Good evening Luis,

You are missing work from your blog.  I do not have your topic or ten questions that was due Friday; therefore, I cannot give you timely feedback.

--Prof. Young

When is it okay to Dissent?

In the novel Friendswood Written by Rene Steinke, a small town in Texas is taken over with chemical dumping’s that have affected the town in a very negative way. One of the characters in the novel is Lee who was the mother of a teenage girl by the name of jess who died due to cancer from this disastrous chemical dumping; that is causing the land and the people of Friendswood to become sick. These unfortunate events would be taken care by the government in some cities and states, but in Friendswood the Environmental protection agencies are doing nothing to help protect these people instead the mayor of Friendswood has decided to build on the poisoned land rather than maintain the chemical infested soil.

In the town of Friendswood, Lee is seen as crazed and obsessive with the conditions of the town and what the mayor intends to do with the poisoned soil. Though she is seen as insane and obsessive, she is an activist for what she believes in. she believes so strongly on the issues in Friendswood, and because of her past experience with the loss of her daughter she would not want anyone else to feel the same way that she did when she lost her daughter, so she fights for what she believes in, she thinks differently and defies what the government wants her and the rest of the town want her to believe.

Thinking differently and dissenting from others for something you believe in so strongly in is always a valuable thing.  To me dissenting is always okay as long as it is something that you feel very strongly about and people achieve these goals without harming others or themselves. To Dissent can help change the world in a positive manner, as long as we use our freedom of speech and our right to protest in a positive and non violently dissenting from others thoughts and actions is always okay and a good thing to do, if you believe strongly in a movement or disagree strongly on something.

Bringing it back to Friendswood Lee strongly disagrees with Taft industries, Mayor Wallen and their plan to build on the chemical filled land, essentially only to get more money. Though Lee may be taking it to the extreme and allowing this to consume her entire life, I can understand why she would be like this. The loss of her daughter has made her obsessive with the cause of her death and she like any other parent would react the same way, wanting to get down and rid of the cause od death to their child. Lee may be taking things very far and letting it all consume her life, but deep down in side it is all for a good reason and something that she strongly believes in.

Connected all this to events happening in our society today many people have are protesting around the united states from the water crisis in flint Michigan to the Dakota access pipeline. These events taking place around the United States have caused for many people to protest and dissent daily from what the government is doing or is not doing for their town. For example, in flint Michigan they have had contaminated water since 2014 and are still facing this crisis. People have taken the streets of Michigan to protest for what they should have. 

As well the pipeline crisis has caused people to protest because they are touching land that is supposed to be untouched, these people are dissenting for good causes and hoping to make a change in the United States. To dissent is always a positive thing as long as you truly believe in it and believe that it will positively make a change and not letting it take over who you are like it does Lee in Friendswood. To dissent is a good thing unless you allow it to consume you.

Reading Log questions: Pages 1-60

     1. Who is Willa Lambert?  Describe her relationship with her parents.  Write about her “visions.”  Based upon the evidence that’s been presented in the novel, what’s the origin of these visions?

     Willa Lambert is a teenage girl who lived in friends wood and has a crush on one of the other characters names cully.  Willa has visions or hallucinations every so often where she see's monsters and many other dark visions. 

     2. Who is Dex?  Describe his relationship with his mother.  Describe his relationship with his sister.  Based upon the evidence that’s been presented in the novel, discuss Dex’s relationship with his friends, footballs player.

        Dex is another character from friends wood who is very shy and considered an introvert. Dex is very close to his mom, and is very popular in school because of his status as a football player. 

       3. Who is Hal?  What does he do for a living?  How would you describe his career?  Talk about Hal’s relationship with Darlene, with Cully

        Hal is Cully's father who used to be a football player ion friends wood but is now a real estate agent who cheated on his wife and was an alcoholic. His career is not going well and he is not able to sell a good amount of houses as a real estate agent. Darlene is the women who helped him back to sobriety.

 4. Who is Lee?  What significant tragedy happens in her life?  Discuss how this event affects her.  Thus far how is Lee perceived by community members?

      Lee is a wife to jack and a mother to jessie  who had just died of cancer, this event affects her metal state throughout the book. Her husband left her after the death of their daughter. she is perceived but the community as crazy because she is still on the land she used to live on investigating. 

     5.  Make the connections between Friendswood and one of the significant environmental calamities that’s occurring now: Standing Rock, Flint, Michigan, and East Chicago, Indiana.  Be sure to include when the event happened, why it happened, and how the environmental calamity effected the community. (If you aren’t familiar with these events, please research them.)

     Making a connection to an event that is happening in todays society would be the water crisis in flint Michigan  In flint they have been having a contamination of there drinking water, since 2014. This connects to friends wood because of all the chemical dumping that is happening int he town causing children and regular town citizens to have birth defects and high rates of cancer just like in flints water crisis today. 

     6.  Discuss the role of protection and the EPA.  Is this governmental agency fulfilling its role as it relates to the community members of Friendswood?

      EPA is the Environmental protection agency that the federal government created to protect human health and the environment  in the community of friends wood The EPA is not fulfilling its roles for the members of friends wood because of all the chemical dumping and harm that is causing to the citizens of friends wood.