Honors History Blog #4

1. What did you gain from your experiences as an honors student in the first semester (please consider novels, leadership opportunities, writing, history, projects, etc.)?

As an honors student I have read a couple books such as Beloved, Huckleberry Finn, and Their Eyes Were Watching God. They have all gave me insight on different view points of the world because they are different characters from different time periods of different races. All of the books had some sort of them about the characters sense of self, and even though I'm pretty comfortable with myself I was able to take something away from these books. In beloved, the characters were not able to move on in the future because they could not accept their pasts. This really stuck with me because it is something I can connect to on an extremely personal level, and its absolutely true in my opinion. Also as an honors student I learned a lot about American health cares system, past present and possibly future, plus all of it was new to me.

2. Discuss what you might have done differently if you could do this past semester of honors over again.

This semester of Honors went extremely well but if I could re-do it I would being reading my honors books earlier so I can have more time to work on book reviews. For each book review except the first, I only spent one or two days working on the book review, without even finishing the entire book.

3. Discuss your goals for honors in the second semester.

Second semester I'd just like to plan out all of my honors assignments and keep myself up to date by checking the calendar and writing down assignments in my planner each day. Also setting up a scheduled time frame of when I was going to work on what and for how long helped me a lot these two last weeks of the semester so that is something I plan to continue.

4. If you could choose any specific parts of literature and or history for our honors work next semester, what would you pick and why?

If I do honors for this class next semester I would like to focus more on some historical or government stuff! Actually current political things, maybe things that are being voted on, or politicians who are controversial! This semester has really opened up my eyes to the governments ACTUAL role in the way society works and its something I'd like to continue learning.

Honors History Blog #3

In 1933, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was signed into act as a program under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deals. Young men, who were citizens of the US, were able to join labor camps for six months at a time receiving $30 a month and $25 allotment checks to their families. I believe this program could be renewed and modernized in America today.

Originally, the CCC camps stimulated regional economies and provided communities with improvements in forest activity, flood control, fire protection, and overall community safety." With this program fire towers were erected, decimated forests were replanted, drainage systems were added to farms, and wildlife habitats were protected. In the 1930's this was very beneficial considering there was just the 1929 Stock Market Crash and not far later the Great Depression. All of the new deal programs were designed to give hope to the citizens of America and encourage economic recovery.

Today, we find ourselves in the Great Recession, but there is still hope! Personally, I am a strong supporter of the environment and natural resources conservation, so I think it would be great if CCC was modernized to America's environmental needs. In this century, we face issues of water pollution, air pollution, and waste which pose threats to mankind because they harm all forms of life. A modernized version of CCC would employ only those who are unemployed for a six month period, which after they complete they can re-apply. They would be in charge of sorting and recycling recyclable materials, educating others about environmental awareness, provide carpools, working on American Farmlands using natural products (no pesticides and such things), and beach/park/freeway clean ups. There is obviously much, much more that could be done to help prevent and maybe even reduce the pollution that poses a threat to all humanity, but this is just an idea of what we could do to help the world, as well as the people who are suffering in the Great Recession.
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1586.html
http://faculty.polytechnic.org/gfeldmeth/chart.newdeal.html
http://www.epa.gov/epahome/learn.htm
http://www.epa.gov/air/peg/reduce.html

Honors Blog #2. Letter to Mr. President

Dear Mr. President,

I know you are very busy so I'll keep this advice about a strategy to improve the US economy, relationship with congress and with American society, and establishing your ideas in American History. As you know, in 1934 Franklin Roosevelt asked his Secretary of Labor to 'draft a plan that might help Americans escape poverty in old age,' and only a year later, signed Social Security into law, intending to prevent future depressions. Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush all supported these types of democratic advances because 'a sound system of social insurance enabled by government makes capitalism and its splendid innovations more balanced and sustainable.'

We can conclude that the next steps we need to take to succeed in the great depression would be those of geared towards social insurance. The Great Recession has more to do with the structure of the economy, not how business is going. In order for the economy to keep its flow, we have to absolutely need consumers to continue that process. All of the new technology that has come about has made it easier for employers to hire workers for lower wages, which increases the employer’s income, but in the end hurts our economy. These workers that receive low wages work multiple jobs to keep participating as a consumer in the economy, and when they can't, they simply keep on doing it and go into debt. But this is not 2007 anymore; we can't just make money off of our houses anymore.

Now, added to that, the unemployment rate has raised from 5% to 9.3%. With jobs no longer available, those receiving little to no wages have no power to participate in the economy. Tax returns from 1913 to 2008, examined by Emmanuel Saez and Thomas Piketty, have proved that in the '70s 'the richest 1% of Americans took in almost 9percent of the nation’s total income; by 2007, the top 1% took in 23.5 percent of the total income.' This proposes a large issue because the rich do not contribute to the economy as much as middle class Americans do; they often invest their money in other countries or big investors, thus expanding their wealth. As the economy continues, while the middle class doesn't have the power to participate in the economy and the rich simply decide to participate elsewhere, money does not flow into the economy- creating what we have now.

In the 1930's the economy was completely reconstructed and FDR's new deals helped balance and sustain the economy. Money from those with the highest incomes was used to balance the economy and America's middle class was then able to participate in the economy again. Here, we see ourselves in a similar situation, but he have not yet succeeded in expanding the economy for the middle class. We could raise wages by "extending the earned income tax credit all the way up through the middle class, and paying for it with tax on carbon. Or exempting the first $20,000 of income from payroll taxes and paying for it with payroll tax on incomes over $250,000." Perhaps we could also change the public university system, so that instead of paying before you attend, you attend and then pay back 10% of the income from your first ten years of your first full time job. This would keep money flowing into the economy, it supports a sound system of social security, and that is what the people want.

I hope this will help,

Your Adviser

References:

http://www.google.com/publicdata?

ds=usunemployment&met=unemployment_rate&tdim=true&dl=en&hl=en&q=unemployment+rate

"The NewLiberalism" Obama, the economic crisis, and the Democrats : The New Yorker http://t.co/aK6RKtj via @NewYorker http://t.co/RQQmse5http://t.co/RQQmse5

The Test : The New Yorker http://t.co/RQQmse5 via @NewYorker

Blog #20: Fed vs AntiFed Interview!

Ratification of the Constitution in 1789...

On May 14th of 1787, there was a meeting held in Philadelphia's Independence Hall to look over the articles of confederation. It was in this convention that they decided that instead of revising the articles they would altogether create a new document that would be the backbone of what the government is made of. The most important concepts discussed during te convention was
"how much power to allow the central government, how many representatives in Congress to allow each state, and how these representatives should be elected—directly by the people or by the state legislators."

Giving the central government power was undoubtedly federalism, as they are spreading powers through out the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government. For example, giving the legislative branch the power to propose laws, is in support of the government having power, which greatly leans towards federalism; a strong central government.

At the end of the constitution one can find the bill of rights, which is anti-federalism, because it is in favor of individual by directly addressing their rights as citizens of the United States. They also put limits on the different branches of governments powers, which from a point of view could lean towards anti-federalism, although they are simply trying to keep government form turning into a tyrant. 'By the people for the people' has also been thought to be a form of anti-federalism, because it is the people choosing for themselves, instead of a strong central government choosing for the people.

I chose to interview my father about what he thinks of the constitution. He says it is a good document, BUT, is often overlooked/misused.
While I was talking to him I was typing what he said as fast as I could.:

"Constitution most misused(from a minority perspective) document. misused in our history because if you look @ how its written and when it was written there is obviously different menanings because there was a different background when they wrote those ammendments......

There were laws passed that singled out minorities and how they treay minorities which should've been eliminated based off of the constitution, for example segregation and other things that shouldnt have ever taken place."
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=old&doc=9
http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html

Honors History Blog #1

Health care legislation in American history is often defined by a few major milestones; Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, but one of these health care plans stands apart from the rest. Unlike Medicaid and Medicare, Social Security has proven beneficial in more ways than one.

In 1935, Social Security was enacted in the United States by Franklin Roosevelt, in order to aid many American citizens- especially to provide economic security for citizens of America. Employers, as well as employees, pay social security taxes, which are used to fund benefits for elderly people who are retired or whomever else qualifies.

Prior to when the Social Security Act was signed into law, the aftermath of the civil war had left many states devastated. Some soldiers who fought in the battle died leaving behind widows and children, while others were injured, destined to a life of disability, leading to a need for the benefits they received through Social Security. After the Civil War, America went through many changes that called for insurance of their health. Their life expectancies were expanding, the Industrial Revolution came about, and higher concentrations of people were moving from the country side to the cities.

But in 1929, just when the New York Stock Exchange was at its highest point, Black Friday and the Stock Market Crash occurred; putting Americans in fear of what would come next. Poverty among the elderly was a large issue, and Francis Townsend proposed pensions to provide aid for the elderly. The signing of the Social Security Act was in response to the idea of pension checks for the poor elderly citizens of America.

http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade20.html

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1609.html

http://www.ssa.gov/history/towns5.html

http://docsouth.unc.edu/true/chapter/chp06-02/chp06-02.html

Life: The Book!

1. What are you most proud of in your Life: The Book writing? Try to describe this is detail!
In life the book I am most proud of how I was able to incorporate specific humanities content such as governmental; Roe vs. Wade + abortion. I'm also very proud that I was able to produce a high quality piece of Literary Journalism because I immediately came up with my idea from the get go when we recieved a projet description. And based on that I wasn't really sure if I'd be able to produce a piece of writing wiht actual content, but in the end I did.

2. What are some changes or new ideas that you have developed in your writing through the course of this semester?
Adding things like real historical events can amp up your paper, make it more interesting for the reader. In I think every piece of writing I've done this year has some sort of historical content. For example in the American Icons artist statement I was able to incorporate the names of Civil Rights Activists, dates, and things that were enacted in result of the civil rights movement.

3. If you had a little more time to work on your writing for Life: The Book, what would you do differently? What would you change about your writing?
If I did anything differently about life the book I would figure out how to incorporate more biology into the ending of the paper. I think most of it was concentrated in the first two pages.

4. How has the additional element of publication in a book affected the way you approach writing?

The fact that we were publishing it just makes me more active in my critiquing of my own writing so I can catch my mistakes or mispelled words or imporper grammar. Because I wouldn't want anything published with my name on it if it had mistakes, it just makes it seem sloppy.