Controversial Novel: Heart of Darkness

Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness has had major changes in the worlds view of it. It has gone from a classic way before its time to a racist & sexist novel. It is a controversial novel because of these majorly contradicting views that have changed over time. For instant Watts is in favor of the teaching of this novels in schools because of it’s ability to point harsh realities. At the same time Achebe believes that the book has more bad than good and should not be read.

When Conrad first published Heart of Darkness he was complimented for being an author way before his time because of his ability to acknowledge and understand the faults of imperialism. He was commended for his ability to use satire to show this. Yet years later when this novel was reviewed again it was suddenly brought to the public attention for what was considered a much need review on its stature. New critics raged that the book was sexist for its backdrop female characters denied even a name. They also argued that the novel didn't just acknowledge racism but participate with the inhuman representation of the Africans.

However Conrad’s novel in my opinion does have more positive aspects than negative ones. With consideration to his time Conrad was rightfully ahead of the general public yet with consideration to modern times he is of course behind. Yet as Mrs.G once said, “We can not judge past peoples as if they shared the same desires we do now” . Conrad’s novel also approaches majorly important motifs that make it worth teaching. Its pages are filled paradoxical and other complex literary devices making it academically worthy.

King Leopold's Ghost

In King Leopold's Ghost Adam Hochschild uses a uncommon structure to accomplish this goal. He reports facts through personal narratives unlike a traditional textbook. Although both still aim to portray historical occurrences Hochschild's work is built on primarily personal narratives. He claims at the start how almost all evidence left of the story of the Congo is the white colonists perspective, however he still manages to weave narratives to create or recreate the real story of the Congo.  The lack of congolice narrative is actually not at all uncommon even in western terms since our history books are primarily the white narrative.

Hochschild use of personal narratives however allows him something that textbooks do not achieve. He is able to accurately portray the personalities, views, and ideas of the people of that time. Early on in the book he uses these narratives to expose the myths legions and spiritual ideas surrounding the Congo and its inhabitants. He talks about the fear instilled in Europe in relation to the Congo as well as the fear instilled in the congolice by their own beliefs that the white colonists are ancestral ghosts.

Hochschild also include stereotypes as well as bias tones which isn't usual historical format. However since he does this through personal narratives it fits since it is only expressing that persons story. The inclusion of personal occurrences allows the reader a deeper personal understanding of what's going on. Which then overcomes the biggest adversity for history textbooks, that they lack the ability to allure the reader if the reader doesn't acknowledge that the people in the history books as real people.

Hochschild doesn't only use stereotypes to stereotype the congolice but also to dupe just about every powerful nation of that time. For example when Stanley goes forth to get the International African Association recognized as "the flag of a friendly government." he stereotypes Americans as lovers of freedom with the claim that IAA is an advocate for free states in Africa.

Fe(male) Wo(man) (Lad)ies

Women are born with one strike against. The are immediately categorized and subjected to a certain role at birth just by being a female. Mindy Kaling is quoted stating, "I always get asked, 'Where do you get your confidence from?' I think people are well meaning but it's pretty insulting. Because what it means to me is, 'You, Mindy Kaling, have all the trappings of a very marginalized person. You are not skinny, you are not white, you're a woman. Why on earth would you feel you're worth anything?". I, like all women, have faced these strikes immediately pushed up against me.
My gender has everything to do with the person I've become.



Growing up in a strictly conservative family of traditional parents I was constantly thrown expectations because of my gender. I had to be polite and perfectly kept like award winning horse. I was to be thin but never get rid of my Mexican curves so that I wouldn't end up alone. I was to be meek and submissive to seem pleasing to the public. I was to understand my goal in life was only to please a man, Mexican of course, and to produce him with a house full of children. I was to attempt to keep my skin fair with a light hint of my inherited mocha skin to assimilate into my new country.

Because I was meant to be polite I became outspoken and bold. Because they wanted me thin I learned to love my body fat and all. Because I was to be submissive I became a leader. Because I was to only date Mexican men I dated a variety of men. Because my set goal was to get married and have children I pushed to get a chance to go to college.



I challenge every single one of my family's sexist, racist, and homophobic beliefs. I was given a set of expectations and rules for being female and because of those expectations and rules I pushed past my parents pressured beliefs to find my own. I am a proud feminist although to my parents that statements translates into I am a lesbian. I am blind to race although to my aunts it makes me trash. I believe in equality for every single person LBGTQ or not although that makes me a sinner in many eyes.

My gender has given me difficulties but it has given me strength .

How To Fly with Acrophobia

Acrophobia is the extreme or irrational fear of heights. Most people who have acrophobia also fear contraptions that go high off the ground like roller coasters, ladders, and planes. However through personal experience I've found there is a way to get someone with acrophobia on a plane. There are a few different method or tactics to accomplish this goal.

First there's the traditional method: drugs. A shot of relaxing or sleeping medicine will subdue the person. Once the person is subdued their fear will also have lowered making it easier for them to board a plane. However this does not work for everyone. Sometimes the persons fear is so great that their hypothalamus (the fight or flight instinct) is activated although under the influence of prescribed drugs.


Another practical tactic is the protection of power. Researching the safety of airplanes will reduce the irrational side of their fear. The person will be less reluctant to board a plane is they know they're more likely to die in a car then in a plane. Research will also prepare you for any possible occurrence during your plane ride. This will allow you to  identify what is going on during your flight like turbulence.

Another tactic that can help people with acrophobia fly is distraction. Personally this method of the three helps me the most. Since I fly every year at least once a year I've gotten distraction down to an art. Flight attendance are strict about allowing you to bring electrical devices onto the plane. Studies show that the most fear part of a plane ride is the take off which is when all passenger are asked to turn off their devices. Therefore I recommend a distraction like reading, writing, drawing, talking, humming, ect. I personally prefer to write as after a while I'm so absorbed by my work that I forget I'm on a plane. However my writing choices are a bit morbid. I like to distract myself by writing my goodbye letters as if I were to die on the plane ride.

Self Identification in Zoot Suits

Spring semester of my Junior year in high school I participated in a college course, Humanities 113. In this class we discussed a wide variety of academic films and studied plays. Luis Valdez's play 'Zoot Suit' connected with me at a level of lost self identification that I never realized I faced as a first generation Mexican-American. The play centers around the sailor riots and the court case of the Sleepy Lagoon. Zoot Suit also approaches the topic of segregation between races in this time period but also separation of generations.

As the eldest of my family I grew up in a fiercely embraced Mexican home. With that said I faced, to a certain degree, that separation because of language barriers and cultural differences. I was the kid who was sent to school with a Mexican lunch that all the kids stared at yet could not comment on for they could not understand me, nor I them. Later on I understood them and I bought school lunch like everyone else but then it was my family who could not understand me. As I got older I adopted my own cultural preferences from both of my countries. Yet I am still separated and, at times, do not understand either my friends or my family.

 I am different from my parents, of whom I'll never be Mexican enough for, and for my American friends, who I'll always be a bit too Mexican for. To this day I carry an American accent when I speak Spanish and a Mexican accent that slips out when I attempt to trick my once native Spanish tongue.

Zoot Suits exposed the reason as to this separation I've always felt but never understood. Chicano's have no home. We are border children.  I guess that's the definition of a Chicano though, to be too American for Mexico and too Mexican for America. We are the masters of assimilation. Yet we can never fully assimilate to any one country. We are both yet neither.

The topic of crime is a large part of the play Zoot Suit. It, crime, is also a large part of my life. It is well known that my father and varies family members are well acquainted with the haunting cells of prison of which they never tire of. Yet it has to be said that not all in cells are guilty. Zoot Suit taught me that. You must question the system for a blind believer shall end up strapped to that electric chair so many have been strapped to too. It is easy to lock away a majority of the minority.

Zoot Suit also taught me something powerful, "unidos en la lucha no nos moveran...". That roughly translates to 'united in the fight they cannot move us'. Although the discrimination of our skin to this day may land us with more ease into a cell, and although we are border children with no home country, united our ancestors have fought inequalities against Chicanos together. That is what Zoot Suits is all about, uniting together.

Jail Protocol for Natural Disasters

In schools, workplaces, and even churches we prepare a plan for any natural disaster yet not many people know or maybe have never even wondered about the protocol of a jail or prison in these situations. As a daughter of a Napa Jail inmate and a resident who hopes to someday become a criminal defense lawyer I questioned this protocol when a 6.0 earthquake shook my town. So like every teenager I took to the Internet with my question.

Typical protocol states that only if conditions become severe are any inmates evacuated from the facility. It is possible that if conditions are that sever that inmates will spend more than a day outside of the facility. If the facility is by any chance not able to reopen within three days inmates will be transferred to another facility while renovations are made. This time period may take up to a year and at times more according to damage. Jails and prisons are required to plan for both long term and short term natural disasters. Step one of any emergency plan for a jail or prison is to notify city of activated emergency plan. Second is to ensure the safety of staff by making sure staff outnumbers inmate population. If that jail or prison is majorly outnumbered they are allowed to call in assistance from nearby facilities. Third is to secure all inmates for evacuation.   Mutual-aid agreements have to be in place for public safety. Most facilities receive this aid from U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). There must also be provided escorts and security for evacuated inmates. Staff accompanying inmates to evacuation sites who stay with them for the duration of the evacuation period must be provided staff overtime, compensation for housing, relocation, and travel. At the evacuation site staff will make final agreement on comfort level of inmates. This includes housing and bedding. Also at place of evacuation must be a medical contractor with files of all inmates medical history to ensure the well being of each inmate. Staff is not to sleep in same quarters as inmates. They are provided hotel rooms if necessary. Staff take the responsibility for their inmates at the host facility or evacuation site preform 12-hour shifts. Natural disasters usually come by surprise. Therefore all staff must be prepared for a rapid evacuation. This includes preparing for any escapes and/or riots. Because of the fast nature of these evacuations inmates are not given time to collect any material property or unnecessary items. Usually in cases of quick evacuation high risk or maximum security inmates are evacuated first as to lower rate of their escape. Once all inmates are evacuated there is head count done on all staff and inmates. After headcount all inmates are transported to evacuation site via prison buses where they are shackled by hands and feet to each inmate on the bus. If the bus is to experience a mechanical problem all inmates will be recounted re-shackled and transferred to another working bus. The earthquake early Sunday morning in Napa, California did not however require an evacuation from the building. Although the building is "yellow tagged" for its internal and external damage it was too minor to cause staff to activate the emergency plan. However inmates we're allowed one phone call to reach their loved ones. As of now all building use is restricted to staff and inmates. This includes the current shut down of Napa County Jail's latest video calls.

Introduction

I am Kimberly Jessica Ramirez Gonzalez daughter of Rosa Hilda Gonzalez and Pablo Ramirez. I've moved every two to three years in my life and with each move I've changed my name. I've been called Kimberly, Kimmy, Kim, Jessica (my middle name), Jessie, Jess, and lastly Jay. My senior year of high school however I've decided to return and fully embrace my legal first name. I am currently as I make this blog seventeen years of age. I attend Napa High School as a senior(Go Napa Indians!) and also part take in college classes offered at the local junior college, Napa Valley College. I am first generation Mexican-American or as I like, first generation Chicano.

Amy Tan once said, "I have a writer's memory which makes everything worse than maybe it actually was." this proves true to my situation. My memory focuses more on tough times however some hard times are also the best of times. Sometimes you only need a couple of years and a few bad graces to realize those 'bad times' were in reality some of the best times. Speaking of hardships sometimes they are blessings in hiding. I was recently award the Students Rising Above scholarship for overcoming all the hardships in my life while maintaining my grades. 

Growing up I discovered I held a fierce passion for literature. This passion was unveiled by loneliness and depression yet it is the best gift my hard times have given to me. Just as Ernest Hemingway once said, "There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed...", I do not write I bleed stories. I love to read and write. Yes I am one of those sick people who always has their nose stuck in a novel. I work on my writing by publishing fictional stories online. One of my recent favorite online sites to publish my work is on Wattpad. Yes I do still however have my Fan Fiction account holding all of my humiliating middle school writing.

Although I'd love nothing more than to pursue a career in literature I do not wish to be a starving artist. Instead I plan to either study business or become a criminal defense lawyer. Whichever path I may choose I hope the path leads me to a life of happiness and success where I will test my boundaries and make a change in another persons life. I want to protect, help, and inspire people.