Week 05

Dear Principal,

It has come to my attention that lamentably certain history is being edited out of classrooms. I feel that at a high school level, this should not be happening whether it is being edited out of textbooks or censored by school boards. Don't half inform us out of fear that the history is too strong, disturbing or controversial.
As a student I go to school to learn. I go to school expecting and trusting that my teachers are giving me precise information. In math, teachers don't half teach equations, but instead shine light on all angles to better our understanding. In my anatomy, english, nor french textbooks do they cut out needed information, yet my history book do? Why? This shouldn't be a Scopes Trail event.
I can not fully grasp a subject, and I doubt fellow classmates can, if the part that impacts is taken out. A history teacher shouldn't have to say "the Rape of Nanking devastated China" and move on, or worse not even mention the genocide. From the very start of our academic carrier we were taught to ask the Five W's; who, what, when, where, and why; however, now as we advance they take them away. To only know that the Chinese and Japanese have a conflict that helps trigger World War Two doesn't do much for me and makes me feel like it must not be important if the teacher is so lightly going over it. A conflict doesn't make me think 300,000 killed and 20,000 raped.
More over, the life of those people that died are being degraded in a way by not talking about it. In 8Th grade a poster I saw a poster that really stuck with me that read "The worst thing we can do is forget." The background was of a little girl with older men faded in a concentration cap. The little girl had every day clothes on but with a the star of David sown on her dress while the older men were just skin and bones with very few clothes on. I agree with the poster, what a down fall it would be to forget the extent of the Holocaust and run the danger of it some day being erased from history. Don't let those deaths along with other acts of genocide not mean anything.
Each time teachers are forced to deny and skip a part of history to their students they are forced to conform and lower standards which then goes into a cycle that only leads to no history at all being taught. As a principal you should encourage classes teaching the subject they are meant to.



Sincerely, Natalia Riveros- Martinez
Student of Celebration High School

Week 04

This picture is an over reaction of the people's expressions when James is paying back the money he was lent. I chose this scene because only for his kids did he swallow his pride and go ask for money and I feel like in this scene James goes back to feeling a little worthier and having some real hope in that things are turning around for the better. Sometimes people do things that to them seems like has no value but to another person it does. The way people looked at him and whispered while he walked up to the teller and gave money back, I think contributes to him feeling prominent and more empowered over his economic situation.



Outline: Cinderella Man

1) Beginning
• James J. Braddock young light weight boxer that’s never been knocked out
• Married to Mae Braddock and has 3 kids, two boys and a girl
• Irish background living in New Jersey
• Economically stable
2) Four Years Pass
• Still married with kids, wife very supportive, living in New York
• Start of the Great Depression
• No stable job, losses boxing gig due to bad performances, money struggles
• Fighting on a bad hand for four years, not letting heal completely
• Son gets sick soon after electricity gets turned off
• Due to wife sending kids away James feels like he’s hit rock bottom
• Asks friends and ex-coworkers for money to turn power back on to get kids back home
3) Good Friend
• Best friend (also manager) gets him a fight that pays $250 win or lose
• June 14Th 1934 wins against heavy weight Griffin
• Goes and pays back the money lent to him
• Best friend works hard to convince the boss man to let James fight again
• Manager sells everything to get “Jimmy” in shape
• Nov. 13, 1934 fights another heavy weight and wins
• March 22, 1935 breaks ribs in a fight but still wins
4) New Friend
• A friend from the docks he met a couple years back is really struggling
• Friend has no more money and goes to Hoover Ville in Central Park
• Friend dies leaving behind a wife and kids to fend during the depression
5) Cinderella Man
• Gets new nick name from a reporter because for his inspirational life story
• Thanks to his success he gets ready to fight heavy weight Champion
• Max Baer on his way to the top kills 2 men while boxing
• Mae Braddock sacred for James’ life and doesn’t want him to fight but later understands why it’s so important to him to fight vs. Baer
• June 13, 1935 in Madison Square Garden Bowl fights an intense fight and comes out with a win, still never of been knocked out
6) Life After
• James continues fighting for another season but loses
• Goes on to own and work in construction of the Verrazano Bridge
• Moves and buys a house for wife and kids that they live in for the rest of their lives

http://www.jamesjbraddock.com/
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Max_Baer.html
http://depts.washington.edu/depress/hooverville.shtml