Progress?

This is a sad picture of seven African American Couples before their African American only prom. Yes, their prom is segregated meaning they were no allowed to attend the white prom the night before. They are standing on a downward slope that represents Americas progress. It is astounding that in 2009, not 1909, not 1809, not 1709, 2009 there are segregated proms. For my final, I did a see, think, wonder model and here it is: I see 7 Black couples standing together on a downward sloping bridge. They look unhappy and defeated.
I think they are unhappy because they are forced to go to an all Black Prom; they feel defeated because they were prohibited from attending the all White prom.
I wonder if the White students who attended prom the night before care that their Black friends are going to a diferent prom.
The downward sloping bridge represents the downward path America is headed. A segregated prom in 2009 is the opposite of progress.
This relates to AIS’ Myths and Mythologies unit because there is a myth that because Obama is president, racism is dead in America. This myth is clearly only a myth because in 2009, there are still segregated proms in America.

Segregation in the United States? In 2009?!?!

Only a short week ago, if I was asked if it was legal in the United States of America if there as still legal segregation in America I would have replied no; then I read this article in the New York Times (so you know it is legitimate) In the month of May, students all over the United States start to prepare for their proms. While most schools have one prom per year, some have too. On May 1st, 2009 a school in Montgomery County in Georgia had their annual white only prom.  Yes, you did not misread that statement,  they had a white only prom (pictured above). The following night they had their black prom (which white students are allowed to attend).  While some may not believe it, there is still racism as well as racial inequality in America. One may wonder how it is possible to have a segregated prom, the answer is that the prom is not school funded, it is privately funded and that is how it has been going on for so long. I was reminded of this article when we were given our final exam question, whether we believe there is progress in America or not. I'm fairly certain most Americans would be very surprised to hear that there are segregated proms in 2009! Segregated proms have been a tradition in the Montgomery county schools in Georgia since schools were desegregated in 1971. 

"'It’s awkward,” acknowledges JonPaul Edge, a senior who is white. “I have as many black friends as I do white friends. We do everything else together. We hang out. We play sports together. We go to class together. I don’t think anybody at our school is racist.' Trying to explain the continued existence of segregated proms, Edge falls back on the same reasoning offered by a number of white students and their parents. 'It’s how it’s always been,' he says. 'It’s just a tradition.'" That was a quote I found interesting from the article. It is ridiculous that these white students can call the African American students their friends, yet they do not care that their prom is segregated. While the white students do not seem to think there is a problem with this, the black students do. You can hear students and parents from both sides talk about the problem by clicking here. One of the black students, Kera Nobles, feels extremely hurt that she cannot share her senior prom with her best friend, who is white, and that her friend does not seem to care. This article relates to our myths and mythologies unit because there is a myth in America that because Barack Obama is president, racism is dead in America. That is clearly a myth, racism is not dead. However, how can these people have a segregated prom if Barack Obama is president. The myth makes sense because you would think that if we can elect a black president we can have desegregated proms. 

American Progress

Yes, I'll admit, as man of the other American Studies students probably should, upon being assigned our final, to find a picture of American progress, I searched 'American progress' in google images. What the results yielded were very interesting. I received, and I kid you not, three and a half pages of American Studies' very own John Gast's painting "American Progress". If you do not believe me click here. While I probably should not be too surprised at the popularity of this image, I am kind of surprised it took up three and one half pages of google images (with  20 images per page). I guess I'll have to use a different method to find the picture of American progress for my final. Maybe I'll use an image of American un-progress. I guess I'm still undecided whether America is actually progressing or not. 

The Friendly Neighborhood Flag

For American Studies class we were asked to take a picture of a flag, any flag and analyze our choices. I took many pictures of flags and this is the one I choose. This flag flies in my neighbor's yard. It is the only flag within a couple blocks of my house. I was trying to get a picture of this flag that made it look more majestic, but the wind wasn't right. However, I like the way it turned out. The flag isn't perfect, but it is protecting the neighborhood, just like Spider-man, thus I call it the Friendly Neighborhood Flag. When we were assigned this project, I started to wonder where flags were by my house. The first flags I thought of belonged to New Trier and Highcrest, two schools near my house. I thought it was funny that I automatically associated the flag with school, so I decided not to go straight to one of the schools and take a picture of one of those flags. I talked to my family about it and my sister reminded me that our neighbor had a flag in their yard. I hadn't really noticed it before. I guess I knew it was there, but I hadn't remembered it until my sister had reminded me. Then I took several photos of the flag from my window and ended up choosing this one. I like it because the flag is centered in with a lot of nature, but if you look closely you can see houses and power lines. It also looks like the flag is standing guard over the neighborhood, like our stars and stripes are protecting us. 

Trouble

I am in trouble. This is really annoying. I exchanged a couple emails with a possible interview candidate a week and a half ago who said he wouldn't mind answering some questions. I sent him the interview questions and he still hasn't gotten back to me. I then proceeded to send out 4 more emails on Wednesday. I just got one back saying he would not have time to answer any interview questions, but gave me a link to one of his websites. This is really annoying because it would have only taken him a few more minutes than it took to answer the email to answer a couple questions.  I guess my only option now is to send the questions out to the other people and as a first email to other possible people. However, I do not have a lot of time because the paper is due on Tuesday!!  

Junior Theme Post 2

A week from today our rough drafts are due. I'm actually feeling pretty confident in my Junior Theme because I already have two body paragraphs done and I think they're pretty solid. The main thing I have to do now is set up my interview and then I'll be pretty much set.

Junior Theme Post 1

My Junior Theme question is, "Why do Americans Love Violence?" When I say violence I mean violence in movies, video games, sports, books, and other forms of entertainment. I do not mean actual real life violence. As I am writing this blog post, I am also writing the introduction to my Junior Theme. Its kind of hard to actually start writing this paper, there is so much pressure involved. This is the most important paper of the year! In fact, it could possibly be the biggest and most important paper I ever write. I cannot think of a grabber for the life of me. I've been looking for witty quotes, statistics, and real world examples, but I can't seem to find what I'm looking for... scratch that, I just found it. I'm using a grabber that relates to me. I'm using phrases such as "I love," I'm not sure if thats ok though. I guess I'll find out tomorrow in AS.