Bitter Sweet

Today is a bitter sweet day. Not only is it one of my luckiest days(I was born on Friday the 13th) of the year,but it is also my deceased cousin's birthday. Five years ago my cousin, Christopher, was gunned down on the streets of South West Detroit. He was twenty-nine years old and a father of four little girls. My heart hurts and I tear up thinking about why he was murdered. He was killed for his jacket. A 250 dollar jacket was the price of my cousin's life. Everytime I think about what happened my heart ache turns to sorrow, then to anger, and then to rage. I just cannot understand why people do the things they do. Do people even think about the consequences of their actions and the people affected by them? Detroit is one of the most violent cities in the nation and it has taken a lot from me, not just my cousin, but my father, and a dear family friend as well.At times I want to rage against the city, but I can't because it is not the city, but the people in it that do these things. I am from Detroit and it will forever be my home town, but Detroit has lost it's soul. Blood spills the streets of Detroit and often the blood of the innocent. I won't lie my cousin was not innocent. He lived a hard life. He was a "gang banger",but he was a good person, a very good person.He cared for those who he loved and I couldn't have asked for a better person to have been able to call family. I love you Bub and I miss you dearly. God rest your soul.

"How many brothaz fell victim to these streetz...

Rest in peace young n***a, there's a Heaven for a 'G'

be a lie if I told ya, I never thought about death,

my n***as we the last one's left

but life goes on..."

Tupac Shakur "Life Goes On."

It not because I cannot Explain...

"It is not because I cannot explain, that you will not understand; it is because you will not understand, that I cannot explain." -Elie Wiesel

One question that everyone seems to have in regards to the Holocaust is the simple question of why. Why did this happen, why was the Holocaust aimed at the Jews, and why innocent people. The question of why, itself presents a conundrum. In asking why people are searching for a higher meaning, an answer. In searching for these meanings we are searching for understanding. Understanding is the ability to sympathize and feel, to comprehend why something is the way it is. As Elie Wiesel has pointed out however, in searching for understanding we are getting nowhere, because there is no explantion for the Holocaust. Sure we can blame Hitler's evilness, but what about the higher meaning everyone searches for, like why did God let this happen and why didn't anyone stop this.

The only way to understand is to "bare witness" and not repeat past mistakes, as Elie Wiesel has pointed out. Understanding is not something that can be achieved by glancing over a few old photographs, but by vowing to do better. Just think of what is happening at the moment in Darfur. Why are we letting this happen? We all strive to understand, yet we are not trying to do better. What have we learned? Nothing apparently. We have to do better. We have to bare witness for all those who are not here; all of those whose bodies perished amongst the flames of ovens, all of those who remain nameless, and all of those who just cannot find the words to speak. If we are searching for meaning so profusly, why are we still not understanding and repeating pasts mistakes. Darfur is real and proves that we still do not understand.

Yeah Me

I am flying high right now! I receieved an A on my English midterm and my Poli Sci. I hate to sound like London from The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, but "Yeah Me!"

Frustration!

I am so frustrated right now! UGH! There is no other way to say it besides UGH! I can't sleep, I hardly ever eat, and I seriously think my brain is smoking. Plus on top of that I have a serious case of writers block. The ideas are there but I have no clue how to put them on paper. I feel like all I want to do is run into a dar, dark sorner and hide. My sarcastic ability to laugh everything off is seriously failing me at this moment. I don't know what else to do.I know that I have always been wound to tightly, but if I wind my self up anymore, I think that I am going to go insane. Insanity sounds nice right now; just to check out mentally with no care in the world. I have four papers within the matter of two weeks and two exams on the same day. In June 2009 when I was handed my diploma, I wish someone would have said: "Enjoy college kid, because it will drive you to drink."


In the midst of all these negatives I do have some bright news.
I have an A in my polisci class and I got a B+ on my english paper. The B+ kind of brings me back to my frustration though....WHAT IN THE HELL AM I DOING WRONG IN COMPOSITION THEN??????UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm done ranting for the moment. I think that I will go lock myself in a padded cell right now. or jump from something really high up...like the Empire State building or the Efifel Tower...*remeber sarcasm people*

Analysis of FDR's Four Freedoms

FDR's speech was very well articulated and written, but the opening was a bit confusing and too broad. His main point in this speech was to deter American's from denying the war on the basis of our values and freedoms, yet he started the speech by talking about the rise of America from the Revoultionary War. I undersand the connection he was drawing, but felt a bit put off by the length it took him to reach his thesis. His thesis was, that as long as Americans stand idle on the subject of entering the war, they would be endanger of loosing liberty and freedom; the more democratic nations that fall to tyranny, the more in jeopardy we are in loosing all that we have come to know. The thesis was a good, because it left room for debate. In his speech FDR managed to convey his thesis very well with evidence, but at some point the evidence becomes unclear in the relation to his thesis. The reader begans to hear about war costs and medical care, in which I have to question where his focus is. The speech does a very well job at articulating why Americans should help the war effort, but at times it becomes to wordy. The reader or listener, in this casse Congress, must question what point he is getting at. The end of the speech, however, does manage to pull the entire thought process together.

Universal Lessons of the Holocaust

"There are no words", as Elie Wiesel said, to use to speak upon the Holocaust. There is no way to describe it besides saying destruction. Sure we have been taught about it since we were in grade school, but do we truly understand. We read the words that come from the people who lived it and we hear their words, but what are we doing with their testimonies. We are simply shelving them into our thoughts, acknowledging what took place and leaving it at that. Sure a few of us will venture over to Europe to see these terrors first hand, feeling as if we have done something significant, but what have we truly done. Some of us (no one at all in particular this is just an analogy) will get right back on our plane for our flight at home and watch the arabic person getting on the flight, the whole time. I think that this is the point Elie was grasping at, we will never change until we become the change we want to see. We can not look to the outside world for change within ourselves.



We may acknowledge and feel pity for those who were dealt this ordeal, but at the end of the day, this horrendous assault on a nationality of people, will be an after thought for us. We will go home to our cushioned lives, our laptops, and our families and put these thoughts out of our mind. These thoughts how ever should be the first things in our minds when we go home at night. We should walk into our houses at night and be greatful for what we have, for the saftey of our lives, and for our freedom. Although, the Holocaust was meant as a way to annihilate a race, it was also a lesson in human indignation.



Forgetting, for the survivors, is not an option; for us however it is easy. I am amazed by how those individuals, who expirenced what they went through had the abiltity to speak. I can't fathom being able to speak upon something such as this from a first hand expirence. I must agree with Elie, "where is the rage." I think that the rage is in the writting. The writting may not be written with the intention of rage, but the rage is present. This is their way of screaming out without breaking their composure.



History is madness. Humans hurt one another more than we heal. We wil never understand. We can't it is not a possible action. All we can do is better...

Midterm Evaluation

When I first entered this course I was a bit arrogant as a writer. I knew my writing needing improvement, but I was pompous in believing that my writting was okay. This class has changed my thought process on the subject of writting. In high school writting is not necessarily a joke,
(but come on now a five paragraph essay with generalizations...who does that) but there is no substance to it. You reiterate what you already have been told and that is where my arrogance came in. This class has managed to change my view on the subject of writting.


Things I have enjoyed...
1.The Book Thief
2.Charlie Meyers
3.Class discussions and quick writes


Things I think we need more of...
1.Focus more on the technical aspects of writting
2.More quick writes...(I know sorry guys...)
3.We should do more with our writting analytically book in class



Right now I have short term memory loss...so I will be updating this later....
I am very happy with my Comp class and I highly enjoy your work Professor Stewart!