Caught In The Crossfire, By Levi Keidel

In Larry Lankton’s text, “Beyond the Boundaries” we gradually enter an unknown world that is frightening yet filled with immense beauty for miles. Due to the copper mining industry, a gradual increase of working class men and their families start to migrate to the unknown world with unsteady emotion, yet hope for a prosperous new life. In “Beyond the Boundaries”, Lankton takes us on a journey on how the “world below” transformed the upper peninsula into a functional and accepted new part of the world.

This novel was set during the post war period, this was a time when independence and rebelling against parents and law was more important than doing the right thing, during these times of independence, and teenagers needed friendship more than anything else.

Forks Over Knives, directed and written by Lee Fulkerson, examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting our present menu of animal-based and processed foods. This film follows multiple doctors and their experimental process of attempting to understand the connection between the human diet and the many human ailments that occur in the world. Forks Over Knives creates a very persuasive case for eliminating meat and dairy from the dinner table.

In this essay I intend to explore the narrative conventions and values, which Oliver Smithfield presents in the short story Victim. The short story positions the reader to have negative and sympathetic opinion on the issues presented. Such as power, identity and bullying. For example Mickey the young boy is having issues facing his identity. It could be argued that finding your identity may have the individual stuck trying to fit in with upon two groups.

Reading the book, The Other Side of the River, by Alex Kotlowitz, the author writes about the relationship between two towns in Michigan, and the death of a young boy named Eric McGinnis. The two towns, Benton Harbor and St. Joseph, are called the “Twin Cities”, but are ironically not related in any way. St. Joseph is 95 percent white, while Benton Harbor is impoverished and is 92 percent black. Throughout the book Kotlowitz questions the residents from both towns and how they are affected by the environment around them. The author also starts with the climax on the first page of the book – the death of Eric, and uses this as an technique to tell the story of the disagreements between the two towns.

The novel takes place in futuristic communist like world; the year is 2081 and the government controls everything and everyone. No one acts out against the government or thinks outside or the social norm. But rather content with the way life is, no problems no concerns. Thus, there is one family with a lot of concerns and problems, the Bergeron family. Fueled and lead by the son Harrison Bergeron, Harrison a smart and curious 14 year old boy who does not like the world he is living and has the courage to speak up against the government. A country that is thriving off of fear, the government uses Harrison as an example and throws him in prison.

America’s answer for dealing with crime prevention is locking up adult offenders in correctional facilities with little rehabilitation for reentry into society. American response for crime prevention for juvenile’s offenders is the same strategy used against adult offenders taken juvenile offenders miles away from their environment and placed in adult like prisons.

Manipulation is a key factor in the outbreak of a war. Ishmael Beah discusses the several instances of manipulation that occur in Sierra Leone. In his memoir, A Long Way Gone, Beah discuses his life during the civil war outbreak in Sierra Leone. He explains how the affects of war affected in both a positive and negative connotation. Several publishers seek a better understanding of the struggle that Beat faces during the time of the civil war. Throughout the novel, Beah discusses the damage Sierra Leone goes through. He learns valuable lessons throughout his time in combat, which he seeks to share with others. Although Beah describes the importance of soldiers in a time of war, he believes in his memoir, “A Long Way Gone”, that awareness should

“Liberian Civil war fought in 1989-1996, is among the most deadly and destructive war in the history that lasted for more than 7 years and killed almost 3 hundred thousand people. This war was the worst ever in the history of Africa because it caused the infrastructural and property damage in the country. The war also displaced more than 1 million people in refugee camps in neighboring countries. This war led to a complete breakdown of law and order in the country. There was not any direct cause that led to this war but several reasons contributed in the creation of this destructive event. Hunger for power, greed and opportunities to control and to get more out of Liberia’s natural resources were the main reasons behind this conflict. As D. Elwood Dunn quoted “We begin with the assumption that the conflict arose from the tugs and pulls of different identities the differential distribution of

Freedom. Doesn’t that word make you just want to leap out of your seat and change the world? For us it does. We have been trapped under Great Britain's rule since the dawn of the colonies existence. It’s time we take charge and fight, rather than stand back and let them walk all over us. We deserve to be able to use our own voices to say whatever we want. We have the right to do what we want when we want, after all, we are all created equal by God. But, we are no match for the great nation. They have a much stronger army, a well developed government, and loads of guns and all sorts of weaponry. For now, we must live by and honor their rules. But one day, this won’t be the case anymore. We, the colonists, shall remain loyal to Britain because we believe that a great deal of the claims made by some of the Patriots are false. If we are to remain loyal, we expect Britain to continue protecting us, keep the taxes off, and allow us to use the structure of trade and settlement they set up for us.

First of all, Jacob Riis is the author of “How the Other Side lives”. He was famous for using photography to document the extremely poor conditions of many poor populations in the early 20th century. Riis was a Danish immigrant, he worked as a police reporter for The New York Tribune, a job that gave him a close and personal relationship with Mulberry Bend, a vestige of Five Points, the most infamous slum in the city. This book reveals the dirt, disease and misery associated with the living in the New York slums.

Ikechi Mgbeoji’s book, Collective Insecurity examines the hidden causes of West Africa’s civil wars and addresses an important question: “Why has the U.N. system not worked to protect people and to enhance their welfare, as intended, in Africa and elsewhere?” In his book, Mgbeoji proposes, “the solution to African political instability lies in a structural rearrangement of the African polity for the purpose of legitimate governance of African peoples.”

COLLAPSE by Jared Diamond attempts to answer the question, “What caused some of the great civilizations of the past to collapse into ruin, and what can we learn from their fates?”

Throughout history, our world has constantly been bruised and battered by civil turmoil. Today, the civil war in Syria decimates the country; the Israeli and Palestinian conflict rages on; tens of thousands of people have been killed in South Sudan's ongoing civil war. It is not always easy to isolate what exactly ignites the flames of war, but, whenever possible, finding a workable, calm and satisfying solution to a potential uprising is preferable.

In his book Collapse, Jared Diamond gives you an in depth look at societies you may or may not be familiar with and shows you the secrets to their success or failure using his personal 5-point framework. I enjoyed this book and thought he made a lot of good points and had convincing evidence to back it up. While reading you could really tell he knew a lot about the areas he discussed because of the depth he went into with details and descriptions. One complaint I would have about the book is the length he went to in the detailed descriptions, at some points I felt he went too far and got a little wordy and with as much as he gave you are left with almost no questions or curiosity. There were a few terms he uses in the book like