Death Penalty

There are eight stagesd in a death penalty case, and basically seven out of those eight are designed to protect the rights of those accused. The only one that isn't is execution. But the rest help the accused. The accused goes through so many cases to make sure that he is guilty. There is even a trial before the actual trial called a pre trail. This system is sufficient enough to keep people who are truly innocent out of the execution chamber. There may be incidents when the innocent is executed, but their are very few of these, and usually they are just an accident and there is nothing the justice can do about it, like eye witness testimony. Other than those few cases the system runs pretty smoothly. The accused are given several chances to prove their innocence. And let's be honest isn't one chance more than enough.

Methods
Out of all the methods of execution the only one that is humane in my opinion is death by lethal injection. This is humane because in a sense the criminal is falling asleep and not waking up. This is the closest thing to a natural death. Electrecution, gas chamber and firing squad seem to be the most inhumane and cruel and unusual. These are cruel and unusual because the criminal feels pain and sometimes may die slowly and painfully. For instance firing squad isn't an instance death, the first few bullets may not kill you. Same with the gas chamber, they trap you in a room and it takes about thirty seconds before you finally die. the only method that should be used is lethal injection.

State by State
Looking at the map of executions in the US, most of them happen in the South and in Texas. One of the things that surprised was that in the southern states race was not an issue and usually more whites were killed than the other races combined. I thought that in some Southern states like Alabama or Mississippi would have more blacks than whites being executed. But that was me just stereotyping the South. Also barely any women are executed, there are women on death row in the state of California than there have been executions of women in the whole US. It makes wonder if less women are being arrested are if more are being proven innocent. When I looked at methods of execution it was really weird to see that states use other methods of execution besides lethal injection. Since I think that all the other methods are inhumane and immoral, I was dissapointed to see states in the US still using these methods.

Chart
When I first saw the chart I was suprised at the number of states that did not have the death penalty. I thought that the number would be much lower. Another thing that surprised me was how executions have been decreasing over the past decade. In the nineties they were increasing but now it is the opposite of that. In my opinion the main reason for this is that more Americans are against the death penalty now, then ten years ago. So this is probably playing a huge role in the outcome of trials and the number of executions. After reading the chart the Death Penalty Center seems to be nuetral or almost against the subject of the death penalty. They seem to be showing how less and less executions are happing every year and how there are other methods like life without parole.The thing that annoys me the most is that this chart is pretty convincing. It keeps on showing reasons why the death penalty is moral and unjust. One thing that I would add, would be some information to make the site nuetral to both sides.

Abortion

When I first look at each site, I am instantly more drawn to the pro choice website, instead of the pro-life website. The pro-choice website looks professional, it is easy to find things and easy to read. While on the pro-life website, it looks like any random person could make it. It seems like it took the creators ten minutes to make it and the majority of the time was occupied by cutting and pasting. One thing that I did like about the Pro-life website was the statistics. This is one thing that the pro-choice thing did not have. Stats are always good to have because they are true, informative and easy to read. The pro-choice website is more informative and seems to be winning the argument. One of the things that helps it, is that they have a link to show that there is no link between abortion and mental health. While the other site just has a small paragraph about the issue, After seeing these two sites, my thoughts on Pro-life people have gone down. Mainly beacuse of the layout of the site. It seems that they spend more time protesting instead of informing people on the internet.

Parental Notification
If a daughter is 17 or 18 the parent should be notified. They should be notified because if you are 17 you are still in your parents care and most 18 year olds don't move out right away. Parents deserve the right to know if there kid is having an abortion, because it is a family matter at this age. A baby doesn't only affect the daughter, it affects her whole family. At this age a baby is another mouth to feed, someone else to take care of. Parents have a huge say in this, since they will be paying for most of these things. Parents should have a say, but they shouldn't have the power to chose. The choice should alwyas be the one of the person having the abortion..

Father Notification
The father should only be notified if the women wants him to know. And in most cases tthe would woman would have already told the father. Abortion Clinics should not be forced to tell the father against the woman's will. And if the father does know about this he should not have to consent. Again it is the woman's choice and she should not be forced to do something that she doesn't want to do. So the father should only be notified if the woman agrees to it. But he shouldn't have a right to chose. If he wanted to keep the baby, he could talk to his wife about it, but his consent is not necessary.

Illinios Abortion Laws
Well the first thing I disagree with is the ban on abortion after 12 weeks. Illinios should give women the right to abort their baby, if they want to. It is a private matter and they should not have a say in it. Women should not be forced to only have 12 weeks, because there are unknown factors, like money and access to transportation. Another thing that I disagree with is Spousal notification. The spouse should hear this from his wife, but only if she wants to tell him. SHe should not be forced to do this. Also refusal to provide health services is another dislike, because women might need these services for other things. But some good things are a woman's acess to emergency concraception and low income access to abortion. So in conclusion one of the things I would change with the Illinios law would be the 12 week maximum.

Death Penalty

Clifford Boggess should have been executed. He had no societal value as a person, born again Christian or an artist. The case of Clifford Boggess was that people can change and that he was a living example of this statement. The guilty party argued that Boggess was a new man, a better man. I don't believe this, Clifford Boggess was a cold blooded murderer and he would always be one. I do believe that people can change, but that doesn't apply to murderers. In my opinion there has to be something very wrong with you if you kill someone, especially if you admi that you are guilty. Clifford Boggess came from a family of criminals and he continued the tradition. It wasn't that Boggess just killed a random victim, he knew his first victim, Boggess was part of his communtiy and he knew the victim that he chose to kill. If Boggess doesn't feel the effects of the death penalty, he will still be causing stress and continuos pain in the victims family. Without Clifford Boggess the families and othhers would feel relief and be able to move on with their lives. SOme may argue that Clifford is born again Christian and an aspiring artist and that he is a better person. But this is to great of a risk, the government can't go around freeing everyone, that might have changed for the better. Clifford Boggess will always be a bad person and nothing in the world can change that. Death is the only way with this man.

Religion in School

The students at the school should be allowed to express thier religous beliefs. The way the students are expressing themselves is not even that bad. handing out candy canes and pencils, is not disruptive and it won't provoke anyone to take action against that person. Also most of the people who are doing this are probably in middle or elementary school. And in middle school none of the kids care what religion you are, it is just candy to them. in one of the cases the school banned decorations from pencils to red and green napkins. None of these things are disruptive, the school shouldn't be allowed to ban these small things. If the students were carrying signs and yelling, or starting arguments and riots, it would be a different case. These students have the right to freedom of religion and the right to express themselves.

Issues From Last Class

One of the issues raised was what is the boundary line on ones free speech. In the activity we saw pictures of a fraternity party and the students were dsiguised as african americans and Klu Klux Klan members. The issue raised was does the college have the right to punish these students and is this a restriction of their freedom of speech. In my opinion the school has every right to expell or suspend these students. Since most schools have a zero tolerance policy on discrimination, the school has the right to punish these students. I believe that what these students are doing is wrong, disruptive and clearly directed at a group of people. Their actions can provoke people to take action against them and cause a physical disruption. The students should be puni.shed

Danielle's Blog

Religion, what is it? This was the main thought in my mind when I clicked on Danielle's blog. I never really thought that deep into it and this was a chance for me to learn more about it. In Danielle's blog she explored religion, but also Atheism and the many struggles different religions face. Even though America was founded by different religions there are many people in the same country who won't except other religions. Many small religions face discriminance and hate by other major religions. I once heard that religions were made, because they were a reason for war. And this seems true, just look at the facts, there were so many wars because of religion, for example the Crusades and World War II. All religions are meant for peace but all cause war. I learned one of the reasons why this happens in Danielles slideshow. People just need to accept other religions and stop throwing such a fit about it.

Matan's Blog

Matan's blog was very interesting and I was well aware about his topic. In his powerpoint I became more aware of what automobiles were doing to our planet and how we could prevent this. I knew about pollution, and cars played a huge part in it, and Matan's blog only broadened my knowledge of it. One thing I didn't know muh about was the electric car or the hybrid, I knew that it was better for the economy and polanet than the regular gas guzzler, but that is all I really knew about. After seeing his slideshow I realized how it could help us and how much better it is. Matan presented the problem, lack of natural resources and showed us the solution. After seeing this I realized how little we cre about our planet. Most people barely notice what cars do or they dont' care. I know that I was ne of those people, but now I see what a big problem it is. I also agree with Matan on how the electric car is easier said than done.

The Chosen One's Final Slide Show

I open this blog, knowing a little bit about the topic. When I think about Hispanics, one of the first things that comes to my mind is illegal immigrants. In Carl's blog he explores that and deeper. In his slideshow, he explores, immigration and how hispanics can't really make a living because they don't have an education and they can't get one because they need money and the quickest way to make money is to get a cheap job. they can't get a good job because most well paid jobs require an education. So, this is just a giant cycle that hispanics cannot get out of. another big issue focused in this blog was how some Americans think that Hispanics are taking their jobs, and sometimes the Americans response is violent. I learned a lot from the blog of The Chosen One, it has also changed my view on Hispanics. I now realize thart they are facing a huge struggle. The struggle that they are facing is in some ways similar to slaves faced so many years ago. The hispanics come here for the American dream and many never really achieve it. It makes me wonder if it is really better to come to America and face these hardships or if it better to just stay in their home land.

Works Cited

Caramanica, Jon. "The trials of the hardest-working man in hip-hop.(Lil Wayne)(The Arts/Cultural Desk)(MUSIC)." The New York Times. 159. 54898 (Dec 23, 2009): C1(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 11 Feb. 2010 .

Caramanica, Jon. "For young superstar Taylor Swift, big wins mean innocence lost.(The Arts/Cultural Desk)(MUSIC)." The New York Times. (Feb 2, 2010): C5(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 11 Feb. 2010 .

Greenblatt, A. (2003, November 21). Future of the music industry. CQ Researcher, 13, 989-1012. Retrieved February 11, 2010, from CQ Researcher Online, http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2003112100.

Katel, P. (2007, June 15). Debating hip-hop. CQ Researcher, 17, 529-552. Retrieved February 10, 2010, from CQ Researcher Online, http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2007061500.

D. Stanley Eitzen " American Sport at the End of the Twentieth Century," Annals of American History. http://america.eb.com/america/article?articleId=387715>

"jazz." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 1 Feb. 2010.

"Scott Joplin." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 1 Feb. 2010. .

"American film." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 29 Jan. 2010. http://www.americanhistory.abc-clio.com/.

"American theater." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 28 Jan. 2010. .

Analytic: Current events

Many people think that gang violence and hip hop are related, like when there is a shooting in a black neighborhood, people think that hip hop has had something to do with it. Because of this many black public figures like Oprah and Hip Hop entrepreneur Russell Simmons have tried to make artists change their lyrics as Simmons said "We recommend that the recording and broadcast industries voluntarily remove/bleep/delete the misogynistic words 'bitch' and 'ho' and the racially offensive word 'nigger,' " They want artists to get rid of swears and dirty words in their songs, because they think that it would lead to young black listeners use of those words. Many artists have refused do this, most saying that it would alter their image and less people would buy their music. Rapper Fifty Cent said on this topic "For me, don't expect me to compromise myself," like most rappers Fifty cent has built his music career on his thug image and the whole drug dealer turned rapper ordeal. It is easy to see how hip hop and violence is connected, many young listeners see their favorite artist getting arrested or involved with firearms. Rap legends Tupac Shakur and NOTORIUS BIG were both shot to death, and rap superstar Lil Wayne is going to jail because of illegal firearm possession. What these performers are doing effect all of their fans. If a kid thinks it’s cool to have a firearm because Lil Wayne had one then who is to blame. Changing the lyrics to a song won’t change what is happening. Artists have to realize what they are doing affects millions of people.
Violence is not the only problem hip hop is having. The other problem is happening to every genre of music; it is illegal downloading and piracy. Since the advancement of technology, the music industry has been losing money, cd sales have plummeted and record stores have started closing done all over the country. Less and less people are buying cds and more people are downloading music illegally. As Mitch Bainwol said “At any given time, 3 to 5 million people are on the Internet, downloading music and violating copyright law,” avid listeners download music because it is free and cds are too overpriced. Many artists are mad about this also because they are losing money and they want to be paid for their work. As LL Cool J “The majority of artists want to be compensated,” the people who are downloading music illegally don’t realize that other people are being affected by this, that people are losing money because of what they are doing. In an article about the future of hip hop the author says that most of the listeners that buy cds are rich white suburban kids, but this is not necessarily true, because many rich white suburban kids download music illegally. The main reason that people download illegally is that people don’t want to spend more than ten dollars on a cd especially if they want to listen to just one song. The music industry has tried to fight this by filing lawsuits against piracy and illegal downloading, like Napster which shut down then went back online as a low fee music downloader. Some bands have found ways to make money of this, by offering their listeners the ability to download music off their website for free, or they can donate a small amount to a “penny jar” on the website, that would pay for the album. Surprisingly many people donated to the website. Even though music has been through many changes it still has survived and will always be around.

Analytic Backround

Music has always been around since the beginning of time, people only started recording it in the 16th century. Music is all around us, it surrounds us, there are so many different types of music, but the two main categories are classical and popular. Classical, is usually jazz and other genres that were popular during the beginning of the 20th century. While popular music is mainly rock, country and hip hop. Music allows people to express how they feel and allows others to relax in it. It pumps people up and it calms them down, makes the happy or it makes them sad. Music thrives through people, it runs through their veins. There are so many different types of music; it seems that each person has their own individual genre. Some genres have died out over time, while some have survived through the good times and the bad. For example, jazz was invented after the Civil War and it thrived for a while, everything was jazz. Then something new came and replaced it, but jazz regained popularity again and still remains popular to this day. Music will always be around.
For people who are more visual than audio, there is the American Theater and American Film. Theater became more popular in America after the Civil War and continued to be popular. It became popular after the war because, before America wanted nothing to do with Britain and theater reminded them of it. Theater truly thrived after the Civil War, with its most famous play being Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The beginning of the Twentieth Century was not so kind on American Theater, with the invention of motion picture. Motion picture was first short silent, gag news reels, but then developed into feature length films lasting two to three hours. The first feature film was the silent film “The Great Train Robbery”. The actors in these films were celebrities among the people of America. After the first world war the film industry went through several changes, one of them being moving from the East coast to the West, going to Hollywood. The big change was the invention of sound in films. This completely changed films and it attracted more viewers, which was worse for theater. With the invention of television, the film industry entered a slump and fought through it by making movies people could only see at the movie theaters and gave viewers an experienced that could not be achieved at home. Movie still do this to this day, with films like “Avatar” and “Titanic”, that have special effects and 3d that can only be seen at theaters. The American Theater and American Film, have both been through hard times but, they will always be around because they allow people to escape into another world.

Current Event: Lil Wayne

Rapper Lil Wayne is the biggest star in the US, with "Tha Carter III" being the last album to sell a million copies in a week for the past decade and having formed the hot, new group Young Money. Everyone knows or has heard about Lil Wayne, but now that he is going to jail we have seen less and less of him. He is going to jail because of illegal gun possession and this will cause him to do one thing in life that he has always avioded, stopping. Many people consider him the hardest working artist in the music industry and now that he is going to jail he is working everynight till four in the morning. He has been featured on almost every hot song on the radio, has just released a new album and has formed the group Young Money. When asked about what he lloks in for people that he hires, his answer was work ethic and this is no surprise. Even though he is going to jail this won't stop him, just slow him down. He will still be working in jail on his upcoming album "The Carter IV", because they allow ipods in jail. And even outside of prison people who work for him will be making new songs and new Young Money songs will feature him in Autotune. Lil Wayne will be in commercials, videos, songs and other things. The main thing that Lil Wayne whats to do is to not be forgotten. He and his associates or doing everything to have America remember him. I think that what he is doing is smart, people won't completely forget about him, and it is hard not to. Everytime I turn on the radio I hear a song featuring him. What he is doing is smart a good move for his career.

Caramanica, Jon. "The trials of the hardest-working man in hip-hop.(Lil Wayne)(The Arts/Cultural Desk)(MUSIC)." The New York Times. 159. 54898 (Dec 23, 2009): C1(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 11 Feb. 2010 .
How to Cite

Current Event: Taylor Swift From Teenager to Adult

At this years Gramm'y teen popstar Taylor Swift won quite a few Grammy's, one which was album of the year, "Fearless". This win made her the youngest perfomer to do so. But with her winning the Grammy's this means a whole new Taylor Swift. Over the past year we saw Taylor Swift rise to the top of the Billboards, and we saw her handle bad situations very well. Like at the MTV video awards, when Kanye West interrupted her speech, everyone one of us assumed that she was mad and this made her David to Kanye's Goliath. Taylor Swift does have weaknesses like her duet with Stevies Nicks or her new single, but this isn't a bad thing, this shows us that she is human, unlike Beyonce, who it seems can do no wrong. But now taylor swift is an adult, yes she turned twenty in December. No longer can she sing songs about teenage romance and heartbreak, and if she does she will look like someone trying to live in the past. Her new album which she will surely release after she is twenty one, must be something new and different. I don't think that Taylor Swift has to worry about people buying her new album after she change's her style, She is a smart, young musician, who has been through more than she looks. Her fans will always like her music and she will still remain a popstar.

Caramanica, Jon. "For young superstar Taylor Swift, big wins mean innocence lost.(The Arts/Cultural Desk)(MUSIC)." The New York Times. (Feb 2, 2010): C5(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 11 Feb. 2010 .

Current Event: Future of the Music Industry

The music industry's future seems to become worse and worse every year. The advancement of technology is resulting in the decline of the music industry. With internet becoming easier and easier to access, illegal downloading is becoming easier. Before the internet listeners would buy cds, but now they download songs illegally and cd sales go down. For some music genres like hip hop, only rich white suburban kids buy their favorite artists new cd, while most of its listeners, black teens, download the songs online for free. After cd sales reaching a new low and many record stores going out of business, the music industry started to fight back against illegal downloading. One of the things they did was filing lawsuits and cracking down on people who illegally download and on piracy. Some artists like Radiohead put their new album online and let people pay for it online, and this worked pretty well for them. But most artists want to make money off their music and are against illegal downloading. Popular sites like napster and limewire offer people to download music at a low fee, because one of the main reasons for illegal downloading os that cds are overpriced. This article seemed really interesting to me because it said that the main buyers are rich white suburban kids but many of them still download music illegaly. Also that the last sale of a million copies in a week for the past decade was Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter III" which was a hip hop album.

Greenblatt, A. (2003, November 21). Future of the music industry. CQ Researcher, 13, 989-1012. Retrieved February 11, 2010, from CQ Researcher Online, http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2003112100.

Current event: Debating Hip Hop

Hip Hop is just another form of music but it is the one that has the most controversy and criticism. It has been blamed for the actions of young black Americans and that it has a huge influence on them. Theses accusations have forced many famous black public figures to change their views on hip hop and want to change the lyrics in the songs. Some of these changes would be bleeping or completely deleting dirty words. Many rappers have refused to do this, some saying that if they did that they wouldn't sell any Cd's or that it would completely go against the image that they have established for themselves. Rapper Fifty cent says that if he watered down his lyrics, that it would change his thug image of drug dealer turned rapper and his music sales would go down. Another debate of hip hop is that its sales have gone down and it has fallen to third place behind country. the main reason for this is that most of hip hops buyers are rich white suburban kids that can afford to buy the Cd's and that the majority of listeners black teenagers cannot afford the Cd's and would most likely buy bootlegs or illegally download the songs. In my opinion hip hop will thrive over the next couple of years and establish itself as genre that is here to stay, because when Rock and roll first appeared many people didn't like it, but now it leads the genres in record sales.

Katel, P. (2007, June 15). Debating hip-hop. CQ Researcher, 17, 529-552. Retrieved February 10, 2010, from CQ Researcher Online, http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2007061500.

Where I am

Now that I have learned more about the arts, my views on it have changed a little bit. When i first started out, I thought that the arts were mostly just music and paintings. But now I have realized that arts can be anything from a simple street performer to a Oscar winning film. Arts is a form of entertainment that people go and see for their leisure and entertainment. As we learned more about our topics, I started to narrow my entries into music and i discovered that there are many different forms of music and different types of music. I have learned that arts are all around us and that anything can be considered an art.

Sports, An Art?

Are sports an art? Many people consider something an art as something that people do for entertainment, not just painting and music. People watch sports for entertainment and that make sports an art. By the end of the twentieth century sports had more viewers than anything. At the beginning of the century sports like boxing and racing dominated sports but that has changed so much by the the end of the century. Now a numerous amount of sports have millions of fans on the edge of there seats. People love to watch sports mainly for entertainment but also because it offers an escape from reality and that it represents humanity itself. It represents it downfalls, triumphs and risks. Sports have always had millions of viewers and always will. They are the ost viewed form of art.

D. Stanley Eitzen " American Sport at the End of the Twentieth Century," Annals of American History. http://america.eb.com/america/article?articleId=387715>

Jazz

Jazz was created by mostly free African Americans after the civil war. It focused on black and white and urban elements that created a sound only heard in cities. Jazz was made up of African melodies and a lot of improvisation, some listeners called it swing. The one place where jazz was the most popular was New Orleans or " The Cradle Of Jazz". Jazz thrived here for a while until in 1841 New York surpassed it. Later a new music emerged from New Orleans, called blues. Blues was a slower form of jazz. Famous Jazz players were Joe "King" Oliver and Louis Armstrong, these popular musicians were attracted to Chicago, its bright lights and many dance crazes. One key change for jazz was the rapid and diverse population growth. New York still remained as the capitol of jazz and brought many new musicians and forms of jazz. It seems that jazz has died out and will never have mass audiences. It will always be behind Rock, Hip Hop and other popular music.

"jazz." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 1 Feb. 2010.

Ragtime

When Scott Joplin's song was published near the end of the 19th century a new genre of music, Ragtime, swept the country. It's happy melodies with a heavy bass rhythm back round was something new and it had the whole country dancing. Scott Joplin was honored as being one of the nation's first important composers. even though it was a descendant of jazz it was different because while jazz is improvised, ragtime was written.
It interested white people with its foreign accents and it featured forms of European dances. One of the things that interested was how the accents and language startled the white people. Imagine what those people would think if they heard hip hop or reggae,the might have an heart attack. Even thought to them it seemed upbeat and lively to us it would probably seem dull, slow and boring. It is interesting to see the change in music. I wonder what people will think of hip hop a hundred years in the future.

"Scott Joplin." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 1 Feb. 2010. .

American Film

American film has been a main source of entertainment for the common American since the beginning of the Twentieth century. Even though film was created in Paris, America has dominated the film industry since World War One. When motion pictures first came out they were usually short silent clips. One of the first full length movies was The Great Train Robbery, this movie paved the path for future movies. After World War One short clips gave way to feature presentations usually lasting a couple of hours, these movies had developed characters and plots.
The film industry also under went some changes after the first war, like instead of having just one writer or editor, companies now had teams. Another big change was the film industry moving from the east coast to California, to a small town called Hollywood which would establish itself as the film capital of the world. It is interesting to see that when film first started out Hollywood was an unknown town but now when people think about the U.S. they think about Hollywood. Films also became an activity for everyone not just the rich, and film stars were known as celebrities world wide. The start of a new era was issued when in 1927 the first talkie came out, called The Jazz Singer. After World War Two more Americans went to movies than ever, but the declined with the invention of television. The film industry responded to this with special effects and spectacle films like Ben Hur, which would give audiences an experience they couldn't get at home. During the sixties many films went back to old genres such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Godfather and The Exorcist. In the eighties when video came out, this seemed like a threat but it actually made profit for the companies, allowing the viewers to see films multiple times. It seems now that the film industry is suffering because so many people download films illegally, but some directors like James Cameron have worked around it, making movies like Avatar in 3-d which could only be seen in theaters. the film industry will always be around like theater.

"American film." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 29 Jan. 2010. http://www.americanhistory.abc-clio.com/.

American Theater

American Theater was one of the main sources of entertainment for American citizens. Theater has always been around America but wasn't fully developed until after the Civil War and by the beginning of the twentieth century it was fully thriving and even though it became influential around the world many plays used ideas from other countries like Europe and Asia. After the American revolution theater grew dramatically, with the American company returning and being joined by other English troupes. I think that one of the reasons that Americans didn't like theater before the revolution because they wanted to be different from Britain and this reminded them of it. When America expanded west so did theater travelling west with the rest of the nation and performing shows along the way. As theater grew more popular theaters started using famous foreign actors to make more money than there competitors, this was very successful. Most actors were English for the first half of the 19th century, but American actors were rapidly increasing. The most performed play was "Uncle Tom's Cabin", which was first a novel then it became a play. After the Civil War theater leaned more towards reality, with plays about day to day events and real settings. Another important part of theater was Burlesque which was originally made for men, but then developed into vaudeville. Motion pictures were a huge competitor against theater and once they started featuring sound theater attendance dropped drastically. Recently a big part of theater became the growth of legitamate regional theater. The American Theater has survived and persevered through many hardships, it will be interesting to see what happens to theater when we develope new technologies and better entertainment.

"American theater." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 28 Jan. 2010. .

The Arts

the arts were what people back in the day did for entertainment. I am happy I got to research the arts, mainly because they interest me. I want to see how different they were back then and how much they have changedand how they have stayed the same. Art and entertainment has always interested me, what impact they have had on modern society. The arts now a days usually are movies or books, paintings or sports. Back then the arts were mainly carnivals, paintings, literature and plays. Movies were just starting to be made, but they were usually fake news reels to entertain the people. One of the reasons that i wanted the arts was that the topic is so broad and can be interpreted many ways.

State of the Union

Yesterday in Obama's speech he mention how the Democrats and the Republicans had something in common and that was their dislikes of banks. he only said this because he wants it to seem like both opposing parties are on the same team. Of course all of the democrats stood up and starting applauding, this would occur many times throughout his speech. It seemed that all of the democrats applause combined was longer than Obama's speech itself. Only a few times did the republicans stand up and join their counter parts. One of the first things Obama mentioned was how his goal when he became President was to bail out the banks and that it was accomplished. Then he moved on to what must be accomplished over the next year. He talked about fixing the economy, but was more focused on the United States of America becoming the number one country in the world. That there was no reason for the US to be behind China or India and that we should be second to none. But honestly that isn't America's biggest problem. I am fine sitting in third place out of over a hundred countries. We still are better than all other countries. You don't hear about people trying to sneak into China or India. America is the only country in the world is made up of many different cultures, back rounds and languages. I think that Obama has watched Talladega Nights, because "if your not first your last", but bigger crisis than not being first in the world is what's going to happen with Conan O'Brien. That was one of America's network NBC worst decision. Obama needs to fix the economy so that us Americans are allowed to watch CoCo again and his friend the self pleasuring bear. But in all seriousness, Obama's primary goal must be the economy because once that goes up, everything else will improve along with it. I am excited and nervous to see what is going to happen in the first year of the new decade.

That sandwich was really good