Museum Reflections

The purpose of going to this museum was to learn about Jews in America. Many people don’t know how much Jews have contributed to pop culture in America. In the early days nobody would hire Jewish people for media or entertainment. Many people were very skeptical and thought that Jewish people were no good dirty money hogs just because they were successful and intellectual. Jews were put down a lot in the older days but still managed to rise to great things. Some of the greatest minds and talents in history were Jewish such as Albert Einstein who discovered the theory of relativity and Barbara Streisand who is one of the most famous singers of all time. Jews have also influenced culture greatly in America. They were the creators of bagels! Jewish people also started great cities like Las Vegas. This exhibit took us through a timeline of Jewish history and it was a truly interesting experience. With my family being Jewish I knew about most of the stuff but I liked sharing the experience with my peers.
“One may say 'the eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility'.”-Albert Einstein.

I chose a picture of a woman sitting at a piano with her head down. I chose this painting because it had an artistic and melancholy vibe to it. It was a painting that you could look at for a half an hour and come up with an entire story for that sad looking woman. I felt like the piano symbolized the beauty of this country and all the wonders it can bring to you but her head down meant she was struggling. She was struggling to figure out how to make the music and how to explore all of the wonders. The photo was also in black and white, which could show the black and white of her situation. It basically showed me just in one photograph how hard it could be to be an immigrant. It was a truly remarkable photograph to me and I almost didn’t want to leave it.
“I believe as an individual I can help America achieve its goals I remember last year I helped collect canned foods for the soup kitchen Also I had raised money when the twin towers fell I believe things like this may seem little but can amount to larger and bigger things” Zainab Sozzer, Pakistan. I chose this quote because it shows how much just one person can make a change. By accepting everyone into this country we can all make a difference. Every single one of us.
"The greatest thing I hope for in my life is to become a successful person and to have a family and friends to support me, not to be looked at by just the color of my skin but who I am inside."
-Samira Durakovic, Yugaslavia. I chose this quote because everyone should see through Samira’s eyes. The color of your skin doesn’t matter. Everyone needs to learn to coexist just as people. Society has separated people by their color instead of just focusing on what people they themselves will become.

Extra Credit Museum Reflection

One caricature that I found disturbing was the caricature titled “A bunch of little problems.” This was disturbing to me because they showed babies of every ethnicity being burdens or problems to Americans. Americans definitely didn’t view other ethnicities well. They were especially harsh about the Irish. A lot of cartoons showed the Irish being rude and disrespectful. They also viewed Jewish men as people with large noses. They also showed African Americans as servants or less intelligent people. A lot of the cartoons were very rude.
A caricature that I thought was humorous and enjoyable was one of the poem/pictures. There was a small hand drawn picture that had four people of different ethnicities in a square. The reading of the picture went counter clockwise and all of the little cartoon drawings had a speech bubble. When you read all of the speech bubbles counter clockwise it created a poem. I thought is was funny that they wrote all of the bubbles in English but spelled it in different ways as if all of the different little characters spoke in different accents. There were about four little pictures on the wall that were all humorous and fun to read.
Although some of the caricatures were funny or offensive there were also ones that were pro immigration. There was a picture of a song called “It’s not about where you’re from It’s who you are.” That seemed like it was written for a peace movement. I enjoyed reading the lyrics and I agreed with them. It was one of the only things in the exhibit that was positive and showed that you should accept everyone for who they are despite what their ethnicity is. I really enjoyed this exhibit and I think everyone should visit.

Immigration Project Reflection

I really liked my literature circle book. I was happy with my book choice because as a woman I felt like I connected with all of the female characters. I learned a lot about what went on in Asia during Maxine's young adulthood and how children were sold as slaves so that their parents could afford food. I liked seeing my group's thoughts on the subject of slavery and their perspectives on the characters.
I like dialectical journals better because the format is easier to follow for me. I didn’t like blogging because technology isn’t always reliable and it can fail you. I like meetings better I think they are more interactive. I had problems remembering to actually get online. I often just wanted to pick up a DJ. Blogging was harder to focus on. My group members were very good at their character analysis. When I looked at their posts I often thought of the book in another way and appreciated them for enlightening me.
When I was thinking about my painting I knew that I wanted it to be unique and creative. Instead of being blunt and obvious I painted an abstract painting that was also filled with symbolism. I don’t know if there was a connection that was clearly made between my art piece and the literature I read. Certain symbols and colors show a lot of the character’s emotions and struggles throughout the book but if I didn’t paint the piece and I was looking at it I wouldn’t know it was from that particular book.
I liked the final product of my painting. I thought it was creative and well thought out. I think lighter colors around the words in my painting would enhance the quality of my painting. Reflecting my LC novel with art was a great way to really capture the main ideas of the book. I learned exactly how to capture my book.
The interview process went pretty well. It was a little bit rough because my interviewee was gone a lot and was going through some drama. I thought the three-time interview process was rigorous but it was a good way to get to know the interviewee and get all of the information I needed.
I learned that when my interviewee came to America the first thing she thought about was how far away everything was from each other. I learned that the first time she came here to visit was when she was fourteen. I also learned that she had a lot of problems with her family.
This unit really showed me how different every single immigrant’s experience was. It showed me exactly what they had to go through to get here and how many people would kill to be in my place right now.

Immigration

An immigrant is a person traveling from one country to another. An immigrant can want to leave there home for any reason. It could be anything from economic turmoil to a simple family feud. Immigrants don’t have to travel to another country for a specific reason.
Like we say America is the home of the free. In countries in the Middle East people are being killed for their beliefs and women have no rights. Our country has so much opportunity that most of the other countries don’t have. We also are able to vote for our leader unlike some countries who are ruled by a dictatorship.
The U.S is very diverse in culture. In fact the U.S is probably the most diverse of all countries. We have very many languages that we learn and speak. We have every kind of food from all around the worlds. We have so much more freedom than other countries and our laws are enforced with great power.
My ancestors emigrated from Eastern Europe. I am part Polish, part Russian, and part Czechoslovakian. I have two friends that immigrated from Poland.