FBI Dossier: Anne Hutchinson

digitally enhanced to look 20 years younger.

Colonial F.B.I. Project

Purpose: To create an FBI file on one of the following explorers, scientists, or leaders who played a pivotal role during the American Revolution.

Name : Anne Hutchinson
Born: July, 1591 in Alford, England
Died: 1643 in New York, United States
Brief history (family, personal, significant dates/events): Comes from a family background of very religious radicals, in turn influencing her religious beliefs among the Puritan population (mostly women) in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. She would hold meetings in her home where visitors could freely question religious beliefs and criticize racial prejudice, especially the enslavement of the Native Americans. In 1637 she was put on trial because of her undermining views, secret blasphemies, and breaking the 5th commandment of "honoring thy father and thy mother."
Known as: Puritan Prophet
Stats:
height - 5"5
weight - 123lbs
clothes size - 36" bust; 27" waist
hairstyle - tight bun covered with a dark colored bonnet
Occupation: Religious Leader/Protester/Midwife
Favorite foods: Molasses ginger snaps
Favorite drink: Sherry Cobbler
Jewelry preference : no preference
Naughty facts: Once accused of behaving like a man.
Secret conversations: Anne Hutchinson would hold discussions with women and was accused of influencing women with perverse ideas in regards to their dignity and rights.
Quote: "I have been guilty of wrong thinking"

ESSAY OUTLINE

Page I: Anne Hutchinson's Beginnings
- Current events going on in her time period.
- Puritan society, religious views, persecution in England
- Immigration to America w/Puritans
- Her family background, how influential towards her views.

Page II: Anne Hutchinson's Life in Puritan Society
- Midwife, wife, and mother of 15 children
- Secret discussions/meetings
- Put on trial for heresy/reasons why

Page III: Anne Hutchinson's Contributions/Conclusion
- Pioneered advocating for religious dissent, the right to assemble, and women’s rights
- Influential woman in colonial society
- foundation of America's Christian feminism, liberal thinking, and religious freedom

ANNE HUTCHINSON

Roots

There were many happenings in the years between 1500 to 1600, however the most prominent events that happened during these years in England, which will be focused on is the Puritan religious movement and the life of Anne Hutchinson. We will get down to the roots of Puritanism and how the religion could spark such an influential and controversial person among their society.

In England, where Puritanism began, the main church was The Church of England or also known as the Anglican Church which foundations began after King Henry VIII wanted a divorce from his wife. The only option King Henry VIII had was to build his own church. Thus being said, the Puritan people wanted to purify the church of England, hence their name, and the Puritans were most influenced by a man by the name of John Calvin.Their beliefs focused with having the authorities contain less power than they already had, with King Henry VIII being an example. Also, they believed that the Anglican Church vested too much power in their church heirarchy. Aside from that they also believed that the government had excessive authority and in turn, the Puritans preached that the government must control their power through a constitution that limited thier authority. As a result, the Puritans were considered a radical religion and King James, who ruled after King Henry VIII persecuted those who were Puritans.

Consequently, the Puritans fled to the New World to flee from the religious persecution going on in England. An infamous group of Puritans that fled to the New World was the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629 and Anne Hutchinson was of those Puritans who fled.

Life in Puritan Society

Anne Hutchinson was born within the year of 1591 in Lincolnshire, England. There, she spent her childhood and later to adulthood. Her background understandingly comes from a father who was a preacher among the Puritan society in England but the noble authorities had his liscence suspended as a preacher, because of his very straightforward faultfindings within the religious establishment. After her father’s death, Anne Hutchinson married and had fifteen children in the span of twenty three years. For about twenty years she worked as a midwife in England and in 1634 she emigrated to the New World. “She had decided to emigrate in the belief that New England afforded greater religious freedom as well as wider opportunities for women.” (Ellsberg, Par.4)

Life in New England

Though Anne was raised a Puritan, when she emigrated to the New World, she highly disagreed with the authority that some of the Puritan people held and the views of Puritan life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. She considered a very independent woman in that time and she was still known for her skilled midwifery and herbal healing. She and her husband were very important in the colony for Anne was the town’s midwife and many were in debts to her. She was also a very eager student and reader of the Bible. She also held meetings and prayer groups with the women in the colony. At these meetings, Anne would read a passage from the Bible, and just like a preacher, interprate what she believed the passage meant. There were also other topics discussed as well. During Anne’s life in New England in Puritan Society, she was very vocal about the beliefs she held but in a discrete setting. Her bible groups were seen as being secret discussions and meetings held in her own home. There she and the people talked of issues such as religious beliefs and questioning them and racial prejudice which affected the Native Americans during that time. The official town ministers began to become wary of what these meetings going on in the Hutchinson household were about and thus highly opposed these meetings saying that she was confusing the faithful. The towns people compared Anne “to a modern “Jezebel” who was infecting women with perverse and “abominable” ideas regarding their dignity and rights.” (Ellsberg, Par. 6)

As a result, Anne was put on trial for heresy and because of her perfidious and corrupt views. Her trial consisted of the equivalent to a jury, however all were male and they freely interrogated her to admit her idealistic abominations. Because of her ideology, she was exiled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Contributions to Modern Society

Anne Hutchinson is said to have pioneered woman’s rights and religious disagreement and I believe that she has done so. Anne Hutchinson tried to have the women be involved in religious discussions and have the abiltity to voice their opinions during their discussions. She was influential, not only towards woman, but to the town people as well since she aided the families with the many births going on and acted as a doctor through her herbal homeopathic treatments. I would say her views were very liberal during her time, especially for a woman’s and that deems her contribution into our society.

Bibliography

1. Ellsberg, Robert. "Anne Hutchinson." Gratefulness. 2007. 28 Dec. 2007 .
2. Hutchinson, Anne (1591-1643). DISCovering Biography. Online ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003.
3. Puritans.Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History. Ed. Thomas Carson and Mary Bonk. Detroit: Gale Group, 1999

Barder and the Flying Turban

Their power of flight

seemed to stir so much commotion.

However, they were just having fun

with their powerful imagination.

Barder and Arlen thought it was the orange turban

that controlled their ability to fly.

But it was their bonding friendship,

that enabled them to roam around the sky.

Luna

This week, our class went to the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa to look at the exhibitions. Our assignment was to find a picture of our choice in any of the exhibits and to write a creative writing piece such as the Turnstile Photo creative write. Here is my story on Izima Kaoru's piece entitled UA Wears Toga.


Luna was the Ka of Midway which was a passageway for the dead spirits to their afterlife, reincarnation. There, the spirits cleansed themselves and chanted for forty-nine days before heading on to their rebirth. Luna, as the Ka, held the powerhouse of the energy which was in the form of a mystical orb. The orb was the building block of Midway and was how Midway came to be. Midway was just like a city, where in a way, it had many lands and hot springs that were used as cleansing and forests. She was the protector of the power and in turn she had her own protectors as well, the Laers. However, Sang, a very powerful spirit wanted control of the orb so as to gain control of Midway for he thought that the spirits should not be reincarnated. He had a hard life on Earth as a human and found humans to be destructive and vile beings. After seeking for the orb for so long and finding the Ka, Luna, they battled for thirty-five days. Here we are now, at the battle scene where Luna has fallen. Despite her ultimate death as a spirit, she destroyed the orb and used her energy as the source and foundation of Midway.

Oppression

This past week, our class took a field trip to Ocean Beach where we were let loose with a camera in hand to take pictures that we felt depicted oppression.

I took a series of pictures showing the building and the graffiti but in different angles. I modified this picture so that the grime on the wall along with the graffiti is highlighted and visible. I found the angle that I took this picture makes you look towards the dilapitated painted wooden door that is the entrance towards the old uncared for buildings that people are currently living in. I believe that this picture depicts hardship which in turn means oppression because of the bad conditions of the buildings that the people have to live in.


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The Bell Jar

Author: Plath, Sylvia

Place of Publication: 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY

Company: HarperCollins Publishers

Reason, Type, and Setting: After reading Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn and having known that it was a Great American Novel, I wanted to read other novels that fitted into that title and Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar is considered to be one of those. This novel was written in the in the early 1960s but was later published in 1971 under Sylvia Plath's pseudonym Victoria Lucas. Although, this is not an autobiography most of the events and the personalities of the characters are based on Sylvia's life and the main character is based off of Sylvia herself. So this novel is a fictional novel. Though their is no exact date or written time period you can tell it takes place in the 1950s since the opening chapter talks about the Rosenbergs' executions.

Plot: I'd have to say there is no main plot, but it accounts of a young woman's happenings and events that take place that lead up to her insanity and could be seen as a coming-of-age novel since it somewhat reminds me of The Catcher in the Rye. Though Esther Greenwood is already an adult, it is a story about her going through her mental breakdown and eventually going out into the world, after her rehabilitation, as an adult. At the start of the novel, she attends an all women college and is on her way to New York to work as a part-time guest editor for a month. During this time, many events lead up to her mental breakdown. Esther is faced with few paths to choose from since, either marrying her childhood friend Buddy Willard and settling down or doing what she loves which is writing poetry and stories. She ends up rejecting Buddy after she goes over to his college to visit him along with his mother and decides to enroll in a writing summer program, but is not accepted. I find that the rejection from the program, since she is considered a stellar author among her peers, along with the fact that she may have to end up with Buddy and go through a life she does not want, was a reality that she could not accept and that is what led to her suicide attempt. In the following chapters, it recounts her stay in a hospital after her failed suicide attempt.

Character: Esther Greenwood seems to be an obscure character. She is very indecisive and very critical of herself and also in regards to her work, but at the same time does not give a care as to what people do, think, or say in general. As for her physicality, in the book, her peers describe her as a very pretty girl and one acquaintance mistakes her for a model on a some kind of poster or billboard. Esther is petite in frame, but later on gains weight after having to take insulin as a part of her medication. I would say that during her time period (1950s) her character would seem out of place. She wanted to have and live her own life and not be pressured into being a typical housewife with Buddy Willard. She goes to clubs/bars with her girl friends and enjoys writing poetry and short stories that have been published in many magazines. I'd say overall what Esther Greenwood would most want would be independence and she displays that desire throughout this book.

Evaluation: Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. The style that Sylvia Plath wrote this novel was very descriptive and used many instances of personification throughout the story. Just like Huckelberry Finn and The Catcher In the Rye it follows the plot of overcoming some struggle whether it is interpersonal or from society. I'd say this would be a great book to read for our bimonthly book reports.

Author, Context, and Trivia: As said earlier, this novel is based off of Sylvia Plath's experiences and character, however it is not an autobiography. Sylvia Plath initially published this book years later and under a pseudonym because she felt that it wasn't considered to be a "serious work" and she did not want people to recognize themselves in the book (for she based the other characters in this novel and events from real life people she knew). And this is her only novel written, but she has many many poems published. She went through the same exact struggle as Esther Greenwood, however she did not overcome it and ended her own life.

Thomson's Violin

Please take some time to reflect on the following classical ethical dilemma.

Thomson’s Violin

One day, you wake up in hospital. In the nearby bed lies a world famous violinist who is connected to you with various tubes and machines.

To your horror, you discover that you have been kidnapped by the Music Appreciation Society. Aware of the maestro’s impending death, they hooked you up to the violinist.

If you stay in the hospital bed, connected to the violinist, he will be totally cured in nine months. You are unlikely to suffer harm. No one else can save him. Do you have an obligation to stay connected?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Response

If I were to respond to this in a "philosophical" way, I or anyone for that matter do not have any obligation to be hooked up to this person, whether he/she may be a famous violinist or a beggar on the street because no one's life is more important than another, but in this case if I were the only one to be able to save this person's life and not do so, I would find it to be very unethical.

The word "ethical" is the definitive of pertaining to right and wrong in conduct. This responsibility, though it was put upon you in a way in which you had no consent, a person's life is in your hands. You ultimately decide whether this being, no matter how much "good or bad" they fulfilled in their life, is still capable of living. If you were to choose to end this person's life, you could relate this hypothetical decision to murder because you were the one who had complete control of ending or saving this persons life and if you chose for it to end simply of inconvenience, apathy towards this person, or the fact you did not have a choice it could be seen still as your responsibility. Though people may think nine months is an inconvenience, it is not any different than a woman going through pregnancy.

Though I find it unethical to end a person's life in this situation, it is each individual person's right to choose whether they want to end or save this person's life. Just like abortion, people have their own personal opinions against this issue and there is no right or wrong as with Thomson's Violin.

More Efficient Way to Spot & Diagnose Schizophrenia

In this article, it states that the professor of physiology, John Pettigrew, has discovered a way to more accurately spot and diagnose schizophrenia, which is often misdiagnosed within 70% of people who go through their first psychosis. Though symptoms of schizophrenia can be different for people, it is often characterized by having hallucinations and delusions but these symptoms or any symptom whatsoever is not definitive for diagnosis.

John Pettrigrew made a Schizophrenia Diagnosis Machine based on the reactions that occur when a person is presented with a different visual stimulus (something that excites an organism or part to functional activity) for each eye. What happens is, the brain "switches from perceiving one image from another" but with patients that have schizophrenia, the "switch" is faster.

The actual images are two sets of a network of bars, or gratings, that are superimposed to form a diamond-shaped pattern. "The rate that the viewer's perception switches from one form of motion to the other can then be used to diagnose mood disorders, or even a predisposition to such a disorder."

I find this to be important, because I think nowadays that many people are being misdiagnosed whether it be autism, schizophrenia, and especially ADHD. Having a machine such as this to diagnose schizophrenia is very relevant to the population and the medical field that diagnose such patients because it is more efficient and maybe this can trigger more people to come up with more efficient ways to diagnose other mental conditions.

Vocabulary: Week 13

I have thought that the the placements of the statues found in churches and cathedrals, such as this Spanish Cathedral, seem to be very discretely placed. At first glance, I don't think you would noticed these statues as Catholic Saints or as statues at all.


Though it may not be visible in this picture, this painting was done by Seurat, in this specific art form, pointilism, which was the basic roots of Impressionism. The style of pointilism is exactly what its name describes, each single dot painted in a different array of colors onto the canvas. Seurat must have had much zealousness to create such an arduous painting.



As a pianist myself, though this picture may seem a bit exaggerated, there is emotion and vehement that can be emitted when playing the piano. I can picture the girl in this picture passionately playing some sort of rock ballad and singing her lungs out at the same time.



It may not be that visible but towards the back of the picture there are clear skies however towards the front it is cloudy and gray skies. I find this picture to depict the subtle changes in weather. The sunflowers seem to be posed to soak in some sunshine, but instead it is the cloudy skies that shadow over them.


adverse - opposing one's interests or desire; opposite; confronting
averse - having a strong feeling of opposition, antipathy, repugnance
blatant - brazenly obvious; flagrant
alleged - doubtful; suspect; supposed
aggravate - to annoy; irritate; exasperate
factoid - an insignificant or trivial fact
flout - to show disdain, scorn, or contempt; scoff, mock
forte - a strong point, as of a person; that in which one excels
disinterested - not interested; indifferent

Obama: From Promise to Power

Author: Mendell, David
Place of Publication: 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022
Company: HarperCollins Publishers

Reason, Type, and Setting: Since the presidential elections will be coming up very soon, I decided I wanted to be informed of the candidates. I have already read an autobiography of Hillary Clinton so I thought I would read a biography of Barack Obama who has been getting a lot of attention recently. This book would be categorized under biographical political science. It takes place throughout Obama’s childhood to now. His childhood took place in the island of Hawaii during the 1960s, to Harvard in Massachusetts, and eventually to Illinois where he became senator in 2004.

Plot: This book did not really have a plot, it is more of a biography. There are some accounts of Obama having some interpersonal conflicts dealing with his desire to "fit in" with his roots since he is multi-racial. This biography isn't written in a way where it is like a research paper where it starts from birth till present and gives facts, but it is written in way where you can sense the emotions of Obama and the people around him during the different times in his life.

Character: I will describe Obama's character since he is the focus in this book. Barack Obama is around six feet and of a multi-racial background with his father being from Kenya and his Caucasian mother from Kansas. He likes to keep his hair short, but during his high school days he had a fro and he made use of his tall but thin frame by playing basketball. He is a strong person who holds up to his values and is a well-spoken person who is open-minded and is very willing to listen to both sides to comes up with a fair decision.

Evaluation: I found this book of Obama's life to be very interesting the first few hundreds of pages, but 400 pages is a bit too many. It seemed to be an easy read but for someone who does not want to read about politics or political life it may be a tedious read. I really liked how this book informed me of how one's childhood can shape someone's future and that can be seen through Obama's life when you read this book. While reading this biography, I got a sense of the different events in his life that lead up to his decisions and personality. This is one thing I really like about biographies/autobiographies is that you can see why people turn out to be the way they are. I find that since the elections are coming up, even though I can't vote yet, I thought I'd read about some candidates especially Obama since I've seen how much attention he has been getting. I find this book to be more of an informative read than an important one. It's a book I would read out of curiosity and if I want to be informed of his life.

Author, Context, and Trivia: David Mendell is a journalist for the Chicago Tribune and writes articles pertaining to politics and urban issues and has written about five books with topics as those as well. One book that I have read like this biography is Hillary Clinton's autobiography. They both share the fact that they were law students who became senators with Obama in Illinois and Hillary in New York. I like the style or writing that Obama was written rather than Hillary's autobiography. I think that I'd like to go back to reading novels rather than biographies. I wanted to try reading a more varied selection of genres, which is why I read this book along with my other reasons mentioned previously.