"Of Mice and Men"

“The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley” (“The best-laid plans of mice and men / Go oft awry”) - Robert Burns, 1785.

The above quote is where the title of the book, “Of Mice and Men” was derived. This tells so much about the theme and moral of the story. “The best-laid plans of mice and men / Go oft awry.” This concept is etched in your mind after reading this book. Every one of Lennie’s intentions were good, they just went terribly wrong. Sometimes plans go wrong and good intentions turn into awful results. An underlying theme to the story could also be interpreted as the idea that sometimes, what may seem as the worst and cruelest thing you can do, could be the best option when it comes to those you care about. John Steinbeck develops the overall theme of “Of Mice and Men” through foreshadowing, repetition, and symbolism.

Throughout the book, there were similar events, which all had recurring themes. There were certain parts that allowed you catch a glimpse of what was to come. For example, in the very beginning when Lennie had killed a mouse on accident. It let readers know that Lennie has the potential to be harmful, even if it is on complete accident. It also showed that this accidental aggression could very well happen again, which it did. Later on in the book, Lennie was regretful that he had killed a puppy by playing too rough. And ultimately, Lennie killed Curley’s wife as a result of desperately trying to listen to what George had told him, but ended up panicking in the uncomfortable situation. The foreshadowing is also apparent when Carlson was convincing Candy to let him shoot his dog, “At last Carlson said, ‘If you want me to, I’ll put the old devil out of his misery right now and get it over with. Ain’t nothing left for him. Can’t eat, can’t see, can’t even walk without hurtin’.’” (Page 47). He finally convinced Candy and shot the dog in the back of the head, just like George shot Lennie. After his dog was shot, Candy told George, “I oughtta of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn’t oughtta let no stranger shoot my dog.” (Page 61). George loved Lennie and had taken care of him for years and George saw this as the last way of taking care of him. He knew Lennie would be tortured, scared, and his death would be far worse if the men got a hold of him. George decided that he wanted to do it himself, just like Candy had wished he had done for his dog.

“Of Mice and Men” repeatedly uses symbols in order to build up their meaning and significance. After Lennie killed Curley’s wife, he ran away by himself. While he was by himself, he saw and spoke to things in his mind, like his Aunt Clara and a rabbit. The rabbit could be a symbol of many things, but I think it is a symbol of Lennie’s insecurities. The rabbit was telling Lennie that George hated taking care of him and was going to leave him. This is exactly what Lennie would hope was not true. He never wanted or intended to be a burden on George and the rabbit telling him this made him feel insecure and he had to ask George after to reassure himself. Once he was reassured that George wasn’t mad or tired of him, he felt safe. One of the biggest recurring symbols was the house and the farm that George and Lennie had always talked about. It was a symbol of their American Dream; what they longed to achieve together. George seemed to use it as a mechanism of pushing Lennie forward. He would remind him of it and just the idea of a farm was enough to keep Lennie focused on doing well. It was relevant up to the very last pages, leading to Lennie’s death—“’Look acrost the river, Lennie, an’ I’ll tell you so you can almost see it.’” George described the dream for Lennie once again and told him they would do it soon. “Lennie begged, ‘Le’s do it now. Le’s get that place now.’ ‘Sure, right now. I gotta. We gotta.’ And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie’s head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger.” (Pages 105-106).

There are many elements of repetition throughout “Of Mice and Men”. The idea of working towards a goal was repeated often. As mentioned previously, the idea of a farm and house was a large recurring theme in the book and it echoed the idea of achieving a goal. Also, Lennie’s love and bad luck with animals was repeated throughout the book. In the beginning, he killed a mouse accidentally. Later on, a puppy died after he played with it and was too rough. And at the very end, he killed Curley’s wife. To me, this repetition was a way of conveying the idea that Lennie was unsure about how to interact with others, whether they be animals or people. He loved and cared for both, but sometimes his mindset was that of a child and the situations he was put in were years beyond him. George understood him and he forgave him no matter what, but not everyone was that way. Lennie always meant well, but he ended up in situations that were unfit for him and he didn’t know how to operate his way out of them.

“Of Mice and Men” is a simple book with a thoughtful meaning behind it. The story shows that at times, good plans can go terribly wrong. Also, what may seem like an awful thing to do to someone you love, could be the best thing, as it was in Lennie and George’s case. This book started off slow for me. I didn’t understand it and wasn’t enjoying it very much. However, the last few chapters tied everything together for me. It made the book interesting and sad, and it made everything else fall into place. I realized that Steinbeck’s writing style for this book was to build ideas up subtly, with the use of literary devices like foreshadowing, and leave the peak of the story until the very last few pages.

Voting Scandals

There are currently two major scandals revolving around voting in the election, one being the ACORN scandal and the other vote-suppression.

ACORN, The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is a non-profit with a goal of increasing voter registration. However, ACORN has been accused of fraudulent voter registration. ACORN recruits new voters, however, they may have been submitting false registration forms. Technically, people could vote multiple times--using their own name and registration, as well as other names they registered as through ACORN. However, we are learning that it would not be easy to vote multiple times and it is not likely. ACORN also reports suspicious forms to the government; they are required to by law.

The other voting scandal would be vote-suppression. I think this can almost be seen as a harsh campaign strategy. Vote-suppression is basically when voting is made so difficult or intimidating for certain areas and demographics, that those people may be pushed to skip voting altogether. If done on purpose, it can be done by neglecting to set up polling booths in certain areas to make voting inaccessible to some people. Vote-suppression has also been exemplified in the past by the Jim Crow Laws. They made voting basically impossible to obtain. Vote-suppression today can be seen in certain demographics. For example, there could be Republican-driven suppression in an area made mostly of Democrats because the outcome is predicted and Republicans would want to change it. The same could go for Democrats in areas with mostly Republicans. It basically denies people of their right to vote.

One thing that I noticed when reading about the ACORN scandal and vote-supression was one big difference. ACORN aims to get more and more people to vote, while with vote-suppression, people could be denied their one chance of voting. It's interesting to me and I wonder if ACORN goes out to certain areas in hopes of registering certain demographics to increase the number of votes for a desired outcome. Yet, vote-suppression also seems to occur within certain demographics, such as low-income neighborhoods or college students. Vote-suppression has been around for awhile now, as we have seen with the Jim Crow Laws, which made voting impossible for blacks. It doesn't seem fair; I thought each person had the right to one vote, no more and no less.



^ A video from ACORN's website, which says that McCain has been attacking the organization simply as a campaign tactic. It is biased, being from ACORN themselves, but it explains what would happen after a false registration and they say it would in no way effect the election.

Sources:

• The New York Times, "The Acorn Story", Published October 16, 2008, Accessed October 28, 2008.
  
• The Wall Street Journal Online, "Justice and Vote Fraud", Published October 27, 2008, Accessed October 28, 2008.
  
• The Miami Herald, "Republicans, ACORN fued over suspicious voter cards", Marc Caputo, Published September 25, 2008, Accessed October 28, 2008.
  
• The New York Times, "States' Actions to Block Voters Appear Illegal", Ian Urbina, Published October 8, 2008, Accessed October 28, 2008.
  
• The American Center for Voting Rights, "Incidents of Voter Intimidation and Suppression", Accessed October 28, 2008.
  
• ACORN, Accessed October 30, 2008.
  

2008 Presidential Debates

Watching debates can give you an understanding of the ideas and personality of each candidate, as well as how they answer questions under pressure.

I think that in order to win a debate, you need to answer all the questions truthfully and thoughtfully, maintain your composure, and prove your points to be stronger. Someone who wins a debate needs the ability to get their point across and bring more positive attention to their campaign.

I honestly wish that I could vote in this election. I’m learning a lot about it and I know that if I were a part of the voting, I would be more involved. One thing that I held important while watching the debates is whether or not the candidate explained affects my family or me. I would want to know this on most topics and if the candidate failed to say that, I probably didn't think they had a strong answer.

After the first debate, I heard many different reviews, some of which said that Obama was letting McCain walk all over him and that shows that he wasn’t being as assertive or forceful as he needed to be. However, I don’t see that as McCain making himself look better. As Obama was speaking, there were many times that McCain would laugh or smile, which to me, gave the impression of a lack of seriousness or sincerity in the matter. Of course, this was occasional, and when he did speak, McCain showed that he was serious. But, it just seemed to me that whenever Obama spoke, McCain was disregarding it and came off as condescending, which I don’t see as points toward winning a debate.

One thing I thought was that Barack Obama knows how to talk to people effectively. It seems to me like he knows how to handle all kinds of people and questions they ask. I don’t think that McCain’s tactic of putting down Obama is working well anymore. Sometimes I think it makes him look bad and not very likable.

After the whole country watched Sarah Palin stir up controversy with less than perfect interviews the weeks before the debate, expectations for her were set pretty low. With all the talk about her, quite honestly, I forgot all about Joe Biden. It seems like he faded into the background amidst all of the talk about Palin and McCain. However, after the debate, I remembered Biden's name and I feel like he brought more positive attention upon himself and for this reason, I think he won the vice-presidential debate.

During class, we spent a lot of time talking about the negative aspects of the campaigns of both candidates and I also wrote a blog about the affect on the candidates. During the last debate, one of the topics proposed by the moderator was about how their campaigns have turned a different direction—“Are each of you tonight willing to sit at this table and say to each other's face what your campaigns and the people in your campaigns have said about each other?”

McCain followed by explaining that he didn’t like some of the negative aspects of the campaigns—“... And I regret some of the negative aspects of both campaigns. But the fact is that it has taken many turns which I think are unacceptable.” He also talked about the amount of money Obama spends on negative ads and said that he repudiates remarks, while Obama does not.

Obama then spoke and basically said that there are more important things to be talking about—“And, now, I think the American people are less interested in our hurt feelings during the course of the campaign than addressing the issues that matter to them so deeply."

This reminds me of discussions we have had in class about how their negative ads come across to us and to voters and whether criticizing their opponent is more helpful than making themselves look good on their own.



^ A video from CNN about McCain and Obama's answer to the 'clean campaign' question.

When I was reading reviews about the final debate, I saw a particular story from BBC News about who they think won the debate. It basically said that during the first half, McCain made a lot of strong and effective remarks against Obama. It also said that Obama was much stronger during the second half and ended with a great final statement.

Technology and Democracy

Find the Article Here.
Science Daily, University of Southern California
Published October 16, 2008

Technology and the Internet allows people access to so much; some people worry it may be too much access. Since the Internet being so open and a free exchange of information, over the years, people have had to slightly change aspects of their lifestyle to keep themselves safe.

Americans want to know that their safety and rights will be protected and that could very well affect their choice in voting for the president. Both candidates have policies on technology, which is what the article I read described. It talked about both John McCain and Barack Obama's views on technology and the government's role in Americans' privacy.

I think this is definitely important because technology will probably keep advancing further and further. I think it's important that ideas of privacy and security are maintained. While the Internet has so many advantages, it could become disadvantageous if Americans are unhappy with their diminishing privacy. I think that technology policies will definitely be considered by voters. It's something that will continue to have an effect, as it has in the past, and the effects will probably become more apparent in time.

Newspaper Reflection

I think our group did a really good job on our newspaper. We worked well together and I think the final product turned out really good. One of my contributions that I was most proud of was my final article. I worked really hard on it and I hope that it shows. I tried to stay within the guidelines of news-style writing, which was new to me. I tried to write it as close to an actual newspaper article as I could. I wanted the information to be unbiased, and I think that I did that. I'm also happy with the picture that I contributed to the page because the rest of my group liked it and I think it looked good on our newspaper.

If we were to redo this project, I definitely would have written a different caption for my picture. I don't think that mine was very interesting and I was just writing it based on the caption criteria we were given and I didn't make it different or interesting. I also would have changed my headline and maybe added a sub-headline because now I realize that they make all the difference and probably would have made my article better.

Looking back on the few days we spent on the project, I wish I had been more involved with the design and layout portion. Amanda did a really great job and did the majority of computer work since she had learned about InDesign, but I think that the layout of our paper might have had different ideas incorporated into it if we had all been more involved. One of my favorite parts of our newspaper would be the pull-quotes. I think they look really professional and stand out against the rest of the text.

One thing I learned from this project is that once you print and publish something, it's done. You really have to be sure that everything is exactly the way you want it before you print it because you can't edit or make changes after that. After professionally publishing something, you wouldn't want to think of a list of changes that you would want to make or be unhappy with the way something looks. All of the edits need to be made before hand so that you can avoid being unhappy with something.

Photography

Our class just got a crash course in photography and learned techniques that will make our pictures turn out so much better.

Rule of Thirds:

This picture follows the rule of thirds really well. The buliding, the focal point of the picture, is offcenter, allowing the other buildings and landscape to be seen. It also gives the picture more dimension and a sense of foreground and background.

Depth of Field:



Depth of Field is what allows you to focus or fixate your eyes on something in the picture. In this picture, my eyes immediately gravitated toward the car in the bottom-left corner. However, when you look at the picture longer, you can see everything going on in the background--the woman crossing the street, the car driving by, cars parked along the side of the road. Depth of Field allows you to see the depth of the picture.

Eyes, Color, Fill the Frame:














This picture is bright and vibrant and takes up the whole frame. It's really close-up and part of the flower is even cut-off. To me, the 'eye' of this picture would be the center of the sunflower, because that is what my eyes were automatically drawn to.

Interesting use of Light:



I think this picture uses light in a really interesting way. To take a picture like this, you have to use a longer shutter speed; this one was shot with a 30 second shutter speed.

Shooting at Eye-Level:



This picture of a little girl was shot at her eye-level, which probably looks better than the photographer taking it from his or her eye-level.

Macro Photography:



This picture was taken so close-up, that you can see every detail on the flower. My favorite part is the drops of water because makes the flower more interesting. This website has really good examples of macro photography.

Another example:



























This is a picture I took a long time ago and for some reason I like it. I don't know why and I don't know if it fits any of these techniques but I just like the way it looks. I think I like how it was taken from up higher so you can see what is happening below and what is at eye-level.

Presidential Debates: Then & Now

Find the Full-Text of Speeches made at the Galesburg Debate Here.
The National Park Service; Lincoln Home National Historic Site

Find an Article about the Effects of the 2008 Presidential Debates Here.
The Punch News; By Yemi Kolapo; Published on October 9, 2008

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates were much different from the Presidential Debates we have today. One of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, Galesburg, involved a lot of reference to issues with slavery, the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, state's rights, and the Constitution. It began with Douglas speaking for 60 minutes, then Lincoln was given 30 minutes to respond, Douglass was then given 30 minutes to give his response, and then Lincoln spoke for 60 minutes.

The two generally had opposing ideas throughout the debate. For instance, when speaking about state's rights, Douglas was more in favor of popular sovereignty, while Lincoln wanted a more unified country and abolition of slavery. For instance, during the Galesburg Debate, Douglas explained that he believed in leaving the people with the choice of slavery-- "leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States."

When Lincoln spoke, he tried to get his point across. He wanted to eliminate slavery and he thought that the Kansas-Nebraska Bill would ultimately result in national slavery. Licoln said in the debate, "While obtaining new territory, the question how it may affect us in regard to this the only endangering element to our liberties and national greatness."

Now in 2008, the Presidential Debates are drastically different. They are much shorter and a very different format in comparison to the Lincoln-Douglas Debates. Personally, I thought the first Debate on September 26 was a little boring. However, I liked the most recent one on October 7 much more. I liked the town-hall style and thought it was more interesting than the first one. I wish there was another Vice-Presidential Debate. After all the hype that built up the days leading up to it, two hours didn't seem long enough. An article I read talked about the effects of the elections. It gave the statistics and showed who is leading the polls after. It talked about how Americans accept and analyze what the candidates say during the debates.

I think these debates are a good way to learn more about the candidates. They may not always nesecarilly teach something new about the candidate's plan or ideas, but they can teach us about the way they handle answering questions under pressure and dealing with different people.

Demograpics and the Election

Find the Article Here.
Sign on San Diego; By John Marelius, Union-Tribune Staff Writer
Published September 18, 2008

From my understanding, demographics are certain groups of people. Demographics can divide a population into groups determined by factors such as location, race, sexual orientation, religion, income, and age. One question that I have about demographics is how they initially developed. It seems like they have always been a part of society, but I wonder if there were certain points in time when some of them became noticeable. I also wonder how politicians take them into account during their campaining, since I know they are extremely important to focus on.

The article I read talked about the current standing of California voters in regards to Proposition 8. If voted for, Proposition 8 would remove the new California law that allows same-sex marriage and revert it back to marriage only being between a man and woman. Proposition 8 reads exactly as follows:

"Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid and recognized in California."

Reading about this Proposition and reading this article made me wonder about the demographics in California. I think that this definately has an impact on voting in the election. People would want to know the views of both candidates and it could definately sway their vote in the election. I actaully don't know the stances of both the candidates when it comes gay marriage, but that is something I would definately reasearch further. It is something that relates extremely closely to demographics. Different demographics will probably have different votes on this Proposition and it will determine whether the law is able to stay the way it is or if the right is taken away.

^ A commercial encouraging people to vote no on Prop 8

^ A video encouraging people to vote yes on Prop 8

140 Years of Flawed Reconstruction

Today's poor statistics send us back in time to post-Civil War issues; the effects of a faulty Reconstruction plan.

The concept of Reconstruction is one that needs examining. Struggles that the South continues to experience can be dated back to the Civil War. Southern states—like Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana—have been falling short in so many ways; lack of success in education and employment, as well high levels of poverty. A flawed Reconstruction plan and improper execution could very well be factors to the adversities that exist today.

Even years after the Civil War had ended and slavery was abolished, the confederate states continued to suffer from difficult setbacks. As told by a Civil War historian, “Slavery was the first great sin of this nation. The second great sin was emancipation, or rather the way it was done. The government told four million people, ‘You are free. Hit the road.’ Three-quarters of them couldn’t read or write. The tiniest fraction of them had any profession that they could enter.” With many southerners being slaves with little to no education, the idea of finding a job was probably daunting. Maybe Reconstruction had been flawed since the very beginning. Maybe the way it had been set-up made it impossible to move forward.

The end of the Civil War also brought the need for rebuilding, as the majority of the battles were fought on Southern soil. This was yet another setback and made progress difficult to attain. Also, with racist-driven groups like the Klan, equality and renewal must have seemed like distant ideas.

African-Americans continued to be pushed back relentlessly. Jim Crow laws were established and put restrictions on everything from marriage and education to restaurants and seating on a bus. Some actual Jim Crow laws included—“Marriages are void when one party is a white person and the other is possessed of one-eighth or more Negro, Japanese, or Chinese blood.” (Nebraska, 1911). And also, “Separate free schools shall be established for the education of children of African descent; and it shall be unlawful for any colored child to attend any white school, or any white child to attend a colored school.” (Missouri, 1929). Clearly, these laws caused greater segregation within the population, which was in no way a step forward in the South’s efforts to catch up with America.

Today, these states are still far behind. Mississippi, Louisiana, and Kentucky rank as the last three states in the percentage of people 25 and older who have completed high school. Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Kentucky, and Arkansas are the last five states according to ranking of the percentage of people age 16 to 64 in the labor force. In addition to my thoughts on the effect on education and employment, Wyatt’s Blog spends time examining the poor economy in Southern states in relation to the Civil War.

Failed Reconstruction has been called, “...a part of American history that isn't easy to face. It tells us that we had a moment in our history when our politics broke down. We don't like to face that. We don't even want to know about it. We like to believe we are a society of security and progress and improvement. Reconstruction makes us face an era when we were something else.”

Reconstruction should have been a catalyst to put the country back on track, but we still seem to struggle with its unintended consequences.

Sources Cited:

Horwitz, Tony. Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War. New York: Vintage, 1999.

"Abolition & Slavery - American Civil War - CivilWar.com." Home - American Civil War - CivilWar.com. http://www.civilwar.com/content/section/38/70/ (accessed October 2, 2008).

Blight, David. "Q&A: Southern Violence During Reconstruction." PBS; American Experience, Reconstruction: The Second Civil War. www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/40acres/sf_ violence.html#c (accessed October 1, 2008).

"Jim Crow Laws - Separate Is Not Equal." National Museum of American History. http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/1-segregated/jim-crow.html (accessed October 1, 2008).

Randall, Vernellia R. "Examples of Jim Crow Laws." autoredirect to main site. http://academic.udayton.edu/Race/02rights/jcrow02.htm (accessed October 2, 2008).

"United States and States - R1501. Percent of People Who Have Completed High School (Includes Equivalency)." American FactFinder. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GRTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-_box_head_nbr=R1501&-ds_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_&-format=US-30 (accessed October 1, 2008).

"United States and States - R2301. Percent of People 16 to 64 Years Who Are in the Labor Force (Including Armed Forces)." American FactFinder. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GRTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-_box_head_nbr=R2301&-ds_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_&-redoLog=false&-format=US-30&-mt_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_R1501_US30 (accessed October 1, 2008).

Watt, Wyatt. "Wyatt's Blog". http://wyattwatt.blogspot.com (accessed October 2, 2008).