Smile Now, Cry Later Essay Example for Free

Smile Now, Cry Later Essay Gangs are becoming a growing problem within American society. â€Å"In 2002 more than 877,700 young people between the age of 10 to 24 were injured from violent acts, and 79% of homicide victims ages 10 to 24 were killed with firearms† (Youth Violence: Fact Sheet 3). Young people are turning to gangs as a way to solve problems in their lives, problems such as: poverty, home violence, peer pressure, forced them to seek for power, money, respect, protection or simply love on the streets. the majority of gang members have been exposed or have suffered violence in their homes. When youths join gangs, social activities with friends, and school. Gang members tend to fall behind their classmates in school and do not try to stick around. They lost their motivation, interests and see school like a part of the problem and not like a solution. The majority of gang members are illiterate because they drop out of school at a very young age. Most of them have or are related with drugs, which destroy their lives and their chances for a good education and better life. Teenagers are joining gangs every day, becoming a problem in ghettos, urban areas and neighborhoods. They can be found in about every city in the United States. One thing that all the gangs have in common is that According to Luis J. Rodriguez’s book, Always Running ‘’La Vida Loca or The Crazy Life†, â€Å"the barrio gang experience, originated with the Mexican Pachuco gangs of the 1930s and 1940s and was later recreated with the cholos† (5). The cholos, one of the most prominent and violent gangs in southern California region, still attract more and more teenagers. Teens usually join gangs in an attempt to correct both the social and emotional problems in their lives. There are many complex reasons kids join gangs: the majority grew up in broken families without a father or a mother to look up to when everything went chaotic and family conflicts present. These kids have a very low-self esteem due to the poor family function. They join in order to find love and acceptance. They see gangs as a surrogate, or substitute family, and they find in the streets what they don’t have at home. They also join gangs to gain power, money and respect eventually by getting into fights and killing each other. They often join gangs because they want to feel that they fit in somewhere, feeling rejected in more common situations due to their cultural heritage, religious believes, sex, or race. They join gangs as a way to protect themselves from discrimination, racism, prejudice, and to find acceptance among other members of the gang. Gangs are one of the results of urban deterioration that’s why we see some communities more affected than others. Gangs are a violent reality that people have to deal with today because gangs are a direct result of human beings personal wants and peer pressure. These issues can be identify by looking at the way humans are influenced in society, because I truly believe there is good evidence to point the blame at several institutions including the power that the media has in our society, the government, drugs and our economic system.

Whats At Stake In The 2000 Presidential Election :: essays research papers

This is perhaps the most important election of our time. Looking at it pragmatically, we only have two viable choices: Bush or Gore. As someone who is apparently concerned about environmental issues, abortion issues, and economic issues the choice between the two should be obvious -al gore In addition a simple fact is Nader will not be elected president in November gore in effect a vote for Nader is a vote for Bush. Gore may offer him a cabinet position to drop out of the race. As for the U.S. Supreme Court, consider this: The U.S. Senate confirms Supreme Court nominees. The Republican Party will control the U.S. Senate. The DNC and the RNC alike have stated they are sure on the control of the Senate [AP 04/02]. George W. Bush is on record as stating that his two FAVORITE U.S. Supreme Court justices are Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, the most ultra- conservative justices on the bench. During there terms some very important cases will be up for review such as Roe vs. Wade [Vote 5-4] and the Miranda rights case. Gov Bush will appoint conservative justices (he says he will not conduct a litmus test to determine if they are pro life, he does not need to conduct a limits test to determine their pro life! He knows what a complete conservative believes in; he is just saying this so afterward he can just claim ignorance and say I didn't know) for those of you who don't believe Bush would do this Bush has signed at-least 18 anti-choice provisions into law since he has been Governor of Texas. In an interview in August 1999, Bush agreed with the claim that he was the most anti-abortion governor in the United States. "I rest their case. I’m pro-life," Bush said. Bush’s record was enough to earn the endorsement of National Right to Life. [National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, "NARAL Fact Sheet," 7/22/99; CNN, Evans, Novak, Hunt & Shields, 8/14/99; Boston Globe, 2/9/00] A woman's right to choose will not be the only issue at stake into he supreme court. I believe that a court controlled by the right wing will also have a good chance of ruling that some of our environmental protection laws are unconstitutional. Do you think that Bush will feel compelled to pick moderate judges as his U.S. Supreme Court nominees with a friendly, Republican-controlled Senate waiting to do his bidding?

Crooks

Blacks originally came from West Africa (Nigeria, Ghana and Liberia). Rich white land owners wanted slaves to work on cotton plantations in the Deep South (Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia). In the early 1800 century blacks grew in numbers in small community theses are commonly referred to as nigger nests. People in the north did not agree with slavery and thus forth created the American civil war. In the 1860's the north won and slaves were freed but wee still classed as second class citizens. Crooks from â€Å"Of Mice and Men† is a prime example of how blacks were treated in the 1860's. He is called â€Å"a nigger† by the other workers this shows that they don't give him enough respect to call him by his own name. Crooks is only allowed in the bunkhouse during Christmas and then is only used for sport for the other workers entertainment. The other workers shout at him and in the last paragraph curly steal's his gun. This shows that he is treated with no respect at all by the other workers. Crooks' living accommodation tells us how mistreated he is for example Crooks lives in a â€Å"little shed† .this tell us that he is seen as small and weak. â€Å"Square four panel window† this makes his home sound like a prison. This tells us he is trapped in his job with no chance of escape. His bed is a box of straw. This tells us he is treated like an animal and not even aloud a real bed. Outside of his window there is a pile of horse poo this tells us he is treated like shit. Crooks has few possessions he has books this tells us he is very literate and likes to read, a gun this tells us he needs to protect himself from something, an alarm clock this tells us he stick to a schedule and has duties to attend to, several pairs of shoe's this Shows us he works hard and has to replace his shoes often. His possessions are the only things he can use's to pass the time this helps us to understand his extreme loneliness. Crooks was injured by a horse kicking him now he is disabled this adds to his problems. Steinbeak reminds us that he is like white i.e. pink palms and pink lips. All of the people in the ranch judge him except from slim and Lennie this tells us he is an outsider. On the ranch crooks works as a stable buck (attends to the horse's) the owners and the workers actually need him but they don't lets it seem like they do. He is actually more skilled then most men but because of his colour he is treated much worse than the other men. The only thing he can really do as a pass time is read his books and tend to the horses this tells us he is educated an able to read and he is dedicated to his job because even in his free time he is still tending to the horses. His extreme loneliness suggests that some of his books are pornographic. This exaggerates his loneliness. Crooks's feelings are conflicted when it comes to the workers he wants company but he feels threatened by the other workers. The only people he willingly let into his home is lennie and slim he doesn't see them as a threat because only there the only people on the ranch that don't judge him for being black. The only other person he lets in is his boss but does this unwillingly. This tells us that he is very protective of his little piece of land. Crooks is constantly in pain from his accident. This makes him angry and short tempered. He is also in a lot of mental pain. He deals with the fact that he is a nobody and is under constant fear that the other workers will turn on him. Crooks was brought up in California .but is an immigrant from Mexico. Therefore he has always been an outsider. He has some companions like lennie and slim but not often most of the time he is either with the horses or on his own. Curly's wife destroyed his hope of any future friendship by reminding him of his worthlessness and belittling him. Crooks cause his own isolation by shutting people out. He wants to build a wall to block everyone else out ban leave isolate himself from the rest of the world.

Did Henry Ford Really Say History is Bunk

One of the best-known quotations of the inventor and entrepreneur Henry Ford is History is bunk: Oddly enough, he never said exactly that, but he did say something along those lines many times during his life. Ford used the word bunk associated with history first in print, during a 1916 interview with reporter Charles N. Wheeler for the Chicago Tribune. Say, what do I care about Napoleon? What do we care about what they did 500 or 1,000 years ago? I dont know whether Napoleon did or did not try to get across and I dont care. It means nothing to me. History is more or less bunk. Its tradition. We dont want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinkers dam is the history we make today. Spinning the Versions According to the historian Jessica Swigger, the reason there are so many versions of the statement floating around the internet is pure and simple politics. Ford spent years trying to reframe and clarify (that is to say, put the best spin on) the comment to himself and the rest of the world. In his own Reminiscences, written in 1919 and edited by E.G. Liebold, Ford wrote: Were going to start something! Im going to start up a museum and give people a true picture of the development of the country. Thats the only history that is worth observing, that you can preserve in itself. Were going to build a museum thats going to show industrial history, and it wont be bunk! Libel Suit By all accounts, Ford was a difficult, uneducated, and litigious fellow. In 1919, he sued the Chicago Tribune for libel for writing an an editorial in which the Tribune had called him an anarchist and ignorant idealist. The court records show that the defense attempted to use the quote as evidence against him. Counsel for the Tribune Elliot G. Stevenson: But history was bunk, and art was no good? That was your attitude in 1916?Henry Ford: I did not say it was bunk. It was bunk to me, but I did not say...Stevenson: [interrupting quickly] It was bunk to you?Ford: It was not much to me.Stevenson: What do you mean by that?Ford: Well, I havent very much use for it. I didnt need it very bad.Stevenson: What do you mean? Do you think we can provide for the future and care wisely with reference to the future in matters like preparation for defense, or anything of that sort, without knowing the history of what has happened in the past?Ford: When we got into the war, the past didnt amount to much. History didnt usually last a week.Stevenson: What do you mean, History didnt last a week?Ford: In the present war, airships and things we used were out of date in a week.Stevenson: What does that have to do with history? Many of the sources today interpret the meaning of the quote to show that Ford was an iconoclast who disdained the importance of the past. The court documents cited above suggest that he thought the lessons of history were outweighed by the innovations of the present-day. But there is evidence that at least his own personal industrial history was decidedly important to him. According to Butterfield, in his later life, Ford saved 14 million personal and business documents in his personal archives and had constructed over 100 buildings to house his Henry Ford Museum-Greenfield Village—Edison Institute complex at Dearborn. Sources: Butterfield R. 1965. Henry Ford, the Wayside Inn, and the Problem of History Is Bunk. Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society 77:53-66.Swigger JI. 2014. History is Bunk: Assembling the Past at Henry Fords Greenfield Village. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.Upward GC. 1979. A Home for Our Heritage: The Building and Growth of Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum. Dearborn, Michigan: The Henry Ford Museum Press.Lockerby, P. 2011. Henry Ford—Quote: History is Bunk. Science 2.0 30 May.Wheeler, CN. 1916. Interview with Henry Ford. The Chicago Tribune, May 25, 1916, cited in Butterfield.