Visual Communications
A Central Montco Technical High School Program
Date: 9/18/2011
How Many Pages Did You Read? Second half of prologue
Story Overview: (At least 5 sentences) In the second half of the prologue, the writing becomes a bit more "religiously sensitive", you might say. Carole doesn't try to mask the fact that she, like many others thinks the Mormon religion in the west has worked in certain people's favors, by contributing to "nuclear numbing". She mentions people who have left the Mormon church in the midst of the testing and problems from radiation, because the religion teaches people to be unquestioningly patriotic. "It takes courage for a Mormon to dissent" she quotes from Wallace Stegner's Mormon Country. I personally haven't gone out of my way to learn much about this religion, but this isn't the first time I've heard that about Mormons. Psychiatrist Dr. Robert Jay Lifton studies suggest that people's passiveness and unconcern with radiation, even when their communities have been ravished by cancers have been " a byproduct of both the trauma of the atomic bomb tests conducted so close by (near enough for the shock waves to throw people from their beds) and the cover-up, the web of lies in which the downwinders were tangled". After that experience, people just want to be blissfully ignorant, he explains. Even if they weren't like that, I personally might lose a bit of my pep, seeing as the political energy pushing *against* this all has been beat down or worn down time and time again. The Shundahai Network is an example of this. I may not have been in on what exactly lead up to them disbanding, although I got a few clues from their fiscal sponsor, and former members... but I did notice that soon after their founder Corbin Harney passed on, Shundahai lost it's momentum almost as fast as it was gaining it. They did manage to contribute greatly to the ultimate decision to discard the Yucca Mountain waste storage project. Long overdue, it was a most anticipated final victory. The Author concludes the prologue with the warning that in this day and age, "anyone, anywhere, can build and detonate a nuclear bomb". I do wonder how this prologue would come across to someone not familiar with the topic at all. I know it is not the most gentle introduction, and it's a lot of information being thrown out at you at once. I'm hoping that my summary about gets the jist of it, too.
Date: 10/10/11
How Many Pages Did You Read? Story of Ken Case's "The Atomic Cowboy" (P.g.'s 3-7)
Story Overview: (At least 5 sentences) Was a deputy in the 50's: he was also a cowboy who's job was to chase cattle through ground zero for the Atomic Energy Commission after a nuclear test, so scientists could see the effects the radiation had on the animals. Case jokes that both he and the animals got cancer, just the animals died faster. Case's cancer at the time of his interview was severe, having had "many feet of his intestines removed, and his spleen"... Ken Case's wife was also dying of cancer. Both he and his wife lived close to the test site. The author describes Case as a kind, and sentimental Mormon of strong faith. Case recounts seeing everything on fire after a test shot; tree's, grass, weeds, and animals running around on fire too. He says he helped monitor 15-18 above-ground shots. He complains that scientists gathered more data than they ever could need, and tried things basically just for the sake of spe nding money and trying every bombing scenario they could think of. Case also describes a visit back at the test site in 1989 where he took a tour of the Test Site. The tour guide knew who he was and "became flustered when he asked about the animal cages still left standing on Frenchman Flat, the site of 27 atomic bomb tests". The tour guide also claimed there was never a program of animal experimentation at the Test Site in the 50's, right to Cases face. He concludes talking about some soldiers used in the tests, and about his experience with radiation burns. Case passed away on July 5, 1985.
Date: 10/20/11
How Many Pages Did You Read? Keith Prescott's story (P.g.'s 9-11)
Story Overview:
Keith and his family are downwinders who lived in the town of Kamas, 40 miles east of Salt Lake City. Keith was a worker at the Test Site, whose job it was to clean up the muck after a test shot, and help to recover instrumentation used for helping scientists measure the effects of the bomb. Keith describes some of his close encounters with radiation, recalls the tests he witnessed himself, and their immense power, and he also recounts the signs that he was noticing that the radiation he'd been exposed to was creeping up on him all the time he worked at the Test Site. The part of the story that stood out to me is when he describes a time when he dropped a light in his car at work, and he bent over to pick it back up, and his chest made a pop. Apparently his ribcage had shattered because of something pulled inside of his rib cage, and the diaphragm broke loose. This was when he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a ' ;radiogenic cancer of the bone marrow'. He expresses feeling expendable by the government in his interview. His lawsuit against the government and the Test Site paved the way for many other cases involving Test Site workers.
Book Title & Author: A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice
How Many Pages Did You Read? Forward - p.g. 53
Story Overview:
John Carter is a man who claims to have been alive for a very, very long time. He seems to have died and come back over the course of his lifetime, or otherwise disappeared, only to return looking mysteriously just as he did many years ago. This story is of the time he spend on mars, which he left behind after his death. When he and his partner found an enormous amount of gold in the hills of Arizona, he waited at the cave with his horse, as his friend rode off to bring back men and equipment to mine the gold. His partner is captured and tortured to death by Indians, which John Carter discovers after following the man's tracks, and finding him dead at the camp. He scares the Indians. making them think they're under attack with his yells, and sudden charging into the camp. He takes the body of his friend, and makes a run for a mountain path, at the end of which he finds a cave to spend the night in. He is paralyzed upon waking by some sort of poisonous gas, and the braves attempt to corner him in the cave. They are frightened off by some mysterious beast somewhere in the cave that John cannot see. He has some kind of strange out-of-body experience, and he literally wills himself to mars.
John is discovered and captured on mars by an ugly and brutish race of green, tusked giants. They are compassionless and they love fighting. They are impressed when John evades them by jumping, only to find that the low gravity on mars allows him to jump enormous distances and heights. The martians bring him to their leader, and he impresses them all with his jumping, and he also accidentally kills a high-ranking military commander. These feats earn him a high rank in their society. He stays with an unusually compassionate female martian, who cares for him and gives him good food, and is assigned a watchdog of sorts. The beastly creature is supposed to keep him from leaving the town, and it aids him when he accidentally provokes an apelike couple of martians in town. When the doglike creature is ferociously injured, John Carter aids the animal in return, and also saves him from being shot after his captor's were going to put him down due to his injuries. Woo la becomes his faithful companian, proving himself to be capable of love and affection, unlike the other martian creatures.
John Carter is brought to a far-off place where he bears witness to the hatching of a hoard of martian young, and comes to understand how they are brought up. All the martian eggs are kept in the same place, and only the best are allowed to be hatched. The babies are picked up by the females in no formal way, and raised by woman who may or may not be their maternal mother. The women teach the young ones how to fight, and speak, and John Carter is raised alongside a young alien, and learns to speak their language. He asks the female taking care of him to keep this a secret from all other martians, until he is completely fluent.
One day, he witnesses a fleet of martian aircrafts coming in toward the town they are staying in on the way home, and the green men attack them on sight. They win because of taking them by surprise, and the fleet flees. The most severely damaged ship is brought down, and a very human-looking red-skinned woman is captured from the ship. She is later revealed to be the princess of the green men's rival race. Before a council of the green martians, she complains that her ships were attacked unjustly, and the scientific work she was doing was for their own good. She moves the audience with a speech about how they should return to being like their more compassionate ancestors, and abandon their brutish new traditions. The moment ends with a rebellious green martian punching the woman, which provokes John Carter to kill him. He addresses the people, re-enforcing her ideas of compassion and humanity to them all. He is regarded respectfully, and the prisoner is all owed to stay with him and his caretaker.
The woman explains to John Carter later that there are humanoid races all over the galaxy, but has trouble believing that he's from earth because of his lack of clothing, which is a staple of Earthly origin to other humans. She accuses him of actually coming from a forbidden place on their planet, but isn't sure, and wants to believe him. He is warned that if he's found to be trying to escape with the woman, or that he comes from that forbidden place, he may be executed.
Date: 12/5/11
Book Title & Author: A Princess of Mars
How Many Pages Did You Read? (Second half of book, from where I left off)
Story Overview:
John Carter, now aware of how quickly the Tharks would betray him if a just reason for doing so came about, encourages the Tharks to embrace compassion, as he continues to impress them with his skill, and his kind mastery of the wild Thoats, a horse-like mount crucial to their military strength. He seeks to teach them the values of kindness, and friendship.
John learns of the explosive bullets used by the Tharks, which contain radium powder that explodes in the sunlight. It's a law on Barsoom (mars) that no one can use these bullets in nighttime warfare, as the lost bullets will explode in the morning like a minefield. He begins to understand more about how the people of Barsoom use technology and resources.
John speaks with the humanoid woman Dejah Thoris, who turns out to be princess of her people, and he begins to fall in love with her. He offends her, though, by being too outward with his words, and implying things he does not yet know are offensive culturally to her. He soon learns that she is to be brought to a horrible place where she might be pitted against animals to fight to the death, as a valuable captive, and begins to plot to escape. He gets Sola, his compassionate caretaker in on his plan, and she also tells him her story which she has never told anyone else.
Sola's mother and father were outcasts who actually fell in love. Her mother was forbidden to breed, being small and weak, and she also didn't approve of the Thark's barbaric society. Her father was moved by her kindness, and loved her for it, and they met each other in secret, until Sola, their daughter, was discovered. Her mother snuck her in with the other baby aliens, and then claimed she had killed her daughter so she would not be tortured. The mother was tortured to death, and her mate was never discovered. Secretly, she had told Sola that her father was none other than Tars Tarkas, which John Carter knew to now be the leader of this group of Tharks.
On the way to the place where Deja Thoris was to be taken, the three attempted their escape, which didn't turn out well. After much trouble, they did manage to escape the city they were staying at, and ride off toward Deja's home kingdom. Pursued by Tharks, John makes Sola take Deja Thoris, and go, while he holds them off. He is captured, and beaten up, but he awakens in the prison of the colosseum.
Soon, another humanoid man is put in his prison, and they plan an escape. When they're put in the arena to fight, they vanquish all of the things that they fight until they are the only two left, and are made to fight one another. They fight until dark, and then the man pretends to finish off John Carter, stabbing next to his armpit in the dirt. The champion is set free, as is custom, and when everyone seems to be gone, 'dead' John runs off into the night.
The two meet again in a city of humanoid people, where John paints himself red, and wears metals more like them to blend in. He learns many of Barsoom's secrets, and gains the trust of more high ranking men in society. He also learns that Dejah Thoris is alive and well, but she's not out of trouble yet. She's being forced to marry Sab Than, her people's enemy prince, and he's basically the prince of the tharks, in order to end the war between them. She doesn't realize John Carter is still alive, and when he fights his way into her quarters, and reveals his identity to her, she is full of regret, but she has already said she would marry him, which by custom, is as good as official. Also, a woman cannot marry the killer of her husband, so John Carter returns to the Tharks, where Tars Tarkas, longing to fight Sab Than and his father, agrees to fight Sab Than, enemy of Deja Thoris's home city of Helium.
The Tharks gather in a force of more Thark warriors than has ever fought together. They are unified in their hatred for Sab Than. They fell the city fast, and Tars Tarkas vanquishes the royal men, becoming the new king of the Tharks. John Carter and Deja Thoris wed, and live together on mars for years.
Suddenly, a tragedy occurs, and the person who is responsible for replenishing the air supply on Barsoon is assassinated. By the time the people realize this, however, it's close to being too late, and the air supply is depleting. Warriors try their hardest to break down the gate of the plant which supplies air to the planet, but after 3 days, they've hardly scratched it. John Carter, remembering that he knows how to open the gate, gets in a one-man flyer, flying low so that he won't run out of oxygen, and heads for the tower. He opens it for a martian who knows how to operate the tower, and then collapses from lack of oxygen.
He wakes up in his own tomb in Arizona, and is surrounded by dead bodies. He leaves this tomb, and returns to his home, shocking his relatives, for he looks the same after his 30 year disappearance. They see that he's a changed man. He sits looking off into the distance and is quieter than he was before. He believes his wife and child are still on Barsoom (Mars) waiting for him, alive, and longs to go back.
Book Title & Author: Head First HTML
How Many Pages Did You Read? 1-30
Story Overview: (At least 5 sentences) Head first is a beginner-oriented HTML text book. The beginning teaches you how to read, and study tips for learning html. The best tip for studying in here is to read before bed, cause that does help me remember stuff. The book then goes on to explain elements and how to set up a basic HTML document. By page 30, I'm just getting into stylizing text and the page, learning to change background color, and margins. This is stuff I've already sort of picked up on, but the book really teaches you to code properly instead of throwing center tags around your myspace page and dusting your hands off and saying "done".
Book Title & Author: Howl: A Graphic Novel by Allen Ginsberg
How Many Pages Did You Read? 1-222 (Cover to cover)
Story Overview: (At least 5 sentences) Howl, the original poem by Allen Ginsberg is considered a classic "Beat" poem. The novel is split up between the different parts of the poem, but they aren't exactly chapters. It's from the authors point of view of society, his own life, and the lives of people he's known, and the poem starts out "I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness." He goes on to describe the experiences of those people destroyed by madness. He talks a lot about people getting caught up in drugs and poverty in he beginning, using sort of sensitive terminology. This poem has had censorship attempts particularly for the homosexual content and other sexual things. Ginsberg describes people in their most desperate, dirty, and insane mental states, in complete madness, including revealing details of his own life, which he openly admits. The whole book has a pretty weird and dreamlike feeling, but his el loquent language does the job of keeping the reader awake. The poem is very much up to the interpreter, and so I found myself pausing to imagine what some of the more ambiguous lines were about. It's sort of cryptic sounding, and it has almost the feeling of reading the unedited thoughts of a madman. It can feel like that because of certain references that he makes, such as the one to Molloch. I had to look up and see what god that was, and why he was talking about him, because the entire Molloch section was greek to me, without background knowledge of the lore. There are other things he references like that that someone just grabbing the book out of curiosity might not have heard of. Also, he uses strange suggestive terms that don't make any actual sense, but when interpreted they start to take shape. It's kind of like the mind, in that people don't always think in full sentances. We think of a smell, and then a sentance comes to mind "hmmm I really want some bacon". Allen's poetry kind of includes the extra jibberish that people think to themselves, that someone reading their mind I guess, wouldn't understand the context of. You HAVE to think about the text, in other words. I picked up this book not knowing exactly what it was, and thought it was weird so I got it as a christmas present for a friend that I know can appreciate this kind of book in a way that no one else I know can. I can't wait to see this guys reaction to the book. It's the kind of poem, and the kinds of pictures that are either going to make you laugh, turn red in the face, do a double take on the last sentence you just read, sit and contemplate, or just close the book in disgust.