Activity Twelve

I would have to say the most important thing I've learned is that all cultures are just different from each other and that we need to be respectful of others traditions and manners. Also we shouldn't judge other cultures or ethnicities based on one experience we had or by watching their television shows. It was really eye opening to see how just one bad experience can create a very bad misconception about someone. I also reevaluated our own culture and how many things we do seem very odd to other people.

I would say that I haven't been exposed to different cultures or ethnicities very much, mostly because I grew up in a small town without much diversity. I have traveled to Mexico multiple times and I absolutely loved being submerged in their culture. I know that I am by no means an expert but I'm willing to listen to others and alter my behaviors so I don't offend anyone. I know I could make a better effort to talk to people from other backgrounds just to learn about other societies or traditions. I do feel I'm more open minded than many people and am willing to get to know people and maybe correct some misconceptions that I have. I feel this class has made me more knowledgeable in the subject and that I can look at conflicts from both perspectives now rather than just the one perspective I normally view everything from.

This course has been eye-opening, but it didn't involve going out and actually meeting new people and learning about them and who they are and why they are this person. I guess I want to be able to learn about intercultural communication in a more direct manner and go visit other countries and learn their traditions and mannerisms. I plan to study abroad while I'm still in school. I want to go to Spain and Scotland and live out daily life there rather than just being a tourist.

Besides traveling I could simply just talk to people around here more often and ask more questions and be more curious. I have a friend who was adopted from Korea and was totally brought up in regular American culture, but he has such a desire to learn about where he came from. My family came from somewhere else too but I'm so disconnected from my heritage that I have never really even thought about what German culture would be like. I think I just need to ask people more questions about who they are and what made them become that person.

I'm going to school for broadcast journalism, and I feel like this course is extremely relevant to the job I could have in the future. As a journalist I'll be expected to go places I normally wouldn't go and to talk to people I normally wouldn't talk to. I want to be able to report based on what I learned directly from a certain group or culture rather than on what I think I know.

Question: Do you think the concepts we've talked about in this class will be relevant to your job in the future? Why or why not?

Activity Eleven

I'm sure you've all heard a lot about this intercultural conflict happening in Arizona. The governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer, signed a bill on illegal immigration and essentially the goal of the bill is to identify, prosecute and deport illegal immigrants. If an immigrant is caught without their immigration documents it is considered a crime and the police have broad power to detain anyone suspected of being in the country illegally. In addition, it allows people to sue local government or agencies if they believe federal or state immigration law is not being enforced. There are many opponents to this bill, including President Obama, and they feel that it gives Arizona residents the right to harass or discriminate against hispanics. It won't actually go into effect until August, if it ever does go into effect due to many court challenges. Many people support this bill because illegal immigration is a problem in the border states, but many do not, especially the hispanic citizens of Arizona because they feel the law will encourage racial and ethnic profiling.

There are really two major conflicts involved in this debate. Basically, the citizens of Arizona want to ideally eliminate illegal immigration or if not that at least decrease it, but in doing so will be profiling, judging, or discriminating, even though they say these will not be tolerated. I don't see how they won't be profiling because the illegal immigrants are coming from Mexico, but there also many legal immigrants who will still be questioned or possibly worse.

The culture of the US is very individualistic, and in this situation it's not individual as in one person, but individual as in one state. They decided they wanted the illegal immigrants out and so they created a bill and sent it through the system to be approved instead of maybe making negotiations or somehow involving the other side of this argument. They were obviously much more concerned about their own agenda than about the well-being of the hispanics who weren't doing anything wrong. I don't know that hispanics have a collectivistic culture or individualistic, but they have been opposing this bill using phone calls and protests which are still direct forms of voicing their opinions. In this situation I feel they have the right to be verbal and direct because there is a great chance that they will be treated very poorly if the bill is put into action.

There should be a way to resolve this issue other than this bill. Put more guards at the borders or hire other hispanics to become informants of some sort. I don't think this problem will ever be totally eradicated, but there are better approaches than this. Both sides just need to sit down and formulate a plan rather than just arguing with each other constantly. I understand both sides of the argument. I think if people want to come to America they need to do it the correct way and abide by our laws, but I don't feel those who do abide by our laws deserve any sort of punishment for being a part of the same ethnicity as those who don't. I feel that no matter how much the state of Arizona promises that racial profiling won't happen, it will. I don't see how else this bill would be effective at all.

Question: What do you think the governor of Arizona could have done to address this issue in a better manner? What are alternatives to solving this problem without creating racial profiling or discrimination?

Activity Ten

Members of a family in American culture include parents, children, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, nieces, and nephews. Also when people get married their significant other becomes part of the family and they might be considered part of the family even before the marriage happens. I also think that best friends are oftentimes considered part of the family because they are often closer to the family than some relatives such as cousins.

The role of parents is to care for the children and I also think that it is now becoming their duty to entertain their children. It is also not solely the role of the father to make money but is now very common for both parents to have to bring home the bacon. I think the older children of the family are partially responsible for caring for the younger children. Children have some duties, such as making their bed or doing dishes but aren't expected to do heavy duty farm work in most cases. Grandparents are babysitters and are supposed to spoil their grandchildren to no end.

Children are expected to go off to college as soon as they graduate or if not to college at least to get their own place or start paying their parents rent. It's seen as part of becoming an adult and learning their own responsibilities. I remember in my family my one brother wanted to move back home after graduating from college to save money but my parents would not allow it because they wanted him to learn to make his own money.

People in our culture are expected to date within the same socioeconomic status. It would be out of the ordinary for a woman from a rich family to date a poor man. The education levels also need to be similar and the level of attractiveness also needs to be fairly equal. People often comment on how "she's too good for him," or vice versa. A model isn't going to be seen dating a "starving artist."

Marriage proposals in our culture are always done the same. The man first has to ask the woman's father for her hand in marriage, and when he says yes the man buys a ring, which is supposed to cost 3 months of his salary. He then takes his girlfriend out to eat, on vacation, to a sporting event, or whatever event they enjoy doing together and he gets down on one knee and asks her to marry him. If she says yes he puts the ring on her ring finger and they're engaged.

A typical wedding consists of a short ceremony in a church and is conducted by an ordained minister. After the ceremony everyone heads to some event hall and waits to eat while the bridal party takes hundreds of photos. The bridal party then marches in to some song and then the party is started. The food is served and the best man and maid of honor give their speeches. Everyone clings the glasses to make the new bride and groom kiss. After the food is taken away the cake is cut and the bride and groom shove cake into each others faces. About this time is when the DJ starts playing music and the alcohol begins flowing. Once a few people are brave enough to venture to the dance floor everyone starts to relax and enjoy themselves and continue to get really drunk.

Divorce is seen as being fairly acceptable and recently has become something to celebrate. I've seen television shows discussing the topic of throwing a great divorce party. Many people view divorce as the only way to fix a relationship and to regain happiness. Not everyone views divorce in this way. Many Christians still see it as something that should be avoided if at all possible.

Each divorce situation can be very different, but typically the belongings are split in half and the children spend one week with mom and the next week with dad. If for some reason one parent seems unfit to take care of the children, preference is usually given to the mother.

Homosexuality is acceptable to many people, especially in larger cities. In certain areas gay marriage has been legalized, but is still being debated in many areas. In rural areas it is more frowned upon but still accepted by enough people that no one can harm them.

Women in our culture are supposed to be loving and caring and are expected to take care of the children for the most part. Young girls are supposed to play with barbies and wear pink and boys are supposed to wrestle and wear blue. Men are supposed to work hard, make money, and not cry. I do think women are more sensitive to others emotions and therefore can be more supportive emotionally. I sometimes wish men were more sensitive to emotions, but not to the point that it's all they talk about. There definitely needs to be differences among men and women and I like when men are tough and hard-working. I don't think it is solely the role of the woman to take care of the kids and the man's role to enforce rules and punishments. I think marriage is more about compromise and agreeing on how to raise the children. I think it should be acceptable for girls to play with trucks and for boys to play with dolls. I know many people don't like it but I think people would be more confident if they were allowed to do what they really want to do.

Question: Are all of these social norms a cumulation of things that have been brought from other countries or are they learned behaviors from television and what our parents expect of us?

Activity Nine

The show that I picked to use for this activity is "How I Met Your Mother." I haven't watched this show much recently but when I was still living in the dorms I watched it all the time. I think this show is hilarious, but it isn't the greatest portrayal of Americans. The main character is Ted Mosby and the whole premise of the show is that he is recounting to his children how he met their mother. Besides Ted Mosby, the main characters include Marshall Eriksen, Lily Aldrin, Barney Stinson, and Robin Scherbatsky.

Like many other popular shows, "How I Met Your Mother" shows that Americans live in a big city, and in this case that city happens to be New York. They all have excellent jobs including an architect, a news reporter, a teacher, a lawyer, and an unnamed corporate job. The women in this show are both very thin, dress nicely, and have perfectly manicured hair. The men aren't entirely attractive but they are fit and portrayed as being successful. I think these characteristics would give the idea that all Americans are successful and live in the big bustling cities. Many shows portray this lifestyle versus the lifestyle of a farmer or other small-town employee.

In this show the five main characters eat at the same diner every day with the same exact people. This gives the impression that we eat out all of the time, which some people do, but not everyone and that we don't like to try new things. It also makes us seem very exclusive in our groups of friends and that we don't like to bring in new people. In this show the only new characters brought to the diner are new girlfriends or boyfriends. New boyfriends and girlfriends occur often in this show and I think it makes Americans look desperate and like they can't maintain stable relationships.

My favorite character in this show is Barney Stinson, who is also probably the most morally corrupt character. He is essentially the "player" of the show and is never in committed relationships but always has a woman by his side. Basically every scene with him in it is him at a bar checking out girls and trying to convince them to have sex with him. While this is always portrayed in a funny manner, it still gives the impression that Americans are promiscuous and don't take relationships seriously.

This show is a comedy and uses stupid humor often. The men who are all best friends get in stupid fights often about unimportant events and everyone sort of dates everyone. It basically is an overdramatized version of high school. I think this makes Americans look very immature and that we get all worked up over petty little issues.

While I do think this show is hilarious, I don't think it sheds a bright light on Americans. Many shows give the same ideas as I gave here. For example "Desperate Housewives," "My Sweet Sixteen," "Sex in the City," "Gossip Girl," and "The Hills" all portray Americans as rich and promiscuous. For many people these characteristics may be valid, but for the majority they are not a reality.

Questions: Do you believe people from other countries view us as we actually are or as television portrays us? Do you feel that sexual content on television is accurate of Americans? Is there too much sexual content or do you feel it is too explicit?

Activity Eight

When I was little I didn't go to friends houses very often because I had four brothers at home to play with and our house was hardly ever quiet. Because I grew up in a big family I sort of became a homebody because I didn't need to go anywhere else to find entertainment. In eighth grade I was the only left at home because all of my brothers had graduated and gone off to college. I went from having a huge family to essentially being an only child, and I was bored. Because of this I had to learn how to become a lot more outgoing and get used to leaving the house more to find entertainment. At first I hated having to start conversations and sleeping at other friends' homes. It felt so unnatural to me because I had never had to work to have friends before; my brothers had always been there to play with or talk to. Eventually it became a lot easier to strike up a conversation and I felt more comfortable at my friends' places, but it definitely took a while to get used to. I still wouldn't say that I'm the most outgoing person in the world but I'm so much more outgoing than I used to be and I can pretty much be comfortable in any situation now.

Question: Do you think your family influenced how outgoing you are in any way? Do you think it was more from watching their actions or other factors (such as family size for me)?

Activity Seven

At first I was really afraid to do this little experiment because I'm not the most outgoing person in the world and I really don't like awkward situations. But after doing it and explaining it to the people I did it too it was pretty funny and we all had a good laugh about it. The first one that I did was not breaking eye contact and I did this to someone who is more of an acquaintance rather than a good friend because my friends already know my mannerisms. At first it was normal and she made eye contact with me for maybe fifteen seconds but after a little while she started to look away. After a minute she was very uncomfortable and I started feeling bad for making her feel so awkward but I kept it up. I could tell that this girl literally wanted to run away from me. She kept looking anywhere but at my face and pretended she was texting someone. If she turned away from me I would move in order to get in her line of vision again and then she would turn her head again. She finally ended the conversation by saying she had to go get ready for work. After she started walking away very quickly I stopped her quick and explained to her that it was for a class and that I'm not a crazy person. She had lied about having to go work which I guessed was probably the case.

I did the second experiment of not making eye contact to one of my roommates who I'm much closer to. This one went a bit differently. I didn't make her feel awkward so much but she thought I was really mad at her and kept asking if something was wrong and if she had done something that made me mad. I just kept saying no and continued talking but she did not believe me that nothing was wrong. After a couple minutes I finally explained why I was doing it and she was thankful that nothing was wrong.

For the last one I again did it to someone that I didn't know very well so they wouldn't know that it's out of the ordinary for me to be closing in on them. I did this one to my roommate's boyfriend who I've only met a couple times and this was hilarious. I just started talking to him and would slowly take a step toward him or make some action to go along with the conversation and overemphasize it and move closer. Every time I took a step in he would take one back a couple of seconds later. I don't think he really realized I was moving in on him but he did notice when we were too close together and then would back up. I didn't get to the point of having him backed into a corner but we definitely moved across the room a ways. After a little while of doing this I told him what was up and he just thought it was weird that I was comfortable being that close to his face, which in reality I wasn't comfortable.

I thought this was really interesting to see how when someone doesn't follow social norms everyone else involved in the situation with that person feels incredibly awkward. I've been in situations before with people who are close talkers and it is incredibly uncomfortable when you're not used to people doing that.

Question: Do you know anyone who is socially awkward in any of these ways? Do they realize how awkward they make others feel? If you don't know anyone who does this have you ever been in a situation where someone made you feel really awkward?

Activity Six

I did the quiz that tests on how you interpret vowel sounds first. I did awful on this one and the only word that I had correct was desk. Even with the phrases it was really hard to understand what was being said. I know I'm not the best at understanding different accents but I did a lot worse than I thought would. I think it was much harder because it was taken out of context. It's easier to understand something when it's a part of a whole conversation versus just hearing a single word. Along with that I also think it would be easier to do if you were listening to the person directly instead of through audio.

For the other quiz on regional dialects I actually did better than I thought I would. I still had quite a few wrong but even when I did they were in the area next to the correct one. The easiest ones for me to pick out were the ones from the south. I haven't really spent much time in the south but I do listen to a lot of country music which maybe gives me an upper hand. I think the hardest ones to differentiate between were the north, midland, and the west. They all were quite similar and to me they have a "lack" of accent so they all seem the same. I feel like there could have been much more variety in these regions.

I thought these activities were pretty fun actually. When I attended school at the University of Minnesota my freshmen year I realized that the Minnesota accent really does exist and I remember being pretty shocked by how strong it was. I thought accents were from the south and the east and there was some invisible line you had to cross to encounter them. Not true! I find it amazing how much variety there is just in what we say and how we say it. The big fight at U of M was whether it was a bubbler or a water fountain. I still think it's a water fountain by the way. I also remember going to Florida one year and stopping at a McDonald's and asking for a pop and the cashier immediately knew I was from Wisconsin or Minnesota. I also love when I go down south and eat out and the waitress calls me sweetie or honey. It's something that never happens up here and I think it's kind of fun. I think it's pretty cool that even just the way we talk can define who we are in a way. Some people may see this as a bad thing but I'm proud of being where I'm from and I think it's good that people can somewhat tell where you're from just by the differences in your voice.

I have a lot of memories where differences in dialects were noticeable and started some funny conversations or had some sort of impact on me. My question is do you have any experiences of speaking with someone with a different dialect or accent that really had an impact on you?

Activity Five: Avowed vs. Ascribed Identities

My avowed identities include being a student, female, young adult, heterosexual, intelligent, and athletic.

My ascribed identities include being a child, student, female, grown up, heterosexual, not so athletic, and caucasian.

I received the ascribed identity of being a child from my parents, but more so from my dad. He would always ask if I understood what something meant, which most of the time it was obvious that I should know what was being discussed. He would also do the "because I said so" line even through my late teens and would never give me legitimate reasons for why I couldn't do something. My mom treated more like a child in the sense of doing things for me. She always made my bed and did my laundry and I don't think it was because she thought I wasn't capable, but because she wanted to feel like she was still taking care of me. The student identity is ascribed to me by my professors and also by other students. Obviously if I'm sitting in class and paying attention I'm there for my education and am a student. While being a female is an identity I agree with, it was also ascribed to me from the day I was born. Everyone sees me as a female because I look and act like a female. My nieces and nephews have ascribed the identity of grown up to me because I take care of them often and am much older than them. I am seen as heterosexual probably by most people but especially by my church community and my family. I would greatly disappoint them if I were any other sexual orientation and they don't even see it as a possibility. While I see myself as an athletic person, most males probably do not. I am very coordinated and can catch, throw, and run, but because I am a female I am seen as not as capable as men are at these activities. The last identity I listed as being ascribed to me was being caucasian. Because my ethnicity isn't very obvious I am just seen as being white by everyone.

The ascribed identity that I fought against the most was being treated like a child, and I only fought the way my dad treated me as a child, not the way my mom treated me as a child. If my dad would tell me I couldn't do something but not give me a reason as to why I couldn't do it, I would still go do it. I felt just saying no wasn't reason enough for me to not be able to go have fun with friends or whatever I wanted to do. Every time he asked if I understood something I would get really smart about it and make some comment about the fact that I go to school and do learn something. The other identity that I tried to rebel against was not being very athletic. I grew up with four boys and if they wanted to fight with me I would fight and I wouldn't give up easily. In high school I played soccer and I would practice with the guys and I would slide tackle, which the girls weren't supposed to do. I really didn't like that girls' soccer was more limited than guys' soccer. I felt we should have the same rules as the guys because we were capable of the same activities.

Question: Which avowed identity that you have of yourself is compromised the most by your ascribed identities?

Activity Four

This activity really made me realize how little I know about other cultures. I could think of people from United States history, but when it came to other cultures I could really only come up with people from current popular culture. I started thinking about my history classes and how little we talked about other cultures.

I think it was definitely easiest to come up with examples of white men, especially for the earlier examples. I would say this was the easiest group just because it's what we learned about in school. I remember having to memorize all of the Presidents in order and they were all white men up until Barack Obama. That made it easy to come up with a white male for each century. I would say the next easiest category was white females because I could think of many of the first ladies.

I would say I could remember more men than women, but for the current century I think it was easier for me to come up with women. Men are emphasized more in politics and in sports, but I don't pay a whole lot of attention to either of these. For me it was easier to come up with female singers or actresses. I feel like now that women are shown in a more sexual manner that we see them more frequently. I can name many more female models than I can name male models.

I would have to say that middle eastern cultures are really not emphasized here in the United States. I could think of some Asian people and of some Latino people, but I literally could not think of any middle eastern people other than the bad ones that are shown on the news. The only form of middle eastern culture I could think of that has been incorporated into our culture is Slumdog Millionaire. This movie came out about a year ago and I can't recall any other examples of middle eastern culture from before that film.

I feel like some groups aren't talked about in our history because they were discriminated against for a very long time and even if they did do something important no one documented it or worse took credit for it. Also for a long time people of different cultures weren't allowed into our government or other important establishments or roles which is what we learn about in school. Also, some cultures that are very prevalent now probably weren't before the 1900's. I don't know when people from the middle east began moving here but it seems like it's been fairly recent. It also seems that when people immigrate here they tend to live in communities with other people from the same region to maintain their culture and their language and we don't become involved in these communities.

Question: Should schools place more emphasis on the history of other countries? Do you feel that it is extremely important for us to know our own history more than the history of other countries?

Activity Three: Ethnic Background

I have always known that I was mostly German and a little bit Polish, but I have never really discussed my family history with my parents or grandparents. My family doesn't really know how the Polish ended up in there, but they do know some things about our German ancestors. The generation that came here from Germany was my father's grandfather's grandfather, so I guess that would be my great great great grandfather. They came here in the 1850's to escape political unrest in Germany. My grandma's family on my dad's side came over around the same time for similar reasons.

I really don't feel that my ethnic background influences who I am a whole lot. There might be a couple of things that are typical of German people, for example not being extremely talkative. I discussed this with my mom and she said it was probably because when everyone came over to the United States they were very poor farmers that worked all the time and didn't have the energy or the need to talk all the time. This characteristic must have stuck around because this is very true of my entire family and myself. None of us are very outspoken and we definitely don't like being the center of attention. It also seems pretty typical to be stoic and not really show very much emotion. This is also very evident in my family. I have seen my dad cry once and have literally never seen my mom cry. It works the other way too with showing excitement.

While I don't think my ethnic background has a huge influence on me, there are many factors that have shaped me into who I am. I think the most influential aspect is that I am the youngest of five children, and am also the only girl. My brothers were my role models and I copied everything they did. I still act like a girl, but I cannot stand drama and petty little issues. I would rather be on a boat or out in the woods instead of sitting around and talking. I would rather socialize with people through doing adventurous activities than just asking questions and receiving answers. Another aspect that has shaped my life is my family's financial standing. I didn't grow up with very much money. It was never a problem but I do feel that I appreciate everything I have because of it. I also feel that it made me a more creative person because I had to find things to do that were inexpensive instead of just going to a movie all the time. I also feel that it made me a hard worker because nothing was ever just handed to me. I'm very strong-willed and when I want to do something I do it and I believe it's because no one spoiled me. Another aspect is that I grew up in the country. I love being outside and running around barefoot. I do like to shop and go to the cities sometimes but if I had the choice I would rather hang out on the lake and go swimming and jump off rope swings.

I think it would be pretty hard to tell what my ethnic background is. I think there is enough "other stuff" in me that it's not really obvious. The only thing that could give a hint about being German is that I have very blue eyes, and that could be typical of other ethnicities as well. I really don't think it makes a difference as to how people communicate with me. I feel that the fact that I'm a woman would have more of an influence on how people talk to me than my ethnicity.

Question: If you were an ethnicity that was obvious to other people, do you think you would feel different about discrimination or about racism?

Activity Two Observation

For activity two we were supposed to observe in a place that we do not normally go. I was having a difficult time deciding where to go because I am a person who will pretty much go anywhere and try anything. As I thought about it though I started thinking about parents and how they would differ from me. I chose to go to Glen Park, which I do go to fairly often, but I observed at one of the playgrounds where all the parents and children hang out. Because I don't have children this is not normally where I would be found in the park.

When I decided to go to this place I wasn't really sure that there would really be anything interesting to write about, but there definitely were interesting behaviors. I focused more on the parents, particularly mothers, more than the children because the children do not really know social behaviors yet.

The behaviors that I noticed I thought were quite humorous. If a mother was holding a child she was either pacing back and forth or shifting her hips from side to side. If two people were talking it was typically about their children or it was somehow family related. Their bodies were facing their children quite literally the whole time and they tended to stand far away from other adults. I also noticed that adults won't address kids other than their own. They will smile at them though and if the child says something the adult will respond. If a child starts crying everyone is looking to make sure it is not their own child. I also noticed that when a child is hurt or crying the parent of that child does a half run, half walk over to their child while all the other parents watch to make sure the child's parent is coming to help.

From these behaviors I realized that there are many unspoken rules when it comes to children. Firstly, swear words or inappropriate conversation are not acceptable around children. It was also very apparent that each mother was solely responsible for their own child or children. Each mom had to make sure their child was safe and was behaving. There also seemed to be a rule about space as each family had claimed its own little area.

I really had a lot of fun watching these people interact with each other, but as I realized how exclusive families are, I couldn't help but think about societies where the children are raised by the entire community. Because I have never been around children and parents in this type of situation I have never realized how little socialization there is between the adults. It seems odd because children will talk to anyone and everyone and make new friends while they play, but the adults seem to do the exact opposite. My question to go along with this activity is: Do you think parents should only be responsible for their own children or would a communal society be more beneficial?

Far and Away

The movie “Far and Away” tells three stories of different people who leave Ireland to find land and success in the United States. Their reasons for leaving Ireland vary greatly but the challenges they meet when they do reach the United States are quite similar.

Each individual or group had a different reason for leaving Ireland in this movie. Shannon was the daughter of a wealthy landlord and compared to most people in Ireland at the time had an ideal life. But because of her family’s status, Shannon was expected to be a proper woman by her mother. She left for the United States because she was strong-willed and wanted to be herself. Joseph on the other hand came from a poor family. His father had just passed away and his family’s home had been burned down on order of their landlord who happened to be Shannon’s father. Joseph went to their home to kill Shannon’s father but failed and ended up going to America with Shannon. Shannon’s parents left for the United States after an angry mob burned their home and they essentially left due to fear, but also wanted to reunite with Shannon.

Despite the fact that Shannon and Joseph were from different socioeconomic classes they faced many similar challenges. Joseph arrived with very little money, and Shannon brought silver spoons to sell to make money. She trusted a man named Mr. McGuire with her spoons but he stole them from her. Because of this they were both very poor and had to work in a chicken factory where they made little money. They had to share a small room. Being poor was a challenge for Shannon because she had never had to work or worry about money. Joseph also struggled with trusting the wrong person. He quit his job at the factory to be a boxer where he made much better money but as soon as he lost a fight, his manager, Mr. Kelly took all of Joseph’s money. Joseph and Shannon became homeless and were forced to wander the streets and beg for jobs, but because they were Irish no one would hire them. Their expectations of America were not actually met when they arrived there. They thought they would be handed land and life would be great, but tat was not the case due to being taken advantage of and due to racism.

After losing everything, Shannon and Joseph break into a wealthy person’s home to find food and shelter. Shannon is shot after the homeowner returns to find them there and Joseph brings her to her parents so she can live. He is not allowed to stay with them and has to go elsewhere. He finds a job and is alone for a while but eventually is reunited with Shannon at the land race. He buys a horse that is well trained but this horse dies and he is forced to buy a horse that is untrained. This works in his favor though because the horse is very fast. Because of this horse Joseph is able to find the grassy field with a river running through it for him and Shannon to live on.

Did the government aid immigrants in any form during this time period?

Do you think it is easier for immigrants now because the government does assist them?

Two Truths and a Lie

I am 20 years old and already have four nieces, three nephews, and another niece on the way.

I went skydiving for the first time last year in Baldwin, Wisconsin.

I have vacationed in Mexico three times; twice in Puerto Peñasco and once in Cancún.