A. Burns English 190 Blog

Boondock or Booncrock?

The movie The Boondock Saints is the story of two Irish brothers who believe they have been chosen to rid the world of evil.  This movie has developed a large cult following over the years.  The Irish Republican Army (IRA) has been active again over the past several months, and I wanted to compare vigilantism in The Boondock Saints with vigilantism in Northern Ireland.  While I believe that vigilantes in Northern Ireland are the real deal, I think that the two brothers in The Boondock Saints are misguided and have absolutely no idea what they are doing.

I had not seen this movie up until writing this essay, but I had heard good things about it. Everyone talked about how awesome it was, so I went into watching it with fairly high expectations.  I was let down to say the very least.  The movie had some positives but did not live up to expectations, maybe because the plot has some serious holes in it or maybe because the movie really just did not know if it wanted to be slightly comedic or more serious and with a deeper message.  I could name everything that is wrong with the film, but this isn’t a review of the movie, so I’ll focus on the ideas behind their vigilantism.  These two guys get in a bar fight.  The next day the guys they beat up come looking for them, and the two brothers end up killing them in self-defense.  Then they get this idea that they should start killing people for a career because they’re so good at it.  The two inexperienced killers then start popping mafia members left and right.  Along the way they also kill some random people who they deem as evil and worthy of dying.  All in all they rack up a body count of twenty plus dead people in a few short days.  Not only is the movie totally unrealistic, but the two brothers’ goal is to simply rid the world of evil, which is extremely broad and very problematic.  How do you determine who’s evil and who isn’t?  This is the question that the movie tries to raise but ultimately fails to do.  The idea behind the movie seems right, but the movie itself fails to answer the questions that it is based on.  To make up for this, there are a few minutes of extra video footage at the end of the movie featuring strangers on the street being asked what they think of the so-called “Saints.”  The movie itself isn’t good enough to answer the question, so they had to have people actually ask the questions to get the point across.  The strangers on what the “Saints” are doing: “These guys are playing God.  I mean who the hell do they think they are?”  “Who are they to be judge and jury?”  “I think they just get off on killing people.”  These quotes help expand on the idea of vigilantism with the religious aspect and questioning why they have the right to decide if someone is bad or not, but they also prove that the vigilantes in The Boondock Saints are just reckless guys who like to shoot people up because they’re “strangely comfortable with it.”

The vigilantes in The Boondock Saints are on a mission to kill evil people in the world.  This is much different from the real-life vigilantes in the IRA.  Rather than a broad goal like killing everyone who’s bad, the IRA has a specific goal of eliminating the British from Northern Ireland so as to create a unified Ireland.  One major difference between the two brothers and the IRA is that of motive.  The brothers do not seem to have a motive other than there are bad people in the world who need to be killed.  It is like they just woke up one morning and decided that they were going to put all of the evil people in the world on trial but then skip the trial and go straight to the execution, regardless if the accused was guilty or not.  The IRA has a long history of fighting for a unified Ireland.  They were not formed on a whim just to kill for the sake of killing people.  The “Saints” make killing their priority.  The IRA uses murder as a tactic but they don’t kill people just for fun like the “Saints” seem to do.  I’ll give a brief history of the IRA for those of you who are not familiar with them so you can get a better idea about why they do what they do.

Beginning in the year 1169, the English invaded Ireland in an attempt to colonize the island.  Before this time the Irish already had an established society with its own unique political and social structures.  Over the next eight hundred years the Irish rebelled against the British unsuccessfully.  As part of the colonization, the English tried to impose the Protestant faith over the predominately Roman Catholic Irish.  Over time, the six counties of Ulster became mostly Protestant, while the rest of the country remained Catholic (Holland 2).  This is where the hostility between the Catholics and Protestants originated.  For the entirety of the conflict, up until present day, the British have been on the Protestant side and the IRA on the Catholic side.

Beginning in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, anti-British feelings increased, and many secret societies were formed to fight for the republican cause, most notably the IRA.  The late 1910’s and early 1920’s were incredibly bloody because of a series of assassinations by the IRA and the British retaliation where fourteen people were killed on Bloody Sunday 1920.  Hoping to avoid more conflict, the British and Michael Collins of the IRA signed a truce in July of 1921.  The treaty stated that Ireland would now be a self-governing free state.  The six Protestant counties in the north would remain a part of Great Britain and be called Northern Ireland.  Collins eagerly signed the treaty, hence creating the Irish Free State.  The Irish people’s approval was never given on this treaty, and the IRA did not approve of the treaty because they felt that the northern six counties should be a part of their new dominion.  Ireland eventually severed all ties with Britain in 1949 and created the Republic of Ireland, while Northern Ireland still remained in British control (Streissguth 31).

Between the time of the treaty and roughly the late 1960’s, there was little action on the part of the IRA.  Then, in 1969, the IRA split into two separate factions.  An IRA convention voted to recognize the parliament in Northern Ireland, which caused dissatisfaction among some members.  They decided to break off and form their own wing of the IRA, called the Provisional IRA.  They refused to acknowledge the parliament in Northern Ireland and vowed to use violence to unite Ireland and expel the British.  The other wing of the IRA came to be known as the Official IRA.  The Provisional IRA, or Provos, became the most well known faction of the IRA that was responsible for the majority of the terrorist actions in the later part of the twentieth century (Provisional IRA).

Whether or not you’re Catholic or Protestant, Irish or not, you can see the IRA’s motivation and desire to kick the British out of their country.  They’re being vigilant because a foreign country is trying to rule theirs.  It is the same as with the American colonists expelling the British.  The two brothers from The Boondock Saints say that they have been chosen by God to rid the world of evil, but their trigger-happy fingers make it seem like they are trying to be God and that religion is just an excuse for them to go around dropping people.  The vigilantes from the IRA seem to be much more focused on what they are trying to achieve.  Now I do not condone the IRA’s violent actions at all because I think there are more peaceful ways to bring about change, but I support their goal because it is something worth fighting for and is achievable.  The two brothers are deciding other people’s fates without any real thought about why they are doing that, and it seems like they are in way over their heads.  Vigilantes, like the IRA, take law enforcement into their own hands to achieve a certain goal.  The two brothers from The Boondock Saints do not seem to realize that their vigilantism is flawed because for one, there will always be evil in the world, and two, a bullet to the back of the head is not the only solution.  Evil’s definition is not universal, and the “Saints” shouldn’t try and make their’s law just to satisfy their thirst for killing.

Works Cited

Holland, Jack. Too Long a Sacrifice. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1981.

“Provisional IRA: War, ceasefire, endgame?.” BBC News. BBC. 28 Mar 2009 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/>.

Streissguth, Thomas. International Terrorists. Minneapolis: The Oliver Press, 1993.

Anatomy of an All-Nighter

I found this while procrastinating in the library at 3 am when I should have been writing a history essay.  Anyways, I figured that at least a couple of you will be pulling one of these during the next two weeks.

Anatomy of an All-Nighter

Cramming 12 weeks of calculus or the history of the Western world into 12 hours at night is the ultimate collegiate challenge. Our natural cycles of sleep and wakefulness are governed by nothing less than the circadian rotation of the earth, and overriding these cycles is difficult. “These rhythms exist even in the absence of time cues such as sunlight and clocks,” says Charmane Eastman, Ph.D., the director of the Biological Rhythms Research Laboratory at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center, in Chicago.

The all-night scholar is also contending with fatigue: Most people going into an all-nighter haven’t slept in at least 12 hours, and so their brains are already working less efficiently. According to a study done at the Sleep Research Center at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, the reactions of a group of college students who had been sleeping five hours a night were 20 percent slower than those of a group that had been getting their proper eight hours of shut-eye.

There’s no way to beat the clock completely; no matter what, staying up all night takes its toll on both physical health and mental performance. But an understanding of the body’s natural rhythms can help a night owl maximize brain power.

10:00-11:00 p.m.

First yawns occur around a person’s usual bedtime. They mark the first dip in the biological alertness cycle. An early evening nap - if you can fall asleep ? will help put off this decline.

11:00 p.m.-12:00 midnight

Body temperature, which corresponds to the circadian ebb and flow of alertness falls throughout the night. A room that was comfortable earlier will now feel cold. Since a warm room puts people to sleep, putting on a sweater is a better solution than turning up the heat.

Caffeine helps keep workers awake at night, but doubling the dose doesn’t necessarily double the length or intensity of caffeine’s effect. It just makes you wired. Feeling antsy can trigger anxiety, which in turn increases heart rate - further increasing the anxiety. Also, coffee is less effective at 4 a.m. than at 2 a.m. because at 4 a.m. the body’s circadian rhythm is in its sleepiest phase. 

Amphetamines. Although amphetamines (speed) are effective stimulants, tolerance develops quickly and can lead to addiction. Frequent use can put dangerous stress on the heart and nervous system; large doses can cause cardiac disorders, depression, and coma. For these reasons, amphetamines are strictly controlled.

All stimulant drugs, caffeine included, disturb the normal sleep cycle, which is a problem for students who do plan to nap. Caffeine, however, is a relatively mild, safe stimulant. Speed is much harder to predict - you never know how long its effects will last, and it can give you a severe case of the jitters. Also, when a powerful amphetamine wears off, users can feel sluggish - obviously a detriment around exam time.

1:00-2:00 a.m.

Cram plan. The best nocturnal work strategy is to start with the toughest material, which requires the most brainpower, and to save work that takes less concentration for the wee hours of the morning, when people tend to be sleepier and less motivated. If a student is burning the midnight oil to write a paper, they’ll be most productive by first tackling all the meaty sections, then revising, writing the conclusion, and typing at 4 a.m. - when they’re not likely to wax poetic. Since EXERCISE helps ward off drowsiness, pacing, doing jumping jacks, or boogying around the room to a great new song will invigorate. RELOCATING can also refresh the weary.

Night Nibbles. Snacks not only break up the monotony of studying but are less likely to cause drowsiness than one large meal. Best choices: cottage cheese with fruit, low-fat or “lite” cheese, low-fat yogurt, celery sticks, carrots, peppers, broccoli, tomatoes, lean cold cuts, water-packed tuna, frozen fruit bars (made with real fruit only, not cream and sugar), oranges, grapefruits.

Best beverages. Iced tea, diet cola, club soda, and fruit juice are good choices for sipping all night. Hot cocoa with milk provides a double whammy - caffeine plus protein.

4:00-5:00 a.m.

Second wind. As the circadian cycle moves toward morning and the alert phase, body temperature rises. Even the person who hasn’t slept a wink begins to feel a second wind. Pseudo-second winds can be brought on throughout the night by stimulants like exercise, caffeine, protein, conversation, or cold air.

Catnap caution. The desire to NOD OFF is strongest now, since the biological clock is ticking its slowest. It’s a good time to nap because the circadian rhythm is shifting into higher gear, making it easier to rise after one or two hours of rest. But shorter naps may do more harm than good. When tired people doze off, they immediately enter the deepest stage of sleep. If they get up after 15 minutes, they may not feel alert for another hour - a phenomenon called SLEEP INERTIA.

6:00-7:00 a.m.

Step out and see the sunrise. One of the pleasures of an all-nighter; and there’s fresh air to boot.

Food to fight sleep. Though CARBOHYDRATES have long been touted as high-energy food and everyone knows that PROTEIN is a source of long-term energy, the combination may make you sleepy, according to Richard Wurtman, M.D., and Judith J. Wurtman, Ph.D., at MIT, in Cambridge. Most animal protein contains small amounts of an amino acid called tryptophan, which contributes to the production of serotonin, a neurotransmitter thought to encourage sleepiness. Its effect is not much felt, however, because it is just one of protein’s many amino acids. But when carbohydrates are combined with protein, they act to divert the other amino acids away from the brain, leaving tryptophan a clear passage. So nosh on carbs, if you must, but you may do better with pure, unadulterated protein.

FAT is out when it comes to fighting sleep. It takes a long time to digest, making a person feel sluggish. So protein with low fat content is best of all.

8:00 a.m.

Test time. Habitually late sleepers who have been up all night and who put their heads down for an hour or so before a morning exam might never make it to the class. Early birds, however, may feel refreshed after an early morning snooze. Either way, a good pre-exam plan is to exercise, shower, and eat a high-protein, low-fat breakfast.

Apres-all-nighter advice. The tired and carbohydrate-deprived can now indulge in bread, cereal, pasta, or other carbs in preparation for sleep. To get back on track, a one- or two-hour NAP after the pressure is off is better than sleeping all day.

Even though people may feel alert the day after an all-nighter ? because the circadian alertness cycle is so strong ? they are physiologically exhausted. Driving a long distance after an all-nighter can be risky, and post-all-nighter partying only puts more stress on an already vulnerable body. The poor body’s best reward is sleep.

CE #2: Gary Gilmore

Gary Gilmore murdered two Mormon men in 1976.  He was executed only six months later.  The lack of emotion in these first two sentences is conveyed in Jill McDonough’s Habeas Corpus poem on Gary Gilmore.  Through her use of poetic structures and direct quotations from sermons and other sources, McDonough is able to impart a deeper meaning than the simplicity of her tone and the sonnet form might initially suggest.  McDonough argues that both Gary Gilmore’s actions and the poem’s form, structures, and literary elements combine to show that his crimes, the ensuing trial and execution, and his atonement were anything but straightforward and simple.

Many of the poems in Habeas Corpus follow a certain form.  Some of them are only about the murder or murders, while others are only about the aftermath or execution.  There are also many that follow the form of dividing the poem up into two stanzas with the first stanza being about the murder and the second stanza being about the execution.  There are several deviations within the collection, but many follow one of these three forms.  The poem about Gary Gilmore most closely follows this last form because it is divided up into two main stanzas that talk about the murders and then the execution, respectively.  However, it deviates in that it has a third stanza that is only two lines long.  The poems in this collection are supposed to be sonnets.  A sonnet is a poetic form that has fourteen lines and ten syllables per line.  The poem about Gary Gilmore is different in that while it appears to follow the sonnet form, it is actually fifteen lines long, rather than the standard fourteen.  It also starts out following the ten-syllable per line form for the first four lines but then deviates for five lines until returning again to ten syllables for lines ten and eleven.  It deviates once more and then returns on the very last line of the poem.  I think the deviations on the number of lines and the number of syllables per line is a way of saying that Gilmore’s case may have appeared to be like any other execution, but something was different and did not quite fit the mold.  The poem tries to be a sonnet but ultimately is not capable, just like Gilmore’s case of not fitting the mold of a normal execution.  Gilmore murdered these two men in Utah in 1976 for reasons only known to him.  Execution was reinstituted in 1976 after having been suspended since 1972.  Gilmore was the first person to be executed after capital punishment resumed.  His case is also unique in that he waived all of his appeal rights and demanded that his death sentence be fulfilled as soon as possible.  This combination of the details surrounding his crimes and his execution are considered out of the ordinary compared to other executions.  These circumstances help explain why Gilmore’s case did not fit the normal mold and why the poem about him does not fit the normal form of a sonnet.

Like the poem itself, the first stanza can be divided into two parts.  The first part is about Gilmore’s life of crime.  The first four lines all have ten syllables, and the ends of lines two and four rhyme perfectly with “when” and “men.”  Thus a pattern is created of having each line match the sonnet form.  Line five is the start of the deviation in that every line for the remainder of the stanza contains more or less than ten syllables but never ten exactly.  These lines that deviate do not contain any perfect rhymes and contain only one assonant rhyme with “lamb” and “man.”  Lines one through four follow the form; these are the same old crimes that Gilmore committed throughout his life.  The rest of the stanza deviates; this is the new crime, murder.  The pattern was theft and drugs and jail, now they have been replaced with murder and execution.  The shift from following the sonnet form to ignoring it all together is significant of Gilmore’s life because he transitioned from smaller crimes to the biggest crime of all.  The second half of the first stanza signifies this shift by being completely different than the first half.  Like the poem not fitting the sonnet form and the second half of the first stanza not matching the first, Gilmore’s new crime does not fit the right pattern or form of his old crimes and their consequences.

The second half of the first stanza is from a sermon delivered by Brigham Young, a leader of the Mormon Church, which is significant because the two men that Gilmore killed were Mormon.  “There are sins that the blood of a calf, of a lamb or doves cannot remit.  They must be atoned by the blood of man” (lines 6-8).  McDonough uses Christ imagery to describe how Gilmore is able to be atoned for what he did.  Christ died because the sins that man committed were so terrible that the only way to atone for them was through the death of a man, Jesus.  He died for other’s sins, which is different than Gilmore because he sought atonement through his own death for the crimes that he committed himself.  The crimes that he committed were so horrific that the only way to atone was through the death of a man, not an animal or any other sacrifice.

The second stanza of the poem describes Gilmore’s execution.  It follows the ten-syllable per line form for only two out of the five lines.  The differing of the syllables is messy.  McDonough does this to show that the way Gilmore died, by firing squad, was not nearly as clean as a hanging or a lethal injection.  The actual killing is described as “bang, bang, bang” (line 13), which creates the image of a messy death.

The third and final stanza consists of only two lines.  The last line is the fifteenth line of what was supposed to be a fourteen-line sonnet.  The extra line might imply that there is something more underneath the surface of what happened.  Maybe that extra line follows up on all of the evidence throughout the poem, like the circumstances surrounding his crimes and execution and his atonement, and concludes that Gilmore’s case was not like any other and not so straightforward and simple as McDonough’s tone and the sonnet form might suggest.  However, the last line reverts back to the sonnet form and rhymes perfectly with “found” and “ground.” This return to the sonnet form has a sense of finality and makes the argument that maybe Gilmore’s case was not that different because every poem in Habeas Corpus ends the same way, in death.

Works Cited

McDonough, Jill. “Gary Gilmore.” Habeas Corpus. Comp. McDonough. Cambridge, U.K.: Salt, 2008. 40. Print.

The Dictionary of Bullshit

I picked up this book at Barnes & Noble over the summer and found that it contains many examples of what Orwell talked about.  It describes bullshit as being:

deceitful language; lies 2: jargon or cliches intended to place a positive spin on something plainly negative 3: anything said by a politician, CEO or PR flak 4: new age, modern, postmodern, cutting edge, meta or Xtreme 5: pretty much everything you read or hear these days.

It gives some very good examples of dying metaphors, familiar phrases, and pretentious diction.  In the majority of these definitions, I think the thought corrupts the language because the politicians or executives are shady, which in turn corrupts the thought because these so-called bullshitters get too comfortable using these phrases and kind of just recite them on cue.  This is a destructive pattern for both the people in power who use these phrases and language in general because I’m sure all of us have heard at least one of these before.

Here are some of my favorites:

Political Bullshit - “I hear what you’re saying….(but I think it’s complete crap).”  A commonly used phrase to politely tell someone that you are deliberately not paying attention.

More Political Bullshit - “I’m glad you asked me that…(now this gives me the opportunity to talk about something totally different because I don’t want to answer your question).”  How many of you have heard a politician say this and then their answer is the complete opposite?

Corporate Bullshit - A Mission Statement.  Most mission statements are very long and vague because the corporation who came up with it either doesn’t know what their mission is or they don’t want you to know.  A mission statement was originally a posting on the outside of a mission describing their goal of religious conversion.

Dying Metaphor - “Spick and span”  A spick is a nail and a span is a measure of butter so how they get clean and spotless out of it is beyond me.

Ready to Blog It Up

I’ve been to art museums before, but I’ve never been to an art exhibit where one specific artist was being featured.  I was looking for a cultural event, and I saw that there was an exhibit at Lee Hall and thought it was the perfect idea.  I had originally planned on going last Sunday, but unfortunately it’s only open on “Select Sundays” and last Sunday was not one of them.  I woke up early the next morning and headed over for the 9:00 opening.  I usually walk the same paths everyday for class and had never even set foot in that part of campus until this week.  That was a cultural experience in itself in a way.  That side of campus behind the library is actually very nice, and I’m glad I chose the event that I did because I probably wouldn’t have wandered over there otherwise.

I walked in through the side entrance, right to the doors of the Lee Gallery.  It was a nice setup.  It was well lit with white walls to accentuate the works of art.  I was the only one there, so I was able to spend as much time as I needed without feeling rushed.  I picked up a brochure at the door and probably would have been able to write this based solely off of the information in it, but I feel that if I had done that, I would have really missed out on a lot of the details that can be seen up close.  The room was set up with drawings all around the outside, with drawings on walls in the interior of the room as well.  There were several large boards that told of the background and influences of the artist, Terry K. Hunter.

The first drawing was created for the exhibit and took the same name, “The Grid Turns the Corner.”  It definitely set the tone for the rest of the gallery as it contained many of the same characteristics as the other drawings.  The first several were very brightly colored and quite beautiful.  Right away I realized that some of the main emphasizes were the portrayal of African-Americans and the use of square grids.  As I walked down the line, it was evident that the style and attitude had shifted from color to black and white.  I noticed a couple ongoing themes and certain things that kept reappearing.  Other than African-Americans and grids, there were lots of guns, money, clocks and calendars, and modern items such as TVs and Nike shoes.  Many of the drawings had hands front and center.  They were very elaborately drawn and were usually pointing to something.  Some of the themes appeared to be war, liberty, injustice, and poverty.  Each drawing had so many details that you could probably stand there for a long time and still notice something new.  Just the way that everything was put together was very impressive and delivered a strong message.

Terry K. Hunter’s “The Grid Turns the Corner” was full of beautiful and thought-evoking drawings based on his view of the world.  It’s definitely worth seeing but isn’t something to just walk through in a few minutes.  Overall, it was a good first cultural event because I was able to see some really cool art and walk through a part of campus that I had never seen before.

Intro

Name: Andy Burns

Major (Minor): English with a Spanish minor

Hometown: Downers Grove, IL

Favorite Book: The Great Gatsby

Favorite Movie: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Favorite Band/Musician: U2, Carolina Liar, The Vines, I-94, Death Cab for Cutie, The Dandy Warhols