Not So Little Red Riding Hood

               In “The Company of Wolves”, Angela Carter explored a very different side of the classic children’s’ story. She took the traditional little red riding hood and changed it in to the less traditional older red riding hood. I thought that it was interesting that she took a seemingly innocent story and added a whole sexual side of the story by making red riding hood older, a virgin, by making the wolf also be the hansom woodsman, and by making red sleep with the wolf. To keep with the plot, she left red rather uninformed and curious, but when approached by the wolf, while she was all alone in granny’s house, she took all of her clothes off and seduced him.  

I thought that it was interesting that, with as edgy as many of her pieces are, that she didn’t go in to more detail between everybody stripping and her last line about Red nestled between the paws of the wolf.  This was affective in leaving the events to follow in the mind of the reader. Instead of making her work explicit, she made it borderline appropriate. If the reader does not understand what they are reading then they may mistake her implications as something else. Angela Carter is much more explicit in some of her other stories like “Snow Child” and “The Executioners Beautiful Daughter”.

Those Bad White People

                In response to the movie that we watched in class, while I agree that it is sad and even upsetting, that there is a large part of our population that is losing their language and culture, I do not believe that it is my problem if the people of these cultures are forsaking them for a more American or White way of living. I know that it is beside the point; however, if the next generation of Native Alaskans lack the passion for their own culture and values, then there is actually nothing that I feel I need to do to help them.  Where their culture is hurting people or affecting an individual’s mind, body, or soul I do believe that intervention needs to take place. I do not agree that an entire culture should be left to live in the wilderness and do as they please in every regard. However, who should decide when a society is destructive? This is a very fine line that no one wants to attempt to define. While it is ok for the citizen to expect too much from their government, problems arise when the government begins to force themselves on the people. In this case, the government intervening with health care and other necessities is acceptable; however, drinking and drug issues continue to flourish. While I think it is great that villages run themselves differently from how our government runs, if a system is not working then I will not fight for its preservation. If no one listens to the elders then their society will continue to degrade. If the elders in these villages won’t take control of their own people then someone else will have to. This is where government or other agencies step in and get labeled as the bad guy for imposing their own rules where others have failed.

                As the pointed out, native children were taken from their homes and put into boarding schools by the awful white missionaries. While this was traumatic for both the villages and the children, the slightly misguided missionaries were not doing this simply because they hated the native people; they actually believed that they were helping a people who needed them. This was just a replica of what had occurred to other Indian tribes across the nation, they looked at how the programs as these worked and just brought them north with them. My own grandmother was among these other Indian children shipped off to a catholic boarding school just because of her heritage. She did not view this as any worse then I viewed being drug to school every year throughout childhood. I believe that as with all schools some were probably worse than others, however, it also depends on how the person themselves looks at the situation. If one decides that something is awful, then they will only have bad memories of the situation, but if one keeps an open mind then they are more likely to be more objective in their evaluation.

Research Plan

                As a group we all decided that we would research the traveling dentists that go out to the various native villages. Some questions we decided to look in to who is funding this project? When did it start? Who is involved? Who does it cover? We think this is an important issue because we want to know if we are paying for this program or how it is being managed. I thing that our audience will be dentists who are looking in to their at their options in Alaska, American Indians who are looking at their healthcare options in Alaska, Alaska Natives who are looking in to their own health benefits, other tribes who may be looking into allocating benefits for their own people, as well as curious individuals who just want to know how Alaskan Natives are being taken care of.

We decided that we would break our topic down in to four parts so we could each take charge of one part. The sections that we broke our topic into were: the history, the funding, the dentists involved, and locations that receive these dentists.

                My part of this project will be to research where the funding comes from. I will be looking into who pays for the dentists to travel out to the bush, who pays for services they provide, who pays for their supplies, and who is eligible for what funding. I will also look at any other medical services that are being supplied by this same funding, if there are any.  I am going to start by finding sources in the library’s databases to see if I can even find this kind of information.

                To be sure that we all stay on track, as a group we have decided on a few meeting dates by which we will each have a few things accomplished.  We plan to each have our sources by the Tuesday before our group conference so that we can put together an annotated bibliography and write our group prospectus together, as a group on the Tuesday when we do not have class. To keep myself on track I have set aside time to research our subject before the date that it is due. I have decided to devote most of my Saturday to finding my recourses and developing a direction for my portion of the assignment. The due dates on the handout have been helpful for me to remember what is due what days and I will do my best to get ahead on this assignment so that I do not get behind on other assignments.

The Way You Say It

                I thought that Mussolini’s speech that we read was very interesting. Given the time period, the people her was addressing, and the state of their county one can see how this speech was used to motivate the people. Here they were, in World War II, scared and not knowing what to do, addressing a group of over confident soldiers who were going to go out and defend their country “till the last drop of blood”! This would have been a very moving speech as the whole crowd got swept up in the emotions of each other, the stupidity of the masses, and the worry, fear, and courage they were all feeling for the conflict that they were entering in to.

While this is not a wonderfully written to the point speech, it was a moving speech given the circumstances and the manner in which it was probably performed.  Being a dictator, or almost a dictator, probably helped instill the fear and awe in his audience of subjects to help expose such a reaction. All of the power associated with such a position strikes fear in to the hearts of the opposition and awe into the minds of the admirers. This is a very good example of how Hitler won over Germany. He swept in during a time of great need, where the people feared for the future and the state of affairs in their country. With his powerful presentation of speech and his convincing presence he won over the people who had been torn apart, stripped of all resources, and left with rules after the last war. Hitler gave them hope for a future as he united them under his control. It wasn’t until the concentration camps and all of his evil came out in to the open that the people realized that he had his own agenda the whole time and while he wished to restore Germany he was also crazy and bent on world domination while murdering whole people groups that he did not like or agree with.

The clip that we watched in class, where this speech is presented to a group of salesmen demonstrated the point that how you say it is most of the battle. If the people at the conference had been listening to the works of his speech, instead of the emotion and action with which it was performed, then they would have noticed who he was quoting and that the speech did not really apply to them. They were not preparing for war, neither were they gearing up for some great and dangerous act. They were going to leave that conference and go back to sit behind their desks, do their paperwork, and collect a paycheck. Nothing heroic or brave simply mundane. People should pay attention to what is being said and what is being applied before they grant their consent to the speaker.

Killing Dolphins

                Besides being disturbing, The Cove was also informative and interesting. I found the whole idea and plot behind the film very interesting and creative. While I think that they had a very good idea to get this horror exposed and not get arrested, I thought that their whole plan was slightly eccentric. However, given their situation, this amount of eccentrics may be called for. I agree with their views that, because they are passionate about an issue that is impacting the whole world; they are willing to do what it takes to see a difference. I think that by putting their passions to a productive means they will do more good than if they just mused at home like many of us do.  

                I liked the fact that they pulled all of their resources and everything that they could to make this film as dramatic as they could to move the hearts of people who care about dolphins and conservation. They did a wonderful job of disturbing people, especially the easily persuaded, in to wanting to fight this cause with them. The whole idea behind The Cove was to motivate compassion for the issue and to get the individuals who are in places off authority to act upon their authority and stop what is being done. This documentary did a good job of showing their efforts to involve these powerful people and to persuade them to stop the massacre in Japan.

                I have seen firsthand just how spun up this particular documentary can get someone, my own roommate in Juneau came home all spun up about it one night. She was ranting about how no dolphins should ever be slaughtered in such a way and how anyone willing to kill dolphins should meet the same fate. I did, however, think that such a reaction was a little out of place and that she should take into account the value of human lives and compare such a value to that of a dolphin. While dolphins are rather complex creatures, they do not compare to the value of a human life.

                While I think that it is sad to see the mass slaughter of dolphins, I think it is far worse that the meat is being sold, falsely, as safe whale meat.  This is worth the effort that these people are putting out and risking reputations and even their lives for. These critical levels of mercury that have been found in the dolphin meat are dangerous for people and this aspect of the whole crazy mission makes it worthwhile. While I do not think it is an important enough issue to risk one’s life for a few dolphins, I do think it is more than enough to fight to save human lives.

A Conversation Overheard

                Yesterday, I found myself strategically placed in a new North Pole coffee shop called Leaf and Bean. From my perch I was able to use my parents as a front and eavesdrop on the rather loud baristas. It was about eight on a Wednesday evening and they were getting ready to close up shop soon. The conversation I overheard went something like this:

“What’s wrong with you?! Oh my gosh! You are horrible”

“What? Why?”

Laughing

“Will you put that back in the fridge for me?”

                As this was no ordinary coffee shop, they were not conversing as to normal objects to place in the fridge. The one was, of course, telling the other to put the dead body back into the fridge. It wouldn’t do to let it sit out all night, for then it would begin to smell and they would be discovered. However they felt comfortable discussing they’re issue while members of the general public were present for they were sure that every normal person would assume that the conversation was about the milk.

                The events that had transpired earlier that evening had been rather traumatic for one poor soul in particular. His name had been Fernando. He traveled up to Alaska as a small boy and decided to move here when he grew up, if that is what one would call it for Fernando was a midget and had not grown since the fifth grade. Upon arriving in this fair state Fernando met a wonderful girl. She did not care about his height and always said it was the inside that mattered anyways. They quickly became fast friends and even more. One night, Wednesday to be exact, she invited Fernando to the coffee shop where she worked for a cup of Joe with just the two of them. This was the best, and last, coffee that Fernando would ever drink.

Dear Fernando forgot to ask his girl why she was a barista living in a mansion. As it turns out, it is only the inside that mattered to her and, as there are many sick midgets in the world, Fernando’s organs would go for more than enough to pay her heating bill. As she put the chloroform over his face he looked so peaceful and breathed his last. Her break ended and customers were soon to arrive. With no other suitable storage area, the clever barista stored his body in the fridge and it fit just perfectly. This brings us to the earlier discussed conversation that I overheard when her partner discovered Fernando’s body.

This conversation is obviously out of context as it had been directed at the milk, although it could have been directed at replacing a dead body that had fallen out. This is rather misconstrued and a little farfetched.  We should be concerned with context because out of a proper context, the baristas should be in jail, however in the correct context the milk won’t spoil. This is a huge difference. Context gives us place and background about what is being discussed and why. All of these things affect the meaning of the words themselves.