Journal 5: Alec Soule

 Part One:
 In today’s readings, I noticed when Beah's group went asking around for "why were they were given up by their commanders?" When they see a group of boys around their age they ask them and it starts an argument. In the city the civilians and UNICEF always said the phrase "it's not your fault". This phrase filled the boys with anger and rage because they wanted the civilians to respect them. In both cases we can see how the boys are more quick to anger.
 Part Two:
 My best friend from my early years went through one of these transformations. He started as a straight A student who was selected for a gifted math program like I was in elementary school, but towards the end of middle school his grades started to suffer and we started to see less and less of each other. By the end of our High school education he had dropped out and i was graduating and moving on to college. I often wonder what happens to lead two similar people in two very different directions. So far I have found that for my friend it was that allure of drugs and alcohol, along with other things that provide short term happiness.

Journal 5 by Tony

Part One 

Two specific writing techniques that I noticed while reading chapter 17 was that Beah had used very descriptive language when talking about his flashbacks and dreams. And another thing that I noticed was that he explained everytime that the staff members of the center told the children affected by the war that everything they were doing was, "Not their fault." I think this these things are interesting because the descriptive language puts a picture in your mind (not a pretty one). This is helpful because it shows the horrors that Beah endured as just a child. I chose the staff members' phrase because it shows that they are trying to bring these children back down to earth and show them that they are only children and what they did was not their faults at all. This is helpful to me because it shows me that people were there to help Beah (even though I know he was helped because he wrote a book, but still). 

Part Two

A friend of mine that I have already written about in this class was my cousin, Darian. I have chosen to write about him again because in the last journal, I couldn't explain his struggle in as much detail that I can now. It all started once he got his license around 2012. After he got his license he started skipping football practices. I instantly knew something was amiss because he always told me everything and didn't tell me anything on the days when he'd skip. After about three weeks of missing  a few days a week, he quit football. This had really upset me and I knew something or someone else was to blame. I mean, I worked my butt of in the weight room so I could have a chance to play varsity football with him my freshman year, his senior year. But I never had the chance to play a down with him. He had gotten into drugs and alcohol and quickly spiraled out of control. It was only until he was arrested and endured life behind bars, that I got my cousin and best friend back. We just recently spent a day together and he told me about how much he wants to change. I am currently trying to get him to enroll here at OSU Marion, so I can monitor him and help him even more. And now that I think about it, having his license and crappy friends, eventually put him on the path of destruction. Their bad ways and his license and car to go where he wanted was definitely the factor that sent him down the path that eventually landed him in jail. 

Journal 5 by Richard

Journal 5

In today's reading I have noticed that Beah did a great job by throwing in a flashback. In the flashback he talks about one of their raids and how they brutally murdered the prisoners. also he tells us how he acquired the name green snake. The flashback is a great technique because it doesn't let us forget how much hes been through and that this change into the non killing life is proven very difficult.

Once in the big city the civilians and UNICEF always said the phrase "its not your fault". This phrase filled the boys with anger and rage because they wanted the civilians to respect them and listen to them. But in this case its the other way around, the civilians are telling the boys what to do. Which infuriated them to the point that they would punch anything nearest to them. Also they wouldn't do anything because they think they are above these city people but in reality they are all civilians in that city. But this phrase will help the boys come to their scenes eventually. Realizing that its truly not their fault and they were brainwashed into war.

Part 2

I personally have not witnessed someone having a huge transformation but I've heard many story's from my family. My grandma told me about my dad one day. She started off talking about my grandfather passing away at a young age and how my dad being the oldest of 5 kids basically took the role of being the man in the house. But not long after that when my dad turned 18 he was sent to the army for a mandatory 2 year service that every 18 year old male had to do. She explained to me that the transformation started after he got back from the army. 

When he came back he needed to fill the role of being the man in the house. He always watched his younger siblings and did all the work around the house while my grandma was at work. But it wasn't easy for him every time the kids wouldn't listen to him he would raise his voice and start barking orders at them. It was always like that when he didn't have it his way. One day he did the same thing to my grandma and she punched him in the face and called him out on his behavior. Shocked at what just happend he realized that he has changed very much and forgot his manners and principles. My dad always says " I wish they had a mandatory 2 year army so you could go through it." Now I have a suspicion that every time he says that he wants to punch me in the face.

Journal 5 from Dallas

Part One

In today’s readings, I noticed specifically, when Beahs group and Mambus group joined up and were asking around "why were they given up by their commanders?" When they see a group of boys around their age they ask and it starts an intense argument before one of the boys reveals they are rebels. What stood out to me when this happened is this direct quote "We fought for the RUF; the army is the enemy. We fought for freedom, and the army killed my family and destroyed my village. I will kill any of those army bastards every time I get a chance to do so." (Beah,134) Beah would say the exact same thing except substitute the RUF for Army. In war, we forget that everyone is human even our enemy. We see the enemy as devils and there is no way we could ever sit beside them without wanting to tear them apart. We never see until after the smoke has cleared that you and the opposing soldier might have been interested in the same things or in this case lived through the same tragedies.

            I also noticed the profound nutriment and forgiveness the staff gave to the boys. This is evident when they battered Poppay for simply stating that they would have to wait for their mattresses to dry. They left the man unconscious on the floor bleeding. He had every right to hate the boys for what they had done to him but instead when he returned days later with a limp and flashed a smile and said “It is not your fault that you did such a thing to me.” The boys hate it every time a staff member says those words to them but what they don’t know is that it will slowly allow them to heal.

Part Two

Growing up I had a friend named Kasey. Normal kid, hyperactive, and involved in sports. We both started wrestling in 7^th grade and since we were close in weight we would be workout partners. In wrestling Kasey was agile and had a great mindset on how to set certain moves up. Very talented. We had known each other since elementary school but never gotten close but the sport of wrestling helped us with that. At tournaments after matches we would always try to pick up girls. Normal things of a teenager. As high school years progressed we started to part ways not because of anything drastic. These things just happen sometimes. We were part of different crowds. I started my senior season of wrestling Kasey wasn’t there next to me. I had heard the stories of what he was into but just never grasped any of it. After I graduated I left for the army and didn’t give a care for anyone back home unless it was with my closest friends. The last I heard about Kasey is that he joined the army, got kicked out, had a few kids, and was going door to door in our small town asking for pennies to support his habit. Looking back now I see the signs that led to his falls.

journal 5 Hunter

Journal 5

          Part One: In Today’s reading in A Long Way Gone, two things I noticed were one, flash backs ran rampant through chapter 15 and 16. Beah lets us into his past war experiences, for example in chapter 16 where his “army” took prisoners from a village, made them dig their own graves, and buried them alive. Two, diction was used a lot, mostly from UNICEF. They continuously use the phrase: “It’s not your fault.”While they do generally mean this, it just makes the boys more and more angry. I feel like these two writing techniques are important because it helps give us incite on to why the boys act the way they do, why they're brainwashed, and helps understand why the UNICEF employees repeat the phrase over and over: "It's not your fault" because it is truly, not their fault

            Part Two: I don't know anyone personally that took a transformation for the worse. Most of the people I know went from terrible to a good person. But I have heard of many people who went from good people with good futures to ODing on drugs, failing in school, stealing, etc. The biggest factor for these changes I would say, is society. We put so much pressure on people to be perfect and live perfect little happy lives and some individuals just crumble under the pressure. If we tried to understand what was happening to them, we might just become a more whole society. 

Journal 5 from Kai

     One of main things that stand out in Beah's memoir is the use of "city soldier" to describe the MPs that take the boys away from the war zone. To the kids, these military guy's clean clothes and weapons shows a lack of use. The boys are used to grime, war, blood, gore. They have no respect for these "city soldiers" that they feel are inferior to them in war experience. It reminds me so much of how people from the country will call people that aren't used to the outdoors or don't like to get dirty "city boys".

     Another good choice of words used is the phrase "It isn't your fault". Whether the staff were actually saying it to Beah many times over or that is simply what stood out to him in his recollection it is very important. It is building the foundation and safety net for the time when Ishmael comes face to face with all that he has done. Right now he is still desensitized, but eventually he will come down from his high and face reality. With no one to blame one usually blames themselves so hearing that it isn't your fault will help him transition.

Trigger Warning: Trauma

     There is only one person I know of that has had a massive, severe, and sudden transformation for the worse. That person is me. I had what I would still call a normal decent childhood. Everyone that I have told about my childhood has looked at me in horror, disbelief, or has actually started crying. It all hit me when I turned 15, much like it will hit Beah. In my high school years I was the terror of the hallways. I was given a wide berth as I made a bee line straight to my next class. I was very angry.

     My father passed away when I was 12. I felt nothing. I didn't care. I did not shed a single tear at his funeral. He was a great man, Vietnam vet, kept his kids in line. I kept telling people I did not care about his death while clinging to his watch and coat. His coat. It was huge. I'm a big guy now, but my father was bigger. This coat you could go camping with and not need a tent. I wore it all the time regardless of how hot it was. It was my coat now.

     Three years later I was actually pity invited to someone's house. I went without telling my mother as she would just tell me I couldn't anyway. In an impromptu football game, I was tackled and had the coat literally ripped off of me. It was an old coat and just came to pieces on me. That is when it hit me he was gone. He was gone and had stolen my childhood from me. All those skipped school days sitting in the VA hospital for eternity, the shooting ranges, the survival lessons, the fear. It wasn't what you were supposed to grow up with. I was angry.

     My mother is an entirely different beast and I will not go into that. The ones that noticed and tried to help were the school staff. I got into fights, but never seemed to get into any real trouble. I loved school and was not going to be denied my opportunity to get an education. Rules became my master. If you decided to talk or interrupt class, I would usually physically remove the student. It seemed like everything was out to get me. I used to wear a trench coat, brown, London Fog, but then the Columbine shooting happened and they were banned. I came to school in my trench coat and was arrested. It made me angry. I was doodling in class once before I got checked out of school early for a doctor's appointment and some wise guy drew a map of the school with instructions about giving me bombs or something. They then took my random doodling out of the trash and, I'm not even sure today, used it somehow to link me to some plot. I was arrested again and the District Attorney wanted to make an example of me and... and... and...

     It was bad. That is all there is to say about it. I could continue for days about the rage, the PTSD, the dissociation. There is a reason I am now 32 testing the water in one class rather than attending college 13 years ago when I had a full ride in scholarships. I know exactly what is about to happen to Beah in the story and it will not be pretty.

Journal 4 Alec Soule

Part One

  My active reading could honestly be a bit better. I like the idea of being able to mark things down in the margins of the page that will be useful to me, but when it comes to executing this during my reading I end up with only a couple metaphors and some places where I believed the writing to be at its best.

   As for the strengths and weaknesses between the two very different books we are reading for class, I think that A Long Way Gone, written by Ishmeal Beah, is very formal and structured compared to the very loose and informal writing of Sandra Cisneros in A House On Mango Street. If I had to choose which of the two I enjoy reading more, I would choose A House On Mango Street because there is always a new story with a twist or a great metaphor that is so descriptive, I feel like I can picture it in my head.  

Part Two

    I found the most important survival skill from the reading of A Long Way Gone was traveling inconspicuously. This was clear to me in chapter eleven, after the boys had been traveling all night, Beah describes the boys as, "walking in silence through the night..." (Beah, 89). This is an important survival skill because if the boys were caught they would be captured or killed.