my lai massacre argumentative

soldiers/military officials not being punished for crimes

condoleeza

Conflict: People at that college did not want her to get her honorary degree because of her lies about the war.
main conflict: John Kerry's involvement and the Almong's being a democratic
hannity's: if Almond was a democrat and voted for John Kerry.  If
almond voted for Kerry that somehow makes him wrong about Condoleeza Rice. He blames John Kerry
Colme:  Why did Almond's quit his job.
Almond: Condoleeza Rice is a liar therefore she should not recieve any type of award and so he quit to punish her.

Citations

Works Cited

Oliver, Kendrick. "Coming to Terms with the Past: My Lai." History Today 56.2 (2006): 37-39. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 21 Mar. 2011.

Works Cited

Cookman, Claude. "An American Atrocity: The My Lai Massacre Concretized in a Victim's Face." Journal of American History 94.1 (2007): 154-162. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 21 Mar. 2011

 

Source Citation

Crosby, Ben G. "My Lai: where were the leaders? Had one strong leader stepped up, the atrocity that so stained America could have been averted." Vietnam Apr. 2009: 46+. Expanded Academic ASAP. Web. 21 Mar. 2011

 

Source Citation

Hymel, Kevin M. "A 1996 conference at Tulane University tried to sort out the U.S. Army's most notorious atrocity--the My Lai massacre." Vietnam Aug. 1999: 54. Expanded Academic ASAP. Web. 21 Mar. 2011.

Source Citation

Thompson, Hugh, and Lady Bird Johnson. "The Massacre at My Lai." Newsweek International 15 Mar. 1999: 61. Expanded Academic ASAP. Web. 21 Mar. 2011.

research paper theses

The Battle of My Lai: Vietnam War
1. Innocent Massacre
2. Why did the military try to cover up what had really happened there?
3.  Who took the blame?
4.  What were the main reasons for being there?

Possible thesis: The real happenings in the Battle of My Lai had been covered up for months preceeding the event which makes one wonder what there was to hide.

make 3 lists

 What Interests You?
History
Dictators
Heroes
Greek Mythology
Wars
China
Presidential Scandals
Animal Abuse
psychology
Spouse Abuse
OCD
Personal Hygiene

What are you good at?
Greek mythology
memorizing
softball
studying
Hair
nutritian
exercising
cooking

What subjects do you want to learn about?
Wars
Heros
Dictators
Whats in our food
pesticides
Genetics
prescribed drugs
effects of childhood abuse
paranoia
parallel universe

Wars: Vietnam
-Should we have been involved
-more involved: The My Lai Massacre
- should soldiers be tried in court?
-Is anyone to blame?
-What were the main reasons being there
-soldiers killed innocent people after knowledge of vietcong soldiers not being there
- when did they finally retreat?

Pop Quiz-"Fourth State of Matter"

1.  Biggest event was the shooting, because it changed the ladies hole view on life.  Her husband and her seemed to make up by him showing he cared and hugging her, even though they will probably only remain friends.  Then, she re-evaluates her decision on keeping the dog alive.  She knows the he is suffering so she wants to do the right thing and let the dog die.  In one sentence she had said something about how she was going through the doors to the rest of her life.
2.  Jo Ann Beard seemed very depressed at the beggining and in the middle of the essay.  She is upset about the dog and how her husband is always calling to reassure himself that he doesn't want to be with her.  At the end Jo Ann is in shock and almost acting like she is refreshed.  Almost like she wants to start over with a new outlook on life.
3.  I think the dog is important because it shows the value in life.  Jo Ann was upset about the dog getting to old age, which is a natural process for everything.  She valued the dog's life too much while her coworker's not enough.  She was shocked in the end to see people so close to her be taken away so fast.  The dog is symbolizing her to move on and see what is important in life and what you just need to let go of.

"Worst Day at a Job" prompt

My worst job is babysitting my three boy cousins.  I have always been good with children but, I swear, these are not children, these are little demons.  I had to watch them once while they were at my grandma's house because my grandma can't handle them.  When I first got there the boys shot me with their nerf guns, which was was fine to start off with.  It progressively got worse, though.  They started throwing my grandma's vases around and broke two of her glass ornaments.  Then, instead of eating their chicken nuggets, they used the nuggets in their sling shots they got for Christmas.  All this time my grandma had been working in the shed with her pigeons so I couldn't just run out there and get her because I was afraid the boys would get into even more trouble while I was gone.  All through the night the boys were kicking at the glass doors and throwing billiard's at each other.  Finally, by about eleven thirty I had gotten all three of them to go to sleep.  This had been the most exhausting/agonizing day of my life.

"Black Hair" analysis- Image

In this story, the writer starts off talking about how he arrives at a job interview "dirty and feeling ugly."  He proceeds throughout the whole story how he is a dirty, grimy Mexican.  He tells of how his hair is still stiff from the beach and how even after he washes his body, it still looks dirty.  When he starts his job at the tire facility, he states that even the customer service area looks dirty with its greasy magazines and ripped couches.  He talks of how there is rednecks, Mexicans, and blacks that work there; all of which are as dirty as him with their dirt stained faces and pink mouths.  He then describes Iggy, though, who spends his day being dirty like them but when he comes out he looks like a brand new man.  In one part he descriptively tells of Igg's appearance, "Iggy worked only until three in the afternoon, at which time he went to the locker room to wash and shave and to dress in a two-piece suit. When he came out he glowed with a bracelet, watch, rings, and a shiny fountain pen in his breast pocket. His shoes sounded against the asphalt. He was the image of a banker stepping into sunlight with millions on his mind." The next image he begins to tell us about is the place he is going to rent, which is very luxurious compared to where he had been staying.  He explains the shock on the families faces as he comes to meet him, and the "girly" room that was to be his, with its lace curtains and stuffed animals in the corner.  He finds pictures of the girl and claims that she looks like "promise, college, and nice clothes in the closet." As he falls asleep, he imagines the owner's daughter that lived in this room and dreams that she is very kind to him and takes to liking him.  In reality, though, she only said two things to him which was asking about the mustard and where her car keys were.  By the end of the story, he keeps the imagery as he talks about how he will probably always be a dirty, poor Mexican.

Reading Prompt-embarrassing moment

Throughout my life I have managed to embarrass myself several times.  There was one that I had not learned the first time from.  It had started standing on the class float putting up the streamers with the rest of my class.  I was wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt on that chilly fall day.  One of my friends thought it would be "funny" to de-pants me while i was standing up in front on the float while everyone else was on the ground.  Unfortunately, my underpants had came with, so my whole class got a very unusual view of me.  To make matters worse, in the same month, I had gotten de-pantsed again.  Since it was so epic the first time, my other friend thought it would be funny to do it a second time.  In this case, it was in front of my class AND my Phy.Ed teacher.  From then on, it seemed to be everyone's goal to try and de-pants me.  The plan had succeeded and I was embarrassed plenty more times from it.

"Graduation" analysis

Tone

The tone of "Graduation" is made very exciting by the author.  The author built and built the anxiousness up to the days until she would graduate.  She speaks of every event with extreme detail which makes everyone reading it restless until the actual day.  In one sentence she speaks of the making of her dress. "My class was wearing butter-yellow piqu6 dresses, and Momma launched out on mine. She smocked the yoke into tiny crisscrossing puckers, then shirred the rest of the bodice. Her dark fingers ducked in and out of the lemony cloth as she embroidered raised daisies around the hem."  How excited and proud she was of this dress makes the reader realize how very important this event is to her.  She keeps the tone exciting by not only talking about the presents she receives from her family and friends, but by simply imagining herself walking up the stairs to receive her diploma.  As she enters the auditorium, though, her tone changes from excited to unsure.  She gives us the feeling as if something bad is going to happen.  As the white men come out to speak, our feelings had been confirmed.  They talk about how the black boys would only get to be the Owen's of the world and didn't even mention anything of the girls.  The author's tone quickly turns from unsure to depressing.  She claims that she had wished every important person who helped in creating this country had died and the rest of the African Americans to lay dead in piles since they would never amount to anything.  She keeps this tone until Henry Reed and the rest of the audience sings the black national anthem.  Her tone changes then again to a very strong, proud African American girl.

"Shooting Dad" analysis

In Sarah Vowell's memoir she tells of how her father and herself are completely different.  She uses many examples, for instance, she implies that her father is a republican and she is the democrat.  Vowell opposes guns while her father is gun obsessed.  She thinks of herself as artistic and unique, while her father is simple minded and stubborn.  In one instant her father said to her mother after he mother scolded him for shooting the gun her father claimed "Why, shooting crows is a national pastime, like baseball and apple pie."  This showed that he was content on shooting his gun when he pleased.  This whole ordeal has made the author very conscious on how different she was from the family, where her own twin sister was into guns. What the author realizes in the end is that her father and herself are very similar.  After she finally accepted her father's fetish for guns, she finally convinced herself to go see this new cannon in action.  This is when she saw that her father,as well, is artistic in his craftmanship.  As different as they may have seemed, they were very much the same at heart.

Family Conflicts

My father has had many problems with my grandparents which has resulted in many conflicts between them. To start off, my father worked forty to sixty hours a week on my grandfathers farm starting at the age of nine without pay.  He did this because my grandparents had promised him that when he grew up he could have a place farming with them and they would buy him a home and property.  My dad liked this idea so he worked tiring hours from when he was nine years old until he was eighteen without complaint.  When my dad turned eighteen my grandparents had then told him that he was on his own and if he wanted to be successful like them he would have to earn it all by himself.  This is the starting point to where my father turned very bitter.  Growing up, I hardly got to see my grandparents, and when I did it had to be with my mother.  It was always awkward and nobody ever knew what to say when we would come visit. One experience that affected me most was seeing my father at my grandfather's funeral.  He had not shed one tear or would help comfort my grandmother.  Never had I seen someone act so indifferent during a "loved ones" funeral.  I almost think he may have been relieved by this.  Although I have never been close to my grandparents myself, it is easy to tell that their relationship with their job was much more important than with their family.  With all of this though, it is not so bad.  By having been treated so cruelly by his parents, my father learned what not to do as a father and cherishes the bond we have.

"A Letter From Birmingham Jail" summary followed by response

Martin Luther King Jr. wrote "Letter from Birmingham Jail" in response to his fellow white clergymen who criticized his actions that landed him in jail.  He used Biblical examples to show that his nonviolent actions were necessary for African Americans to move forward in this country.  This letter was mainly directed to those religious leaders who have the power to do something about segregation but don't.  The purpose is to hopefully get the backup from powerful religious leaders and end segregation.  He communicates this message very effectively to these men from his examples from Saint Paul and King Solomon which is preached within the churches of these religious leaders.  He also justifies his nonviolent action by comparing it to "just" and "unjust" laws with one example of Hitler.  King claims there is no better timing for something that has been at conflict for 340 years and that there was no wrong-doing during this "sit-in."  Martin Luther King Jr. is asking for the help of the clergymen so they can move forward with Civil Rights.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s major audience is the clergymen he is writing to.  These men possess the power to change people's minds and yet do not even try.  King gives such overwhelming emotion when he compares the situation in Birmingham with Biblical situations.  He is very professional and polite at the beginning which helps the audience to really listen to what he has to say.  When he really gets his point through is when he gradually gets firmer and firmer throughout the text yet at the same time still being polite.  King portrays himself as one of the clergy men, but one that has to overcome the many obstacles of the average African American.  He acts as a friend and yet in the middle of the letter he portrays the religious leaders as an enemy that he hopes will reconsider their position on Civil Rights.

"I Want a Wife" summary followed by response

Judy Brady writes of the harsh responsibilities of a wife in the 1970s in her essay "I Want a Wife."  She talks of this subject in a role reversal as the husband where she defines what is expected of a wife.  Some of responsibilities in her list include taking care of the children, cleaning, cooking, keeping appointments, and grocery shopping.  Brady shows that in her experience, women are supposed to do most of the work without complaint or appreciation.  The purpose of this is to show the wives of this time of era what they were typically putting up with since it was broadcasted in a women's magazine.  This message seemed to be effectively communicated by sounding like an ungrateful and greedy man.  The piece is supposed to influence a change in the roles of men and women.

Brady effectively communicates her piece by appealing to the wives of the 1970s with sympathy and emotion.  This audience is mainly wives who can empathize with her from having to take on the many tasks described in the piece.  The purpose is mainly to show how under appreciated wives are and how ungrateful husbands can be.  Brady shows this by reversing her role as wife to husband and listing all the things she wants in a wife but would refuse to do in return.  Since the tone of this is so greedy, it makes this essay more effective by giving the women reading it feel many hostile emotions towards it.  The only evidence used for this is Brady's own experience or people she knows experiences so it is sort of hard to give it much credibility. 

Describing Kevins Photo

The image looks as if there is a small African American boy keeling over because he is so starving.  The vulture behind him looks like he is ready for the boy to kick the bucket at any minute, ready to spring on his pray.

Kevin's Photo

1. This photo makes me think that this boy is so thin and ghastly looking that even the vulture is tempted to eat him.  The point being made is possibly that there is inadequate living conditions in Sudan.  It grosses me out that children can look this way.
2. The image looks as if there is a small African American boy keeling over because he is so incredibly starving. The vulture behind him looks like he is ready for the boy to kick the bucket at any minute, ready to spring on his pray.
3.  I think the message is to appreciate what one has, since others are much less fortunate.  Along with that, to lend a hand, send food, money, or bring your services to Sudan to help the people who cannot afford or do not know how to raise children properly.  The photo is supposed to make you reflect and possibly try to persuade you to have a purpose in life.
4.  My reaction to this photograph has changed quite a bit after hearing that the man had committed suicide.  He was probably so moved by the sadness he has seen that he could not bare it.  Also, the fact that the child was only a kilometer away from this camp makes me wonder how nobody knew what happened to him.  I had foreseen the fact of the vulture waiting for the boy to die, but with hearing the after-effects of it really changes my emotion to a deeper sadness.