Night: Hangings and Torture

Gallows at Auschwitz

When we first completed our Book Walk of Elie Wiesel's Night, several of you commented on the painting of three hanging bodies on the back cover. Throughout our reading, you all have turned back to that piece of art and remarked on it. Today, we read about the story behind this work of art.

We started class with a fact about Zyklon B, the insecticide used to kill thousands (millions, more like) of people at Auschwitz and other concentration camps. Though Zyklon B was transported in crystal form, it produced a deadly gas when heated. The Nazis piped it into "shower" rooms and used it to murder many, many people, including Wiesel's mother and youngest sister.

As you all know, the gas chambers were not the only way that the Nazis murdered the Jews.  There was the starvation and the torture of these innocent people, but also hangings. Wiesel mentions that he witnessed several hangings at Auschwitz. Thinking about these hangings led us to talking about the use of torture against prisoners and POWs.

Our belief statement of the day (which will be added to your Personal Creed Projects) is about whether or not you believe that torture should be used on prisoners. Some of you thought that it has no place in our prisons, while others of you felt that there are certain cases where torture is an appropriate course of action to gain essential information from prisoners.

Double Consciousness: In School/ Out of School

In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Arnold Spirit creates a drawing where he splits the figure of a student in two. One side is labeled "White" and the other "Indian." We've been talking quite a bit about the term double-consciousness, or the state of traveling between two realities in one's life. Certainly, Arnold experiences the expectations and assumptions of both Native and White American cultures when he goes back and forth to school every day.

Though we may or may not have conflicting ethnic cultures that we go back and forth between on a daily basis, we do travel to school and then home. The expectations and realities of these two realms are often very different, even for myself as a teacher.

To illustrate this reality, we're going to create a visual using photobooth. I've created an unlabeled version of my face as an example of what I'd like you to create. One side of your face should have a school setting in the background, and one should be taken somewhere off campus. Here's my photo creation:

Looks weird, right? I know. But, you can easily see that I am different in the two environments that I spend most of my time in. At school, I am happy but formal looking. At home, I am more happy and look more relaxed.

We'll work on these next class. Please send me your two pics by then. We'll work to add labels to our pics in class.

Quote of the Week

Last week, Oprah Winfrey had famous author JK Rowling on her show. Rowling is the author of the Harry Potter series. Obviously, this woman knows how to write. But, when I read this quote (found on an awesome blog that I follow, written by a teen girl) I knew that Rowling had not lost her sense of wonder and discovery in the writing process.

Here is her quotation:

"It's true for all writers: I know what I believe because of what I've written." 

Simple and true. No best-seller bravado. This applies to Rowling and to all of us. We form our beliefs as we read and write and explore who we are. I love it.