MoL: Invisible Children article #2

 October 7 2005 Profile: Joseph Kony- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4320858.stm

The BBC covered this article specifically about Joseph Kony and his life somewhat from his childhood up until his leadership in the LRA in a matter of two pages. It was a more informational based article bringing in facts that the public may not have known about Kony. Did you know that he played football? Or that he was a "brilliant dancer?" Kony wanted all of the power he could get and took on anything and everything he could. The article expressed, "He had created an aura of fear and mysticism around himself and his rebels follow strict rules and rituals." Apparently if his soldiers didn't make the sign of the cross before they went to fight, they were killed immediately with no negotiation. This article makes Joseph Kony out to be something that he truly is- a monster.

yours truly,
Amy

MoL: Invisible Children article #1

 December 15 2005 The 'Invisible Children' of northern Uganda- http://silverchips.mbhs.edu/story/6012

This article tells a basic story of what Invisible Children is as an organization, who Joseph Kony and  the LRA are and what the community can do to help with the organization. I liked how the article was structured by giving detailed information from the documentary. It really set the mood in the beginning of the article. Then the article talked about what an AP world history class was doing to help Invisible children so the reader, especially coming from someone who is a teenager, could relate and feel as they too should donate and help raise awareness to Invisible Children ourselves. The article used striking statistics that stood out such as 90 percent of the LRA's troops are now made up of children, and 77 percent of child abductees had seen someone murdered that alarm the reader and really make an anyone feel at urge to get involved. The reader was finally left with one inspirational quote from the movie, "'These innocent children are Invisible: because they roam distant battlefields away from public scrutiny, because no records are kept of their numbers or age, because their own armies deny they exist. Let's make them visible."

yours truly,
Amy

A Long Way Gone #2

The second section of the reading in A Long Way Gone also moved at a fast pace. There were constantly people that they boys were running from and it seemed as if there were unable to trust anyone. This was hard to read given that in America when a child is in need there are organizations and people who volunteer their time to help make sure these children are safe and makes sure they stay on the right track. Unfortunately in Sierra Leone society works a little differently. There were times when the boys came across villages and the villagers would blatantly ignore them until they left the next morning. There were also times when the boys would come to a village and there would be people ready and willing to help. On their journey they came across a shack on the beach where a man maybe around the age of 20 (who stayed unnamed for safety reasons) helped them with their injuries, hunger, and thirst. The boys were ever so thankful of the man but as they were about to leave they were informed that the Chief of their village had been informed of their staying there and was very unhappy about it. Although the Chief had admitted it was a misunderstanding and the boys had been causing no harm,  the Chief still publicly humiliated the boys by having them sit naked in front of the community and then dance and sing to their mix tape of rap music, and as a result they were forced to leave the village.

One of the boys that is with the group, Saidu, dies in this section. It is a very emotional few pages that is foreshadowed by dogs barking all through the night as if they knew something in the village was wrong. Ishmael tells us that the night Saidu dies, a part of himself dies as well.

At this point safety, family, peace, happiness, and even hope seem so far fetched for the boys. Everything the boys do is a struggle and they always try to think of the happy memories they used to have but those happy memories keep getting father and farther away- harder and harder to retrieve.

yours truly,
Amy

A Long Way Gone #1

Section one of A Long Way Gone really started the book at a faster pace than I had presumed it would. Taking place in Sierra Leone in a town called Mogbwemo main character, and biographer, Ishmael Beah and his brothers and a few of his friends had left home to escape from the horrific war that was coming right towards them. A quote that stood out to me early in the text that really summed up how Beah truly felt in the state he was currently in was, "These days I live in three worlds: my dreams, and the experiences of my new life, which trigger memories from the past." (Beah 20). Beah had known that what horrific things he was experiencing in his dreams weren't real, although they could probably become real. He also knew that he would not experience the happiness that he had in the past for quite a long time into the future.
I'm looking forward to reading more into this book. I haven't delved deep into into the text yet so there isn't a whole lot to base an opinion on but I can already say that I can tell it will be a tear jerker of a book. With talking to a few people who have read it they have said it is a must read and I will be happy I chose this book for the free reading assignment this semester and I am looking forward to my next four blog posts!

truly,
Amy Robinson

Race in America

Reading some of the articles about race that is currently in America really aren't surprising after learning what we have these past few weeks. A few articles in particular stood out to me most though because of their shocking values. One was about the lack of people who want or would appreciate their churches to be integrated for Sunday morning mass. In the opinion of the congregants, the religion (however the same) is practiced entirely differently. In African American culture a Christian service is lively with gospel and fun and a huge sense a community is felt among everyone. In European American culture a service is a lot more calm with traditional prayer. In Hispanic or Hispanic American culture a Christian service isn't even recited in english-- oddly enough, I practice Judaism and have been to one. But some people may not feel comfortable integrating with  how other cultures practice their religion. These people shouldn't feel forced to practice their religion in another way than they do- if it is a-traditional to them and they don't like to. The other article that stood out to me was significantly shorter but caught my attention none-the-less. The article was solely about whites becoming a minority within the next 50 years in the United States. Although this article is statistically backed up, I still think it lacks full credibility. I can not foresee America being majorly made up by African Americans and Hispanics judging by the amount of them there are today. How will there be such a drastic increase in such a short amount of time? It is not that I doubt the credibility or the potential of African Americans or Hispanics I just don't thin they will be able to immigrate and reproduce at such a drastic rate that they will become a majority in America.

Invisible Children Bracelet

Hey guys!

If you read my invisible children post and were wondering what bracelets I was talking about, this is the link:

http://store.invisiblechildren.com/bracelets

enjoy!

Hidden Bias

It came to no surprise to me that I had a slight prejudice towards European Americans during the simulation. However, I think that the simulation almost makes you have a bias. It directs your attention to good words and then European Americans and then bad words followed by African Americans. Then it switches. I do not quite fully believe that it was my bias towards African Americans that was stopping me from correlating them with good words or it was because I had just been used to seeing a good word and responding by typing with my right finger.
This is what Harvard University says about prejudice, "Prejudices are often accompanied by ignorance, fear or hatred. Prejudices are formed by a complex psychological process that begins with attachment to a close circle of acquaintances or an "in-group" such as a family. Prejudice is often aimed at "out-groups."  
This being the case, I agree with wheat they said. I am ignorant to African American culture and that sometimes does make me fear what I should not fear. I do not hate African Americans, I also do not have an extreme prejudice against them. I feel bad for having any prejudice against them but how can I be blamed? I live in a community where we can count how many African American students there are in our high school on our hand and we do not veer too far out of our little bubble when it comes to exploring the world on the weekends. We are completely "attached to a circle of acquaintances" and although there are activities we can do to negate that prejudice and stereotypical behavior we hold, we were never taught to- so why should we?
Deerfield is a great community where youth and teens are encouraged to strive and are pushed to succeed in the fields of math, science, english, art, journalism, football, track, and many, many more. One thing we were never pushed to do is integrate ourselves. We have never had to force ourselves or be forced to be around anyone we didn't want to be around. As time elapses, Deerfield is slowly starting to change that ugly pattern, however I fear (and I really hope it does NOT happen) that once there becomes too high of a percentage... well you can figure out the rest.