Here & Now-Period 5

Here & Now

- New and exciting ways to see a movie!

-Creation vs. Evolution! Who will win the fight?

-Rejecting the League of Nations, good or bad?

-Ku Klux Klan is back! Good or bad?

Table of Contents Briefing ------------------------------------ 3 Rejecting the League of Nations -------- 4 Letters to the Editors ------------------- 6-7 Dawes Plan -------------------------------- 9 The Ku Klux Klan ----------------------- 11 Economy Boom -------------------------- 12 The End of the Silent Era --------------- 13 The Great Bambino ---------------------- 14 Interview with Duke Ellington --------- 15

Briefing

"They did not come here to try a case. They came here to try revealed religion.

I am here to defend it, and they can ask any questions they please."

- William Jennings Bryan, testifying at the Scopes "Monkey" Trial

"The business of America is business."

- President Calvin Coolidge

“A problem is a chance for you to do your best.”

-Duke Ellington “It has been said that on screen I personified the American woman.”

Joan Crawford

-Hailey Gregory

Rejecting the League of Nations: Good or Bad?

By Jingyi Du and Jenny Vest

Some people complain about countries not getting along together, but yet we still rejected involvement in the League of Nations. What were we thinking? We want peace, not war. The League of Nations will allow us to avoid future wars and we will be able to work better with other countries.

We should blame the Senate for rejecting the League of Nations. They are essentially rejecting an organization that will prevent wars and protect our county.

The League of Nations would unite all the counties together to work in harmony. We would make it so there could be no more wars! It would allow us to keep all the member nations in line with international rules. When one country doesn’t follow those rules, other member nations would be able to work together and force the country to follow rules. World peace is the most important thing that we have not achieved, and yet we still let it slip right through our fingers. So we should rise up against the Senate and tell them how we feel! Rejecting the League of Nations was a harmful idea and does not benefit our country.

We won’t be connected with Europe anymore. We have isolated ourselves, once again. Now that many important European countries are members of the League, we won’t be able to have strong connections with countries in the League. We don’t need to be the kids that are hiding in the corner at recess, we need to be the ones that meet people and make friends. If we can’t do that, America will never be able to leave the comfort zone and become more powerful.

This isn’t the time to be shy!

Advertisement 1

Concerns of the Citizens Wets

Dries

Freedom is something that shan’t be taken from america in this day in age. America is in a very serious situation here. The government has no right to stop america from drinking alcohol. Alcohol is both a huge business for the bigger rich people but also something that makes the middle and lower class feel good. Alcohol is a conversation starter a nice beverage to have on a summer day it is an all around perfect drink that should not be taken away from america. i believe there should be certain laws regulating the consumption of alcohol but there shall not be a law that completely demolishes alcohol.

If America was “dry” then there would be no economy. America will struggle or cease to exist people would not have the chill or nonchalant attitude that stops such things as confrontations and fights on the streets.

America will become a more boring and not as exciting america. plus the very worst there will be no such beverage to drink away the day or if you need to get loosen up.

Guy

Why are people so upset about limiting the alcohol use in America? Nothing good can come from it. If it were good, then why would we limit it in the the first place. Alcohol is a gateway to drug and that leads to other drugs.

This is not the American way. The American way shouldn’t be helping yourself to beer until you are drunk and ruin your life and become an addict. The American way should be the way it was when you had to work for something that you wanted and you didn’t need a beer to do it.

And what about those speakeasies? The police should shut down all of them, not embrace them. Alcohol is turning America into a bad place.

Caden

Urban Big urban cities are the berries of America. Everyone living on farms and rural towns should scram to big cities. Urban expansion in the United States has transformed scattered rural towns to urban centers, ringed by suburbs and tied together by roads. Skyscrapers are becoming towering symbols of expansion upwards. Famous skyscrapers built recently include the Tribune Tower in Chicago, the Bank of Manhattan and Chrysler Building in New York City, and the Terminal Tower in Cleveland. These buildings are becoming the symbols of America. The joints and clubs in big cities make it much easier to have a whoopee. Everyone living in the cities are very ritzy and spiffy, unlike the square people living in nowheresville. If you don’t move to cities, you are really a dumb dora.

Jingyi

More Concerns...

Religion Will Scopes and Darwin win the fight or God and Christians? On July 10th, 1925 John Scope’s trial was held in Dayton, Tennessee.

Scopes taught Darwin's evolution to students and is now being dealt with in court. His punishment will be decided later.

Darwins Theory is obviously just and idea but yet still people are trying to fight against religion. Darwin’s Evolution Theory was made up by Charles Darwin and others in 1858. As for Christianity it has been here for thousands of years so why believe in a mans idea? If people start to agree with Darwin and Scopes who knows what will happen It very well possibly could wipe out the truth of God and be taught in schools. If this happens America will lose what it really stands for. If evolution becomes the new “truth” will we still trust in God or say trust in anything or something else?

Nobody knows what will happen but we shall not lose faith in America. Maybe our country will be split with those who believe in truth and those who believe in the lies. There is a Good. Anyway stay tuned to find out.

Hailey

Science Will Scopes should not be prosecuted because he was teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution. Darwin’s theory is where we were apes, monkeys, and even germs at one point.

I’m not sure if I believe Darwin’s theory or not but it’s his right to teach it. He has freedom of speech and religion. He doesn’t have to believe that god made everything. He can teach people of the theory just like people can teach others about catholicism or judaism.

People have a choice. You don’t have to agree with his choice but you should recognize everyone has the choice.

Scopes is teaching Darwin’s theory which is based on science. Science is beginning to be more and more popular with people nowa-days. The theory is all about facts so it may be a theory but it’s still more scientific than other ideas of how the world started.

I don’t know if Scopes teaching is right but he should still be allowed to teach it. It’s his right as an American.

Jenny

Advertisement 2

Dawes Plan

by Caden Fedeler

The war to end all wars has ended and Germany owes $33 billion dollars in gold and commodities to the victors (Great Britain and France) for reparations. Plus, Great Britain and France owe the U.S. for our efforts to the war.They have been struggling to pay these debts and have no other choice but to stop paying. We have recently decided to form a committee with countries including Belgium, France, Great Britain, and Italy. We created this group to find a way to solve Germany’s problem.

Charles G. Dawes, the chairman of the committee, and Owen D. Young created a plan that may be the solution to this economical problem. We are calling it the Dawes plan.

It is where The United States gives Germany loans so they can pay their debts to the Allies. It gives time to the Germans to rebuild their economy while it increases the amount of money that Germany owes the US for its loans.

This is good for us as U.S. citizens because all the money that we are loaning Germany is going through a system and ends up in the possession of the U.S. Why would this help us? Because even though no one is really making much money, the U.S. is creating a very large debt for the Germans to pay us in the future.

Charles G. Dawes

Ad. 3

The Ku Klux Klan Is Back By: Hailey Gregory Right now we are experiencing an immense controversy in the United States. This Controversy is the Ku Klux Klan and Blacks (as well those for blacks). Last week the KKK (Ku Klux Klan) paraded down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC. People who served as sheriff or mayors could dress in white at night or when marching in the parades. They have not allowed women into the clan. The membership of the klan is rising dramatically. We may never know who is apart of the KKK but what we do know is that they are all around us.

The KKK had now added Catholics,Jews, Radicals,and Foreigners as objects of intolerance. Seventy five blacks killed, thousands lost their homes, and 44 blocks have been razed. The klan is terrorizing blacks and new immigrants as of this moment by lynching and burning of crosses.

Four million is how many are in the Klan as of this moment. Klans bigotry is trying to encourage the notorious riot at Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Also rituals with religious and patriotic overtones are important to the klan it is what binds their membership together.

Many people don’t know at this moment if the Ku Klux Klan should be considered good or bad. They just want a perfect nation and if you don’t look like what they think an American should look like it’s not acceptable. But the killing is getting outta hand as some may say and the government is doing nothing about it. What is your opinion?

Economy Boom By: Jenny Vest The economy was at a major high. It has everything. Everyone can have everything with credit. People thought nothing could go wrong. They were wrong…

Customers have buying rate has been through the roof. We seem to be buying everything in sight. American’s seem to feel the need to have everything they ever wanted or could image. The need thing is credit. You can buy now and pay later. This makes it so people can buy even more.

The main stock market in the United States is on Wall Street in New York City, as you all know. People have started to buy parts of companies or stocks through credit. Some people are concerned that if the company goes down so will the people’s money that they put into the company. Well this is in fact true.

Black Thursday was the first day of the business plummet. All prices have plummeted. Business start to fail, banks are closing, stocks are getting lost, many jobs are lost. Black Tuesday was the worst day of the economy crash. Sixteen million stocks were worth less than half than in the morning.

Chaos is in New York now but the end of Black Tuesday. This happened all over the country’s national’s banks.

The End of the Silent Era

By Jingyi Du In the mid-1920s, movie box office revenues sagged. Very few people went to movie theaters - most stayed at home and watched. But now, revenues have been revitalized!

In 1923, inventor Lee DeForest had already demonstrated a method of adding sound to movies using a Vitaphone. But, many major movie companies were reluctant to use this new invention. One reason for this was because the equipment was very expensive. Also, movie companies knew that not all silent movie stars would be able to make the transition from silent to sound.

The Warner Brothers started a movie company in 1923. They were a very small company at the time. But, they decided to take a change on the Vitaphone. They recently produced the first movie ever with spoken dialogue, The Jazz Singer! It was directed by Alan Crosland and starred Al Jolson. It has ended the silent era and has revitalized box office revenues.

But the change from silent to sound movies isn’t going as great for some. Major movie companies were right - some famous stars are not able to transition. For example, Clara Bow was a very famous star in the silent era. But now, Bow’s thick Brooklyn accent has destroyed her career in talkies. On the other hand, Greta Garbo was not a well-known actress in the silent era. But, her alluring voice has turned her into a megastar.

The Great Bambino by: Guy Snow

Babe Ruth is a baseball player that is very famous. With the 1920 season starting New York fans are excited about their new player Babe Ruth. Most fans are boo if their home pitcher walked a batter. But that seemed to be the only way opposing teams could stop Ruth. Even fans from the opposing team can’t help but to cheer for him. People come from all over the globe to see one thing, Ruth hit one out.

July 9th is now been declared Babe Ruth Day a local Knights Of Columbus Chapter had given Ruth a Diamond Studded Watch. People all over the country looked up to Ruth and just wondered how he does what he could do and how incredible he is.

Even when he missed a hit or didn’t do something super exciting his fans can’t get enough of Ruth. Fans have even taking it too far one fan dropped dead from a heart attack after seeing babe Ruth hit a homer.

This season if there was a main player to watch for with no question is Babe Ruth. He already has had an amazing start to the season.

Edward “Duke” Ellington Q: When did you start studying the piano?

Duke Ellington: When I was seven years old I started studying the piano.

Q: When did you get the nickname “Duke”?

DE: I got that also when I was 7 around the time I started learning piano.

Q: What inspired you to write your first song, “Soda Fountain Rag”?

DE: I wrote that when I had a job as a soda jerk and I decided to write about it.

Q: What did you think of the Cotton Club when you played there?

DE: It was amazing, it was one of the best clubs in Harlem in my opinion. I play there often.

Q: Why did you drop out of highschool?

DE: I dropped out of highschool in my junior year to pursue a career in music.

Q: Is it true that your dad was a White House butler?

DE: Yes he was a White House butler.

Q: How was your experience playing for a Broadway musical?

DE: It was great I even got to see George Gershwin.

Q: What is your favorite type of music?

DE: My favorite type of music to write and play is American Music.

Q: What exactly is American Music?

DE: It is my name for Jazz.

Q: What was it like growing up in Washington D.C.?

DE: It was very comforting.

Bibliography Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2014.

"Booklist Online: More than 160,000 Book Reviews for Librarians, Book Groups, and Book Lovers-from the Trusted Experts at the American Library Association First Time Here?"

U.S.A. Twenties. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2014.

Downey, Matthew T. The Roaring Twenties and an Unsettled Peace, 1919-1929. New York: Macmillan, 1992. Print.

"Duke Ellington Quotes." BrainyQuote. Xplore, n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2014. <http://www.allmusic.com/artist/duke-ellington-mn0000120323/biography>.

Ellis, Jack C. A History of Film. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1979. Print.

Griffith, Richard, and Arthur Mayer. The Movies. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1970. Print.

Hanson, Erica. The 1920s. San Diego, CA: Lucent, 1999. Print.

Pietrusza, David. The Roaring Twenties. San Diego, CA: Lucent, 1998. Print.

Shmoop Editorial Team. "The 1920s Quotes." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008.

Web. 14 Oct. 2014.

The Jazz Singer Poster. Digital image. Wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.

"Training Videos." A. J. Ferguson Training & Design. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2014. <http://www. ajfergusontraining-design.com/training-videos/>.

U.S.A. 1920s. Danbury, CT: Grolier, 2005. Print.

Woog, Adam, Michael V. Uschan, Erica Hanson, Petra Press, Stuart A. Kallen, Gini Holland, and Gail B. Stewart. A Cultural History of the United States: Through the Decades. San Diego, CA: Lucent, 1999. Print.

Writing "The Jazz Singer" Digital image. Screenwriting From Iowa. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.

Yancey, Diane. Life during the Roaring Twenties. San Diego, CA: Lucent, 2002. Print.