Period 4: Turmoil in the Middle East, Day 6, Class Recap

A 2006 version of the McDonald's Dollar Menu. How many of you could live on a bottled water and a double cheeseburger, for the ENTIRE day? Especially day after day? Great article on the effects of the dollar menu in today's economy: CBS.com - Cheap Food Trumps Healthy Dining During Recession.

Good afternoon class!

Thanks for another interesting day! I hope that really delving into learning some content on the Middle East was an enjoyable experience! I know that there are times when PowerPoints and lectures are really boring and that you do not see the point. However, I can assure you that it is all very much related to what we are doing in class and you personally. There is really SO MUCH there to think about and consider, especially when you think about our essential questions for the day.

Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected? What is the impact of religion on policy in the Middle East? - Question for those that are diligent in actually reading this: what is one thing that we talked about today that connects countries?

Soundtrack: "It Takes Two" by Zac Efron. Chosen, like I said in class, because I went into my iTunes folder and searched for "two" - and also because I wanted to appeal to some of the fans of musicals in the class. This song is from the Hairspray soundtrack.

AGENDA 4/30/09:
News Brief
The (Two) Dollar Menu
Middle East PowerPoint
Women in Afghanistan
Brandon Roy

Homework: Review PowerPoint notes. Watch Blazers game! Check blog!

First, look over the PowerPoint below and your notes, because it is very much related to what we will be doing in the next few days!

I will talk about this a little more in the "Brandon Roy" section, but again, with the late work: please, please do not lose hope or give up on getting things revised and turned in. I am absolutely here to help and work with you on everything. Come in and see me during your lunch period, after school, before school, or even easier, e-mail me at luke_fritz@beavton.k12.or.us and I will get back to you ASAP.

News Brief: Austin brought in an article about relations between the United States and the United Arab Emirates: CNN.com - Torture tape delays U.S.-UAE nuclear deal, say U.S. officials. This led into a really interesting discussion about torture in the United States, and the press conference President Obama held last night, on the 100th day of being in office.

I mentioned in class that former Secretary of State Condolezza Rice gave approval for waterboarding, the tactic we talked about in class. Here's a good rundown of the basics: Guardian.co.uk - Rice gave early approval for CIA waterboarding, Senate report reveals.

An opinion piece on the whole matter that I think is worth reading can be found here: RealClearPolitics.com - Even If It Works, US Shouldn't Torture.

From the article:

But no matter how hard one tries, one cannot credibly argue that, while waterboarding was a crime when committed by the Japanese in World War II, it is not a crime when committed by the United States in the 21st Century.

One of the opposing views can be found here: WashingtonPost.com - Congress Debates Fresh Investigation Of Interrogations. A quote:

Bush administration veterans, led by Cheney, are poised to renew a high-volume debate over the efficacy of the interrogation methods and, more broadly, the approach to terrorism that Obama's predecessor took after Sept. 11, 2001. Cheney called this week for the release of more memos that he said would demonstrate how effective the tactics were. And in an interview with Fox News's Sean Hannity, he made it clear that he is ready to wage a battle over who is right.

"The threat is there. It's very real, and it's continuing," Cheney said. "And what the Obama people are doing, in effect, is saying, 'Well, we don't need those tough policies that we had.'"

Very, very interesting stuff. Austin, thanks for bringing in that article! Morgan, you are up for next class. Any article about something currently going on outside the United States.

The (Two) Dollar Menu: I asked the class to get out the homework on living on a dollar a day and share them with a partner. Then, I asked for volunteers to share what they wrote with the class. We made a list of things that we would be difficult to do. Hygiene was huge, along with finding ways to get the essentials of life: food, water, and shelter. Many people had examples of homeless people getting help from others around them. What does that say? What amount of people living on $2 a day or less have to depend on more wealthy people for assistance? Further, what can the United States do about it? All good questions that come up after this.

As part of the discussion, I wrote down two things that I wanted to link to: The shocking video of a 91 year old man being beaten up and nobody around helping him as he was on the ground, which can be found here. This is a really interesting sociological dynamic - break free of it! Help people!

Also, I said that Portland was the least diverse city in the United States. Turns out, I was wrong - it is merely the least diverse city in the Western United States. A fascinating article on this can be read here: OregonLive.com - In a changing world, Portland remains overwhelmingly white.

Hopefully by putting some serious thought into this, you saw that it would be ridiculously difficult to live on two dollars a day, somewhere in the world.

Middle East PowerPoint: Thank you for paying attention (for the most part) to this! I was a little wary about giving the class the entire PowerPoint in a handout (if you were not in class, please see me for a copy), but I think (and hope) that doing so helped you out, rather than distracted your attention. The PowerPoint can be viewed here:

Turmoil in the Middle East PowerPoint
The main point of this was to look at the role of religion and oil (a non-renewable resource) in the Middle East. Not so coincidentally, this was exactly what the essential questions are based on. Hopefully, you have a little better understanding of the region. Some topics that came up during this part of class, that I said I would try to find out for the blog:

Women in Afghanistan: This is a country that is extremely difficult to control. Russia invaded Afghanistan and got bogged down in a never ending war, when the United States supplied the fighters in Afghanistan. Today, the United States is involved in a long war there, with no real prospects of "victory" any time soon. However, we do support the new government we have installed, with President Hamid Karzai at the helm. Which makes the following video (if you can't watch the video, read this article: CNN.com - Afghanistan 'rape' law puts women's rights front and center) all the more incredible, especially when we assess the state of women's rights in the Middle East:



As I made sure to note in class, it is not as if all countries in the Middle East (or all Islamic countries) have such restrictive measures on women. Turkey would be a good example of a country that has a relatively great record on women's rights: Wikipedia - Gender Equality in Turkey.

One of the comments I made on a lot of the women in the Middle East paper that you turned in (or should have) was "what if women are killed for speaking up?" All too often, I think we put the blame on women for not doing anything, or needing to do this or that. Well, how? I handed out an article that a student in my Period 1 class brought in that was absolutely amazing for talking about all of these same issues. The article can be found here: NYTimes.com - Afghan Women Protest Law on Home Life. Check out the following quote from near the beginning:

"We want our rights!" one of the women shouted, turning to face them. “We want equality!”

The women ran to the bus and dived inside as it rumbled away, with the men smashing the taillights and banging on the sides.

"Whores!"

But the march continued anyway. About 300 Afghan women, facing an angry throng three times larger than their own, walked the streets of the capital on Wednesday to demand that Parliament repeal a new law that introduces a range of Taliban-like restrictions on women, and permits, among other things, marital rape.

It was an extraordinary scene. Women are mostly illiterate in this impoverished country, and they do not, generally speaking, enjoy anything near the freedom accorded to men. But there they were, most of them young, many in jeans, defying a threatening crowd and calling out slogans heavy with meaning.

As I pointed out in class, how much in that article was stuff that we had JUST talked about? Speaking out. Unity and building a coalition. Education. Persistence. Religion. All of these and more came into play in that situation. Pretty amazing, right?

After reading the article to the class and getting some great thoughts on it and the relation to women making a difference from a few students (thank you for speaking up, by the way), we moved on to...

Brandon Roy: I read a selection from this article: OregonLive.com - Roy takes notes at facility's opening. The point of pointing out Mr. Roy's learning disability and path to stardom was to ask everyone in the class to not give up on themselves. The start of a new quarter is here, and there is a lot of work to be done until the end of the year, and I know that life is stressful just being in high school. I am here to help, along with everyone else at Westview! I am a big believer in a two way street of hard work in school. Teachers work incredibly hard (this blog should be a good piece of evidence) to help you succeed in school and in life. Work hard for us too, please!
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Thanks for the fun class! I really liked our discussion and all the interest (at least, I think there was interest) in what we are doing. Let me know what you thought, or anything else you want to talk about, in the comments!

Have a wonderful evening!