Grandpa's Mind
As I pulled into my parents' driveway, I realized how loud the radio was. I turned it down, peeled my legs off the blue vinyl seat, and lugged my pile of laundry up to the front door. The doorknob wouldn't turn and I still hadn't gotten around to making myself a duplicate key.
I rang the bell and waited. Nothing.
Leaving my basket of dirty clothes on the steps, I tramped through the bushes in front of the living room window. Pep was across the room sitting in his usual chair and reading the paper. He was a familiar sight in his plaid flannel shirt, striped clip-on bow tie, and tweed cabby hat.
I knocked on the window. He turned around, startled, and focused his eyes on me. I smiled and waved at him, but he just stared at me. I gestured toward the front door. His face had that hollow look, but something made him get up and let me in.
"Hi, Pep." I kissed him on the cheek. He made way for me and my laundry.
"Hello, how are you?"
I headed for the washing machine. Pep trailed closely behind.
"Kevin and Clare aren't home, but they should be here soon. Do you want to wait for them?"
"Yah, I'll be here." I began separating whites from darks.
"Do you want anything to eat? There's meat and bread in the ice box and some cookies in there."
"No thanks."
"I don't know where Kevin and Clare are. They took Katie out somewhere. Do you know Katie?"
I paused. Here we go. This was going to be one of those conversations. I should just say, "Why, yes, I know Katie." But perhaps if I venture a bit further, something might jog his memory and we wouldn't have to go through the whole routine. Dad says that Pep has a tape recorder in his brain, and bits and pieces keep getting erased.
I decided to give it a shot.
consciousness of artisans in New York City during the Jacksonian period. (pp. 14 & 25) The pre-industrial revolutions of the 1800s provided many avenues of employment for masters, journeymen, and laborers; however, the transformation of a merchant capitalist economy provided for many masters to subdivide labor. (pp. 113) Contracted work caused a rift in the structure of the old artisanal class. Masters no longer needed to employ apprentices since they hired out separate tradesmen for the...
In the United States there are specific areas that have been overwhelmed by the infestation of crime and violence and it appears to be at its peak in areas where poverty is high. Therefore, in this essay I will examine the connection between poverty and crime and attempt to prove relationships of the two. The link between poverty and crime is not a new discussion. In fact it has been an extremely controversial subject among many over the years. There have been arguments made stating that poverty does not have a direct link to crime based on countries that have very high poverty, however ...
“Wow! You were as hungry as I was. Be a good boy and I’ll see you later.”
During the late 1700’s, the United States was no longer a possession of Britain, instead it was a market for industrial goods and the world’s major source for tobacco, cotton, and other agricultural products. A labor revolution started to occur in the United States throughout the early 1800’s. There was a shift from an agricultural economy to an industrial market system. After the War of 1812, the domestic marketplace changed due to the strong pressure of social and economic forces. Major innovations in transportation allowed the movement of information, people, and merchandise. Textile mills and factories became an important base for jobs, especially for women. There was also widespread economic growth during this time period (Roark, 260). The market revolution brought about economic growth through new modes of transportation, an abundance of natural resources, factory production, and banking and legal practices.
Of the many theories about crime, one that sticks out is the conflict theory of crime. The conflict theory of crime basically states that people’s socioeconomic status leads to criminal activity (Kornblum and Julian 2012). For instance, it’s the situation of the haves (the people who have money for the things that they want) and have not (the people who want what the haves have). According to Kornblum and Julian, as disadvantaged individuals are labelled as criminals they begin to rebel against societies view of them. Over time they begin to embrace society’s view of them as criminals and they continue with their criminal behavior. As a result, lower socioeconomic status who don’t have (have not) result t...
There are over sixty offenses in the United States of America that can be punishable by receiving the death penalty (What is..., 1). However, many individuals believe that the death penalty is an inadequate source of punishment for any crime no matter how severe it is. The fact remains, however, that the death penalty is one of the most ideal forms of punishment. There are other individuals who agree with the idea that capital punishment is the best form of punishment. In fact, some of these individuals believe that this should be the only form of punishment.
Montgomery, David. The Fall of the House of Labor: The Workplace, the State, and American Labor Activism, 1865-1925. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
The antebellum era was a period that had great political change. During this period there were also technological and economic innovation. The Industrial Revolution had produced new inventions and methods of production. American inventors helped to transform the United States economy with new innovations of their own. This rapid evolution of manufacturing and upgraded farming had an extreme effect on society in America. This change is something that historians refer to as the Market Revolution. It is shown in this paper that the lives of the working class changed significantly. The Market Revolution and the rise of market capitalism influenced the working class by bringing them greater opportunities in the work field in the North, and new inventions encouraged planters to raise more cotton in the South.
“Hey, are you hungry at all? I am. Thought I’d cook something up if you were too—?”
Conversely, the frequency of crime (property and violent crime) according to Van Dijk (1999) in Ackerman and Murray (2004 p.424) in many regions of the world is related to problems of economic hardship among the young. For example, Ackerman and Murray, (2004 p.424) showed that “more than half of the victimization rates in 49 countries (representing all world regions) for burglaries, thefts, and thefts from cars can be explained by level of urbanization, economic deprivation, and affluent lifestyle”. Even though the concentration of crime is said to be closely related to social class (deprivation), the spatial consequences of crime progressively blighted neighbourhoods, due to the non-stationary status of the class.
Economic inequality describes the gap between the wealthy and the poor. Individuals are given a socio- economic status based on their social class. Jacob and O’Brien (1998) concluded that police killings are more associated with the economic gaps between whites and blacks. As a result, cities with more African Americans are often targeted by police violence because of the poor urban condition and the economic inequality (Jacob and O’Brien 1998). These urban conditions include poor living lifestyle, low income, low employment, unsanitary environment, and dangerous crime related habits. Therefore, underprivileged minority communities are perceived as extremely unsafe and dangerous because people who live in these communities often associate with gangs (Jacob and O’Brien 1998). These gangs and juvenile delinquents commit illegal activities based on a variety of different reasons. Lack of money and support from family members is the leading causes of crimes. It is common for poor families to lack essential resources for survival due to the concept of the poor economic inequality among the minorities (Jacob and O’Brien 1998). In addition, unlike the upper social class, the poor communities have a lot of unsolved issues such as gangs, prostitutions, and thefts that need to be fixed in order to guarantee more safety in the community (Harris 1999). The unsolved issues that reside along the minority community cause police officers to act differently based on assumption and natural instinct (Smith and Holmes 2003).
By far the largest concern of technology today is video games. There have been so many experiments and studies to try and figure out if video games have a negative or positive effect on our children. A growing body of research is linking violent video game play to aggressive cognitive, attitudes and behaviors (D.A. Gentile, 2004). Video games can obviously be dangerous for our children causing aggression, bad performances in school and obesity. Although we cant blame all of these problems on the use of video game...
Crime and criminalization are dependent on social inequality Social inequality there are four major forms of inequality, class gender race and age, all of which influence crime. In looking at social classes and relationship to crime, studies have shown that citizens of the lower class are more likely to commit crimes of property and violence than upper-class citizens: who generally commit political and economic crimes. In 2007 the National Crime Victimization Survey showed that families with an income of $15000 or less had a greater chance of being victimized; recalling that lower classes commit a majority of those crimes. We can conclude that crime generally happens within classes.
"Well, I had to get home before my cousin and aunt. They aren't. . . the most loving family, but they're the only ones I have left."
I argue that poverty is the main cause of the increasing crimes in the society. It is quite evident that the aspect of crime and poverty normally go hand in hand. It is not possible to deal with crime without having to deal with some of the root causes which mostly are the aspects of poverty. Poverty can be basically referred to as the condition of choice and in most cases is the burden of the people that lack the benefits that the majority people have (Short, 1997). Normally, it is possible to hide wealth but it is never possible to hide a condition of poverty. There are two arguments regarding whether poverty is the aspect responsible for crime and whether crime can cause poverty. The families that go without the basic necessities in most cases could resort to theft. Therefore, I strongly hold that even though crime could have many causes, poverty is the largest of its causes.