Fall Broken

My fall break wasn't nearly as relaxing as I had hoped it would be.  I didn't bring any clean clothes home, because it was all dirty in the form of laundry.  The first thing I saw when we drove up was the grass.  It was long.  I was sad.  I also discovered that we were renovating the bathroom at the end of the hall, so the bathroom I used to have almost entirely to myself had been completely taken over by my sisters.  There were other various items that had been deposited in my room which didn't really belong there, so it didn't quite feel like my room anymore.  I did get a good night's sleep, though, and that was a welcome change from the normal college day.

After I got up on Saturday, we started working on the bathroom.  We took out the toilet, because we were replacing the floor.  That was interesting.  I tried to shut the water to the tank off, but it didn't work.  What makes matters worse, the seal between the tank and the bowl broke, so water started leaking everywhere, and we had to clean that up.  Ewwww.....  Long story short, we eventually got it out.  

The rest of my break largely consisted of doing nothing, or getting ready to go back.  I had to go shopping to get a few more college needs.  I got a new pair of shoes for the first time in years.  I didn't realize it until after we bought them, but they are black and gold, so that was an unintended bonus.  

I'm sure this sounds far worse than it actually was.  It was really good to see my family again, and just the change of pace was nice.  I liked going to church at my home parish, and seeing some of my friends that haven't gone to college yet was really nice too.  I had a good break, it just wasn't what I expected it to be.  

My "Holey" Uncle

     This is a paper I wrote after interviewing my uncle awhile back.  I really like it because I feel it really captures his character in many ways.  It also lets you get a little look at what my extended family can be like.  I hope you enjoy it.  

     My Uncle has always been interested in the earth.  His uncle Roger sent him a book for Christmas every year, and these books were usually about geology.  Leo doesn't know why they were about geology, but he always found the books extremely interesting.  His fascination in the earth was often manifested by his digging around, where he discovered neat things.  

     His first digging adventure occurred at the age of four or five when he was digging with a soppn in his front yard by the sidewalk.  He found something.  "I didn't know what it was, just a little nodule of some sort."  He brought it inside and set it on the radiator in the kitchen.  As it turns out, it was a grasshopper egg case.  When it warmed up on the radiator, all the grasshoppers hatched!  What made matters worse, the kitchen floor was an old linoleum with little specks on it.  "You could drop a piece of toast on the kitchen floor and lose it," he said.  All the practically invisible baby grasshoppers started hopping around the kitchen and into the rest of the house.

     He kept digging as he grew older.  He decided to dig a bomb shelter in the crawl-space of their house.  He had an electric light on an extension cord so he coulc see as he dug.  "The dirt was real hard, it's like clay when you get just down beneath the surface of the topsoil.  It's just solid clay, really hard to dig because there's no toom with the floor joists above your head.  But it was fun," he says.  Years later a mechanic came to fix the dryer vent and had to do a bit of work in the crawlspace.  He went down below, and after a couple minutes came up and said to my grandmother, "Lady, do you know there's a big hole underneath your house?"  It is still there to this day.

     My uncle soon started another hole in one corner of the backyard.  He says it was about six feet deep and roughly four feet across.  He found some near tocks and was amazed to find earthworms down there, six feet down in the solid clay.  He put a 2x6 board across "the hole," as it was named, to help prevent people from falling in.  It didn't work too well.  His younger sister tried to ride a tricycle across the board, and she fell into the hole.  He was forced to fill it in, "But, I put a cigar box down there, and I put in some trinkets.  I couldn't even tell you what I put in there, maybe a dime and who knows what else."  He was about ten or twelve.

     After these adventures, Leo moved on from the books given to him by his uncle, to those required by his professors.  He went on to get his Master's degree in Geology.  He now knows that the clay he had to dig through is termed "Glacial till," because it was deposited by the glaciers in the ice age.  He no longer has time for digging holes, but still enjoys finding rocks, identifying plants, and learning about the world around him.  

High School History Books

I recently looked up the Japanese American internment in five different books, and all of them mentioned it to some degree.  Several of them had about a page of material covering the internment, and most had pictures.  Only one, however, mentioned the non-internment of the Japanese Americans in Hawaii.  I thought that they usually gave a good overview of the Japanese-American internment.  Different books took different aspects of it and focused on them, which I thought was very interesting.  Even though they were all taking the same time in history, different books chose to look at different angles, and to highlight different aspects within the limited space available.  All of them put little to no blame on President Roosevelt, while some people believe that he was largely responsible for it.  The only things that I would change if I were writing these passages would be to say that President Roosevelt just "Gave the order to..." instead of "Based on strong recommendations from the Military..."  or "President Roosevelt eventually responded to the growing hysteria."  Why can't the truth be more clear?  Why does everyone have to put a spin on what they say and write?  I wish I knew.

Polarity

  College life seems to be very polar.  It seems like one minute, you don't have any homework at all, and then you have more than is possible to do.  I had two and a half exams this week, which has been very stressful.  I feel pretty good about them, but preparing for them was a little nerve racking.  

Other times, I find myself with all the time in the world to finish something, so I am able to wait a little while and do something fun.  Whether it be hang out with friends, play video games, or sleep, doesn't really matter.  Although I have had way more to do in college than I have ever had to do at home, I also have way more free time, which has been really awesome.  

One thing that I have found to be true was a quote from my friend Natalie: "In college, they treat you like kids but expect you to take punishment like adults."  It does seem to be true.  All of  our assignments are repeated over and over and over again, drilled into our heads so that we can't forget them.  But, if the worst should happen then there often isn't any going back.  Some teachers will just up and fail you if something like that happens.  I'm not saying it is wrong, I actually think it can be good in many ways.  I just find it very interesting.  

Another thing that has been polar is the weather.  I have a 7:30 class three days a week, and its always so cold in the morning that I can't quite put enough clothes on to stay warm.  Then, when 2-3:00 rolls around, I find myself walking around in short sleeves!  I'm sure that it will be cold all day long soon, but right now it is really hard to dress for the weather.  

Grades also seem rather polar sometimes.  I know people who are in the top of their class, and those who are failing out.  I'm sure the majority are somewhere in the middle, but it must just be human nature to focus on the extremes.  Some people go to class religiously, while other blow it off like it didn't matter at all.  What is really weird, is that some of the people who don't go to class actually do well!  I don't understand how they do it, nor do I think that they will last in the long run.  

My Take on the Japanese-American Internment

During World War II, just after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Americans began to fear their Chinese neighbors. The only ground of this fear was that since they were Chinese, they thought that they could be conspiring with China against America. In response, most of the Chinese from the west coast were moved inland and put in "internment camps" to ensure their safety.  What I thought was interesting was that relatively few of the Japanese Americans in Hawaii were interned!  Some of the reasons for this include the distance they would have had to be moved, and also the sheer number of them.  The Japanese in Hawaii made up enough of the population that if they would have been evacuated, the economy may have collapsed in Hawaii.  The US military general stationed there also had some misgivings, which almost assuredly accounted for something.

Here is one link that I found which is not entirely pertinent to my particular field, but which I found to be especially interesting on the Japanese American Internment.  It seems to be an original document from the U.S. CWRIC (Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians)

http://home.comcast.net/~eo9066/1984/IA184-2.html

Here is an article posted by the U.S. Army telling that the members of the all Japanese-American unit were being awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest award given for valor:

http://www4.army.mil/ocpa/read.php?story_id_key=1813

I found this YouTube video of the Japanese American Internment made by the US Government itself.  It puts a very positive spin on the situation, and is a very fascinating watch.  I was especially intrigued by the ending statement, which was something to the effect of "We are treating these people with good Christian Decency, and we hope that the world will learn a lesson from us for doing it."   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OiPldKsM5w

Here is an article from a local Hawaiian Newspaper on the Japanese Internment in Hawaii.  Three people are being honored for their Distinguished Service Awards.  (Scroll Down)

http://thehawaiiherald.com/category/japanese-american-internment/

I also saw this on YouTube.  It seems accurate, but whether or not it is, I'll post it here because it is interesting.  It is about the Japanese as our enemy, which I'm sure helped lead toward the Japanese-American Internment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBxYy9rOVEk&NR=1

Blog Thoughts

Blogging is hard!  I normally don't have that much to say unless there is a matter of great importance to me, so writing this much on day to day topics (ie, those not assigned by Jamie) is very difficult.  It is good practice, though.  I know that a good way to become a better writer is to write often, so I can definitely see how this would help.  On that note, another good way to become a better writer is to read the work of good writers, and that is exactly what we must do when commenting on each other's blogs!  I must say, this whole blogging thing is a very clever way of assigning a standard homework that isn't as painful as writing papers, and still gets the job done!  

How do the people with those huge blogs that hundreds of people read do it?  I can hardly make myself write a few short entries, and they write essays for pleasure!  They must really have a strong urge to have their voice heard, or just enjoy writing.  Some people just list their personal life story on a webpage for everyone to see.  I don't see the point.  Some things just don't need to be shared.  Well, if they start being stalked by people they've never met but know everything about them, they I guess they were asking for it.  To each his own.

Heroification

Many history books (if not all) leave out some of the facts when telling a story. I'm sure there are some that leave out things just because they believe that it is peripheral and unimportant, but what makes a certain fact unimportant? James Lowen's book Lies My Teacher Told Me argues that historical figures are often portrayed as overly heroic, and then become uninteresting.

I agree with Lowen that important facts are left out, and people are portrayed as someone, or something, they aren't.  There really isn't any reason to leave facts like that our of a history book.  If it were a short story giving a brief synopsis of someone's life, then that would be fine, but often it isn't.  The personality is lost when facts are left out, or even twisted, as they sometimes are.  .

One of my favorite history figures is Abraham Lincoln.  There are many stereotypes that float around about him, though, and it can be hard to find where the truth ends and the fable begins/  I've hears stories telling of his great compassion for the working class, and how his kids would run around the white house without their shirts on, because that was how he grew up, and that was what he knew.  he was also the president during the Civil War, and thousands of people died while he was in presidency.  Was that unavoidable?  Did he care?  I certainly hope so, but I'd have to do some research to find out, and even then it may not be possible to know for sure. Looking  back, Abraham is probably my favorite because of his stereotypes, which may or may not be true.