Reunite

“Mother, long-lost son finally meet more than 30 years later”’

By: Michael Martine, Casey Wian, and Gonzalo Alvarado

Source: CNN

 

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/23/us/mother-long-lost-son-reunion/index.html?hpt=us_c2

 

 

A mother in Wisconsin finally meets her long-lost son on Saturday. They have not seen each other for thirty-five years when her ex-husband took him away to Mexico.  They met at the San Diego airport and it was emotional. The mother only knows how to speak English and her thirty-seven-year-old son, David Amaya Barrick, only knows how to speak Spanish. His father took him to Mexico when he was only two years old. They were in Chicago at first. His mother, Kathy Amaya, is now sixty. David spoke to her in Spanish and he said, “I love you and I missed you a lot. I welcome you into my life.” Kathy responds with "I love you and I'm very happy to see you and I'm not going to let you go." They will be in San Diego and spending a couple of days together to catch up on life and know each other again. They will go back to Wisconsin and have Thanksgiving together. Kathy also has two other children. They are four adults and are half-siblings to David. The Two of them live with Kathy. Back in Mexico, David was arrested for illegally crossing the Mexican border. “The U.S. Border Patrol thought he and a Mexican national were smugglers because they were in the company of six Romanian nationals.” Bandits also robbed David of all his money and cell phone and only left him the clothes he was wearing. David did not have any identification at the time and he told the Border Patrol agents that he was a Mexican National but, as if the memory came out of the blue, he told them that he was a U.S citizen born in Chicago. The mother must have been devastated when her ex-husband took David away but all that waiting for thirty-five years was worth it. Now they have reunited and are happy again. The only sad part of this is that they are mother and son and do not have any mother and son memories together. Every person should have those memories that they remember as a child with their parents.

 

 

The Scarlet Letter

 

"Could it be true? She clutched the child so fiercely to her breast, that it sent forth a cry; she turned her eyes downward at the scarlet letter, and even touched it with her finger, to assure herself that the infant and the shame were real. Yes!—these were her realities,—all else had vanished!" Pg. 41, Nathanial Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter

 

The setting of this quote is in the 1650’s in Boston, Massachusetts. She was standing on the scaffold and there was an audience surrounding and staring at her. Hester was given the punishment of adultery by wearing a scarlet A on her blouse. She sewed A’s on all of her clothes. She made them luxurious and fancy. She made them artistic and much different than what the Puritans would wear during that time. The A draws attention and Hester did that on purpose. She made it all fancy and embroidered because she was not ashamed of what she had done. She walked on that scaffold with dignity and her held high but all the tables turned. Hester did not realize that her punishment would be horrible but once she stood on that scaffold she realizes the shame in what she had done. She is starting to deal with the shame she put on herself with the sinful crime she committed. She is in state of shock and thinks about her memories and tries to forget about her sins. This tells us that Hester is a strong woman with pride. She is at the lowest point of her life and realizes the shame in her sins but still manages to keep her head high. She has accepted the fact that she is going to be stuck with the A on her chest with the rest of her life and keeps her dignity throughout the novel.

Seventh Century Occupations

http://www.localhistories.org/17thcenturywomen.html

In the seventeenth century, women had a long list of jobs but being a teacher, lawyer, or doctor or having an occupation in that category was not open for women. Many women were spinning cloth for clothing. Others would make shoes or were embroidering clothes. Many would also tailor clothing and sew.. There were women who would sell products. There were washerwomen for people to bring their clothes to. Women were known for cooking and being a housewife back then and that was the common job women had back then. They were bakers or they would remain housewives and most would have servants also. Housewives were busy. Many men could not run a family or a farm without the help of a housewife. Those wives who had farmers for husbands would milk cows, feed animals and grow herbs and vegetables. The housewife had to bake the food for the family and clean the house and keep the family going. Housewives would also make candles and soap for their homes. The housewife was expected to have at least a decent amount of knowledge and some medicine to treat the family when they get ill. Many families could not afford a doctor so the housewives were better than nothing. If the housewife could not take care of the family the man would leave and find a more decent woman. Poor and middle class wives were busy but the rich were not off easy either. They had to organize and keep an eye on the servants and make sure they would not do anything out of the ordinary. If the husband was away she would run the household. Merchant’s wives usually did the accounting for them and if he was traveling or away she would keep an eye on the business. Usually when the merchant wrote his will he would leave his business to the wife and she would have to run it. Most women did not have any hard jobs. They were just time consuming.

 

 

Shotgun Mayhem

“Detroit-area man charged with murder in woman's porch death”

By: Jason Hanna and Leigh Remizowski

Source: CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/15/justice/michigan-woman-shot-charges/index.html?hpt=ju_t2

Paul Wafer, 54, who is from Detroit, was charged on Friday for second-degree murder. He accidently shot and killed nineteen-year-old Renisha McBride. She was found dead with a huge shotgun wound on her face. Wafer thought she was breaking and entering into his home. Police believe McBride was drunk and disoriented from a car crash before and Wafer shot her on his porch. He was behind a locked screen door and shot through that screen door but there was no evidence of Renisha trying to break in. He has no right to claim that he shot her to stop her. Prosecutor Kym Worthy told reporters Friday, “I am saying we do not believe he acted in lawful self-defense." No he did not. McBride did not do anything wrong. Maybe she was trying to get help from someone. Gerald Thurswell, lawyer for McBride’s family, says that he believes that all the evidence points to murder but if the jury disagrees they could go for manslaughter. "She was intoxicated. She may have been boisterous. She may have been loud. ... (But) this man had absolutely no justification to take a shotgun and blow her head off," Thurswell said. What Thurswell said was true. McBride was not doing anything wrong for her to get shot. Wafer acted in an unjust way. McBride’s family does not believe the shooting was accidental. Wafer is being held on bail for $250,000. This all seems ridiculous. A young girl who was just beginning her adult life as a woman was shot in an unjust way. That is not fair to her and her family.

Ralp Waldo Emerson

When reading certain texts, it is critical to analyze and think about what one is reading otherwise one will not understand what is going on. The book Education is one of those certain types of texts. Education is written by Ralph Waldo Emerson (speaker) who is an essayist, lecturer, and poet. Education was written in the 1820s-1830s (occasion). Although it was written in the earlier times, Emerson wanted to make sure people would understand what he is talking about in his essay so he wrote it in more modern English so people today could analyze and understand the concepts and aspects. Emerson did not merely write this essay for a group of people. He wrote this for everyone (audience). Emerson wanted everyone to realize how schools are teaching and treating their students. Emerson wants to teach everyone how students should be taught or what people should do when it comes to education. He wants to inform and reform (purpose). He mentions that teachers would sometimes hit their students. He wants the teachers to guide their students, not to be drill sergeants. Emerson is against the education system during that time (subject). He wanted students to have a better education than what they were receiving. Emerson is informative and seems to know what he is talking about in his essay. He writes it confidently and criticizes in a polite way (tone). Emerson wanted education to be preventative against all human forces and wanted education to be number one to people. Education was published after he died but Emerson still made an impact on life and education today.

Wake Me Up When People Stop Going Insane

“Man sees pregnant wife stabbed on videochat”

http://www.hlntv.com/article/2013/11/01/pregnant-woman-stabbed-facetiming-husband?hpt=hp_t3

By: Kisa Mlela Santiago and AnneClaire Stapleton

Source: HLN

Rachel Poole is in her ninth month of pregnancy. She is thirty-one and was video chatting with her husband, Army Pvt. Justin Pele Poole who is deployed overseas. During the video chat, Rachel was stabbed in the face and the stomach brutally. Rachel recognized the assailant and screamed his name over and over to her husband. Rachel called 911 and was rushed to the hospital and was in critical condition but her baby is alright. Rachel has stab wounds to the face and the body. The suspect is Corey Bernard Moss. He is nineteen-years-old. He was found by Fort Bliss Military Police and turned in. Apparently Moss was waiting in Rachel’s house for her to come home so he could attack her. Moss said that Rachel owed him money for fixing her car. Moss was charged with attempted murder and put in jail. His bond is $60,000. Justin Pele Poole went on his Facebook account and asked for help and information. He wanted to know which hospital Rachel is in and where Corey is. Justin said “I promised to give my life for this freedom not the other way around. I failed her but never again.” Justin is supposed to arrive home on Friday and it is unlikely for him to go back and finish his deployment. Seeing one’s loved one being stabbed right in front of them, even if it is on Facetime, is terrible. No one wants to see that happen, especially since the wife was pregnant and was on her last month. Corey could have waited a little longer, that money was not a huge deal.