I like Pencil drawings so I thought I would share some from the 1930;s with everyone.

Herschel Levit (1912-1986)

Herschel Levit focused his early work on some of the big construction jobs being built through the WPA in the 30’s.

Take it Away

Born in Pennsylvania, Hershcel Levit had a short art career during the Great Depression before becoming a full time professor of art and architecture history at Pratt Institute. This interest in architecture is prevalent in his early artwork that focuses on many of the major construction projects being funded by the WPA. His images of laborers focus not only on the scale of the projects but in the importance of work as a means towards human dignity.

Samuel L. Margolies (1897-1978)

Builders of Babylon

Born in Brooklyn, NY, Samuel Margolies is best known for his work in the 1930’s featuring dramatic views of New York’s skyscrapers and the heroic workers who built them. Margolies studied art at the Cooper Union Art School and the National Academy of Design. He was a member of the Society of American Etchers, American Veterans Society of Artists, and the American Artists Congress. Margolies exhibited at the New York World's Fair in 1939 and his work is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Library of Congress as well as various embassies and federal buildings in Washington D. C.

Orphan Trains

The Orphan Trains began in the 1850s and lasted into the mid 1930s. This was a controversial and also ambitious effort with the mission of rescuing poor and homeless children at a time when young children were forced to roam the streets to attempt to survive; either because they were abandoned by their parents or their parents were just unemployed. Children would pawn anything they could find, and united together in the form of gangs to avoid street violence. The increasing number of gangs became a growing concern for police officers who would often arrest children as young as five-year old, putting them in jail cells with adults. Massive immigration to the east coast in the 19^th century coupled with poor economic conditions was a large factor in this phenomena, this was extremely profound in New York. Charles Loring Brace was so horrified while visiting the city that he became consumed with the fates of these children and made it his goal to help them. He organized a team who began sending out orphaned, abandoned or destitute children on "orphan trains," accompanied by aid-society employees, in hopes of finding them loving homes. Brace founded the Children's Aid Society to arrange the trips, raise the money, and obtain the legal permissions needed for relocation. Brace is quoted as saying, “The great duty is to get utterly out of their surroundings and to send them away to kind Christian homes.” Between 1854 and 1933, more than 100,000 children were sent, via orphan trains, to new homes in rural America. Children had a wide range of experiences; some became "another member of the family", others were just "hired help", and there was also those who fled back to the east. It is also important to note that many children did not want to go in the first place and were forced to.

We see a surplus in children migration, as expected, when economic times worsen, and especially in the late 1920’s. This is where modern-day foster care derives from. I think this program was great; it saved so many children by giving them a real chance at life. The program only started to decline during the Great Depression in the 1930’s when all families were struggling and not just those on the east coast. Changing attitudes on social responsibility and especially new child labor restrictions led to the decline in the number of orphan trains.

(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/orphan/)

(http://articles.southbendtribune.com/2007-01-30/news/26781248_1_charles-loring-brace-orphan-trains-goshen)

Alcoholics Anonymous

The 21^st Amendment repealed Prohibition only two years prior to Alcoholics Anonymous’ founding in 1935, and alcohol still carried a strong stigma of immorality. Bill Wilson started this group by coming together with Dr. Bob Smith and developing a step-by-step strategy to ending alcoholism that would later morph into the 12-step program used today. Both men had gone through serious bouts of alcoholism and had undergone a variety of treatment programs such as, "purge and puke" treatments, where a patient was given toxic salts or plants to expel this ‘demon’”. Wilson and Smith were both so different in their drinking habits and personalities that when this program worked for them both, they realized it had the potential to work for many others as well. Jointly they created Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A) where the treatment was abstaining from alcohol all together.

“By 1939, AA had expanded to three groups that produced 100 sober members, and publicity of its success brought it a deluge of new people seeking help. By the end of 1940, there were 2,000 members, 6,000 by the time Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941. By 1950, that number had jumped to 100,000.” Today, Alcoholics Anonymous is a worldwide organization, claiming 2.1 million members.

Americans were obsessed with gaining back the “good” values they felt alcohol had taken away. The struggle was over the morality of drinking and how it fit into “the American life”. It was not surprising to see that A.A was created so soon after Prohibition was repealed; Prohibition failed and people were looking into alternatives. Alcoholics were not treated well and had to go through unhealthy and painful treatments, it made sense that alcoholics themselves would take initiative and look for an ulterior approach. It was interesting for me that all of this was going on simultaneously with the Great Depression.



http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2001284_2001057_2001042,00.html #ixzz1KgToBID6

The Daily News Building

Raymond Hood was an MIT and Brown University educated architect who worked primarily in the style of Art Deco. In fact, his Daily News Building was the earliest, most notable work constructed in that style. Completed in 1929, the News Building went on to garner attention both good and bad. Clark Kent(aka Superman) worked at the fictional Daily Planet in a building modeled after the News. Perhaps less complimentary was the remark of Ayn Rand that it was "the ugliest building in the city!"

In 1930, one year later, a much more well known example of Art Deco architecture, the Chrysler Building, graced the skies.

The design of the Daily News Building influenced Hood as one of the lead architects for the famous Rockefeller Center (comprised of 19 buildings including the Radio City Music Hall) in New York City. Unfortunately, Hood died when he was a young 53 years old and did not live to see the completion of what is now one of New York's most visited landmarks.

The Harlem Renaissance

Originally known as "The New Negro Movement," what became known as The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural trend in the 1920's and 1930's, centered in Harlem. Music played a huge role (including people like Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Jelly Roll Morton, and Willie "The Lion" Smith), but the Renaissance included drama (Zora Neale Hurston) poets (Langston Hughes), intellectuals (W.E.B. Du Bois), artists (Charles Alston), and a number of other elements, too. Places like the Cotton Club became hubs for the movement, where people would dance, party, and mingle.

The movement was criticized, contemporaneously and in the years since, for a number of reasons. The Renaissance claimed to be attempting to develop an entirely African American culture, that was unique from that of the White dominated culture that was present at the time. Critics point out that much of the art and ideas parallels that of White culture, and that by adopting certain white elements, they were not accomplishing this goal. Furthermore, the culture itself was appealing to those of all ethnicities, again counter to some of the intents of the movement. While these criticisms may be founded in truth, the Renaissance itself created a number of amazing pieces of art, music, and writing, which went on to influence generations afterward. More importantly, this movement brought into American consciousness the identity of the modern African American as part of our own American Heritage. By reversing the then-stereotype of the "rural and ignorant black," the Renaissance helped paved the rocky road toward the Civil Rights Movement in the years to come.

Red Scare

The first “Red Scare”, extreme anti-communist sentiment and fear, lasted from 1919-1920 in the United States. Communist fear lasted well beyond the 1920’s, and into the Great Depression era. There were over 150,000 anarchists or communists in the United States in 1920 alone and this represented only 0.1% of the overall population of the USA. From the 1920s to the late 1930s, American culture learned to loathe Communism.

I think it is important to acknowledge that the “Red Scare” was a real incident in American History; Americans truly saw Communism as a threat to Capitalism and “American life”. “Waiting for Lefty” confronts 1930’s issues of class and Communism. I think this play can parallel issues of our current climate as well, such as xenophobia. The play refers to communists or those thought to be communists as “reds”. In the post 9/11 American world there has been extreme paranoia and anti-immigration sentiment towards Muslims and Arabs. Any thoughts on this comparison?

http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=1586

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/red_scare_1920s_America.htm

Strange Fruit - Billie Holiday

This is a must see-hear song...

Please watch the youtube video-

Written 1939 -

Southern trees bear strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees

Pastoral scene of the gallant south
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop
Here is a strange and bitter cry

-Billie Holiday

Billie is one of my favorite artists of all time. Not only is the song beautiful but it gets inside of you and forces you to see and taste a time that is not comprehensible for our generation. At this time slavery had ended constitutionally, but shared cropping (which was slavery still) and Jim Crow laws were still taking place... Not only was there suffering and poverty through the nation, but there was violent murdering taking place because of the shade of one's skin. I believe this song is an amazing representation of what was happening during her life time... and all those whom had to live through this era.

The Hay's Code

In doing research on Film in the 30's, I stumbled upon an interesting parallel in regards to the "Since Yesterday" readings. For instance, until the enforcement (in 1934, despite being adopted in 1930) of the Motion Picture Production Code, a self-censoring mechanism installed by Hollywood in the face of both boycotts on the part of groups such as the League of Decency (a Catholic based group that encouraged boycotts of films deemed immoral by the Vatican) and the threat of intervention by the US government, films were pretty close, in regards to sex and violence, to what we think of as normal today. In terms of film studies, these are known as "precode" films. Themes dealing with pre or extra-martial sex, drug use, and violence were all common. This is interesting when one considers the fact that the ratings system (G,PG,PG-13, R, NC-17) wasn't adopted until decades later. Thus, in essence, all films were rated "G", as in, geared towards audiences of all ages.
I find the parallel in the pendulum swing American culture took from the roaring twenties to the Depression-as is described by Allen, Americans were too busy trying to get by to be terribly impressed with the novelty of the "new morality" found in the 2o's. The more conservative forces at play in America undoubtedly did not miss the chance to validate what just a short time before must have seemed like outmoded, archaic values. This, I think, is a large part of what drove the rather popular effort to "clean up" the movies. This theme of an attempt to regain innocence lost reverberates throughout all of our reading, in particular the ones from Hard Times. One notices such a trend towards innocence in many of the post-code hits of the 30's. Hence my favorite genre of depression-era film: the Screwball comedy. In films such as It Happened One Night, the cat-and-mouse game the filmmakers and writers played with the censors had the effect of elevating the quality in a way not anticipated by the prudish Hay's code. The film is at once a Norman Rockwellian paean to Americana, and a series of thinly veiled sexual references.

Throw Down Your Tools, And Create... Art!

This image is from a 1935 production of Waiting For Lefty performed by The Group Theater (and features a young Elia Kazan years before he testified before HUAC). There were a number of similar productions happening throughout the '30's (not just this and Cradle Will Rock), all hoping to spread a political message through their stagecraft. Often Leftist, and occasionally overtly Communist, these plays were often seen as helping to spread the "Red Scare" in America, in spite of the overall quality of these productions. Often, agitprop plays were well attended, well produced, and received good reviews from critics. The government, and anyone with a right-leaning agenda, hated them.

Agitation Propaganda comes from the Russian phrase, where "propaganda" merely meant "dissemination of information." The term was applied to theater Europe in the 1920's, mostly inspired by the work of Bertolt Brecht. The form then spread to the US in the 30's, which ultimately led to the downfall of the Federal Theater Project, on suspicion that there were "reds" infiltrating the program (based on the subject matter of the plays). Agitprop art has continued in the United States ever since, manifesting in music, film, paintings, sculptures, novels, poems, and street performances. With the advent of the Inter-Web-A-Tron, new forms of agitprop art have developed, and there are a number of groups dedicated to creative dissemination of radical ideas. Most recently, the activist group Anonymous distributes a number of creative political memes online which can only be interpreted as agitprop.

The Beginnings of Jazz

Eddie Lang and Joe Venuti were our incidental music this week in Mentor Session, and offer a fantastic insight into early American Jazz music. Eddie Lang was an Italian American, who played a variety of instruments growing up (violin, guitar, banjo, etc.) Early in his life he became good friends with Joe Venuti, an Italian immigrant who more or less developed the entire form of Jazz Violin. Eddie and Joe made a career out of playing with each other, recording a variety of 78s for the OKeh Label, that are extremely fascinating, and compelling, 80 years later.

Both of these musicians worked with a number of other well-known jazz luminaries, including Bix Beiderbecke, Bing Crosby, Benny Goodman, and The Dorsey Brothers. In recent years, a fantastic two CD set of their recordings was released, which is widely available and well worth tracking down. Music like this was extremely popular in the 1930's, and many Americans of all classes would have been familiar with these amazing musicians.

Political Song Assignment- "A Change is Gonna Come" by Sam Cooke

I was born by the river in a little tent
And just like the river, I've been running ever since
It's been a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come

It's been too hard living, but I'm afraid to die
I don't know what's up there beyond the sky
It's been a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come

I go to the movie, and I go downtown
Somebody keep telling me "Don't hang around"
It's been a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come

Then I go to my brother and I say, "Brother, help me please"
But he winds up knocking me back down on my knees
There've been times that I've thought I couldn't last for long
But now I think I'm able to carry on

It's been a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come

Political Topics in Music

Below is a link to the lyrics and music to Kasabian's "Where Did All the Love Go?". The lyrics which speak to politics the most, I think, are: The rivers of the pavement are flowing now with blood, The children of the future are drowning in the flood In this social chaos there's violence in the air, Gotta keep your wits about you Be careful not to stare Enjoy!

http://www.lyrics-celebrities.anekatips.com/where-did-all-the-love-go-lyrics-kasabian

U.S. Enters 1st World Cup In 1930

During the economic stress of 1930 and the foreshadow for the struggles that everyone will face the U.S. took a little time to play. I just thought that this was a questionable time to start a world championship.

The First FIFA World Cup 1930

The US stunned Belgium in their opening match, winning 3-0. The first goal was scored by Bart McGhee in the 40th minute off a rebound from the crossbar after a Gonsalves shot. There is some dispute as to whether this was actually the first goal of this first World Cup tournament. FIFA had determined some years later that the first goal was actually scored by Lucien Laurent of France. McGhee followed this with another goal just before halftime when Belgium paused, waiting for an offside whistle, leaving McGhee open in front of the net. Florie got the final goal in the second half. Four days later, the US shut out Paragray 3-0. Their successful run came to a sudden end in the semifinals, when Argentina knocked out the Americans decisively in a 6-1 thrashing. This game was complicated by the US goalkeeper twisting his ankle early in the game, forcing him to play the final 80 minutes practically on one leg, and a serious leg injury suffered by midfielder Tracey, leaving the US with ten men for the second half. The US prevented a shutout with a goal by Brown in the 89th minute. Ultimately, Uruguay beat Argentina 4-2 for the trophy. Despite the disappointing end, this was still a great run for the Americans in their first World Cup, one that would remain unequaled until it's historic performance in 2002. Group 4 saw the USA produce the best results they would see in a World Cup in the century, as they the won the group after a pair of 3-0 wins over Belgium and Paraguay.

Without a doubt the world cup was dwarfed by the events of the 30's. Do you think that a victory would have helped to boost the moral of the country during that time? or where the economic troubles to demoralizing to make a victory meaningful?

Rammstein "Amerika"

The Devil Makes Three "Working Man's Blues"

The Times They Are A-Changin'

I'll be honest; I can't stand Bob Dylan. I'll readily acknowledge that the man has created some really complex (both technically and thematically) pieces of music, but for whatever reason I've just never liked most of his stuff. That being said, when mulling over significant political songs I couldn't think of a better example than The Times They Are A-Changin'. This song has always struck a chord with me ever since I watched a PBS documentary about the 60's that featured a montage of protesters being chased, beaten, etc. while The Times played in the background. It really captured the mood of the country back then...

Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who that it’s namin’
For the loser now will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway
Don’t block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There’s a battle outside and it is ragin’
It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin’

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don’t criticize
What you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin’
Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin’

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin’
And the first one now will later be last
For the times they are a-changin’

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal

In 1932, in his acceptance speech, Franklin D. Roosevelt promised a “new deal for the American people.” Roosevelt won the office of President of the United States of America in November 1932 over incumbent Herbert Hoover. President Roosevelt’s “First One-Hundred Days” is thought of as “legendary” and is the standard which we compare all other President’s first one- hundred days to. FDR worked diligently; pushing 15 bills through congress designed to fundamentally change all facets of the American economy. I think that the passage of these bills gave American people hope and a newfound sense of confidence in their President. Even if they were not the sole reason we came out of the Depression they definitely prevented us from going further into it. Beyond the physical outcomes, I am sure the way these programs lifted the American morale by providing a feeling of optimism in those desperate times contributed largely to the economy’s revival.

Below are a number of New Deal programs FDR passed in an attempt to restart the failing economy. I found this online at the FDR American Heritage Center.

New Deal Initiative: Description: Outcome: Emergency Banking Act/Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Right after taking office as President, FDR shut down all of the banks in the nation and Congress passed the Emergency Banking Act which gave the government the opportunity to inspect the health of all banks. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was formed by Congress to insure deposits up to $5000. These measures reestablished American faith in banks. Americans were no longer scared that they would lose all of their savings in a bank failure. Government inspectors found that most banks were healthy, and two-thirds were allowed to open soon after. After reopening, deposits had exceeded withdrawals. Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) Led by Harry Hopkins, a former social worker, this agency sent funds to depleting local relief agencies. Within two hours, $5 million were given out. Mr. Hopkins believed that men should be put to work and not be given charity. His program also funded public work programs. Revitalized many deteriorating relief programs. Civil Works Administration (CWA) This public work program gave the unemployed jobs building or repairing roads, parks, airports, etc. The CWA provided a psychological and physical boost to its 4 million workers. Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) This environmental program put 2.5 million unmarried men to work maintaining and restoring forests, beaches, and parks. Workers earned only $1 a day but received free board and job training. From 1934 to 1937, this program funded similar programs for 8,500 women. The CCC taught the men and women of America how to live independently, thus, increasing their self esteem. Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 This act ended the sale of tribal lands and restored ownership of unallocated lands to Native American groups. The outcome was obviously positive for the Native Americans. National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) of June 1933 The decline in the industrial prices in 1930s caused business failures and unemployment. The NIRA was formed in order to boost the declining prices, helping businesses and workers. The NIRA also allowed trade associations in many industries to write codes regulating wages, working conditions, production, and prices. It also set a minimum wage. The codes stopped the tailspin of prices for a short time, but soon, when higher wages went into effect, prices rose too. Thus, consumers stopped buying. The continuous cycle of overproduction and underconsumption put businesses back into a slump. Some businesses felt that the codes were too complicated and the NRA was too rigid. Declared unconstitutional later on. Public Works Association (PWA) The PWA launched projects such as the Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River. One of the best parts of the NIRA. Federal Securities Act of May 1933/ Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) This act required full disclosure of information on stocks being sold. The SEC regulated the stock market. Congress also gave the Federal Reserve Board the power to regulate the purchase of stock on margin. Critical for long-term success for businesses. Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) / Agriculture Adjustment Administration (AAA) In order to help people keep their houses, the HOLC refinanced mortgages of middle-income home owners. The AAA tried to raise farm prices. It used proceeds from a new tax to pay farmers not to raise specific crops and animals. Lower production would, in turn, increase prices. Farmers killed off certain animals and crops as they were told to by the AAA. Many could not believe that the federal government was condoning such an action when many Americans were starving. Declared unconstitutional later on. Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) (May 1993) The TVA helped farmers and created jobs in one of America s least modernized areas. Reactivating a hydroelectric power plant provided cheap electric power, flood control, and recreational opportunities to the entire Tennessee River valley. Works Progress Administration (WPA) 1935-1943 This agency provided work for 8 million Americans. The WPA constructed or repaired schools, hospitals, airfields, etc. Decreased unemployment. Farm Security Administration (FSA) The FSA loaned more than $1 billion to farmers and set up camps for migrant workers. National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act) It legalized practices allowed only unevenly in the past, such as closed shops in which only union members can work and collective bargain. The act also set up the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to enforce its provisions Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 This banned child labor and set a minimum wage. This law was a long awaited triumph for the progressive-era social reformers. Social Security Act This act established a system that provided old-age pensions for workers, survivors benefits for victims of industrial accidents, unemployment insurance, and aid for dependent mothers and children, the blind and physically disabled. Although the original SSA did not cover farm and domestic workers, it did help millions of Americans feel more secure.

Franklin D. Roosevelt American Heritage Center, Inc. 2007

http://www.fdrheritage.org/new_deal.htm

Political Song: Tom Waits Hoist that Rag

TOM WAITS
"Hoist That Rag"

Well I learned the trade
From Piggy Knowles
Sing Sing Tommy Shay Boys
God used me as hammer boys
To beat his weary drum today

Hoist that rag [2x]

The sun is up the world is flat
Damn good address for a rat
The smell of blood
The Drone of flies
You know what to do if
The baby cries

Hoist that rag [2x]

Well we stick our fingers in
The ground, heave and
Turn the world around
Smoke is blacking out the sun
At night I pray and clean my gun
The cracked bell rings as
The ghost bird sings and the gods
Go beggin here
So just open fire
As you hit the shore
All is fair in love
And war

Hoist that rag [4x]

"Blackbird" by Paul McCartney

I had a fair bit of difficulty in selecting a song that represented my political views, and when I found out the backstory on this one I decided to use it. This song was written by Paul McCartney in 1968 with regards to the civil rights struggle in the United States. I like the message of this song because not only it is pro-rights but it also seems to convey that change can be brought about by people. In a democracy, I think of it as the government being governed by the people. Also, this song comes across as hopeful and I like that.

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to be free

Blackbird fly, blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night

Blackbird fly, blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life

You were only waiting for this moment to arise
You were only waiting for this moment to arise

You were only waiting for this moment to arise

(Pay no heed to the images of the video, but the recording was one of the best I could find i.e. not live/scratchy.)

Political Song: Intervention by Arcade Fire

The song Intervention came out in 2007 off their album “Neon Bible,” which gained critical and commercial success. Arcade Fire became known as a heavy endorser of the Obama campaign, playing free shows in March 2008 at the height of the primary.

Arcade fire is a band that has been known to have political and social undertones in many of their lyrics. The political resistance displayed by Arcade Fire in the song “Intervention” is mainly lyrical. While they are not always obvious, I believe their room for interpretation is almost more effective.

Here are the lyrics:

The king's taken back the throne,
The useless seed is sown,
When they say they're cutting off the phone,
I tell them you're not home.

No place to hide,
You were fighting as a soldier on their side,
You're still a soldier in your mind,
Though nothing's on the line.

You say it's money that we need,
As if we were only mouths to feed,
I know no matter what you say
There are some debts you'll never pay.

Working for the church
While your family dies.
You take what they give you
And you keep it inside.
Every spark of friendship and love
Will die without a home.

Hear the solider groan, "We'll go at it alone"

I can taste the fear.
Lift me up and take me out of here,
Don't want to fight, don't want to die,
Just want to hear you cry.

Who's going to throw the very first stone?
Oh! Who's going to reset the bone?
Walking with your head in a sling
Want to hear the soldier sing.

Working for the Church
While my family dies,
Your little baby sister's
Going to lose her mind,
Every spark of friendship and love
Will die without a home

Hear the soldier groan, "We'll go at it alone"

I can taste your fear,
It's going to lift you up and take you out of here,
And the bone shall never heal,
I care not if you kneel.

We can't find you now,
But they're going to get their money back somehow,
And when you finally disappear
We'll just say you were never here.

Been working for the church
While your life falls apart,
Singing hallelujah with the fear in your heart,
Every spark of friendship and love
Will die without a home.

Hear the soldier groan, "We'll go at it alone"
Hear the soldier groan, "We'll go at it alone"

Political Song: Rise Against - Bricks

When faith alone is not enough,
To keep our heads barely above,
We look for reason and come up empty-handed.
And when our children fight our wars,
While we sit back just keeping score,
We're teaching murder not understanding now.

We're setting the fires to light the way,
We're burning it all to begin again,
With hope in our hearts and bricks in our hands,
We sing for change

The lives our buried sons have laid,
Won't cancel debts we've yet to pay,
In death, we justify anything now,
As long as we blindly obey and do exactly what they say,
We'll have no one to blame, but ourselves now.

We're setting the fires to light the way,
We're burning it all to begin again,
With hope in our hearts and bricks in our hands,
We sing for change.

We run on the fumes of injustice,
We'll never die with the fuel that you give us,
Keep it coming 'cause I'm prepared to burn,
Keep running, find me at every turn.

Your life around,
(into something true, into something true)
So turn your life around,
(into something true, something true)

We're setting the fires to light the way,
We're burning it all to begin again,
With hope in our hearts and bricks in our hands,
We sing for change.

History Reshits Itself by Touche Amore

Touche Amore is a hardcore/punk band from Southern California. This song is about how the ignorant/oppressive politics concerning gay marriage effect the personal lives of people, specifically in response to Prop 8.

Was it for purpose or obligation?

To rip the happiness from those homes to insure your own salvation.
When you're walking a thin line between ignorance and confusion,
you won't know the difference between a cycle and a revolution.
I've been counting the inches in that giant step back.
When love is on the line,
circled in blue or black.
The history books won't forget to tell of this embarrassment.
These closets have been closed too long;
there's no more room for your skeletons.

Political Song

The song and artist I chose for the assignment is Rage Against the Machine- Ashes in the fall. Rage Against the Machine is known for its polemical music. Popular subjects of their music include criticism of the American government and other empirical parties. This song's structure fits the class assignment quite well.

Lyrics:
A mass of hands press on the market window
Ghosts of progress
Dressed in slow death
Feeding on hunger
And glaring through the promise
Upon the food that rots slowly in the aisle
A mass of nameless at the oasis
That hides the graves beneath the masters hill
Buried for drinking
The rivers water
While shackled to the line
At the empty well

This is the new sound
Just like the old sound
Just like the noose wound
Over the new ground

Listen to the fascist sing
Take hope here
War is elsewhere
You were chosen
This is god's land
Soon well be free
Of blot and mixture
Seeds planted by our
Forefathers hand

A mass of promises
Begin to rupture
Like the pockets
Of the new world kings
Like swollen stomachs
In Appalachia
Like the priests that fuck you
As they whisper holy things
A mass of tears have transformed to stones now
Sharpened on suffering
Woven into slings
Hope lies in the rubble of this rich fortress
Taking today what tomorrow never brings

This is the new sound
Just like the old sound
Just like the noose wound
Over new ground

Aint it funny how the factory's doors close
Round the time that the school doors close
Round the time that the doors of the jail cells
Open up to greet you like the reaper
Aint it funny how the factory's doors close
Round the time that the school doors close
Round the time that a hundred thousand jail cells
Open up to greet you like the reaper

This is the new sound
Just like the old sound
Just like the noose wound
Over the new ground

Political Song Assignment

"Make You Crazy" Brett Dennen

You know it's hard to be yourself,
free yourself, to see yourself
When all around you there are lies just to get you,
Spies just to get you, to buy so they can get you

There are cameras in the sky, lasers in our living rooms
There are wolves watching wearing sheep's costumes

It's enough to make you go crazy (Woah)
It's enough to make you mad
It's enough to make you go crazy (Woah)
And I'm amazed I haven't yet

Isn't it a shame the way we cheat each other, treat each other,
beat each other?
It's a shame the way we use one other, abuse one another,
and screw one another, it's true.

They will lock you up in prison but they won't call it slavery
There are stolen children raised and trained in armies

It's enough to make you go crazy (Woah)
It's enough to make you mad
It's enough to make you go crazy (Woah)
And I'm amazed I haven't yet

Don't hesitate to speak your mind (Speak your mind)
Never hesitate to speak your heart (Speak your heart)
They'll call you crazy when you speak your mind (When you speak your mind)
So never, never hesitate (Never hesitate)

'Cause it's enough to make you go crazy (Woah)
It's enough to make you mad
It's enough to make you go crazy (Woah)
And I'm amazed I haven't yet

NA SOL THEM GO LOCK YOU FOR PRISON
NA SOL THEM GO BEAT YOU FOR PRISON
THEM NO CALL IT SLAVERY
IT'S HIM THAT MAKE ME VEX

NA SOL THEM GO LOCK YOU FOR PRISON
NA SOL THEM GO BEAT YOU FOR PRISON
IT'S HIM THAT MAKE ME VEX
IT'S HIM THAT MAKE ME CRAZE

It's enough to make you go crazy (Woah)
It's enough to make you mad
It's enough to make you go crazy (Woah)
And I'd be crazy not to care

William Randolph Hearst: Why do we care that he existed?

I saw him mentioned in the movie we are watching and I thought that some background information might be helpful

This man is a fairly important one to remember for a lot of reasons

1. He was a newspaper/media tycoon! He owned numerous newspapers across the country and used them to clout political power.
2. He used his newspaper empire to create “Yellow Journalism” (aka, media sensationalism) which not only influenced policy at the time, but also greatly influenced the path of journalism (as sadly we experience today)
3. He used his sway in the media, almost whimsically, to feather his personal agenda. Often, his personal biases wormed their way into becoming long standing U.S. Policy.
   1. The most famous example of this is probably the criminalization of marijuana. Hearst owned more then one million acres of land, much of it with timber. At the time, the hemp industry and timber industry were competing. Hearst invented sensational stories about kids doing crazy things while doing marijuana to panic the public and thus crush his competition.
4. He became a democratic member of the house of representatives in New York City. He ran for mayor and for New York state senate and lost narrowly both times (most of this happened before the thirties, but he was a pretty big deal then too.)
5. He lead a very colorful life. Everything you hear rappers brag about in rap songs, Hearst did more prolifically. He had the single most expensive private estate ever on 24,000 acres and is worth 1.65 million dollars. It had three swimming pools and a full movie theater as well as many great works of art. He also had a mistress who publicly lived there. This was not his main house in NYC, but his vacation home.

So I guess the moral of the story is: Use the press to delude people into doing your bidding and you will make ridiculous amounts of money to spend on the arts and ladies.

The Message by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five

The Message in short, explicitly illustrates the conditions of life in the underbelly of America. The song has been revered as one of the greatest hip-hop ballads of all time and is included in the United States National Archive of Historic Recordings.

It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under
It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under

Broken glass everywhere
People pissing on the stairs, you know they just don't care
I can't take the smell, I can't take the noise no more
Got no money to move out, I guess I got no choice
Rats in the front room, roaches in the back
Junkie's in the alley with a baseball bat
I tried to get away, but I couldn't get far
'Cause a man with a tow-truck repossessed my car

Chorus:
Don't push me cause I'm close to the edge
I'm trying not to lose my head, ah huh-huh-huh
[2nd and 5th: ah huh-huh-huh]
[4th: say what?]
It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under
It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under

Standing on the front stoop, hangin' out the window
Watching all the cars go by, roaring as the breezes blow
Crazy lady livin' in a bag
Eatin' out of garbage pails, she used to be a fag-hag
Said she danced the tango, skipped the light fandango
The Zircon Princess seemed to lost her senses
Down at the peepshow, watching all the creeps
So she can tell the stories to the girls back home
She went to the city and got Social Security
She had to get a pimp, she couldn't make it on her own

[2nd Chorus]

My brother's doing bad on my mother's TV
Says she watches too much, it's just not healthy
"All My Children" in the daytime, "Dallas" at night
Can't even see the game or the Sugar Ray fight
The bill collectors they ring my phone
And scare my wife when I'm not home
Got a bum education, double-digit inflation
Can't take the train to the job, there's a strike at the station
Neon King Kong standin' on my back
Can't stop to turn around, broke my sacroiliac
A mid-range migraine, cancered membrane
Sometimes I think I'm going insane, I swear I might hijack a plane

[3rd Chorus]

My son said: "Daddy, I don't wanna go to school
Cause the teacher's a jerk, he must think I'm a fool
And all the kids smoke reefer, I think it'd be cheaper
If I just got a job, learned to be a street sweeper
I'd dance to the beat, shuffle my feet
Wear a shirt and tie and run with the creeps
Cause it's all about money, ain't a damn thing funny
You got to have a con in this land of milk and honey"
They pushed that girl in front of the train
Took her to the doctor, sewed her arm on again
Stabbed that man right in his heart
Gave him a transplant for a brand new start
I can't walk through the park, cause it's crazy after dark
Keep my hand on my gun, cause they got me on the run
I feel like a outlaw, broke my last glass jaw
Hear them say: "You want some more?" livin' on a seesaw

[4th Chorus]

A child is born with no state of mind
Blind to the ways of mankind
God is smiling on you but he's frowning too
Because only God knows what you'll go through
You'll grow in the ghetto, living second rate
And your eyes will sing a song of deep hate
The places you play and where you stay
Looks like one great big alley way
You'll admire all the number book takers
Thugs, pimps, pushers and the big money makers
Driving big cars, spending twenties and tens
And you wanna grow up to be just like them, huh,
Smugglers, scramblers, burglars, gamblers
Pickpockets, peddlers even panhandlers
You say: "I'm cool, I'm no fool!"
But then you wind up dropping out of high school
Now you're unemployed, all non-void
Walking 'round like you're Pretty Boy Floyd
Turned stickup kid, look what you've done did
Got sent up for a eight year bid
Now your manhood is took and you're a Maytag
Spent the next two years as a undercover fag
Being used and abused to serve like hell
'Til one day you was found hung dead in your cell
It was plain to see that your life was lost
You was cold and your body swung back and forth
But now your eyes sing the sad, sad song
Of how you lived so fast and died so young