Role Models in STEM Fields

When someone says "science", "technology", "engineering", or "math", what is the picture that pops into your head? Most people would likely answer that they think of a male. When asked to describe that image more, they would likely say that they think of a white male. They may continue with glasses or a lab coat, depending on how detailed they are and which of the four words that they heard. However, there are an abundance of people within the STEM fields from all different backgrounds, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, cultures, and beyond. Since students within schools are not only white males, they need to be able to see themselves reflected in STEM fields, so that they know their aspirations are validated and possible. If students can find role models in different STEM fields that they can identify with, they will know that those STEM fields are also possibilities for them to achieve, if that is what they desire. Sometimes, it is hard to find people that fit those qualifications. Since I wanted to start showing my students people they could see as role models, I thought I would also include this information on a blog in the hopes that it would help someone else as well.  This is in no way an exhaustive list, and it does not cover all of the accomplishments that these incredible people have achieved, but this is a good starting place.

Women in STEM fields: 

• Barbara Askins--She invented the autoradiograph.  The process used in the autoradiograph was used in astronomy, but became more popular when used to enhance X-ray images (Best_Schools, 2020).
• Ana Caraiani--She was born in Romania and has contributed greatly to the field of mathematics.  She has worked a lot with problems at the interface of the Langlands correspondence with arithmetic algebraic geometry (Best_Schools, 2020).
• Uma Chowdhry--She was born in India and has contributed to chemistry, engineering, and materials science.  She has worked on ceramics and superconductors, catalysis, proton conductors, microelectronics, and nanotechnology (Best_Schools, 2020).
• Jennifer A. Doudna--She has done a lot of work with biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology.  She has found a method for gene editing called "CRISPR/Cas9" which has revolutionized gene studies (Best_Schools, 2020).
• Faiza Mohammed Al-Kharafi--She was born in Kuwait.  She has worked with chemistry, electrochemistry, and technology.  She has been president of Kuwait University, and her scientific work has included corrosion in various technological systems (Best_Schools, 2020).  
• Mary-Claire King--She has worked with genetics.  Some of her important work has led to advances in breast cancer.  Because of her work, women can learn if they are more likely to deal with breast cancer, and those same techniques have been used to learn about other genetic illnesses (Best_Schools, 2020).
• Jane X. Luu--She was born in Saigon and fled South Vietnam at the age of 11.  She has done work on astronomy and astrophysics, including the discovery of Kuiper Belt (Best_Schools, 2020).
• Katia P. Sycara--She was born in Greece.  She has worked in computer science, artificial intelligence, and robotics.  She has done an abundance of work and has authored or co-authored more than 300 papers (Best_Schools, 2020). 

Black individuals in STEM fields: 

• Mark Dean--He was a computer programmer that worked for IBM.  Of the company's nine original patents, he actually held three of them!  He worked to develop the original home computer and devices that could connect to a PC (iD Tech).
• Guion Bluford, Jr.--He was the first black man to travel to space.  He was an engineer that took multiple trips to space and worked for NASA (iD Tech).
• Kimberly Bryant--She was an electrical engineer for years.  She also founded Black Girls Code (iD Tech).
• Katherine Johnson--She was a mathematician for NASA.  She, along with two other black women Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, were an integral part of NASA winning the Space Race (iD Tech).
• Mae Jemison--She was an astronaut that was the first African American woman in space.  She also is a doctor that worked for the Peace Corps (iD Tech).  
• Vivien Thomas--He was a surgical technician.  He contributed to operation techniques and helped ensure babies that had blue baby syndrome would get enough oxygen in their blood to help them survive.  He also helped create the Blalock-Taussig shunt (iD Tech).
• Marie M. Daly--She was the first African American woman to get a PhD in chemistry.  She helped to find a connection between high cholesterol and clogged arteries, shining light on the relationship between diet and bodily health (iD Tech).  
• Kunle Olukotun--He helped create the multi-core processor.  He also founded the Pervasive Parallelism Lab at Stanford, which worked to make creating software for multi-core processors easier (iD Tech).

Asian or Pacific Island individuals in STEM fields: 

• Liu Yang--She is Chinese.  She became the first female Chinese astronaut in 2012.  She was also a Chinese Air Force Pilot (Jankoski).
• Robert Tijan--He was born in Hong Kong and works in biochemistry.  He has contributed greatly to gene regulation and expression (Jankoski).
• Dr. Ted Fujita--He studied tornadoes, among a number of other things he was curious about.  His studies on tornadoes led him to create a six-point rating scale for them, named the Fujita Scale (Public Broadcasting Service).  
• Jerry Yang--He is Taiwanese-American.  He has done a lot of work with computer programming and the internet.  He was the co-founder of Yahoo! Inc (Public Broadcasting Service).
• Reshma Saujani--She is of Gujarati Indian descent.  She has a background working with in the legal field, but founded the technology organization Girls Who Code.  She has also written a book with the same name (Public Broadcasting Service).
• Satya Nadella--He is Indian-American.  Currently, he is the CEO of Microsoft (Public Broadcasting Service).
• Ellison Onizuka--He was Hawaiian.  He was an engineer and an astronaut for NASA.  He passed away on the Space Shuttle Challenger in a tragic accident at the age of 39 (Public Broadcasting Service).
• Chien-Shiung Wu--She was Chinese-American.  She worked with experimental physics and is often called the "First Lady of Physics".  She helped with the Manhattan Project and contributed much to nuclear physics (Public Broadcasting Service).  

Latinx individuals in STEM fields: 

• Arnaldo J. Diaz Vazquez--He has done a lot of research in pharmacology at Perelman School of Medicine.  He has worked with different pieces of technology and how they impact biological systems (Termini).
• Carolina Barillas-Mury--She has worked with a lot of research on mosquitos.  She has done research on mosquitos and other parasites impact malaria transmission (Termini).
• Ellen Ochoa--She was the first Hispanic/Latina woman in space as an astronaut.  She is also an engineer and was director of the Johnson Space Center (Termini).
• Enrique M. De la Cruz--He has done work with molecular biophysics and biochemistry.  His research centers around actin cytoskeleton, molecular motor proteins, and nucleotide signaling enzymes (Termini).
• Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado--He is a molecular biologist.  He has worked for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.  He has done a lot of research on how animal regeneration works (Termini).
• Pamela Padilla--She works for the University of North Texas and teaches classes on genetics and stress physiology.  Her research is centered around how organisms handle environmental stress (Termini).
• Ricardo Correa--He works at the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix.  His research has centered are endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism (Termini).
• Yarimar Carrasquillo--She currently does a lot of research.  Her research has centered around pathological pain states and what anatomical, molecular, and cellular mechanisms are relevant (Termini).

Native American/Indigenous individuals in STEM fields: 

• Andrea Delgado-Olsen--She is part of the Ione Band of Miwok Indians. She is a program manager for two companies. She is also the founder of Native American Women in Computing (Valley, 2017). 
• Dezbah Hatathli--She is a part of the Diné (Navajo).  She studied Anthropology and has held a number of occupations such as archeologist, crime science specialist, and dispatcher for the police, fire, and ambulatory services.  She is now a vehicle operations specialist (Valley, 2017).
• Jonathon Fisk--He is affiliated with the Taíno.  He has been working to get his PhD in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management.  He is queer, genderqueer, and disabled (Valley, 2017).
• Kat Li--She is affiliated with the Anishnaabe.  She has worked at both Quora and Stripe.  She also led a team at Digit, which is an automated savings tool (Valley, 2017).
• Luke Lightning--He is a part of the Buffalo Point First Nation.  He is a managing partner of LAUNCH, has worked as a researcher for biological technology.  He is involved with a number of multicultural and Native American heritage organizations and events (Valley, 2017).
• Matthew Yazzie--He is the founder and CEO of a nonprofit that works to gather, organize, and disperse diversity and inclusion data.  He has worked for a number of other socially conscious organizations and technology companies (Valley, 2017).
• Nicole Archambault--She is affiliated with the Wampanoag/Pokanoket Nation.  She created La Vie en Code, which is a blog, podcast, and online courses to assist others in teaching themselves and switching careers.  She is self-taught (Valley, 2017).
• Tara Astigarraga--She is a part of the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma.  She has been a part of IBM for almost two decades and fulfilled multiple roles within the organization.  She also has over 65 patents filed and feels strongly about STEM within schools (Valley, 2017).

LGBTQ+ individuals in STEM fields:

• Dr. Sally Ride--She was the first American woman in space. She also co-founded Sally Ride Science, which was a non-profit to get more women interested in STEM fields. Sally had a long-term relationship with her partner Tam O'Shaughnessy until Ride's death in 2012 (8 Influential..., 2020). 

• Alan Turing--He was a mathematician during World War II that was credited with breaking the Nazi Enigma Code. He passed away in 1954 at the age of 41 from suicide because of what many think to be the ramifications of him being outed as gay 2 years previously, which was considered a crime at the time (8 Influential..., 2020). 

• Jack Andraka--He developed a pancreatic detection tool at the age of 15! He is currently 23 and continuing to create new robotics and technological tools to assist with healthcare. He looked to Alan Turing as a gay role model and hopes to be that for others (8 Influential..., 2020). 

• Mary Gray--She is the author or co-author of multiple books while working as a Senior Researcher at Microsoft Research. She completes a lot of research on technology and how it impacts the world. She identifies as queer (8 Influential..., 2020). 

• Jon "Maddog" Hall--He worked as the Department Head of Computer Science at Hartford State Technical College and currently works as the Chairman of the Board for the Linux Professional Institute. He is a programmer and works with all sorts of computers in a variety of ways. He came out as gay in celebration of Alan Turing's 100th birthday (8 Influential..., 2020). 

• Martin Lo--He is a mathematician who has worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory since 1986. He developed the LTool to help determine trajectories for spacecraft (8 Influential..., 2020). 

• Lynn Conway--She helped create supercomputers and has worked at IBM, Memorex, and Xerox. She was born biologically male, but had gender reassignment surgery (8 Influential..., 2020). 

• Audrey Tang--She was considered an entrepreneur in Silicon Valley at the age of 19. She is Taiwan's youngest government minister and the first transgender Cabinet member. She was born biologically male and has had gender reassignment surgery (8 Influential..., 2020). 

• Tim Cook--He is the CEO of Apple and is gay (8 Influential..., 2020). 

References: 

8 Influential LGBTQ+ People in STEM to Celebrate This Pride Month. (2020, June 12). https://www.topcoder.com/8-lgbtq-people-in-stem-to-celebrate-this-pride-month/. 

Best_Schools. (2020, October 29). 50 Top Women in STEM. TheBestSchools.org. https://thebestschools.org/features/50-top-women-in-stem/. 

iD Tech. 16 Black STEM Innovators & Famous Leaders: Engineer Role Models. iD Tech. https://www.idtech.com/blog/black-stem-innovators-who-defined-modern-world. 

Jankoski, T. 5 STEM Leaders your Students Should Know About. https://blog.stemscopes.com/5-stem-leaders-your-students-should-know-about. 

Public Broadcasting Service. AAPI History Spotlight: Saluting STEM Pioneers. PBS. https://www.pbs.org/articles/2020/05/aapi-history-spotlight-saluting-stem-pioneers/. 

Termini, C. 100 inspiring Hispanic/Latinx scientists in America. Home. http://crosstalk.cell.com/blog/100-inspiring-hispanic-latinx-scientists-in-america. 

Valley, W. of S. (2017, November 29). Just 18 Really Awesome Native Folks in STEM. Medium. https://medium.com/women-of-silicon-valley/just-18-awesome-native-folks-in-stem-134211ff14cd.

Journal #44

There are many contemporary movies that are great, and they all show characteristics of Post Modernism. I will write about the Harry Potter movies, because they will all have the same characteristics. There is a lot of fear in all of the movies, because in all of them, Harry, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger all run and hide from He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, otherwise known as Voldemort. Voldemort killed Harry's parents and has terrorized the wizarding world for years since then. Everyone fears him, and Harry was the only one that survived his attacks, making him famous. He still fears Voldemort, because he thinks that Voldemort will be able to kill him this time, and in the meantime, he is trying to destroy all of the pieces of Voldemort's soul that he has split into seven pieces. There is also assimilation, because they are all wizards trying to get by in the wizarding world while still managing to hide from Voldemort. There is also the opposite in effect, because they are still in the world with all of the rest of the humans without magic, which they call Muggles. So they are not the same as all of those people, and they have to hide the fact that they are wizards or witches from everyone else as well. The lack of the individual is shown some, because at points, they all think that there is nothing special about them and that they are just like everyone else. They are teenagers in these movies, trying to figure out who they are, so it makes sense that they sometimes feel inferior or the same as everyone else, without showing who they really are. The opposite is in effect here as well, because at times, they know that they are the only ones that would be able to do what they are doing and that no one else is the same as them. At times they are very individualistic and selfish, and that shows that sometimes they are very sure of themselves. Many characteristics of Post Modernism are in the Harry Potter movies, and here are just a few.

Porter, Katherine A. "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall." Web. 17 Apr. 2011. .

"Katherine Anne Porter Biography." Famous Poets and Poems - Read and Enjoy Poetry. 2006. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. .

Pound, Ezra. "The River-Merchant's Wife: A Letter." Poets.org. New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1957. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. .

Liukkonen, Petri. "Ezra Pound." Www.kirjasto.sci.fi. 2008. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. .

"The American Novel . Literary Timeline . Movements . Modernism | PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Educational Broadcasting Corporation, 2007. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. .

Journal #43

Today we have to write about John Coltrane's song "Blue Train", which is a jazz song from the Modernism period of writing. This song shows a lot of different feelings and emotions in it through the tempo of the song and the range of notes that they play. In the beginning, the music starts out very slow, and it makes one really get into the music. I can picture the person in a small jazz club, playing their instrument with the drums and the piano in the background. I can see all of the people slowly closing their eyes and swaying along with the music. It quickly picks up speed, and the picture in my mind changes to a picture of people that are in rags for clothing all being together and celebrating something so they are dancing to the music. They are all extremely happy, and the beverages are definitely flowing. They have some people sitting on the side and just watching, but most of the people are dancing in the middle. They are being swung every which way, and their feet are moving at incredible speeds. The music then slows back down, and after a while the piano is the instrument that can be heard the loudest. This makes me feel like I am at an elegant party where the music is there on the side and everyone is socializing and talking to one another with flutes of champagne in their hands. The women are wearing beautiful dresses and the men are dressed in tuxedos. The music then speeds up again, but the piano is still the most easily heard. It is incredible how the transitions from slow to fast come so easily to them, because many people would not be able to make everything sound so smooth. Their group must have practiced this piece quite a bit, because it sounds absolutely perfect. They must have practiced incredibly hard when they were younger, and it definitely paid off.

Realism vs. Modernism

Realism and Modernism are both alike, yet also have many differences. Realism tried to be very realistic about what they were portraying. They wanted things to be seen they way that they were, and they did not try to make anything seem better or worse. Meanwhile, Modernism was often disillusioned, or showed signs of disillusionment. They enjoyed showing how people at the time had believed in so many different things like the government, society, and even their families, that all in the end betrayed them. They showed how there were many things that were happening at that time to cause them to second guess everything that they had believed in their entire lives. Realism, however, did nothing of the sort. They continued to discuss things realistically as they were, and did not try to put hidden meanings or motives behind it. Realism definitely worried more about what was happening here and now. They wanted to talk about what was going on in their lives at that very moment, and they were not really worried about their past or about their future. Modernism was much the same way, because they were more worried about what was happening to them right at that second. Sometimes they may look to the future and try to make some plans, but for the most part they were not really worried about it. They worked very hard to make do with what they had at the present, so they did not necessarily try to think about what they would have to come up with to survive the next few weeks or even days. Modernism involved things that happened at that time, such as the Great Depression, World War I, and the rations that many of them relied on for food daily. Realism was concerned about being in the moment, but they were not worried about it, because they had nothing huge to worry about. They may have had day-to-day worries, but it is a lot less likely that they had huge things to think about like the Modernists did. Realism also had many different aspects that can change the way that we think of it. We can think of it as Regionalism, which is a ton different than normal versions of Realism. Regionalism is nothing like Modernism. Regionalism is all about certain regions of the United States. Regionalism was more boasting about what a certain part of the United States had to offer than it was about different problems that Americans were facing at the moment. Regionalism and Modernism really are not alike at all, and that is just one more way that Realism and Modernism are so different. While both can have many advantages and disadvantages, they are both enjoyed by most people that read them. It is hard to compare the two because they can be so alike, but at the same time, it is possible to tell the difference, because they involve different topics that are both necessary. Realism and Modernism can be alike in many ways, but they also have vast differences that allow us to make them different things.

Job Shadowing

I job shadowed a teacher named Mrs. Petit from A-C Central. She taught a class of first graders that were really fun. There were only fourteen of them, but that made the day a lot easier, because I had less names that I needed to learn. The children were adorable, and very fun to be around. Some of the day was mildly boring, because I just had to sit there and listen. While I know that is what I am supposed to do, I would have loved to have been able to actually take part in helping to teach the children. I got to see them do many different things, such as music, physical education, computers, and library. It was fun to watch them all do many different things, and it helped give me a better feel for the different areas of teaching. I also got to see different reading levels, and that also helped me to realize that the children are not all at the same level. One of the young girls was a fantastic reader, but she had a hard time paying attention, so she ended up being put in the slow reading group because her mom requested it. This all helped me realize that teaching can be complicated, and working with parents on different topics is just as important as working with the children. I will need to be organized and engaging, and that will make everything go a lot more smoothly. I can definitely see myself teaching, and this experience only added to the knowledge that I am trying to gain to get there.

Journal #42

There is a lot of controversy over who people prefer to read, Walt Whitman or Emily Dickinson. Personally I would prefer to read Emily Dickinson, because she makes a lot more sense to me than Walt Whitman does. Walt Whitman was a very complicated poet, and he made every poem that he wrote have multiple meanings. Personally I prefer to sometimes have poems that I can take at face value and that are very literal, so it is a lot better for me to read Emily Dickinson. I prefer to read some of the complicated poems every once in a while, but quite often I prefer to read the poems that are simple and easy to follow. Walt Whitman tried to talk about very complex things in every single poem that he wrote, because he tried to write about Self, the every man, God, Christianity, or America in every single poem that he ever wrote. It may not have always been about all of those things, but almost every time he writes about more than one of those themes. He also writes things in a very complicated way that is quite often very hard to follow. He is very egotistical in his poems, because he says everything is him and about him and he is God and everyone else is God as well, and I do not agree with that. I do not like Whitman from what I have seen from him, and he kind of makes me mad. I much prefer Emily Dickinson, because she is a lot more simple with what she is trying to say. It is also easier, because even if she is trying to be complex, she is still a lot easier to understand than Whitman ever was. Whitman and Dickinson were not popular during their lifetimes, because many people did not agree with them or did not have their poetry. Whitman and Dickinson were both extremely popular poets after their deaths, and many people continue to read them even today.

"The way I read a letter's this:" - Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson was a unique poet that does not fit well into any specific literary category. She wrote many, many poems, that all became incredibly popular after her death. She wrote about any number of things, and her poems are very diverse. Some of them are incredibly literal and have nothing hidden in their meaning, but there are also some that are completely loaded with hidden meaning and other interpretations, so it is often hard to figure out what one will be getting in any given poem. I read a poem by Emily Dickinson that was called "The way I read a letter's this:". This poem basically talks about the speaker reading a letter from their lover. It talks about how the person wants to hide in the very back of their room and open the letter very secretively, so no one else can see the beauty of it or can feel how intimate it is. She is trying to show how meaningful and heartfelt that kind of thing can be, and how important they are to the person that receives them. Emily Dickinson talks all about how she checks every step of the way that no one is following her or sneaking in to see the letter. She talks about how she constantly feels for the letter, and makes sure that there is no way that she could drop it anywhere along the way. She talks about hiding in the corner so that she will be the only one to see how sacred and pure and amazing it is. She wants to make sure that she feels the full effect of the letter and all of the emotions that go along with it, so she makes sure to go into a private room that may well be a sanctuary for her. She talks about how she feels after reading the letter and soaking up all of the goodness that it can give to her. She talks about how much she wants her lover and how being with her lover would be heaven to her. Not the conventional heaven, but her heaven. This poem is very literal and it would be hard to take it different ways. It does not relate to Christianity, because this letter is more between lovers than it would be between a father and a son. It might be mildly awkward for people in those positions to have those feelings for each other, so it is difficult to think about. There is no hidden meaning that Christ wrote letters or received letters from lovers, so Christianity does not fit. There is not a hidden meaning, because only lovers should have these feelings for each other, because it would be awkward for family members to feel this way about each other. Friends might be able to feel this way about each other, but they might want something more with the other person if they feel this way. This poem is pretty simplistic, but it is still very meaningful and shows a lot of depth and emotion.

Dickinson, Emily. "24. “The Way I Read a Letter’s This.” Part Three: Love. Dickinson, Emily. 1924. Complete Poems." Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds More. Web. 21 Mar. 2011.

"Érudit | Romanticism on the Net N38-39 2005 : Mayer | Finding Herself Alone: Emily Dickinson, Victorian Women Novelists, and the Female Subject." Érudit. Web. 22 Mar. 2011. .

Journal #41

I read Emily Dickinson's poem "A Word is Dead" The poem says simply this:

"A word is dead
When it is said,
Some say.
I say it just
Begins to live
That day."

I think that she is trying to say a number of things. She is trying to say that while some people think that words do not last any longer than the length of time is takes to say them. They think that words are dead things that can not mean anything and can not make a lasting impression on anyone. Dickinson, on the other hand, completely disagrees. She thinks that words can last for a long time. She thinks that words can last forever, and that can definitely make a lasting impact on a lot of people. She says that words, such as those used in speeches or famous letters, can make people do a number of things, and they can also make people believe a number of things, whether or not they are true. Words are very powerful, which Emily Dickinson knew very well. She understood their importance, and she saw them as living things that last forever, no matter what anyone else around her thought. She knew that words could make a huge impact, no matter how small the word is, because of people's interpretations of the word and the situation. Words could also mean a number of other things, because they could be interchanged with quite a few things that other people do not consider important, but she believes to be so. They could be synonymous with things such as plants or animals, which Dickinson spent much of her time studying and writing about. She could see the power and importance in every situation, while many people could not, because they did not spend as much of their time sitting out studying nature and the things that are in it. Dickinson saw quite a few things that other people did not, and she saw the good, beauty, and importance in every situation.

Journal #40

Whitman's "Self" is supposedly the same in every single person, and when he found what "Self" was, he would be able to figure things out and let it apply to everyone in the entire world. I disagree with Whitman, in that I do not think that "Self" is the same in every single person. I think that every person is different, because everyone has their own unique traits, characteristics, personality, and reactions. Everyone reacts to things differently. Some people are calm in the face of danger and do not show their reactions at all, while some people totally freak out and let their emotions play across their faces like they are an open book. Some people are not easily scared, while others jump when the toaster pops with their toast. Some people are incredibly organized, while others are so messy, that they can not find anything that they ever need. On a deeper level, some people believe in Christianity, some in Buddhism, some in Hinduism, some in Muslim, some believe in Scientology, some in Atheism, and people believe everything in between. Those are more philosophical thoughts, and if people do not believe the same thing, how can they have the same "Self"? At the same time, though, people normally all have the same wants and desires on a basic level. We all need food, water, and shelter, and we all want to be loved and cared about. No one in the world can say that they would be able to live on their own their whole lives, because we were made so that we, by human nature, need to have company. If we do not have people or pets around us, we will make something into company, as "Wilson" was created in "Castaway". People may not all believe the same things and not think that all of the same things are true and correct, but we have some of the same needs on a basic level, so it depends on where one is searching for "Self".

"BEAT! BEAT! DRUMS!" - Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman wrote this poem differently than some of the rest of his poems. This poem is about the Civil War, and how the Civil War changed the lives of many Americans. This poem is talking about how all of the troops would march through all of the towns. Whitman was explaining that they should not stop for any reason at all, and that the drums and the bugles should never stop playing their music. Whitman said that they should not listen to any requests from anyone along the streets that wanted them to stop. They should not listen to the mothers that wanted their children back, and they should not listen to the people that just wanted to sit there and talk about the war. The whole point of a war is that negotiations did not work, so all of the soldiers need to go to war. Whitman may also be saying that the drummers and buglers should not stop not matter what, because the soldiers count of the musicians to help give them all the commands, and if the drummers or the buglers stopped, some soldiers could die that did not need to, because they would not know what they should be doing. He could be telling the soldiers the same message in turn through the musicians, because they can never give up as well. This poem fits well with his theme of the "Everyman", because this applies to every person that was in the military. It would have been easy for him to write this poetry, because he was a nurse in the army during the Civil War. This poem fits everyone in the military, because he is telling every single person that they should not give up. They are all going through some of the same things and understand what the others are experiencing, so they can all relate to these poems really well. This poem does not have anything to do with Christianity, because this poem is about the Civil War and how the soldiers in it should do their best, and since the Civil War was not about Christianity or how it relates to the world, Christianity is not in this poem. Walt Whitman also carried a notebook with him where he wrote some things that eventually turned into poetry. This could have easily been inspired by him seeing soliers walk by, which makes the poem that much more meaningful. Whitman wrote many poems from the Civil War era, and they probably came from many different inspirations, but Whitman had the chance to remember where he came up with every single poem that he wrote because he wrote all of his notes in the notebook that he carried everywhere with him. People are able to relate to his poems more easily since the know that they all had legitimate, good inspiration. Walt Whitman was a very controversial poet that wrote some awkward things, but this poem was good and it helped explain to many people the difficulties of wars.


"Whitman's Wartime Washington." American Studies @ The University of Virginia. Web. 08 Mar. 2011. .

Whitman, Walt. "BEAT! BEAT! DRUMS! (Leaves of Grass [1891-1892])." The Walt Whitman Archive. Web. 09 Mar. 2011. .

"A Woman Waits for Me" - Walt Whitman

"A Woman Waits for Me" is a very descriptive poem of what a man does to a woman to create children. There are many metaphors in it, so younger children may not understand it to be what it really is, but most people understand the poem. It is complicated to explain and define, but it has some of the same characteristics as the rest of Whitman's poems, so comparisons to the rest of his poems and showing how they are all related is mildly easy. In this poem, Whitman talks about women that can do everything that men can do, which at the time was insane. He talks about women that can swim or row boats or wrestle or shoot guns, which was all completely unheard of at the time. At that time, women were just beginning to get rights, so to think that they would be not only equivalent of men with their rights but also man's equal in what they can do was a completely new idea. This brought about a lot of controversy at the time, and since Whitman was already involved in a lot of controversy, this did not help his cause. His critics loved this, because they could call him crazy and rage about him and his works by pointing to this. They could explain that he was out of his mind because he thought that women could be the same as men. They could show that women did not even have the rights to vote, so if they could not vote, why would they even want to be like men? They could claim that those women would not be a good or real part of society, so Whitman was insane for even trying to say that that kind of woman would exist. This poem also confused many of his friends, because he was a homosexual, so for him to be talking about women in such a sensual way. His friends may have wondered if he had become heterosexual or bisexual, and since he did not, this poem was guaranteed to have confused all of his friends that did not know his inspiration for the poem. People do not know the inspiration of his poem now, and that is why we all marvel about what he was thinking and how he could talk about women in such a sensual way if he was a homosexual male. Even some of the critics that loved his works and thought he was amazing did not know what to think about this poem. They may have thought that he was going crazy. They may have thought that in his quest for "Self" he had lost his mind. He could have been trying to get in a woman's mind, but they probably did not agree with what he said, because he said women would be able to do the same things as men could do, which was also a big controversy at the time. This poem is extremely controversial, and peope today still do not know what to think of it.

Whitman, Walt. "Leaves of Grass (1891-92)." The Walt Whitman Archive. Web. 07 Mar. 2011. .

Whitman, Walt, and M. J. Killingsworth. "1856:Poems of Sexuality and the Body." The Cambridge Introduction to Walt Whitman. 45. Print.

Journal #39

Walt Whitman's "Bardic Symbols" is a very confusing poem. It is hard to understand, so it is hard to read into it and try to get knowledge from it. It is about a man walking beside the sea and how cold the sea was. The man wants the ocean to like him and he cries out to the ocean, but to no avail. There are many words in this poem that are not used in everyday life, and that could confuse a great number of people. William Dean Howell agrees in his criticism of "Bardic Symbols", and he shows how people did not understand Whitman or his poetry at that time. Whitman often discusses the Everyman, America, or Christianity or spirituality in his poems, and that is an easy thing to look for as a common theme throughout all of his works. "Bardic Symbols" is a harder poem to read into, but I did not see anything about Christianity in this poem. There may be some spirituality because of how emotional and sensual he gets, but that depends on the interpretation. He becomes very sensual in the poem and it becomes mildly awkward because he is being sensual with the ocean and the beach, which he calls his mother and father. Many people would not understand that, and that might make the not like the poem and eventually not like Whitman himself. There is not much about the Everyman, but people could all walk along the beach like he does. He is not talking about something that is expensive or hard to do, so everyone would be able to walk along the beach like he did here. There is also some about America, because the poem is set along a beach in Manhattan. He is discussing how beautiful it is while is calm outside and when it is stormy outside. Whitman was a very controversial poet, and as seen in Howell's criticism, many Americans did not understand his works at that time.

Whitman, Walt. "Whitman's Poems In Periodicals—Bardic Symbolsa Machine Readable Transcription." The Walt Whitman Archive. Web. 03 Mar. 2011. .

Howell, William D. ""Bardic Symbols": [Review]." The Walt Whitman Archive. Web. 03 Mar. 2011. .

"When I Read the Book" - Walt Whitman

In "When I Read the Book" by Walt Whitman, Whitman talks about boigraphies. He declares that he has read a biography. He wonders if when he dies, someone will write a book about him, and he wonders if that person will know anything about his life. He also says that sometimes he wonders how much he actually knows about his life, because he only catches hints of himself. He rarely sees his true self, and realizes that the few hints of his true self that he does see, he uses to their full extent to try to find the "Self" that everyone fits into. Whitman claims that if anyone wanted to write a good biography of him, it would be best for them to write their book from all of his poetry in "Leaves of Grass". He claims that people would find the best and most true part of him in his works, and most of his works were collected together to create "Leaves of Grass", which was revised a number of times and had many works added to it before its final completion. Whitman could have been thinking about a number of things when he was writing this poem, but it is most likely that he was thinking about all of the critiques that he had been getting. He had not been getting very good reviews, because most people either loved him or hated him, and he probably thought more about the bad reviews than he did the good ones. He was curious about what the people who had written the bad reviews of his works would say about him after he passed. He wanted to know what they would put in his biography, and he wondered if they would be nice about him and portray his life in a good light, or if they would hate him and be rude about him and portray his life as an awful thing that did not need to happen. Thought the reviews were mostly supposed to be about his works, many reviewers slammed him, as well as his works, which did not help his self-esteem at all. He may have felt really bad about himself because of all of the things that he had been hearing, but he did not let it get to him enough that he stopped writing. He persevered through many hard things in his life, and that can be reflected in some of his poetry, because he wrote about things that inspired him. He wrote many different poems that were very diverse in their inspirations and in their style. He talked about obituaries and the circle of life; he talked about ploughmen and the noises of America. Whitman was a very controversial author that got mixed reviews, but many authors now are influenced by his works, because he wrote in a style that was new at that time. His style blew minds at that time, because nothing had ever been done remotely life it before. People now do whatever they want in poetry, and that comes from Walt Whitman and his revolutionary changes to poetry.

Whitman, Walt. "WHEN I READ THE BOOK. (Leaves of Grass [1891-1892])." The Walt Whitman Archive. Web. 02 Mar. 2011. .

Oliver, Charles M. ""When I Read the Book"" Critical Companion to Walt Whitman: a Literary Reference to His Life and Work. By Walt Whitman. 235. Web. 2 Mar. 2011. .

Journal #38

"As I Watched the Ploughman Ploughing" is a short poem about life and death, and how they are related to plowing, sowing, and harvesting. This work shows that life and death are like the seasons, and they all come at some point. Walt Whitman says that life is like plowing or sowing. He says that they come in their own season and that there is a specific time for it. He also says that harvesting is like death. This could be tied to Christianity in that Whitman could be saying that there is a divine being like God that is doing the plowing, sowing, and harvesting of people. He could be saying that God is in charge of when people are born and when people die. There is also a passage in the Bible that says things along the lines of "There is a time for everything, there is a season for everything under Heaven". It is along those lines, and that can also be tied to this poem. This poem is very similar and it says basically the same idea in a different way. Whitman could have read that passage, and he could have realized that he wanted to write about it or write something similar to it. He also could have just heard the passage as a child and not really remembered it when he grew up. He could have subconsciously remembered it, and used it as his inspiration, even thought he did not really know what he was talking about. Whitman could have gone to a church one day, heard that passage, and realized that he would be able to sell many copies of a book or poem if it was about that passage, because the passage was so optimistic and comforting when something bad happens. Whitman definitely had some roots in Christianity, and it shows in some of his works; it especially shows in this work. This poem is incredibly spiritual, and it can be inspirational to any number of people.

Whitman, Walt. ""As I Watch'd the Ploughman Ploughing"" Leaves of Grass. 1900. Print.

Walt Whitman's "Self"

Walt Whitman was a very unique poet, who wrote of many things that were controversial at the time. He was not afraid to speak of things like sexuality, and many people considered his conceited. He can be taken a number of ways, because he speaks of the world and how everything is one. He tries to say that everyone is everyone else and is also God at the same time, so many people are not sure how to perceive him. He was a complicated man, with many emotions, and it helped him a lot in his poetry writing.
Whitman emphasized Self very much in his poetry, and he does it in many ways. He tries hard to show that everyone is the same as everyone else. This could be taken to say that everyone should have the same rights, because they are all the same people, but at the same time, they are all God as well. So, it could also be taken that all people should have all of the same rights as God, because they are all the same and they are also all God. This helps to show how complicated his works were and how far ahead of his time he really was.
Whitman uses Song to factor into Self in a poem called “One’s-Self I Sing”. In this poem he talks about how bodies do not matter and really do not count for anything. He says he is cheering for males and females alike, and that meant a lot from him, because he often was on the fringe when discussing sexuality. He often put women down quite a bit, and it is surprising that he would cheer for women as much as he would cheer for men. He claims that bodies do not matter, because he is talking about souls and how souls are all the same because everyone is the same person. He says that brains also are not the only things that are needed, because, while they are a part of the body that is vitally important, they do not complete the body, and that is what he wants. He wants the whole thing to come packaged together nicely in a set, because he claims that makes things much better and easier. He claims that songs can help oneself in that they can make one much more cheerful and can help give one much passion, which he explains as very important in the life of a person. He realizes that people need to be happy to really live, and he says that songs will definitely help them do that. He also wants people to be modern and up to date, because he thinks that will help the self become much better and much more complete. He realizes that there are many components to being a good soul, and he really thinks that songs will help humans achieve that amazing soul.
Walt Whitman was a very influential writer that has been compared to Shakespeare. He wanted people to think of the Self as the most important part of the being, and people were split about whether they should listen to him or not. There were not many people that were on the fence about him, because most people were either whole-heartedly for him, or they were whole-heartedly against him. Many people will argue for days about whether or not his writings were egotistical, and that all depends on where people draw the line. He may not have thought that he was crossing the line while other people did, and that makes his works very controversial. He was a good author and he had new ways to convey his thoughts and meanings, but new things are not always taken well in the beginning and his works were not an exception.

Journal #36

My favorite meal is probably Thanksgiving dinner at my grandmother's house. She cooks an unusual Thanksgiving dinner, because we eat with her for lunch, and we go to my father's mother's house for supper. She knows that we will have the standard Thanksgiving dinner for supper, consisting of turkey and sometimes ham, mashed potatoes, noodles, rolls, deviled eggs, and often some other things as well. At my mother's mother's house, we eat turkey or ham, macaroni and cheese (my favorite food), potatoes, green beans or corn, delicious rolls with jelly, and all of it in abundance. The meat is always cooked perfectly, with steam billowing off of it and it is very easy to cut. The macaroni and cheese is made from scratch, and it is amazing. The cheese is gooey and the noodles are delicious. The potatoes are very soft and buttery, and they are always very hot. I do not like green beans, but my family does, so they always eat some and they say that they are really good. I like the corn, because it is also buttery, which is always a good thing. The rolls are always soft and flaky, and the jelly is also cold and homemade. She always makes the most delicious food, and I absolutely love going to her house. She always has amazing food, and every morning that we are there for breakfast, she makes us cinnamon rolls. They are so soft and chewy, and the icing is dripping down the sides. They may be store-bought, but they taste as if they are homemade, because she puts so much love into them. She makes amazing cookies that are known throughout half of the junior class, and she also has homemade icing that has been spread throughout our family, and I love going to her house to eat, because she always makes the best food. Everything that she makes is homemade and delicious, because she cares so much about the people that she is making the food for.

Journal #35

It would be very hard to be a reporter during a war, because it would be just like being in the army, without killing people and having to interview people and give reports. It would be just as scary as having to fight in the war while overseas, and it would be the same amount of danger. Since one would be staying with the troops, one would have the same worries of ambushes in the middle of the night, of bombs randomly blowing up and hurting, maiming, or even killing people, oneself included, and of being shot while one is trying to get the latest news. It can be very complicated being in the trenches overseas with troops, and it shows that people will go to great lengths just to know the latest news about what is happening, when we could in all reality go about getting the news in different ways. We could try to find people in the troops that may have wanted to get a degree in news or reporting but could not afford the schooling without going into one of the armed forces. We could give them the chance to help us and tell us everything that they see and know about the war, because then we would not have to send any extra people there with writing articles or cameras or any other utensils needed for the news. We would not get in the way of the troops, because they would not have to deal with the extra people and the extra duties that they would bring. We would not have to feed all of them, protect all of them, or clean up after them. If we did want to bring reporters, we should make them care for themselves, because they are just adding to the work of the troops, who are already occupied full-time with their safety and trying to win battles in the war. There are pros and cons to being a reporter in the trenches with the troops, but I would definitely not want to do it.

Jack London — "To Build a Fire"

"To Build a Fire" is the story of a man who was out in the wilderness trying to reach his friends (London). He was following a trail that went through the woods and it was negative fifty degrees outside and rapidly dropping (London). He had a dog with him that was following him to his friends' house (London). He wanted very much to get there, although an old man in a shop that he had passed through warned him not to travel (London). The old man said that it was too cold and too dangerous to travel outside without a hiking partner (London). The man did not heed the old man's warning and went out hiking anyway (London). He managed to avoid most of the holes that were filled with water, but eventually his foot went through one and started to freeze (London). He had matches with him, so he built a fire and lit it to keep him warm (London). However, the tree that he was pulling branches from dropped all of its snow on him and his fire (London). He had to keep moving and try to build another fire (London). He kept trying and kept trying, but his fingers were going numb because he had to take his mittens off to make the fire (London). Soon, all of his extremities were numb, and the man started to panic (London). He started running down the path as fast as he could, which on numb, frostbitten feet was very hard (London). He kept stumbling and falling, and eventually he gave up trying (London). He lay down and waited for the cold to take him, and he quickly fell asleep and passed away (London). The dog lay for a while, waiting for its master to get up, but when he realized his master was dead, he went back in the direction of their camp so he could find a new owner (London). This work is Realist, because it is in the moment and realistic. It is kind of ridiculous that it is so cold, but it is realistic that someone would go out hiking alone and freeze to death (London). It is not Naturalistic, because there is no studying of the man or his feelings, just descriptions of them (London). It is also not Regionalistic, because while there is mention of the landscape, there is no promotion behind it (London). This work does not really reflect society, because it is about one man and his opinions and methods (London). There is nothing about religion or government, and there is a little about nature, in how cold it was and how the snow hindered his progress (London). There is also some about how the rivers and streams, while frozen over, still could be broken through to make things freeze (London). There was not much about human nature, but there is some in the fact that people are stubborn and do not always want to listen to others that may be more knowledgeable (London). There is also nothing about the American Dream, because this man is not planning anything for the long term, he is more worried about reaching his friends (London). There is no figurative language and there is also nothing about a Hero, because there is no American Dream (London). London wrote this very well, and it is almost heartbreaking when the man dies.

London, Jack, Douglas Fisher, Beverly A. Chin, and Jacqueline J. Royster. ""To Build a Fire"" American Literature. Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm. Columbus: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 2009. 601-14. Print.

Edwin Arlington Robinson – "Richard Cory" and "Miniver Cheevy"

These two works are also very different, even though they are by the same author. They both tell stories of people yearning for something that they do not or can not have (Robinson). In "Richard Cory", everyone thought that he was the greatest thing on earth and that he had everything and could never be in want (Robinson). They went home and cursed the few things that they owned, when suddenly, Richard Cory killed himself by shooting himself in the head (Robinson). No one could believe it because of how amazing they thought he was, but he obviously wanted something that he could not have and he found no alternative solution (Robinson). In "Miniver Cheevy", Miniver is a young boy that was born in the time period that the work was written, but he had always wanted to be with King Arthur and his knights (Robinson). He always felt like something was missing and that he would never be able to do what he really wanted to do, because he really wanted to live in that time period, and that was basically all he could think about becuase his desires consumed him that much (Robinson). He was desperate for the chance to live with King Arthur, but he never got the chance (Robinson). These works fit in the Realist period becuase they are both realistic (Robinson). Often, it seems like the people that have the most or are the greatest are more likely to kill themselves, and it is totally plausible for someone to kill themselves(Robinson). It is also realistic that people feel like they were born in the wrong time period, and feel like they should be able to go back in time so that they could fit in and find somewhere to belong (Robinson). They are in the moment, and they are full of emotion as well (Robinson). These works are not in the Naturalist period, because they have nothing to do with science or the evaluation of humans or their reactions to certain situations (Robinson). These works are also not Regionalistic, because they have nothing to do with land or any regions whatsoever, so they can not be from the Regional time period (Robinson). These works reflect society pretty well, because they proclaim that everyone wants something that they can not have, and they can go mad over not getting it (Robinson). These works have nothing with religion or with government, and there is nothing in there about nature (Robinson). These do reveal things about human nature, however, and they are things such as the need for more and the desire to have the best (Robinson). These ideas have been taught to people since they have been born, and by this time it is human nature to want to have and be the best. These works have not much about the American Dream, except for the fact that they both want something that they can not have (Robinson). There is no figurative language, and there is nothing about a Hero, because these poems end well for neither of the subjects (Robinson). Robinson did a good job in writing these poems, because they are intruiging and the endings are unexpected.

Robinson, Edwin A. ""Richard Cory"/"Miniver Cheevy"" American Literature. Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Douglas Fisher, Beverly A. Chin, and Jacqueline J. Royster. Columbus: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 2009. 573-76. Print.