#en102

[flyingboatsandsailingbirds]

Can an existential crisis lead you to being in a cult?

In short, yes! With personal experience with existential crises on the regular, I do believe that it would be easy to fall into a cult. For me, an episode will usually begin by me thinking about school, and in turn, what I want to be doing for the rest of my life. All throughout my primary education years, I was told I didn’t have to worry about my future life, as it was so far off. When I got to my senior year, I still didn’t know what I wanted to do, and quite frankly, deciding was a daunting task. Everything I’ve wanted to do has blown up in my face. I can’t get a decent paying job around here by acting or painting (or frankly anything else I’d be willing to do). So here I am, 20 years old, completely paralyzed with fear at the thought of finding somewhere I belong.

I had no idea that my need for belonging could lead to such dark paths.

Before you all start going insane and reading into things too much, NO, I didn’t join a cult. Through research, however, I have found that people going through things just like me are more susceptible to become a part of a cult.

It’s not always people who are college age who are vulnerable, and it’s not always basic white bitches trying to create meaning in their lives. I’ve found that cultism doesn’t discriminate with age, race, gender, socioeconomic status, you name it. What cults REALLY pray on are your emotions. If you’re emotionally vulnerable, it makes it easier for you to be coerced into a cult for a sense of belonging and community.Throughout my research of cults, which can easily be done by anybody at any time, I found a very interesting TED-Ed video which I will link that sort of explains things much better than I could ever hope to.

Although I have not personally witnessed any cult behavior in my own community (besides maybe at my local gym), it’s important information that people should be aware of.

If you’re interested in the cults I researched, try looking these up.

-Jonestown

-Heaven’s Gate

-Santa Muerte

-Aum Shinrikyo

-Children of God

[kellenblogs]

Connections Between Religion and Poverty

Jonathan Kozol’s Amazing Grace is a compelling story exposing the true hardships of the disadvantaged residents of New York City’s South Bronx. Kozol’s report is saturated with the faith of the impoverished people interviewed for Amazing Grace, showing how their faith in Christianity helps them through extremely difficult times. As illustrated by Kim Se-Kang, et al, in “The Relationship Of Religious Coping And Spirituality To Adjust And Psychological Distress In Urban Early Adolescents,” (RRCS) there is an enduring connection between the disadvantaged and religious devotion, which is used as a coping mechanism to help process the unimaginable difficulties facing the residents of Mott Haven and other neighborhoods within the South Bronx. At the same time, tensions between Mott Haven’s residents and an apathetic government have bred mistrust and animosity towards law enforcement who are reluctant to respond to the troubles of the South Bronx. However, the similarities between the worldly people charged with protecting and serving Mott Haven, and their heavenly protector, seem to put the separation of faith in God and the faith in New York’s finest in contradiction. The dissonance between Mott Haven’s distrust of the government and their overwhelming faith in Christianity as a protective force is found in the similarities between the functions of the government and God as protectors of the people of Mott Haven. This disparity in faith can be explained by a natural human response to difficult situations, and while slightly contradictory, is resolved through close examination of the nuanced differences between the two trusts.

Kozol’s treatment of religious conviction throughout Amazing Grace is one of incredulity. Though many of Kozol’s interviewees articulately explain why they find comfort in their faith and through prayer, he continues to probe into the deeper motivations behind these beliefs. Kozol describes a boy named Cliffie as having “an absolutely literal religious faith” who explicitly believes in a literal man with long hair who “can walk on the deep water” (8). Kozol continues to describe the literal nature of Cliffie’s faith throughout his interaction, as if his entire impression of the boy was informed by his belief in God. This literal interpretation of Christianity can be ascribed to a belief being passed on from a mother to her son combined with a child’s tendency to conflate story into reality, but is there something greater going on here?

While religious adoption can be a very intricate process, a plausible explanation for this is the human need for comfort from the extremely stressful situation facing the residents of Mott Haven. In RRCS, Se-Kang, et al, explore “the relation of religious coping and spirituality” to “psychological distress in urban early adolescents” (Se-Kang, et al 369). The authors use existing research in adults as a backbone to inform their own hypothesis that “positive religious coping and daily spiritual experiences would correlate positively with indicators of adjustment and negatively with indicators of psychological distress,” meaning that Se-Kang, et al, expected their subjects would find solace in religion during times of “psychological distress” (371). While there was a relationship between “positive religious coping” and religion, actual stress — in the form of depression, nausea, nervousness — was not correlated with religious coping. In other words, though religious devotion is brought about by stress, that same devotion was not proven in this study to be effective in reducing the stress of adolescents. Se-Kang, et al, conclude in their paper that “it seems important for psychologists…and others who interact with youth to be able to recognize the role of religious coping strategies” and stress that these insights must be used to help youth in need.

It comes as no surprise that law enforcement is treated with a level of distaste reserved for nobody else in Mott Haven. Law enforcement officers took three hours to respond to Mrs. Washington when she called about a robbery, saying to her “Mrs. Washington…a number of us heard [the call] but we all knew the address and no one wanted to respond because nobody wants to come here to this building. Everyone is scared” (Kozol 53). Throughout the book, there is an attitude of mistrust for authority among the residents that Kozol converses with; there is often a “they” who are resented by the people for denying SSI, health care, and other essential needs provided for the needy by the government. While the government lets the schools in the South Bronx become increasingly destitute, it spends taxpayer dollars to paint a façade facing the highway to hide Mott Haven from suburban commuters, which is vehemently offensive to Gizelle Luke of the Covenant House (31). With all of this mistreatment by the government, and its abject failure in taking care of and supporting the community of Mott Haven, it only follows logically that there is a great deal of animosity towards the authorities. When Kozol asks Mrs. Washington’s son, David, if he believes in evil, he unflinchingly says that “what the rich have done to the poor people in this city is something that a preacher could call evil. Somebody has power. Pretending that they don’t so they don’t need to use it to help people — that is my idea of evil” (23).

However, this logic could also apply to the trust in God as a powerful protector of the people of Mott Haven. Immediately before labeling the complacency of the rich and powerful as “evil,” David ponders “I wonder how powerful God is. He must be wise and powerful to…give man organs and a brain to build complex machineries, but He is not powerful enough to stop the evil on the earth, to change the hearts of people” (23). While it might be argued that his thoughts are that of resignation, his enumeration of all the things God is capable of implies that he harbors doubt in a limit to this power being set at the influence of humanity’s suffering. To see all of the despair and suffering is to characterize Mott Haven as a hellish place, Mrs. Washington tells Kozol that “We have our hell right here on earth.” (44) An extremely faithful resident of Mott Haven, Bernardo, suffered a tragic accident that took his own life and landed his mother in prison for endangering the welfare of her child (105). Though their faith in God comforts the residents of Mott Haven, the persistence of underlying stress and danger in spite of consistent prayer and devotion presents the same betrayal of trust perpetrated by the government’s own inaction. Holding mistrust for government programs and keeping faith in God at the same time is contradictory in this sense, due to the promise of help broken by both sides, but is also explained by Se-Kang, et al’s findings.

Religion and poverty are both complex issues that are ripe for human inquiry. Kozol’s treatment of poverty in Amazing Grace is a complete investigation into the causes, motivations, and intricacies of how such injustice can happen in the heart of America; his inquiry into the faith of Mott Haven’s residents is superficial at best, leaving the reader to reach their own conclusions with little to no information about the rich inner workings of living in such an impoverished environment. Though the scope of RRCS was very narrow, Se-Kang, et al’s findings were both illuminating and directly relevant to Kozol’s work. Instead of superficially probing at the faith of his interviewees, Kozol would have served both his readers and subjects better by digging deeper into the rationale behind religious belief and possible connections to the people he was writing about.

Works Cited

Kozol, Jonathan. Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation. New York: Crown, 1995. Print.

Kim Se-Kang, et al. "The Relationship Of Religious Coping And Spirituality To Adjustment And Psychological Distress In Urban Early Adolescents." Mental Health, Religion & Culture 12.4 (2009): 369-383. Academic Search Complete. Web. 23 May 2012.

[kellenblogs]

Frederick Douglass: Not So Noble After All

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave is a 1845 narrative written by Frederick Douglass about his struggles under, and eventual freedom from slavery in the South. Writing at a time when slavery was still alive in many parts of the United States, Douglass chose to hide various details about his life; at the time showing any compassion towards slaves such as Douglass was viewed with much distain and could prove dangerous. Douglass masks the identities of several characters in the name of protecting them and on a grander scale, the effort to free black slaves in the United States. Though Douglass points to preventing retaliation towards those still in slavery through his omissions, the details he chooses to leave out suggest that he is only protecting those who he personally cares about, and these redactions are not due to a “higher purpose” of aiding all slaves.

Douglass owes a lot to the neighborhood boys in Baltimore; they taught him how to read and write, which he used to great advantage throughout is time as a slave. After mistress Hugh became averse to him learning, Douglass befriended all of the boys he ran into on the street and learned from them instead. Referring to the boys as “kindly,” Douglass cares enough to hide their identity from the reader, he explains “I am strongly tempted to give the names of…those little boys, as a testimonial of the gratitude and affection I bear them; but prudence forbids…it might embarrass them” (Douglass, 35). While Douglass is grateful for all of the help he received from the boys in his neighborhood, even the poor white boys will grow up to be a part of the system that Douglass claims to be fighting against in his narrative.

While Douglass avoids libeling the boys’s reputations by hiding their identities, he does not extend the same courtesy to those who are enslaved with him. During Douglass’s first escape attempt he reveals information that can be used by their slave holders to identify them, stating “Our company then consisted of Henry Harris, John Harris, Henry Bailey, Charles Roberts, and myself. Henry Bailey was my uncle, and belonged to my master, Charles married my aunt: he belonged to my master’s father-in-law, Mr. William Hamilton” (70). Naming the brethren who assisted him does nothing to advance Douglass’s stated goal of speaking in the interests of slaves who were still being brutalized in the South. If nothing else, this is a symptom of Douglass’s fundamental lack of compassion for his brethren, even though they risked their lives with him attempting to escape.

Though Douglass’s first plot to escape was unsuccessful, he gives goes into great detail about exactly how they planned to escape. Without a member of the plot informing Mr. Freeland, there is a good chance that the escape would have been successful. Douglass explains “The plan we finally concluded upon was, to get a large canoe belonging to Mr. Hamilton, and…paddle directly up the Chesapeake Bay. Our reason for taking the water route was , that we were less liable to be suspected as runaways; we hoped to be regarded as fishermen” (70). Given the viability of Douglass’s plan to escape Mr. Freeland, his disclosure of the details can only hurt future slave’s chances of escape by similar avenues. Douglass is incriminating Henry and John Harris, Henry Bailey, and Charles Roberts by associating them with attempted escape in the minds of his white audience.

Douglass reveals several key details about his successful escape from Master Hugh, though he leaves out more than the plot in St. Michael’s. While Master Hugh thought Douglass’s pristine behavior a sign of his renewed devotion to his master, Douglass reveals that this good behavior is really a signal that he is readying his escape. Douglass writes “My object in working steadily was to remove any suspicion he might entertain of my intent to run away…I suppose he thought I was never better satisfied with my condition than at the very time during which I was planning my escape” (85). While Douglass makes a point to omit any detail that might reveal his method of escape, or who helped him to freedom, he blatantly reveals a crucial insight into the psyche of slaves. This gives slave holders of the South motive to suspect the more obedient slaves of attempting escape, giving them no recourse to prevent the abuse by demonizing diligent service to their captors.

While The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave is an accurate narrative of Douglass’s time as a slave, he omits many incriminating details in the name of protecting existing slaves and the abolitionist movement. While these exclusions could be attributed to furthering the cause of freeing his brothers still enslaved in the South, Douglass does not consistently protect those who stood for freedom and equality. In fact, the only pattern in Douglass’s protection is the personal relationship he has with them. Though Douglass is voicing the concerns of slaves throughout the South, his claim to be speaking on their behalf is not followed by his literary choices. The role The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave played in bringing about better lives for slaves was in spite of Douglass’s choices in whom to protect, not due to his concern for the future of blacks in America.

[conniecullen]

Edit: Short Story

Edit a few things from this old post. I wrote this for my EN 102 class for Ms. B....fun class =)

So I turned my last post into a short stories for my EN class...

   “What am I doing here?” she asked herself. She seem scare, panicking. She grabs the bag and as she starts to walk up the street. A car drives by and parks in front of the house. A young man, tough looking and very demanding look guy, gets out of the car.

 “Hold on,” he spoke into the telephone, “where you waiting for me?” he askeds her the girl. She noddeds. “Let’s go then.”

 He led her to the front door. He unlocks the house and walks in. She hesitated for a minute. Looked very sacred and worry.

 “Come on,” he saidys as he walkeds out to grab her bag.

 She walkeds in. It was a nice quite house. Beige colored wall, all black furniture. The TV was on. It was on commercial. She turns to face the door, and sees a woman lying in the couch. The woman is cover-up in a black blanket, beside her a baby. A baby wrap in a white blanket.

 He comes back in and puts my the bag behind an empty couch. She smiles at him as he walks right passed her into a hallway, still on the phone.

 The woman turneds to look at her. She gives me the girl a look that could kill and calls out to him. “Alex, the baby is cry.”

 He lookeds out from the hall, and paidys no mind.

 The girl stood there, froze.

 “I’ll carry him,” she finally spoke. The girl picks up the baby, and her face seem to have brighten a little more up.

 He finally comes back out. “Where did she go?” he askeds the lady, obviously not talking about the girl. “I don’t know,” she replied answers. “I thought she was going to stay longer, but she just left a few minutes ago.”

 He lookeds at the girl with cold eyes as he spokeaks on the phone. “You should have waited for me,” he said. “No, she’s won’t be staying long.” He finally hangs up.

 “You should have called me.,” he saidys to the girl. “You should have called me to tell me you were coming.” The girl looks at him. Her expression seems to have change. She seemed angry, yet the sadness in my her eyes where still there. “I have to call you?” she said asks.

 “Yeah” he answers, “I don’t want you to come here without letting me know first. I don’t want you around if she’s going to leave every time you come. Now what do you want?” he askeds her. “Nothing.” she replied answers, with a tear running down her eyes as she rocks the baby to sleep.

The moon shines bright, a few stars up, and it’s gray night. Kind of gloomy. Through the neighborhood, a small car drives by; it parks across a 2-floor house. The passenger door opens as a young girl, a young, gets out with a laundry bag. She lookeds in pain, in the verge of crying. As soon as she got out of the car, the driver speeded off. She stands there alone, staring at the house.