Osama Bin Laden, personal reflections, and beaded flag pins.

I am not the first, nor will I be the last to reiterate the news: Osama Bin Laden is dead.  While diligently studying for a biology exam, I took a quick facebook break only to discover the monumental news.  I went on to watch the live news feed on MSNBC and await president Obama's speech for over an hour.  Albeit a distraction, I am grateful to social media for alerting me to the event and enabling me to watch the news unfold.

A flag pin constructed of beads.

As American Conversations is an ongoing analysis of democracy along the course of American history, an event such as this is of utmost importance.  Looking back on 9/11, the tragedy was coupled an enormous sense of patriotism.  For example, I remember that all the craft stores wtihin my town had run out of red, white and blue bead.  Everyone I knew had made an American flag bead pin.  While small, the American flag pin is my "dense fact" for American patriotism and 9/11. 

Many news correspondents had alluded to the surge in patriotism following 9/11, posing the question Will America be united once again?  Or, in consideration of Tocqueville, will this event help America overcome the threat of individualism and allow for greater democracy?

I know that there are presentations in class tomorrow, but I am curious to know what my classmates think of the news.  I for one wish that I had some red, white, and blue beads to make a flag pin and more time to reflect on the matter.

More Black Elk, arguing a claim and sentence structure.

During class on Friday, my group examined Black Elk Speaks through religious tones and the effects of westward expansion.  By the end, we came up with the following:

"Using Black Elk's dialog, Neihardt offers the reader insight into the ritualistic spirituality of the Lakota culture and how this spirituality influenced their response to internal conflict with other tribes and the American soldiers.". 

Our claim took most of class time to construct and even then we were not completely satisfied.  The construction of a thesis statement continues to be my greatest challenge.  I hope to continue Black Elk with this statement in mind, as well as Black Elk's vision an mysticism. 

The beginning of Black Elk Speaks

John G. Neihardt wrote Black Elk Speaks to share the story of Black Elk, a member of the Lakota tribe he met on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.  Neihardt's source for the work is interviews with Black Elk himself, the translation of Black Elk's son Benjamin, and the shorthand recording of Neihardt's daughter Enid.  The narrative is written in first person, as if Black Elk himself is speaking to the reader, and it is clear that Neihardt took some liberties with the writing (but that is another matter entirely).

Within the first portion of the work, it is clear that Black Elk's vision is the heart of the work.  Black Elk's experience includes a tale full of imagery of his forefathers, setting Black Elk apart as a leader of his people.  Because Black Elk lived through the procession of westward expanded, he experienced the painful process of being expanded upon.  As a result, we as readers experience the tragic loss of the Lakota people through the lens of Black Elk and his fantastic vision. 

From my experience thus far, it has been difficult to not be bogged down by the details and technicalities of the work.  In response, I plan to focus primarily on Black Elk's vision and its contrast to historical reality. 

Reflections on Easter Break (I miss rural Wisconsin)

Sunset outside my grandparents' home in Chaseburg, WI.

View of the adjacent Amish homestead.

Regrettably, it has been a while since my last posting.  The return to courses and coursework has been difficult--to say least.  Also, with the return to dorm-living and the increased noise-level, I find myself yearning for the solace I had over Easter break.  While St. Olaf holds a rural location in comparison to other liberal arts colleges, the town of Northfield is quite large in comparison to Chaseburg, Wisonsin (where my grandparents live, and where I stayed over break).  Chaseburg is a town of ~308 people.  the few homes are separated by bluffs left alone by the glacial shift.  However, the location's importance lies in the fact that it is the only place where I have experienced complete silence.

While this post may not be the most pertinent in content, this past break had me reflecting a lot on the transcendentalist works.  I may not have gotten all the work I wanted done over break, I was able to step back and have time to think.  I think Thoreau would have been proud of me. 

Mohn Hall and social capital

"One of the two towers on campus, Mohn is a ten-story residence hall housing 307 students. The hall, which traditionally houses first-year and sophomore students by floor, offers a main lounge, a recreational room, and a piano room. The circular arrangement of each corridor creates a strong community atmosphere."

- Excerpt from the St. Olaf website

Well, the roomdraw results are in... and I'll be a resident of Mohn hall next year!  To my knowledge, the majority of students housed within the building will be sophomores (which will be great!).  However, because everyone in AmCon was purposely housed in Hoyme, I'll be curious to see how differences in our living arrangements will affect AmCon.  It won't be as easy as just going to the Hoyme lounge to work on a project or walking down the hall to ask a classmate a question about the homework.  We'll probably have to walk across campus to meet--the horror!

A lot of my friends, myself included, are nervous as to how new living arrangements will affect relationships.  Are we really so simple that our friendships are determined by proximity?  It's something to think about, but only time will tell.

Either way, I'm excited for sophmore year and year two of American Conversations!

As Long as Grass Grows or Water Runs: Indian Removal and Jacksonian Imperialism

"Say to the chiefs and warriors that I am their friend, that I wish to act as their friend but they must, by removing from the limits of the State of Mississippi and Alabama and by being settled on the lands I offer them, put it in my power to be such--There, beyond the limits of any State in possession of land of their own, which they shall possess as long as Grass grows or water runs.  I am and will protect them and be their friend and father."  --Zinn, 133-4

Painting depicting the "Trail of Tears"--the forced migration of the Cherokee people.

 Under the presidency of Andrew Jackson, the manifest destiny of western expansion prompted "Indian Removal", the "necessary" exploitation of Native Americans.  During this time period, immense loss of life and suffering was the price of American greed.  It's unfortunate that we distance ourselves from this event.  We simply wish to wash our hands clean of it--to not acknowledge it at all.

This begs the question.. How could we?  I believe the answer lies in the social turn that began with the shift from an agrigarian to industrial society.  The railroads closed distances and provided quick routes for business, but it also began a sense of isolation and self-interest.  With the rails came big business, and sparked the spirit of capitalism.  With capitalism, selfishness and a survival of the fittest attitude became virtues and hallmarks of success.  This culture was so diametrically opposite than that of Native American cultures, from there it is easy to see how capitalism could exploit them for the sake of profit.

I don't mean to say that capitalism is always a source of evil.  Because of our study of trains, the railroad and the beginnings of the industrial revolution, I've analyzed this through that lens.  I would like to know if any of my other classmates have made this connection.

Individualism and civil disobedience

"When many millions of men, without heat, without ill-will, without personal feeling of any kind, demand of you a few shillings only, without the possibility, such is their constitution, of retracting or altering their present demand, and without the possibility, on your side, of appeal to any other millions, why expose yourself to this overwhelming brute force?" - Henry David Thoreau, "Civil Disobedience" (page 15)

 Above all else, Henry David Thoreau calls for the empowerment of citizens and the rise of individualism in his essay "Civil Disobedience".  With this idea, he defines a "good" citizen as someone who goes beyond the act of voting.  To become a truly engaged citizen, Thoreau advises people to "cast your whole vote, not a strip of paper merely, but your whole influence." (9).  

Henry David Thoreau's opinion on individualism was certainly not a popular idea at the time.  If Alexis de Tocqueville was introduced to Thoreau's essay "Civil Disobedience" he would further express his fear over dangers of equality and individualism.  Tocqueville and others like him would pronounce Thoreau's ideas as radical and dangerous.

While Thoreau wrote his essay on disobedience, he does not break all laws.  Rather, he only submits to laws for good reasons and to those he describes as "who know and can do better than I" (18).  Thoreau suggests a conversation about the room for improvement in the American system of Democracy.  However, he also warns that Democracy must move more towards individualism  above all else.