The Jazz Singer Online Free (and by free I don't mean pirated)

The Jazz singer is availible for download from The Internet Archive which is

"a 501(c)(3) non-profit that was founded to build an Internet library. Its purposes include offering permanent access for researchers, historians, scholars, people with disabilities, and the general public to historical collections that exist in digital format"

You can right click any of the links under the "movie files" heading and click download as

Here is the link http://www.archive.org/details/TheJazzSinger

Questions for "Trans-National America" by Randolph Bourne 9/27/2011

1) It is most certainly true when Bourne says, "we are all foreign-born or the descendants of foreign-born." So everyone is, in a way, an immigrant of America. What are some changes you have made to assimilate into this country, if any? Do you feel like you are sacrificing any beliefs or values to assimilate into this culture?

2) In Bourne's excerpt, he referred to several specific activities and items to be the "most rudimentary American," for example the "American culture of the cheap newspaper, the "movies," the popular song, the ubiquitous automobile." He believed that these actions and activities were done by what he deemed the typical American. What do you consider to be some symbolic American activities that we practice nowadays?

3) More than once, Bourne has used the term "the Anglo Saxon." Who is he really referring to?

4) Do you agree with Bourne? Do you feel like every culture should keep their own traditional beliefs? Do you feel like each and every nationality should assimilate into the American culture completely now that they are in a new land? What are some specific changes that you feel are necessary to assimilate into America?

5) What do you think Bourne would have to say about today's generation? Was the melting pot successful?

Discussion Questions For 9/26

In the readings today we read two articles which both discussed the idea of American culture. In 'Trans-National America' Randolph Bourne offers some biting criticism of the United States. Bourne was writing in the year 1916, but much of what he says seems to have become even more important in modern day America. Bourne accuses American culture of being vapid, one driven by the crowd and devoid of any spiritual life. How is Bourne's criticism one that foreshadows future decades of American culture? How could this essay apply to the 1950s? 80s? 2000s? Marti makes a similar point in his essay 'Coney Island', offering a critique of America's constant search for the spectacle and hangs a dark cloud over the lights of Coney Island. How has this dystopic vision of the United States spread throughout the world? In what ways has this American idea of the spectacle invaded other cultures? How does it manifest itself in our lives today? Has any progress been made towards a more spiritual American core?

Class Discussion Response-How the Other Half Lives

First of all, I was very surprised that my question "Why do you think Riis cares about "how the other half lives?"" had so many different responses. For me the answer was obvious that he just wanted to help poor people by letting everybody know how they lived and that they needed some support. Maybe it was because I knew his background a little from the other sources. Students also seemed very excited when they had a chance to answer the Anna's question "Are there still poor housing conditions today? What parts?". It was interesting to listen different stories about the really horrible overcrowded apartments. Some students described areas in the New York City and in Brooklyn, that are so packed with Chinese immigrants, that even if the kids die in these families, nobody knows, because they all look the same and have no legal rights to live here. It seemed like we are talking about 1800, but not about the today's life. Then prof. Davis showed us the real photos, taken in 1800-1900 by Riis and Hine. They portrayed people living in poverty and in a very bad conditions. They were projected on a big screen in a good quality,(even though black and white), so everybody could see them. Almost everyone in the classroom were involved in the discussion of these pictures. Finally,we all agreed that Hine's pictures are pretty positive and have a lot of light and open space. Women and kids on his pictures seemed happy and careless. Riis' showed these same people in a very dark and dirty setting, mostly in a small apartments that had no windows. Men in his pictures looked very tired, hungry and desperate. It's interesting to observe how the people from the same neighborhood can be portrayed in two completely opposite ways. In my opinion, even though people looked much better in Hine's photos, Riis' works brought them more happiness by dragging Government's attention to their needs. Anyway, the class discussion went well and active as usually!:)

Discussion on How the Other Half lives & photography

We sat in the quiet like we always did, a whole bunch of people of immigrant descent. Something was different today, there was an extra large display screen that we (I) wished we could have in our haus. The conversation started as a small fire and exploded, (not literally, or else, we'd all be kinds of messed up right now). We pondered as to why Jacob Riis cared about how the other half lived and came up with many ideas.
1) Riis, himself, was poor and worked his way up to middle class and empathized with the poor and their condition of living.
2) The oppression of the poor would someday drive them crazy enough to revolt against the middle and higher class. The poor is what makes the world go round. (viva la revolucion!)
3) He was just an altruistic kind of human being. (we the little people thank you)

Professor Davis then proceeded with his cool keyboard to flip through the photographs that Jacob Riis and Lewis Hine took. He then brought about the question of how the photographs were taken and it was usually planned. (Ooops) Apparently, since photography was still in its infant stage, the photographer would have had to lug a giant camera around and thus the element of surprise would be gone. We discussed about this in great length, if the planning of the photographs affected the picture and overall "feel" of the photograph.
Some said: "No it doesn't because they weren't given the clothes they were wearing and the setting that they were in. So, the picture still captured the most essential aspect of tenement living" (This isn't word for word)
There was a picture with three boys sleeping on a barrel and one boy was seen to be smirking. Some questioned as to whether it was because the child was giddy with excitement to have his picture taken, that it spilled out to his sleeping face.

Besides the discussion of Riis and the photographs. The conditions of immigrants today were discussed as well. People saw descents of China and Mexico living in tenement like conditions. There are people who share apartments between 5+ people and those who live in clutter. The reason why they can't do anything about it?
1) New immigrants do not possess green cards/visas/passports. No one knows about their situations and often times they don't know where to get help.
2) They have no money or time to speak up about their problems because they have work an excessive amount to send money back to their countries.
3) First generation-ers would rather suffer the hard times to make sure that the next generation or the generation after that would be able to live a better life, as to live a selfless life.

Italian Settlement House Projects

discussion questions.

1) How has education changed within the span of 100 years?
2) Has gender roles changed within this span?
3) If we were to put Sara Smolinsky into these pictures, in which ones would she appear the most?
4) Where are the people in these pictures going to be, in say, 20 years from when the picture is taken?
5) Is there a promotion of higher education? With whom and what pictures?

T.John Bread Givers analysis

The discussion questions that were presented to the class sparked a vast amount of interest and highlighted the reoccurring theme of dirt. Throughout the book the reader realizes that a great emphasis is placed on the relevance of dirt and the role it plays on all the characters within the plot. The women in the book are constantly cleaning up and trying to get the "dirt" out of their living quarters and their surroundings. Dirt is a motif used to highlight the constant strains placed on the protagonist and the fact that she can never totally escape her heritage, ancestry and eco economic status just as she cannot escape dirt which is a part of life.

The use of dirt as a literary device is very compelling because when one thinks of dirt we think of something blackened, muddy and something that we wish was not such a hassle on our every day cleaning lives, the fact that dirt is a constant reminder to Sara as to her heritage is very interesting and keeps the reader guessing whether she can ever escape her black "abyss" or was she just destined to be intertwined with her family with the "old world" still having a tight grasp on her "American" outlook. Overall the book gives a good insight into the Old World versus the New World and paints a vast comparison of the two worlds with both on very different spectrums with no medium or hope for compromise on either end in merging.

T.John "Bread Givers"

Discussion Question for pages 155-234.

1.Was Max Goldstein as evil as Sara portrayed him to be?

2. Was anyone surprised to see Sara's mother at her doorsteps?

3. Does Sara regret her decision to escape her family?

4. Why does Sara not fit in/escape her "black/ dirt abyss" when she goes off to college?

5. Is education now/ then the salvation or escape to the "American Dream"?

How the Other Half Lives- Questions.

1. Why do you think Riis cares about "how the other half lives"?

2. "In many instances the police had to drag the tenants out by force." (last line of the first paragraph) Do you think it was an effective method? Why or why not?

3."...the younger criminals as victims of low social conditions of life and unhealthy, overcrowded lodgings, brought up in "an atmosphere of actual darkness, moral and physical." Do you think this phrase is still true for our generation? Explain.

4. What shocked you most in this story?

5. If you would be in the U.S. Government during 1800-1900, what would you do to solve this problem with overcrowded tenements?

Photographers That Shot for Justice

Meet Jacob (Danger) Riis.
Well okay, his middle name isn't Danger but, it might as well be since he's so badass....looking. Look at the way he's posing his left arm, it says "I don't give a turd what you think about me, I'm here to exploit the rich and evils of corporate America! Powaaa to the poor!"

So what makes him a photographer of justice? Well take a look at his tenement photography and you shall see why.









This picture taken by Riis in 1888 of three boys sleeping on a...yep that's right, a barrel, staircase and each other. Now, if you were to give a caption to this photo, what would it say? If not a caption, what do you feel when seeing this picture?





Jacob Riis yet again, prowls the night and finds people about to sleep and snaps pictures of them. Oh and did I mention that Riis used flash powder at the time so that he could capture pictures in the dark and inside tenements? Imagine how this guy felt, just about to fall asleep on his barrel bed and Riis jumps out and with a bright light says, "cheese sleepy head!" I'd want to beat Riis to bloody pulp but, that's why he's so bad-ass.

On a more serious note, look at the setting of the photo. What are his eyes saying?
(GTFO! Just kidding) What is his bed made out of?





Bandit's Roost/Thug Life - Tenement Style

Another picture that Riis had no problem taking, there's one guy to the right holding a stick. A freaking stick! What do you think they were doing or talking about before Riis decided to show up with a giant camera? What kind of work would they have done?

Riis is praised for his tenacity as a investigative reporter, Lincoln Steffens was so amazed by him that he says "(Riis) not only got the news; he cared about the news. He hated passionately all tyrannies, abuses, miseries, and he fought them. He was a terror to the officials and landlords responsible, as he saw it, for the desperate condition of the tenements where the poor lived."

Riis had the fire of a thousand suns burning in his soul to expose the gritty and biting reality of the poor, if that isn't bad-ass, I'm not sure what is.

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Well moving onto our next photographer of justice, Mister Lewis Hine.
A little bit about Hine, he detested the treatment of children in the labor force. He was so disgusted that when factories turned him down for muckraking, he would hide his camera and pretend to be a fire inspector. Clever trick Hines, very clever. One of his speeches included this little bit, "Perhaps you are weary of child labour pictures. Well, so are the rest of us, but we propose to make you and the whole country so sick and tired of the whole business that when the time for action comes, child labour pictures will be records of the past." In 1916 legislation was passed to protect children, Hines probably made sure to the end that the government had taken care of the legislation, possibly with a camera and knife of justice.



But, enough of Hines for now, let's move onto to his photographs that were often times, taken in secret.










Here is a young boy, the caption claims he is a "German Steelworker"
How old do you think this...boy is? What kind of caption would you give this picture?











This is Leo, aged 8, working in a textile factory.

What are the dangers for a young child working at a factory? What kind of emotions do you feel when looking at the picture? How is his physical appearance? And...most importantly, where the heck are his shoes?!?!





William Parralla, 313 Second St., S.W., Washington, D.C., a 7 year old newsboy, standing on street with newspapers.

What time do you think it is? The weather?

Extra Questions
1) Are there still poor housing conditions today? What parts?
2) Where might the immigrants today find work?
3) Do you know of anyone who is an immigrant? You don't have to say names or anything. What kind of work do they do?
4) The legal to age to work is 17 now, should it be lower or higher? Why?