They burn buildings, overturn cars, and smash the windows of buildings in their own neighborhood. They fill the streets with screams and chants as they’re watched over by the very thing they are protesting. The Black Lives Matter movement has moved from Twitter hashtags to destruction and even in some cases, violence. Though our gut instinct is to denounce these acts of violence and destruction, protests like these can be effective because violence is a part of our culture, breaking societal norms captures our attention, and similar protests have been effective in the past.
We can argue whether or not violence is a good outlet, but we cannot ignore that it simply is a reality of our life. There are more guns than people in the U.S. and on average, 12 people are killed each day by a gun. That’s twelve families and twelve communities who cannot simply ignore the violence that seeps into the fabric of our country. Our favorite national pastime serves as an outlet to cripple and disable the people who play it. When people choose to not participate or try to take the violence away, they are criticized and dehumanized with insults. Without fail, the top grossing movie list every year will include several films where its protagonists are subject to torture, explosions, or intense pain. None of those things exempt you from a PG-13 rating, which means we expose our children to it! Another harsh reality of our culture is that inappropriate behavior has a much more lasting impact than appropriate behavior. As a teacher, one of the sad truths I’ve had to accept in my practice is that I spend far more of my time with the students who break the rules. The student who talks out, doesn’t do their work, and serves detention seems to get far more feedback from their teacher than the student who works quietly and hands everything in. The old saying “the squeaky wheel gets the grease” applies here and also applies to the Black Lives Matter movement. We’ve seen BLM do less violent rallies and the killings they were protesting still went unpunished. When something is not effective, it must be escalated to a more drastic measure. Clearly, silent protests and hoodie-clad rallies in response to police brutality was not enough, so the next step in their minds was rioting. While many opponents of the movement argue that the movement should strive to be like previous non-violent Civil Rights Leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr., they ignore two things. First, one of King’s often forgotten quotes: “A riot is the language of the unheard.” Clearly, the BLM movement has reached a point where they know change will not come without intense action. When their protests in response to the first killings were met with silence from those in power, they demanded attention and are now receiving it. Finally, we cannot ignore how rioting and violence has been an effective means of change our past history. In fact, the first shot in our country’s founding was not with a gun, but was with destruction of property in the form of the Boston Tea Party. Fast forward 200 years in the future and riots suddenly only become appropriate when a sports team wins (or loses) its sport’s greatest prize? While safer protests have been effective in the past, it is vital we compare the Black Lives Matter movement to a recent protest – Occupy Wall Street. While the latter was lambasted for an unclear message and a lack of real impact on the communities it was a part of, the Black Lives Matter movement has escalated the stakes to a dramatic effect. We cannot ignore the impact and the risk involved, which is precisely while their protests are more effective. Paragraph 4 of "The Honey Hotel" sees the author demonstrate Maria's keen understanding of the hotel's appeal as well as her mastery of word play. Maria didn't just write, she "staged scenes" and "conjured charming mirages," making her seem to have a wizardry that spellbinds the reader into imagining exactly what she wants. The author is showing us that Al is overcome with images & emotion from Maria's writing and cannot wait to convince her that she should write reviews of his hotel. The phrase "white-washed walls, embroidered gowns and orange trees laced with sunlight" show Maria's deep understanding of the idyllic but comforting charm the hotel offers. Finally, Al being "entranced by the sensitivity not only furthers the notion of Maria being a wizard with words (entranced usually meaning in a trance or stupor) but foreshadow's the pieces reveal that Maria, not Mr. Head, is the M.R. Head who wrote the essay.
After seeing how impressed Al is, it's no wonder he is disappointed by Mr. Head and is willing to pull out the stops to impress him, which is the dominant impression of paragraph 6. Al is crushed that someone who he thought wrote about embroidered gowns is now calling them "tatty bits of cloth." It gives the impression that Al thinks Mr. Head is just hard to impress, not an uncultured swine. This why Al spends "an unnecessary expense" he wants to make sure he gives his all to impress Mr. Head. The "rainbow of produced he procured" isn't just good parallel word play, it's indicative of Al's attempt to offer the hidden paradise he is trying to sell tourists on, so Mr. Head is inclined to write about it. This is why he stocked ingredients "fresh from the market" - what better way to immerse Mr. Head in the local charm Al thinks he loves? Wu Tang:
The author is comparing his word play to military grade weaponry, implying that he can not just defeat, but obliterate, his opponent in a rap battle. When he mentions “bombing atomically,” he’s invoking Hiroshima, one of the most destructive acts of war in history. By claiming that he is a “battle-scarred Shogun,” he is implying that he has fought in many battles but has always performed impressively (Shoguns typically committed suicide if they lost, which he hasn’t.) We see a similar reference in “swingin’ swords like Shinobi,” a call to the video game ninja. Perhaps the most impressive reference is when the author says “Socrates’ philosophies and hypothesis can’t define how I drop these mockeries,” which isn’t just effective in its use of assonance, but its acknowledgement that he, like many other great generals (Sun Tzu and Machiavelli being immediate examples), is also a worthy philosopher. Litany for Survival: The author is saying that her circumstances of birth have created a situation where no matter what she does or thinks, she is doomed. She shows this by mentioning that she is “standing on the constant edge of decision” meaning her life is a series of decisions that could make or break her, but since it’s constant, she never feels relief from a decision. The juxtaposition of ideas in the third stanza shows why the author feels like she is on or over that edge - “when we speak, we are afraid … but when we are silent, we are still afraid.” - and that there is no way to avoid the situations with which she’s faced. The author was “imprinted with fear” from birth, which indicates that this is a set of emotions passed down from their parents and perhaps even their parents. The final stanza “It is better to speak” seems to be a recognition to her fellow oppressed people that they must continue to make a decision, because it is better than standing still. Of Mice and Men: John Steinbeck juxtaposes a perfectly idyllic scenario in paragraph one with the effects the people in that scenario have on it, foreshadowing the inevitability of what happens to one of the major characters in the novel. Steinbeck’s water that is “so crisp a lizard makes a great skitter” shows how a person simply existing can ruin the beauty in an environment. Though the sycamores he describes seem to want to protect the nature with their “mottled, white, recumbent limbs and branches that arch over the pool,” they cannot undo the damage man does to himself and will always be “worn” down by those who “come wearily down from the highway in the evening to jungle-up near water.” As peaceful and calm a place as the Salinas River is, the people it invites only use it up the same they are used and abused throughout the story. In response to: http://gazette.com/pointcounterpoint-marijuana-legalization-amendment/article/144943
Dear Attorney General Suthers, I recently read “Legalization Will Harm us,” your powerful argument against legalisation of recreational marijuana for the state of Colorado. You argued that marijuana use could increase crime, conflict with federal laws, change the workplace and schools, and pose a major risk to public safety. You craft an impressive argument as you implore voters to reject the proposition. However, I believe that recreational marijuana use could do a lot more good for Colorado than harm and that a few of your arguments don’t hold up to a closer evaluation. You argue that recreational marijuana would turn Colorado into the “top distribution hub in the country” and increase the presence of organized crime and drug cartels. While this is a distinct possibility, isn’t it also possible that legalization could take the distribution out of the cartels’ hands and into the hands of government-regulated growers and dealers? This could create a safer product for the millions of U.S. citizens who smoke marijuana. Plus, it could reduce the amount of people locked up in our country for petty drug crimes, thereby reducing crime and taking strain off of the police force. In addition, the lack of a residency requirement could mean that “out-of-state dealers and users could buy … and use anywhere else,” as you say in your article but that doesn’t have to be negative. This could mean people who don’t have access to medical marijuana from nearby states could spend a weekend in your state, which is already a tourist destination, and infuse the local economy with their spending. Remember, they won’t just be coming to purchase marijuana. They will stay in hotels and shop at Colorado businesses. You might think twice before assuming that “Colorado doesn’t want that kind of tourist.” Though I disagree with your claim that legalization will increase crime and bring the wrong types of people to Colorado, I agree with your opinion that it would put your state in conflict with the federal law. You’re right when you claim that Colorado’s plan “wouldn’t really ‘legalize’ marijuana” and could be enforced “aggressively” by federal prosecutors. Still, Colorado has a unique opportunity to be the standard bearer for a wide scale decriminalization of marijuana. Many major changes in our country, even as recently as the legalization of gay marriage, started with a few states choosing to challenge federal law. You could be at the start of a similar snowball effect in terms of marijuana legislation. Finally, you give some very convincing research that marijuana could be a safety concern, including the statement that “10 percent of Colorado’s traffic fatalities are due to marijuana-impaired drivers.” However, it is unfair for you to tell voters that it is accepted scientific fact that “Marijuana affects perception, coordination and reaction time - just as alcohol does” because that statement involves cherry picked data that supports your argument. In fact, the National Institute of Drug Abuse says that we cannot make definitive claims about marijuana’s impact on the brain because there are often other factors at play for the average marijuana user (most notably other drugs) Since the jury is still out, you cannot just assume it’s accepted fact. I find it quite interesting that you choose to compare marijuana to alcohol - which is legal for adult consumption and a leading cause of traffic-related deaths. Why should we treat marijuana differently? I don’t think any advocates for legal marijuana would ask for it to be exempt from laws that govern impaired driving. Finally, while I appreciate that you mention teachers, business leaders, police, and other members of your community who agree with you, the fact that you don’t mention them by name makes me a little suspicious. I’m sure there are members of all of those communities who support the proposition, too. Without support from a teacher’s or law enforcement union or governing body, I’m less likely to believe you. I’m also not sure I accept that medical marijuana is the only cause for the increase “suspensions … expulsions … referrals” that you mention. You could be assuming a false cause - just because something happened after another event does not mean it was caused by that event. It’s clear you’re passionate about the effects marijuana will have on your community, but I think you need to remember that you represent people who currently smoke marijuana. Their opinions are just as valid, and it’s possible that they are on the right side of history. Perhaps, instead of continuing to criminalize something they enjoy, we should see what happens when we give them the freedom to decide? Sincerely, Michael Reppenhagen When I wore it, the color of the sky lined my body. However, the itchy fabric that chipped and sagged more with each wear certainly wasn’t as comforting as a cloud. Neither were the disses and jeers my friends lob at me whenever I wore it. In spite of all of that, I wouldn’t trade my old Barry Sanders jersey, or the lessons it taught me, for the world.
My first word was “Lions.” Well, it was actually “Yions,” but you can forgive a 2-year-old for errors in pronunciation. If that doesn’t tell you how much The Detroit Lions meant to me as a kid, perhaps my undying love for Barry Sanders will. When the electrifying running back I watched every Sunday shocked the world and retired, I cried for four days. I practically gave up the sport altogether. Barry was a part of my identity. His short stature and ability to make men twice his size look like chumps was inspiring to me, a young man who had always been the shortest in his class. So, you can imagine the overwhelming sense of joy I felt when I unwrapped my gifts one Christmas and saw that bright, sky blue “20” staring up at me. It didn’t even matter that my parents got the thing at the local flea market, the Foster’s Home for Bootleg Jerseys. While its mismashed stitching and crooked, iron-on letters gave that away, I was at least lucky enough that the sweatshop laborers spelled “Sanders” correctly. It also didn’t matter that the jersey was an adult large and came down to my 8-year-old knees. I was just elated that I got to look and feel the part of a real football fan, like the rest of my family. In addition, it meant a lot that my parents - who usually saddled me with hand-me-downs with instantly dated catchphrases from cancelled T.V. shows from before I was even born - went through the trouble of buying me the rag. Unfortunately, that sentiment was lost on my elementary school classmates. If you haven’t gotten the memo, sending your child to school in a jersey that fits him like a sundress is usually frowned upon by the average 5th grader. This is doubly true when your child decides he’s going to wear that sundress as often as possible. Though my prior wardrobe wasn’t doing me any favors, this seemed to seal my fate as a “smelly loser” and a “hopeless dweeb.” It boiled over one day when I crossed Ryan Johnson for the last time. Ryan seemed to follow me from school to school during elementary school like a shadow, tormenting me at all three of the elementary schools I attended. (Those hand-me-downs weren’t given to me because my parents though they were “bodacious” as one of them said in different shades of neon, but because we were too poor to afford much else and had to bounce around from slummy apartment to slummy apartment.) Now, he was here to drive the point home that my jersey, no matter how much I thought it made me one of the guys, was nowhere near as cool as his authentic, hand-stitched Brett Favre jersey. Unwisely, I was inspired by the brave, bold 20 (which at this point had all but completely chipped off due to repeated washings) to take on the kid who was half my size, just like Barry would. I lunged at him from across the room, somehow not tripping over the seam of the jersey which threatened to upend me every time I ran. I even got a few got shots in thanks to the element of surprise. Though the jersey didn’t punish me for my bravery, Ryan had no problem doing it himself. He grabbed me by the blanket that was barely hanging onto my body and flung me across the room, yanking the jersey clean off of my body in the process. Luckily, a teacher stepped in before he could finish the job. When we first got back from school, Ryan and his buddies seemed less willing to talk smack about me, and it wasn’t just because I wasn’t allowed to wear the torn jersey any more (Thanks Mom and Dad, for finally stepping in.) Somehow, they and many of my classmates suddenly had respect me for me! While part of my adult self knows it’s because even the toughest dudes don’t really want to have to go through the trouble of flinging around a gnat who isn’t afraid to jump on them to prove a point. But, I secretly want to believe it was because they respected my bravery and my willingness to keep wearing the jersey in spite of all of their attacks. Even if they didn’t, the jersey taught me to respect myself more. Since then, I’ve always sort of relished being an outsider and enjoying the things I enjoy, no matter how silly people find them. I think, if it wasn’t for the jersey, I’d be much more of a follower, rather than the leader I’ve become. |
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