My two history classes for this semester are:
Civil Rights
History of Mexico

I have a test in Civil Rights this week, and a paper due for Mexican history next week. I've really been enjoying my history classes, although so far, the Mexican hist professor is still going over the same thing I learned in my Colonial Latin Amercia class. There is more depth, but I want Mexico to revolt from Spain already! Come on, you Mexicans, revolt!

The Civil Rights class covered all the major movements in history - reconstruction, the 1960s, and the suffrage movement. I have learned more about reconstruction because it is from a different angle. History is really one of the best ways to learn and appreciate humanity, and I find my understanding and appreciation of the numerous facets increasing daily. I never knew so many African-Americans became disenchanted with the NAACP and founded alternative groups. Of course, decades of legal battles and some successes, they still faced heavy racism, so who wouldn't be disenchanted?
One alternative was founded in 1942 and was called "Congress of Racial Equality" These alternatives threatened protests, sit-ins, and marches. The mere threat of a protest or march received immediate attention from the president. They developed the basis and historical precedent for the 1960s and MLK.
When you get down to it, all these groups - the NAACP and the alternatives - strived for the same goal. They were on the exact same side. They merely differed in how to achieve the exact same goal.

It is through the study of history that we become aware of - not just where we've been and where we're going - but where others have been and what their experiences were like. This understanding and sharing of knowledge through history is important to comprehend and appreciate other groups besides our own. People who scorn history and historical facts belittle those individuals who suffered and struggled for survival and who strived to make the world a better place for them to enjoy. Are the plight of the slaves and the speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. to be so carelessly shunned and cast aside? Comprehension of historical facts must never be derided.
This understanding and sharing of knowledge is also important to appreciate our modern ways of life. So many people strived to enable us to where we are today, and we must look at the world with a grateful smile and say "Thank you for what you have done for us." I wish more people understood their history.

Current Mood: chipper

The scenes I want to write for this second novel, which I really shouldn't be writing yet, involve the soldier with his military unit defending a village; the soldier with a colleague and the negative stereotype-enablers; an extended/revised scene between the soldier and the merchant. I've also tinkered with some politics in the merchant's native culture.

It is snowing today, and it was snowing yesterday. Snow, snow, snow. Classes have been canceled for two days in a row. Amazing, isn't it? Yesterday, I figured the mailman would arrive late if he came at all, so when I went out at 4:00 PM, I saw how high the snow was piled, I decided against checking the mail. Snow is pretty, but I do not want to wade in it. It snowed all day yesterday and even this morning. Frisbee loves bounding in all the soft, cushiony snow. She is just like a little kid. Even she has her limits, though.
Our dryer broke this week, so mom decided to place clothes around the heaters and the fire. She took the chairs from the kitchen counter and put them in the living room for that purpose. Luna hopped onto the first counter chair. When mom entered with the second chair, Luna hissed at it and ran off. My cat is very weird, and also very anti-change. She hates for things to be moved around. Maybe that explains why she acts so skittish at random moments.
I did some reading yesterday, wrote a page, and then my parents and I watched the last Die Hard movie. After the third one, I began thinking we should watch The Lion King, just because of Jeremy Irons.

What is a good synonym for "business-like"? I do not want to use the word because it is too colloquial, but none of the replacement words mentioned in the thesaurus match what I want.

The timing here could not be more perfect. There were two major civil rights leaders in the late 1800s, Booker T. Washington and W.E.B DuBois. DuBois was a northern black, and Washington was a southern black. DuBois's stance was "We need to challenge racist laws and end oppression NOW." Washington's stance was "The best way to obtain equality and civil rights is through education."

Both stances were correct and appropriate according to where they were born in American society. Inequality can exist without oppression, and there was a tremendous inequality between northern blacks and southern blacks at their time period. Quite privileged by any standard at the time, DuBois did not comprehend how truly impoverished southern blacks were when compared to northern blacks. DuBois did make significant contributions to eliminating oppression, but I prefer Booker T. Washington as a historical figure.

Here are some quotes from Booker T. Washington, which helps explain why I like him so much.

"The greatest injury slavery had wrought upon the Negro's character was to deprive him of self-reliance and executive ability, and the chief aim of the [Tuskegee] school was to cultivate those qualities" - Nov 15, 1891
"We must have the education and skill to enable us to compete with [the white people]" - March 15, 1897
"The man that has the property, the intelligence, the character is the one that is going to have the largest share in controlling the government." - Jan 12, 1896
"It is important that all the privileges of the law be ours. It is vastly more important that we be prepared for the exercise of these privileges." - Jan 12, 1896

Booker T. Washington believed that without an education his race would always be inferior to the white people despite all the laws to be passed. He believed that without a proper education, they would become psychological slaves for politicians and demagogues to use and to manipulate. They would simply have the false impression of being free. This is identical to my view of education's importance for all races. Furthermore, his emphasis and belief on education gave many southern blacks the intellectual and organizational skills they needed to become civil rights leaders.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was the most intelligent and intellectual African-American in our nation's history. And he was a southern black, so he benefitted most from the policies of Booker T. Washington rather than DuBois. Thanks to Booker T. Washington, southern blacks became equal to northern blacks. Also thanks to Booker T. Washington, we were given our greatest civil rights leader in our history.

Now, in modern America, there is no oppression whatsoever in our country. To call these inequalities "oppression" is an over-reaction and an insult to all subjugated peoples, past and present. This is why some individuals get upset and say "be grateful for what you have." There is inequality in our country, and inequality needs to be eliminated. The greatest source of inequality for black people in our country is in poor education and in the dependent welfare state. I believe the best way for them to obtain true equality is to have a revival of Booker T. Washington's philosophy.

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Okay... now what do I do?

It was 2 degrees as of 8:11 AM yesterday morning. I did not write much on Tuesday or Wednesday, but that is because mom and I spent those days sawing off wood in preparation for the cold front, and man, is it cold! Overall, this week has felt very productive and fun.

On the first day, Tuesday, I asked mom "Doesn't this make you feel empowered?" Mom got a really big kick out of my comment. She told everyone what I said. When we were done, we did each other a high-five, and mom said we need our very own empowerment hand sign.

And we pretty much spent all day cutting wood with a few breaks. Mom has an easier time cutting the cedar posts and small logs than the lumber. The lumber tended to slide around. She never used the chainsaw, just a regular skill saw. On the first try, mom set aside a lot of small logs for dad to cut, but then she tried again... and she cut it all by herself!

If the wood didn't come off right away, we whacked it against the sawhorse until it snapped in two. Even I felt stronger and more empowered, more confident in my own physical strength.

On Wednesday, after some guys came and left from checking the roof, mom and I were ready to resume cutting, but I saw these clouds on the horizon, and I thought "that's a winter storm coming," and I felt very scared. We both agreed to call it a day. The clouds and 20+ mph wind came fast and stretched from horizon to horizon in less than an hour. There was no winter storm though, just freezing temps.

Last night, one of the glass doors on the wood-burning stove broke. It broke after I built up the fire real good and after my parents returned from seeing a guest speaker at their church. Broken doors in the fireplace is NOT good. We were all scared of continuing the fire, even though that is our main source of heat. This morning, dad took the doors off and took them to a store that specializes in fireplaces. It will be about three weeks before we can get replacement glass. So, dad comes home and puts the doors back on the stove. My parents planned to see the guest speaker again; I decided to wait until they returned to start another fire. However, an hour before they left, the glass on the other door broke! Of its own accord! Creepy, I say...

I have _three_ plots for one novella - the survival of the commmunity, my protagonist's demon battle, and my protagonist's illict romance. Right now, I need to figure out how to set the stage for her having a beautiful yet doomed romance without sounding preachy.