Genre: Musical Theater
Musical theater combines dialogue, music and dance on the stage, and more recently, on the screen. This combination dates back to the ancient Greeks in the 5th century B.C. The art form gained more popularity during the Renaissance and opera was born around 1600. Operas, however, are performed exclusively in song and it wasn't until the 1800's that operettas, smaller comedic operas that included dialogue, became popular. Musicals were not born until the 20th century, however, in America. Many of the earlier musicals were very similar to operas. Oklahoma! (1943), written by Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein II, is considered the first musical play. Some other famous musicals written in the 20th century are Mary Poppins, My Fair Lady, Singin' in the Rain, The Sound of Music, West Side Story, The Wizard of Oz, The Fantasticks, Les Miserables, and Rent.
Cover song: Think of Me from The Phantom of the Opera
I chose this song because, one, I am already familiar with it and love it, but it is also a solo song that would be great for me (cello) and Jill (voice) to perform! The song is sung by Christine, a chorus girl, during her first opera performance as a main character on the stage. This song is significant because that character in the opera in the musical was going to be sung by a famous singer, but the Phantom of the opera house makes sure that Christine, whom he has fallen in love with, gets the part instead. The words "Think of me, think of me fondly when we've said good-bye. Remember me, once in a while, please promise me you'll try" are actually what the Phantom wants to say to Christine (he is the one that worte that opera).
Original Composition: A Dark Side
The musical I thought up to back up my song is a variation of the story of Beauty and the Beast. The main character is a girl who meets a young man in her town. At the point this song is sung, they have only spoken a few times, but she already likes him. The twist is that she just discovered that he is a demon creature who spends most of his time in human form. In A Dark Side, she is reflecting on the discovery as well as addressing her own dark past and the way people judge others by their faults.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Monday, June 2, 2008
Honors Book Report
Funke, Cornelia. Inkspell. Scholastic, Inc. New York, NY. 2005.
I chose to read Inkspell for three reasons. First, I have read Inkheart, to which Inkspell is the sequel, and it is coming out as a movie! Also, one of my friends, who is a really big bookworm said I should read it. It is a 635 page fantasy book that revolves around the ability of the main character, Meggie, a few others in the story to read characters off the pages of books and into being. The story takes place in two worlds, ours and the Inkworld, but it is not clear where in our world, or what the time period is. (I would guess that it is current.)
Where as Inkheart takes place in our world, the characters in Inkspell dive into the Inkworld, inside the pages of Inkheart, a book written by talented author, Fenoglio. When Meggie's mother, Resa, was rescued from Inkworld in Inkheart, Meggie began asking her everything about the world inside Inkheart. Her obsession became so great that when Farid, a boy out of Tales of the Arabian Nights, asks her to read him into Inkworld to follow Dustfinger, a fire-eater from Inkworld and a hero in Inkheart, she agrees to read herself there too, something no one had accomplished before. What they find, however, is a world on the verge of being taken over by the villan of the story.
I chose to read Inkspell for three reasons. First, I have read Inkheart, to which Inkspell is the sequel, and it is coming out as a movie! Also, one of my friends, who is a really big bookworm said I should read it. It is a 635 page fantasy book that revolves around the ability of the main character, Meggie, a few others in the story to read characters off the pages of books and into being. The story takes place in two worlds, ours and the Inkworld, but it is not clear where in our world, or what the time period is. (I would guess that it is current.)
Where as Inkheart takes place in our world, the characters in Inkspell dive into the Inkworld, inside the pages of Inkheart, a book written by talented author, Fenoglio. When Meggie's mother, Resa, was rescued from Inkworld in Inkheart, Meggie began asking her everything about the world inside Inkheart. Her obsession became so great that when Farid, a boy out of Tales of the Arabian Nights, asks her to read him into Inkworld to follow Dustfinger, a fire-eater from Inkworld and a hero in Inkheart, she agrees to read herself there too, something no one had accomplished before. What they find, however, is a world on the verge of being taken over by the villan of the story.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
What Happened to Ethics?
To read the original article, click here: http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/Departments/eLearning/Default.aspx?article=WhatHappenedEthics>1=27001
Everyone has the ability to be ethical and truthful. Whether it is something we are born with, or something we are taught to recognize, I am not sure. Either way, I think the reason that people behave unethically is partly because they have not been shown the necessity of ethics, and therefore do not understand the difference. However, I do think that everyone has a conscience. By that, I mean that everyone recognizes, even if only subconsciously, that they are doing something wrong. Therefore, I do believe that ethics should be taught in school, but really, school is only one means of instilling the understanding of the importance of doing the right thing. Everyone is teaching everyone else about what is acceptable and how important or not important it is to do the right thing everyday by our actions. This is especially true for adults' actions around youth.
Ultimately, it necessary to be truthful for two main reasons. First, people operate based on what they are told and what they perceive. If you show people something that is false, then you not be treated as you wish to be treated, as who you really are. Second, the truth seems to always come out anyway. When someone discovers information that is conflicting, they are likely to speak up, to try o understand. This is particularly apparent in the national news. What goes around, comes around.
Everyone has the ability to be ethical and truthful. Whether it is something we are born with, or something we are taught to recognize, I am not sure. Either way, I think the reason that people behave unethically is partly because they have not been shown the necessity of ethics, and therefore do not understand the difference. However, I do think that everyone has a conscience. By that, I mean that everyone recognizes, even if only subconsciously, that they are doing something wrong. Therefore, I do believe that ethics should be taught in school, but really, school is only one means of instilling the understanding of the importance of doing the right thing. Everyone is teaching everyone else about what is acceptable and how important or not important it is to do the right thing everyday by our actions. This is especially true for adults' actions around youth.
Ultimately, it necessary to be truthful for two main reasons. First, people operate based on what they are told and what they perceive. If you show people something that is false, then you not be treated as you wish to be treated, as who you really are. Second, the truth seems to always come out anyway. When someone discovers information that is conflicting, they are likely to speak up, to try o understand. This is particularly apparent in the national news. What goes around, comes around.
Friday, May 23, 2008
What Do You Hear?
Distant noises, then foot steps.
Hey, someone is talking in Spanish!
More foot steps doors shutting.
I think that last one was the Men's bathroom door.
"Aooooo...," someone yelled.
"Aachuu!" Oops, I sneezed!
Ow, there is a loud screetching and thud of the door next to me.
Now it's the Women's bathroom door opening.
And a very different sound:
The squeaking of someone's shoes as they head for the stairs.
Bang! A door in the distance, followed by loud talking.
Now this musical piece turns to the accompaniment, and away from the melody.
Now I hear all of the sounds of the school at work.
It is alive, and changing. But even that fades, and there is a moment of relative silence.
Some soft footsteps come near me, but i was enough to break the moment.
Doors begin banging again,
Providing the percussion.
"Squeak, squeak, squeak,"
A high piteched noise about the rest.
"Click, click, click, click,"
The rhythmic click of heels, off set but the shuffling of sneakers.
"Bang, ca-ching, cough, blah-balh."
"Bang, bang, step, step, step."
Hey, someone is talking in Spanish!
More foot steps doors shutting.
I think that last one was the Men's bathroom door.
"Aooooo...," someone yelled.
"Aachuu!" Oops, I sneezed!
Ow, there is a loud screetching and thud of the door next to me.
Now it's the Women's bathroom door opening.
And a very different sound:
The squeaking of someone's shoes as they head for the stairs.
Bang! A door in the distance, followed by loud talking.
Now this musical piece turns to the accompaniment, and away from the melody.
Now I hear all of the sounds of the school at work.
It is alive, and changing. But even that fades, and there is a moment of relative silence.
Some soft footsteps come near me, but i was enough to break the moment.
Doors begin banging again,
Providing the percussion.
"Squeak, squeak, squeak,"
A high piteched noise about the rest.
"Click, click, click, click,"
The rhythmic click of heels, off set but the shuffling of sneakers.
"Bang, ca-ching, cough, blah-balh."
"Bang, bang, step, step, step."
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Current Event
Skyrocketing Oil Prices Stump Experts
Wahingtonpost.com
Steve Mufson
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Subject: The article discusses the cause for the abrupt rise in oil prices.
Summary:
Everyone is pointing fingers, but no one is exaclty sure why the oil prices have recently skyrocketted. Several factors include the declining dollar, the rise in Chinese oil imports, and the effect of investment bank forecasts. The reason, according to Jeffery Rubin, that oil has gone from $20 a barrelto $130 a barrelis that the demand has grown substantially, but the supply has not. This change, however, has not stopped consumers from buying, partly because machines and cars are becoming more fuel efficient and partly because many consumers are not seeing the market price. Edward Morse, an energy economist, explains that the signs indicate that this is just another 'bubble', albeit a large one. The prices will eventually coem down, but the drop will be proportional to the rise.
Significance:
Just like global warming, the alarming rate that humans are using up oil, and the skyrocketting prices (just 40 years ago, you could get gas for $.25 per gallon), have become a huge concern. The newest jump in gas prices has only increased that concern. Just a few weeks ago, I didn't worry too much about how much I was spending on gas when I would stop at a gas station. Now, however, I've started thinking about riding my bike more often, and I wish there was a way to take a cello on a bike.
Change?
For the most part, I understood the article, but some of the concepts specific to oil and gas exchange (imports and exports, etc.) were not quite clear to me. I believe that most people who read it are familiar with the language, but I'm not, and I'm actually interested in the topic.
Prediction:
Well, the experts are predicting a huge drop in oil prices. I think that is possible, but at the same time, the drop can't be that big, because we are using up Earth's supply of oil. It seems like prices can really only go up from here...
URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/21/AR2008052100386.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Wahingtonpost.com
Steve Mufson
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Subject: The article discusses the cause for the abrupt rise in oil prices.
Summary:
Everyone is pointing fingers, but no one is exaclty sure why the oil prices have recently skyrocketted. Several factors include the declining dollar, the rise in Chinese oil imports, and the effect of investment bank forecasts. The reason, according to Jeffery Rubin, that oil has gone from $20 a barrelto $130 a barrelis that the demand has grown substantially, but the supply has not. This change, however, has not stopped consumers from buying, partly because machines and cars are becoming more fuel efficient and partly because many consumers are not seeing the market price. Edward Morse, an energy economist, explains that the signs indicate that this is just another 'bubble', albeit a large one. The prices will eventually coem down, but the drop will be proportional to the rise.
Significance:
Just like global warming, the alarming rate that humans are using up oil, and the skyrocketting prices (just 40 years ago, you could get gas for $.25 per gallon), have become a huge concern. The newest jump in gas prices has only increased that concern. Just a few weeks ago, I didn't worry too much about how much I was spending on gas when I would stop at a gas station. Now, however, I've started thinking about riding my bike more often, and I wish there was a way to take a cello on a bike.
Change?
For the most part, I understood the article, but some of the concepts specific to oil and gas exchange (imports and exports, etc.) were not quite clear to me. I believe that most people who read it are familiar with the language, but I'm not, and I'm actually interested in the topic.
Prediction:
Well, the experts are predicting a huge drop in oil prices. I think that is possible, but at the same time, the drop can't be that big, because we are using up Earth's supply of oil. It seems like prices can really only go up from here...
URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/21/AR2008052100386.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Vocabulary Week 17
A circle can be described as interminable, because it has no ending. This circular pattern in particular gives the circle a feeling of motion, if you stare at the dot in the center.
This picture shows the crew of a ship in Antactica working laboriously to cut a channel for the ship through the ice. Ice can be such a hard substance, and I can imagine that it would be very tiring to break that much of it.
This girl's eyes, and hold on the tulips have a reticence quality. It looks like she is afraid the viewer will throw the flowers on the ground if she hands them over, and she doesn't want to hand them over, or consent.
This turtle's shell looks senescent with all of its dirt and scratches. Also, the word seems to apply to the natural world and is used more in science and research than as an everyday meaning of old.
The left side of this picture shows a very famous shroud that is supposedly the one Jesus' body was wrapped in after he was taken down from the cross.
This tortuous road almost looks like a purposeful design on the hill, or maybe even a strange scar. I think it would be really cool to drive up it, though I don't think my mom could handle all of the turns.
I took this picture last summer at my family's camp site near Mono Lake. This creek runs right by our tents, and I often sit on one of the rocks and just listen to the water. It gives me an amazing sense of tranquility and calmness, especially if we just came back from a hike.1.interminable-adj.--incapable of being terminated; unending.
2.intuit-v.-- to know or recieve by intuition.
3.laboriously-adv.-- requiring much work, exertion, or perserverence.
4.proximity-n.-- nearness in place, time, order, occurance or relation.
5.reticence-adj.-- disposed to be silent, or not speak freely; reserved.
6.senescent-adj.-- growing old; aging.
7.shroud-n.-- a cloth or sheet in which a corpse is wrapped for burial; something that covers or conceals like a garment.
2.intuit-v.-- to know or recieve by intuition.
3.laboriously-adv.-- requiring much work, exertion, or perserverence.
4.proximity-n.-- nearness in place, time, order, occurance or relation.
5.reticence-adj.-- disposed to be silent, or not speak freely; reserved.
6.senescent-adj.-- growing old; aging.
7.shroud-n.-- a cloth or sheet in which a corpse is wrapped for burial; something that covers or conceals like a garment.
-v.-- to cover, hide from view.
8.situation-n.-- condition; case; plight; state of affairs.
9.synchronously-adv.-- occuring at the same time; coinciding in time; simultaneous.
10.tortuous-adj.-- full of twists, turns or bends.
11.tranquility-n.-- calmness; peacefulness; serenity.
8.situation-n.-- condition; case; plight; state of affairs.
9.synchronously-adv.-- occuring at the same time; coinciding in time; simultaneous.
10.tortuous-adj.-- full of twists, turns or bends.
11.tranquility-n.-- calmness; peacefulness; serenity.
In Response To "Classrooms Have Become Unnecessarily High Tech"
Link to orignial article: http://www.mercurynews.com/community/ci_9034769?nclick_check=1&forced=true
Yes, I very much agree with Matt Baxter!! It is completely unnecesary for elementary school students to be taught how to use computers. The school I attended from kindergarten through 8th grade does not allow the use of computers in school or, ideally, at home. As a result, I did not touch a computer until the summer after I graduated 8th grade. I do not have much knowledge about programs like Adobe PhotoShop, or Fireworks, but Iam proficient in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. In short, I don’t feel at all cheated, now that I’m in high school. I spent my childhood learning other valuable things.
Baxter also makes an excellnt point about the amount of money and effort we put into keeping schools up to date with technology. I can see where it is nice to use the new materials out there to help a teacher teach a concept, but teachers have been teaching the same subjects for hundreds of years without needing the help of technology. I would go as far as to say that many of the teachers teaching today are less knowledgeable about their topics because of new technologies. It is easy to let the internet and videos do the teaching.
Yes, I very much agree with Matt Baxter!! It is completely unnecesary for elementary school students to be taught how to use computers. The school I attended from kindergarten through 8th grade does not allow the use of computers in school or, ideally, at home. As a result, I did not touch a computer until the summer after I graduated 8th grade. I do not have much knowledge about programs like Adobe PhotoShop, or Fireworks, but Iam proficient in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. In short, I don’t feel at all cheated, now that I’m in high school. I spent my childhood learning other valuable things.
Baxter also makes an excellnt point about the amount of money and effort we put into keeping schools up to date with technology. I can see where it is nice to use the new materials out there to help a teacher teach a concept, but teachers have been teaching the same subjects for hundreds of years without needing the help of technology. I would go as far as to say that many of the teachers teaching today are less knowledgeable about their topics because of new technologies. It is easy to let the internet and videos do the teaching.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Nearly 10,000 reported killed by China quake
CHENGDU, China (CNN) -- Rainy weather and poor logistics thwarted efforts by relief troops who walked for hours over rock, debris and mud on Tuesday in hopes of reaching the worst-hit area of an earthquake that killed nearly 10,000 in central China, state-run media reported.
Setting out from Maerkang in Sichuan Province at 8 p.m. Monday, the 100 or so troops had to travel 200 kilometers (124 miles) to go before reaching Wenchuan, the epicenter of the quake, also in the province, Xinhua reported. After seven hours, they still had 70 kilometers (43 miles) to go.
"I have seen many collapsed civilian houses, and the rocks dropped from mountains on the roadside are everywhere," the head of the unit, Li Zaiyuan, told Xinhua.
Added CNN Correspondent John Vause: "The roads here are terrible in the best of times ... right now they're down right atrocious. They've resorted to going in one man at a time on foot."
Nearly all the confirmed deaths were in Sichuan Province, but rescuers were hindered because roads linking it to the provincial capital, Chengdu, were damaged, Xinhua reported.
Local radio quoted disaster relief officials as saying a third of the buildings in Wenchuan collapsed from the quake and another third were seriously damaged.
The earthquake was powerful enough to be felt throughout most of China. Many children were buried under the rubble of their schools.
The Chinese government said the death toll was sure to rise.
An expert told CNN the 7.9-magnitude quake at about 2:28 p.m. Monday (6:28 a.m. GMT) was the largest the region has seen "for over a generation."
Residents as far as Chongqing -- about 200 miles from the epicenter in Sichuan Province -- spent the night outdoors, too afraid of aftershocks to sleep indoors.
Local radio in Sichuan quoted disaster relief officials as saying a third of the buildings in Wenchuan collapsed from the quake and another third were seriously damaged.
The state-run Zhongxin news agency reported that a survivor who escaped Beichuan county in Sichuan Province described the province as having been "razed to the ground."
The Red Cross Society of China, coordinating some of the international aid efforts, encouraged financial donations because of the difficulty of getting supplies to those most in need.
At least six schools collapsed to some extent in the quake or aftershocks that followed, Xinhua reported.
At one school, almost 900 students -- all eighth-graders and ninth-graders, according to a local villager -- were believed to be buried.
At least 50 bodies were pulled from the rubble by Monday night at Juyuan Middle School in Juyuan Township of Dujiangyan City, Sichuan Province, Xinhua reported.
"Some buried teenagers were struggling to free themselves from the ruins while others were calling for help. Eight excavators were working at the site. Devastated parents watched as five cranes worked at the site and an ambulance waited," Xinhua reported.
"A tearful mother said her son, ninth-grader Zhang Chengwei, was buried in the ruins."
Meanwhile, 2,300 people were buried in two collapsed chemical plants in Sichuan's Shifang city, and 80 tons of ammonia leaked out, Xinhua reported. Six hundred people died there. The plants were among a series of buildings that collapsed, including private homes, schools and factories.
The local government has evacuated 6,000 civilians from the area and was dispatching firefighters to help at the scene, Xinhua reported.
Much of the nation's transportation system shut down. Xinhua reported there were "multiple landslides and collapses along railway lines" near Chengdu.
Sichuan Province sits in the Sichuan basin and is surrounded by the Himalayas to the west. The Yangtze River flows through the province and the Three Gorges Dam in the nearby Hubei Province controls flooding to the Sichuan -- though there were no reports of damage to the world's largest dam.
Monday's quake was caused by the Tibetan plateau colliding with the Sichuan basin, Zhigang Peng, an earthquake expert at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, told CNN.
"Earthquakes in this part of China are infrequent but not uncommon," he said.
The last major earthquake in the region occurred in the northwestern margin of the Sichuan basin when a 7.5-magnitude quake killed more than 9,300 people on August 25, 1933.
President Hu Jintao ordered an all-out effort to help those affected, and Premier Wen Jiabao traveled to the region to direct the rescue work, Xinhua reported.
"My fellow Chinese, facing such a severe disaster, we need calm, confidence, courage and efficient organization," Wen was quoted as saying.
"I believe we can certainly overcome the disaster with the public and the military working together under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee and the government."
Peter Sammonds, professor of geophysics at University College London, called the earthquake "tremendous."
"Particularly in the more remote, the more mountainous part where this has taken place, a lot of the buildings are built on sediments that are quite unstable. They're probably liquifying, causing the buildings to collapse. You might expect landslides to occur, which could actually stop the relief efforts going through on the roads, so this could be very grim in the remoter, more mountainous parts of this province."
While many of the most immediate efforts were focused on Sichuan Province, Xinhua also reported dead and injured in Gansu, Chongqing and Yunnan provinces.
A provincial government spokesman said they feared more dead and injured in collapsed houses in Dujiangyan City in Wenchuan County.
A driver for the seismological bureau said he saw "rows of houses collapsed" in Dujiangyan, Xinhua reported.
Bonnie Thie, the country director of the Peace Corps, told CNN she was on a university campus in Chengdu about 60 miles from the epicenter, in the eastern part of China's Sichuan province, when the first quake hit.
"You could see the ground shaking," Thie told CNN.
The shaking "went on for what seemed like a very long time," she said.
Bruce Presgrave, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey, said this quake could cause major damage because of its strength and proximity to major population centers. Also, it was relatively shallow, and those kinds of quakes tend to do more damage near the epicenter than deeper ones, Presgrave said.
An earthquake with 7.5 magnitude in the northern Chinese city of Tangshan killed 255,000 people in 1976 -- the greatest death toll from an earthquake in the last four centuries and the second greatest in recorded history, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Tangshan is roughly 995 miles (1,600 km) from Chengdu, the nearest major city to the epicenter of Monday's quake.
After the quake struck Monday, the ground shook as far away as Beijing, which is 950 miles (1,528 km) from the epicenter. Residents of the Chinese capital, which hosts this year's Olympic Games in August, felt a quiet, rolling sensation for about a minute.
Thousands of people were evacuated from Beijing buildings immediately after the earthquake.
At least seven more earthquakes -- measuring between 4.0 and 6.0 magnitudes -- happened nearby over the four hours after the initial quake at at 2:28 p.m. local time, the USGS reported.
A spokesman for the Beijing Olympic Committee said no Olympic venues were affected. The huge Three Gorges Dam -- roughly 400 miles east of the epicenter -- was not damaged, a spokesman said.
The earthquake was also felt in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taiwan, and as far away as Hanoi, Vietnam, and Bangkok, Thailand, according to the Hong Kong-based Mandarin-language channel Phoenix TV.
URL: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/12/china.quake/index.htm
Setting out from Maerkang in Sichuan Province at 8 p.m. Monday, the 100 or so troops had to travel 200 kilometers (124 miles) to go before reaching Wenchuan, the epicenter of the quake, also in the province, Xinhua reported. After seven hours, they still had 70 kilometers (43 miles) to go.
"I have seen many collapsed civilian houses, and the rocks dropped from mountains on the roadside are everywhere," the head of the unit, Li Zaiyuan, told Xinhua.
Added CNN Correspondent John Vause: "The roads here are terrible in the best of times ... right now they're down right atrocious. They've resorted to going in one man at a time on foot."
Nearly all the confirmed deaths were in Sichuan Province, but rescuers were hindered because roads linking it to the provincial capital, Chengdu, were damaged, Xinhua reported.
Local radio quoted disaster relief officials as saying a third of the buildings in Wenchuan collapsed from the quake and another third were seriously damaged.
The earthquake was powerful enough to be felt throughout most of China. Many children were buried under the rubble of their schools.
The Chinese government said the death toll was sure to rise.
An expert told CNN the 7.9-magnitude quake at about 2:28 p.m. Monday (6:28 a.m. GMT) was the largest the region has seen "for over a generation."
Residents as far as Chongqing -- about 200 miles from the epicenter in Sichuan Province -- spent the night outdoors, too afraid of aftershocks to sleep indoors.
Local radio in Sichuan quoted disaster relief officials as saying a third of the buildings in Wenchuan collapsed from the quake and another third were seriously damaged.
The state-run Zhongxin news agency reported that a survivor who escaped Beichuan county in Sichuan Province described the province as having been "razed to the ground."
The Red Cross Society of China, coordinating some of the international aid efforts, encouraged financial donations because of the difficulty of getting supplies to those most in need.
At least six schools collapsed to some extent in the quake or aftershocks that followed, Xinhua reported.
At one school, almost 900 students -- all eighth-graders and ninth-graders, according to a local villager -- were believed to be buried.
At least 50 bodies were pulled from the rubble by Monday night at Juyuan Middle School in Juyuan Township of Dujiangyan City, Sichuan Province, Xinhua reported.
"Some buried teenagers were struggling to free themselves from the ruins while others were calling for help. Eight excavators were working at the site. Devastated parents watched as five cranes worked at the site and an ambulance waited," Xinhua reported.
"A tearful mother said her son, ninth-grader Zhang Chengwei, was buried in the ruins."
Meanwhile, 2,300 people were buried in two collapsed chemical plants in Sichuan's Shifang city, and 80 tons of ammonia leaked out, Xinhua reported. Six hundred people died there. The plants were among a series of buildings that collapsed, including private homes, schools and factories.
The local government has evacuated 6,000 civilians from the area and was dispatching firefighters to help at the scene, Xinhua reported.
Much of the nation's transportation system shut down. Xinhua reported there were "multiple landslides and collapses along railway lines" near Chengdu.
Sichuan Province sits in the Sichuan basin and is surrounded by the Himalayas to the west. The Yangtze River flows through the province and the Three Gorges Dam in the nearby Hubei Province controls flooding to the Sichuan -- though there were no reports of damage to the world's largest dam.
Monday's quake was caused by the Tibetan plateau colliding with the Sichuan basin, Zhigang Peng, an earthquake expert at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, told CNN.
"Earthquakes in this part of China are infrequent but not uncommon," he said.
The last major earthquake in the region occurred in the northwestern margin of the Sichuan basin when a 7.5-magnitude quake killed more than 9,300 people on August 25, 1933.
President Hu Jintao ordered an all-out effort to help those affected, and Premier Wen Jiabao traveled to the region to direct the rescue work, Xinhua reported.
"My fellow Chinese, facing such a severe disaster, we need calm, confidence, courage and efficient organization," Wen was quoted as saying.
"I believe we can certainly overcome the disaster with the public and the military working together under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee and the government."
Peter Sammonds, professor of geophysics at University College London, called the earthquake "tremendous."
"Particularly in the more remote, the more mountainous part where this has taken place, a lot of the buildings are built on sediments that are quite unstable. They're probably liquifying, causing the buildings to collapse. You might expect landslides to occur, which could actually stop the relief efforts going through on the roads, so this could be very grim in the remoter, more mountainous parts of this province."
While many of the most immediate efforts were focused on Sichuan Province, Xinhua also reported dead and injured in Gansu, Chongqing and Yunnan provinces.
A provincial government spokesman said they feared more dead and injured in collapsed houses in Dujiangyan City in Wenchuan County.
A driver for the seismological bureau said he saw "rows of houses collapsed" in Dujiangyan, Xinhua reported.
Bonnie Thie, the country director of the Peace Corps, told CNN she was on a university campus in Chengdu about 60 miles from the epicenter, in the eastern part of China's Sichuan province, when the first quake hit.
"You could see the ground shaking," Thie told CNN.
The shaking "went on for what seemed like a very long time," she said.
Bruce Presgrave, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey, said this quake could cause major damage because of its strength and proximity to major population centers. Also, it was relatively shallow, and those kinds of quakes tend to do more damage near the epicenter than deeper ones, Presgrave said.
An earthquake with 7.5 magnitude in the northern Chinese city of Tangshan killed 255,000 people in 1976 -- the greatest death toll from an earthquake in the last four centuries and the second greatest in recorded history, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Tangshan is roughly 995 miles (1,600 km) from Chengdu, the nearest major city to the epicenter of Monday's quake.
After the quake struck Monday, the ground shook as far away as Beijing, which is 950 miles (1,528 km) from the epicenter. Residents of the Chinese capital, which hosts this year's Olympic Games in August, felt a quiet, rolling sensation for about a minute.
Thousands of people were evacuated from Beijing buildings immediately after the earthquake.
At least seven more earthquakes -- measuring between 4.0 and 6.0 magnitudes -- happened nearby over the four hours after the initial quake at at 2:28 p.m. local time, the USGS reported.
A spokesman for the Beijing Olympic Committee said no Olympic venues were affected. The huge Three Gorges Dam -- roughly 400 miles east of the epicenter -- was not damaged, a spokesman said.
The earthquake was also felt in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taiwan, and as far away as Hanoi, Vietnam, and Bangkok, Thailand, according to the Hong Kong-based Mandarin-language channel Phoenix TV.
URL: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/12/china.quake/index.htm
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Vocabulary Week 16
The thing that makes this picture amorous is the sexual nature of the scene. Being loving is not necessarily the same as being amorous. Although this picture looks a bit 'tender', the man and woman are not wearing clothes.
Aromas, smells and fragrances, come from a lot of things, but most often from flowers and food. I always find beef stew to be very aromatic, and this picture really reminds me of the smell of my mom's best beef stew!
There is obviously something wrong with this water. Water should be clear! The deleterious nature of water pollution and contamination is by now well known. Not only is this water dirty, but it is red, reminding me of blood and the 'death' it is causing to our planet and wildlife.
Honestly, bazaar paintings like this tend to creep me out. They make me wonder "What was going on in the artist's mind when he or she painted this?" This one looks like it could be a distorted landscape, painted by someone in delirium whose perception was twisted.
I know that ecstasy as an adjective describes a state of being, but the word, for me, is invariably linked to the drug and the harm that drug causes. I chose this picture because it reflects that understanding of the word by showing the brain damage done by using ecstasy.
I find this picture a bit comical. I chose it for enamored because the woman is essentially ignoring the man, who seems to care about nothing but her. Unlike adoring, enamored has a foolish, or unrealistic quality to it.
He's never going to get out of the gym that way! It is obviously quite a futile attempt, since the exorcise bike will never move.
This creepy scene shows witches chanting an incantation, a selection of words supposed to have power. In this case, they are brewing a potion. Scenes like this always remind me of the famous incantation "Double double toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble" from Shakespeare's play Macbeth.1. acquiesce-v.-- to submit or comply silently or without protest; consent.
2. amorous-adj.-- showing or expressing love, esp. sexual love.
3. aroma-n.-- an odor arising from spices, plants, cooking, etc., esp. an agreeable odor; fragrance.
4. awkward-adj.-- lacking grace, or ease in movement; hard to deal with; difficult.
5. consummate-v.-- to bring to a state of perfection; fulfill; complete.
6. conversely-adv.-- with the terms of the relation reversed.
7. deleterious-adj.-- harmful, injurious.
8. delirium-n.-- a state of violent mental agitation.
9. ecstasy-n.-- a state of elated bliss.
10. enamored-adj.-- marked by a foolish or unreasoning fondness.
11. futile-adj.-- incapable of producing any result; ineffective.
12. incantation-n.-- a chanting or uttering of words puporting to have magical power.
13. inevitability-n.-- the quality of being unavoidable.
14. infatuation-n.-- a foolish and usually extravagant passion, love or admiration.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Non-Profit
READ (Raising Educational Awareness with Dedication)
Missions Statement: To raise awareness about the educational ciris happening in Mexico by encouraging people to help organizations that support uneducated youth in impoverished communities to have a brighter future.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
The Mirror of Fire and Dreaming (honors book report)
Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee. The Mirror of Fire and Dreaming. Roaring Brookes Press. New Milford, Connecticut: 2005.
I found The Mirror of Fire and Dreaming on my book shelf and realized that I hadn't read it yet, even though it was a 16th birthday present. It is a fantasy story set in modern day India, though most of the events take place in magical settings that most people cannot enter.
Firstly, this is a sequel to The Conch Bearer, which I have not read. However, the important events that occurred in that book are explained in the sequel. That in mind, the book starts with the boy Anand, the main character, starting his training and classes at the Silver Valley, the magical place in India where children with magical talents are taught by Masters and Healer. Anand found out in the previous book that he was the conch bearer, a very special job, for the conch is a very powerful magical object.
As Anand begins his classes, he finds that he is unable to do the tasks given to the students. On a couple of occasions, however, he sees and hears things way beyond his level and he ends up bringing to the attention of the Masters the plea for help from a village healer miles away. Anand's friend from The Conch Bearer, Master Abhaydatta is sent to help the village, but Anand is not allowed to go. When Anand sees a vision of Abhaydatta in danger, he does not bother with telling the Masters, but goes straight to his young friend Nisha, a girl who joined his adventures in the previous book. He persuades her to go with him and together they steal the conch away from its guarded stand. The conch attempts to transport them to the village, but Anand lets go of Nisha and the conch in the process. When he lands, Anand is alone.
In the village, Anand finds out that a stranger, Kasim, has come to the village and is enlisting the help of the village men to find an elusive treasure in the forest. Although the men do get paid, they all come back insane. Each time Kasim returns with the latest workers, he chooses a new group, and Anand manages to slip in. He discovers that underneath the ruined palace that is the digging site, Kasim has been feeding the souls of the men to a jinn, an extremely powerful and evil spirit. Anand also finds the object that Kasim was looking for, a mirror into the past, hundreds of years into the past, when the palace was still in use. When Anand steps through the mirror, he discovers that Abhaydatta, Nisha and the conch are there as well, though Nisha has taken on the persona of the niece of the Nazib's advisor. (The Nazib is essentially a king.) The problem is that the jinn, with Kasim's help, is attempting to enter that world too and take over the land, and on top of that, all of their powers, including the conch's, are much less effective than in their own world.
With an exciting search for the conch, which is hidden, and making a new friend, Anand with Abhaydatta's and Nisha's help finds himself the only one who can defy the jinn, with the conch in his hand, of course. They all survive in the end, and Anand, Abhaydatta, Nisha and the conch all return to modern day India. There, Anand is highly honored for his courage, and he finally is able to continue his lessons.
The conch is an interesting character in the story. It is a shell, of course, but it possesses many powers. For one thing, it is an object of power, and therefore it tends to attract people to it. Anand, as its bearer, is particularly tied to it. Also because he is its bearer, the conch speaks to Anand in his mind. It is vertually all knowing, though it doesn't regard any knowledge unless it is relevent at the moment. It also cannot give humans the answers because they have to have a chance to grow. It may only help if there is no other way. Although the conch is not present for most of Anand's adventures in The Mirror of Fire and Dreaming, it plays a very important roll in the climax by disolving the jinn into oblivion.
I really enjoyed this book. It was the first book I've read in a while that I wanted to be reading in class and everywhere that I got a chance. Again, I wish I had read The Conch Bearer first, but maybe I'll read it in the future. I would recommend that people read the first book first, but this one was very good! It is essentially a fantasy book about helping others with the gifts that you are given.
I think it would be extremely exciting to travel back in time hundreds of years to a kingdom in India! I would probably be mostly like Nisha, who is straight forward, clear and sometimes demanding. I actually think the book ends well, and leaves room for a third book.
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is an award-winning, Indian-American author and poet who has written a wide selection of books, most of them either fiction or poetry. She has been published in over 50 magazines, and her writing has been included in over 50 anthologies. Her books have been translated into 16 languages, including Dutch, Hebrew, Russian and Japanese, and two of them have been made into movies. I am very glad I read The Mirror of Fire and Dreaming because it sparked my interest in fantasy again!
I found The Mirror of Fire and Dreaming on my book shelf and realized that I hadn't read it yet, even though it was a 16th birthday present. It is a fantasy story set in modern day India, though most of the events take place in magical settings that most people cannot enter.
Firstly, this is a sequel to The Conch Bearer, which I have not read. However, the important events that occurred in that book are explained in the sequel. That in mind, the book starts with the boy Anand, the main character, starting his training and classes at the Silver Valley, the magical place in India where children with magical talents are taught by Masters and Healer. Anand found out in the previous book that he was the conch bearer, a very special job, for the conch is a very powerful magical object.
As Anand begins his classes, he finds that he is unable to do the tasks given to the students. On a couple of occasions, however, he sees and hears things way beyond his level and he ends up bringing to the attention of the Masters the plea for help from a village healer miles away. Anand's friend from The Conch Bearer, Master Abhaydatta is sent to help the village, but Anand is not allowed to go. When Anand sees a vision of Abhaydatta in danger, he does not bother with telling the Masters, but goes straight to his young friend Nisha, a girl who joined his adventures in the previous book. He persuades her to go with him and together they steal the conch away from its guarded stand. The conch attempts to transport them to the village, but Anand lets go of Nisha and the conch in the process. When he lands, Anand is alone.
In the village, Anand finds out that a stranger, Kasim, has come to the village and is enlisting the help of the village men to find an elusive treasure in the forest. Although the men do get paid, they all come back insane. Each time Kasim returns with the latest workers, he chooses a new group, and Anand manages to slip in. He discovers that underneath the ruined palace that is the digging site, Kasim has been feeding the souls of the men to a jinn, an extremely powerful and evil spirit. Anand also finds the object that Kasim was looking for, a mirror into the past, hundreds of years into the past, when the palace was still in use. When Anand steps through the mirror, he discovers that Abhaydatta, Nisha and the conch are there as well, though Nisha has taken on the persona of the niece of the Nazib's advisor. (The Nazib is essentially a king.) The problem is that the jinn, with Kasim's help, is attempting to enter that world too and take over the land, and on top of that, all of their powers, including the conch's, are much less effective than in their own world.
With an exciting search for the conch, which is hidden, and making a new friend, Anand with Abhaydatta's and Nisha's help finds himself the only one who can defy the jinn, with the conch in his hand, of course. They all survive in the end, and Anand, Abhaydatta, Nisha and the conch all return to modern day India. There, Anand is highly honored for his courage, and he finally is able to continue his lessons.
The conch is an interesting character in the story. It is a shell, of course, but it possesses many powers. For one thing, it is an object of power, and therefore it tends to attract people to it. Anand, as its bearer, is particularly tied to it. Also because he is its bearer, the conch speaks to Anand in his mind. It is vertually all knowing, though it doesn't regard any knowledge unless it is relevent at the moment. It also cannot give humans the answers because they have to have a chance to grow. It may only help if there is no other way. Although the conch is not present for most of Anand's adventures in The Mirror of Fire and Dreaming, it plays a very important roll in the climax by disolving the jinn into oblivion.
I really enjoyed this book. It was the first book I've read in a while that I wanted to be reading in class and everywhere that I got a chance. Again, I wish I had read The Conch Bearer first, but maybe I'll read it in the future. I would recommend that people read the first book first, but this one was very good! It is essentially a fantasy book about helping others with the gifts that you are given.
I think it would be extremely exciting to travel back in time hundreds of years to a kingdom in India! I would probably be mostly like Nisha, who is straight forward, clear and sometimes demanding. I actually think the book ends well, and leaves room for a third book.
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is an award-winning, Indian-American author and poet who has written a wide selection of books, most of them either fiction or poetry. She has been published in over 50 magazines, and her writing has been included in over 50 anthologies. Her books have been translated into 16 languages, including Dutch, Hebrew, Russian and Japanese, and two of them have been made into movies. I am very glad I read The Mirror of Fire and Dreaming because it sparked my interest in fantasy again!
Delta, Northwest Agree to Merger
Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines last night announced a proposed merger that would create the world's largest carrier and possibly spur an industry-wide round of restructuring that could vastly change air travel for millions of Americans.
The proposal, which was months in the making, would create a global airline with seven domestic hubs and international destinations stretching from Asia to South America to Europe. It comes as new international agreements have reduced barriers to competition, fuel prices have skyrocketed and the economy has weakened. In the past month, four discount airlines have sought bankruptcy protection.
The merger of the two carriers is far from a certainty, however. It would need to pass regulatory muster, and Northwest has yet to reach an agreement with its pilots, an employee group that could complicate integrating the airlines. Concerns about industry consolidation have been raised on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers have expressed extreme frustration in recent weeks at declining airline customer service, increasing flight delays and questions over the industry's maintenance practices.
Many analysts said the deal could spark a round of mergers between other U.S. carriers so they could more effectively compete with the combined Delta-Northwest, which would keep Delta's name and its Atlanta headquarters. The next possible combination, according to many inside the industry and those who observe it closely: United and Continental airlines, which would then leapfrog the new Delta as the world's largest carrier. The two airlines have talked about merging in the past.
The proposed Delta-Northwest merger would not affect the carriers' frequent fliers, who are already members of the same international Sky Team alliance. It does not appear that Washington area travelers would notice much of a change, either. The combined airline and its regional carriers would handle about 13 percent of departures from the region's three major airports, according to an analysis of flight schedules conducted for The Washington Post by OAGback Analytical Solutions.
Delta's top executive, Richard Anderson, who would retain his post in the new airline, said in a statement released last night that the deal was a good one because it would lead to an "airline that is financially secure, able to invest in our employees and our customers and built to thrive in an increasingly competitive marketplace." Northwest's chief executive, Doug Steenland, would step aside but would gain a seat on the new carrier's board.
In the proposed carrier's first news release, executives pledged to retain all of their hubs and not reduce jobs through layoffs -- a tough promise to keep in today's environment and one that comes just a few weeks after Delta announced that it was seeking to reduce about 2,000 jobs from its 50,000-person workforce.
The deal is an all-stock transaction in which Northwest shareholders would receive 1.25 Delta shares for each Northwest share. The statement said the transactions give Northwest shareholders a 16.8 percent premium, based on yesterday's closing stock prices. Delta shares closed yesterday at $10.48 and Northwest at $11.22.
Delta, the nation's third-largest carrier by traffic, and Northwest, the fifth-largest, could potentially carry more than 175 million passengers a year, according to federal data. Executives said they expect a combined company to generate more than $35 billion in annual revenue. They also said they expect the merger to cut some costs.
Despite their enthusiasm, executives face hurdles before they can finalize any deal.
Although President Bush's top transportation official has said she supports airline consolidation, the Justice Department is expected to take a critical look at the deal for potential antitrust problems. Top Democrats have promised hearings on what mergers would mean to communities and passengers.
The airline will also have to dance delicately around labor issues.
Delta took a major step in reducing that friction last night by reaching an agreement with the union leaders of its 6,000 pilots, an action expected to ease transition issues. Northwest has not reached such a deal with its 4,500 pilots. Two months ago, executives from both carriers worked hard to win over their pilots to ease transition and reduce the chances for labor rifts -- problems that have complicated similar deals. However, after Delta and Northwest pilots could not reach a consensus on seniority lists and other matters, the merger plan dissolved.
Analysts say the economic environment for airlines has deteriorated since then, so much so that the carriers are willing to go ahead without the Northwest pilots on board. They said in the news statement that they would attempt to deal with integration issues in coming months.
It is not known how a completed merger and other proposed transactions would affect customers. Analysts generally agree that fares would increase, especially in markets not served by low-cost carriers. However, with the U.S. airline industry in such rough shape, passengers might be better off if carriers consolidate into three or four larger and stronger entities, the analysts said.
"The industry could quickly go from six major network carriers to as few as three," said Robert Mann, an airline analyst in New York. "We have an industry that is slowly but surely going out of business. That is an unfortunate fact. We need an industry that functions and actually makes money and can reinvest in more efficient fleets."
But others said industry-wide consolidation is not a foregone conclusion. Northwest and Delta are already part of the same international alliance and are essentially marketing partners already. After studying the deal, other carriers might realize that the combined carrier is not so different from the two airlines' current operations, the analysts said.
"This won't be some juggernaut," said Mike Boyd, an aviation analyst and consultant. "They are essentially together already. . . . It is a merger that is not going to be some sort steamroller over the rest of the industry."
URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/14/AR2008041402596.html?wpisrc=newsletter
The proposal, which was months in the making, would create a global airline with seven domestic hubs and international destinations stretching from Asia to South America to Europe. It comes as new international agreements have reduced barriers to competition, fuel prices have skyrocketed and the economy has weakened. In the past month, four discount airlines have sought bankruptcy protection.
The merger of the two carriers is far from a certainty, however. It would need to pass regulatory muster, and Northwest has yet to reach an agreement with its pilots, an employee group that could complicate integrating the airlines. Concerns about industry consolidation have been raised on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers have expressed extreme frustration in recent weeks at declining airline customer service, increasing flight delays and questions over the industry's maintenance practices.
Many analysts said the deal could spark a round of mergers between other U.S. carriers so they could more effectively compete with the combined Delta-Northwest, which would keep Delta's name and its Atlanta headquarters. The next possible combination, according to many inside the industry and those who observe it closely: United and Continental airlines, which would then leapfrog the new Delta as the world's largest carrier. The two airlines have talked about merging in the past.
The proposed Delta-Northwest merger would not affect the carriers' frequent fliers, who are already members of the same international Sky Team alliance. It does not appear that Washington area travelers would notice much of a change, either. The combined airline and its regional carriers would handle about 13 percent of departures from the region's three major airports, according to an analysis of flight schedules conducted for The Washington Post by OAGback Analytical Solutions.
Delta's top executive, Richard Anderson, who would retain his post in the new airline, said in a statement released last night that the deal was a good one because it would lead to an "airline that is financially secure, able to invest in our employees and our customers and built to thrive in an increasingly competitive marketplace." Northwest's chief executive, Doug Steenland, would step aside but would gain a seat on the new carrier's board.
In the proposed carrier's first news release, executives pledged to retain all of their hubs and not reduce jobs through layoffs -- a tough promise to keep in today's environment and one that comes just a few weeks after Delta announced that it was seeking to reduce about 2,000 jobs from its 50,000-person workforce.
The deal is an all-stock transaction in which Northwest shareholders would receive 1.25 Delta shares for each Northwest share. The statement said the transactions give Northwest shareholders a 16.8 percent premium, based on yesterday's closing stock prices. Delta shares closed yesterday at $10.48 and Northwest at $11.22.
Delta, the nation's third-largest carrier by traffic, and Northwest, the fifth-largest, could potentially carry more than 175 million passengers a year, according to federal data. Executives said they expect a combined company to generate more than $35 billion in annual revenue. They also said they expect the merger to cut some costs.
Despite their enthusiasm, executives face hurdles before they can finalize any deal.
Although President Bush's top transportation official has said she supports airline consolidation, the Justice Department is expected to take a critical look at the deal for potential antitrust problems. Top Democrats have promised hearings on what mergers would mean to communities and passengers.
The airline will also have to dance delicately around labor issues.
Delta took a major step in reducing that friction last night by reaching an agreement with the union leaders of its 6,000 pilots, an action expected to ease transition issues. Northwest has not reached such a deal with its 4,500 pilots. Two months ago, executives from both carriers worked hard to win over their pilots to ease transition and reduce the chances for labor rifts -- problems that have complicated similar deals. However, after Delta and Northwest pilots could not reach a consensus on seniority lists and other matters, the merger plan dissolved.
Analysts say the economic environment for airlines has deteriorated since then, so much so that the carriers are willing to go ahead without the Northwest pilots on board. They said in the news statement that they would attempt to deal with integration issues in coming months.
It is not known how a completed merger and other proposed transactions would affect customers. Analysts generally agree that fares would increase, especially in markets not served by low-cost carriers. However, with the U.S. airline industry in such rough shape, passengers might be better off if carriers consolidate into three or four larger and stronger entities, the analysts said.
"The industry could quickly go from six major network carriers to as few as three," said Robert Mann, an airline analyst in New York. "We have an industry that is slowly but surely going out of business. That is an unfortunate fact. We need an industry that functions and actually makes money and can reinvest in more efficient fleets."
But others said industry-wide consolidation is not a foregone conclusion. Northwest and Delta are already part of the same international alliance and are essentially marketing partners already. After studying the deal, other carriers might realize that the combined carrier is not so different from the two airlines' current operations, the analysts said.
"This won't be some juggernaut," said Mike Boyd, an aviation analyst and consultant. "They are essentially together already. . . . It is a merger that is not going to be some sort steamroller over the rest of the industry."
URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/14/AR2008041402596.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Vocabulary Week 13
Just looking at this picture gives me a sensation of vertigo!James felt a dizzying sensation of vertigo as he rose to his feet and he closed his eyes.
The supreme court is probably the most punitive group in the US. "She must be the most punitive teach ever! I've never had a detention before!"
I love how the two men in the cartoon look like crooks! It reminds me other the way that lots of people are constantly trying to get money, as opposed to squandering it.There should have been a large sign saying "Squander." The room was full of luxurious furniture, paintings in golden frames and plates of food on every surface.
Poor old man! He looks so forlorn and depressed.Nora looked forlorn after she read the note. "We're never going to make it in time!"
The news reporter is attempting to avoid libelling, so as not to make anyone upset. It is funny, because that is unrealistic.Both candidates managed to libel the groups of concern, who proceded to be outraged.
revere-v.-- to regard with respect tinged with awe.
vertigo-n.-- a dizzying sensation of tilting within stable surroundings or of being in tilting or spinning surroundings.
punitive-adj.-- serving for, concerned with, or inflicting punishment.
slander-n.-- words falsely spoken that damage the name of another.
squander-v.-- to spend or use (money, time, etc.) extravagantly or wastefully.
panache-n.-- a grand or flamboyant manner.
forlorn-adj.-- desolate or dreary; unhappy or miserable as in feeling, condition or appearance.
quell-v.-- to supress, put an end to, extinguish.
concision-n.-- concise quality; brevity; terseness.
libel-v.-- to misrepresent damagingly.
defamation-n.-- false or unjustified injury of the good reputation of another; a false accusation of an offense or a malicious misrepresentation of someone's words or actions.
misdirection-n.-- a wrong or incorrect direction, guidance, or instruction; (Law) an error made by a juge in charging the jury.
vertigo-n.-- a dizzying sensation of tilting within stable surroundings or of being in tilting or spinning surroundings.
punitive-adj.-- serving for, concerned with, or inflicting punishment.
slander-n.-- words falsely spoken that damage the name of another.
squander-v.-- to spend or use (money, time, etc.) extravagantly or wastefully.
panache-n.-- a grand or flamboyant manner.
forlorn-adj.-- desolate or dreary; unhappy or miserable as in feeling, condition or appearance.
quell-v.-- to supress, put an end to, extinguish.
concision-n.-- concise quality; brevity; terseness.
libel-v.-- to misrepresent damagingly.
defamation-n.-- false or unjustified injury of the good reputation of another; a false accusation of an offense or a malicious misrepresentation of someone's words or actions.
misdirection-n.-- a wrong or incorrect direction, guidance, or instruction; (Law) an error made by a juge in charging the jury.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Current Event 8
Whistle-Blowers: Ties Between FAA, Southwest Too Close
Federal aviation safety inspectors testified before Congress today that lax oversight by their bosses and other regulators allowed Southwest Airlines last year to fly thousands of passengers on potentially unsafe jets in need of key safety checks.
The inspectors, who sought protection as whistle-blowers from Congress and federal investigators, said managers did little to correct problems with how Southwest and their own colleagues were handling the carrier's safety lapses.
"I am here today because I am concerned for the safety of the flying public," said Charalambe Boutris, an inspector who is credited with exposing the problems.
Boutris and the other inspectors testified before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which has been investigating Southwest's maintenance practices and allegations of weak FAA oversight of the carrier and potentially others. Since the investigation became public last month, four major airlines have been forced to ground hundreds of planes to conduct needed safety checks or make repairs to comply with safety directives.
Rep. James L. Oberstar (D-Minn.), chairman of the committee, said the issues raised by the inspectors represented the "most egregious lapse of safety I have seen in the last 23 years."
"The FAA would have us believe that what took place was an isolated incident," he said. "But the testimony we have heard substantiates that this is not an isolated aberration attributable to a rogue individual. But rather, this was a systematic breakdown of the safety oversight role of the FAA."
Federal Aviation Administration officials have said the Southwest problems were isolated. They have said a recent audit revealed that airlines were complying with 99 percent of safety directions. Four carriers are under investigation for not complying with directives, the FAA has said.
Southwest officials have apologized for any potential safety lapses, but said that even though the airline was late in making inspections of planes, the public was never endangered.
The safety lapses are coming to light during the safest stretch in U.S. commercial aviation history. And even the sharpest critics of the FAA's oversight, including Oberstar, have said that air travelers should not be afraid to get on passenger planes.
During today's hearing, the inspectors said many of the problems stemmed from a close relationship that had developed between a supervisor in their Dallas office, Douglas Gawadzinski, and a former FAA employee who had taken a job at Southwest. They believed that Gawadzinski was too lenient on the carrier because of that relationship.
The inspectors said Gawadzinski allowed Southwest to continue flying planes in March 2007 even after inspectors and airline personnel discovered that jets were well-beyond deadlines to complete checks for cracks in their skins.
Such checks were enacted after a large chunk of fuselage ripped away from a Boeing 737 in 1988. Undiscovered cracks on the Southwest planes "could have resulted in a sudden fracture . . . which would have had a catastrophic impact during flight," Boutris said.
The next month, the airline kept flying planes in need of critical rudder inspections even after it alerted the FAA to lapsed checks.
When the inspectors approached supervisors about the problems, they said they encountered roadblocks. Gawadzinski underplayed the potential safety dangers, and they received no help from high-ranking officials despite repeated attempts to air their concerns. Three were removed, at least temporarily, from their posts, and Boutris received a death threat that congressional staffers said was being investigated by the FBI. "No supervisor can do what my supervisor was doing without the support from fellow inspectors . . . and I believe with the support of people in Washington," Boutris testified.
Inspector Douglas E. Peters said his experiences proved that there "was evidence that FAA management personnel with the responsibility and the authority to take appropriate action proved themselves unworthy of being custodians of the public trust."
"The proof was provided by their blatant disregard and failure to respond to significant safety events that were constantly reported, Peters testified.
They also raised concerns about the broader issue of the FAA's partnership with carriers and its reliance on them to disclose safety problems. Such disclosures often do not result in punishment if the airlines are upfront about the issues.
The programs generally have been credited with encouraging carriers, pilots, maintenance crews and others to report mistakes and quickly correct them. However, many outside safety experts, members of Congress and federal investigators believe the FAA should tougher on the carriers.
In prepared testimony, the Department of Transportation's Inspector General Calvin L. Scovel III said the FAA developed "an overly collaborative relationship with" Southwest, which helped lead to last year's lapses.
Scovel added that he believes the FAA "relies too heavily on self-disclosures and promotes a pattern of excessive leniency at the expense of effective oversight and appropriate enforcement."
Last month -- a year after the original problems at Southwest -- the FAA fined the carrier $10.2 million for the missed safety checks and for continuing to fly the planes even after the airline learned that it had missed the inspections.
Federal aviation safety inspectors testified before Congress today that lax oversight by their bosses and other regulators allowed Southwest Airlines last year to fly thousands of passengers on potentially unsafe jets in need of key safety checks.
The inspectors, who sought protection as whistle-blowers from Congress and federal investigators, said managers did little to correct problems with how Southwest and their own colleagues were handling the carrier's safety lapses.
"I am here today because I am concerned for the safety of the flying public," said Charalambe Boutris, an inspector who is credited with exposing the problems.
Boutris and the other inspectors testified before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which has been investigating Southwest's maintenance practices and allegations of weak FAA oversight of the carrier and potentially others. Since the investigation became public last month, four major airlines have been forced to ground hundreds of planes to conduct needed safety checks or make repairs to comply with safety directives.
Rep. James L. Oberstar (D-Minn.), chairman of the committee, said the issues raised by the inspectors represented the "most egregious lapse of safety I have seen in the last 23 years."
"The FAA would have us believe that what took place was an isolated incident," he said. "But the testimony we have heard substantiates that this is not an isolated aberration attributable to a rogue individual. But rather, this was a systematic breakdown of the safety oversight role of the FAA."
Federal Aviation Administration officials have said the Southwest problems were isolated. They have said a recent audit revealed that airlines were complying with 99 percent of safety directions. Four carriers are under investigation for not complying with directives, the FAA has said.
Southwest officials have apologized for any potential safety lapses, but said that even though the airline was late in making inspections of planes, the public was never endangered.
The safety lapses are coming to light during the safest stretch in U.S. commercial aviation history. And even the sharpest critics of the FAA's oversight, including Oberstar, have said that air travelers should not be afraid to get on passenger planes.
During today's hearing, the inspectors said many of the problems stemmed from a close relationship that had developed between a supervisor in their Dallas office, Douglas Gawadzinski, and a former FAA employee who had taken a job at Southwest. They believed that Gawadzinski was too lenient on the carrier because of that relationship.
The inspectors said Gawadzinski allowed Southwest to continue flying planes in March 2007 even after inspectors and airline personnel discovered that jets were well-beyond deadlines to complete checks for cracks in their skins.
Such checks were enacted after a large chunk of fuselage ripped away from a Boeing 737 in 1988. Undiscovered cracks on the Southwest planes "could have resulted in a sudden fracture . . . which would have had a catastrophic impact during flight," Boutris said.
The next month, the airline kept flying planes in need of critical rudder inspections even after it alerted the FAA to lapsed checks.
When the inspectors approached supervisors about the problems, they said they encountered roadblocks. Gawadzinski underplayed the potential safety dangers, and they received no help from high-ranking officials despite repeated attempts to air their concerns. Three were removed, at least temporarily, from their posts, and Boutris received a death threat that congressional staffers said was being investigated by the FBI. "No supervisor can do what my supervisor was doing without the support from fellow inspectors . . . and I believe with the support of people in Washington," Boutris testified.
Inspector Douglas E. Peters said his experiences proved that there "was evidence that FAA management personnel with the responsibility and the authority to take appropriate action proved themselves unworthy of being custodians of the public trust."
"The proof was provided by their blatant disregard and failure to respond to significant safety events that were constantly reported, Peters testified.
They also raised concerns about the broader issue of the FAA's partnership with carriers and its reliance on them to disclose safety problems. Such disclosures often do not result in punishment if the airlines are upfront about the issues.
The programs generally have been credited with encouraging carriers, pilots, maintenance crews and others to report mistakes and quickly correct them. However, many outside safety experts, members of Congress and federal investigators believe the FAA should tougher on the carriers.
In prepared testimony, the Department of Transportation's Inspector General Calvin L. Scovel III said the FAA developed "an overly collaborative relationship with" Southwest, which helped lead to last year's lapses.
Scovel added that he believes the FAA "relies too heavily on self-disclosures and promotes a pattern of excessive leniency at the expense of effective oversight and appropriate enforcement."
Last month -- a year after the original problems at Southwest -- the FAA fined the carrier $10.2 million for the missed safety checks and for continuing to fly the planes even after the airline learned that it had missed the inspections.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
The American Civil War
The bloodiest five years in American history that freed all American slaves
1860, President Abraham Lincoln is elected president of the United States of America. 1861, the American Civil War begins as Jefferson Davis becomes the first and only President of the Confederate States of America to fight for the new Confederacy’s independence from the United States and to preserve a way of life. President Lincoln and the Union Army begin the fight to preserve their beloved Union and to end slavery, the disease they believe that plagues the country. The war would rage for five years and would end with a total of 970,000 American casualties, more than all other American wars combined. It is not the amount of blood spilt that makes this war unique, however. The American Civil War is one of the few wars in history that was not fought for land, money or freedom from a ruler, but rather for lofty concepts and ideals. These ideals meant everything to the soldiers that fought and died for them in the bloodiest war in American history.
The roots and causes of the war extend back into the early years of the 19th century. As the United States began acquiring new land and forming new states, it discovered a conflict. It had previously been decided during the ratification of the Constitution that certain states, all in the north, would be free and not allow slavery, while the southern states could legally have slaves. Because of this, a delicate balance had to be kept to make sure that there were an equal number of free states and slave states so as not to give one side a greater advantage in the government. However, with the new land acquired from the Mexican-American War, this became almost impossible. This separation translated into a fundamental difference of labor and work forces. The vast majority of the Southern land was made up of plantations and farms, and thus most of the work force was agriculturally based, and nearly all of the workers were black slaves. Therefore, most of the South’s exports were cash crops. The South’s main crop was cotton, which its economy relied heavily on. The North, however, had been investing the entire century in industrializing and industrial growth. Much of its economy was run by factories, mills, canals and railroads. Its work force consisted mostly of immigrants and the lower middle class. The South noticed the North’s growing population and feared that it would begin to lose seats in the House of Representatives, and thus an equal say in the government. This economic imbalance also led the North to take advantage of its power by imposing tariffs and taxes, which resulted in Southern distrust of the government. As South Carolina Senator John Townsend said, “‘our enemies are about to take possession of the Government, that they intend to rule us according to the caprices of their fanatical theories, and according to the declared purposes of abolishing slavery.’(Wikipedia)”
The North also hosted the body of the abolitionist movement in America that was crying out for human equality and equal rights. A moderate on this subject came onto the scene in the middle of the century. Abraham Lincoln was a lawyer and Senator of Illinois when he was chosen to be the candidate for the new Republican Party in 1860. Later that year, he was elected President of the United States of America with only forty percent of the votes. The Democratic Party, the Republicans’ main opposition, had split along the sectional line and was weaker on both sides. With the election of Lincoln and the Republican Party controlling the government, the South began to seriously fear that Lincoln would follow through on his promise to stop the expansion of slavery and even begin to end it.On December 20, 1860, South Carolina seceded from the Union. Six other southern states—Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and later Texas—joined South Carolina in what is known now as secession winter. They formed the Confederate States of America on February 4, 1861 and elected Jefferson Davis as their president on February 9. The Confederacy took control of the land and establishments inside its border, and the southern senators and state representatives left the United States government. On March 11, seven days after Lincoln took office, the Confederacy adopted the Constitution of the Confederate States of America, which was very similar to the United States Constitution. The most notable change was that it protected the institution of slavery, though it still prohibited international slave trading. It also gave more power to the states, or took power away from the central government, and it invoked God’s support. After the opening battle at Fort Sumter, four more states—Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina—seceded and joined the Confederates States. However, President Lincoln worked hard to retain states in the Union, and succeeded in holding on to five slaves states—West Virginia (which seceded from Virginia), Maryland, Delaware, Missouri, and Kentucky—called border states. Not surprisingly, Lincoln declared secession illegal by the Constitution. That meant, however, that a war would be inevitable if the Union wished to punish the Southern states for their crime.
The war officially began on April 12, 1861 as Confederate soldiers began to bombard Fort Sumter, the only fort still in the Union’s possession in South Carolina. Lincoln declared a state of insurrection and called for 75,000 troops to join the army. Lincoln also sent a request to Robert E. Lee, a Virginian and graduate from West Point, to sign on as the General of the Union Army. He was a moderate who initially opposed the secession of Virginia, but when his home stated joined the Confederacy, so did he. Lee declined Lincoln’s request and instead accepted Jefferson Davis’ request for him to lead the Confederate Army. It was the beginning of the Union’s struggle to find an effective and lasting general, which led to a series of major losses for the Union troops in 1861.
The First Battle of Bull Run (also known as the First Manassas) took place on July 21, 1861 in Virginia. The Confederate troops under General Jackson, later to be nicknamed Stonewall Jackson, and Beauregard routed the Union army under General McDowell. On the sea, General Winfield Scott devised and enacted his Anaconda Plan, a Union naval blockade along the entire southern Atlantic coast and up the Mississippi River. It prevented most trading between the South and Britain and caused a lot of the inflation the South incurred. However, losses at Wilson’s Creek and the Battle of Ball’s Bluff lead Lincoln to replace his general in-chief, General Winfield Scott with George B. McClellan. The Union finally received a major victory on February 6, 1862 when General Ulysses S. Grant captured Fort Henry on the Tennessee River and later took Fort Donelson near Nashville. Nashville surrendered to Union troops on February 25. However, Lincoln became tired of waiting for McClellan to take action, so he replaced him with General Henry Halleck and instead assigned him to the Army of the Potomac, which then began a campaign to take Richmond, the Confederacy’s capitol.At the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee, April 6-7, the Union troops under Grant were nearly defeated by General Albert Johnston’s forces, but reinforcements came at the last minutes, and Grant was able to drive the Confederate troops back. The 20,000 men lost on both sides those two days are more than the total losses from the American Revolution, the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War combined. The Union continued to see success as Union Flag Officer David Farragut captured New Orleans and moved up the Mississippi river. Shortly before that, Jefferson Davis responded to the Confederate losses by signing the first draft in American history, yet the Confederacy continued to see losses until McClellan reached Richmond and was stopped first by Johnston and later Lee. The South’s hope was rekindled, however, when the Confederate Army won one of its most significant victories at the Second Battle of Bull Run (or Second Manassas) on August 30, 1862.
The tide turned the other way for the Confederate army once again when General Lee decided that an invasion of the North was necessary to win the war. He moved his army into Maryland where they met McClellan across the river Antietam on September 17. McClellan had come across Lee’s battle plan and knew that his army was split up. Despite his great numerical advantage over Lee, McClellan remained convinced that Lee had twice as many troops as he actually did and refused to take the opportunity to press the attack. However, the Confederate losses were substantial enough that Lee retreated to Virginia the next evening, leaving behind the bloodiest day of the Civil War. President Lincoln’s next action was to remove McClellan from command and replace him with Ambrose Burnside, which turned out to be a mistake because he did not know how to command an entire army. Thus, the Battle of Fredericksburg was won by Lee while suffering less then half of the casualties of the North.
1863 began on January 1 with Lincoln’s official issue of the Emancipation Proclamation, which stated that all slaves in the Confederacy were freed. It did not actually free any slaves, but it did change the official purpose of the war from preserving the Union to freeing slaves. This change lost the support of many Northerners who had previously supported the war. It was also a turning point for Britain and France, who no longer felt it would be beneficial to support the South. By January 26, blacks were being authorized to be recruited into the Union army. Eventually, there was a total of 185,000 black soldiers in the army and in the navy.In June of 1863, Lee made a second attempt to invade the North, this time into Pennsylvania. As he marched his troops across the Potomac, General Joseph Hooker, who had replaced Burnside in January, was replaced by General George Meade, began to prepare for confrontation with Lee’s army. By chance, the two armies collided at a small town called Gettysburg on July 1. The fighting lasted three days as both sides continued to pour in more troops. Lee’s goal was to fight through the Union forces and get closer to Washington D.C. Lee’s second in command, General James Longstreet, tried to convince him that the Confederate troops should pull back and move around to get between the Union army and Washington in a defensive position so that the Union troops would be forced to attack, but Lee refused to pull out. This allowed the Union troops to set up a defensive position where they could successfully repulse the attacks that lasted for three days. The fighting culminated in a final Confederate assault of 13,500 men known as Pickett’s Charge, which utterly failed. On July 4, Lee was forced to retreat to Virginia. The Battle of Gettysburg was a major turning point in the war for both sides. On the same day, the Confederates on the western front at Vicksburg, Mississippi made an unconditional surrender to Ulysses S. Grant.
On November 19, Lincoln delivers his very famous Gettysburg Address. It reminds those listening, and later the whole nation, why the war was raging. He reminds the Union that the United States was founded on the principle that “all men are created equal” in his iconic opening sentence, “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal(Wikipedia).” Although the speech was not written on the back of a letter, as popularly thought, it was composed bit by bit over a few days and was finished the morning of its presentation.In 1864, the final operations of the war were beginning to take place .On June 30, 1864, Grant began the Siege of Petersburg after a failed attempt to capture it in one attack. His objective was to the cut the supply lines that converged there and were the source of supplies for Richmond. An elaborate trench system was set up by each side, led by Grant and Lee, very much like the trenches that were dug 50 years later during World War I. For nine months, Grant successfully thinned and weakened Lee’s lines. On April 2, 1865, Grant finally made a full front attack on Lee’s forces that broke through the line in a few places. Lee sent a telegraph to Richmond saying that he could no longer defend Richmond and Petersburg.
Meanwhile, the Union General William Sherman began his siege on Atlanta, Georgia in mid-July, 1864. The four battles (Peachtree Creek, Atlanta, Ezra Church and Jonesborough) ensured Sherman’s capture of the city on September 2. He proceeded to set most of it on fire. This victory came just in time to essentially ensure President Lincoln’s reelection later that year. It also marked the beginning of Sherman’s March to the Sea. It ended when Sherman captured Savannah on the Atlantic coast, but he continued to march north through the Carolinas, the army fighting and burning cities that stood in the way. Several smaller battles were fought near the end of 1864 and into 1865, but the Confederate Army was never able to recover from Sherman’s victories.
On November 11, 1864, Lincoln was reelected as President and he was inaugurated on March 4, 1865 with Andrew Johnson as his Vice President. A month later on April 8, Lee finally surrendered his army after being surrounded at Appomattox Court House in Virginia by Grant’s army. Six days later while watching a play at Ford’s Theatre, Lincoln was shot by actor John Wilkes Booth. He died the next day, the first president to be assassinated. The same day, Vice President Andrew Johnson took the oath of office.Despite the tragedy of Lincoln’s death, the war ended triumphantly for the Union. Why was the North victorious over the South? According to historian David Kenneth in his book Don’t Know Much About History: Everything You Need to Know About American History But Never Learned, “The simplest answer is that the Confederacy was fighting history, not just the Union. In many respects, the Confederate states fielded an eighteenth-century army to fight a nineteenth-century war against a twentieth-century power. (p.240)” The Union Army at its peak had over 2 million men enlisted, out numbering the Confederacy by two to one. The North also had 4 million men of combat age while the South only had 3.5 million, 100,000 factories to the South’s 20,000 and 20,000 miles of railroad to the South’s 9,000. As Southern historian Shelby Foote put it in the Ken Burns’ documentary, The Civil War, “…the North fought that war with one hand behind its back.… If there had been more Southern victories, and a lot more, the North simply would have brought that other hand out from behind its back. I don't think the South ever had a chance to win that War. (Burns)” Although the North might have been well equipped for war, it still had to face the issue of what to do with the surrendered Confederate States.The period after the war, known as Reconstruction, actually began early in the war. It was what its name suggests, a reconstruction of the Union. There were two issues that had to be dealt with: the secession had to end by readmitting each Confederate state, and all forms of slavery in every state had to be eliminated. However, there was little agreement about the criteria needed to accomplish these two goals. In 1863, Lincoln formed a moderate plan for readmitting states. Southerners could become citizens again by taking a simple loyalty oath. When ten percent of a state had taken it, then it could set up its own government again. By ten percent, however, Lincoln only meant ten percent of the white men who were registered to vote, a very small percent of each state’s entire population. After Lincoln died, however, Radical Republicans pushed for stricter terms, but they had to answer to President Johnson, who favored Lincoln’s approach. The only difference was that each state, including the Union states, had to ratify its constitution to include the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery. In December, 1865, when two thirds of the states had added it, the required number to ratify the United Stats Constitution. Although the Southern Congressmen returned to Congress, they were not entirely cooperative with the Thirteenth Amendment and passed a series of “Black-Codes” that did not allow freedmen to vote, own land or have complete control of their employment. To counter this, Radical Republicans attempted to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1866. The Act was vetoed by Johnson, but the Republicans, for the first time in American history, had enough votes to override the veto.
Congress then formed the Freedmen’s Bureau, which was designed to take care of the four million freed slaves, doing everything from starting schools, to giving them food, to helping them find employment. The result for most freed blacks was what is called sharecropping, a system that allowed blacks to work for plantation owners in return for a place to live and food. However, many only fell into permanent debt. Congress’s next act was to pass a series of Reconstruction Acts. They divided the South into military regions, and changed the criteria for statehood. Each state had to ratify its constitution to allow blacks to vote and to add the Fourteenth Amendment, which extended citizenship to blacks. Reconstruction finished in each state at different times, but the period officially ended with the Compromise of 1877, which exchanged a Republican Presidency for the removal of federal troops from South Carolina, Florida and Louisiana.Three of the most famous successes of the war are the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment. The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in every state, finally ending the issue that had created conflict between the North and the South during the entire 19th century. The Fourteenth Amendment extended citizenship to include blacks. It also required that states give equal legal protection to all persons under their jurisdiction. It was ratified on July 9, 1868. The Fifteenth Amendment prevented states from denying the right to vote based on race, color, or previous servitude. Although it was ratified on February 3, 1870, it wasn’t until nearly a century later that that promise was completely fulfilled. Despite these giant steps toward equal civil rights, it did not stop extreme segregation in many states. The Jim Crow laws were enforced in the Southern and border states well into the 20th century. They required separate schools, public places, transportation, bathrooms and restaurants for blacks and whites. Services provided for blacks were nearly always much less than that for whites. It also resulted in hundreds of lynchings by groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, a cult dedicated to eradicating blacks.
Even so, the United States has come far in the last 150 years on the issue of human rights. It makes one wonder what might have happened if the Confederacy had been successful in separating itself for the Union. There were many points in the war when one command, a difference of two hours, or a difference of one mile might have changed the overall outcome. What if Lee had listened to General Longstreet when he had advised that Lee’s army pull out and take a defensive position at Gettysburg? Might the Confederate army have won the battle, moved successfully into the North, and therefore won the war? If that had happened, the Confederacy might have gotten the recognition from Britain that it had been seeking in the war and become an independent, slave-owning nation. At that point, the Union would most likely still abolish slavery in the Border States, presuming they did not secede and join the Confederacy. However, because of the South’s lack of industrialization and its currency inflation after the war, it is unlikely that it would have survived for long on its own without outside help. As it was, Lincoln and the Union managed to heal the broken nation and that ultimately helped it become stronger.
Works Cited
“American Civil War.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
Burns, Ken. The Civil War. Film. PBS. Burbanks, CA. 1990.
David, Kenneth C. Don’t Know Much About History: Everything You Need to Know About American History But Never Learned. HarperCollins. New York, NY. 2003.
“Rickard, J (10 May 2006), American Civil War Timeline.
1860, President Abraham Lincoln is elected president of the United States of America. 1861, the American Civil War begins as Jefferson Davis becomes the first and only President of the Confederate States of America to fight for the new Confederacy’s independence from the United States and to preserve a way of life. President Lincoln and the Union Army begin the fight to preserve their beloved Union and to end slavery, the disease they believe that plagues the country. The war would rage for five years and would end with a total of 970,000 American casualties, more than all other American wars combined. It is not the amount of blood spilt that makes this war unique, however. The American Civil War is one of the few wars in history that was not fought for land, money or freedom from a ruler, but rather for lofty concepts and ideals. These ideals meant everything to the soldiers that fought and died for them in the bloodiest war in American history.
The roots and causes of the war extend back into the early years of the 19th century. As the United States began acquiring new land and forming new states, it discovered a conflict. It had previously been decided during the ratification of the Constitution that certain states, all in the north, would be free and not allow slavery, while the southern states could legally have slaves. Because of this, a delicate balance had to be kept to make sure that there were an equal number of free states and slave states so as not to give one side a greater advantage in the government. However, with the new land acquired from the Mexican-American War, this became almost impossible. This separation translated into a fundamental difference of labor and work forces. The vast majority of the Southern land was made up of plantations and farms, and thus most of the work force was agriculturally based, and nearly all of the workers were black slaves. Therefore, most of the South’s exports were cash crops. The South’s main crop was cotton, which its economy relied heavily on. The North, however, had been investing the entire century in industrializing and industrial growth. Much of its economy was run by factories, mills, canals and railroads. Its work force consisted mostly of immigrants and the lower middle class. The South noticed the North’s growing population and feared that it would begin to lose seats in the House of Representatives, and thus an equal say in the government. This economic imbalance also led the North to take advantage of its power by imposing tariffs and taxes, which resulted in Southern distrust of the government. As South Carolina Senator John Townsend said, “‘our enemies are about to take possession of the Government, that they intend to rule us according to the caprices of their fanatical theories, and according to the declared purposes of abolishing slavery.’(Wikipedia)”
The North also hosted the body of the abolitionist movement in America that was crying out for human equality and equal rights. A moderate on this subject came onto the scene in the middle of the century. Abraham Lincoln was a lawyer and Senator of Illinois when he was chosen to be the candidate for the new Republican Party in 1860. Later that year, he was elected President of the United States of America with only forty percent of the votes. The Democratic Party, the Republicans’ main opposition, had split along the sectional line and was weaker on both sides. With the election of Lincoln and the Republican Party controlling the government, the South began to seriously fear that Lincoln would follow through on his promise to stop the expansion of slavery and even begin to end it.On December 20, 1860, South Carolina seceded from the Union. Six other southern states—Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and later Texas—joined South Carolina in what is known now as secession winter. They formed the Confederate States of America on February 4, 1861 and elected Jefferson Davis as their president on February 9. The Confederacy took control of the land and establishments inside its border, and the southern senators and state representatives left the United States government. On March 11, seven days after Lincoln took office, the Confederacy adopted the Constitution of the Confederate States of America, which was very similar to the United States Constitution. The most notable change was that it protected the institution of slavery, though it still prohibited international slave trading. It also gave more power to the states, or took power away from the central government, and it invoked God’s support. After the opening battle at Fort Sumter, four more states—Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina—seceded and joined the Confederates States. However, President Lincoln worked hard to retain states in the Union, and succeeded in holding on to five slaves states—West Virginia (which seceded from Virginia), Maryland, Delaware, Missouri, and Kentucky—called border states. Not surprisingly, Lincoln declared secession illegal by the Constitution. That meant, however, that a war would be inevitable if the Union wished to punish the Southern states for their crime.
The war officially began on April 12, 1861 as Confederate soldiers began to bombard Fort Sumter, the only fort still in the Union’s possession in South Carolina. Lincoln declared a state of insurrection and called for 75,000 troops to join the army. Lincoln also sent a request to Robert E. Lee, a Virginian and graduate from West Point, to sign on as the General of the Union Army. He was a moderate who initially opposed the secession of Virginia, but when his home stated joined the Confederacy, so did he. Lee declined Lincoln’s request and instead accepted Jefferson Davis’ request for him to lead the Confederate Army. It was the beginning of the Union’s struggle to find an effective and lasting general, which led to a series of major losses for the Union troops in 1861.
The First Battle of Bull Run (also known as the First Manassas) took place on July 21, 1861 in Virginia. The Confederate troops under General Jackson, later to be nicknamed Stonewall Jackson, and Beauregard routed the Union army under General McDowell. On the sea, General Winfield Scott devised and enacted his Anaconda Plan, a Union naval blockade along the entire southern Atlantic coast and up the Mississippi River. It prevented most trading between the South and Britain and caused a lot of the inflation the South incurred. However, losses at Wilson’s Creek and the Battle of Ball’s Bluff lead Lincoln to replace his general in-chief, General Winfield Scott with George B. McClellan. The Union finally received a major victory on February 6, 1862 when General Ulysses S. Grant captured Fort Henry on the Tennessee River and later took Fort Donelson near Nashville. Nashville surrendered to Union troops on February 25. However, Lincoln became tired of waiting for McClellan to take action, so he replaced him with General Henry Halleck and instead assigned him to the Army of the Potomac, which then began a campaign to take Richmond, the Confederacy’s capitol.At the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee, April 6-7, the Union troops under Grant were nearly defeated by General Albert Johnston’s forces, but reinforcements came at the last minutes, and Grant was able to drive the Confederate troops back. The 20,000 men lost on both sides those two days are more than the total losses from the American Revolution, the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War combined. The Union continued to see success as Union Flag Officer David Farragut captured New Orleans and moved up the Mississippi river. Shortly before that, Jefferson Davis responded to the Confederate losses by signing the first draft in American history, yet the Confederacy continued to see losses until McClellan reached Richmond and was stopped first by Johnston and later Lee. The South’s hope was rekindled, however, when the Confederate Army won one of its most significant victories at the Second Battle of Bull Run (or Second Manassas) on August 30, 1862.
The tide turned the other way for the Confederate army once again when General Lee decided that an invasion of the North was necessary to win the war. He moved his army into Maryland where they met McClellan across the river Antietam on September 17. McClellan had come across Lee’s battle plan and knew that his army was split up. Despite his great numerical advantage over Lee, McClellan remained convinced that Lee had twice as many troops as he actually did and refused to take the opportunity to press the attack. However, the Confederate losses were substantial enough that Lee retreated to Virginia the next evening, leaving behind the bloodiest day of the Civil War. President Lincoln’s next action was to remove McClellan from command and replace him with Ambrose Burnside, which turned out to be a mistake because he did not know how to command an entire army. Thus, the Battle of Fredericksburg was won by Lee while suffering less then half of the casualties of the North.
1863 began on January 1 with Lincoln’s official issue of the Emancipation Proclamation, which stated that all slaves in the Confederacy were freed. It did not actually free any slaves, but it did change the official purpose of the war from preserving the Union to freeing slaves. This change lost the support of many Northerners who had previously supported the war. It was also a turning point for Britain and France, who no longer felt it would be beneficial to support the South. By January 26, blacks were being authorized to be recruited into the Union army. Eventually, there was a total of 185,000 black soldiers in the army and in the navy.In June of 1863, Lee made a second attempt to invade the North, this time into Pennsylvania. As he marched his troops across the Potomac, General Joseph Hooker, who had replaced Burnside in January, was replaced by General George Meade, began to prepare for confrontation with Lee’s army. By chance, the two armies collided at a small town called Gettysburg on July 1. The fighting lasted three days as both sides continued to pour in more troops. Lee’s goal was to fight through the Union forces and get closer to Washington D.C. Lee’s second in command, General James Longstreet, tried to convince him that the Confederate troops should pull back and move around to get between the Union army and Washington in a defensive position so that the Union troops would be forced to attack, but Lee refused to pull out. This allowed the Union troops to set up a defensive position where they could successfully repulse the attacks that lasted for three days. The fighting culminated in a final Confederate assault of 13,500 men known as Pickett’s Charge, which utterly failed. On July 4, Lee was forced to retreat to Virginia. The Battle of Gettysburg was a major turning point in the war for both sides. On the same day, the Confederates on the western front at Vicksburg, Mississippi made an unconditional surrender to Ulysses S. Grant.
On November 19, Lincoln delivers his very famous Gettysburg Address. It reminds those listening, and later the whole nation, why the war was raging. He reminds the Union that the United States was founded on the principle that “all men are created equal” in his iconic opening sentence, “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal(Wikipedia).” Although the speech was not written on the back of a letter, as popularly thought, it was composed bit by bit over a few days and was finished the morning of its presentation.In 1864, the final operations of the war were beginning to take place .On June 30, 1864, Grant began the Siege of Petersburg after a failed attempt to capture it in one attack. His objective was to the cut the supply lines that converged there and were the source of supplies for Richmond. An elaborate trench system was set up by each side, led by Grant and Lee, very much like the trenches that were dug 50 years later during World War I. For nine months, Grant successfully thinned and weakened Lee’s lines. On April 2, 1865, Grant finally made a full front attack on Lee’s forces that broke through the line in a few places. Lee sent a telegraph to Richmond saying that he could no longer defend Richmond and Petersburg.
Meanwhile, the Union General William Sherman began his siege on Atlanta, Georgia in mid-July, 1864. The four battles (Peachtree Creek, Atlanta, Ezra Church and Jonesborough) ensured Sherman’s capture of the city on September 2. He proceeded to set most of it on fire. This victory came just in time to essentially ensure President Lincoln’s reelection later that year. It also marked the beginning of Sherman’s March to the Sea. It ended when Sherman captured Savannah on the Atlantic coast, but he continued to march north through the Carolinas, the army fighting and burning cities that stood in the way. Several smaller battles were fought near the end of 1864 and into 1865, but the Confederate Army was never able to recover from Sherman’s victories.
On November 11, 1864, Lincoln was reelected as President and he was inaugurated on March 4, 1865 with Andrew Johnson as his Vice President. A month later on April 8, Lee finally surrendered his army after being surrounded at Appomattox Court House in Virginia by Grant’s army. Six days later while watching a play at Ford’s Theatre, Lincoln was shot by actor John Wilkes Booth. He died the next day, the first president to be assassinated. The same day, Vice President Andrew Johnson took the oath of office.Despite the tragedy of Lincoln’s death, the war ended triumphantly for the Union. Why was the North victorious over the South? According to historian David Kenneth in his book Don’t Know Much About History: Everything You Need to Know About American History But Never Learned, “The simplest answer is that the Confederacy was fighting history, not just the Union. In many respects, the Confederate states fielded an eighteenth-century army to fight a nineteenth-century war against a twentieth-century power. (p.240)” The Union Army at its peak had over 2 million men enlisted, out numbering the Confederacy by two to one. The North also had 4 million men of combat age while the South only had 3.5 million, 100,000 factories to the South’s 20,000 and 20,000 miles of railroad to the South’s 9,000. As Southern historian Shelby Foote put it in the Ken Burns’ documentary, The Civil War, “…the North fought that war with one hand behind its back.… If there had been more Southern victories, and a lot more, the North simply would have brought that other hand out from behind its back. I don't think the South ever had a chance to win that War. (Burns)” Although the North might have been well equipped for war, it still had to face the issue of what to do with the surrendered Confederate States.The period after the war, known as Reconstruction, actually began early in the war. It was what its name suggests, a reconstruction of the Union. There were two issues that had to be dealt with: the secession had to end by readmitting each Confederate state, and all forms of slavery in every state had to be eliminated. However, there was little agreement about the criteria needed to accomplish these two goals. In 1863, Lincoln formed a moderate plan for readmitting states. Southerners could become citizens again by taking a simple loyalty oath. When ten percent of a state had taken it, then it could set up its own government again. By ten percent, however, Lincoln only meant ten percent of the white men who were registered to vote, a very small percent of each state’s entire population. After Lincoln died, however, Radical Republicans pushed for stricter terms, but they had to answer to President Johnson, who favored Lincoln’s approach. The only difference was that each state, including the Union states, had to ratify its constitution to include the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery. In December, 1865, when two thirds of the states had added it, the required number to ratify the United Stats Constitution. Although the Southern Congressmen returned to Congress, they were not entirely cooperative with the Thirteenth Amendment and passed a series of “Black-Codes” that did not allow freedmen to vote, own land or have complete control of their employment. To counter this, Radical Republicans attempted to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1866. The Act was vetoed by Johnson, but the Republicans, for the first time in American history, had enough votes to override the veto.
Congress then formed the Freedmen’s Bureau, which was designed to take care of the four million freed slaves, doing everything from starting schools, to giving them food, to helping them find employment. The result for most freed blacks was what is called sharecropping, a system that allowed blacks to work for plantation owners in return for a place to live and food. However, many only fell into permanent debt. Congress’s next act was to pass a series of Reconstruction Acts. They divided the South into military regions, and changed the criteria for statehood. Each state had to ratify its constitution to allow blacks to vote and to add the Fourteenth Amendment, which extended citizenship to blacks. Reconstruction finished in each state at different times, but the period officially ended with the Compromise of 1877, which exchanged a Republican Presidency for the removal of federal troops from South Carolina, Florida and Louisiana.Three of the most famous successes of the war are the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment. The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in every state, finally ending the issue that had created conflict between the North and the South during the entire 19th century. The Fourteenth Amendment extended citizenship to include blacks. It also required that states give equal legal protection to all persons under their jurisdiction. It was ratified on July 9, 1868. The Fifteenth Amendment prevented states from denying the right to vote based on race, color, or previous servitude. Although it was ratified on February 3, 1870, it wasn’t until nearly a century later that that promise was completely fulfilled. Despite these giant steps toward equal civil rights, it did not stop extreme segregation in many states. The Jim Crow laws were enforced in the Southern and border states well into the 20th century. They required separate schools, public places, transportation, bathrooms and restaurants for blacks and whites. Services provided for blacks were nearly always much less than that for whites. It also resulted in hundreds of lynchings by groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, a cult dedicated to eradicating blacks.
Even so, the United States has come far in the last 150 years on the issue of human rights. It makes one wonder what might have happened if the Confederacy had been successful in separating itself for the Union. There were many points in the war when one command, a difference of two hours, or a difference of one mile might have changed the overall outcome. What if Lee had listened to General Longstreet when he had advised that Lee’s army pull out and take a defensive position at Gettysburg? Might the Confederate army have won the battle, moved successfully into the North, and therefore won the war? If that had happened, the Confederacy might have gotten the recognition from Britain that it had been seeking in the war and become an independent, slave-owning nation. At that point, the Union would most likely still abolish slavery in the Border States, presuming they did not secede and join the Confederacy. However, because of the South’s lack of industrialization and its currency inflation after the war, it is unlikely that it would have survived for long on its own without outside help. As it was, Lincoln and the Union managed to heal the broken nation and that ultimately helped it become stronger.
Works Cited
“American Civil War.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
Burns, Ken. The Civil War. Film. PBS. Burbanks, CA. 1990.
David, Kenneth C. Don’t Know Much About History: Everything You Need to Know About American History But Never Learned. HarperCollins. New York, NY. 2003.
“Rickard, J (10 May 2006), American Civil War Timeline.
Friday, March 28, 2008
The Common Sense of Government Today
Published the same year the American Revolution started, 1776, Thomas Paine's Common Sense outlines the reasons why the American colonies should no be under English rule. It begins by describing the sin and folly of kingship and rulers.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Sophie's World-- honors book report
Gaarder, Jostein. Sophie's World. New York, New York. Berkley:1996.
I actually began reading this book in 9th grade. It was my graduation gift from my 8th grade teacher, who knew me very well. It is a fiction book on the history of philosophy. I really enjoyed it when I started it, but I did not finish it because I didn't have time to just sit down and read it until recently. The main body of the story takes place in Norway in the 1990s. However, the story line is not linear, and there are really two places in Norway it takes place.
The story begins with the main character, Sophie Amundsen, a 14 year old girl receiving strange letters about philosophy from someone she has never met. The man writing the letters, Alberto Knox, begins teaching Sophie the history of philosophy through these letters, and then later in person. They start with the Greek philosophers Plato, Aristotle and Socrates and by the end of the course, have reached the end of the 20th century after discussing Darwin, Freud and Marx. Throughout the course, however, Sophie continues receiving post cards addressed to Hilde Moller Knag from her father in Lebanon. Hilde also lives in Norway, but her father is in Lebanon as a soldier for the UN. In the process of trying to figure out why Sophie is receiving Hilde's mail, Alberto and Sophie discover that they are only characters in a book that Hilde's father, Albert Knag, is writing for Hilde's 15th birthday, which is the same day that Sophie turns 15. About 300 pages into the book, the reader meets Hilde as she receives the book on her birthday and starts reading it. She comes to the conclusion that she has to help Sophie and Alberto get back at her father for the tricks he played on them in the book. By the end of the story, Sophie and Alberto have escaped from the book, where they join the world of imaginary characters.
At the beginning of the book, Sophie Amundsen is a normal girl who does not discuss any philosophical questions, or even ever think about them. After meeting Alberto Knox, however, the world begins to open up to her. She starts asking questions and making realizations. However, by the end of the book, she not only understands the complicated nature of philosophy and its history, but also realizes that she herself is nothing more than character in some man's head.
I loved Sophie's World! It took me quite a while to finish it, but it taught be so much about our world and history. The philosophy lessons that Alberto gives Sophie were actually challenging to read and made me think. They taught me different views about morals, existence, God, and society. However, I don't think I'd recommend this book to most people. You would have to be an avid reader and be interested in philosophical questions to begin with. In a strange way, though, reading the book has the same effect on the reader that it does on Sophie. You learn about philosophy, and you end up wondering if maybe you are just a character in a book....
In some ways, I'd love to take Sophie's place. I do not want to find out that someone is writing me and my world from whatever comes up in their head, but getting philosophy lessons from Alberto sounds very cool. For the most part, I would handle the situation the same as Sophie, except that I probably wouldn't ask so many questions. I'm more of a thinking, rather than talking type. As for the ending, it was a bit odd. I just think that there are better ways of getting the point across about being a character in a book that needs to escape. I also wanted Sophie to meet Hilde in person and Albert Knag to get punished more for the tricks he played on Sophie and Alberto.
Jostein Gaarder wrote several other books apart from Sophie's World, including The Ringmaster's Daughter, The Orange Girl, The Solitaire Mystery, and Mya. Nearly all of his books focus around philosohpy, religion, or both, and all of them force the reader to ask questions as the author does the same. Gaarder caught my interest enough that I wouldn't be surprised if I read another one of his books, though it probably won't be for a while. I definitely want to pursue philosophy in college.
I actually began reading this book in 9th grade. It was my graduation gift from my 8th grade teacher, who knew me very well. It is a fiction book on the history of philosophy. I really enjoyed it when I started it, but I did not finish it because I didn't have time to just sit down and read it until recently. The main body of the story takes place in Norway in the 1990s. However, the story line is not linear, and there are really two places in Norway it takes place.
The story begins with the main character, Sophie Amundsen, a 14 year old girl receiving strange letters about philosophy from someone she has never met. The man writing the letters, Alberto Knox, begins teaching Sophie the history of philosophy through these letters, and then later in person. They start with the Greek philosophers Plato, Aristotle and Socrates and by the end of the course, have reached the end of the 20th century after discussing Darwin, Freud and Marx. Throughout the course, however, Sophie continues receiving post cards addressed to Hilde Moller Knag from her father in Lebanon. Hilde also lives in Norway, but her father is in Lebanon as a soldier for the UN. In the process of trying to figure out why Sophie is receiving Hilde's mail, Alberto and Sophie discover that they are only characters in a book that Hilde's father, Albert Knag, is writing for Hilde's 15th birthday, which is the same day that Sophie turns 15. About 300 pages into the book, the reader meets Hilde as she receives the book on her birthday and starts reading it. She comes to the conclusion that she has to help Sophie and Alberto get back at her father for the tricks he played on them in the book. By the end of the story, Sophie and Alberto have escaped from the book, where they join the world of imaginary characters.
At the beginning of the book, Sophie Amundsen is a normal girl who does not discuss any philosophical questions, or even ever think about them. After meeting Alberto Knox, however, the world begins to open up to her. She starts asking questions and making realizations. However, by the end of the book, she not only understands the complicated nature of philosophy and its history, but also realizes that she herself is nothing more than character in some man's head.
I loved Sophie's World! It took me quite a while to finish it, but it taught be so much about our world and history. The philosophy lessons that Alberto gives Sophie were actually challenging to read and made me think. They taught me different views about morals, existence, God, and society. However, I don't think I'd recommend this book to most people. You would have to be an avid reader and be interested in philosophical questions to begin with. In a strange way, though, reading the book has the same effect on the reader that it does on Sophie. You learn about philosophy, and you end up wondering if maybe you are just a character in a book....
In some ways, I'd love to take Sophie's place. I do not want to find out that someone is writing me and my world from whatever comes up in their head, but getting philosophy lessons from Alberto sounds very cool. For the most part, I would handle the situation the same as Sophie, except that I probably wouldn't ask so many questions. I'm more of a thinking, rather than talking type. As for the ending, it was a bit odd. I just think that there are better ways of getting the point across about being a character in a book that needs to escape. I also wanted Sophie to meet Hilde in person and Albert Knag to get punished more for the tricks he played on Sophie and Alberto.
Jostein Gaarder wrote several other books apart from Sophie's World, including The Ringmaster's Daughter, The Orange Girl, The Solitaire Mystery, and Mya. Nearly all of his books focus around philosohpy, religion, or both, and all of them force the reader to ask questions as the author does the same. Gaarder caught my interest enough that I wouldn't be surprised if I read another one of his books, though it probably won't be for a while. I definitely want to pursue philosophy in college.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
The Killer Angels
Shaara, Michael. The Killer Angels. New York. Ballantine Books: 1974.
The Killer Angels is the book I chose to read for my American Civil War Documentary project. It is a historical novel about real people in history and real events. The story takes place in the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in 1863 during the Civil War. Gettysburg was the site of one of the most significant battles in the American Civil War, and this book describes the three day event in great deal.
Although this book is a novel about the Civil War, it is written through the eyes of the soldiers and generals on both sides, the North and the South. That is the factor that makes it so unique and engaging. It is not a textbook account of the battle, nor does it show the Union troops in a better light than the Confederate troops. Every viewpoint from the great General Lee, to a Union colonel, to a spy, to a British adversary is shown, among others.
The book opens with a spy for the Confederates discovering the Union Army of the Potomac marching straight towards the Lee's Confederate Army. Shortly after on July 1, 1863, a small part of Lee's army collides with Union cavalry at Gettysburg. Throughout that day, troops from both sides pour into the countryside around the town. At the end of the day, the Confederates had repulsed the Union army and taken the town, but failed to take Cemetery Ridge, the hill that the Union troops had settled on, and very good ground. Lee then must impatiently wait for Longstreet, his second in command, and Longstreet's army to arrive. Meanwhile, on his way to Gettysburg with more of the Union army, Union soldier Colonel Chamberlain, commander of the 20th Maine, receives the responsibility of dealing with the remaining soldiers in the 2nd Maine. Before the war, he was an English professor, and he manages to talk the 2nd Maine into serving under him.
When Longstreet arrives at Gettysburg, he tries to convince Lee to pull out and move around the Union's left flank to get between it and Washington, but Lee sees that as a retreat. The next day dawns with more fighting. Both armies spread out more, but neither gains much. In a stroke of brilliance and bravery, Chamberlain manages to hold the end of the line, the left flank, without letting the Confederate soldiers around him. The third day, Lee mounts a full on charge, known as Pickett's Charge. The maneuver was an utter failure. When Pickett reports back to Lee, Lee tells him, "General Pickett, I want you to reform your Division." Pickett, however, is forced to reply, "General Lee, I have no Division." The book ends with Chamberlain reuniting with his younger brother, Tom, a lieutenant. The Afterward gives descriptions of what happened to each commander after the battle. Some of them died from the wounds they received, others went on to run for offices. It makes you realize that each man was a real person in history, not just a figure in a story.
It is very hard for me to discuss only one character, because they are all so interesting and human. I find Chamberlain, Longstreet, Lee and Lo Armistead particularly interesting. Out of those four, though, Chamberlain is probably my favorite. Although by the time he fights at Gettysburg, he is not new to the war, the three day battle definitely changes him. Before the war, he was an English professor. He is hansom, and a husband. His brother, Thomas, is also in his regiment as a lieutenant. The extreme courage, ingenuity and decisiveness that he faced the second day of Gettysburg with made him very respected and famous. Michael Shaara spent a lot of time describe what was going through Chamberlain's head during the Battle of Little Round Top. In his attempt to stop the Rebels from flanking the Union line, Chamberlain plugged a hole in the line with his brother Tom without thought. He later could not forgive himself for becoming a soldier over a brother, deciding that he would have to make sure that Tom was removed from his regiment. Chamberlain became "one of the most remarkable American soldiers in history (The Killer Angels)." By the end of the war, he was wounded a total of six times, cited for bravery four times, promoted several times, and received metals of honor. He made a remarkable transformation from professor to soldier, and yet he still had his human side which he showed when he had the Union army salute the defeated South at Appomattox.
I enjoyed The Killer Angels very much. I was fairly sure I would before I started it, because I absolutely love the movie, Gettysburg, which is based so closely off the book that much of the dialogue is exactly the same. The book, however, gave something that the movie couldn't: the character's thoughts. I found out exactly what Longstreet thought of Lee's plans, why Lee ignored Longstreet's advice, and how hard it was for Chamberlain to hold the Union flank. On the movie screen, the story looks so heroic, and it is, but there was much more turmoil, uncertainty and confusion than I was previously aware of. I would certainly recommend this book to anyone, but especially to people who are interested in the America Civil War. It connects the reader to the soldier's life style at the time, and shows what a pivotal moment the Battle of Gettysburg was in American history.
The thought of putting myself in the battle is mind-boggling. I am not a soldier, nor do I think will I ever be, though I suppose that there are three places I could put myself. Although many civilians evacuated Gettysburg and the near by villages, some remained to watch and cheer on the soldiers. If I was a civilian, I think I would be utterly frightened and stay as far away from the battle as possible. What amazes me about the soldiers is how every one of them was completely devoted to the 'Cause'. As a Union soldier, I would be fighting to free the slaves (at that point, they were no longer fighting for the preservation fo the Union). As a Confederate soldier, I would be fighting for independence, and I most likely would have complete faith in Lee, like everyone else. Either way, I don't think I have the kind of courage, strength, and willingness to die for a cause needed to be that kind of soldier. The last possibility is that I could be a general. That would be even harder. As General Lee put it, "'To be a good soldier you must love the army. But to be a good officer you must be willing to order the death of the thing you love.'(The Killer Angels)"
Michael Shaara has written several books apart from The Killer Angels, including The Broken Place, The Herald, Soldier Boy, and For Love of the Game. The first is about an ex-soldier from the Korean War who becomes a boxer. The second is about a town the dies from an unknown source of radiation. The third is a collection of short stories that vary widely in topic, and the fourth is about a baseball legend's attempt to prove what he can do in the game he loves. It was Shaara's final book and it was also turned into a movie. For most of his life, Michael Shaara was a writer and English teacher, until he died of a heart attack at age 58.
I have only read two other war books, All Quiet on the Western Front, and The Things They Carried. They are similar to The Killer Angels in a few ways, but I actually think that the other two are more like each other than they are like this one. In many ways, The Killer Angels is much more romantically written. Or maybe it was just the times... All Quiet on the Western Front and The Things They Carried both give the reader a look into the main character's home life and past, while The Killer Angels does not stray from the battle except in the men's thoughts. Realistically, I am not sure that I will ever seek out another war book on my own. They are not my favorite type of books. I think the reason I liked The Killer Angels so much was because of its romantic quality, its chivalry and its heroism.
The Killer Angels is the book I chose to read for my American Civil War Documentary project. It is a historical novel about real people in history and real events. The story takes place in the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in 1863 during the Civil War. Gettysburg was the site of one of the most significant battles in the American Civil War, and this book describes the three day event in great deal.
Although this book is a novel about the Civil War, it is written through the eyes of the soldiers and generals on both sides, the North and the South. That is the factor that makes it so unique and engaging. It is not a textbook account of the battle, nor does it show the Union troops in a better light than the Confederate troops. Every viewpoint from the great General Lee, to a Union colonel, to a spy, to a British adversary is shown, among others.
The book opens with a spy for the Confederates discovering the Union Army of the Potomac marching straight towards the Lee's Confederate Army. Shortly after on July 1, 1863, a small part of Lee's army collides with Union cavalry at Gettysburg. Throughout that day, troops from both sides pour into the countryside around the town. At the end of the day, the Confederates had repulsed the Union army and taken the town, but failed to take Cemetery Ridge, the hill that the Union troops had settled on, and very good ground. Lee then must impatiently wait for Longstreet, his second in command, and Longstreet's army to arrive. Meanwhile, on his way to Gettysburg with more of the Union army, Union soldier Colonel Chamberlain, commander of the 20th Maine, receives the responsibility of dealing with the remaining soldiers in the 2nd Maine. Before the war, he was an English professor, and he manages to talk the 2nd Maine into serving under him.
When Longstreet arrives at Gettysburg, he tries to convince Lee to pull out and move around the Union's left flank to get between it and Washington, but Lee sees that as a retreat. The next day dawns with more fighting. Both armies spread out more, but neither gains much. In a stroke of brilliance and bravery, Chamberlain manages to hold the end of the line, the left flank, without letting the Confederate soldiers around him. The third day, Lee mounts a full on charge, known as Pickett's Charge. The maneuver was an utter failure. When Pickett reports back to Lee, Lee tells him, "General Pickett, I want you to reform your Division." Pickett, however, is forced to reply, "General Lee, I have no Division." The book ends with Chamberlain reuniting with his younger brother, Tom, a lieutenant. The Afterward gives descriptions of what happened to each commander after the battle. Some of them died from the wounds they received, others went on to run for offices. It makes you realize that each man was a real person in history, not just a figure in a story.
It is very hard for me to discuss only one character, because they are all so interesting and human. I find Chamberlain, Longstreet, Lee and Lo Armistead particularly interesting. Out of those four, though, Chamberlain is probably my favorite. Although by the time he fights at Gettysburg, he is not new to the war, the three day battle definitely changes him. Before the war, he was an English professor. He is hansom, and a husband. His brother, Thomas, is also in his regiment as a lieutenant. The extreme courage, ingenuity and decisiveness that he faced the second day of Gettysburg with made him very respected and famous. Michael Shaara spent a lot of time describe what was going through Chamberlain's head during the Battle of Little Round Top. In his attempt to stop the Rebels from flanking the Union line, Chamberlain plugged a hole in the line with his brother Tom without thought. He later could not forgive himself for becoming a soldier over a brother, deciding that he would have to make sure that Tom was removed from his regiment. Chamberlain became "one of the most remarkable American soldiers in history (The Killer Angels)." By the end of the war, he was wounded a total of six times, cited for bravery four times, promoted several times, and received metals of honor. He made a remarkable transformation from professor to soldier, and yet he still had his human side which he showed when he had the Union army salute the defeated South at Appomattox.
I enjoyed The Killer Angels very much. I was fairly sure I would before I started it, because I absolutely love the movie, Gettysburg, which is based so closely off the book that much of the dialogue is exactly the same. The book, however, gave something that the movie couldn't: the character's thoughts. I found out exactly what Longstreet thought of Lee's plans, why Lee ignored Longstreet's advice, and how hard it was for Chamberlain to hold the Union flank. On the movie screen, the story looks so heroic, and it is, but there was much more turmoil, uncertainty and confusion than I was previously aware of. I would certainly recommend this book to anyone, but especially to people who are interested in the America Civil War. It connects the reader to the soldier's life style at the time, and shows what a pivotal moment the Battle of Gettysburg was in American history.
The thought of putting myself in the battle is mind-boggling. I am not a soldier, nor do I think will I ever be, though I suppose that there are three places I could put myself. Although many civilians evacuated Gettysburg and the near by villages, some remained to watch and cheer on the soldiers. If I was a civilian, I think I would be utterly frightened and stay as far away from the battle as possible. What amazes me about the soldiers is how every one of them was completely devoted to the 'Cause'. As a Union soldier, I would be fighting to free the slaves (at that point, they were no longer fighting for the preservation fo the Union). As a Confederate soldier, I would be fighting for independence, and I most likely would have complete faith in Lee, like everyone else. Either way, I don't think I have the kind of courage, strength, and willingness to die for a cause needed to be that kind of soldier. The last possibility is that I could be a general. That would be even harder. As General Lee put it, "'To be a good soldier you must love the army. But to be a good officer you must be willing to order the death of the thing you love.'(The Killer Angels)"
Michael Shaara has written several books apart from The Killer Angels, including The Broken Place, The Herald, Soldier Boy, and For Love of the Game. The first is about an ex-soldier from the Korean War who becomes a boxer. The second is about a town the dies from an unknown source of radiation. The third is a collection of short stories that vary widely in topic, and the fourth is about a baseball legend's attempt to prove what he can do in the game he loves. It was Shaara's final book and it was also turned into a movie. For most of his life, Michael Shaara was a writer and English teacher, until he died of a heart attack at age 58.
I have only read two other war books, All Quiet on the Western Front, and The Things They Carried. They are similar to The Killer Angels in a few ways, but I actually think that the other two are more like each other than they are like this one. In many ways, The Killer Angels is much more romantically written. Or maybe it was just the times... All Quiet on the Western Front and The Things They Carried both give the reader a look into the main character's home life and past, while The Killer Angels does not stray from the battle except in the men's thoughts. Realistically, I am not sure that I will ever seek out another war book on my own. They are not my favorite type of books. I think the reason I liked The Killer Angels so much was because of its romantic quality, its chivalry and its heroism.
Current Event 7
Military Shows Off New Ray Gun
MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. (AP) -- The military calls its new weapon an "active denial system,'' but that's an understatement. It's a ray gun that shoots a beam that makes people feel as if they are about to catch fire.
Apart from causing that terrifying sensation, the technology is supposed to be harmless -- a non-lethal way to get enemies to drop their weapons.
Military officials say it could save the lives of innocent civilians and service members in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.
The weapon is not expected to go into production until at least 2010, but all branches of the military have expressed interest in it, officials said.
During the first media demonstration of the weapon Wednesday, airmen fired beams from a large dish antenna mounted atop a Humvee at people pretending to be rioters and acting out other scenarios that U.S. troops might encounter in war zones.
The device's two-man crew located their targets through powerful lenses and fired beams from more than 500 yards away. That is nearly 17 times the range of existing non-lethal weapons, such as rubber bullets.
Anyone hit by the beam immediately jumped out of its path because of the sudden blast of heat throughout the body. While the 130-degree heat was not painful, it was intense enough to make the participants think their clothes were about to ignite.
"This is one of the key technologies for the future,'' said Marine Col. Kirk Hymes, director of the non-lethal weapons program at Quantico, Va., which helped develop the new weapon. "Non-lethal weapons are important for the escalation of force, especially in the environments our forces are operating in.''
The system uses electromagnetic millimeter waves, which can penetrate only 1/64th of an inch of skin, just enough to cause discomfort. By comparison, microwaves used in the common kitchen appliance penetrate several inches of flesh.
The millimeter waves cannot go through walls, but they can penetrate most clothing, officials said. They refused to comment on whether the waves can go through glass.
The weapon could be mounted aboard ships, airplanes and helicopters, and routinely used for security or anti-terrorism operations.
"There should be no collateral damage to this,'' said Senior Airman Adam Navin, 22, of Green Bay, Wis., who has served several tours in Iraq.
Navin and two other airmen were role players in Wednesday's demonstration. They and 10 reporters who volunteered were shot with the beams. The beams easily penetrated various layers of winter clothing.
The system was developed by the military, but the two devices currently being evaluated were built by defense contractor Raytheon.
Airman Blaine Pernell, 22, of suburban New Orleans, said he could have used the system during his four tours in Iraq, where he manned watchtowers around a base near Kirkuk. He said Iraqis constantly pulled up and faked car problems so they could scout out U.S. forces.
"All we could do is watch them,'' he said. But if they had the ray gun, troops "could have dispersed them.''
URL: http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/070125_ap_ray_gun.html
MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. (AP) -- The military calls its new weapon an "active denial system,'' but that's an understatement. It's a ray gun that shoots a beam that makes people feel as if they are about to catch fire.
Apart from causing that terrifying sensation, the technology is supposed to be harmless -- a non-lethal way to get enemies to drop their weapons.
Military officials say it could save the lives of innocent civilians and service members in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.
The weapon is not expected to go into production until at least 2010, but all branches of the military have expressed interest in it, officials said.
During the first media demonstration of the weapon Wednesday, airmen fired beams from a large dish antenna mounted atop a Humvee at people pretending to be rioters and acting out other scenarios that U.S. troops might encounter in war zones.
The device's two-man crew located their targets through powerful lenses and fired beams from more than 500 yards away. That is nearly 17 times the range of existing non-lethal weapons, such as rubber bullets.
Anyone hit by the beam immediately jumped out of its path because of the sudden blast of heat throughout the body. While the 130-degree heat was not painful, it was intense enough to make the participants think their clothes were about to ignite.
"This is one of the key technologies for the future,'' said Marine Col. Kirk Hymes, director of the non-lethal weapons program at Quantico, Va., which helped develop the new weapon. "Non-lethal weapons are important for the escalation of force, especially in the environments our forces are operating in.''
The system uses electromagnetic millimeter waves, which can penetrate only 1/64th of an inch of skin, just enough to cause discomfort. By comparison, microwaves used in the common kitchen appliance penetrate several inches of flesh.
The millimeter waves cannot go through walls, but they can penetrate most clothing, officials said. They refused to comment on whether the waves can go through glass.
The weapon could be mounted aboard ships, airplanes and helicopters, and routinely used for security or anti-terrorism operations.
"There should be no collateral damage to this,'' said Senior Airman Adam Navin, 22, of Green Bay, Wis., who has served several tours in Iraq.
Navin and two other airmen were role players in Wednesday's demonstration. They and 10 reporters who volunteered were shot with the beams. The beams easily penetrated various layers of winter clothing.
The system was developed by the military, but the two devices currently being evaluated were built by defense contractor Raytheon.
Airman Blaine Pernell, 22, of suburban New Orleans, said he could have used the system during his four tours in Iraq, where he manned watchtowers around a base near Kirkuk. He said Iraqis constantly pulled up and faked car problems so they could scout out U.S. forces.
"All we could do is watch them,'' he said. But if they had the ray gun, troops "could have dispersed them.''
URL: http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/070125_ap_ray_gun.html
What Is Art?
ART Haiku
Arrangement of emotions
River of beauty
Touching deep into one's soul
What Is Art?
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,
Many people agree with that.
What one might see
As pure beauty
Might to another not be fact.
But so is art in the eye of the beholder.
Has that ever crossed your mind?
A Mozart concerto,
Or a wacky blue hairdo
Are both art and each one of a kind.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Vocabulary Week 7
This picture reminds me of the game 'Telephone'. The same way that a phrase can change drastically when passed from person to person, so does scuttlebutt change, and you rarely hear the truth.The scuttlebutt was passing around the school like wild fire.
The story of Icarus and his wax wings that melt when he flies too close to the sun is an excellent example of hubris. If he had only listened to his father's advice...The hubris at the performance was astounding; no one seems to have humility anymore...
Although this picture is very artistic, it still conveys the dearth of water in some places in Africa.When Nick finally showed up, he presented a dearth of food and drinks.
When we found out that Yellow Fever was endemic to the area, we booked a plane flight back as quickly as possible.
This symbol lets everyone know that the substance inside the container is very flammable and volatile.The situation was very volatile, and I was scared that Justin would not return.
scuttlebutt-n.-- rumor or gossip.
bulwark-n.-- a wall of earth or other material built for defense; any protection against external danger, injury or annoyance.
hubris-n.-- excessive pride or self-confidence; arrogance.
dearth-n.-- inadequate supply; scarcity.
deference-n.-- respectful submission or yielding to the judgment, opinion, will, etc. of another.
emulate-v.-- to try to equal or excel; imitate with effort to equal or surpass.
imitate-v.-- mimic, impersonate.
mimic-v.-- to imitate or copy in action, speech, etc., often playfully or derisively.
endemic-adj.-- natural to or characteristic of a specific people or place; native.
aborigine-n.-- one of the original or earliest known inhabitants of a country or region.
inchoate-adj.-- not yet completed or fully developed; rudimentary.
precursor-n.-- a person, animal ot thing that goes before and indicates the approach of someone or something else.
volatile-adj.-- tending or threatening to break out into open violence; fleeting; transient.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Current Event 6
PYONGYANG, North Korea, Feb. 27 -- It felt historic inside the concert hall. American musicians got goose bumps and wept when North Koreans leapt to their feet to cheer. But will the first-of-its-kind performance of the New York Philharmonic here this week help unlock this hermit state? Signals are maddeningly mixed.
North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Il, did not attend the concert Tuesday evening, but he did allow it to be broadcast live on state television and radio.
Tuesday's evening news on state television did cover the visit of the U.S. orchestra, but only after six tedious reports on such events as an undated tour by Kim to a wire factory, children viewing Kim's drawings and fish swimming in an aquarium.
North Korea's main daily newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, covered the concert that made front pages around the world. But it did so on Wednesday, with a brief article on Page 4.
And so it goes, with North Korea taking a step or two toward engagement with the outside world and then taking a step or two toward inscrutability, fist-shaking at the West, and repression of its own people.
In 2006, Kim's government stunned the United States by detonating a small nuclear bomb. But since last fall, it has made what the Bush administration characterizes as genuine progress in backing away from a nuclear confrontation.
It has partially disabled its nuclear facility at Yongbyon, allowing U.S. experts to observe and take part in the work. Last Friday, for the first time ever, it invited a Western television news team to shoot video showing the progress it has made in complying with a disarmament agreement with the United States and four other countries.
Still, North Korea has failed to honor its promise to produce a comprehensive list of its nuclear programs, and it declines to discuss any past transfers of nuclear material or technology to other countries.
The United States, in response, has delayed lifting diplomatic sanctions that isolate North Korea. As a result, the disarmament process that was a source of widespread optimism three months ago has become gummed up, infuriating the North Koreans and worrying the United States.
In Japan on Wednesday, a day after the spirit-lifting orchestral performance in Pyongyang, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice detailed her concerns.
"Whenever you have a nuclear program that is as advanced as the North Korean nuclear program in a country that is as opaque and has had very little contact with the outside world, you need to worry about proliferation as a near-term and a long-term concern," Rice said.
North Korea's overriding problem now and for the foreseeable future is a collapsed communist economy.The central government's ability to deliver food, medicine and other services has disappeared in much of the country in the past decade, according to a number of analysts.
The U.N. World Food Program said last week that about a third of North Korea's children and mothers are malnourished, while only 10 to 20 percent of the population always has enough to eat.
The well-fed minority includes the Communist Party elite in Pyongyang, as well as the military, which is the fourth-largest in the world, with about 1.21 million men and women under arms, according to the State Department.
Food shortages could soon become much worse because of severe flooding last year that destroyed much of the rice and corn crop, the World Food Program said. The nutrition gap this year will amount to a quarter of the food needed to feed the country's 23 million people -- about 1.8 million metric tons, the group said.
Amid these grim numbers, there's strong evidence that Kim's government -- in a major break from its defiant tradition of isolation -- is opening up the country's long-neglected deposits of coal, minerals and precious metals to investors from China, South Korea and other countries.
But as in nearly all of the North's dealings with the outside world, there is an alternating pattern of outreach and paranoia. Chinese and South Korean businessmen say mining operations in the North have been delayed and sometimes halted by government officials, who enthusiastically recruit outside investment but insist on complete management control over resulting operations.
Perhaps it will be different in music.
The New York Philharmonic flew to South Korea on Wednesday afternoon, following a 48-hour visit that is without precedent in the North.
Before leaving, musical director Lorin Maazel led a rousing rehearsal performance by the North Korean State Symphony Orchestra, an experience he described as "amazing, totally amazing."
Maazel conducted as the orchestra played Richard Wagner's "Die Meistersinger": Prelude to Act One, and Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet" Overture-Fantasy. Nearly every musician in the orchestra was male, and they all wore suits with lapel pins bearing pictures of Kim or his father, Kim Il Sung, the founder of North Korea.
"They were very focused, very well prepared and very emotional," Maazel said. "We know so little about music in the country. This was a revelation to all of us."
The artful professionalism of North Korea's elite orchestra may soon become much better known.
In what would be its first trip to Western Europe, it has accepted an invitation to perform this fall in Britain, according to David Heather, a British businessmen who is helping organize that trip.
Heather told reporters here that North Korean officials have told him they are also open to allowing the orchestra to perform in the United States.
"I think there is willingness to do it on both sides," he said, referring to the governments of North Korea and the United States. "It is a question of funding."
URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/27/AR2008022700700_2.html?sid=ST2008022700988
North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Il, did not attend the concert Tuesday evening, but he did allow it to be broadcast live on state television and radio.
Tuesday's evening news on state television did cover the visit of the U.S. orchestra, but only after six tedious reports on such events as an undated tour by Kim to a wire factory, children viewing Kim's drawings and fish swimming in an aquarium.
North Korea's main daily newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, covered the concert that made front pages around the world. But it did so on Wednesday, with a brief article on Page 4.
And so it goes, with North Korea taking a step or two toward engagement with the outside world and then taking a step or two toward inscrutability, fist-shaking at the West, and repression of its own people.
In 2006, Kim's government stunned the United States by detonating a small nuclear bomb. But since last fall, it has made what the Bush administration characterizes as genuine progress in backing away from a nuclear confrontation.
It has partially disabled its nuclear facility at Yongbyon, allowing U.S. experts to observe and take part in the work. Last Friday, for the first time ever, it invited a Western television news team to shoot video showing the progress it has made in complying with a disarmament agreement with the United States and four other countries.
Still, North Korea has failed to honor its promise to produce a comprehensive list of its nuclear programs, and it declines to discuss any past transfers of nuclear material or technology to other countries.
The United States, in response, has delayed lifting diplomatic sanctions that isolate North Korea. As a result, the disarmament process that was a source of widespread optimism three months ago has become gummed up, infuriating the North Koreans and worrying the United States.
In Japan on Wednesday, a day after the spirit-lifting orchestral performance in Pyongyang, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice detailed her concerns.
"Whenever you have a nuclear program that is as advanced as the North Korean nuclear program in a country that is as opaque and has had very little contact with the outside world, you need to worry about proliferation as a near-term and a long-term concern," Rice said.
North Korea's overriding problem now and for the foreseeable future is a collapsed communist economy.The central government's ability to deliver food, medicine and other services has disappeared in much of the country in the past decade, according to a number of analysts.
The U.N. World Food Program said last week that about a third of North Korea's children and mothers are malnourished, while only 10 to 20 percent of the population always has enough to eat.
The well-fed minority includes the Communist Party elite in Pyongyang, as well as the military, which is the fourth-largest in the world, with about 1.21 million men and women under arms, according to the State Department.
Food shortages could soon become much worse because of severe flooding last year that destroyed much of the rice and corn crop, the World Food Program said. The nutrition gap this year will amount to a quarter of the food needed to feed the country's 23 million people -- about 1.8 million metric tons, the group said.
Amid these grim numbers, there's strong evidence that Kim's government -- in a major break from its defiant tradition of isolation -- is opening up the country's long-neglected deposits of coal, minerals and precious metals to investors from China, South Korea and other countries.
But as in nearly all of the North's dealings with the outside world, there is an alternating pattern of outreach and paranoia. Chinese and South Korean businessmen say mining operations in the North have been delayed and sometimes halted by government officials, who enthusiastically recruit outside investment but insist on complete management control over resulting operations.
Perhaps it will be different in music.
The New York Philharmonic flew to South Korea on Wednesday afternoon, following a 48-hour visit that is without precedent in the North.
Before leaving, musical director Lorin Maazel led a rousing rehearsal performance by the North Korean State Symphony Orchestra, an experience he described as "amazing, totally amazing."
Maazel conducted as the orchestra played Richard Wagner's "Die Meistersinger": Prelude to Act One, and Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet" Overture-Fantasy. Nearly every musician in the orchestra was male, and they all wore suits with lapel pins bearing pictures of Kim or his father, Kim Il Sung, the founder of North Korea.
"They were very focused, very well prepared and very emotional," Maazel said. "We know so little about music in the country. This was a revelation to all of us."
The artful professionalism of North Korea's elite orchestra may soon become much better known.
In what would be its first trip to Western Europe, it has accepted an invitation to perform this fall in Britain, according to David Heather, a British businessmen who is helping organize that trip.
Heather told reporters here that North Korean officials have told him they are also open to allowing the orchestra to perform in the United States.
"I think there is willingness to do it on both sides," he said, referring to the governments of North Korea and the United States. "It is a question of funding."
URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/27/AR2008022700700_2.html?sid=ST2008022700988
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