All posts by Bridget Price

Presentations

By putting together my powerpoint presentation, I realized that I actually have a lot more information on my topic than I first expected. When the information was floating around in my head, I was anxious that it all was not substantial enough to turn into a 12-page paper. Once I had to put it all down in words to turn into the presentation, however, I realized how much I really do have. So, this presentation assignment worked to quell my anxiety about the paper. It also greatly helped me to clarify my argument and highlight the parts I need to investigate more – so now I have a clear idea of what I need to do next to beef up my research. I realized that I have been collecting a lot of research for one part of my paper while I’ve been neglecting an equally important part of my paper. This means I’ll spend less time researching what I already have enough of.

Freewrite on Stallybrass

I think Stallybrass means it is ridiculous to assume that great works come out of nowhere, with nothing preceding them. He believes thoughts originate from outside sources. What he hints at is the idea that creativity and good work is a synthesis of things you have experienced – thus things that have not originated in you yourself. The plagarism scare that is currently consuming a lot of the college/academic world, in his opinion, is inherently baseless because good ideas, and ideas in general, build on each other. They don’t just exist in free space. This is important to our research project because we are going to be investigating a lot of different sources on one topic, and we will be incorporating all those sources into a hopefully new idea. This process makes us conform to Stallybrass’ approach to writing.

Research Journal #4

I am interested in researching the effect depression has on poor populations…

because I want to find out how prevalent it is, how it manifests itself, and what effect it has on the population at large…

and this is important because once thoroughly researched and understood, there is a possibility that solutions could be found and suffering could be alleviated.

1) Are the symptoms for depression the same across the board, or are there more prevalent symptoms in poor populations compared w. the middle & upper classes?

2) Do poor populations have a greater percentage of depressed people?

3) How do municipal/state/national governments currently deal with the mental health of poor populations?

Scientology’s Official Story

Scientology Commercial

This commercial makes Scientology seem like a lovely, open-hearted and generous institution. The entirety of the video is designed to make you feel relaxed and happy, with images of beautiful people and a voiceover saying, “You are hope, you are imagination, you are the power to change.” The Scientology label is only added within the last couple seconds of the commercial.

The entire basis of the religion of Scientology is missing from this commercial. There is no mention of L. Ron Hubbard or space or aliens or Xenu. There is also no mention of how this cult keeps tabs on people, steals money, and seeks to silence everyone who opposes them. Scientology is suspicious and shady at best, and from the official story that they give in their commercials, you would never know.

link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pvku53FL3T8

Invitation file, 1890-1892

web address:

memory.loc.gov

From looking at the artifact itself, I can see that it is written entirely in French. It is a very official looking document sent to Douglass by the President of Haiti, General Hyppolite in the year 1890 (45 years afterNarrative of the Life was published). The artifact is an invitation, from as much as I can tell, welcoming Douglass to visit the President in the National Palace.

This artifact reveals the extent of Douglass’ fame and influence. Haiti was the first black republic to declare independence, so it is understandable why they would want to invite him, being the foremost black figure in that period of time. What is incredible is that 45 years after his book was published, he was still sought after. This is very telling about Douglass’ character. He never stopped working for his cause and was still seen as an icon 45 years after he first broke through. Many figures in history just pop in and out, but Douglass lit up the world stage for decades, so much so that he was still touring foreign governments nearly half a century later.

After reading over this artifact, I wonder how many foreign governments Douglass toured in his lifetime. Did he travel the world championing the abolitionists’ cause? Did he do work in other countries to improve the lives of their people, or did he mainly focus on the United States?