How To Get Away With Murder In America

This past week I read the book, How to Get Away With Murder in America by Evan Wright. It tells the story about how a Cuban-American who was a criminal that assisted in the cocaine trafficking trade and then was hired by the CIA and became a high-level officer. His name is Enrique Prado. Reading about how the CIA hired a criminal was the reason I purchased this book to read because I didn't think that it was feasible. Wright explains how the USA is willing to do whatever it takes to gain an edge, which both makes me feel safe as well as scares me. It fascinated me that the CIA was willing to keep information from the police which may have convicted Prado in multiple murders in order to protect its "asset". I think it is a very well written book with deep insights into how drug dealers, murderers, and other types of criminals get away with various crimes. From corruption to murder, this book explains how people have been able to stay out of prison for heinous crimes. It is a quick read and very entertaining so I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in American politics, drug trade, or murder.

Erich Maria Remarque’s use of point of view to develop the theme of the immorality of war in All Quiet on the Western Front

            The heroism of fighting in war has often been romanticized by movie directors and authors. After World War I, there wasn’t an immediate surge of war novels being written until the late 1920’s. The writing about war experiences has often been used by veterans as a therapeutic strategy to cope with the stresses from the war.  Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front is a war novel that was written with the intention of providing the layperson with a sense of what soldiers experience while in combat and on leave. The use of point of view in All Quiet on the Western Front by Remarque allows the reader to experience the wartime emotions and actions of a German infantry soldier in World War I.

To Read Or Not To Read

I have recently read an article about how reading is one of the best things to do for entertainment. This statement, which comes in an age of advanced technology, movies, and video games never seems to gain any traction. Nonetheless, I agree with the article in that reading can give a person a leg up over competition. It requires a person to concentrate more than a movie because the reader has to create the scenery, the looks of the characters, and you can be as close to the action as possible without actually being there. As an added bonus, it can also make you smarter (here is proof). There was a time when reading was only accessible by the nobility and upper classes due to the rarity of books and low literacy levels of the general public. Now that most people have access, we need to take advantage of all that we can.
Read On Everyone!

The Article:
Why You Should Read

How Soccer Helped End Apartheid

The political system known as apartheid was set up during the middle of the twentieth century by the white minority in South Africa to create an arrangement of racial segregation. Nearly all blacks in South Africa were opposed to this and few were actually willing to try and do something about it. The solution of the white man’s government was to send all the people who they perceived as threats to their system to Robben Island, known as the Alcatraz of South Africa. Robben Island is a small island about four miles from the shore of Cape Town, South Africa. It was there that a sport helped form the basis of the government of South Africa after apartheid ended. Soccer is considered the world’s most popular sport, and this simple game provided a template for a potential government and taught the prisoners how to effectively run and organize a group. In 2010, South Africa held the first World Cup ever in an African country and ESPN produced a short documentary about how soccer helped those imprisoned develop a system of organization and ways to maintain an association. This documentary titled Robben Island: A Greater Goal illustrates the influence of the sport on the creation of a new government in South Africa.

Independence Day

To all the citizens of the United States of America reading this, Happy Fourth of July! Today is a day where we should celebrate all that our country has to offer. We need to thank all those who have fought to protect our freedoms and keep us safe. Without our veterans, our current men and women who are serving in the armed forces, and those who have died, the USA as we know it would cease to exist. Thanks to our forefathers, the USA is an independent, sovereign nation which has grown to be a global force. I believe that country music best describes feeling of patriotism that exist in this nation and whenever I listen to a song with lyrics regarding pride in the USA I feel touched. I am damn proud to be a citizen of the United States of America and I will stand by her side no matter what. In modern times, there have been many occasions when being proud of the USA has been unpopular, but I will never say I hate this country. For all the terrible things that may have happened, there are hundreds more positive things that have occured as well. Just because depressing stories make the headlines, it doesn't mean thats what this country is about. In one of Toby Keith's songs, he says, "shes that wife that decorates on the fouth of July, but says everyday is independence day". It is attitudes like this which enourage national pride that I think is most important, especially during hard times, such as this economic downturn. Today we celebrate the fact that we live in a free, independent nation where we can strive to become whatever we want. God bless the USA