22 Humans

I  saw the link to Slavery Footprint on my ELA teacher's blog and decided to check it out.  (The link is: slaveryfootprint.org.)  It is a program that tries to spread the  word about modern day slavery.  So many people worked SO hard to kill slavery off, but it's still here.  I'm not talking about picking cotton for rich white southern plantation owners during the 1800's.  What I'm talking about is the idea that people NOW are being forced to work for consumer's needs.  When you buy something that is mass produced, chances are, unless it is a special company making the product, it has been touched by a slave.  Anything from shorts to shrimp to diamonds to cars can and probably employs some sort of slave labor.

The web site gives you two options, you can either pick the "What? I have slaves working for me?" button or the "Take the Survey!" button.  I first read the about page on the site, then took the survey.  There was a huge variety of questions about your lifestyle.  They asked about diet, clothing, sports equipment, electronics, where you live, housing, medicine, age, gender, children or not, and jewelery.  At first I didn't really understand why they were asking about these things, then I began to read the facts beside the questions and I was shocked.  For example, "Bonded labor is used for much of Southeast Asia's shrimping industry, which supplies more shrimp to the U.S. than any other country. Laborers work up to 20-hour days to peel 40 pounds of shrimp. Those who attempt to escape are under constant threat of violence or sexual assault.", this fact was listed next to the diet questions.  The mere thought that people wouldn't get paid to do their work is shocking to me, but the idea that if they tried to escape they could be abused if unbelievable.  It really makes me sick.

22.  That's 22 people forced into labor without their consent.  I have 22 slaves working for me.  At the end of the survey they give you your results with comparisons to the average, extraneous variables, and other extra tidbits of information.  I still can't believe I only have 3 people under the average "working for me".  I felt awful when I read my results.  In the future I will be much more cautious about how I conduct my life and my consumption of stuff that could be produced by slaves.

The most interesting part to me is the fact that if you told me this was something that happened in the past I would be angry and shocked, but my response in the end would be, "It was different back then."  The problem is that when we say that slavery happened because "It was different back then,", it's ridiculous because it still happens now. 

Does Class Matter?

I am reading Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld.  I just started it an I already really enjoy it.  It is a book about a girl named Lee Fiora who moves from Indiana to a Massachusetts boarding school called Ault.  Ault is really fancy and has not just an air of wealthiness, but a consuming air of wealthiness.  The book deals with a lot of issues, but the most pressing one is separation of the classes.

Life is wildly different at Ault than in Indiana. In Indiana, Lee was the kid who was the top of her class.  In Indiana, Lee was praised constantly for being so smart.  Lee always knew the right thing to say in Indiana.  In Indiana, money never mattered.  Lee's life at Ault is the exact opposite.  Here Lee is really lonely and really has no friends to help her adjust.  She's nice and kind and smart, but no one feels the need to be her friend because everyone else has friends already.  At Ault all the kids come from incredibly rich and wealthy backgrounds.  In Indiana, Lee didn't have a lot of money but there it didn't matter.  Here at Ault, it's part of what makes her an outcast.  In fact, the plot doesn't entirely revolve around how much her being on scholarship affects her, but it's a huge component. At Ault kids really throw money around.  It truly doesn't matter for them.  Like the character Little says at one point, "They buy 70 dollar track warmups and it means absolutley nothing."  Most of the kids have lawyers and doctors as parents.  Lee has farmers for parents.  Now while Lee didn't go from rags to riches, her surroundings definitely did.

If I were in Lee'splace I don't know if I would be able to keep it together.  It must be really stressful to be an outcast the way Lee is.  It kind of humiluiating to be in her shoes.  She's so lonely, and it's all because of her economic class.  I mean, can you imagine being with a ton of kids who can do the one thing you can't and being an outcast because of it?  Lee is already lonely, because she's not being accepted into multiple different social circles, but on top of that she's on scholarship.  Lee is an outcast on both counts, socially and econnomically.  She came from a accepting place where her economic situation was common, now Lee is uncommon.  Lee had to transition radically.  One day, top of the world (In Indiana), the next, bottom of the heap (at Ault).  One day average income, next, "dirt poor".  Now, she's not poor but she's definitely not in the same class as most of the kids at Ault. 

I think enconomic class separation is a huge issue both in this book and in the world.  It can prevent people from becoming friends, and can even tear apart friendships.   It is a destructive and elitest mindset, and it doesn't just happen economically, it happens racially and socially too.  Just look at Maria and Tony in West Side Story, true love torn apart by class differences.

Julie is Julia, or Not?

I am finishing the book Julie and Julia by Julie Powell this week.  It's a really good book.  I loved the whole story.  It's all about Julie's journey to cook her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  That's cooking over 500 recipes in only 365 days!  Julie, in addition to trying to complete this daunting task, offers a unique and funny perspective throught the book.  Julie often compares herself to Julia Child.  They funny part is that while they kind of share a name, they are vastly different people.  They have some similarities, but they are incredibly different from each other.
Julie Powell is a almost 30 year old woman.  She is married to a man she met back in Texas in High School.  She is a secretary at a government agency who's policies she doesn't agree with in the slightest.  She really hates her job.  She moved from Texas all the way to New York City to become an actress.  She lives in a terrible apartment with a lot of really big functional problems.  Her plans and goals she set out to accomplish are not really panning out.  She's not exactly happy with her life at this point.  She needs something to improve her life at the beginning of the book.  When she decides to attempt to cook her way through MtAoFC many people really doubt her.  Julie is kind of disheveled.  Sher lives a mainly frugal live, and she's a little bit crazy.  Although on the other hand, Julie is a really determined and proud person in my opinion.  She's fun and interesting and clever, she just doesn't really have her life figured out, and in her case that's really not a good thing.

Julia Child however, is vastly different.  In the Wikipedia artickle about her it says "Julia Child (née McWilliams;^[1] August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004) was an American chef, author, and television personality. She is recognized for introducing French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking".  She was a very sucessful person.  Julia Child was dignified and wealthy, and while she was reported to be a fun person, she seems very serious.  When I read the parts about her in Julie and Julia, Julie demonstrates great respect for Julia, Julia however, "is reported to have been unimpressed by Powell's blog, believing Powell's determination to cook every recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking in a year to be a stunt."  I don't really know what to think about this but, she is definately entited to her own opinion.  Julia Child to me means good and fun cooking, but French sophistication along with a dignified personality.

Julie and Julia are really different people.  Then again, how would you like to be compared to one of the greatest home chefs of all time?

The Man Who Walked

He was the man who walked across the Twin Towers.  He was regarded as brave and strong, yet insane,  after, when people knew who he was. He was a different person before and after the stunt.

Before he walked across the towers he was a different man.  He was a man with no job or real stable life.  The trouble was, he needed money for his plan to really work.  He truly was a mastermind.  He had it all planned out.  He knew they would need, fake IDs, wire, balancing pole, bribe money and all sorts of tools for the mechanical aspect of it.  To make money he just did petty things he didn't care for.  He did all sorts of odd jobs, and I don't mean like a handy man, he was talented and found all sorts of jobs he could use his talents in.  He was a magician at parties.  He hated it sometimes and sometimes enjoyed it, he made himself into different people at these jobs.  He performed in parks in bad neighborhoods for tips.  When he did this he was near junkies and drug dealers all the time.  He only cared about raising the money to pull this "trick" off.  He was completely obsessed with his plan to walk across the towers.  His whole life was all about pulling off his stunt.

After he pulled off the stunt he must have been a different man.  He was not injured.  He was not hurt mentally or physically.  He was happier as a person.  In one chapter there is a judge and he is the judge for Philipe Petit's case in court.  He describes him as a happy man.  He almost thinks of him as too happy and pleased with himself.  Throughout the whole book the people who see and hear him all describe him as a happy person who is incredibly pleased with himself.  It's interesting because he has committed a large crime and has made many people look ridiculous, but he's still so happy.  When you see his perspective you are amazed and astonished by the way he views everything.  Although his voice is not in the first person he shines through the authors voice with passion and emotion.  You are able to see his point of view and you can see why he was so happy when he finished this spectacle.   This was a monumental thing for this crazy man.

He is such an interesting man.  He really made all of  New York City reexamine their experiences and how much adventure they have in their lives.  He was a revolutionary.

Which Life?

In the book Let The Great World Spin by Colum McCann, he shows all sorts of characters.  Two characters in particular that he demonstrates very well are Tillie and Claire.  These two women are vastly different.  Tillie is a prostitute and Claire is a rich woman.  These two woman are as different as two woman can be.

Tillie is a woman who has been a prostitute for almost her entire life.  She seems really sad.  She's also very lonely, even though she's with someone every night.  She's also totally unstable.  She uses drugs all the time, she talks about shooting up all the time.  It also makes me really sad to read about her demeaning herself.  She constantly calls herself "Tillie F*&%ed up Henderson".  She's really mean to herself.  She calls the pimps she's with "daddies" She has a new "daddy" all the time.  She also lives on the street.  She also has no friends just competitors.  It's also really upsetting because she was expected to become a hooker.  I mean, even her mother wanted her to become a hooker.  She wanted her to go on "the stroll" (that's what they all call being a prostitute).  Even though she has a ton of sad and depressing things that complicate her life, she also is very free.  She doesn't really have to be chained by the things most people are chained by.

Claire is extremely different.  She has the life many people would dream for.  She has a really nice life.  She lives in a beautiful house in a beautiful neighborhood.  There is a sense of stability in her life.  She has a huge income, a husband, and a whole life that is almost the same everyday.  That's not to say that her life is great or perfect, because it isn't, but her life is pretty good in general.  She knows her son, unlike Tillie.  Claire's son died in the war in Vietnam.  Even though he died, she still knew him, she still loved him and raised him.  She has a husband she can rely on, and is proud of herself for what she has accomplished.  The whole situation that she's in is light years better than Tillie's, except for the fact that she's confined to rules and a life she has to have because of her accomplishments.  I think she's got a good life but sometimes I feel sorry for you.

All in all, I think both woman's lives have pluses and minuses to them.  They both have good parts in their lives and bad parts, some people have more bad than good and some have more good than bad, but it usually evens out in the end.  Still, I can't imagine what it would be like to be either of them.

Death From Afar

In the book I'm reading, Let the Great World Spin, there is a character named Claire who's son died in Vietnam during the war there.  I wonder how it feels to have your own family member die?  I mean, she didn't even know about it until long after it happened.  That must feel so terrible. I just want to try to imagine what its like, to have all that shock from so far away.

Her son died in the war, but he wasn't even a soldier.  He was doing computer programming for people who died.  He was the person who kept track of the deaths.  He was literally the death counter.  Its very interesting to see this side of war.  How can a person die in the war even if they aren't fighting.  When i think of deaths associated with war, i think of battle and fighting.  I definitely don't think of computer programming in a cafe.  In the book she says, "It was a Sergent... He kept playing with his hat on his knee.  And then he just said, your son passed."  In this part she is talking about who came to her house to tell her about her son dying.  Can you even imagine having someone come into your house, sit down, tell you your son died, leave, and go to another house to do the same?

The other mothers who lost sons in the war had similar, but also very different experiences.  One woman only received a telegram telling her her son died.  Imagine, just a telegram, not even a real person to console you.  Another woman had three different sons die, and thus had three different people come to tell her her sons had died.  All of the other women had sons who were actually fighting on the front lines, instead of on a computer.  Nevertheless, all their sons died, all of them are in extreme pain, and all of them need someone to support them.  How people can hold themselves up through all of that is incredible.

To read about all of these women, all of this pain, and all of this suffering, is really upsetting, but its also very interesting.  Its a very new idea to me that there are different types of death in war.  I used to think there was just sickness, battle wounds, and assassination of leaders.  This is a fantastic book because its so eye opening to new ideas, thoughts, and issues.

New York Now, New York Then

I'm reading Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann.  It's a book about people who saw Philippe Petit walk across the Twin Towers in 1974.  Currently I am reading the part that is about a young Irish immigrant and his brother Corrigan.  He never tells of the main characters name, only of his brother's.  They live in the Bronx at this time, it's an entirely different world than where I live and when I'm living.

The New York City they depict in the book is vastly different than the New York City I live in now.  In their New York City, it's absolutely insane.  At that time and in that place, as evidenced in this book, is a terrible world.  In their world they have hookers roaming all over the place.  In the story the brother, Corrigan, lets all the hookers use his bathroom, he won't turn away a soul.  There are pimps everywhere, Corrigan says, "Guy calls himself Birdhouse.  Only got one good eye.  Go figure.  In he came, knocked on the door, said hello, called me brother this, brother that, real nice and polite, even hung his hat on the doorknob... He'd been sitting there all that time, just letting my bathroom flood"  He talks many times about getting beat up by the pimps.  People use drugs all over the place there, they talk about really serious drugs like heroin a lot.  Almost every character uses drugs.  Also, there is a huge lack of steady employment.  Even just the way they describe the atmosphere is dark and mean, at one point Corrigan's brother says, "Find somewhere with a bit of sunshine.  You and me together."  He honestly thinks New York City is dark and mean and cruel all over.  Can you imagine living like that?

The New York City I see now is so different.  (Keep in mind that I know that I live in a nice neighborhood with a lot of safety and protection, and I remember that when I read this book.)  The New York City I see is bright and sunny with plenty of air, green grass, and trees.  I see a New York City with no hookers roaming the streets, no pimps, no huge robberies.  I see a world with at the most a minor theft at a subway station.  I see a world that has kids and parents all over the place.  Everywhere I look there is a Nanny and stroller.  Kids play in playgrounds every day, people have steady jobs and the world is really nice for the most part.  I'm not saying my world is perfect, but it's nowhere near close to their world.  I only live in Brooklyn and it's very different.

Over a few decades and a tiny shift in location a the entire atmosphere is so radically different.  From 1974 to this present day, from the Bronx to Brooklyn, a world changes.  While my world is practically pristine, their world is so scary and dangerous.  The small changes between me now and them then, amount to huge lifestyle changes in the end.  Imagine trying to go from Park Slope to their life in a second.  How would that feel?