Obama and King

Prejudice and discrimination have always been hot topics in American politics and society. Although much progress has been made through the last couple of decades, I believe there are still many more bridges to be crossed and steps to be taken in order to have a country that treats every person, regardless of sex, race, religion or ethnicity, equal. Recently, Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama gave “A more perfect Union” speech which addressed his thoughts on America’s racial and prejudicial state. This speech has been regarded as one of the top speeches to be given in the last couple of decades and will go down in history, along with his status so far in the Presidential elections, as a monumental moment in US History. His progress so far is a milestone that Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed of in a brighter America, and this is quite evident in his ”Letter from Birmingham Jail” which addressed the issues that African Americans faced in their day to day lifes dealing with segregation and oppression. These two works, by two of the most influential African American men in America, both past and present, have documented the times and ideals of their age.

Obama’s speech and Dr. King’s letter have many similarities as well as some stark differences in style and content. As far as style and technique are concerned, the biggest difference has to do with the audience being addressed. In Obama’s speech, he is speaking to the American people, as a fellow American, and is noting the strides taken towards the end of inequality and “racial superiority” between white people and black. Barack also points out that there is still much more work to be done, however while giving this speech he is addressing a much more accepting audience than Dr. King did in his letter. If Obama gave a similar speech back in the 50’s, he would have never been given the time of day and hardly any members of the American public would have paid attention other than to ridicule it. Dr. King paved the way through letters and speeches like the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” which was only addressed to clergy men, and Dr. King was begging for their attention. King was pleading for the Clergy men to understand his message and to act according to their faith to see not the color of a person’s skin but rather the goodness that is in their soul. He pointed out the oppression that black people have faced through out their lives and tried to emphasis how they were people too, and they were no less loved by God than any other white male or female, but they were being treated as if they were diseased beings forced to do every thing separate from the white man.

Time has changed and with time has come acceptance. With the 45 years that have passed since MLK wrote his “Letter” there is still some segregation in the US, as Obama pointed out, and there are still racist thoughts and minds through out America that, in some ways, continue to restrict African American people from achieving as much success in the work place, but the differences between Dr. King’s time and Obama’s time are remarkable. There are still African Americans who feel that the ‘white man’ continues to hold them down, people such as Obama’s former reverend, Reverend Wright, who preach about the continued oppression and the anger of their people. But Obama effectively points out how nothing is going to change over night, but in no other country can a man have an African father, white mother, been raised by white grandparents, and have cousins of different ethnicities and colors over three continents and be accepted as a candidate for presidency. Although he has had to work through barriers placed upon him due to his race, he has overcome all that has come in his way and continues to amaze and be regarded as an important figure in history. These two works by these two remarkable men are examples of the changing of the times and how nothing is achieved through just laying back and watching the world around you. Like Mahatma Gandhi said, “You must be the change you want to see in the world”. These two men truly exemplify this saying.

In's and Out's of the Trade: Spring break '08

For most college students Spring Break is supposed to be a time full of R&R, travel to a warm climate to soak up the rays, party hardy, and forget about work and school for a week. Well, this is not always true for all students, especially college Freshman Margo Steck. When her mother found out the dates that MSU had for Spring break she pounced on the fact that Margo could help out at a Trade Show in Vegas for her Construction company. Of course at first Margo thought it would be a great opportunity (free trip to Vegas? why not?), but it didn't take too long after the Northwest 757 landed for Margo to realize that the 3 and a half hour plane ride would be the longest break she would receive until her flight home. The Las Vegas Hilton Convention Center was completely packed and overflowing with booths featuring construction companies representing everything from small drills and saws to extreme bulldozers and cranes. Margo worked from Tuesday until Saturday of that week at her mothers large red RSC (Rental Services Corp) booth sliding cards and greeting viewers from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. with few breaks. Although, after her mothers co-workers brought every one out for exquisite cuisine each night after their long days work to great restaurants ranging from the masters of cutlery at Benihana's to the steak masters at Capitol Grill. Although Margo was warn out and a little sick at the end of her trip due to the lack of sleep thanks to the hotel couch she was sleeping on, she felt as if the trip was worth it. The experience and the people she meet during the Trade Show were priceless connections that could be potentially useful some day in the real world, when Spring Break is no longer a term in her vocabulary.

Makeup and mulah

Every child has that one story that their parents love to tell to embarass them, and my sister and I are no exception. When my sister and I were younger (about 3 and 5) my parents and grandparents brought us with them to numerous speeches and benifits to show us off to their friends and buisness parnters being the adorable little girls that we were. But they didn't realize that behind our innocent facade we had a hidden motive, make-up and money. My sister and I were a duo and inseperable during out young age. We learned at a young age that if we work together we could do whatever we wished. Whenever we would go to these speeches with my mother she had a tendency of getting distracted and not paying quite as much attention to us as was necessary, so we took full advantage of this independence. My sister and I would walk around to all the women sitting at the tables and charm them with our cute little pig-tales and bright eyes and while my sister was distracting them and rubbing their stockings to get them to turn the other way, I would sneak in to their purses and take their make-up and money. We were never caught by the women, but when we left their presence we brought the make-up and money back over to my mother. Of course she did not condone this behavior and attempted to return the stolen goods to their rightful owner, however sometimes it was too difficult to find them. Thankfully, my sister and I grew out of this manipulative, fugitive behavior and let our angels on our shoulder's take over, but our parents will never let us live it down.

Go Further

This environmental documentary was very interesting but the biggest impact that it left on me as a viewer was the Organic living and dairy-free lifestyle that many of Woody Harrison's friends abided by. I thought they provided a compelling viewpoint with interesting (and some what disturbing) facts such as the big one, "Blood and pus are in milk." Besides this statement, which made me not ever want to consume dairy products again for a couple of hours until I saw a dairy queen commercial on TV, I really enjoyed hearing about organic foods and how they are not only better for us, in that they don't contain harsh pesticides, but they are also help support the environment and 'green' movement. Although the movie did make me a little sad because it made me want to go out and start eating organic, start ordering tree-alternative paper and switch to soy but living in Mankato there are not alot of places that you can easily obtain these items (with the exception of Soy milk). Besides downtown Mankato's Contessa restaurant, I can not think of any other organic places in Mankato and North Mankato. I wish that we had a Food Co-op like in St. Peter which provides all natural, organic materials and food. Overall I really enjoyed "Go Further"'s messages and their ability to get their points accross with out being too pushy about it (which is how I feel about a lot of other documentaries). Esspecially that it had the author of my favorite book ever, "One flew over the Coo-coo's Nest" by Ken Keesy, which was alittle random, but I think that Woody Harrison's crew was out promoting a better cause than the Merry Pranksters with their Acid tests.

nombre

Some families have quirky traditons when it comes to naming their children, and my family is deffinately one of them. My name is Margaret Louise Steck and I was named after my grandmother, much like how she was named after her grandmother and so on (my parents started calling me Margo after I was born to lessen the confussion during family get-togethers and also because my dad thought 'Margaret' sounded like an old person name but 'Margo' was much more lively'). We have a bi-generational tradition where the first born girl is named after their grandmother. My mother's name is Ellen and my great-grandmother's name is Ellen as well. Another tradition held in my family is that the first born daughter has the middle name of Louise. One odd thing about my family's tradition is that it is rather sexist, leaving out the men completely and also it only consentrates on the first born girls. But hopefully when I have kids I can carry out the tradition (mainly because I would feel guilty if i didn't) and my future husband and I will beable to start new ones of our own. :)

library session

I never realized how large and extensive our library and its database was. This is the first research paper I have had to write in college, so it will be my first experience trying to find various sources to conduct my research through the MSUM library. The library session was extremely informative to me, now I know the location of both historical and modern journals, magazines, newspapers, how to find books and various other media types through the online catelog, and also the call number system. If it were not for this library session I would be compleltely lost while trying to locate the books and journals relating to my topic. I am also very impressed with our guide. She was very helpful during the process and it stunned me how quickly she knew where to locate people's topics and what sections they would be in. Over all it was a good experience and I have no complaints.

I do not have any large concerns with my paper as of yet. I have found my materials and begun my research, even have my thesis prepared and it has all gone quite smoothly. I deffinately have enough to fill up 3 pages, my only concern might be that I have too much information and it may be difficult to condence some of the thoughts down, blend some of the information, or even decide what information is impertinant for the paper and what facts or opinions need to be omited. So the initial writing of the paper will be simple, I think it will be the editing process that may be more complex and time consuming.

Baby it's Cold out there

The cold weather, like that which we experienced last week, does not have a dramatic effect on my day to day life, however it does influence some of my decisions. During the warm months, or even days like today, I really enjoy walking or biking where ever I need to go, whether it is home or work or over to The Hub for some coffee. But when the high is around -5 I find myself driving a lot more than usual. Also, when ever I am at my boyfriend's house or my parents house I will have them run out and start my car for me (during the winter I have a tendency to consider myself an Arizona native and I will whine and complain until someone starts the car for me, with the excuse that "I'm so not used to this freezing hellish weather", and who ever I am with eventually caves it) because I severely dislike driving in a sub-zero car and freezing my butt off. Also, the clothes that I wear for work are much warmer, no more cute skirts or short sleeves, only long warm pants with high-boots and long sleeve shirts. And the final way that the cold effects my life is during week ends, if I am invited to a party or over to a friends house I find myself being quite content with just staying home, cuddling up with a nice warm fuzzy blanket and sipping on hot co-co while watching epic movie after epic movie, enjoying a laid-back, relaxing weekend. The final reason makes me kind of like the cold weather.