Image #2: Large, Black and white Pig (Refer to reflection #2)
This is the final installment of the reading guide I have been creating from my reading of my partner’s self-chosen/content-area text, Battle Ground Chicago: The Police and The 1968 Democratic National Convention by Frank Kusch.
This blog will focus on the final section of Chapter 4, “‘On to Chicago’: Countdown to August,” pages 59-68 of the text.
I will be applying the same format I used with my first and second set of reflections from my reading of this text.
1.
Text:
“Johnson drew a .32 caliber revolver from a flight bag and fired a shot, narrowly missing one of the officers” (59).
Reflection:
I picture a young man, quickly pulling out a small black pistol from his flight bag (I had to look up images of flight bags on Google because I wasn’t sure of what a flight bag looks like. It turns out that it is a type of carry-on bag) and firing off one shot quick enough to prevent officers from stopping him.
Strategies:
Here I am using visualization. The words on the page were able to trigger related images in my mind.
2.
Text:
“On Friday the 23, the Yippies nominated their own Democratic candidate: a 145-pound black and white pig dubbed ‘Pigasus’. The Yippie candidate for president was ‘released to the public’ at the Civic Center Plaza and was promptly ‘arrested’ by the police as he was being ‘interviewed’ by waiting journalists” (60).
Reflection:
I can envision this pig, ‘Pigasus,’ black and white, and big. I can also imagine him running around the Civic Center Plaza, with police officers and others chasing after him.
Strategies:
Here I am again using visualization. The words on the page were able to trigger related images in my mind.
3.
Text:
“Police spokesperson Frank Sullivan said that security not censorship was their main concern” (61).
Reflection:
This makes me think of security and censorship today. I also started to wonder if the mayor would get away with turning away the media in a situation such as this today. I don’t believe that the current mayor would get away with that. When there is an important event, people want to see what is going on, people want full media coverage.
Strategies:
Here I am making a connection between the past and the present in terms of what the government had power to control then and what they do not have the power to control today. I am actively engaging in the text by questioning some of the ideas found in the chapter.
4.
Text:
“Indeed, a disbelieving Hayden realized how much Daley’s saber-rattling had set back their efforts” (62-63).
Reflection:
What does the term saber-rattling mean? I think I will have to look up the definition of this term. (Saber-rattling means a show or threat of military power, esp. as used by a nation to impose its policies on other countries.)
Strategies:
Here I had to look up the meaning of a word in order to clarify and understand the intention of the text.
5.
Text:
“Emboldened by the events in Old Town and the face-off in the park with the officers, however, some protestors became more strident, deciding that the cops had no legitimate authority over them. Pressures soon built between protestors and police near the field house” (64).
Reflection:
I predict that the tension between the police and the protestors will soon erupt and both will be forced to retaliate against each other.
Strategies:
I made this prediction because the tension between the two groups has been gradually building throughout this chapter of the text and this quote from the text appears to show that the tension is coming to a head.
6.
Text:
“Former officer Hank Pacnik recalls that the department was extremely lenient and reasonable with the allotted time for demonstrators to leave the park” (64-65).
Reflection:
This is just one of the many examples throughout this chapter of the text that suggests that the author’s intention was to portray the police in a better light than the protestors. Instead of displaying a balanced recount of the event, it appears to me that the author’s agenda is to place the bulk of the blame on the protestors. The author appears to have used more police testimonial than protestor testimonial, giving the former an unfair advantage in the retelling of this event.
Strategies:
Here I am using context clues from the text in order to identify the author’s agenda.
7.
Text:
“Driver’s began to blast their horns, adding to the cacophony of screams, angry shouts, and the sickening sound of batons meeting flesh and bone” (66).
Reflection:
I can imagine this horrific combination of sounds. I can hear the sounds of the car horns, screams, angry shouts, and blows from the baton in my head. These sounds assist in bringing the terrifying scene described in the text to life.
Strategies:
Here I am allowing the text to activate one of my senses, my sense of hearing. Just as imagery in a text can activate visualization, description of sound can activate an imagination of sound.
8.
Text:
“The cops manning the side streets showed restraint. ‘I remember, I think it was Sunday, when we let them run right by us, thirty or forty of them, they had their hands guarding their faces, and we let them drift on into the night, which was best-they were not up to a fight,’ recalls Tom Freeborn” (66).
Reflection:
This is yet another example from this chapter of the text that suggests that the author’s intention was to portray the police in a better light than the protestors. Instead of displaying a balanced recount of the event, it appears to me that the author’s agenda is to place the bulk of the blame on the protestors. The author appears to have used more police testimonial than protestor testimonial, giving the former an unfair advantage in the retelling of the event.
Strategies:
Here, I am again using context clues from the text in order to identify the author’s agenda.
9.
Text:
“Says Jerry Ewaschuck, “You could feel the cameras on us already-every time you looked over your shoulder, there were journalists there, and they were looking at us, even when we were not engaged, more than they were on the hippies and their placards. They were waiting for us to slip up a bit-just an inch, and then flash their bulbs and go running after the hippies for a comment. It was unfair from the beginning. They portrayed us as storm troopers before the convention even got underway. They were judging us and it was only Sunday’” (68).
Reflection:
What does the term placard mean? What is a placard? I think I will have to look up the definition of this term. (Placard means a paperboard sign or notice, as one posted in a public place or carried by a demonstrator or picketer.)
Strategies:
Here I had to look up the meaning of a word in order to clarify and understand the intention of the text.
This blog will focus on the final section of Chapter 4, “‘On to Chicago’: Countdown to August,” pages 59-68 of the text.
I will be applying the same format I used with my first and second set of reflections from my reading of this text.
1.
Text:
“Johnson drew a .32 caliber revolver from a flight bag and fired a shot, narrowly missing one of the officers” (59).
Reflection:
I picture a young man, quickly pulling out a small black pistol from his flight bag (I had to look up images of flight bags on Google because I wasn’t sure of what a flight bag looks like. It turns out that it is a type of carry-on bag) and firing off one shot quick enough to prevent officers from stopping him.
Strategies:
Here I am using visualization. The words on the page were able to trigger related images in my mind.
2.
Text:
“On Friday the 23, the Yippies nominated their own Democratic candidate: a 145-pound black and white pig dubbed ‘Pigasus’. The Yippie candidate for president was ‘released to the public’ at the Civic Center Plaza and was promptly ‘arrested’ by the police as he was being ‘interviewed’ by waiting journalists” (60).
Reflection:
I can envision this pig, ‘Pigasus,’ black and white, and big. I can also imagine him running around the Civic Center Plaza, with police officers and others chasing after him.
Strategies:
Here I am again using visualization. The words on the page were able to trigger related images in my mind.
3.
Text:
“Police spokesperson Frank Sullivan said that security not censorship was their main concern” (61).
Reflection:
This makes me think of security and censorship today. I also started to wonder if the mayor would get away with turning away the media in a situation such as this today. I don’t believe that the current mayor would get away with that. When there is an important event, people want to see what is going on, people want full media coverage.
Strategies:
Here I am making a connection between the past and the present in terms of what the government had power to control then and what they do not have the power to control today. I am actively engaging in the text by questioning some of the ideas found in the chapter.
4.
Text:
“Indeed, a disbelieving Hayden realized how much Daley’s saber-rattling had set back their efforts” (62-63).
Reflection:
What does the term saber-rattling mean? I think I will have to look up the definition of this term. (Saber-rattling means a show or threat of military power, esp. as used by a nation to impose its policies on other countries.)
Strategies:
Here I had to look up the meaning of a word in order to clarify and understand the intention of the text.
5.
Text:
“Emboldened by the events in Old Town and the face-off in the park with the officers, however, some protestors became more strident, deciding that the cops had no legitimate authority over them. Pressures soon built between protestors and police near the field house” (64).
Reflection:
I predict that the tension between the police and the protestors will soon erupt and both will be forced to retaliate against each other.
Strategies:
I made this prediction because the tension between the two groups has been gradually building throughout this chapter of the text and this quote from the text appears to show that the tension is coming to a head.
6.
Text:
“Former officer Hank Pacnik recalls that the department was extremely lenient and reasonable with the allotted time for demonstrators to leave the park” (64-65).
Reflection:
This is just one of the many examples throughout this chapter of the text that suggests that the author’s intention was to portray the police in a better light than the protestors. Instead of displaying a balanced recount of the event, it appears to me that the author’s agenda is to place the bulk of the blame on the protestors. The author appears to have used more police testimonial than protestor testimonial, giving the former an unfair advantage in the retelling of this event.
Strategies:
Here I am using context clues from the text in order to identify the author’s agenda.
7.
Text:
“Driver’s began to blast their horns, adding to the cacophony of screams, angry shouts, and the sickening sound of batons meeting flesh and bone” (66).
Reflection:
I can imagine this horrific combination of sounds. I can hear the sounds of the car horns, screams, angry shouts, and blows from the baton in my head. These sounds assist in bringing the terrifying scene described in the text to life.
Strategies:
Here I am allowing the text to activate one of my senses, my sense of hearing. Just as imagery in a text can activate visualization, description of sound can activate an imagination of sound.
8.
Text:
“The cops manning the side streets showed restraint. ‘I remember, I think it was Sunday, when we let them run right by us, thirty or forty of them, they had their hands guarding their faces, and we let them drift on into the night, which was best-they were not up to a fight,’ recalls Tom Freeborn” (66).
Reflection:
This is yet another example from this chapter of the text that suggests that the author’s intention was to portray the police in a better light than the protestors. Instead of displaying a balanced recount of the event, it appears to me that the author’s agenda is to place the bulk of the blame on the protestors. The author appears to have used more police testimonial than protestor testimonial, giving the former an unfair advantage in the retelling of the event.
Strategies:
Here, I am again using context clues from the text in order to identify the author’s agenda.
9.
Text:
“Says Jerry Ewaschuck, “You could feel the cameras on us already-every time you looked over your shoulder, there were journalists there, and they were looking at us, even when we were not engaged, more than they were on the hippies and their placards. They were waiting for us to slip up a bit-just an inch, and then flash their bulbs and go running after the hippies for a comment. It was unfair from the beginning. They portrayed us as storm troopers before the convention even got underway. They were judging us and it was only Sunday’” (68).
Reflection:
What does the term placard mean? What is a placard? I think I will have to look up the definition of this term. (Placard means a paperboard sign or notice, as one posted in a public place or carried by a demonstrator or picketer.)
Strategies:
Here I had to look up the meaning of a word in order to clarify and understand the intention of the text.
Context clues are such a great way of engaging a text. While the other strategies that you used, such as visualization are valuable, I have forgotten how often I too use context clues, especially in history texts because there are often concepts that the author simply can't cover directly. I often use them in literature as well.
ReplyDelete