Wednesday, February 27, 2013

secondary research

https://www.mca-marines.org/leatherneck/article/nemo-resideo-prp-marines-ensure-no-one-left-behind
i did some research regarding the no man left behind motto that all branches of the military have adopted to protect the soldiers from brutilization after their death in another country.  the author of this article, randy gaddo is a retired marine that retired from active duty in 1996 and was trained to honor this creed.  this article has some currency as it still applies to modern military but i could not find an exact date

Links to Medal of Honor story and veterans themes

It is very hard to read about characters like Norman Bowker, Lt. Jimmy Cross, and Tim O’Brien and not wonder about the issues war veterans face today, with so many struggling in the return to civilian life.  
We have to question: 
  • What as a culture and as citizens do we owe these people?  
  • How can we understand their stories and challenges?  
  • How can we learn from them and support them?  
  • Is the system set up for their success or failure?  
  • What can we do to support or criticize that system?  Do we need to do both?  
  • How can we relate or connect on a person level?

None of these questions will be answered deeply without inquiry and listening.  That's the start.

Here are some links.  Let's connect our readings to this world!

Here's the link to some stories and videos about Clint Romesha, who just was awarded our nation's Medal of Honor.  (Yes, the same award that the popular point-and-shoot video game is named after.) 

Please read and listen to these links.

 http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/11/politics/medal-of-honor/index.html?iref=allsearch

http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2013/02/11/clint-romesha-on-the-medal-of-honor-its-not-about-me-it-was-everybody-that-day-up-at-cop-keating/?iref=allsearch

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2013/02/07/intv-tapper-romesha-soldiers-left-behind.cnn

 http://www.army.mil/medalofhonor/romesha/battlescape.html


Clint Romesha

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Secondary research

I am writing my paper about the deeper meanings in O'Brien's Story telling. I found a website talking about the history of storytelling. this blog post talks about the history of storytelling and how they were originally told verbally, and how books and stories are a way for us to be heard, and to learn about everything around us.
http://www.rachellegardner.com/2011/09/why-do-we-tell-stories/

Edit:
Credibility: author of the page is an agent for "books and literacy agency"
this article was written in 2011 which makes it current enough, it was 2 years ago, not much has changed with story telling in the past several years.


Credibility of Source

One of the main reasons why i picked this source is because of the website it was published in and the date. This article or story was published by The Grand Valley State university. This university is known for its work with the military including veterans. They have a whole network dedicated to them. And just recently (2011) they were recognized by the Military Advanced Education as a top military friendly network and college. Their information and dedication to veterans gives me more insight into more recent stories about veterans  and it helps me connect with stories of Tim O'Brien. This is talking about a combat veteran named Jim Hodges coming out to share his story in the war with people back home. "Hodges presentation 'Eye of the warrior is a captivating story about war's struggles". This sounds a lot like Tim O'Brien sharing his war stories as well. Also, this article was published or posted on June 08, 2010 so it current enough.

Monday, February 25, 2013

Seccondary Research


I am writing my paper as a summary of the story themes but also I am also looking into why O’Brian chooses certain places and what those places symbolize.  For example,Though places changes during many of the stories took place “Song Tra Bong”. Song Tra Bong is a Vietnamese river but I didn’t exactly understand what is symbolizes because this s where Mary Anne Bell disappears along the river, when her hunger for life in the jungle consumes her. Kiowa gets swallowed up by the muck on the river bank. So it seems the river seems to symbolize the war itself: violent, unforgiving, sometimes beautiful, and deadly. In addition, since I know what this place stands for I could include how Tim O’Brian uses a river to symbolize the war itself.

http://www.bookrags.com/notes/tttc/OBJ.html

EDIT

Why i chose this link is that it explains deeper on the book and the website is very credible because i seen many peoples review on the website and most are positive. the story doesn't have a  date. 

Seccondary Research Becca Meacham

I'm choosing to write my paper in story telling, and what people take from stories and how one learns from a story. Although there is a story, there are any sides to it which also many lessons can be taken from it.  There can be many things taken from one single story, because one single story is always going to be everyones perspective in their own words.

http://www.presentationzen.com/presentationzen/2010/03/we-remember-from-stories-and-experience.html

The link I posted  talks about why we learn from stories. It digs deep and talks about how people will remember when emotions are triggered. It's a very interesting article.
I am writing my paper about why it was so hard for Tim O'Brien to get over the man he killed. My secondary source was about someone struggling with how they felt after killing someone.
This helped me with my paper because it shows a different point of view from someone having the same problem as O'Brien. It is hard for some people to take someones life and everyone goes through the experience differently. This article was written by William S. Frisbee Jrand is a credible source. It is a credible source because the author has a lot of experience on the subject of the psychology of killing. There is not a date shown for the source but there is a book recommended on the topic that was written in 1996. It is debatable whether or not this source is current enough because there is no date shown. This source is about the psychology of killing and how it affects someone mentally. the theme of this source is how we should be cautious of our troops mental well being. killing someone can literally change a persons character.  "Some become obsessed with religion and some become psychotic. In essence a person's very character has changed." ( Frisbee 1). This is why it is so important to monitor someones actions and how they are feeling after they kill someone or in any war type scenario.       

http://www.military-sf.com/Killing.htm

Secondary research

I am focusing on loss of innocence in my essay so my secondary research consisted of war stories from Vietnam from other soldiers wanting to tell their side of the story. The stories help show the horrible situations soldiers in Vietnam had to experience and how it affected their lives.

http://www.vietnamgear.com/archive/1.aspx

This source has a description of the purpose of this website clearly stated and they say they researched and used credible sources, then gave some of the specific sources they used. There is no specific author but each article has its own author. The website was created in 2005 and is current enough since the war was in the past.

Vietnamgear.com is a collective site that has taken the time to put together articles from people who experienced the war. In the article "The Phu Yen Prison Raid," Charles McDonald discusses his first hand experiences and the horror he saw that took his innocence. "...we noticed a number of elongated mounds around the prison's perimeter. They were shallow graves. Nearby were the bodies of several prisoners, wrapped up and tied to poles, awaiting their place among the graves" (McDonald "The Phu Yen Prison Raid"). These deaths were unjust and it was the American soldiers who had to help put an end to it. Simply seeing these graves and the dead bodies is a loss of innocence that everyday people are lucky enough to not experience.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Secondary Research

As a secondary source, I found an article about U.S. commanders' failures in Afghanistan. Which really help me to do my essay about that subject. The article mentions how unexpected numbers of commanders been blamed of failures in many incidents which caused the death or the injury of the troop in 2008 and 2009.
This article is written by the Washington Post, what made it more reliable source. It was written by Greg Jaffe, and his credentials is the U.S. military. This article is current enough because it was written on February 05, 2010.
Washington Post published this article, which is a well weekly known newspaper. The author described how military officials response to the reprimands been said about them, and how causalities are inevitable during war  ( quoted in "This is a war where the other side is trying, too")

  







http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2010-02-05/world/36927762_1_commanders-disciplinary-action-joint-chiefs-chairman

Secondary Research Ahmed

I am writing my paper about true love  and how what was accomplished when O'Brien brought Linda up. The secondary research that I chose was about a persons perspective and experience of love and war. This research helped me with my paper because its similar to O'Briens story with his love Linda but in a different perspective.This site gets its credibility because its based off a book that's called No Ordinary Joes that was written by the author Larry Colton. It also provides a works cited. This book was written in 2010. I think it is current enough because it was written around the same time The Things They Carried was written. The author talks about the love of his life while he was at war.


Colton, Larry. "'No Ordinary Joes' Tells Stories Of Love And War." NPR. NPR, 05 Oct. 2010. Web. 25 Feb. 2013.


http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130351636

Secondary Research

I am choosing to write my paper on story telling. Not just the act of telling them but what those stories can do for someone or how it can affect them. A few examples of what stories can do is relieve stress, share wisdom and honor the dead. Sometimes they can be a coping mechanism for people, especially those in the Vietnam War. They went through things that some people will never understand. They lost friends in horrible ways. So telling stories about those events or people can help them remember and pass on to others. These men had to cope with these disasters for the rest of their life. So I decided to look into coping mechanisms. I found a site where it talks about how you do deal with disasters and how to manage stress. It was very helpful. Reachout.com gives a list of ideas for people to do who are coping with a disaster. One of them is to "Write about it. It may help to keep a notebook where you can write down your feelings, as well as anything else that you feel like writing about."

http://au.reachout.com/Recovering-from-a-disaster

This website is creditable. The article comes from www.reachout.com which is Australia's leading online youth mental health service website. They have fact sheets, stories and forums. There are a couple foundations behind it. There are experts behind the site that make it happen, so there is not just one author.
It was started in 1992 after a young man, who was the cousin of Jack Heath, committed suicide. Jack was working for the Prime Minister at the time.

Secondary Research Morgan Birchfield

My paper is about finding beauty in war. The secondary research I chose was about the different opinions of war. This gave me a better understanding that not all people think the same of war. I can now write a more rounded paper because I know both sides of the argument. This site gets it's credibility because it contains a work cited. The author uses these cites to conduct his own opinion so he is knowledgable on the subject. This passage was written in August of 2007. These site is from first person point of view from people who had experienced the war first hand. I was searching for public opinions so it's hard to find an unbiased work. The author talks about the different problems and accomplishments of the war.

Sauerwein, Daniel. "Military History." Military History. N.p., 12 Aug. 2007. Web. 25 Feb. 2013

http://militaryhistoryblog.wordpress.com/2007/08/12/the-vietnam-war-from-all-sides-americans-and-vietnamese-reflect-on-their-mistakes-and-on-each-other/

Secondary Research: PTSD

I chose to do my secondary research on PTSD as a complementary source for information on the effects of traumatic experiences on the psychological health of veterans of the Vietnam War. The article is titled Findings from the National Vietnam Veterans' Readjustment Study, posted in January of 2007, and focuses on the findings of the comprehensive study mentioned in the title, abbreviated as (NWRS). Being associated with the Department of Veterans Affairs gives this article credibility as a source. Jennifer L. Price, PhD, also has credibility as a source, having worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs as a project manager of a case study and as a consultant for the National Center for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. She is also a licensed clinical psychologist and currently a professor and Department Chair for the Department of Psychology at Georgetown College in Kentucky.
http://www.georgetowncollege.edu/psy/files/2011/07/Price-vitae-2011.pdf

Dr. Prince's article provides us with significant statistics on the range of soldiers that are afflicted with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the varying circumstances that lead to increased frequencies of PTSD. Prince writes, "...an estimated 15.2% of male and 8.5% of female Vietnam theater Veterans met criteria for current PTSD. Those with high levels of war-zone exposure had significantly higher rates, with 35.8% of men and 17.5% of women meeting criteria for current PTSD" (qtd. in Schlenger et al., 1992).

The study also addresses non-PTSD symptoms that are less severe but more prevalent, including: alcohol abuse/dependency, depression, anxiety, antisocial personality disorders, and readjustment difficulties (occupational instability, marital and familial strife).

Overall it seems to be a very good study that is full of statistics that might be useful in making an argument for the overall impact of PTSD and other trauma related issues on veterans of the Vietnam War.

http://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/pages/vietnam-vets-study.asp

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Secondary Research for Eassy

My essay mainly consisted of detailing the accounts of Tim O'Brien himself. It took a lot in him to tell his horrific stories to millions of people. I talk about how he is sharing his difficult experiences and the events that he encountered on a war some said they were not sure why they were fighting . I did some extra secondary research to relate to my essay. In this case I found another war veteran coming out to share what he had experienced in the war. I chose this to emphasize the courage it takes some people to come out and talk about difficult stuff like Tim O'Brien did.

http://websrv-gr.server.gvsu.edu/gvnow/index.htm?articleId=17AE198F-C80D-08F3-49AACE857C82790B

One of the main reasons why i picked this source is because of the website it was published in and the date. This article or story was published by The Grand Valley State university. This university is known for its work with the military including veterans. They have a whole network dedicated to them. And just recently (2011) they were recognized by the Military Advanced Education as a top military friendly network and college. Their information and dedication to veterans gives me more insight into more recent stories about veterans  and it helps me connect with stories of Tim O'Brien. This is talking about a combat veteran named Jim Hodges coming out to share his story in the war with people back home. "Hodges presentation 'Eye of the warrior is a captivating story about war's struggles". This sounds a lot like Tim O'Brien sharing his war stories as well. Also, this article was published or posted on June 08, 2010 so it current enough.

Secondary Research For Essay

The main theme of my Interpretive Essay is the effect encountering death has on all of the soldiers.  I go on to narrow down the focus of my topic to the impact death has on O'Brien, post-war.  In order to get some more info I did some research on other Vietnam War Veteran's stories.  This is where i got the info.

http://gazettextra.com/news/2008/mar/14/retelling-vietnam-veterans-recount-war-stories/

Gina Duwe is the author of this article.  Duwe is a credible source because she has many other articles published by GazetteXtra.com and she is a paid reporter for the website.  I looked into other sources of info at GazetteXtra.com just to be sure they were a valid source and because of all the info they possess they do seem credible.  The article was written March 14, 2008 which I believe makes it credible as long as it is really about a Vietnam veteran.  In the article Duwe was interviewing multiple Vietnam veterans about their experiences in the war.  The veteran i felt was most influential  was Tom McCaslin.  Tom describes a story about his first encounter with the Viet Cong, “He came right towards me, and I said, ‘S---, this is the first time I’ve ever seen the enemy,’” he said. “So I shot, and luckily I killed him" (Duwe 1).  This was an important part of the interview because Tom goes on to say that he hardly ever talks about his war stories but he feels they needed to be told, which is a lot like O'Brien. 

Monday, February 18, 2013

Interpretive questions list. Post questions HERE!

Students, please post your three best interpretive questions so far for the novel The Things They Carried.

Simply include your questions underneath this post by using the Comments feature and that way we will have all our brainstorming questions available in one place here on the blog.

The idea is to share ideas for Essay Two and find a question or thesis idea that we are interested in and think we can write about with good evidence and interpretation for Essay Two.



Interpretive questions to blog, and MLA exercise online

Good morning all.

Please do these two things.

First, post your three best interpretive questions so far for the novel to our blog.

Second, complete the writing exercises below.  Follow the link, and you also have this material as a handout.


lGo to http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/pocket6e/#t_697475http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/pocket6e/#t_697475____
 
lYou will need to sign in as a student to access the exercises.  My address is lohre.1@osu.edu so you can sign up.
 
lUnder Electronic Research Exercises, complete Exercises 28-1(Thesis Statements) and 30-1(Integrating Sources in MLA style).

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Ain't Scared of Your Jails

This video was interesting to me. It is incredible that a simple decision to fight back changed the course of history. I have learned a lot about the civil rights in the past and it never fails to catch my attention. These people protested in a simple way and by doing so, they got the reaction they were hoping for, at least after countless arrests and beatings. From the research I also did on Diana Nash, I was reminded of sit-ins. The protestors sat like they normally would but simply sitting where they were not "supposed" to caused such a commotion. The ignorant non-supporters of civil rights lacked maturity and that was clearly seen when they responded with such hatred to such a peaceful, non-violent protest. To see the beatings people had to endure broke my heart. The majority of the protestors were left nameless and they never got the recognition they deserved.