Should've been a cowboy

Hang Em' High

The movie starts off with a group of men trying to take the law into their own hands. The group of 9 men attempt to hang a man without allowing him to put in hardly any words. This is interesting because in the movie they have what seems to be a stable law system, with an ruling judge. The town that the movie is set (Oklahoma Indian Territory), is very similar to Deadwood. Bars and Whore houses throughout. A particular house called Sophie's Peaches resembles that of Al Swearinger's in Deadwood. Some differences is in ownership gender. It seemed to me that the 'Peaches' were much more respectful both to others and for themselves. This may be due to the fact that they work for a female and that is much different from working for the mischievous Swearinger.
In the film, the main character Jed Cooper was offered to be the Marshall. The judge (who basically runs the town) gives him the opportunity to help and join or completely leave himself out, because if he decided to take the law into his hands, he would be hanged. This is like the Deadwood episode we watched where they basically handed away a high position like Sheriff.
I found it interesting how in the film, if people didn't know how to write they had a mark. Its basically like a symbol or stamp used to acknowledge a signature of an illiterate person. The sheriff or a literate person would write down or read it, and they would place their mark afterward.
In the movie Judged vs. Hanged was brought up. When the judge sentenced anyone after they were in jail, he would hang them in the middle of town. Everyone came to watch, they were celebrating it like it were the Super Bowl. There was a drink vendor and everything. So whats the difference between that and someone being lynched on the spot instead of even going to jail in the first place, if either way their fate was death by noose. I feel that one reason people came to the west, was to be able to get away from they laws and civilization.
This movie had some points that correlate well to our class, as the view the director took on his imagination of the west seems to be a very common perspective.

Paper Topic #2

Paper Topic #2: Critiquing the Historical Imagination in Film

All semester we have been studying the history of the American West and how it has been creatively represented in fiction and film. For this assignment, you will have the opportunity to demonstrate what you have learned this semester by watching on your own a film about the American West and then historically analyzing it in an essay.

Here are some guidelines for your essay:

1) You must choose one film from the below list and watch it on your own. It cannot be a film you have previously seen or viewed for extra credit this semester. If there is a film that is not on the list that you would like to write about, for example maybe one that was referenced in From Shane to Kill Bill, please ask me for permission to use it before you begin to write your essay.

2) Ideally, only one person in the class will write on a particular film. On April 1 I will pass around a sign-up sheet for everyone in the class to claim which film they have chosen to write on. The films are available at the library, through interlibrary loan or from movie rental or retail stores.

3) In your essay, which has to be at least 5-6 typed, double-spaced pages long, you will historically analyze the film by devising and defending a thesis about it. While outside research is not necessary, you may find it helpful to strengthen your arguments. Its Your Misfortune and class lecture and discussion from this semester will provide you with a strong factual basis to write your essay. From Shane to Kill Bill is also an excellent resource for which you can begin to critically think about your paper.

4) The paper will be due Thursday, April 29th at the beginning of class. Be sure to comply with all standards of professionalism listed in the syllabus.


FILM OPTIONS

• 3:10 to Yuma (Lucas)
• A Fistful of Dollars (Per Un Pugno Di Dollari)
• The Ballad of Cable Hogue
• The Burrowers (Amanda)
• Companeros (Vamos a Matar, Companeros)
• Deadwood (HBO Series-ask for permission and choose 2-3 episodes with clear historical themes to explore in research)
• Duck, You Sucker (Giu' La Testa) (Andrew)
• For A Few Dollars More (Per Qualche Dollaro in Piu) (Nick)
• Fort Apache (Stephanie Beer)
• Hang Em' High (Kara)
• Heartland (Sarah Koepe)
• High Noon (Kim C.)
• High Plains Drifter
• How the West was Won (Maggie)
• Hud (Ellen)
• Joe Kidd (Sam)
• Junior Bonner
• Little Big Man (Dylan)
• The Magnificent Seven (Jackie)
• McCabe and Mrs. Miller
• The Missing (Kelly McGee)
• Navajo Joe
• Ned Kelly (David)
• Open Range (Jeff)
• Ravenous (Kaitlin)
• Ride the High Country (Sarah)
• Ride with the Devil
• Rio Bravo (Jennifer Kahler)
• Seraphim Falls
• Stagecoach ( Kevin)
• The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Jay)
• The Great Silence (Il grande silenzio) (steven)
• The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (Jon)
• The Outlaw Josey Wales (Johnny Diegel)
• The Proposition (Vince)
• The Shootist (Jesse S)
• There Will Be Blood (Dan)
• Treasure of the Sierra Madre
• True Grit (Alyssa)
• Wild Bill (Alex)
• Wyatt Earp

Tom Outland

I'm growing really curious as to how Tom Outland's role is going to play out in this book, if it does at all. After learning so much about his character when he first entered St. Peter's and his family's lives, it interested me as to his background and where he came from. Obviously he came from the West and has that mind-set, which plays into this class very well. He was known to tell the daughters all of his stories, and it is clear that their imaginations ran wild about the place he came from. It only makes sense that these types of characters were what made the West seem so romantic and adventurous. So...yeah, I'm just really interested in Tom's character now. I should also point out that St. Peter also has become more and more interesting of a person to read about. The way he acts compared to his family makes it difficult to see the relationships they have. This book definately reveals itself as you keep reading.

Effigy Mounds Field Trip, April 25th @ 9:30 A.M.

Photo: Phil, Effigy Mounds History of the Great Plains Class Field Trip, 2009.

Hi Class. On Thursday the class agreed that they would like for the Effigy Mounds Field Trip Spring 2010 edition to be offered on Sunday, April 25th. We will leave Iowa City at 9:30 A.M. If you go on the trip you will be rewarded with 3 extra credit points towards your final total grade. We will go on a hike to see some Indian Burial Mounds at Effigy Mounds National Monument and then hopefully, stop by an historic fur trading post along the Mississippi River before we head home.

This trip is purely optional and not required or expected of you in anyway.

www.nps.gov/efmo

St. Peter

I am continuing to read the novel and I am finding St. Peter to be an interesting, but still troublesome character for me. He is too calculating and his intellectual habits are starting to irritate me. Especially in the scene with his wife when discussing Scott and the Arts and Letters. The short chapter really personifies St. Peter and how he is always analyzing his family and the situations that are occurring. He realizes that his wife's face lightens up and almost glows when she is around Louie and planning success for him and Rosmond and that somewhat annoys St. Peter. I'm interested to see where Cather takes his character, because even though he appears to be living a life of what he aspired to be, I can't help but question if there is any happiness left in his life at the moment. Especially since the back of the book reads "In great misfortunes people want to be alone." But also interested to see how the "social and domestic rituals of a Midwestern university town" unfold and correlate to this class more. I'm assuming this novel will tie into the transformation of the west and the changes we have been discussing in class, but I probably wont grasp it until I finish the novel...so off to it I suppose.

Price per acre comparison to buy Illinois

Going off the last post, I also was intrigued at the price of land per acre mentioned in the reading. I just messed around with some data and wanted to see the price difference in buying the state of Illinois. Illinois is 57,918 square miles which is equivalent to 37,067,520 acres. At the price of $2 per acre when applied to Illinois, the entire state would have cost $74,135,040. At the price of $5,000 per acre in 2008, according to LandsofAmerica.com, the state of Illinois would have cost $185,337,600,000. Clearly it would have been a brighter idea to purchase Illinois at $2 per acre!

Iowa Land Prices compared to White Reading

In the White reading, I thought that it was interesting that the United States used land as a type of currency. Whenever they needed to pay a state or individual they would give them land somewhere in the Midwest. They never really balanced a budget, but they used "unlimited" land supplies to pay for items that they needed.
Also, I did some research to see how much land prices have increased from the $2.00 to $2.25 dollars per acre. http://www.landandfarm.com/lf/asp/search_results.asp?landstateid=20
At this website there is 160 acres of farmland for sale in Dallas county Iowa for $14,375 an acre.
I thought that this was a really interesting comparison since it also was 160 acres.

Spring Break Roadtrip

Last week, three of my friends and I went on a roadtrip to San Diego, California. Although the trip took about 30 hours each way to drive, it was extremely rewarding to see America first-hand. While flying would have been much faster, I would not have been able to see the sites that I saw. During the drive to California, we drove through Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and finally California. On the way home, we added New Mexico to our route. From the flat land of Nebraska to the Rocky Mountains, the scenery and climate was constantly changing. It made me realize just how intense traveling across the country would have been for fur traders, explorers, and settlers. Part of our trip home was even spent along side the Santa Fe Trail! I blew my mind that what took us 30 hours to drive would have taken settlers months to travel.

Our eyes were truly opened as we experienced some extreme changes in weather. What started out as a beautiful drive soon turned into treacherous conditions that caused us to pull off the road. While in Utah as we began ascending the mountains, in the course of 15 minutes the weather went from sunny and 50 degrees to hail and snow, bring with it white-out conditions. We were forced to drive at ridiculously slow speeds and even spent an hour in stand-still traffic due to a car accident. As we sat in the car complaining about how crappy the weather was and how all we wanted to do was sit on the beach in California, I realized just how lucky we were to be traveling in a car in the 21st century.

Once in California, the Spanish influence was extremely evident. Everything from the city and street names to the food and homes were influenced by Spanish culture that would have initially been brought from Spanish fur traders and explorers in the 1800s. Since this was my first trip to the West Coast - as dorky as this may be - I'm actually really glad it took place during this class. It made me appreciate the trip so much more.

Justified

I don't know if anybody has seen this, but FX has a new show coming out called "Justified". It actually premiered last week, and it is about a U.S. Marshall who is played by Timothy Olyphant, who is the guy who played Sheriff Bullock in the Deadwood series. It also stars a couple other people who were in Deadwood. It looks to me like a modern day Deadwood staring the same people. I have not seen it yet, but might check it out.
http://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/originals/justified/

Clarence King Biography

I found the differing resource emphasis from Powell, Hayden, and King interesting. Below is King's biography.

In "It's Your Misfortune and None of My Own" White discusses King's tasks in the U.S. Geological Survey which he surveyed mineral deposits to benefit the growth of mining corporations.

Clarence King(1842-1901)

Clarence King was born at Newport, Rhode Island in 1842 to a prosperous family. For generations his family had been involved in the sea as makers of navigational tools, captains, and traders. His uncles and father, James, were engaged in the China trade. During the Opium Wars when they were forced to return home, James proposed to childhood friend 15-year-old Caroline Florence Little and they were married the next year.

King studied geology by reading Dana's new Manual of Geology, attending lectures at Yale, and going to Harvard to hear Agassiz lecture. He also did field work along the Hudson River. It was during this time that King and his friends formed "The Society for the Advancement of Truth in Art."
Once in California, King met Brewer and Whitney and volunteered to work on the California Geological Survey with them. King returned to Washington D.C. to convince congress to finance the expedition, which they did. King became the leader of the survey. This in turn was so successful that Clarence King became the first director of the new United States Geological Survey in 1879. More will be told about King's geological work in the next section

King resigned his work in 1881 at the USGS after two years. His resignation from the USGS signaled his withdrawal from the scientific world and his entrance into a life fraught with failure. He was unsuccessful in several mining adventures including his stint with the Anglo-American Mining Company in 1883 as a consultant

The rest of King's life was beset by faulty mining ventures, extravagance, and poor mental and physical health. In 1893 King was arrested for disturbing the peace and was put into a mental institution, the Bloomingdale Asylum. After his release, he resumed his travels and spent a lot of time helping to solve mining disputes

Source: http://www.siskiyous.edu/shasta/env/king/index.htm#bio

Over the break, I watched the movie The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, and was surprisingly pleased. The main characters in mostly all Westerns I have seen are these badass good-doers that positively affect all those in their presence. However, Jesse James, Bob Ford, and the other gang members are low-life scumbags that don't do an ounce of good for anyone, but have the exact opposite effect. Even the supposed hero, Robert Ford, doesn't do things for the good of society; his motifs are selfish and greedy.

Another aspect that I enjoyed about this film is the fact that it displays life in the West as less than ideal and fantastical, but as a dirty, lonely land full of the scum dwellers. Each member chooses the life of malicious crime for a taste of the "Wild West," which ultimately leads to their demise. There's a line the narrator says, "He flips playing cards all day, looking into his destiny at every king and joker he sees." The imagination of the West plays up these villains to be sort of immaculate, untouchable gods, yet the film depicts them for the losers they really are. It's the first Western I have seen that challenges the glorious imagination of the West. I highly recommend seeing this film.

Thoughts About Shane

I thought Shane was a decent film, I'm not a huge western movie fan, however I did take away some things that I liked and other things I didn't like.
Things I liked: How the director has Shane change into his jeans and long sleeve and out of his nomadic attire. Also the blue shirt always seems to be one of the colors that stood out in each scene, to draw attention to Shane, who symbolized the ideal representation of masculinity. Also, in respects to the villain, he was dressed with a black vest and hat, showing his dark soul. These both were used well to symbolize good and bad. I also like how Shane was a man about buying the pop for Joey, and didn't show the slightest hesitation to go into grounds that weren't so friendly.
I also like how the settlers, even though some left, they stood up together to save their land, so hopefully they could build churches and schools and really set up life there.
Things I didn't like: I didn't like how the family turned to Shane with every little problem they had over decisions. He is not part of their family, and they should be so reliant on a stranger who they know so little about.
I also didn't like how the boy, Joey, would have killed both his parents for Shane. He literally looked up to Shane like he was God himself. I also really hated how Joey ran all the way into town after Shane, and got there shortly after, then he was just calm and cool. He had to have ran at least 3 miles and through a creek, the boy couldn't do that so quickly, and why would he, just to say sorry. Joey was okay in my mind until he did that, I actually would slap that kid.

Shane is said to be some of our nation's president's favorite movie, I do not see how that could be. Shane was not very exciting to me and it had lame fight scenes, but to each it's own.

'Crazy Heart' Closes the West

I saw Crazy Heart over the weekend and noticed some similarities to the material we've covered in class. The film tracks a former country legend who finds himself playing small bars and bowling alleys in order to make it. (Jeff Bridges cursing a bowling alley is the opening line. Ha.) The country star is an old school musician who drinks whiskey all day long, drives a '78 GMC Suburban to his shows, and always sports a cowboy hat. The next generation country star (as represented by Colin Farrell, or "Tommy Sweet") takes four tour buses, a pair of semis, and mountains of gear to every show. Tommy doesn't wear a cowboy hat and generally looks like Billy Ray Cyrus. The fans love him though, and there are thousands more of them. Jeff Bridges is left in the dust playing country songs he wrote years ago to tiny audiences, living in trashy motel rooms. The music market has clearly moved on from the days of the old country cowboy. The difference between "real" country and "pop" country is a theme the movie plays with throughout (read: old west versus new west).

Jeff Bridges attempts to adjust his behavior for the times. He meets a girl twenty years his junior (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and opens a relationship with her. The country star's drunken lifestyle proves inherently incompatible however and Maggie calls it off. Bridges goes to rehab, which is a kind of updating of his lifestyle. He tries to domesticate himself so that the girl will take him back. She doesn't.

The story's primary affair is the reconciliation of the old country lifestyle with its new manifestation. We see what parts of that lifestyle the new popular industry appropriates and which parts they leave by the wayside. More often than not, the old country star finds himself in the latter category.

(If any of this feels like a spoiler, it isn't. If you've seen a western before, you could have guessed the story's trajectory.)

Note on Paper Grades

Hi Class.

Below you will find a general rubric for the grades you earned on the first assignment. Like I said in class, what I was really looking for was the creative incorporation of clear historical themes and issues into your work. A second factor that I considered in the grading was how well your writing and scene worked as a vehicle for the display of your chosen themes. For those of you who had grammatical errors and confusing formats that strayed from the recommended guidles, you will find that it worked against your final grade. In anycase, overall the class did very well on these papers and I was very impressed.

An A grade demonstrates exceptional work that goes beyond mere recitation of content encountered in the class. A student who earns an A synthesizes concepts learned throughout the course of the semester in a way that produces a unique and insightful perspective on the period and the subject at hand. Papers submitted by this student will display nearly perfect grammar, spelling, and composition skills, as well as creative thinking and a firm, thorough grasp of the material. Tests display a deep understanding of the issues involved and will demonstrate an ability to organize and synthesize ideas. To achieve an A, students must consistently attend class and demonstrate preparedness. An A+ is given only in extraordinary circumstances.

A B grade demonstrates consistent work that rises above the level of mere competence in the field. B work reaches beyond the recitation of facts and names, and attempts to analyze and think critically. Papers often contain modest grammatical, spelling, or composition errors, but reflect the standard rules of organization and argumentation. Assignments and tests will contain few if any factual errors, and the interpretation of materials will be accurate. Students who achieve B-level work consistently attend class and demonstrate preparedness.

A C grade demonstrates a basic level of competence with the materials presented in class. C work demonstrates some lack of comprehension or synthesis of the material. Coursework rarely go beyond the recitation of facts and names, and shows little evidence of critical thinking. Papers often contain errors in grammar, spelling, and composition, as well as flaws in organization or argumentation. Assignments and tests will be marred by factual errors or inaccurate interpretation. Irregular attendance often results in C-level work.

Easy Rider

Easy Rider (1969)

Jeremiah Johnson (1972)

The lifestyles in these two films are strikingly similar. Coincidence?

Field School in Wind River Mountains

Below you will find a link for a good opportunity for History and Anthropology majors. Its not a bad deal for 5 credit hours.

http://www.usu.edu/anthro/fieldschool/2010%20Arch%20Field%20School%20flier.pdf

Summer Jobs at Jewel Cave National Monument in Black Hills

This would be a great summer job to have (with nice housing provided) in the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota. Custer is a great town to live in and the area rocks.

Here is the monument's website:

www.nps.gov/jeca

And here is the job link:

http://jobview.usajobs.gov/GetJob.aspx?JobID=86545548&JobTitle=Park+Guide%2c+GS-0090-04&q=custer%2c+south+dakota&where=&brd=3876&vw=b&FedEmp=N&FedPub=Y&x=0&y=0&AVSDM=2010-03-04+10%3a28%3a00

Let me know if you have any questions.

I actually really liked the ending of Deadwood and seemed to have a much different interpretation of Charley than most. A lot of people felt Charley's morals deteriorated as the book went on but I felt Charley was just staying true to the code of the West. He liked female companionship and for people who say he used women, the women like Mrs. Langshire and Lurline used him arguably more than Charley used them. Mrs. Langshire needed sex from someone because her husband couldn't satisfy her, and Lurline wanted to start her own whorehouse. I felt Dexter kind of tried to immortalize Charley in the end as someone who can embody what the old West was about and what it stood for. He sort of took on the role as the old wise man in the way of being blind and his stories he liked to tell. It was interesting that someone like Charley who many people felt was repulsive was the one who in the end was disgusted by people who were ashamed of their own actions. He seemed to believe that if you were going to be ashamed or embarrassed about something you just shouldn't do it instead of hide it.

UI Dancers In Company

If anyone is looking for something to do this weekend, Dancers In Company, The University of Iowa's Department of Dance pre-professional dance ensemble of 12 performers (myself included), is holding its annual concert at Space Place Theatre in North Hall. Friday and Saturday performances are at 8 p.m. and cost $5 dollars with UI student ID. Sunday's show is at 2 p.m. and is free! Hopefully some or all of you will make it!

Kris Kristofferson

Kris Kristofferson, who was one of the bikers in Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, was an enormously successful country songwriter with cross over appeal in the 1970s and onwards. He wrote many famous songs, which many of you will probably recognize. Among them include "Me and Bobby McGee," "Help Me Make it Through the Night," "Sunday Morning Coming Down," and "Loving Her Was Easier Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again." He will appear in another Peckinpah film we will watch later this semester.

New Diggins Wisconsin

Here's a little history on a place friends and I like to ride motorcycles up to in southern Wisconsin. Actually I'm pretty sure bikers are the only ones who know about this place. The town is called New Diggins and consists of bascially 2 bars and Saint Augustine Church, built in 1844. The bars were built in the 1840's also, one is original, and the other burned down, but was rebuilt to original spec. Riding the winding roads around this area is beautiful. The remnants of old mines are all around with huge mounds of earth everywhere. Cycle World magazine ranked this area one of the five best places to ride in the country a few years back, and its kind of like one of those best kept secrets. Bikers love to line the streets on Sunday afternoons and wear cowboy boots and drink beers while listening to good blues bands. I think this would be another great field trip opportunity for the class. haha

End of Deadwood

I did not see the end coming. It was a book filled with things happening event after event and then when it got to the end there was nothing else to it. Deadwood just burned leaving controversy about places things took place such as the killing of Wild Bill. This was because of the wood buildings, that are now replaced with brick. Another interesting point in the end was Charley's role with the women. I feel as though this was his way of dealing with the death of Wild Bill. I agree with what was said in class that he was well liked in the beginning of the book, but towards the end he got to become a scum. It is weird to think this is how men were in the west, they had their wives back home the ones the marry and have children with. On the other hand they have the ones they just mess around with in Deadwood. I think that Charley was just attracted to Anges Lake because she filled that emptiness that Charley had when Bill died. That is how it is for people. They still feel the persons presence when they are around people close to the one they lost. I overall liked this book, I felt it was easier to read and follow than Bents Fort was. In class today I also enjoyed the connection between Deadwood and Bob Dylan's song. The one that is left in the end feels like they cannot share their story cause no one was there to experience it as well, just how Charley was left towards the end of Deadwood.

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia

At first, this movie was really not at all what I expected. I was anticipating more horses, cowboys, etc., but the film offers few, if any, of either. It wasn't until after our discussion of the movie that I began to see the motives of the director to bring to light the focus on the "ideal man" in the west and to call attention to the "Code of the West."

I'll admit- this was not my favorite movie. I had a hard time finding any reason to care about the characters until after the scene with Benny and Alfredo's family because I think this was the point when Benny started to care about people other than himself. I also felt like the pace of the film was pretty slow, but perhaps this was intentional to give the viewer time to absorb the director's subtle messages. While it was not my favorite, I think there are some good points made in the film.

Midterm

Below you will find the Midterm for this class. It is due at the beginning of class next Thurday, before Spring Break. You can hand it in early. You cannot hand it in late.

The American West and the Historical Imagination Midterm
Spring 2010
Dennis Kuhnel

Instructions: Answer all three questions below in essay-format. Each question is worth 1/3 of your overall midterm grade. Be sure not to exceed the page limit denoted for each question. This is an open book exam. You may consult all books assigned this semester and your notes, but you may NOT use the internet for reference. Your response to each individual question should not be longer than 1 typed page, double-spaced. Do not spend more than 2 hours completing this exam. The exam is due Thursday March 11th at the beginning of class. Late exams and emailed exams will not be accepted.

1) Explain the historical significance of the fur trade in the history of the North American West. What effect does the fur trade have on white-Indian relations, competition between European and North American nation-states, and the environment? Be sure to include in your answer examples and analysis from Bent’s Fort and “It’s Your Misfortune.”

2) In Jeremiah Johnson am anti-industrial and “anti-civilization” theme is developed throughout the film. Jeremiah Johnson is introduced by the narrator at the outset as a man “suited to the mountains,” while other fur trader/mountain man characters in the film, like Del Gue, express their beliefs likewise. Two statements by Del Gue to Jeremiah Johnson at the end of the film nicely encapsulate their worldview:

“Ain't this somethin'? I told my pap and mam I was going to be a mountain man; acted like they was gut-shot. "Make your life go here, son. Here's where the people is. Them mountains is for Indians and wild men." "Mother Gue", I says "the Rocky Mountains is the marrow of the world," and by God, I was right. Keep your nose in the wind and your eye along the skyline.”

“I ain't never seen 'em, but my common sense tells me the Andes is foothills, and the Alps is for children to climb! Keep good care of your hair! These here is God's finest scupturings! And there ain't no laws for the brave ones! And there ain't no asylums for the crazy ones! And there ain't no churches, except for this right here! And there ain't no priests excepting the birds. By God, I are a mountain man, and I'll live 'til an arrow or a bullet finds me. And then I'll leave my bones on this great map of the magnificent... “

Compare and contrast the historical representation of the fur trade and the lives of mountain men and fur traders in Jeremiah Johnson with the representation of them in Bent’s Fort. Do you think the portrayal in Jeremiah Johnson is accurate or idealized (consider the above quotes in your analysis)? Why do you think the history of the fur trade and mountain men drew so much interest in the popular culture of the United States in the late 1960s and 1970s?

3) Like the fur trade, the existence of various gold rushes in the American West greatly impacted United States and American Indian history. What were some of these impacts? Use the historical example of Deadwood and the Black Hills War to inform your argument. Compare and contrast the major historical themes developed by Pete Dexter in Deadwood and the writers of the HBO series Deadwood. Do you think they were accurate in their thematic emphases or not?

End of Deadwood

After finishing the book Deadwood, I couldn't help but be a little annoyed. It ended quite quickly and a lot of things, I felt, were left unexplained. Charley stayed in Deadwood at the expense of his wife back home. He ended up having a relationship with Mrs. Langrishe, just as he wanted. It also sounded like he may have had feelings for Bill's widow, Agnes Lake?? AND he felt something for Lurline. What's wrong with this man?! I sense that Deadwood brought about some confusing feelings, and to Charley the answer was being with women and finding a business to start. He did start his own "whorehouse" in Lead, but left it when he was being forced to shut it down and move it into Deadwood. In the very end, Soloman Star burnt down the deathhouse in which he knew the Chinese man he had been "hunting" was held up in. The fire he started here spread and started the whole town of Deadwood on fire. It was a pretty cruel ending, but I found did have a philosophical point to it. Deadwood would have to die at some point, and this was the point it would be no more... or somethin' ;) Overall I enjoyed the book, though! Not so sure about this next one :/

Deadwood Episode

I thought that Bullock's character in the episode was very dominant. He had the tough attitude and he got whatever he wanted accomplished. Bullock's first fight scene with the majesty was pretty intense. He ended up beating the life out of him to show his affection and toughness for a woman. Bullock ended up being rewarded by the woman which showed his way with women too. He also was intimidating when he pulled the Sheriff's badge off the original Sheriff and threw it in the mud. Bullock was not afraid of the Sheriff and thought he was a worthless man. He showed no fear, only dominance. His character could also be respected because it was in his blood to do the right thing. Bullock thought it was wrong when a Chinaman was murdered in Chinatown and there was no authority there to prevent it from happening. He also thought the Sheriff in town was pathetic because he was just a puppet for the rich men. In the end Bullock came up with a plan to make him the next Sheriff and that showed his authority. Overall I thought that Bullock played a badass in the Deadwood episode and I would like to see more of his character.

Episode 12: Deadwood

As I watched the 12th episode of Deadwood, I got to see a different side to Mr. Swearinger. Mr Swearinger in this episode got to show his what seems to be his good side as he tended to the dying minister. But also we got to see his usually crooked, "thug" lifestyle. I really like how Swearinger killed the majesty in his office and just had his lackey take care of the body. Also showing his courage while he had a giant blood stain just sitting on the floor as the new sheriff just turned the other cheek. The Al Swearinger character is and definitely is portrayed as a thug who can and does use his power to his advantage. But Swearinger also showed us his "soft" side as he helped relieve the pain of the old dying minister. Although, even while doing this he did it in a thug manner by smothering him and then then closing his eyelids down. Episode 12 gave us a little more insight on how Swearinger runs his business and also how influences the town.

Start Reading From Shane to Kill Bill

Deadwood is over. Hope you enjoyed it

Please read the first 58 pages in From Shane to Kill Bill for Thursday.

Thursday we will finish our discussion of Deadwood and then transition to analyzing From Shane to Kill Bill. Next week we will watch Shane.

People Who Attended Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia

John
Jesse
Amanda
Joey
Ellen
Nick
Kevin
Luke
Kara

News Story about Iowa Train Wreck in 1910

Note the personal story @ whiskey in article. Worth the read.

http://gazetteonline.com/blogs/ramblin-with-rasdal/2010/03/01/iowas-great-train-wreck