Memoir

      The first blog I chose to read was by a girl named Milena, age 17 in Virginia. It was on the first page of memoirs on the scholastic website and the title was so interesting. After reading several other ones I had to chose the very first one I read " Coughing and Strawberry Jam". I think that it had more good elements of a memoir then of storytelling but overall I think it was an good example of a memoir.
      The elements of a memoir are storytelling and reflection. Storytelling in that it should read like a fictional story and reflection as in not only telling what actually happened but also your opinions and emotions then and now. A good memoir focuses on a distinct period of time with a specific subject in 1st person narration.
      The storytelling elements are to have a plot, that consists of a conflict, to have a setting, character development, such as actions, and narrator descriptions, to have voice and tone, and style "show don't tell".
       The first time I read Coughing and Strawberry Jam it was a fun story and I really enjoyed it. When I went back to read it as a writer I noticed all the little things that made it a good memoir and just a good story in general. First off it tells a story and Milena is reflecting on it. As I said before when you first read it , it reads like a fictional story , a good story. Then she gives her opinion and how she feels saying that she was self-conscious and embarrassed that they had sided with the man that made them feel like crap every other day of their lives. She focuses on a period in her life when her grandmother got sick and it brought them closer together by realizing that how her father was treating her grandmother was wrong. For the most part she also uses the storytelling elements. She has a plot with a conflict of man vs man. Her dad kind of influences the rest of the family that their grandmother is a very annoying, nagging lady and that when she has a really bad cough  that it really is nothing. Her setting is in her house, but she does mention something about their church. She talks about how her greandmother has come to live with them and how her dad didn't allow her to sit next to them in church. What I think she does the best is character development and narrator descriptions. She gives a sense of who her family is, her dad, her mom, her sister, and her grandmother. She tells us how dad would roll his eyes when her grandmother would cough and how she would too, and how her mother and her would blow kisses to her grandmother because she couldn't sit by them at church. She also  says how she would say love you but not I love you, and how before she would play cards on her grandmother's bed and listen to her stories.
         I think the Melina did a great job with this memoir because her memoir contained all the key elements of a memoir and of storytelling. She made it vey fun and interesting also. Sure made me wnat to read it!

Vietnam War

On March 12, 1947 in an address to Congress President Truman declared that the foreign policy of the United States be to assist any country whose stability was threatened by communism.It was his initial intention for $400 million to assist Greece and Turkey. This became known as the Truman Doctrine. America fought in the Vietnam War to hold the line against Communism. As part of the Truman Doctrine the United States paid for the war the French fought against Communist Vietnam. And by the 1950's became involved in the war. By the late 1950's the United States came up with a theory to justify their involvement in the war. Known as the Domino Theory. This theory said that id South Vietnam fell to the communist, Laos, then Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, India, and Pakistan would fall also like "dominos". The Pacific Islands and even Austria could be at risk. In 1954 when the French were defeated Vietnam split into two, the North was Communist and the South was Capitalist. The capitalist  south recieved billions of dollars from the U.S in support of their non- communist society, and as a result many vietnamese buddhists from the communist north protested against American involvement by self- immolation. The opposition to America's involvement in the war began in 1964 but grew stronger. The U.S was polarized between those who supported the continued involvement in the war and those who wanted peace. Opposition events ranged from peaceful nonviolent demonstrations to radical displays of violence. 


Sources Cited:
http://www.learnhistory.org.uk/vietnam/reasons.htm
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1780.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_to_the_U.S._involvement_in_the_Vietnam_War

Let America be America Again

         
       Let America be America again was written in 1938 by Langston Hughes on the American dream.
 Hughes is saying that there are many people that come to America with hopes and dreams and get let down. The poem depicts two different perspectives of America, being the rich and the poor. The rich get richer while the poor get poorer. There is a difference between their economic disparity and there is not equal opportunities. He references to the white poor man and the negro slave and how America has become a Dog eat Dog world where the mighty crush the weak. He says we have this America where there are people in power that deprive others of their opportunities. He says " There's never been equality for him, Nor freedom in this homeland of the free. He hopes for an America that is free. He wants a patriotic America without false promises. He wants what America's idea of the dream is equality, liberty, and land of the free.The poem is in an angry and resentful tone, but there is also a sense of hopefullness. Throughout the poem people are unhappy with what America has brought them but they still dream, wish, and hope for more. I think Hughes is criticizing how the American Dream did not exist for the some people in the American society such as minorities due to race, religion, and status. He  criticizes that the hope for equality and freedom has yet to be achieved, and how it will be extremely hard to achieve. Fitzgerald criticizes the American Dream in that it is slowly fading away and becoming out of reach of the common citizen. Similar to Langston Hughes, they are both showing how the American Dream being full of economic stability, freedom, and equal opportunities may becoming an unachievable hope to the working class and other minorities. And that America has this potential that it needs to be and that it can be but might not be. I agree with these criticisms, because in the modern world the dream is slipping away. And although it is true that everyone's american dream is different it is primarily based upon the same things, but everyone can't get everything and the American Dream is probably something we can still get if we work towards it ,but otherwise I think it's a pretty far-fetched dream/hope where America cannot live up to it's potential.