Local History Proposal

Plymouth is probably one of the smallest towns in Maine, and probably lacks all sorts of things that bigger towns would consider necessities. Although everybody has picked the store because it's the only source of independence the town has, I looked just up the road from it to the building that was once a school. It's now the town office as well as the post office, and all aspects of it made me proud of my town. The fact that Plymouth once had its own source of education and it was giving knowledge to citizens of the town locally makes me proud. Although the school closed because of a lack of students and the school-aged children were all shipped to Newport, Plymouth still once had autonomy. The building still does serve a purpose of independence - it's where nearly ever member of the town goes on November 7th to cast their votes for the presidential election, and where they go year-round to elect many other officials. Plymouth takes part in our government, and it impresses me to know we aren't ignoring our rights as an American citizen just because we're maybe not as in-the-loop as bigger cities. Town meetings are also held there, where the residents of Plymouth exercise their rights in a democracy. Plymouth, through this building, is not ignorant like it might be if we had no way to connect with the government of America. This building has educated residents and allowed them to be free American citizens for decades, perhaps even centuries and it continues to do so.

(I plan to do a video project.)

The Glass Ceiling is not just for Opressed Minorities

I was recently talking with Angela on AIM, and I made a point that, to the uneducated, may sound racist -

Angela: I am the least racist person ever

Kaylee: Yeah, they don't get that

Angela: I want equality

Angela: Not YAY, MINORITIES!

Kaylee: I know

Kaylee: Black history month, for example - I'm all for it. But we can't have a white history month

Angela: That's because America is white history

Kaylee: If we moved to Africa, we still couldn't have one

Angela: Exactly

Kaylee: Because they've suffered from us too much for us to deserve one

Angela: I totally get you

Kaylee: Yeah

Kaylee: Maybe if somebody had been cruel to us in the past and then we moved to another country, we could have pride

Call this racism if you really want to, but I am not a racist. I believe every race should be equal in what they do. I'm not trying to sound like the typical air-headed white person who believes they're better than other races. I believe every race is equal and you do not get special treatment because of how you were treated in the past.

Whenever I think of this, I compare it to adopting two children. One was in an abusive household when then were very young, the other was simply given up at birth because the mother could not take care of them. Although you do want to make sure the child who was abused is secure in its new home, you do not go out and spoil the formerly abused child because of its past. When you give the children a snack, you don't give chocolate ice cream to the abused child and broccoli to the one who was raised without the abuse. You don't compensate for what happened a long time ago. It had nothing to do with you, and yet you still try to balance the wrong somebody else did with special extras.

Last time I checked, that was not equality. That was feeling bad for the other race. That is not balanced and fair treatment, that's saying, "oh, poor opressed minority. Since you're not quite as good as we are, we couldn't possibly deny you the chance to make you look like you're actually as good as we are. This would make us look good."

Both races' views of equality are EXTREMELY flawed.

While I'm at it, I would like to play both sides of the "Mexican" immigration issues.
First of all, Mexico is NOT where all of the illegal aliens are coming from. It is not okay to call every illegal immigrant a "dirty Mexican" or whatever you think they are.
Secondly, on the "liberal" side, JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE MEXICAN DOES NOT MAKE YOU AN ILLEGAL ALIEN. I have complete and utter respect for those Latinos and Latinas who earn citizenship and are legal taxpaying citizens.
On the more conservative side, illegal aliens should not be allowed into America. It does not matter how opressed they are. Just because they don't like their country doesn't mean they can break through the border and come to ours. Those who get citizenship have earned it. America is not a free ride. You cannot come here illegally and expect a job, house and welfare when you don't pay taxes because the government does not know you exist. It's not fair to the legal citizens of this already-overpopulated country. I believe it's time to stop getting a free ride in the "great country of America" and time to start looking at improving where you already live.

J. Lo's song "Jenny from the Block" nearly made me sick. She was not poor, or "ghetto" or abused in the environment she was raised in. She was taught in CATHOLIC SCHOOLS, took dancing lessons and went to college immediately after graduating. That is not somebody who has struggled to grow up. To quote her lyrics,

"Don't be fooled by the rocks that I got
I'm still, I'm still Jenny from the block
Used to have a little, now I have a lot
No matter where I go, I know where I came from"

She would know NOTHING about struggling to go from rags-to-riches, but because she was "from" "the Bronx" and is NOT white, she is idolized as a sort of little Oliver Twist who had such a difficult childhood.

In America, race makes you. If you are any race but white and proud, you are sort of seen as a martyr. If you are half-French, no one cares. If you are half-Bolivian, you are worshipped.

That is because the "whites" mistreated everybody else in the past. We do not, as a whole, mistreat anybody now except illegal aliens who are, guess what, breaking the law. Not every white person is the same, and not every white person is a descendant of a big, bad white man. And even if you are, that does not make you racist. Don't get me wrong, these people have every right to express their pride at overcoming their past. But so should we. Taking a quote from the Lion King, stolen from IMDB.com -

[Baboon hits Simba in the head with stick]
Simba: Jeez... What was that for?
Baboon: It doesn't matter, it's in the past.
Simba: Yeah, but it still hurts.
Baboon: Oh yes, the past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it, or learn from it.
[swings stick at Simba again who ducks out of the way]
Baboon: Ha. You See? So, what are you going to do?

Native American Religion & Conflict

According to Joseph Campell, a religion was something that accomplished four tasks. It gave a Mystical Function - it made the person following the religion view the universe with awe, and also a Scientific Function - it gave purpose to things while keeping the structure of the universe. It also was to give roles in society, called the Sociological Function - to the men and the women, the elderly and the young, the influential and the common. It lastly gave the Teaching Function. It was to give a person reason to live under immense stress and value their life under any circumstances. Because of the differences in these factors in Native American religion compared to European Christianity, conflict was inevitable as a result of disagreement.
Native American religion made people view their universe with awe - by saying that the earth was something to be respected and marveled at because of all it gave to them. The idea that their ancestors watched over them also gave mystery to the universe. This would make any religious Native American respect the world more, be kinder to their environment and make good use of what resources the earth offered while using every part of them. Native American religion also gave purpose to things in the universe, such as animals; an animal was made to be eaten, skinned and then its remains were all used for something. The universe’s structure was simply the earth, and then the heavens, where you went when you died. Your forefathers would come and visit you when you had visions on earth. This would shape the Native American individual to use things for their purpose, and to be once more in awe of their visions involving spirits from a different wold.
Native American religion also completed Joseph Campbell’s third religious factor – it gave roles in society. Women and men were basically equal in work and societal roles. Elders were respected and the young were taught to respect. Leaders in the community did not dictate, but they were often the hub of activity as the village elder. The common people went about their daily activities. Instead of a male-dominant society, like Christianity, the Native American tribes such as the Sioux were elder-dominant, meaning less discrimination. The elder was to be respected for their years of wisdom, no matter what gender they were born as. The young would learn that they were not influential in the community until they were older. Lastly, the religion of the Native Americans gave a reason to live and become great under any circumstance. The religious role in tribes was to have visions of your elders and tell of them so they could help aid the tribe in the future. To overcome difficulties, they turned upon their fathers that had died before them. This guidance gave them a reason to continue with their visions and it told them how to overcome the new obstacles in their way.
Although Christianity also completes these four functions, the results of each were different, meaning there was conflict. A Christian’s universal awe came from God, his power over the individual and the concepts of Heaven and Hell. The purpose of things was not debated upon – Christians were made to serve God, animals were made to be eaten by man. The Sociological Function was much, much different – instead of the elder being in charge, the elder was seen as being weak and inferior and the woman too. When the whole Christian society was driven by men, they lacked the fair and balanced culture that the Native Americans attained by being fair with their roles in society. Finally, a European Christian’s purpose in life was to convert others to Christianity as missionaries. When you had converted a “poor, ignorant savage” to a law-abiding Christian, you had succeeded. You called upon God to ask for greatness, and he would oblige.
When a Christian attempted to convert the “savage”, it would have caused conflict. As we have seen, the white man took Native American children and put them in military-like schools where they were taught to act and speak as white Christians. As conflict continued to build, as well as tension between the two cultures, violence between the Native Americans and the early European Christians was inevitable. In playwriting, you are taught that the antagonist and the protagonist create conflict simply because they want different things. As a teacher once put it, the conflict goes “from the drawing room to the jungle” and quickly elevates to violence. Both violence and conflict were inevitable in this situation, although they could have been put off if the white man saw that they did not want to be converted.