My Paper Proposal

 

 

At first, I was hesitant to start a research topic about Native Americans, but I started to think about my hesitation as something else. Maybe my hesitation was some form on soft-core racism? Maybe I was subconsciously taught at a young age to be a little racist towards different races including Native Americans? With that in mind, I was interested in racism and decided to write my research paper on the evolution of racism towards Native Americans.  I decided it would be easier to write about Native Americans as a whole because I would find tons of information, and I decided to do racism all the way back to the first Thanksgiving in 1621. I wanted to hit on the racism during Civil War time because we never hear of them during that war. I also wanted to bring the racism through all of the other major wars because I know they had some participation. I wanted to use the act of bioterrorism, or when they used small pox blankets, to help my objective as well.

 The term “Indian” versus “Native American” is a very interesting concept because we were taught as children that Indian was a very bad term, and yet, the Native People want that label back.  I also wanted to use mascots and children’s books to write about all the stereotypes and how culture perceives the Native People. One asset of the racism I wanted to tackle is how the racism can be reversed. I think I would only touch on it in my conclusion and in a very small way.

 

 

 

Dear President Obama

October 3, 2012

 

Dear President Obama,

            The financial crisis of 2008 is still being felt today, and as a citizen of America, I feel certain actions must occur to inhibit future financial crises. At the start of the millennium, banks were borrowing massive amounts of money from other banks and investors gave money to the banks with insurance from AIG which AIG could not pay back. This led to our recession. Before the recession, the some common house holds borrowed about 99% of their house’s worth so when the crisis hit, the family could not pay their mortgage and their house was foreclosed.  This happened because the banks did not worry about their monetary losses since it was not their money. Their money came from the investors who were insured against monetary loss. So banks kept steadily signing deals no matter how risky because they earned money for signing those loans and investor’s got money because of their insured investments.

            A solution to our financial crisis would be to go back to a simpler method. Nobody invests in the banks. Growing up, my mother told me that the bank uses your money which earns you interest. So I thought the bank only used their customer’s money. I was wrong. Not investing in the banks would give a situation where the money the banks has, or gets through its customers, is the money the bank has. No more no less. This way the banks do not give out risky loans because it is the customer’s money and they must protect it. Then, a family that can mostly afford that new house can buy it because they only need to borrow a small amount of money. Their loan for the house can earn the bank money because they get interest off the loan. What about the investors? They can invest in companies but not banks so they can still earn money. Also the investor will not be able to get huge loans to buy out companies because the bank, using only its customer’s money, will not finance such a risky investment. This might slow down the economy a little but at least in the future, America’s finances will be less debt and more economic growth.

Thank you for your time,

Randi Carter

Beauty's in the Eye of the Beholder

Vast amount of space, human effort, and time go into making some of the biggest structures or excavation sites around the world. In Manufactured Landscapes, Jennifer Baichwal focuses on China and its grand industrial scheme. It is argued that the film produces an argument that the manufacturing industry damages the earth. What I get from this film is quite the opposite. I see how manufacturing is beautiful. The first ten minutes of the film show a lengthy factory where Chinese workers do their repetitive motions of assembly. The same swift motions over and over gives a comforting feeling and a since of awe of how fast the worker can assemble their pieces. It is like watching synchronized swimming or a symphony. Everything is working together in a beautiful -grand scheme.

 

Baichwal focuses on the pictures taken by Edward Burtynsky where he captures titanic innovations including unfinished boats and fields of ore. It seems Baichwal utilizes Burtynsky to show the cluttered and polluted landscapes in a tasteful manner to where the audience can see the beauty in the landscape like the photographer. The geometric shapes and large scale construction zones, within the pictures, impress the eye. Geometric shapes are appealing to the eye because humans like things neat and tidy and humans like the massive size of their innovations because it gives a since of accomplishment. These large scale “art pieces” invoke beauty in the eye of the beholder. Maybe I completely miss the argument within the film, but what does a film do if not give something to each viewer to take from it?

 

Manufactured Landscapes. Dir Jennifer Baichwal. Foundry Films. 2007