Exhibition Night

Exhibition was not as nerve wracking in the end probably because which each question asked I was prepared. Plus parents don't always ask questions about the calculations, or history, just more of the process and what the main points were.In Humanities it was more difficult to talk to parents since were the first table, everyone would walk in, find their kid, then rarely come back to the front again. Although the parents we did encounter the presentation went pretty well. A lot of them seemed impressed with the history content, as well as the fact that we chose it ourselves. Then when I would explain more in detail, I'd sort of lose their interest or they wouldn't understand it, but just be in awe. It was about the same thing for math/physics everyone was just impressed with the project itself and not necessarily the work and calculations. This was also because they wouldn't ask a lot content driven questions, so it was hard to bring it up while keeping their interest. For both classes that was my biggest weakness trying to teach my interest which was the heavy content but keeping it comprehendible. My favorite thing part was explaining the dark room, whenever someone stood reading the explanations I'd go explain it myself. It was fun because, I knew what I was talking about and also the person I was teaching generally had an interest it, since they stood there by will. As I said before not a lot of the parents asked content driven questions so the only thing that made an interaction difficult was if the parent was intimidating, not too polite, or just seemed like they weren't interested. Next time though I really want to have an extravagant display to engage and interest people.

Character Building

A character building improve session helped confirm what we've been told about complex characters and how they help improve and, make the story. Physically acting out our character helped us understand the dimensions of our characters as an actual person, with feelings and motives. This helped us realize that our character development cannot just be impulsive but it needs the characters to have motives and reasons why behind it.
If it's any character that needs the most development it is Jude he is a fairly main character and needs more depth behind him. The only background on him is that he comes from Yorkshire, a big family, and not much wealth. His personality is very suave, out-going, and caring, yet there is no explanation, no motives, other than him being the oldest. Something to add to him is that since he is the oldest that made him very helpful.
Charles is very well understood because of his traumatizing childhood with the death of his mother, and absurd father. His low-self esteem and great intelligence will be explained through out the story since he is telling the story.
Nigel the Father of Charles was a veteran and lost his leg, him wanting Charles to be a man is also pretty well established. His lack of emotional coping is pretty well established with the death of his wife.
Lesley is very happy go lucky, but very serious when it comes to her work, because of her brothers death in World War II. Her character is very basic but will be well projected.

Plot Synopsis

In Oxford, England, Charles’ cries as his feet patter across the creaking wood floor quickly, going anywhere his father isn’t. Nigel has always been on Charles’ case about him being a man, maybe more so because of his mother’s death. His tears hit the letter in his hand, the letter that stopped his prepared years of straight A’s in the seconds it took him to read it. Charles is going to war… he is going to war because of his straight A’s, Britain feels like he would make a good member of the British Army Royal Engineers, and sadly that’s all that matters.

After farewells, he is drafted to London to participate against the tragic London Blitz by defusing unexploded bombs, during the beginning of The Battle of Britain, and the London Blitz. In the Royal Engineers he is assigned a partner named Jude who comes from Yorkshire. Jude comes from a big family and before he came to war his youngest sister Emily gave him her teddy bear. He carries this bear with him at all times in his pocket. There partnership makes a great balance, while one is complaining about how horrible it is to have open wounds in such an unsanitary terrain the other is thankful for how durable their uniform is. Their balance doesn’t last.

He shouldn’t have stepped around that building corner, that building corner that led no where, those few steps with no purpose. If Charles hadn’t, maybe Jude would have been alive, not only his partner but his friend. Jude is dead and there is nothing Charles can do, than try to stay alive after being wounded by a bomb being defused incorrectly. He comes in and out of conscious, his side is jabbed against that corner of the building, and when he wakes up about the fourth time he is staring at a mole. He is on a bed, the room isn’t pretty but it’s at least sanitary, and staring at a mole, Lesley’s mole to be exact. He later finds out that Jude died during one the more serious bombings on London which lasted for two days December 29 and 30, 1940.

While the WVS (Women’s-voluntary-service) was busy evacuating children they spotted him and took him to the center to be healed. Charles is suffering from pain affiliated with all his wounds, specifically the wound on his right arm that has severe swelling around it and swelling was significant around the others. He also has sunburn like rash, a high fever, an irritation of the eye, along with bumps around his chest that look like bug bites. Compared to the others he isn’t one of the more serious cases, he was often overlooked, but Charles understood. Since his fever was high they gave him aspirin, his bug bites treated with ointment, and his cuts cleaned. When the inflammation of his wounds didn’t heal they gave him steroids, steroids worsened it. The biggest fear now was him losing that right arm, and or eye, it was now clear he had a Staph infection. What they thought were bug bites, were actually puss filled pockets and were spreading into the cut.

Nigel sits in his home drinking his tea, lost in his own thoughts about the war and his beautiful wife. If he closes his eyes he can see her walking through the gardens telling him to hurry up and come walk next to her. He tries to walk faster and grab her hand but she it too far away. She looks back and laughs at him. He is so close, he’s almost there. A sharp rapping at the door wakes him from his thoughts. Nigel slowly moves his creaking bones to the door the wood floor cold against his feet. He looks outside and sees a small boy no older than seventeen and wonders why he is here. “Are you the father of Charles?” the boy asks. “Yes, I suppose I am. What has he done now?” Nigel becomes testy when talking about his son. “He was in an explosion, sir.” was the response. These words bounced around in Nigel’s head until he began to feel ill. Lights started to swirl above his head, voices got louder, and then everything went black.

Charles has been sitting in the rest center for a week now with the rash and bumps getting worse. He is only allowed to move for three things; eating, having his bandages changed and washed, or to use the toilet. Otherwise he sat in his bed chatting to no one in particular his voice only being me by the dull gray walls around him. He has a lovely nurse that takes care of him almost every day that seems to find joy in even the simplest things. This nurse, Lesley, is the one and only thing that he looks forward to during the day. Even if she is only there for five minutes it is nice to have someone to talk to.

There is talk about a new experimental drug called penicillin which has already cured quite a bit of people. However this drug was hard to get a hold of because it was very unstable and very difficult to produce. It wasn’t until 1941 when the drug was freeze dried and brought to the USDA who realized to do “deep fermentation” on the drug to mass produce it. During the months that passed Charles lost his eye to the infection by going blind in that one eye. He was not the only one who lost body parts to infections, it was very common for people in World War II to develop infections. In 1943 Historian Wainwright wrote, penicillin production had become one of the war effort's highest priorities. Thankfully it didn’t take until 1943 for Charles’ right arm to be saved because today, when Lesley enters the room, she has something for him, medicine. She is hesitant in giving the Penicillin to him because she does not know what will happen to him. He takes the medicine expecting to feel better immediately but notices no change.

The bumps and rashes are getting better and Charles is allowed to walk around more. He has been taking the medicine for at least two weeks by now and finally seeing results. He has a routine now during the day in the morning he takes his medicine and gets ready for breakfast. Then from there he goes and chats to Lesley for as long as her break is, and then reads the newspaper. In May 1941 he reads that the consecutive bombing has come to an end, and he is excused from the war because of his eye.

After being excused from the draft he returns to Oxford to see his Father. Sadly his once drill Sargent like father is now at wits end. Nigel is no longer sane, and is now on anti-depressants because he thinks Charles has died, and at 39 he has a caretaker. Charles steps through the unattended to lawn and up the creaking porch, the caretaker Corrie answers not knowing who he is. Charles asks for his father, she explains to him the past year for Nigel. When they reunite Nigel seems in a daze and doesn't believe he is talking to his son but that he has died. After this meet Charles realizes he can't stay because he is only making his father more ill, he leaves to rent an apartment near by.

Charles stills doesn't want to give up his smarts and starts going back to school, after a year gets accepted to Oxford University to study this "miracle drug" penicillin which saved his life.

Character Bios

Nigel Snap:

Loves Charles, his son, but wishes that he was tougher, because after all Nigel was the only one who raised him after his mother’s death. He believes that his son being drafted into the Royal Army Engineers is the best thing that has happened to Charles, it will help make a man out of him and with engineering he also gets to use his intelligence. Nigel himself is a veteran, and lost his leg to World War I. Unlike Charles he was willing to die for his country and found it an honor to go to war. He is always pushing Charles to do things that he (the father) wasn’t able to do as a younger man. Since he feel that Charles needs to be pushed he is very stern, and a believer in tough love. Secretly he just an emotional roller coaster who hides his not so manly emotions with being stern. He then receives news that Charles was in a bombing and automatically thinks that he dies. This devastates him and makes him wish that he had shown more affection for Charles, thus showing that his father does really care.

Lesley Velum:

Really sweet young lady only job she knows is being a nurse for the war, and one of Charles' nurses. Before the London blitz and being Charles' nurse she helped with the very dangerous evacuation of children. She is a part of the WVS (Women’s-voluntary-service) and works as a nurse in the rest centers taking care of bomb victims. Lesley and other volunteers take care of up to 10,000 people every night during the blitz. Although rest centers were not magnificent it still provided a roof, food and most importantly, sanitation. Lesley loved her job as dangerous as it may have been working so close to the centre of the bombings. She is very devoted to her job because she lost her brother to war. That helps her understand what the soldiers are going through and that their families would want them to be taken care of, if injured. Being Charles' nurse she really opens up to him and is outgoing. He grows very fond of her like a sister, she is very spunky but when it comes to her work she is very serious.

Charles Snap:

Prior to his life in the war when he was growing up he wasn’t very “tough” as said by his father to father’s. He always felt like a disappointment because he never knew a mother’s parenting side, which he would have fit in a lot more. He is very stressed our by his father but respects him and abides by his rules as much as he can. When he meets people he usually comes of as arrogant because of his shyness, and awkwardness which is seen as him having a lack of interest. People when they get to know him think he is a wonderful and very intelligent person but because of his father always on his case he has a low self esteem. During the war he patrols the city as one of the British Army Royal Engineers. Charles not only patrols the city but he also has to find and defuse these unexploded bombs (UXBs).This job was a special one only the smartest were picked for because of the sharp thinking, delicate treatment, and split-second timing. During the Blitz Charles and a friend are both assigned to defuse bombs in a section of London. Charles was willing to fight for his country but not die for it. When Charles' friend is defusing a bomb Charles wanders off thinking his friend will be okay. Suddenly there is an explosion and his friend is killed and Charles is severely injured. His cuts get infected resulting staph infections. In the hospital he is used as a guinea pig and has an experimental medicine tested on him (penicillin). Charles slowly gets better and is intrigued by this new medicine. So he begins to study the history of the "miracle drug" that saved him, by reading the newspaper on his hospital bed.

Jude Beulah:

Also works in the Royal Army Engineers as Charles' partner and short time friend. He comes from Yorkshire and was also drafted. Unlike Charles, who was an only child, he has many 3 younger brothers and 2 younger sisters that have been evacuated into the country side. He sees that what he does in the army is his way of protecting his family. Another difference between Jude and Charles was that Jude was willing to die for his country as well as all his family. Jude is the all around great guy, very outgoing and very thoughtful person. Women are constantly flirting with him because of his charm and good looks. Him and Charles are different in so many ways but it all works out. His family always noticed his intelligence but it was very hard for his family to afford school, they thought that him joining Royal Army Engineers was great, but scary. At times he can be very happy but in the blink of an eye be serious. Sadly while defusing a bomb it explodes and he is killed.

oh graphic novels...

Persepolis is a graphic novel/memoir of Marjane Satrapi when she was 10-14 living through the Islamic Revolution, in Iran. Satrapi does a wonderful job of telling non bias, and veritable history as well as making you fall in love with the characters all at the same time. Besides her story she also gives an introduction of Iran, and interesting facts such as Iran came from “Aryana Vaejo” which means “the origin of the Aryans.” They were semi-nomads who founded the first Iranian empire in the seventh century. (Later destroyed by Cyrus the great) Iran was wealthy because of this and its geographical location it was constantly invaded but able to uphold. During her graphic novel she is able to personally tell you about the Islamic revolution.

Before the revolution there were 2,500 years of a monarchy before it was overthrown by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in Iran. The king at the time was Marji’s great grandfather who was over thrown in 1925 and her grandfather was a prince who would have ruled. That helped start the Islamic revolution and westernization of Iran. Since Reza Pahlavi wasn’t an educated man Marji’s grandfather became the prime minister, although he later became a communist. This put him in danger and he was often sent to jail putting his family Marji’s mom and grandmother in poverty. Marji is ecstatic about this and the fact that she comes from royalty.

There were many protests and disagreements with Reza Shah the people revolted against him. Black Friday was supposed to be a peaceful protest but when Reza Shah allowed the military to get involved and use force, they did. Many of the people who died were seen as martyrs. These deaths still didn’t stop the people from going against Reza Shah, after that he still had many assassination attempts. Soon after Reza Shah was put into exile to Egypt and not the United States of America who were only interested in oil. The British also wanted Iran’s oil but when the prime minister nationalized the oil, Britain then set an embargo against Iran.

For a while Marji was upset that her parents only protested, and not even that often. She started making up stories about her family and that her father was in prison because of this or that. When she soon learns about her Uncle who had been in prison and recently got out, he lives with them for a while and she grows very fond of him. He then has to go to prison again without saying goodbye to her. She is very hurt, but when he asks her to visit him she becomes very excited.

Since Britain and Iran were not allies at the time Britain and the CIA were clandestine together long enough to form a coup against the prime minister Mossadeq. This allowed the power of Iran to go to the Shah the son of Reza Shah. The same thing soon happened people were upset with the Shah sending death threats, and he was soon exiled into the United States. Ayatollah Khomeini was then welcomed back into Iran after being exiled out of Iran for opposing the Shah’s rules. Ayatollah Khomeini became the first Prime Minister and he helped lead Iran through the Islamic Revolution, which started in 1979. By 1980 people were forced to wear the veil even in schools which used to be secular. This soon progressed to self expression people had to be cautious of what they wore especially proletariats, and could no longer be decadent in what they wore. This directly effected Marji because of her love for the punk scene

Marji was fortunate enough to flee Iran to go to Vienna, Austria to live with her mom’s best friend. Marji is shocked, excited, and sad to go, sadly the book ends here.

Before she flees she sees her mom fainted in her dad’s arms, she later finds out she fainted due to stress. Her mom’s best friend turns out to be 80 years old. There are pros and cons to this, it is easy to sneak things by, but she also has to tend to her. She tries telling her parents that she doesn’t feel secure as a child, and that she also needs to be aided to. There are things Marji likes about her freedom and then doesn’t, the punk scene is everything Marji imagined it to be. She gets to go out, she has all this freedom and she loves how cool the kids are. Her parents don’t listen to her doubts all they do is tell her sarcastic jokes about how if she hasn’t died yet she’ll live forever. Marji starts to feel neglected, and like an orphan.

She soonly becomes legal orphan in Vienna when her mom’s best friend dies. She decided not to tell her parents only decrease the phone calls and letters, and decided to live with one of her friends who lives with her older brother. Just like her first cigarette she initiates herself to being even more of a grown up now.

The kids there love her, and think she’s cool, and are amazed with what she’s gone through. After 9/11 though she becomes embarrassed and every time someone asks her nationality she mumbles different races. She’s been Italian to Mexican. This is sad because even things with the friend she’s living with things start to feud. She’s disappointed with herself for not staying true to herself, but she finds escape in a different friend. She leaves the friend she’s living with, and leaves with her other to go to Italy. Where she finds her parents…

Youth.

Society tells us we can drive at 16, vote at 18, and drink at 21. Does that mean one is more responsibility than the other? Is that was society is telling us?
Or if we think well Germany is drinking at 15 why do we drink at age 21? Is it that we're more immature can we not handle the responsibility at 15? With that will we respond like we are more immature, and can't handle that much responsibility. That was exactly the main focus of yesterdays seminar, more specifically on the voting age though, and also rather than saying "I think" posing it as question.
The groups were divided in boy and girls, and on the article "You're 16, You're beautiful, and You're a voter" I don't feel like this was our best seminar, or at least I noticed I was less engaged. I was passionate about the argument, but couldn't express my opinion as well as usual, the problem is unknown. Although it was a lot better than our practice seminar a couple days before.
The practice one was the time to get rid of the last "I thinks" this seminar there were a lot more opinionated posed questions. When Imanni was explaining that lowering the drinking age wouldn't necessarily mean some teens not being able to handle it but rather just allow the numbers to go up, Marissa was arguing against it, then I asked if it would really make a difference? That was my highlight of the entire seminar, I found that to be the perfect example of what Cortney wanted us to improve on.
The idea of granting kids privileges at a young age would have to come gradually, like when you're learning to drive you receive your permit then license. Drinking would go along with permit and voting with a civics class. However this would be nice, it may just be making these privileges a bigger deal.

TheYear of the Youth Vote

The talk of this year election is the youth. Their turn out in numbers, and how much more supportive they seem. A coalition of youth formed to Barrack Obama, they are all very zealous about him winning. Obama is 3 to 1 in New Hampshire, 2 to 1 in Nevada, and in Michigan nearly 50,000 people voted "uncommitted" because Clinton was the only name on the ballot, all of these statistics under 30. He is definitely an incumbent to the youth in America. Caitlin Ellis, 20, says "A lot of my friends from home are Republicans, and it's refreshing not to have to fight tooth and nails with them when I say I'm for Obama, with this it is more than safe to say he has managed to be liberal yet conservative, aware and respectful of both right and left wing.

In the article it is made clear by Johnathon Beam, 21 that Obama is great at making speeches when he says "If we were electing someone on the basis of their ability to give great speeches, then Obama would be a great choice. Where as I would agree but as the article went on it seemed as if he would continue to be progressive. If I was a constituent, he would have my vote.