In bed by 11!

I wrote my essay
it was horrible... I am embarrassed REALLY
It is worse than anything I have EVER written.
even my first story
Brenda goes to Saturn.

My classmate Brenda sat next to me in 6th grade. I loved her.
Even while I watched, and fell in love with, the two actors from a show called Adam12
I loved Brenda. And I made her a captain of a spaceship which landed on and explored Saturn.
Saturn is my favorite planet because of it's cool rings.

Anyway... Ill add the awful paper to the end of this post
DON'T READ it unless you really really want to bore yourselves.


About Dad
His sugar levels are always high (I thank my diabetic friend for all his explanations about this issue... it helped to know a little... I don't freak out about it so much)
Sometimes I have to prick his fingers 5 or 6 times before I get enough blood to check his level on a little
hand held
gadget
I HATE THIS

He's got a whole lot of phlegm coming out of his nose and mouth...
the good news is that his breathing has gotten gentler
He wakes up a lot more
but...
Did I tell you this story yet?
I saw his eyes open
I said... Dad, do you want to die?
and he grabbed my arm... real fast
I suspect that was a yes.

Saturday ... I remember no day
as terrible as
saturday

My father bowel moved 5 times... and each time was... soupy
he cried out a lot
his fever spiked at 103.8!
I was supposed to take my nieces to the movies (to see Narnia)
Excitement pulsed through my veins
We were to leave at 130pm
at 125 Dad had a bowel movement...
need I say, we were late?

We got to the movie theatre (mind u, since Dad came home I have not left the house)
only 10 minutes late... and thats just previews.
We waited in line
we went to pay
THE CREDIT CARD MACHINES WERE BROKEN
I had no cash
there were no ATMS near


we didn't see the movie.



That night... something odd happened.
Bubble snuck into Dad's room...
there was a crash...
she came running out
she sat down next to me and she wouldn't leave me
every 15 seconds she started shaking
it was like she'd seen a ghost or something
It lasted an hour
I thought maybe seizures
or maybe some of Dad's medicine had fallen on the floor...

Don't know what happened...
maybe something just scared her.

Ok. Im going to bed now because I am done writing!




Women and Reform
Kevin Smith
ENG/491
December 20, 2010
Professor Rathi Krishnan



























Women And Reform
In the years leading up to the American Civil War, many groups tried to reform the social and political structure of the Union. Each group sought to define how the reforms should be made. Several groups would stand up and fight for their rights. Religious groups and groups defined by race, produced literature and gave lectures, preaching their individual reform. Amongst this upheaval, another voice would begin to be heard as well, the voice of women. During the antebellum era, American women would challenge the longstanding political and social views of the female sex. Women strove to redefine American freedom through their focus on the reforms of the day, including temperance, slavery, and rights for women.
The reforms for temperance, slavery, and women’s rights were discussed in many ways. The literary community used fiction, biography, poetry, essay, and speeches to inform the population about these reforms. Temperance would be adopted by most authors as a goal to achieve. However, alcoholism created problems in families and society, even in the lives of some authors themselves. Edgar Allen Poe would loose many positions, and become poverty stricken, mainly due to his drinking addiction (Levine, 2008). One of the most heated pre-war debates was on the subject of slavery. Several writers, “sought to present the war not simply as a war between the states (or about secession) but, in the spirit of John Brown, as a holy war against slavery” (Levine, 2008, p. 444). Coupled with the fight to free African Americans from slavery was women’s rights, including the right to vote and own property. Emerson himself spoke out for women and, “in 1855 he addressed a women’s rights convention in support of women’s suffrage, which he would continue to endorse” (Levin, 2008, p. 440). The views that women had upon these issues would prove to alter the course the reforms would take.
On the issue of temperance, female authors lent their voice to the argument. In the fiction novel The Morgesons Elizabeth Stoddard, “counterpoints an alcoholic, who fathers a retarded child and dies of delirium tremens, to a reformed drinker, who participates in the shaping of a potentially happier marriage” (Levin, 2008, pp. 442-443). Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote two books in which her, “villains were also drunkards” (Levin, 2008, p. 443). Even the quieter voice of Emily Dickinson took a stance on the subject of temperance. In one poem she wrote, “Inebriate of air am I” (Dickinson, 2008, p. 1203) and later “When “Landlords” turn the drunken Bee/Out of the Foxglove’s door -/When Butterflies – renounce their “drams” -/I shall but drink the more!” (Dickinson, 2008, p. 1203) Writing alcoholic characters into their novels Stowe and Stoddard were able to convey a distinct picture of the negative sides to drinking. Dickinson’s image, coming in the form of a short poem, is much softer. The interpretation becomes a reflexive one in the mind of the reader. By portraying these ideas in their work, women took a stand against the practice of drinking.
Women also challenged the concept of slavery in their writing. Many women writers would form a bridge between abolitionism and women’s rights. Grimke fostered the idea that women could greatly influence society’s thinking on slavery by taking action within the home. She tried to inspire women, who may have thought they had no power to change slavery, by telling them, “You can do much in every way; four things I will name. 1st. You can read on this subject. 2d. You can pray over this subject. 3d. You can speak on this subject. 4th You can act on this subject” (Grimke, 2008, 759). In the genre of fiction the feminine voice of antislavery was heard as well. In her novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe would create a character, which all women who resisted slavery could identify with. On the subject of slavery, Stowe’s character Mrs. Bird, the wife of a politician, has this to say about the Dread Scott law, “It’s a shameful, wicked, abominable law, and I’ll break it, for one, the first time I get a chance; and I hope I shall have a chance, I do!” (Stowe, 2008, p. 778) Similarly the real-life character of Mrs. Bruce, in Incidents in the life of a slave girl, interferes in the biographer’s affairs in an attempt to win her freedom (Jacobs, 2008). Once again, the almost timid but undeniable voice of Emily Dickinson had something to say on the slavery issue as well. She wrote, “In the Parcel – Be the Merchant/Of the Heavenly Grace -/But reduce no Human Spirit/To Disgrace of Price –“ (Dickinson, 2008, p. 1219). The essay gave Grimke a venue in which to offer a set of guidelines. By following the guidelines women could help put an end to slavery. Stowe and Jacobs’ stories showed women they could have influence on this matter of freedom. Dickinson’s poetry exemplifies the common sense of abolition. Whether in essay, fiction, biography, or poetry, women worked to extend, to African Americans, the freedoms inherent in the Declaration of Independence.
The women writing literature in the pre-civil war era also had something to say about women’s rights. Fanny Fern focused on the inequalities between men and women, as they pertained to literature, specifically criticism of women’s literature. In her Male Criticism on Ladies’ Books, after reading a negative review that a male critique had made of a female’s novel, she wrote, “When I see such a narrow snarling criticism as the above. I always say to myself, the writer is some unhappy man, who has come up without the refining influence of mother, or sister, or reputable female friends” (Fern, 2008, p. 801). Fern theorizes that a lack of female influence equals to a lack of refinement. By using the essay to convey her message, Fern took full advantage of her rapier wit. Another writer would try to prove the importance of female influences upon men. Margaret Fuller also used the essay to advance her socio-political rhetoric. When considering the value of a wife who can think for herself she writes, “Men engaged in public life, literary men, and artists have often found in their wives companions and confidants in thought no less than in feeling” (Fuller, 2008, p. 740). Sojourner Truth took this idea a step further. In her Speech to the Women’s Rights Convention In Akron, Ohio, 1851 she said, “I am as strong as any man that is now. As for intellect, all I can say is, if woman have a pint and man a quart-why can’t she have her little pint full? (Truth, 2008, p. 761) By showing how women can be equal to men, it is not a far step from comparing that equality to the equality written of in the Declaration of Independence. Again the gentle voice of Dickinson had words to say on the subject. In her poem 1545 she wrote, “The Bible is an antique Volume -/Written by faded Men” (Dickinson, 2008, p. 1882). Dickinson may have been making a connection with the founding fathers. In her subtle way she expressed her feeling that words written in a book can change in meaning.
In his preface to Leaves of Grass, one of the precedents that Walt Whitman uses to describe the greatness of America is, “the perfect equality of the female with the male” (Whitman, 2008, p. 998). In Whitman’s day, that “perfect equality” was only a vision seen in a faraway future. Has that vision been realized? Even today it is questionable whether American men and women are truly equal. There is no question, however, that the women writers of the antebellum period used literature to take a gigantic stride toward obtaining that goal, and in doing so had definite impact in the temperance, slavery, and women’s rights reforms.





















References
Dickinson, E. (2008). Poems 207. In N. Baym (Ed.), The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Shorter Seventh Edition (7th ed., p. 1203). New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Dickinson, E. (2008). Poems 788. In N. Baym (Ed.), The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Shorter Seventh Edition (7th ed., p. 1219). New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Dickinson, E. (2008). Poems 1577. In N. Baym (Ed.), The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Shorter Seventh Edition (7th ed., p. 1221). New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Fern, F. (2008). Male Criticism on Ladies’ Books. In N. Baym (Ed.), The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Shorter Seventh Edition (7th ed., p. 801). New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Fuller, M. (2008). The Great Lawsuit. In N. Baym (Ed.), The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Shorter Seventh Edition (7th ed., p. 740). New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Grimke, A. (2008). Appeal to the Christian Women of the South. In N. Baym (Ed.), The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Shorter Seventh Edition (7th ed., p. 759). New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Jocobs, H. (2008). Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. In N. Baym (Ed.), The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Shorter Seventh Edition (7th ed.). New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Levin, R. (2008). Edgar Allen Poe. In N. Baym (Ed.), The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Shorter Seventh Edition (7th ed.). New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Levin, R. (2008). American Literature 1820-1865. In N. Baym (Ed.), The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Shorter Seventh Edition (7th ed., pp. 431-439). New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Stowe, H. (2008). Uncle Tom’s Cabin. In N. Baym (Ed.), The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Shorter Seventh Edition (7th ed., p. 778). New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Truth, S. (2008). Speech to the Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, 1851. In N. Baym (Ed.), The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Shorter Seventh Edition (7th ed., p. 761). New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Whitman, W. (2008). Leaves of Grass. In N. Baym (Ed.), The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Shorter Seventh Edition (7th ed., p. 998). New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.