My Life As A Foreign Country By Brain Turner

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.

The author, Tim O'Brien, is writing about an experience of a tour in the Vietnam conflict. This short story deals with inner conflicts of some individual soldiers and how they chose to deal with the realities of the Vietnam conflict, each in their own individual way as men, as soldiers.

Being a soldier is one of the most effective and honorable carriers a country could have. Citizens have always appreciated soldiers due to their importance in saving and protecting them. However, soldiers’ path consists of many struggles that might threaten their life. Wrong move can cause solders to lose their life and that shows how serious being a soldier is. Brian Turner in his poem “What Every Soldier Should Know” talked about soldiers’ life and gave some instructions regarding soldiers’ security. The poem also described the environment surrounding soldiers in wars and how the battlefield was. The poet concerned about American soldiers since the writer is American. The poem also concerned about the American soldiers’ experience in an Arab country. The poem was written in 2005 while the war of Iraq was in 2003, which explains the Arabic phrases within the poem. The poem main point was to show that soldiers’ life in Iraq was dangerous and full of non-expectable surprises that could threaten soldiers’ life. The poem was powerful in conveying how American soldiers felt during the war of Iraq because of the many strategies that the poet used such as his choice of words, his usage of Arabic phrases and the way of describing citizens of Iraq.

“We don’t really care about diversity all that much in America” (132). In “People Like us” David Brooks takes a logical approach through examining the demographics of our neighborhoods, our educational institutions, and he touches on an emotional approach by having his audience examine their values; he does this with hopes of having his audience question their word choice for the American value diversity, and question if the way they are living their lives invites diversity.

In the story, ”Like Mexicans” by author Gary Soto explains how he was always told him to marry a girl from his same ethnicity, but unexpectedly fell in love and married a Japanese girl. Sotos grandmother advised him to marry a girl that fitted the stereotype of a Mexican girl. He decided to ask his mom about the issue. His mom agreed that if he were to find a righteous Mexican women to marry her. Soto decides to ask Scott as well, who happened to be a second generation okie. An okie was what his grandma would call any person that was from a different ethnicity than them. They talk about their future how one day they hope to reach the American Dream. They share the same vision of marrying someone. It was shocking to him, that he ended up marrying a Japanese woman because he never imagined marrying someone that wasn 't Mexican. When he was twenty years old, he fell in love with a girl that he knew his grandma would be concerned about. Soto told his mom about the woman and how she was the one for him and the more he talked about her the more his mom seemed to be worried. That’s when he realized that his mother wanted him to marry someone from his own social class. Everyone agreed that indeed he wasn 't good enough for his fiancee. One day Carolyn took Soto to her home to meet her parents. Soto was nervous, until he sees her house and how alike their houses looked. He acknowledges how alike their ethnicities were, mainly in the economic sense. As Soto is in the roadway he

“Where Worlds Collide” is an essay by Pico Iyer who talks about the expectations and reality of Los Angeles through the perspectives of travelers from different backgrounds. In “Where Worlds Collide,” Pico Iyer argues that even though Los Angeles is depicted as a vicinity to receive wealth, happiness, and many opportunities- it is actually the antithesis, and instead, many harsh prejudice and unending craziness will occur instead; Iyer argues this by using allusions, anaphoras, and juxtapositions to help convey what he is saying.

What really defines a dreamer? Is it the children who have unrealistic dreams of playing in the big leagues or is it someone who has a plan and will go out of his or her way to achieve it? Both of these options can be true. Dreamers are special in this world because they have hope for something they believe in. Nothing is more fascinating than seeing an individual who never gave up and worked extremely hard to reach their goal. Having read only three sections so far, I have explored the individual’s purpose and passion for the work they pursue. The “Dreamers” section has made me analyze what I have and want with my future career. Overall, the elements of the book defining dreamers explains the meaning of a risk taker, the hard work and dedication involved, and the passion it takes to reach your goals.

There was a time when America was segregated; Caucasians and African Americans were forced to attend different restrooms, restaurants, and water fountains. However, the era of segregation has been terminated; now America embraces and appreciates the various cultures and ethnicities that create this melting pot several people call home. Likewise, it is this melting pot, or mosaic, of races that multitudes of individuals have identified themselves with. Thus, race and ethnicity does matter for it portrays vital and crucial roles in the contemporary American society. Furthermore, ethnicity and race brings communities together in unity, determines which traditions and ideals individuals may choose to value, and imposes an impediment for it categorizes humans unjustly.

Michael Allen’s book argues that the Vietnam War POW/MIA campaigns aimed at demonstrating the futile loss of human lives in an ill-planned war and assigning responsibility to the authorities. The leaders of such campaigns attempted to highlight their victimization and the memory of defeat in Vietnam in the context of post-Cold War triumphalism. The identification of soldiers’ remains, especially that of the Vietnam War Unknown in response to development in DNA technology and irresistible pressure from POW/MIA activists, symbolizes the country’s shift from the traditional mode of collective war commemoration to the individualization of the memory for war loss. According to Sarah Wagner, the public effort to associate the Vietnam War Unknown with Michael Blassie built a new connection between the justification of war and death with a nation distinguishes itself through its care for the war dead. The country’s response to the demand of the POW/MIA families to search and identify the Vietnam War missing is perceived by Thomas Hawley as a desperate but limitedly effective attempt of the authorities to revive a body politics irreparably weakened by the Vietnam War. He also argued that as the government recovers the remains from Vietnam and assumes the duty of their identification, it endeavors to assert its sovereignty over both

A Land More Kind than Home by Wiley Cash definitely fits the category of “grit lit.” It is a novel about the Hall’s, a family who is wracked with grief, anxiety, and guilt after the ‘mysterious’ death of one of their sons, Christopher or Stump. The story encompasses more than just the story of the family though as it is told from the perspective of Adelaide Lyle, an old wise woman from the town, Jess Hall the youngest son of the family, and Clem Barefield, the sheriff of Marshall who also had heartache of his own that is intertwined with this families story in more ways than one. The novel incorporates most if not all of the features that is “grit lit” including: an element of crime, a focus on the bleakness of life, lyrical language, and a central character who wishes to escape their environment or get peace inside it.

The poem “No Country for Black Boys” by Joy Priest represents the sorrowful incident which happened on February 26, 2012 for Trayvon Martin in Florida. Trayvon Martin was an innocent African-American young boy who bought iced tea and some skittles. On the way back to his father’s home, he got shot by the neighborhood watch and treated as a victim because of his skin color. Guilt was not defined by what Martin did but by what he said, also it determined something deep-rooted in the young age. No weapon was needed to identify him as a victim. He is a young black boy, so he is already guilty enough to be killed. Black people have the same rights as the other people, however in reality, America’s society discriminates against them compared to other nationalities.

In his essay “The Country Just over the Fence,” Paul Theroux describes his trip to Nogales, Mexico. He begins his essay by illustrating the physical appearance of the wall separating Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Mexico. He calls it “an unintentional masterpiece”. Theroux feels the wall is somewhat informal. He discovers that crossing the border into Mexico is not too difficult itself. He marvels over the appearance of the wall and also the underlying call to action it places on a person, “Do you go through, or stay home?” Theroux decided he needed to see for himself. After deciding to cross the border, he met many different people. They told him about the celebrations that used to be held between the two neighboring towns which are now divided by the wall. Theroux also met people who had attempted to cross the border illegally into America only to get sent back to Mexico. On his adventure, Theroux also learned about all the medical tourists who travel to the country for cheaper treatments, specifically dentistry. I am interested in discussing Theroux’s presentation of the his decision to cross the border, the people he met, and the medical tourism Nogales, Mexico draws in.

Every second of our lives, there is always change. Some changes might be bigger or so small we can’t even notice it’s happening or affecting our lives. The world will always change with each sunrise and sunset. Firoozeh Dumas writes of her experience coming to America from Iran and how her life was changed. Dumas writes “We remember the kindness more than ever, knowing that our relatives who immigrated to this country after the Iranian Revolution did not encounter the same America” (Dumas page 92). Her quote is about how Americans minds’ have changed on their opinions of the Iranian culture and Iranian people.

One cannot run from hardships, for they occur every day, appear suddenly, and can quickly consume hope. Instead one must face these difficulties and overcome them. However, to rise above obstacles alone would only cause further misery and despair. The struggler’s family should rally behind him to comfort and assist him in his time of need. In Cry, the Beloved Country, a 1948 contemporary novel, Alan Paton uses parallelism to emphasize the importance of family because when individuals encounter hardships they need support from others to help them.

Dear America is a book Edited by Bernard Edelman, who has served as a broadcast specialist correspondent in Vietnam. Bernard Edelman’s Non-fiction edits of Dear America was published in 2002 about what soldiers from the Vietnam War had to go through and deal with their time during and after the war in Vietnam. The book consists of letters from those very soldiers from the war and the graphical things they saw and felt. He is also the author of Centenarians: “The Story of the 20th Century by the Americans Who Lived It”.