Nuremburg Trials

I found that the movies turned out to be quite exciting by the end because previously, I had been uneducated of this topic. I can't recall learning of what happened to the Nazi leaders of the camps and such so I felt that this was a very enlightening movie that helped clarify what we read about in the class handouts this year. I loved Hermann Goering's character in this movie, not because of his personality, but because I loved the hate him. As we have been told, the actors portrayal of these people is fairly accurate. If that is that case, Goering was a smug, confident, jacka** (pardon my French), and I find myself hating him quite tremendously. Watching him in the movie made me want to get out of my seat to jump into the movie and give him a piece of my mind. I would have given him the same glare that the young lady had (whose name escapes me at the moment). I feel that his death also shows he was a coward. He claims that he was too prestigious to be hanged, but I think he was just to scared to be humiliated and hung in front of everyone to see and for pictures to capture. At least all the other criminals had the guts to face their fate. I also find it quite humerus that some people thought that their death would be inhumane, when in reality, they didn't give others a humane death either. They killed millions of people in some of the most inhumane ways possible, why should they deserve any better? Due to the classes reaction, I think that most people would feel this way too. In the end though, I think that justice was, in fact, served and most of the people got what they deserved, and for now that's all anyone can ask for.

Overall Self Reflection

As far as grades are concerned, I've done pretty good in this course. I've managed to achieve a grade in the mid to upper 90's which is better than I expected, considering I've never really been attracted to or done will in history. Maybe it's the outstanding teaching in this course (=D) or maybe it was my drive to be better than my brother and maintain a higher grade for bragging rights. No matter what it may be, I will not complain. Of course there is still room for improvement whether it be actually taking the time to get a good study session in (because 15 minutes with Pavlo at Starbucks and the last 5 minutes of lunch didn't seem to cut it sometimes =/), or not always relying on my smarter classmates to constantly check and correct my work in fear of getting a bad grade. Overall, I kind of surprised myself in that I feel that I actually learned some things here and there in every single chapter and that I was able to get a good grade in a history class. Though DBQ's were not by any means my favorite, they have definitely helped me as a writer. Since we were already given the history aspect of the DBQ, writing it was the challenge. At first they were VERY difficult for me to even organize. Now I could do one, not with ease, but at least without my heart rate racing and I am able to for clear thoughts. It has also helped to to be a little bit of a quick thinker with the information I am given which has recently proven to be a useful skill as I had to take my English placement exam for college. I was given a few paragraphs, just like the documents, and had to form an essay in 120 minutes with the information I was given and with somewhat of a background knowledge. At first I was very scared to take this course, but now that I look back on what I've learned and done, I have no regrets about taking this course.

Arab-Israeli Conflict

Until this unit, I had no idea of the conflict of what is presently Israel. Due to strong religious/ethnological beliefs a war has commenced over land that each side believes is theirs. The Israelis want it because they believe it is their homeland and basically were there first, while the Palestinians believe that it is their rightful land because once the Israelis left they took over and it is home to a few religious sites. So who is right? We have been discussing this dilemma in class and even we as a class could not come up with even a reasonable conclusion. No matter what someone could think up, someone else would find a flaw. If our APEH class couldn't even come up with anything simple, imagine what the leaders of the world, who are dealing with this issue, are arguing about. Not only is is a matter of ethnicity, but it is a matter of religion as well. As we have seen many times previously in this course, ethnicity and religion have sparked quite a few conflicts. Due to differences, yet again, people begin to argue and it snowballs into something just like this Arab-Israeli Conflict. Sadly, it is not so simple that one of these side can just move off to another chunk of land. We are at the point where nearly every inch of the world has been conquered and those without their own land cannot just go claim their own. This adds to the intensity of this conflict, on top of both sides having religious affairs withing this land their fighting over. What makes me slightly disappointed in the human race is that it appears that neither side seems like they want to sacrifice anything besides human lives at this point. With this I leave you with one last question, if no one is willing to compromise, how is this ever supposed to get solved then? The world may never know...

Connection Across Time- Global Environment

Our environment has become a major issue over the past few years. Everything seems to be "going green," whether its the water we drink, the clothes we buy, or the material we're using for our homes. Everything has become "eco-friendly." Some people may ask "But how did this all start." To answer that, we will have to take a trip back in time to the Industrial Revolution. First, however, a brief summary of what causes dangers to the global environment. Global warming and the greenhouse effect are both results of greenhouse gases. These greenhouses gases indirectly cause an increase in temperature, which in turn, is melting the worlds ice, increasing the water level, and receding the shorelines of the world. So how does all of this relate to the Industrial Revolution? If you take a moment to recall, the Industrial Revolution introduced the world to new inventions such as coal-powered steam engine, railways, combustion engines, etc. Unfortunately, at the time, the inventors of these tools knew nothing of their long term effects. The emissions of these technologies are what caused/is causing the greenhouse effect today. What once was a manufacturer's dream has now become an environmentalist's nightmare.

Class Discussion (5/4)- Human Rights

Growing up in a middle-class American family, one becomes sheltered from the idea that anything bad could happen to them. Thus it is an eyeopener to hear that people in parts of the world don't even receive the basic human rights that we would think is just natural for every person to have when born. For me, it is hard to believe that one human being would purposely attack another beings human rights, and strip them from the things that should be naturally theirs. Personally, I believe every human deserves first of all the right to live their own life. No one should be killed based on the way they look or their religion or anything else they believe in. Second, no one should be discriminated based on their beliefs. It is inevitable that different people are going to believe different things. That's just the way the world works and that's just how its meant to be. We were all created differently, and should not be hated against because of it.
I find it kind of pathetic that we as humans can't accept that we are different and get into wars because of it. It is quite sad that there needs to be a Declaration on Human Rights in order for them to be protected and there should be no need for the EU to have to promote human rights in other nations. Maybe it's just me and my modern thinking, but we are all human and that should be enough for us to all get along. We all don't have to agree with each others beliefs but we should be able to respect them as mature human beings. I find it childish that people are starting whole wars because some group of people are different than them. In the end though, these thoughts are just coming from the sheltered little girl, living in her middle-class American home, leaving her unable to understand why wars really start. In the end, the mature people of the world wouldn't start a war over differences, now would they???

Henri Cartier-Bresson

In earlier chapters, when we talk about art, we talk about paintings because camera were not practical for common art. In their earliest years, they were just used for portraits and pictures for newspapers. It was very uncommon for people to be running around with camera like the people of today, snapping a picture every 10 seconds. However, today, photography is a main staple in the art business and I felt it was only right to talk about photography as art in this more modern chapter. Photography has evolved into being a memory keeper, journalism documentation, and art itself. Photographers wait for that one moment to capture, and if they get it, they have accomplished what they need. One person who believed in the idea of capturing the right moment was Henri Cartier-Bresson.
“There is a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera. That is the moment the photographer is creative. Oop! The Moment! Once you miss it, it is gone forever.”- Cartier-Bresson
Cartier-Bresson is known as the father of modern photojournalism and found his influence in French Surrealism in that meanings lie beneath the surface of everyday life and through photography, he would capture it. He believed "the context of a gesture, a meeting or a setting in a photograph could convey great beauty or emotion" and from this he developed his own style of photography, "street photography," which still exists today.
(Quotes and info from: http://chriscctan.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/the-decisive-moment/)

M.C. Escher- Relativity

In all the buzz over modern, contemporary art, I think M.C. Escher gets over looked. People are so distracted trying to analyze and feel an artist's painting that they forget about having fun with art like M.C. Escher's. His work confuses yet interests the viewer with his play on perspective. In this sketch, we don't know what is up or down or where is the top of the stairs, and I love that he is able to do this. Many people don't realize the amount of mathematics it took Escher to accomplish these playfully complex sketches.
Personally I love that this sketch is so confusing because I can stare it it for hours just following the stairs and trying to make sense of anything of this drawing. Unlike other artists, I am captivated by his works, not because of their beauty, but rather that it seems more like a game. It is more fun in a sense that we don't have to stare at it wondering what the artist was thinking and feeling, and we get to try and figure out all the aspects of it like a puzzle. I also like that his work involves a lot of math, because generally, when we think of art, math is the farthest thing in our minds. Also, art minded people are usually not good at or interested in math due to the way our brains work (generally speaking of course). Escher's art brings a whole new sense and feeling into the viewer's mind that other artists can't bring out.

Andy Worhol- "Marilyn Monroe"

When I think of more current art, the first artist that comes to mind is Andy Warhol. He is known for helping to lead the way into the visual art movement and is probably most famously known for painting the Campbell's Soup can. A lot of his art shows a play on color, as seen in this work of Marilyn Monroe.
Just as the name suggests, visual art is art that are visual in nature. Basically, when the viewer looks at it, he/she is able to detect what it is/is about, as opposed to abstract art. Most, if not all, of Worhol's art is guided by this nature. What made Warhol stand out was his play on color. Naturally, a straightforward drawing of a can of soup would not appeal to society. It is Worhol's attention to detail and his unique use of panels of different colors that separated him from the rest of the visual artists. Also, most modern art plays on the ideals of abstract art and freedom of thought. Worhol's art is very straightforward. Due to its popularity, one can say that it is more appealing the the public as a whole.

"America held captive to utopian ideology" reaction

It was very eye opening for me to read this article because beforehand, I did not realize the economic superiority of China. Now that I think about it, it seems obvious that things would be this way since we are so used to seeing "Made in China" on almost everything we buy these days. If China is making everything we buy, of course they must be doing well (economically). Patrick Buchanan seemed to portray China as a well oiled machine in that it has dozens or nuclear power plants under construction, the Three Gorges Dam, and manages to have made deals with other countries. With that in mind, what has America been up to? In a country where we are told that we have all kinds of new technologies and such, why are we hiding in China's shadow? If America really has the means to build power plants like China, why aren't we? In a way I feel that we should mold our economy into that of China's since everyday we are reminded that our economy is struggling. Apparently China has trillions of dollars (some of which we have given them) that they can just lend away. If China has the ability to have a savings rate between a range of 35-50% why can't we? In the land where "anything is possible if you put your mind to it" we should be doing just that and making anything possible. Instead of living in this state of economic worry, we should play copy cat a little and adopt the economic ways of China.

Connection Across Time- Women of WWII

In this day and age, it is not common for a woman to be working in a factory or fighting alongside men in the military, but it had not always been that way. Although there have been women like Joan of Arc who have made military contributions, before World War II women did not get actively involved with the war effort. Once America got involved with WWII, millions of people (mostly men) were sent off for war, leaving many jobs empty back home. In order for America to stay strong with the war effort, these jobs plus more needed to be filled. With most of the men gone off to war, women were left to make their mark in the American workforce. Thus, 6 million women took wartime jobs in factories or filling in for men on farms. They kept the country working while the people that used to were gone, bringing the "Rosie the Riveter" idea to life. Also, over 200,000 women served the military while 3 million women volunteered with the Red Cross.
These days, despite dispute over inferiority to men, women play a very active role in the workforce, as well as in the military. They make up at least 20% of the United States military (215,243 women as of 2009 to give you an idea). Of that total, 34,796 women are officers, 178,428 are enlisted and 2,019 are enrolled in military academies. Also, as of 2009, 1.7 million women are military veterans. (http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/003897.html). Though it may seem like that the number of women in the military has not increased much since WWII, keep in mind that we are not in a World War, and it is now socially acceptable in American for women to join any part of the U.S. Military.