Dan Rather Visits St. Olaf

        On Thursday, April 28, I was lucky enough to go hear Dan Rather speak in Skoglund Auditorium as the featured Spring Speaker for the Political Actions Committee.  I was surprised to find myself, throughout his entire speech, thinking about Bellah's "Paying Attention" and couldn't stop making the connection between what he was saying and "Paying Attention".
          One of Mr. Rather's focus points was that news has evolved throughout his lifetime from being what is important, to more entertainment focused.  He encouraged us to find the news worth reporting, and he defined news as something that someone else does not want anyone to find out, but someone does find out and reports it.  This made me realize how much people are not paying attention to things worth paying attention to.  In class we discussed how we can get distracted from the things that really matter in the nation.  This is so true with news.  We pay attention to the Royal Wedding, instead of the deaths from tornadoes in the south.  We pay attention to whether or not Obama's birth certificate is released to the public, instead of what's going on in Syria and Afghanistan.  Mr. Rather emphasized Bellah's point that we have gotten distracted from what really matters, and that it is my generation's responsibility to turn news back to what really matters; we need to distinguish between entertainment and news that holds a heavy weight for our nation and our world.

My Claim about Black Elk Speaks

           I find myself torn about which claim to make, because I have two in mind.  This first one is that this book is a fabulous example of how the Native Americans lived and learned: through stories.  I could go into detail on this, and on how valuable stories can be, but I am choosing to go with my second claim.   I would like to claim that this book is a religious classic; it is a great tool to learn about the spirituality of the Native American people.   On pages 76-77,  Black Elk speaks about the time of the Sun Dance, and in this section many things are described as holy:  "Now when the holy tree had been brought home", and  "The next day the tree was planted in the center by holy men who sang sacred songs and made sacred vows to the Spirit.  And the next morning nursing mothers brought their holy little ones to lay them at the bottom of the tree",  and "...for they had been fasting and purifying themselves in the sweat lodges, praying.  First their bodies were painted by the holy men...".  
       My favorite quote, though, that I have come across thus far in the reading is this:
"It does not matter where his body lies, for it is grass; but where his spirit is, it will be good to be" (114).  This quote holds huge significance to anyone who believes in a greater being or even life after death.  It also highlights how physical things do not matter -- it is the spiritual things and an individual's soul that will truly be evaluated once the individual is gone.  This quote allows the reader to tie Black Elk's spiritual view to themselves; the principle of "it's what's on the inside that counts" has held true from Black Elk's time to our current day.
            These snippets are such a good sample of the insight a reader can get from a specific text.  We are reminded that the Native Americans held spirituality in very high esteem, that it somewhat dictated their daily activities, and most of all that their religiosity and spirituality was connected to nature.   I am claiming that Black Elk Speaks is a religious text that highlights and teaches the reader about the religiosity of the Native Americans during Black Elk's period of life.

Observations from first reading of Black Elk Speaks

In my reading of Black Elk Speaks,  there was one quote that really stood out to me.  Black Elk says,

 "So I know that it is a good thing I am going to do; and because no good thing can be done by any man alone..."

No good thing can be done by any man alone.  Isn't this kind of what Bellah and Putnam have been getting at?  Voluntary associations, community, involvement, etc, make good things happen.  Without others, one is isolated and cannot accomplish very much.  But when surrounded by others who have the same views and even opposing views from you,  you can grow and change things all around you.  

Our Trip to the VFW

       Tonight was the night that my voluntary association group, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, headed down to the local VFW post to do some interviews.  However, upon arrival, the bartender told us that her patrons would not like to be bothered, and that they've run into this problem in the past.  At a loss of what to do, we had no option but to leave!
         Thankfully though, we have a back-up plan and have the name of someone who is a local member, and have contacted him to do an interview within the next few days.  Hopefully this will work out!  It is interesting to me that they have had to refuse students in the past -- it surprised me, because I would have thought the veterans would want to share their stories with others.  Especially students who are trying to appreciate the VFW and it's role in the community.  Hopefully we will get the interviews we need, and the people we talk to next will be willing to give us their time and their thoughts!

Native Americans and the Railroad

         The "Native Americans and the Transcontinental Railroad" article from the American Experience website concludes with these highly impacting words in the section titled "A Lost World":
"In 1876 the United States celebrated its might, gathered in part from the completion of the railroad, at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. There on exhibit were the "very aristocracy of the Indian nation." The tribes who had roamed and hunted in the woods of the Northeast and the plains of the West found themselves a curiosity for the fair's visitors. The struggle was over, and Native American tribes had lost it, leaving the world of the West forever changed."
         Americans celebrate their accomplishments; no one likes to be reminded of the bad things that happened in America's past.  Before reading this article, I had not taken time to think of the impact of the railroad on the Native Americans.  Yet, it is significant enough to title this impact "A Lost World".  So much culture and influence from the Native Americans was lost as a result of the railroads.  We can never get this back.  The railroad destroyed a way of life for an entire culture...which is so drastic that I am surprised that I have not really studied it before this. When transcendentalists and other critics of the railroad of that time denounce the railroad due to other factors, I can't help but think that none of those bad things can top the degree to which the railroad hurt the Native Americans.  In my opinion, destroying a culture seems to be way more of a problem than straying away from nature, becoming more industrially involved, or any other reasons that have been mentioned by the transcendentalists that we have studied. 
 

The Transcendentalists' Viewpoint

         Here is an excerpt from the Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy's piece on "Transcendentalism":
"The transcendentalists operated from the start with the sense that the society around them was seriously deficient: a “mass” of “bugs or spawn” as Emerson put it in “The American Scholar”; slavedrivers of themselves, as Thoreau says in Walden. Thus the attraction of alternative life-styles: Alcott's ill-fated Fruitlands; Brook Farm, planned and organized by the Transcendental Club; Thoreau's cabin at Walden. As the nineteenth century came to its mid-point, the transcendentalists' dissatisfaction with their society became focused on policies and actions of the United States government: the treatment of the Native Americans, the war with Mexico, and, above all, the continuing and expanding practice of slavery."
           I think this can speak for even today's society: we do what we do because we want to fix things. Whether a certain aspect of our government is "seriously deficient", or because we are dissatisfied with the policies and actions of our government, Americans have learned to take action in democracy.  This allows society to function as a type of friction against the government; in order to realize their true power within a democracy, it takes speaking out or acting out against something.  Taking action, even if it is passive action, such as Thoreau's not paying his taxes, it makes a statement.  And it is statements like these that help the government know what the citizens think of their decisions. 

Civil Disobedience

          Thoreau's view on civil disobedience raises the question,  "can civil disobedience be compatible with democratic government?"  I would answer yes, but only to an extent.
          Civil disobedience is at odds with the democratic government because of the tension that goes along with the tyranny of the majority.  Democracy only works when a community is able to pass laws with the understanding that all will abide by what the majority desires.  Thoreau states that no person should have to compromise or tolerate a policy he did not want.  But can this really work for all of society? Would society fall apart under this idea?
         Civil disobedience has potential to be compatible with the democratic government because Thoreau is not suggesting that people simply deny the existence of unjust laws.  Rather, he says that protesters will probably have to pay for the consequences of their actions, forcing society to make decisions about having just people in jail.  Thoreau seems to accept the legal authority of unjust laws, but does not seem to recognize the moral authority of unjust laws.  This is why he encourages people to violate them.  This approach can turn dangerous if many communities adopt it, and it raises the question of why democratic institutions have the ability to produce laws that violate democratic principles.

Update on the Tea Party

According to Washington Post's article, "Budget fight shows Washington still broken", support for the Tea Party party is diminishing. Here is an excerpt from it:

"But there is political risk in that position. The tea party’s apparent hold on the House leadership comes at a time of diminishing popularity for the movement. A new poll from the Pew Research Center showed that “slightly more disagree with the tea party than agree with the movement, a reversal in public evaluations from a year ago,” according to the center’s news release."

(http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/budget-fight-shows-washington-still-broken/2011/04/08/AFS2mR4C_story.html)

Thoreau's Lake and My Lake

In reading "Walden", I came across this quote,

"A lake like this is never smoother than at such a time; and the clear portion of the air above it being, shallow and darkened by clouds, the water, full of light and reflections, becomes a lower heaven itself so much the more important" (Where I Lived, and What I Lived For). 

          This reminded me exactly of my cabin (my favorite place on earth), and what the lake looks like at night, after all the animals, boats, and people have retired from the beach and the water and into their cabins.  I like to think that watching sunsets from my dock is a little piece of heaven, and I am so grateful that I get to experience nature in this way (which is very similar to Thoreau's descriptions).   The following are a couple of pictures of my lake (Pelican Lake) that I have taken from my dock at my cabin:

As Thoreau says further in this section, " I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."  This is how I feel when I am at my cabin -- My purpose in life becomes so much more clear, I focus on what really matters, and I get to appreciate all of nature in the way that it should be.  Thoreau seems to encourage his readers to live simply -- and then you will have a fulfilling life.  I think I would have to agree with him; when we live simply, we focus on what really matters, and all of the superficial ideas and things seem to disappear. 

Thoughts on Emerson's "Nature"

       Emerson highlights the more broad definition when he writes, "Nature, in the common sense, refers to essences unchanged by man..." (Introduction).  Here he is talking about natural lands...trees, rivers, etc.  Yet most of our oceans, rivers, and lakes have in some way or anther been affected by man.  Pollution has caused most of the natural essences to become changed.  Does this mean that we really don't have any "essences unchanged by man" left to us? If we go to northern Minnesota, we can see how wild everything is...how things look so unchanged by man.  But I think that mankind has had such a huge impact on the physical earth that almost all essences have been changed, in some small way or another. 
        Nature is also something that can be taken on by anyone.  Emerson writes, "Nature says, -- he is my creature, and maugre all his impertinent griefs, he shall be glad with me. Not the sun or the summer alone, but every hour and season yields its tribute of delight; for every hour and change corresponds to and authorizes a different state of the mind, from breathless noon to grimmest midnight. Nature is a setting that fits equally well a comic or a mourning piece" (Chapter 1).  People use nature to celebrate, to exercise, to find solitaire, and even to mourn/cope.  For me, nature seems so "great"...and I mean that more as "great/big/vast/impressive".  If I try to fathom the power of nature or the beauty of nature, I become overwhelmed -- nature to me is a place for every occasion -- I find comfort in it and I would spend all of my time in it if I could.  Every hour that I am in nature I find more peace within myself and with the world.          We also can sometimes take this great nature for granted.  If we stop to notice, if nature didn't work the way it does, we'd be in serious trouble because it provides so much for us.  Emerson explains this well when he writes, 

"Nature, in its ministry to man, is not only the material, but is also the process and the result. All the parts incessantly work into each other's hands for the profit of man. The wind sows the seed; the sun evaporates the sea; the wind blows the vapor to the field; the ice, on the other side of the planet, condenses rain on this; the rain feeds the plant; the plant feeds the animal; and thus the endless circulations of the divine charity nourish man" (Chapter 2).   All of nature works together to give an outcome that benefits man.  Man is able to depend on nature for it's food and drink needs.  In all, nature provides peace and solitude, as well as dietary and survival needs.  Without nature, humankind would cease to exist. 

Thoreau and Railroads

While reading "The Transcendental Railroad", I paid close attention to Thoreau's thoughts about the railroad.  The following are some of the quotes/points I deemed worth noticing:

It seems as though Thoreau had a more negative view of the railroad.  Yet he "would not deny that the railroad was accomplishing much at the material level" (316).  This article portrays Thoreau as a
"Thoreau, more full of questions than of answers, voiced misgivings over this particular manifestation of 'progress'" (306).
"Of greater concern to him [Thoreau] were the effects of the railroad.  At what ever level he examined them, however, an ambivalence was nearly always present in his attitude...Thoreau demurred that the Iron Horse, which required wood for fuel and for ties, had 'browsed off all the woods on Walden shore' and 'muddied the Boiling Spring with his foot'" (316).

Thoreau had a negative view of not only the railroad itself, but almost of the industrial boom that it created. "But much as commerce was accomplishing and respectable as it might be in itself, it was contaminated by what Thoreau called, 'the commercial spirit' - that is, an undue interest in trade, to the exclusion of higher concerns" (317).  And while he held this view for awhile, "Thoreau's attention eventually centered less upon the economic repercussions of the railroad and more upon its effects on the spirit and activity of people in general" (317).

Thoreau also "condemned' the fancy attributes of the railroad car.  "'in the railroad car we are inclined to spend more on luxury than on safety and convenience.' There was something demeaning about this effeminate travel" (318).  Even though Thoreau said this, he did himself "ride the cars" to several different locations.

The article provides the reader with a great sentence to help fully summarize Thoreau's attitude towards the railroad: "The continuing and consistent note in Thoreau's remarks about the railroad is his mistrust of the contemporary pursuit of material rather than spiritual values" (319).

How Railroads Impacted Americans

The following are three distinct changes in people's lives and perceptions as a result of railroads in America:


1. From Klein's "The Rise of the Iron Horse": "By lowering the cost of inland transportation they [railroads] rendered distant markets not only physically accessible but economically feasible.  Within half a century the rail system because the lifeline of an industrial society, a network of steel tentacles pushing into every corner of the Republic" (19).
      and from Cronon's "Rails and Water": Aside from being able to go virtually anyplace where potential demand was great enough, they could also operate quite independently of the climatic factors that had bedeviled early forms of transportation" (74).
       Railroads made it possible to get from location to location more conveniently.  Trade was able to increase, and families could visit each other more easily. Goods were not compromised in travel because trains were able to keep them safe.  All in all, the railroad lowered costs of transportation and made traveling (for both people and goods) more convenient.


2.  From Klein's "The Rise of the Iron Horse: "No account of the railroad's impact writ large can convey its force as a symbol of industrial progress for individual Americans.  It opened new markets for merchants, new farmlands for settlers, new sources of profit for financiers, new jobs for everyone from managers to day laborers, and new enterprises for those who grasped the railroad's need for goods and services of many kinds" (20).
        Railroads greatly enhanced industrial growth. New jobs were created, new ways to make profits were created, and new markets were created.  All of these dramatically altered the way the economic system of America worked...the economic system was now able to expand because of the industrial expansion. 


3. From Cronon's "Rails and Water": "Because railroads ran more quickly and reliably, and could carry more people and goods over greater distances, they changed this irregular sense of time.  Trains too could be delayed. But whereas earlier western stage and steamship operators had measured their service by how many trips they made in the course of a week, railroads measured the same service in terms of the scheduled trips they made in a day...railroads changed people's ability to schedule and predict their use of time.  The long-term consequence was to move timekeeping into the realm of the mechanical clock, away from the various natural cycles which had formerly marked the flow of time" (78).
        Railroads changed the American's sense of time, especially the sense of time of those who were involved in business and trade.  Trade, which usually went in cycles of weeks, now went in cycles of days.  Time sped up, Americans were able to achieve more in a shorter amount of time.  Goods and people could travel faster, which also contributed to the industrial expansion.