Notes

Interesting question! In the book My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George, Sam owns and takes care of a falcon named Frightful. After finding and capturing Frightful, Sam takes care of the bird. He provides food and shelter for her. For example, after killing a rabbit, Sam feeds Frightful some of the more delicious parts of the rabbit from Frightful’s perspective.   Sam gives Frightful the brain, liver, and the heart. As the text reveals: “Here I dressed down the rabbit and fed Frightful some of the more savory bites from a young falcon’s point of view: the liver, the heart, the brain.” While Sam feeds her, he feels a sense of happiness. Although Sam does not have much human companionship in the wilderness, Frightful offers Sam happiness and companionship throughout the book. Thus, Sam takes care of his falcon named Frightful. For example, he feeds Frightful parts of a rabbit that are especially tasty to young falcons. Consequently, he feels a sense of happiness and eventuall...

There are two main things that were happening in the 1960s that caused anxiety in the United States.  One of these was the Cold War.  The other was widespread, fundamental change in society. Particularly in the early 1960s, the Cold War was a major source of anxiety for people in the United States.  As the decade opened, Cuba was just becoming communist.  By 1962, it was firmly in the Soviet camp and the Soviets placed nuclear missiles on the island.  This led to the Cuban Missile Crisis.  At roughly the same time, a crisis was brewing over the status of Berlin.  This eventually led to the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961.  Later in the decade, the Cold War caused the Vietnam War to come about.  Though this war did not seem to pose as much of a threat to the US as the missiles in Cuba or the possibility of direct war against the Soviets over Berlin, it still caused anxiety.  Throughout the 1960s, there was anxiety in the United States about the Cold War and the potential spread of c...

It was in 1934 that Hitler assumed the title of fuhrer. This came as a result of the death of President Hindenburg on August 2, prompting Hitler (who was already the Chancellor of Germany) to take power. He abolished the title of 'president' and instead declared himself the Fuhrer of the German Reich and people. Remember that Hitler does not renounce his chancellorship when he becomes the fuhrer: he simply combines the two offices. This is unprecedented in German history.   The assumption of this title signals the end of the Weimar Republic in Germany and of democracy, more generally. In its place, the Third Reich begins with Hitler's Nazi dictatorship. Over the next few years, Hitler uses his new powers to erode the civil liberties of Germany's Jewish population and to raise the general levels of antisemitism. He also hosts the Olympic Games in 1936 as a means of promoting Nazism on the world stage.

John and Nick have a lot of similarities. They are both narrators and major characters in their respective stories, for one. Interestingly, though, they are also both a bit on the periphery of the action. Nick is an outsider from the other characters, as he continues to live a moderate life (financially, anyway) and claims to hold Midwestern values while the Eastern characters live lavish, careless existences. Characters are always introducing Nick to people and confiding in him, but Nick himself doesn't do a whole lot to drive the plot and action. Similarly, John comes across as the only sane character in  Cat's Cradle , often standing off to the side to allow the eccentricities of the others to shine. Consider Chapter 43, where, after a bit of background information, John simply asks a question and allows Crosby go on and on about his philosophy, putting his "barn-yard clownishness" on full display. Additionally, both narrators act as a reader surrogates, introducin...

The occupants of the Secret Annex were discovered on August 4, 1944, when SS sergeant Karl Josef Silberbauer and three members of the Security Police arrested the Franks, van Daans (real name, van Pels), and Mr. Dussel (real name, Fritz Pfeffer), as well as Victor Kugler and Johannes Kleiman. All that is ultimately known about the betrayal is that someone contacted the German Security Police to inform them that Jews were hiding in the warehouse. There is still no definitive answer as to who betrayed the occupants, although several suspects have emerged. Some believe that Mr. van Maaren, the warehouse manager who had often behaved suspiciously and set up traps around the warehouse to see if there were intruders, was responsible. Others believe it was Tonny Ahlers, a violent anti-Semite, who turned them in. Still others believe that Lena van Bladeren-Hartog, a woman who worked as a cleaner whose husband was employed at the warehouse, let this information slip. Regardless of who actually ...

Ghana is a poor country by global standards, but not compared to many of its neighbors in Sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, their economy has been growing fairly rapidly lately; per capita GDP at purchasing power parity (PPP) has grown almost 50% in the last decade, about 4% per year. They have recently undergone debt forgiveness and a currency redenomination that seem to have yielded significant benefits. Their government is moderately democratic, which is very good by African standards. Ghana has a relatively strong manufacturing base, but it has been too focused on import substitution instead of exports; that needs to change. Historically, the way countries such as Korea and Japan have lifted themselves from Third World to near First World status has been by manufacturing for export, starting with relatively low-tech goods such as textiles and then rising into higher levels of technology such as electronics.  Eventually they reach the level of full high-tech capital-intensive manufactur...

I have an example of how the actions of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches have impacted public school teachers in Wisconsin. In 2011, the Governor announced he wanted to curtail the ability of most public-sector workers, including teachers, to collectively bargain. The Republican-controlled legislature passed a law that curtailed the ability of most public-sector workers to bargain collectively. This allowed the employers to determine wages, benefits, and most working conditions without having to negotiate them. When this law was appealed in court, it reached the Wisconsin State Supreme Court. By a 4-3 vote, the Supreme Court ruled that this law, which was known as Act 10, was constitutional. The law impacted many public school teachers. Many teachers lost seniority rights, had benefit packages reduced, lost input on workplace rules, and saw their salaries either cut, frozen, or grow much slower. This led to a significant number of teacher retirements in Wisconsin betwe...