Just Kidding Man, This is The Last Blog!

In the book, "The devil in the White City", by Erik Larson, he thoroughly descibes the process of building the World Fair, and the fair itself, that took place in Chicago. He makes a point of letting readers know that this fair isn't just any regular fair, it's an event that changed America's cultural aspects and crative thought process. The World Fair opened in Chicago in the year of 1893 and was expected to compete and eventually out do the World Fair that was previously put on in Paris. The construction of the fair was extremely time consuming and rushed in an attempt to create this wonderful masterpiece, but it was a job well done and it should be noted that this even impacted and changed America. Each exhibit had something unique and exciting about itm which was Chicago's way of toping the Eiffel tower, not just having one amazing structure, but having equally exciting parts of the fair. Other nations from around the world would set up their own exhibits selling food, clothes, and other momorabelia that represented their culture and country. Also, different businesses and groups participated in the fair, promoting their sales and beliefs or causes. During the World Fair, Americans, who traveled from all over the United States were able to see and learn a lot based off of all the culture they'd been surrounded by. They wereexposed to the new inventions and science that had been discovered and opened their mind to a world of greatness. Going to the World Fair could be compared to traveling around the world and being exposed to all the different cultures aswell as becoming aware of how our advanced our sciences were and how we were progressing as a country. America didn't only changed based off of experiences of fair goers, but by the new inventions and creations that inventors introduced at the event.Items such as the delicious Cracker Jacks, the sweet Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix, the flavorful Juicy Fruit Gum, and the fun and exciting Ferris Wheel were all new things introduced at the World Fair hosted in Chicago. When these selected items were introduced at the fair, America was changed instantly. Proof that these all changed this country is that all these items are still present and common amongst Americans today. These items were the first of their kind and alone revolutionized and influenced their industries. These industries boomed and experienced a lot of success once their ideas were exposed and approved of. There are several different flavors of Juicy Fruit gum these days, but there are also a ton of different brands of chewing gum. Americans were also extremely influenced by the celebrities of their time who attended the fair, such as: Thomas Edison, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Susan B. Anthony, Helen Keller, and Mark Twain, who all made it clear how important this fair was by attending. People assumed that since these people were attending the fair that this event must be huge and worth the travel to make an appearance. All of these inventions and people brought the public to the fair and in the end, the Chicago Fair had greatly changed America.

 

The last Blog :)

     The World Fair was created to celebrate the 400 year anniversary of when Columbus discovered America. For Chicago, however, it was much bigger, it was a chance for them to prove what they could do and how much they were worth, and how they could contribute to their country. They wanted to redeem themselves and prove that the city may have been destroyed by the Chicago Fire, but the people, dedication, and heart still remained.     
      Three fast, and busy years went by and the end product was The White City, the vision of the twentieth century. The fair provided guests a chance to see new inventions that nobody had ever dreamed of. They brought in inventions as a way to top the Eiffel Tower in Paris because they needed a way to compete with it without building a tower that tops Eiffel because that would take little creative thinking.
     The Fair brought in a new way for people to preceive cities. Most would picture dirty streets, graffiti, fog, and they'd imagine police sirens going off in every directions. However, after the fair and seeing how Chicago was changed from the fair and all the new buildings, they saw how beautiful cities can be if changed and were looked after. Cities were now thought of as "A commonplace to new ideas of architectual beauty and nobility." Most buildings and structures all had something unique about them that provided more diversity to the city, which would then appeal to a more diverse population. Chicagoans took pride in the magnificent fair, it was an outstanding accomplishment that drew in 26 million visitors. The fair made it obvious that America was truely a competitor in the world in multiple ways, now including art. Not only did it speak to the world, but it spoke to the country expressing that Chicago is right up there with New York. It meant a lot to the City of Chicago being able to pull off an event this large. The fair demonstrated how strong and powerful Chicago and America both are. The fair may have seemed rushed when it came to the construction and such, but it came to America at a perfect time in a way. it provided Ameicans with work when it was wel needed, and it also proved determination. When the fair seemed impossible, Chicago refused to give up, they kept on keeping on. The world fair had multiple purposes, one was to top the World Fair that had been held in Paris, this showed competitiveness and arrogance. Trying to be better than someone or something shows confidence and shows that they are willing to go to any extremity to achieve their goal. Arrogance resides in any real human, it gives us confidence and lets us dream big. It helps us believe in ourselves, makes us want to excell at what we are good at and improve our strengths and weaknesses. Witht he help of arrogance, the White city was able to be created in such a short time period, but still of good quality and quantity. The cost of the fair was enourmous, however the constructors felt perfectly fine spending this much money because in the end, they knew it would be perfect, although the economy at the time wasn't doing well.
     Not all huge events contribute a hidden dark parallel. The White City wasn't why a serial killer started his acts of killing, it just made it easier for him to get away with it all. Without the fair, holmes would have found a way to kill, the fair just helped him do it. Holmes took advantage of what the fair brought to the city, women, a lot of women, who he killed. But the fair had nothing to do with his need to kill.    
    
          

The Devil in the White City

     In The Devil in The White City by Erik Larson, he writes a note that says, "Evil is Imminent", displaying that two opposites exist within the same region. His purpose of this novel, however, is to tell a story about "murder, magic, and madness."
     Chicago has been voted the host of the majos fair celebrating the discovery of which is now the United States. Chicago is known as the White City. Larson describes the fair and how it is planned to look like, but he also describes the people that reside in this city. The two main characters contrast each other, Burnham and Holmes, polar opposites that show how diverse a place can really be. Burnham is an achitect that is in charge of putting together and constructing the fair that has the goal in mind of topping the fair in Paris, but Holmes is a manufacturer  of dark and depressing sadness. Larson subtley includes hints withing his text that provide evidence that Holmes does not have the best intentions in mind.    
    While reading through the book, it's clear that these two men are complete opposites. H.H. Holmes, a handsome sociopath trained in medicine, causes people to be suspicious when reading about his characters based on his actions and just himself in general because his real name, Herman Webster Mudgett isn't used at first in the book. He is a traveling man, he never sttled town, he moved from place to place, kept secrets from his wife, and never keeping a steady job and always looking for something new. He is not the type of man "engaging the impossible" like Burnham is.
     Burnham is the kind of that that strives for success and happiness. He is a quiet and nice man who takes on the challenge of the World Fair with his partner Root. With the help of other accomplished professionals, they are determined to make this fair bigger and better than the one that just recently came to a close in Paris. They set out to work hard and make this an experience of a life time for people who traveled all across the country or even the globe to attend this fair in the "White City"
     Each man had their own goals for the city, their own team, and their own schedule. Burnham wanted to give the White City a new reputation that would rank them as one of the top cities in the world and prove to New York that they were just as good. But, Holmes was a killer, he wanted to bring out the dark side of the city, making it hell on earth.
     As different as these two men were, they were similar in some ways. They both watched over every step made my their team, workers and all, making sure there was nothing but perfection being accomplished. They had their visions set and were not willing to settle for anything less. The book displays how close in relation good and evil can come. When looking at Holmes and Burnham, they're similar in appearance. Both handsome blue eyes men, younger in age, but it was what was going on in their minds that really mattered. One had a love for creating and the other had a habbit of destroying life.

Satire (Extra Credit)

  In contemporary society there are many forms of satire that exist, mostly covering media coverage and few other forms involving politics and issues worldwide. Satire is a form of comedy that's not used commonly amongst writers due to the fact that it is extremely difficult to attack in the sense that not always will a writer succeed at using satire correctly.
     Satire can be seen daily while watching television. Shows such as TMZ, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, are all examples of satire. TMZ is a show about a poparazzi headquarters and they poke fun at celebrities that are in the news daily just to show how much of a joke that celebrity really is. Take Charlie Sheen for instance, he has been on that show multiple times in the past two weeks with his horrific interview and other stupid and idiotic things he has pulled since then. They take the stupid things he says and laugh at them or make him seem even more stupid.
     The Daily Show and the Colbert Report are two very similar shows. They talk about politics and what all is going on the in world today. They discuss idiotic issues that our country as well as other nations believe to be extremely important when in reality, they are minor issues compared to everything else going on in the world. Their sense of humor is similar, it could be described as dry, sarcastic, or satirical. On air, they take light of the issues that need to be resolved not to be offensive, just to provide some comedic relief when tension rises. I like watching this show because they always make fun of Sarah Palin and they used to always make fun of George Bush, not like it’s hard to do either of those. I just love how they recognized how idiotic both politicians were and how stupid they sounded when they spoke. They made fun of the fact that Sarah Palin’s daughter became pregnant by the age of 16, is that really what we want to look up to as a nation? I highly doubt it.
     Another form of satire on television is a show called Tosh.0, hosted by Daniel Tosh. Daniel Tosh takes videos posted online that have become famous worldwide and reviews them on his show. He often will talk about his video and then make his own, similar to it, but making it seem even more ridiculous. He talks about just how stupid people can be and he embraces the humor in everything and shares it with other people. Many people would not appreciate his sense of humor because if taken the wrong way it could be extremely offensive to the public. It's not a show meant to be taken seriously so that people become offended. It's simply just trying to express how stupid some things seem to people. Tosh.0 is one of my favorite shows simply because his sense of humor is so sarcastic and I find it hilarious. Which if used correctly, satire can be immensely humorous, but often satire is used incorrectly and it’s hard to understand. Especially in writing because you can’t exactly define what tone you’re using, you have to let the reader decide what they think your tone is. It’s easy for Daniel Tosh to use satire because he is the host of a show, so his use of satire is verbal. Based off of body language and facial expressions, it’s a lot easier for him to show his use of satire.

     A show that is not all that popular that is shown on Cartoon Network called Total Drama Island is, in my opinion, a form of Satire. It is a cartoon version of the show Survivor. However because it’s animated there is no way it is as realistic and intense like the show survivor. Total Drama Island makes fun of survivor in the sense that they have tribal counsel and they eliminate a player every week. They have challenges just like survivor. Only when it comes to the challenge part, you really notice the satirical side of the show because they are immensely outrageous and improbable in any sense. It’s extremely comedic because they include all the types of people that appear on the show Survivor. There’s always the villain, the angel, the goof ball, the dumb good looking one, a fat kid,  the bitch, a perfect princess type girl, and of course a dumb blonde. All of them act just like the people on the show and it’s funny because it so obviously makes fun of the shows that are similar to survivor where people get votes off every week.

                Satire appears in the news paper The Onion on a regular basis, they include articles making fun of everything. Every article you read in the Onion should not be taken seriously in any way. The reading we read in class on Wednesday was an excellent example of everything you would find while reading an issue of The Onion. The whole story about how impressive the MagnaSoles is exactly what The Onion publishes. They make fun of just about anything and they use satire perfectly and correctly.

Let's Eat Babies.

In Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”, he uses his satirical writing style to discuss the issue in his home country of Ireland in the early 1700s of famine, poverty, and too many people. His audience is mainly the people of Ireland, but mostly the government that is not oblivious to the issue, but choosing not to oblige the problem. He proposes many different resolutions in his writing, trying to persuade the government to make a call to action to help solve the problem of starvation and help reduce the oversized population of the homeless. Nobody seems to be trying to help the problem in Ireland, so in a sarcastic and satirical tone, Swift writes an essay, trying to get people to realize something needs to be fixed. In his essay he proposes that in order to reduce the population, people should start to eat their babies ranging from one to two years old. The proposal is absurd and disturbing, but it’s just drastic enough to catch the attention of the government and might actually make them do something about the situation. Swift makes this proposal because even though it is wrong on many levels to eat a baby, the child would provide food for those who are hungry and also limit the number of mouths that will later on become hungry and want to be fed.

     In “A Modest Proposal” Swift is able to somehow make cannibalism completely normal. It made me almost scared by the end of the essay because I started to think that eating babies would actually be a reasonable solution for Ireland’s problem.     He states that from a source he heard that "a young healthy child well nursed, at a year old, [is] a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled" he says this to let readers know that if Ireland did happen to begin to eat children, they would even taste good. So that’s always a plus, right? He then goes to explain that babies will feel multiple people, so they’d be getting many meals out of one child, so it would be worth it. "a child will make two dishes at an entertainment for friends, and when the family dines alone... [it] will be very good on the fourth day." It seems perfectly acceptable. Babies would also serve as entertainment during dinner parties, they may even be considered as a delicacy. He also gives the remains of the baby a purpose. He explains that the babies skin could be used to make "make admirable gloves for ladies, and summer boots for fine gentlemen." So, baby skin would become a fashion statement.

    

     His proposal will benefit the “breeders” too, they’d be paid eight shillings per child they sell to be eaten and will be reimbursed for the money they spent to make the child plump and juicy and ready to be eaten. Swift actually has the balls to say that Ireland’s stock will increase by fifty thousand shillings per annum due to the marketing of baby meat and gain the “profit of a new dish.” The new food would draw people to taverns and restaurants and cooks would be able to experiment around with the “baby meat” and make it more interesting and taste better. He also wrote about how domestic violence would be reduced by a sufficient number because men would not want to beat their wives because of the risk of damaging the baby, who in a man’s eye is worth money and needs to be healthy so people will buy it.

     Swift goes into detail about why society wouldn’t be able to eat older kids such as teenagers. Boys wouldn’t be good to eat because as they grow they become lean and leather like. Even though females could potentially make a nice meal, they need to be saved for breeding.

     Swift uses fake sources to give him credibility. He refers to well trusted people from all these different places to make his argument seem more sane. He never actually states the name of the people that agree with his proposal. Also, he might just want readers to think that the names of his sources are left out because those selected few that agreed with him don’t want their names to be associated with this touchy subject of “eating babies.” Swift’s final paragraph is his counter argument which actually, in a way, is his real argument. He proposes solutions to the famine and the oversized population of Ireland. As weird as Swift’s essay is, it catches the attention of people and can’t be forgotten or ignored.

The Sun Also Rises

     Romero is introduced in "The Sun Also Rises" nearly halway through the book. The text describes Pedro Romero as "dignified", they also state that he is "a real one". Romero seems to be put on a pedestal and he is looked at as an amazing person, one with, "greace under pressure". Romero took on almost an angelic role in the story, it seemed as if nothing he did could be considered wrong in the slightest. However, most people in the book would agree that Pedro "[Would] never be frightened." A hero is, "

a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities. " Romero demonstrated all the qualities a hero exhibits while in the ring bull fighting.

     As an author, Hemingway typically describes heroism in a masculine way. However, in this novel, he takes rugged bull and paints a romantic image of it. The hero of the story, Romero, is unexpected simply because he achieved greatness when not many people believed in him only because he was a newer addition to the sport of bull fighting, however in the end people weren't surprised at what he had done, they actually were amazed they didn't see his potential earlier.

     In an appealing view to women, Romero has everything a girl could want. He was a well rounded man, many girls would describe him as a "prince charming" type of guy, who also are often considered to be heroes. This type of hero was what made Brett fall for him. He had many of the qualities of the three men Brett had in the palm of her hand. He was a tough guy like Cohn, he had culture like Michael. Although Jake had great qualities, he lacked one thing that was very important to Brett, sexuality. Romero had that. Brett saw Romero as her "knight in shining armor".

     Romero proves his heroic quality of facing obstacles head-on when he keeps getting told that what he has with Brett wont last simply because of her past relationships with other men. Instead of having his feelings for her be swayed by the words of others, he deal with it head on and decides to experience it for himself. He is a strong and bold man who is willing to do whatever it is he wants even at his own expence.

    Like modern day heroes, Romero confronts death often in his profession. He faces fear everytime he goes out to do what he loves to do, but he faces fear with the curage and strength of a true hero. Romero never loses his self-control, not even around Brett who often makes men go crazy when she walks in the room. When compared to the other men in the book, who are also older than Romero, he seems to be the mature one. The other men are getting in fights and having stupid little arguments over a girl, everything they do is acting out of jealousy.    

     Modern day heroes are very much like romero in the sense that they are looked up to by nearly everyone, even people older than them. Romero was only 19 years old and he had people that were quite a few years older than him admiring his work. The aficionados that watched him adored him for his graceful skill working the bull. This is just like in contemporary society, children look up to famous athletes who have achieved greatness and who have many accomplishments to claim, aswell as actors, actresses, singers, any type of career for that matter.

     Romero was a hero in many ways, people looked up to him for all his success in bullfighting, but also he was a hero in the sense that he gave people insight on a different style of life. He had major influence on people and he was a respectable, pure, innocent, brave, strong man. People wanted to be like him, which was a great thing.

Blog # 1 Turgenev!! :)

     While reading the text, it was obvious that Turgenev believe Capital punishment was made out to be overly dramatic and wrong on numerous levels. He shows his readers his opinion by describing the event of Tropmann's execution in full detail. Turgenev had excepted the invitation to the execution under false pretences, he didnn't know what he was in for and he only wanted to show people that he wasn't a coward. When he is at the event, the entire time all he feels is remorse, even though the man being executed is a convited murderer. Throughout the piece, Turgenev is amazed at how much entirtainment the community is getting from the whole process of the execution. The entire time leading up to the actual execution feels like years to Turgenev, he feels ansy and doesn't quite know what to do with himself. He is sickened as he witnesses his entire town seeking some type of joy on the behalf of someone's death. He doesn't understand why they are making it a celebration.

     Turgenev's thesis is, “As a punishment of myself-and as a lesson to others-I should now like to tell everything I saw, I intend to revive in my memory all the painful impressions of that night. It will not be only the reader’s curiosity that will be satisfied: he may derive some benefit from my story. ”.  The whole reason why Turgenev wrote this piece is to show readers how emotional this experience was for him and how shocked he was when he noticed others weren't as emotionally moved by the event. He does however acknowledge that there is another opinion out there on this issue but he chose not to write about it because capital punishment is such a huge problem amongst society that he would not be able to cover it all, also he wishes not to argue about it in this piece of writing.  The way Turgenev writes this almost gives the readers the same experience he had while at the execution and that is what he was attempting to do. He would rather have his readers be spared the experience because it's not needed, you get nothing from attending an event such as Troppman's execution. Unless you want to be desturbed emotionally or recieve some sort of pleasure from watching a man be decapitated.
     At the end of the essay, Turgenov asks his readers, "capital punishment itself -- could it possibly be justified?" When he says this it shows readers that he is really against public execution because he is asking is it can be justified, which tells us that he is unaware of if it really can be. So, in his position he doesn't see how it would be justified at all.
     I think that most people would disagree and they would say that it is justified because they would give the argument that what he did to other should be done to him. However, many people would argue that Tropmann deserved to die, but the people saying this probably have never witnessed a beheading. In order to have an opinion on the subject, I think people need to actually experience someone going through it. It's a harsh issue that is difficult to justify, but everyone will have their own opinion in the end.