Studs Terkle Entry 1

Vine Deloria:

I though that this piece was very interesting. I initially started to thing about the way that the changes in transportation created less of a thrill for traveling. It really emphasized the importance, or lack there of, of transportation. A few important detail that I noticed were that she had an Indian background, and that she was originally involved with an Indian religion. She then converted to Christian, which I found very interesting because it surprises me that who felt so strongly about new technologies, would switch their native religion. This interview was centered around "social constraints"as Deloria said. It was a story about issues from that past as well as important issues to come. Deloria stated it as "Maybe American Dream is in the past understanding who you are is the future." The also references the "importance of place" early on in the story. The only question that was raised was, Why do people live retrospective lifestyles? I found that a genuine connection to our class was the Indian wars for land. We studied the way that Americans mistreated the Indians, and the way that we kicked them off of their land. I also had one personal connection. My uncle was actually Native American, and his ancestors were actually kicked off of their land by the Americans. I am sure his family had some of these similar thoughts.

Andy Johnson:

I initially thought that this was just going to be another story of an American Immigrant who struggled, but as I continued to read the real implications dawned on me. The first important detail was that Johnson was a finish immigrant with "Kuume" or American Fever. The conditions were very harsh, to the point where they often did not have floors. It took him many years to finish school because he could only attend in the winter because he was forced to help provide for his family during the other seasons. Johnson explained the reason for moving as "The poorest, the most miserable came here because they had no future over there." He also said "I had my independence, except that it had my lively hood more difficult. This raised the question of how hard was the transitions? I also wondered how where the conditions in Finland? Was it really worth all of this trouble to live the "American dream." Immigration and Ellis Island were direct connections to class. We talked about immigrants and the way that they often lived in harsh conditions, making little money at factories. A personal connection is that may dads family traveled through Ellis Island during 1930's and their lives were very hard at first.