The Other Wes Moore: First Post (pages 1-45)
Please respond to each of the questions below. Responses should be at least one paragraph. Number your responses so that it is clear which question you are answering.
1. What drove author Wes Moore to write to the prisoner Wes Moore? Why do you think prisoner Wes Moore wrote back to the author?
2. What was the fate of author Wes Moore’s father? Do you think his father might have survived under other circumstances?
3. Author Wes Moore states, “Soon it became clear that the Riots were about more than the tragic death of Dr. King. They were about anger and hurt so extreme that rational thought was thrown out the window – these were people so deranged by frustration that they were burning down their own neighborhood” (19). Does this “deranged frustration” make sense to you? Are there places in today’s America that feel like this?
4. Author Wes Moore talks about the Bronx in the 1980s and early 1990s as an apocalyptic place to be with drugs, burned out buildings, and crime everywhere. Are there still cities like this today? What causes cities to crumble like this? How does living in a neighborhood like this affect a person?
5. What was your first impression of author Wes Moore? What about your first impression of prisoner Wes Moore?
#1 I think that when Wes Moore learned that there was another man who shared the same name he was interested to see the path that the, “Other Wes Moore”, would take. When the author discovered that Wes Moore was living his life behind bars he was intrigued. There was not very many differences between the two men. Both men grew up in rough neighborhoods with poverty that influenced them. The two of them lacked father figures throughout their lives. I think that author Wes Moore wanted to portray that sometimes it only takes one bad decision to have detrimental impacts on someone's life. The author wants to make it known that he very well could be the one living out the rest of his life in prison.
ReplyDelete#2 Author Wes Moore’s father passed away suddenly from a rare virus called epiglottis. Essentially, a flap of cartilage covered Westley’s throat and his body suffocated itself. He went to the hospital with early symptoms of the disease and they simply sent him home and said he would be fine. That night he died. The same night that the hospital disposed of the poverty- ridden young man with a wife and two children. I think that if Westley had been an affluent man with a more substantial income the doctors would’ve examined him and realized what was plaguing his body. They turned him away like he was nothing.
#3 The, “deranged frustration”, that overtook the population of Baltimore after Dr. Kings death was fueled by the illegal but still prominent racial segregation. The people of Baltimore were so upset and confused that they threw down all rational thoughts. They rioted for eight days and were finally contained by National Guard and soldiers. I feel like there are still a few cities in America that exhibit these riots. I think that Baltimore, Chicago and New York City are where these main events occur. The riots nowadays are for some of the same reasons as the ones in the 1960’s. Racial injustice is one of the main causes for riots in the present day.
#4 Author Wes Moore mentions how the Bronx in the 1980’s was apocalyptic. Crime, violence, and drugs filled the streets. This aspect of violence can take a toll on the inhabitants of the city. They get so used to the everyday life of crime that sometimes they forget the difference between right and wrong. It causes them to become integrated into the society of gangs and violence. There are still many cities that are plagued by this issue. I think that the main factor in these problems are the levels of social classes. It is not the entire cities that are affected by these issues. It is generally the lower class that suffers from violence, drugs, and crime. The upper class can at some points be oblivious to the lower class’ problems and only take action when things get out of hand. Such as riots. Living in neighborhoods where crime is prominent can take away for the greater whole of a person's potential in life.
#5 My first impression of author Wes Moore is that he is very intelligent and can look at issues from both sides. He understands how he could very easily be the one in the prison for the rest of his life and wants to make a difference in the way people look upon real world issues that are sometimes ignored. He is not making excuses for what jail Wes Moore has done but rather gathering awareness to these situations. I think that jail Wes Moore is filled with remorse and guilt. He made a couple bad decisions that altered the course of his life. He wants to show people that if they get the right upbringing and stay away from the little bad decisions that they will reach their full potential and stay away from prison.
1: The author Wes Moore was reading Brothers and Keepers by John Edgar Wideman when he read, “The distance I’d put between my brother’s world and mine suddenly collapsed…” Moore felt heavily impacted by this because he knew of another Wes Moore who grew up a few blocks from him and is now in prison. The author did, however, feel a connection to the prisoner Wes Moore and this made him decide to write to him. I think the prisoner wrote back because it was something to do in a lonely, boring, jail cell. It gives him a chance to meet other people and contact the outside world.
ReplyDelete2: The author Wes Moore’s father, Wes Moore, died of acute epiglottis when Wes was almost four years old. Acute epiglottis is an easily treatable disease, but the doctors made a mistake and anesthetized him. This meant that he couldn’t feel his throat closing, and he died of suffocation a few hours later. I think that if the doctors had given him an accurate diagnosis he would have lived. It certainly would have changed Wes’s life.
3: It does make sense to me. The assassination of an important political figure is a very big deal and is bound to upset many people, especially when that figure holds a place in the heart of a community. Dr. King held a very important place in the hearts of the people of West Baltimore. I can’t think of any places in America that are actually like this, but I do recognise a similar emotional uprising that took place when Khalil died in The Hate U Give.
4: When I look at pictures of Detroit, Michigan I see a lot of abandoned places. I also see these things in pictures of Syria and other war-torn places. I think a child growing up in a neighborhood like this will be more likely to be violent and a substance abuser. In health class, we learned that the state of the culture that a person grows up in is a big risk factor when it comes to substance dependency. I imagine that Bronx was a culture in a very poor state and that makes growing up in it a big risk factor.
5: At first I thought the author Wes Moore was a nice, sweet, naive toddler. I do, however, believe that something went wrong in his early years because I don’t understand why a three year old would punch his older sister because he didn’t know what to do. I think that the prisoner Wes Moore was also very naive. I think his brother, being a drug dealer, turned out to be a very bad influence for the young Wes Moore because children naturally follow in the footsteps of their family.
#1
ReplyDeleteWhen Wes Moore heard the story about the other Wes Moore being arrested he was intrigued and wanted to know more. I think that he decided to write the letter because, despite not paying attention to coincidences and conspiracies, he wanted to know how similar their lives could be. They both grew up in the same place in rough areas, didn't have father figures and experienced a lot of poverty. He learned there weren’t many differences but one was how they turned out. One was a scholar while the other remained in a prison cell to serve a life sentence. Moore also spent a lot of time thinking about what if he was the one who was serving time instead, meaning one different move could change their entire lives, which could also lead to a reason for writing the book.
#2
Westley passed away because of a rare virus called epiglottis. It was treatable, but it wasn’t treated because the doctors misdiagnosed him. The doctor asked if there was any chance of him making up symptoms and let him leave by telling him to get some sleep. Later that night he died. Since their family had a low income the doctors didn’t bother to check him anymore and rather excuse his symptoms and tell him he’s wrong. If the family had a higher income the doctors wouldn’t have excused the symptoms and would have listened to Westley.
#3
The national guards were there to contain the riots, people didn’t care they still continued for awhile. People didn’t just see this as the assassination of Dr. King but more of the still prominent racial segregation. There was about $14 million in damage because people lost all their rational thoughts and became more and more angry. Things like this, although not as extreme, still happen today and all across America. Some of the reasons there were riots in the 1960’s are still some of the same reasons that there are riots happening today because racial injustice is still a thing and nothing is happening to stop it.
#4
The drugs, abandoned buildings, and crime were all fueling everyone to become adapted to the life in the Bronx during the 1980’s. Nobody was paying attention to what was happening because they were all so used to it. Kids couldn’t be outside for very long, People walked the streets with caution, the amount of drug users raised but it was all normal for them. There are still places just like this but they’re not as common. Typically these neighborhoods contain more of the lower class and are majorly affected by these issues. Once you leave an area like this the world feels so different and you can realize that all of this potential was being lost.
#5
My impression of author Wes Moore is that he is smart and pays closer to attention to details whether they are small or not. He uses a lot of details and tries to include the full story to the best of his abilities. Prisoner Wes Moore is more filled with guilt. The decisions he made affected how he grew up very much. I think that he wants people to understand the ways of your actions can affect everything, author Wes Moore wasn’t discarding the fact that the other was a criminal but more of so using it as a fact on how that is true.
1. I think that author Wes Moore wanted to learn more about prisoner Wes Moore because their lives had been so similar yet turned out so differently. They had quite a lot in common, but certain decisions led them to come out in two way different places in life. Feeding into that curiosity, prisoner Wes Moore probably decided to respond to try and show how certain negative decisions you make can impact how you end up, and to think about making more positive actions and decisions.
ReplyDelete2. Author Wes Moore’s father passed from a rare virus called acute epiglottitis, where essentially, his body ended up suffocating itself because it went untreated. I think that if he had showed up to the hospital not in disarray, without tattered clothes and an unshaven face and maybe more put together, they would have assumed him to be of a higher class and examine him a better. Instead they misdiagnosed him, and told him to go home and rest and see what happened, instead of giving him the attention he needed.
3. The “deranged frustration” was because of racial segregation. It was illegal but it was still obvious. People got so angry over it that they rioted to show that frustration. I think that there are a few places today, such as Chicago and New York, that still have riots like these. The riots are for a lot of reasons, one still being the struggle of racial inequality.
4. Cities being faced with crime and drugs, like author Wes Moore talks about with the Bronx, definitely still exist today. People grow up with the violence and gangs that that becomes all they know, and then those people pass that on to their kids and it becomes a never ending cycle. I think that a major element to this are social classes. A lot of the time, the lower class are the people that have to deal with these situations because they don’t have a lot, so they have to make do with what they have and try to find other ways to get things they need. Being a part of that can really affect a person because it can be hard to make good decisions because of the surroundings and the dangers of gangs.
5. My first impression of author Wes Moore is that he’s very smart and attentive. He is obviously very interested in prisoner Wes Moore’s story because he knows that that very well could of been him in that place of being in prison, and so now he’s making sure to tell the story of prisoner Wes Moore alongside his story in as much detail as possible. My first impression of prisoner Wes Moore is that he has a lot of regret and guilt hanging on his shoulders. He made a bad decision and now he’s trying to teach not to follow in his steps and to try and make positive decisions so you don’t end up his place in prison.
#1 I think that when the author heard about another man with the same name as him, he wanted to learn about him. He most likely researched him, and found out they both lived in rough parts of Baltimore at one time in their childhood, both of them didn’t have fathers, and that the both were in jail. Then he wanted to figure out what happened,and wrote to him. The author wanted to use this coincidence in names to show how two people from the same neighborhood can lead completely different lives. I think that when Wes Moore received the letter from the author he was also interested to learn about how the author went through life, so he wrote him back. After he wrote the author back he agreed to meet with him, because like the author, he wanted to figure out why their lives were so different.
ReplyDelete#2 The author’s father (Wesley Moore) suffocated to death, because of his acute epiglottitis, after the doctors told him to just go home and get some rest. I think that he probably would have survived if the doctors had actually taken him seriously. His disease was very treatable, and they would have been able to help him quite easily, but instead they chose to ignore him. They thought he was over-exaggerating or overreacting. So they just sent him home, and because of that he died a painful and horrific death. If Wesley was rich, or famous, or simply a different race, he would have survived, because they would have actually taken his concerns seriously.
#3 The “deranged frustration” makes sense to me. The people were sick of black lives being treated like they were inferior and useless. Black people were being killed, abused and harassed time and time again, and just as Dr. King was fixing the problem, he was murdered, just like the others. I think that some part of every city in America is enraged by racial indignities, but the cities that tend to show it the most are Boston, Cleveland and, New York City. Recently race riots and protests are more common than Feminism protests. People are just as fed up with racism as they were back when Dr.King was assassinated.
#4 Cleveland, Mogadishu, and countless others across the world are falling apart from the inside out. There are even examples of whole countries that are falling apart, like Somalia, and North Korea. Places like that can get to that level of destruction because of many reasons. It can be due to riots, political movements, the government's lack of control, the government's loss of control, or countless other reasons. Growing up in areas like this can cause you to have a completely different outlook on life than if you didn’t. The kids in these places think that their choices are either to join the destruction or die because of it. If you are like the author’s grandparents and you are watching as your neighborhood, city, or even country is slowly falling apart it can crush you.
#5 My first impression of the author, was that he was a survivor. He is one of the few that grow up in a torn up neighborhood that make it out. People, like me that grow up in areas where there aren’t gangs, burnt out buildings, or damaging riots don’t really understand how terrible it is to have to live in places like that. They are living in constant fear of countless terrible things, and most of the time they never make it outside of the terror. When we hear about someone who actually does we see them as a superhero. My first impression of imprisoned Wes Moore was that he was a terrible person for robbing that store, and killing someone, but that’s how it always is until you hear their story, and why they did it. That was case for me in this situation. As I started to read his story, I started to realize that he wasn’t really a bad person, just someone in a bad situation.
1.The author Wes Moore wrote to the prisoner Wes Moore because he felt he had a connection. I think it is an interesting thing that the author did. I believe that the author is trying to tell everyone that a name does not define a person and the events from your past can affect the way your life turns out.
ReplyDelete2.The Author Wes Moore’s father died of Acute Epiglottitis. A disease that can cause inflammation in the lungs, causing the body to suffocate itself. Wes’ father went to the hospital one night after not being able to sleep and the doctors said he was fine and just needed to sleep. The next morning he collapsed and began to suffocate. Epiglottitis is a rare disease that only occurs in 20,000 U.S cases a year and fortunately is treatable. Since it is so rare, the doctor just passed it off as a lack of sleep and sent him home. Is was because if this misdiagnosis that Wes Moore’s father died when Wes was a child.
3.I think that the “Deranged frustration” that the people are feeling makes sense. They have been working for Civil Rights for a long time now, and when their leader who promoted peace and kindness gets shot, they are going to feel like what they have been striving for has been lost. They have every right to get mad and want to take up arms, but that is going against everything that Dr. King was trying to achieve.
4.McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas is the most economically depressed area in the U.S. With 30 percent of the city in total poverty it is the poorest place in the country. Poverty like this can happen because of a natural disaster happening and then people not having enough money to rebuild, or just a place where there are fewer jobs for people so they move away.
5.At first, I was thinking that the imprisoned Wes Moore was going to be a mean-spirited and awful person. As I read, however, I started to understand why he might have ended up the way he did. Living in a very poor city and not having that much money to sustain himself probably lead him to do what he did. I can relate with the author because my father died when I was young and can understand his pain. I think the author is a very good man and made a good decision to write this book and contact the other Wes Moore.
1: I think the author Wes Moore heard about the Wes Moore in jail and was too curious not to reach out to him. When most people hear about someone with the same name as them they tend to make a comment about it, but not much else. An author's brain is not the same as most people's, though. His curiosity got the best of him and probably caused him to send the prisoner a letter and see what would happen. The prisoner most likely wrote back because there is not much to do in prison and a pen pal would give him something to do.
ReplyDelete2: Wes Moore's father suffered from a respiratory disease called epiglottitis. The disease went untreated and proved to be fatal. If it had been treated Wes' father would have survived. If the paramedics had been trained to know a maneuver to solve respiratory issues he most likely would have survived. He also had gone to the hospital before his respiratory attack, but the epiglottitis was chalked up to lack of sleep and a cold. If this had been properly treated his father would have not died like he did.
3: "Deranged frustration" does make sense to me. I interpreted it as being so frustrated and upset that the only way to get all of the frustration out was violence. This happens to me when I get stressed or angry with school work. I get so much built up frustration and anxiety that I just want to scream and hit something very hard. Of course the people in the riots had much bigger things to be angry about so their anger was on a much larger scale and needed to be let out in some way.
4: I think there are plenty of places like the Bronx in the 80's and 90's. Almost every major city in America has at least one part that is crime ridden and falling apart. In the book author Wes Moore says that when his grandparents moved to America in the 50's the Bronx was not drug ridden, but a nice place with a strong sense of community. It then became a place where people went to start a new life, and with new lives comes new drugs and more guns and more bad things. I think this is more or less what happens in every big American city, they start out as awesome places that thrive and then turn into the slums and drug havens.
5: Author Wes Moore seems like his life revolves heavily around his family. Almost all of the stories so far have been about his family's past and how they arrived to America. Prisoner Wes Moore comes off as very head strong. When he has his mind set on something he does it. He also seems like he does not have such a strong bond with his family as the other Wes. Prisoner Wes also has seemed to like sleeping a lot.
From Ryan Malloy
ReplyDeleteI think that the author, Wes Moore, found it interesting that two people with the same name, and born in the same city, ended up going two very different directions in life. One of the Moores would spend his years in prison, and the other achieved great things in life. I also think the author did this to show how making decisions in life can lead you down a bad path, or it can lead to great things. This isn’t just determined by your decisions though. It also can also be influenced by who you are around, and who you grow up with.
Author Wes Moore’s father died of acute epiglottitis. His family had taken him to the hospital where he had the earlier symptoms of the disease. The doctors told the family that he should be fine and sent him home, but that night he died in his sleep. Essentially, a flap of cartilage had covered his air passage and suffocated him. I think that if the doctors had taken more time to find out what was truly wrong with his father, that he would have had a better chance of surviving. Instead, they sent him away without being sure of what was wrong with him, resulting in his death.
“Deranged frustration” was because of all the racism, and the death of Dr. King. There was a series of riots that happened at the time, because of it. I don’t think this happens as much in our country now, as it did then, and if it does, it would be for different reasons or views.
The author talks about the Bronx, where the streets were filled with drugs and violence. Along with that, it was also very easy to join some of the gangs there. These things can result in having a troubled life. When people get roped in with drugs and violence and gangs, their family ends up getting stuck as well. I think that the lower class of people find themselves in these situations, more often than the upper class. The poorer people see crime as a quick and easy way to get money for their family, but they don’t think about the consequences that could result from being in a gang.
My first impression of the author is that he seems very smart and outgoing. I like how he goes out of his way to talk with the prisoner, to make sure that he knew that it could very well have been him in prison, but that he rose above it all and is living happily. My first impression of the prisoner is that he feels guilty for what he did, and now he is trying to teach others to make better decisions so people don’t end up in prison like he is.