Thursday, September 27, 2012

Blog #3


Oh Ben, where are you?



I don’t know about the rest of you, but the main message I got from the Ben Franklin readings is that we are all a bunch of lazy bums! How far from the truth is this though? If you ask me, I would guess that Franklin is rolling over in his grave at the state of our country today. I am just as guilty as the next person, so I’m talking to myself too, but the fact of the matter is that the country as a whole seems to have become very lazy. According to Forbes.com, even though the unemployment rate for the nation is down to 8.1%, which is still nothing to write home about, the reasons are due to a lack in labor force participation and the size of the labor force in general.[1] People aren’t looking for work! What were some of the first points Franklin made in the story about the old man preaching to the angry crowd? Don’t waste time, work hard, and don’t be a slacker. Yeah right! Not the good old U.S.A., we want the government to support us. Not only do we not want to work, we don’t want to manage our finances the way Franklin says we should either. CreditCards.com states that the average amount of credit card debt per household in America is almost $16,000.[2] This is just credit card debt people! Big brother isn’t exactly setting the example for us though, as the current national debt is a little over sixteen trillion dollars. If you want your mind blown, check out The National Debt Clock Maybe the one we need to be visiting is Feed The Pig. We've all heard the commercials on the radio about learning how to save money and plan for the future, but they actually have some good information. So where were we, oh ya, 0 for 2 so far. Ben was right, we suck!



[1] Shaefer, Steve. ""Dear President Obama, The Unemployment Rate Is Falling For All The Wrong Reasons"." Forbes.com. n.p., 9/07/2012. Web. 9/26/2012. 
[2] Woolsey, Ben and Schulz, Matt. "Credit card statistics, industry facts, debt statistics."CreditCards.com. n.p., n.d. Web. 9/26/2012.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Blog #2

John Smith, William Bradford, and The Pilgrims
by William Weston Brown


John Smith

So who was this guy? Was he "The Most Interesting Man" of his time? Okay, that was pretty bad, but I think its safe to say that Smith was a bad dude! He was a soldier in the Dutch and Austrian army who saw action in multiple countries. As a captain, he beheaded three important cats while fighting in Romania (and got a patch for it; do the boy scouts have one for that?). He was also wounded in battle, taken as a prisoner of war, and sold as a slave. He would later kill his master and escape from the slavery. One thing I did notice from reading the chapter devoted to him in our book, is that he seems to have been a little bit of a rogue. He obviously had somewhat of a problem with authority, having gotten in trouble while on the voyage to Virginia and nearly put to death. It also mentions his bad temper and stubborn attitude, however, he must have been liked by some as he was placed on the colony’s council and later would be elected as its governor. As for his story of being captured by Powhatan, nearly murdered in the strange ritual by his Indians, only to be saved by Pocahontas, I’m not so sure what to think. I’m sure Smith took liberties with some of the details, but who hasn’t while trying to make ourselves look good in a story. One last thing that struck me as odd was the condition under which he left Virginia. How exactly does a gunpowder bag “mysteriously” blow up in your lap while you are taking a nap? This is just my opinion, but it sounds to me like someone wanted him gone and out of the way. However you view John Smith, he was no doubt an interesting character, albeit one who couldn’t seem to let go of the past in the later years of his life.

William Bradford and The Pilgrims

Sometimes we take for granted the rights we have in this country. If you and I wanted to go out and start a new religion, or even a cult for that matter, we have the right to do that as free citizens of these United States. Imagine living in a country that didn't give it's citizens the freedom to practice any religion they saw fit. Forcing their citizens to adopt to the religion of the government's choosing, they condemn any who refuse and brand them as traitors, punishing them by death in some cases. Not only is this exactly what William Bradford and the other Separatists where faced with, but they made a decision to leave behind everything they ever knew to be free from this type of oppression. Initially leaving England for Holland, their situation eventually began to deteriorate there as well. They finally came to the decision to make a nearly 2800 mile voyage across the sea, which was incredibly dangerous itself, to settle in a totally foreign land which they knew virtually nothing about. It absolutely amazes me the lengths these people were willing to go, just to be able to be free to practice their religion without persecution and to keep their group together. As I said before though, we take these things for granted. Below is a brief video which describes their voyage with some interesting details. It puts things into perspective a little better as to what that had to deal with on the voyage over. Their living quarters alone, which are depicted in the video as less than accommodating, would be reason enough for me to forgo the journey.


One final thing I found interesting was something we discussed in class. It involved the episode in which some of the pilgrims and Captain Standish decided to go exploring the land and came across a couple of the Indian's houses. They also found more of the Indian's food in the way of corn and beans and actually stole them. Now, whether or not they repaid them at a later date, as they claimed they did, who really knows. What I found interesting was when it was mentioned that someone didn't think they would ever be able to bring themselves to steal another person's food. I thought about that statement for a while and even though I agree with the morality of not stealing, I think we need to really put ourselves in their shoes. What is it that drives people to steal in the first place? In this case it was obviously desperation. They were hungry, maybe even borderline starving, but the point is, what if it was their only option. After really thinking about it, I believe I would have done the exact same thing. I'm sure some of them even had children that were going hungry as well. As a father, I know I would do anything to protect my children. These people were strangers in a foreign land, had no one to turn to for help except each other and it was winter on top of the rest of their troubles. I think in this instance, they deserve a little slack. 

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Blog #1


About William Brown
My full name is William Weston Brown and I am 31 years old. I am married with 2 children, a daughter who is 4 years old and my son, who just turned 1. I graduated high school in 1999 and started college in the fall immediately following. Having no clue what I wanted to major in or even what I wanted to do with my life, I screwed around, failing virtually every class I ever took and eventually dropped out. I have worked full-time for a major class 1 railroad for the past 7 years. About a year ago, I decided it was time to finish my degree in order to further advance my career, and I am now in my second semester at UNA.


Columbus Didn’t Discover America? Do We Really Care?
By William Weston Brown

            So, from my point of view, a 31 year old that is very nearly double the age of the average starting college freshman, this is a big deal. You’ve already taken Pluto away from me as a planet and now you want Christopher Columbus as the discoverer of America too? Is anything from my childhood true? I never really even thought about it logically, but it makes perfect sense. Columbus didn’t discover anything new in the “New World,” it was already there! Not only was it already there, but it was already inhabited and had been for centuries by Native Americans. As a matter of fact, Leif Ericson and a group of Vikings came to North America, yes the actual continent, 500 years before Columbus.1 Wait, who? Is anyone else starting to seriously question the validity of Columbus Day?
            Perhaps more important than the argument of what role Columbus played in “finding” the Americas, is the serious harm caused to the Native Americans which he may be directly responsible for. From the very beginning, Columbus brought seven Native Americans back to Spain with him as a sort of show piece of his findings from his first journey to the New World. Did they make the return voyage with Columbus on their own free will, or were they forced to go? Bartolome De Las Casas, a major proponent for Native American rights in that time, suggests that the seizure of those seven Taino Indians was “the first injustice committed in the Indies.”2 De Las Casas further tells of the atrocities the Native Americans suffered at the hands of the Europeans in one of his writings, The Very Brief Relation of the Devastation of the Indies. After reading his accounts, it frankly makes you sick to your stomach to image the torment that they suffered. Not only was slavery and brutality responsible for countless Native American deaths, but also the diseases which were brought over from foreign lands. Are you still ready to celebrate October 12th as a national holiday?
            Reading about the history of the Native Americans in our class has stirred my interest, but I’ll be the first to admit that my knowledge on the subject is lacking. I would venture a guess that most people are the same as I when it comes to the history of Native Americans that may have lived in our area. We are indifferent on the matter, because they are long gone and have no effect on us. It’s sad because in time, it will become universal thought that we were the ones who have always inhabited this land and lived here forever. When the truth of the matter is that we may very well have stolen it! Theft may be too strong a word, but invaded is certainly not out of the question and I’m sure the subject will continue to be debated.
            On a side note, one of these subjects we discussed in class that really interested me was the Tom Hendrix Wall. Just as I was saying earlier, things like this are a part of the history in our area and we don’t give them a second thought. While not an artifact itself, Mr. Hendrix’s wall is a memorial to his great-great grandmother who was a member of the Euchee tribe that lived in this area. She was displaced by the forced relocation of Native Americans in this region of the country during the 1830’s. Not knowing exactly how to get to Mr. Hendrix’s memorial wall or exactly what to expect if I did find it, I decided to take a trip this past Saturday and see what it was all about. Surprisingly it’s only about a twenty five minute from Muscle shoals and not that far off the beaten path. When I arrived at Mr. Hendrix’s property, there was the man himself, sitting in his driveway just waiting for people to show up and see his creation. Mr. Hendrix is one of those people who loves to tell stories and has the ability to draw you in with his words. His wall, which has been a work in progress for nearly 30 years, is 1.25 miles in total length and consists of over 8.5 million pounds of stone.3 When you consider that this man handled every one of these stones completely by himself, the gravity of the project really hits you.  I have included some pictures and a short video of my day, but I really encourage anyone who reads this to make the trip yourself and check out this local wonder.


1 n.p. “Historical Figures.” Curiosity. Discovery Communications, n.d. Web 2 Sept. 2012
2 Franklin, Wayne, et al. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th ed. New York: W.W. Norton &       Company, 2012. Print.
3 Hendrix, Tom. Personal interview. 1 Sept. 2012






























1 n.p. “Historical Figures.” Curiosity. Discovery Communications, n.d. Web 2 Sept. 2012
2 Franklin, Wayne, et al. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th ed. New York: W.W. Norton &       Company, 2012. Print.
3 Hendrix, Tom. Personal interview. 1 Sept. 2012