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Eastern State Penitentiary was an innovative attempt at changing the very hearts of prisoners, but which failed to take into account the role of kindness.

Prison reform in Eastern State was one of the cruelest and severe. Prisoner’s lack of communication and isolation did not aid in improvement but rather inspired rebellion.

It’s an inspiring and illuminating pioneer in reforming the prisons although it failed.

From the POV of a contemporary American citizen interested in prison reform, ESP was a place that shouldn’t be glorified as a breakthrough design.

The morals of Eastern State are questionable, and the role of success of reforming prisoners (rather than simply punishing them) is disappointingly low for how many people were forced to stay there.

“Freedom belongs to everyone, no matter who made mistakes or not.”

It is a place built to reform prisoners, and gives us hope since US has been striving to do so for a long time.

From the POV of a contemporary citizen who is interested in prison reform, ESP was a place that stripped people of what made them human, and prevented people from performing acts that keep people sane. It could almost be seen as a method of torture, where instead of helping people as the founders had hoped, it took away every liberty a person has.

The prison was a site of mental torture, inconceivably harsh to anyone who had not seen it with his own eyes.

Eastern State was an eerie place, not necessarily having the effects on its prisoners it hoped to.

Eastern State was a prison unlike any other, where the methods were so damaging to the human spirit, and was so radical that the fascination that came with the prison was far greater than the suffering.

It is a place where prisoners try to fight against isolation, which is meant by the builders in order to make the inmates contemplate and reflect towards reformation.

The prison would seem useless-does it really do anything for reform and penitence? Who rules the prison, the guard or the prisoners, comes into question.

ESP was a place you wouldn’t want to end up in lest you enjoyed the company of your own criminal soul and the judging eye of god.

Eastern State is truly unlike the other prisons today, prisoners must face perhaps the strongest punishment of our time, solitude.

This doesn’t work well-most of prisoners have no ability to read and spend their time (which is what they got) in trying to communicate with their neighbors.

Eastern State is not successful. Treating prisoners so cruelly with isolation will only drive them madder.

Testament to the failure of the American Dream.

Like all the others, it ended up a very expensive storage areas for criminals.

Is it practical?

Today this pattern still continues but in a subtler way.

There are still hundred of thousands of prisoners today kept in dungeons, medieval-like conditions, for years, huge portion of their lifetimes, with nothing but (conditions?) for their brains to to (ziet?), be warped, and emerge with hatred, anger, and frustration toward the world.

(I couldn't read two of the words.)

Once prison was reform, now it is anti-recidivist and a source of income.

These two things (great conditions and to be pentitent) are irrelevant, and may lead people to thinking committing a crime isn't a big deal, because prison isn't too bad anyway. 

It started out as an attempt to reform individulas but even now the corruption and evolution of corruption is visible in the empty space. 

It might be easier or safer for some of them to stay in jail. 

The original idea of build such prison is good. But the truth is, it overlook the prisoners' crazy behavior. 

I disagree with the way prison is ran by today, but I'm quite confused whether as before, far more strict, is better because less people were imprisoned or if today's system, a better sustained prison life is a better alternative yet having more prisoners.

Lately it seems as though a consciousness raising has been happening regarding preconceived thoughts on certain areas of language and associations. One area in particular has peaked my interest--a general fear of the term "feminist". A recent Jezebel article, to which I have posted the link below, highlights a deeply misplaced rejection of that term by current public figures. "Feminist" has moved from being a word used to describe politically active, socially aware people to one invoking images of angry, man-hating monsters hell-bent on shrieking at any innocent, simply to cause a scene. Society has fueled a negative bias against the term, and it has infected many, impeding on the cause. One of the first times I became aware of such an apprehension was while talking with a close friend from home. Since I met her in middle school, she has always wanted to be a pilot in the air force; currently, she is on the path to doing so. During our discussion, she mentioned that she doesn't consider herself a feminist, because "women are basically equal", and that feminists are "too aggressive" for her. She didn't even realize her ability to peruse her chosen career is entirely due to the feminist movement, let alone the fact that the current military system is still profoundly kyriarchal and, frankly, dangerous for many women/minorities, and that feminist work is necessary to combat such issues.

accomplishment - i built another house, this one even more legit than the first one (which i lost ..). this one has three windows (which i made from glass that i made by smelting wood in my furnace .. i know, duh, of course that's how you make glass, but it still feels really cool to me!) .. and it has a door, and my bed, furnace, and crafting table, and chest. it's not very aesthetically pleasing and its super boxy and dark with a low ceiling, but hey it's mine! i feel strangely attached to this, like concerned with making it look nice .. and picking a 'nice' plot of land and clearing it, etc, as if this is really 'my' land and it all reflections back on me. but in a way, it is totally my creation , and it does reflect on me - so strange, i never thought i would experience this through a game! it really is an eerily good 'simulation' of how we interact with objects in the analog world. 

A Struggle:

Last Tuesday when Thomas came to talk to us, he mentioned how minecraft isn’t the funnest game he has ever played, but is one of the most influential ones. He also mentioned how sometimes he would love to read a book, but once it is assigned to him as homework, he might just be demotivated to read it because he then sees it as work. Honestly speaking, as a semi-gamer, minecraft isn’t a game I would normally play on my own. I do enjoy playing it, but I also see it as part of my work, something I am supposed to do and not something I would do on my own free time. I think some part of me is just not used to this type of gaming, minecraft is really open-ended. But maybe a bit too open-ended for me? That’s why I always look at what other people are doing and try to build it myself, and when I accomplish it I feel great. Yet I still don’t find myself that engaged in it like some other people in class. I just envy how they have so much patience and creativity, and I feel like I get impatient sometimes with the game. After playing for a while it gets a bit boring and flat for me, and I just don’t enjoy the process of always collecting materials first, even as Thomas said it later becomes more like a habit. I think I’m struggling to be motivated in this game, more than other problems.

An Accomplishment:

Day 1 (10/28/13): 

A Struggle: I am still unable to access the game because I did not use paypal when purchasing the game -- I used skrillz (the equivalent of paypal, but british one) because I used the visa card option, and was asked to provide the last 4 digits of SSS and birthday. It said "verified by visa" so I did not think much of it, but then my bank called my mom of suspicious activity and locked my mom's bank account. After a lot of phone calls and misunderstanding of minecraft being labeled as fraud, I was finally able to clear things up and buy it and download it, but the initial struggle was just obtaining the game. 

An Accomplishment:

I was finally able to buy the game via paypal (after many tries and phone calls!)

An observation:

This isn't so much related to minecraft the game itself, but it made me think of the legitimacy of games and the real possibility of fraud- since I purchased the game ONLINE, not a CD disk from Best Buy or anything. It was only because minecraft is a renowned game was the bank finally able to realize that the purchase wasn't fraud. I question if the decision would have been the same if the game hadn't been popular... Made me think of how much technology has evolved, because I know that when I was growing up, I bought the physical copy of the game from a store, not off the internet.

Day 2: 

In discussions today about making institutions – in particular, high schools – more accessible for people of various identities, many different ideas are brought to the table. These discussions largely center around topics such as race, sexuality, gender, and disability as separate issues to be dealt with. However, often this excludes people with intersectional identities. One specific example of an intersectional identity that is frequently ignored when discussing issues in high schools (and the main focus of this paper), is queer students of color. Although research in areas such as education and experiences of youth who identify as LGBTQ has increased over the past 20 years, the specific issues of LGBTQ students of color in elementary and high schools have been largely untouched by research and discussion. What little research does exist has shown that students who are both queer and colored, in addition to challenges related to their sexual or gender identity, face challenges related to their race and ethnicity (Diaz & Kosciw 2). It is important to try and make high schools safer places for these students to freely express their intersectional identities by exploring some of the reasons why queer students of color feel so “other-ed” by various communities, what kinds of issues they face in high schools, and discussing ideas for ways to improve their educational experience, both academically and socially.