this allowance would be gone before the next Monday night, in which case the slaves would steal hogs and chickens. Then would come the whipping-post. Master himself never whipped his slaves; this was left to the overseer.”
It is shown here in this passage that slaves were treated horribly back when racism was an intense matter. Slaves were never given enough to eat, their clothes couldnt even be considered clothes, and they were whipped by their overseer. I can’t even begin to imagine the amount of suffering they had gone through, I mean even after reading it, i almost feel like something that terrible couldn’t be possible.
This narrative is similar to Huck Finn, because Huck Finn is set around the time when slavery was constantly used and looked upon. it gives insight into what life was like for jim and all slaves, and how desperately they wished for it to be a fairy tale.

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Before i begin to read the slave narratives that Mr Wasserman has given us, im supposed to predict and guess about some of the things i am going to read about. I think that the majority of the narratives will definitely give a great insight into the life of a slave and how they had to live back then. I know that there is going to be an immense amount of detail to really give an impact of how horrible life was for blacks. I’m very interested to start reading them and see if what i predicted was right.

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http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20061222-093838-2468r.htm

After reading the commentary that Star Parker had said about the CNN topic of the week “Skin Deep: Racism in America,” i was somewhat shocked. Some of what he had to say about black people made me speechless. I thought, how could someone sink so low to think that black people need to have their hand held at every minute of their life because otherwise they would have a bad affect on our country or a certain community? I think that CNN’s shows were a good idea because they could have really helped someoen understand how blacks need to be treated. On the other hand, it seems to me like CNN was ignoring some of the bigger parts in American society, like parker had said,
” It ignored the most destructive and widely prevailing racist attitude in our society today, one of which both blacks and whites are guilty. This is the attitude blacks cannot be held to the same standards as whites.”
I think it’s fair to say that the effort to make our country less racist has to be from both blacks and whites, and that they have to realize how they both can be discriminated against, and that it needs to stop.
“An attitude still prevails in America today that we can’t let go of the black bicycle seat. That blacks cannot be left alone, to compete head-to-head, to fend for themselves and play by the same rules that every American lives and plays by.”
After reading this, i had to think for a minute whether what Parker was trying to say was racist or not. To me at least, i think that he’s saying blacks always need to be looked after beacuse they dont know how to do things by themselves, and that they can’t make the right decisions. is he really right?

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As the days go by, i’m learning more and more about satire in mr. Wassermans class. Today during class we read an exerpt from a book called “Lessons from Earth,” and i didnt seem to find it to portray as much satire as mr. W had made it out to have. Although i did enjoy it and take it as a sense of humor, some people would have taken it much more offensively. Online i found a video about George Bush being president, and i think you should watch it..http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4070294546854804336&q=satire&hl=en Political satire seems to be the most common out of the numerous problems we have going on today. I think it’s just because its so easy to target especially with the war in Iraq and all of the other intense issues happening at this point in time. I find satire to be very effective in the sense that it successfully portrays problems through humor, even though it does tend to be offensive…

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Today during class, we read an article that was written by the Iraq Study Group, and it was very interesting. I thought that the majority of what they said and the recommendations that they suggested for what to do now, could be very effective in the long run. Some of the recommendations that they had mentioned were: renewing the diplomatic efforts between surrounding nations and to put Iraqi forces in charge that way U.S. forces could slowly begin to leave Iraq. It was interesting to read and hear about how there was a lot of influence and issues from the countries surrounding Iraq, it’s almost like it adds so much more to this jumbled mess. I just hope that as a country, the U.S. will make the right decision and come up with a solution, which hopefully doesn’t include having a draft or increasing the number of troops.

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After searching the internet for hours trying to find a news article for Mr. Wasserman’s racism blog, i finally found one. http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=1305&id=1041452006

“A WHITE man accused of beating a black man over the head with a baseball bat was sentenced to 15 years in prison yesterday in a New York hate-crime case that focused on the defendant’s use of a racial slur.”

Racism was such a harsh and demeaning topic back when slavery was around, but it’s upsetting to see that it still occurs today. In this news article, a white man beat a black man with a baseball bat, who was in the area to steal a car, but hadn’t taken anything by the time he crossed paths with Nicholas Minucci, the white man. Not only does racism include blacks versus whites, but also religion, ethnicity, almost anything. Racism is still such a hard issue to deal with and try and make better, but compared to back when slavery was still around, we have improved very dramatically. This also relates to Huck Finn, the book taht we are currently reading in class. Huck Finn is about whites and blacks down in the south near the Mississippi River, and how they have to put up with slavery and the harsh conditions. it’s so hard to hear about racism still going on today, after all we’ve been through and other people’s experiences, you would think that people would have some sensitivity to the issue and be careful about what they say and how they express themselves around people who may be a different race. Another example of recent racism news, was the Michael Richards explosion of anger while performing at a comedy club. It all started when a few African-Americans were heckling him, when he completely lost it. If only people would come to realize how harsh it is to disrespect someone of a different race or religion, or anything, it’s just not right.

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Mr. Wasserman has begun to teach us about satire during class, and i find it very interesting how often satire is used throughout literature and life and how people react to it. According to Dictionary.com, satire is the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc. Some examples of where this has been used is in the new film Borat and a piece of literature that we read in class written by John Swift. I think satire is so popular because it harshly is able to get social issues across to people where i think they start to understand it and find ways to fix it. Although Borat was disturbing at times and its humor was very dirty, the humor that is used to address a problem gives a bigger impact on the people of any society. Also, what makes Borat and John Swift’s piece satire while Scary Movie is not is the fact that both Borat and “A Modest Proposal,” Swift’s piece, address social problems, while Scary Movie is simply making fun of other movies and problems that we don’t consider as big today. I haven’t really figured out if i find satire amusing or annoying, but either way it works, scenes from Borat still run through my head, like how it constantly discriminates Jews and women. I never really was taught much about satire before, so any examples that i may have seen in the past, i don’t remember, so i guess id say that my favorite examples are Borat and the few pieces we’ve read in class.

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