Semester Reflection

This semester Lauren was pleasantly surprised to learn about the Old West because it was really interesting for Lauren to see how stereotypes and Hollywood can completely change the perception the public today has on cowboys and saloons. It was really cool to get the story straight and also kind of ironic that the lowest of the low job in the West somehow morphed into the idealistic vision of a hunky Clint Eastwood riding around on horseback protecting women and seeking justice. On the other side of stereotypes were the Indians. Lauren found it super unfortunate that Native Americans faced such discrimination in the past and even now in the way we advertise and exhibit their dress and views. It was extremely disheartening to learn about all of the Native American casualties due to our own military but by far the worst to learn about was The Sand Creek Massacre and how a reckless Commander could devastate a community like that and ultimately cause further battles with the Indians. Lauren found it quite hard to believe that citizens were committing such cruelties but she found it even more difficult to think about the abuse coming directly from the American military. Lauren will most likely remember her research on Coney Island ten years from now because of the vast importance it had on the rise of leisure time, city life, interracial mixing, and social boundaries. Learning about the feats of engineering and developments of the time also interested her and lead her to look further into other boardwalk style attractions such as Atlantic City that featured even more extreme shows such as horse diving and free falls from towers into nets. She will also likely remember her research on Harvey Pratt and how his heritage influenced his career choices and essentially his entire life. One problem that was a problem then and is still a problem now in the United States is that racism is still raging today. Throughout all of the units of study, race and people of foreign backgrounds constantly had to fight for their jobs and rights to equality. If Lauren was to name the times from 1865-1920 she would name it the Era of Opportunities because during this time everyone got a new start in the United States and had many chances to bring themselves up the world.  People such as Rockefeller or Carnegie prove that with a little innovation and hard work you can completely change your life and the world you live in.

Coney Island

       In the years leading up to the Great Depression there was an explosion in leisure time and fun. Business was booming and even the working class was becoming able to have a some fun. All over New York people were visiting parks, experiencing movies, and doing pretty much anything to entertain themselves and keep them out of their hot apartments during the summer months. All of these conditions combined to create the perfect time to form Coney Island, "The Playground of the World."

 

The Wonder Wheel was one of the largest of all time.

    The small island outside of the city attracted many business men to the area because of clean beaches, undeveloped and cheap land, and above all the opportunity to make a name for themselves. The area exploded with horse races, luxury hotels, animal shows, extreme weather demonstrations, freak shows, and rides that defied gravity and shocked everyone who attended. The area was well-known to everyone and it was easily accessible from all parts of New York City. You could take subways, boats, or taxis and it made it easy for people of any social class to come.

 

Steeple Chase Famous Face

  Attractions such as Luna Park and the Steeple Chase were some of the main and most elaborate experiences for park goers. Luna Park had roller coasters that flipped and twisted people in ways they had never even thought possible and the Steeplechase gave people a place to play games, ride mechanical horses around a track, and get cozy with the opposite gender by giving them a great reason to hold on to their partners waist. The freak shows were the best of their kind and most of the public believed that they had the most authentic freaks of any competitors show. You could do anything at Coney Island that could be imagined because it seemed like the laws of nature and gravity did not apply to the small beach area. People felt invincible and activities like swimming off of a beach for the first time only boosted their confidence.The outrageous designs of hotels and theaters also promoted the image of possibilities. Hotels were shaped like the most random of objects, probably the most famous being the elephant where the richest of the rich could pay to sleep in the trunk for the summer. But this area was not only for the rich, but for anyone that had hopes of experiencing something out of a story.

     

Native African Turned Freak 

Men and Women Acting Scandalous

       Coney Island was a safe haven for freaks, outcasts, immigrants, upper class, and working class. Anyone was welcome and this mix of all kinds of people led to parties that would rage for days at a time. The beaches were the most common place to find classes mixing together but it could occur really anywhere. The area was famous of their 5 cent Nathan's Hotdog Stand which is one of the many examples of how cheap and approachable the island was. It attracted anyone who was looking for some cheap and scandalous fun. The city rules didn't apply to the people that came and that became obvious when men and women were found closer and closer to each other and also the level of gambling stepped up. Everyone was at Coney Island and you never knew what you could really expect to find walking down the beaches. Even African tribal members, who were  paid to work the crowds, could be found wandering around the boardwalk, keeping the mysterious island in the news and relevant.

       The area was really created for the people of New York to entertain them and give them something they had never seen before. It also got people out of their stuffy, unair-conditioned apartments. This time of exploration was crucial in American history because these were the times that people were building amazing rides and also getting over old taboos such as wearing more modern bathing suits. Coney Island really was a revolutionary idea that was a complete success in the ways of modernizing New York and letting people experience new ideas and ways of life. I also think it made people more open-minded and relaxed about the different backgrounds and races of the people around them.

       Coney Island did not last long because of the Great Depressions starting so soon after but its reputation of fun and excitement still lives on in all of the pictures taken and all of the stories told. It is also mostly destroyed and burned because of a lack of upkeep but the city of New York is trying to restore it to its once great glory. Its impact on the history of roller coasters and rides is also monumental and extremely important to engineers but especially to the people that got to experience it first hand.
     

Background Information on Coney Island- Vanalen.org

This source told me how and why Coney Island grew so rapidly and also how it affected people. It also gave me some information on some of the attractions there and how they came about.

Attractions- Westland.net

This source told me about the types of attractions, rides, and buildings they had there and what types of people they attracted.

Documentary on Coney Island from YouTube

This source showed me how the different classes used Coney Island and how it came to have it's own social rules. It also showed me how genders started mixing and how scandalous it was.

Background Information on the Times- The History Book

This source told me about the times before Coney Island was built and why it was necessary for it to be built. It also told me about the early years of the park and how it was viewed by the city.

How It Came About- Coney Island Official Website

This source showed me how important the area was and still is to New York and it's importance in history. It also told me a little about the restoration that they are starting o work on in the area.

Carnegie's Philanthropy

       I think that Carnegie believed that education was the best way to help people around the world. He gives so much money to support libraries and schools around the world because he believed that this solution would help the entire population in the long run because instead of just giving them money to improve their situation on hand, he taught them how to make and handle their own money that they can use to sustain themselves. He put so much effort into this cause and you can tell how passionate he is because he pretty much only donates to education funds and he doesn't really donate to anything else.

       I think this is a good approach if there aren't such dire circumstances. Education will definitely help children in the US but I don't think it is necessarily the best approach for starving children in Africa since they won't need to know how to read or write if they can't eat and won't live much longer anyways. If I had an excess of money and had nothing else to do with it I think I would help children in orphanages because I know of stories where the children have PTSD just from living in the harsh conditions of orphanages in Russia and China especially.

Harvey Pratt

       Harvey Pratt is an influential member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes in Oklahoma that works as a forensic artist for the Oklahoma Midwest City Police Department and is also an established artist that works with paint, sculpting, wood carving, bronze work and he even makes blankets. He serves as a Peace Chief in his tribe and works to keep peace within the tribe and with the outside world. His mother says he was "born to lead" because he was a veil baby. These babies are born with a caul, or membrane, surrounding their head and in some cases their entire body. The Cheyenne and Arapaho consider this a birth right which is often how they would choose the highest ranking officials in the tribe and even how they would sometimes choose a chief.

       Pratt's status in the law enforcement community reflects his 48 years of service and also his groundbreaking new way of reconstructing soft tissue to identify victims. He started as a simple artist who was called in to draw the killer from the description given by witnesses. He was so successful that he helped identify the Green River Killer and the Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders. His art talent then led to his next discovery. He figured out that he could draw directly on the photo of the victim to cover the wounds and reduce signs of trauma so that families and police could identify the victim. The tribe immediately recognized his talent and put it to good use when the "Sandman" was found in the backyard of a family in the suburbs. Researchers contacted Pratt and asked him to reconstruct the face of the Sandman by using bone fragments. What they found was that the Sandman had died in 1837 on Wolf-Creek during an inter tribal war between the Arapaho and Cheyenne. Since he was buried with his belongings they assumed he was important and contacted the tribe. The tribe then asked Pratt to reconstruct the whole body with war paint and all so they could give him the proper burial. Soon the tribe was asking for his services more often and eventually he was contacted by the members of the Hoopa Project. They were searching for the Native American version of Bigfoot. Harvey has never confirmed if he believes it or not but he often draws witness reports for them and says the sources are credible.

Historic Reconstruction

http://harveypratt.com/historic_reconstruction.php

       Harvey continues to work on his artwork that usually reflects tradition, death, and humanities essence. One of his pieces depict buffalo wearing clothes and smoking. Right off you can see that is a Native American piece but until I looked further into their symbols and meanings I could not see the story he was trying to tell. I learned that buffalo stands for prosperity and strength and a shirt stands for power so I think that he was trying to show that even the strongest creatures who already have human qualities, such as the shirt, need to worship the Gods. You know they are giving offerings to the Gods because smoking was often a way to send something up to them. They felt that since is went up and out of sight that the Gods must have taken it.

When Buffalo Tried to Be Human

http://www.harveypratt.com/store/index.cfm/product/57_6/when-buffalo-tried-to-be-human-print.cfm

My favorite piece of his though is one where an eagle is flying with a pouch in its talons. The eagle was often recognized as a guardian spirit and if you combine this with the symbol of the pouch, which is deliverance of wealth, you get an uplifting message that someone is looking out for you and wishing good things upon you. The black underside of its feathers represent mystery that hold hope for the future and in you look really closely you can see faces in the brown top feathers. I think it's beautiful to think of something watching over you like that.

 Medicine Wings

http://www.harveypratt.com/store/index.cfm/product/17_3/medicine-wings.cfm

       The beauty and diversity of Pratt's work is amazing to look at because even though it is so different he always seems to find a way to relate it back to his life in the tribe. I also think it is important to see how much the tribe supports him and his work. It is amazing to see how they use an individuals talent to better the tribe as a whole.


http://nativedigest.com/hpratt.html
       This website taught me a lot about his background and what parts of Indian culture influence his work. Also it taught me about his developments in soft tissue reconstruction.

http://harveypratt.com
       This website is where I got all of the pictures for this article. It also taught me about how he reconstructed the Sandman and how he works with the police.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Pratt
      I mainly learned about basic information from this website and it is also how I found out about him.

http://cheyennetribe2008-v.blogspot.com/2008/06/traditions.html
       This website is where I learned all about the symbols in Native American art that tell the story in all of Pratt's work.

Cowboy Test!

       These images glorify the American cowboy as a strong, handsome, brave, and well off individual which could not be further from the truth. The real experiences in the West consisted of struggle and poverty. When the average person thinks of a cowboy, they immediately think of some gun slinging man on a horse with a short temper and a big hat but in actuality they were just like everyone else and just trying to find a way to support their families by farming, mining, and many miscellaneous tasks such as railroad building. Probably one of the only realistic part of the perception many people had was that cowboys really did have to fight for justice in their communities because of lack of law but his was greatly distorted by Hollywood and the image of John Wayne.

       Cowboys, as strange as it might seem, in fact weren't the only migrants to move to the glorious West. We were actually pretty late in the game because by the time that we got there, there were Chinese and Mexican settlers everywhere also just trying to find a steady job and hoping for the American Dream. Chinese workers were actually taking jobs that Americans had claimed for themselves. Another difference is that an actual cowboy was the lowest of the low and worked all day in the saddle for almost nothing in the desert heat. Hollywood didn't show you that part of the movie did they?

       I think people just kind of decided to make cowboys such a strong figure because they wanted to believe that there was something great going on out there and a buff man on a horse did just the trick. Also the lawless West made for a great scene full of dramatics and dust that can blow around with the kick of the boot. I think most importantly though that the reason Hollywood led us all on with the visual of the rough and tough American was to romanticize the struggles of people working their tails off to get to where they see themselves.

Chapter 15 Reflection

       I think it is important for people to learn the history of the community they live in because there are so many different perspectives and monuments from the past that you do not even notice until you start looking. I thought learning about the Daughters of the Revolution was cool to think about because even though the statue of the war heroes are not here anymore, we can still imagine how people were feeling in Huntsville at the time. There must have been so many people that lost loved ones that wanted to commemorate them and they are still represented in towns around Huntsville with their statues.

       Another interesting thing that is specific to Huntsville, is that we heard a speaker last year that experienced first hand all of the segregation and separation that occurred here. He told us all about how his son was the first African-American to be admitted into the Huntsville City School system and all of the hardships he experienced there. I personally think it is crucial for student to learn about the adversities that occurred in their community because it gives you an insiders view on the past and lets you in on some of the history of your town that is not well acknowledged.

America

The video I made about my personal views on America and what it represented turned out way better than I had expected! I actually really liked the words I chose, especially honor, integrity, and perseverance. I feel like these three words display everything that America is about and everything it went through to achieve what we have become today. My video overall was very patriotic and showed the key elements on what makes our country great!

http://animoto.com/play/luPdZk2uEpnL0804WLcg6Q