Julia Fusco
3/10/09
The Effects of War on the Home front

So unimaginably costly, war takes a toll on everyone. During the civil war, 620,000 people died, but they weren’t the only people effected. Families on the home front were impacted by the war in many ways. Children were used to support the soldiers women were nurses and spies. Families suffered losses when family members were wounded, missing or dead.
Boys were used in a number of ways in the Civil War for example; powder monkey- boys carried ammunition to gun crews. These boys were usually between the age of ten and fifteen years old. They had to be quick and scamper across the ships deck to the cannons. (McPherson, 78)(History Alive 123) Some boys were chosen to be drummers in the war. For example, in one image a woman is crying as a soldier beckons for a boy wearing a suit and a drum on his back. The young boy is being recruited to the war to be a drummer. (Ahlstrom Basker,8) When the boys returned, they were changed from seeing all the horrors. For example, in a second image a drummer boy recently returning home looks sad and serious (Ahlstrom Basker, 43)
Rich men could get out if being drafted by paying a fee or having another man go for them. Poorer men couldn’t buy their way out. Some men who didn’t want to fight protested in “draft riots.” (History Alive 123) (I’m going to add more here like some primary sources.)
Unlike before the war, women had more responsibilities and duties; they had to take care of the plantations. (History Alive) Some women hired others to help with the chores. (Arnold,68) Countless numbers of soldiers were set up in nurse’s station at the home front and the battleground. It was the women’s jobs to help these men. Good health care was scarce at the time. Doctors knew nothing about germs. There were no antibiotics to give the soldiers to make them feel better. Legs, arms and other bones were shattered from Minie -balls. Amputation was the only way to fix the bone. Anesthesia shipments ran out, so to put the soldiers to sleep doctors would use chloroform when operating on them. The craziest way the doctors put the soldiers to sleep was they would try to get them drunk on whiskey. The conditions weren’t very sanitary because the saw the doctor would use for an amputation would still have blood from the previous soldier. (McPherson, 60)
“All though there was much resistance no one could deny that the services of women were needed in hospitals during the civil war, in both the North and the South. This Hospital appears to be rather neat and orderly but hospitals were usually understaffed and ill-equipped to deal with the huge number of casualties the battles produced.”(Zeinert, 42)
Dorothea Dix and Clara Barton were two important nurses during the Civil war. Dorothea Dix was the superintendent of female nurses her main priority was to recruit nurses. (McPherson, 60) Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross in 1881. She took care of patients near Cedar Mountain. Both soldiers from the North and South came to her. She also traveled with the Union so she could nurse the wounded. One task Barton did was tracking the whereabouts of missing soldiers. (Zeinert, 52)
Women also offered to spy for their side and were constantly reminded they were risking their lives. These women would sneak on to the enemy’s territory. Some got too nervous and couldn’t spy anymore; others were discovered.
“I was highly commended by the commanding general for my coolness [during my escape from confederate pickets] but was told kindly and candidly that I would not be permitted to go out again in that vicinity in the capacity of a spy as I would most assuredly meet with some of those who had seen me… and I would consequently be hung up to the nearest tree.” Said Sarah Emma Edmonds, a union spy, (zeinert, 29)
During the civil war women spies were clever. They hid messages in mysterious locations such as their petticoats, their hairdos, behind the images in their locket/jewelry, even the mail. Some women didn’t need disguise themselves to help their side. Susie King, a slave, earned her freedom in 1862 when confederates left their slaves behind and fled. Elizabeth van Lew was one of the best spies. She was daring and successful at what she did. (Zeinert, 29) Lew was the kind of women who said what she thought. This caused people to ignore her and in this case, being ignored worked to her advantage. She cared for soldier’s health so she took food and medicine to Union soldiers. She asked lots of questions and asked the prisoners what they had over heard from the guards; which she would report back to the generals. An unusual way Lew sent the news to general grant was just sending information through the mail. One of Elizabeth’s slaves would go to Elizabeth’s farm. (To collect produce) Her shoe heel was hollow; she would put messages in the hollow part of the shoe to deliver. No one was suspicious of these doings. (Zeinert, 30-31)
Another spy was Sarah Emma Edmonds who mastered disguises. She enlisted her self in the army as Frank Thompson. Sarah fought on the battlefield, was a nurse, and became a spy; she would disguise herself as a slave so she could slip through the picket lines. (Zeinert, 31- 32) after escaping she noticed the soldier watching her he said,
“I can trust you and will tell you a secret. I am not what I seem but am a female. I enlisted from the purest motives, and have remained undiscovered…. I wish you to bury me with your own hands…” This is quoted by Elizabeth Van Lew.( Zeinert,33) Sarah buried the soldier as requested.
“I learned to handle a musket very well while in the regiment, and could shoo straight and often hit the target. I assisted in cleaning the guns and used to fire them off, to see if the cartridges were dry, before cleaning and reloading, each day. I thought this great fun. I was also able to take a gun all apart, and put it together again.(Zenert,28 civil war memoirs)
Women in the North helped soldiers by making equipment in factories they made: weapons, quilts to sell, uniforms, around 100.000 women and children worked in factories making the equipment. The children who worked in the factories got little pay for their services. Children worked at the factories for long hours. This was because the prices of food and every day items went up quickly but wages didn’t.(Arnold, 34) In the South the home front was very different. The South had hardly any supplies. Houses and farms were torn down. Livestock were killed, buildings were burned down to the ground.(Arnold,35) In the South, prices rose. Family member were lost during the wars. Even people who were not soldiers were being bombed and had to fight for their own life because there was fighting everywhere.Families would hide in the cellars to be safe from the bombing.Here is an excerpt from Carrie Berry . Aug. 14. Sun. Sure enough we had shells in abundance last night. We averaged one every moment during the night. We expected every one would come through and hurt some of us but to our joy nothing on the lot was hurt. They have ben throwing them at us all day to day but they have not ben dangerous. Papa has ben at work all day making the cellar safe. Now we feel like we could stay at home in safety. I dislike to stay in the cellar so close but our soldiers have to stay in ditches. During Shermans march to the sea Sherman terrorized the people living in that area. Ruining everything in the soldiers path. Aug. 23. Tues. We feel very comfortable since we have moved but Mama is fretted to death all the time for fear of fire. There is a fire in town nearly every day. I get so tired of being housed up all the time. The shells get worse and worse every day. O that something would stop them. (Carrie Berry www.American civil war.com) ( I will add a paragraph about families grieving for t heir lost, wounded, or dead family members.)
In conclusion, life was very tough for the women and children on the homefront; having to work long hours in factories, work on the plantations or the house. Without the women helping the wounded many wouldn’t have made it. Even though there were so many that ended up dying, women played a vital role in the war.

The imperfection ofmaturity

Julia Fusco
2/20/09
English
The Imperfections of Maturity

“To be mature is to accept imperfections.” (This saying came from a fortune cookie I ate two weeks ago. This advice is insightful.) Imperfections happen every day, all the time and it is wise for this means people to learn from these mistakes. Multiple lessons make a person mature. There are numerous kinds of maturity. I’ve acquired various types of maturity over my short life.
A touching example of how I matured was at the hospital when I was there with my aunt who was about to give birth. Something went amiss, a moment of imperfection in a perfect birth. There was confusion with the type of anesthesia being used. Everyone freaked out and got uptight; tears were shed. I thought there was going to be a flood of tears but it ended as quickly as it started. I knew I would be there for my aunt’s well being no matter. We were flooded with emotions when baby Cole was born. Receiving emotional maturity from an infant was a memorable experience.
Intellectual maturity can come from imperfections too. Like most people, I became more intellectually mature when transitioning from middle school to high school. When someone has a favorite teacher that they love it can seem impossible to say goodbye. Knowing them for ten years and then just like that goodbye, adios, sayonara. Graduation was a nostalgic day. Knowing it was time to leave, I didn’t want to go. On the other hand, I wanted to bolt out the door away from the people I had been with for ten long up and down years. Having to navigate thorough the city to get to my new high school was challenging. I didn’t know which street was which. Trying to get to the train on a different route, wondering where I was seemed unnerving. Now doing this on my own is a piece of cake. Many books talk about coming of age and goodbyes. In Marigolds, Lizabeth had to say goodbye to her childhood. She was becoming an adolescent. Lizabeth’s father also had to say goodbye to being the one who brought home the money; the one the family looks up to. Lowering a persons self esteem is a huge imperfection to their image.
Another type of maturity is social and to students this means their popularity or social well being. People have imperfections too when they treat others unfairly. Dealing with exclusion and cliques had me distraught. Middle school was the time I was targeted, and I was the bull’s eye. “Guys guess what” Hey guys, you guys Heeello.” that was me in 7th and 8th grade. Sometimes taking me three or more tries to try to say my comment, to the point where I gave up. Having just one friend to hang out with was difficult. I became mature from dealing with girls like that. In Marigolds, lizabeth had a similar experienced she was “kicked” out of her group because originally she didn’t want to throw stones at Miss Lottie’s marigolds. Lizabeth seemed as if she was separated from the younger kids. They were still too young to understand the troubles going on around them.
Bravery was the third way I matured. One exhilarating experience was traveling to Costa Rica, except when our teacher instructed us to go on the sky trek. Petrified was one of the few emotions to describe how I felt being hundreds of feet up in the air, clutching the rope taking baby steps inching along. Classmates of mine skipped across the rope, Amazed I actually made it across the whole sky trek. Unexpectedly, now I realize facing a person’s fears makes a person more adult like.
In conclusion, emotional events can make an individual more grown up. So can realizations, saying goodbye to someone very meaningful or a persons child hood and all the memories and nor wanting to say good-bye. All these events can start with an imperfection.

I will,I can I make

will, I can, I make
What can I make you ask?
I can make acid rain look beautiful
Like it’s never been touched by acid
Write an article in two seconds flat
Create odes about trivial objects
Give life to an imaginary characters a masterpiece, a backyard in to a forest
I make everything seem wonderful and important
I make everyone proud (of their life)
I can be bionic girl to my mom
I make myself write, and write and write
My cooking becomes a life of it’s own and the food tastes like magic and unimaginable
I write poems all summer long but can in English class
I make people crazy when I talk about penguins
Because I am
I’m just to light hearted
And more

why you should read For poets

Julia Fusco
9/10/9
“Everyone deserves the chance to fly” is a line from the song Defying Gravity in the musical Wicked. The inspiration to fly can also be found in “For poets” literally or figuratively. Rarely do poems instruct and inspire a reader. Everyone wants inspiration one way or another. “For Poets,” a cheery poem, gives the audience that spark of emotion. Science isn’t the only class where dissection goes on. Deeper meanings can be dissected in literature too. If you Love a poem there are reasons for that love. Specifically for this poem the reasons are it has a secret meaning, it encourages who ever is enjoying this piece of literature, and the verses are written in second person.
Want to know why every person should read “For Poets?” This work of art encourages the reader. When a writer is working on a piece if literature they want to be encouraged; so does the everyday person. Parents advise their kids what to do; so can a poem. In the first line of the poem, the author recommends “Stay beautiful” “But don’t stay down underground too long.” But, the poem also tells the reader what not to do. People including authors need to know “Not to be a worm” “Or a root.” The poem instructs the reader to “Blink and think”
Although many written pieces talk from a perspective of he/she, it, or me this piece does something very few pieces do: talk directly to the reader. ” Second person is the style of writing “For Poets”. Notice the poem talks to the reader it doesn’t use he, she, it, or me. It instructs “Be the very hero of birds.” You are the one doing these actions. Unbelievably when the author talks directly to the reader it works to get the point across.
Finally, the poem has a secret meaning. Here’s the trick; whoever reads this poem thinks it’s about taking a walk or observing nature. Al Frank says, in one verse “go in to the sun” in another verse he says, “Swim up stream.” Examine, the last verse is “don’t forget to fly.” Secret meaning makes this poem worth reading. Inspiration comes in so many beautiful forms. Have an adventure, take flight, try do your best that’s “For poets” real meaning.

nhd reflection year 2

This year I did Andy Warhol for N.H.D. I learned a lot about his life. Andy Warhol had an illness who makes him move in voluntarily; the illness was called St vitas dance. He had two brothers his parents were from the check republic. At first he lived in poor apartments with no water and electricity. Later he earned enough money to buy a town house. he collected cookie jars. He had about 400 wigs and 135 cookie jars. Another secret fact is the only people who saw him without his wigs are his nephews.Andy warhol was a mentor to Keith Haring and jean Basquiat. Basquiat did paintings that look like scribbles. Haring did animated paitings and painted on subway station walls.Andy did many silkscreens and celebrities asked andy to paint silk screens of them. There is only on e other Artist who has a museum dedicated to him.(Miss Klose told me that.)
I would get a bigger car next time I have to lug one of those boards home. One improvement is I would tell people not to cover the part of the board under the marque. The reason is if you don't the marque will cover the images. Luckily I fixed this issue. I had my images on the board and I had two portraits of Andy I put the marque on and I found out the marque was covering it. SO I peeled off the images re-arranged the images and reglued them.( they are now on the marque.) Also I would give more time. I would take out the annotated bibliography. That is the hardest part for me. I would improve the type of paper i used for my images. When I glued the picture to the background paper It sometimes smudged the picture. I would improve the word limit It was hard to keep it under 500. i managed to do so but it was. Hard I would have a camera to take pictures and have spare batteries.(my camera's batteries broke.)
This Years project is very different from this year.LAst year I did a play on William Still. This year I did an exhibit on Andy Warhol. The difference is one had twice the images. This year I got to work at home more.I didn't have to recite any lines.(i go tired of reciting my lines.I had more items this year and none were props. I had to write a process paper and annotated bibliography both years.I was better prepared for what was in store this year. Both year's my projects were good enough to go to the next level.

Another annotation for my nhd project

(14) Hart Diana History Alive Palo Alto California2008
This textbook was helpful with the historical context; of the time period Andy Warhol was most famous. For national history day students need to have historical context for their project. It can’t just be biographical information. The book talked about counter cultural ideas of the 1960’s and how they appeared in magazines, T.V and news forms of expression in art, which is what Andy Warhol, did. That is one way the textbook helped. It talked about the protest at Berkeley college and Woodstock. This is all historical context.

post # 2 oon historical context

(13) ushistory.org independence hall association coyright2008 http//www.ushistory.org/us/The site starts quite popular quotes from the 1960’s. (One or two of them were also in the textbook.) The quotes were: “make love not war. don’t trust any one over 30. Turn on turn in and drop out I am a human being - Please do not fold bend spindlier or mutilate. The site explained how people known as hippie’s changes the way they lived from the way their parents lived. The site said hippies “broke” their parents values. The site was good at talking about the sixties. A lot f o the information is also in the textbook we looked in fro-historical context. The bad thing is it doesn’t tell you whether the mushrooms are the food or something else. It is the first site to mention their new astrological beliefs and new religions. The site also says they thought casually of sex they rejected birth control and experimented with drugs. There was a down side to experimenting with drugs and pregnancies. It says they tested with mushrooms.