Blog #9

Jennifer Hudson is offering a $100,000 reward for her missing nephew, Julian King. He was reported missing after Jennifer’s mother and brother were found dead in their south Chicago home. The authorities have taken someone into custody but will not release who they are. In the home where Jennifer’s mother and brother were found is the last place Julian was seen. He was wearing a striped brown shirt. On Jennifer’s myspace she has posted a comment asking anyone who knows anything about her nephew or her mother and brother’s death should contact the authorities as soon as possible. I think that this is horrible and I have no idea how someone could do this; shoot two people to death and kidnap another person, it’s just unbelievable. I can’t imagine how sad it must be for Jennifer’s family loosing 3 people at once to something so tragic. I hope that Julian is found and the person responsible will be held accountable.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/10/26/illinois.shootings.hudson/index.html

Civil Rights Heroes

Civil Rights Heroes

Rosa Parks

"Rosa Parks (Mother of Civil Rights)"

Video from "LearnMediaOfAmerica"

Rosa Parks Her simple act of protest galvanized America's civil rights revolution

By RITA DOVE

We know the story. One December evening, a woman left work and boarded a bus for home. She was tired; her feet ached. But this was Montgomery, Ala., in 1955, and as the bus became crowded, the woman, a black woman, was ordered to give up her seat to a white passenger. When she remained seated, that simple decision eventually led to the disintegration of institutionalized segregation in the South, ushering in a new era of the civil rights movement.
Monday, June 14, 1999How she sat there, the time right inside a place so wrong it was ready. — From Rosa, in On the Bus with Rosa Parks by Rita Dove

This, anyway, was the story I had heard from the time I was curious enough to eavesdrop on adult conversations. I was three years old when a white bus driver warned Rosa Parks, "Well, I'm going to have you arrested," and she replied, "You may go on and do so." As a child, I didn't understand how doing nothing had caused so much activity, but I recognized the template: David slaying the giant Goliath, or the boy who saved his village by sticking his finger in the dike. And perhaps it is precisely the lure of fairy-tale retribution that colors the lens we look back through. Parks was 42 years old when she refused to give up her seat. She has insisted that her feet were not aching; she was, by her own testimony, no more tired than usual. And she did not plan her fateful act: "I did not get on the bus to get arrested," she has said. "I got on the bus to go home."
Montgomery's segregation laws were complex: blacks were required to pay their fare to the driver, then get off and reboard through the back door. Sometimes the bus would drive off before the paid-up customers made it to the back entrance. If the white section was full and another white customer entered, blacks were required to give up their seats and move farther to the back; a black person was not even allowed to sit across the aisle from whites. These humiliations were compounded by the fact that two-thirds of the bus riders in Montgomery were black.


Parks was not the first to be detained for this offense. Eight months earlier, Claudette Colvin, 15, refused to give up her seat and was arrested. Black activists met with this girl to determine if she would make a good test case — as secretary of the local N.A.A.C.P., Parks attended the meeting — but it was decided that a more "upstanding" candidate was necessary to withstand the scrutiny of the courts and the press. And then in October, a young woman named Mary Louise Smith was arrested; N.A.A.C.P. leaders rejected her too as their vehicle, looking for someone more able to withstand media scrutiny. Smith paid the fine and was released.
Six weeks later, the time was ripe. The facts, rubbed shiny for retelling, are these: On Dec. 1, 1955, Mrs. Rosa Parks, seamstress for the Montgomery Fair department store, boarded the Cleveland Avenue bus. She took a seat in the fifth row — the first row of the "Colored Section." The driver was the same one who had put her off a bus 12 years earlier for refusing to get off and reboard through the back door. ("He was still mean-looking," she has said.) Did that make her stubborn? Or had her work in the N.A.A.C.P. sharpened her sensibilities so that she knew what to do — or more precisely, what not to do: Don't frown, don't struggle, don't shout, don't pay the fine?
At the news of the arrest, local civil rights leader E.D. Nixon exclaimed, "My God, look what segregation has put in my hands!" Parks was not only above moral reproach (securely married, reasonably employed) but possessed a quiet fortitude as well as political savvy — in short, she was the ideal plaintiff for a test case.
She was arrested on a Thursday; bail was posted by Clifford Durr, the white lawyer whose wife had employed Parks as a seamstress. That evening, after talking it over with her mother and husband, Rosa Parks agreed to challenge the constitutionality of Montgomery's segregation laws. During a midnight meeting of the Women's Political Council, 35,000 handbills were mimeographed for distribution to all black schools the next morning. The message was simple:
"We are...asking every Negro to stay off the buses Monday in protest of the arrest and trial... You can afford to stay out of school for one day. If you work, take a cab, or walk. But please, children and grown-ups, don't ride the bus at all on Monday. Please stay off the buses Monday."


Monday came. Rain threatened, yet the black population of Montgomery stayed off the buses, either walking or catching one of the black cabs stopping at every municipal bus stop for 10 cents per customer — standard bus fare. Meanwhile, Parks was scheduled to appear in court. As she made her way through the throngs at the courthouse, a demure figure in a long-sleeved black dress with white collar and cuffs, a trim black velvet hat, gray coat and white gloves, a girl in the crowd caught sight of her and cried out, "Oh, she's so sweet. They've messed with the wrong one now!"
Yes, indeed. The trial lasted 30 min., with the expected conviction and penalty. That afternoon, the Montgomery Improvement Association was formed. So as not to ruffle any local activists' feathers, the members elected as their president a relative newcomer to Montgomery, the young minister of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church: the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. That evening, addressing a crowd gathered at the Holt Street Baptist Church, King declared in that sonorous, ringing voice millions the world over would soon thrill to: "There comes a time that people get tired." When he was finished, Parks stood up so the audience could see her. She did not speak; there was no need to. Here I am, her silence said, among you.
And she has been with us ever sinceva persistent symbol of human dignity in the face of brutal authority. The famous U.P.I. photo (actually taken more than a year later, on Dec. 21, 1956, the day Montgomery's public transportation system was legally integrated) is a study of calm strength. She is looking out the bus window, her hands resting in the folds of her checked dress, while a white man sits, unperturbed, in the row behind her. That clear profile, the neat cloche and eyeglasses and sensible coat — she could have been my mother, anybody's favorite aunt.
History is often portrayed as a string of arias in a grand opera, all baritone intrigues and tenor heroics. Some of the most tumultuous events, however, have been provoked by serendipity — the assassination of an inconsequential archduke spawned World War I, a kicked-over lantern may have sparked the Great Chicago Fire. One cannot help wondering what role Martin Luther King Jr. would have played in the civil rights movement if the opportunity had not presented itself that first evening of the boycott — if Rosa Parks had chosen a row farther back from the outset, or if she had missed the bus altogether.
At the end of this millennium (and a particularly noisy century), it is the modesty of Rosa Parks' example that sustains us. It is no less than the belief in the power of the individual, that cornerstone of the American Dream, that she inspires, along with the hope that all of us — even the least of us — could be that brave, that serenely human, when crunch time comes.
Rita Dove, former U.S. poet laureate, won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry


http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=6722


(I couldn't copy it because of copy rights but I liked the poem so here is a link)

Martin Luther King Jr.

"I Have A Dream" Speech

Martin Luther King, Jr., (January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968) was born Michael Luther King, Jr., but later had his name changed to Martin. His grandfather began the family's long tenure as pastors of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, serving from 1914 to 1931; his father has served from then until the present, and from 1960 until his death Martin Luther acted as co-pastor. Martin Luther attended segregated public schools in Georgia, graduating from high school at the age of fifteen; he received the B. A. degree in 1948 from Morehouse College, a distinguished Negro institution of Atlanta from which both his father and grandfather had graduated. After three years of theological study at Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania where he was elected president of a predominantly white senior class, he was awarded the B.D. in 1951. With a fellowship won at Crozer, he enrolled in graduate studies at Boston University, completing his residence for the doctorate in 1953 and receiving the degree in 1955. In Boston he met and married Coretta Scott, a young woman of uncommon intellectual and artistic attainments. Two sons and two daughters were born into the family.In 1954, Martin Luther King accepted the pastorale of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Always a strong worker for civil rights for members of his race, King was, by this time, a member of the executive committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the leading organization of its kind in the nation. He was ready, then, early in December, 1955, to accept the leadership of the first great Negro nonviolent demonstration of contemporary times in the United States, the bus boycott described by Gunnar Jahn in his presentation speech in honor of the laureate. The boycott lasted 382 days. On December 21, 1956, after the Supreme Court of the United States had declared unconstitutional the laws requiring segregation on buses, Negroes and whites rode the buses as equals. During these days of boycott, King was arrested, his home was bombed, he was subjected to personal abuse, but at the same time he emerged as a Negro leader of the first rank.In 1957 he was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization formed to provide new leadership for the now burgeoning civil rights movement. The ideals for this organization he took from Christianity; its operational techniques from Gandhi. In the eleven-year period between 1957 and 1968, King traveled over six million miles and spoke over twenty-five hundred times, appearing wherever there was injustice, protest, and action; and meanwhile he wrote five books as well as numerous articles. In these years, he led a massive protest in Birmingham, Alabama, that caught the attention of the entire world, providing what he called a coalition of conscience. and inspiring his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail", a manifesto of the Negro revolution; he planned the drives in Alabama for the registration of Negroes as voters; he directed the peaceful march on Washington, D.C., of 250,000 people to whom he delivered his address, "l Have a Dream", he conferred with President John F. Kennedy and campaigned for President Lyndon B. Johnson; he was arrested upwards of twenty times and assaulted at least four times; he was awarded five honorary degrees; was named Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963; and became not only the symbolic leader of American blacks but also a world figure.At the age of thirty-five, Martin Luther King, Jr., was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize. When notified of his selection, he announced that he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the furtherance of the civil rights movement.On the evening of April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was to lead a protest march in sympathy with striking garbage workers of that city, he was assassinated.

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1964/king-bio.html

Conclusion: I think that Rosa Parks made a huge difference in our lives. So often we hear about violent acts to make people aware of issues in our society, I think that its great that Rosa Parks simple act of defiance was so effective without violence. Martin Luther King Jr's actions also were non-violent and also contributed to the Civil rights that we enjoy today.

Blog Post # 8

I recently heard that the Broadway shows Hair Spray and Spamalot were closing and I just read this article (http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/10/22/theater.january.closings.ap/index.html)about it. It is true, both are due to end in January 2009. Spamalot and Hairspray both were very popular shows just ending a tour. Hairspray is about the life in the 60's and some troubles with a TV station. The movie "Monty Python and The Holy Grail" is what Spamalot is based off of. Spamalot had 1,500 shows and Hairspray with 2,600 shows, who would think that they would end? I have seen both and loved their humor and was amazed with their singing. The message in Hairspray also was also so vivid through their acting, anyone could relate. Laughing is all you can do in Spamalot but yet it is coming to an end. In the article it implies that there isn't enough business during the non-holiday seasons to keep them up and running. There is new shows coming to take over. They have not been released yet but they will have prime places to perform, right by times square.

Twilight Appetite

Skipping the book again, I read another article about the upcoming movie Twilight. The Movie is due to come out November 21st and there is tons of online hype about it on the internet. In this article (http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/518842) Fans' appetites for Twilight insatiable it shares many different things going on about the movies expectation. There are many fans that are making websites supporting the movie and its two main characters Bella and Edward. People are making and selling their own merchandise for the movie and books. Also the soundtrack to the movie which comes out November 4th is already #5 on Amazons best selling list. The article mentions that the trailers on myspace(http://www.twilightthemovie.com/)and youtube(http://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialTwilightFilm) are topping topping the most viewed charts as well. The main thing the article is concerned with is that the latest and final trailer for the movie had 3.4 million views within two days which is more then the movie trailer for Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Cristal Skull. The fans are apparently "bloodthirsty",pun intended, for any information let out about anything involving the movie or even the series of books, which is now completed :(. I know I am one of the fans looking forward to this movie and hope that it keeps up to the reputation that it has.

Jonas Brothers :D

Not continuing in the book Sucks To Be Me. I read this article about my favorite band The Jonas Brothers on the MTV news room website. It was about how the Jonas Brothers have a really busy schedule from filming a TV show for Disney channel called J.O.N.A.S and making a music video for their latest single “Love Bug” and making a 3-D movie from their Burning Up tour, which I went to it was AMAZING!. I am so excited because the music video comes out on Sunday!!! Also it listed who they have collaborated with in the last year including Demi Lovato and Joe’s Ex Taylor Swift who will also be in the 3-D movie. The Jonas Brothers said that they would like to collaborate and write a song with Chris Brown which I think would be good but I don’t think that a lot of Chris Brown’s fans would like it because their sounds are so different.

Sucks To Be Me 2

Continuing in the book, Mina is faced with more distractions. She gets home from school to find one of the vampire council members at her house. Mind thinks that she looks like a cute grandma, but once she starts talking Mina thinks differently. She feels like the council member is intense like a wolf so behind her back calls her "Grandma Wolfington" or G.W. for short. While Grandma Wolfington is with her uncle Mortie discussing how hard it must be for Mina just finding out about her parents, Mina is trying to go along with everything because she has really known her whole life about the secret. Grandma Wolfington informs Mina that she will have to attend classes twice a week on everything to know about vampires to help her make her decision. Mina is convinced that she doesn't want to be a vampire until she gets to the class. In this class there is a guy, of course, who she thinks is very good looking named Aubrey. Mina is nervous to talk to Aubrey because another girl in the class, Raven, has "put a claim" on him already. Despite this Aubrey ends up asking Mina if she would like to go out to coffee before the next class and she is thrilled. The next day at school Mina sees another guy who was in the class and is shocked because she didn't even notice that there was anther person who went to her school in the class. This is where I left off so I am not sure what else happens.

Sucks To Be Me

I just started reading a new book called Sucks to Be Me by Kimberly Pauley. This book is about a teenage girl, Mina, whose parents are vampires. So far the book describes that she is not a vampire. Mina was named after the girl in the Dracula movies and books. She thinks this is a huge mistake by her parents because it is just like sticking a sign on her that says “My parents are vampires”. Serena, Mina’s best friend, was driving her to school right after she finds out that she has to make a huge decision; does she want to be a vampire or not. If that wasn’t hard enough she had chemistry test and the book they are reading in English class is Dracula. After Mina’s embarrassing English class (where her teacher, Ms. Tweeter, forced her to read Mina’s parts to the class) she runs into her crush Nathan in the hallway and freezes. Serena has to shake her out of her shock to help her realize that her classmate Tim had been making fun of her by saying “You vant to suck my blood?”(Kimberly Pauley, 11).

Twilight Article

I read an article in the Cosmo Girl magazine, by Lori Berger, about the upcoming movie Twilight that is based off my favorite series of books also titled Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. The article was interviewing the three main guys in the movie Edward Cullen, Emmet Cullen, and Jacob Black who are played by Robert Pattinson, Kellan Lutz, and Taylor Lautner. The questions that were asked pertained to how they were related to their characters and themselves. Kellan said, “Rob is definitely Edward. He is so complicated, poetic… I mean, you cannot help but like this guy!” (62) About how Robert is like Edward. I completely agree with this statement, I have read the books and have read some other articles about Robert and think that their personalities are the same. They are both mysterious and have accents that some girls would swoon over. This article was very interesting and I learned a lot about the boys personalities outside of their characters.

Cross My Heart and Hope To Spy (Character Letter)

Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy by: Ally Carter

Journal Entry #8,675,309

Agent J.J

Location: Gallagher Academy

Synopsis:

Today I followed Cammie into her interrogation of Mr. Solomon to see why he really was so close to her mother. Cammie is supposed to be one of the best Spy’s in Gallagher Academy but yet she hasn’t noticed me following her for the last 2 semesters of school. I have so much information about her sneaking out to see her ex-boyfriend Josh last year and this year with her feelings about Zach, one of the boys from Blackthorne Academy. After our P&E class and lunch all the girls and guys got to go into town to test how well we can pass a note without someone noticing. The only problem with this is that Cammies ex-boyfriend works at his dads store in town and is there during this test. Cammie had the note and was caught talking to Josh so Zach came to rescue and made Josh jealous and successfully got the note from Cammie.