JSA

My 79-year-old pop pop—the diabetic—eats his butter-soaked bagel that ends up mostly on his shirt. “Oh well,” he says when I pointed out the spillage. He shrugs his shoulders and adds “What you gonna do about it? This is how I know which clothes are mine”. His laughter is contagious and I find myself laughing along with him, although my grandmother doesn’t seem to find it too funny. He sits down, gets situated in his chair and prepares to speak about a war that took place 50 years ago, but will be with him forever. The Korean War began in 1950 when my grandfather was 21 years old and ended three years later. In the war, Joe Maurer was an engineer and is now a retired war veteran, but to me he’s just my pop pop with messy shirts. He chose to participate in the war and his reasoning is simple. “I joined the [|air force] because I didn’t want to get drafted to the front line!” When asked what his favorite part about the war was, he answered calmly and collectively, “I imagine, I would have to say the flying was my favorite part”. He leans back in his chair and puts his hands up to simulate flying a plane. Joe Maurer was given the opportunity to see the world; he traveled to places like Texas, Delaware, San Francisco and Japan. He was stationed mainly in Yokohama, Japan, and although he was not in the most dangerous area, it was definitely a reality check. “That was an experience. I mean, you’re going into an enemy country; everything’s different there. It was scary. I was thinking like, ‘What am I doing here?’” He laughs genuinely, reminiscing the days he spent feeling more alive than ever. C-46’s, P-80’s, [|F-86’s]—my grandfather could tell you about them all: the lengths, the cylinders, the engines. The fact of the matter is, he was good at what he did, and he sure as hell will never let you forget it. Long after the interview was over, he continued to talk about his most memorable part of the war: [|the night missions]. “We would do night missions dropping flares on the front line so that when the enemy was attacking our guys, we could see them, ya know? We would throw these flares out on parachutes and they were bright, oh man, were they ever.” Not only did he drop flares out of planes, he also dropped baskets full of letters with messages in the enemy’s language saying things like “Surrender now”, and “Your wife is waiting for you to come home”. My pop pop categorized these as “the crazy little things they would do” and laughed uncontrollably when he spoke about it. When asked how the war affected him and his family, his expression didn’t change. He kept his hands plastered to his belly, his thumbs twiddling continuously, and spoke about his experience. “I thought that I learned a lot, not just mechanical stuff but other things too. I learned how to organize; I learned how to survive. We weren’t necessarily in hazardous areas but I lived in a tent and at one point, I even, believe it or not, ate army food”. The air force, wasn’t exactly what you call “roughing it”. They ate in mess halls, that were heated and clean and they ate hot food, unlike the army men. But the experience of camaraderie was the same as the army. “You learned to depend on the men and they depended on you”. And although they formed a bond with one another, my grandfather hasn’t seen much of them since the war. “You get [|out of service] and everyone gets married. No one really remembers to stay in touch”. Although the war ended while he was still in service, my grandfather played a major role in it while it was happening. He flew wounded soldiers from Korea to Japan—several trips a day. “The best part about it was, all the while I was over there, I didn’t have to pay taxes. If you spent at least four hours a day flying in Korea, you were [|exempt from taxes]. I saved more while I was in the service than I did here!” A grin was plastered on his face the entire time he spoke about the war, especially when he brought up his father “My family was very supportive. My father would write me a letter everyday. He would write about everything and anything. I told him I liked that thing with fruit pieces, what do you call that, Carol? Where you have all the fruits mixed up in small chunks? Cocktail, fruit cocktail! Well I told my dad I liked them and he just kept sending packages and packages and I just couldn’t store it. I’d tell him, ‘Dad that’s enough,’ but no, no he just kept sending them. But he was great that way”. My grandfather chokes up—something I’ve never seen in the 17 years that I’ve known him. I am shocked to see this strong, usually fearless, unemotional man begin to tear up as he speaks about his father. He sits for a moment, his mind wandering back to the days when his father was still alive. And then the last and final question: Were you scared when you went to war? My grandfather looks at me with his caring eyes and his voice does not alter. “Back in those days, being in the service was not a terrible thing to do, you know what I mean, like it is in today’s world. When they said you gotta go, you went and that was it”. The truth is, Joe Maurer may not have been in the combat zone or seen the worst of the war, but that doesn’t change how much I admire him, how much I envy him for having the strength to do something many people can’t. My grandfather is a [|veteran], and while maybe he didn’t win a purple heart or any medals for valor, he is still a hero in my eyes.

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__ 1984 __ Lesson Plan ** __Psychological__ ** [|**Brainwashing**]
 * __** Expectations:  **   __
 * My group will be able to understand the power of manipulation of the mind
 * They will be able to see how easily something bad can be twisted into something good
 * __** Standard:  **     __
 * Speaking—D1—  Speak for a variety of purposes (e.g., persuasion, information, entertainment, literary interpretation, dramatization, personal expression)
 * __** Materials:  **   __
 * Markers
 * Colored Paper
 * Scissors/glue
 * Computers (for ideas and research)
 * __** Opening:  **   __
 * Students will discuss times in the novel when the Party has brainwashed the people into believe what they want them to
 * Two minutes of hate, big brother, chocolate rations, rewriting the past, erasing all accounts of the past, erasing all accounts of someone when they are vaporized, etc.
 * __** Middle/Main:  **   __
 * Students will use colored paper, markers, scissors and glue to make an ad
 * They can use their computers to research ideas for current products (i.e. cigarettes) that are considered bad
 * Students will then twist the thing that is bad to make it seem like it is good (needs to appeal to public!)
 * They will have to make the ad believable in order to brainwash the people into buying it
 * __** Closing:      **__
 * The students will share their ads in the form of a commercial for the product
 * Students will then print their ads



__ **Inhumanity: Complete Party Control**  __ >> >>     __  **Physical Pain/[|Betrayal]: Which Would You Prefer?**  __ //“You think there's no other way of saving yourself and you're quite ready to save yourself that way. You want it to happen to the other person. You don't give a damn what they suffer. All you care about is yourself.” -Winston//
 * ** __ Expectations:  __ **
 * Students will understand how the Party manipulates every aspect of life in order to remove all feeling
 * They will also understand how all of the people, excluding the proles, are void of all feeling and are essentially inhuman
 * Students will be able to actually feel like they were a part of the book
 * ** __ Standard:  __ **
 * Viewing and Media Literacy—C3—  Recognize that creators of media and performances use a number of forms, techniques, and technologies to convey their messages.
 * **__ Materials:  __**
 * Laptops
 * 1984 book (for quotes/ideas if necessary)
 * [[file:1984 handout.doc]]
 * ** __ Opening:  __ **
 * Students will discuss ways in which the government ensures that the people are void of feeling (sex, thoughtpolice, big brother, telescreens, lack of consumer goods, doublethink, vaporization, etc.)
 * Students will then pick one idea that suppresses human feeling and will create an ad to protest it
 * ** __ Middle/Main:  __ **
 * Students will use either pages or powerpoint (their choice) and will create a [|protest]on one of the areas that suppresses feelings
 * In this protest, they must include reasons why it suppresses feelings and create an idea on how to change it so the people can feel human again
 * The students will also have to create a place for this protest gathering where the Party won’t find out about it
 * Remember: This protest will need to be kept a secret from the Party or else you will get vaporized!
 * ** __ Closing:  __ **
 * Students will share their protests with one another
 * They will then print their protests
 * I will finish the lesson by discussing their protests with them and help them to understand the Party’s role in removing feeling

>> >>     >>> >>> >>  >>  >>  >>  >>  >>
 * **__ Expectations:  __**
 * Students will be able to grasp the party's intentions for torture
 * They will also get to think about what they would do if they were in Winston’s position
 * **__ Standard:  __**
 * Viewing and Media Literacy—C3—  Recognize that creators of media and performances use a number of forms, techniques, and technologies to convey their messages.
 * **__ Materials:  __**
 * Computers
 * 1984 books
 * **__ Opening:   __**
 * Students will discuss the scene in which Winston is in Room 101 and is faced with the threat of physical pain
 * ** He has already endured physical torture and decides to betray Julia to order to save himself **
 * ** Students will voice their opinions on the situation and say whether or not they support Winston's decision **
 * ** __Middle/Main:__ **
 * Students will think about what they would do if they were in Winston's situation
 * Some questions to think about:
 * Was what he did right?
 * What would you do if you were in his situation? Would you succumb to the physical pain or would you try to endure it in order to save the one you loved?
 * Would you betray the one that you loved in order to save yourself, knowing that they would suffer the same pain you are avoiding?
 * Is it ethical to endorse pain on someone else in order to save yourself? Would you feel guilty?
 * What if the one you loved betrayed you? How would you feel? Would you then feel it was alright to betray them as well?
 * Students will discuss these questions and state their answers to get a better understanding of what Winston went through
 * They will then pick a situation in their lives or the in the life of a fictional character (TV show, movie, book, etc)
 * The students will figure out a way to express this person's situation in which he/she either sacrificed themselves to save the one he/she loved or betrayed the one he/she loved in order to save themselves (song, movie, poster, poem, story, etc)
 * **__ Closing:  __**
 * Students will share what they have created and explain the situation
 * They will voice their opinions and thoughts on why they chose to do what they did
 * The ending discussion will be about ethics and morality: was it ethical in the book or in the life of your character or yourself?
 * If one of the students chose themselves, would they do things differently if they had another chance?