Journal # 6 Revised: Where's Stevie?

1.      Journal 6: Where’s Stevie?

One ironically bright and sunny day, our investigative team heard the shocking news: Stevie Pointer had been kidnapped. We had been left a note of hints from the kidnapper on where the beloved dog might be along with a word scramble on his location. To find him, we needed to follow the clues and find the letters.  As soon as we heard the news, we bolted out the door to where our clues were primarily located, the Learning Resource Center at the University of Stevens Point Wisconsin campus. When we arrived on the scene, we bolted to the third floor because we heard loud screaming. To our surprise, the third floor was just the holding area of the libraries CD collection. The screaming just turned out to be the Rolling Stones CD. Even though Stevie was nowhere to be found, our investigative team was lucky enough to find the letter we were looking for: R. Xab ferociously scribbled down the first letter as Ellie was standing by the window looking at the next clue. Kayla was in the corner listening into a conversation between two suspicious people. The two people were gossiping over the breaking news that the kidnapper was on the sixth floor planning his escape route. When Kayla heard this, she flew to the investigative team and told them. Xab ran to the elevator and pressed the button as fast as he could. When the team arrived to the sixth floor, they spotted the kidnapper near the U.S. government publications by disability services. Ellie whipped out her investigative squirt gun and began to bolt towards the kidnapper. To her dismay, it wasn’t the kidnapper but just an im”poster.” But really it was just a poster. The poster read the next two letters for our clues: SI. After this, Kayla let out a high pitched scream due to hearing a gun shot. The team ran down to the fifth floor and began looking for possible suspects. Xab heard an orangutan screaming and began running towards the noise. The team, unfortunately, got lost in the midst of the excitement. They even stopped to ask a janitor if he had seen or heard the orangutan. He had not and left them with a weird look. Ellie then screamed “I FOUND IT!” The rest of the team followed her to where the orangutan was: the study cages. The orangutan told the team that he had spotted Stevie, but we had to leave quickly or he would be in real danger. He gave them their letter: H and told them to find Stevie and comeback for him later. The team sped to the fourth floor, and was bombarded by other investigative teams. Luckily, our team was helped and given the next letter: C. On fourth floor we were told that Stevie had been spotted on second. The team rushed to the second floor and began looking for Stevie. Although it wasn’t him, they found his newspaper and with help from the librarian were given our next letter: E. Xab had the brilliant idea that maybe Stevie had gotten lost in the library and ran to the first floor museum. Ellie got lost in the trance of the beautiful eggs shown. While she was doing that Kayla then spotted the next clue, with the letter: A. The team then thought maybe if they knew what Stevie looked like they would find him. So, they headed to the encyclopedia section of the library and looked at the description of an English Pointer. With the help of another investigative team, they were able to get the next letter: V. Then, with all the kidnapper’s clues found, the team began to unscramble the letters. Turned out to be ARCHIVES. The team ran to fifth floor, and excitedly found the missing Pointer. Unfortunately, he was dead, but the team was given his head in remembrance of him. The team learned a lot about the importance of their school’s library! It was great to see what resources were on campus The team then went to bed. The end.

Journal #9 Revised: A Hero's Scene

1.      Journal No. 9: A Hero’s Scene

In the movie 42, written and directed by Brian Hegleand, one scene of extreme importance is the scene where the Dodgers verse the Phillies. This scene is not important because of the conflict between the two baseball teams, but rather the conflict between Jackie Robinson and the Phillies manager, Ben Chapman. In this scene, Chapman stood at the dugout screaming plenty of racial slurs to get on Robinson's nerves. He would stand and scream "Hey nigger, nigger" over and over again to get a reaction from Robinson. He wanted to get him distracted so that he would strike out. Jackie, highly distracted by the manager, strikes out. It was clear in this scene that Jackie wasn't the only one to be effected by the manager’s actions. Jackie's wife was also clearly emotional in the scene when she saw her husband being screamed at by the manager. Some of Jackie's teammates also began to grow disappointed by how other players were treating their teammate. This scene is moving by how the derogatory terms finally began to affect everyone around Jackie, rather than just Jackie. Although this part of the scene is very influential, what comes next, in my opinion, is the most moving part of the entire scene and movie. After the manager screams at Jackie and he strikes out again; Jackie began to grow infuriated. Following the advice of Mr. Rickey, Jackie’s boss, Robinson holds his anger back. Instead of taking his anger out on the manager, Jackie steps into the dugout and proceeds to scream and smash a bat into the wall. He does this so he doesn't show the press and his fans how much it affects him. This scene portrays Jackie's strength throughout his journey as a major league baseball player. I believe this scene is important because it shows how strong Jackie had to be in the eyes of the press. Chapman was just one of many men who picked on Jackie because of the color of his skin. This scene summarizes Jackie as a hero, in my opinion. He shows the world that nothing will shake him despite thousands of people being against him. I felt personally connected because coming from a small town it is easy to see racism. It is hard to stand against it, but in this movie and scene the portrayal of the many people standing up for Jackie was amazing. This scene truly conveys Jackie Robinson's heroism!

42: Screening Report

73:00 into the movie

In the movie 42, one scene of extreme importance is the scene where the Dodgers verse the Phillies. This scene is not important because of the conflict between the two baseball teams, but rather the conflict between Jackie Robinson and the Phillies manager, Ben Chapman. In this scene, Chapman stood at the dugout screaming plenty of racial slurs to get on Robinson's nerves. He would stand and scream "Hey nigger, nigger" over and over again to get a reaction from Robinson. He wanted to get him distracted so that he would strike out. Jackie, highly distracted by the manager, strikes out. It was clear in this scene that Jackie wasn't the only one to be effected by the managers actions. Jackie's wife was clearly very emotional in the scene when she saw her husband being screamed at by the manager. Some of Jackie's teammates also began to grow disappointed by how other players were treating their teammate. This scene is moving by how the racial slurs finally begin to affect everyone around Jackie, rather than just jackie. Although this part of the scene is very influential, what comes next, in my opinion, is the most moving part of the entire scene and movie. After the manager screams at Jackie and he strikes out again; Jackie begins to grow infuriated. Following the advice of Mr. Rickey, Robinson holds his anger back. Instead of taking his anger out on the manager, Jackie steps into the dugout and proceeds to scream and smash a bat into the wall. He does this so he doesn't show the press and his fans how much it affects him. This scene portrays Jackie's strength throughout his journey as a major In the movie 42, one scene of extreme importance is the scene where the Dodgers verse the Phillies. This scene is not important because of the conflict between the two baseball teams, but rather the conflict between Jackie Robinson and the Phillies manager, Ben Chapman. In this scene, Chapman stood at the dugout screaming plenty of racial slurs to get on Robinson's nerves. He would stand and scream "Hey nigger, nigger" over and over again to get a reaction from Robinson. He wanted to get him distracted so that he would strike out. Jackie, highly distracted by the manager, strikes out. It was clear in this scene that Jackie wasn't the only one to be effected by the managers actions. Jackie's wife was clearly very emotional in the scene when she saw her husband being screamed at by the manager. Some of Jackie's teammates also began to grow disappointed by how other players were treating their teammate. This scene is moving by how the racial slurs finally begin to effect everyone around Jackie, rather than just jackie. Although this part of the scene is very influential, what comes next, in my opinion, is the most moving part of the entire scene and movie. After the manager screams at Jackie and he strikes out again; Jackie begins to grow infuriated. Following the advice of Mr. Rickey, Robinson holds his anger back. Instead of taking his anger out on the manager, Jackie steps into the dugout and proceeds to scream and smash a bat into the wall. He does this so he doesn't  baseball player. 

I believe this scene is important because it shows how strong Jackie had to be in the eyes of the press. Chapman was just one of many men who picked on Jackie because of the color of his skin. This scene shows Jackie as a hero, in my opinion. He shows the world that nothing will shake him despite thousands of people being against him. This scene truly conveys Jackie Robinson's heroism!

My favorite movie

"Whatever happens tomorrow, we've had today." This is a quote from my favorite movie One Day which is directed by Lone Scherfig and written by David Nicholls. This movie is a classic love story about two college kids who meet on graduation and become best friends. Unlike most movies, though, the characters take over twenty years to realize that they are in love with each other only to be shocked by the death of the wife of the couple in the end.

This movie is my favorite movie mostly because of its originality. Most romantic movies show a conflict between the lovers, a damsel in distress who is saved by her prince, and a quick fix to the couples problems. But, in the movie One Day it is quite the opposite. The main characters do not have one large conflict between them that makes their relationship difficult, but a drawn out sequence of misunderstandings between both partners and the interruption of life’s challenges that come between them. This I can relate to in many ways which makes the movie more interesting to me. Instead of a damsel in distress, the main character, Anne Hatheway, portrays a strong female lead that shows she is in no need to be saved by a man, but rather wants to support and be supported by her best friend. I think that because she plays such a strong lead that it makes the movie more intense and empowering. The couple in this movie also has many drawn out conflicts in this movie instead of quick fixes. This movie shows the couples journey together, and apart, throughout their lives and the struggle it took them to be together. I think this makes the movie more realistic and relatable. Overall, the movie One Day is a brilliant portray of the love between two people that never thought they’d end up together.

Crazy Brave

In the book Crazy Brave by Joy Hardin, the author addresses the important issue of domestic abuse. Joy illustrates her experiences with abuse that start in her childhood and occur again once she is an adult. There seemed to be many similar occurrences in several examples of women being abused in the book. For example, most of the men who were abusive towards their wives seemed only to be that way due to oppression from society or due to example from their elders. The men would come home and beat their wives after a “hard day at work” or because “that’s how they were raised.” Although the underlying issues seems to be the main reason the men were abusive; alcohol acted as a stimulus in the men’s’ anger. It always seemed that as long as alcohol intertwined with the men’s’ anger that the abuse would come forward and wouldn't stop until sobriety. The women mostly accepted this behavior because they either loved their husbands or they were women and had nowhere else to go. Social circumstances seem to be the main reason the women wouldn't leave their men. It would be more difficult for a woman in this time period, especially an Indian woman, to be able to gain social prestige. This would be difficult because men were always superior to women, especially white men, in Joy Hardin’s case. Another difficulty was that in this time period that women “escaping” their husbands seemed to be absurd. The lack of shelters for women and government help kept the women in their homes. Luckily, as time went on domestic abuse was recognized and taken under control.

Crazy Brave

In the book Crazy Brave by Joy Hardin, the author addresses the important issue of domestic abuse. Joy illustrates her experiences with abuse that start in her childhood and occur again once she is an adult. There seemed to be many similar occurrences in several examples of women being abused in the book. For example, most of the men who were abusive towards their wives seemed only to be that way due to oppression from society or due to example from their elders. The men would come home and beat their wives after a “hard day at work” or because “that’s how they were raised.” Although the underlying issues seems to be the main reason the men were abusive; alcohol acted as a stimulus in the men’s’ anger. It always seemed that as long as alcohol intertwined with the men’s’ anger that the abuse would come forward and wouldn’t stop until sobriety. The women mostly accepted this behavior because they either loved their husbands or they were women and had nowhere else to go. Social circumstances seem to be the main reason the women won’t leave their men. It would be more difficult for a woman in this time period, especially an Indian woman, to be able to gain social prestige. This would be difficult because men were always superior to women, especially white men, in Joy Hardin’s case. Another difficulty was that in this time period that women “escaping” their husbands seemed to be absurd. The lack of shelters for women and government help kept the women in their homes. Luckily, as time went on domestic abuse was recognized and taken under control.

The Crucible

From reading The Crucible, I gained a different perspective. I thought that the play brought about many emotions, but didn’t put them together as collectively as seeing the play itself did. I especially had seen this when watching the character of John Proctor. His acting evoked a lot of anger and slight hysteria. I saw this more in the play than in the reading. I felt his character had come alive more than in just reading the play. Also, in the play I felt some sort of constant fear while watching. It seemed as if the fear was playing into the lives of everyone in the town. No one knew when someone was going to be persecuted as a witch, and through the actors performances I was able to see such dramatic interpretations on what was happening. I enjoyed the costumes for the performance as well. I believe they tied into the theme of what was going on in the certain situation. The women dressed modestly and seemed to be innocent, but by the actor’s performance I was able to see the true character come out. I thought the Stevens Point cast and crew did a very good job in portraying the performance of The Crucible.