The Frederick Douglass Impersonator

In class today, we watched a video of a Frederick Douglass impersonator, named Michael E. Crutche. He was performing a reenactment of one of Douglass's speeches. In this speech, he argued for the necessity of equality in civil rights and suffrage for Blacks. He also complained about the unfair charges levied against the Black community. In particular, he indignantly denied the accusation that Black men cannot be trusted around White women. He asserted that this slanderous charge had absolutely no basis in fact, and that is was extraordinarily dangerous to the reputation of the Black community.

--Wald der Obdachlos

W. E. B. DuBois and the Triple Paradox

W. E. B. DuBois wrote a criticism of Booker T. Washington's Atlanta Compromise in his collection Souls of Black Folk. Most of his criticism was based around DuBois's belief that a triple paradox existed within Washington's ideas. According to to DuBois, the triple paradox was as follows: First of all, Washington encourages Black merchants and artisans to become affluent landowners, yet this is impossible without them having the right to vote. Secondly, Washington wants the Negro race to have dignity and respect, but at the same time, he encourages them to act socially inferior to other races. Finally, he suggests that Blacks only worry about getting a basic education and don't concern themselves with college and higher learning, and yet the teachers trained in Negro colleges are necessary for society to function.

--Wald der Chinesisch

Naturalism Presentations: Day 2

Today in class, the groups that did not get a chance to give their Naturalism projects yesterday presented them today. After watching two other groups, Georgina and I gave our report. I spoke mainly during the first half of the presentation. I discussed the definition of Naturalism according to the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP), the significance of Naturalism as a philosophy, Darwin's influence on the development of Naturalism, and how Naturalism is connected to the Realist literary movement. I also spoke specifically about Jack London, and analyzed his short story, "To Build a Fire," and how it exhibited features of Naturalism and Realism. Georgina talked about Émile Zola, George Becker, and the Gilded Age. Our presentation went well.

--Wald der Begeistert

Naturalism Presentations: Day 1

Today we began presenting our naturalism projects. My group did not present, so I spent the duration of the class listening to other people's presentations. There were a few presentations that stood out in particular. First, Ryan's group emphasized naturalism's influence on and connection to atheism, a connection that had not explicitly occurred to me. They also discussed Stephen Crane's The Open Boat, which details the experiences of four men on a boat at sea. Apparently, three or all of them die by the end. Another presentation that I found particularly notable was the first one. As much as I would love to go on a multi-page tirade on the finer points of this... exceptional performance, I will simply say: lol.

--Wald der Geschmackvoll

The Return of Cook

At last, after what feels like many ages, our dear teacher Mr. Cook has returned. This comes as a great relief to most of us, many of whom believed that he had abandoned us forever. The reign of the mysterious Mrs. Jones has come to an end, and I imagine she will never be seen again. Today in class, we made our powerpoint for our naturalism presentation. Georgina and I divided up the speaking between us: I will primarily take the first part, and she will primarily take the second part. As a class, we discussed features of an oral presentation/powerpoint that improve the overall quality. One of those features was color, so we made sure to incorporate that into our slideshow. Based on our group number, we will probably not present tomorrow, but Wednesday.

--Wald der Komisch

The Second Day of the Substitute

Today, our class was once again left Cookless. Mrs. Jones substituted again. All in all, today and yesterday were remarkably similar. The course of my actions was as follows: First, Georgina and I went to the library and logged onto computers. Next, we pulled up information about naturalism and related material, and read that for the rest of the class. In particular, we read about the Gilded Age. The Gilded Age was a period of rapid economic and technological growth in the United States after the Civil War. It was named for the process of gilding objects with a superficial layer of gold, which was meant to make fun of the era's ostentatious self-admiration.

--Wald der Ruhig

The First Day of the Substitute

Today in class, we had a substitute teacher named Mrs. Jones, for Mr. Cook was not with us. Before today, I had never seen Mrs. Jones, and I am a bit curious where she came from. I am also curious as to where Mr. Cook was. By now, the inane, rambling nature of this blog entry is surely evident. This is a combination of two factors. First of all, it is currently very late at night, rendering me very tired and hardly capable of coherent though. Secondly, there is not a whole lot to talk about that took place in class under the substitute. We were basically left to our own devices to work on our naturalism presentations, which is what we did. To make up for the meagerness of this post I shall leave the reader with an unrelated, but nevertheless interesting fact: When going to battle, Indian kings would make their horses wear trunks. The other side's elephants would refuse to attack the horses thinking that the horses were baby elephants.

--Wald der Trübe