Huckfinn 2.0

At first they seemed naïve. Too innocent to face the greed, violence and corruption of 18th century America… neither the thieves, the brothels or the dead bodies changed their mind, they were there, like props in a movie. But then,

BANG! BANG! BANG!

And it suddenly hit home.

Better be on raft than on firm American land.

A collection of personal videos...

http://youtube.com/my_videos

The conditions Huck found after running away
Heavy rain
In LA this could be an Earthquake or the Santa Ana winds

First Encounter
Frame house
- women’s clothes
- dead man
- money
Brothel → Pimp → Cadillac
Park, condoms, sex
- Only safe park is on La Brea
Upstairs from Mike’s apartment
- Sound of vacuum covering up women screaming
Hustle
- drugs
- sex
- money
- violence

Second Encounter
Steamboat
Crashed
Raining
Adventure
Thieves
Planning a murder

Third Encounter
Wealthy family
Feud with another family
Killing members of other family
Like The Sopranos

A portrait of America
- lawless
- darkside
- sleazy
- violent
- gangland

Jim and Huck
Runaway slave & young man
Minorities
Innocent
The future of the country

Everything was dead quiet, and it looked late, and smelt late. You know what I mean -- I don't know the words to put it in.



I got out amongst the driftwood, and then laid down in the bottom of the canoe and let her float. I laid there, and had a good rest and a smoke out of my pipe, looking away into the sky; not a cloud in it. The sky looks ever so deep when you lay down on your back in the moonshine; I never knowed it before. And how far a body can hear on the water such nights! I heard people talking at the ferry landing. I heard what they said, too -- every word of it.



One man said it was getting towards the long days and the short nights now. T'other one said this warn't one of the short ones, he reckoned -- and then they laughed, and he said it over again, and they laughed again; then they waked up another fellow and told him, and laughed, but he didn't laugh; he ripped out something brisk, and said let him alone. The first fellow said he 'lowed to tell it to his old woman -- she would think it was pretty good; but he said that warn't nothing to some things he had said in his time. I heard one man say it was nearly three o'clock, and he hoped daylight wouldn't wait more than about a week longer. After that the talk got further and further away, and I couldn't make out the words any more; but I could hear the mumble, and now and then a laugh, too, but it seemed a long ways off.

"Yes; en I's rich now, come to look at it. I owns mysef, en I's wuth eight hund'd dollars. I wisht I had de money, I wouldn' want no mo'."



After reading this passage we went out to the streets to find out what people thought about Jim owning himself and what they thought they were worth....



Funny enough... nobody really mentioned anything about the institution of slavery.... as if it had happened so long ago or if it was this abstract thing that had no real meaning in todays world....



Mostly, they consider "worth," as the accumlation of money and assets....


huck has to leave everything behind he chooses to cut from the root eberything his money, his family, his friends.... to find himself

jim also realizes he is for the first time coming face to face with himself - with owing himself....

and now people just got it because of trump....

Borders...



Passages...




Networks...

The Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad, a vast network of people who helped fugitive slaves escape to the North and to Canada, was not run by any single organization or person. Rather, it consisted of many individuals -- many whites but predominently black -- who knew only of the local efforts to aid fugitives and not of the overall operation. Still, it effectively moved hundreds of slaves northward each year -- according to one estimate, the South lost 100,000 slaves between 1810 and 1850.



An organized system to assist runaway slaves seems to have begun towards the end of the 18th century. In 1786 George Washington complained about how one of his runaway slaves was helped by a "society of Quakers, formed for such purposes." The system grew, and around 1831 it was dubbed "The Underground Railroad," after the then emerging steam railroads. The system even used terms used in railroading: the homes and businesses where fugitives would rest and eat were called "stations" and "depots" and were run by "stationmasters," those who contributed money or goods were "stockholders," and the "conductor" was responsible for moving fugitives from one station to the next.

For the slave, running away to the North was anything but easy. The first step was to escape from the slaveholder. For many slaves, this meant relying on his or her own resources. Sometimes a "conductor," posing as a slave, would enter a plantation and then guide the runaways northward. The fugitives would move at night. They would generally travel between 10 and 20 miles to the next station, where they would rest and eat, hiding in barns and other out-of-the-way places. While they waited, a message would be sent to the next station to alert its stationmaster.

The fugitives would also travel by train and boat -- conveyances that sometimes had to be paid for. Money was also needed to improve the appearance of the runaways -- a black man, woman, or child in tattered clothes would invariably attract suspicious eyes. This money was donated by individuals and also raised by various groups, including vigilance committees.

Vigilance committees sprang up in the larger towns and cities of the North, most prominently in New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. In addition to soliciting money, the organizations provided food, lodging and money, and helped the fugitives settle into a community by helping them find jobs and providing letters of recommendation.

The Underground Railroad had many notable participants, including John Fairfield in Ohio, the son of a slaveholding family, who made many daring rescues, Levi Coffin, a Quaker who assisted more than 3,000 slaves, and Harriet Tubman, who made 19 trips into the South and escorted over 300 slaves to freedom.

The Los Angeles River Revitalization Plan:

http://www.lariverrmp.org/

This is the face lift Terta Tech says it's going to do:



The Master Plan:



Ideas for navigation...

http://dcbid.cartifactmaps.com/

We finally got our network going... the stream is starting to take us somewhere unexpected.

3yv72eaz

"But looky here, Huck, who wuz it dat 'uz killed in dat shanty ef it warn't you?"

Then I told him the whole thing, and he said it was smart. He said Tom Sawyer couldn't get up no better plan than what I had. Then I says:

"How do you come to be here, Jim, and how'd you get here?"

He looked pretty uneasy, and didn't say nothing for a minute. Then he says:

"Maybe I better not tell."

"Why, Jim?"

"Well, dey's reasons. But you wouldn' tell on me ef I uz to tell you, would you, Huck?"

"Blamed if I would, Jim."

"Well, I b'lieve you, Huck. I -- I RUN OFF."

"Jim!"

"But mind, you said you wouldn' tell -- you know you said you wouldn' tell, Huck."

"Well, I did. I said I wouldn't, and I'll stick to it. Honest INJUN, I will. People would call me a lowdown Abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum -- but that don't make no difference. I ain't a-going to tell, and I ain't a-going back there, anyways. So, now, le's know all about it."

"Well, you see, it 'uz dis way. Ole missus -- dat's Miss Watson -- she pecks on me all de time, en treats me pooty rough, but she awluz said she wouldn' sell me down to Orleans. But I noticed dey wuz a nigger trader roun' de place considable lately, en I begin to git oneasy. Well, one night I creeps to de do' pooty late, en de do' warn't quite shet, en I hear old missus tell de widder she gwyne to sell me down to Orleans, but she didn' want to, but she could git eight hund'd dollars for me, en it 'uz sich a big stack o' money she couldn' resis'. De widder she try to git her to say she wouldn' do it, but I never waited to hear de res'. I lit out mighty quick, I tell you.



The institution of slavery had been a divisive issue in the United States for decades before the territory of Missouri petitioned Congress for admission to the Union as a state in 1818. Since the Revolution, the country had grown from 13 states to 22 and had managed to maintain a balance of power between slave and free states. There were 11 free states and 11 slave states, a situation that gave each faction equal representation in the Senate and the power to prevent the passage of legislation not to its liking. The free states, with their much larger populations, controlled the House of Representatives, 105 votes to 81.

In February 1819, New York Representative James Tallmadge proposed an amendment to ban slavery in Missouri even though there were more than 2,000 slaves living there. The country was again confronted with the volatile issue of the spread of slavery into new territories and states. The cry against the South's "peculiar institution" had grown louder through the years. "How long will the desire for wealth render us blind to the sin of holding both the bodies and souls of our fellow men in chains?" Asked Representative Livermore from New Hampshire.

The South's economy was dependent upon black slavery, and 200 years of living with the institution had made it an integral part of Southern life and culture. The South demanded that the North recognize its right to have slaves as secured in the Constitution.

Through the efforts of Henry Clay, "the great pacificator," a compromise was finally reached on March 3, 1820, after Maine petitioned Congress for statehood. Both states were admitted, a free Maine and a slave Missouri, and the balance of power in Congress was maintained as before, postponing the inevitable showdown for another generation. In an attempt to address the issue of the further spread of slavery, however, the Missouri Compromise stipulated that all the Louisiana Purchase territory north of the southern boundary of Missouri, except Missouri, would be free, and the territory below that line would be slave.

First-person narrative is a literary technique in which the story is narrated by one character, who explicitly refers to him or herself in the first person, that is, "I."

The narrator is thus directly or indirectly involved in the story being told. A strength of first-person narrative is that the character may also express feelings, thoughts, and experiences, and may reveal him or herself; therefore, the reader usually gains keen insight into the life of the narrator. First-person point of view can also be used to withhold information from the reader, particularly information not available to the narrator.

http://www.vimeo.com/

Everything was in place… what needed to be decided was exactly what the colonies wanted. Richard Henry Lee, a delegate from Virginia, rose the occasion and proposed three basic tenements: that the colonies declare themselves independent of Britain; that the colonies should join together somehow; and that foreign alliances should be sought out. The committee to look into the question of independence was made up of John Adams, Ben Franklin, Robert Livingston, Roger Sherman, and Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson was well regarded as a writer, and was also needed to balance the Northerners on the committee. He was drafted by the other members to write a declaration, which he did despite personal problems with his wife's health and other duties he had in Congress. He presented the declaration to the committee within a few days. The committee forwarded it on to the Congress after some revisions. One of which, began to outline the issue of race and its compromises for years to come…

Because moral indignation against slavery was growing people like Abigail Adams was speaking frankly and openly about the contradiction and disgust of running having a slave class and system, while fighting for freedom of oppression from England…. It was really ridiculous, because the people asking for freedom where those who directly benefited from the mechanism established by the British crown….

The conflict with England as a colonist said had finally awakened the colonies from this dream… and that included slavery or rather, slavery was the dream they woke up to.

Jefferson believed he needed to include a line that mentioned the insurrection, and the internal fights that slavery had brought upon the colonies, and thus blame the King for the slave trade: “a cruel war against human nature.” Slave holding delegates deleted this point from the declaration of independence and now the final documents (although intended) has no mention about slavery.

Violated these principals every single that… he had a slave working for him 24/7.

It is ironic, that Jefferson, the pillar of democracy and freedom in the U.S and the man that wrote “all men are created equal,” was a slave owner himself, just as Washington and many other delegates where… this fear and contradiction… the acceptance, but reluctance to really live with the question of race right in your face, is the central point of Huck Finn… remember, this is the first compromise, silent, and unapologetic, made by U.S policy makers to ignore the question of race, to propel the idea of freedom and independence in the U.S.

On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was finally formally accepted. It was signed on August 2, 1776, with some members adding their names after that date. The Declaration was printed and sent out to the colonies and to the troops. A new nation, the "united States of America," was born.


As the war of independence continued… the white folks seeing through the realities of the war and dying, Washington was forced to propose having a black regiment from Rhode Island…. Get a uniform and find freedom.

This was the first truly7-integrated place in America…. Besides the bar of New York City.

7 years of war…

New York – British… 3000 names…. Boarded British ships to go to England….

1787…. Constitutional convention to bring order to the new country and 13 colonies. Washington heads it. Things had been chaotic… thoughts of creating 13 separate countries occurred…. But no greater division existed than the one between states that had abolished slavery and those who had not.

1780 (keeping with the revolution) all black children born in Pennsylvania were to be freed at the age of 28

In 1783 Massachusetts bans slavery completely.

But as the nation grew, and we will see how strongly it did, with the Louisiana purchase and the annexation of Texas and Kansas, that America grew with two separate ideals: states that were free and those that still held slavery as a principle of existence.

South – own slaves and property – they wanted no government interfering with their deals… the pursuit of happiness is tight to the notion of owning property… and slaves

The U.S. Constitution… because of the interest of the south states, in order to create the union began to create a series of compromises, this was the first one:

Prevented congress from ending African slave trade for a minimum of 20 years… this however didn’t mean that slave among the slave states could not happen.

Free states where required by law to return free slaves to slave states.

Slave states where permitted to count 3/5 of their slave population during voting in determining the # of representatives they would send to congress….

A BIG COMPROMISE.

We are…



Students, Amateur game makers, Teenagers, Walking, learning minds, Punks! Dreamers???, MySpace-addicts/ aholics/ headies, Smarties Kinda …funny, Laidback, Locos, Crazy

We live in Koreatown (K-Town!)

We are kinda outcasts?

Somos Chingones

We speak—Spanish, English, one through ten in Korean, Sign—(sign language)

Is this what we are? Find out for yourself…

Matt is groovy communist!
Lashanae is sarcastic.
Mac is creative.
Timothy is cunning.
Lala es oscura.
Rafa is slick.
Katynka es delicada.
Michael is obnoxious.
Moe is cynic.
Juan is evil.
Veronica is undefined.
Alex is absent.

By the beginning of the 18th century, people escaping persecution, or looking for religious freedom came to America; businessmen, adventurers and explorers, seeking the fame and fortune that they could not find in the old continent came to America; and salves, servants and maids… they all came to America, by choice or force, and settled in the 13 colonies.

The colonial dance, between wanting enough freedom to decide what you want to do with the land and the resources you have and those who actually own it – the British Colony – is similar to the struggle that an adolescent has at home. Grown enough to make his or her own decision, the adolescent thinks he or she can lead a life of his own… but he forgets, that even if his upbringing has not been as fun as one may want, they still had some things handed to them… their home, their food, their moral support. It takes maturity to grow up and decide than one can go at it alone – really alone – and leave the house.

The colonies, just like a son or a daughter, where loyal to the crown. What happened was that the more the colonies demanded – the children – the more the crown wanted something from them.

That’s sort of what happened to the 13 colonies. England had its own problems back in Europe, engaging is successful wars and battles for the dominion of the sea and the economy of the world… French Indian War, although a huge victory, left the Empire in bankruptcy.

Their thought process went something like this… if we are helping them – the colonies – to protect themselves from foreign attacks and Indian Raids, etc… then they should pay. So the crown decided to ask the colonies to pitch in…

A series of Acts as they call them, where enacted. One of them being the taxation of every good imported into the colony. The other, which really got the natives mad, was the taxation of stamps. Every document, letter, newspaper, even playing cards, was taxed under this new law.

The Boston Massacre…. One of the dead and immortalized was black. No one really knows this…

This was perhaps the first thing that forced some representatives of the colonies to come together – independently from the crown – to figure out what to do. So in 1766 some guys got together and wrote a formal denunciation to the king. The tax was repealed but a year later a new tax come to place. The crown decided again to tax the colonies directly for such staple goods such as tea, paint, glass, paper… the colonist good pretty mad, and decided to riot. The English send troop and everything was apparently calmed…

In 1773 a shipment of tea arrived from England, and a band of men led by Samuel Adams – the beer - threw the tea into the Boston Harbor. That act of rebellion symbolized the possibility of revolution and independence and it planted the seed of revolution and independence in the minds of many colonists…

And England was mad… they wanted all their money back and asked parliament to act, saying that the colonist had done Intolerable Acts against England and needed to pay.

Well, this brought a second meeting – or what is now called the Continental Congress - together, where they tried to figure out what to do… they wrote something called the Declaration of Rights and grievances, which they send to the kind and then decided to boycott every single British product that came to the colonies… think of the strikes of immigrants not even a year ago.

As whites were walking through the streets with placards of freedom, black Americans thought that this could finally be an opportunity for them to gain their freedom and finally end their bondage. They wrote letters to the continental congress asking for inclusion…. But they where never answered to.

The British, pissed, send troops and the war of independence began. From the beginning, dif. ideas as to how to handle and deal with pretty much everything divided the north and south colonies; and the war of independence was one of them. You see, the south was not sure that it wanted to separate from England… they thought having a big daddy was actually comfortable… the only way to convince the south to get involved was to invite one of its leaders George Washington from Virginia, to lead the troops of the American revolution.

George Washington, a slave owner as we have said, noticed that some of the northern regiments had black men serving next to white servants…. He immediately passed a law indicating that black men could not serve in the army. Why? Although all Americans were fighting for freedoms, somewhere not supposed to get the idea that they would be free some day…. And maybe, seeing black men carrying weapons and fighting for “freedom” will give some ideas.

The British governors of Massachusetts saw through the dilemma that the revolution leaders where having, and since slavery was illegal in England (although not in the colonies) he decided to invite American slaves to fight along the side of the crown to gain their freedom.

In 1620 the pilgrims of the Mayflower founded the second permanent English settlement in America. 102 men, women and children settled in the shores of what is now called Provincetown, in Rhode Island. These families had left Europe, searching for the freedom to pray the way the wanted too. They believed that the church of England and Europe had become to corrupt and “popish” (pope) to proper perhaps, and that the real issue of religion and Catholicism needed to be purified – that’s why they are called Puritans. At any rate, they arrived, unlike the settlers of Jamestown; with families, and with a firm believe that this land would provide them with the space and freedom to pray.

The funny things is that a little before the actually set foot in firm land, the few travelers that where not part of the Puritans – decided that they will not follow any commands from them. The Pilgrims freaked out and decided to write a series of rules that needed to be followed by all those who came on the boat. A kind of written document of self-government - the Mayflower Compact was really the first independent document of self-rule written in American soil… it was certainly the first one that did not respond to the will of the King and the Queen.

Meanwhile, in was is now Manhattan and New York, a group of Dutch settlers and business men lead by Peter Minuit, decided to meet with the Indian Chief and offer a bag of goods in exchange for the land. The Chief, without foreseeing the future, accepted the offer and traded all of Manhattan for what is now considered $24.

Unlike the Pilgrims, and perhaps the rest of the colonies, Manhattan became a true melting pot; men and women from Europe and other places went to Manhattan to try their luck. This meant that no morality, or rules of any kind, except perhaps, the rule of labor and money, called the shoots. They say that 17 languages where spoken in Manhattan back in 1692… a tradition that continues until today. Conflicts in the old continent, and irritation with the Dutch West Indian Company, created a perfect transfer of ownership of New Amsterdam (Manhattan) into New York and English hands.

The French, great explorers at that time, wanted a piece of the pie too. The problem is that unlike the British and Spaniards, the French where better explorers than conquerors, but their exploration brought to them plenty of land… including the North East of Canada, Mississippi, Louisiana, Wisconsin and Illinois.

By 1664, fifty years after the settlement of Jamestown, all but one of the thirteen colonies had been established, and the rest of the continent divided between Spain, France and England…