Feelings and experiences of immigrants coming to the United States.

While looking through the pictures, it seemed like most people looked nervous for what was coming next. Most of the kids look unhappy, but it was probably from the long journey and not understanding why they were there. Most of the adults did look nervous, but they seemed somewhat excited to see what life in the United States had in store for them. The fact that it was also the turn of the century, they were excited to see when was in store for them at the beginning of the next century.

Should countries leave pieces of their history out, especially that which is negative, when documenting these stories? Explain.

I don't think we should leave out the full story of how history happened, but i don't think young children need to hear about all the violence in the wars and everything. When we are all young, we wouldn't understand why everything was happening anyway, so why would kids need the full details? they can get the overview of how it happened without all the gore an violence. Once they get to high school, they will be mature enough to hear the truth and be ready to understand why the whole truth wasn't told when they were young.

Which blogging topic was your favorite from first quarter?

My favorite blogging topic was getting the listen to Rocky Raccoon by the Beatles. I love the Beatles and think they are a great band. I have most of their music but I had never actually heard Rocky Raccoon before, and i really liked the song. I enjoyed getting to listen to it and getting to use my brain and really think about how it related to real life cowboys. I'm really into music, so getting to use music as part of a learning experience is great.

Was your learning different when blogging, as compared to writing just pen and paper?

My learning was different because instead of answering questions on a piece of paper, i was made to actually think about my answer and even do an activity. The questions were also interesting and kept me interested the whole time while doing them. I also enjoyed the fact that it felt very freeing getting the freedom to do the blog posts at home and taking as much time as needed in the week for them rather than the stress of filling out a worksheet or writing and essay and getting it into school on time. I have also never blogged before, so this is a new experience for me which is turning out to be quite enjoyable.

What life was like for textile workers.

Life in the textiles was definitely very hard. The workers had long hours with no breaks, no sunlight and no rest. They were left to be hungry all day while working. The lyrics of the song also suggest that they worked from morning till night with little to now breaks. They didn't get to go outside or get fresh air or antyhing. Women wore dirty rags to work in, along with her kids. The song shows just how hard the word was for them and how unfair it was. It's crazy how children were also made to work such long hours.

What effect did Reconstruction have on former slaves? Were they better off after Reconstruction than they were before the Civil War?

The effects that the reconstruction had on African Americans was a pretty good one. They had just been freed from slavery and were able to get jobs. These jobs weren't anywhere close to first class or even middle, but it was certainly much better than slavery. The slaves were offered share crops which was when they got given a home and land to work on that was owned by a landowner. The African American would give the landowner half of all the crops. They were still treated very badly, but anything was better than being a slave.

The African Americans were much better off after the Civil War since they were free, and anything was better than being a slave.

"Rocky Raccoon"

The Beatles portray the wild west by the very beginning of the song talks about how a boy wants to start a fight with another boy for taking his girl. This seems very typical in the Wild West since girls and fights always came about. It also takes about how he went to a saloon with a gun, which again is typical for cowboys. Cowboys were always thought to be carrying guns around and going to the local saloon all the time. The names of all the 'character' in the song are also very western sounding. A showdown is also mentioned which are shown in every western movie, when one man is standing at one end of an empty dusty town and the same with another man the other side. The song also sounds pretty western, so that can connect with how cowboys were.