Indians; what kind?

What are Indians?  Well you could be thinking of three things right now.  One: you may be thinking an Indian is someone native to India.  Two: you could be thinking about the Major league baseball team; the Cleveland Indians.  Or three: you might be considering the name giving to Native Americans.  Well, there is most defiantly a difference between all of the topics but I will be addressing numbers one and three and how the connotations of the word “Indian” has evolved and also offended some people.

In 1492 Christopher Columbus took sail for India.  The goal of his expedition was to find a western trading route to India.  When he eventually made landfall in present day San Salvador, he called the natives Indians, thinking that he was in India.  It was only later on that he discovered his mistake on finding the Americas rather than the intended destination of India.  The name of the natives in America stuck and people referred to them as Indians.

That was the 15^th century.  Yet still now-a-days people will refer to Native Americans as Indians although politically incorrect.  In modern history textbooks the authors no longer misuse the word Indian.  The only exception for that is the war between the British and French.  The French were allied with the Native Americans thus the French and Indian War. 

            Jeevan is one of my good friends.  He is full Indian, more specifically, Punjabi.  He is very active with his Indian culture and I have talked to him about his view of Native Americans being called Indians.  He stated that Native Americans were NOT Indians.  He gets frustrated when people talk about Native Americans as Indians, not because he is offended by the misuse rather of people’s ignorance with words and their meanings.  I agree with what Jeevan is saying and respect his view on the matter.

            Jeevan was a socially known person in middle school and still is in high school.  But when I had first heard of who he was there was one question I had.  Was he Native American “Indian” or Indian “Indian”?  I later found out that he was indeed India, as in from India.  This was confusing for me and maybe other people who are trying to communicate. 

            There are some people who still refer to Native Americans as Indians, including myself.  I was raised in such a culture that to me, an Indian was someone who was originally from America.  I can recall multiple memories of my childhood playing Cowboys and Indians.  We most defiantly did not call the game Cowboys and Native Americans.  The way people use the word Indian upsets and aggravates many people who are either Native American or Indian and the usage of the word should be corrected in not only American literature but also in modern American language.

           

           

Argue This!

Is everything an argument?  Well according to Chapter 1 of “Everything Is an Argument” it is.  “Everything Is an Argument” outlines the purposes of arguments, the types of arguments, occasions for arguments, and also, kinds of arguments.  Arguments are everywhere from street signs to popular non-fiction novels.  There is no getting away from them.  The western world, however, often times misuses or is ignorant of the word “argument”.  “Argument” does not necessarily mean a fight or debate, as it is perceived to be sometimes.  Rather an argument could simply be an interpretation or thesis of a writer, or any person’s, point of view.  Arguments can also “make nuanced, sometimes implicit, arguments about who you are and what you value.”  For instance, “A nurse assures a youngster eyeing an approaching needle, ‘This won’t hurt on bit.’”  This line from “Everything Is an Argument” argues how little kids are scared of needles, or even deeper, their fear of doctors.  So many things can be told through arguments.

            Types of arguments include: arguments to convince, arguments to inform, arguments to explore, arguments to make decisions, and last but not least, arguments to meditate or pray.  Arguments to convince are mainly persuasive statements.  If you are trying to get someone to do something this would be a good argument t use.  The writer or speaker will make their side sound good to make readers or listeners to join them.   Arguments to inform are basically showing your point of view for others to learn about.  Arguments to explore could be to find things out about a topic.  These arguments can be deeply personal.  Arguments to make decisions refer to the process of decision making, and finally arguments to meditate or pray are used to change something about themselves.

            There are special words used to describe arguments and when they are about.  An argument about the past is referred to as a forensic argument; these arguments are common in politics and business.  Arguments based in the present are called ceremonial arguments mostly because they are presented to the public.   Sermons are an example of an argument of the present.  Deliberative arguments refer to arguments in the future.  Groups that decide what will happen in the future are called deliberative groups; like Congress.

            “Inherit the Wind”, by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, is a prime example of an argument to inform and convince.  This play takes place in Dayton, Tennessee in 1925.  In this town, church was the basis on the culture, which is why a teacher by the name of Bertram Cates was thrown into jail for teaching his class about evolution.  As one would imagine, this did not go well in a highly religious town where they undoubtedly taught The Creation Theory.  But Bertram was not one to conform to society, he believed in teaching different opinions.   Society has changed an awful lot since the 1920’s.  Now-a-days the teaching method is completely different in public schools.  Teachers have to teach about evolution and cannot even mention the religious views on creation.  But during that period of time and especially in a very religious town like Dayton, Tennessee teaching about evolution was completely unacceptable.  After a long trial fought by two famous and intelligent lawyers the decision was made regarding Cates’s fate.  Since there was a jury of men from the small town, the verdict did not seem to be in favor of Cates, although his attorney put up a really good argument and even got people in the courtroom to question the veracity of the religious views on creation.  Cates was fined 100 dollars for disobeying a Tennessee law that allowed o teaching of evolution in schools.  100 dollars was barely anything in those days and the prosecuting lawyer was livid.  Even though Cates had lost the case, in some ways he had won.  As the whole town watched the public trial, they began to believe that Cates should not be imprisoned for the crime and some even started to believe the theory of evolution. 

            The arguments produced in this book are arguments to convince and to inform, as I mentioned before.  The controversy over the theory of evolution and the theory of creation has been ongoing for over a century.  And the debate still continues.  The pro-creation people use biblical references to convince more people to join their views and the pro-evolution group draws people using scientific fact.  In “Inherit the Wind” the defense lawyer unintentionally draws people to believe that evolution may be more accurate than the religious views that God created the world in seven days. 

            Up until the days of Charles Darwin, most everyone believed in the creation story in the Bible.  The reason for this is that there were no opposing arguments of points of view.  Then came Darwin who brought up his whole theory of how men evolved from a species of ape.  Along with that he thought up his theory of survival of the fittest.  These theories were the first to oppose church doctrine.  Darwin started off having no followers until people started losing faith in the church and that’s when the theory of evolution became popular with a lot of people and eventually made it way into schools where the younger generation of kids learned about Darwin’s ideas instead of the religious views. 

            After reading the play “Inherit the Wind” my sophomore year, I really began to think about what theory was more accurate.  This book pushed me to educate myself on the topic.  I read the Bible more and also was very intrigued during the evolution section in my science classes.  Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee used the arguments to inform and the arguments to convince, not only to describe the debate going on inside the book but also to make the readers think about what they agree with in their personal lives. 

            Arguments are everywhere and finding them in literary texts and analyzing them is the job of the reader.  Once analyzed, the reader will understand better the author’s intent and also the meaning of the work. 

What does it mean to be a "reader"?

When I hear the word “reading”, I immediately think of an English class or something pertaining to literature.  But what I have come to learn is that reading is not limited to stories.

            Reading is a way of life.  Everything we do involves reading whether it be driving down the street and looking at a stop sign or interpreting a situation by using other people’s body language as reference.  Now, there are many different languages such as Spanish, French and English but also there are languages without words. 

            So first off I will start off on an unconventional note.  As a trumpet player, I have learned and become familiar with the language of music.  You might think that sounds silly but if you are familiar with music in any way, you would know that, other than notes, there are a lot of symbols and signs to read.  Some symbols inform the reader what note to play and how to play it.  A note with “^” on top of it signals the musician to play the note short and loud.  But just like any other language, music takes time, practice and repetitiveness to nail down.  For me, music is a story without words.  Every author or composer has a purpose for writing novels or music.  They want to present their point of view to the public.  But what good is a book that is unread.  The same goes for music.  As a musician I like playing the music to build the story that the composer has intended audiences to hear.  Since I am in the top band at my school, I consider myself to be a fluent reader of music.

            Now for the more orthodox definition of reading.  I have never been a big-time reader.  Growing up I read mostly series books so when I finished a book I would have another book that I could start reading.  That worked well until I finished the series.  Finding books to read has always been difficult for me which is why my parents just gave me stories to read and forced me to read them.  I will admit that some of the books I read, I did enjoy.  I loved the Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis and The Magic Tree House, by Marie Pope Osborne.  That was elementary school.

           

High school brought about a new perspective on reading in English classes, one with which I was more familiar.  Students were now required by the teacher to read all kinds of interesting literary works.  I have enjoyed nearly all of the books I have read in high school so far.  I love these high school level books because of the complexity that each book contains.  One of my favorite novels is To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee.  I connected effortlessly to this story and enjoyed the adventures and lives of Scout and Jem. 

            I hope someday I will discover a love for literature that I lack now as a teenager as well as to appreciate music.  I love the clichéd idea of grabbing a book and snuggling up next to a crackling fire to enjoy what an author has to offer.