Month: December 2019

When Hedrick Smith came to talk to the class I felt very honored to meet such a significant reporter and political figure for our American society. I could tell that he was very passionate as well as knowledgeable in the topics that he talked about. His qualifications such as having a Pulitzer Prize, visiting many different countries, examining the Pentagon Papers, making many documentaries, as well as other things. It was a really great experience being able to see his documentary in class while having Hedrick explain why he chose to focus on the aspects that he did, or why he chose to put certain images in, etc.

In the podcast Hedrick specifically talked about the significance of grassroots movements within the United States and their capabilities to have an immense impact on the American political system. One of his points that stood out to me is that when we think about politics, we often think about the happenings within Washington, D.C. But, many political reforms can happen at the public level and by people in the states, and a lot of people do not notice that they have this kind of power in their hands. Thus, Hedrick’s documentary aims to educate the public about these new grassroots movements and spark interest in taking back their own democracy.

I am quite surprised that Washington has been ignoring all of these grassroots movements, as Hedrick states that no one has been covering any of these issues that he examines in his documentary. Hedrick also says that he was inspired out of writing his book “Who Stole the American Dream,” and wanted to get out into the states, and get out of Washington, in order to see what the people are doing for democracy. He soon found that democracy is a struggle for the people as there are often barriers for people that are trying to exercise their right to be involved in American politics. For example, gerrymandering (manipulating the boundaries of districts to benefit certain political parties) has been an issue within the states for years, and has negatively affected the people’s votes. Hedrick examined the issue of gerrymandering in Florida, and found that the legislature tried to ignore the illegal gerrymandering that was occurring. But, the Supreme Court of Florida finally ruled for some of the congressional districts to be redrawn, and thus this became a victory for the people. It is astonishing to see how easily power can be taken out of the common people’s hands, but it is an even greater feeling to see the power being given back.

Hedrick also goes on to say that a successful political reform movement effectively connects with the people, and places fixing the political system as an important task on the agenda. One example of doing this would be persuading big organizations to take notice of this issue and try to fix the political system on their terms as well.

A lot can be done through the people in the United States. Many don’t notice the potential they have to change politics and take democracy into their own hands, but Hedrick’s documentary aims to inform people of their power.

I decided to go see the play Hooded, or Being Black for Dummies with the Paterno Fellows a couple of months ago. Initially, the title piqued my interest because it reminded me of the book series which taught people how to do various things. But, I thought does this title insinuates that there is a certain way to being black? Does our society perpetuate a certain stereotype to being an African American? After all it is just a type of race, rather than a personality or a defining characteristic. All of these questions added to my experience of this play as it took many of these questions into consideration and used them to focus on key ideas throughout the show.

Onto the actual experience of the play, as soon as I got into the auditorium there was an eerie feeling about the place. There was a simple wooden stage that was fairly close to the audience seats, as well as a red “applause” sign above our heads. This sign reminded me of old television shows with live audiences or humorous hollywood shows. I thought, how could this sign be here if this play is supposed to deal with real life issues about race and other social matters? Moreover, as soon as the play started, an African American policeman came out from the side door and directly spoke to the audience. He was harsh and domineering as he stated that the play is unimportant, and that everyone should ignore what it talks about and stay on their phones instead. He went on to say that everyone should keep their phone ringers on and if anyone has to take a call during the play, they should be more inclined to do so. These statements were very shocking to hear and displayed the irony of the atmosphere of our current society. Anytime there is some issue or event that is somewhat important, many people ignore it and choose to focus on technology instead. Or, they believe that they can help by staying behind phone screens and “supporting” by giving likes to these current issues.

The beginning of the play was very shocking as one of the main characters was shown lying on the floor with a sweatshirt hood over his head, and this position was called “Trayvoning” after the black teenager who was shot by police in 2012. The choice to make this the opening scene of the play was a very powerful one as it set up the theme of humorizing and overlooking black struggles, as well as normalizing the discrimination of African Americans in our society. Many other scenes in the play showed this kind of irony and humor as one of the main characters created a book called “Being Black for Dummies” which was a guidebook that featured stereotypical rules to being black.

I really enjoyed this play because it challenged common perceptions and highlighted the ingrained racism within society and people alike. The themes were very heavy, put the play did a good job of incorporating an enjoyable storyline and characters. I would definitely like to go see this play again, and I hope that many more people see it in the future.

In the beginning of the year I thought of the course “Rhetoric & Civic Life” as just another English class requirement. I expected to read a lot, write essays, and analyze texts, the usual commodities found within an English class. However, this class has prepared me for the future as it enhanced my social skills, presentation skills, and communication skills. Specifically, I learned how to memorize a speech and effectively cater to my audience and interact with them. These skills are useful towards my future career, as well as towards various tasks within the professional world. I feel more prepared to take on the professional environment and approach difficult tasks with a level head.

This multifaceted course has taught me many things, as well has changed my views and certain positions on issues. With the freedom of choosing whatever topic one would like to do a paper or project on, I have experienced the pleasure of learning about many different issues. Someone may present a project on the shift of the dating culture or the shift of African American hairstyles. Being exposed to so many possible ideas and interpretations while taking this course has allowed me to consider different viewpoints and understand new ways of thinking. Additionally, am always interested in learning about new things, while also learning about others. This course has fostered a healthy and accepting environment in which one could learn, question, consider, and change.

Now that I am at the end of the first semester, I look back at all the work that I have done and all of the things that I have learned throughout these past months. It is crazy to think about how much has changed, and the possibility of even more change in the future. I am excited for the new journey and assignments in the next part of this course in the coming semester, and the continuation of my learning.

History of Enhanced Interrogation:

• When and why was it created?
  • Legislation addressing enhanced interrogation (is it legal/when did it become legal?)
• When did America start using these methods?
• If Presidents used these methods/agreed with them
  • Bush Administration
  • Dick Cheney
  • Obama
• War on Terror
• Guantanamo Bay
• Which methods were used initially 

Treaties US is involved in (partied to) regarding torture:

• Geneva Convention (1955) which prohibits the parties to the treaty from acts upon prisoners including “violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture”
• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1922) which insures that no one will be subjected to torturous or cruel treatment by any means
• United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane Degrading Treatment (1994) which specified that each state would have to do everything they could to prevent and cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment

Bush vs. Obama:

• The Executive Order 13440, signed by President George W. Bush, it states “I determine for the United States that members of al Qaeda, the Taliban, and associated forces are unlawful enemy combatants who are not entitled to the protections that the Third Geneva Convention provides to prisoners of war”. The order continues to approve enhanced interrogation techniques that are to be created and approved by the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. The order does not state specific techniques allowing almost free range of any kind of techniques some of which may never go public.
• Seven days after becoming President, Obama signed off on Executive Order 13491. This order revoked Bush’s Executive Order 13440 and its entirety. Its purpose was to ensure lawful interrogations by his interpretation of the law and treaties. Then Obama exonerated any other interpretations of the law, allowing only his own. The order also included the closing of all detention facilities operated by the Central Intelligence Agency including Guantánamo and termination of The Special Task Force.
• Obama only allowed nineteen interrogation techniques to remain which are available in the Army Field Manual.