America's Concentration Camps

There were a few parts in this article that literally made my jaw drop while I was reading, and immediately a long "Woow" came out of my mouth. One of these parts was when the author was describing the hunting of Japanese-Americans. In Nashville, Tennessee, one of the departments of conservation wanted millions of actual licenses that enabled people to "hunt" Japanese-Americans. When I read this I was in complete shock because they are treating these people like animals, like they are some sort of rare duck! I felt and know that this wrong in every way possible, you should not be allowed to hunt another human being no matter what. The response to the request of hunting licenses was even worse though. The purchasing department luckily rejected their request, but their response implied it was more than acceptable to hunt "Japs". They said "Open season on 'Japs'--no license required", and this was when the "wow" came out of my mouth because words cannot describe how terrible those seven words are.

After reading this article I realized how racist our country, especially the government of our country, was during this time. The president of the U.S., Franklin D. Roosevelt, was the one who technically started such segregation by signing the Executive Order Number 9066, which sent Japanese-Americans to internment camps. Out of the 120,000 Japanese-Americans sent away, 65% were U.S. citizens, meaning that our president at the time was separating people based on appearances and culture. "They had broken no laws...Their only crime was their heritage," a quote from the article states, supporting that the only reason Japanese-Americans were exiled from their homes was because our president was racist. He represented our country, and he represented racial segregation by signing this order. I also noticed that not only was the government racist, but they also tried to play off such discriminations with silly excuses such as Japanese-Americans being the enemy, and the fear of sabotage. For example, Lt. Gen. John L. DeWitt tried to justify the means of internment camps by labeling the Japanese-Americans. He characterized them as a "menace that had to be dealt with." By giving them a silly name and label, he believed he wiped away all the wrong from this situation, but that was impossible. This situation was messed up one, and it only got worse. Another example of the government trying to excuse such inequity was when the FBI got involved. The FBI began arresting Japanese-Americans left and right without a trial or anything, and what was their reasoning? The only reasoning they had was the assumption or suspicion that such Japanese American citizens were helping Japan, but they had no proof what so ever because there was no documented evidence of spying activity. Government officials had no excuse for their racist actions, and now I see how racist our country really was against the Japanese.

In conclusion, I did spot a few references and connections to other historic events. The author described such internment camps as the "largest forced movement of people in the United States, since the relocation of Native American in the nineteenth century." This was a reference to the Trail of Tears, and I found it interesting that the author put a little preview of how American events mirror those of its past. Also, I made a connection between the worst concentration camps in Germany, and these horrible ones in America. One of the members of the authors family described their traveling experience as such: "The trip took us five days and four nights by train. A contingent of armed MP's guarded us at all times. We slept sitting up in our assigned seats." This quote reminded me of a scene from the novel, "Night" by Elie Weisel, when he was describing his journey experience to the concentration camps. They both traveled night after night by train, which were packed full, and had to sleep standing up. I thought it was weird to see so make such a connection to an internment camp in the U.S. to a concentration camp in Germany.

Does LWOP for juveniles violate the 8th amendment?

In the 8th amendment it states "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted." Life without parole for juveniles directly violates this amendment because the punishment of being sentenced to life with absolutely no opportunity for release is extremely cruel and unusual. It was found unconstitutional to give juveniles the death sentence by the United States Supreme Court in 2005, but what is the difference between the two? In my opinion the death sentence and being sentenced until death are the same punishment because either way, that person dies as a convicted criminal with no chance of rehabilitation. "When I die, that's when they'll send me home," said Charles T. from article Teenagers Sentenced to Die in California Prisons. When Charles says this he means that even though he doesn't have the death sentence, he will still die as a prisoner. Juveniles that have been sentenced to LWOP don't have the opportunity to prove rehabilitation, and in the case of these adolescents, rehabilitation is more likely. Advances in neuroscience prove that teenagers continue to develop, and are still developing during their sentence, in ways that are relevant to being able to "learn their lesson". A person under the age of 18 has a brain that is still developing, they are still very immature, which makes them have limited comprehension of risk and consequences and the inability to act with adult-like volition. Being a teenager under the age of 18, I can agree that I have yet to grasp certain concepts that adults have, and looking back at my earlier teenage years I can prove how much I have developed and matured in that short time. Even in the sort time-span of a year, going for 16 to 17, I have noticed a drastic change in my maturity and common sense. Last year I used to be irresponsible and put myself in extremely dangerous situations, and it is not until now that I realize how dangerous they really were, or how severe the consequences could have been. Coming from a teenager, and an informed student, I believe that sentencing life without parol for juveniles is cruel and unusual, going directly against the 8th amendment.

International Woman's Day

Paige Ryan

My mother, Paige Ryan, is by far the woman I appreciate the most. Since 9 months before the day I was born my mother has sacrificed everything just to make my life a little better. From little things like taking care of me when I am sick, to bigger issues like making our entire family together again. When I was about 7 my mom turned her life around not only to better herself, but to better mine and my siblings' life. When we were just kids my mom and dad both had drinking problems, which made our whole family disconnected, but luckily my mom turned everything around. She made the hard decision to move me, my brother, my sister, and herself to live in Arizona. At the time I hated her for making us move to that horrible place, but now I appreciate how much she sacrificed just to get sober. While she was in Arizona she decided to get clean and go to rehab. It was a horrible 9 months living without her but she came back a new person. She was my amazing mom but a billion times better. I appreciate my mom so much for risking everything for my family and for me, and now she still sacrifices everything just to make my life a little better. A lot of the time its the little things she does, like texting me when its my dad's week to tell me how great of a person I am, and how proud she is of me and how much she loves me. I love my mom an incredible amount and appreciate her more than anyone does I would like to think. She is the most amazing woman and she deserves to be honored not only today but everyday.

Our White Supremacist Country?

Since the beginning of the United States, our country has shown a great deal of white supremacy, even to this day. Obviously, the intensity of this powerful belief has drastically decreased over the years, but there are still signs of superiority in America. White supremacy is defined as the belief that white people are superior to black people and other people of color, and though a lot of us may not feel this way, our society portrays it exactly like that. Racial representation in the media is a great example of how society illustrates white supremacy. For example, the news. Every news channel that I have watched, I have yet to come around an African American anchor. I mean there are probably some out there but I have never seen one in my life. But not only are all the anchor's white, but a lot of the "criminals" they talk about are black. I know this is a giant generalization, but being someone who watches the news only a couple times a week, I have noticed these patterns. When a white criminal commits a crime, the news briefly states what crime they have committed, but when a black person does the same thing, they show full on chases, like they are wild animals. In my eyes, a great amount of the news consists of white people talking down to other races, white supremacy.

Another definition for the term white supremacy, is a system in which white people have social and political dominance over black people and other people of color. Our country runs off of this system. Finally, for the first time in American history, we have a black President. It honestly took our country this long? The time it took for the MAJORITY of people in our country to finally elect and accept a person of color as President, is proof that white people have political dominance over black people. The word MAJORITY is capitalized because not everyone has accepted it yet, and not everyone has accepted the fact that black people are and can be better than white people because of white supremacy!

Internship #16

Internship Photos & Reflection
Personal Life Photos:

The photos above are pictures of me and the fourth grade kids I work with. This was the day I taught the hands-on, project based lesson. Aren't they adorable?! This picture shows my personal life at my internship because I love working with kids and this is what I wanted to do, so I pursued that desire!

Reflection:
The most significant personal learning experience at my internship was probably when I would see all the kids I helped out and they would all run up to give me a group hug yelling "Ms. Holly!" This was so significant because it made me realize how much I want to influence the lives of children and be a great role model for them. The feeling I got when they rushed over to see me was indescribable, but I loved it. Kids are so loving and that is why I would love to always be working with them.

Internship #14

Mentor Portrait & Interview
Portait of my Mentor:

Pamela Volker

Headmistress

Warren-Walker Elementary School

Point Loma:

4605 Point Loma Avenue

San Diego, CA. 92107

Mentor Interview Highlights:

1.~Q: How did you come to be in the career you are now?

~A: "I started out teaching in Escondido for 10 years, and during that ten years Mr. Volker was teaching at Francis Parker. We would come home and share our stories about public school, private school, public school, private school; and although I loved doing what I was with the kids I began to realize that my philosophy of education was not in sync with the public school philosophy of education. I realized that I needed to leave public education and go into private education. The story is this: One day when I was so frustrated with the things that were going on in the school district, we drove by a one room school house and i said ""Ray all I want is a one-room school house, if I just had a one-room school house of my own I could teach the way I want to teach and do what i want to do and I wouldn't have to deal with the school district."" I didn't mean it at the time but that's what I said to him. Then, he was at Francis Parker at the time, and before he had gotten his masters degree at USD in administration and was looking for a job as a headmaster. The former person who ran this school, Ruth Sweeney, called Francis Parker saying she needed to hire a headmaster, and they recommended Ray. So she interviewed Ray, saying she was ready to retire and wanted someone who would not only lead the school but buy it eventually. He came home from that inter view and said ""Pam do you remember years ago when you said that all you ever wanted was your own one room school house? Did you mean it?"" I said ""Absolutely, I want out of public schools now!"" So Mrs. Sweeney interviewed both of us and we decided it was something we could do."

2.-Q: What is your philosophy on education?

-A:"Basically it is that my goal for these kids is yes to have a challenging program that will get them into a challenging high school program but to do it in a way that is broad so that they have experience in music and art and all different things and all sorts of experiences so they can see themselves being successful in a lot of different ways. Rather than just put them on a track this is strictly academic, our goal is for them to get to college and see their many talents and many choices, so that's really our goal to help children be all they really can be."

3.~Q: What is your favorite part about being headmistress?

~A: "Having alumni come back! hahaha No really, truly, it is seeing the fruits of your labor. I go to eighth grade graduations and they used to want me to present but I couldn't do it because I'd always cry. So I said ""no I'm going to go to the 8th grade commencement and I'm going to enjoy every minute of it, so I can really see who these kids have become and just experience it."

Internship #13

Choice 1:
Post three pictures that show a specific "perspective" of your internship.

The two pictures above show the perspective from customers who are looking to buy merchandise and clothing from the Student Store at Warren-Walker Elementary School. These pictures I took will be posted to the Student Store website, and were a part of a project I am doing to help advertise the school's merchandise. Ms. Frans, the second grade teacher, and I took her students down to the cliffs today to take a photo-shoot of them wearing Warren-Walker customized clothing. We all had a lot of fun and the children loved modeling all the clothes!

This photo shows the perspective of the students I help out, along with the employees and teachers I work for. They have seen me every school day for the last couple weeks and this is what they see. I am usually always smiling anyways, but being surrounded by adorable children and people I grew up with, I can't help but to smile big for them everyday. Also, they see me dressed in professional attire, which shows students and teachers that I am serious about my internship!

This picture shows a unique perspective from the people who attended Warren-Walker Elementary in the 1930's. This picture is a picture of a photograph and shows what the school used to look like way back when it was first developed. As you can see they is just one big dirt patch that went straight to the ocean, but if you look at it now, that area is covered with houses and buildings. My mentor actually gave me the idea to take a picture of this because it shows such a unique perspective.