Dr. Ruth Gruber

Yesterday, as Thanksgiving break allows, I spent some quality time with my mom and dad.  We went to the the movies in Highland Park, where we spent $11 on popcorn and a drink, by the way, and saw the documentary Ahead of Time.  It chronicled the life of Ruth Gruber, a journalist now in her late nineties.

Click HERE to see the trailer.

Her life is well passed blog worthy.  Everyone should hear her story-- she was born in 1911 and is ninety-nine years old.  She became the youngest doctorate in the entire world while studying in Cologne, Germany at the age of twenty.  She married at the age of forty and had two children.  In her lifetime, to be specific:

She journeyed to the Soviet Arctic in 1935 while reporting for The New York Herald Tribune; was a special assistant to Interior Secretary Harold Ickes during World War II; escorted 1,000 Jewish refugees to Oswego, N.Y., during the war; covered the Nuremberg war-crimes trials; and accompanied the globe-trotting Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry as it examined the question of Jewish refugees and Palestine. 

                 -John Anderson, New York Times 9-2-10 

Dr. Gruber inspires me as a Jew, as a woman, and as a human.  Women of her day mainly held "pink collar" jobs (ie: teacher, secretary, nanny).  She did not follow the obvious career path; instead she pursued a passion.  That pursuit, whether or not coincidentally, led her to become one of the most powerful journalists in the country.  As a Jew, she took special interest in the Holocaust and the establishment of the state of Israel.  Here in America, even, odds were not in Jews' favor.  Especially during the Depression, Jews were shunned from the market place and anti-semitism.  The rise of Hitler did not just affect Europeans; he instilled fear world wide (Center for Jewish History).  Keeping all of this in mind, excelling in a anti-semitic, patriarchal society was even more of an accomplishment.  If for nothing else, I admire Ruth Gruber for her courage to even enter such a work force.

Her impact is long lasting, her story not known well enough.  I encourage everyone to see the documentary that tells even just twenty years of her story.  She truly changed my opinion of what power is.  Whether for her selfless aid to Holocaust survivors, her advancements in the field of journalism, the friendships she maintained, or her sense of humor evident in her film, Dr. Ruth Grubin deserves another ninety-nine years.

Ruth in Alaska, 1941.  Click HERE for more pictures of Dr. Gruber in front of and behind the camera.

Gobble Gobble

As we think about perilous times in class, it becomes more and more evident that the non perilous times are ones to cherish.  With Thanksgiving approaching, I find it appropriate to reflect on what we as Americans are actually celebrating.

On a selfish note, I am looking forward to three days off from school!  Before 1941, students did not enjoy the same luxury.  Thanksgiving became a national holiday after a 40 year campaign spearheaded by Sarah Josepha Hale led to congress' approval of the proposal.  Thank you Sarah!  (See Thanksgiving in its many "editions" here)

No matter how much I love sleeping in, I cannot put anything above family.  I hope that everyone enjoys their holiday with a table filled with mashed potatoes and surronded by the ones they love.  Happy Holidays!

War, war, go away. Come again another day...

Like the weather, violence is an unpredictable constant.  The world went through a "golden age" without war many years ago, but I doubt the people declared Golden knew what was happening in North, South, and Central America.  I cannot believe that we have ever enjoyed World Peace.  Like rain, it stops and starts, and no one really likes getting caught in it.
I looked up the origin of the song "Rain, Rain, Go Away" and found its roots were in none other than: that's right, war.  (Click HERE for lyrics and origin).  I did a little experiment about war's prevelance in our culture.  I Googled "War" and I Googled "Peace."  "War" had 957,000,000 matches, and "peace" had 267,000,000 matches.  That's about 700,000,000 more articles about war.  My conclusion- there's too much of it.

Another interesting thought:
Forbe's Most Dangerous City: Detroit, Michigan
Detroit High School Graduation Rate: 21.7% ****

Forbe's Safest City: Plano, Texas (suburb of Dallas)
Dallas Graduation Rate: 81.3%

Any correlation?  I think so.  One way to counter violence in our society is to educate ourselves.  We can overcome adversity.  Violence in our cities IS war, whether it is in text books or not.  Guns, knives, bombs, what have you, is all human hurting human.  War looms over us like a rain cloud.  Let's hope for sunny skies soon.

****This scares me!

Who's the Boss?

 If someone acted like a queen, they would be treated better than someone that acted like a lowly high schooler.  The Stanford Prison Experiment expanded this very topic.  A basic synopsis: People of equal status were divided into "greater than" and "less than," but only treated as such for a few days.  

If someone is treated inhumanely, they will believe they are inhuman and act in part.  If someone is treated well, they will believe they're pretty darn impressive. "Prisoners" took to numbers rather than names, and "Guards" became disciplinarians; they were not guarding anything but their own power.  Surprisingly, the prisoners obeyed their "masters" on the very first day, well knowing they are not actually in prison. 

Psychology proved stronger than logic.  The men were equals with the exception of a week or so of different treatment.  The guards went so far as to make the prisoners wash toilets with their bare hands.  The prisoners obeyed. 

In another case, one we can identify with, affects our society everyday.  Apparently, (click HERE to read article from CNN) attractive people are more highly compensated than their homely peers.  Looks do not impact one's abilities, but since one group is dubbed "better," they are treated as such.  In some societies, being male is superior to being female.  Regardless of actual personalities, the males will be treated better.

Whose to say teachers are so much better than students?  They get desks and department secretaries, while we get a 1'x4' metal box and a number.  (ID number=Prison number? hmm...) 

Who gets the job?  Mr. Fancy or Mr. Regular?**

**They're the same guy!! The King of Spain**