People watching and questions from kim

Day 7
 
the bargain handshaking is kind of cool. "man watching"  
 
wow, high status feet placed on low status heads.  the 'OK' symbol isn't OK in 

all places.  anti-clockwise for crazy, clockwise for intelligent. 
 
horns sign in Italy, the finger is an ancient roman symbol.  two fingers, "v" 

for victory but backwards, is obscene.
 
head tossing (yes) is no, head shake is yes.  It is a two mile stretch, when 

the switch is made.  because that's where Romans stopped.  
 
in India the head is wobbled from side to side for yes.  like our maybe
 
thumbs up for good, thumbs down for bad.  thumbs up was spare the man, thumbs 

down was kill. that was wrong.
 
they actually hid their thumbs for spare them, and stabbed down with their thumbs

for kill him.  
 
in Australia there is a people that refrain from speaking for months to mourn the

death of a tribesman. instead of wearing black.  
 
gesticulation, unconscious  hand movements.
 
beating the air in time is a universal gesticulation. "da da, dada, da da"  raised 

forefinger, beating their heads with a club.  palm down gesture, pat the audience 

to calm them down.  hand chop to cut through the argument with a sharp blade. 

these hand signals even happen when talking on the phone.  
 
chimps chewing their nails. i chuckle.
 
a tight lip and lowered eyebrows are for aggressive action. tight lips for 

aggressive, lowered eyebrows for protection from retaliation.  
 
the staring eye, threatening. (the evil eye) if you could out stare it you were 

safe.  
 
as they become afraid, their mouths are pulled back, showing the teeth.  it looks 

a lot like a smile.  smiling is a human expression that comes from the fear face. 

the fear face is sometimes used as an anti aggression expression, i am not 

aggressive to i am friendly.  it is difficult to fake a smile.  
 
reminds me of my visit to watford city.  the psychology class.  
 
we often suppress our nonverbal communications because we want to hide our

intentions or feelings.  
 
face touching is a sign of lying, and hand shrug is done when lying as well, 

eyes blink and close more often than normal.  
 
blog is due next week.  not another due till the 29th of march, after we meet

again.

===end notes====

The people watching was pretty cool, I learned some things about actions.

The best part of class was listening to the dialogue between Kara and Kim. 

It is interesting the differing opinions on culture and what it means to 

different people.

What I know of my culture is that somebody who had enough money and was

educated came to North Dakota.

Other than that one fact, my entire family have been American citizens. 

One problem that I see with America is the lack of solidarity between the people.

America is full of 

Spanish Americans, Mexican Americans, African Americans, European Americans, and 

other elasticities.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I AM SORRY TO INFORM YOU BUT WE ARE ALL AMERICANS FIRST. A 

country cannot stand strong if it's people are too worried about where they are 

from and how they came to be where they are now.

No matter what happened in the past we need to keep both eyes on what's 

now. 

Sure, it is important to know that a train went by 15 minutes ago, but it is even

more important to remember that another train is coming, and you are standing on

the tracks.

Remember where you came from, but pay close attention to what is happening now.

Question 1: (insert hypothetical situation about visiting a foreign country and 

learning its language here) Most of my friends are too 

self conscious to practice on an everyday basis. I certainly try, I speak mandarin

to Whitney almost every day. She doesn't though.

Question 2: Tattoos mean different things to different people. They are like 

necklaces. Some people have them because they have a special meaning.

Some people wear them because they are cool. Others wear them under their shirt

because they have no need to let everybody know, and others wear theirs 

outside the shirt because they want others to see it and appreciate it.  The only

thing tattoos say about people that have them is that they are not afraid

to commit to a permanent change.

Question 3:  Language classes should be mandatory for schools. This wouldn't 

compromise other cultures because learning another language would help keep that 

culture alive. It isn't so important to be bilingual as it is exercise for the

mind. Students that learn a different language do better in all other classes.

Question 4:  Languages disappear because people learn newer easier or more common 

languages. If there is a room full of Spaniards, then you need to learn Spanish.

Kind of like the "When in Rome..." saying. When a group of people move in 

(read: Invade or colonize) when the people in power say "this is the language"

then said language becomes what people speak.  We can preserve languages by

putting them into a database and hoping that people want to keep using them.

From a societal standpoint, it doesn't make much sense to have more than one 

language in the world. Just think about how much more efficiently information

would be

passed between people, and how many misunderstandings would be avoided.

Question 4: YES we should have an official language that is used for legal

purposes (laws, licenses, taxes, and signs) The way laws are written in the US

are not friendly to 

translation. And it is a waste of time and ink putting two languages on every 

damned form, and every damned phone call to a government agency. They can certainly speak it, and 

use it in their lives, but when it comes to government involvement, ENGLISH ONLY.    

Rosh Hashana

Rosh Hashanah is a Jewish holiday that represents the beginning of a Jewish year. It takes place in either late September or early October and is unique in that it is actually two consecutive days.

The idea behind it is that God will decide who lives and who dies in the following year, and must atone for their sins so they will have a healthy year.  It is a time of self reflection for Jews. They examine themselves and try to right any wrongs they may have committed in the past year. They also strive to find how they can be better in the next year.

In a way, it is a time to atone for their sins and pray for forgiveness so they do not have to suffer the same fate as the sinners.  Rosh Hashanah is closely tied to Yom Kippur which takes place ten days after.  Both of the holidays are about repentance and making yourself right with God.

In my opinion, everybody should have a holiday similar to this one. It is a time when people can ask each other for forgiveness without having to feel funny about it.  Part of the holiday is about forgiving those who have done you wrong.  One of the rules is that a person must ask forgiveness for a wrongdoing three times if the first apology is not accepted, and apologies must be accepted and the situation mended unless the wrongdoing permanently harms someone. For example:

Situation 1: Person A steals a loaf of bread from person B. Person A asks for forgiveness, and person B accepts the apology, because a loaf of bread has very little meaning in the great scheme of things.  

Situation 2: Person A kills a member of person B’s family. Person A asks for forgiveness, it is then up person B to decide whether to accept the apology or not. However, if person B does not accept the apology, person A will ask twice more.

The purpose of this holiday is not just about ASKING for forgiveness, but also FORGIVING others of their wrong doings.  In Jewish faith, God is merciful, loving, and forgiving.  To forgive is to be closer to God.   

People who have been around longer than I...

DAY 6

Lauren Yellowbird, born in white shield on ft berth old reservation. medicine horse is his 'indian' name. given to him when he graduated high school. it is of great importance. (like a barmitsfuh)

Works at ft union as a park ranger. people from all over the world visit, and he has a very short time to give them as much information as possible to help them interpret the culture.

his background, he is a descendant of Son of the Star. arikara chief. a very distinguished man. He is one man Lauren admires in all of history. Bear's teeth is on his fathers side, lauren studied culture and anthropology. bear's teeth was a very powerful medicine man. dThese are two main figures that he is tied to. the medicine lodge had a lot of things there, they were very spiritual people. He also is Part hidatsa, some people don't like to claim a certain heritage.

the arikara people have lived in the dakotas for over 750 years. ONe thing they are famous for is in the 1800's little big horn battle. arikara was the main fighting/scouting force for custer. sometimes arikara catch flak for helping custer. other tribes will come up to arikara and call them 'traitors' two things remember growing up, mother corn and bloody knife. bloody knife was a scout. they had a lot of back and forth with the sioux. their village was attacked over 600 times over 6 years. the hate was there. based on this information, custer was one of the people that wanted these two groups to come together peacefully. He got them together to work out a peace treaty. the arikara and sioux were ready to help. It was said that an arikara woman had lost her son, she wanted to know what happened to her son. once the peace was attained, she could find out more about her son.

The arikara went to ft lincoln, son of the star told them, "what we will do today will be hard, the enemy will send our hearts to the ground. Be strong, if you are strong, we will have peace." They settled down, then the lakota came.

The lakota have the warriors lead, they are very fierce. They were going to test the arikara on that day, the war leaders and their wives were holding scalps, and the arikara woman saw her sons face on the stick and she fainted. then they rubbed the face in their 'faces' and started a very volatile situation. the chiefs managed to settle this down.

at that point there were only 1500 people who were arikara. those people were most likely family. everything settled down when tom custer, (general custer's brother) and he brought a pipe, and the arikara puffed and passed to the, and the second man puffed and was shot. the arikara warriors stood up and were ready to fight. nobody came forward for a long time. it was a different band of sioux, just one member, and the peace talks broke right there. the scouts were away from the main tribe, and they would bring their wives and family. and the women of the scouts were molested by the drunken white soldiers.

A woman who came there with her two kids after her family was wiped out. she would go to where the soldiers were cooking and dug through the garbage to feed her kids. some soldiers got in trouble because they dumped boiling water over her.

white shield has a cemetery dedicated to scouts. that stuff is fading. the younger people aren't understanding or paying attention. society is polluting the old ways. it bothers lauren from a historians point of view, and also as a veteran (desert storm) he also followed a lot of spiritual ways. It is important to remember who we are, and what we care to perpetuate to our descendants.

he grew up seeing some of his own people walking the streets drunk, and going into the store without an adult was unpleasant. He grew very bitter, he didn't like whit people. It took a long time to get over it. He had to learn how to become together with another race. it is very easy to become prejudiced when you are among your own people.

    [This reminds me of a somewhat racist routine done by Chris Rock (if I remember right, the guy from the Rush Hour series) he was talking about how (in worse words) African Americans are racist against each other. He was talking about how 'gangsters' use the N word. It was very funny, yet poignant skit.]

they had a tour group of little kids at fort union from a montana school. (3rd graders) the students came, you always get rambunctious kids. there were two little indian girls among them. and a little boy ran around yelling "kill all the indians" and the little girls were very afraid. the teacher wouldn't do anything to stop it. there is still a lot to do.

     [In grade school we played cowboys and indians, then that wasn't allowed, so we played cops and robbers. After that was outlawed, we played boys chase girls. Kids like to chase each other and pretend to be fighting. It hones the survival skills, and kids will use things they learn about to 'reinact' as play. I think back on the thanksgiving celebration in kindergarten. The project was to make a vest and hat out of some paper grocery bags. Half the class was assigned to be pilgrims, the other indians. Then, as kids usually do, we started to play our parts. Then we see old western movies, or COPS, and start copying it. Thats what people do, COPY]

     [That could be a segway to last weeks lesson on hate. However strong my feelings are that hate is not a learned emotion, the way hate is expressed, and who or what it is felt toward is learned.]

they did a 2 week training with the military, they went and did a support operation o pine ridge reservation. built homes through the DOD and Department of interior. everybody was happy and waving while they were working on this stuff. one lakota guy was driving and a slodier waved at him and the lakota man flipped the bird. and all the sudden the soldiers thought they were in trouble "look what they do to us" the man was bitter because his company didn't get the bid to build the houses.

last lecture to university was indiana university to a bunch of PhD's. A couple things that made an impact on lauren's life

1) back in '02 he was in standby to go to afghanistan. they were getting ready to do some training in the mountains. like any place, before you go, you get briefed. he mentioned that there were historic sites in the training area, and they couldn't just dig anywhere. when they started setting up he heard one gentleman walk by and he said the most offensive things. he said "idk why the F these guys care. Is pocahontus going to come to life" lauren said "why don't you shut up about indian people" he stopped and said "hey, man, I'm not a racist." and later on he looked at his buddy (motions to the ground lol) and the buddy says, "i guess these areas are indian burial sites" as soon as that was said to me, people asked why anybody cares about his stuff. "it shouldn't be a problem" they said it is in the past. lauren didn't know anything about it but defended it anyway. he said "maybe you're right" and they said "you need to move on because it's in the past" and lauren said "the twin towers is in the past. let's move on." and the reply was "we cant do that" and how do they know that some of the families from this tribe could be fighting in afghanistan right now. the indians have the highest rate of serving military members. they don't think about all of the things that native americans do for the country.

     [It's like having a training op on what was once Arlington Cemetery.  700 years from now. Imagine if the US ceases to exist, and some other government is instituted and the "American" people are few in number and have all but lost their culture. Now this government starts holding training missions on the burial site for our most honored warriors. Granted, Americans don't seem to have the respect for soldiers like the Native Americans did  (and Americans need to remember who to thank for apple pie and baseball) And now these people are digging trenches and foxholes over the remains of those who we held in the highest esteem.]

during desert storm, when the military were coming home. his sister avoided the political aspect. she got a bunch of people together in bismark to support the native troops, and she introduced lauren to a lakota man who was a korean veteran who was playing a role in the support project. He said "the mechanized infantry brother and the airborne brother saw each other in the staging area. and they found each other." he invited lauren to be there for the brothers' homecoming, but he couldn't make it. laurent sister said when they arrived, his sister assembled all the people from the tribes and brought a traditional drum, and as soon as the soldiers started coming off, they sand a welcome home song. everybody got quiet because they hadn't seen this stuff before. a white soldier stood with his family and watched. and as everything got over they started leaving, that family said that was interesting "i wish something like that would happen for me" and the old man stopped that kid. it is the native way to do that, and they will do these things because we're supposed to. now we will do it for you. and the mother didn't know what to do. they sang for that guy, and gave his mother a shawl.
     [Wow... Just... Wow... It is absolutely wonderful to hear that story. Native Americans relied on their hunters and their warriors for survival. If their warriors were not strong enough, then the tribe would fail. For all of the culture that was taken away, the respect for warriors is still strong. With Native Americans having the highest percentage of serving militarymen(women), that love for being a strong and loyal warrior is still there. And the respect for those that are strong and loyal warriors still exists.]

 
"i do get asked a lot about the fighting sioux name. truthfully the best people to ask are the sioux people. I believe that these guys want to honor them. the problem is that they push it on them. democracy and respect go out right there."

     [They should change the name to the Pillaging Norskmen. But seriously, I don't think it was a big deal untill some guy with a whole lot of money said it was, and then some big association decided to take up the fight. Just let it be... If the Native people don't like it, then they will say something and it can go from there. But there is no reason for some big organization that doesn't even come from this area to start saying what can and cant happen. /end rant]

what helped you not dislike the white poeple?

"you guys aint all alike. and that's a shock to me, but, i was in a class with a guy who was very outgoing. he'd come over and sit and talk, he'd have lauren join them for basketball and stuff like that. This was a culture shock moment for him." " i was very guarded, at one point he was driving his car and he heard somebody throwing snowballs at his car, he thought they were being racist, it pissed him off. and here it was the guy from the class. it was weird."

their culture is fading. and he has nieces and nephews who are gang members. they wouldnt come in here because we are assembled here. he has to hear them complain about every other race. there is so much there that can teach us many things, we cannot lose this culture.

the language music, ceremonies, ediquitte repect visions of leaders. these all need to be kept alive. it is not easy, because a lot of the people can't speak their language. a lot of what they do is adopted by the lakota. vision quests. find somebody powerful like that.

     [I've heard of those vision quests before. I think that a number of different cultures have a variation of a vision quest. Inner meditation, the answer to anything can be found if one can look inward. Its pretty heavy stuff, pretty cool stuff.]

Almost forgot that one...

DAY 5

     [My format of notes with my 'reflections' inserted seems to be working rather well. I will continue with this format untill I find something better.]

a movie about hate crimes. caine and abel.

     [jealousy, I really don't know if I spelled their names correctly]

matthew. died, probably a hate crime. sounds like a good guy. laremy wyoming? executed. he must have been homosexual? wrote fag on his door. people

     [I always wonder about the sexual orientation of men who beat up gay people. These tough guys... "Hate is a strong word, but I really REALLY don't like..." them.]

reminds me of the video of drag queens beating the shit out of some tough guys who picked a fight. reminds me if the truck i saw in gelette wy. the "Whit pride truck" with "kc lights and the lift kit"

wyoming community is very close, but they have unpleasant feelings toward minorities.
     [what small town doesn't? Even an outsider that looks exactly the same as the natives is looked upon with suspicion.]

"alone in a prairie, tied to a fence" this is the guy who was tied to a fence and left for dead. they [his family] had to sneak in to the hospital with police to avoid the reporters.

==end matt's story==

james an african american. He was a trumpet player. looks like he was a piano player as well. A gift of music. "self appointed advocate for those who were treated unfairly." he was a grandfather. she would point to the tv whenever his face was on it.

they couldn't ID the body, they had to use fingerprints. they beat him, he was disabled, and probably not as strong as he could have been. they tied him to a truck and dragged him for at least 2 miles, mostly on pavement. they swerved side to side, and elbows were ground down. he died when he hit a culvert. they stopped for a moment, and continued on. he died when was decapatad on the culvert. then they dumped his body in front of a black church.

this "intellectual" has a lot of stuff to say about how white people are the builders of society. they seem to like hitler. aryan nation.
it looks like this guy teaches classes!

     [the director caught me in my unpleasant and aggressive feelings towards D-8@35 (why does blogger hyperlink my place holder for words not suited for a blog?) who think that they are better than everyone else. It's one thing to have pride in who you are, it's another thing to hate somebody else because you think you're better than them]

==end james's story==

Columbine shooting. It was so dramatic because they were so young. where does a a 17 year old mind come up with this plan?

     [i can answer that: anger, hate, hopelessness, rage, and sorrow. What those boys did was terrible, but they were victims long before they committed those acts of hate. I know exactly what it is like to be the 'undesirable' in school. granted, by high school I had learned to deal with it.  But one thing that people don't seem to get is that bad guys are smart. These kids were paying attention to the legislation that was on the table at the time, possibly allowing faculty to be armed (as long as they had a permit to do so).  What is at fault? Not games, not guns, not music, and probably not even parent's. People are accountable for what they do. PERIOD.]

     [However, the situation would not have presented itself if the a554a75 that gave these boys hell would have been taught some manners and discipline.  And what is funny? It is always the sports players that give kids hell. Nothing against sports, but it seems to me that high school football players do more 54177y things to other students and get away with it. That is why high school kids shoot up the school. As for the 'God' question, the movie was very misleading. They didn't kill her because she was a christian, they just wanted her to know that she was going to die. They wanted her to know that THEY were the ones with the power.]

   

jocks were mad because they were beat by eric. so they hurt him. these "killers" were victims. "they were actually pretty nice, like they never wanted to hurt anyone"

===end columbine==

Go elton!!!!

oh god.... the racist again. Wait, did he grow a heart?!? ZOMG! He's against hate!. lol just shows how prejudiced "i" am. i guess the important lesson here is forgiveness? hate breeds hate, but I don't see how a "racist" can see the light and become a man who loves all people.
    
     [It's like my mantra on physical confrontation.  I can always go punch somebody later, but I cant unpunch somebody. I wonder what those people he brutalized think about his 'new leaf']

I wonder what happened to the people that killed james. GO ELTON! parents have the responsibility. hate is taught.

     [Nature vs. Nurture: why are pitbulls so aggressive? Hate is not taught. (I may sound religious here but,) The bible says adam and eve consumed fruit from the tree of knowledge. Before that, we were blind to hate. It didn't exist, but now it does. The Greeks had a similar story, ever hear of Pandora and her box? The reason both of these cultures have an example of hate being 'released upon humanity' is because hate is a universal truth.  unfortunately, it exists. Deal with it. In nature the strong survive and the weak die. If some majority hates a minority and decides to kill them all, then that minority darn well better be able to defend itself. Take Israel for example.]

     [Israel is a shining example of how a minorty can successfully defend itself from hate (as long as it keeps its very strong friends around) Their fighting style shows a lot of that "never again" determination. all is fair in love and war, suffocating somebody with love doesnt help you if they have a gun to your head. They have to be killed, that is all there is to it.]

once again i think of the 10 finger thing.

who's values will we teach? even the racists have values. they just don't include compassion and love.

the holocaust. I seem to remember the saudi prime minister telling his people that it didn't happen.

     [which reminds me of a quote of Eisenhower, "(order) take lots of pictures, because 10, 20, 50, or 100 years from now, some bastard will say this never happened."

religion has caused more deaths than anything. Reminds me of bill meher's religiolous, god doesn't hate? I recall it saying in the bible, that god hates sin.

"hate is a strong word, but I really really really don't like you" --the lyrics to a song by some alternative band. I cant remember.

ZOMG its the westboro bastard! lol, I remember that guy (bowling for columbine, capitalism a love story) talking the westboro guy into the "sodomobile" lol, his face was priceless.

parents are not spending very much time with their children. and the older generation bitches about us. lol.

debrief our children every day. thats a good idea.

[To say nothing is to say it is OK]

"you must be the change you want to see in the world" --ghandi

we must fix our "isms" racism, sexism, ORGANISM. we are living, there for hate exists.

I remember an interview with the westboro guys kid. they asked him what a fag was, he didn't know. he just knew that he hated them. it was a good interview.

woah woah woah, is this a stand off against the westboro peeps? LOL, his face!!!!

Its the same one! from the angels, the freedom riders, and the mike guy who hates guns.

"othering" almost like the redheaded guy that grouped everyone else as others, and his way was the right way. discrimination.
do you need to have the power to opress to be racist?

what if james was a white guy?
what if Matt was straight?
  
     [I sure as heck dont want my murder investigation to be put on a backburner because somebody of a minority race was killed by somebody of a majority race....]

That A5$4A7!!!!!!!!!11one!!!one11! EXCLAMATION?!!1

So I get into my dad's truck today and see, as I'm late for a bio test, that some {insert very foul name} stole the stereo. The locks don't work, and the dang thing wont start without a jumper. But I called the cops, and waited for like 40 minutes and filed a report. I then followed the footprints to behind dominoes.

The cop said these were the same prints that stole something from another place the same night.

After that I decided to get my stuff from Jayson's (my best friends) house. The same cop that I talked to was there, and the land lady's chevy avalanche was gone! That {insert foul language, dissing that [more foul tongue]'s mother} stole here truck and one of the other tenants stereo!

So I'm like, "Gawd Die-aym!" and start following the prints again. I get to a car behind job service and note that they stopped there. Then I follow them right to the stolen truck!

I'm not lucky enough to be the first one there though, the cop arrived minutes before I did, but I offered the land lady my aid and thoughts (getting stuff stolen is a big deal, and she's such a nice lady) and told the officer about the other car the prints went to.

Then I asked if I could follow more prints, and he siad "sure, just call me if you find anything else." so I did, and I did, and I did. About a block away from the truck, I found her dish network thing that was missing from the truck. the prints led right up to it. So I called the cop again, and learned that they tried to break into the car I told him about.

I searched the entire main street area and I'm pretty sure the [Worse words] frequents Buster's bar. An eyewitness says the people who stole the truck were a tall man with long blond hair, and a fat man with long brown hair.

The footsteps put him at about my height (six-two) and about a size 13 shoe.

My dad says he knows a guy that fits that description, who he has had trouble with in the past (could there be more to the story?) and says the guys lives like a block away, and is missing his front teeth.

Darn, I was kind of hoping I could bust them out myself. (THAT WAS A JOKE! Relax, I have faith that Willistons Finest will get to the bottom of it and bring justice upon that [do I really need to say it])

Wow, I feel much better now that I got that off my chest. I hope I dont get in trouble for sharing it though. It could be a big NSA sting operation to weed out terrorist cells in Lebanon.

"Whuh, day four?"

DAY 4

The following is a copy of the notes I took during class, indented and in [my comments].

    [ I arrived somewhat late, I had to go through the lunch line because I was hungry]
the caucasian invadors forced the africans to feel ashamed of their culture. They became almost like slaves. They used biblical principles to enslave the people,

south africa has 41 million, now closer to 60 million. More than 50% of the population is black

ghandi brought indentured servants to work on sugar beet plantations from india. they went to natal. they were demarcated as indians in Natal, and moved each group of people to a specific part of the country. "group areas act" if you were black you needed a pass if you were away from home. and if you were outside of your demarcation for more than 24 hours, you were arrested. the culture is still alive despite apartheid. the culture is still alive because people now are deliberately reliving their culture, many no longer feel ashamed.

the cultures didn't respect each other, and they felt intimidated by others who were more aggressive in asserting their culture as the "right" culture. each culture still had basic religious principles, sanctity of life, etc.

apartheid is no longer as blatant, but it still exists. all of this changed with the new government, there are now 21 universities. They came to the agreement that they would live together with mutual respect, and they could move from one place to the next without needing a pass. one of the major problems was language, the country has 11 official languages. had to learn english and afrikaans.

zulu is common language. the missionary schools from the united states helped the africans learn because the local schools would not help. the rebels usually attacked indian people because the indians were known as peaceful people (a la ghandi)

almost 90% of the indians are "born again christians" most lost all of their family values, the indian culture has a distinctive caste system. The factors were wealth and education. if you belong to the upperclass, you could not marry a lower class. the man had to bring 10 cows to marry a woman. as the culture developed, there became bartering. "south american money is rand. 1rand=10$. AIDS hit africa, and thousands die, part of this is because of the polygmy, zulu culture is the only one in africa to stand the test of time. the culture is very musically oriented, that is how they would survive, they would sing to get through harsh times with music.

the zulu now have education that is open to all because mandela allowed higher ed for everyone. "invictus" is a wonderful story showing mendelas story, from prison to presidency. the indian sarie is popular in indian culture. if you married women would have a red dot on their forehead, pre-christian.

typically africans eat "grits/cream of wheat" that is called _________ it is lumpy, and they eat it with meat and gravy,

indians eat lots of curry and rice, and very spicy meat, garlic ginger cumin and red peppers (mesalla) the "colored" people (black and white mixed) don't really have their own culture.

until recently women were never able to attain an education. in her culture a man always stood in the way of a woman when she was being progressive. you have to have a masters degree to get a job down there. the only way to get a promotion is to do more school. after masters its honors, then doctorate. she pursued more education in Boston and got scholarships for all 20 years of her education (both in US and SA)

it is now reverse apartheid, now the black people are being unpleasant to the white people. you were then entering school because of the color of your skin, not because of your smarts. a lot of white and indian people have left. the wealthy and educated people are leaving.

hospitality is a big thing in indian culture, (3000 people attended her wedding)

    [Her story reminded me of human nature. I commented in class on George in "Dead Like Me" episode number 3 I think. When she says "Lets get everyone who has ten fingers and get together as a group. Then we can go beat up all the people with nine fingers" ]

     [People naturally gravitate towards other people who are like them, and are naturally skeptical of outsiders. When you add the tension of actual opression, this can become a volitile situation, and people aren't exactly known for making logical discisions when in groups]
   

HEY HEY, IT's time for the canadian, eh?
      [I took criminal justice with this guy (can't remember his name) so I knew him from outside this class and had already talked with him on the differences between USA and Canada.]

cory, born in manitoba, lived there for 19 years, then to bc for 2 years, williston for a year
     
[Oh, lol, I put his name right there, kinda above and to the left of my "oh". If you missed it, his name is Cory, or maybe Corey, I don't really know how to spell it (his name that is)]

differences, politics education and sports. the biggest thing is sports. everybody in canada plays hockey. the way we treat or nba and nfl canada treats their hockey teams like thats.

politics, canada has "clean" political ads, their funding is done without business support. no corporate sponsorship. canada has 7 parties. prime minsiter instead of president

     [The US actually has a large number of parties; republican, democrat, libertarian, TEA, green, and independant, to name a few.]

eduction, is at a higher level than USA, there are like 3 english classes every year. winters are a little colder and snowier than ours. 33 million people in canada, BC ontario and quebec. drinking is not enforced like usa, they don't get so pissed when a minor drinks. Drugs aren't as big of a deal, they will just confiscate and send it home. dont give them a smart remark.

   [I think the United States really needs to focus on education. Most of the world is kicking our ass on "standardised tests" It's all about "Graduate so you can make money." and the focus becomes a diploma, instead of a quality education. If the classes are too tough for a kid to do, then don't lower the requirements for everybody else, the chain is only as strong as its weakest link. So put that weak link into something it is more effective at.]

document that secures civil rights, two declarations, one for canadians, and one for foriegners. come from 1890's canada just kind of followed american.

they force french on you until 8th grade. the usa teachers are much better, in canada they wouldn't help you, and you were just a number. some lecture halls had 500 people,

hunting starts at age 12, need hunter safety, then can buy muzzle loader, rifle and archery tags, 12 year old cannot be in bush without a person who has a PAL card. the only tags to apply for is a draw. you can shoot deer at almost anytime. there are a ton of animals. the draws are usually around the mountains, there are 5 years. general season for everything. wolves mountain lions have open season for anyone all year, no dogs allowed to hunt them though.

Game Warden in canada do not carry a gun, they just enforce the hunting laws. no capital punishment a life sentence in canada is 25 years. it does not add on.

game wardens have full rights to take vehicles, guns, and anything in your possession when you were caught,

if you get charged with something gun related, they just take away that gun. the one in question. every farm house has guns. they aren't locked up, ammo is available, doors are never locked. people dont worry about crime. vehicles aren't locked usually. their native people can hunt whatever, whenever they want.

healthcare, the government pays for all of it. the taxes are 12% on anything, some places have 19% taxes.
military run a 10 minute mile 25 push ups and 70% on a general test.

canadian military has very good rifle ranges. quebec wants to separate from quebec. americans are very nationalistic. canadians don't have much nationalism.

very diverse religion jehova witness is tryijng to expand. canadian strippers are completely naked, unlike the american stuff. alcohol is 2 or 3 times as expensive as in the states. canadian alcohol is much stronger than usa. us police get paid horrible wages, in canada its a 95k/year

drivers license comes before the training. its all book stuff. if you have aPAL you could take guns to school as long as the vehicle was locked.

handguns don't really exist in Canada. need an unrestricted PAL to own a handgun, if you get caught with more than a 5 shot magazine or shorter than 22 inches. must be 300 meters away from a main road. you can do anything you want on your land. people are very touchy about trespassing, especially on hunting.

criminal laws are harsh in USA compared to Canada. they don't get fines like we do.

touch on affirmative action.

  [Affirmative action=reverse discrimination. A member of a minority gets dibs on a position, even if a member of the "majority (read, white person) scores better than them, and would do better at the job/class. How am I supposed to compete with a black person, when one of the requirements is "be of African descent" (just one example)]

touch on the articles. what is important, why did we read them.

     [I always chuckle silently to myself when women complain about not receiving equal opportunities in "elected positions" Hmmmm, elected, like a vote of the 'people' in big business this would be the board of directors, who are put there by a vote of the common stock holders. Stock holders vote for board of directors, board votes for CEO, and CEO appoints 'helpers'.  Its not the laws, nor is it the "men" that are keeping women out of this, it is  vote of people.]

talk about differences in people in the work force.
(justin bows, steve fishing, dion cop, vinny dumb student that knows too much)

     [I couldn't help but think about Scenic Sports, as this is my current employer,  Justin knows everything there is to know about bows, steve know a ton about fishing, dion has like 10 years law enforcement experience and is very knowledgeable in everything gun and weapon related both workings and usage. and then there is me. I am the youngest, I don't really hunt that much, but I have read a lot on guns, and find (and the other guys tell me) I am very good at selling guns. But for some reason, I'm always the one that catches shit for anything that goes wrong, weather I'm responsible or not. It's not a huge deal, because I am very good at solving problems, and sometimes I think they blame me just because they know I will clear my name and fix the problem much faster than anyone else.]

     [At walmart I was a customer service manager at age 18. I was the boss of the entire front end and learned quickly how to earn the respect of those who were 'under' me. Do what they do, and teach them. Unlike many of the other 'newbie' CSM's, I already had over 2 years experience cashiering, and my cashiers knew that. Maintain civility, and the most important part (it gets its own line),

   When somebody screws up, let them tell you. Bring it to their attention that you know somethings up, and ask. Don't pull them aside, don't write them up just find out if they know. If they did it on purpose, you will get an excuse. You decide if it 'passes'. If they don't know, (or if they were being of "questionable integrity" (read, LYING) then they will say that they don't know. Then explain to them what is wrong, avoiding these key words, "YOU, DID, WRONG, BAD, NEVER, ALWAYS, SHOULD, DON'T, and most of all YOU" Peoples minds generally work the same. Cultures may change the details, but people don't like being scolded, and they generally like improving their skills.]