The morality and politics of justice,
LIFE, LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF INCARCERATION: PRIVATE PRISONS & YOU
Artist's statement
My political campaign poster represents my perspective on prison privatization, which is that is an affront to the taxpayer dollar, and a danger to civil liberty as we know it.
Libertarianism is the perspective I’ve chosen to pursue. This is based upon the idea that private prisons endanger the justice system by adding profit incentives to justice instead of focusing on actual benefit.
My visual piece has three main components, lady liberty, private prisons, and public prisons. Lady liberty, depicted in the center represents the American justice system. Customarily, she is blindfolded to symbolize the equal opportunity for justice; in my poster however, the blindfold does not fully cover her eyes, this represents the fact that our justice laws aren’t always equal. Secondly, her scale which is typically balanced is skewed due to the private prison inmates who are forced to pull it in their favor.
Private prisons skew the justice system in their favor with their influence within the government. This is represented by the prisoners pulling down the scale of justice in their favor. The man with the whip symbolizes how private prisons focus far more on labor and production rather than rehabilitation.
The federal prison however, is engaged in the process of rehabilitation, this is part of the difference I want my viewer to see between public and private prisons.
In addition the viewer is meant to make a distinction between the uniforms of the prisoners. The orange jumpsuit of the federal prison is what we use in modern times. The pinstripes of the private prison however are meant to represent the archaic nature of their dealings with their prisoners.
Lady Justice symbolizes ethos, a figure of prestige, respect, and authority. Of which the authority makes my message stronger. Logos are also used in an effort to differentiate between the two prison types.
The tone of my poster is meant to intellectually stimulate the reader by allowing them to figure out the poster on their own. For this reason the tone is intentionally flat, clean, and uninterested. Whit this tone I want to make the reader feel as if they’ve drawn their own conclusion instead of being persuaded of something.
The artistic portrayal of the captions, or lack thereof was meant to play into the aforementioned tone of disinterest. The color, where it exists is meant to highlight the two prisons and push away lady justice, who represents our justice system. This further symbolizes how justice and liberty is being disregarded. It also has the effect of drawing the viewers’ attention to the two prisons first. The idea here is that they will see the two prisons first make a judgment, then move on the deeper argument against private prisons as illustrated by lady justice. The private prison’s attachment to lady justice also exemplifies this.
Libertarianism is the perspective I’ve chosen to pursue. This is based upon the idea that private prisons endanger the justice system by adding profit incentives to justice instead of focusing on actual benefit.
My visual piece has three main components, lady liberty, private prisons, and public prisons. Lady liberty, depicted in the center represents the American justice system. Customarily, she is blindfolded to symbolize the equal opportunity for justice; in my poster however, the blindfold does not fully cover her eyes, this represents the fact that our justice laws aren’t always equal. Secondly, her scale which is typically balanced is skewed due to the private prison inmates who are forced to pull it in their favor.
Private prisons skew the justice system in their favor with their influence within the government. This is represented by the prisoners pulling down the scale of justice in their favor. The man with the whip symbolizes how private prisons focus far more on labor and production rather than rehabilitation.
The federal prison however, is engaged in the process of rehabilitation, this is part of the difference I want my viewer to see between public and private prisons.
In addition the viewer is meant to make a distinction between the uniforms of the prisoners. The orange jumpsuit of the federal prison is what we use in modern times. The pinstripes of the private prison however are meant to represent the archaic nature of their dealings with their prisoners.
Lady Justice symbolizes ethos, a figure of prestige, respect, and authority. Of which the authority makes my message stronger. Logos are also used in an effort to differentiate between the two prison types.
The tone of my poster is meant to intellectually stimulate the reader by allowing them to figure out the poster on their own. For this reason the tone is intentionally flat, clean, and uninterested. Whit this tone I want to make the reader feel as if they’ve drawn their own conclusion instead of being persuaded of something.
The artistic portrayal of the captions, or lack thereof was meant to play into the aforementioned tone of disinterest. The color, where it exists is meant to highlight the two prisons and push away lady justice, who represents our justice system. This further symbolizes how justice and liberty is being disregarded. It also has the effect of drawing the viewers’ attention to the two prisons first. The idea here is that they will see the two prisons first make a judgment, then move on the deeper argument against private prisons as illustrated by lady justice. The private prison’s attachment to lady justice also exemplifies this.
Op-ed
LIFE, LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF INCARCERATION: PRIVATE PRISONS & YOU
By: Ian Duthie
Privatized prisons are not only an affront to the taxpayer’s dollar, but a danger to civil liberty as we know it.
Recently, the war on drugs has put the U.S. Federal Government in a difficult situation. Millions of incarcerated persons are simply left to lie around, to take up space that has already been taken. Traditionally, when prison space is needed, Congress will appeal to the people of their state to appropriate the means to finance such an undertaking. However, more and more often, voters and taxpayers are saying NO. As in many situations, where the public sector is lacking, the private sector will volunteer, for a price.
Collectively, privatized prisons net about $200 million annually. Knowing this, you might ask: Where does the money come from? It’s quite simple: Directly out of your taxes. Source: ACLU, Private Prisons
Currently, this works through contracts, formally called lockup quotas. In an effort to decrease the cost of dealing with these private companies, the federal government will sign contracts that obligate it to keep these prisons swimming in tax dollars. A lockup quota forces the government to keep the prison population above a certain occupancy rate, such as seventy, eighty, or in some cases ninety percent. When quotas aren’t met, the government is forced to pay these privately run prisons as if they are. Essentially the government wastes your money on prisoners that don’t even exist. Source: Donald Cohen "Lockup Quotas," "Low-crime Taxes," and the For-Profit Prison Industry
Thanks to the war on drugs, and lobbyists paid by private prisons, drug charges merit longer prison sentences than ever before. What were once considered petty crimes, such as possession of minute quantity of an illegal substance, now warrant one to fifteen years in prison, depending on the substance. Source: Federal Drug Possession Penalties
This has the effect of putting more people—such as drug addicts and people in need of rehabilitation—in private prisons. While this is objectively good, private prisons have a track record of having very poor rehabilitation services. The scary thing is that it’s actually beneficial for them to do this. Think about it: The most profitable thing a business can do is to create a product or service that people will come back for. In other words, not properly rehabilitating prisoners creates a sort of perverse customer loyalty that you end up paying for, not to mention the effects on the prisoners their supposed to rehabilitate. After release, if nothing has been done, addicts stay addicted. They can’t function in a day job, so they turn to crime, buy more drugs, and get arrested again. If the correctional facility does nothing to correct this, what’s there to stop it from continuing?
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Statistics show that 30% of adult offenders released from state prisons are re-arrested within the first six months of their release. Even worse, within three years of their release from prison this increases to 67%, or two out of three, ex-offenders returning to prison.” Ex-Offender
Crime is bad for everyone involved, the criminals, society, but also families. It’s easy to see convicts as monsters, but to someone else they’re more than that: a brother, a wife, a son, daughter, husband, or a sister. Crime breaks families, you may find it hard to help a criminal, but no person exists within a bubble. Rehabilitation helps everyone and its impacts reach farther than can ever be known.
Despite the cons (pun intended), in the eyes of the government these companies have one vital function, incidentally this function is no more than a statement by the prison industrial complex. The statement is that these companies save the government money. The reality, however, is far less simple.
In an ideal situation, a private prison takes a diverse pool of inmates; it cares for and rehabilitates these inmates so that they can function when they return to society. When the private sector takes an inmate that requires more care, the government profits because they’re not the one having to pay for the care.
The problem lies in the fact that this ideal situation is never realized. As you’ve probably gathered by this point, adequate rehabilitation and care takes money, but like most business, the line between right and wrong is not nearly as important as the bottom line. As previously stated: The result of this lack of attention leads to the distinct lack of correction in these private correctional facilities. In other words, they don’t do their job and make more money because of it. Source: Tri Valley Central, Private prisons invest in rehabilitation, but results aren’t measured
So now you know, private prisons don’t really benefit anyone but themselves. However this seems to be outside of our government’s field of vision. There’s a very good reason for this: lobbyists.
The job of a lobbyist, is to persuade a senator, or member of congress to vote in ordinance to the lobbyist’s employer. To do this they can use any method, short of directly bribing the voter or their family, which would be illegal. However to any lobbyist getting around this law is as simple as putting one of the voter’s family on the company pay role for a job that requires them to do absolutely nothing.
In other words, lobbyists are the reason private prisons continue to exist with autonomy to operate as they wish. As mentioned previously, they are also at least partially responsible for a multitude of laws that have extended many prison sentences. Any law that puts people in jail for longer periods of time is a boon for private prisons everywhere; every day that an inmate is in a private prison is more money for the company. When holding prisoners is what makes them money, what reason do they have to prevent them from getting set back?
Privatized prisons are not only an affront to the taxpayer’s dollar, but a danger to civil liberty as we know it. If we do nothing about them now, our justice system could end up serving companies instead of the people it exists to protect. The correctional facility could degrade into nothing more than a holding facility, a line at a ticket counter before the round trip. We can shut down that ticket office, but only if people know it’s there, because when their voters ask, the legislature will act.
”Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.”
Benjamin Franklin
Works Cited:
ACLU, Private Prisons - ACLU.com. September 25 2014 https://www.aclu.org/prisoners-rights/private-prisons
Federal Government, FEDERAL DRUG POSESSION PENALTIES – PDF September 27 2014 http://supolicies.syr.edu/docs/alcohol_penalties_federal.pdf
Donald Cohen, "Lockup Quotas," "Low-crime Taxes," and the For-Profit Prison Industry Huffingtonpost.com September 26 2014 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/donald-cohen/lockup-quotas-lowcrime-ta_b_3956336.html
Casa Grande, Dispatch, Private prisons invest in rehabilitation, but results aren’t measured – TriValleyCenteral.com http://www.trivalleycentral.com/casa_grande_dispatch/area_news/private-prisons-invest-in-rehabilitation-but-results-aren-t-measured/article_39b63bde-e0fd-11e3-9380-001a4bcf887a.html
By: Ian Duthie
Privatized prisons are not only an affront to the taxpayer’s dollar, but a danger to civil liberty as we know it.
Recently, the war on drugs has put the U.S. Federal Government in a difficult situation. Millions of incarcerated persons are simply left to lie around, to take up space that has already been taken. Traditionally, when prison space is needed, Congress will appeal to the people of their state to appropriate the means to finance such an undertaking. However, more and more often, voters and taxpayers are saying NO. As in many situations, where the public sector is lacking, the private sector will volunteer, for a price.
Collectively, privatized prisons net about $200 million annually. Knowing this, you might ask: Where does the money come from? It’s quite simple: Directly out of your taxes. Source: ACLU, Private Prisons
Currently, this works through contracts, formally called lockup quotas. In an effort to decrease the cost of dealing with these private companies, the federal government will sign contracts that obligate it to keep these prisons swimming in tax dollars. A lockup quota forces the government to keep the prison population above a certain occupancy rate, such as seventy, eighty, or in some cases ninety percent. When quotas aren’t met, the government is forced to pay these privately run prisons as if they are. Essentially the government wastes your money on prisoners that don’t even exist. Source: Donald Cohen "Lockup Quotas," "Low-crime Taxes," and the For-Profit Prison Industry
Thanks to the war on drugs, and lobbyists paid by private prisons, drug charges merit longer prison sentences than ever before. What were once considered petty crimes, such as possession of minute quantity of an illegal substance, now warrant one to fifteen years in prison, depending on the substance. Source: Federal Drug Possession Penalties
This has the effect of putting more people—such as drug addicts and people in need of rehabilitation—in private prisons. While this is objectively good, private prisons have a track record of having very poor rehabilitation services. The scary thing is that it’s actually beneficial for them to do this. Think about it: The most profitable thing a business can do is to create a product or service that people will come back for. In other words, not properly rehabilitating prisoners creates a sort of perverse customer loyalty that you end up paying for, not to mention the effects on the prisoners their supposed to rehabilitate. After release, if nothing has been done, addicts stay addicted. They can’t function in a day job, so they turn to crime, buy more drugs, and get arrested again. If the correctional facility does nothing to correct this, what’s there to stop it from continuing?
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Statistics show that 30% of adult offenders released from state prisons are re-arrested within the first six months of their release. Even worse, within three years of their release from prison this increases to 67%, or two out of three, ex-offenders returning to prison.” Ex-Offender
Crime is bad for everyone involved, the criminals, society, but also families. It’s easy to see convicts as monsters, but to someone else they’re more than that: a brother, a wife, a son, daughter, husband, or a sister. Crime breaks families, you may find it hard to help a criminal, but no person exists within a bubble. Rehabilitation helps everyone and its impacts reach farther than can ever be known.
Despite the cons (pun intended), in the eyes of the government these companies have one vital function, incidentally this function is no more than a statement by the prison industrial complex. The statement is that these companies save the government money. The reality, however, is far less simple.
In an ideal situation, a private prison takes a diverse pool of inmates; it cares for and rehabilitates these inmates so that they can function when they return to society. When the private sector takes an inmate that requires more care, the government profits because they’re not the one having to pay for the care.
The problem lies in the fact that this ideal situation is never realized. As you’ve probably gathered by this point, adequate rehabilitation and care takes money, but like most business, the line between right and wrong is not nearly as important as the bottom line. As previously stated: The result of this lack of attention leads to the distinct lack of correction in these private correctional facilities. In other words, they don’t do their job and make more money because of it. Source: Tri Valley Central, Private prisons invest in rehabilitation, but results aren’t measured
So now you know, private prisons don’t really benefit anyone but themselves. However this seems to be outside of our government’s field of vision. There’s a very good reason for this: lobbyists.
The job of a lobbyist, is to persuade a senator, or member of congress to vote in ordinance to the lobbyist’s employer. To do this they can use any method, short of directly bribing the voter or their family, which would be illegal. However to any lobbyist getting around this law is as simple as putting one of the voter’s family on the company pay role for a job that requires them to do absolutely nothing.
In other words, lobbyists are the reason private prisons continue to exist with autonomy to operate as they wish. As mentioned previously, they are also at least partially responsible for a multitude of laws that have extended many prison sentences. Any law that puts people in jail for longer periods of time is a boon for private prisons everywhere; every day that an inmate is in a private prison is more money for the company. When holding prisoners is what makes them money, what reason do they have to prevent them from getting set back?
Privatized prisons are not only an affront to the taxpayer’s dollar, but a danger to civil liberty as we know it. If we do nothing about them now, our justice system could end up serving companies instead of the people it exists to protect. The correctional facility could degrade into nothing more than a holding facility, a line at a ticket counter before the round trip. We can shut down that ticket office, but only if people know it’s there, because when their voters ask, the legislature will act.
”Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.”
Benjamin Franklin
Works Cited:
ACLU, Private Prisons - ACLU.com. September 25 2014 https://www.aclu.org/prisoners-rights/private-prisons
Federal Government, FEDERAL DRUG POSESSION PENALTIES – PDF September 27 2014 http://supolicies.syr.edu/docs/alcohol_penalties_federal.pdf
Donald Cohen, "Lockup Quotas," "Low-crime Taxes," and the For-Profit Prison Industry Huffingtonpost.com September 26 2014 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/donald-cohen/lockup-quotas-lowcrime-ta_b_3956336.html
Casa Grande, Dispatch, Private prisons invest in rehabilitation, but results aren’t measured – TriValleyCenteral.com http://www.trivalleycentral.com/casa_grande_dispatch/area_news/private-prisons-invest-in-rehabilitation-but-results-aren-t-measured/article_39b63bde-e0fd-11e3-9380-001a4bcf887a.html
project reflection
The assignment for this project
was to explore the morality and politics of justice, and different ways of
looking at justice. It was also used to learn more about rhetoric, and to help
us make our own decisions on political issues. Prior to this project we
prepared by studying rhetoric, and logical fallacies that are commonly used to
persuade the uninformed. We also learned of different approaches and theologies
for justice. These theologies vary widely in their philosophies, mainly they
argue how to best use justice to embody liberty, security, and equality.
I’ve learned that thanks to logical fallacies, moral dilemmas are not always as they seem; ulterior motives may be present at any time, and people will use any tools at their disposal to convince you of their position. Rhetoric has allowed me to be for more proficient at debate on both sides of an argument, when able to recognize the rhetoric in other people’s arguments I can see it more clearly. I can also use rhetoric in my own arguments to appeal to a far broader range of people, or convince people looking for a certain type of rhetoric to convince them. I’ve learned through the study of rhetoric that at least partial acceptance of your topic is necessary to convince someone of your argument. Blind political affiliation and socialization can seriously discourage this. You can attempt to bypass this by using rhetoric in a specific way to appeal to a person’s pathos ethos, or logos. This is necessary to bypass the initial blind denial of said topic.
My strongest category was my Purpose/Focus. In my OP-ED I made every effort to be clear and precise. This focuses my article and makes my perspective far more clear. Experience with writing OP-ED articles at Animas has honed this skill which I continue to exercise. An example of this is on my first page where I explain where the money funding private prisons comes from. I feel that my project is the weakest in Rhetoric and Argumentation. I feel this way because I did not always effectively incorporate my sources into my arguments. For example, many of my sources are simply tacked on at the end of my arguments that contain evidence portraying to that source.
If I had another week to work on this project I would better incorporate my sources into my argument to instigate better ethos to reinforce the logos that I am providing. As for my visual piece, I would make it far more refined in an effort to, once again, instigate better ethos, a clean art piece is far more effective at presenting a view than a dirty, or unprofessional art piece.
I’ve learned that thanks to logical fallacies, moral dilemmas are not always as they seem; ulterior motives may be present at any time, and people will use any tools at their disposal to convince you of their position. Rhetoric has allowed me to be for more proficient at debate on both sides of an argument, when able to recognize the rhetoric in other people’s arguments I can see it more clearly. I can also use rhetoric in my own arguments to appeal to a far broader range of people, or convince people looking for a certain type of rhetoric to convince them. I’ve learned through the study of rhetoric that at least partial acceptance of your topic is necessary to convince someone of your argument. Blind political affiliation and socialization can seriously discourage this. You can attempt to bypass this by using rhetoric in a specific way to appeal to a person’s pathos ethos, or logos. This is necessary to bypass the initial blind denial of said topic.
My strongest category was my Purpose/Focus. In my OP-ED I made every effort to be clear and precise. This focuses my article and makes my perspective far more clear. Experience with writing OP-ED articles at Animas has honed this skill which I continue to exercise. An example of this is on my first page where I explain where the money funding private prisons comes from. I feel that my project is the weakest in Rhetoric and Argumentation. I feel this way because I did not always effectively incorporate my sources into my arguments. For example, many of my sources are simply tacked on at the end of my arguments that contain evidence portraying to that source.
If I had another week to work on this project I would better incorporate my sources into my argument to instigate better ethos to reinforce the logos that I am providing. As for my visual piece, I would make it far more refined in an effort to, once again, instigate better ethos, a clean art piece is far more effective at presenting a view than a dirty, or unprofessional art piece.
Native American Historical Inquiry
How can an examination of multiple sources and perspectives lead to a more enlightened understanding of history AND contemporary social, cultural and political realities?
"Assimilation"
Process
Journal # 5
Community
Native American culture is in stark contrast to mainstream white culture, in many ways for many reasons. However when looking at the accounts of the Dartmouth students, and the characters of Sherman Alexie’s Tanto and the Lone Ranger Fistfight in Heaven; it can be inferred that community has a large portion to do with this.
Depending on your ethnic background, and upbringing you are guaranteed to have a different definition of the word community than anyone else. For an only child like me, community is an almost alien term of companionship cooperation and comradery. For siblings the term might extend to close family, and friends. But for Native Americans the word resonates much deeper. For a Native American tribe, community is everything.
In the essays written by the Dartmouth students, you notice many things. Because many have not experienced mainstream “white” education they describe feeling lost in a sea of individualistic and competitive white people; these values are polar opposites of those held by Native American tribes. One student describes the simple struggle of raising one’s hand to say, “I have the answer”. To them, this seems presumptuous and even rude; However to a non-native this is perfectly natural.
In Alexie’s writing a Native American sense of community takes on an almost national identity. In the words of Alexie himself:
“I got in a fight with my girlfriend," I said. "I was just driving around, blowing off steam, you know?"
Well, you should be more careful where you drive," the officer said. "You're making people nervous. You don't fit the profile of the neighborhood."
I wanted to tell him that I didn't fit the profile of the country but I knew it would just get me into trouble.”
When looking at any of these writers you notice a trace of a theme. Both seek to illustrate the reasons behind the differences between Native, and non-native culture. Native American culture is radically different because of close knit communities, and situations leading to the enforcement of those communities such as horrific events like the trail of tears. Whichever angle you look at, everything always returns to the community. As in the Dartmouth student essays, the youth is encouraged to go, to get an education. However, they are also told to come back, to use that education to help the tribe. In some situations this sense of community descends into somewhat of an “us versus them” sort of nationalism. In such a situation any who leave the reservation are scorned for having abandoned their community, no matter the reason.
Despite the many ways community can hurt Native Americans, it is also crucial to their cultural survival. Only by passing down through word of mouth are many things remembered. Only by returning the youth from education does a tribe find financial stability. In the words of songwriter Ralph Siegel, “together we are strong.”
Community
Native American culture is in stark contrast to mainstream white culture, in many ways for many reasons. However when looking at the accounts of the Dartmouth students, and the characters of Sherman Alexie’s Tanto and the Lone Ranger Fistfight in Heaven; it can be inferred that community has a large portion to do with this.
Depending on your ethnic background, and upbringing you are guaranteed to have a different definition of the word community than anyone else. For an only child like me, community is an almost alien term of companionship cooperation and comradery. For siblings the term might extend to close family, and friends. But for Native Americans the word resonates much deeper. For a Native American tribe, community is everything.
In the essays written by the Dartmouth students, you notice many things. Because many have not experienced mainstream “white” education they describe feeling lost in a sea of individualistic and competitive white people; these values are polar opposites of those held by Native American tribes. One student describes the simple struggle of raising one’s hand to say, “I have the answer”. To them, this seems presumptuous and even rude; However to a non-native this is perfectly natural.
In Alexie’s writing a Native American sense of community takes on an almost national identity. In the words of Alexie himself:
“I got in a fight with my girlfriend," I said. "I was just driving around, blowing off steam, you know?"
Well, you should be more careful where you drive," the officer said. "You're making people nervous. You don't fit the profile of the neighborhood."
I wanted to tell him that I didn't fit the profile of the country but I knew it would just get me into trouble.”
When looking at any of these writers you notice a trace of a theme. Both seek to illustrate the reasons behind the differences between Native, and non-native culture. Native American culture is radically different because of close knit communities, and situations leading to the enforcement of those communities such as horrific events like the trail of tears. Whichever angle you look at, everything always returns to the community. As in the Dartmouth student essays, the youth is encouraged to go, to get an education. However, they are also told to come back, to use that education to help the tribe. In some situations this sense of community descends into somewhat of an “us versus them” sort of nationalism. In such a situation any who leave the reservation are scorned for having abandoned their community, no matter the reason.
Despite the many ways community can hurt Native Americans, it is also crucial to their cultural survival. Only by passing down through word of mouth are many things remembered. Only by returning the youth from education does a tribe find financial stability. In the words of songwriter Ralph Siegel, “together we are strong.”
Seminar prep
1. HISTORY
· How might America be different if it had not taken Native lands? How might that have impacted our policies of today? What would such an alternative history look like for America and the world?
· How might we look at our country differently if we knew its true history, not as it was taught to us in textbooks? I’m not just taking about Animas, I mean other Americans.
· Then and now, obligations of justice change with the ethnicity, how might we remedy this?
2. HISTORY
· History, as written by the conquers is not accurate, and heavily biased. EX: Columbus
· History, as written by the oppressed is not entirely accurate either; it is still biased, but is necessary to see both sides of history. EX: His entire book.
· As seen in chapter seven, Zin really likes statistics.
1. MODERN DAY
· Media shapes our perception of Native Americans today just as it shapes our perceptions of everything else. We don’t get the entire truth, only the dramatic, only what gets the best ratings. The movies in Reel Injun are perfect examples of this. They were not built be accurate but to be dramatic. Unfortunately people still form biases off of them.
2. MODERN DAY
· This project helped me understand my own biases, it simultaneously told me why I have them. Simply calling Native Americans Indians was a result of my consummation of media. I’ve had to make a conscious effort to stop doing that
3. MODERN DAY
· What does Alexie do to make his short stories feel so endearing? Why is: list the slushy quote from the chapter Tanto & the Lone Ranger Fistfight in Heaven) so appealing? How does the appeal strengthen his message?
· How do the skeletons affect the different ways we can live out our lives?
· What is the most important factor to the Dartmouth students Resiliency, Community, Storytelling, the Skeletons, or Identity? Why? Does this change from student to student?
1. HISTORY
· How might America be different if it had not taken Native lands? How might that have impacted our policies of today? What would such an alternative history look like for America and the world?
· How might we look at our country differently if we knew its true history, not as it was taught to us in textbooks? I’m not just taking about Animas, I mean other Americans.
· Then and now, obligations of justice change with the ethnicity, how might we remedy this?
2. HISTORY
· History, as written by the conquers is not accurate, and heavily biased. EX: Columbus
· History, as written by the oppressed is not entirely accurate either; it is still biased, but is necessary to see both sides of history. EX: His entire book.
· As seen in chapter seven, Zin really likes statistics.
1. MODERN DAY
· Media shapes our perception of Native Americans today just as it shapes our perceptions of everything else. We don’t get the entire truth, only the dramatic, only what gets the best ratings. The movies in Reel Injun are perfect examples of this. They were not built be accurate but to be dramatic. Unfortunately people still form biases off of them.
2. MODERN DAY
· This project helped me understand my own biases, it simultaneously told me why I have them. Simply calling Native Americans Indians was a result of my consummation of media. I’ve had to make a conscious effort to stop doing that
3. MODERN DAY
· What does Alexie do to make his short stories feel so endearing? Why is: list the slushy quote from the chapter Tanto & the Lone Ranger Fistfight in Heaven) so appealing? How does the appeal strengthen his message?
· How do the skeletons affect the different ways we can live out our lives?
· What is the most important factor to the Dartmouth students Resiliency, Community, Storytelling, the Skeletons, or Identity? Why? Does this change from student to student?
project reflection
In this project we’ve been learning the history of Native Americans
in order to determine how the examination of multiple sources and perspectives
can lead to a better understand of history. We’ve also looked at how our
histories shape modern practices and perceptions, be they social, cultural, or
political. We did this in an effort to experience the critical thinking, as it
is used by modern historians.
The portfolio for the project involved the writings of modern Native Americans such as Sherman Alexie, as well as essays from students graduating from Dartmouth. This was done to gleam a perspective on how modern day Native Americans live, and in many cases how they are moving forward as a people. Not through forced cultural assimilation, but in a way that preserves their unique cultural identity. We learned about our government’s historical treatment of its native people. We read about forced assimilation, and annihilation practiced by Europeans, and eventually “Americans” in Zin’s People’s History book. We also looked at how our modern perceptions of Native Americans are shaped by the media and Hollywood, and how inaccurate and terrible that can be.
The most significant lesson I’ve learned through study of Native Americans is how media can warp your perception. From looking at film Reel Injun I’ve seen how a through a simple movie or cartoon, it is possible to form a stereotype on millions of people, who you likely haven’t met, and know very little about. Ironically enough, I enjoy cartoons and film; I’ve grown up watching them. This is part of the reason, I think, why I find a particular cartoon scene from Reel Injun so disturbing. Bugs bunny is singing: “One little two little three little injuns” while shooting Native Americans... cheerfully. I remember watching that when I was like seven on public television, and it didn’t mean a thing. How disturbing is that? In other words, I’ve been looking at the things I watch a whole lot more critically.
Our seminar for this project was a way of analyzing our sources thus far. In my seminar group we mostly looked at the essays by the Dartmouth students, the writings of Sherman Alexie, and to a lesser extent Howard Zin’s history book. To contextualize that: The Dartmouth essays were graduation letters written by Native American students attending Dartmouth. Sherman Alexie is, in my opinion, a fantastically humorous Native American writer, philosopher, and poet. We looked at some of his short stories. Zin’s book is a history of the united states from the history of the people we’ve oppressed.
Mainly we expressed opinions on what it means to be a modern day Native American by citing the Dartmouth essays, in hindsight I find this ironic, considering none of us are Native Americans. Among other things we also looked at at the Sherman Alexie’s philosophy of Skeletons; how does our past and future try to affect who we are today? I made a connection between this philosophy and another quote he makes, “Everything looks like a noose if you stare at it long enough”. Effectively, tunnel vision is a summary of your skeletons. You are allowing you past and future to determine how you act right now. I also found other people’s perspective on the skeletons interesting someone posed the question of how do you think the skeletons affect your life. It wasn’t answered. However I think that the fact that it wasn’t answered alludes to some king of an answer; I we won’t even look at how our past and future control us, how much do they already do so?
Through this project I learned more about biases, how history is altered by the people writing it down. The perspectives shared in Zin’s writings allude to the fact that history is written by conquers. Any formal history book will contain their bias. Despite this, the history of the other side contains the same bias, it has a better reason for existing, but it’s still there. Biases prevalent in any writing warp the truth to the writer’s viewpoint. The trick is to know that viewpoint and be able to counter reference what you find to see what actually happened. Nonetheless our bias is everything, it determines our entire outlook socially, politically, even culturally. Learn to ignore your own bias and you’re on the road to understanding history as it happened and not how you think it happened.
The portfolio for the project involved the writings of modern Native Americans such as Sherman Alexie, as well as essays from students graduating from Dartmouth. This was done to gleam a perspective on how modern day Native Americans live, and in many cases how they are moving forward as a people. Not through forced cultural assimilation, but in a way that preserves their unique cultural identity. We learned about our government’s historical treatment of its native people. We read about forced assimilation, and annihilation practiced by Europeans, and eventually “Americans” in Zin’s People’s History book. We also looked at how our modern perceptions of Native Americans are shaped by the media and Hollywood, and how inaccurate and terrible that can be.
The most significant lesson I’ve learned through study of Native Americans is how media can warp your perception. From looking at film Reel Injun I’ve seen how a through a simple movie or cartoon, it is possible to form a stereotype on millions of people, who you likely haven’t met, and know very little about. Ironically enough, I enjoy cartoons and film; I’ve grown up watching them. This is part of the reason, I think, why I find a particular cartoon scene from Reel Injun so disturbing. Bugs bunny is singing: “One little two little three little injuns” while shooting Native Americans... cheerfully. I remember watching that when I was like seven on public television, and it didn’t mean a thing. How disturbing is that? In other words, I’ve been looking at the things I watch a whole lot more critically.
Our seminar for this project was a way of analyzing our sources thus far. In my seminar group we mostly looked at the essays by the Dartmouth students, the writings of Sherman Alexie, and to a lesser extent Howard Zin’s history book. To contextualize that: The Dartmouth essays were graduation letters written by Native American students attending Dartmouth. Sherman Alexie is, in my opinion, a fantastically humorous Native American writer, philosopher, and poet. We looked at some of his short stories. Zin’s book is a history of the united states from the history of the people we’ve oppressed.
Mainly we expressed opinions on what it means to be a modern day Native American by citing the Dartmouth essays, in hindsight I find this ironic, considering none of us are Native Americans. Among other things we also looked at at the Sherman Alexie’s philosophy of Skeletons; how does our past and future try to affect who we are today? I made a connection between this philosophy and another quote he makes, “Everything looks like a noose if you stare at it long enough”. Effectively, tunnel vision is a summary of your skeletons. You are allowing you past and future to determine how you act right now. I also found other people’s perspective on the skeletons interesting someone posed the question of how do you think the skeletons affect your life. It wasn’t answered. However I think that the fact that it wasn’t answered alludes to some king of an answer; I we won’t even look at how our past and future control us, how much do they already do so?
Through this project I learned more about biases, how history is altered by the people writing it down. The perspectives shared in Zin’s writings allude to the fact that history is written by conquers. Any formal history book will contain their bias. Despite this, the history of the other side contains the same bias, it has a better reason for existing, but it’s still there. Biases prevalent in any writing warp the truth to the writer’s viewpoint. The trick is to know that viewpoint and be able to counter reference what you find to see what actually happened. Nonetheless our bias is everything, it determines our entire outlook socially, politically, even culturally. Learn to ignore your own bias and you’re on the road to understanding history as it happened and not how you think it happened.
Energy and Place Project
Sense of place Essay
Abstract
The essay begins with a memory. It starts from the end, and reverses to the beginning and then finishes at the end again. The point of the memory isn’t to recount an experience, or a place, but to establish my point of view that the emotion is more important than the place or experience. I then go on to explain this and then give a more defined example. I use this example to inspire and engross the reader, and to show my personal philosophy. This philosophy is a combination of placelessness and instrumental value. This philosophy is explained in the latter paragraph and conclusion.
Sense of Place,
Sense, not Place
It’s one o’clock, at least that’s what the digital clock said the last time I looked at it so very long ago. Truthfully, it wasn’t much later than that, but the shadows cascading down the valley’s almost sheer cliff would surely disagree. It was cold, too—cold and wet. The waterfall was more than a thousand feet away but you could still feel its spray, even this far up the valley.
I was eight years old—I think. A short time ago, my father had parked the truck in one of the many beds of wildflowers along that long winding summer road between Durango and Silverton. He wanted to show me something, or take some photography—I wasn’t sure which. Either way, it isn’t hard to remember: It was beautiful. Aspen trees leaned, one on top of the other like picnickers come to see the Fourth of July, each craning their neck, trying to take it all in. For a while that was all we saw. We reached our first landmark, one of those old husks of a mine—or something. I was eight, remember? An incredible feat of engineering, this entirely wooden structure had managed to stay standing on an almost forty-five-degree angle, one wall leaning against the other for support, sort of like a short game of dominos, frozen in time. As far as I could tell it was frozen in time; I had never seen anything like it. “How could people mine without a hole in the ground?” thought young Ian. How great the strength of these people that could mine without tools, with little more than some oddly shaped wooden box. I imagined them as giants. That was what I thought at the time. I might have asked, but my dad was still taking photographs.
Shortly after, we reached our final destination. To get there we had to climb over some giant log that didn’t look like it belonged. I remembered that for some reason, but it wasn’t important. What was important was that my dad mentioned to watch out for mountain lions. Apparently he had seen one here before. Being eight, and not having seen a mountain lion before, I imagined an extremely small mountain with lion features on it, just like Dr. Seuss had taught me. That creature, I remember too, in perfect detail…
For the life of me I can’t remember most of everything else, just that feeling of discovery, of wonder that I got from it.
Place, and sense of place are entirely objective, of that much I am certain. In the same way that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so too is sense of place. Ultimately, your sense of place is where you feel like you belong, and not where others expect it to be. You, being yourself, may see my sense of place as an invalid response to what you believe to be a deeper or more specific question. Just remember, that’s your opinion, not mine.
In my personal experience, sense of place is just that: a sense… not a place. It’s a state of mind where you feel as you are, in your element so to speak. So focused on… whatever it is, that nothing else seems to matter. After everything else melts away, after all other responsibilities are absolved, it’s the feeling you get from something, not that something itself.
What I’m describing here is a concept I first learned from a video game: Skyrim. Skyrim is what I would describe to be a role play game: You’re given a role to play—sort of like an actor in a musical—and stick to it. For the time in which you’re playing that game, you get to be that person. As you’re playing, your point of view is set as though the computer screen is your eyes. You don’t see the back of your character as he or she walks, you see though their eyes, and it makes you feel like this is you in this world, not you watching an actor run around in a game.
It’s sometime after six o’clock. After eating dinner, and having no better options or responsibilities, I sit down to play a new game.
I didn’t know that was happening. My hands are bound. From what I was able to gather from the other prisoners, I had been captured trying to cross the border. The other carts of prisoners were packed, shoulder to shoulder, full of rebels who were detained by the legion doing exactly what I was trying to do. The legion had been there to take them into custody, and I was simply guilty by affiliation.
A short time later we are paraded through the wooded palisade of some backwards hamlet, stopping at what would have been the main plaza of a nicer town. But it wasn’t a nicer town. It was just a bunch of dirt—featuring a bloody stump. It became clear what they are going to do. One rebel bravely steps up to the stump, cursing the legion as he does so.
He drops to one knee, an officer shoves him against the block, his head hits the stump and the headsman slices it off—all in one smooth motion.
“Next prisoner!” yells the officer. Someone breaks off from the crowd and starts running… and earns an arrow in his back.
“Next prisoner!” yells the officer. This time she’s pointing at me. “Step up to the block!” she commands. I walk forward of my own accord. Birds chirp peacefully, but I hear another noise. Nobody says a word.
I hear it again— it sounds like the bark of a dog being stepped on, the noise filtered by the wind. It sounds deep and powerful. “What was that?” grunts one legionnaire. “It’s nothing but the wind,” mutters a rebel.
I’m kneeling at the block now. Nobody bothered to move the body from the last “volunteer.” Evidently he soiled himself before the axe hit his neck... not, apparently, as brave as he seemed.
The officer shoves me against the block, but as the headsman lifts his axe, I see something that I can’t quite explain. What had started as a black speck in the distance is now diving over the ridge.
Chaos erupts.
“What in oblivion is that?” yells a rebel. “Sentries, what do you see?” asks a legate calmly.
FWOOMH…
The ground shakes.
On top of the short watchtower, in front me and low to the ground, there is a dark, gangly creature. Its red eyes stare into my soul.
“Dragon!”
As arrows nock and swords are drawn, that horned beast just takes it all in. It breaths in, opens its mouth to release a shout, a shout that shakes the sky and deafens the land. My vision blurs as I stand. Death can wait. Fire rains from the sky and the watchtower collapses over the square.
Me?
I run for my life.
What I’ve been trying to demonstrate by bombarding you with sensory details is a concept called immersion.
I learned the term immersion through videogames. Back then, I didn’t know what immersion meant—just that it was used to describe a fantastic game. Either way, I know now that the feeling matches the description: To be so occupied with your situation that nothing else matters.
Once again, this is immersion, and immersion is my sense of place. It is in this way that I would say my sense of place, or rather placelessness, is instrumental. At no real point in my life have I felt a true sense of rootedness to any place. Being a part of a split house, my life experience has always been one in passing. The phrase “leave no trace” comes to mind. Do not take it upon yourself to make a place your own, nor make that place a part of you. It is in this way that I use both places and experiences. I do not begin an experience with the intention of conquering it; I begin with the intention of learning from it. I try to develop a sense of peace from a solitary mountaintop. I try to learn a sense of adventure by forging my own path down that mountain.
What I’m trying to get at here is that situation can be anything: playing a game, washing dishes, hiking, skiing, meditating. The situation is altogether unimportant; what matters is the feeling you get from it.
The essay begins with a memory. It starts from the end, and reverses to the beginning and then finishes at the end again. The point of the memory isn’t to recount an experience, or a place, but to establish my point of view that the emotion is more important than the place or experience. I then go on to explain this and then give a more defined example. I use this example to inspire and engross the reader, and to show my personal philosophy. This philosophy is a combination of placelessness and instrumental value. This philosophy is explained in the latter paragraph and conclusion.
Sense of Place,
Sense, not Place
It’s one o’clock, at least that’s what the digital clock said the last time I looked at it so very long ago. Truthfully, it wasn’t much later than that, but the shadows cascading down the valley’s almost sheer cliff would surely disagree. It was cold, too—cold and wet. The waterfall was more than a thousand feet away but you could still feel its spray, even this far up the valley.
I was eight years old—I think. A short time ago, my father had parked the truck in one of the many beds of wildflowers along that long winding summer road between Durango and Silverton. He wanted to show me something, or take some photography—I wasn’t sure which. Either way, it isn’t hard to remember: It was beautiful. Aspen trees leaned, one on top of the other like picnickers come to see the Fourth of July, each craning their neck, trying to take it all in. For a while that was all we saw. We reached our first landmark, one of those old husks of a mine—or something. I was eight, remember? An incredible feat of engineering, this entirely wooden structure had managed to stay standing on an almost forty-five-degree angle, one wall leaning against the other for support, sort of like a short game of dominos, frozen in time. As far as I could tell it was frozen in time; I had never seen anything like it. “How could people mine without a hole in the ground?” thought young Ian. How great the strength of these people that could mine without tools, with little more than some oddly shaped wooden box. I imagined them as giants. That was what I thought at the time. I might have asked, but my dad was still taking photographs.
Shortly after, we reached our final destination. To get there we had to climb over some giant log that didn’t look like it belonged. I remembered that for some reason, but it wasn’t important. What was important was that my dad mentioned to watch out for mountain lions. Apparently he had seen one here before. Being eight, and not having seen a mountain lion before, I imagined an extremely small mountain with lion features on it, just like Dr. Seuss had taught me. That creature, I remember too, in perfect detail…
For the life of me I can’t remember most of everything else, just that feeling of discovery, of wonder that I got from it.
Place, and sense of place are entirely objective, of that much I am certain. In the same way that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so too is sense of place. Ultimately, your sense of place is where you feel like you belong, and not where others expect it to be. You, being yourself, may see my sense of place as an invalid response to what you believe to be a deeper or more specific question. Just remember, that’s your opinion, not mine.
In my personal experience, sense of place is just that: a sense… not a place. It’s a state of mind where you feel as you are, in your element so to speak. So focused on… whatever it is, that nothing else seems to matter. After everything else melts away, after all other responsibilities are absolved, it’s the feeling you get from something, not that something itself.
What I’m describing here is a concept I first learned from a video game: Skyrim. Skyrim is what I would describe to be a role play game: You’re given a role to play—sort of like an actor in a musical—and stick to it. For the time in which you’re playing that game, you get to be that person. As you’re playing, your point of view is set as though the computer screen is your eyes. You don’t see the back of your character as he or she walks, you see though their eyes, and it makes you feel like this is you in this world, not you watching an actor run around in a game.
It’s sometime after six o’clock. After eating dinner, and having no better options or responsibilities, I sit down to play a new game.
I didn’t know that was happening. My hands are bound. From what I was able to gather from the other prisoners, I had been captured trying to cross the border. The other carts of prisoners were packed, shoulder to shoulder, full of rebels who were detained by the legion doing exactly what I was trying to do. The legion had been there to take them into custody, and I was simply guilty by affiliation.
A short time later we are paraded through the wooded palisade of some backwards hamlet, stopping at what would have been the main plaza of a nicer town. But it wasn’t a nicer town. It was just a bunch of dirt—featuring a bloody stump. It became clear what they are going to do. One rebel bravely steps up to the stump, cursing the legion as he does so.
He drops to one knee, an officer shoves him against the block, his head hits the stump and the headsman slices it off—all in one smooth motion.
“Next prisoner!” yells the officer. Someone breaks off from the crowd and starts running… and earns an arrow in his back.
“Next prisoner!” yells the officer. This time she’s pointing at me. “Step up to the block!” she commands. I walk forward of my own accord. Birds chirp peacefully, but I hear another noise. Nobody says a word.
I hear it again— it sounds like the bark of a dog being stepped on, the noise filtered by the wind. It sounds deep and powerful. “What was that?” grunts one legionnaire. “It’s nothing but the wind,” mutters a rebel.
I’m kneeling at the block now. Nobody bothered to move the body from the last “volunteer.” Evidently he soiled himself before the axe hit his neck... not, apparently, as brave as he seemed.
The officer shoves me against the block, but as the headsman lifts his axe, I see something that I can’t quite explain. What had started as a black speck in the distance is now diving over the ridge.
Chaos erupts.
“What in oblivion is that?” yells a rebel. “Sentries, what do you see?” asks a legate calmly.
FWOOMH…
The ground shakes.
On top of the short watchtower, in front me and low to the ground, there is a dark, gangly creature. Its red eyes stare into my soul.
“Dragon!”
As arrows nock and swords are drawn, that horned beast just takes it all in. It breaths in, opens its mouth to release a shout, a shout that shakes the sky and deafens the land. My vision blurs as I stand. Death can wait. Fire rains from the sky and the watchtower collapses over the square.
Me?
I run for my life.
What I’ve been trying to demonstrate by bombarding you with sensory details is a concept called immersion.
I learned the term immersion through videogames. Back then, I didn’t know what immersion meant—just that it was used to describe a fantastic game. Either way, I know now that the feeling matches the description: To be so occupied with your situation that nothing else matters.
Once again, this is immersion, and immersion is my sense of place. It is in this way that I would say my sense of place, or rather placelessness, is instrumental. At no real point in my life have I felt a true sense of rootedness to any place. Being a part of a split house, my life experience has always been one in passing. The phrase “leave no trace” comes to mind. Do not take it upon yourself to make a place your own, nor make that place a part of you. It is in this way that I use both places and experiences. I do not begin an experience with the intention of conquering it; I begin with the intention of learning from it. I try to develop a sense of peace from a solitary mountaintop. I try to learn a sense of adventure by forging my own path down that mountain.
What I’m trying to get at here is that situation can be anything: playing a game, washing dishes, hiking, skiing, meditating. The situation is altogether unimportant; what matters is the feeling you get from it.