Brandon

Summary of Boss Tweed and the Tweed Ring

"Boss" Tweed, real name William M. Tweed, was basically the lead, head figure of the Democratic Political party, known as the "Tammany Hall", during the 19th century. Contorversy invloving him stealing $25 to $45 million dollars from taxpayer money lead to Tweed being convicted to jail, where he eventually died in 1878.

2)
memorable swift || impressive in size, bearing, dignity, or grandeur worth remembering or easily remembered; noteworthy Moving or capable of moving with great speed; fast || intimidating/scary interesting/stands out physically quick/light on feet || 3) Although this man is mysterious and an unknown personality to the main characters, his physical features and his body language makes him stick out and may indicate him to be a key figure for later on in the book. 4) The mysterious man got in the way of a driver of a horse carriage. And while the driver tried to pick at least a verbal fight with the man, he did nothing, as if he had nothing to fear, both in that situation or anywhere at all. 5) " We stared at the driver's back, saw his whip arm lift high in threat" (to the mystery man). To me, this shows that the mailing of the letter itself had to come from an unknown source, like the letter mailed itself. And while the mailer of letter is seen as a regular human being, his actions and way of moving around make him seem like the complete opposite, mysterious. 6) They discover a miniature replica of the tombstone photo of Andrew Carmody that Kate showed Simon earlier, which is located all the way in Montana. 7) It might be more of a memorial, where in cases where accidents happen in exact spots or streets of deceased. 9) The twig in the river theory goes like this: the Colonel compares an image of a long, streaming river to that of time, and twigs to people. Now while twigs (people) have an actual ability to affect the flow of the river (time), its very most likely that the twigs will be irrelevant to that of the flow of the river. In other words, people usually don't affect the bigger picture of time. 10) Unlike the twig in the river theory, the Butterfly Effect focuses on how its possible that one little happening can make something much bigger happen later on in time. For example, the falapping of the butterfly's wings could either create or prevent a hurricane. It demonstrates how something little could possibly create something bigger
 * word || denotation || connotation ||
 * Imposing

== The Dakota is an infamous landmark that has a vast amount of history surronding it, including it being the location of the deathly shooting of John Lennon. The building, located on the west side of Manhattan, was built before 1880. Being that gold was found on the grounds of the dakota, it symbolizes the gold rush and indicates that rich people lived there. The building, with the physical appearence of the time period of when it was built, still stands out on the block on which it stands, which is ironic being that at one time, it was the only building in its area. ==



Interview
1. Whats the difference between technology then and now? There weren't too many computers, only in fields of medicine and things of that nature. No cell phones. Instead of computers, there were electronic typewriters. 2. What was the style of attire? Platform shoes, bell bottoms. Men wore big, long sideburns. Women grew their hair much longer than women do today. 3. What were some significant, noticeable aspects that the Vietnam War brought to modern society at the time? Guys from war cam back from the war mentally ill, wounded, and on heavy drugs. In addition to that, when the veterans came back, they weren't appreciated, due to the people of the public not being for war and therefore not being for the men who fought it. 4. What was the type of music at the time? I personally listened to a lot of Jazz. The Rolling Stones and Patty Smith were big hits around the 70's. 5. What was street violence like back then? It was much more dangerous in the streets back then than it is now 6.What was it like being apart of the youth back then compared to what it is now? 7. How was pop culture viewed back then compared to now? 8. What was the food industry like back then? 9. What were some activities avaliable for entertainment at any age? 10. How was the economy back then compared to what it is now?

In my opinion, life back then was pretty much modern back then the way that it is now. Besides today being more technologically advanced than back then, back then had a lot of flaws. Apparently, it was a lot more violent on the streets than it is today. Also, I was very intrigued when it was said that the "Vietnam War veterans weren't respected for defending their country" (Aslanian, Deborah Personal Interview. 5 April 2011). Nobody likes war and everyone would want peace in the world, but to now respect men protecting you and the country you live in tells a lot about how much chaos was going on back then. Other than that, just like what happens in every generation, the 70's had its own modern society that will remain in history with its time, which will happen to todays time in about 20 to 30 years.

Characterization Chart


**The Role of the Observer**
Part 2: The "Pink Slip Activity" was an activity that had us use the ways of objective observing in order to figure out the purpose of a given photograph (specifically of a person with a shaved head with his/her back turned). Part 3:
 * Consider... || Describe ideal || Explain Why ||
 * Gender || Male || Males are stronger both physically and mentally of the two genders. ||
 * Background || White || White men have long been considered to be the more dominant race. ||
 * Skills || Good Talker/Smart Thinker || Any skills that would allow the candidate to get himself as much information about the given time period as he can possibly attain. ||
 * Interests || Past History || Candidate would obviously have to be interested in the setting that he has been sent to in order to pick up as much observations as he can as he comes across them. ||
 * Personal qualities/character || Easy to get along with/Tough || Candidate should be able to talk to anyone he comes across in order to get as much information on the time period as he can, without falling into any side situations that are irrelevant to task at hand. ||
 * Other considerations: || Good Persuader || Candidate should be skillful in finding out as much information as he possibly can. ||

Tuesday, March 22nd:

==**Photographs as evidence from the past: Do documentary photographs depict the truth?** ==

1a)Objective: an object of ones goals or accomplishments b)Subjective: opposite of "Objective", a thought that exists only in the mind c)The Difference between Objective and Subjective is that Objective involves taking more literal action, while Subjective only exists in the mind. d) Reading about history is a Subjective action, because reading doesn't consist of physical action 2a) Photographing gives you a glance at the world, but not the whole world itself. b) This quote is saying that taking photographs is a way to get a look at the world as a whole, one small piece at a time 3a) This passage discusses how photographs have/ still do hold much significance to gaining knowledge of past history. While other written documents prove to be valuable, photos take looking back into the past ao another level, as they are looked at as "holding a mirror up to past events". 3b) This passage talks about how photographs often accompany historic writing as a way to get past events more relevant in a given text. A few passages, followed by a picture, can give a person a more clear idea, or "picture", of the given past time period they are reading on. 4) Where was this picture taken? When was this picture taken?  What do words within the picture mean?  Why was this picture taken?  Who is taking the picture?  5) The "hidden narrative" within Jacob Riis photograph was actually aimed at bringing out the truth of the hard life that lower class New York were suffering through on a daily basis. While the people specifically in the photo weren't part of this class, Riis felt the picture could expose the horrid living conditions these people went through. 6) Documentary photographs uncover a behind the scenes look of what pictures may usually be able to show. With careful description of a picture, these photographs are able to define a time period with just one snapshot, giving people of other generations a small, yet strong sense of what was happening during the time in which this photo was taken.Without photographs to be documented, there wouldn't be anything to picture other than a persons best thought up concept of words on paper. These pictures help us to mentally put ourselves in the situation of the time and place where a document photograph was taken. When it comes to a truth of a photograph, similar to Jacob Riis' objective, while the photograph itself may not be all around honest, the deeper message of the photograph may most likely be true.

Wednesday, March 16 ==**The Stories that Photographs Tell** ==

1A). There are about 10 to 15 people in a small, dark ally. The expressions on their faces is sad, dark, pretty much empty. The style of clothing the people are wearing looks to be apart of the early 1900's. There are 2 guys standing the closet to the camera that took this picture, with one of the guys holding a stick. There are several other people who are either standing, sitting on stairs or sticking their heads out the windows of their homes. 1B). A black and white photograph of several men standing outside on the street, under a clothesline, with women and children looking out their windows from their homes. 2A). This picture is apparently taken in a small, back alley of the poorer part of the town/city these people are from. By looking at the people in the picture, it looks as though this picture may have been taken in the earlier part of the 1900's. The style of clothing the people are wearing seems to fit the time predicted. In my opinion, these people are in the lower, working class of that time's society. 2B). Several people from the poor part of town/city posing for a photograph taken in the early 1900's. 3). Based on how this photo looks to have been taken in a back ally somewhere, I think that the photographer wanted observers to kind of get a behind-the-scenes type of view of this given time period to show how hard life was for the less fortunate. 4). Jacob Riis was a Danish-American reformer, journalist and photographer. (Like my prediction in #3) He was a photographer who used his work to show the "impoverished" New York. He, along with Lawrence Veiller lead a movement to supply more model tenements in light of a humanitarian effort. Because of his work, Riis was able to help change the way the lower class people of New York lived, both in their homes and society for the matter. 5). "If we are to determine the meaning of a documentary photograph we must begin by establishing the historical context for both the image and its creator". This quote is not only the first sentence of the paragraph, but pretty much sums it all up. To fully understand a picture you are observing, not only is it helpful to know when and where this picture was taken, but also to know about the photographer and why exactly he/she took the picture in the first place. 6). What it means is that the way professional photographers work is that their work as a way to convey a message to not only the observers of the actual picture, but to a much bigger audience as well. The way Jacob Riis used his work to help the more poor people of New York, photographers in general use their work for much more than to just show a pretty image.