June 1

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JOURNAL TOPIC:
The second part of that first journal topic in August asked, "What do you expect of the class and of yourself this year?" Did the class meet your expectations? Did you meet your expectations? Explain.

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. "Immigrants in Our Own Land"
3. Return vocabulary finals
4. Review for essay final
5. Group presentation requirements

HW:
1. Study for essay final
2. Begin working on presentation

June 2

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JOURNAL TOPIC:
The third part of that original journal topic asked, "How far are you prepared to go to achieve your goals?" Did you go far enough this year? Can you go farther?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Discuss final two chapters of Like Water for Chocolate
3. More about tomorrow's essay final
4. More about the group presentation

EXIT TICKET: group names, meals, significance, ingredients, requirements

HW: Study for tomorrow's essay final

My daughter has severe scoliosis...?

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She is 11 years old and is starting to have noticable side effects. The surgery to correct her 109 degree curve doesn't hold much promise of her making it through. She is being seen by some very good doctors but they are careful not to suggest doing it or not because of the possible outcome. We were against surgery until she started showing signs of pain, now we are somewhere in the middle. She is also deaf and is diagnosed with cerebral palsy and is non-communicative. I'd love to hear if anyone else has had experience with back surgery of this severity.

Cleveland Browns?

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I would like to hear some opinions on this team. They have some sound weapons on offense in Braylon Edwards and Winslow. I think Jamal Lewis has had it and Quinn wont be ready to run the offense. Though I am a lifelong Browns fan I dont see them winning more then 6 or 7 games this year. Is Brady Quinn finally the QB of the future for this team? Injuries are starting to hurt them again this year amidst some more bad luck. What are your thoughts?

What's wrong with the Celtics?

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Everybody blames it on their health and lack of Kevin Garnett. Admittedly, any team without K.G. would tend to slump significantly. But as a life long Celtics fan, I feel the problem goes much deeper than that. I think the main underlying issue that the average John Q. public is missing (and Doc Rivers) is the role of Rajon Rondo. He's averaged 10.6 points per game during their championship year in 08' and last year he improved his average to 11.9 points per game. This year he has pushed it up to 14.0 points per game. On any given night, I see him drop 20 points. While I am all for an individual improving his stats...at what expense does it come to the rest of the team as a whole? Last year, they didn't even make the Eastern Conference Finals. This year, granted it's midway, they're slumping and losing to scrub teams. The more points he scores the less he is involving his team mates. When they don't score, they lose interest in rebounding, hustling, the little things. Just a thought, but if he'd give up the ball a little more like in the past, perhaps they would keep their interest level up and stop losing leads and such. What do you all think! No haters! Actual sports fans answers only...be mature!

Can i have a male and female corn snake in the same 40 gallon tank?

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Im wondering if i can have both in the same tank, will they try to breed even though its not breeding season or will they know when to breed, so then they will act like a regular corn snake. I do have a couple hides in the tank and aspen for them to dig into, or should it mainly be 2 females in one tank? Im hoping to get a couple answers to help me decide. I think that they wont breed since when they start, it will be closer to the spring time, i know i need to separate them when i would feed them and separate them a little bit before breeding. Thanks

What's wrong with the Celtics?

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Everybody blames it on their health and lack of Kevin Garnett. Admittedly, any team without K.G. would tend to slump significantly. But as a life long Celtics fan, I feel the problem goes much deeper than that. I think the main underlying issue that the average John Q. public is missing (and Doc Rivers) is the role of Rajon Rondo. He's averaged 10.6 points per game during their championship year in 08' and last year he improved his average to 11.9 points per game. This year he has pushed it up to 14.0 points per game. On any given night, I see him drop 20 points. While I am all for an individual improving his stats...at what expense does it come to the rest of the team as a whole? Last year, they didn't even make the Eastern Conference Finals. This year, granted it's midway, they're slumping and losing to scrub teams. The more points he scores the less he is involving his team mates. When they don't score, they lose interest in rebounding, hustling, the little things. Just a thought, but if he'd give up the ball a little more like in the past, perhaps they would keep their interest level up and stop losing leads and such. What do you all think! No haters! Actual sports fans answers only...be mature!

Resource Summary-Obama Expands Military Involvement

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In the article “Obama Expands Military Involvement in Africa,” written by Daniel Volman, Volman elaborates on Obama’s change of US involvement in Africa. His administration is asking for $38 million to pay for US arms sales, $21 million for the International Military Education to bring officers to the United States and $24.2 million to assist the anti-terrorism programs in African countries.  Obama is also implementing tanks and trucks to aid the protection of Mali from threats from al Qaeda as well as supplying East-African countries with nearly 40 tons of weaponry. Obama intends on aiding Africa but refuses to directly aid Africa with US military involvement. All in all, while the United States is attempting to get involved with the anti-terroristic demands, Obama refuses recognize the tensions within countries such as Sudan and wont implement US military involvement any time soon. The hyperlink to this article is listed below:
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50898

MLA documentation of this article:

 Volman, Daniel. "Obama Expands Military Involvement in Africa." IPS News. n. page. Print. <b.http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50898 >.Gettleman, 

Annotated Bibliography 1

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The article “Born in Unity, South Sudan Is Torn Again” printed in the New York Times and written by Jeffrey Gettleman, states the issue that began in 2008 in Sudan reaches top news today. Taking an informative approach, Gettleman speaks about the effects on newly recognized South Sudan as the civil war continues. What was supposed to be civil freedom resulted in more massacres and hate crimes.             Within this piece, the reader can conclude that what began as a governmentally imposed group trained to fight off “rebels” has turned into rebels themselves. Gai Bol Thong, a refugee stated in an interview, “We mean what we say. We kill everybody.”             This article is extremely helpful in my research and helps to relate the happenings in 2008 to present day. The tone of this article is informative and raw and creates a greater sense of awareness and care in the reader. The hyperlink to the article is listed below:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/13/world/africa/south-sudan-massacres-follow-independence.html?_r=3&ref=world

MLA documentation of this article:

  Gettleman, Jeffrey. "Born in Unity, South Sudan Is Torn Again." New York Times. (2012): n. page. Print. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/13/world/africa/south-sudan-massacres-follow-independence.html?_r=3&ref=world>.

"I'm a raven."

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I forgot to mention in my previous post one of my favorite things about Moonrise Kingdom, which was the liberal use of Benjamin Britten's works in the soundtrack. Movie nerds will recognize the theme from his Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra as the Rondeau from Henry Purcell's Abdelazar, which was adapted (quite effectively, for solo violin) for a key scene in The Lesser Adaptation of Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

"I'm a raven."

The amateur production of Britten's Noye's Fludde, staged in a local church and replete with children dressed as animals, is, like the Khaki Scouts, its own kind of child-adult collusion in overenthusiasm. Suzy is a failed raven just as Sam is a failed Khaki Scout, failed on social grounds rather than out of incompetence. It is a "play" that is taken utterly seriously, especially by the grown-ups (like the one who demotes Suzy from her raven role). Play taken too seriously, or serious enterprises (like child care) rendered all too game-like (as when the best scout of all, Scoutmaster Ward, manages to lose first Sam, then the rest of the troop), continually threaten happiness. The only possible resistance is yet another system, an alternative game, a union between Sam's wilderness skills and Suzy's fantasy world, the game of their private Moonrise Kingdom.

Thus when all the other social systems of discipline converge, they do so at the church, in the midst of Noye's Fludde, in order to escape the actual flooding outside.

Britten is a serious, even difficult composer who has, when you think about it, written a great deal for children—both child audiences and child performers. He's especially known as a composer of liturgical music in a tradition famous for its boy choristers. I couldn't help noticing a movement from his Simple Symphony when it appeared in the film—a movement tellingly titled "Playful Pizzicato"—I'd played it as a child, after all. Using childish sounds—"playful" pizzicato (plucked strings), glockenspiels, high-pitched child voices, and at times almost comical bombast (including in the didactic Young Person's Guide)—Britten proffers Middle English texts and challenging harmonies. Thus, within the world of the film, his music marks the oscillations between "too easy" and "too hard" that marks every educational pursuit, every system for cultivating the self.

Anderson's own oeuvre, so often described in the terms of miniatures and toys (and including an animated adaptation of a children's book, Roald Dahl's 1970 Fantastic Mister Fox) aspires to similar comminglings. In Moonrise Kingdom, Anderson focalizes childhood as a site of real difficulty, one whose difficulties are not discontinuous with those of adulthood, and indeed, one whose difficulties are most adult when they reside in the domain of play.

Suzy lugs a suitcase of stolen library books through the wilderness, imaginative resources for building a private universe. Her fictions are bulwarks against the flood.

Annotated Bibliography 2

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            The article “Sudan’s Shadowy Arab Militia” written by an unknown author announces the first attacks on non-Arab Sudanese in West Africa. This article was published as the Janjawiid began to form and the Sudanese Government began to the train them to kill.             Many thousands of west-Sudan locals have been raped, burned alive and severely tortured prior to their murder. Nearly one million people and families have been displaced from the one place they could call home. Villages have been pillaged and burned to the ground in fear that the “rebel” groups of the West will return.             This article is written as an informative and concerned piece. The author takes a neutral approach and supports his findings with evidence and demonstrates that this has been longly anticipated as the Janjawiid has been killing for more than two years prior to the Darfurian genocide. This article supports pieces of my thesis as well as produces background information that will be helpful in my explanation of the Janjawiid. The hyperlink to this article is listed below:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3613953.stm
MLA documentation of this article:

Unknown, . "Sudan's shadowy Arab militia." BBC News. N.p., 10 April 2004. Web. 16 Jan 2012. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3613953.stm>.

Annotated Bibliography 3

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, “Annan alarmed at reports of widespread abuses of civilians in Darfur, Sudan,” published by the UN News Centre elaborates on the growing issue is Sudan. While the number of displaced families and entire villages increases, the number of aid remains the same.            The people pillaging through villages leave no trace of existence other than the ashes of dead bodies and the few remains of burned down huts. The UN estimates there to be (in December of 2003) nearly four million people from the western region of Sudan fleeing to the nearby country of Chad. Those who wish to help in aiding Sudan are “unable to visit them because of a lack of security in the area,” making the aid even more difficult to reach the displaced families. The first private airlift transported two Toyota Land Cruisers, warehouse equipment and four mobile storage tents, for the millions displaced and in danger.             This article goes in depth about the numbers of people displaced and where they are taken as well as informs the reader of the involvement (or lack there of) in Sudan by the United Nations, though the genocide raises red flags to humanitarian workers and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan. This article is helpful because it proves the UN is indeed aware of the situation and while they might want to help, there isn’t much being done other than a few airlifts due to the dangers in Sudan. The hyperlink to this article is listed below:
http://www.un.org/apps/news/storyAr.asp?NewsID=9137&Cr=sudan&Cr1
MLA documentation of this article:

Unknown, . "Annan alarmed at reports of widespread abuses of civilians in Darfur, Sudan." UN News Centre. UN News Centre, 9 December 2003. Web. 16 Jan 2012. <http://www.un.org/apps/news/storyAr.asp?NewsID=9137&Cr=sudan&Cr1=>.

MLA Bibliography

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Abbas, Mohammed, and Andrew Roche, ed. "Russian, Chinese arms used in Darfur abuse:Amnesty." Reuters. N.p., 8 Feb 2012. Web. 13 Feb 2012. <http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/09/us-sudan-amnesty-idUSTRE81800620120209>.
“Darfur: The Ambiguous Genocide” by Gerard Prunier. (Have yet to find the book so I do not have the right records in order to put this into MLA citation)
Flint , Julie, and Alex De Waal. Darfur: A Short History of a Long War. Zed Books, 2005.
Flounders, Sara. "The U.S. Role in Darfur, Sudan." globalresearch.ca
. N.p., 2006. Web. 10 Feb 2012. <http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=2592>.
Gettleman, Jeffrey. "Born in Unity, South Sudan Is Torn Again." New York Times. (2012): n. page. Print. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/13/world/africa/south-sudan-massacres-follow-independence.html?_r=3&ref=world>.
http://www.darfurianvoices.org/ - an online book about the genocide in Darfur written and edited by many authors and fieldworkers.
Johnson, Hilde F. Waging Peace in Sudan: The Inside Story of the Negotiations That Ended Africa's Longest Civil War. Sussex Academic Press, 2011. Print.
Kebbede, Girma. Sudan's Predicament: Civil War, Displacement and ecological Degredation. Ashgate Publishing Limited, 1999.Sidhamed, Abdel Salam, Walter C. Soderland, and E. Donald Briggs. The Responsibility to Protect Darfur: The Role of Mass Media. Lexington Books, 2000.
Unknown. "Annan alarmed at reports of widespread abuses of civilians in Darfur, Sudan." UN News Centre. UN News Centre, 9 December 2003. Web. 16 Jan 2012. <http://www.un.org/apps/news/storyAr.asp?NewsID=9137&Cr=sudan&Cr1=>.
Unknown. "Darfur Needs the United States." Center for American Progress. N.p., 20 Sep 2006. Web. 13 Feb 2012. <http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2006/09/darfur.html>.


Unknown. "Sudan's shadowy Arab militia." BBC News. N.p., 10 April 2004. Web. 16 Jan 2012. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3613953.stm>.
Unknown, . "The Slow War Speeds Up." Strategy Page. Strategyworld.com, 22 Jan 2012. Web. 15 Feb 2012. <http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/sudan/articles/20120122.asp&xgt;.

Unknown. "The U.S. Role in Building Peace in Sudan." Peace Policy. N.p., 20 Apr 2011. Web. 10 Feb 2012. <http://peacepolicy.nd.edu/2011/04/20/the-u-s-role-in-building-peace-in-sudan/>.
Unknown. "U.S says janjaweed militia is supported by Sudan's government." Mail Online. N.p., 16 April 2007. Web. 16 Jan 2012. <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-448866/U-S-says-janjaweed-militia-supported-Sudans-government.html>.
Volman, Daniel. "Obama Expands Military Involvement in Africa." IPS News. n. page. Print. <b.http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50898 >.Gettleman,
WPF Reoprts #26: “Sudan: Policy Options Amid Civil War” by Rachel m. Gisselquist. This source is published by the WPF in 2000 and lists different policies implemented by the Sudanese Government relevant to my topic such as, “war,” “peace processes,” and “policy options.”
Zissis, Carin. "Darfur: Crisis Continues." Council on Foreign Relations. N.p., 4 May 2006. Web. 10 Feb 2012. <http://www.cfr.org/sudan/darfur-crisis-continues/p10600

Annotated Bibliography 5

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            The movie, “The Devil Came on Horseback,” a documentary of the time Brian Steidle spends in Sudan, directly portrays the issues in Sudan, namely Darfur through pictures and video clips, accompanied by commentary by Brian himself. Taking a direct approach to announcing the issues, this documentary not only speaks of history of the continuing issue but it portrays it in a raw light the government seeks to avoid.             Within this documentary, the audience can conclude that there is undoubtedly an extreme issue of malnutrition, relocation and violence. Those who claim to be naïve cannot be after watching this piece. The heartache Steidle’s photographs emphasize and the raw truth he explains is enough to capture the audience, draw them in and cause their jaws to drop.            This piece is really helpful in my research for three reasons:  it captivates my interest in continuing my research on Darfur, Sudan, causing me to WANT to research, it provides an immense amount of background knowledge and it also shows the current steps the United States is making in order to end the violence. 

Quotes

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"Latins are tenderlyenthusiastic. In Brazil they throw flowers at you. In Argentina they throwthemselves." -Marlene Dietrich 




"En 1998, la Argentina ingresó en lo que se convirtió en una depresión de cuatro años, durante la cual su economía se redujo en un 28%. La experiencia argentina ha sido mencionada como ejemplo del fracaso de los mercados libres y tasas de cambio fijas, entre otras cosas. Sin embargo, la evidencia demuestra otra cosa. Más bien, las malas políticas económicas convirtieron una recesión común en una depresión"-Jim saxton-vicepresidente comite economico

Dictatorships of the epoch

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A Dictatorship is to beunder the command of a dictator indefinitely and that has absolute power overall decisions of the territory. There are two types of dictatorships: firstleftist dictators arise from the people; communist. The second is right wheredictators come from the military; capitalist. These dictatorships oppressanyone who wants to defeat the dictator. The causes of these dictatorships inlatin America were that people asked for strong leaders, countries needed toimprove their economic situations. 

Operation Condor took placein Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Nicaragua and Chile in 1975. In it, theyimprisoned, tortured physically or psychologically or killed anyone who wasopposed to the dictatorship. There was a secret police called 'network ofterror'. When the dictatorship took power, the U.S. also got involved. In thisoperation they hid their documents to erase the traces of those kidnapped. Inthe end, there was a total of 8 countries involved in the operation. TheOperation Condor affected more harshly Argentina, than all the other countries,because thousands of their people were tortured and killed. There weredetention centers for these people who were against the dictatorship, likeArgentine political activists. Finally, the defeat against Britain in the warfor the Falkland Islands led to the end of the dictatorship, and democracy began;justice finally was able to begin. Between 1976 and 1978 many Argentinianpeople disappeared. They started several organizations in Buenos Aires to findthem. The grandmothers of the children who had been kidnapped started adesperate search for the disappeared babies. This was called the 'Plaza deMayo'. Another way in which the dictators discarded people were through amethod called 'flights of death', which they threw the people into thesea. 

Today, Argentina is under ademocratic government, ruled by president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.Democracy is a form of government in which the supreme power is chosen by thepeople under a free electoral system; The nation comes together to determinepublic policy, the laws and the actions of their state, requiring that allcitizens have an equal opportunity to express their opinion. Their nationalgovernment is composed of three branches: legislative, executive, andjudicial. 

Analysis 1-US Claimes Sudanese government Responsible

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            In the article “U.S. says Janjaweed militia is supported by Sudan’s Government,” the unknown author provides a general overview of the accusations thrust upon the Sudanese government by the United States as a contradiction to the statements made by the Sudanese government before elaborating on the follow-through of U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, John Negroponte, after his comment targeting the government as a whole.The author does a nice job of mentioning the ‘who?’ the ‘what?’ the ‘where?’ but not the ‘why?’ This article analyzes the dispute between the US and Sudan due to Deputy Secretary John Negoponte, the raw facts about the refusal of aid for Sudan from the UN and the defense of each side of the argument. What he misses, though, is: who is the Janjaweed? The name of the Arab-militia group is in the title of the article by the author refuses to recognize whom they are and what they have to say. From prior research, I am able to conclude that Janjaweed members have admitted point-blank the government both funds and trains their militia.While this author seems highly qualified and knowledgeable about the political aspects between Sudan and the US, his centralized question doesn’t relate to the title. This article poses the author’s initial question to be “Why did the US claim the Janjaweed militia is supported by the government of Sudan?” Rather than answering his centralized question, the author speaks only to the verbal discordance between the two countries, exemplifying the argument to be a ‘he-said-she-said’ blame game. After analyzing other pieces related to this specific topic, I know the humanitarian processes are not pleasant within Sudan, as the author states, but also, the Janjaweed can be found near to the government sectors of cities within Sudan, the weapons they use as well as the recorded conversations between Janjaweed and Sudanese government is the type of reference the author should be alluding to.All in all, while this article is well written and points out the blame game the US and Sudan plays, the author does not answer his own question. I like this article for its generosity with given policy actions and reactions but I also find the title of this article is misleading and needs to reference the author’s true point of ‘what’ is happening rather than ‘who’ is to be blamed? The hyperlink to this article is listed below:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-448866/U-S-says-janjaweed-militia-supported-Sudans-government.html
MLA documentation for this article:
Unknown. "U.S says janjaweed militia is supported by Sudan's government." Mail Online. N.p., 16 April 2007. Web. 16 Jan 2012. <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-448866/U-S-says-janjaweed-militia-supported-Sudans-government.html>.

Annotated Bibliography 4

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Waging Peace in Sudan: The Inside Story of the Negotiations That Ended Africa's Longest Civil War by Hilde F. Johnson
Though this book is long and details in depth the war in Sudan, I chose a few chapters to read specific to my research:
Within the introduction to "Waging Peace in Sudan," by Hilde F. Johnson, the author elaborates on the instances that ultimately lead to the war in Darfur, Sudan. He recalls his personal accounts of meetings with the rebel leader John Garang and the shy Ali Osman Mohamed Taha as well as rebel attacks initiating the fight within Sudan.            Each side of the war, the North and the South, remain, as the introduction states, in contact with one another through phone calls, each having an ‘emergency attack’ line for the opposing leader. Also, this article states the origin of the Janjawiid forces in Sudan, the prior knowledge of unsolved problems and the relaxed nature of both Garang and Taha.             The introduction to this book gives insight to the prior problems and relationships Sudan has within itself as well as with other countries, namely China. I will definitely be using notes from this passage in my final paper to elaborate on and introduce the main issues in Sudan. 
Johnson, Hilde F. Waging Peace in Sudan: The Inside Story of the Negotiations That Ended Africa's Longest Civil War. Sussex Academic Press,il War. Sussex Academic Press, 2011. Print.