The American Dream

America has served as a place where people's most wildest dreams come true. This is indeed the land of opportunity. Immigrants who find it hard and unbearable to stay in their country come to America to start from scratch and make a living. Everybody wants a piece of the American Dream.

In Of Mice and Men, Lennie and George as well as their co-workers work hard on the farm to achieve the American Dream. George and Lennie's dream is to make as much money as they can while working on the farm and then build a farm of their own and live off of the "fat of the land" in the West.

What is the American Dream? The American Dream is interpreted differently by different people. Some say it's to strike rich and live glamorously. While other's say it's to settle down with a person you love and start a family or to live a basic or comfortable life, without a care in the world.

How do you achieve the American Dream? The American Dream is achieved through dedication and hard work. This country was built on perseverance and labor.

Motif in "Of Mice and Men"

Every living thing on this earth craves and yearns for another's company. Love and affection are by far the most things that everything craves for. Love is human aid. Even the most bitter of people such as misoanthropist, or hater of people, have the craving for love from a person or thing. Nobody wants to be alone every waking moment of their lives.


In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the characters seem very clingy to one another. Candy clings to his old dog, Lennie clings to George and George does the same for Lennie. Only two people are bound to be alone which are Crooks and Curley's Wife.


Candy is a prime example, becuase he relies on his elderly dog for companionship. Knowing that both of them possibly hold the same fate. Both are no longer young and are near death. His dog is shot in the back of the head because he is seen as worthless. After that, Candy realizes that his dog is just about the only thing he has on that farm and in this world. With his dog no longer around, Candy is alone on the farm and in the world. He then joins forces with Lennie and George for companionship and plot to tend their own farm.


Lennie looks to George for Companionship because without George, Lennie would probably be lost, in jail or possibly dead. George serves as Lennie's eyes, ears and somewhat of a spokesperson. Due to Lennie's retardation and promise that he made to Lennie's Aunt, George feels that it is his duty to take of Lennie.George is intelligent and can fend for himself, but not as strong as Lennie, who because of his tremendous strength gets both of them a job on the farm.

Crooks and Curley's wife lack companionship. Crooks lives alone in the horseshed and is shunned because he is black. Crooks looks for a mutual compansionship in Lennie. Curley's wife lives a life of loneliness, even though she is married. She lives a life of false companionship due to the fact that her marriage with Curley is dead and a result looks to other men on the farm for love and attention.


Every living thing of earth craves for companionship. Love and affection are by far the main things that human want the most. Even the most bitter people or misoanthropists, or hater of people, crave for companionship from another person or a thing of some sort. Nobody wants to be alone every wakign moment of their life. After all, Love is human aid.

Fashion in the 1940s

Fashion has been the way of the world for centuries. There is a new trend for every season and every year. From platform shoes and bell bottom jeans in the 70s to stilettos and leg warmers in the 80s and to today's flamboyant, exotic designs seen on today's runway. Fashion has come a long way. It ultimately began with rebellious women during the Feminist movement in the 1900s to about the 40s. Women broke out of their "daintly" shells and went from petite coats and balloon gowns to shorter skirts and shorter hair and to the most infamous thing of the time, pants. The decade in which fashion was a big hit was the 1940s or also referred to as the Big Band Era. Like a majority of trends, the way people dressed was influenced by Swing music.


Prior to World War II, Paris, France was the fashion capital of the world. American designers traveled there to see the ever so famous haute couture on the runway for ideas for new American fashion. The booming industry of fashion developed during World War II when Paris fell to German rule on June 14, 1940 and German occupation began o control haute couture. Germany moved the French couture houses to the German capital, Berlin, during the war.Which then put Berlin ahead in fashion world. American designers were unable to go to fashion week in Paris and instead worked on sportswear. This led to America being the sportswear capital of the world.

In 1941, the manufacturing of war goods became America's number one priority. The government the entire stock of natural fabrics and forcing manufacturers to concentrate on substituting other fibers for domestic garments. The industry stocked up on rayon production as Nylon stockings disappeared completely in 1943.

On March 8, 1942 issued a regulation on every aspect of clothing known as L-85. Stanely Marcus, the apparel consultant to the War Production Board, stated that it was the patriotic duty of the designer to design fashions that would remain stylish through multiple seasons. In response, American designers created a new line of suits for women. Skirts were short and matched with short jackets. Sheath evening dresses replaced long flowing gowns or the 30s. McCall, an American designer, transformed men's suits into ladies' suitsand women's dresses into children's clothing. The 40's trend was conservative and very much sophisticated.


Fashion of the 1940s has triggered some of today's trends such as Menswear, the litte black dress and amongst many others. The fashion industry is constantly evolving and is very unpredictable.

How to Reflect

What are three big issues that create problems in our group?

The three big issues that created problems in our group is the lack of school resources, lunch companies that I tried to contact didn't return my calls, and the majority of ideas were put down.

Have you given enough, opened up enough, cared enough?

I've given enough, opened up enough and cared enough about this group. Being that this is my last year here and I'm transferring to a school that doesn't have these kinds of problems, I put effort into helping out at this school.

Reflections of past Service Learning Meetings

Here is a complete reflection of past Service Learning Meetings. From my last reflection up until now, my our group has taken a trip to the Reading Terminal Market. We came up with many ideas to better school lunches and as a test we went out for lunch. We also took a school wide survey on the students' nutrition.

2. Summarize one site that relates to your topic. List three ideas you got from this site that you could use in your service learning group.


http://docs.schoolnutrition.org

this website had a lot of interesting facts about school lunches and better ways to healthy at home and in school.

1. Reflect on Friday's meeting via blog. Please discuss three positives about the meeting, and three aspects that we need to improve. What questions do you still have about your mission and role in your group?

The positives of the nutrition program is that we had good alternatives to improve lunches in school. Everyone had good ideas and were very expressive about their opinions. The aspects that need to be improved is the mindset of having doubt that we can convey our ideas into reality.