"Song of the Shirt"

The "Song of the Shirt" describes the hardships and cruelty that the factory workers had to endure for hours a day. This song explains the weariness, fatigue, and monotony of work in the factory and the unfair and dangerous conditions that they had to face. It also explains that human lives meant almost nothing to the factory owners, that they could easily be replaced if anyone was injured or died because of unsafe machinery. Life was very harsh and depressing for the factory workers, because they worked all day for hardly any pay in very hazardous and potentially deadly conditions. It was very hard for workers to support their families on such little income and every day was a constant struggle to survive.

Ellis Island Immigrants

The immigrants were probably feeling confusion coming to America for the first time, but also hopefulness for the future they could have here. Looking through the pictures you can see the tiredness in their eyes, but also happiness that they made the long voyage here, seeing Lady Liberty's torch light up the way to their prosperity and freedom. In some pictures however, there is an emotion of sadness though because not all of their family members completed the trek. In Ellis Island, the processing of immigrants was a long and harsh procedure where families could be split apart at any moment if they had a disease, if they didn't pass the literacy tests, or any other reasons.  

America is bias

Countries should leave all of their history, positive and negative, in their textbooks, because the people have a right to know about their country's history and past. You can't just leave out something that makes you look bad, and deprive the people of the truth. They should embrace the good and bad, because it ultimately shapes out country into what is is today, You can't have the good without the bad. Everyone is going to have their ups and downs, you just need to make it work and turn the situation around. 

Blogging: a whole other world

I have had a very good experience blogging. I feel like I'm expressing some of my own thoughts and opinions rather than being strictly academic. I feel that this process has been beneficial in that it is different than pencil and paper assignments from my other classes, it's an entire new way of learning and thinking. We get to listen and see different things for our blogs that are fun, but they also apply to the topic we are studying. I look forward to writing these blogs and seeing all the new topics we can write about.

Fave Blog Topic

My favorite blog topic from first quarter was Week Two about the lies, because I got to express my opinions on a topic that I am passionate about. Talking about lies and history really stuck a note with me and I surprisingly enjoyed blogging about it, when I had never blogged before. I also enjoyed blogging about moving west, because all the topics were games you could play, songs you could listen to, and shows you could watch that really related to what we were learning. The Six Word Story was my favorite because it was relatively easy and it could be interpreted multiple ways by different people. It showed me that you really can create a story with just six words, leaving everything open to imagination.

Truths of the American Cowboy

As Americans, we have always been interested in the lives of the American Cowboys, as they have been part of our national identity since their existence. In our culture, we have made the cowboys iconic, incorporating them in our movies, shows, and books, but not all of this is accurate. We have turned the cowboy into something that is almost revered, idolizing them and their spirit. In reality, they have lived a hard life, constantly working and traveling to provide for them and their families. There were various jobs like managing cattle, from the range boss to the wrangler, the bronco buster to the line rider, the cook to the cutting horse. They lived a rugged life sometimes being out on the road for years wrangling and driving cattle to get paid. Further more, especially in our movies, cowboys are often associated with mostly fictitious Indian fighting rather than with their actual lives of tending and herding cattle. We are so caught up in our delusions of the Hollywood portrayal of cowboys we forget what they actually were and what they did.  

Rocky Raccoon

     In the song Rocky Raccoon by The Beatles, they sing about a man, Rocky Raccoon, who is in love with a girl, Nancy, but Nancy goes off with another guy Daniel. So Rocky goes to face Daniel in a showdown to get Nancy back. However, Daniel shoots Rocky first and wins, so a doctor visits Rocky to heal him physically and Rocky also uses the Bible to heal him mentally too. I think The Beatles depicted how western life was accurately because there were many showdowns of that sort and people put their faith in the Bible to get them through it.

Six Word Story

"On the trail, one deserted wagon."