Journal 8 By Tiff

I believe dreamers and eccentrics keep it interesting in our culture today depending on how hard you work.they value the hard work they put in to complete that job and knowing they did a great job so that makes them satisfied with the work and effect they have given.you have to work hard to receive the satisfaction you want in life. Our culture i believe encourages these values . All though school up until now i was always know as they person that kept to herself didnt want to talk in front of the class shy type thought if i work by myself on papers or projects in class and not said a work i would do a good job non to my surprise one day i was working on a  class project with a group of students and i was called on to say what i thought was and as soon as i was ask that i let all my thoughts that i had held in me about  this project out everyone loved my ideas and  they wanted to know  more about my best ideas and work. and i made a few friends out of it too . Working on getting out of this shy stage .


My reading in  holding on is going very well i believe this book does a great job describing in great detail what these people went though their ups and downs and what they went though to get where they are today as a U.S citizen. One thing that i personally cant seem to understand is why is the whole world not reading this book one question that i thought was good that i came up was why would one person want to go around the world and talk to people they dont know then write a book about their storites and share it with us?

The profile that stuck to me the most was the Jane the cook the lady that worked at one job for 42 years and never once thought i am getting tried of the same old job i think i need to find something else . one thing i learned is dont take your job for granted just because it gets tough or your not getting paid enough money she work 42 years and only got paid 5.50 a hour thats way less then what minimum wage makes.The passage that met the most to me is on the bottom on page 54 . "Talking about the civil rights movement, i dont think thinks will ever get to equal rights where it will be equal. alot have changed in this world but in ways its still as it always has been like i get paid 5.55 an hour after all these years and i feel sometimes if a white person did this job they would get paid more then me just because of the color of their skin" why i picked civil rights movement passage and why its impotant is because if you are working at one job for that many years you should have to feel like your not gonna get paid enough just because the color of your skin you should say to your self "we should all get paid equal no matter our color of skin"

Matthew Rimmer Journal 8 Holding On

1. I believe that dreamers and eccentrics think outside the box of life. They aren’t afraid to be unique and express themselves. To be honest I believe that our culture somewhat does and doesn't encourage eccentricity and uniqueness. For example, I feel that when it comes to actors, celebrities, music artists, painters, etc., our cultures not only encourages their uniqueness but welcomes it. They give them recognition, their own shows and everything in between. However, I feel that when it comes to everyday people uniqueness is not encouraged. For example, at my high school if you weren’t one of the crowd you were a fish out of water. People would give you crap day after day until someone else didn’t conform to the norm. Many others would either “fight back” or do nothing. Personally I wouldn’t do anything because they weren’t worth it but I would let them know when I wasn’t in the mood for it. I would put up with verbal abuse and even on rare occasions physical abuse. The later I would vent to one of my closest friends.

2. So far my reading in Holding On is going good. I’m trying to be more active in my reading. I honestly find this book interesting and it actually holds my attention. The main strength that I think this book has is that it gives us insight to the lives of so many others and makes us open our minds to think. I don't think that this book really has much of a weakness other than the fact that the individual stories being a few pages long.

3. The profile that has stuck out the most to me as of now is "Steam Train" Maury Graham's. From his story I learned that you can always have people to count on and learn from. When he left his home he found a close nit community of hoboes. They taught him the ins/outs of being a hobo and became one himself. I would say that the main theme from “Steam Train’s” story is that you can always have people to count on. There are two kinds of people: the people who work hard for what they want and the people who just expect to get what they want for nothing.

“There’s several groups of people on the road. The biggest part of them is called ‘bums’, and they bum because they want something for nothing. They don’t do any work in this world. If you just sit down and depend on people to give to you, that’s a bum. If you bum people and beg people for something for nothing, that’s a bum. Now, the hobo would never do that. He’d say: “I’m a class a little higher than that. Have you got any work I can do?” And trade work for something to eat. You didn’t have to trade work for money then. There wasn’t any money. You’d rather get a meal for the work, or you’d rather get a pair of pants or an overcoat or a blanket. Usually in the old times that’s the way people paid the man- paid him in trade. You aim to work and that’s a work ethic.”

I picked this passage because it shows us that hoboes hold on to who they are and keep their dignity. It shows us even without having much they still try to find work to do in exchange for things they need. It backs up the fact that having a good work ethic will pay off sooner or later.

Journal 8 - Matthew Glenn

I believe dreamers and eccentrics have great value in our culture. They have their own unique way of life. Unfortunately, I do not think being eccentric, or a dreamer is encouraged in our culture. When someone is not following the path that society wants, it seems to be discouraged. I don't recall any personal experiences that has given me that opinion. Personally, I think life would be very boring if there weren't any eccentrics. I couldn't imagine if everyone around had no humor and took everything serious.

The reading of Holding On I've done so far is going great. In my opinion, it is the best book I have read for class. A strength of the book that stands out most to me is the many different types of people, and stories that lie behind each profile. I would say a weakness in this book for me is a profile or two, does not go in depth enough. It leaves you wondering and wanting to read more about the specific person.

The profile that stood out the most to me in Holding On, was Moreese Bickham's. A key theme that caught my attention was fear of repercussions will keep others from telling the truth. Another key theme that stood out was racism. From Moreese's profile, I learned that before assumptions are made about a person or their actions, you should try to understand why they did the actions done.

An important passage in Moreese's profile is where the author finds information about his trail, "As I began to research Bickham's story - no one had touched the trail materials in decades - I found Bickham's 1990 version of the crime to be identical to his confession of thirty-five years ago. The trail transcript is an eerie read. The prosecution's case against Bickham only seems to bolster his claims of self-defense"(pg38). To me, this passage is important because although the prosecution's case seems to point that Bickham was defending himself, his race is an issue. His freedom was stripped away for protecting himself.

Journal 8- Alexandra Abrams

Being eccentric and having a uniqueness about yourself are both encouraged and discouraged from our culture. Have you ever read or saw images in the books, Believe It or Not. This  is a great example of uniqueness that many people have done over the years and today that go over the edge with their hobbies. This can go from changing alternations to you body which is body modification or unusual addictions which is being addicted to dirty diapers. In a way having tattoos from head to toes and having piercings, substituting ears being pierced, can be seen differently. You can come across someone who loves art and thinks tattoos are a great appeal of showing what artist can do with a needle. You all have those who are questioning if the piercings hurt or not and then would complement the piercing. On the other hand you will see that many people often look at the person strangely and sometimes pull their kids closer than usual due to a discomfort of someones appearances. This can cause the saying, "That's not normal" to be included in the society. But what many psychologist have pointed out is, there is not a set of qualities that can actually identify what normal really is, yet people say this and that is not normal but what actually is normal. In my own experience I was raised that women should not have any tattoos or piercings other than ears. Everything changed when I was about 13 and I witnessed the encouragement and discouragement from the society when my mom started taking body modification to a new generation in our family. My mom was the first woman in out family to ever get a tattoo in our family that was a woman. When she had first told her parents they were more than disappointed, they were a bit harsh and did not agree with her decision. I remember when my mom told me and all I could think about was, "What are mama and pops going to say about this?" Once I saw it, I loved it. My mom had broke the unusual in our family and eventually they came around realizing that at the end of the day, she was still their daughter. In fact my mom has had a sleeve done, her chest, shoulders, side, and hip all done. She even has her dermals pierced (piercings by the high cheek bones). Although I encourage her to do whatever she wants, she still has people looking at her and judging her for something that she loves. Being different or unusual is being encouraged yet discouraged in our culture overall.

My reading in Holding On has been very well. I have developed myself to be more intrigued while reading to get a better understanding and picture in my mind while reading. The active reading is in fact my best. I enjoy writing in my book, gathering more information and holding more memories about what I read and what I analyzed in the readings. Being able to gather information was always my weakness. Staying awake while reading has always be trouble for me due to never quite understanding what I was reading until I have joined this course. My weakness has turned around and became a strength. I am now able to read the book and be able to tell you what it was about and what was the theme in this section. I am also able to jot down more active reading notes that help me develop memory and knowledge of what I have read. Overall I would have to say, my weaknesses are decreasing every day I read. One question I have wanted to know was, "Did the Navajo tribe get what they deserved?"

Moreese Bickham was a  sentenced prisoner in the Louisiana State Penitentiary. Although Moreese was protecting his home and his family from two unlawful police officers who were also involved with the KKK group he was still charged with murder and was sentenced to life. One key theme I found in this profile was hope. Bickham never gave up on hope and always stayed strong while watching new prisoners enter and leave, watching them carry away with their freedom out of the cell. With many times being denied of being released, Moreese never gave up hope. He should remarkable statements in his profile that showed what type of human being he actually is. One passage that meant the most to me was on top of page 37. "Give'em a little hope, you know. See, hope does something for a man - it makes him hang on to what little he got to get more. But if he lose that, there's nothin' to hang on to." This was in fact a powerful statement which included so much belief and encouragement to those who were loosing something that could never apart them and that was hope. Hope in fact means a lot to me because hope is something that can strive someone to go further and have their dreams being succeeded. Hope is valuable and Moreese shows a great example of that in his profile. 

Journal 8- Nick Gurtler

     In modern society being a dreamer is encouraged when you are younger. However as we get older we are discouraged from creativity, dreaming, and being unique. When you get to this point you are almost forced to conform to society. Being out of the norm is seen as being an outcast and you are shunned from the rest of the population. This happened to me in high school when I was fed up with having to act a certain way to fit in and making others also conform. For the period of time that I was in the group of people who "fit in" I was discouraged from thinking for myself or to be unique. Being different or thinking differently was not an option when you wanted to fit in and if you didn't fit in you were bullied for it or exiled from the rest.
     The best way to describe how reading Holding On, is going so far for me is saying that it is an interesting read. The book is almost like a biography of everyone who is in it but the value of each single story does not seem as meaningful as a normal biography would. The passages and stories are of ordinary people. While this may be a weakness due to the lack of greater importance they have on the world around them, it is a strength in the light that it makes you realize those around you are important too. Having a narrowed scope does not allow you to look out of the lens and has you focus on a small specific portion of something or someone. In this book it does the exact opposite, it allows you to see all around you and get the bigger picture. But not one story can tell the whole meaning of the book. A question I keep asking myself as I read is, what do all of these people and their stories have in common. I honestly can say that the only similarities I have found where that they are all not special and that they all are ordinary people with different stories.
     Robert Shields, author of the World's Longest Diary, at first glance was someone who was very unique and out of the ordinary. However he wanted the same thing that everyone wants, to carry on a legacy after he was gone and make himself immortalized rather than forgotten like so many others. He passionately said, "It is impossible for me to give any motivation for it, except that when I am gone, the words that I have written will be the only thing that survive...". He really manifests what everyone wants, to be remembered. Through seeing this it shows the connections that people have regardless of what you think their actions motives are. They may have the same thoughts as you. A key theme to take away from this is that no matter how different we all want the same thing.

Middle School Bullies- Carmen Curtis

I believe that dreamers and eccentrics big imagination to our culture and help us see how unique people can be. I believe these people have great value in our community but are not always appreciated. I believe that our culture both encourages and discourages this type of person. in my experience I have never really had anyone be mean to me for being different. I have always been shy and quiet but it never caused me any problems. I'm so glade that I have never had these types of problems but I have seen people have them. once I was walking in front of a girl named Mira and she was always picked on because of her size. I don't know if it was because of an eating problem or what exactly made her that way but she was like me. She had been quiet and shy but very proud of herself and when she laughed it would always make you smile to. While I was walking in front of her some guy came up behind her and pushed all of her books out of her hands and told her that she was an "ugly cow." I went to pick her books for her since she was having problems doing it herself. even in the bad there is still good and it was great for Mira that Mrs. Hughes had seen the incident. She had told me "Carmen don't you dare pick up though books" she then proceeded to yell for the boy that had pushed them out of Mira"s hands and told him to pick them up and say sorry to Mira. The boy was sent to the office and Mrs. Hughes called Mira over and told her that she was beautiful no matter what other people said or thought because the only thing that mattered is how she thought of herself. I believe that though some people try to degrade dreamers and eccentrics some people know their worth and appreciate them.

My reading in holding on is going great so far. I find all the people to be very interesting and fun to read about. I feel the strengths of this book is that its showing us all these people that may not have much but what they do have is a great story to tell. I believe that one weakness of this book would be that its hard to place where you are in some of the stories. I would like to know why Moreese Bickham feels about finally being able to meet some of his family an how his life is different now.

The story that has stuck with ,e the most would have to "steam Train" Maury Graham because in my sophomore year of high school I learned about hobo's. We hadn't gone into much detail about them but we had this activity where our teacher gave us symbols that we had to learn. In the activity we were hobo's. We found out that if you didn't know the symbols then you would be really confused on where to go to get every thing on the scavenger hunt list. "Many of the Hobo's wrote little markers on a telephone post or a fence with chalk." I had no idea that this was an actual thing that Hobo's use to do. This makes that activity that I did so much more important to me somehow.

Journal 8 from austin

Dreamers and eccentrics play a big part in our culture. I feel this way because in order for great things to get done in this world, we need many different thoughts, and minds. The more ideas our country has as a whole will lead to better things for all of us in my opinion. I believe our culture discourages dreamers and eccentrics because some people will look upon eccentrics as "weird" and treat or think upon them differently. Many people in our culture create an opinion really quickly, once that opinion is formed its hard to change their opinion. Eccentric thinkers are not on the same level as most other thinkers they're kind of "out there" as people and think differently, and have entirely different opinions and views on certain subjects.
Holding on is definitely a little bit of an adjustment from A long way gone. But i enjoy reading about others and all of their stories and accomplishments. A strength of this book is keeping readers hopefuly maybe they can be one of these great stories. My favorite story would have to be the one about the prisoner Moreese Bickham, I like this story because this man is relentless and fought for what he knew was right. He was suffering for years on death row in prison for a simple act of self defense "In pre-civil-rights Louisiana self defense was not an acceptable claim for a black man" Bickham got punished and put in prison for simply trying to protect himself from harm. As two cops come upon him, Moreese has a gun in his hands but not loaded, he tells the officers its not loaded, yet one shoots his chest, Moreese later shoots both officers and gets put in prison for murder. The prosecution case against Bickham only bolstered his claim of self defense. Self defense didn't seem like an option for African American males according to the novel