QTPC #18

The smell of the convention center was so bad I wanted to plug my nose while doing the take. It smelt like urine, rotten food and dead bodies. Everything in the town looked terrible and in very poor condition after day 4.

Talking Point: I want to know why it took the government 4 days to go down and see what Hurricane Katrina did to the city of New Orleans and the people living there. Why did it take them that long to help the people who were living with nothing but the clothes on their back?

Connection: I made a connection with the book Savage Inequalites because the government sees all these schools that are in such poor condition and are clearly not in a learning condition environment and still do not do anything about it. They give enough money to those schools just to get by with the minimal things.

QTPC # 17

” Usually when a natural disaster occurs people come together and unite, with this natural disaster people have done the opposite…”

Talking Point: I don’t understand why people are buying guns and shooting people who come outside of their house or on their property when everyone is struggling to find a new home or to find food or water. Everyone was hurting at the time and they should have come together and helped each other out. Doing the complete opposite only harmed things even more.

Connection: I feel this connects to the movie Bad News Bears because when the championship game came the team was faced with a difficult problem with their coaches. Instead of uniting and standing up against their coach they did  the opposite and decided to yell and fight with each other. They finally realized after they made all of those dramatic scenes and were losing the championship game that they need to come together and unite to win the game.

QTPC #16

“There’s two groups of people: people who leave right away and people who say that aren’t leaving and just ride it out.”

Talking Point: I feel like the people from New Orleans were so used to having alarms and evacuation drills that they felt that is was going to be another “false” alarm. The people who left early were most likely the people who could afford to because they would rather be safe than sorry. The people who did not want to leave probably did not want to waste money on a trip that might be not needed and useless.

Connection: I made a connection with the story the boy who cried wolf. Although it is a childhood story book trying to teach a moral I believe it has a connection with Hurricane Katrina. I think most people did not really know the severity of the hurricane and called bluff on it. I believe that although it could have been because they didn’t have the money I also believe it was because people did not believe the harsh conditions it was going to bring.

QTPC #15

“All children ought to be allowed a stake in the enormous richness of America. Whether they are born to poor white Appalachians or to wealthy Texans…they are all quite wonderful and innocent when they are small. We soil them needlessly.” pg 233

Talking Point: This quote hit me hard and I felt was very true in today’s society. Children are so innocent and basically clueless in the world around us. They are clueless in a good way because they do not care about the color of a kid’s skin or how much money they have at home. They are the only people in the world that are blind to everything in society. 

Connection: The connection i’m making is the show Kids Say the Darndest Things hosted by Bill Cosby. They put 10-15 kids on stage and Bill Cosby goes around and asks them random questions about their family life, society and the world around them. It’s called that because majority of them come up with some great answers and show that they are truly blind to the world around us. Some though are exposed more than others to real life situations and have more serious answers.

QTPC #14-83-132

“…It is conformity with the theory of equality…to give as near as possible to every youth an equal state in life.” “are unwilling that any should be deprived in childhood of the means of competition.” pg 83

Talking Point: I felt that this was a very strong quote to start off the chapter because it hits a lot of meaning and not a lot of truth behind it. Many schools around the United States and even the world have terrible education and face problems of not having a future because of it. Some of the kids who do not have the same education benefits as others is simply because of where they live. This quote still does not stand today.

Connection: I feel that this is a connection of everyday life. How many children are faced with the struggles of not having a successful future because of the education they receive in elementary, middle and high school. Some schools do not have enough money to provide their children with desks, books and classrooms.

QTPC #13

“Even in the most unhappy schools there are certain classes that stand out like little islands of excitement…the classroom is full of lively voices when I enter.” pg 47

Talking Point: This shows you that not many classes have good teachers that educated their kids in a way where they can relate. Many of the teachers don’t care if their students do well and don’t teach them materials they can use in the real world and in later years. Also some of the classrooms do not even have a set teacher. There are classes where the children go through up to 32 teachers in 3 years.

Connection: The connection I made was with the movie Freedom Writers. It is based on a true story and very closely correlates with the book. It is about a teacher that comes to a school with very poor education and students who are expected to go no where in life. She turns the class around and teaches them about not only the material in books but about life lessons.

QTPC #12

“Then they had danced around the burning shack, singing and chanting about their victory over these thugs, who had been terrorizing the community for a long time.” pg 66

Talking Point: Throughout the chapter people are being tortured and beaten to death because they were different. At the end people were partying and praising the work that they did. They felt accomplished of killing all these people in brutal ways.

 

Connection: This chapter from the book and compare a lot with the videos we watched in class about South Africa. People are constantly being tortured and instead of the torturer’s feeling guilty about what they did they feel relief and feel pleasant. I believe that most of them feel that way in both the video and the book because they don’t know another right way of treating “different” people.

Disgrace #11;pg. 147-220

“Bearing him in his arms like a lamb, he re-enters the surgery. ‘I thought you would save him for another week,’ says Bev Shaw. ‘Are you giving him up?’ ‘Yes, I am giving him up.’” pg 220.

Talking Point: I felt this was very depressing because the whole theme of the book was about the dogs and the end of the book David is giving up and puts his dog to sleep. It shows that not everything ends with a happily ever after. David had to learn many lessons the hard way and never seemed to recover from those mistakes.

Connection: Comparing the book to the videos shows they have many comparisons. South Africa had many discrimination problems in both and both had people having to deal with the tragedies of people being beaten or killed. I believe that David related to the man in the movie that regreted his decisions of  abusing and beating the South Africans. Though David’s was not to the extent of the other man’s he still had to deal with the decisions he made and both had to deal with the consequences the rest of their lives.

Disgrace QTPC #10

“He speaks Italian, he speaks French, but Italian and French will not save him here in darkest Africa.” pg 95

Talking Point: I feel like there is so much racial discrimination going on in Africa. People are trying everything they can to try and fit in with the “normal” people. No matter if you can speak two languages or just one, in Africa that is not going to help you from being discriminated.

Connection: I feel like people of different race, gender and ethnicity feel discriminated daily. People go through things not as drastically as Africa but still have to experience it. People today still have discriminations against different races or ethnicities and dont show it in an obvious way. Even though people do not see it everyday it is happening.

Disgrace-QTPC #9

“Technically he is old enough to be her father; but then, technically, one can be a father at twelve.” pg 1

Talking Point: I believe that this type of thing is very common now a days but is still looked down upon by many. Though it is the very beginning of the book I think it is a good description of how the book is going to pan out with this relationship. As of now they believe they are going to be together forever, but thats as of now.

Connection: The connection I made was that especially celebrity couples are dating much older. It is a type of norm now to many who are in the Hollywood business. Couples like Ashton and Demi show that even though they are many years apart they can still have a strong relationship.