The Monkey Wrench Gang Script Ad #2

Bridget Michalko
Monkey Wrench Gang Ad

BAM!
Is that an hairy eco-terrorist I hear?

It must be!
Edward Abbey brings a splash of reality to those who have the idea that blowing up bridges and bulldozers might a good idea.

With The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey, we go along with an interesting group of people on their eco-terrorist journey.
We catch our breath and wait for the hiss of a fuse to turn into the scream of an explosion and we feel our toes itch with every police chase.
The Monkey Wrench Gang has us all on our tiptoes as we jump into the midst of Abbey's story, only to finish wanting more.

Our friend, George Hayduke, helps us all learn from his mistakes that blowing up things isn't always the answer.
Even though just one large bulldozer can make 800lbs of air pollution a year, will blowing them up or driving them off into a reservoir really help?

Maybe.
Although his way of thinking is a little off at times, with the help of his good friends, sometimes the clearest of ideas can come through.
Such as blowing up a coal mining belt, or a bulldozer, or even a helicopter!
If you think about it, ruining hundreds of tractors that all belong to one company could easily persuade them to stop their construction. And doesn't that stop the pollution in that area?

Even though blowing things up might not be the right answer, the journey The Monkey Wrench Gang takes you on is still a hell of a lot of fun!
So don't miss out!

Go out now and read The Monkey Wrench Gang so Abbey can catch you before you turn into a Hayduke.

Monkey Wrench Gang Script Ad #1

Bridget Michalko

Monkey Wrench Gang Ad

Ever wondered what it would be like to be an eco-terrorist?

Well stop wondering now!

The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey is an action packed novel that can show you all about eco-terrorism!

An unlikely group comes together for the sake of nature to save the land by exploding tractors and and coal mining belts.

And who doesn't like explosions?

The Monkey Wrench Gang keeps readers mesmerized with the story with wild goose-chases, thrilling explosions, and some romance drama. 

Every chase scene will have you sitting on the edge of your chair, while the romantic conflicts will leave you either throwing your book across the room out of frustration for the character's decision, or nodding in agreement with them. 

The story can also give you an insight on the mental steps one might take if they really wanted to be an eco-terrorist. 

While every character is "unique" in their own way, each has a pretty clear way of thinking.

Almost all of them understand that killing innocent people should be avoided, stupid actions that could get them caught are looked down upon, and helping the environment should be the top priority at all times! 

Why is saving the environment so important? 

It's where we live of course! Unless you like living in a pile of stinking trash, reading The Monkey Wrench Gang may be right for you.

About 55% of the 220 tons of waste produced in the U.S. goes into landfills. Not only do Abbey's characters understand this, but they take action! 

Ruining all of those tractors and blowing up coal transporting belts isn't all for nothing. 

They all understand that stopping those small things could lead to the demise of some companies that are responsible for a lot of the waste and pollution enveloping their beloved environment.

And you would understand that as well if you read The Monkey Wrench Gang!

So go out to your nearest bookstore and get a healthy dose of eco-terrorism in The Monkey Wrench Gang so you don't go out and make the same stupid mistakes as Abbey's characters do!

The Monkey Wrench Gang Ad

The Monkey Wrench Gang Ad

Artwork by Bridget Michalko

Goose Chase...errr...Eco-Terrorist Chase!

Throughout the book, I realized that a lot of fun reading it because of how many thrilling scenes it contained.

Throughout the book, little spurts of action mixed with comedy were thrown in.
I mean, how could you not have a little action when it comes to a group of (interesting) people trying to bomb bridges and roads?

Some of the scenes were very fun to read because the characters had to suddenly think of ways to escape or outsmart the "enemy". For me, in was intriguing to read because that type of thinking didn't seem very much like all of the characters.

A lazy Bonnie Abzug who complains of being bored but never says no to smoking a joint on the job suddenly has to run for her life to escape a helicopter.

For me, seeing this little wild goose chases were fun to read. It was almost like a little break from all of the hard critical thinking when it came to what should be bombed next and how it should be done.
All of the sudden characters are fleeing and I can almost imagine them running across the page in a desperate attempt to flee from the police.

Maybe the goose chases in the book aren't quite this literal...

Either way, I love how the author can easily weave a little bit of comedy into such a serious topic. It makes the book easy and fun to read and I don't get bored after reading the book for a long time.

Those kinds of scenes remind me of a movie called Rat Race. In the movie there are people that are randomly chosen and are given the opportunity to $2 million. The money is in a locker at a train station in Silver City, New Mexico and all of the characters are given the same key to the locker. Whoever gets to the locker first gets to keep it all! 

Throughout the movie, small little goose chases from other characters or the police keep the audiences attention and you can't help but laugh. 

The movie is a kind of silly-stupid, but I think it's funny and the way the characters think reminds me of the characters in my book.

Both sets of characters have a kind of serious way of thinking so that they can get to and complete their goal, but at the same time they fail to look ahead for some things and they can end up getting themselves into a lot of trouble. 

All in all, the book is very fun for me to read and I can't wait to read more! It's a good book and I would suggest it to any reader that enjoys a little bit of (almost) slap-stick comedy.

Do Monkeys Get Haircuts?

I wonder if monkeys ever get haircuts?
I mean, if they're so much like humans, does their...fur...er....uh....hair grow long like a person's?
Surely it must get in their eyes?
Or do monkeys like it when it blows out behind them with the gentle breeze in the evenings?

Maybe monkeys don't need haircuts. Maybe, for monkeys, long...fur/hair is fashionable.
Like this little guy.

Best Haircut of Little Monkey. N.d. Google Images. Amusingtime.com. Web. 6 Oct. 2014.

Then there are times when humans (who look like a gorilla of a person) need a haircut, no matter how monkey-like they may look. 

While I was reading The monkey Wrench Gang, I would say that I have a few questions for Edward Abbey.

if I ever met him, I think I would ask him a few questions about his characters themselves.

Firstly, how did he come up with these characters? Was it a spur of them moment kind of thing, or did he see some weird people that he thought might act as eco-terrorists?

The little group that he put together certainly wouldn't look like the type of people to be eco-terrorists, so what made him think of them like that? 

Usually an old doctor with a young girlfriend wouldn't have a hobby of burning billboards, or a war veteran wouldn't care much about bare deserts. Yet, the characters he chose all passionately care for their environment despite their looks. 

Secondly, is Hayduke ever going to get a haircut? I mean, I'm more than half way through the book and he hasn't done a single thing to look more like a human. In my mind, Hayduke looks more like like bigfoot than a normal man. If you're committing crimes, wouldn't you want to look unsuspicious. 

If you put Seldom Seen and Hayduke side by side and had to guess which one was more likely to be an eco-terrorist, who wouldn't choose Hayduke? 

I remember them mentioning a haircut for Hayduke so that he could sneak into a business, but no one has even lifted a finger to go through with that idea. 

I'm waiting for the day that bushy beard of his gets shaved off, I really am.

Lastly, what does Bonnie see this whole adventure as? As I read, it seems like Bonnie is only doing this entire thing for fun. 

She actually says "I'm bored" to herself at one point in the book, so does she think of this as something fun to pass the time? 

Even before it all started, she only burned billboards down because Dr. Sarvis liked to and she wanted to be with him. 

Every single character in the book has expressed their huge love for the environment except for her. She seems to be portrayed as someone who likes having things pretty natural, but she wouldn't have come up with the idea of bombing bridges on her own. I wonder how much she really wants to do all of this, and if it's for the environment, or for fun?

If I had to recommend this book to someone, I would definitely say it's a good book. The story is fun to go along with and it gives the reader a way to see things from a different perspective. It has enough problem solving to keep the reader's mind active, but there are moments where your mind can just go along for a fun goose chase without having to think too hard. It's a good story that is fun to read, but it has a splash of reality thrown in to keep the reader thinking. Altogether it's a great book and I think a lot of people would have fun reading it.

Even though the story is good, however, the reader would have to be okay with harsher language. Our monkey-boy, Hayduke, happens to have a very foul mouth. His speech has at least one cuss in every sentence he spits out and his way of thinking can be...on the harsher side.

The book doesn't seem to be directed at a younger audience, but instead seems to be for young adults to adults that can handle crude language and ideas. 

Even with the slightly explicit ideas, the book is still good and I am thoroughly enjoying the book the more I read. 

A Gang of Monkeys with Wrenches???

Can you even imagine a gang of monkeys with wrenches? 

Would they fix cars? Or throw the wrenches like they do with everything else that gets into their furry little hands? 

If there ever was a real group of monkeys with wrenches, all I can say is that a helmet would be my new best friend. Why? Because I don't think a monkey is gonna sit around and fix cars. 

How Much Values Has Your Home... N.d. Google Images.Insiderlouisville.com. Web. 26 Sept. 2014.

The Monkey Wrench Gang however isn't a book about monkeys throwing wrenches at people. If there was a book on that, I'm pretty sure I'd read it. Maybe even buy it?

This book, however, isn't about that. This book focuses on a group of eco-terrorists.

A gang made up of people who all have a fierce love for something. 

The environment. 

Even though the things they are doing aren't always considered "good", I admire how loyal they are to their beliefs. Things that block their path are simply moved, obstacles are beaten, and no person can stop them. 

They love the environment so much, they fight for it. They have the strength to fight for what they love.

I truly admire this in them, no matter how straggly their personality and history is. 

At the same time, I do despise some things about them.

Aren't they hypocrites? 

A man named Hayduke is one of the most annoying men you could possible meet. His a veteran bum that loves the environment. 

Oh, how he must love his environment! I can tell he loves it a lot, he even decorates it with empty beer cans? 

It has to look beautiful decorated like that, right?

He has such a strong love for the environment, but he shows his love by littering roads he doesn't like. Isn't the road on top of a part of the environment? Why put more human made things on that part of the environment if you're angry about a road on top of it? He's only adding to the thing he hates the most. 

I don't like how so many of the characters don't think about what they're doing. None of them think into the future. 

They devise these intricate plans of how to stop people from making bridges and roads. 

Once they stop those machines, won't they only sit and decompose? They'll Rust away and empty out whatever oils and chemicals are left in them into the soil of their oh-so-beloved land. What then? 

The characters in the book are getting "rid" of one problem, while only creating another for the future.

When they break the tractors that work on the road, they're practically asking the company to go and ask the factories to make more. Do they not realize that a huge part of their environment is being ruined by mass production and factories? 

When they bomb bridges, what happens to all of the rubble that no one wants to pick up?

When they burn billboards, what about all of the burnt remains and gases from the oils used to create the fires? 

Broken Bridges. N.d. Google Images. Estranged Families. Web. 26 Sept. 2014.

Everything that they are doing is going to backfire on them. I just don't understand why they can't realize that. 

Because of this, I think that they're obviously going to have some trouble. No one is thinking of consequences for the Earth, so what's to stop them from not thinking about consequences from other people? 

The author seems to be foreshadowing that a lot of the things they are going to try are either not going to work, or that what they're doing is going to come back to haunt them.

The story isn't only about eco-terrorism, however. One "couple" in the gang isn't doing very well.

And the woman, Abzug, seems to have an eye on the other men in the group. Is Seldom, the nature guide, the right one for her?  Or what about the bum Hayduke, that drifts in the back of her mind for some odd reason? Personally, I think that this is foreshadowing of something happening.

Maybe Seldom liking her, then she likes Hayduke and the group has troubles? Something is going to happen that will set off the entire group, and Abzug might just be the person that starts it. 

Reflection 5/5- Children of Immigrants - Documentary

Video: Children of Immigrants - Documentary
Channel: MsHistoryDocumentary w

Bridget Michalko
8/20/2014 Reflection 5

Children of Immigrants

           There is a lot of talk going around about immigrants and immigrants who are children. But what ever happened to the children of the immigrants that came earlier? Even if they were born in the U.S., surely their lives would be different because of who their parents were and used to be? How do the children of immigrants look at the world? In the documentary called Children of Immigrants, a few people are interviewed about how they live as a child of an immigrant. 

           Being an immigrant is always hard. Rarely can immigrants easily assimilate a new place and culture. It takes time and a lot of patience. Learning a new language, following new rules, understanding new cultures. Everything is different. Immigrants will often struggle to make a good life for themselves when they first migrate into a new country. They have to figure out how to live life in a different place than they are used to. Then, on top of that, they will usually try to make a family or help their family in this new situation. Not only is it hard to take care of themselves, they have to try to work for their loved ones as well. For the immigrants that were able to live successfully in a new country, such as the U.S., they made families and thrived in their new life. Having children that were born in the U.S. can be helpful. Because the child was born in the U.S., it doesn't have to go through so many trials like their parents had to. They would be a United States citizen and their lives would hopefully be easier. Even with all of these advantages, simply being the child of an immigrant can change how a person lives their life. Someone who looks different or is taught to act different from a young age can't help but feel like they themselves are different? The children of immigrants are often times easily recognized (though not always) and can end up living a life as if they were an immigrant themselves. But how do people handle this?
           In the story The Distance Between Us, Reyna Grande was not a child of an immigrant. Instead, she was an immigrant herself. Although she had siblings that were technically children of immigrants, it was a different situation than many of the children of immigrants today. While her mother was an immigrant, when she had children in the U.S., they were not immigrants. Reyna's children when she grew older would also be considered children of an immigrant. Even though they were all in the same family, there were children of immigrants in different generations of the family, even though a lot of the migrating occurred at the same time. 

           One person that was interviewed in the documentary was a woman named Martha. Martha was always aware that her parents were immigrants and would often watch and learn about how they felt about that. She noticed that her father would feel ashamed that he was polish, and would try to erase that part of himself sometimes. Other times, he would feel like being an immigrant wasn't good enough and he would be unhappy about it. When Martha was younger, she didn't understand why he felt this way. Why was he ashamed of where he'd come from? Wasn't Poland a good place? Why was it so bad? She didn't understand that it wasn't always the fact that he was Polish that upset him. It was more the fact that he was Polish, and no longer in Poland. Being an immigrant can make people treat others differently, see others differently. Because of this, her father didn't feel like he was a man. He felt belittled and powerless. Unfortunately, it took Martha until she was much older to realize this. She herself was always proud of her heritage and history. Instead of being weighed down by it like her father was, she was curious about it and wanted to learn more. She wanted to learn more about how her ancestors lived their lives and how they saw the world. She wanted to find out what kind of place her ancestors lived in compared to what kind of place she lived in. She would be curious as to why her parents migrated, and if they felt like they made the right decision. Even though her life was slightly different that those that weren't children of immigrants, Martha chose to look at that fact optimistically and make it a chance of opportunity.

           On the other hand, a woman named Margaret was the child of Korean immigrants. She would see how her parents treated her and the people around them because they were immigrants. She would recall how her mother would meet other people that weren't immigrants and push her to the front and claim that she was "American". While Martha was curious about her parents' past, Margaret simply saw it as an opportunity for something else. She took all of her "immigrant memories" and made them into comedy sketches. She is currently a very well liked comedian that uses her status as a child of an immigrant to her advantage. She recalls how people treat her different because she looks different. How people would go to her for body modifications, or nail art just because she was Asian or Korean. Or she would recall how people made stereotypes about her for being Korean, even though she was born in the United States. All of this took a lot of getting used to when she was younger, but she only looked at it as an opportunity to tell her story and make people laugh. 

           Throughout the U.S. there are many people who are children of immigrants. Just like immigrants, they are treated differently, but that isn't always looked down upon. Some immigrants are proud to be immigrants, while others try their hardest to hide that fact. Their children are the same. Even though there is a difference in the generations, the fact that being different causes others to treat them differently doesn't change. It's simply a matter of how that is handled. Many children of immigrants may not enjoy being treated differently, but that doesn't stop them. Most children of immigrants aren't ashamed of that fact, but look at it through new eyes. Even though their parents may not like the fact that they are immigrants, their children don't always follow in their parents' footsteps on how they view their status.
           When I watched this documentary, it did stir up a question or two. Not for the people in the documentary or the people that made the documentary, but to everyone else. Each of the people that were interviewed recalled people treating them differently because of their parents' status in the country. Immigrant or not, because they looked different, they were treated differently. Why do people really do that? They are American citizens, aren't they? If they were treated differently because of their parents' status, would telling them that they were born in the U.S. immediately make them stop? Martha's family was Polish. People from Poland happen to look a lot like American born people. Why? Because almost everyone in the U.S. is from some place in Europe. Besides the accent, why bother treating them different if they don't even look different? On the other hand, Margaret definitely looks different, but she's really no different from Martha. This is a confusing question because Martha may have been treated differently because of her or her parents' accents. But no one would have known she was the child of an immigrant by her looks. That would mean that looks don't matter, and behavior is what triggers people into thinking that someone is an immigrant or the relative of an immigrant. All the while, Margaret didn't have an accent or anything, but she looked Korean. That would mean that looks do matter and that accents didn't have anything to do with it. Anyone that looks different is treated differently, but if you're different, doesn't that always mean you're most likely an immigrant or the child of one? So, in the end, the two do have a connection somehow, don't they? Unfortunately, watching this video only made this question all the more confusing. Technically, I would be considered an immigrant as well because I was born in China and adopted and brought into the U.S. by my adopted parents. But there are some people that are completely American and they simply look Asian (etc.). I always feel like deep down, treating people because they are from a different place has something to do with how people are taught about immigrants, but I haven't quite reached an answer yet. This question simply remains confusing for me. 

Reflection 4/5- Misperceptions About U.S.

Article: Misperceptions About U.S. Immigration Policy Behind Surge of Illegal Children
Author: Catherine Herridge

Bridget Michalko
8/20/2014 Reflection 4

Misperceptions About U.S. Laws

          Why are so many children coming over from other countries into the U.S.? Immigration definitely isn't a new thing. Minors coming in unaccompanied with coyotes and smugglers isn't a new idea either. Yet, recently, a huge explosion of children immigrants have started flowing across the borders into the United States. Many of the countries that these children are coming from are experiencing troubles and hardships. Violence, gang activity, and other hardships that parents want to keep their children away from are common in many of these countries, and these parents seek the U.S. for safety for their children. For a long time, this has been one of the main reasons that immigrants come over to the U.S., and it still is. This time, however, some people are suspecting that violence isn't the main cause for this huge wave of UAC (unaccompanied children). 

          A new assessment actually shows that violence in people's homelands isn't fueling the surge of children. Instead, it shows that misconceptions about the U.S. immigration policy is causing more people to think that the U.S. will help them find shelter and safety from their problems. More than 95% of the migrants that were interviewed stated that the primary reason for them migrating to the U.S. was because they believed that the U.S. immigration laws granted them free passes to unaccompanied children or to adult women travelling with minors. This poses as a huge problem because it accidentally makes many migrants end up thinking that if they cross the border into the U.S., nothing will happen and they won't be stopped. Not only is the problem misleading, it could eventually get blown up into a huge crisis. It is a critical situation that needs to be dealt with urgently. 

          One of the reasons that the immigration laws are so confusing is because of the smugglers, or coyotes, back in other countries. In the story The Distance Between Us, Reyna Grande is taken across the border into the U.S. by a coyote as well. This coyote was hired by their father to get the entire family into the U.S., unlike how coyotes are tricking parents into only sending their children right now. However, the cost to get a coyote to smuggle a person across the border remains very high and expensive, which is why smugglers advertising themselves is very common. Although many people want to get into the U.S., just as Reyna did, the price is often too high for many people. As a way of advertising themselves, they go around telling people that if they send their children to the U.S. they will be taken care of. The coyotes are able to make these rumors because of the changes made in the immigration laws after the Obama administration decided in 2012 to practice discretion in cases where individuals were brought into the U.S. illegally as minors. 

          Violence in other countries still occurs and the situations that those countries are in hasn't changed. Everything that fuels child immigration is old news, nothing has really changed. Everything except for the change that coyotes are exploiting. When children illegally cross over into the U.S., it's easy to think of a small child trying to make it across the border by themselves. It's easy to forget that they aren't usually alone, and that there is almost always a smuggler with them. Unaccompanied minors crossing the border into the U.S. is all work done by organized coyotes who know what they are doing. The coyotes know exactly what to say and exactly how to present the change in the immigration laws.

          How does the word get out about the changes made in the immigration laws? By advertising. How is it being advertised? By the smugglers that gain a profit from more people trying to illegally cross over into the United States. They practically advertised themselves, stating that they can take people's children away from poverty and danger if they let them smuggle their children into the United States. If they go to the United States, they'll be safe, educated, and taken care of. Because of this, not only is home violence pressuring people to illegally migrate into the U.S., but tricky smugglers are persuading people to sneak over as well. This causes a problem because it results in huge numbers of children crossing over into the United States and there aren't enough resources to simply send them back as easily as they came in.
          If there are so many people misunderstand all of these new immigration laws, why not put something up that better explains the law? Why can't someone just put up a "dumbed down" version of the law up so everyone can understand things? If they did that, smugglers wouldn't be able to trick people into paying them to move them across the border into the United States. Wouldn't that fix everyone's misconceptions? It would save a lot of time and trouble, wouldn't it? Then again, seeing what countries were the most common for sending immigrants made me realize that not everyone would understand even the simpler version. A lot of people that try to sneak into the U.S. don't even speak English. It would be hard to send out the simpler version in various languages as well because not everyone that's being tricked is educated enough to read or understand what is true or not. Some people simply can't be helped. There's no way to teach a person what a new law really means through a paper that they might not even be able to read. Even if the law was easy to understand from the very start, it would be hard to stop people from being tricked. Some don't know any better, others don't want to know the true meaning and want to believe that what the smugglers tell them is the truth. In the end, a simpler version of the new law would only help a select few of the people that are being tricked and the law itself would still be mistaken no matter what. 

Reflection 3/5- GOP Immigration Reform Lessons...

Article: GOP Immigration Reform Lessons
Author: Clarence Page

Bridget Michalko
8/20/2014 Reflection 3

GOP Immigration Reform Lessons

           When it comes to immigration, what is one of the most important things to have? Government help and support. If there isn't any support, or the government isn't giving permission to act, nothing can be accomplished. Immigration is a huge event in the U.S. that has been happening throughout history. It causes huge ripples in the government and what happens throughout the country. Having large amounts of immigrants in certain areas changes employment, population density, and even things like taxes. Illegal immigrants can cause certain areas to change to support more security. It can also change more general things like citizenship. It is hard to keep people from illegally trying to sneak across the U.S. border. This causes problems because it's hard for the government to regulate things when there are people who aren't real citizens living in the U.S. that don't pay real taxes or cause problems that can't be traced properly. In all, immigration can cause both good and bad results in the country, and the government has to stay on top of it all to keep everyone safe and content. 

           When there isn't permission for certain things from the government, it can fix things, but also cause more problems. Therefore, when House leaders are elected, it can change how things like immigration are dealt with. If one leader supports immigration and takes action to help progress immigration in the country, it can make huge changes if another leader gets elected and doesn't like or agree with immigration. When Reyna was trying to get into the U.S. in The Distance Between Us, illegal immigration was handled differently. Although the problem was just as common then, the government came down a lot harsher on illegal immigrants then they do now. Reyna would have simply been deported back to Mexico immediately without any hesitation. Immigrants from Mexico can still be immediately deported, but how they are cared for while they are being deported was slightly different from what it is now. Back then, the government wasn't as concerned about the immigrants' health as they were with simply getting them out of the country. Parents are intentionally having their children sent illegally into the U.S. to get caught, in hopes that it will lead them to a safe place sooner. When Reyna was crossing over into the U.S. illegally, it was a greater fear and the thought of purposefully getting caught would never have crossed her mind.

           The GOP, or Grand Old Party, is the Republican Party in the United States. Currently, new leaders are mulling over how immigration should be dealt with. House Republican leader Eric Cantor tried to get re-elected into the GOP this year, but was defeated and didn't get elected. This diminished a lot of hope for any kind of immigration overhaul this year. Cantor's loss was said to have killed any hope for any immigration reformation on the Hill this year. This left Obama in the position to use some executive authority to act on deportations. The White House even said that Obama had asked for a delay of his administration's deportation review until the end of the summer, hoping that this would give the Republicans some space and time to act on a legislative overhaul.

           In the election, Cantor lost his conservative Virginia district to a man named Dave Brat, a tea party-aligned college professor. Dave Brat repeatedly accused Cantor of supporting "amnesty" for the undocumented immigrants coming into the country. In the vote, Graham, the winner of the election, won a profound 56 percent in his state against six other challengers who nicknamed him things like "Grahamnesty". One reason why Graham may have won against Cantor would be what they supported and didn't support. While Graham embraced the U.S. Senate's bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill, which he happened to co-author, Cantor voted against it. Graham had, and has been, arguing openly for an immigration overhaul ever since 2006. In the elections, he also pointed out his work with Democrats on immigration as evidence that he was willing to solve tough problems occurring in the country with other parties, despite differences in parties. This showed the audience that partisan differences wouldn't stop Graham from trying to solve difficult problems that others would be hesitant to solve because it involved other rival parties. His evidence of cooperation and thinking helped him gain an upper hand in the elections. What could be learned from all of this? Graham's victory showed that voters will accept a difference in opinion, but they won't stand for hypocrisy. Where someone is in politics won't always decide things as much as how well they can show how well they can listen to those around them, despite differences. 

           In the end, polling by the left-leaning Public Policy Polling firm and the liberal advocacy group called Americans United for Change found that a lot of support was actually coming from people that believed in the immigration reform. Unlike some others, they believed in the immigration overhaul, despite high opposition to things like showing amnesty for people that were living in the United States as an illegal immigrant. More than 70 percent of the voters in Cantor's district said that they supported the reforms to secure borders and stop employers from hiring illegal immigrants. They believed that keeping illegal immigrants from crossing in the first place was a better option and that hiring anyone who was in the United States illegally would only make illegal immigration matters worse. This also included trying to give anyone that didn't have papers or were undocumented residents without criminal backgrounds the rights to gain a legal status.

           By the end of the election, it seemed that Graham, who had been talking about immigration reform for many years by then, sounded like he could address any problems on this subject more directly and upfront than Cantor would be able to. While Graham seemed like he could step up to fix any immigration reformation problems, Cantor's efforts to carve out a middle ground came off unpersuasive.
           For me, this article took me a long time to understand. I had to reread many parts and it took me a long time to understand exactly what everything was. I had to look up a lot of words and I even had to look at a few other articles to understand what this article was talking about. This article in particular needed a lot of research and I ended up prying much deeper than I realized. I've never really liked politics, but I was too stubborn and determined to give up on this one. In the end, it only made me hate politics more. Throughout the article I only asked myself stupid questions. What does immigration even have to do with electing people? It's not like they actually do what they say they're going to do. Wait, that's pretty stupid. Saying that out loud doesn't make me sound very bright. After an entire article worth of stupid questions like these I finally realized just how much immigration could influence people and how they voted for leaders. I didn't really have any major questions about this article because it's still a little hard for me to think of ways to question this article, even with my newly attained background information. But all of my simple questions that I could answer myself helped me to understand this article a little bit more. It made this side of immigration politics a little bit clearer to me, as well as teaching me to think about what I'm reading before I ask questions
right away. 

Reflection 2/5- Deporting 57,000 Immigrant Kids...

Article: The Logistical Nightmare of Sending 57,000 Immigrant Kids Home
Author: Esme E. Deprez

Bridget Michalko 
8/17/2014 Reflection 2

Deporting 57,000 Immigrant Kids Will Be Logistics Nightmare

              Ten years ago, the government would usually have to deal with about 6,200 illegal immigrants that were minors a year. Last year, that number shot up to 25,000. Currently, there are about 57,000 unaccompanied children trying to cross the border. This causes population problems and the U.S. government is aware of that. Recently, President Obama and different congressional Republicans have started to think that the best way to fix this crisis is to not let them cross over at all. The simplest solution to this problem may be to send the kids back home. This, however, is easier said than done. With tens of thousands of these children coming through it would be too hard for the government to send out the number of military personnel that is needed to help them all get back home. After all, some of these children are only toddlers.
              Most people trying to illegally cross the border try to sneak past and enter the U.S. secretly, however, most of the children caught at the border didn’t even try to run. Most of them hope that if they get caught, it will be easier to make it to their parents and get permission to stay in the United States. This is different from how Reyna has to act in the story The Distance Between Us. When Reyna has to cross the border, she could have been killed if she didn't continue to run or hide when the border patrol came her way. Not only was she not unaccompanied, she was with her father, but she would have been handled differently than they handle the children currently if she had been caught. Children that came in from Mexico can immediately be sent back without any kind of hearing, but in 2008 a law was passed that said immigrants from non-bordering countries must be allowed to plead their cases before a judge. Although this is good for the immigrants, it puts a huge weight on the U.S. government to provide hearings for the thousands of immigrants that come through the system every year. The influx has even pushed wait times for a hearing with a judge all the way back for more than a year and a half, according to researchers at the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.
              With a wait that long, the children have to be taken care of while they wait for their hearings. This means that the government has to supply the children with food and other health necessities as well as shelter and a place to sleep. This would have been okay if it didn’t cost $879 million dollars for the entire process. Cost to take care of these immigrants and get them to a good home, wherever it may be, has definitely taken its toll on the U.S. and uses a lot of resources and supplies.
              The first thing the children must do when they come in is to go to one of the CBP processing centers in the southern bordering states. There, agents conduct screenings on the children to find out who they are or how old they might be. Some children don’t come with anything except the phone number of a parent already in the United States. The CBP is also in charge of making sure that the children are fit to travel. This includes feeding, bathing, and clothing all of the children that come in. In some places, such as the agents in Fort Brown in Brownsville, Texas, are found buying sandwiches and drinks for the kids at grocery stores or washing their clothes.
              Once all of that is finished, the children are then turned over to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) which is a part of the Department of Health and Human

Services. There, they are put into shelters contacted by companies and nonprofits. While they are there, the ORR is in charge of providing services such as classroom instruction, exercise, and medical care for all of the children. However, the Department of Defense has had to step in and help house all of the children, but there still doesn’t seem to be enough housing for the constant flow of children. Eventually, many are sent to live with relatives throughout the U.S. or sponsors that will house them while their cases are looked through and deliberated. Since October, more than 40,000 children have been dispersed this way.
              A growing chorus of immigration advocates all say that because the homelands the children are coming from are terrorized by gangs and violence the children should be treated as refugees and be allowed to stay. However, White House Secretary Josh Earnest said that he doesn't think this will work for many, and that most of the children will be repatriated in the end.
              If the children do end up being sent home, they get sent home via air and are put on airplanes provided by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement-informally known as ICE-and are flown home. Because of trouble with logistics, even though each child is accompanied by two ICE agents on the flight, it adds a huge task for the already overwhelmed agents and sometimes corners will get cut and the job won’t be perfect. Even before the recent wave of immigrant children, the system wasn't perfect. According to Amy Thompson, an agent that followed flights from Houston to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, while researching the process where the children are sent home she noticed some agents leaving the children unattended once they were back in the airports in their homelands. Even with these problems, not much can be done because there are so many children going through the system every year that additional help can’t always be provided. 
              When I first read how much of a problem deporting so many children was, I thought that the government was being stupid. Just stop them before they even cross over and make them go back themselves with the smugglers. Then, I realized how stupid I was being. Obviously, if the children are with a smuggler, they are most likely going to be a bit harder to catch than I was making it sound. Of course it would be hard to simply "catch them as they crossed over". The U.S. is a large country with a lot of places people could sneak across. Not only that, but making children turn around and find their way back home was just cruel. Many children interviewed in other articles told of how hard the journey was. They were often hungry and tired and they couldn't stop to rest. It wasn't the healthiest journey in the world and making them turn around without resting or finding shelter would probably have killed some of them. That was when I realized that having to deport all of the children that were coming in really was a big problem and that it would probably need a lot of work to get them all safely back home. 

Reflection 1/5- Amid Border Crisis...

Article: Amid Border Crisis Debate, Many New Immigrants Land in D.C. Area
Author: Richard Simon

Bridget Michalko 
8/17/2014 Reflection 1

Amid border crisis debate, many new immigrants land in the D C. area.

               The Rio Grande Valley of south Texas is the center of a large border crisis about children crossing into the U.S. illegally. More than 1,500 miles from there, is the state of Virginia, the place that many immigrants try to get to.
               In the article Amid the Border Crisis Debate, Many New Immigrants land in the D.C. Area many children that crossed the border illegally and their mothers were interviewed. All of their stories are quite similar. Most of the mothers left their children behind and entered the U.S. illegally, only to send for their children later. Why did they leave their children behind? Most of the parents living in places like Guatemala or El Salvador for better work in the United States so they could support their families. Eventually, many of them sent for their children to come to the U.S. as well. Many parents paid coyotes large amounts of money to smuggle their children across the border.
               Reyna Grande’s story from The Distance Between Us was very similar to the stories of the children that were interviewed in the article. They were left behind when their parents went searching for work, then were cared for by their grandparent. Unlike Reyna’s story, many of the children’s grandparents eventually grew ill and they had to move to the U.S. simply to have someone take care of them.
               One woman in the article talks about the dangers of troubles back in her homeland. She spoke about her fears for her children when gangs ran around killing people. She spoke of her worries as a mother and how she couldn’t let her children grow up in that kind of place or they would eventually be killed. The fear of violence is often the reason behind current migration.
               All of the children spoken to in the article were captured in their attempt to cross into the United States. Many of them only carried the bare minimum. One only carried a backpack and a bible. She prayed and believed that God would take her back to her parents safely. The trip across the border was tiring and hard. Many of the children stated that they were often hungry and would go days without food. When they had trouble keeping up the coyotes would always warn them that if they fell behind, they would be killed. When crossing the Rio Grande Valley in southern Texas, Border Patrol would usually catch most of the children trying to cross. Many of them believed that they would immediately be taken away, and were surprised when they spent a few weeks in custody, only to be returned to their mothers soon after. The children attend school and continue their education while they wait for a hearing date to be set so they can stay in the country. Unfortunately, there are so many illegal children immigrants that it is harder for the authorities to try and find available courtrooms and judges for their hearings.
               Up past Virginia, the Washington D.C. area region is continuing to find more and more children that were caught trying to illegally cross the boarder. The Washington D. C. area is already home to an estimated 165,000 Salvadoran immigrants, and according to the Migration Policy Institute, is the nation’s second largest population after the Los Angeles area’s 275,000. The capital region had about 42,000 Guatemalan immigrants and 30,000 Honduran immigrants.

               According to the reports from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families, there are 2,234 unaccompanied minors that were released to different sponsors in Virginia between the beginning of January and early July. This ranks the state fifth after Texas, New York, Florida, and California.
               This border crisis only continues as violence back in homelands pushes more and more parents to send for their children to come to the United States. Although many children are caught, that doesn't stop more from coming. Huge waves of children are being sent across the border to reunite with their families. Many of these minors cross the Rio Grande Valley and are caught, then brought to Virginia and the Washington D.C. area. Therefore, this huge influx of both minor and adult immigrants are creating a debate over what should be done and how they should be dealt with. 
               When I first read this article, I was confused. I didn't understand why so many children were being sent over to the U.S. if they were only being sent back. I thought it was pointless for the parents sending their children to waste their money on a coyote to smuggle their child across the border when they would most likely get caught and returned. In countries that are poor enough to want to go to the United States, surely the people living there wouldn't have the money to pay smugglers if the risk of it failing was so high. Yet, as I read on, I realized that money wasn't the problem. Almost all of the parents of the children that were interviewed were simply so worried about the violence surround their children, they decided to take the risk anyway. Before reading this article, I never realized just how bad all of the violence in some countries really were. I thought it was just like in the U.S. where only small portions of places had gangs. Only, in some of these countries, those "small places" weren't so small anymore. It surprised me and made me wonder just how desperate some of these people were to get to a safer place.