How Similar is Gang Life to Army Life?

  Today in English class we were discussing two Jorge Borges's fictional works based on Herbert Asbury's book The Gangs of New York. The story that will be discussed now is "Monk Eastman: Purveyor of Iniquities".  After being sent to jail and his gang that formally consisted of 1,200 members was dissolved, Monk Eastman commits misdemeanors and is in and out of jail. Monk Eastman eventually decides to "turn over a new leaf" and join the army to fight in WWI. The question in class was whether he actually turned a new leaf. The army from my perspective is a similar structure to the life style that Monk Eastman was used to.Being in a gang involved fighting with competing gangs over boundaries,and stolen goods. Many, if not all wars were started over issues such as boundaries and natural resources, as in goods. Monk Eastman was able to satiate his thirst for blood and gore by joining the army. He was from my perspective not a changed person. He was still doing the activities that he loved, fighting the enemy. The only difference was that: 
1- Killing in combat is legal, while killings resulting from gang fights are illegal.  
2- People who kill in the army are considered heroes, while people who kill other people in gang fights are considered murderers.

   Eastman had the mentality that is consistent with being in the army, staying loyal to his side,and fighting and killing the enemy. Being in a gang also means roughing it, and facing the possibility that you might be injured or killed. Those parts of gang life are also consistent with army life.In many ways army life is very similar to gang life.  
In the end we see that Eastman had never actually reformed himself. He returned to petty crime. On his final day Eastman was shot by Jerry Bohan, a corrupt Prohibitionist  and Eastman's friend. Eastman died from that gun shot .Bohan was sent to jail for three years.The authorities also discovered upon Eastman's murder that he was bootlegging alcohol.He was buried with military honors. So I guess the cliche that, "A tiger cannot change its stripes overnight"  is true.

Is Walt Whitman's Poetry About New York Relevant to The New York of Today?

  A few weeks ago in English class my professor assigned the class to read four poems from Walt Whitman's  Leaves of Grass. I looked at this assignment with disdain because, I am not a big fan of poetry. I especially had a hard time reading Whitman's poetry because it is very idealistic and I am more realistic. Another problem that I had with Whitman's poetry is that I find it hard to decipher the meaning behind poems, and Whitman's poetry was no exception. Although I do not like poetry I and had a hard time reading the poems, I found that one of Whitman's poems did have some meaning to it. The meaning was relevant even for the New York City of today. I found "A Broadway Pageant" addressed a situation that is still relevant to New York City, diversity. Whitman mentions all the different types of immigrants coming to New York. New York City does not have one culture but many cultures. New York City is still known for its diversity today. This was obviously relevant over 100 years ago, which is when this poem was written. We see this because as Whitman says in "A Broadway Pageant":

"For not the envoys nor the tann`d Japanee from his island only,
Lithe and silent the Hindoo appears, the Asiatic continent itself
appears, the past, the dead,
The murky night-morning of wonder and fable inscrutable,
The envelop`d mysteries, the old and unknown hive-bees,
The north, the sweltering south, eastern Assyria, the Hebrews, the
ancient of ancients,
Vast desolated cities, the gliding present, all of these and more
are in the pageant-procession."

New York City is truly one of a kind. Growing up in New 

York was quite an interesting experience. I was exposed 

to a lot of different cultures. One of my babysitters was from 

Barbados and introduced me to mangoes. I grew up near 

China Town and developed appreciation towards Chinese art. 

I also have a deep appreciation for Indian food. Although my difficulty with Whitman's poetry was so great, that I wrote that "Walt Whitman can go f*ck himself" as my Facebook status. So Walt Whitman's 
poetry although difficult for me was somewhat relevant to my 
life. 

Censorship on Jewish News Sites

As it has been reported on February 18th 2011, Milton  "Yehoshua" Balkany, a rabbi who ran a school, as well as having political connections, was sentenced to four years in prison for last year's unsuccessful extortion attempt on SAC, a multi-million dollar hedgefund. Balkany was convicted of this crime in November of 2010. After  reading the news on the secular news websites, I decided to see how Vos Iz Neias dealt with the sentencing. VIN is a Jewish news website that normally posts stories from secular news sources. The  VIN article this time however took the Wall Street Journal article, but also added in their own words and other people's words to make Balkany look favorable in the eyes of those who read the article. One person who said words in favor of Balkany was Zev Brenner. Zev Brenner is a Jewish radio talk show host who had Balkany on his show soon after the initial arrest. Balkany did not let Brenner get a  single word out, and instead spoke over him every single chance he got. However, the VIN article is not what disturbed me most. What disturbed me most was the comments. All the comments were in Balkany's favor, in fact some comments even called him a tzadik (righteous person). I decided to respond to a poster who called him a tzadik by saying that it is an outrage to call Balkany a tzadik. I was thinking, since when was a person who committed a crime considered as such? I tried to keep my comment as level headed as I possibly could, since I went to Balkany's school and I had a miserable time there. When I pressed the button to post it said that comment would need to be approved before being posted. My comment was never posted. I am pretty certain that I did not violate the VIN rules for posting comments, if so then why was my comment not posted? Was it because of the VIN ban that Haredi (ultra Orthodox) rabbis signed onto, because it supposedly promotes Lashon Hara (slander)? Or, is it because a person is considered a tzadik if he gives tzedakah (charity), despite the fact that he committed a crime? What VIN should worry about is how the article and the comments that went through the approval process reflect on the Jewish community. This applies to the comments posted on secular news sources also.What will non-Jews think when they given the impression that the Jewish community condones criminal activity? Instead of condoning or ignoring criminal behavior, the Jewish community should address it and discourage it. Judging from how VIN censored the comments I would say that it was protecting Balkany from criticism just because he was Jewish and had the "Rabbi" title. I guess that everyone is entitled to their ignorance.

College Life: The Good and the Bad.

  Everybody says that the college years are the best years of your life. However, they say the same thing about the high school years and so on. I might seem like another college student who just like to complain about her life, but there have been major improvements that have taken place since starting college. On improvement is that unlike the Jewish high school that I attended until June of 2010 I do not have to worry about a uniform and the necklines of the shirts I wear ( I even wear jeans which most Orthodox Jewish schools forbid). Another good thing is that I do not have a principal walking down the halls checking if students use their cellphones during class and you do not get in trouble for using bad language (which I tend to do a lot of). Although if you really are serious about learning, you should not use your cellphone in middle of class. The greatest benefit of all is that you can make your own schedule, so if you are not a morning person...then you do not have to be.

  Now time for the bad. The bad thing about college is that (at least for me) is that you have bigger classes, where the professor does not know your name, your eating habits can become erratic, and you have more papers to write. About the eating part: Yesterday I had art history class at 12:50, which meant that I had to leave the house at 11:30 if I wanted time to catch breakfast/lunch since I did not eat anything. Instead I left home around 11:50 and I made it to class a few minutes late. All I had until then was a piece of gum. After art history I had English, which left me just enough time to buy Mike and Ike candies from the vending machine. Well, yes what a great meal. I ate that "meal" around 2:15 and I had English class until 3:15 instead of 3:30, because the professor decided to end early. I celebrated ending class early by buying myself some real food. So yes Mondays and Wednesdays are not my best days. I like it better when I start at 11:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays better. Although I do no like the fact that on Thursdays I have a two hour long macroeconomics lesson, instead of the hour long macroeconomics lesson that I have on Tuesdays. So, yes this is my first post I hope you enjoyed it. I try to be funny, but it might not be as funny in my mind as it is in your's.