The article “Flood of Memories” covers the series of flooding that San Antonio experienced, beginning with the Flood of 1921. Miller uses his writing to convey his personal opinion as well as provide historical facts with regard to the true source of destruction. In “Flood of Memories”, Miller illustrates the racial bias and disregard for human safety in the southern and western parts of San Antonio during the Flood of 1921. Char Miller opens his article with a recalling of an emotional event during the Flood of 1921. He describes how the showers were at first seen as a blessing. San Antonio was suffering through a drought at the time, so the rainwaters were much welcome. However, helping showers soon turned into heavy thunderstorms. Rivers …show more content…
In the west and south neighborhoods, the floods were severely harsh, damaging houses and took many lives. Miller then focuses to the north side and downtown part of San Antonio, where damage was still heavy but not as many deaths as the poorer sides of town. Office buildings and various other work and bank buildings were flooded, the city as a whole suffered from heavy damage costs. In the article, it is stated “the community’s response to the critical question of how to control future floods,” (217) was a great consequence. The reason being is that this response lead to the major question, what community would undergo rehabilitation. In the best interest of politics and economics for the city, the downtown and north areas of San Antonio was chosen for the dam to protect. Although the dam prevented heavy flooding later in the years, the dam could also be considered a failure due to its high maintenance costs. The dam was built with faults that needed more care and attention to from the beginning. Char Miller emphasizes the Flood of 1921 would have been “a perfect ‘opportunity for bettering the lives and sanitary conditions of the Mexican population.’ (217)” He laments that the west and south neighborhoods in fact received little to no …show more content…
However, such a reason wouldn’t explain why aid was insufficient for 50 years after the Flood of 1921. Furthermore, when aid was given, the aid described by Miller seemed to be more of landscaping along the riverside rather than preventing any sort of flooding. It is also stated that sufficient and more precise aid was not given to the west and south districts of San Antonio until there was a change in the city council. While the change wasn’t specifically described one could assume that this means the city council’s main political ideals and beliefs were shifted. Proper aid for the poor communities of San Antonio was not given until there was a change in power. A city’s economic ideals can change within a span of 50 years, which should move focus of services to different parts of the city. However, when the intent to help only a specific location of a community over another is due to racial bias, then those ideals are more evident in the inadequate aid of certain areas in the city over the span of many
According to William Julius Wilson in When Jobs Disappear the transition from the institutional/Communal Ghetto to the Jobless/Dark Ghetto was driven by economic transformations in American from the late 1960’s to the 1990’s. While for Logic Waquant in Urban Outsiders, thought the economic factors were significant; the political factors were more impact. William Julius Wilson most studied about south side of Chicago it’s a classical example of inner city its wasn’t like before in the 1960’s it’s was a community and by the late 70’s the community was gone. According to Wilson, even though it’s was gone the community was not even a wealth community its was a poor community the majority member of that community where indeed Black American
On page 195 of, A Larger Memory: A History of Our Diversity, with Voices, Ronald Takaki includes a narrative, recalling that from the beginning of the Japanese internment, a mob of newspaper photographers persistently asked a young couple and their boy to pose happily for a photo. That photo was later seen in a newspaper with the caption: “Japs good-natured about evacuation.” How might have these newspaper outlets influence the attitudes and opinions of Japanese internment or the idea of interning certain ethnic groups out of racial discrimination and fear? Episode 5 of the PBS Series: The Latino Americans, mentioned that Sal Castro, a school teacher in Los Angeles, led the largest high school student walkout in American history in demand
On February 26, 1972 the Buffalo creek community was destroyed by a terrible flood. The flood caused many tears, pain and death. In the blink of an eye, people’s lives completely changed; lives were lost, houses were gone and families were destroyed. Buffalo Creek is one of the mountain hollows in West Virginia on the edge of the Appalachians, near the Guyandotte River. The land used to grow warm green grass, but overtime the land became a dark place with debris from mine operation spills.
“The Atchafalaya” is an article by John McPhee, concerning the flow of the Mississippi River into the Atchafalaya region. McPhee interviews several people who have jobs related to the river and the maintenance of the Atchafalaya’s water flow. The location of the Mississippi River is crucial because if it moves, it could potentially destroy all of New Orleans and Baton Rouge, and, subsequently, their status as major shipping channels. Reading this article, I gained more insight on the importance of the river for the state of Louisiana and New Orleans. A quote in the article summarizes the reoccurring theme of society versus Mother Nature: “Man against nature.
When the flood finally ended on August 31, 1927, lives were destroyed along with houses, stores and even towns. I think this was a very important part of our history because of the ways that it affected our
The city had so much rainfall that the flood dams over filled and they had to release it no matter what, the citizens couldn 't do anything about it. “Both reservoir outlet gates are open and releasing stormwater into Buffalo Bayou. House flooding is occurring in adjacent neighborhoods, and roadways that run through the reservoirs are underwater. Some 3,000 homes near Addicks reservoir and 1,000 homes near Barker are inundated due to water release.”
Lance Freeman, an associate professor of urban planning in Columbia, wanted to investigate if there was any displacement going on in two predominantly black neighborhoods that was briskly gentrifying. Much to his dismay, he couldn’t find any correlation between gentrification and displacement. What was surprising to Freeman was his discovery, “poor residents and those without a college education were actually less likely to move if they resided in gentrifying neighborhoods”. (Sternbergh, 19) Freeman adds, “The discourse on gentrification, has tended to overlook the possibility that some of the neighborhood changes associated with gentrification might be appreciated by the prior residents.” (Sternbergh, 19)
The hurricane had significant social effects on Galveston. In a letter from John D. Blagden to his family he states “I lost everything I brought with me from Memphis”. This statement signifies one of the biggest social effects on Galveston as many people had lost so much, from relatives to friends and from their homes to their jobs, many people who couldn't handle this loss left the city. In a 1990’s article titled “Raising Galveston” by John H. Lienharad, the author says “Homeowners had to lift their house up on stilts so the slurry could fill under them”. The citizens had to raise
Homework 7 Gaven D. Crosby Pennsylvania College of Technology Homework 7 This paper will discuss the way that the Mississippi River, and the New Deal have affected emergency management. The Mississippi River is a river that floods quite often, almost every year. The lower portion floods more than the upper portions, and affects more people. This is due to the terrain of the areas surrounding the lower Mississippi.
A drought is an occurrence where there is very little rainfall, which results in a shortage of water. Drought can last up to ten years in certain places, especially desert areas. Droughts are extremely difficult to predict, and produce cracked land. They are very dangerous in places with little food and little water. Droughts can also affect farmers, due to it being so hot that their plants die.
When The Levees Broke Rhetorical Analysis Essay On August 29th, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the coasts of southeastern Louisiana. Shortly after, New Orleans’ flood protection system failed, causing floodwalls and levees to topple and break. Covering major points in the film, as they broke, the lives, spirits, and thoughts of many Americans were also broken as well. In a documentary released on August 16, 2006, director Spike Lee utilizes rhetorical strategies to produce a profound vision into the city and it’s citizen’s internal devastation, grievance, and recovery of spirit, and our nation’s failure to assist; when the levees broke. The numerous incorporations of the emotional appeal strengthen Spike’s opinion in a unique way.
Memories are one of the most important parts of life, there is no true happiness without the reminiscence of pain or love. This concept is portrayed in "The Giver" by Lois Lowry. The story tells of a 12-year old Jonas, who lives in a “utopian” society, where all bad memories are destroyed to avoid the feeling of pain. Jonas becomes the receiver, someone who receives good and bad memories, and he is transmitted memories of pain and pleasure from The Giver and is taught to keep the secret to himself. The author shows one should cherish memories, whether it be good or bad, as they are all of what is left of the past, and we should learn from it as to better ourselves in the future.
The Purpose of Memories in Fitzgerald’s “Babylon Revisited” F. Scott Fitzgerald was one of the most prominent writers during the Jazz Age. His short story, “Babylon Revisited”, follows Charlie Wales reminiscing about his past life and attempting to regain what he lost after the 1929 stock market crash. Charlie returns to Paris and he is disappointed at how empty the city looks. His goal is to regain custody of his daughter, Honoria. However, this feat is difficult to overcome because of Lorraine’s temptations to bring Charlie back into his previous lavish lifestyle and Marion’s strong disapproval of Charlie.
It rains for about five years, when the rain comes it removes all evidence of the massacre that occurred at the banana plantation as if nothing happened at all. Just as in the bible God told Noah to build an arch for himself, his family and two of every animal because he was sending rain to cleanse the earth of all the evilness and the wrong doings of the people, “And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights” (Genesis 7:12). The people of Macondo got lost and distracted by the new technology and glamor of the future that they “lost” their way
After the flood, people can experience emotional problems. They may have lost their sense of security and have difficulty sleeping when it rains or storms, for instance. This is called immaterial damage. The consequences for people depend on the amount of water, the speed with which the water rises, whether they can evacuate, the strength and height of the houses and whether they are able to stay home to wait out the flood in a good way.