Update on Literary Journalism Assignment

As of today, I am currently done with my interview and in the process of typing out my rough draft. I have made it to the third page of my draft, and getting into the core of my interviewee’s story. I finished the background story that paves a way for the core of the interview. In terms of the interview itself, it went great given that I was starting to doubt if my interviewee was going to turn down my assignment. I ran into complications when I asked Andrew to take part in this interview assignment. I realized that the interview might cause Andrew to remember past afflictions or memories of his service, and it could potentially set off more night terrors or P.T.S.D. related episodes. He personally suggested of thinking about it for a couple weeks, and I agreed on him pondering about it. However, as the weeks passed, I did not receive a response until recently. Even then, I had the biggest fear of losing him as my potential interviewee. Now that I have completed the interview, I feel more at ease and ready to tackle this assignment. My favorite part of this assignment was the fact that we had a taste of what journalists encounter. We had the honor to hear a person’s story and tell their memory. That to me is actually incredible since they are in a sense handing over their memory for us to understand more or less what they experienced. By telling their story we as Humcore students are acknowledging their triumphs and sharing them to the world. My least favorite part of this project was the fact that we had to find secondary sources and incorporate them into our narratives. By all means, I understand why we must have them, however, I would have preferred just a simple narrative assignment telling our interviewee’s story. But overall, I am pleased to partake in this literary journalism assignment.

Humcore Students' next occupation: Literary Journalist

Spring Quarter has finally arrived, and Humanities Core students, such as myself, have been anticipating an extraordinary assignment that has been announced throughout the year. This assignment is much different compared to the usual thematic papers we encountered regarding a novel or film representing war. We have been granted the role of a literary journalist and ultimately interviewing a person that has been subjected to war of any kind. We each had the duty of choosing them (people involved with war or affected by it) and creating appropriate questions in order to ask them and tell their incredible story. Before interviewing, however, we were instructed to conduct research to better our questions and to have a better understanding of our interviewee’s experience. As a final product, we must present their story that reflects both their view and our own as well as describing how the project has impacted us.

I chose my cousin’s relative from her father’s side since her relative was the only one who actually had a war experience in our family. He, the relative, instructed me to conceal his name along with others he associated with while in Iraq from this assignment due to fear. While in Iraq, he actually faced a life changing experience that caused his political ideology of the United States to alter and to trigger his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Now, he has a different view of the U.S. and rather not be identified or associated as an enemy against our country, thus concealing his name brought him a sense of security and comfort. The reason as to why I chose him was due to the fact that I have heard stories from my family regarding his struggles with P.T.S.D. At the time I had a vague idea of what P.T.S.D was let alone why people were afflicted by it. Apparently he suffered and had a lot of episodes regarding the disorder, but is getting better with time. With that being said, I was always curious to personally talk to him but never did because he lives out of California, but this assignment really encouraged me to finally contact him and hear his story.
 
The kinds of questions I plan to ask him are the following: What did you encounter when you first entered Iraq? What were your expectations of the country or previous knowledge of it? How were you feeling as you were there? The answers I expect to hear all vary. At first I was playing out the interview in my head, and I resorted to him maybe hesitating or carefully choosing his words when he would answer. However, I then assumed that he probably first encountered the sandstorms and rain during that time. He also probably encountered the native people and villages. After the 9/11 attacks, I naturally expected for him to have some knowledge on terrorism, who allegedly attacked the United States, and George Bush’s opinions on the tragic events. As far as how he was feeling as he was there, I expected him to be on edge, maybe prudent, or even afraid of what he may encounter. I have no knowledge of the event he encountered, but I do know it has changed him mentally. On my part, I will research P.T.S.D and what triggers it as well as who else has experienced it.

With the guidelines provided by the Humanities Core Course instructors, I managed to get my hands on three different sources from the UCI Libraries online archive and Google Books. The first two sources are scholarly articles that consist of documented statistics regarding P.T.S.D. Both sources document countless cases of veterans with P.T.S.D. and Traumatic Brain Injuries. Combat veterans have reported receiving injury to the neck and head, and from there they started reporting symptoms of P.T.S.D. The sources offered the implication that physical injury to the neck or head have most likely caused the disorder to manifest. This allowed me to broaden the idea that P.T.S.D. has different triggers, some physical injuries others emotional trauma. From there, I can analyze my interviewer's story and narrow down what factors that truly caused his affliction of post traumatic stress. The two sources give me enough evidence to support my claim given that it has a lot of statistics or research. Now I have the opportunity to ask more questions such as: Did you receive any physical injuries to your neck or head? If so did you start experiencing symptoms of post traumatic stress? The third source, The Iraq War: Background and Issues by Raymond W. Copson, is a book regarding the background and issues of the Iraq War. With that source, I will get insight into the politics of the Iraq War and expand my knowledge on it.


Image Source
http://www.abetterinterview.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/flatter-interviewer.jpg

Television Shows and their Glorification of Wicked Behavior

One of America’s, along with other nations, most popular cultures is to sit back and watch either movies or television programs that are meant to entertain. As a matter of fact, almost everyone out there, with access to a television or through the evolution of technology have accounts with online streaming companies such as HULU or Netflix, has a favorite show that they enjoy watching on such mediums. With that being said, shows and movies have ranged with various genres and content. Their primary focus is to entertain us regardless of the content, and that’s where controversies on whether the content is too obscene or graphic and should be aired or not arise. Certain content such as violence, action, and terror is produced and integrated in media to entertain audiences. It is being allowed on television because it has no problem getting an approval from the Federal Communications Commission. Furthermore, in particular to torture, television shows such as ”Breaking Bad” and “American Horror Story” both mediate torturous scenes that take on levels of entertainment while glorifying the cruel behavior.


“Breaking Bad” is a show full of violence, death, drugs, and life changing experiences that the main characters encounter. Walter White, a chemistry teacher who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, befriends drug addict Jessie Pinkman in this critically acclaimed television program. Walter White now dying of cancer decides to ultimately brew up drugs and sell them with Jessie Pinkman in order to financially help out his family after he dies. Although the show is praised, violence that is considered torturous is glorified for the purpose of amusement. In the pilot episode of the show, Jessie Pinkman runs away from fearsome drug dealers Emilio and Krazy 8 and happens to trip and fall onto a rock in the New Mexico desert. The collision with the rock caused Jessie to pass out, giving advantage to the drug dealers after him. Although Jessie is knocked out cold, they can not resist to kick him with immense power on the side of his body. Apart from this scene, there are several instances where Jessie is brutally kicked, punched, or stomped on. The merciless people responsible for this behavior inflict this damage on Jessie to prove a point or get what they want, which in this case is drugs or drug money. Given that the show is fictional along with the characters, torturous acts are still displayed to demonstrate the circumstances in a world of drugs and entertain fans of the program.

“American Horror Story”, I have to admit is my all-time favorite show. Although I consider it to be amazing and entertaining, it has an abundance of scenes where pain is inflicted on characters. “American Horror Story” is a dark and twisted supernatural drama that explores humankind’s unsetting capacity for evil. The word "Horror" in the title says it all. A particular season where torture is abundant is in season three which tells the story of modern day witches in the city of New Orleans. In the season, the young witches come across a racist immortal lady that was buried underneath the ground for over a century. The reason she was buried was due to her dark and cruel behavior with African American slaves. The witches’ leader, Fiona Good, employs the lady as a maid to maintain their home/school as a second chance for her to redeem herself. The show flashes back to the maid’s early life in the nineteenth century, where she owned several slaves and treated them terribly. The maid had a chamber of horrors in which she kept most of her “bad” slaves there. Occasionally, she would cut their fingers or certain body parts, break their bones, and slice open their bodies in order to acquire organs and blood for her “special” facials.

 

She absolutely hated African Americans and lived to torture them for pleasure and amusement. Overall, the season demonstrates various scenes of cruel punishment. Most of the scenes regard racism and pain inflicted on African Americans. Moreover, the show is expected to show the dark nature of humanity which includes torture, fear, and pain. Because the show is so popular and people have expectations of cruel scenes, it further proves that torture has earned a foothold in entertainment.


In summation, both television shows are hits and are appraised in society, however, they glorify the wicked behaviors of humanity. By showing scenes of torture or the infliction of pain on another human being, it creates this normalization for the behavior and allowing for it to be done. Fans may see it as entertainment, but the reality is they are favoring torture thus adding onto its popularization in today’s media.
 


Source Images

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Tortured Reasoning and its Biggest Flaw

Every time I would encounter a scene in a movie or television show displaying torture, I would cringe and thank god I was not in that terrible situation. The gruesome scenes would make me sick and just bring a surge of discomfort. After finishing the movie or television program, the scenes of torture would eventually leave my mind and fade away. Through time, I never really pondered on the concept of torture or fully analyzed it, until taking Humanities Core. Especially for winter quarter, torture is emphasized in the course and it is conceptualized by various authors and debates. Torture, to my knowledge and interpretation, is damage that is inflicted on a subject for means of acquiring specific information or for cruel punishment.


Various authors such as Alan Dershowitz, Elaine Scarry, J.M. Coetzee, and more all discuss torture and give their critical interpretations while arguing if it is necessary or not. Focusing on Alan Dershowitz and Elaine Scarry, they soon formed a debate on torture and its ethicality due to one agreeing and the other disagreeing. Dershowitz approved torture if one was warranted and Scarry completely disapproved of it mainly because it is unethical.


Initially, Alan Dershowitz establishes in his essay Tortured Reasoning an ultimatum on what is commonly portrayed in popular culture, The Ticking Time Bomb Scenario.

In that scenario, the “protagonist” faces the ultimatum of torturing his subject in return for receiving intelligence that will potentially save the city or civilians whom are in danger. The information is usually a location of a bomb or weapon of mass destruction that will be used in a given time frame. Alan Dershowitz implicitly justifies that torture in this sake as necessary for the purpose of heroism. Through this justification, Dershowitz becomes a situationalist or consequentialist.  A situationalist is a person who justifies torture depending on the circumstances. Dershowitz does not want torture to be the new norm, however, accepts torture if the “protagonist” is licensed with what he conceptualizes, a “torture warrant” from a judge or U.S. official. The warrant would grant him legitimacy to torture his subject without being held accountable after the issue is resolved.


Elaine Scarry, on the other hand, begs to differ. She critiques Alan Dershowitz directly in her writing, “Five Errors in the Reasoning of Alan Dershowitz”. Scarry believes that torture is unnecessary regardless of the situation. Through this belief, she falls under the category of an absolutist. An absolutist is a person who is against torture and believes that it should not be practiced under any circumstances. Moreover, Scarry especially critiques the Ticking Time Bomb Scenario. According to her, it is often described as highly improbable because knowledge is imperfect and the torturer is suddenly granted the omniscience to know that the subject has the crucial information on the whereabouts of the bombs. Why can’t the torturer instead know where the bomb is or how does he know if the information is accurate? Additionally, torture warrants are unnecessary since the protagonist might now have enough time to obtain one given the little time they have to save the city. The Ticking Time Bomb scenario is thus superficial and should not be used as an excuse to subjugate another human being for information.


After reading both accounts on the issue, I fall more under being an absolutist and considering the virtues and ethics if it does occur. To put it out there, torture should not be done because it is cruel against humanity. We forget that everyone is human, regardless of their actions or thoughts. They are individuals who have the right not to be tortured. It is not ethical to harm someone and basically dehumanize them based on their actions. The torturer should acknowledge that one’s actions define them; what you do you will become. Consider virtues and what the right thing to do is.




Source Images

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http://www.haitian-truth.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/ticking-time-bomb.jpg

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Secondary Sources and their Vitality

The first paper assigned to Humanities Core students for the quarter dealt with the use of Civil War images and representations of the war itself. We were required to visually analyze a Civil War image of our choice and explain how and why that image represented the war in the way that it did.

During my research process, I had a brief moment of panic due to my inability to find a proper image followed by a secondary source. The fact that I also had not written a visual analysis essay in my entire existence added onto my anxiety. However, with the guidelines provided by my section Professor and through the Humanities Core Course, I managed to eventually find both after browsing endlessly for them. After constantly looking for an image and its citation, I stumbled upon and found the image “A Soldier’s Dream of Home” on the Humanities Core Course’s “Image Gallery” link. After familiarizing with the image and its content and purpose at the time, I began to embark on finding the secondary source. I clicked on the links embedded in the “The Writing Process and Student Learning Goals” PDF and discovered databases that would grant me access to scholarly articles. Initially, I was lost in the sense that I did not have experience with databases and was clueless on how to search for material.

I looked at my image and began brain storming key words that would hopefully load up useful content to support it. I attempted to type in phrases such as “union soldiers in the civil war”, “homesickness in the civil war,” “sentimental domesticity”, “Currier and Ives”, etcetera. The key phrase that allowed me to find a great secondary source was “homesickness in the civil war”. That secondary source was none other than the article “Dying of Nostalgia: Homesickness in the Union Army during the Civil War” written by David Anderson. Anderson is a lecturer in the American Studies Program at Swansea University in Wales and is a graduate of the University of Dundee in Scotland. Currently, he is completing a study regarding post Reconstruction era plantation reminiscences. His article was published as a PDF on a database known as Project Muse provided by UCI. Anderson’s source discusses homesickness and the dynamics of Nostalgia among the Union Soldiers in the Civil War. There is a central focus on how soldiers associated home with love, family, and comfort. The article additionally provides justifications as to why they felt homesick or nostalgic and how it was their reality at the time.

Anderson's source was vital when writing my essay for various reasons. It aided in bringing clarity on why the soldiers felt cases of nostalgic and what they associated with home. He defines home and gives it a comforting connotation therefore making it uncomplicated to connect the concepts of sentimental domesticity and reality. Being sentimental towards their home and longing to return to familiar grounds had become their reality in the war. I referenced most of his article to support the concept of sentimental domesticity along with the studies made in the article to validate the concept. Overall, the secondary source I managed to get my hands on was essential and made the writing process of this writing assignment much simpler.

Most importantly, It brought relief of having to write this paper.







Source Images
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The Purpose of Omission

Upon reading the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, and discussing it in lecture and with peers in this course, we all realized something Douglass did in his novel. He tended to “silence” people and leave out certain aspects of his experiences from his audiences. Professor Fahs and Professor MacMillan pointed out that perhaps because of this omission, Douglass was unable to exactly put into words what he truly experienced, after all, it is indeed hard to write down all of the details of traumatic experiences we encounter. Aside from all the speculations, perhaps Douglass used the method of omission to shape and focus his story on the larger goal: reveal the horrific truths of slavery and help abolish the cruelty. Douglass believed that through his credibility as a slave and experiences he surmounted, he ultimately had the opportunity to tell his tales and shock the American public with what was really going on with slavery. Once the public knew of the treatment that was projected onto slaves there would be a potential chance to halt any further practice of the cruelty. Moreover, Douglass focused his novel primarily on slavery. He could not afford to distract his audiences through personal matter or reveal any significant people who provided “illegal” assistance for both his and their safety.

Slavery was introduced to America due to the failure of the eighteenth century indentured servitude system (a labor system established amongst the British colonies in North America). Young people, mainly poor British and German people, who desired to go to the New World  had to pay through labor on land. This resulted in endless debts and a failure in the system. They went to new extents to solve their financial problems by choosing to enslave Africans and have  them do endless labor in order to bring income and ultimately pay their debts. Therefore, they “justified” the idea of enslavement and purpose of working for white supremacy. Through the easy enslavement and manipulation, slaves were perceived by whites as naïve, ignorant, and incapable of having a proper education. Furthermore, African Americans were denied education to prevent them from realizing that slavery was not a natural state of life and ultimately revolting from white supremacy. Douglass resisted and learned to the alphabet while living in the Hugh Auld's household for seven years. Mrs. Auld tutored him but soon stopped as she later became hardened and cruel. However, Douglass's education did not stop there. With his prior knowledge of the alphabet, he was determined to read and write. He accomplished literacy by giving bread to poor little boys in exchange for reading lessons. As a result, he learned to successfully write and was determined to acknowledge their help. However, he decided to exclude their names in order to prevent their punishments but still gave them credit for their useful teachings. This is why omission at the time was crucial for both Douglass and for the sake of protecting lives.



 
 
 
Additional silences Douglass made were that of his personal life and slaves whom were affiliated and a part of the Underground Railroad. Mentioning that type of information would pave a way of punishments and potential deaths for those that were involved. As far as his personal life, he mentioned that he had a wife but left out their relationship and marital process. Perhaps including personal experience and love affairs would distract readers and stride his audience away from the harsher reality at that time. After all, Douglass's main objective was to tell primarily the details of slavery rather than entertain his readers on his marriage. Ultimately, the silences and omissions helped to shape the genre of the book as strictly a narrative on the horrors of enslavement.


After reading his narrative, I was left with several curiosities and questions that begged to be answered. Some of them are: How was your relationship with your wife? Are there any other experiences that you chose to leave out and why? Do you feel accomplished?




Source Image(s)
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